WHAT AFRICA NEEDS

Growing up I always dreamt of changing the world. Now that I am older I believe I am well on my way to doing just that. I have grown more excited by the challenges that face my country, South Africa. My research has taken a new shift over the past few months. As opposed to simply to studying top performing individuals and enterprises I have come to also study countries with the largest economies. Through my research I have come to the strong conviction that the only way South Africa can win, Africa must win.

Most South Africans seem to isolate SA from the rest of Africa and I believe that would be a mistake. As the African adage it takes a village to raise a child. Whether that child is the economy or an actual child, it takes a village to raise that child. It was Marshal McLuhan, who in 1962, said the new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village. His words resound more than half a century later. Technology has indeed made this world a much smaller place. The vision of a prosperous Africa is the child that requires our raising and it will take the effort of us all to do so. It is this very vision that has many a young African across the globe crying for the same vision. It is this very purpose that connects us.

As South Africans we are not isolated from the problem. Many of the issues we face are not unique to South Africa alone. Mass youth unemployment is not unique to SA or even Africa; it is a global problem. We complain about load-shedding and yet there are countries that at times face complete blackouts throughout the country. Terrorism is not unique to Africa, it is a global problem. My heart broke as the images came through social media of the 147 students that were killed in Kenya. They are my fellow game-changers with whom I was to make this land a better place for all. I saw on Twitter that I was not the only angered by what had happened. More and more young people are realizing that nothing will change unless we change it. Bob Dylan was right, the winds are indeed a changing.

Africa does not need one individual to solve all its problems. It does not need a new political party. What Africa needs is for her people to pull together and say “Africa my beginning, Africa my ending.” Africa needs its young people to take up their place in this world. Those who came before us did what they could. In hindsight we can see they were far from perfect, they got many things right and others dismally wrong. Some of their mess has been left to us to fix but we are definitely not starting from the bottom. There is a great foundation that has been set.

The words of former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, resonated with my view of Africa when he said “Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace! However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper! Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the world, let us err today and say – nothing can stop us now.”

Let us err today and say – nothing can stop us now! The only way South Africa can win, is for Africa to win. It is this purpose that connects us. It is this purpose that transcends race, gender or which side one falls on an imaginary line. What Africa needs is for all her people to take up their place. We need to deliver ourselves from this lie that we are inferior by any stretch of the imagination to any other people. We are the founders of universities, mathematics and even astronomy. Africa is the birthplace of mathematics. We are not the world’s charity case. Everyone that came here in the name of helping Africa took more from her than they deposited.

The story told of her could not be further from the truth! Africa is far from finished. Of the top 20 fastest growing economies in the world, 9 are African! 45% of the fastest growing economies in the world are African. It is no wonder that a lot of foreign companies are shifting their focus towards Africa. They see opportunity! Africa is only getting started. There could not be a better time to be in your twenties and African than right now. The opportunities are endless.

Many people in SA stress the importance of education and that is all good and well, however of the top 10 biggest economies in the world, only 3 were also in the top 10 most educated nations in the world. What I found interesting however is that when it came to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses, anything between 6-8 countries which make it to the top 10 of any of the stem courses would also make it to the top 10 biggest economies list. In countries like the USA or China 1 in 5 people is an engineer whereas in South Africa it is 1 in 20. When it comes to the STEM courses we definitely need more young people flooding these degrees. This is what Africa as a whole needs.

The dream of being the next dropout billionaire has crossed many a young person’s mind. I never thought I would ever say this but the world actually needs more Steve Woniaks than it does more people like Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was a visionary. He literally transformed the world. However, the world would not know about Steve Jobs had it not been for Steve Wozniak. Woz was an extraordinary computer engineer.He was absolutely brilliant! He turned Steve’s visions and made them a reality. Without Woz Steve’s visions would have remained a simple dream. Apple had one Steve Jobs but many designers, marketers, engineers and accountants. All of them were essential to its success. It is said that only 1% of the population have what it takes to build a big company. That means the other 99% will need to make the visions of these visionaries a reality. As of 2013, there were 80 000 people working at Apple. The vision of one Steve Jobs, needs 80 000 people to keep it alive.

Developing world-class people in our STEM related courses in an absolute necessity. Warren Buffet’s partner Charlie Munger has a degree in mathematics. If you wonder on the importance of Mathematics check out the documentary titled ‘Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street.’ Your maths related courses include Actuarial Sciences, Statistics and Applied Mathematics. Their importance in any economy can never be downplayed.

Africa is a continent with great promise. With the right leadership and skills it can become regain its position in the world. It is up to us to make that happen.
Africa our beginning, Africa our ending.