Le Continentalisme Entrepreneurial

Africa struggles to take off, and the rare pockets of growth are almost always driven by mature, established entrepreneurs, rarely by the youth. We argue that entrepreneurship is the sole lever that will sustainably ensure the continent's growth, but it remains hindered by three bottlenecks: the narrowness of national markets, institutions that reward political cronyism over productive creation, and a narrative that falsely pits African communal culture against entrepreneurial spirit. Through an axiomatic conceptual approach, we mobilize Ricardo and Krugman to establish that market size, not just specialization, is decisive; Schumpeter, Baumol, and Acemoglu to show that entrepreneurial talent flows to where rules reward it; and Kamdem to turn communal ties into a springboard. We directly challenge the developmental state school, arguing that the state must not withdraw but reposition itself from a player and patron to an arbiter and builder of continental public goods. We then propose the concept of Entrepreneurial Continentalism (EC), underpinned by continental market integration (AfCFTA) and the technological leapfrogging enabled by artificial intelligence.