The USAF Index: A Reader’s Guide & FAQ

The Ultimate “On-the-Move” Reference Tool for African Political Economy

This index was built to serve as an instant, “go-to” reference tool for intellectuals, investors, and content creators on the move. Whether you are in the middle of drafting a social media post and need to verify a quick macroeconomic metric, sourcing concrete data points for a presentation, looking up a specific country case study, or hunting down the exact name of a historical chartered company, this index eliminates the friction of endless scrolling.

By mapping the entire intellectual landscape of The Economic Blueprint into precise, deep-linked entries, you can instantly find and share empirical facts on Africa’s development. From specific policy architecture examples—such as Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Zones for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDEs)—to micro-level trade data, this index offers a comprehensive, organized approach to dismantling institutional myths and uncovering the real mechanics of African free markets.

1. How is the Index Organized?

Unlike standard indexes that only link to a broad article, our index utilizes Sectional Deep-Links. Every single entry connects you directly to the exact sub-heading within an article where that specific idea is argued.

The index categorizes entries using three distinct tags to help you identify what you are clicking on:

• [Economic Concept / Metric] – Focuses on theoretical models, financial instruments, and data points (e.g., Eurobonds, Capital Flight, Tax Base Erosion).

• [Historical Actor / Parallel] – Connects modern structural issues to historical precedents (e.g., The Dark Ages, Chartered Companies).

• [Philosophical Foundation] – Explores the core ideas of thinkers who shaped economic theory (e.g., Aristotle, Plato, Say, Keynes).

2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: I am looking for specific data on debt and inflation. Where should I start?

Look for the [Fiscal Metric] or [Macrofinance Instrument] tags in the index. If you want to understand the exact mechanics of Africa’s current liquidity pressures, go to B for Bonds (Sovereign Eurobonds) or S for Sovereign Debt Default Vectors. These sections break down the line-item data on how foreign-denominated debt cycles impact local currencies.

Q: The articles mention “NEKS” frequently. What does this mean?

NEKS is a proprietary economic grouping used throughout our blueprints. It stands for Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa—the four primary economic engines driving continental output. In the index under N, you will find a dedicated entry: NEKS Geopolitical Bloc, which links directly to a deep comparative audit of these four markets.

Q: How do I look up specific historical figures or intellectual debates?

If you want to understand the core intellectual clash behind state planning vs. free enterprise, look up the names of the thinkers themselves. For example:

• Under P, click on Plato’s Central Planning Blueprint to see why top-down economics consistently fails.

• Under A, click on Aristotle’s Politics to read about the classical defense of private property rights.

• Under S, click on Say’s Law of Markets to understand why production must always precede consumption.

Q: What is the difference between a “Charter City” and a “Chartered Company” in the index? They sound similar.

This is a critical distinction in our economic framework!

• The Chartered Company (under C) is a historical concept. It links to sections explaining how colonial-era private monopolies (like the British South Africa Company) were set up as centralized extraction units.

• Charter Cities (under C) is a modern, forward-looking architecture. It links to sections explaining how independent, privately run municipal jurisdictions can be used today to bypass broken federal bureaucracies and attract global capital.

Q: I am an entrepreneur/investor. How can I use the index to identify market opportunities?

Navigate to the regional audits and architectural framework sections under C, M, and N. To spot actionable structural opportunities, look for entries on Charter Cities Framework / Private Cities, where competitive, autonomous legal jurisdictions are being designed to attract global capital. Additionally, study the Manufacturing Stagnation Triggers under M and the country-specific breakdowns like Nigeria’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem under N or Egypt’s Industrial Footprint under E. Navigating these entries allows you to identify where cross-border trade friction, market balkanization, and infrastructure supply chain deficits exist—the exact bottlenecks where private sector intervention and localized scaling can yield the highest returns.

3. Pro-Tips for Navigating the Index

• Use ‘Ctrl + F’ (or Command + F): If you are writing an essay, a policy brief, or a blog post and need a quick reference, use your browser’s search function on the index page to instantly find terms like “IMF,” “Taxation,” or “Borders.”

• Read Dialectically: Try clicking on Keynesian Demand Stimulation Critique, and then immediately jump to Say’s Law of Markets. Reading these sections back-to-back via the index will give you a complete masterclass in macroeconomic theory.

• Track the Case Studies: If you want to see how these theories play out in real life, look up country-specific tags like Nigeria’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Kenya’s Revenue Conundrum, or South Africa’s Structural Stagnation.

A-E

F-J

K-O

P-T

U-Z

U

^{[Company] UberEATS}

Africans haven’t forgotten the arts of farming and horticulture

^{[Country] Uganda}

Africans haven’t forgotten the arts of farming and horticulture

^{[People] Uhuru Kenyatta}

Infrastructure-led growth in Africa and debt accumulation

^{[Economic Concept] Underemployment}

The 21st Century Prosumer

^{[Economic Concept] Unemployment}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change

^{[Country] Union of the Comoros}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Political Concept] Unipolar World}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Country] United Arab Emirates (UAE)}

Less development=less baggage

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Country] United Kingdom (UK)}

Welcome to the “Yookay”

The World is breaking off into islands

^{[Organization] United Nations (UN)}

The Matrix narrative that defines modern African relations

^{[Organization] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Country] United States of America (USA)}

Here we go again

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Organization] United States Agency for International Development (USAID)}

DOGE is rolling back the government goodies

Make International Aid History

^{[Organization] UNCTAD}

Make International Aid History

^{[Political Concept] Universal Parameters for Human Development}

Make International Aid History

^{[Education] Universities}

The energy driving the “Africa Rising” narrative

^{[Geography] Upper Guinea}

The Chartered Company: A Prelude to the Scramble for Africa

^{[Geography] Urban Centers}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change

Make International Aid History

^{[Demographic] Urban Minority}

Fighting to command the invisible hand

^{[Geography] Urbanization}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change

Who funds African urbanization: African stock exchanges or external financiers?

^{[Finance] US Dollar}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

V

^{[Technology] Vaccines}

So what is the Red pill?

^{[Business Concept] Value Chain}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Business Concept] Value Creation Process}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Philosophical Concept] Victim Mentality}

Does your locus of control look externally or deep within?

^{[Historical Period] Victorian England}

Churchill wept

^{[Country] Vietnam}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Historical Event] Vietnam War}

Make International Aid History

^{[Organization] Virginia Company of London}

Private cities: the past and the present

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Political Concept] Visas / Visa-free travel}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

The data on Próspera Roatán and economic development

^{[People] Vladimir Lenin}

Fighting to command the invisible hand

^{[Organization] VOC / Dutch East India Company}

Private cities: the past and the present

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Historical Event] Volcker Shock}

Africa’s Lost Decade and the stigma it left behind

W

^{[Finance] Wage Bill}

In Africa, Government is the Problem Not the Solution

And now..the bill is due

^{[Economic Concept] Wage Labor}

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

^{[Company] Wallstreet Journal}

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel

^{[People] Walter Rodney}

Exhibit A: a liberated and booming Africa

^{[Demographic] Wananchi}

Sober take: taxes suck but how is Kenya going to repay everything?

^{[Historical Event] War / Conflict}

Is Africa the last frontier?

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Philosophical Concept] Wartime Thinking}

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel

^{[Geography] Washington}

Here we go again

^{[Case Study] Waterfall City}

Private cities: the past and the present

^{[Technology] Water-powered Mills}

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself

^{[Finance] Wealth Accumulation}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Technology] Web3}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Geography] West Africa}

Introducing the NEKS of Africa

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

^{[Geography] West Country}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme in the Global South

^{[Geography] West Germany}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Geography] Western Europe}

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Demographic] Western Expatriates}

Why mass emigration is bad for Africa and other developing regions

^{[Geography] Western Hemisphere}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

^{[Philosophical Concept] Western Learning / Wakon Yosai}

Back to a time when Japan was the student

^{[Geography] Western World}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

The Matrix narrative that defines modern African relations

^{[Organization] Westminster}

Churchill wept

^{[Technology] WhatsApp}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Demographic] White American}

Build alternatives not take-downs

^{[Demographic] White Europeans}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[Demographic] White Farmers}

Here we go again

What could have been

^{[Demographic] White South Africans}

Here we go again

A new group of African returnees

^{[Philosophical Concept] White Supremacy}

The Matrix narrative that defines modern African relations

^{[People] Williamson, Marianne}

Does your locus of control look externally or deep within?

^{[Political Concept] Willing Buyer, Willing Seller}

Here we go again

Revisiting the trauma of Apartheid in the name of “progress”

^{[Demographic] Working Age Population}

Africans are prolific entrepreneurs

^{[Organization] World Bank}

Make International Aid History

Africa’s Lost Decade and the stigma it left behind

^{[Organization] World Economic Forum}

What Leila Fourie’s Davos comments reveal about Africa’s unpreparedness

^{[Organization] World Trade Organization (WTO)}

Which country ever got rich off remittances?

^{[Historical Event] World War 2}

The World is breaking off into islands

Global partnerships: Japan and Taiwan

X

^{[Concept] X Factor}

Introducing the Black Man’s Burden series

^{[Geography] Xiamen}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

^{[People] Xi Jinping}

Zambia and a lesson in leadership for the Continent

^{[Company] Xiaomi}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

Y

^{[Country] Yemen}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Geography] Yookay (UK)}

Welcome to the “Yookay”

^{[Demographic] Yoruba}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Demographic] Young Africa}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Demographic] Youth Population}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Company] YouTube}

The 21st Century Prosumer

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be

Z

[Country] Zambia

Zambia and a lesson in leadership for the Continent

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Demographic] Zambians}

What Leila Fourie’s Davos comments reveal about Africa’s unpreparedness

^{[Geography] Zanzibar}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[Political Concept] ZEDE (Zone for Employment and Economic Development)}

Próspera Roatán: the model private city

The ZEDE framework underpinning the city consists of

^{[Political Concept] ZEDE Organic Law}

The ZEDE framework underpinning the city consists of

^{[People] Zhèng Hé}

The Chartered Company: A Prelude to the Scramble for Africa

^{[Geography] Zhuhai}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

^{[Country] Zimbabwe}

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Demographic] Zoomers / Gen Z}

Welcome to the “Yookay”

P

^{[Geography] Pearl River Delta Region}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Country] Peru}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Country] Philippines}

The curious case of the Philippines

^{[Philosopher] Plato}

Plato and Aristotle

^{[Country] Poland}

The World is breaking off into islands

What could have been

^{[Country] Portugal / Portuguese Empire}

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe

The Chartered Company: A Prelude to the Scramble for Africa

^{[Organization] Portuguese Guinea Company (Casa da Guiné)}

The Chartered Company: A Prelude to the Scramble for Africa

^{[Concept] Potemkin Village}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Concept] Poverty}

A Potemkin imitation

Which country ever got rich off remittances?

^{[Organization] Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC)}

Zambia and a lesson in leadership for the Continent

^{[Political Concept] Private Cities (PCs)}

Private cities: the past and the present

Could Private Cities be the Answer to the Global Migration Crisis?

^{[Economic Concept] Private Sector Development}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization

In Africa, Government is the Problem Not the Solution

^{[Economic Concept] Privatization}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization

^{[Economic Concept] Productivity}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change

^{[Economic Concept] Property Rights}

To recap, the concept of the PC enables

^{[Case Study] Próspera Roatán}

Próspera Roatán: the model private city

The data on Próspera Roatán and economic development

^{[Country] Puerto Rico}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

Q

^{[Geography] Qingdao}

Say, Keynes, Plato and Aristotle Pt. 2

^{[Finance] Quantitative Easing}

The How Behind Africa’s Looming Debt Crisis

R

^{[People] Reagan, Ronald}

In Africa, Government is the Problem Not the Solution

^{[Organization] Red Cross Society}

Make International Aid History

^{[Philosophical Concept] Red Pill}

So what is the Red pill?

^{[Migration] Refugee Camps}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Organization] Refugee Cities}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Finance] Remittances}

Which country ever got rich off remittances?

Monetize Diaspora remittances

Exercise more of the leverage tied to Diaspora remittances

^{[Economic Concept] Rent-seeking}

It props up failing governments and undermines the will of the people

^{[Book] Republic (Plato)}

Plato & Aristotle

^{[Country] Republic of Congo}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Country] Republic of Ireland}

Learning from Ireland

^{[Finance] Reserve Banking}

Monetize Diaspora remittances

^{[People] Rihanna}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[People] Riley, Jason}

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel

^{[Geography] Roatán}

Próspera Roatán: the model private city

^{[Concept] Robocop}

Private cities: the past and the present

^{[People] Rodney, Walter}

Exhibit A: a liberated and booming Africa

^{[People] Rollo Tommasi}

So what is the Red pill?

^{[Economist] Romer, Paul}

Próspera Roatán: the model private city

The Catch-up Formula

^{[Historical Event] Roman Empire}

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe

^{[Organization] Royal African Company}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Organization] Royal Niger Company}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Concept] Rule Britannia}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[Migration] Rural-Urban Migration}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change

^{[Country] Russia}

DOGE is rolling back the government goodies

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Historical Event] Russia-Ukraine War}

Is Capital Investment-Driven Growth Putting the Cart Before the Horse?

^{[Historical Event] Russian Revolution}

Fighting to command the invisible hand

^{[Country] Rwanda}

Three economic assets that Africa has the rich world beat on

^{[Political Concept] Rwanda Bill}

To recap, the concept of the PC enables

S

^{[Company] Safaricom}

Monetize Diaspora remittances

^{[Manufacturing] Samian Ware}

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself

^{[Company] Sanlam Holdings}

Africa needs moderate levels of immigration, not crippling levels of emigration

^{[Country] Saudi Arabia}

Less development=less baggage

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Economist] Schumpeter, Joseph}

The Catch-up Formula

^{[Geography] Scotland}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme in the Global South

^{[Historical Event] Second Convention of Peking}

The ZEDE framework underpinning the city consists of:

^{[Concept] Second World}

We’re all capitalists now

^{[Country] Senegal}

Manufacturing and economies of scale

^{[Book] Septuagint}

Plato & Aristotle

^{[Infrastructure] Sewerage / Sanitation}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself

^{[Country] Seychelles}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

^{[Geography] Shandong Province}

Performing the magic trick is only half of the job

^{[Company] Shanduka Group}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization

^{[Geography] Shantou}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

^{[Geography] Shenzhen}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

^{[Philosopher] Siddhartha Gautama}

Plato & Aristotle

^{[Country] Singapore}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

^{[Historical Event] Slavery}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

^{[Business Concept] Small Businesses / SMEs}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme in the Global South

^{[Technology] Smart Contracts}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Concept] Smartphone Generation}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Philosopher] Socrates}

Plato & Aristotle

^{[Technology] Solana}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Economist] Solow, Robert}

The Catch-up Formula

^{[Country] Somalia}

A Potemkin imitation

Africa’s Lost Decade and the stigma it left behind

^{[Country] South Africa}

Here we go again

Almost all NEKS countries have a history of hosting large global migrant communities

Migration in a world where you apply online and then simply hop on a plane

^{[Geography] South Asia}

Exhibit B: An underperforming Africa

^{[Organization] Southern African Development Community (SADC)}

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Country] Soviet Union (USSR)}

Fighting to command the invisible hand

^{[Country] Spain / Spanish Empire}

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe

^{[Economic Concept] Special Economic Zones (SEZs)}

A history of Chinese economic reform

^{[Infrastructure] Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)}

Infrastructure-led growth in Africa and debt accumulation

^{[Case Study] Steyn City}

Private cities: the past and the present

^{[Finance] Stock Markets / Exchanges}

Channel funding for African entrepreneurs through African stock exchanges

^{[Concept] Strictly Come Dancing}

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

^{[Geography] Sub-Saharan Africa}

Exhibit A: a liberated and booming Africa

The energy driving the “Africa Rising” narrative

^{[Country] Sudan}

21st Century Ellis Islands

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Historical Event] Sumer Civilization}

Plato & Aristotle

^{[Concept] Sustainable Charter Cities-in-Exile (SCCEs)}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Concept] Sustainable Development Zones (SDZs)}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[People] Swaniker, Fred}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization

^{[Country] Sweden}

The World is breaking off into islands

^{[Country] Syria}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Philosophical Concept] Systems Thinking}

Africans are prolific entrepreneurs

T

^{[Country] Taiwan}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

Global partnerships: Japan and Taiwan

Taiwan and the Mainland

A little Taipei that grew to become one of China’s most affluent cities

^{[Country] Tanzania}

Closing question: who’s next?

