|
An emergence of new leadership in Africa could turn around a continent that many people in the West associate primarily with war, poverty, corruption, and the AIDS/HIV pandemic.
Frank Savage, an American finance executive who drew on over forty years of business experience in Africa for his keynote remarks at the Africa Business Conference, offered an alternate vision of opportunity and hope, tempered with the harsh realities the African continent experiences.
Savage is CEO of Savage Holdings LLC, a global financial services company. He also serves on the Enron board of directors as well as other boards including Lockheed Martin Corporation and the New York Philharmonic, and is former chairman of Alliance Capital Management International. He took the stage at the conference on March 8 to deliver thoughts on Africa past and present. His ultimate message to African MBA students? "Go home."
He is witnessing "an emergence of enlightened leaders" in Africa, Savage told the audience of MBA students, professionals, and alumnae, adding that it is possible to make good money and also help the economic development of African countries.
They cannot fight the tide of change. |
Frank Savage, Savage Holdings LLC |
The bleak situation in Zimbabwe and Congo, for example, is "so debilitating" for everyone else in Africa and sends a bad message to business, he said. Speaking as an investor, Savage observed, "The way the leadership in Zimbabwe is trashing the voting system there" affects the entire continent and colors every conversation he has.
"Every single meeting with investors that I go to, they talk about it. Every single meeting. Because they think it's symptomatic of how all of Africa does things. It's not true. ... If something happens in one country, they visit it on every country. It's unfortunate, but it's a fact."
Case by case
African countries need to be sized up on an individual basis for their business opportunities, he said. The opportunities that strike him as attractive for the future include infrastructure, tourism, port remodelization, and commercial real estate.
Referring to corrupt leaders in Africa, he said, "We still have some of the old fuddy-duddies who don't understand that things have changed. They are holding things back, but they are on their way out. It's inevitable. They cannot fight the tide of change. ... You are on your way in; you are the future. They are the past. They don't realize that, but they're the past."
Don't be discouraged by the problems in Africa, he told the audience, reminding them of the strides that South Africa has taken since it shook off Apartheid in 1991 after forty-three years of legalized racial discrimination. As a member of President Thabu Mbeki's International Investment Council, he said, "I am amazed at the commitment of these people to democracy and providing opportunity and trying to demonstrate to the world they can run a country. ... These people were in jail."
Yet the problems South Africa continues to face are tremendous, he cautioned. He praised the presidents of Senegal and Uganda, Me Abdoulaye Wade and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, for their commitment to the market economy and the progress they've made with their respective countries.
The main constraint on Wade and Museveni is the lack of talented people to help them build a capital market system, he said, adding that a talent pool of African businessmen and businesswomen is working all over the world.
Until leaders such as Wade and Museveni can draw on the talent of Africans themselves, he said, "They will have a tough time becoming part of the market economy."
· · · ·