Bitumen versus “Built-men”
Natural endowment versus Human capital
The movie “Coming to America” really made me fantasize about travelling and living abroad as a child. I used to think and wonder; why did God make some places beautiful and some, not desirable? Why are some nations of the world rich and others languishing in poverty? Growing up, I discovered that the secret of the divide between rich and poor countries is the relative strategic importance each group attaches to the human brain from which knowledge emanates. There is no greater illustration of this competition for knowledge and its application than the brain drain from Africa to industrialized countries. This is one of the fundamental obstacles to Africa’s development because the knowledge and skills of the continent’s brightest minds are trapped in other societies that have created far better environments for rewarding the application of their knowledge. It is knowledge as a factor of production that makes possible a paradigm shift away from natural factor endowments such as land and labour and natural resources towards the production of complex products.
Entrepreneurial leaders/nations bring quality people together to create places where opportunities abound and prosperity is guaranteed. The foundation of developed economies like that of the United States is Entrepreneurship, and the ideologies of the founding fathers and leaders of the US are enshrined in entrepreneurialism and a sense of dynamism. For instance, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made business experience the principal reason for his election in 2012, he said, “I’d like to have a provision in the Constitution, to say that the president has to spend at least three years working in business before he could become president of the United States.”
In the TV series, “The men who built America” (also known as “The Innovators”) Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford are names synonymous with innovation and big businesses in America. It tells how their industrial innovations and business empires revolutionized modern society. They helped shape the country in its early days by doing things such as developing the models for modern railroads, creating the modern financial system and making cars accessible to the masses. When people with the right mindset are brought together, societies experience a transformation. Sustainable development is at the mercy of Entrepreneurs (initiators, innovators and inventors).
Solid minerals without solid men is a curse!
There are plenty of paradoxes concerning the African natural endowment and her socioeconomic profile. One of such is the paradox of plenty otherwise known as the resource curse. The resource curse (also known as the paradox of plenty) refers to the failure of many resource-rich countries to benefit fully from their natural resource wealth, and for governments in these countries to respond effectively to public welfare needs. These countries underperform economically, despite benefitting from valuable natural resources. Innovation is vital in the fight for a better future. Innovation is based on a view of what the human future should or will look like.
Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity. In this article, bitumen is used as a proxy for natural endowment while “built-men” represents human capital. The global economy is a combination of knowledge, innovation and technology (KIT). It is however important to understand that everything rises and falls on leadership. In other words, leadership drives ‘KIT’. Bitumen without built-men is not sustainable. Power without empowerment bears no fruits and vice versa. Economically, well-balanced countries encourage their citizens to develop essential skills and competencies needed to emerge as pragmatic workers, managers, entrepreneurs and vibrant innovators. The men who built America were neither politicians nor magicians; they were pragmatic knowledge workers, who envisioned possibilities and took responsibility without regard to the resources available. Innovators are visionary entrepreneurs who use a process of shattering the status quo of the existing products and services, to set up new products, new services. Their ability to apply creative solutions to problems and to opportunities to enhance and enrich people’s lives is no doubt what makes them builders and entrepreneurial leaders. Innovators are change agents who transform the economy and modernize society. The economic development of the nations has shifted from natural endowment to knowledge economy. Countries without excess natural resources have survived because of the emphasis on human capital that drives the knowledge economy.
A mono-economy is no economy! The Nigerian economy is largely, a mono- product economy. It depends mainly on crude oil as her major revenue source, since the discovery of crude oil in 1956. Actually, 1970 marked the beginning of Nigeria’s over dependence on crude oil after the end of the civil war which coincided with the increase in world crude oil price. Africa, including Nigeria, has a large quantity of natural resources, including diamonds, sugar, salt, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petroleum, and cocoa beans, but also tropical timber and tropical fruit. Recently discovered oil reserves have increased the importance of the commodity on African economies. The problems with Africa are not far-fetched; vision and ideology. The former is a function of leadership, while the latter, entrepreneurialism. The hallmark of entrepreneurship is making a difference through innovation and value creation.
“Africa has reached a stage where we must stop exporting raw materials. Instead, we should work harder to become globally competitive, exporting finished products”
-Goodluck Jonathan, former President of Nigeria.
“Knowledge drives innovation, innovation drives productivity, productivity drives economic growth.” – William Brody
Nations don’t relocate; nation builders do!
In concluding, I still aspire to travel and live abroad. As a pragmatic entrepreneur and innovator in my own right, I believe ideas thrive best where the knowledge economy is richest. I’ll rather travel far to offer value in a better environment and be fulfilled as a nation builder.
And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you [abundantly], And make your name great (exalted, distinguished); and you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others] – Genesis 12:3 (Amplified).
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