A Potemkin imitation

3. Africans haven’t forgotten the arts of farming and horticulture

^{[People] Tate, Andrew}

So what is the Red pill?

^{[Case Study] Tatu City}

Private cities: the past and the present

^{[Finance] Taxes / Taxation}

And now..the bill is due

^{[Concept] Technology}

Global partnerships and the diffusion of technology

The Catch-up Formula

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Company] Tencent}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Economic Concept] TENKS (Tanzania, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa)}

Closing question: who’s next?

^{[Company] Tesco}

An African nation with Western rates of net migration

^{[Concept] The Matrix}

So what is the Red pill?

The Matrix narrative that defines modern African relations

^{[Technology] Tokenization}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Political Concept] Town and Country Planning Act 1947}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme in the Global South

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

^{[Historical Event] Transatlantic Slave Trade}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

^{[People] Trump, Donald J.}

Here we go again

DOGE is rolling back the government goodies

US-South Africa relations according to Elon Musk

^{[Organization] Trussell Trust}

Welcome to the “Yookay”

^{[Country] Turkey}

Is Africa the last frontier?

K

^{[Philosophical Concept] Kallipolis}

Plato and Aristotle

^{[People] Karl Marx}

Fighting to command the invisible hand

^{[Company] KCB}

Monetize Diaspora remittances

^{[People] Kendrick Lamar}

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be

^{[Country] Kenya}

Introducing the NEKS of Africa

Sober take: taxes suck but how is Kenya going to repay everything?

Africa needs moderate levels of immigration, not crippling levels of emigration

^{[Case Study] Kenya Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)}

Infrastructure-led growth in Africa and debt accumulation

^{[People] Kevin Samuels}

So what is the Red pill?

^{[Economist] Keynes, John Maynard}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Political Concept] Kleptocracy}

In Africa, Government is the Problem Not the Solution

^{[Country] Korea (North / South)}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Company] Kraken}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Geography] Kunshan}

A little Taipei that grew to become one of China’s most affluent cities

^{[Finance] Kwacha (Malawian)}

Who funds African urbanization: African stock exchanges or external financiers?

^{[People] Kwame Nkrumah}

L

^{[Country] Laos}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Geography] Latin America}

Is Africa the last frontier?

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

^{[Technology] Layer-1 Cryptocurrencies}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Technology] Layer-2 Tokens}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Philosopher] Laozi}

Plato and Aristotle

^{[Philosophical Concept] Learned Helplessness}

Does your locus of control look externally or deep within?

^{[Company] Lee Group}

Africa needs moderate levels of immigration, not crippling levels of emigration

^{[Geography] Leeds}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme

^{[People] Leila Fourie}

What Leila Fourie’s Davos comments reveal about Africa’s unpreparedness

^{[People] Lenin, Vladimir}

Fighting to command the invisible hand

^{[Company] Lenovo}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Philosophical Concept] Liberty}

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

^{[Geography] Liverpool}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme

^{[Finance] Local Currency}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

^{[Philosophical Concept] Locus of Control}

Does your locus of control look externally or deep within?

^{[Geography] London}

Transitioning from a nation of builders to one of rule-loving pencil pushers

^{[Geography] Longhua}

Taiwan & the Mainland

^{[Organization] Lusaka Securities Exchange}

Zambia and a lesson in leadership for the Continent

Is Africa the last frontier?

M

^{[Economic Concept] Macroeconomic Management}

The beginnings of the “Africa Rising” narrative

^{[Organization] Madison Square Garden}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Geography] Mainland China}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

Back when China was a poorer nation than Nigeria

^{[Country] Malawi}

Channel funding for African entrepreneurs through African stock exchanges

^{[Organization] Malawi Stock Exchange}

Who funds African urbanization: African stock exchanges or external financiers?

^{[Geography] Malaysia}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Philosophical Concept] Mandela Effect}

The Black Man’s Burden: The Diaspora’s Urgent Mandate

^{[Geography] Manchester}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme

^{[Manufacturing] Manufacturing}

Manufacturing is Stagnant Across Africa Because Africa is Not a Country

^{[People] Mao Zedong}

A history of Chinese economic reform

^{[Historical Event] Marikana Massacre}

US-South Africa relations according to Elon Musk

^{[People] Marianne Williamson}

The Black Man’s Burden: The Diaspora’s Urgent Mandate

^{[Economic Concept] Market Forces}

Why Free Markets in Africa are Integral to Growth and Levelling Up

^{[Political Concept] Marxism}

Fighting to command the invisible hand

^{[Migration] Mass Migration}

Why Mass Migration is Not the Solution to Ailing Growth in Africa, Europe or Anywhere Else

Short-term gain for long-term pain

^{[People] Matthew C. Perry (General)}

Back to a time when Japan was the student

^{[Country] Mauritius}

Africa needs moderate levels of immigration, not crippling levels of emigration

^{[Business Concept] Media Trio}

The modern world is drowning in symbols and echoes

^{[Finance] Memecoins}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Company] Metamask}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Economic Concept] Microeconomics}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Company] Microsoft}

The 21st Century Prosumer

^{[Historical Event] Middle Ages}

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself

^{[Geography] Middle East}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Geography] Mississippi}

Welcome to the “Yookay”

Próspera Roatán: the model private city

^{[Technology] Mobile Money}

Monetize Diaspora remittances

^{[Geography] Mombasa}

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

Infrastructure-led growth in Africa and debt accumulation

^{[Finance] Monetization}

Monetize Diaspora remittances

^{[Country] Morocco}

Dare to dive into the blue ocean that is African stock markets

^{[Country] Mozambique}

A Potemkin imitation

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[People] Mr Beast}

Build alternatives not take-downs

^{[Company] MTN}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization

^{[Business Concept] Multinational Corporations (MNCs)}

Why Free Markets in Africa are Integral to Growth and Levelling Up

^{[Country] Myanmar}

Is Africa the last frontier?

N

^{[Infrastructure] Nairobi-Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)}

Infrastructure-led growth in Africa and debt accumulation

^{[Country] Namibia}

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[People] Narendra Modi}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Company] NCBA}

Monetize Diaspora remittances

^{[Economic Concept] NEKS (Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa)}

Introducing the NEKS of Africa

^{[People] Nelson Mandela}

The Black Man’s Burden: The Diaspora’s Urgent Mandate

^{[Concept] Neo (The Matrix)}

The Matrix narrative that defines modern African relations

^{[Political Concept] Neocolonialism}

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel

^{[Migration] New African Diaspora}

The New African Diaspora: African Returnees

^{[Geography] New Delhi}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier

^{[Political Concept] New World Order}

The energy driving the “Africa Rising” narrative

^{[Country] Nigeria}

Introducing the NEKS of Africa

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

Africa needs moderate levels of immigration, not crippling levels of emigration

^{[Organization] Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX)}

Who funds African urbanization: African stock exchanges or external financiers?

^{[Political Concept] NIMBYism}

Transitioning from a nation of builders to one of rule-loving pencil pushers

^{[Company] Nokia}

Manufacturing and economies of scale

^{[Historical Event] Norman Occupation}

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe

^{[Geography] North America}

Global partnerships and the diffusion of technology

^{[Country] North Korea}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Technology] NotebookLM}

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be

O

^{[People] Obama, Barack}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Geography] Oceania}

The World is breaking off into islands

^{[Organization] OECD}

The ZEDE framework underpinning the city consists of

^{[African Development] Official Development Assistance (ODA) / Aid}

Make International Aid History

^{[Company] OkayAfrica}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Migration] Old African Diaspora}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[People] Omani Colonialists}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[Political Concept] One Country, Two Systems}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Education] Online Learning / MOOCs}

The 21st Century Prosumer

^{[Organization] Organisation of African Unity (OAU)}

The role of the African Union and other regional organizations within the continent would expand

The entrenchment of an outdated narrative

^{[Country] Ottoman Empire}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[People] Otto von Bismarck}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Concept] Outdated Operating System}

Less development=less baggage

^{[Political Concept] Over-regulation}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme

^{[Demographic] Overseas Chinese}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland

^{[People] Owens, Candace}

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel

^{[Organization] Oxfam}

Make International Aid History

^{[Geography] Oxford}

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme

^{[Geography] Oxford Street}

Welcome to the “Yookay”

F

^{[Historical Event] Fall of Rome}

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself.

[Finance] Fiat Currency

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa.

^{[Technology] Fintech}

Monetize Diaspora remittances.

^{[Organization] Ford Motor Company}

Make International Aid History

^{[Economic Concept] Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)}

The Catch-up Formula.

Global partnerships and the diffusion of technology.

^{[Finance] Fractional Reserve Banking}

Monetize Diaspora remittances.

^{[Company] Foxconn}

Taiwan & the Mainland.

^{[Country] France}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier.

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe.

^{[People] Fred Swaniker}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization.

^{[Political Concept] Free Markets}

In Africa, Government is the Problem Not the Solution.

A history of Chinese economic reform.

^{[People] Friedrich Engels}

Fighting to command the invisible hand.

^{[Geography] Fujian Province}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland.

^{[Company] Fuliza}

Monetize Diaspora remittances.

^{[Economic Concept] Formal Employment}

Going Beyond Insanity.

Jobless Growth and Urban Change.

G

^{[Country] Gabon}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets.

^{[Country] Gambia, The}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland.

^{[Technology] Gemini for Education}

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be.

^{[Country] Germany}

The World is breaking off into islands.

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier.

Less development=less baggage.

^{[Country] Ghana}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets.

Exhibit A: a liberated and booming Africa.

^{[Historical Event] Global Financial Crisis (2008)}

The beginnings of the “Africa Rising” narrative.

Where it all Began.

^{[Geography] Global South}

What my Country can Learn From Africa and the Rest of the Global South.

^{[Historical Event] Good Friday Agreement}

Learning from Ireland.

^{[Company] Google}

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be.

^{[Organization] GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association)}

Monetize Diaspora remittances.

^{[Infrastructure] Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam}

Inspire national action via African bond markets.

^{[Geography] Great Britain}

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe.

What my Country can Learn From Africa and the Rest of the Global South.

^{[Historical Event] Great Depression}

Where it all Began.

^{[Historical Event] Green Revolution}

So what is the Red pill?.

^{[Geography] Guangdong Province}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle.

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland.

^{[Geography] Guangzhou}

A Potemkin imitation.

^{[Case Study] Gurugram}

Private cities: the past and the present.

H

^{[People] Hakainde Hichilema}

Zambia and a lesson in leadership for the Continent.

^{[Demographic] Hausa-Fulani}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres.

^{[People] Henry Doyle}

Learning from Ireland.

^{[People] Henry Stanford}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres.

^{[Country] Honduras}

Próspera Roatán: the model private city.

^{[Company] Honduras Prospera Inc.}

The ZEDE framework underpinning the city consists of.

^{[Case Study] Hong Kong}

When Hong Kong and Taiwan inducted the Mainland.

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle.

^{[Organization] Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX)}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle.

^{[People] Homer}

Plato and Aristotle.

I

^{[Demographic] Igbo}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres.

^{[Organization] Imperial British East Africa Company}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres.

^{[Economic Concept] Import Substitution}

A Potemkin imitation.

^{[Country] India}

A Potemkin imitation.

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier.

^{[Historical Event] Industrial Revolution}

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself.

A very brief look at the economic history of Western Europe.

^{[Manufacturing] Industrialization}

Fighting to command the invisible hand.

^{[Finance] Inflation}

Is Africa the last frontier?.

What Leila Fourie’s Davos comments reveal about Africa’s unpreparedness.

^{[Economic Concept] Informal Economy / Informal Work}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change.

^{[African Development] Infrastructure}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets.

Is Capital Investment-Driven Growth Putting the Cart Before the Horse?.

^{[Finance] Interest Rates}

Where it all Began.

^{[Philosophical Concept] Internal Locus of Control}

Does your locus of control look externally or deep within?.

^{[African Development] International Aid}

Make International Aid History.

^{[Organization] International Monetary Fund (IMF)}

Make International Aid History.

Africa’s Lost Decade and the stigma it left behind.

^{[Country] Iran}

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Country] Iraq}

A Potemkin imitation.

^{[Country] Ireland}

Learning from Ireland.

The World is breaking off into islands.

^{[Historical Event] Iron Curtain}

A Potemkin imitation.

^{[Country] Italy}

The end of a unipolar world and Africa as the last frontier.

The World is breaking off into islands.

^{[Geography] Ivory Coast}

Africa needs moderate levels of immigration, not crippling levels of emigration.

J

^{[People] Jack Ma}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization.

^{[Country] Jamaica}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean.

Learning from Ireland.

^{[People] Jan Luyken}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia.

^{[Country] Japan}

Global partnerships: Japan and Taiwan.

Back to a time when Japan was the student.

^{[People] Jason Riley}

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel.

^{[African Development] Job Creation}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change.

^{[People] Joel Bomgar}

Próspera Roatán: the model private city.

^{[Geography] Johannesburg}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change.

^{[Organization] Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)}

Who funds African urbanization: African stock exchanges or external financiers?.

What Leila Fourie’s Davos comments reveal about Africa’s unpreparedness.

^{[People] John F. Kennedy}

Learning from Ireland.

^{[Philosopher] John Locke}

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords.

^{[Economist] John Maynard Keynes}

A Potemkin imitation.

^{[People] Julius Malema}

US-South Africa relations according to Elon Musk.

A

^{[Political Concept] Administrative State:}

DOGE is rolling back the government goodies

^{[Organization] African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA):}

In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king

^{[Economic Narrative] Africa Rising:}

The beginnings of the “Africa Rising” narrative

The energy driving the “Africa Rising” narrative

^{[Concept] African Diaspora:}

So who are the African Diaspora?

