Excited to kick off the year in Ann Arbor with the African Business Conference at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, hosted by the Africa Business Club.
Between wrapping up my MBA studies at the Broad College of Business at the Michigan State University and serving as President of the Black MBA Association, being invited into this space feels timely. These are conversations that should have been happening across our campuses a long time ago. Iโm glad weโre finally having them.
Small (but big) life update: Iโll be staying in Michigan โ moving to Detroit โ after completing my MBA in a few weeks, courtesy of the State of Michigan. More details on this soon.
With that in mind, Iโm excited to continue growing all my businesses under the Bien Corporation umbrella across the African continent, and especially to begin building our newest subsidiary, Q2 Systems, from Michigan.
Q2 is legally incorporated in both Michigan and the Republic of South Africa โ a decision I made intentionally, rooted in the places that I have personally been drawn to in my sojourns over the past few years.
Iโve absolutely fallen in love with Michigan (winter considered). Iโve enjoyed the past two years in Lansing, and Iโm genuinely excited for what Detroit โ and the rest of MI โ holds. Iโm keen to plug into the broader Michigan business community, and to see how much we can build when our worlds stay connected.
This conference also comes at an interesting moment for me personally.
Lately, Iโve been thinking a lot about decolonizing entrepreneurship โ a serious systems question. I am considering doing PhD studies in this space.
Pursuing business degrees in both Malawi and the U.S. has given me new and varied perspectives about our world, and how we all see and work with Africa.
Africa has always been connected to the world. The issue has never been exposure. Itโs been agency.
Colonial education trained intermediaries. Post-independence development turned structural challenges into projects. Today, startup culture often teaches founders how to pitch before teaching them how to build institutions. Somewhere along the way, entrepreneurship became something you do on the side of power.
My view is simple: Africa needs to get intentional about entrepreneurship as a core development strategy.
Education that produces doers.
Investment in the crรจme de la crรจme to build foundational businesses.
Talent coming home because thereโs real capacity waiting for it.
Thatโs what Iโll be speaking about as I plan to share on and beyond my personal stories โ entrepreneurship not less hustle culture, and more as economic architecture. To me, entrepreneurship has become a policy conversation as much as it is a business one.
Africaโs demographic dividend only matters if we create environments that can absorb it: companies, institutions, and ecosystems that hold long-term value.
Most excited to get into conversation with Oghoghosa Igbineweka, Ernest Danjuma Enebi, Dayo Adesanya, and Faisa Ali โ and to hear from all the other speakers.
Huge thanks to Efosa Omoregie and Michael Olabisi for the thoughtful coordination and for engaging me on this.
These rooms matter. This is where ideas meet responsibility.
Africa has always been described as a continent for the taking.
I believe weโre the generation that takes it back โ through education that creates builders, entrepreneurship that lays foundations, and systems that keep value where itโs created.
If youโll be in Ann Arbor this Friday and would love to connect, please do not hesitate to reach out: manduwin@msu.edu / nthanda@biencorp.com
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About the Author
