AGENDA 1.
Competitive Advantage
8. Mapping Resources
2. The power of Economics
9. Cultural Framework
3. Market Opportunity
10. Business Development Strategies
4. Market performance
11. Economic Growth Factors
5. Trade Flow Charts
12. Unique position of the African Diaspora
6. US Africa Summit
13. Financing Development
7. US CariCom Summit
Highlights
AV provides research and analysis on Global African Intelligence. This presentation provides an overview of Investment Opportunity Cost and Economic performance.
Global presence does not automatically ensure competitive advantage, otherwise African worldwide presence would have easily yielded the culture based wealth which provides the necessary financial capital and the political economic edge enjoyed by other cultures around the world. Some cultures have been able to take the advantage of their perceived competitive edge, and used it effectively to established progressive markets virtually everywhere possible. My task today is to share a vision of how we might accomplish this together. Up till today, we have witnessed multinational corporations integrated into many countries across continents. Their presence in other countries will continue to change people’s thinking and consumption habits. Multinational corporations usually have specific origins, to which they must always remain loyal; along with their products and finances, their underlying ideas and cultures must circulate freely to ensure the sustainability of the established economic relations. Since culture is a way of life, all specialized products and services reflect particular cultural identities, and each global product contributes to the wealth of a particular culture or nation. A good example of multinational corporation with inconspicuous global presence can be found the Automobile where by GM and Ford are known to be American, Hyundai is Korean, Tata is Indian, VW, BMW, Mercedes are German, Volvo is Swedish, Mitsubishi, Toyota are Japanese, Fiat is Italian, Lada is Russian, Citroen is French and Range Rover and Rolls Royce are British. Similar cultural identity can be found in technology, be it in Computer, audio systems, refrigeration, televisions, and so on. Good examples of specialized banking can be found in Banking and Finance namely IMF, World Bank, ADB, and The Caribbean Development Bank etc. One other area worth mentioning is the media entertainment sector where cultural institutions such as Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood, Ghollywood, Riverwood and so on. This type of attunement, if deliberate from the onset and properly organized can help tap into its natural and instinctive resources with the effort to contribute to the collective conveyance of African values and eventually lead to the creation of necessary financial wealth which constitute what can be described as economic power. Turning global presence into global competitive advantage requires a culture to consciously match its value creation potential with the opportunities generated by its predisposed global relationship and presence. This means that if globalization is indeed a relationship economy, there is no reason not to think of the possibility of a new global African economic relationship initiative driven by culture and technology because culture is what we already have in abundance and technology makes it possible to organize information, create efficient communication, production, distribution, risk assessment, and monetization effectively on global basis. Africa and the Caribbean are linked together by their origins; therefore the condition of being related provides a great opportunity for economic trade relations, which can also serve as the necessary means to reconnect as well as strengthen the ties between Africa and its Diaspora. Diasporic transnational identities and social structure—coupled with the increasing ease of cross-border capital and investment movement—have given rise to a special case of international ethnic entrepreneurial behavior: This presentation is designed to help identify opportunities and suggests framework for analysis and actions necessary to create global African competitive advantage.
