Cherryflava

9 Responses to “The ‘Make Africa Wealthy’ campaign”

1. 

   Your Group of Web AddiCT(s);
   

   22. Nov, 2006

   The Make Africa Wealthy campaign

   After having been burgled I tend to agree with Jonathan Jou Ma se blog Cherry aka Cherryflava.
   How long has the world been feeling sorry for Africa?
   Superstars like Bob Geldof, Bono, Oprah and Bill Clinton have spent countless hours and p…
2. 

   Freddy Rodrigues
   

   22. Nov, 2006

   Very good idea. I’ve had many many discussions about this very topic, and I reckon you’re spot on. I also think that the key is to focus on small business. We should be empowering and educating people to jump the first hurdle: from having nothing to having a (small) sustainable income. This will provide the platform for making bigger jumps.
3. 

   Warren
   

   22. Nov, 2006

   As much as I’m for the idea (and hate the idea of Africa seen solely as a charity case) Africans need to take control of their own fate and create their own wealth. Africa has enough resources and large enough markets to stimulate trade and generate wealth between it’s own member states.
   What we need from the international community is fair trade. We’ve opened up our markets to them, while they still continue to protect theirs.
   Look at the asian emerging markets, we should be following their example.
4. 

   Darren
   

   24. Nov, 2006

   Jonathan, I agree with you, the world’s do-gooders are focused on aid only when they should be thinking up ways to make Africans as rich as possible. With wealth, AIDS becomes manageable, TB nearly disappears and all sorts of problems go away or lessen dramatically.
   Yet it’s almost as if half the self-proclaimed saviours of Africa aren’t exactly keen to make Africa wealthy. They romanticise the tribal life of rural Africa as something desirable and pure, gushing in tears as they recount how good the people are and how their cultures are being mangled by the soulless and evil multinational corporations. I often think that their goal is to provide enough aid to stop people from dying, and to somehow preserve their current way of life, as if it was actually worth preserving (easy to say when you’re living in the Hamptons).
   In the long term, this does Africa no good. It feeds the victim mentality that infects our great continent like a cancerous tumour and it forces people to remain in what is (if we’re honest with ourselves) a backwards and primitive lifestyle. I fully believe that were Africa to become like South Korea and become massively wealthy, westernized and healthy in the next forty years, most of the current aid bunnies would be gnashing their teeth in anguish at the destruction of the African way of life…
   The sad thing is that there’s nothing holding Africa back except Africa itself. Even though trade barriers and farm subsidies suck, they’re not enough to keep an entire continent in poverty. Instead, most of Africa remains poor because of corruption, the lack of meritocracies, non-existent property rights and a crippling tariff and taxation environment. Basically, capitalism is not allowed to flourish and people are prevented from trading freely and securely. We cling still to socialist principles, stifling economies and economically enslaving our people, and all for what? So that a few fatcats can stuff a few billion more in numbered accounts in the Caymans.
   The answer is to make governments smaller, not bigger. Sure, you can have national health care and education if you want, but governments should not own any companies, they should not favour any sector and they should work to increase competition and not sustain monopolies. As P.J. O’Rourke once said: “When buying and selling are controlled by the legislature, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators”. Smaller and simpler governments are also less prone to corruption, which is another of Africa’s killers. Labour laws need also to be loosened drastically. Harsh as it sounds, sub-Saharan Africa’s only advantage right now lies in its cheap labour and it should capitalise on this despite the Western distaste for ’sweatshops’. Because while sweatshops pay badly, they tend to pay better than any other local jobs and they inevitably cause wealth to increase and wages to rise. There isn’t a single sweatshop-operating region in the world that has not seen wages and living standards rise in the past decade.
   Ultimately, the solution lies is governance. With the right policies, peoples’ natural abilities and desires come to the fore and drive innovation and economic growth in a process that’s truly remarkable. Countries that have embraced that (such as South Korea) have seen the virtual eradication of poverty in an astoundingly short amount of time, despite having begun at a lower baseline than countries like Uganda. It’s a lesson we could learn from.
   And we should embrace free trade. Not “fair trade”, which is just another name for the protectionism of old, but free trade in which all countries work together to reduce tariffs and subsidies together. What many people don’t realise is that most of Africa’s markets are not open and that many of the most obscene tariffs in the world exist solely in African states. Even medicine is heavily taxed in some countries that sorely need it. Yes, we’re worried about Chinese competition, yes it seems like we’re going to shed thousands of jobs, but the experience of other countries has shown that new sectors and opportunities open up for those who are made redundant by global competition (provided the labour laws are correct). Economies are dynamic, changing all the time to meet new demands, and when you protect an industry you’re just reducing that dynamism and making the economy more prone to high unemployment. Not to mention that people employed in an inefficient and useless sector are a lost opportunity cost since they might’ve been better and more efficiently employed in another sector. Think about it, why is it that the United States, at a time of massive outsourcing, illegal immigration, competition from China and globalisation is experiencing its lowest unemployment figures in decades?
   If we wish to save Africa, it’s time to shelve the grand plans, the romantic idealisation and the patronising idea that a primitive rural life is something worth preserving. Instead, we need to work on getting the basics right, making small but necessary changes to make governments more accountable and responsible while letting the free market do its work and make everybody richer. We’ve tried all the other ways and none of them work, so perhaps it’s time we gave capitalism a chance.
   In other words, this is just my long-winded way of saying you’re right.
5. 

   Cherryflava
   

   24. Nov, 2006

   When Africans are encouraged to think of themselves as capable, the governments will have to adapt to the will of the people.
   Opening of markets by the West is a good start. Debt relief is another basic move needed.
   How can we help?
   Small business management and marketing seminars. Easy to understand basic business literature. Simple information, produced by experts to get a conversation going. Give of your time – get physically involved.
6. 

   Benin "Mwangi"
   

   25. Nov, 2006

   Cherryflava, I like your style! In fact, your posts are “dead on the money” i.e. you know your stuff!!!
   It seems that this movement to bring the world’s attention to Africa’s rapidly expanding business/investment potential is quickly gaining speed. My biggest hope is that as these new international businesses and investors begin to flock towards Africa-that they engage in practices that are both fair and equitable.
   It seems that you have been on the path for a bit longer than myself, for that reason you are indeed an inspiration for myself and many others-I am most sure.
   Your post on charity taking the limelight away from Africa’s emergent business class is thought provoking. Although, after myself spending valuable time in different parts of Africa- something told me that the media was not showing the same Africa that I had seen; the detailed explanation into this school of thought was something that I did not become more familiar with until I read George Ayittey’s book, “Africa Unchained”.
   In summary, I’d just like to say that little by litle we shall all make a difference.
   Thank you!
7. 

   VillageTalk Ideas & actions
   

   16. Jan, 2007

   Cherryflava: The ‘Make Africa Wealthy’ campaign

   How long has the world been feeling sorry for Africa? Superstars like Bob Geldof, Bono, Oprah and Bill Clinton have spent countless hours and personal wealth in ‘helping poor Africa’. Charity drives li
8. 

   VillageTalk Ideas & actions
   

   16. Jan, 2007

   Cherryflava: The ‘Make Africa Wealthy’ campaign

   How long has the world been feeling sorry for Africa? Superstars like Bob Geldof, Bono, Oprah and Bill Clinton have spent countless hours and personal wealth in ‘helping poor Africa’. Charity drives li
9. 

   Thabani Mathews Hlongwa
   

   05. Jan, 2009

   I love success