SMEs - entrepreneurship in a true democracy
SMEs - entrepreneurship in a true democracy
African countries are full of different tribes, and they often claim that the colonial Europeans caused the problem by creating new countries across tribal boundaries. I cannot argue either way on this topic, but let us look at another example to see if the claims hold true.
Let us look at the USA. It is quite possible that citizens of every country in the world are now living in the USA. Having travelled the USA, the one thing that is interesting, is that the citizens always identify themselves as Americans. Its citizens are first and foremost Americans. everywhere you look you see the national USA symbols such as the flag.
Not in Africa. Look at South Africa for example. Mandela saw the need for a central identity and created the Rainbow Nation. I think he was correctly motivated but poorly informed by his marketing people. He should have called them South Africans. But today we still have the Zulus who think they should run the country, but this is hotly contested by the Xhosas who think it is their right to do so. Newspapers unfortunately reinforce this thinking in their reporting, with direct tribal references often arising. Whites are also not South Africans. They are English, Afrikaans, Greek Portuguese, whatever, but never South Africans.Zuma recently tried to show that Afrikaans whites are better than English whites as citizens. What a crock!
The situation is the same throughout Africa. There is no African country that I am aware of where the citizens claim to be citizens of the country, rather than members of a tribe. Hutu, Tutsi, Batswana, Shangaan, never Kenyan for example.
The USA has created the biggest tribe, and embrace their diversity, thereby freeing themselves up to focus on entrepreneurial issues. Their legislation is never intended to bias or protect things for a particular group. It is intended to merely stimulate the masses, and not the different tribes. (Yes Affirmative action was instituted in the USA, but merely to rectify previous wrongs.)
It is time Africa learnt this important lesson. The USA is reputed to have approximately 40% of its citizens involved in some or other entrepreneurial activity, as opposed to the African figure which is generally around 5% at best.
We need to create clear national identity and pride, and get rid of these tribal identities that add no value in the modern world.
Then our economies can be set free to blossom
Dr Rob Smorfitt
SMEs entrepreneurship in a true democracy - To learn more about this author, visit Dr. Rob Smorfitt's Website.
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Africa continuously claims that it must be treated differently to the rest of the world. They claim that the situation is a lot more complex in Africa and therefore the "standard form of democracy" does not work. How much truth is their in this claim, or is it simply an excuse.
African countries are full of different tribes, and they often claim that the colonial Europeans caused the problem by creating new countries across tribal boundaries. I cannot argue either way on this topic, but let us look at another example to see if the claims hold true.
Let us look at the USA. It is quite possible that citizens of every country in the world are now living in the USA. Having travelled the USA, the one thing that is interesting, is that the citizens always identify themselves as Americans. Its citizens are first and foremost Americans. everywhere you look you see the national USA symbols such as the flag.
Not in Africa. Look at South Africa for example. Mandela saw the need for a central identity and created the Rainbow Nation. I think he was correctly motivated but poorly informed by his marketing people. He should have called them South Africans. But today we still have the Zulus who think they should run the country, but this is hotly contested by the Xhosas who think it is their right to do so. Newspapers unfortunately reinforce this thinking in their reporting, with direct tribal references often arising. Whites are also not South Africans. They are English, Afrikaans, Greek Portuguese, whatever, but never South Africans.Zuma recently tried to show that Afrikaans whites are better than English whites as citizens. What a crock!
The situation is the same throughout Africa. There is no African country that I am aware of where the citizens claim to be citizens of the country, rather than members of a tribe. Hutu, Tutsi, Batswana, Shangaan, never Kenyan for example.
The USA has created the biggest tribe, and embrace their diversity, thereby freeing themselves up to focus on entrepreneurial issues. Their legislation is never intended to bias or protect things for a particular group. It is intended to merely stimulate the masses, and not the different tribes. (Yes Affirmative action was instituted in the USA, but merely to rectify previous wrongs.)
It is time Africa learnt this important lesson. The USA is reputed to have approximately 40% of its citizens involved in some or other entrepreneurial activity, as opposed to the African figure which is generally around 5% at best.
We need to create clear national identity and pride, and get rid of these tribal identities that add no value in the modern world.
Then our economies can be set free to blossom
Dr Rob Smorfitt
SMEs entrepreneurship in a true democracy - To learn more about this author, visit Dr. Rob Smorfitt's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
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