John Mbaria writing in the The Nation asks a question that strikes at the heart of one the themes that resonated at the recently concluded TED Global.Which include: Where are our capital accumulation engines? How do we build our equivalent Tata's, Infosys's and BHP Billiton's? How can we not realize the critical importance of this and channel our energies accordingly? Instead we have vacuous summits discussing irrelevancies like a United States of Africa.
The million-dollar question is how different African countries will position their economies to benefit from not just oil royalties and taxes, but also in terms of attracting global capital to invest in industries and ventures that will create significant multiplier effects and lift millions from poverty and depravity...Africa is asleep in as far as creating modern business ventures from its resources is concerned. For instance, long before subsidiaries of multinationals came in to bottle and offer “designer” water in the market, springs and streams were regarded as a communal resource to be used by all. And until very recently, locals would merely go to the nearest forest to collect as much fuel wood as their backs could carry.
And although some communities used wildlife for protein while others had long traded in ivory, many in Kenya had not learnt to commercialize its “aesthetic” value. But as Africa sleeps, American, European and Asian companies have based “roaring” businesses on its resources. With a history of innovation, better resource exploitation technology and the ability to strike very lucrative deals with the local elite, such capital is moving fast and furious, and might eventually root out what remains of Africa’s social system of yester years.
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