Book Introduction

Introduction: Rainbow of Hope for Africa’s future.

You are probably asking why I decided to write this book, when you can find so many business books with similar titles and research about foreign investments. My main reason is to share my Passion with you and how does Africa play a part on it.

Why My Passion?

One day an American Documentary filmmaker was visiting Fogo Island, in the Cape Verde Islands, where I was born, and on a casual dinner meeting with some of US Embassy members in Cape Verde accompanying his crew, which a group of musicians from New Orleans USA where also part of, he asked me a simple question that touched my soul. The question came out basically how a normal conversation starts from trying to learn from someone you have just met. So he asked me: “What’s your passion?”

Normally you expect people to ask you about you and what do you do, among other stupid questions just to keep the conversation flowing. But this guy was just to the point: “What’s your passion?” It really struck me deep down in my Soul.

You are probably asking why?

Because I love what I do but this simple question made me question if what I do is really what I want to do, after all the setback I have experienced so far in my crazy business life experiences around the world (Cape Verde, Dubai, Paris, Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco, Zambia, USA).

You may be asking yourself now what exactly do I do?

Well. My passion is to Create Companies in Africa (structuring the idea, building the business model, architecture a plan to make it move forward, and design crazy financial engineering to help it attract capital to make it a reality) that no one else have the balls to set up because it seems impossible at first.

Like Peter Thiel brilliantly said it on his book Zero to One, if you are building something that already exists and you are not creating anything new. It is easier to copy a model than to develop something new.  

Following my Passion with my Vision to help develop Africa when it comes to investment, I decided back in 2006, to set up a Foreign Direct Investment consultancy company in Cape Verde Islands, named Capital Consulting to help foreign investors invest initially in Cape Verde Islands and today all across Africa.

Why focus on Africa?

Throughout this book you will get to know some amazing facts about Africa that you probably never heard off, some exciting ones and some not at all, that you will probably end up saying you would never invest in a continent with some many issues.

I consider myself a son of Africa, but an end product of the world. I was born in a small country, named Cape Verde islands, which is part of West Africa. Cape Verde Islands is one of the few countries in Africa that are an example of Democracy, and has never seen wars and instability.

I am blessed enough to have amazing parents whom gave me and my brothers a great education and sacrificed so we could go study in Universities in Europe. Like a raw commodity from Africa such as cocoa that is exported to Europe to become a fine and exquisite chocolate in Switzerland.

I am also blessed that my parents always supported us since kids to have access to the best of technology of their time (well, PCs running on 2MB of space, which today is unthinkable) and to fly every year to USA and Europe on vacation to experience new cultures.

Having grown up in multicultural environments, I learned quickly how differently people can see the world. So beside all of the problems Africa face today, according to my perspective of the World and of Africa, to me Africa it’s still one of the most exciting places to do business and promote Foreign Direct Investment.

Like my father once told me: “Roses are beautiful but they also have spikes.”

Africa is blessed with abundant land, water and energy sources and with a young and increasingly better educated population. Such abundance, when combined with capital investment, can generate prosperity.

I have great hopes for Africa because I know the generation I belong (millennials) will be the changing force Africa needs to become a Great continent.                   

We are now in 2017 and the ride has been tremendously inspiring, and beside all my business setbacks in Africa I am still inspired about the future for myself, my family and for Africa.

Like Uschi Schreiber, wrote on her LinkedIn page today, as I write these pages to you, we are “living in a world in transition – from a model of business and society we know to one that still needs to be defined.  We live in a world with a significant trust deficit. The uneven distribution of the benefits of globalization and the accelerating pace of innovation have disrupted people’s confidence in those in leadership roles; local, national and global institutions and the media.  However, trust is an important ingredient for social stability, investment and growth.”  

She is talking about Blockchain technology that as she puts it she believes “Blockchain has the potential to help restore trust and create stronger ecosystems among investors. It offers a way to ensure transparency, limit fraud and corruption, improve efficiency and maximize economic benefits to a broader section of society by creating a record of ownership that compels the consent of all buyers and stakeholders.”

Trust! A simple word that captures everything you need to understand about business and Foreign Investment. Trust makes the world moves forward. Not Money. Money is just the instrument to make things happen. Without Trust there is no Peace of mind for no one. The investment world works the same way. If investors do not trust a destination is safe for investment they won’t invest their funds in that market.

