Creating a Development Paradigm for African Entrepreneurs
As noted in The New York Times, Freakonomics Blog on Tuesday, September 8, 2009:
The Entrepreneur
Wade (Magatte Wade, a Senegalese entrepreneur and founder of beverage company Adina for Life), meanwhile, is founding a new company, a lifestyle brand which will premiere with a line of fashion accessories and personal care products. She wants the company to grow into Africa’s first truly global brand and serve as an example to both the West and other African entrepreneurs.
The company is just one part of Wade’s “comprehensive plan for Africa,” an anti-aid alternative to the Jeffrey Sachs vision. Her plan centers around advocating for business-friendly legal systems, mentoring and encouraging young entrepreneurs, and spreading her vision for green manufacturing. “If we’re going to be building factories, let’s not build ones that are going to be harmful to the environment,” she says. “If we have to use wood, let’s use bamboo because it’s more sustainable. If we’re going to be cutting trees, let’s plant new ones in their place.”
One thing that definitely doesn’t figure into her plan is foreign aid. She believes Africans can do it on their own. “At the end of the day, we’re not going to build anything on aid,” she says fiercely. “Aid has never built anything.”
Read the entire entry here.
Photo: Question Box operators (blog here) Lydia and Phiona.
Posted by: Laurel Delaney