The New African Diaspora: African Returnees

^{[Organization] African Union (AU):}

The role of the African Union and other regional organizations within the continent would expand

^{[Economic Concept] Aid Dependency:}

It props up failing governments and undermines the will of the people

^{[Country] Angola:}

A Potemkin imitation

^{[Historical Event] Apartheid:}

Revisiting the trauma of Apartheid in the name of “progress”

^{[Historical Event] Arab Slave Trade:}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[Philosopher] Aristotle:}

Plato and Aristotle

^{[Technology] Artificial Intelligence (AI):}

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be

^{[Country] Austria:}

The World is breaking off into islands

^{[Country] Australia}

The World is breaking off into islands

^{[Organization] African Development Bank:}

Where it all Began

^{[Political Party] African National Congress (ANC)}

Revisiting the trauma of Apartheid in the name of “progress”

^{[Migration] Asylum Seekers:}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Country] Algeria:}

Exhibit A: a liberated and booming Africa

^{[Country] Afghanistan}

A Potemkin imitation

B

^{[Organization] Bank of England:}

Where it all Began

^{[Historical Event] Berlin Conference:}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Technology] Blockchain:}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Country] Botswana:}

An African nation with Western rates of net migration

^{[Migration] Brain Drain}

Brain drain, brain drain, and more brain drain

^{[Political Concept] Bureaucracy:}

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

^{[Organization] Blexit Movement:}

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel

^{[People] Bruce Lee:}

What are symbols and symbolism

^{[People] Burna Boy:}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Country] Brazil:}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

^{[Organization] British South Africa Company:}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Company] British Steel:}

Churchill wept

^{[Company] BYD:}

The microeconomic reconfiguration underpinning the Chinese Economic Miracle

^{[Company] Binance:}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Country] Britain (Great Britain):}

Welcome to the “Yookay”

Churchill wept

^{[Historical Event] Brussels Conference Act of 1890}

The Old African Diaspora: The MENA Region and Asia

^{[Demographic] Batswana}

An African nation with Western rates of net migration

C

^{[Economic Concept] Capitalism}

We’re all capitalists now

^{[Economic Concept] Catch-up Growth}

The Catch-up Formula

^{[Business Concept] Chartered Companies:}

The Chartered Company: A Prelude to the Scramble for Africa

^{[Country] China:}

A history of Chinese economic reform

^{[Historical Event] Chinese Economic Reform:}

A history of Chinese economic reform

^{[Historical Event] Colonialism:}

A panoramic view of Africa’s fortunes and misgivings

^{[Political Concept] Corruption}

In Africa, Government is the Problem Not the Solution

^{[Technology] Cryptocurrency}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Country] Canada}

The World is breaking off into islands

D

^{[Finance] Debt}

Infrastructure-led growth in Africa and debt accumulation

^{[Political Concept] Decentralization}

Privatization and Private Sector Development Delivers Decentralization

^{[People] Deng Xiaoping}

A history of Chinese economic reform

^{[Finance] Diaspora Bonds}

Inspire national action via African bond markets

^{[Organization] Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE)}

DOGE is rolling back the government goodies

^{[People] Donald J. Trump}

Here we go again

^{[Country] Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Country] Denmark}

The World is breaking off into islands

^{[Country] Dominican Republic}

The Old African Diaspora: The Americas & the Caribbean

^{[Company] Dutch East India Company (VOC)}

Private Countries Turned Colonial Profit Centres

^{[Philosophical Concept] Dead Internet Theory}

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be

^{[People] David Ndii}

And now..the bill is due

^{[Technology] dApps (decentralized apps)}

Cryptocurrency and Web3 for Africa

^{[Organization] Danida}

Jobless Growth and Urban Change

^{[Concept] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)}

The entrenchment of an outdated narrative

E

^{[Economic Concept] Economies of Scale}

Manufacturing and economies of scale

^{[People] Elon Musk}

US-South Africa relations according to Elon Musk

^{[Concept] English Language}

Spread and use of the English language

^{[Business Concept] Entrepreneurship}

Africans are prolific entrepreneurs

^{[Finance] Eurodollar Markets / Eurobonds}

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

^{[Organization] European Union (EU)}

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

^{[Country] Egypt}

Regional population powerhouses

^{[Country] Ethiopia}

Inspire national action via African bond markets

^{[Organization] ECOWAS}

Manufacturing and economies of scale

^{[People] Erick Brimen}

Prospera Roatan: the model private city

^{[Concept] Ellis Islands (21st Century)}

21st Century Ellis Islands

^{[Historical Event] Enclosure Acts}

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

^{[Organization] East African Federation}

Is Africa the last frontier?

^{[Concept] ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance)}

The entrenchment of an outdated narrative

Are you channeling dreams or delusion?

Now, the phrase “razzle dazzle” might conjure up images of the finesse and fantastical for some of you. As, for a lot of us, it’s a term we normally use in reference to hucksters, confidence-men and entertainers. We hear this term and picture a sleight of hand, the practice of illusion for manipulation and deceit. There’s something shady about it, like the old village peddler from Jack and the Beanstalk seen above.

The old village peddler trope harkens back to a time when Europe was divided along the lines of clan and was ruled over by local serf overlords or distant monarchs and emperors. A time when the village - not the city - was the bastion of European culture and heritage. A time when the majority of Europeans belonged to the rural world (Europe only became over 50% urban after the Second World War).

Looking back at it reminds me how the more things change, the more they stay the same. In the old days when life was a lot more decentralized and a lot less standardized and conformist, city folk would buy up popular everyday items, from kitchenware, fine silks, fine wine and fine jewelry, to simple toys and trinkets, then travel from one village to another hawking them off to locals who were situated relatively far from the nearest town or city.

While I’m sure that most of these traders simply performed an honest living, eagerly fulfilling a critical market gap at the time as mobile middle men, that didn’t stop the spread of tales of travelling shysters swindling the people of the shires and the provinces.

Wily entrepreneurs began to prey on the ignorance and naivety of the villagers. A typical pitch unfolded with the arrival of a fast-talking and animated trader draped in elaborate dress. Goods carefully arranged and prepared to accentuate their strengths and conceal their drawbacks. Moving from village to village in colourful wagons. Putting to work the skills that urban life, with all its diverse characters and crafts refined: namely their superior command of verbal articulation, exposure to a larger range of cultures and possibilities, and just good overall communication skills.

Selling hopes and dreams in the form of miraculously marketed herbal medicine and opioid-laced oils, metal-weighted silk, boiled seeds and spiritual scams. All sold on the power of symbols, not substance. Such fraudulent schemes (with a few minor tweaks) still proliferate across the world.

Performing the magic is only half of the job

Indeed, there was a period in the early and mid-to-late 2010s where I lived and worked in China as a teacher and writer. Even as recent as then, stories of charismatic and scrappy urbanites relocating to swampy villages and prefectures with zero internet coverage and no piped-in water, making promises about setting them on the path to riches or good health under the guise of one get-rich-quick scheme or miracle after another proliferated.

Back in 2014, while residing in the Shandong Province of China, I remember catching wind of some of these widespread cons and bumbled feats of shanghaiing. A Chinese business student of mine filled me in on how he almost got duped into what became an infamous pyramid scheme out of Beihai, Guangxi Province.

A few months later I found myself chatting with a taxi driver in Qingdao when he mentioned that he was from Guangxi Province. We got into a conversation about it and he told me about Beihai and the sheer scale of scamming and trickery at play over there.

“Beihai is teeming with these scams and about 58,000 people have already been arrested for having ties to pyramid schemes within the past three years.”

https://nextshark.com/massive-pyramid-scheme-raid-china-leads-arrest-1000-people

I reflect on these stories and incidents as a way of reminding us that we’re all human. In spite of all of the technology and sophisticated mechanisms that we now utilize to lead more “advanced” and faster-paced lifestyles, our brains and primal senses still operate now, as they did 70,000 years ago. We’re still very much fallible to the razzle dazzle.

How much of your social media feed comprises of symbols which spread messages of inspiration and unity or self-serving razzle dazzle?

Plato & Aristotle

So to summarize, the conceptual essence of symbols lies in representation. We create symbols in our languages, body language, and overall presentation to express and project the universe as we interpret it. They provide a peek into things as we see it, but not entirely it for what it is. Symbolism is coded in subjectivity. Nonetheless, symbolism is meaning-making and is arguably the basis for our human species. It has the power to unite and inspire, but that power can also be hypnotic, and self-serving.

Now, how does all of this pertain to two Greek philosophers who lived over 2,000 years ago?

Well, beginning with the elder of the two: Plato elevated the power and possibilities of symbolic communication by introducing a radical piece of technology in writing. Yes, I am aware of how off what I just wrote sounds but please bear with me.

Based on the current findings, writing has been a part of our societies since 3200 BCE, with it first emerging out of the Sumer Civilization as a combination of different strokes and shapes recorded on stone and clay tabs.

However, from then until the time of Plato writing was used and seen as practical documentation, recording the key details of important events, observations, and declarations for the notice of others. Writing for a long time was almost all about drafting and dispersing legal changes and recording economic transactions and ceremonial events. Poetry and song has always existed, but until the last few thousand years, we created, practiced, refined and delivered them orally.

Plato stretched writing to include thought. For, even the great philosophers and poets of his age like the Greek Socrates and Homer, the Chinese Confucius and Laozi, or the Indian Siddhartha Gautama practiced and memorized their arguments, poetry and teachings for oral recount and delivery. None of what has now been attributed to them was originally written.

Plato invented writing as conversation and rhetoric. The essay you are now reading rests on platonic roots. Even short posts and opinions that people share about their day in writing incorporates elements of his written legacy.

He might not have realized it at the time, but the release of Plato’s Republic would go on to shake the very foundation of humanity and neurology. And more importantly for this discussion, the shape and the expression of the book was a fictionally endowed manifesto for the ideal society. In Republic, Plato outlines a fictional city-state named Kallipolis as the model for social order and governance. By doing so, he charted into the dangerous and seductive territory of writing as manifestation. And here, was the planet’s introduction to writing as thought.

Engaging rhetoric, argumentation and logic in writing opened many up to new worlds of thoughts and possibilities, but for others it merely added another layer of symbols between truth and interpretation - a symbol of a symbol. The release of Plato’s Republic was followed by that of the Septuagint, a Greek translation of a collection of Hebrew texts which would serve as the basis for the Holy Bible.

Because of its belief in ideal states and the concept of morality, Platonism as a worldview, lends itself to the cosmological, wrapping itself in a more top-down layered course of thinking and comprehension. Or to put it more simply, ordering the details around the conclusion rather than ordering the conclusion around the details.

“It has the power to unite and inspire, but that power can also be hypnotic, and self-serving.”

In the next instalment of this post series you will be introduced to Aristotle, the youngest of the Greek Three and arguably the most important of them all. He endeavoured to order his conclusions around the details of a matter, by trying his best to map out content as closely as possible to its observed form. Narrative in all facets of life seems to be split between Platonic and Aristotelian logic, and the study of economics is no exception to that.

The following works contain frameworks and excerpts from a book that is in the works. If you like these kind of breakdowns and scientifically-framed analyses then please subscribe so you can be among the first to get updates on my journey to writing my book.

I recently shared a note on how I believe that the conversation around Africa and development has been hacked, and hijacked by symbols (among other things!). Without lunging too deep into the abstract, let’s begin with my own symbol in an iconic quote:

What are symbols and symbolism?

Symbols are projections, representations that are accessory to something else typically preceding and encompassing said symbol. When kung-fu G.O.A.T Bruce Lee points to the Moon the eyes of his young Padawan settle on his finger. The stare of the young man is wayward, struggling to find focus, he fixes his view on what is nearest and dearest to him. For that split moment his mind became entangled with the secondary, show over substance, the ripple instead of the stone.

Being there for the moment is not the same as being in the moment. In a world where we struggle to be present we need to remind ourselves that the finger pales in the face of the Moon and is ultimately, besides the point.

Symbols channel and project meaning. Such symbols are the products of our brains and bodies. Through symbols anchored in sight, signs, animation and sound, we are capable of negotiating with the universe to help shape our reality and our state of being.

Words and letters, characters, numbers, wear, video, brands - all symbols concomitant to underlying meaning. Their existence and utilization employed for a broader purpose, all human creations that appear and transform reality. In saying all of this it’s important to remember how symbols and symbolism are agents of representation expressing their take of reality. They are not the end in and of itself.

Furthermore, because symbols are human creations they are vulnerable to manipulation that can be leveraged into control over others.

The modern world is drowning in symbols and echoes

And society today has been co-opted by social media, the mainstream media and ultimately, multimedia. It’s why so much of what we consume in life today, be that our food, clothing, personal belongings, hobbies, our identity, is knowingly or unknowingly tied to at least one or more of the modern Media Trio.

Yet no matter how sophisticated and enchanting the symbols may be, the representation is not the equivalent of the represented. The most regal and sturdy looking cart still doesn’t come before the horse.

Existence has become so symbolic as to drown out our natural senses and present us with mirages, mirages that we’re beginning to believe in and motion towards, leading us astray from our true path.

The cart and the horse, the representation and the represented, symbolic representation set off against objective truth and true intent. Journalism and reporting, expert analysis and opinion, and even the halls of academia in some instances is rooted in the sharing and discussing of symbolic content. The media and the entertainment industry across the board fight for dwindling attention spans and multiplying screens, amidst the backdrop of a changing business model.

The fight for eyes incentivizes income-earning content creators to manipulate symbols that tug at our emotions, peddle in our vices, and cater in conveniences. The outcome being that millions take medical advice from unqualified YouTubers, and world leaders are still able to justify war and the slaughter of the innocent on the grounds of divine intervention in the 21st Century. While the primary source we rely on for accessing and interacting with information and content is essentially the internet.

Through the introduction of the creator-platform ad partnership model along with the inclusion of metrics that filter for social clout, players in Big Tech seem intent on monetizing anything and everything that is content.

How long it will it be before you set-up a YouTube channel for that new hobby of yours?

It’s no wonder why so much of what we’re exposed to online via Google’s search results, social media, and YouTube (which is TV to a lot of us within the younger demographics) comes across as hollow. Perhaps framing the case for Dead Internet Theory in a new light.

Let me further illustrate my thoughts with a short case study of sorts.

Show me the photo-op

Here we see a recent headline coming out of Ghana announcing the signing (there’s already a clue) of a Memorandum of Understanding or MoU between the country’s Ministry of Education and Google, specifically Google for Education.

It’s a short post with the most tangible section of it informing us on how:

“The partnership is expected to strengthen digital literacy, build the capacity of teachers, promote innovation in classrooms, and equip Ghanaian students with critical 21st-century skills needed to thrive in an increasingly technology driven global economy.”

Okay cool, but what does that actually mean?

The quoted statement is riddled in symbols, packed with buzzwords such as digital literacy, innovation, and 21st-century skills. It’s almost as if the author is rambling on for the word minimum, throwing in popular keywords as a tribute to the search indexing lords. It’s also highly likely that the author is generative AI.

If you read the article as someone who isn’t familiar with the world of AI you would have finished it having very little idea of what exactly is going on and how the tech in question factors into it all.

The publishers could have hyperlinked Google for Education to the actual AI platform, but they didn’t. They made mention of none of several of Google for Education’s products, ranging from Gemini for Education, NotebookLM, and Google AI Pro for Education either. Google for Education’s official YouTube channel literally has thousands of videos that explore the platform in more detail, yet not a single one of their videos has been embedded into the post.

I believe additions along these lines would do a better job in telling readers how the partnership between the Ghanaian government and Google for Education might deploy AI tech to raise literacy rates for students in rural villages and towns, identify learner strengths and weaknesses, or improve and streamline the processes behind the provision of student-teacher feedback.

We wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be.

Meat that we can sink our teeth into and build with. Instead you’re left with a lot of window dressing, aspirational claims, and grand promises. You might not learn any more on AI in Africa after reading that post, but you will probably be able to recall details like the names of the people and organizations party to the agreement and what country the MoU (whatever that really is) was signed in. And perhaps that is the goal of the article..

What at first sight nowadays reads as your run-off-the-mill press release piece, descends into a dry text of shallow verbiage. By trying to appease every stakeholder, it clarifies nothing: it is sanitized, safe, and corporate. Symbolism makes it possible for you to create a model drawing of a product stunning enough to sideline any questions people might have had concerning its technical feasibility.

The politicians and the executives come out of it looking busy and better-off - we got the photo-op but we never got the chance to examine the foundational blueprint under a microscope. It’s vital that we do; structural change is typically evolutionary in its scale and complexity. It’s much like the invisible transmission of a pathogen across a population, all happening off-camera, and in this case is hidden deep within the fine print of institutional networks and norms.

Thus, I look at that story and scratch my head and immediately begin to wonder about what is actually going on. To paraphrase (without endorsing) a now infamous rap record executive who is currently rotting away in a cell somewhere in New Jersey: we wanted them to tell us what it is, but instead, they told us what it might be.

Symbols carry the capacity to unite people and resources around a common interest. When effectively communicated, symbols enable humans to wield extraordinary heights of will and control over the world we’re in. Whether they’re in the form of slogans, appeals to authority, the use of analogy and idiomatic expressions to get a separate point across, memes, music, ritual and performance, symbols compress and pinpoint meaning and messaging.

