With more than 900 million consumers, the continent of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing markets. In Africa Rising, Vijay Mahajan reveals this remarkable marketplace in all its richness and complexity and helps companies understand the massive opportunity it presents. Mahajan tells the stories that Western executives and managers rarely hear: stories of African entrepreneurs, executives and enterprises that are identifying powerful market opportunities and capitalizing on them. He teaches the lessons that Africa’s successful and failing ventures have learned about succeeding on the continent and uncovers what may be the largest untapped growth opportunity.

Vijay Mahajan holds the John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, and an M.S. in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in management from the University of Texas at Austin. He has written extensively on product diffusion, marketing strategy, and marketing research methodologies.

Recorded Thursday, February 25, 2010 at Northeastern Illinois University - Fine Arts Center Recital Hall.