Page 92 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 13

Innovate Afrika

has been doing business in imported. We don’t have paper; we are getting huge rebates, so they
Afrika for how long? have wood, which goes out and the want to export anything and every-
That’s 12-15 years. paper comes in. thing. They are not even considering
the price factor, the ROI… they go
15 years? That’s a lot of ex- Value addition is something which by the volumes. They don’t go by
perience and that’s a lot of is required in each and every corner. each number of sales, they go by
experience with many differ- Everything goes out of Afrika and how many containers, or ships they
ent countries, importing and then is sold to Afrika; that fashion sell in a year and some 2-3% of that
exporting. We have a lot of has to be changed and the change volume is huge money for them. So,
they come with a different agenda.
has to come from motivation with
friends and people who watch channels and people who educate, In Afrika, we also are on the verge
our channel or read our mag- who try to see the wealth within the of emerging as transforming and
azine who are interested in wealth. The whole idea is to create industrializing, it will take time to
investing in Afrika, but they a substance out of a thousand pos- evolve. They already have every-
have questions. Is it worth sibilities. We are tremendously rich, thing in place so they just want to
making the effort? What does richly blessed, so opportunities are penetrate with a product and that’s a
it take? What do they have to massive. People should unite, and huge gap in terms of backward and
keep in mind? Is it too expen- forces should gather to make things forward integration. The smallest
sive? Is it even feasible to try happen. things are being imported. Why?
and consider the possibility of I agree. But there is another Because we are giving space, the
government policies are not think-
a pan-Afrikan market? ing how to encourage [local busi-
First of all, in terms of opportu- factor in this whole perspec- ness]. For example, we have plenty
nities there are 1 million. Second, tive of Afrikan trade and that’s of bamboo in nature to convert into
should they come? 1 million per the Chinese element, because value added products from tooth-
cent they should come. Third, is it it’s no secret that China has brushes, to toothpicks, to buds, to
safe and secure for their investment? found ways to bring in their paper, to mats, to blinds... there are a
1 million per cent it is safe and goods at lower cost. To the thousand things that could be done,
secure. There’s no worry in terms point where we find even Chi- but then there is no support. There
of losing money or losing oppor- nese fish is being sold in fish is no support, there are no policies.
tunity. The smallest example that I marketing regions and export- The same way the Chinese govern-
could give or take is a toothpick. A ing regions in Afrika, which ment encourages Chinese entre-
toothpick is a very common thing, doesn’t make any sense. First preneurs by giving them benefits,
which anybody and everybody uses, of all, how did they even get perks, subsidies, is the same way if
which Afrika still imports. A simple in Afrika the manufacturers have
matchstick, which again the whole so much influence and how do been supported by these types of
of Afrika uses, yet nobody produces we find a way to counter-bal- perks, everybody would jump into it.
it, everybody imports and again it’s ance that, because I don’t It is a collaborative participation of
a huge market. The smallest match- think that anything should all the sectors, no single person is to
stick, for example in the West Af- be overbalanced one way or be blamed and no one person is to
rikan market, would be 300 to 400 another. be blamed, everybody has to come
million dollars, toothpicks we can You have touched a stressing point. together to make things possible.
say 100 to 200 million dollars. These There is no individual who is good
are massive opportunities, and right or bad, it is the trend, the com- Do you think that there is
now, unfortunately, you know Afrika munity and the backing or it’s the the will for the continent to
imports about 80-89% of products. government policies, which make
This is on average; each country some businesses flourish or ruin. come to work together, each
has a different perspective. You When it comes to China, China is nation bringing together its
could put your mind to anything. backed by the Chinese government. strengths?
That makes the circle complete in The entrepreneurs or the business Yes. West Afrika, they have ECOW-
terms of sustainability, feasibility houses are backed by government AS, in South Afrika you have SADC;
and viability and you could venture policies. They have been encouraged like this associations are formed,
into it. Even paper which is being towards export sales, for which they unions are formed but all are in

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