By THE WEALTH CREATION FORUM
Introduction:
The wealth creation forum is a dynamic platform where an assemblage of dedicated professionals converge online from all over the world to brainstorm on and formulate strategies for wealth creation and sustainable development of Africa. Thus the forum can inter alia, provide advisory assistance to those setting up small scale and medium scale enterprises in order to promote job creation and fuel economic growth. The group also uses the knowledge generated to educate government functionaries, technocrats, policy framers and private sector bosses.
Modus operandi:
The forum considers a given topic and explores how it can lead to prosperity, marshalling points for and against. It can also explore a given small scale enterprise and find plausible ways it can be used to achieve critical mass employment.
RECENT brainstorming: The Wealth creation forum brainstormed on how Africa can contribute more to the global GDP thus bettering the lot of the generality of Africans.
“Africa is lacking so embarrassingly behind the other continents in the global GDP output. This is very shameful when Africa currently holds most of the world’s resources”
How can we change the status quo for the better?
1. Utilisation of our area of strength – Agriculture (which comes via the abundance of fertile arable lands). We can do this by encouraging farming and then by raising our game in processing and preserving our raw materials into finished products which can cater to our food system and be exported to international markets
2. We need to encourage healthy exposure to the continent for sharing of human resource and free trade
3. By strengthening trade within Africa, we have more chances to grow our collective wherewithal. We must also create payment mechanisms that can efficiently promote the exchange of goods and services and also excellent logistics to that effect
4. As a starting point, African countries should adopt policies that will attract western companies looking to set up processing plants and make the continent less attractive to those that are only interested in sourcing raw material
5. African companies should also be given the necessary incentives and tax relief to go into agro processing and manufacturing. We need policies that will change our collective mind-set from purveyors of raw material to producers of finished goods
6. Bodies and organisations such as The Wealth Creation Forum can start by acquiring as much fertile land as possible – as a joint venture to kick-start the process of boosting agriculture
7. Sweep our corrupt political leaders out of power and vote in dedicated and motivated patriots to clean up the systemic mess that is inhibiting our progress and thereafter put our society on the right track of sustainable economic growth and wealth generation.
8. Africa as a continent suffers from acute fragmentation to the effect that we connect to outsiders more than we link up with ourselves. No more excuses should be made for this because nothing stops African countries fromnetworking and working together. When we all do things together we get very far with aggregation of resources and operational efficiencies
9. ‘People get the governance that they deserve’. We should focus on educating people on the power they have to determine and change their circumstance and how they can use this power in various ways to create a better society
9. Unlike Africans, the Indians and the Chinese retained their cultural distinctiveness and preserved their worldview and thus possessed the foundation to anchor their revival and resurgence. Africans swallowed all line, hook and sinker and lost our purpose in the world. The recovery starts with each one of us at home to reinstall our values and culture
10. The lesson for Africa is that we can’t grow in isolation as individual countries we must unify and grow together. That’s the lesson that our leaders need to take. Unity will firstly strengthen regional growth and interdependence. It is only then that we can stop the exploitation of our resources and take control of the markets. Regional cooperation will immediately increase manufacturing, trade and finance
Key Recommendations for Transforming the Continent
● Transforming the Agricultural Value Chain:
○ Incentives in form of policies, financial resources etc to encourage land ownership, cultivation and agro-manufacturing by Africans
○ Creating systems that will allow for seamless the practising of agriculture. Especially systems that will aid the allocation of farm land as well as market channels to supply agro practitioners the weight of demand that is needed to drive sustainable growth in the continent’s agro industry
● Transforming Intercontinental Trade
○ Promotion of healthy exposure for the exchange of intellectual resources and goods
○ Encouraging foreign bodies to come in for the purpose of building manufacturing bases and limiting those only interested in sourcing raw materials
● Transforming Intracontinental commerce
○ Creation of a seamless exchange system that will fuel commerce between the African countries
○ Implementing the necessary innovations so that there is a complimentary logistics system interconnecting the continent
● Transforming Politics
○ Electoral sensitisation of politically marginalised Africans
○ “People Power” education
● Cultural Rejuvenation
○ Recovering pre-colonial history
○ Recovering lost cultural knowledge and worldview
○ Developing an “African Cultural Goal” – i.e. establishing the role and purpose of African in the world
● Fixing Brain Drain
○ Creating systems to link the diaspora and the continent around the central purpose of building the continent
○ Sponsoring continental ambassadors to travel and return with intelligence, technique and resources needed to work with and build the continent
● Power of the youth
○ The youths have to be reoriented and given the mandate of transforming the continent
○ Incentives that will encourage youth productivity. In form of programs, support, communities, hubs, resources
While we talk, we must act! AND THAT IS NOW!
Signed by
Chief Chigbo Uzokwelu
Chairman
Wealth Creation Forum
Enquiries and feedback to the Wealth Creation Forum should be sent to
wealthcreationforum@gmail.com
