Innovation: Why Africa Is The Place To Be – Opinion
If an American or European organisation were to invent the automobile today, they would not get it approved by the army of regulators, health and safety officers, industry regulators, environmental targets and all the other hurdles thrown in their way.
If it were a Chinese organisation on the other hand, things would be different. The relationship between innovation and resource utilisation is more market growth driven verses regulation driven. Some could say the US or Europe of old.
If an American or European organisation developed a more efficient and socially responsible method of organising or producing a product or service, it is likely the establishment would do everything it could to stop it in order to ensure their existence is not threatened, quite possibly under the guise of national interests.
Africa is a different world, particularly Africa north of South Africa. The West’s ‘top down’ approach to Africa has not worked. A major part of this is that Africa’s relationship and attitude to resources is different to the West’s. Africa may be ‘blessed’ with resources but it is clear we need to distinguish between resources in or of the land, and the availability of resources to the population.
The West, when looking to Africa as an investment opportunity is still making the mistake that it has made for decades. I have been reading with interest the growth of Africa as a destination for investment funds. How very English. “If Africa wants to attract investment funding into their capital markets they need to organise and regulate their markets better.” Which basically means that they want the markets to be organised the same way theirs are. Of course I am not saying that organised markets are not desirable or regulation and accountability is not needed. Nor am I suggesting that an organised financial market will not create wealth. I am pointing out that there is still a belief by the West that for Africa to develop it needs to become civilised, where civilised equates to, “like us”. Trading invisible money on capital markets may generate wealth but for who? Of course I understand the thinking and the theory. I also understand the other side too and look to the large hole we are in because of this.
If Africa were to become like the West overnight, the continent would come to a grinding halt. Over regulation is not only the privilege of the over resourced and established, it is also the death of innovation and progress.
The spirit and aptitude towards innovation within Africa is enormous. Africa has no choice but to innovate towards purpose, according to its culture and within its available resources and structures. Innovations are useful, they fulfil a purpose and they happen because they are driven by the need to improve peoples’ lives according to who they are and what they have.
Responsible innovation and growth within Africa will not come from fighting its structures, culture and ethics but through understanding them and working within them. Let the people of Africa innovate. Creating a solution to a problem that also makes money is not greed or exploitation, it is smart, it is sustainable and it ensures innovation and responsible progress will thrive.
Work with Africa, invest, listen, learn and, quite possibly, the world will be a better place.
Well said. This is an excellent piece.
My only revision would be to the last sentence, and it would read: “LISTEN, LEARN, invest, work with Africa and, quite possible, the world will be a place.
Thanks @Afropolitan. I agree, there does need to be an emphasis on “listening” and an understanding from people that they have as much to learn from Africa as they hope to teach. If the world understood the relationship between scarcity and resources as Africa does, there would be less waste and a more sustainable ethic. Thanks for visiting.
I learned from your article Alasdair but for me the title should read, ‘Why Africa is not the place for me.’
I am a white African, born in Zimbabwe. I shouldn’t need to qualify this but because it’s about Zimbabwe it is necessary to do so. I am a white African who has done all I can to encourage equality for all in Africa and I am not a racist.
I agree with Alasdair that responsible economic and social growth will not come to Africa by fighting its culture and ethics but only by allowing the people themselves to innovate.
The historic culture of the African is based on a social conscienceness. Modern African culture is based upon greed, corruption and racism. This change has been brought about by the all powerful influences of despotic, tribalistic and racist political control. (note not leadership)
The investors and social cleansers of the West have to change to accommodate the essential driving forces mentioned in Alasdair’s blog if they are ever going to see positive results to their objectives but equally, the Africans themselves need to realize very quickly, that we all now live in a global village, still with ‘herd instincts and fences’ but now, with fences that include unlocked gates, which allow the benefits of constructive analysis and debate.
Today Africa under African rule is as racist as Africa was under Colonial rule, the only main difference being that vital social infrastructures, whilst still being disprotionaltely unfair are now rendered almost useless.
I am a White African and I am proud to be one but I am not proud of the majority of my African political controllers who persecute me because of the colour of my skin and persecute their own people because they dare to have a voice of their own.