In order to explain the role and what I would herewith describe as the African opportunity, we need to explore the dynamics of world economy through cultural lenses, not only national perspectives. My goal is to provide understanding and insights into how a true and lasting economic improvement within Africa and the Caribbean can be achieved by reorganizing the existing complacent global trade relations. Note that not all trade relations are complacent; there are certain trade relationships with well-established integrity and have brought about beneficial political policies, technology advancement , and regulatory frameworks. Great Economists know that the power of economics is underrated. Economics is by virtue the most powerful stem of all social existence. Religion, politics, war, as well as academic pursuit and professionalism are all adaptive virtues of interconnected roles within the economy system. Economics is therefore the underlying framework of the symbiotic relationship system between a unit, a society and the environment. It takes a specific a mindset to understand the full power of economics as a principle for natural order of unitary potential and social identities within the universal ecosystem. If we understand the critical impact that the nature of people’s relations has on the economy, we will understand how to use economics as tool of a common group identity with common purpose of healing to which wealth creation is key. An economic power is generated when the economic and financial system of a common identity (based on the condition of being related) are able to adapt themselves to the global-integral world, in which economic ties cross borders and firms, in which people depend on one another and affect one another, with a conscious goal for sustainable wealth creation and the stability. Nonetheless, to people of African descent, the reality of economic crisis has been within us and in the relationships between us the rest of the world since the false and fictitious denigrating picture and narrative about Africans was constructed and cultivated for many years through various elements of slavery and colonialism. Thus, our depiction is of a people that are economically powerless and culturally weak while the narrative reflects distorted interconnections, manipulations, and false values. However, people have begun to understand that in an economy based on lies, speculation, manipulation and mistrust is unsustainable. In a sense, the current crisis offers us an opportunity to examine the nature of our relations and to change it so it fits what is required of the global world and the necessary interdependence among its parts. Such harmony and congruence will necessarily create a different economy, optimistic, balanced, and stable. A good example of this type of positive change can be seen in the normalization of the US_-Cuba diplomatic relationship after several decades of embargo that we know today have been senseless. Nature works in harmony and balance, and now it is up to us to change our thinking and behavior, our relationships, and as a result, our common plight, including the current weak sociocultural economic system to become balanced and harmonious like Nature. Behavioral economics describes the nature and power of human relations, their collaborations, and shows the extent to which tendencies and fundamental perception of human economics rely on values of mutuality. I believe that since the distorted desire and anxiety for economic survival is what created slavery and colonization of the indigenous people, therefore the new paradigm must rise one level higher and correct the problem created by the perversion; hence the solution would be normalizing natural human relations and connections at the economic level. If we understand the critical impact that the nature of people’s relations has on the economy, we will understand the kind of economic system that we must build in order for it to carry out its roles effectively and maintain its stability. Yet, not only must the economic focus change, the economic and financial systems being the reflections of human relations, the entire international community (United Nations, State governments, and other authoritative economic and financial Institutions) is required to support that solution that rearrange the system of human relations. When the economic relationship between African and African Diaspora in the Caribbean and North America begins to change toward bonding, unity, social cohesion, care for others, and mutual guarantee, we will all begin to see positive socio cultural paradigm improving accordingly.
Doing business in uncharted territories requires in-depth research and analysis. Market research allows us to discover the potentials and weaknesses of target market. Credit rating is an important part of market research, and Caricris offers both private companies and sovereign ratings. They can be found on C a r i c r i s . c o m . The CariCom offers the CARICOM Statistics Regional Database which provide free trading information as well as locally sourced demographic statistics and indicators. They can be found on caricomstats.org. The world bank provides extensive data driven publication called “Doing Business’ reports. The reports show scalable comparative analysis between economies with indicators measuring the strength of legal institutions, the complexity and cost of regulatory processes, as well as other relevant analytics. doingbusiness.org. Note that the world bank provides other social demographic data including purchasing power parity (PPP). In its latest Doing Business publication, it reported that Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 5 of the 10 top improvers in 2013/14. The region also accounts for the largest number of regulatory reforms making it easier to do business in the past year—75 of the 230 worldwide.
Many local firms provide Risk assessment information on Africa. NOIPolls is one of the country-specific polling services in the West African region. They provide research and relevant data on public opinion and consumer markets on a range of topics (noipolls.com). The African Development Bank (AfDB) provides sovereign social and market performance data on its website: afdb.org. . Through all of these analyses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of a company can be identified.
While most foreign investment targets the populous and more developed countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, there are opportunities for doing business throughout the continent. A closer market study reveal the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry
african-markets.com “2015 is a critical year in charting the development future of Africa – the continent that still has the greatest development needs, and the continent that presents the greatest opportunity – for itself and for the world.“ Donald Kaberuka, AfDB President
While most foreign investment targets the populous and more developed countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, there are opportunities for doing business throughout the continent. A closer market study reveal the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. Through all of these analyses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of a company can be identified.