So, the basic rule of foreign investment beside safe investment destination, incentives and all the “bla bla bla” that countries tend to show that they are more attractive than others is that Money will flow to where there is Trust and less stress for the investor.

Since we are in a world that is sharing everything throughout this book I will share insights, views, ideas, and statements from renowned world leaders, entrepreneurs, billionaires, politicians, musicians, successful people, and brilliant minds.

Subjects such as Foreign Investment in Africa, Economy, Economic Development, Business, Human Rights, Investment Opportunities, Leadership, Innovation, Governance, Corruption, Hope, and the Future of Africa, are mentioned among the various chapters of the book.

In a nutshell, throughout this book I will share with you my experiences, various industries data, Africa facts, my views and renowned financial institutions views and reports data, so you can see for yourself that beside all the mess that the world is in now, and the perspective that the media shows you today about Africa, that there is still see a Rainbow of Hope for Africa’s future.

Advertisement

Foreword by Leland Rice

Africa is the birthplace of humanity. In a sense, the continent’s history is a macrocosm of all history, bearing the weight humankind’s most unforgiveable sins, from slavery to colonialism to environmental malevolence.  
 
But today, at the dawn of a new millennium, Africa’s most important narrative is not of history. It is of the future. That story – told here with clarity and scope – is one of hope, dynamism, and a relentless march towards progress.  
 
Factors that were once considered detriments to Africa’s progress are now its greatest strength. The legacy of colonial domination that once saw strife in its wake today translates into pan-African resilience and resolve. A footprint of neglect by industrial powers that left the continent wanting for much-needed investment for so many years now means that most of Africa’s resources are still in the ground, left to be harnessed in more responsible – and more indigenous – ways. A lack of infrastructure during the telephonic boom of yesteryear hamstrung African’s inclusion in global commerce; today it is a deft advantage, as Africans embrace wireless and smart technology unencumbered by legacy electronics and protectionist incumbent providers.  
 
We live in a world where the traditional global powers are stuttering under the weight of social discontent, political partisanship, declining demographics, and a creeping skepticism of economic engagements and integration. Africa as a whole stands in refreshing contrast. Its young population is more open and exposed to the world than at any point in history. Regional economic unions are in their heyday, from the East African Community (EAC) to the Southern African Development Corridor (SADC) to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). And entrepreneurs, like this book’s author, stand united in promoting a vision of hope.  
 
The challenges, it must be acknowledged, are mammoth. At least half the continent does not have electricity. Financial inclusion is lower than anywhere on the planet. And many of Africa’s political structures still embody the plutocratic corruption and instability that have scared away potential investors for decades. But Africa’s new generation seems to implicitly understand the Norman Vincent Peale dictum: “Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.” 
 
A desperate need for electrification – combined with abundant sun and water – is driving a renewable-energy breakaway, potentially positioning Africa as a vanguard of the world’s most important epochal shift. Massive numbers of unbanked people spurred the development of mobile money, a technology pioneered in East Africa that is not only changing the financial landscape of the continent but also being adopted globally. And countries like Botswana and Cape Verde, (the latter being the author’s mother country) are emerging as increasingly visible and influential models of peaceful, transparent democracies.  
 
As Peale said, if you don’t have problems, you don’t get any seeds.  
 
The following is a comprehensive look at Africa’s many seeds, told by an African who himself is a headspring of the optimism and ambition he narrates. These pages hold a first-hand account of lessons learned, a look at the influence of the current geopolitical complexities, a roadmap for the way forward, and a source of actionable information for those considering investing or doing business on the continent.  
 
It is a story for the future, of countries on the rise, and of the latest—and potentially last—frontier of global business. It is as important for the global economy as it is for the everyday citizens who populate this emerging continent called Africa. I hope that many read it. 

If you would like to buy the book you can find it on Amazon in the following links:

Amazon paperback version (8”x11”) with 280 pages: http://a.co/fKPSoNX

Amazon paperback version (6”x9”) with 512 pages: http://a.co/2ZlWVN8

Amazon Kindle version: http://a.co/9K4Dxgd

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/andradesaidy

by Leland Rice Connect via Linkedin 
Editor in Chief 
The Business Year 
https://www.thebusinessyear.com/