Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world, according to the 2019 Forbes billionaires' list. With an estimated fortune of $131bn he is the wealthiest man in modern history.
But he is by no means the richest man of all time.The richest man who ever lived was King Mansa Musa of Mali. In 2012, US website Celebrity Net Worth tried to estimate his wealth and came up with a figure of a mind-blowing $400bn, but economic historians agree that his wealth is impossible to pin down to a number. He made this money from Trans-Saharan trade of salt and gold, with Europe and the middle east. We all know the story of why Mali is now one of the poorest nations in the world today because of a combination of anti-unity, poor management, and competitor neighbouring trade centres.
Today, intra-EU trade sits at an approximate 70%, while intra-Asia trade is approximately 60%, but set to grow even more since this past Sunday’s landmark signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership by 15 Asia-Pacific economies, making it the world's largest free trade agreement, covering about one-third of the global population and GDP.
Even with Brexit Europe’s intra-EU trade will not be significantly impacted as the culture of ‘buy local’ has been ingrained for generations. With Asia’s new partnership they are set to become the wealthiest and most powerful economies in the world as a collective.
So, why not Africa? Why not our unity? Why not our AfCFTA? And why not now? Africa is the richest continent in terms of natural resources, yet our divideness and corruption make us a target for manipulation. Yes, the AfCFTA offers us an opportunity for unity, but more than that it offers us an opportunity for infrastructure development, investment, trade increases, intra-Africa trade to go from a measly 18% to approximately 65% in just a few years, taking almost 30 million out of poverty.
The 20th November annually is observed as Africa Industrialisation Day, proclaimed by the 25th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1989.
The same date is also observed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) since 1989, as Africa Industrialisation Day.
Since 2018, Africa Industrialisation Day has been commemorated in a weeklong event involving the private sector, diaspora, African governments, youth, women, international cooperation partners; among several other stakeholders. The 2020 edition of Africa Industrialisation Week started yesterday and will run as a virtual event until Africa Industrialisation Day. This year is particularly important, as it is exactly 45 days until the historical AfCFTA comes into effect – not only is it a tangible beginning of a dream of African unity realised, but that dream of unity is just a worthless dream if we donot invest ourselves into its success.
That success will be defined by actions and converting policy into process and products into assets. This week is also Global Entrepreneurship week, observed annually, and it is not coincidence that this focus is all happening at the same time.
The trade Agreement presents a unique opportunity to focus and build Africa towards the Africa we want, that is proclaimed in Agenda 2063. Entrepreneurship is the other side to this coin. Africa’s entrepreneurs, it is your time now to look at how to maximise the opportunities for Africa’s growth and in turn your growth. Always remember that without Africa’s growth, your growth as an entrepreneur is limited. Let us take lessons from China, India, and Europe – focus on building economies as a collective and your share of that is much bigger than when we only focus on building our own personal economies and bank balances – when you are focussed on growing everything around you, the value of everything goes up. If there is one lesson we should have learnt from china’s economy building trajectory, it is this. Focus inward, to grow outward! Industrialisation!