While most foreign investment targets the populous and more developed countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, there are opportunities for doing business throughout the continent. A closer market study reveal the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. Through all of these analyses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of a company can be identified.
Presidential Policy Directive for sub-Saharan Africa under the Obama administration signals importance and interest the U.S. places on Africa and its willingness to partner with the continent. In order to crystalize the vision, enhance the US-Africa relationships and further strengthen ties with one of the world’s most dynamic and fast-growing regions, the White House has invited the African Union Chairperson and 50 Heads of State and Government from Africa to the first ever historical US-Africa Summit on August 4-6, 2014. Presidents and Prime ministers and over 500 Chief Executive officers of top companies in Africa attended the summit in Washington DC, where they engaged with President Obama, his Cabinet, and other key leaders, including business executives from across the U.S., members of Congress, and members of civil society. Over 500 members of the press were present to cover the event, which was deemed beneficial, effective and well-thought engagement, informative and exchanges of sound knowledge on the state of the relationship, the priority areas that need special attention and the way forward for mutually beneficial US-Africa relations. African countries and U.S. government officials as well as over 1000 business leaders, 1000, shared opinions, and announced billions in public and private sector commitments to enhance trade, investment and security across Africa. Two key highlights of the summit were 1) the AGOA Forum, where Obama administration officials outlined the government’s comprehensive strategy for extending and updating the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and 2) the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, where more than $33 billion in business deals were struck between African and U.S. government and business leaders.
As part of that $33 billion, $12 billion in new funding was committed to the Power Africa Initiative, bringing the total funding for the program to $26 billion. With these new commitments, the Power Africa Initiative will electrify an estimated 60 million households and businesses, nearly tripling its original target. Approximately $5 billion of total Power Africa funding will come from the World Bank, which will begin issuing low-interest credit and loan guarantees to the six Power Africa partner countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania) by the end of the year. In addition, the other $14 billion announced in private-sector deals were related to aviation, banking, infrastructure and clean, renewable energy development. For instance, Coca-Cola Co. pledged an additional $5 billion in investment to Africa so that its total investments on the continent will reach $17 billion by the end of the decade; General Electric Co. committed $2 billion and plans to double its African workforce by 2018; and Proctor and Gamble announced $300 million toward a new manufacturing plant in Lagos, Nigeria. President Obama also announced $7 billion in new financing to facilitate U.S.-Africa trade and investment under the Doing Business in Africa (DBIA) Campaign and signed an executive order to establish an advisory council to advance and shape the approach of the DBIA campaign. Furthermore, under the theme of “Investing in the Next Generation,� African leaders announced new initiatives or shared stories of ongoing strategies for promoting economic and leadership opportunities among the youth in their countries. For example, Burkina Faso introduced its new project on youth investment that aims to place 46,800 young men and women in sustainable jobs, while Tanzania committed to implementing a "State House Fellows" program that will train and provide hands-on social and economic development experiences to young Tanzanian leaders.
During the U.S.-CARICOM Summit in Kingston, Jamaica in April 2015, President Obama reaffirmed the importance of U.S. relationship with the Caribbean region, and the United States’ commitment to partner with Caribbean countries in advancing economic development, security, and good governance. Leaders discussed a broad range of issues, from important trade and investment linkages to security cooperation. The leaders’ discussion focused on the importance of improving energy security, reducing energy costs, and fighting climate change. The Summit outcome included US commitment to the following: • launch a $20 million facility to encourage investment in clean energy projects; • partner with Caribbean and Central American countries in a task force to evaluate progress in our cooperation and identify concrete steps to advance energy sector reform, regional integration, and clean energy development. • advance development of the Caribbean renewable energy sector. advance our shared interest in sustainable energy • support projects to improve energy and water efficiency as well as the exchange of best practices in the hotel and tourism industry. The Carioca– US summit was a segment of the Organization of American States Seventh Summit of the Americas that took place from April 10- 12, 2015. The summit was historic because of Cuba’s presence for the first time and the US took Cuba off its terrorist list, heeding the call to end its trade embargo on Cuba which was echoed during the Cuba-Caricom Summit of 15 Caribbean nations in Havana.
