I am dreaming of an African Economic Forum

Protesters demonstrate against the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Bern, Switzerland. The WEF will take place from Jan. 23 till Jan. 26 in Davos. Picture: Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP

Protesters demonstrate against the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Bern, Switzerland. The WEF will take place from Jan. 23 till Jan. 26 in Davos. Picture: Peter Klaunzer/Keystone via AP

Published Jan 21, 2018

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The World Economic Forum (WEF) will be drawing the who's who of world economics and politics to Davos 2018 from Tuesday; the day after the inauguration of George Weah and Jewel Howard-Taylor as president and deputy president of Liberia.

Around this time of the year, presidents from poor countries forget their pressing obligations in their homelands to go out for a schmooze in mountainous Switzerland, leaving haters like us who have not cracked an invitation yet to grumble about Hoërskool Overvaal and share infuriating WhatsApp videos of red-necks hurling racist insults at black South Africans.

Talking of racist rants, I hear that some Americans decided to jet all the way to Switzerland to stage a pre-Davos rally at Zurich's Werdmühlplatz to apologise for their Make America Great "warrior" president who does not understand why other countries of the world are so messed up as compared to his.

But, back to more important things, it is around this time of the year also that the World Bank reminds us that the Bretton Woods institutions and their allies still rule the opinion-making arena.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda once decried the willingness of African leaders to go to Europe or the US to discuss their own affairs, instead of merely doing so on the African soil on their own, these institutions and their allied analysts determine what investors with deep pockets should hear.

For example, before the growth forecast for Africa and the world was released by the World Bank, Anna Rosenberg and William Attwell wrote in the Harvard Business Review: "For companies willing to take on some risks, now is the time to buy local assets, which, though priced in US dollars, are still fairly cheap because of the associated risk."

They were not talking about US assets, but Zimbabwean ones. The World Bank equally listed the "economies to watch in Africa in 2018".

There are six countries from Africa among the top ten again, namely: Ghana (8.3%), Ethiopia (8.2%), Côte d’Ivoire (7.2%), Djibouti (7%), Senegal (6.9%) and Tanzania (6.8%).

There is no Angola and no Zimbabwe. By the time they mention these two countries, which should be on our watch list because of the changes that have taken place in the past four months, it will be too late.

President Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule came to an end, albeit by less than ideal means. Interim President Emmerson Mnangagwa is wooing investors.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' 39-year-old reign also came to an end in Angola; and his successor is fast removing remnants of the Dos Santos’ family grip on state-owned enterprises and institutions.

By the time the World Bank includes these countries on its list of "places to watch" the bus would have left the station.

As much as the World Bank is an authority on world economic matters, Africans should be even more self-reliant in deciding where to invest.

Proof of how this approach can work is in how Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, is creating - not following - investment patterns.

Even as George Weah is being inaugurated, he has already committed to a $41 million cement plant in Liberia - before the World Bank even looked at that country.

He has other cement plants in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa, one the World Bank projects will grow by a pedestrian 1.1 percent this year.

Other rich Africans, those not very well known in South Africa, like Jim Ovia, became rich creating businesses like Zenith; not the talk of the town in South Africa - but certainly in London and New York.

Until we have our own equivalents, not only on the depth of insight and analysis but on scale and size of alternative institutions, we will remain slaves to the thinking templates of others, including even on our own self-worth.

The World Economic Forum in Davos is a great occasion if you are a player with influence; I am dreaming more of an African Economic Forum. Broken record, I know, but desirable, till we get it.

* Kgomoeswana is the author of Africa is Open for Business; media commentator and public speaker on African business affairs, and a columnist for African Independent. Twitter Handle: @VictorAfrica

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

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