THE STATE OF AFRICA: AN EMERGING ERA OF ECONOMIC COLONIALISM (2) by Obele Gospel
A story was once told
of a Jewish man who spotted a swampy area in a part of Lagos Nigeria. He made a move for its purchase and the
owners (Nigerians) laughed at him saying “can anything good come out of this”,
that why would such a man indicate interest to purchase a swampy land. After all said and done the land was sold at
a give away price. That same land was
developed and today, it’s what is popularly referred to as Victoria Garden
City.
It is not just large
companies that are finding opportunities in Africa, but also visionary
entrepreneurs. Success has been the testimony
with the likes of Innscor, who leveraged on the poor socio-economic state of Zimbabwe
and has successfully built conglomerates.
Bidco in Kenya has created an oil business with more than $160 million
turnover, while building over 51 percent market share in Kenya, and the company
exports oil, detergents and other products to more than a dozen African
countries. Bill Lynch, CEO of South
Africa’s Imperial Holdings transport group, with annual turnover of
$6.2billion, was born in rural Ireland.
Lynch was named Ernst and Young world Entrepreneur in 2006, He told the
Financial Times in 2006, “if South Africa grows at the expected rate of
6percent, his business should grow at 15 – 20 percent over the next few years.
As previously noted,
Asian governments and companies have recognized the opportunities in Africa, as
Chinese merchants and products are evident across Africa, from low-cost
televisions, to generators, clothing, shoes and other appliances. Jincheng motorcycles race across the roads
and in Nigeria. Indian and Pakistan
traders sell leather, clothing etc in Johannesburg South Africa. The same is being repeated in Algeria,
Tunisia, Egypt, etc.
“The growing African
trade and investment by China and India, particularly in sub-Saharan countries,
is one of the most significant features of recent developments in the global
economy”.
Harry Broadman
World Bank Economist
A sino-African Summit
in 2006, brought representatives of virtually all African countries to Beijing,
China, where she pledged $5 billion in loans and credits to Africa during the
summit. The same was duplicated in New
Delhi, India, in an organized India – Africa summit in 2008, which brought
about the set up of major companies like Tata, Mahindra, Kirloskar and Ranbaxyin
Africa.
We have been known to
be a consumption economy, thereby managing depreciation, without a steady
increase in production. The real sector
has been seen to be a major driver of growth, and whose opportunities can be
leveraged upon for poverty reduction, unemployment reduction etc. A few Nigerians are actively involved in
productive activities while some lack the touch of excellence, others are not
appreciated by the market. Findings
reveal that Nigerians prefer the purchase of foreign items compare to locally
made goods. As we continue on this track, we would experience increased capital
flights, where foreigners invade our markets, employ Nigerians to seat in
offices and work under unhealthy weather conditions, make their money and
repatriate these funds to their home country, at the expense of the growth of
the Nigerian real sector, which is spurred by poor discretionary policy
measures. Please ponder on these things, as we continue next week under the
same discourse. Have a great week ahead.
Obele Gospel Jesuite
CRO-Project
Change Initiative
A 21st
Century Leadership, Organizational and Economic Development Strategist
For Comment,
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