
The Supply Chain Africa Needs - longdefeat
https://theprepared.org/features/2018/12/22/the-supply-chain-africa-needs
======
kolikotime
The big issue for many African countries is that their trade flow is still
configured to suit colonial trade flows. Port cities situated on the coast
optimized to trade outwards, maybe connected by a few roads or a moribund
colonial era rail to a resource extractive region in the interior. The issue
though is that this prevents intra-regional trade, which is the dominant form
of trade for North America as well as Eurasia, and which helps to facilitate
viable regional economies.

Infrastructure is the first part of solving this puzzle. In East Africa in
particular a lot of focus has been put on creating modernized rail systems,
the construction of new modern freeways, and in particular with the EAC(East
African Confederation) a strong focus on harmonizing business laws and trade
regulations through the region. Movement is also being made on enacting the
AFCTA (African Continental Free Trade Agreement) as well, which would
construct a continental sized free trade market area, and help to smooth trade
between the countries of the continent.

In reflection on the West African examples shown in this article, it reflects
on the need for ECOWAS (West Africa's form of the EU) to move forward on
becoming a serious supranational organization that gets tougher on business
harmonization and regional economic integration. It has done exceptionally
well on ensuring that freedom of movement is possible between the 15 states
within its union but has stagnated since then. It is in great danger of
staying a bored lame talking shop of corrupt enfeebled bureaucrats who ignore
corrupt governments and repression, and do nothing to foster actual growth.

I am quite optimistic of the future though on the whole. The whole continent
won't lift off, but enough countries are on the right trajectories towards
becoming middle income countries.

~~~
graeme
The ports are rather important though. The Box is an excellent book showing
how standardized containinerd revolutionized trade.

In developed countries the containers are multimodal: port/rail/transport
truck

The oceanbound part is the cheapest. Without modern container ports it is very
difficult to prosper.

Internal trade is also important, but I think your disregard for the ports is
misplaced.

~~~
kolikotime
On the contrary, I love ports and they are very important. But I find in
African policy and business circles we overhype our ports and port cities, and
forget that there is a huge world of development that needs to transpire
beyond them.

It’s been a hugely busy decade in terms of port modernization in East and West
Africa in particular, this report really gets into it if you like reading Port
stuff.

[http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/sectors/africas-
port...](http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/sectors/africas-ports-
revolution-sett7ing-sce7ne-econo7mic/)

~~~
graeme
Oh definitely. The reason container ports matter is that they're part of a
seamless intermodal network. So you do need the land half as well.

------
dzonga
As an african living in the states. I will say for development to take place
in Africa - it needs dictators, not blood thirsty dictators but development
driven ones. Hear me out:

1\. Laws in Africa need to be simplified at the moment it's mostly common law
from a colonial past.

2\. Have a tax friendly system i.e reduce all taxes on local raw materials and
unfinished goods are home based i.e trace origin to any African countries

3\. How would a dictator solve this: Cutting unnecessary layers of bureaucracy
that encourage corruption i.e the #1 problem in Africa

4\. Preferably the Dictator(s) be homosexual i.e less likely to be corrupt as
chances they won't have kids and therefor not driven by family needs. I double
on this even as a straight black guy.

5\. Make education free

6\. Limit imported luxury goods i.e Mercedes that are so loved by politicians
by taxing them heavily like Singapore does

7\. Have a simple building code e.g All buildings less than 7 storeys to be
built of wood. Encourages development faster plus enables countries to have
sustainable forests. Deforestation and Global warming a big problem in Africa
atm.

8\. Encourage immigration of skilled foreign nationals by giving tax breaks
e.g 10 years. We know humans learn best from other humans. See your
colleagues.

~~~
nine_k
See, common law somehow worked for UK and US, but apparently is not applied
constructively in some African countries with British colonial past.

I'd say that bribery "for the family", and building government structures that
facilitate bribery, is a part of _culture_ , of what is seen as normal and
proper.

Changing that seems to be the key to economic success.

So I very much agree with making education accessible (and elementary
education must be free and lavishly dispensed on anyone needing it). I also
agree with inviting highly skilled people from everywhere, so that their work
culture could be emulated and built upon.