In the next instalment of this post series we will be learn about the first of the four entitled figures in Plato, the Middle Child of the Greek Three. His works revolutionized the world of symbolic communication through the introduction of writing as thought. In the process, the power of the symbol became a double-edged sword - sharpened with the ability to electrify and liberate the spirit, or pacify and control it.

“I make music that electrify 'em, you make music that pacify 'em.” Kendrick Lamar | Euphoria

The following works contain frameworks and excerpts from a book that is in the works. If you like these kind of breakdowns and scientifically-framed analyses then please subscribe so you can be among the first to get updates on my journey to writing my book.

Geography and manufacturing

The African spirit, along with the general culture downstream of it, is decentralized and autonomous in formation and behaviour. A lot of this is tied to geography. Aridity to the north, and dense jungle to the south of the Continent, act as natural borders across and around Africa. While a lack of extensive river networks and poor soil fertility restrict settlement sizes and encourages nomadic movement.

Nature and the human experiences borne from it are unsurprisingly reflected in the political and economic composition of Africa as a whole.

At 54 and counting (53 in 2010), Africa is home to the largest continental contingent of nations globally. It’s also home to an uncountable amount of distinct ethnic groups, of whom speak almost a third of the world’s languages. Africa is incredibly diverse, but is built like a labyrinth as a result, walling its players off from each other.

Today’s globalized economy looks at this and simply sees fractured and disconnected markets. Manufacturing requires scale for expansion, but only 5 African countries boast populations equal or in excess of that of the United Kingdom’s. The population count for most African nations is fewer than 20 million. Comparatively low population density rates within these countries further fragment markets. Only the Great River and Great Lake nations of Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, the DRC, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa have been able to sustain fairly large population sizes.

Manufacturing and economies of scale

Size matters, and big might not always be beautiful but it’s certainly more bountiful. A $100,000 factory producing 100,000 Nokia 3310s (my age is showing here) a month is more competitive than a $100,000 factory producing 10,000 Nokia 3310s. This process is what people in business and economy describe as economies of scale. Fixed and certain variable costs such as land costs, rent, heavy and light machinery and even wages, fall on a per unit of Nokia 3310 under expansion as those costs spread, or become diluted across a larger economic market.

What follows can be a virtuous cycle, as manufacturing feeds into economies of scale, and economies of scale finances and justifies more manufacturing. The big get bigger and the small get smaller - the rich gets richer and the poor become poorer.

This brings me back to why manufacturing in Africa isn’t thriving like it is in much of Asia, North America, Central and Eastern Europe now, or like that of Western Europe in the past.

Excessive red tape and regulations, corruption, or skill constraints (Africa was a larger manufacturer 50 years ago) are not to blame for the failure of manufacturing to take off across many parts of Africa overall.

Most African nations lack the kind of scale required for real manufacturing growth. If ECOWAS was a properly enforced free trade area, Member State manufacturers would have a larger market to produce for, enabling lower costs per unit of input (or economies of scale) to kick in, enhancing local competitiveness.

You really can’t compare manufacturing for a market of approximately 20 million in Senegal, to over 400 million with ECOWAS (larger than the USA population-wise).

Manufacturing was more of a potent force for Africa in the seventies than it is now. Partly because trade was not as globalized back then and a truly Communist China was out of the international market.

Manufacturing and Asia

Fast forward to today, and the emergence of China and India has changed everything. The size of their internal markets and workforce is unlike anything we see across individual African nations (not Africa as a whole though). So nowadays, the scale threshold for unlocking competitiveness in manufacturing is much higher as a result.

The long run average cost curve has essentially shifted upwards for a lot of African manufacturers.

I think that it would be beneficial for us as thinkers focused on African growth to assess matters under a deeper, meta-focused lens. I rarely see African content on economy attempt to dig into “The why behind the why”, or try to deconstruct and explore matters from first principles.

PS: I haven’t been writing as much lately as I am currently writing and editing a book that basically sums up all of my views and “hot takes” on Africa.

More to be revealed soon.

I normally use this Substack to share my insights about Africa. As someone with ancestral ties to the continent, who is also a third generation Brit that spent several years living in multiple African nations, I hold a unique perspective. I believe that Africa holds meteoric levels of potential that Africans and the rest of the world need to tap into for the sake of economic survival.

On this occasion though I want to talk about something else: my country of the United Kingdom and Great Britain. Specifically, what it is that we can learn from the children of our old empire within Africa and the rest of the Global South, and adapt to fit our own national context.

Welcome to the “Yookay”

The UK - as it is today - is becoming unrecognizable from the country that I grew up in. We have declined in geopolitical influence, economic prominence, and in our living standards.

If we were a US state, we would be poorer than Mississippi on a per capita basis. Without help from our families, most of us Millennials and Zoomers are unable to get on the housing ladder. Increasingly more of us are resorting to living out of our caravans and on boats in order to get by. Most of us have or will spend a considerable portion of our twenties living with Mum and Dad, or for some of us, just Mum. Accountants, nurses, doctors, teachers, law professionals, skilled tradespeople, can’t afford to keep their homes warm during winter.

More of us are struggling to eat than ever before. This is not an exaggeration, you are reading that right. In 2011, the Trussell Trust had 35 foodbanks scattered throughout Blighty. This figure ballooned to approximately 1300 in 2020 (before the effects of COVID and relatively sky-high rates of inflation). To really drive the message home allow me to present more raw data and figures on this. 61,000 food aid parcels were delivered to people in Britain in 2011, with the total rising to 1.9 million by 2020.

The descent into destitution is unprecedented. High streets once filled with shops, bars, and restaurants fulfilling almost every niche imaginable, are now littered with vape shops, Chinese and Indian takeaways, and charity shops selling used clothes and items. Roads riddled with potholes are becoming the norm. Every other car on the road is 15-20 years old, and most of the new ones are paid for on finance (bought on credit). The shops now have items that were once easily attainable, like cheese, salmon fish and condom box sets, locked away in security cases. We have one of the highest rates of homelessness across the developed world.

Churchill wept

Earlier this month, our government in Westminster held an emergency parliamentary session on a Saturday for the first time in 43 years to discuss rescue plans for the Chinese-owned British Steel: home to our last two remaining blast furnaces capable of producing steel from scratch. We were the first nation on Earth to deploy coke-powered blast furnaces, paving the way for the Industrial Revolution, now we’re unable to sustainably run them - how far we’ve fallen.

Many of us weep and grieve our deterioration in silence because our stiff upper lips get in the way of the wail. It feels like we have regressed so far back in time within the space of 15 years. The UK I am describing to you reads like the one I would read about in old Dickens’s novels back in school. It’s like we’re back in Victorian England but without the industrial expansion and innovation, community-orientated culture and large families to fall back on.

But this in the UK of 2025. This is real, this is widespread, this is systemic. What you see in official figures and news report might suggest otherwise, and much of the youth and our ever-expanding immigrant population might not know any better, but they’re talking a load of rubbish, a poorer UK is an objective reality. We have dropped from the ranks of high-income countries to those of the mid-income, emerging economies in everything but official classification. We are a developing nation with a posh accent and a maxed-out credit card.

Where are we going wrong? As you’ll see, what is thriving across the developing world is waning over here in the UK. For today’s article, I’m going to start by focusing on one lesson, and I may write more about this as part of future instalments.

So, for what it’s worth, here’s my two pence:

We’ve overregulated ourselves into rigidity in areas where economic flexibility reigns supreme in the Global South

Environment-related regulations and the burdensome restrictions of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act have sucked the vitality out of our small businesses and self-employed workforce.

Throughout the UK, regions where lots of economic opportunities lie in respect to their transport connections, infrastructure quality and market access have become expensive to live at and operate businesses in.

These areas are largely found in the South East of England, encompassing cities like London, Cambridge and Oxford, Reading, Brighton and surrounding towns. A handful exist in and around the West Country in places such as Bristol, Bath, Exeter and Cardiff, then there’s Birmingham and Coventry out in the Midlands. Go further north and you have Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool to a lesser extent. Scotland has Edinburgh, and increasingly, Glasgow.

Residential rents, municipal taxes like council tax, and house prices across these economic hubs are increasingly pricing out the young. While commercial rents and business rates here represent considerable barriers to entry for new business start-ups. The result being that these cities get engulfed by large American corporations and crime syndicates who operate shopfronts as platforms for money laundering.

Transitioning from a nation of builders to one of rule-loving pencil pushers

On the other hand, across the country, where living costs are relatively cheap, planning permissions and requirements still dictate what you can and can’t do with land and buildings. These govern everything, from where you can build or expand housing or commercial properties, to where you can set-up a market stall, park your car, and whether you can make a bedroom extension to the house you own. They tend to be strict, and what is even worse is that they lack uniformity in their legal contents and application.

So, you might have one part of town that plays host to an assortment of bustling restaurants, and you might want to open up a fine meats butchery on the same street to capitalize off of the neighbouring businesses. You spot a vacant shopfront and wish to submit an offer. But before you do, you need to first receive approval for planning permission from the local council. The outcome surrounding planning approval is contingent on the peculiarities of that specific council, it’s not a simple matter of zoning like almost everywhere else in the world.

You might be given the OK, but on the other hand, you might not be. Local residents might complain to the council about how they view the sight and smell of displayed meat carcasses as “unpleasant”. Others might voice concerns about what impact your food delivery trucks may have on local congestion and pollution levels. Unless you can establish a case for how your enterprise will unlock vast economic benefits for that neighbourhood with immediate effect, then prepare to venture elsewhere for viable locations.

NIMBYism has run amok in the UK, prioritizing incumbent businesses and establishments over new upstarts, and often times tending to the interests of older, more settled populations at the expense of the young and mobile.

Serfs to the bureaucracy and our corporate overlords

This is just one example, I can go on, but our overall system and laws around land use are so prohibitive, and have in turn, limited our rights to life, liberty and property (to quote British philosopher John Locke). The government has all but effectively nationalized land. The Enclosure Acts that were implemented throughout the UK from the beginning of the 17th century to the early 20th century, sliced and diced communally-owned land into patches of privately held spaces.

Many argue that this series of changes meant that farming communities lost their ability to freely grow their own food and flexibly utilize land for their cattle to graze over time. Consequently, formerly self-sufficient and autonomous farmers turned into wage labourers, as many were forced to migrate into the cities and towns to eek out a living and earn the cash necessary to buy the food and materials they once produced for self.

In many ways, the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act is a continuation of this process. By attaching considerable regulatory burden, i.e. cost, to land and property use, it has pigeonholed a lot of us into working as employees for employers. Less than one percent of these employers provide our country with 40 percent of its jobs and 48 percent of its turnover, leaving us beholden to and reliant upon a tiny number of large businesses to earn money and buy from.

Conversely, the picture surrounding employment across the developing world is a far cry from what you see in the UK. All over Africa, parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, most of the workforce tends to be engaged in the informal sector. Of those working informally, they are either self-employed or working as one of a handful of employees for a small business. Lax enforcement of rules and regulations on the ground gives way for the flexibility fueling these patterns. And while some view this persistent trend as problematic and as something for those countries to eventually “move on” from, I beg to differ.

The ease with which you can set-up shop in the Global South fosters a sense of resilience and adaptability that we have long lost over here in Britain. For most of us, in the United Kingdom, if you don’t have a job, you must find another one quickly as without one you will not be able to eat. Granted, a sizeable portion of us (almost 20 percent) will go into business or become self-employed, but that still leaves over 80 percent of us relying on someone else to employ and deploy our labour. Then there are those of us who end up signing-on for welfare benefits, wedding us even closer to the nanny embraces of the state, rocking us from cradle to grave.

Where citizens of the Global South rely on themselves, their families and extended local networks to secure their own food, clothing and shelter, us over here in Britain look to faceless corporations, the government, and the mounting bureaucracy that enforces the rule of the state. If life out there in the Global South is a jungle, then it’s a zoo in the UK and other industrialized nations. We have become domesticated and defanged, sedated by football, beer, Strictly Come Dancing, and tabloid newspapers and gossip columns.

So here we are, the birthplace of modern capitalism and industrialism might be the first to fully deindustrialize. The star student of the Roman Empire is now most closely mirroring its decline. With that said, it does not have to be this way because we still have a lot going for us. We’re a top 10 economy by all measures despite only being the 22nd largest country in the world by population. We are still home to a lot of exceptionally smart, talented and wealthy people and institutions. But we need to shake off our complacency and update our operating system to adjust for a new era - which involves borrowing some practices from Africa and the rest of the Global South, as the algorithm for growth continues to reward these regions over ours.

More on this series soon...

Key talking points and questions:
How does removing aid bring more power to Africans?

Does the removal of aid hurt or help African businesses?

How would the removal of aid increase a poor nation's chances of building wealth?

If you enjoy well-researched and thought provoking content on a rarely covered region of the world, then please join my Africa Discussions WhatsApp group. Here, you can chat with and learn more about everything happening on the continent from other likeminded people and thinkers.

Here we go again

Across the pond over in the USA, there's a new sheriff in Washington. President Donald J. Trump is back in leadership, and this time he's come with back-up. During his 2016 run, Trump walked into the Oval Office as an untested political representative whose surprise presidential victory shocked the world, and indeed The Donald himself (according to some of the rumours out there).

Nearly a decade has elapsed since then and President Trump returns to the helm tested and battle-hardened. To borrow the tagline that Morgoth's Review adapted from the second instalment of the Die Hard series: he's back, and this time it's personal. With an electoral loss mired in controversy, criminal trials complete with full mug shots, and FBI raids into his personal home, Trump has a bone to pick and is under no illusions about power and politics and how they work. We are not looking at the same man from eight years ago.

Nor are we looking at the same kind of Administration. The 2025 Trump Administration is donned with a who's who of hard hitting politicians and influential people - sitting on top of that list, and, frankly the world and maybe even Mars one day, is South African born Elon Musk.

DOGE is rolling back the government goodies

The $400 billion dollar man – with a net worth measuring at about 40 percent of that of the total wealth of his country of birth – has been appointed by the new Trump Administration to head the newly created Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The purpose of DOGE is to make the administrative state as lean as possible by eliminating bureaucratic waste, ensuring that government instruments such as the federal civil service, the State Department, and the IRS, deliver value for the taxpayer.

These developments are important for Africa, South Africa in particular, given that a very powerful and influential South African now has a direct line with the leader of the free world. USAID has already fallen victim to DOGE, jeopardising $12 billion in aid funding for Africa and the rest of the world, with an estimated $500 million of that once directed towards providing lifesaving medical treatment for millions of South Africans.

Which brings us on to the ongoing feud emerging between the Trump Administration and the South African government. At the heart of this beef is the Rainbow Nation’s warming relations with Russia, as well as its role as a key member of the BRICS contingent. But, over the last month, the country’s racialized politics has caught the sights of US ire, widening what is already a clear rift in US-South Africa relations.

The African giant’s move to enshrine the Expropriation Act into law officializes a shift from the “willing buyer, willing seller” mechanism for redistributing white-owned land to the non-white majority, to one of “nil compensation” in cases where certain conditions are met.

Washington responded with disapproval, reiterating their commitment to freeze South African aid. They then rolled out a US resettlement scheme for white South African farmers who believe they have been racially targeted in the country.

US-South Africa relations according to Elon Musk？

Now, it’s hard to believe that Trump’s new colleague in the Oval Office, Elon Musk has had zero influence on the position the Trump Administration has taken in response to the new law. Especially once you consider that Musk has traded verbal jabs with prominent South African politicians like Julius Malema and the South African president himself on South African affairs in the past.

