African Traditional Ethical Values for Sustainable Business Management

African societies have been emphasizing the importance of ethical values in organizing their communities long before interacting with the outside world. Some of those ideals still play a strong role in the current era and should be employed in facilitating businesses sustainability.
Dr. Harrison Kalunga Mwilima is an independent lecturer, consultant and journalist focusing on a sustainable relationship between Europe and Africa. He is a Tanzanian based in Berlin, Germany and is also the author of the book “The European Union and Regional Integration in East Africa”.
In recent times, the theme of sustainability in business management has received wider attention. Many companies are adopting policies to ensure corporate social responsibility by paying attention to societal needs as well as adopting environmentally friendly policies to ensure sustainability in their businesses.
While most of those initiatives and strategies have been well documented in various business management books, there are other potential traditional ethical values that could be incorporated in sustainability initiatives, especially by companies and investors intending to do business with African countries.
The wisdom of ethics, how a person should live a flourishing life, is largely unwritten, but can be found in proverbs, wise sayings, folklore, poetry and songs as well as taboos and customs. Those ethical values were used to guide social and moral behaviour in different communities during the pre-colonial era and continue to have some influence in modern African countries.
African Traditional Wisdom in the Current Era
Ethical values in many African societies stressed mainly communitarian social principles over individualism. In this sense rather than focusing on how an individual can become a better person, the emphasis is on the individual becoming a more responsible member of the community.
Various concepts and philosophies have been used in modern African countries to evoke the communitarian and social ideals based on traditional ethical values. The concept of “Ubuntu”, for instance, gained prominence in post-apartheid South Africa to emphasize acts of humanity in the current era. The notion metaphorically expressed in “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”, to mean “a person is a person through other people”, reflects the idea of togetherness as human beings, where consideration of one another is fundamental.
In Tanzania, a Swahili word of “Ujamaa” which means familyhood, was used after independence to emphasize justice and fair principles within the society. Although the concept was used to promote an African version of socialism that prioritized an equitable distribution of resources and an abolishment of private ownership of means of production, its aspects of justice and fairness have continued to be emphasized in the modern era.
Another example of using African traditional wisdom can be found in Rwanda, where the concept of “Imihigo” which in Kinyarwanda (or Rwandan) means “engagement with the community”, has been applied in the modern era. In the pre-colonial Rwandan cultural practices, leaders or warriors would perform Imihigo with the community as a means of promising to achieve certain goals. Modern Imihigo process was adopted in 2006 in Rwanda to ensure local leaders are delivering services to their communities.
For most of the Africans who follow those communitarian social principles, they would highly engage in supporting others in their societies. Supporting each other in times of need has been essential in many African countries, especially given the lack of complex social welfare systems as in the case of many western countries. Most African migrants living abroad have also been involved in sending money back home to support their families and friends. Thus, it is not surprising that remittances, money sent by migrants to their home countries, is currently surpassing foreign aid provided by donor countries to African nations.
Traditional Wisdom and Business Management
The communitarian social principles are not only observed by individuals, but they can also govern corporate conduct in business transactions. Concepts of Ubuntu and Ujamaa, for instance, could give a compassionate character to business interaction, thereby achieving social aspects of sustainable business management. On the other hand, the practice of Imihigo could be used to emphasize responsible leadership, hence facilitating business sustainability in the area of corporate governance.
It is therefore a major task for companies and businesses operating/interested in African countries to ensure they understand societal context and incorporate the traditional wisdom of those areas. Respecting communitarian and social principles in businesses also means to make use of concepts originating/translated within local languages, for instance, in corporate social responsibility strategies. This can facilitate further business sustainability.
Though historical sins of slavery and colonialism robbed African countries of their traditional knowledge, certain ideals survived and continue to play a significant role in the current era. Some people might even not be aware of their present influence in the modern times; however, the few examples elaborated here show that traditional ethical values do play a role also in present times. Contemporary developments and societies can only be fully understood by also considering the traditional wisdom from the pre-colonial period.