Unlike most kids, I grew up with a passion of being part of the movie industry players someday. When I was young, literally a primary student, I always dreamed of taking up performance arts and become a great prominent actor. This however, had no any relationship with the kind of life I was living in. You know, some kids are influenced by the situations they leave in, but it was quite different for me.
My dream couldn’t be realised not until I had joined senior one at a school of excellence, a school which used to produce great geniuses. Ultimately, the same year I took a role in a play, Romeo & Juliet. In fact I was recognised as the best actor when we went to present this drama play at one of the embassies in Kigali. Not to forget that the same year I was selected among the other outstanding artistes who participated in ‘Design a School Wall Art Competition’.
Somehow, when I joined senior two I started falling in love with physics and sciences in general, simply because of the teachers’ engagements. From there we worked on simple science projects and I began feeling compelled to continue with them.
I never dropped sciences even in the advanced level. To make it clear, the potential to them was realised when I participated in the national contest and my group became the first at the city level.
Surprisingly, few days before joining the last year of secondary level, I started losing interest in sciences. By the time I had finished high school I was interested in something that I thought will make my life and the community around me great. This wasn’t nothing else but ‘International Relations’, something which I think most of our African leaders need- be it natural or learnt from school or anywhere else.
In “International Relations” or otherwise “International Affairs”, one of the things taught/learnt include the internationally focused scopes which shape learners to be able to see the world in another different way. It’s a combination of political science, economics, history, foreign languages, and other fields. For instance; international relations draws from the fields of technology and engineering, economics, history, philosophy, geography, sociology, psychology, gender studies, cultural studies, and diplomacy, to mention but a few.
To put this in the African context; there’s a need to understand that Africa itself is ‘international’ with different countries and economies. Despite of our shared history, destiny, culture and traditions, we have got different languages, tribes, and of course beliefs at some moments. This forces us to somehow act differently.
African leaders need to first come up with clear frameworks, set realistic policies and lay ground understandings to make our people one. Yes, it’s true we have got the ‘Pan-Africanism’ saying, but few of us (Africans) understand what it means towards our people realities and aspirations.
Shortly, it urges and encourages the solidarity of “Africans” wherever there are, either on the continent or the Diaspora. It is based on the belief that unity is vital to all endeavours of life, and more importantly aims to “unify and uplift” people of African descent. When we foster the same understanding on this, not only challenges faced by African businesses will be resolved but also other aspects of life will advance.
Education is another critical factor in helping our continent’s businesses. Our leaders have the responsibility of investing in education; teach our young people to grow up with the spirit of exploring the opportunities and the resources our continent has, and develop the future of skilled workforce.
Some of us are aware that, as national and international businesses increasingly compete for the best graduates in emerging market economies; skilled young people are rapidly migrating from our continent and some other parts of the world to provide much needed talent in the face of ageing workforce in Europe and North America.
In too many parts of our continent, parents and governments are unable to provide young people with a quality education and existing international assistance programmes are not coming close to addressing the magnitude of the problem. Why do we even need to have international programmes to realise that our education should go to the next level in a meaningful way? A quality education for all people, especially those on our continent, is a good for which there is a global public interest and it is time to ensure that all that benefit from it can play a role in ensuring its provision.
African leaders should believe that globalisation and international trade requires countries and their economies to compete with each other. Economically successful countries will hold competitive and comparative advantages over other economies, though a single country rarely specializes in a particular industry.
On the other hand, African leaders should engage in the war against corruption in doing business in Africa. It is a fact that corruption is not unique to Africa. It is also a fact that the impact of corruption in our continent has a greater impact on our people due to poverty, poor infrastructure and small sizes of its economies.
We have seen many developed countries experiencing the time financial crisis. This financial crisis which happened in developed economies has been the result of greed and unethical business practice. Countries, economies, businesses, and lives, all have been destroyed because of this.
If we have firm belief in our own values and we allow our personal and professional values to converge, we will not be doing a wrongful act.
There’s much pleasure and satisfaction in doing business, in doing sustainable business. Engaging in corrupt practice in today’s environment exposes oneself big time.
Growing up in Rwanda, I have seen how the country has rebuilt itself in all sectors of life from almost scratch. Despite having passed through harsh and tragic times of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, where over a million people were brutally murdered and infrastructure were totally destructed, we have been able to set home-grown solutions- a lesson that I think some African leaders should learn.
In Rwanda, for instance anti-corruption institutions have been established; new laws, transparency systems and strategic measures have been put in place to avoid and fight this prevalent matter on the continent. A country like Rwanda has been clearer in their intent and you will not mess things up anyhow.
Inspired by the ongoing 27th African Union Summit in Kigali, Rwanda at the newly inaugurated Kigali Convention Centre (KCC).
