India is a great country, but what if I tell you that Africa outperforms India when you examine absolute and intrinsic economic indicators. Do not get me wrong: India has one of the greatest diaspora models in the world which is simply amazing and truly enviable. But despite all that, India’s potentials remain latent, unlocked, just like Africa. So, as you share this plot (below), note the following:
The population of India is 1.4 billion. The population of Africa is 1.3 billion. The GDP of India is $3.1 trillion. The GDP of Africa is $3 trillion. Did you notice something? Africa and India are just in the same pot, underperforming, despite the perception that India has higher productivity or efficiency. Indeed, the economic efficiency difference between India and Africa is the type which exists between 12 and a dozen. Sure, Africa has more natural resources. But yet, India enjoys one border which has an efficiency factor against Africa. (GDP of China is about $17.73 trillion, population is about 1.4 billion.)
As I have written many times, we must look into China, because China has the secret sauce to development. India has a literacy rate of about 78%. China has 99.8% which means every person above 15 years old can read and write in China! As you go deeper, you will see why China is supreme and totally uncorrelated with any other emerging economy.
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Then, the biggest difference. When Africans and Indians graduate in American top universities, they make US permanent homes; Chinese put about 5 years, and then move back to China, and tap unlimited government-created resources to challenge the companies they worked for in the United States. That is why you hardly see Chinese at top leadership positions in leading US tech companies even as you see them running companies which challenge those firms at the global level. Like Africa, India does not offer such pathways.
Sure, we must learn certain things from India. But India itself is learning more from China, and I think we can go straight and learn from China. China is doing the core things which transform economies. Of course India rocks, and is doing great; my point is to put things in perspective.
Why this post? The politicians are throwing technology, technology and technology in their campaigns in Nigeria. One gubernatorial aspirant is all over the place with blockchain for agriculture. People, what African agriculture needs is electricity to power silos, storage systems, etc; water systems for irrigation; and accessible road networks. And of course the big one: security!
I am a techie and I am conscious to write that the buzz of tech does not solve fundamental problems without a policy framework or business model. You can have all the tech experts in the world, and yet underperform on national productivity. That vision is what makes technology deliver big time.
The Limits of Tech and Why African Politicians Must Architect Generation-Shaping Policies
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Comment 1: “Then, the biggest difference. When Africans and Indians graduate in American top Universities, they make US permanent homes, Chinese put 5 years, and move back to China.”
This may be the true difference maker…I see a strong parallel between Quality education and Quality Economy…
Big question…Why do Chinese people return home after a short period and Indians/Africans stay back?
The true diaspora remittance should be beyond sending a couple of dollars for family welfare economics but remitting your knowledge base and presence into growing the economy…i also must add that I am not excluding the responsibility of government to make the environment conducive for such exploration.
There is great hope for Africa and it lies greatly in our enhanced Human capital.
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Africa cannot learn much from China, because Africa is no China! How do you learn identity and patriotism? Some things are much more complex than writing fine theses and making suggestions. The disparity between Africa and China is too wide, nobody should be deceived by natural resources and population, those two things are ephemeral and largely useless, except you know what to do with them.
You cannot accomplish what China accomplish with democracy, it is IMPOSSIBLE! So before we start fantasizing and bloviating, Africans have identity crisis, something that is very complicated to resolve.
If we start with the fundamentals which education is the number one, what sort of education does Africa need to give Africans, have we critically thought of it and how realistic and close are we to crafting such educational system? It is not about dreaming of factories and technologies, how does an average African see himself/herself? This question weighs higher than everything else, because it’s on top it that everything else will draw life and strength.
Chinese believe in China, because China will make you to believe, irrespective of whether you are succeeding or failing; but Africa cannot get Africans to believe.
Start by believing!
The insights from this article is amazing. Africa needs to wake up and do so fast.