Going beyond the tweets though, while Musk has distanced himself away from his South African heritage, nowadays identifying himself as American, that’s not the same as him completely severing his ties with the country. Just based on what I know about South Africa, I would imagine that he still closely keeps tabs on what’s happening back there.

Indeed, once upon a time ago this writer got the chance to undertake an internship with a consultancy firm in Cape Town. It was the summer of the Marikana Massacre and I was a young college student, eager to finally come to the Motherland so I could behold the beauty of this continent with my own eyes. So allow me to share some personal insights about South Africa, specifically with respect to white South Africans.

Having worked with white South Africans in the past, along with me having a number of white South African friends and associates and bumping into many of them while traveling overseas elsewhere around the world, I have found one common thread. Simply put, you will find that even amongst the ones overseas, a lot of them love their country and identify as South African before anything else.

Even after spending several years abroad in places like the UK, USA, Australia and China, working in what tend to be well-paid and stable roles, for many, their hearts are still at home in South Africa. And this is not me attempting to hold hands with everyone and sing Kumbaya, in some naïve attempt at wishful thinking, the numbers seem to support my anecdotes.

A new group of African returnees

When the chapter of the Apartheid came to a close in 1994, approximately one million white South Africans packed their bags for what they felt were greener (and safer) pastures beyond their home country in the ten years that followed. But from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, nearly 350,000 went on to return to South Africa.

Even when you consider the net emigration rates that materialized in the decade leading up to now (which are comparatively low), this number is still nothing short of extraordinary. I have previously written about the need for the Global African Diaspora to build more inroads with Africa, and return to lend their talents and skills to expanding the continent’s developmental capacity. So it’s rather revealing, if not slightly awkward, to discover that the largest group of African returnees might actually be white South Africans.

Point being, Elon Musk, a third generation British South African, who still retains his South African citizenship, and whose father and distant relatives continue to live in South Africa, has not forgotten about the nation. South Africa’s race-obsessed politics are leading the nation to make enemies with the wrong people.

Revisiting the trauma of Apartheid in the name of “progress”

What is more, the race-based land laws in question are misplaced and ineffectual. In the 30 years leading up to the passage of the Expropriation Act, the ANC Government had already transferred millions of hectares of white-owned land to black South Africans via the aforementioned willing buyer willing seller mechanism, but the results of such redistribution have so far been disappointing.

By 2010, the ANC Government’s land redistribution program had tallied up about $4 billion in spending. Yet, in spite of this, it was reported that close to 90 percent of the redistributed farms had failed to generate real livelihoods for the black farmers it was designed to help, with many struggling to even produce valuable supplies for local stakeholders. In fact, almost all of this land isn’t simply underperforming, it’s lying dormant. The minister of Land Reform at the time all but admitted to this, stating that “The government didn’t have a strategy to ensure that the land was productive. If there was a strategy, it was not backed with proper resources,”.

“The government didn’t have a strategy to ensure that the land was productive. If there was a strategy, it was not backed with proper resources,”

A lot of these farms were once run as large commercial operations, raising animals and crops for sale at large retailers and restaurant chains. They were very capital intensive in nature, necessitating the deployment and use of large tractors, combine harvesters and heating devices in order to bear profitable yields. Successfully running these farms demanded a high level of expertise and relevant farming experience from the new operators.

However, a lot of the black farmers in receipt of the land either came from a smallholding background, perhaps producing to meet the needs of a small village or neighbourhood, or worse yet, some had no farming background at all. There was a mismatch between the farming know-how of the assisted black farmers, and the scale and complexity of the farms given to them.

What could have been

In a country double the size of France, a lack of access to land was never the issue

What makes South Africa’s land reform failures even more frustrating is the fact that vast amounts of land—enough to support a thriving black farming sector—were already available. In South Africa alone, land not owned by white farmers was larger than many European countries. The government itself controlled roughly 33 million hectares of land—about a third of the country’s total 100 million hectares. For the record, this figure exceeds that of the 22 percent of white-owned land.

To put 33 million hectares in perspective, that is roughly the size of Germany (35.7 million hectares) or Poland (31.2 million hectares). South Africa didn’t need to seize land from commercial farmers to address agricultural inequality; it simply needed to use the land it already had.

Here is where the underlying issue rests: land doesn’t make the man, the man makes the land. Valuable political bandwidth and capital has been wasted debating and attempting to address the questions of who owns how much of what, instead of how much of what is being produced and where. The grass is not always greener on the other side, only where you tend to.

“Land doesn’t make the man, the man makes the land.”

The South African government, along with the diverse communities that make the nation what it is, need to focus on fostering the market mechanisms that promote more competitive and thriving black-owned farms, while also introducing and supporting access to the kinds of training, machinery and farming practices that adequately prepare black farmers to operate commercial grade farms.

Chase the dream, not the competition

That is the problem with the kind of leftism that has gone on to run rampant within the ANC for decades. It diminishes the role of individual talent and enterprise by reducing us all into interchangeable cogs, that can be shuffled around by the state at will with minimal disturbances made to the production processes that inform and produce the output in question. The premium paid to a farm manager is not the sum of their “exploitation” of the lower-paid farm workers, but a share of the productivity gains their expertise unlocks for the whole operation.

By prioritizing ideology over economic reality, South Africa’s leaders have wasted time, money, and public trust. When the country made way for multiparty and multiracial governance in 1994, the ANC had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to channel the goodwill that it had earned nationally and internationally to instigate real change and upliftment. They instead chose to fixate the country’s attention on the past and racial differences. Practicality is what anchors idealism to reality, without it you quickly fly off into the clouds of chaos.

Over 30 years later, South Africa has nothing to show for the racialized politics that have come to define the nation we now know it as today. They have also made enemies with some of the most powerful people in the world as a result, who are now intent on dismantling South African healthcare and trade networks, all the while poaching what’s left of South Africa’s valuable white farming base. Envy is a sin – is it now the ANC’s time to repent?

I have titled it Red Pill Truths about Africa because the assertions challenged have gone on to be uncritically accepted by most of the global African and black Diaspora, along with the African intellectual class. Indeed, increasingly more elements of Western society have moved in a similar direction.

But, the truth has to rein free, irrespective of whether or not it’s popular at the time.

So what is the Red pill?

You might be familiar with the terms red pill and blue pill as a result of their prominent usage in Manosphere circles. Well known social media influencers and YouTubers like Andrew Tate, Better Bachelor, Kevin Samuels, and Rollo Tommasi and their followers use this phraseology to refer to and define what they believe represents successful, masculine males, as well as those perceived as “beta” and “weak” in the modern age.

However, its origins stretch further back and speak more to a philosophy than a given archetype.

In the year of 1999, a sci-fi film called The Matrix was released. It’s responsible for introducing the concepts of the red pill and the blue pill. At the time, the planet was on the verge of ushering in a new millennium. The final century of this millennium - the 20th Century - marked the beginning of the modern world as we know it. The nation-state, the widespread phenomenon of urbanization, air travel, the modern automobile, assembly line manufacturing, space exploration, computer technology and information communication technology, life-saving medicines and vaccines, the Green Revolution, all came of age in the 1900s.

By the end of it, our world had become one, interconnected on a scale and complexity that’s still difficult for a lot of us to comprehend. A person living in 1900 might not have been aware of what lay before them hundreds of miles beyond where they lived, and may have had no discernable way of accessing the kind of information needed to shed light on this glaring blind spot. By the time 1999 came along, children and adults alike virtually everywhere developed an understanding, awareness and connection of the world around them that is now irreversible. Televisions, telephones, radios, computers and the internet enabled instantaneous access, conceiving a new global citizen.

Consequently, such changes pulled more and more of us into a kind of shared reality. The flipside of this evolution is that this new, globally felt reality, its memes, myths, values and customs, have been shaped by a smaller number of centralized entities and institutions.

The influence of Hollywood and pop music, the consolidation of language, the spread of and strengthening of multilateral organizations like the United Nations, the end of the Cold War, the rise of the internet, and the emergence of the modern multinational corporation now means that so many of us - consciously or unconsciously - are reading from the same script. We are as close to belonging to a proverbial Tower of Babel than we ever have been - universality serves as the overarching backdrop of whatever the zeitgeist of the day might be.

In the Matrix film, the red and blue pills both serve as tools and an allegory for the harsh, yet liberating truths of this world (the red pill), as well as the propaganda and constructed half truths that mask what is and manipulate many of us into conformity in one way or another (the blue pill). The movie’s protagonist (Neo), steps into the role as “The One” who has to fight to defend the survival of the red pill world and freedom itself.

The Matrix posits that the overwhelming majority of us have taken the blue pill, opting to participate in one big simulation built and monitored by the technological, cultural and economic forces responsible for centralizing and carving out the new shared reality that we have all absorbed to some degree or another.

Essentially, what you experience, see, hear, touch, taste, smell and feel today is reality but that doesn’t make it real and spontaneous. Advertising and multi-billion dollar marketing campaigns, media, formal schooling and the modern nation-state are steered by a small number of powerful interest groups to manipulate you into believing that what you came to be: when it comes to how you dress, how you speak, what you eat, how you define your dreams, even how you discovered this article of mine that you’re reading right now, were of your own free will.

The Matrix narrative that defines modern African relations

Since then, the red pill and blue pill has gone on to be used as a narrative articulating competing visions and views of a lot of different elements of life and society. In the world of Africana and all things African and Afro-descended, this writer is opening your eyes to the red and blue pills encompassing it.

On one side there is the blue pill: black people, and non-white people in general, have been, and continue to be, subjected to racial and cultural discrimination and oppression. The powers that be operate under an ideology of white supremacy and use it as an instrument to manipulate and control everyone within a racial hierarchy. Colonialism, neocolonialism and racial subjugation are part of an intentional and concerted effort to maintain dominance. Non-white people therefore can expect to lead their life at a disadvantage when compared with white people.

On the other side there is the red pill: what has been categorized and explained as racism and oppression has been misconstrued and sensationalized with the help of the film industry, academia, global organizations and different governments. The motivations behind this lie in a black elite and their partners in crime, who leverage this worldview as a means to controlling and stringing along your actions and thoughts in ways that enrich them, in terms of money, status and power.

By having you buy the okey doke that you as an African or Afro-descended person, are a victim of others, you are in need of their leadership and assistance to make you whole. Instead, you become a mental slave, trapped by the invisible chains of your own mind, not realizing that freedom isn’t free of charge, and that it’s less about the outcome than it is the ability, driven by your liberty.

The blue pill keeps you distracted from and numb to your own individual and collective agency for effecting change. It lulls you into the false belief that the grand solution to your problems lie in the delivery of recompense and atonement by the West. The idea that this mysterious other will deliver this vague “correction” is mere superstition dressed up in intellectual pretense, ultimately, no different than farmers praying to the Gods for rain to help alleviate their hardship instead of looking inward for practical solutions within one’s control.

By tying our fate to the actions of external players we unknowingly create new markets for them by way of outsourcing the work that’s attached to our own efforts. By externalizing the problem, you unwittingly externalize the solution.

The red pill is the acceptance and embrace of liberty, and the responsibilities that come with it. By recognizing that you have been the answer to your questions all along, you illuminate the corresponding clues to unlocking transformation. You can wait to obtain value or you can generate value now, bit by bit, patch by patch.

Do you choose to gather fruits from the forest like our ancestors did tens of thousands of years ago, or do choose to utilize your mind to harness the seeds and land before you to produce for self?

Throughout the following days, months and weeks, I will publish a collection of red pill truths about Africa that will demonstrably shift the way you look at our predicament. You will come face to face with some uncomfortable truths, as well as deep opportunities for growth.

If you choose to take the red pill, you will never look at life in the same way again. The blue pill is predictable, comforting and conventional, but the facts on the ground show us that it’s a dead-end. Taking the red pill is undergoing the painful task of breaking out of your shell to lead your life as an emancipated and sovereign individual.

Which leads me to my next question: are you ready to take the red pill?

Anyway, I present to you Exhibit A and Exhibit B:

Exhibit A: a liberated and booming Africa

In 1960, a handful of African nations including Egypt, Algeria and Ghana had attained independence. Scores more went on to achieve liberation by the end of the decade. Contrary to popular belief, best exemplified by Walter Rodney's work, 'How Europe Underdeveloped Africa', many newly christened African nations actually started off in a comparatively favourable position relative to the rest of the world.

Indeed, some countries such as Ghana, had inherited considerable infrastructure in the form of schools, hospitals and railroad, thriving industries and deep foreign currency reserves at the beginning of independence.

As seen in the chart above, Sub-Saharan African GDP per capita in 1960 was slightly less than a third that of global GDP per capita. This trend held strong for multiple decades. In 1981, the gap narrowed and minimized the split to the point where global GDP per capita was only 2.6 times more than that of Sub-Saharan Africa's. For better context, if this ratio held true today, then average incomes across this African region would be more than TRIPLE current figures. People would earn almost $15 per day instead of the present estimate of around $5 per day.

In large part thanks to a boom in commodity prices, 1981 represented the zenith of African economic performance.

Exhibit B: An underperforming Africa

From the 1980's onwards, as monetary policy across the Western World tightened, and commodity price pressures eased in response, much of Africa got caught up in a dangerous debt cycle. Debt accrued throughout the 1960's and 1970's became more expensive to repay, right at the time when export revenues from commodities started dropping off.

Debt infused investment carried out by African states into expanding infrastructure, schools and industries also failed to generate sufficient returns largely as a result of inefficient central planning and the widespread misallocation of taxpayer funds.

Growth throughout the continent went on the wane as a result. In 1981, Sub-Saharan African GDP per capita was more than triple that of East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income) and South Asia. But, 20 years later in 2001 the gap between Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia had considerably narrowed, while the gap went in the opposite direction with the East Asia & Pacific region with their average standing at 1.7 times that of Sub-Saharan Africa's.

In 2023, South Asia had already joined East Asia & the Pacific region in eclipsing Sub-Saharan Africa in the realm of GDP per capita. East Asia & the Pacific region's GDP per capita is now 6 times that of Sub-Saharan Africa's - what a difference 40 years can make.

Walking the path of a journeyman to know oneself

In many ways, what we see a lot of Africa suffering from harkens back to the period of the Dark Ages that occurred all over Europe in the wake of the dissolution of the Roman Empire.

The case of England illustrates this well. As the most advanced and industrialized civilization of the lot, the Romans and their 350 year occupation of England (beginning in 43 AD) introduced practices and built infrastructure that considerably raised the living standards of the English. Concrete roads, sewerage systems, public bathhouses and new water navigation techniques cemented a Roman legacy throughout the country that still persists to this very day.

The Fall of Rome in the late 5th Century sent shockwaves throughout the world. It's actually difficult to put into words how important the Roman Empire was to establishing the foundation of the modern Western World.

If Western powers and civilizations were smartphones, then Rome would be the original iPhone. And tbh, this comparison in and of itself doesn't even do justice to highlighting their true impact! If anything, the legacy of the Roman Empire to the West is akin to an Android or IOS operating system, on which almost all of our modern mobile devices run off of.

Upon the Roman occupiers exiting England, the country plunged into decline with almost immediate effect. The governance frameworks and capacity to govern that had previously held the country together was no longer, food production fell, the litany of technical applications and crafts once taken for granted fell into short supply or were forgotten about altogether. The last of those subsequently prevented England from being able to manufacture the things the population once relied on for a higher quality and less toilsome life: for example, the production of high-quality pottery like the Roman Samian ware ceased, leading to a decline in everyday household goods.

According to historians, it wasn't until some 800-900 years later, during the Middle Ages that English quality of life, in terms of diet intake and life expectancy, caught up with the highs experienced under the Roman Occupation. Advanced techniques of industrial production and trade like water-powered mills, centralized manufacturing, sophisticated metallurgy, and widespread use of concrete, that were once a common sight across England nearly 2,000 years ago, only returned to the country in the late 1700's, at the onset of the Industrial Revolution.

