If the prize behind the locked door is a share of a $350bn business opportunity, then using digital technology to innovate and achieve sustainable end results is the key.

That is the underlying message from business leaders in Africa, who, together with Accenture and the National Business Initiative (NBI), recently launched a report Reimagining Africa's Future: A Blueprint for Sustainable Business.

The Report is presented as a blueprint to help businesses in Africa target and leverage opportunities by focussing on innovation, transformation and sustainability.

"We are asking corporations in this continent that they have to innovate from where they are today to leverage this entire digital revolution that is taking place, but to specifically build into that innovation how they can sustainably do business," says William Mzimba, Accenture South Africa CEO.

Mzimba is unequivocal in his reference to sustainable in this context. He believes it is a great deal more than a company waxing lyrical about CSI programmes or drafting a report for stakeholders giving a percentage breakdown of their carbon emissions. "We are talking about innovating on how they are going to change their business model substantially to be able to incorporate in the way they do business every day, environmental, societal as well as economic aspects of how their business is to be sustainable."

Rethinking the model

Based on feedback from C-level executives who participated in the study, it would seem that adapting the business model to meet market requirements has become a prerequisite for doing business in Africa - or, as Mzimba puts it "a need to embrace the spirit of sustainability".

"For example, if I am a telecoms operator or a financial services operator, everything that I do in building a market expansion strategy, I have to think about how I include people at the bottom of the pyramid as part and parcel of my business model... when I build it, I shouldn't be building a business that only leverages an existing band of customers...think 'how am I going to capture non-consumers in my space today'?"

Adapting the business model to adequately and effectively address what Mzimba highlights as 'the non-consumption or non-consumer' opportunity will be a leveller in commerce going forward, specifically because of the numbers.

Mzimba explains that Africa's population is growing, it is young and vibrant, and by 2050 is projected to expand by another billion, which means that there will be a huge number of people that need to be clothed, fed, banked and housed.

"This needs to be done in a sustainable way... find business models that allow you to do the feeding of the people in a sustainable way," Mzimba continues. "So if you are in agriculture, make sure that when you are thinking about your farming processes, that you are building in innovative ways to conserve water, because you want to be in business over a sustained period of time to be a successful enterprise. If you are in the financial services sector you can't do business excluding a huge group of consumers because they are at the bottom of the pyramid, because there are products and services that will address that market... that is what we are talking about when we say the 'non-consumption' opportunity."

Inclusivity

Accenture and its partners say that inclusivity and adapting traditional business models to capture new markets, serve the non-connected and leverage the 'non-consumption' opportunity is possible because of digital technology. "We are saying 'we are now operating in a digital world'... digital world breaks down the barriers. So if you are a bank, for example, stop thinking only about physical presence, embrace digital channels that can allow you to then be able to transact with those guys at the bottom of the pyramid in a cost effective way," Mzimba adds.

Technology that exists today is enabling rural connectivity and bringing power to people that are essentially off the grid Mzimba asserts. "It is important to operate at the nexus of this innovation, digital revolution, and make sure sustainability is key to what is being done."

The biggest hurdle facing businesses in Africa is a shift in mindset, he continues. People and businesses have to adapt to change, to review their processes, how they engage markets and customers, and, ultimately, buy into the digital ecosystem. At the same time governments have to apply policy and regulation to create enabling environments conducive to sustainable business.

A complete change in mindset is required, along with an awareness of the need to collaborate, and mobilise resources to address gaps in Africa's broader market. "I mean, it is a fact that only 30% of our people in the continent have electricity ... 70% of our people in the continent today still do not have grid power."

So the message from Mzimba to businesses is to not always wait for policy, for all aspects to be in place ... where there is an affordable opportunity to lead – and in the absence of policy framework, leverage existing technologies and go for it he says.