Who Owns What You Build
Six African businesses, founded between 1902 and 1951. All six are still trading. Four of them had their ownership move toward political power, and three of those four never got it back.
This is the brief: the framing, the six cases in short form, the closing questions, and the source register. Every figure is traced to a named source on a public record.
What is inside
- Wema Bank, Nigeria, 1945. The name they kept.
- Nigerian Tribune, Nigeria, 1949. The channel came first, and the sequence was inverted.
- Alabukun, Nigeria, 1918. The powder they left alone, and what staying small actually bought.
- Daily Graphic, Ghana, 1950. The paper that changed sides.
- The East African Standard, Kenya, 1902. Four dates.
- Nile Breweries, Uganda, 1951. The only ones who came back.
A research note that has never told you what it failed to prove is not a research note. It is marketing with citations.
What this measures, and what it does not
Business survival, continued ownership and national economic contribution are three different outcomes. This brief measures the second. The colophon says so plainly, names the two cases where another measure would reverse the answer, and credits the reader who raised it.
Corrections are left visible. Four images were dropped during production because they were the wrong publication. Where the record stops, the chapter stops and says where.
Read it.
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