Africa | The Pope and the CEO

PovertyCure – What if we’ve been asking the wrong questions?

“Charity has its place in emergency situations.… A life that is lived on as a recipient of charity is a miserable life. I think, in our DNA, the way God made us, we are made as co-creators. God wants us to perfect and to really finish His creation. And if you’re simply a recipient of charity, you’re not doing that; you’re not fulfilling your real destiny, which is this creative capacity that God has endowed us with, we’re letting that creative capacity sit idle. I think that’s—at probably at the deepest level that I can reach—what’s so inadequate about the traditional response to poverty.” Damian von Stauffenberg
The Catholic Church Wants More African Businesses

It only seems right that the person in need of development (and we all are) should be at the forefront of that development – not just economic, but spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, etc. A symposium held in Rome recently, organized by the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance and the Acton Institute, proposed just that: more businesses in Africa, created by African businesspeople. This is no doubt something that we are in favor of here at Faith and Prosperity. Hopefully men and women in Africa will answer the call from the symposium.
Entrepreneurship – The Best Employment

The United States Embassy in Benin recently organized a three-day conference to train entrepreneurs in the developing West African nation. The conference sought to train people in the skills needed to start their own business and give them the information necessary on the laws and regulations for small businesses in their country. I lived in Benin for a couple of years, so this kind of news I find particularly encouraging. I think giving people the opportunity that they need and showing them that they have the resources necessary to succeed is extremely important. Sometimes there is a latent drive in the person that just needs to be unleashed. Benin has enjoyed relative peace and stability, particularly for the past twenty years. There are many smart, enterprising people that I met while I was over there, and I have high hopes for the country. Let’s hope that this conference really has an impact and leads to further economic development in Benin.
The African Push for Technology

One thing that fascinates me is watching how quickly technology advances. For example, the iPhone was introduced only 4 years ago, yet already has 4 versions that have been released. E-readers, tablets like the iPad – all of these are relatively new as well, and revolutionizing the way we lead our lives. Watching people on public transportation, many are reviewing documents, catching up on news, or checking and responding to email from some sort of device – and this would not have been possible a number of years ago. It’s also interesting watching countries that are not as developed as the United States participate in this technological advancement. Africa, for example, caught on to cell phones very quickly. While most countries in Africa only had a few land lines throughout the years, as soon as cell phones hit, it seems nearly everyone was able to find a way afford them and went out to buy one. Maybe a next big step is transferring from analog to digital television. I found this article on the BBC website particularly interesting, seeing as a main issue was the involvement of local stakeholders in the process. I think that it is very important in… Read more
Young African Entrepreneurs

Gallup recently conducted a poll in 27 African countries, and found some encouraging results: over 20% of young Africans, aged 15-35, are planning on starting a business! North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa had somewhat different results, but overall, these favorable numbers existed across the board. Even better, these young, would-be entrepreneurs seem to trust their governments and their society to allow their enterprises to flourish. Check out the article and the survey results.
“Only Africans Can Save Themselves”

Well-known Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda published this article in his news magazine, The Independent, in late March. In it, he criticizes the Western world’s approach to the African continent: that Africans cannot take care of themselves, so it is the international community’s obligation to drag them out of poverty. It is provocative, enlightening, and quite refreshing. Take a look at a few of the things he has to say: “Many Western interventions to save Africa are rarely about the supposed victims. Instead, they are platforms for Western people to exhibit their altruism.” “As I write this article, there are more Malawian doctors trained at government expense living and working in Britain than there are in Malawi itself. Malawian professionals have voted with their feet and left. Yet the world may remain happy with Malawi because it meets the conventional models of a democracy.” “What is missing is the story of innovation in Malawi; the business people who are creating new ways to make money and therefore employing hundreds of thousands; the farmers who are improving their wellbeing through adoption of modern farming technologies; young professionals like those in Kenya who created mobile money that is changing life on our continent… Read more