Progress Thoughts

Graduates, do you want to be successful? Pack your bags and go start a life in Africa

Illustration+of+a+graduation+capAbdalla Al-Baalawy – It is convocation season and many young and energetic people are receiving their diplomas or degrees and looking to do amazing things with what they have worked hard for. Many of you young people will eventually become leaders, lawyers, scientists, engineers, artists, or anything that you dream to be. In this exciting time, I have one advice for you that will change your life and might just make your life much more rewarding than what you have planned to do right now. The following advice is simple to understand, but very hard to follow through with: think about taking your skills to any African country that you are comfortable living in.
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Incentivizing economic development: How money can be used to bring about enthusiasm in development

med_bb124s2631Abdalla Al-Baalawy – Economic development and progress provides huge benefits for the majority of citizens of poorer nations. There are a few citizens though that benefit from turmoil and poverty. Providing an incentive to move away from corruption and profiting from distress may be a good way to influence these few bad apples that may be ruining a country’s progress and development. Read More

Sustaining ourselves is the only way to progress in Africa

West_Texas_PumpjackHally Mass Jobe – A fundamental issue in many African countries is the inability to sustain ourselves within Africa. We are trying very hard to emulate structures that do not pertain to our needs and lifestyle and do not take advantage of the resources that the continent has been blessed with. Read More

Build the wealth first before you fight for it

pie-chart-icon-6Abdalla Al-Baalawy – With political infighting brewing in Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan, it has become apparent that politics outweighs economic progress in a lot of African states. Over 1000 people have died in each of the recent conflicts, with many others displaced. It is unfortunate that countries and individuals that should be concentrated on creating wealth and prosperity for their people, are focused more on gaining political power. Power is one of those unfortunate plagues that has, and will continue to destroy societies in Africa, if the current trend does not change. Read More

More wealth creation over more rights just makes sense

wealth-creation Abdalla Al-Baalawy – Most people in richer countries around the world would disagree with the title of this article. It’s an assumption of many that introducing more rights (ex. voting rights) just makes sense. I would like to challenge this assumption and suggest that it is tough enough to just make a living in many parts of the world. Usually, rights such as voting rights are not the top priority of the citizens of these regions. Read More

The lesson Africa needs to learn: ‘united we stand, divided we fall’

Abdalla  Al-Baalawy – Since independence, African countries  have sought to work on building robust economies for their societies’ progress. For the most part, most of the countries have not had much success due to many reasons. I would like to reiterate one of these reasons, division within the societies, and speak on the importance it plays in keeping success and prosperity a far-fetched fantasy for societies on the African continent. Read More

Let’s put the blame for contemporary issues of Africa in the right place: Africans themselves

China-in-AfricaAbdalla Al-Baalawy – Africa has seen its fair share of foreign people or nations coming and changing the dynamics of the continent. Some of these people or nations that came left a positive impact on the continent, while others had excruciating negative impacts that can be felt until today. One would presume that Africa’s current issues are mostly the result of the major foreign interventions and partnerships  that have occurred. I would like to challenge that line of thinking and suggest that Africa’s contemporary issues are the sole responsibility of Africans themselves. Read More

It’s time for “Made in Africa (or ‘enter African country here’)”

Manufacturing-PictureAbdalla Al-Baalawy – Export led growth has been the key to the rapidly growing economies of countries such as China and should be a key component of growth plans of African countries. China has been known to be the “world’s factory”, but it’s time for Africa to take this title away. Read More

Invest ‘with Africa’, not ‘in Africa’

investment-imageAbdalla Al-Baalawy – Investing in Africa has been one of the trendiest topics of discussion in the business community. American, Chinese, European, Indian, Brazilian (just to name a few) businesses and investors have been increasing their portfolios in Africa. Read More

Hope: A necessity for progress

Light on the end of railway tunnel.Abdalla Al-Baalawy – Prevailing popular belief is that money runs this world, but we fail to look at the substantial impact of ‘hope’ and how it runs this world. Read More