Ethical Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The economic crisis of recent years has pointed out the weaknesses of the mostly speculative financial markets, decoupled from their traditional functions. Moreover, it became obvious that companies placing a strong emphasis on sustainability aspects proved to be more immune against problems associated with the crisis. The same holds for alternative financial institutions and tools as well, such as ethical finance. In my research I investigate how sustainable finance developed and evolved in different continents and cultures and analyse where the initatives came from and how the economic actors responded to them. Here, I introduce the ethical financial markets of Africa, the role of the governmental actors, the international (development) organisations and that of the inhabitants. Furthermore I explore the idiosyncrasies and special features of the African culture regarding sustainable finance.