Shaka Sisulu has added the title “doctor” after graduating with a PhD in international business from the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Sisulu’s research argues that local business leaders play a far bigger role in Africa’s development than previously understood.
Sisulu’s thesis, titled The Rules of the Game: Business Elite Behaviour in Limited Access Orders, explored how business elites across African countries influence not only economic growth but also the strength and stability of political institutions.
The study examined four countries with vastly different political systems, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa, to determine how local business coordination affects governance and institutional development.
Through 49 interviews with senior business leaders across the continent, Sisulu found that where local business elites are able to work together around shared interests, institutions tend to become more stable and functional.
The research builds on the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Douglass North and political economists John Wallis and Barry Weingast, whose theories explored how political and economic systems evolve through elite cooperation.
Leadership and social justice spaces
According to Sisulu, the findings challenge the assumption that elites operate purely to protect privilege.
“Local business coordination is not just good for commerce. This research shows it is one of the building blocks of national development and, where the conditions exist, of democracy itself,” he said.
Sisulu, grandson of anti-apartheid struggle icons Walter Sisulu and Albertina Sisulu, has long been active in leadership and social justice spaces.
He currently serves as a faculty member for the Wharton School’s Global Modular Course in South Africa and is also an Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship fellow.
The research will now move beyond academia and into the classroom.
From July 28 to 30, Sisulu and Professor Albert Wocke will co-present a new MBA elective at GIBS titled The Inner Circle: Politics, Elites and Business in Africa.
The course aims to give MBA students a practical understanding of how political power and business networks operate across the continent and how those dynamics shape investment and governance.
Sisulu and Wocke are also preparing a series of articles based on the research findings, aimed at business leaders, policymakers, and broader African audiences.
- Shaka Sisulu earned a PhD in international business from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, focusing on the role of local business elites in Africa’s development.
- His thesis, "The Rules of the Game: Business Elite Behaviour in Limited Access Orders," studied how business elites influence economic growth and political stability across Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Côte d'Ivoire, and South Africa.
- Sisulu’s research, based on 49 interviews, found that cooperation among local business elites contributes to more stable and functional institutions, challenging the idea that elites only protect their own privilege.
- Building on theories by Douglass North and others, Sisulu argues that local business coordination is fundamental not only to commerce but also to national development and democracy.
- Sisulu will co-teach a new MBA elective at GIBS on politics, elites, and business in Africa, and plans to publish articles targeting business leaders and policymakers to apply his findings beyond academia.
Sisulu's research argues that local business leaders play a far bigger role in Africa’s development than previously understood.
Sisulu’s thesis, titled
“Local business coordination is not just good for commerce.
Sisulu, grandson of anti-apartheid struggle icons Walter Sisulu and Albertina Sisulu, has long been active in leadership and social justice spaces.
He currently serves as a faculty member for the Wharton School’s Global Modular Course in
From July 28 to 30, Sisulu and Professor Albert Wocke will co-present a new MBA elective at GIBS titled
Sisulu and Wocke are also preparing a series of articles based on the research findings, aimed at business leaders, policymakers, and broader African audiences.
