In America, Europe and Canada, because courts, electricity, healthcare, transportation, and public services function efficiently, these systems make it easier for hard work to translate into success, that’s why a hardworking African relocates to America two to three years he is middle class.
A nurse in Ghana may work harder than one in Canada, but the Canadian nurse’s effort yields more predictable results. A Nurse in Canada can buy a house, a car and even take vacations, things a nurse in Ghana struggles with.
What about access to loans? In the Western world , Loans, mortgages, and credit systems are structured and fair. In America you do not need collateral to get a loan, all you need is to file your taxes and show a “good behavior” called credit, you get loans.
In much of Africa, you need “connections” or collateral to access loans, that’s the difference. The system restricts the African, it creates an impression that hard work does not pay, connections rather pays.
The West offers a sense of fairness, merit and effort are often rewarded, not who you know.
In America a small business owner or student doesn’t have to worry about armed robbery, arbitrary taxation, or political instability. To Africans, these things make the West a land of peace and opportunity
In short, Africans admire the efficiency and predictability of Western systems. The point is Africa Is Still an Open Frontier, In the West, most sectors are saturated; growth is slow and competition is fierce.
In Africa, basic needs are unmet, meaning every problem is a business opportunity. A Lebanese investor builds a small factory in Ghana or Nigeria and becomes a millionaire within five years because demand is massive and supply is low. However the access a Lebanese will get in nigeria because his skin is white a nigerian will not.
But why do westerners see opportunities in Africa that Africans do not see? The reason is Africa holds 30% of the world’s mineral wealth, 60% of uncultivated arable land, and huge energy potential. Westerners see what Africans overlook: untapped gold, oil, lithium, cocoa, palm, and tourism. Africa is the youngest continent on earth, by 2050, one in four humans will be African. For global investors, that’s a vast market of workers and consumers, an opportunity too large to ignore.
A small business in the U.S. might earn 10% profit yearly. The same investment in Africa can yield 40–100%, though with more risk. This is why Lebanese, Indian, and Chinese traders thrive in African markets, they see opportunity where locals see hardship. Both the American and the African see opportunity from different lenses.
Africans flee from what foreigners run toward. Africans run to the stability of the West. Westerners and Lebanese run to the potential of Africa. one seeks comfort, the other opportunity.
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In the West, success is built into the system, you plug into an existing structure and you become successful , it is that easy.
In Africa, to be successful you need to create the system yourself, that is create your own security, electricity, have police in your pocket, and if you succeed, you can then build empires. So, The West rewards skill; Africa rewards connections. The West is the land of comfort; Africa is the land of potential. The West offers stability; Africa offers possibility.
Now, those who understand both worlds, Africans who think like investors, or Westerners who respect Africa’s culture and risk are the ones who will dominate the 21st century. Because the future isn’t in escaping away from Africa, it’s in transforming Africa, to make it work for us.
By Prince Odidi
