IntroductionThe phenomenon in this article is not quite new though its a concept that has been ignored by many for so many years, mainly in the developing parts of the world. As people's attention is directed towards a cocktail of challenges like peace and stability, conflict resolution, climate change, poverty, HIV/AIDS, development is highly neglected such that for every one step forward, there are three steps backwards. One wonders what happened through the ages for there to be cities and towns because it is now seeming to be an impossibility for a new city to be born. What is happening? Why is there a neglect of the rural areas, which have been given a seemingly 'compensatory' modern-day term, "Growth Points." And to think of the economic activity potential that sadly remains untapped, one wonders if these developing nations will one day attain the "developed" status, or it is just a preserve of the few. If more than 50% of Africa's population lives in the rural areas, at what pace will development move if it is only harnessing the efforts of perhaps 40% of its human capital?
The DilemmaThe African Investor (that is, anyone willing to invest in Africa) hears of a land full of potential (this talk of Africa having potential is now a wearisome subject), with an estimated population of one billion. The first impression could be that there is a huge market but when an investment is done, the market is amazingly small compared to what it can be, all because more than half of this billion people is shut away from the world; they do not have electricity, poorly educated, some are living on less than US$1 per day.....what business does the investor have to do with them.
Breed the market....don't bleed it!Something has to be done about these people, rather than waste the vast human capital. What if we go back to the ages when cities and towns were being born? What if a conscious commitment was made to take a region and develop it into a modern city? It is us who stand to benefit at the end of the day because of the increase in the number of people who can significantly contribute to economic activity (remember the economy needs people with disposable incomes and who can make well informed decisions on how to spend). To this end, businesses, government and the civic society needs to collaborate, and start by developing the undeveloped, educate them with the same quality of educational standards that are given to those in schools in the urban areas (this is another topic on its own...teachers in rural areas are disgruntled, and could it be they are not teaching these innocent children with the same zeal as their counterparts in the urban areas?). Once the children are properly educated, and opportunities given to them, a new generation is being bred, which shall in-turn be focused on development of their origins. In the long run, these communiteis shall flourish, business investment shall reach to a wider audience, and the developing shall reach the "developed" status. Currently what happens is these communities are being sucked by investors of their precious resources, and they are not benefiting in any significant ways (talk about a community with a field of diamonds which still receives food and clothing donations!).
This is the first contribution (which is just an overview) of this blog. Many issues are contained in this document that shall be scrutinised one by one, and see if the process of breeding of markets cannot be achieved. One day, the Africano must develop to get to that point of manufacturing industrial equipment, have own globally competitive brands, have own technologies, all competing on the global arena and participating in the global market force mechanism.
This is the
Afro dream.
