Africa is rising, but the rise is too slow. We need to focus on getting the loaves instead of fighting over the crumbs. We cant make global impact with the mindset of a local champion

1. By: Roland Kwasi Larbi Ofori .
Email: narolak@yahoo.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.wordpress.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.com
WHY AFRICANS CAN’T AFFORD TO REMAIN LOAL
CHAMPIONS
This is dedicated to the late Isaac Avorkliyah, my first Line Manger in the corporate world.
May his soul RIP.
“You cannot afford to remain a local champion if you seek to make a global impact”
– #rolandoforispeaks
The past few days have been one of the best in my life. I have had immense exposure to the
best in class with regards to my field of profession, proven winnable strategies and depth
understanding of consumers and the behavioral sciences which I can leverage to become a
top-notch business leader.
I also had the opportunity to build a valuable network with 120 brilliant minds across all the
continents, a lifelong enabler for my career and Global impact.
I also discovered that I was that good. I was on top of issues and could engage my colleagues
from other prestigious schools without a shadow of intimidation. This is the evidence that our
schools in Africa are at least teaching us the right stuff.

2. By: Roland Kwasi Larbi Ofori .
Email: narolak@yahoo.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.wordpress.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.com
However what broke my heart was how Africa was never top of mind among my
colleagues and most especially giant business executives I had the privileged of
interacting with.
I seemed to know a bit about most of the countries that were represented at the event,
thanks to my love for listening to BBC, but my heart was broken when most of them seemed
not to know anything about Africa, even so Ghana.
When examples of emerging economies were mentioned by the speakers, Africa was not part
of it, you could easily hear of the Asian countries and Latin America, but not Africa.
I initially attributed the very little knowledge of Africa among my colleagues to sheer
ignorance, but when I realized same with the top executives of Global business, it caused
me to rethink!
I came to the conclusion that Africans have become local champions, basking in the rhetoric
of the so called “African Rising” and yet have no global relevance!
We may be rising, but not fast enough. In my line of work, one critical factor for measuring
the success of a brand is market share. So if the market is growing by 20% and you are only
growing by 5%, it is still not good enough. What you want to achieve is to grow at least at the
same rate as the market or even outgrow it.
My challenge to you is that it is the duty of you and I to put Africa on the radar of global
competitiveness. We owe this to our posterity. We can’t be crying for level playing field
when we don’t even show up on the field to play!
We can’t always rely on getting quotas and crumbs from the people we intend to compete
with. We can take our destinies into our own hands, and the sooner we do that the better
for us.
The past has no place in the future ahead of us. We have spent enough time crying and
complaining how we were manipulated by the Europeans in the past; even so we still see
same manipulation.
There is a Jewish proverb that he who pays, has the say. So as long as we run to our white
friends for crumbs at the slightest provocation, we can’t still expect us to have the final say
when it comes to our lives.
What saddens my heart is the fact that the monies we lose through corruption and
irresponsibility far outweigh what we borrow from the developed world. In essence we
throw away the loaves and beg for the crumbs.

3. By: Roland Kwasi Larbi Ofori .
Email: narolak@yahoo.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.wordpress.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.com
At a point, I asked one of the CEOs, that what will it take for Africa to begin to get the
world’s attention?
He mentioned the following factors:
 Political Stability – there is too much instability and as a result uncertainties for
investors
 Rule of Law – Let the law work, our leaders appetite for preventing rule of law for
their personal interest( especially time in office} is abhorring
 Scalability – There is too much fragmentation even with languages and artificial
segmentation, which makes it difficult for African countries to benefit from the
economies of scale. Try travelling to our neighboring francophone countries , and you
will be amazed at the kind of reception you will receive from the immigration officers,
they talk and stare at you as if you are an alien, to them you are not one of them
because, ““. There is also so much of the west vs. east, north vs. south, each feeling
they have little to do with each other. I keep wondering why I require a visa to travel
to my neighboring African country! The least I talk about the multiplicity of the weak
currencies we proudly parade the better!

4. By: Roland Kwasi Larbi Ofori .
Email: narolak@yahoo.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.wordpress.com
www.rolandoforispeaks.com
 Infrastructure – our infrastructure sucks! Our snail paced infrastructure development
agenda needs some adrenaline!
Can we as future leaders ensure that in the next 20 years, things would be entirely different
for Africa? It is up to you and I.
From the desk of ROL
NB: All images credit to Google images