Research Project (Ongoing)

Making Japan’s Business Africa’s Business: Exploring the Impacts of the ABE Initiative

The ABE Initiative was launched in 2013 and reached its 11^th anniversary in 2024, having been conceived as a vehicle to drive further Japanese private sector investment in Africa. Despite historical successes in expanding across Asia, Japanese companies have been generally reluctant to invest in Africa, with the continent comprising just 0.3% of Japan’s overall FDI even as it enjoys rapid economic growth and access to abundant natural resources. Citing business environment issues, perceived high risk, and a general lack of knowledge and expertise about potential partner countries, few Japanese companies have yet made significant investments in Africa. Despite Japan’s position as the world’s 4^th-largest economy, its FDI stocks in Africa do not even place within the top 10.

Launched as a direct effort to address this, the ABE Initiative has taken on around 1,900 scholars from 54 African countries since its inception, who have studied a diverse array of fields including business, ICT, education and agriculture among others. The program’s objectives are the development of Japan-Africa links, the development of skilled human resources who understand Japanese business practices, and the development of African industries. Scholars participate in internships in Japanese companies as a core component of the program in a wide range of sectors, and in both large corporations and SMEs. It is expected that the maturation of scholars into “bridges” will facilitate business environment improvement and ease entry for businesses, encouraging further growth in Japanese private sector interest in Africa.

This research is an exploratory study of the impacts of the ABE Initiative,, focusing on data from Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Rwanda. Due to the nature of the ABE Initiative, this research explores the contributions of alumni in numerous fields, including not only entrepreneurship and private sector development, but also branching into areas such as agriculture, transport, and ICT. It aims to identify the impacts of individual ABE alumni and their contributions both to the objectives of the ABE Initiative as defined by JICA and to the overall development of their home countries, while also identifying any limitations preventing the program from reaching its full potential. It asks, in line with the program’s objectives “what are the socioeconomic, human resource, and bridging impacts of the ABE Initiative?”.