AFRICA – CARICOM SUMMIT The administration of president Barack Obama has brought a lot of fresh thinking to global political atmosphere, especially in untangling the complex knots of bilateral diplomacy and territorialism. It has also, perhaps unintentionally, through the Africa and Caricom summits showed the way forward in how to bridge the gap between Africa and Diaspora. In 1975, Professor Adebayo Adedeji dabbled with the idea already during the International Conference on Perspectives in Afro German Relations where he presented a lecture under the umbrella topic of the role of Africa in the world economy that took place in Berlin. He spoke on the need for development policy to unleash new perspectives in international cooperation for economic and social change. He argued that never before in history of mankind have nations and peoples of the world become so conscious of their inter-dependence. “ An analysis of events of the recent past reveals an ever-escalating evolution of the concept of international responsibility and interdependence from rather abstract idea to one of practical necessity.” It is more important now, more than ever, for nations with common challenges and common heritage to come together to analyze and understand that their future is inextricable bonded to their awareness of their interdependence and synergy to alleviate their plights. The African Union Member States and the CariCom Member States owe it to their respective subjects to participate in the decision making procedures for normalizing international economic relations on the bases which are realistic, just, and equitable. Establishment of international economic policy and charter for economic rights and empowerment are duties of the State. The whole argument for adopting this proposed Summit is based on the single fact that trade is the ultimate growth engine, therefore nations and peoples who want to grow must come together. The imagined and proposed Africa –Caricom summit will become a panacea for many historical, current, \and future challenges and is the single most reliable master key to unlocking the future of prosperity and health for Africa and Africans in Diaspora. Therefore, no movement is more important that working towards mobilization and encouragement of the council of ministers, heads of government, leaders in business, leaders in professional various fields, and leaders in academic disciplines in Africa and Caribbean Community must be part of the Summit! This idea is supported by many African economists, including Professor Mbaya Kankwenda, a Congolese Economist who worked for the UN and Professor Ali Mazrui who taught African history in the US. The summit must be inclusive of leaders and representatives of any country or city where at least 10% of its total population consist of people of African descent. The summit will facilitate communication between governments, citizens, stakeholders and interest groups, and businesses regarding forging a closer link between governments and civil society in Africa and Diaspora as well as create a unique opportunity for synergy of ideas and ensure that a variety of perspectives and consensus on development strategies, efficient frontiers, demand driven delivery of services and economic career s and job development, produce better informed political decision-making, and to align the distribution of benefits and costs with the needs and aspirations of the community – as well as ensuring that social and cultural factors receive equal weight. I am convinced that this Africa-Caricom Summit is the next logical and rational sequence in the natural hierarchy of priorities of needs. This would be a move towards healing, reconciliation, and growth for a marginalized group such as the Africans in Africa and those in multicultural societies in many nations around the world.