A panoramic view of Africa’s fortunes and misgivings

Tying this back into Africa: the impact that colonialism had on Africa is complex, it simply isn't as simple "Everything about European colonialism was bad and it's all their fault that Africa is in its current predicament." Nor was everything about Europe's colonial episode in Africa good, as nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo can certainly attest to. The matter is multi-faceted, there is no one catch-all answer.

The contents of this piece also serve to highlight that the nature of Africa's plight is not particularly unique to it. Africa isn't cursed and doomed to a fate of poverty and mediocrity. But, much like other regions of the past, it is out-of-step with the demands of a new world at hand, all the while trying to climb its way out of stagnancy with a view obscured by the lofty shadows that still loom on from its colonial past.

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I find myself listening to Stevie Wonder’s Rocket Love as my thoughts spill onto this document, key by key. This planet that we have inherited is in a bad, chaotic way: in the midst of a Great Storm, awash with war, pandemics and fragmentation. In less than a month from now the USA’s most consequential election since 1860 awaits us, promising to send us into the second half of the 2020’s with a bang.

Almost everywhere across North America, Europe and the Oceania Region, the doors to the rest of the world are closing, one by one: Australia, Canada, the USA, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Sweden. The Post World War 2 zeitgeist is slowly dissipating before us, as the globe that it encompassed becomes unglued. The pressure cooker is close to full blast.

Governments across the developing world are beginning to fold in response - some have fallen apart, while others creep closer to the verge of dissolution with each passing day. Paradoxically, as more instability, infighting and war breaks out, heaping the demand for asylum into the precarious respite of the Rich World, its appetite for such a flow of people wanes precipitously.

In my most recent piece, I carefully laid out why mass migration into the West is a sub-optimal solution for all parties concerned. The sight of more boats arriving on our shores and more new faces settling into our increasingly unaffordable major cities and ill-equipped towns continues to polarize native populations and embolden the more extreme fringes of politics and society. The question now centres around where different nations’ future lie.

On the other hand, what is the long-term solution to this rising tide of movement: is it to throw up walls? Or perhaps, we can build new paths that channel it all in towards more positive and productive uses? From mid-2022 to mid-2023, The United Kingdom recorded an immigration-fueled growth in population of one percent. The highest rate in over half a century, exceeding those of countries like India, Indonesia and Brazil. We actually added people to our country at a rate that was three times faster than our annual GDP growth for a similar period, subsequently making us poorer on a per capita basis.

So I understand what’s at stake. With that said, nationalities and national boundaries aside, these are other human beings we’re talking about. Whom we find ourselves wont to deny entry to for reasons stemming from a mere incidence of birth. There has to be a better way, a third way in private cities.

Private cities: the past and the present

According to the World Bank, private cities (PCs) “designate significant urban areas whose development was associated with at least one large private actor.” PCs operate as de facto and (in some cases) de jure municipalities of sorts. They tend to be managed by private entities and are essentially in the business of governance.

No, you’re not reading an awkward introduction to a sci-fi piece. I’m not describing a concept out of Robocop or Judge Dredd, PCs are real. Examples of them abound across the developing world, including South Africa’s Waterfall City and Steyn City, Kenya’s Tatu City and India’s Gurugram. And they’re only growing in recognition and popularity, with companies like Próspera leading the helm on creating them.

They’re not necessarily anything new either, in many ways the colonialism of yesteryear initially started out as PCs or private territories. Shareholders and employees of the Virginia Company of London completed the landing of the Mayflower 400 years ago (a precursor to the formation of modern America), not English government leaders backed by military forces.

The Dutch East India Company or the VOC owned parts of what are now Malaysia and Indonesia. A number of African colonies, including those of South Africa, Nigeria and most famously, the Democratic Republic of Congo, were also run and ‘owned’ by private entities at one point in time or another. Something that I have previously written about. Indeed, this is the story of most former colonies.

Private actors tended to band together to raise the capital and manpower necessary to launch a hostile takeover of distant lands, with them subsequently requesting the protection and recognition of their newfound colonies from their governments, in a wiley demonstration of asking for forgiveness later rather than asking for permission first.

Fundamentally PCs go beyond the bricks and mortar associated with the term and promise a dynamic governance mechanism. By investing their own money and resources, PC operators and owners have ‘skin in the game’ in a way that is not the case with conventional, municipally-run and taxpayer-financed cities. With these operators boasting the expertise and specialization to dedicate sufficient and targeted bandwidth to raising the quality of the city that increasingly cash-strapped, archaically structured public cities might be unable to compete with.

Such a comparison rings especially true in the developing world, partially explaining why many of them happen to be springing up over there instead of the Industrialized World.

Why can’t we export the governance, legal and technological mechanisms of the most successful economies to the corners of the world most in need of it? Let’s jump into a short case study of a heavily publicized PC in Próspera Roatán.

Próspera Roatán: the model private city

Próspera Roatán is a new private city located on the island of Roatan, Honduras. It functions as a ZEDE (zone for employment and economic development), which is a step above the widely adopted SEZ (special economic zone) in that this development vehicle grants ZEDE operators with a degree of legal autonomy.

The founders and architects of the project include the likes of famed economist Paul Romer, businessman and former Mississippi House of Representative Joel Bomgar and major finance executive Erick Brimen. As a concept, it incorporates libertarian philosophies and elements that promote private sector-led development and city planning. Plans for Próspera Roatán have been in the works since the early 2010’s, with the private city finally getting off the ground on building and development in 2021.

According to Prospera’s website:

the ZEDE framework underpinning the city consists of:

(i) Constitutional Provisions and Acquired Rights
Constitutional protections pertaining to Articles 294, 303 and 329 of the Honduran Constitution grant the “legal, economic, administrative, and political autonomy of ZEDEs” So Próspera Roatán operates with a civil and regulatory code distinctive to that of the rest of the country.

For instance, businesses registered in Próspera Roatán have the options of operating in compliance with national Honduran regulations or those of 20 different OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) member countries1. The city also has its own tax code and sets its own legal minimum wage.

(ii) Legal Stability Agreements
The existence and character of the ZEDE cannot be altered for 50 years as a result of legal stability agreements upheld by the ZEDE Organic law. This is similar to elements of the special lease agreement granted to the British for control of Hong Kong in the mid-19th Century under the Second Convention of Peking.

(iii) International Investment Law Protection
As a US company, Honduras Prospera Inc. is also protected by multiple US and international investment treaties.

The data on Próspera Roatán and economic development

2Over 1,000 acres of land fall under the city, encompassing more than 34,000sqm of finished real estate that is home to 1,700 residents hailing from about 40 countries, who have created over 200 businesses that support 950 jobs largely staffed by locals. Prospera has also added $100 million in growth and economic activity to the island and country.

The city offers visa-free visits for up to 90 days for citizens from countries all around the world, and the local airport (A mere 20 minute drive from Próspera City) provides direct flights from a number of major global hubs.

21st Century Ellis Islands

Here’s a proposal: commission the creation of PCs in accordance with a ZEDE framework on select islands that serve as a third places for would-be migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The locations would be managed by proven developers and city planners who aim to ease migration pressures through economic development.

War, poverty and the forces of oppressive regimes around the world are contributing to more people testing their prospects abroad. In Africa alone, four million people call refugee camps ‘home’. These safe havens are usually supported and managed by multilateral organizations such as the UNCHR. They act as temporary shelters for individuals and families fleeing from war or persecution, allowing them to rest their heads and regroup for entry into a new nation or a possible return to their home country.

However, lots end up staying in these camps for years, even decades on end as some experience difficulty with migrating elsewhere. Nearby countries might refuse to host them or they lack a safe and secure route to other places, among other issues. It’s not uncommon to meet children and adults who have spent their whole lives in these places.

The camps themselves usually operate with thin resources. Families are nestled in rudimentary tent enclosures, worn-out tin shacks not exceeding 110 sq ft in size, or slightly more spacious container houses and canopies. Often located nearby borders for obvious reasons, inhabitants are lumped into remote, rural areas where they lack regular access to electricity and clean sanitation.

Across Africa, camps tend to be based inland, within rough, arid geographies that make farming without modern technology and tools close to impossible. Leaving them dependent on the assistance of the lead organizers, charity and donations for survival.

The current model unintentionally warehouses refugees. By transforming camps with the PC framework, millions of people are granted the freedom to fully tap into their skills and networks to earn a living with a shot at a decent quality of life.

Over the years, as the international refugee crisis has ballooned due to wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, along with climate change hastening desertification, more organizations and specialists are beginning to turn their attention to reform.

A few years ago, the Brookings Institution released a commentary piece titled ‘Build cities, not camps: A proposal for addressing refugee crises’ that explores implementing a ‘sustainable charter cities-in-exile model’ (SCCEs) that “promote refugees’ self-reliance and facilitate their integration.” It calls for coordination and engagement from governments, international development agencies, multinationals and the broader private sector to create fully functioning and semi-autonomous cities.

An organization called Refugee Cities is dedicated to carrying out Brookings’s vision. They advocate for what they term ‘sustainable development zones’ (SDZs). SDZs promote economic and political participation within a designated area, with them working with countries like Ethiopia and Libya to make this a reality.

To recap, the concept of the PC enables:

1. People the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;

2. The practice of pro-market values and principles within a noted jurisdiction as modelled and governed by lead private developers and operators;

3. The full embrace of property rights and labour participation, catalyzing production, services, trade and overall economic activity.

PCs also possess a certain level of agility simply not available to governments bound by international treaties and the politics of the day. With accommodating partners, PCs can take hold relatively quick, making a meaningful difference to people’s lives almost immediately. In a migration context, results could represent a complete 180 from the disastrous efforts attempted by recent governments.

Take the UK’s infamous and quashed Rwanda Bill. The recently unseated Conservative Government intended to send people landing in the UK to claim asylum off to Rwanda in lieu of their applications being reviewed. But politics and legal complications meant that after spending what is reportedly nearly $1 billion preparing the holding facilities and accompanying measures, only four asylum claimants were sent as part of the initiative. For the same amount of money, you could have had 10 Próspera Roatáns headed under the PC framework, based on the $90 million of investment which has so far been raised under the project.

Private cities as hubs for investment and migration from the Rich World into developing regions

PCs such as Próspera Roatán have gone on to draw money and settlements from Western and other industrialized countries. Its novel mechanism, light-touch regulations, low taxes and relatively cheap land and properties present lucrative and exciting opportunities for those willing to take the plunge. Different private cities - in cooperation with host governments - can design residence policies that attract entrepreneurs, tradespeople, engineers, educators, healthcare workers and other skilled professions from around the globe.

Such a move facilitates the dispersal and transfer of capital, technology, skills and network connections. An oft overlooked observation is that the migration of people from more economically advanced areas into poorer ones can pay vast dividends. Professionals bring with them their experience and know-how, along with tech and machinery that may not be widely available locally. Starting from the more simple and everyday in smartphones and computers, and sewing machines to the more pivotal relating to farming and building equipment, shelter appendages and more heavy duty industrial and mechanized tools. Addressing infrastructure shortages and unlocking big efficiency gains.

Migration into PCs - particularly within a refugee camp context - also provides additional sources of revenue for the city. Proceeds from land purchases, residency and business permits can be recycled into investing in and upgrading the PC for its residents. For example, Próspera Roatán charges foreign residents (non-Honduran nationals) for annual e-residency permits ($130), as well as resident permits ($1,300) among other charges.

Transforming migrants and refugees from political hot potatos into invaluable assets

As we stand at the crossroads of a fragmented world and a looming migrant crisis, the establishment of private cities offers a visionary yet practical solution. These cities embody the spirit of collaboration between the public and private sectors, creating environments where displaced individuals can rebuild their lives with dignity and purpose. By exporting effective governance, legal frameworks, and technological advancements to regions in need, we not only provide immediate relief but also sow the seeds of long-term prosperity.

Embracing private cities is more than a humanitarian gesture; it's a strategic investment in a more equitable and connected world. Let us seize this opportunity to redefine our response to migration—transforming challenges into catalysts for global progress.

The global migration picture of 2024 and the last 70 years or so has been one of economic migration, mostly from the relatively poorer regions of the southern hemisphere towards those of the richer parts of the northern hemisphere. Countries like the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, South Africa and my home nation of the United Kingdom pack the lists of those planning to make the leap of location.

In fact, millions upon millions settle into the handful of countries listed above annually, but is movement at such scale sustainable or even really desired, from the perspectives of both the destination and emigre places?

According to some, like the globalists of the day, the aforementioned movement of people is a win-win arrangement for everybody involved: host countries benefit from largescale immigration by meeting their worker demands in critical industries like healthcare, hospitality and construction, all the while reaping the rewards tied to the additional spending and economic activity generated by newcomers.

Conversely, the poorer countries that these migrants once called home now essentially have one less mouth to feed, with them adding this person to an increasingly lucrative source of income and foreign exchange in the form of overseas remittances.

Short-term gain for long-term pain

But I don't see it as a win-win arrangement, or at least not in the long-term. The scale of migration that we've witnessed over the last 20 years is actually locking much of the southern hemisphere into a cycle of poverty and dependence, and placing added strain on the resources and infrastructure of the rich world. There has to be a better path to elevated growth and living standards.

Mass migration is nothing more than a band-aid solution to the economic woes felt by nations on either side of the equation. It's a sub-optimal measure that involves bringing in more people to compete within limited spaces for limited markets as more move from the more populated developing world to the geographically smaller and relatively lightly populated rich world.

A more dynamic and sustainable way forward begins with us exploring how the talents and skills of people in developing regions can be best utilized where they are. I think that this is the optimal solution where heaps of people do not need to leave their families and cultures behind in order to simply make ends meet in a new environment that's largely alien to them.

Which country ever got rich off remittances?

The story of China embodies the optimal approach to development and poverty reduction. The Middle Kingdom grew famous for sending Chinese migrants to all corners of the world throughout history. At one point, the Chinese Diaspora ranked as the largest in the world - a title recently taken by the Indian Diaspora.

However, such vast volumes of emigration throughout centuries past did not pay much by way of economic dividends for the country, even if it did for its emigres. Remittances from a large number of wealthy people abroad simply wasn't enough to fix what was a broken economic system.

Only when China took on a form of free market capitalism and opened up its economy to global trade and investment - culminating in its accession into the World Trade Organization in 2001 - that the country was finally able to climb its way out of poverty. And by getting it right at home rather than overseas, China is able to accumulate wealth and raise living standards in a way that simply isn't possible for its Diaspora to supplement in any meaningful way. Remittances aren't going to lift 800 million people out of poverty and add hundreds of millions into the middle class.

The global economy (Africa in particular) is also much better off as a result of the Chinese Economic Miracle. China is the factory of the world and is the second largest importer of its goods and services; the spending power and economic impact of Chinese tourists and students across the West far outweighs that of the Chinese economic migrants in these same places.

Learning from Ireland

A similar case study can be outlined using the example of the Republic of Ireland. Emigration had become a way of life for the Irish ever since the onset of the Potato Famine in 1845. The cultural and ethnic legacy of such massive migration can be seen in the scores of Irish communities and their ancestors found in countries as far as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and even Jamaica.

The total number of Irish immigrants and those of Irish descent throughout the globe is estimated at between 50-80 million. A figure that's at least around ten times that of the population of Ireland today. But, despite an Irish-descended US president like John F. Kennedy belonging to one of the wealthiest families in America at the time of his presidency, Ireland itself was still something of an underachiever when compared with the rest of the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Its GDP per capita was 75 percent of the UK's as recently as 1992.

Yet, 10 years later the Irish Republic's GDP per capita exceeded that of the UK's. What changed: were the Irish Diaspora suddenly able to come together and provide major economic stimulus for the country? Not quite, what instead happened was that Ireland adopted the euro currency in 1999. This meant that the country adopted the regional currency of the euro, complementing EU membership and a favourable location nearby a much larger economy in Britain. The Good Friday Agreement between Ireland and the UK in 1998 also helped in creating the conditions necessary for economic take-off.

