Defense Africa: What is the best way to ensure the

Africa: What is the best way to ensure the continent’s post-Covid recovery?

By Alain Faujas

“WE MUST REDUCE OUR DEBT,” said Senegal’s President Macky Sall.

“We must focus on internal mobilisation that will favour African companies,” replied Tidjane Thiam, an international fi nancier.

“We must mobilise domestic revenue,” said Abebe Aemro Selassie, Africa director of the IMF.

These statements were heard at the 20th International Economic Forum on Africa (www.

oecd.org/development/africa-forum) co-organised by the

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development’s Development Centre, the African Union and Senegal on 22 February to fi nd ways to invest “for a sustainable recovery in Africa”.

These three men are trying to come up with solutions to fi nd the money that is sorely needed to deal with both the health crisis and the major economic crisis that Covid-19 has caused on the African continent. Their three solutions – out of the 15 others proposed – were deemed the most likely to succeed by the 600-odd people in attendance.

A debt-payment moratorium and special drawing rights insuffi cient for Sall

Sall brought out the big guns. Due to their eff orts to fi ght the pandemic while protecting the living standards of their citizens, African governments no longer have the money to revive their countries’ economies by relying on digital tools, energy or tourism, he said.

What about the G20 agreeing to suspend debt obligations until June 2021 or even until the end of 2021? This only amounts to a few billion dollars.

What about the creation of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)? That would give $18bn for subSaharan Africa – not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things.

That leaves the $365bn in African debt. A colossal burden, but barely 2% of the world’s debt, according to the Senegalese President. “Our countries are calling for substantial debt relief,” he said.

Tidjane Thiam supports “domestic champions”

Unlike Sall, Thiam and Abebe do not believe that the billions needed depend solely on international goodwill.

A former boss of Prudential and Credit Suisse and now the founder of an investment fund, Thiam insists on the need for African eff ort. Attracting foreign capital, without which Africa will remain on the sidelines of value-creation chains, requires that the continent supports its companies.

Thiam

African business a Monetary F

Sall

Selassie

and political leaders – from Senegal's Macky Sall and Franco-Ivorian fi nancier Tidiane Thiam to the International Fund's (IMF) Abebe Selassie – do not agree on the continent's priorities for post-Covid economic growth.

“Before betting on a country, investors look at its growth but also at its business fabric,” he said. “If they don’t see dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), they don’t come. Like Beijing in the 1980s, our governments must support the birth of domestic champions that will give international investors confi dence.”

Don’t tell him that the informal sector hinders development. “When Bill Gates founded Microsoft in a garage, it was informal!”

And don’t tell him that Africa needs more loans for SMEs. “It’s capital, not loans, that they need,” he added, before saying that he is optimistic because “a lot of money is circulating in the world.” It is possible to attract it with a “conducive” environment.

Abebe’s advice is to raise taxes and reduce subsidies

Abebe expressed a similar view – help yourself and heaven will help you – when he insisted on the need to “mobilise much more national revenue than before the crisis.”

In short, this means increasing tax levies fairly and also eliminating subsidies that are a burden on budgets and benefi t the richest in particular.

“Mobilisation” also implies developing the African middle classes and convincing them to invest in projects to complement public investment, which is being increasingly hindered by the lack of funds.

However, consent to taxation as well as the mobilisation of national savings also presupposes virtues such as good governance and transparency. They are requirements for inspiring trust, without which the billions needed for development will be unavailable. www.theafricareport.com/68369/africa-what-is-the-bestway-to-ensure-the-continents-post-covid-recovery/ Image credit: fi nancialafrik.com

From Homeless in America to Owning One of Kenya's Largest Organic Farms

By Parker Diakite

KUNGA KIHOHIA WENT TO one of the best schools in Florida, USA. He graduated, was making money, and then one day lost everything. He ended up homeless in Miami, sleeping in his car. Then a trip to Kenya would change his life.

His parents are from Kenya, but he was born and raised and spent most of his life in Florida.

He traveled to Kenya for the fi rst time at the age of 10 and stayed there for about fi ve years, where he learned his parents’ native tongue. He traveled back to the US for high school and college, where he graduated from Florida International University in Miami.

Kihohia didn’t travel to Kenya for more than 15 years once he was back in the states. After spending some time working in corporate America, he told Travel Noire in an interview that he realized he was “psychologically unemployable.”

“I was in the business-world chasing money, making a lot of money, but I was really unhappy because I had moved away from my purpose,” he said, adding that he found himself overweight and overall, unhappy.

So, Kihohia went on a journey to Kenya to fi nd himself and, ultimately, save his life.

“I started this journey of coming back to nature and coming back to my own peace, which involved coming back to Africa. The lifestyle I had gotten involved with was putting me on a path of selfdestruction.”

The trip was only supposed to last for three weeks. It took him some time to adjust, as it was his fi rst time back to Kenya in more than a decade. As he began to settle, he realized that people in Kenya were far more content despite some challenges, than people in America.

Back To Nature Organic Farm

Kihohia said he’s always been a serial entrepreneur, but Back To Nature Organic Farm grew out of his interests and passion.

“The farm is only part of a larger vision, and a larger movement called the “Back to Nature Movement.” It’s part of our philosophy and ideology that states, “the closer we are to nature, the more whole, happy, at peace and at ease we are.”

Through the organic farm and the movement, Kihohia said that his mission is to inspire, motivate and encourage Kenyans, East Africans, Africans, including those from the diaspora, to adopt a more natural holistic lifestyle approach towards maintaining or regaining health and wellness.

With a few other like-minded individuals, Kihohia decided that they wanted to control the food system as they saw a rise in diseases in Kenya, such as cancer, hypertension, and more.

“When there’s a will, there’s a way. We started learning all the components about the soil water systems, harvesting and post-harvest losses, markets, dealing with human resources, human capital […] there are so many components, but we belly-fl opped into it.” 2021 will mark the fi fth anniversary of his journey back home and back to nature. During this time, Kihohia went from obese, stressed, and homeless

to the founder of one of the largest organic farms in Kenya, where he’s happy and living life with no regrets.

“My advice to anyone looking to make a move abroad, especially to Africa, is to follow your heart. At the end of the day, this life is temporary. No one gets out alive. We all sign a contract unwittingly that no one leaves alive. It’s vital that while you have your time on this earth, to make it as signifi cant as possible, give it meaning,” said Kihohia.

To learn more about Back to Nature, visit the IG page: @backtonatureafrika and the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ BackToNatureAfrica. https://travelnoire.com/homeless-to-owning-oneof-kenyas-largest-organic-farms

Image credit: Courtesy of Kunga Kihohia, Back To Nature Organic Farm