Women, Entrepreneurship, Africa, Economic Development – The Possibilities

I have a personal philosophy; I believe that you cannot change a society by mere giving – I believe that you change a society by enabling its members to be participants in economic development. I believe that you can only effect sustainable development by building capacities in men and women in ways that will ensure they are able to earn their own livelihoods. This is my cornerstone for my passion for entrepreneurial activities, entrepreneurship research and specifically female entrepreneurship.

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Many years ago, fresh from high school, equipped with a diploma in computer studies, I had an opportunity to work for an entrepreneurship development center in Kenya as I got ready to go to college. The center basically did project proposal appraisal, but mostly geared its efforts towards issues facing women entrepreneurs in one rural part of Kenya. I was immediately drawn into that vision and that sparked my interest for business, entrepreneurship etc.
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For undergrad, our Business class was required to write a thesis/paper either based on our industrial attachment experience or on a business area of interest to you. I didn’t really gain much from my internship experience so I wrote a 120 page paper on Integration of Women in Entrepreneurship and did a case study of one specific Metropolis in Kenya. I knew that this was just the beginning of things to come – and I was right.

When I was working on my MBA a few years ago – my focus on what it is that I wanted to do say 20 years from today was even further accentuated….Not that I am going to write it here….Lol:-)

All, all and all need to know are that I have an immense zeal for female entrepreneurship activities in Kenya – name it – R&D, training, understanding role conflict, motivation for business, issues in running businesses, success factors, micro financing, public private partnerships etc and all those other things that will ensure that women are well placed to be able to engage in entrepreneurial activities.
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A while back I read Prof Muhammad Yunus’s, Banker to the Poor and was totally floored. Honestly, I had heard only briefly about the then, Dr Yunus and his Grameen Foundation and the work they were doing among women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. After reading the book, then listening to a series of interviews he did after that, I totally understood why he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
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One of my favorite books is End of Poverty, Economic Possibilities for our time by Jeffrey Sachs – Prof Sachs simply says that we CAN alleviate poverty, and do it in our time, not our great great grand children’s times – paraphrasing the book would be an insult – its one of those you have to read to draw your own paraphrases. He stresses the need to work towards attaining the MDG’s – Millennium Development Goals, among them Eradicating extreme hunger and poverty – no man, woman or child should die because they are hungry or because of Malaria
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I have a hypothesis – hear me out:

Attaining the MDG’s first has to begin with an empowered society. I believe that sustainable development requires a fully participative population – that you have men and women that are WILLING and ABLE to earn their livelihoods in some way.

Aside:
You know when people talk about earning a livelihood – most people have images of people waking up, dressing up in suits and going to a job or driving an expensive car or sending their kids to the best schools in the country. Well, fortunately, that is not the case being referenced to as far as the MDG’s are concerned.

What we need is that people will be able to feed their families, allow children to have some kind of education ( so that they don’t vote for some way ward politician because he has offered them a pack of Unga etc), have access to health care and be treated equally in the things that be…

So back to my hypothesis, it is about time, specifically in Africa that people were able to have a “decent” livelihood going on – something that will only be possible if the WILLING are ALLOWED to earn their livelihoods. By “allowing” I mean, access to resources and an environment that fosters “participation” – just to be short, since this we can discuss for elongated periods of time
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Dr. Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian Economist, has been fueling some global discussions about Foreign Aid to Africa. A friend recently recommended her book, Dead Aid: Why Aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa to me. I got the book, but I have yet to read it – Yaani I have SO much going on, BUT, I shall be reading the book from next weekend – that has been placed on my calender – So I am not going to comment on the contents of the book yet.

I have however, listened to a couple of excerpts from Interviews she has done and read the NUMEROUS reviews about her all over the net.

Aside:

Special note is being made to her being an African Woman FIRST – then being a PhD in Economics among other academic credentials and professional qualifications.
Well – I am glad the world is finally coming to terms with what we have LONG known – that we African women can do whatever we set our minds to do – and do it excellently – and we CAN do all that in Stilettos if we choose to !

Dr Moyo, basically says – there are other ways that Africa can get on the path towards sustainable development and keep going forward. She advocates such avenues as incentivising poor countries to access finance on international markets, supported by the tripod of micro finance, trade/FDI and remittances – Instead of GIVING, LOAN! I like!

I am not going to say that I buy into her arguments hook, line and sinker; but I do like the central idea which is – don’t just give aid, give aid to the right persons e.g to the entrepreneurs that need capital for raw materials instead of giving it to Governments without PRECISE stipulations on where the Aid money should be used. How many governments in Africa are misusing Aid Funds? Too Many! Mere giving is not going to change Africa if people are not presented with some kind of responsibility.
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I like that idea and like Prof Yunus and Prof Sachs, I know the day is coming when we will see an African Continent that is empowered. I also know that Female Entrepreneurship is well on its way to “officially” becoming the IT, that will transform the lives of so many families in Africa!

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I am intending to make my own contribution to this – as I best know how to

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Edit:

A friend of mine ( thank you! ), this morning pointed it out that Prof Sachs and Dr Moyo recently had a fall-out as concerns the Foreign Aid Model and Africa. Prof Sachs ( once Dr Moyo’s professor at Harvard), seems to believe that the Model she is proposing i.e not depending on foreign aid for sustainable development is more suited for emerging economies and not the developing nations per se. And we wonder why Africa is still lagging behind in economic development! *sigh*

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I would like to say that my personal opinion is one where Africa will NOT have to depend of Foreign Aid – each Nation will have to curve out its only model to wean itself off Aid, but I believe we need to get away from the just receiving attitude we seem so complacent with and know we CAN use other available investment avenues to get onto sustainable development keep going from there . I like what Dr Moyo says, she says Foreign Aid should be short, targeted and finite – not indefinite as we currently have it!

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In Sub-Saharan Africa, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, has been a strong proponent for African Nations to begin weaning themselves off Foreign Aid by building up Savvy business Ventures and developing and embracing smart economic policy – I like that!

Rwanda may be depending on Aid right now, as does the rest of Africa, but at least we have a President that is thinking progressively and long term in terms of sustainable development for his country. They may not get there today – but it is a commitment they have emarbarked on – Slowly but surely! I can bet in the near future – Rwanda will be so worth watching economically speaking – if it isnt already! I dont care what political views Kagame holds, all I can see is that he is thinking smart policy for his country.

I wish we had more such progressive leaders in Africa!