Linking Human Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Passion as Vital Resources Good governance is seen as a prerequisite of development: the political system should be stable; laws must be clearly promulgated and enforced so that contractual agreements will be honored; and government officials should not be corrupt or inefficient. Moreover, land should be available at a fair rate for business opportunities; foreign investment should be encouraged; and the bureaucratic procedures for applying for a business permit should not be too onerous. All of these are considered as the preconditions for economic growth. However, they are not predisposed to any societal system. They have to be cultivated, established and nurtured by people. African’s greatest asset is its people. Until this is understood, practiced, and respected -development will remain a challenge. While government policy would help create the conditions for economic growth at the macro level, those conditions alone would not be sufficient without the endorsement of the people at the micro level. Because, in the end, it was people and the values they had absorbed over the years, not those preconditions that will made the difference. From the onset, a government has to decide what type of economy they want to promote. The government must decide the purpose of its economic system, whether it is based solely on capital creation (risk – reward) or as a social responsibility - reward. It is important to understand that all forms of government are shaped by the economic interest of the majority of people in the society. Individual interests vary in the extent to which they are passionate, motivated, educated and have the capacity or ability to recognize the opportunity available to them. It is foremost a duty of the government to conduct population census and use the data collected to study and analyze the characteristics of its population; not only from the perspectives of basic demographic needs but also to know and assess the existing capacity, potential of its population. Only then, can the government see its people as vital resources for sovereign development. Once this is understood, the government can begin to channel valuable traits such as passion, education, experiences, concerns, ambitions, visions, and desires of its entire population, with the help of additional vital demographic statistics – towards using its human capital as vital resources for economic growth, or for identifying important areas for improvements, as well as setting up the condition for growth in certain area of career development to meet analyzed future challenges and so on. The knowledge of population dynamics, population economic potential and population politics puts an enormous power in the hands of the government and provides an enormous benefit to the citizen at the same time, as well as keeping both government and citizens connected and engaged. When a government shows sincere care for its people, the people are encouraged and motivated, and when the right conditions for government support are properly in place, the people will support government initiative as well as increase their own confidence, solidarity and patriotism. A good example of this phenomenon can be observed with the growth of China. The recent growth in China was foreseeable. The government of China has a good understanding of its population dynamics and potential. China understood what it could achieve in the world if the conditions were right. The government was determined, made tough policies, and provided structural program that help set not just China as country but also unleashed a wealth effect for many people of Chinese descent elsewhere. Ethnic Chinese in the Philippines accounts for less than two percent of the population, yet manage to control 60% of the nation's private economy, including the country's four major airlines and almost all the country's banks, hotels and shopping malls. But it's not just in the Philippines that Chinese ethnic minorities have made their mark. They have come to dominate business in other parts of Southeast Asia as well-especially Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia. Even closer to home, Chinese have distinguished themselves in the Solomon’s, Tonga, and in Majuro, triggering occasional reactions from the local populations. So, in the end, it was people and the values of reciprocity that they have built into their political system that determines the effect of culture strength on Economic Outcomes. The wealth of their culture, which will continue to serve them well wherever they go for a long time. It is a long process, but the opportunity cost for not investing in human capital, or not wisely channeling the passion of people in a society is too high for any nation to bear. It is better to start!
Mapping Cultural Economic Resources
There is growing understanding that cultural vitality is critical to prosperous and sustainable local economies and communities. Just as municipalities identify and map other valued community resources and integrate them into their plans, Cultural Resource Mapping enables cultural resources to be identified and integrated into municipal planning and decision-making. This is essentially a database system.
Unleashing Social Economy through Culture and Community Resource Mapping
African Views plays a role as a member of the global civil society, specifically in mapping strengths identifying key necessary partnerships and connecting them to transform communities into a culture of trust.
Economic strength generated from the relationship between culture and the community is termed social economy. This is usually based on a joint effort , mutual benevolent relationship between the civil society, the government, and entrepreneurs. This economic model serve alternative but holistic approach to meet the more common career, services, or products "needs" or "deficit“ with local resources or local partnership. The key point is that the economic interests are driven by filling an existing gap or meeting the most essential need of the community. A good example of this type of economic system can be found here in Trinidad. The Emancipation Support Committee’s Emancipation Village which provides a convention for exhibiting African cultural merchandize from all over the world among other relevant things during the festival provides an outlet for merchants, as well as a opportunity for local and international consumers providing not only an essential market channel for culture and creative passion, but also national cultural pride and tourist attractions. Everyone benefits. The government, the private sector, and the people. The key point there is that a market has been created which can be a useful tool to inform decisions and better communicate with the public for a range of constituencies. And it needs to be sustained with ease, thereby requiring more support from policy makers and other beneficiaries. I must also commend the government of Trinidad and Tobago for having the vision to suggest that all free lancers with any kinds of creative passion, be it arts, music, photographers, etc. should be registered in a national database. A broad set of cultural information can help any nation to understand its population and better plan and focus their efforts.
