Five years ago, every business school worth its salt was setting up programmes in China. Three years ago, it was India that was in fashion. Today, many of the top business schools in Europe and the US are looking to Africa as the next big market for management education.

Columbia Business School in New York is no exception. This week up to 30 second-year MBA students will be travelling to Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa to work with entrepreneurs there. The trip is intended to be much more than a piece of academic learning: Murray Low, director of the entrepreneurship programme at Columbia, is hoping for a win-win situation – the students, it is hoped, will learn about business in Africa from the entrepreneurs and they, in turn, will help the entrepreneurs develop their businesses.