In 2012 Africa became the fastest growing continent in the world with the highest number of new millionaires. There are now more than 100,000 millionaires in Africa and about 20.000 new millionaires will be added every 3 years.
For the first time the new millionaires are not politicians stealing money from public fund, but hard working entrepreneurs and a bunch of traders!
They have one thing in common: They solely care about amassing money regardless of the social cost and the impact on their own country and communities. They want to be the only stars shining over an ocean of poverty.
Few years ago, a study was conducted to check the relationship between corruption and countries’s development, and the research concluded that corruption is not by itself a problem for a country’s development, instead the most crucial factor is: “what people do with the money they have stolen”.
The study compared few Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia countries, and discovered that many Asian countries in the group were comparatively more corrupted than counterpart african countries but were growing faster with sustainable social and economical development.
Furthermore, the study stated: “In some cases, corruption can be an effective state-building tool, as it enables the co-optation and accommodation of divided elites and thus consolidates political power.” – Global Economic Governance.
The main finding is that money from corruption in East Asia was used by the corrupted people to start new businesses and build factories, while in Africa the money was mainly used for consumptions and non-asset-building investment.
Unfortunately, the New African Rich are acting like the previous generation of corrupted politicians. They spend their fortune in consumption of goods produced outside of the continent.
Gabon is now the country where people drink the most Champagne per capita in the world. The same for consumption of bottled water from France.
Nigeria is beating world record of number of new luxury cars sold in the world.
In fact, the new rich should invest in building factories, engineering school, technology startup, not importing more goods from Asia or elsewhere, but build local manufacturers.
Countries which achieved long term development, luckily got leaders who committed themselves to goals like below:
- – In 10 years, I’ll not drive a car which is not produced in this country!
- – In 2 years, I’ll not sleep on a bed which is not entirely made here!
- – In 1 year, I’ll not wear any clothe that is not produced here!
- – In 25 years, No students from this country should be obliged to go abroad to study because our universities don’t offer the same course with
quality! - – In 50 years, my country will be politically and economically affluent in the world, with my citizen respected and admired all over the world!
