Patrick Mayoh
Dr James Mayinka is from Zimbabwe. After achieving a First Class in Electrical Engineering from
the University of Zimbabwe, he moved to Oxford University in the UK to pursue a
Dphil, an Msc and an MA in Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer
Science. Today, in addition to working as a Director in the states for the Mc
Kinsey Global Research Instute--probably one of if not the best business
research institute in the world—he is also a Faculty Exchange Follow at MIT not
to mention his role as a visiting scientist to the NASA. It sounds too good to
be true does not it?
Yet alarmingly he might not be the only
African out there in the West doing amazing work for a global company. There
are probably Thousands other Africans boasting impressive academic track record
and working for the benefit of successful Western Companies. It would seem the
majority of those Africans are actually happy to do that and why would they not
be? The quality of life, the incentives not to mention the career opportunities
are more alluring than anywhere else in the West. Few like Patrick Awuah
do decide to come back and do good work for Africa. And I believe Africa needs
its brains at least for the three following reasons:
èThe
continent is changing ( not just economically, but socio-politically and
demographically)
è
Young
Africans need role models
è
African
great minds can change our education system
The continent is evolving
You can hardly spend a week browsing the
Internet without stumbling on a new story about Africa’s great economic
advances and its potentials to be a major economic powerhouse. The truth is
that; it is true. Only this morning again I stumbled on this
piece about Africa’s latest promising and positive figures, and I bet you
can find all kinds of stories on the same subject. Most interestingly is that
even great publications like the Economist, Wall Street Journal and the
Guardian just to mention these, seem to come to terms with the fact that things
are changing in Africa and for the better. I will not spend my time here
discussing about the main drivers, but what is certain is Africa is not what it
used to be a decade ago. And I think it is great time Africans seize this
moment to achieve economic growth and prosperity for its citizenries. And I do
feel our Academic Elite in the West can and should play a great part in that.
We need our own economists, strategists and policy experts to come back and lay
the ground rules for our success story. Socio-politically our civil societies
have greater access to the Internet and can tell the world what is happening
here which means our leaders are under watch and although there is still
widespread corruption, the likelihood of this lasting is weak. Demographically Africa
will have more than 1
billion workers by 2030 more than China and India so there is great room
for productivity improvement across the continent with so many workers.
Young Africans need inspiration
Few Africans like Patrick Awuah actually
decide to abandon lucrative careers in lieu of coming back home to change the
continent. But we need more of those at least to inspire young Africans. Africa
does have its share of heroes, Nelson Mandela, the late Wangari Mathaii, Samuel
Eto’o and Didier Drogba to name just a few. But We need more diversity
especially in the kind of heroes we need. We need those leaders that will make
Africans think about starting businesses that will inspire them to achieve high
in academia and to be more entrepreneurial and more creative.
Africans can change their education system
The Financial Times’ list of top business
schools does not include any school from Africa. However we do have the minds
to create top business schools and provide Africans with top-notch education.
Why do Africans have to fly out of the continent to achieve their dreams of
gaining an MBA when our African PHDs can create those chances for our African youth?
What Can African Governments do?
African Governments can and should play a
great role in encouraging our stars to come back and do good work at here. For
one through their policies they create the economic climate likely to lure
their citizens back home. Given the right approach we could witness a mass
exodus back to the continent. Firstly scouting talents that are being on the lookout
for those Africans making things happen elsewhere can be a good start. How many
Governments have put in place strategies to spot and scout their talents out of
home? What happens when stories emerge about those Africans changing the world
elsewhere? Do their Governments take notice? Do they get in touch with them?
Secondly and most importantly the African
Elite will choose to come back only if they have a good reason. At least if
they can have the same opportunities back home. And Governments can just create
those opportunities and commit to work with the African Elite in bringing about
economic growth in addition to providing the right incentives for Africans to
come back, settle and work here.
The combination of these mean Africa will benefits from its elite and increase
its chances of being the next economic powerhouse of this millennium.
Posts
One of my readers this week was appalled at the fact that I said there were virtually no inspiring leaders in Africa at the moment. I believe she was right. Although what I did mean was that we needed more Africans who achieve top education abroad to come and live in Africa to inspire the young people around them. However I have decided to share this good article from Mfonobong Nsehe of Forbes Magazine talking about Africa's premier business leaders including people like: Mo Ibrahim and Aliko Dangote. Enjoy! And see you next monday hopefully.