Business Development Cultural Resource Framework The Cultural Resource Framework identifies a broad set of assets in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors that are understood as being cultural resources and lays out the taxonomy for a Cultural Resource Database. Nonetheless, a community resource and need database must first be established as prerequisite for establishing or developing the cultural resource mapping database. Using the Maslow theory on the hierarchy of human needs, we can arrive at a consensus of community needs (we can observe these basic community needs on the next slide). Specifically, the resource mapping process can help a community gain in-depth information to community resource including its cultural resources. It can also help identify gaps in the demand and supply of services and needs. This provides a great opportunity for business development. One should be careful and weary of Laissez-faire, which essentially is a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without regulatory interference. Because society can become vulnerable hostage to a corporation that has grown powerful and too big to fail therefore has the ability, interest, and the capacity to fix market prices and distort the expected quality of services and products. Such an entity could essentially distort the rate of employment and thereby effectuating the natural cause of national output and gross national income. Personal gain can be earned as deserved without the burden of such earning carried by the unassuming consumers. Therefore, business development requires foremost the condition set my the government’s economic principles, which we hope is based on the population dynamics, that is its cultural nature, need, or advantage. Let’s now take a closer look at each category in the Cultural Resource Framework and what type of business opportunity they offer: Cultural Industries: businesses and non-profit groups involved in the creation, production, manufacturing and distribution of cultural goods or services. It includes everything from theatre costume making to creative software design. For example, industry data could tell you how many people are employed by a museum, and this would include everyone from the curator to the parking attendant. Cultural Occupations: the labor force aspect of cultural industries. It describes employment in the various jobs that people perform as cultural workers. For example, occupation data could tell you how many graphic designers are employed in your community, whether they are employed by a museum or a hospital. Community Cultural Organizations: organizations that represent arts, heritage and ethno-cultural interests in the community. These are usually non-profits and can include arts and heritage advisory committees, ethno-cultural associations, local arts councils, dance schools and library boards. Cultural Facilities & Spaces: buildings and sites that host cultural activity. These can include spaces in the public, private and non-profit sectors, and include everything from purpose-built facilities, to facilities that include cultural programming. Natural Heritage: natural wonders and areas of environmental and cultural significance. These can include municipal parks, conservation areas and botanical gardens. Cultural Heritage: the management and exhibition of objects, buildings and sites of historical, cultural and educational value. These can include everything from pioneer villages to public art and archive collections. Cultural Events & Festivals: festivals and events in your community. These can include performing arts events, tours of culturally significant places, seasonal celebrations, and many others. Intangible Culture: These are assets that are not necessarily manifest in physical form. They include stories and legends, shared beliefs, customs and rituals, as well as digital cultural expression.
Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Fundamental Human Needs Basis for services and product demand
Self Actualization
Identity
Retirement
SECTORS: PUBLIC SECTOR Financial Institutions
Academic Institutions
Career Development
Cultural Institutions
PRIVATE SECTOR INDEPENDENT SECTOR ACADEMIC SECTOR
Museums and Library
Parks and Recreation
Place of Worship & Community
Schools
Family
SOCIAL SECTOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY BENEFICIARIES
Public Safety
Nutrition Markets
Information and Media
Real Estate (Shelter)
Employment
Rule of Law Governance
Water System
Electricity and Gas
Waste Management
Security
Transport
Communica tion
Emergency Response Systems
This illustration sets the framework within which products and services are formed and placed to satisfy a category of needs in marketing as well as advertising.
