African Development should be built on Trade and Entrepreneurship Not Philanthropy

[theworldismine13]

VOICE OF LIBERTY: African Development should be built on Trade and Entrepreneurship Not Philanthropy ~ Alex Ndungu Njeru | AfricanLiberty.org

Here is a post I did, as an antithesis to a post I came about "Where thou Oh African Philanthropists?" By a blogger who I most genuinely respect and with whom I went to school with. In his article my learned friend bemoaned the fact that African Business moguls were way over the top with an unfathomable pernicious greed. In his article he bemoaned the fact that African Entrepreneurs were philanthropically nascent and did not give as much as they ought to in his opinion.

Below is a transcript of the comments threadon his original article.

I will go with 'anonymous April 15 2012' let’s face it Africa needs more and more rich men and just a wee bit of philanthropy. Whereas we might allude to the fact that Bill Gates through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation makes handsome donations to the African causes, does he really give back to the African continent and its people. Let’s do a little fact checker.



#1 Africa provides a very small percentage of Microsoft's global profits. #2 Microsoft is primarily a Software business, so no African Earth or African Village could, nor a single stone turned in the creation of a single Microsoft product.



Question? Does Microsoft or Bill Gates owe Africa, a dime or a thing?

In my humble opinion he does not. His is just a generous man who constantly chooses to identify with causes that are further apart from his world like heaven and earth.



The fact of the matter is that men and women in Africa's rich list have created empires in murky and feeble micro-economic and political environments.



What we need in Africa is not philanthropy but rather an evening out of the economic opportunities to all. The rule and equity of law is much more paramount than a few billionaires sharing some paltry fortunes with the poor.



Let us face Africa's men in the rich list create Value; Merali creates value in the Manufacturing business, he turns raw materials (none of which could have been useful to the African people) into things like Iron sheets, he employs a sizable number of employees, he contributes massively to the tax pool, Mike Adenuga creates value in the telecommunications business, his Glo provides competition to foreign telecommunication companies in Africa.



Let’s not chide our big men for giving more. Let’s chide ourselves for allowing our governments to continually enfeeble our capacities. Let us pinch ourselves for not being vigilant enough, for allowing corruption to incapacitate the ease of doing business in Africa.

While I acquiesce that opinions and comments on random blogs does not in any sense make me an authority on matters of business in Africa, I for once believe it is time Africa’s dependency syndrome was cured, dependency on; the billionaire philanthropist, on the celebrity activist, on the foreign donor organization or on our own governments.

 

[you're NOT "n!ggas"]

i watched a ted talk about this same issue just last week.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfobLjsj230"]Andrew Mwenda: Let's take a new look at African aid - YouTube[/ame]

very dope and informative

 

[SumBlackguyz]

black dollars need to stay within the black community. i agree 100%, friend. we need to invest in ourselves before we expect someone else to

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

We are already built on trade just that its raw goods which are taken for ridiculously cheap elsewhere... if Africa manufactured/processed then traded its resources they would be the most self sustained continent in the world. Everything we need is in the continent thus the reason why they discouraged that kind of industry post colonialism.

 

[Mr Uncle Leroy]

a lot of them are kkoons, they need to know its a game to keep them down

you can be bill gates, koon

 

[theworldismine13]

Snouts in the aid trough! The armies of money-grabbing consultants growing rich off Britain's ballooning foreign aid budget | Mail Online

 

[The Real]

African self-reliance is extremely important, but it's not philanthropy in general that's the problem, but how it's done. If it were used to invest in things that would actually stimulate the economy and provide long-term growth the effects would be better, not to mention if it weren't derailed by massive amounts of corruption on both sides. It shouldn't be used as a band-aid, but to actually help empower Africans to develop their own means.

 

[OsO]

Let us face Africa's men in the rich list create Value; Merali creates value in the Manufacturing business, he turns raw materials (none of which could have been useful to the African people) into things like Iron sheets...

manufacturing as a source of economic power has been working since time began

We are already built on trade just that its raw goods which are taken for ridiculously cheap elsewhere... if Africa manufactured/processed then traded its resources they would be the most self sustained continent in the world. Everything we need is in the continent thus the reason why they discouraged that kind of industry post colonialism.

 

[theworldismine13]

African self-reliance is extremely important, but it's not philanthropy in general that's the problem, but how it's done. If it were used to invest in things that would actually stimulate the economy and provide long-term growth the effects would be better, not to mention if it weren't derailed by massive amounts of corruption on both sides. It shouldn't be used as a band-aid, but to actually help empower Africans to develop their own means.

Philanthropy can't be anything other than a band aid, the only thing that can develop Africa are investments and by participation in the capital markets, philanthropy is pretty much irrelevant as far as development, what nation has ever developed through philanthropy?

 

[MrPentatonic]

Gonna have to look at western subsidies and cut protectionism if you want to talk about trade.
That's why these countries have no problem giving aid because its cheaper and politically easier to do than cut subsidies to farmers and other industries that have a hold on govt. etc.

 

[theworldismine13]

Gonna have to look at western subsidies and cut protectionism if you want to talk about trade.
That's why these countries have no problem giving aid because its cheaper and politically easier to do than cut subsidies to farmers and other industries that have a hold on govt. etc.

i think thats an issue, but its more important for african countries to bring down trade barriers amongst themselves and start trading within africa

 

[The Real]

Philanthropy can't be anything other than a band aid, the only thing that can develop Africa are investments and by participation in the capital markets, philanthropy is pretty much irrelevant as far as development, what nation has ever developed through philanthropy?

Your definition of philanthropy seems to be unnecessarily narrow. Most philanthropic efforts now aren't particularly efficient, but they don't exhaust what philanthropy is. Yes, investment can be philanthropic, too.

 

[theworldismine13]

Your definition of philanthropy seems to be unnecessarily narrow. Most philanthropic efforts now aren't particularly efficient, but they don't exhaust what philanthropy is. Yes, investment can be philanthropic, too.

no it cant, the idea that investment can be philanthropic is a a very recent idea, its just buzz words like social investing, sustainable investments etc etc

but none of its real or has been shown to work

fundamentally it comes down to real investment (people risking their money to make more money) and capital markets

 

[The Real]

no it cant, the idea that investment can be philanthropic is a a very recent idea, its just buzz words like social investing, sustainable investments etc etc

but none of its real or has been shown to work

Not only is this vague and general, it's completely untrue. The origins of philanthropy as a modern word and practice has much more to do with investment than simple handouts.

 

[theworldismine13]

Not only is this vague and general, it's completely untrue. The origins of philanthropy as a modern word and practice has much more to do with investment than simple handouts.

i dont see how that can be, philanthropy is giving money without wanting anything back, investment is when you give money to make money back

in the past few years there has been a movement for socially conscious investing, which is fine, but that movement is tiny and irrelevant compared to the overall global capital markets

but as far as i know there isnt any nation on earth that has become successful based on philanthropy, all successful nations did it by investments