Bribery can be overthrown with a concerted effort. There is an example of a
small country named Georgia ( _not_ the US state), where corruption was
utterly widespread and deep. They have mostly eliminated it. They had to take
on some drastic measures, though, such as firing 100% of their traffic police,
and even building police stations with glass walls, so as to make attempts at
corruption inside them hard to conceal from onlookers.

~~~
gumby
> See, common law somehow worked for UK and US, but apparently is not applied
> constructively in some African countries with British colonial past.

> I'd say that bribery "for the family", and building government structures
> that facilitate bribery, is a part of culture, of what is seen as normal and
> proper.

> Changing that seems to be the key to economic success.

This was previously a core part of UK and US culture, and is still popular
with some atavistic types.

------
temp-dude-87844
Hurdles everywhere you look. Too much barriers and tariffs on imports, too
little enforcement of rules, too much uncertainty with logistics and politics
and occasionally, threat to life, money, and product.

Governments have long had to walk the balance between protecting domestic
industry, raising revenue, supporting entrepreneurs, benefiting from
globalization, and protecting foreign states and other external parties from
exerting too much influence. It's not sensible to place high tariffs on
products for whom domestic production is minuscule and unlikely to be
competitive, and which enable a value-added product to be made domestically
instead, but political and economic desperation can enable this
shortsightedness.

One can look at Brazil to set realistic expectations. It shows what happens
when a large country full of potential institutes a scheme of extreme
protectionism, and that the struggle with vast inequality and dysfunctional
politics frequently cause issues for people and industry, despite the outward
rule of law. But it also sets an aspirational note for progress in trade,
innovation, and quality of life.

The other issue is the role of direct foreign investment. Changing economic
realities and political backlash against the taste and legacy of colonialism
have made western states less likely to invest in Africa. China has been eager
to capitalize on this, much to the concern of western strategists and
journalists. These days, China is rethinking the debt load and shelving many
projects, but the geopolitical concerns remain. Nonetheless, China built and
operates ports, railways, schools, apartments, and factories. These are
tangible infrastructure that sticks around even if the institutions around
them change. And infrastructure is a prerequisite of delivering reliable
institutions.

------
ganeshkrishnan
Our startup, which optimizes products for specific geographies by time, hosted
a talk show in Melbourne where some speakers from Africa (Kenya and Nigeria)
emphasized that it's not that Africa lacks resources. It's just that they
don't have the correct resource at the right time at the right place.

We do that for first world countries but breaking into Africa or unknown third
world countries is out of reach for most startups.

------
tim333
>Some of the options of such policy could be: Relax duties and import tariffs
on electronic components...

Yeah but much better would be to just drop duties and tariffs completely like
Hong Kong or Singapore. Then instead of having to bribe some port official to
release you things you could just ship direct without the officials. Of course
this might have a side effect of making places rich like Sinagpore rather than
mucked up like Africa but maybe they could live with it.

------
daxfohl
And this is for four countries with large sea ports. I can't imagine how the
interior countries get out of this mess.

------
wmf
I'm torn between admiring the tenacity of people trying to manufacture
anything in a totally broken environment and wondering why they don't just
leave.

~~~
vkou
Because the First World is doing its best to keep people out of it.

Someone wants to come to <Developed Country>, to do useful and productive
work? We can't have that! We're all out of work that needs doing!

I mean, sure, our bridges are occasionally falling over, my street is filled
with potholes, daycares are limited, and cost parents thousands of dollars,
classrooms are overcrowded, for some reason 30 minutes of a nurse's time gets
billed at $5000, and the line at the DMV is 40 minutes long, but I assure you
- there are no jobs here!

~~~
nine_k
You also have to provide the immigrants with whatever social spending to which
locals are entitled. They cost money; if the immigrants pay less in taxes than
they receive in social benefits, they are a net economic loss. And, as you may
expect, a poor immigrant likely pays little or even no taxes if their income
is low enough.

Also, lowering the price of labor in a particular industry makes other people
in it be paid less, or fired. As a result, they buy less, etc, slowing down
the entire economy, influencing maybe your own wages.

~~~
vkou
> You also have to provide the immigrants with whatever social spending to
> which locals are entitled

Do you? Why?

I'm not saying you shouldn't, but I am saying this is an assumption worth
questioning.

Also, consider that adult immigrants save your social services one of the
biggest costs borne by our society - a K-12 education. Someone with a high
school diploma arriving to the US is a flat-out gift of ~$140,000 worth of
education.

------
lambdadmitry
In my bubble it seems that in the current American public discourse the
corruption and general inefficiency of many African governments can't really
be discussed. According to some, the issue there is "(neo)colonialism" and
left by itself Africa would be great and prosperous. Basically Eritrea would
be Wakanda if not for white males. Is it true? Or is my perception warped by
social networks more than average American HNer's?

~~~
pjc50
How Africa (and indeed America) would have developed without colonialism is a
very hard question to answer. But the damage done and loss of life caused by
colonialism was _enourmous_ \- Belgian Congo murdered several millions of its
inhabitants, more than the Holocaust to which it was a precursor.

The legacy of exploitative systems runs deep. Many countries simply replicated
the same structures with a different colour of face at the top. Dismantling
that and turning it into something more egalitarian and law-abiding is a lot
of work.

~~~
vuln
>Many countries simply replicated the same structures with a different colour
of face at the top.

I think the point you're missing is that it does not matter the _colour_ of
the human. Humans are greedy by nature. We are all animals.

