Live 8 & start-ups
I continue to be an optimist about the economic prospects of Africa over the next 10years because I feel a real sense of Africans trying to move things forward. However, I find it hard to understand why African artists are not featured on Live 8, the apparent suggestion that Live 8 organisers want “to keep the millions of eyes around the world glued to the television and [he] felt if it was some remote part of China or Latin America if it was an unknown artist … people might switch off”. Do we really need a concert to tell the world that Africa is poor? I doubt it. (Do Ghanaians really care about Live 8?).
Going back to my optimism which stems from my observation of the attitude of young Nigerians around UK universities towards going back to Nigeria to see the opportunities which they can create utilising their past experience. It is tough call. The critical thing is not to discourage fellow Africans but help them “manage expectations”. For example, infrastructure may take longer to put in the place or red tape may exist to slow the progress of the new start-up. I have noticed people [fellow Africans] are not very kind when criticising business plans or ideas as they tend to shoot the idea to the extend that individual will never mention the concept again in his life. I am not saying don’t shoot down the idea but I employ you to remember that your criticism should be like rain, gentle enough to nourish a start-up’s growth without destroying the roots.
Tags: Africa, Nigeria
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Comments (1)
I think that you now know that there some African artists billed for the live8/Calling Africa concert.
My concern about the live8 is how do we Africans take over the battle once the euphoria is over? It is our world and our lives, and we can’t afford to remain passive, particularly when other shave generated a lot of momentum on our behalf.
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