Look at some of the "worst" African countries. Chinese and Indians are coming in there and opening up shops. They are starting restaurants and barber shops and all kinds of low startup cost businesses. They are doing well, and they are putting the old school 'local' businesses out of business. In fact, in some African countries they are considering making residency much more difficult for the Chinese because they are so successful there.
Too many people in African and Latin American countries have a sense of entitlement. When they think a community needs something, they think the government should provide it or subsidize it.
It is hard to shift this mindset, but it is happening in some urban pockets. There are small circles of entrepreneurship in most bigger African/LA cities. (I'm talking about guys starting from ground up, not rich privileged people starting more capital intensive enterprises.) But it's going to take a while.
Ironically, the biggest sense of entrepreneurial spirit I was was actually in Zimbabwe. As bad is it is there right now, I have a feeling this will be a big positive turnaround sooner or later.