What Does Africapitalism Actually Mean?

Amaeshi was one among the diverse pool of scholars Elumelu invited to the 2015 retreat in Calabar to refine and develop this concept. Speaking to the historian and professor at Vanderbilt University, Moses Ochonu, who was also at the retreat, he recalls that only three out of about 13 scholars at the retreat were women. My initial instinct was to shelf this representational ratio as inconsequential because gender-inclusive capitalism (e.g., #GirlBoss capitalism) remains capitalism. Being a woman does not preclude the exploitative power dynamics at the heart of capitalist entrepreneurship. But Professor Ochonu reminds me that ‘when women are not adequately represented at the table, women’s experiences and aspirations factor less into discussions of how to mitigate, constrain, humanize, reign in, and make capitalism more responsible and its profits more socially beneficial.’