The curious case of the Philippines

Look at the Philippines, their Diaspora is famous the world over. In 2013, over 10 million Filipinos and Filipinas were working overseas, representing 11 percent of the country's population at the time. Remittance flows to the Philippines in 2023 were recorded at $37 billion, making it the fourth largest recipient of remittances in the world.

However, remittances don't seem to be registering much across the country on the development front. The South East Asian nation is still one of the poorest in the region and the whole of Asia, being labelled as a perennial underachiever and the 'Sick Man of Asia' for decades on end.

Economic models that tap into an outlook of abundance, where plans to secure opportunities for growth aren't largely limited to economic sources overseas seem to be delivering. These models prioritize exploiting their homegrown advantages, be that cheap labour and land, language skills, or an advantageous trade and business location, to sell to and attract investment from much bigger markets.

This is why emigration and remittances, no matter how much it continues to grow, will not deliver on development for Africa. We could even argue that they are inhibitions, rather than stimulants of growth for the continent. Hence, the current picture surrounding mass migration from various parts of Africa into different pockets of the world, mostly in Europe and North America, represents a sub-optimal solution to growth for everyone involved.

How mass migration is beginning to hurt host nations:

(i) Foreign labour deployed tends to operate at a relative cost disadvantage

Money spent hiring migrant labour abroad in rich and industrialized countries at much higher wages could go further on a per-dollar basis as investment in the migrant worker's home country. The British monthly minimum wage of $2,400 per month could pay for the work of close to a dozen Nigerian full-time workers on average compared to only employing one of them as an employee in the UK.

(ii) Large scale migration increases the cost of living for the native population

To say this openly is to evoke anger and consternation from some, but I am not too sure why this is the case. The facts are the facts, it's nothing personal. Houses and apartments are not like loathes of bread that can be churned out the instance a new person arrives in a country. Houses almost anywhere in the world take at least four months to build, and sometimes up to a year or more.

These estimates don't even factor in the time taken to get the planning permits required to start in the first place. Developers are required to carry out multiple rounds of feasibility studies and consultations with local stakeholders to ensure that developments protect community interests and their quality of life.

Hence, finalizing and approving the planning process alone can take years (even decades in some cases) to complete for buildings planned in the urban centres of the rich world. And it's these same places (usually consisting of a handful of a nation's major cities) that attract the lion's share of incoming migrants, as many naturally flock to these spots in order to better access good quality schools, general amenities and job opportunities.

How exactly is a country like the UK, who is already falling behind on meeting the housing demands of the native population, then supposed to muster up the means to accommodate an additional 600,000-700,000 people per year?

Well, the UK, and many other places simply don't since the task in and of itself is Herculean. A recent meta-analysis carried out on eight different countries concluded that "On average, a 1% increase in immigration in a city increases rents by 0.5–1%". Such an effect also has the potential to offset a dangerous cycle, where less affordable housing reduces family sizes and a nation's total fertility rate declines as couples have fewer children later. In response, said nation goes back to the wishing well of immigration in order to retain its worker-to-pensioner ratio (in the short-term), only to exacerbate the spiral.

(iii) More intense levels of migration likely to lead to less culturally harmonious and more ethnically fragmented societies

It can be said that migration is to a country what cinnamon is to a meal: moderate additions spice up dynamics and can lead to healthy developments, but too much of it envelops and eviscerates the essence of the dish. Newcomers bring with them new ideas and perspectives, that generate fusion and innovation. Nonetheless, like anything in life, it has its breaking point.

As migration volumes near closer towards a critical mass, clusters of different ethnic communities begin to form and gain momentum. Such heterogeneity of cultures, religions and histories then begins to tug away at what a society might have once identified as a collective memory, common values, customs and quirks. Trust between inhabitants begins to break down and people segregate off and seek security within their own blocs. Blocs that they now have a vested interest in preserving and expanding.

Why mass emigration is bad for Africa and other developing regions:

(i) Brain drain, brain drain, and more brain drain

Anyone with a cursory understanding of African affairs - with this applying to many Africans themselves - is very much aware of the adverse impacts that the departure of a large number of its sons and daughters of the soil has on the continent. Culturally and spiritually, the communities and countries that migrants once called home begin to stagnate - they experience brain drain. So systemic flaws and distortions become entrenched as many of those who may have been best placed to shake things up and deliver change are now gone.

It'll be difficult for a country to make any progress on the healthcare front for instance, if a significant share of their best doctors and nurses keep on moving on for supposedly greener pastures overseas. How can a country like Nigeria for example, expect to achieve any real advances in research, training and health outcomes if nearly half of their already highly scarce doctors are not currently practicing in the country?

Data also suggests that the adverse economic consequences for countries exporting so many of their skilled workers can also be steep. A report published by the Pollution Research Group in the early 2000's estimated that it was costing Africa $4 billion a year to replace its outgoing skilled professionals with Western expatriate workers.

This number also doesn't account for the resources ploughed into training and preparing skilled African emigrant workers earlier on in their lives by the country in the form of taxpayer money and manpower. Another, more recent study found that the cost to a country subject to a largescale exit of homegrown doctors can be anywhere between $3.5 billion and $38 billion annually once we consider the excess deaths offset by the resulting shortages.

(ii) Financial remittances might unknowingly increase inequality

Remittances can also contribute to widening a nation's divide between the rich and the poor. Those with the connections, skills and wherewithal to finance travel abroad and land a job tend to come from the more affluent segments of society. Upon migrating overseas and sending money and gifts back home to family and friends, the difference in the financial prospects between those with connections outside of the country compared to those without becomes more pronounced. This reality also feeds into increasing the allure of an escape abroad, perpetuating the broader problem.

Furthermore, for recipient nations that lack many reliable vehicles for protecting and accumulating wealth, as is often the case in lots of countries across Africa and the rest of the developing world, remittances can become inflationary. People are likely to direct some of the remittance proceeds towards financing land and property purchases. Subsequently pushing up land values and driving up rents for everyone else - or the overwhelming majority who own very little valuable land.

(iii) How important are remittances to economic growth?

At about $100 billion per annum, remittance flows into the continent of Africa and the sum of its international aid and foreign direct investment are neck-to-neck in scale.

Yet, over time, as remittances to Africa have grown in size and intensity as the scale of the diaspora continues to increase, growth at home remains subpar. In fact, in 2020 a group of researchers conducted the first meta-analysis of 95 different studies examining the relationship between remittances and economic growth. All in all, it found that the mean effect on growth was positive but small. What is more, the analysis highlighted how remittances seem to aid growth in Asia but not Africa.

Which makes sense once you look at how many African nations are structured economically. Many lack the industrial base to produce a lot of goods locally, so a lot of whatever money received from overseas goes right back out in the form of imports. As noted in the study, since remittances mean larger volumes of dollars being exchanged for different national currencies, this tends to lead to an appreciation in the value of local currencies, possibly contributing to deindustrialization as African manufacturers become less price competitive at home and abroad as well.

The sickness is in the system, and remittances are usually expended on merely keeping its participants above water, by helping friends and families meet immediate consumption needs like accessing food and electricity, or paying off school fees. If Africa is the patient then remittances are the treatment, not going far enough to address the problematic interactions and behaviours that give rise to the continent's ailments in the first place.

In economic terms, money sent back home helps Africa to meet its consumption needs, but does little in boosting its production needs. This could be changed by countries exploring ways to guide remittances to local industry through investment vehicles such as corporate bonds and the stock markets as I have written about here.

Africa needs moderate levels of immigration, not crippling levels of emigration

I would also like to use this article to proffer a policy solution for Africa rarely considered in development circles: the targeted migration of skilled workers into the continent. Many of Africa's leading economies, like Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, the Ivory Coast and Botswana, also happen to host relatively vast and diverse immigrant communities.

Be it historically or in the present, the positive effects are long-lasting. The migrants coming into these nations are able to apply their industrial and technical expertise in new settings to unlock growth and expansion. For instance, one of the largest manufacturers in Nigeria and probably Africa just happens to be operated by the Lee Group, a Chinese-owned industrial conglomerate that first set-up shop in the country way back in the 1960's. The company employs more than 25,000 workers in 50 locations, working to facilitate skills, knowledge and technology transfers throughout Nigeria.

The presence of Lebanese and Indian communities within Africa has also contributed to expanding the continent's industrial capacity. Mauritius is home to a large contingent of Asian Mauritians and a broader, more transient international crowd, enabling the country to move up the economic ladder and become one of the wealthiest countries in Africa on a per-capita basis.

I would also like to stress that the benefits accrued by this economic transformation are not limited to these communities with foreign connections, as many may perceive them to be on first sight. Africans on the mainland have the option of moving to Mauritius to share in its economic opportunities. Major African corporations like the Afrieximbank and Sanlam Holdings, have tapped into Mauritian equity markets (the ninth largest in the whole of Africa) to finance expansion. Mauritian companies themselves also invest in economies throughout Africa while serving as a convenient point of entry for foreign firms (particularly those from India) looking to breakout into the continent.

An African nation with Western rates of net migration

Botswana serves as another great example of how migration into an African country can be beneficial for the host nation. Recent figures show that Botswana had a net migration rate of 6.51 per 1,000 persons, double that of the USA's 3.28 per 1,000 persons (in terms of legal migration) and about two thirds of that of the UK's 10 per 1,000 persons in 2023. By many counts, Botswana boasts one of the highest net migration rates across the continent as a whole, and is one of the few that records net migration rather than net emigration.

" Foreign workers were aggressively pursued to fill skills gaps in sectors including technology, management, education, engineering, law, and healthcare, and were offered competitive salaries, subsidized housing, cars, health insurance, and free education for expatriate children."

This is by no accident, according to the Migration Policy Institute, for Botswana, " Foreign workers were aggressively pursued to fill skills gaps in sectors including technology, management, education, engineering, law, and healthcare, and were offered competitive salaries, subsidized housing, cars, health insurance, and free education for expatriate children." As a result, the number of foreign residents based in Botswana more than doubled to 60,000 in 2001 (3.4 percent of the population at that time) from 29,000 in 1991. At the same time, the government aggressively invested in educating and training its workers, with recent figures on government spending on education for Botswana being between 8 and 10 percent of GDP, or about double the global average.

Not only did they prepare their youth in the classroom, Botswana also structured the workplace in a manner that would enable the transfer of key skills, best practices and highly prized tacit knowledge from the nation's expat workers to the local workforce. It did so by requiring companies to take on Batswana 'understudies' of sorts, who were trained and groomed to eventually take on the skilled positions held by foreign nationals at the time. Such a policy is not uncommon across many parts of the world.

Indeed, I first learnt of this practice from a friend who worked for the Tesco Shanghai office during my second visit to China as an intern in 2011. The arrangement pays dividends for both the country and the company, with one party gaining an extra skilled worker over time, and the other party eventually being able to hire a local to carry out the job of the foreign worker at more competitive pay.

Mass migration in an age of cheap and fast travel will simply unravel

Mass migration is a sub-optimal solution to global economic challenges, much like pouring more water into an already crowded reservoir—it increases strain without addressing the root issues. While remittances provide short-term relief, they fail to solve the deeper economic problems faced by developing nations. The optimal path lies in empowering people to succeed where they are, by strengthening local industries, investing in talent, and fostering sustainable growth at home. This approach alleviates pressure on host nations while offering a more lasting, resilient solution for global development.

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Where it all Began

A global environment of relatively high commodity prices and low interest rates once again led Africa to the infrastructure well as a means to development across the region.

Such an economic strategy harkens back to the post-independence period when African governments took out massive loans as a way to build the schools, road networks and power generation capacity required to foster growth. However, as global rates began to climb in the 1980's and the price of different commodities started to settle, more countries fell into debt distress. Decades later, Africa is caught in a similar dilemma, calling into question what it is that the continent can do to escape this cycle.

I have previously written about Africa's first regional debt crisis, so throughout this piece we will skip over to the second one that's unfolding before our very eyes. In the late 2000's, interest rates across the USA, the Eurozone and the UK fell to their lowest levels ever in response to the onset of the 2008 Financial Crisis. Overnight, rates fell from between four and five hundred basis points, to close to zero.

The cost of borrowing plunged, and the central banks of the aforementioned countries and regions went on to carry out multiple rounds of quantitative easing. Trillions upon trillions of dollars were created by central banks out of thin air, then used to buy bank IOU bonds from private banks in a bid to shore economies up from their knees, as many across the rich world witnessed regression and recession not seen since the Great Depression.

In the midst of all of this calamity and seismic change, more of the African continent started to dip its sun-soaked toes into what is known as the Eurobond markets. According to Kenyan financial firm Cytonn, Eurobonds are "fixed income debt instruments issued in a currency other than the currency of the country or market in which they are issued, mostly denominated in a currency that is widely traded and accepted globally, like the US Dollar or the Euro."

Africa Discovers the Eurodollar Markets

This EUR 13.2 trillion market enables governments, state-owned and private corporations from every corner of the world to access short and long-term credit relatively simply. With the investors responsible for fueling this market ranging from institutional to retail. Prior to 2006, no African nation - besides Industrialized South Africa - had tapped into Eurobond investment vehicles. But the door into this market for Africa creaked open with a $200 million debt issuance by the Seychelles that very same year. The following year, the door was blown open to the rest of the continent for all to see. A triplet of West and Central African nations in Ghana, Gabon and the Republic of Congo, went on to issue over $2 billion worth of Euro bonds in 2007. More African nations would go on to tap into this market in the following years.

By 2021, 21 countries across Africa were participating in a regional market that had ballooned in size to $136 billion.

A number of push and pull economic factors are behind this meteoric rise:
(i) Higher spreads for Western lenders
Ultra-low interest rates across Western markets meant that investors were faced with negative real returns once inflation was taken into consideration. Simultaneously, institutional investors could borrow at these same rates and then lend it out to sovereign borrowers across the emerging world at a premium. Thus, some looked to African state and corporate Euro bond issuers for higher reserve currency-denominated returns;
(ii) The Noughties and Africa Rising
Growth across the Sub-Saharan African region was relatively high throughout the 2000's, averaging around 5 percent per annum throughout the decade. Leading to higher investor confidence;

(iii) Discounted rates for sovereign African borrowers
While returns of between 5-10 percent were relatively high for Euro bond lenders around the world, global rate cuts and increased investor interest meant that these rates were lower and therefore discounted, for African borrowers when compared to those of prior years. Indeed, looking at the chart below you can see how bond yields fell from close to 10 percent, to around five percent over the next few years.

The rest, as they say is history. African Euro bond issuers raised debt to rollover old debts, balance foreign currency reserves, and to finance major infrastructure projects. Studies show though, that most of this debt was used to support infrastructure investment across the continent. On the face of it, this reads as sensible spending. Figures from the African Development Bank show that Africa has an infrastructure financing gap of around $100 billion. Reliable and consistent power supplies, adequate sewerage and plumbing systems, and extensive road, rail, air and port networks facilitate production expansion via increased efficiency.

Is Capital Investment-Driven Growth Putting the Cart Before the Horse?

On the other hand, this still doesn't drive away from the fact that the execution of many of these initiatives were botched. To begin with, African states leveraged short-term Euro bonds to fund long term infrastructure projects that take time to pay themselves off. Furthermore, the rate at which returns on infrastructure are generated also depends on the revenue model underpinning the project in question.

Are repayments supported by direct charges such as C2B (consumer-to-business) toll fees or B2B (business-to-business) lease payments, or indirect charges tied to general taxation? Something has gone amiss because the continent's debt-to-GDP ratio has increased considerably over the last decade or so. A return of higher rates across the rich world in response to the Russia-Ukraine War related inflationary pressures, coupled with a rising dollar, has now hastened the currents of external debt that Africa now finds itself drowning in.

