How to Ground Corporate Governance Practice on African Ethics

This essay is divided into four parts. First, the necessity for Africanizing of corporate governance practice is demonstrated. The argument advanced here is that Western approach to corporate governance adopted by companies in Africa is incompatible with cultural contexts in the continent. Second, a general outline of African ethics is sketched and shown how its application to the concept of corporate governance might transform the conceptual status of firms operating in African economies. Here, I make particular emphasis on the notions of person and community. Third, the personhood status of the firm is re-evaluated in the context of African ethics in order to show how it can transform from individualistic person as was configured in Western jurisprudence to communal person that is compatible with African contexts. Fourth, the Conversational Space Model (CSM) is proposed to help ground corporate governance practice on African ethics in practical ways. This research aims to develop a conceptual scheme to address the current crisis in corporate governance in the African continent.