Mike Mina, Executive Editor of IRIS Executive interviews John Akhile, Author of “Unleashed: A New Paradigm of African Trade with the World
Unleash African Trade Power – Leveraging Creative Trade for development (Part 2)
“If African leaders (in or out of power) will adopt the “why” curiosity en masse and apply it to every area of the socio-economic-political landscape of their countries, the issue of unnecessary poverty and irrational conflict will disappear within two generations; because “why” curiosity will lift the veil of existential darkness, obliterate systemic blindness and […]
Thinking Outside-the-Box Converting Latent Resources to Dynamic Resources–Part 1
“How many African countries have done a market research of global consumption patterns in rich countries to find out what they are buying and from where they are buying it and, using the information, have formulated strategy to position their country to address a niche?” In my soon to be published book, Unleashed: A New […]
Unleash African Trade Power – Leveraging Creative Trade for development (Part 1)
“The gravitational imperative of economic flow in the arrangement requires the poorest countries in the world to keep the factories and industries in much richer countries humming and in effect finance the economic prosperity of the richer countries. It is not a rational state of affairs and confounds even the most basic logic.” African countries […]
Let’s try: “The No Begging Bowl Approach!”
To paraphrase Lee Kuan Yew, the Father of modern Singapore, Western business people gained respect for their efforts when they understood that Singapore was not extending a begging bowl but was instead seeking synergistic-ally advantageous business associations. That is, that Singapore (would and did) invest in substantive material factors that (would and did) make its […]
Creating Tiger Economies in Africa
The primary reason why countries become successful is that they are able to identify their challenges and opportunities and to marshal ideas, materials, and political resources necessary for maximizing the opportunities and removing the challenges. It is not rocket science. Successful companies and countries constantly live in that world. It’s a world of boldly exploring […]
Competitive Ineptitude 5 Installing a path to permanent success
Successful societies have structures that under girth their success. In societies that have a long history of prosperity, the structures are institutional in nature. For instance, Western nations have Judeo-Christian ethos, Capitalism, and the rule of law. In the case of Nuevo-rich nations like Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Brazil, etc., they have muscled […]
Competitive Ineptitude 4 Ideas and Persistence
“Who in their right mind would have predicted that a small city-state like Singapore would one day become one of the most prosperous countries on earth?” Ideas and persistence are the twin pillars of any successful endeavor. Every challenge that has been faced by mankind has been subdued, pacified or vanquished by the twin pillars. […]
Competitive Ineptitude 3 Challenged by the Concept of Thinking Outside the Box
“The lawmakers of a country whose GDP is $40 billion, plus or minus a couple of billions, [pay] themselves a higher salary than lawmakers of a country whose GDP is the highest in the world at about $15 trillion.” The greatest transgression of African leaders is their failure to solve the problems of their respective […]
Competitive Ineptitude part 2 – Systemic Blindness Part 2
“There are colonial era multi-gauge rail lines preventing integration of regional and trans-regional rail transport. African governments have failed to address it for more than 40 years in an era that saw the creation of many billionaire politicians.” Dysfunction is a way of life in most countries in Africa Let us face the truth of […]