The African debt cycle is repeating itself, in part due to different issuers' financing models, external economic shocks and nagging structural issues. I will dedicate the remainder of this piece to unpacking the story behind the continent's structural limitations.

In my humble opinion, this is the biggest contributor to Africa's second sovereign debt crisis because, even prior to rate rises and the COVID crisis, many African nations debt-to-GDP ratios were already on the rise. For decades, whether in times of high or low growth, Africa has struggled to create sufficient numbers of jobs to absorb its young and rapidly growing workforce.

Jobless Growth and Urban Change

Indeed, a white paper on Job Creation and Skills Development in Africa highlights how the region is only able to create jobs for three of the twelve million young people entering the workforce every year. Some of the remaining nine million fall into unemployment or drop out of the labour market altogether, but the overwhelming majority of them instead seek economic refuge in informal work, which leads us on to the next piece of this puzzle.

Africa has undergone an urban transformation over the course of the last half a century or so. Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, was only 15 percent urban in 1960, and home to just one city - Johannesburg - that boasted a population of over one million people. In 2009, there were 52. Sub-Saharan Africa is now 43 percent urban, with the figure for the whole continent likely to exceed 50 percent by 2030. This flood into the cities makes perfect sense, especially when you consider that urban centres within Africa tend to provide "improved access to services, jobs and infrastructure" according to the African Development Bank.

With that said, even the cities are unable to provide most of its residents with jobs, harkening back to this overriding issue of a lack of formal employment. 83 percent of employment in Africa is informal. Informal work is carried out in the black economy through unregistered businesses and doesn't normally show up on official payment systems and tax records. Informal work and informal businesses are only 25 percent as productive as formal businesses, while formal, above the table firms that subsequently face competition from informal companies are only 75 percent as productive as those without such competition.

This weighs down growth across the continent. This is the case because the lack of record keeping and verifiable data available amongst them makes it more difficult for banks to assess their creditworthiness. Which in turn limits informal traders access to more affordable credit at greater quantities. As a result, many are unable to leverage debt to acquire the kind of productivity boosting machinery, tech and other forms of capital needed to truly grow and make money. Hence, the near synonymous association between informal trade and 'small time', low-level, precarious enterprises, better known as 'hustles'.

Furthermore, while informal firms rely on public services and infrastructure like roads, clean streets and sewerage works just as much as anyone else, their economic invisibility makes them more difficult to tax, creating a shortfall in tax revenues that African governments are increasingly looking to indirect, consumption based taxes (that disproportionately affect low-income earners and the poor) to fill.

Relatively large markets and the better infrastructure of cities and surrounding towns in Africa might be contributing to a 'bright lights' effect, where more people leave farm work in their villages behind for a better quality of life in the city, albeit in unproductive, informal economic activity.

Higher quality and more extensive infrastructure stock also both increases the appeal of urban areas and facilitates more rural-urban migration. As more road, rail and airport connections more effectively enable travel between the countryside and the city.

Going Beyond Insanity

Put another way, much of the continent has borrowed a lot to bolster goods producing capital, only to attract more inefficiently deployed labour, leaving it bereft of the sufficient jobs needed to sustain growth and the tax receipts necessary to service, and eventually pay down debts. Formal employment is a must for Africa, one common source lies in manufacturing - a sector that most of the continent has failed to expand, but has to if it ever wants to escape the low-income trap. In my next few articles, I will attempt to tackle the million dollar question as to how the region does this.

Kenyans are right to be angry and frustrated about these proposed taxation measures. Real wages are declining in Kenya, so these taxes will only make people poorer, especially when it comes to the wananchi of the country.

Infrastructure-led growth in Africa and debt accumulation

A conversation needs to be had about the underlying issues at play here though. Under the Uhuru government, piles of debt were taken on in order to build and improve infrastructure, among other things. Examples include the construction of the country’s 700km long Nairobi-Mombasa standard gauge railway (SGR) line in 2017. The bill for this is about USD$5 billion, with the bulk of it financed by borrowing. Over 9,000km of tarmacked road was also built from 2012-2022. Kenya's debt-to-GDP ratio grew from around 40 percent in 2012 to about 70 percent in 2023 as a result.

Kenya’s economy has been growing, but not fast enough to account for population growth. Productivity rates have failed to keep up with debt growth, preventing the country from growing its way out of it all.

It's safe to say that the infrastructure spending didn't generate the returns we were all expecting. I have to admit that I was once firmly in the infrastructure over everything camp, and now realize that it's not a silver-bullet, nor even a sure shot to economic development and success.

And now..the bill is due

So this brings us to the hard question of how exactly is Kenya going to repay all of this debt? The money has to come from somewhere, where do we propose?

Economist David Ndii seems to have had the last laugh here. As he might be on to something when he argues that more resources need to be invested in education and skills training, along with agriculture. As someone who spent nearly three years living in Kenya, I have some insights of my own to provide here.

From what I know and have experienced of my time there, I think that the Kenyan government and other African governments need to reduce state involvement in the economy. This would at least help reduce the size of the civil service wage bill over time. This is something I have written on in the past in my article on why Free Markets in Africa are Integral to Growth and Levelling up.

It also needs to be made easier for people and foreign investors in particular, to set-up businesses on the ground across the nation. While I was in Kenya, I wanted to collaborate with my family and friends abroad in the UK, the USA and elsewhere to launch businesses and different initiatives in the country, but the immigration restrictions, rules on foreigners doing business in Kenya, along with the general lack of clear info and transparency on the rules concerning everything ended up discouraging me from seriously pursuing anything.

This is not just about an individual president, it's bigger than that. African governments have been relying on publicly financed big infrastructure and energy projects to generate high growth, but such efforts will continue to be undermined if little is done to promote private sector development.

Private businesses and jobs fund the government, not the other way around. Expect to see more of these protests and rebellions spread across Africa in the next couple years, as governments continue to impose a succession of taxes on their citizens in order to repay their debts amidst a macroeconomic environment of low growth and depreciating currencies.

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Does your locus of control look externally or deep within?

The point of the quote goes beyond mere trivia though as it shines a light on the rationale behind the point of the closer of this article series: the twins of learned helplessness and the victim mentality.

The concept of Learned helplessness is best illustrated by the experiment that gave birth to it in the 1960’s. In this study, dogs were placed inside a shuttle box divided into two by a small barrier. The first half of the barrier was free of any interventions, a harmless, innocuous sectioned space which the dog would jump over. However, once the dog made its way to the second half of the shuttle box it would receive a painful electric shock. Afterwards, the same affected dogs would be placed into another shuttle box that was split into two - only this time, no electric shock was applied to the second half. The results were that the dogs, traumatized by their past experiences, refused to ever venture into the second half for fear of receiving another shock. Their past experiences went on to define their current, and future trajectory.

We could argue that a similar phenomenon can be seen in some people, who unfortunately find themselves prisoners to their trauma in spite of what things have come to be now. Learned helplessness feeds into self-victimization, as some individuals go on to believe that their fate is largely decided by circumstances beyond their control, with them increasingly looking at life through the prism of an external locus of control. This tends to leave the person looking outward, rather than inward, for solutions to their problems. But, in doing so they’re probably less likely to successfully tackle their problems resulting in more shortcomings. Subsequently serving to confirm and even justify their learned helplessness, setting off a vicious, self-reinforcing cycle.

The opening quote highlights the fear that we all exhibit at times when it comes to fulfilling our human potential and pursuing our dreams. Looking at ourselves in the mirror and admitting that we might be the problem is hard to do. It’s difficult to acknowledge failure and the fact that we can, and more importantly, aren’t, necessarily doing better. But, such introspection and self-accountability serves a purpose in that figuring out your failures and weaknesses better positions you to identify how you can succeed moving forward. In order to bounce back and get back on your feet, you need to first find them.

“In order to bounce back and get back on your feet, you need to first find them.”

This is where the internal locus of control comes into play, enabling you to understand, identify and find ways to bend the universe to your will, and adapt your environment to your needs. It’s this ability that is the lifeblood of the human spirit and it is what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. All the way back to our days of making and manipulating fire, to today where we have gone on to occupy outer space and innovate medicine that regrows human limbs.

With that said, we still have individuals and communities out there who unknowingly subscribe to a mindset which comfortably rests in the external locus of control. This includes one too many of the people who look like me: African descendants.

The last 500 years have not been kind to us: slavery, the slave trade, colonialism and racial discrimination have reared their ugly heads in, defining much of our existence for many of us, consequently leaving us battered, bruised and traumatized. Nonetheless, bruises eventually form into battle scars, and carry with them lessons for the future.

And the longer those of us refuse to embrace them, take ownership of our lives, and begin the journey of rehabilitation and reform by becoming the captains of our ships and the masters of our fates, the longer the words of mine and countless others fall on deaf ears and we continue to wonder, what happened?

The entrenchment of an outdated narrative

Since the 1960’s, as African nations began the march to liberation and independence on one side of the ocean, and black people and black descendants won the battle for full equality under the law on the other side, a peculiar narrative has formed and come to dominate the popular imagination.

The narrative of racism and the black plight has inculcated the minds of a lot of African descendants, as well as others. More than a few of us have adopted it as our worldview, with us viewing almost everything through the lens of race, racial hierarchy and white supremacy.

This mindset has too many followers to count. It is also supported and propelled by a vast expanse of industries ranging from music and entertainment, media and journalism, academia, political and social activism, and corporate CSR repackaged under the terms ESG (environmental, social and governance) and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). Each year, billions of dollars are thrown into advocating this message.

A message that not only divides and separates us from other ethnicities, but from ourselves. African descendants who openly oppose this view, or are not seen as speaking out for it are usually ostracized in ways that are both big and spectacular, and smaller, and more pernicious in nature too. In particular, black conservative voices, the racially oblivious among us, and even those who may pursue hobbies or interests that fall outside of what has been deemed the ‘black experience’ can end up falling victim to this. This, in turn has the bleak effect of restricting the human ingenuity that we can tap into for mobilization, collaboration and development.

We’re crabs in an open sea not a barrel

For instance, black conservative voice Candace Owens has the largest podcast of any woman in the world. She founded the Blexit Movement, and is dedicating her life to creating an alternative space for black people to engage each other and cooperate in. And time and time again, she has shown a willingness to make inroads with her many black detractors, most recently seen in her interview with popular US urban radio station and media platform, The Breakfast Club earlier this year. With all that said, in a stunning example of how Black Excellence is selectively applied, you will not hear much about her in the black mainstream, and what little you do hear is usually seasoned with condescending speech laced with racial epithets.

It serves to highlight what has been aptly put by black American commentator for the Wallstreet Journal, Jason Riley as wartime thinking. Too many African descendants - especially those inhabiting the Western World - navigate through life under these presupposed conditions. The result being that precious energy and time that could be better directed to capacity and community building is instead expended on preparing for battle and confrontation with the ‘other’. And ethnic members seen as not being entirely onboard are then culled as a means to reinforcing the troops.

Now, it somewhat made sense for many of us to take on this doctrine in yesteryears, when that was all a lot of us knew as that was what we had so extensively been exposed to.

However, over half a century has elapsed since then. We are now in a period of relative peace. Indeed, in that time, we have seen an African descendant twice elected to lead the most powerful country in the world, millions upon millions of us can now be found in all professions, trades and fields everywhere on the planet. Our musical heritage is the soundtrack to humanity, and we’re just getting started.

We, 1.8 billion souls in all corners of the globe, bound together by our African ancestry, are not victims, together, we are powerful beyond measure. Our time is now!

And right now, our present and future is fought between two competing narratives: Africa Rising and the foreboding spectre of neocolonialism. The former is rooted in Africa and African descendants taking the reins of business and enterprise, technology, and arts and culture to etch a bright existence for its abundant youth. The latter, insists we relive our traumas by preoccupying itself with the past, and seeking salvation in vague political and institutional solutions, working to minimize the role that we as individuals, families and societies have in shaping our own destiny.

Build alternatives not take-downs

I would argue that nothing better sums up the chasm between these two competing narratives than a video produced by YouTuber Mr Beast that recently went viral. The White American social entrepreneur traveled to multiple parts of Africa, donating money and equipment to build 100 wells in rural villages. Access to fresh water supplies is the basis of life. Those villages are now in a position to use clean water without fear of contracting fatal diseases. It will also be directed to irrigating local farms, helping to improve food security and raise the incomes of the locals. Irrespective of what Mr Beast’s underlying intentions may have been - this should be viewed as a hand up, not a hand-out.

While many (likely those more amenable to the Africa Rising narrative) cheered this initiative on and took it as inspiration to do more to make changes in whatever way they can, there were also the usual naysayers and haters. A lot of these were African descendants, who were mostly stationed abroad and/or led relatively comfortable lives. They threw the usual attacks of him being a ‘white saviour’, only concerned with exploiting Africans for his own personal gain. It was a disappointing sight to see, even the more cynical among us should at least use it as motivation and research material for similar initiatives of our own. But what we got instead were crabs in a barrel pulling down the few who are actually doing something.

Change starts from within and shapes everything we interact with thereafter. The twins of the victim mentality and learned helplessness have to be absolutely obliterated away from our cultures. Because by externalizing the causes of our misgivings, we also unknowingly externalize the solutions. Fortunately, a ray of hope amongst us shines through, that possesses the power to part the dark clouds and open our horizons. And it’s the Africans of the Motherland themselves.

Young Africa wants solutions not grievances

With a median age of 19, which is 11 years below the global median and 25 years below (or more than half) that of the European Union’s, most Africans are growing up in what many of us would deem as a post-racial world. Most of them don’t even remember when Barack Obama was elected to the presidency, they were entering their teenage years when the first Black Panther was released. The date of birth for a 19 year old in 2024 is 2005, the same year that arguably the biggest female popstar of the 21st Century in Rihanna, first debuted into the Big Time. What was seen as exceptional for older age cohorts is simply normal for most Africans.

Not only that, as I have touched on in past articles, the average African is a 21st Century kid. Or, what I like to call the Smartphone Generation. Therefore, the Africa that they’ve lived through and experienced is worlds away from the one that older Millennial, Gen X and Boomer generations witnessed, whether from up close or from afar. Africa now has its own billionaires, tech giants, investment gurus, global popstars and actors and big-time social media influencers. Again, I really have to reiterate that this is not the Africa of the 1990’s and 1980’s.

Not only that, the Smartphone Generation within Africa also only knows what was - until very recently - a globe in which the United States ruled as the sole world superpower. The English speaking African youth speaks it with an American twang, consumes American music and film and educates themselves with mostly American educational and training content. Polls also show that Africans largely view the USA very positively, there are four million members of the African Diaspora in the United States too.

My experiences interacting with African youth during my travels across the continent imparted on me an impression of a culture that has inherited the American can-do attitude, their slight naive sense of optimism, along with the belief that everything can be made into a business. They believe that they can do anything and that life is about the pursuit of happiness. The African youth flick on their smartphones and laptops and only see a world of opportunity and manufactured riches emblazoned across their WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok feeds - they’re young, hungry and bursting at the seams with energy. They’ve learnt not to expect anything from their governments, get it how you can is the motto. In other words, the African Smartphone Generation doesn’t have time for pissing and moaning about past gripes and historical injustices and distant politics.

I think that African youth are firmly in the Africa Rising camp. Maybe, as Africa’s prominence on the world stage continues to elevate, this narrative will overpower the countless grains of sinking sand that help the misguided beliefs of neocolonialism and racial injustice spread and survive, and pull us under.

Bearing this in mind, with all their energy and initiative, youth still need guidance and preparation for the world ahead of them. The African Diaspora can fill these shoes, I really do believe and almost feel like I know this, the question is, do you?

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