This award (and its “failure”) is illustrative of what I briefly alluded to in class re: the importance of good governance to the development of a framework that can support entreprenuership:

“Again, No African Leader Wins Annual Good Governance Prize”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/world/africa/african-governance-prize-again-withheld.html?_r=0

“The foundation made public on Monday its annual assessment of the state of African governance, concluding that while “overall governance continues to improve at the continental level,” aspects of life in Africa like personal safety and the rule of law had “declined worryingly.”

See also, Transparency International, a NGO that seeks to improve governance and development by documenting corruption around the globe. Look how “bad” Africa is.

http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/

It is also worth noting there that FDI actively STEERS AWAY from risk (including political risk). It is no surprise, then, that many African countries can not attract FDI (and the R&D, technology, etc., gains that can come with foreign investment).