Philanthropy has become a significant avenue for tackling the infrastructure challenges of Africa, as well as the social and economic development of its people. Philanthropists and organizations that support various initiatives in Africa are taking the age-old African practices of reciprocity and giving, and turning it into a mechanism geared to progress the continent positively. Philanthropy has always been a part of the currency of how African societies function.
Philanthropic practices in Africa have evolved through time and continue to shift. Western nations have been generously supportive to the continent for many years, and this trend continues. As the list of wealthy Africans increases, more home-grown benefactors are emerging and using their private wealth to contribute to tackling some of Africa’s challenges.
Large-scale African philanthropy has distinct characteristics that do not necessarily follow the pattern of large-scale giving in the United States or Europe. Similar to their global counterparts, we see that giving is shaped by donors’ preferences. This preference is influenced by the values and vision of the individual donors and their families, and shaped by their experiences. However, the vastness of Africa means that culture, politics, and economics also influence philanthropic diversity. We must take into mind that a great deal of giving in Africa goes unpublicised. This is in part due to cultural and political factors that favour anonymous giving and the fact that many countries in Africa do not have tax incentives and accompanying reporting requirements for giving, as in Europe and the United States.
Three key trends that have been identified and are unique to the African giving landscape are:
- African donors of large gifts give mainly within their own countries.
- The majority of gifts by African donors go toward addressing basic needs.
- African donors give mainly to the public sector and their own operating foundations, with limited funding reaching NGOs.
Unpacking the trend of where African donors give.
It is clear that the largest share of gifts by African donors goes to the public sector and toward addressing basic needs. Forty-two percent of the dollar value of large African donations in the sample utilized by The Bridgespan Group research showed that funding from African givers goes to government institutions. A large share of this funding goes to basic needs like health, education, and disaster relief, which is where the government is typically the dominant actor. To better understand and differentiate between the causes African donors support, it’s crucial to look at the framework used to cluster the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). “Basic needs” covers six of the SDG areas: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well‐being, quality education, gender equality, and reduced inequalities.
Examples include gifts made by five Nigerian businessmen — Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia, Arthur Eze, Tony Elumelu, and Mike Adenuga, whose donations totaled nearly $40 million — to a government committee in 2012 to assist more than 2 million people left homeless by flooding in Nigeria.
Another example of a substantial gift for basic needs was the $100-million commitment made in 2016 by Dangote of Nigeria, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to address malnutrition in Nigeria. One of the ways that the two donors are working together to fight malnutrition is through food fortification — adding micronutrients to the food that families are purchasing every day to improve health without needing to change habits. In describing the goal of this gift, Dangote and Gates noted that addressing malnutrition is critical to supporting the future prospects of Nigeria’s youth; as of 2016, children ages 14 and under comprised 44 percent of the country’s 196 million people.This effort reflects a common strategy of African donors: giving to basic needs to catalyse longer-term development.
Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwe’s richest man, created the Higher Life Foundation in 1996 with his wife, Tsitsi Masiyiwa. The foundation funds scholarships for orphaned children in Zimbabwe, Burundi and Lesotho to attend primary, secondary, and high education schools. The organization provides bursary awards, scholarships, food packs and medical assistance to the children. The charity also funds the construction of libraries and other resource centres where beneficiaries can access educational materials. Upon the cholera outbreak which happened in Zimbabwe in 2019, Strive Masiyiwa, together with his wife, donated a total of $10 million to fight against the disease. Moreover, he pledged $60 million to build resilience against the disease. In 2019 Masiyiwa’s Econet Zimbabwe and its subsidiary companies extended significant assistance for victims of the deadly Cyclone Idai. The organization mobilised resources in the form of rescue efforts, medical emergency aid, food, water and blankets for the victims.
Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed “Mo” Dewji’s Mo Dewji Foundation focuses on three areas: health, education, and community development in Tanzania. The Mo Dewji Foundation has spent more than $3 million in grants and other forms of funding for community service projects, supporting schools, hospitals and water wells.
Nigeria’s richest woman Folorunsho Alakija donated a skills acquisition center to the Yaba College of Technology, a higher educational institution located in Lagos. In 2016, Alakija and her husband donated a $2.7-million building to the Ajayi Crowther University in Oyo, Nigeria. In April 2017, she donated $700,000 to the University of Osun. Through the Rose of Sharon Foundation, the organization designs and executes programmes that give financial independence and educational opportunities to widows, their children and orphans.
Mohamed and Yasseen Mansour, through the Mansour Foundation for Development, a non-profit organization, are involved in the welfare and socioeconomic development of Egyptian society through education, health and capacity-building. Among other things, the foundation offers scholarships to indigent Egyptians, rehabilitates infrastructure at local educational institutions, and provides critical infrastructure to medical institutions in low-income areas in Egypt.
Absul Samad Rabiu, through the BUA Foundation, funded the construction of the Center for Islamic Studies at the Bayero University in Kano in Nigeria. In 2015, Rabiu donated more than $1 million to the Boko Haram Victims Support Fund. The BUA Foundation is also constructing a $20-million 220-bed specialist hospital in Kano. In March 2021, BUA Group Chairman Isyaku Rabiu announced the establishment of the $100-million Africa Endowment Fund for social development and renewal. In a statement announcing the fund, Rabiu said the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative Africa Fund Endowment would focus on education, health and social development sectors, starting with infrastructure and capacity development. He added that the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative would commit $50 million to Nigeria and $50 million to the rest of Africa on an annual basis.
Patrice Motsepe was the first African to join the Giving Pledge in 2013. The Motsepe Foundation was founded in 1999 by Motsepe and Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe. It is devoted to alleviating poverty and improving the living standards of the South Africa’s poor and focuses on different sectors, including education, sports, the arts, religious and traditional organizations, and women issues.
This is, but a glimpse of some of the top givers on the continent. Continued research will paint a clearer picture of large-scale giving by African donors. For now, it can be concluded that some of the high-profile gifts over the past decade suggest that large-scale African philanthropy is making its mark. The growth of African economies and the number of wealthy Africans underscore that this kind of philanthropy will likely play an essential and growing role in supporting the development and social change on the continent.
Tsitsi Mutendi is a co-founder of African Family Firms, an organization that aims to facilitate the continuity of African family businesses across generations. She is also the lead consultant at Nhaka Legacy Planning and the host of the Enterprising Families Podcast.
