ISI and Raw Material Dependency: “Twin Killers” of Economic Potential of African Countries (PART 4 of 8)
Engineering the Transition continued….from pt. 3 Information dispersal and indoctrination are an important part of any transition process. Because without total buy-in from the citizens including existing socio-economic-political power-centers, businesses, and the everyday person, it will be a convoluted process that is susceptible to derailment. In every African country, the importers are a powerful interest [...]
ISI and Raw Material Dependency: “Twin Killers” of Economic Potential of African Countries (PART 3of 8)
Continued from part 2 A Safe and Secure Way Forward It is neither feasible nor necessary to dismantle ISI because there are jobs and capital investments associated with it. But it is imperative that it should be curtailed going forward. If the curtailment and modification of the effects of ISI are skillfully managed, it will [...]
ISI and Raw Material Dependency: “Twin Killers” of Economic Potential of African Countries (PART 2 OF 8)
ISI Industries are voracious Consumers of Hard Currency Continued From Part I An inefficient producer that requires special protections and has a voracious appetite for hard currency to import semi-finished goods as raw material is a liability against the most vulnerable in society. The poor and least well-off are the most burdened by high prices [...]
ISI and Raw Material Dependency: “Twin Killers” of Economic Potential of African Countries (PART 1 of 8)
I was privileged to have an audience with the US Trade Representative for Africa, Madam Florizelle Liser, recently. During our talk, she shared that she was perplexed that some African countries are still insisting on prosecuting economic development through Import-Substitution Industrialization (ISI) strategy. By the way, people should be wary of development strategies that are [...]
Inward-Looking Industrialization Part 4: A New Direction
African countries can change the economic dynamic of a post-independence narrative fraught with tales of impoverishment, dependence, and negativity. They can become economically prosperous and self-sufficient, standing on their own. It won't be because of a surge in FDI, NGOs or foreign principals coming to help direct the way. Rather, it will be because African [...]
Bridging the Chasm between African-America and Africa
The countries of Africa are passing through a similar point in their history as all wealthy states when they too, were developing the economic impetus that carried them to prosperity. All of them, including the United States, benefited from the influx of people of similar cultural heritage who came from a different part of the [...]
Inward-Looking Industrialization Part 3: Expanding the Income of African Countries
Although we don't often think about it as such, every country, like humans, has a way in which it earns income to meet its personal needs. For a country, they include needs expressed by its citizens (consumers) as well as to compete with other nations of the world. That is why no country can tie [...]
Inward-Looking Industrialization “aka” Import-Substitution Industrialization (ISI) – Part Two
Import-Substitution industrialization has very pronounced flaws, most of which have manifested in African countries. The concept of import-substitution industrialization has been around since the 18th century but grew popular in the wake of the flurry of countries attaining independence around the world from the 1950s to the 1970s. It hit its high-water mark in the [...]