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Behold, the ‘cheetahs’ are taking
over Africa
James Shikwati
George Ayittey, a Ghanaian born
Economist refers to an emerging
vibrant breed of young Africans as the “Cheetah generation;”
they don’t talk about colonialism and they do not read
the G8 script, they simply want to take charge of Africa! In
contrast George laments about the “Hippo Generation,” this is
the generation that is stuck in the mud and is oversize after
draining the continents resources through corruption; this is a
group that believes in entitlement.
The Hippo group will advance an
argument as follows: “The Whiteman enslaved us, America and
Europe developed on our resources, and they must give un
said.” This generation hangs around G8 summits quite
often.
While the most powerful nations on
earth were meeting in Heiligendamm
Germany to discuss among other issues aid to Africa, over 50
“Cheetahs” were in Arusha at a TED
event to show case Africa’s new chapter. Bono,
a famous proponent for aid to Africa,
must have left this meeting with a
quest to reorganize his belief in aid as a fixer to Africa's
predicament. A number of Western participants confessed to me
that they were witnessing an Africa they had never known…because
the Western media deliberately ignores to highlight success
stories in the continent.
Some highlights; Alieu Conteh
established one of the fastest growingmobile phone services in
central Africa. Alieu recounted how in themidst of civil war, he
put up his cell phone network using scrap to welda tower
together because no foreign manufacturer would ship a cell
phonetower to the airport with rebels pounding cities. His
ingenuity led tothe present day Vodafone Congo. Kenya’s Moses
Makayoto talked about hisinventions including the famous “mama
safi” detergent produced using local
resources. He urged young scientists to take over and help
movescience to industrialization. Salim Amin a media
entrepreneur from Kenya discussed the
upcoming 24 hour pan-African news and current affairschannel. In
Salim’s words, “We have to educate the rest of the world asto
the power of this wonderful continent.”
A man came to me and asked, “Why are
all of you talking about Africa asif it were one country?” It
had escaped my notice that the Cheetahs have their ears and eyes
focused on a totally new Africa different from the Hippo's
nationalism. The market incentive is driving the new generation
to view Africa as a place of opportunities. Mr. Bond Emeruwa
best illustrates this when he brags about Nigeria’s film
industry drawing in over $200 million from outside Nigeria.
“Nollywood would never have succeeded if Western donors
developed interest in it, we would not be producing films that
mirror and resonate with the Africans intrinsic lifestyles.”
My presentation centred on how to
commercialize African entrepreneurship; a Ugandan producer of
“lubugo” cloth came to me and asked, “Man, how can we
commercialize our innovations, foods, etc, when some of the
Western values condemn our products?” He pointed out that
Christian believers are discouraged to use bark cloth from
“Mutuba” tree because it’s believed to be part of “witchcraft.”
Value addition to“Lubugo” might give a new meaning to the quest
for cotton in Africa.
If one is wondering, where will the
Cheetahs get the money anyway, thefounder of Vodafone Congo
(DRC), took the initiative that laterattracted an investor –
Vodafone to partner with him. Venturecapitalists are out there
looking for brilliant ideas that are takingoff the ground, and
partnership restores African dignity compared to themuch hyped
G8 aid that leaves Africans questioning their own abilities.Let
us do business fixing all the challenges facing Africa.
James Shikwati is the Director
Inter Region Economic Network email: james@irenkenya.orgThis
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