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Case studies

African business, taught from African examples.

A student on this continent can graduate having studied a dozen American companies and not one built under the conditions they will actually work in. These 7 cases exist to change what is on the reading list.

What you get

Written to be taught, not to be admired.

  • Harvard and Ivey depth, written for African classrooms and African conditions.
  • A decision point with three live options and no answer supplied.
  • A twelve section teaching note: learning objectives, theoretical frameworks, a suggested teaching plan, eight discussion questions with analytical pathways, board plans and quantitative exercises.
  • Protagonists who are alive, contactable, and in several cases willing to join a class as a guest speaker.
  • A companion episode, so a class can watch the founder reason through the decision and then argue with it.

The catalogue

All 7 cases

Each is released as its protagonist signs it off. Every one of them is already named publicly on the channel and in the Marketplace.

  • ACD-CS-001

    Available

    Marilyn Kamuru

    eManage Africa

    Category creation, a planned exit, and the post-exit founder portfolio

    Teaches step 3, Choose a position

  • ACD-CS-002

    Available

    Navalayo Osembo

    Enda Athletic

    Africa's first running shoe brand, built under industrial policy constraint

    Teaches step 2, Assemble resources

  • ACD-CS-003

    In sign off

    Leonard Mcharo

    Tsavo

    Design-led affordable housing and the financial independence playbook

    Teaches step 1, See the void

  • ACD-CS-004

    In sign off

    Ken Njoroge

    Cellulant and Pani

    Pan-African fintech, the 2020 crisis, and the operator to investor transition

    Teaches step 4, Build the flywheel

  • ACD-CS-005

    In production

    Pascal Maithya

    Pascal Hair Kenya

    The single-operator premium service business and personal brand acquisition

    Teaches step 3, Choose a position

  • ACD-CS-006

    In production

    Joyce Gikunda

    Lintons Beauty World

    Category creation in regulated retail, and an integrated retail and training model

    Teaches step 4, Build the flywheel

  • ACD-CS-007

    Available

    Eric Kimani

    Palmhouse Dairies and Foundation

    The dual engine of business and philanthropy

    Teaches step 5, Sequence the fork

The method

Every case is tagged to a step of the framework.

The five step model from the Strathmore MBA for Executives lecture. It is what a dean recognises as method rather than content, and it is how this catalogue is organised.

  1. 1

    See the void

    Is this a market failure I can serve?

  2. 2

    Assemble resources

    What can I bootstrap before I raise?

  3. 3

    Choose a position

    Where do I differentiate rather than discount?

  4. 4

    Build the flywheel

    What makes my advantage compound?

  5. 5

    Sequence the fork

    What do I protect, and in what order?

For educators

Request the cases

Tell us what you teach and we will send what is cleared for classroom use, including the Eric Kimani case as a full sample.

We send cases to a university address rather than a personal one.

Roughly is fine. It tells us what is urgent.

Optional. Reference numbers or founder names, or tell us the topic and we will suggest.

Or email leonard.mudachi@brral.ke

We use what you send only to reply to you. See our privacy notice. Submissions are checked for spam; a form completed in under 3 seconds is rejected.

Ownership of each case is held jointly by The AfriCAN Do! Podcast, the featured business, and the writer.