Health systems
Key Contributing factors to African Economic Growth Economists and investment analysts have forecasted that Africa’s economy will continue to grow faster than the economies of every other continent, and about one-third of Africa’s 54 nations currently have a yearly gain in gross domestic product of more than 6 percent. Africa possesses all the ingredients to be the planet’s dominant economic engine for decades, perhaps the entire 21st century, according to demographers, economists and industrial and agricultural experts. Those ingredients are already lifting a continent once ignored by all but novelists and revolutionaries into the big leagues of global economic dynamism. The Harvard Business Review cited among the contributing factors are: Cities are growing: By 2030, half of all Africans are expected to be living in cities. Africa’s middle class is larger than India’s. Africa has 52 cities with at least one million people, the same number Europe has. Stability: Government are becoming stable; Coups are declining and market forces, which the continent is progressively embracing, are tamping down inflation and cutting sovereign debt. Foreign Direct Investment: Global bond traders are increasingly buying up African government bonds for their high yields and relatively strong ratings. African mutual funds and other financial instruments is becoming the new global trend. Several financial firms in Arica, the US as well as in Europe offer African stocks, mutual funds and bonds. The world is no longer afraid of “social economy”. Commodity market is being developed and stock exchanges are becoming more efficient and reliable part of the financial system. “Once there wasn’t a counterparty to bankroll socialist agendas. Trade. An increasing number of countries are embracing free-market ideology. Intra-African trade is bound to increase from just 11 percent of the continent’s trade occurring inside its own borders; there are five identifiable, active and growing trade blocs People. Population growth will boost Africa’s Workforce. Education. African governments are paying close attention to education and we have seen improvement in primary, secondary and tertiary education enrolment and graduates. Technology and Communication: Smartphones use is exploding. The mobile industry is penetrating other sectors such as health and media. Electricity and Broadband: Power Africa project is ongoing and plans to provide stable electricity to sub-Saharan Africa. This will change all aspect of human performance and efficacy for the continent. The pattern of development policy-making in each country is peculiar to that country, but the laws of development are general and comprehensive. Therefore the transfer of technology will be effective in the progress and transformation of old communities and cultures to embrace new social and cultural conditions when no treat exists. Farmland. While awareness that Africa holds vast amounts of oil, gold, platinum and numerous industrial metals is widespread, it is little known that Africa holds 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated cropland. Latin America has 300 million hectares (741 million acres) of uncultivated cropland; Africa has 590 hectares (1.46 billion acres) of uncultivated cropland. Only 24 percent of the continent’s growth from 2000-2008 came from mineral and petroleum extraction, but that 24 percent is drawing huge investments. Petroleum discoveries in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda alone are expected to attract tens of billions of dollars in foreign direct investment. New markets and Market reforms: Africa will continue to develop new markets, especially along the lines of historic and cultural change, It has been foretold that two key game changer in African economy are: 1. install museums in every city, town, villages and separate the old city from the new; 2. provide and implement a comprehensive plan for gender equity, protection and advancement of women.
African Diaspora as Institutional Change Agents in Africa and Caribbean African Diaspora and Diasporans Africans who are emigrants and their descendants who maintain a relationship to their country of origin (continue to establish new ventures in their countries of origin comprise a special case of international ethnic entrepreneurship. From the countries of settlement, Diasporans are confronting and demanding efficiency from institutional environments in their countries of origin. They are by doing so bringing progress to the way public and private businesses are conducted in their countries of origin. Successes achieved by some are already inspiring only no diaspora entrepreneurs but also locals in their countries of origins to generate dramatic change in society’s role expectations of the government, suppliers, and buyers. The influential power of the diaspora is not just structural alone, but also provides powerful financial resources through its remittances. The combined remittances between Africa and Caribbean amounts approximately to about 35 billion dollars a year; with 26 billion going to the continent and 9 billion flowing to the Caricom from the US alone. Diaspora Africans also engage in regular development and charitable projects in Africa. The recent Ebola crises moved the world to provided a combined individual, institutional and national charitable donation of almost 10 billion dollars towards combating the Ebola epidemics that ravaged parts of Africa in 2014. Unfortunately much of that fund would go to foreign health organization doing research on infectious diseases in Africa. Nonetheless, a good example of how the Diaspora influence development in countries of origin is when a group of African activists, scientists and academics pulled together to advocate for the establishment of a comprehensive African health institute. Involved government has agreed to build Center for disease control. African Diaspora has many ideas that are great for development in their countries of origin. Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan, an African immigrant in the United States, invented a new portable rapid infectious diseases diagnostic system that addresses the need for speedy detection and identification of pathogens and for containing the spread of infectious diseases in both developing and developed countries, which is a significant breakthrough in the global fight against infectious diseases including Ebola from becoming epidemic. Although Dr. Nyan’s invention is simple to use, portable, high quality, and affordable than its competitors and necessary in the health care systems industry – he struggles still in bringing this product to the market. This once again is due inpart to the absence of adequate strategy financial infrastructure to invest wisely. A group of African Diaspora from the Caribbean and from Africa, realizing that this problem poses avoidable obstacle to their advancement and development decided to do something about it, by setting up an African Diaspora Credit Union.