There has to be change on all sides for Africa to have a chance of benefiting from any form of productive investment or service but the ideological change most necessary is the one that has to come from the African political controllers themselves. Time will soon prove to these social destroyers, that their egocentric and avaricious methods are like black holes in the universe, they self distruct and swallow themselves up in the process.
No Alasdair, Africa today is NOT the place for me to be, either socially or entrepreneurially. There are no variables for me to have the slightest control, influence or bearing on, it is all a lop sided gamble, a one way street in favour of the despots. The African controllers have to come to terms with reality first before positive change of any kind can come to modern Africa.
Thank you Frederick for your thoughts.
Yes, it is a global village, absolutely. This is my point. Why must Africa have to become like America or Europe? We are conditioned into believing that in order to participate in a global village we all need to become Westernised. If America, Europe and indeed Asia were to truly accept we lived in a global village they would take better care of the planet. They would respect the world’s limited resources and they would learn to listen to other people and cultures points of view.
If we were to act like one village and have a western village as the benchmark we would need four planets to resource our everyday consumption.
I agree there is a need for accountability and a need to radically alter the political landscape. There is no naivety here when it comes to having an honest appreciation for the corruption and institutional and systematic abuses of Africa’s institutions. The point here is not to say that Africa is perfect. The point is to get people to understand that Africa is not Europe, nor America, or even China. Africa is Africa. We cannot define her people by corrupt politicians or starving mothers and children. Change in Africa will come from Africa making those changes according to who she is. Politicians in Africa thrive on control over her economies. They adopt divide and rule strategies. Their power comes from the misguided aid and development mantra of the West.
There are some very basic and fundamental principles of business. This is not to suggest that Africa do away with these. In fact by adhering to these principles we can see that the approach to investment within Africa from the West is flawed. Understanding your market, your employees and the local business climate is imperative to the success of a business.
Remarkable innovations are coming out of Africa and they will continue to do so. Wrestling control of our economies away from governments will be achieved through empowering Africa’s citizens, not through trying to turn Africa into a compliant model of the West.
Thank you Alasdair. The irony in our debate is that I agree with all the principle points that you have made.
However, in my opinion, your theory does not include a realistic method of ridding the continent of despotic political control, which whilst present, renders all your theories unworkable.
History has shown that in most African cultures, the chief, wether tribal or ‘national’, was all powerful. The chieftainship was a dynasty it was not chosen by any form of electoral process.
If we progress historically to the mid 1960s we learn that in the British African colonies, the UK government of that time, decided that the colonies were no longer sustainable to meet the avaricious needs of their defunct British Empire, so, on the ‘Winds of Change’ speech, they sent out a new political slogan for Africa which said all colonies must now introduce the system of ‘One person, one vote.’
This fine sounding theory was snatched up by the African political elite, as it was a gift from heaven, an opportunity for them to gain international acceptance to ‘Majority rule’ using an accepted ‘Western democratic process,’ where everyone had the right to vote.
As soon as the majority voted however and the ‘elite’ controlled the political power, the ‘One person one vote’ concept was subtly worn down to a process which has now become ‘One person, one vote, ONCE.’
So the African political system has ‘democratically’ been reversed to a system where the Chief, or now the political controllers, are all powerful again.
Theoretically, this is perhaps not such a bad thing, as this system is what the historical African culture practiced and like you, I believe that the Africans should live within their own culture and not within a system imposed by the West.
However, as we all know, the variables of time have changed things enormously. In our present time zone, historically workable cultures now need to adapt to the present world, like it or not. No progressive culture wants to stand still in time.
Generally speaking, Africa today is governed by a perceived ‘democratically elected’ despotic dinosaur, which leaves the people of Africa without a real voice. Until this essential principal changes, it will never be possible to introduce the most important criterion in your argument, which is accountability.
I agree that it is imperative to know the real people of Africa or as you put it ‘know and understand your market,’
but even after achieving this important criterion they, ‘the market,’ will need to be truly self empowered for any of your excellent suggestions to work.
Whilst there are the all powerful African political controllers or ‘Chiefs,’ manipulating the systems for their own benefits, the people of Africa, or the ‘market’ have little hope of realizing their deserved aspirations.