A senior colleague here wanted my thoughts on something he saw STRIVE MASIYIWA write:
⛔ “What Africa doesn’t really need now are Activists and Revolutionaries… We’ve had a lot of them. What we need now are Great Economic planners, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, Creators, Investors and Executioners. Rallies, Activism and Protests could take us somewhere, but in order to drive the change we really need in our societies, we need these other people.”
⛔ MY THOUGHTS:
It’s been 10 years since the ARAB SPRING. The Guardian (UK) ran the headline: “‘He ruined us’: 10 years on, Tunisians curse man who sparked Arab spring”. It was an interesting read that gave me lots of things to think about.
I was surprised that 10 years after the Arab spring, only about 27% of Tunisians say life is better (The Guardian). If something as revolutionary as the Arab spring hasn’t yielded the “heaven on earth” the Tunisians hoped for, after 10 years. Maybe it’s time to dig deeper?
Africans are passionate about Africa and their nations. There is a genuine ZEAL to see how things can change, how we can turn things around.
However, let’s consider:
Pro 19:2 NET It is dangerous to have zeal without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily makes poor choices.
I think a major problem with African change agents is that all they have going for them is passion. Passion is good, but if you think about it, you would realize that it takes more than passion to turnaround a nation.
Pro 19:2 T4T Being enthusiastic but not thinking carefully about what we are about to do is not good; doing things hastily can cause us a lot of trouble.
Africans are not known for effective long term planning or for necessarily having better plans than the current governmental forces they demonize and organize against.
It has been well documented that most activists and revolutionaries that work to topple governments end up becoming even worse than whatever dictatorships they overthrew.
I once asked some people if they genuinely thought previous Presidents and Governments in Nigeria weren’t trying their best. Of course, they’ve tried their best… And we can all see clearly that it’s more of the same.
The heroes we voted into power cannot really claim to have done a better job than the “villains” we booted out. I believe every African is genuinely passionate about their Nation. However, the technical know-how, the innovation and strategy to get things done is missing…
There is a lack of clear ideology with most African governments. There is so much influence from foreign powers/stakeholders that finding the right answers are never easy. That’s why personally… I’ve said I’m not voting any political party whose USP is simply “we are youths”. No way. We need deep thinkers that can take us out of the maze.
We need a spiritual awakening first (this is happening already), but we have to move on from that into an intellectual renaissance.
PASSION FOR YOUR NATION IS NOT ENOUGH. WE MUST BE PASSIONATE ENOUGH TO DEVELOP THE ANOINTING, INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY AND RESILIENCE REQUIRED TO ENFORCE REAL CHANGES. Without this, we’ll simply continue our merry-go-round.
What is the difference between an ACTIVIST and a VISIONARY?
I think it comes down to knowledge.
When you try to drive changes without enough knowledge or long term strategic planning to implement it… You are an activist. A visionary has the patience to lay the blocks of transformation one at a time. The true visionary realizes there are no shortcuts and that petty politicking actually does more harm than good in the long run.
Strive Masiyiwa is someone that demonstrates an interest in Africa. He has “fought” against a federal government, and he won!
I don’t think anyone would label Strive Masiyiwa as an activist. Nope.
He’s clearly a VISIONARY.
He has been able to develop the vision, capital, resources and everything he needs to build the Africa of his dreams… Brick by brick.
This is a better model to follow than “activism and revolution”. Less activism and more visionary planning is what we need.
The reality is that Africa’s biggest problem is that we don’t have enough big businesses. Businesses doing at least US$5 Billion per annum. This problem is not something a government will solve. It’s something visionary people can get done despite their governments and not because of their government.
It is what it is.
I believe sincerely that this is Africa’s Century. Africa will become the leading source of ideas, knowledge and Innovation that will drive the 21st century. The path to this isn’t activism or revolution in the traditional sense. It begins with building and army of knowledgeable people. We are living in very interesting times, the times may seem uncertain but trust me – there is a tremendous opportunity here in Africa.
I want to build an army of people that will combine CREATIVITY/DIVINE INTELLIGENCE with PhD-Level knowledge.
I’m talking about COMPLEX PROBLEM-SOLVING, CRITICAL THINKING, Science, Technology and Engineering. I want us to REWRITE THE VERY LAWS OF PHYSICS, GOVERNANCE, COMMERCE, ECONOMICS, FASHION, ENTERTAINMENT, every sector of the global economy.
I think we can create real value that can be exported globally. We can emerge as new global voices and powers in several areas.
That’s the miracle I’m praying and working towards.
Let’s team up 🥇
Ademola Morebise
💪🏽🔥
P.S.
If you believe in the future of Africa as much as I do. Let’s grow together and go together. It is time to get to work.