Leveraging Diaspora Asset for Financing Development As much as $100 billion, or more, could be raised annually by developing countries via: Mobilizing diaspora savings Reducing remittance costs Reducing migrant recruitment costs Mobilizing philanthropic contributions from the diaspora Remittances can be further leveraged for development financing via: • Future-flow securitization of remittances • Enhancing sovereign credit ratings • Linking remittances to financial savings and insurance. There are few options to leverage financing for development from the Diaspora. Many Diasporans save a significant part of their income in destination countries. New estimates suggest that the annual savings of combined people of African descents in Diaspora from developing countries and amounted to $500 billion and spending power of $1.2 trillion. A large part of their savings is held in bank deposits. The Chief Economist Complex of the African Development Bank Group argues that tapping migration wealth could be an effective means of funding development on the continent. With an estimated 140 million Africans living outside the continent, saving up to an estimated $53 billion in those destination countries each year, the potential for diaspora bonds is enormous. There is also the Diaspora mutual funds. The credit union is quite attractive because of its simplicity and risk shock absorbent component. Credit Union are also non profit financial institution whose members pool their resources as shareholders to make personalized financial services easily accessible for the purpose of strengthening the community. A Credit Union enables its members to participate in wealth building and wealth management opportunities that have long been a privilege to other communities. This initiative underscores the African Diaspora’s support of bold ideas to encourage savings in African Communities, as well as make the global financial system more transparent, democratically accessible and responsive to the needs of people of African Descent, especially in the areas of fostering stability, equality, growth and development. Credit unions are chartered, supervised and insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), an agency of the federal government. Additionally, not one penny of insured savings has been lost by a member of a federally insured credit union. I am convinced that every African community needs its credit union. Passage of an African Growth and Opportunity Act In the US, (which increases African access to U.S. markets, creates enterprise funds to mobilize greater American private-sector investment in Africa, increases the number of posts within key federal agencies concerned with U.S. economic policies toward Africa, creates a U.S.-Africa Economic Forum, and initiates planning for free trade agreements with African countries or groups of countries); The United Nations has established an Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing with a mandate to prepare “a report proposing options on an effective sustainable development financing strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective “to asses financing needs, consider the effectiveness, consistency and synergies of existing instruments and frameworks and evaluate additional initiatives”. A conference on Financing for Development took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 13 to 16 July 2015. The outcome of the Conference can be found on the UN site on the internet.
Highlights and Conclusion The economic relationship between Africa and the Caribbean is very important to the growth of the entire African world and needs to be taken very seriously at an urgent and critical pace. Both the AU and the Caricom need to have a special summit to address the need for improving trade relations. That too is very urgent. Government and financial corporations must act in solidarity to encourage small entrepreneur because they are essential to economic development. Since entrepreneurs are self-employed and create new businesses, they stimulate the local economy in many ways. Their new businesses create jobs that were not there before, which reduces the unemployment rate and puts more money into circulation. Producing new goods and services also helps stimulate the flow of money. These smaller businesses keep wealth distributed much better than larger corporations. Entrepreneurs, corporations, and government need the community and cultural resource mapping to help understand the population dynamics and a sense of what resources are available and what needs are in demand and or needs are necessary but missing in the community. Diaspora have various options for doing business in Africa and native Africans have various options in doing business in t Diaspora. Entrepreneurs can collaborate on many levels to achieve a mutually beneficial economic goals. Financial instrument are available to participate in the markets. Due diligence is always necessary, thorough market research can be done over the internet but should be validated by the trade section of the country’s consulate. Culture and technology along with women empowerment are trigger factor for unprecedented economic growth. Thank you!
Wale Idirs Ajibade Wale.ajibade@africanviews.org African Views Organization www.africanviews.org