Dangote and Bill Gates Discuss Africa’s Future

we'll be with bill and my brother Ali here because this effort she really was led by three young women you know had healed Halima and Chelsea and it really is a young people effort young people product and I said why you want three old men to come and open this and anyway but to receive instructions from our children so we have to show up and right we gonna talk really about Africa as investment distillation was the future of Africa where are we going and it's really wonderful to have the perception of my friends here who really address it from different angles and different approach we have the investor and we have the flan through best I think it is really interesting combination to move forward I sit in the middle use an investor and I I wouldn't call myself and also I'm a member of you giving village I think myself more as an activist then grow belief learn differently based so well it's a good combination of different people well let me start with you as our guests here you have done wonderful stuff I mean you you have been really the poster child for philanthropy choice between you know with brackets here but you just tell us what what attracted you to Africa what are you interested in us you know your president here color sheet holes what is the what is the residence halls and Africa's where we're gonna meet some of our toughest challenges sadly the impact of climate change although Africa had the least to do to causing climate change the actual difficulties will first be felt by the farmers of Africa and already their base of productivity is about one-quarter of what you have in say the United States or in Europe you also have some diseases that for a variety of reasons including just the the weather and the equatorial location you know malaria is far worse in Africa ninety percent of the deaths or young children in Africa likewise HIV and TB have large pockets in Africa and so you know it'd be great if the world could give Africa much better seeds if it can figure out how to minimize climate change and if it can give tools of Health so that not only do we reduce these the the deaths but also for the kids who grow up that they are very healthy you know malnutrition today affects about forty percent to the children and that holds them back you know even when they get education their ability to contribute to Africa's not as strong as it should be so you know I think if the right things are done we can unleash all that potential and it's exciting you know in Africa some countries the last ten years have done super well the health improvement has been amazing in places the agricultural improvement is amazing so you do see a lot of points of light that really point in the direction very grateful what you've been doing and I think it's not only by getting involved and boutique money to help you know in the culture etc but deal with the Global Fund etc what know is it that's wonderful and lead it from the front by say ok I bought it my money here where are you guys I think that helped really to be a catalytic can I ask at least the African guys sitting here to give to this guy thank you Alico very started by talking about the young people now this is a big issue anywhere you go people say ok by 250 I have the young people in the world of Africa and but the question always where the jobs come from ok we have a problem and how do you see the future of young people in Africa I will be able to cope is it a blessing or is it occurs because there are two narratives here are we able to deal with that growth of population to our advantage Organa and end up being a source of instability and more deaths in the Mediterranean no I think you know if I to be a great place for us because when you look at the population of you know Africa more than 60% actually below the age of 30 yeah so all what we need to do is to be very very creative and see what kind of jobs are we going to you know mind you more we have 60 percent of the world's arable land you know when you look at the estimation by one of the de la McKenzie you see that by 2050 the demand on food alone will go up by hundred and ten percent so was that all what you need to do in Africa is now rolled back and focus on my fracturing and agriculture and I think there is quite a lot of things that we are doing which can change the entire narrative and you know which will make us to provide just for you know Africans today as you speak I mean as we speak agriculture is not all about poor people you know because you use a lot of technology the yield per hectare everything has improved so when you look at you know a company like ours we were never ever interested in agriculture but right now we have moved into agriculture and I can tell you that in the next four or five years our company will not have less than two hundred thousand workers and that's invest and that's the reason why now let me give you a typical example 65 to 70 percent of the world's cocoa is being produced between Ghana and Kwadwo and what do they have they have only six billion dollars total of export planning's but the entire cocoa market involves hundred billion so what we want to do is the rather than being exporters of raw materials we now want to be exporters of finished products and that's how now we can reach our people our farmers who become rich and you know then people will now become interested in agriculture so that does it you see agriculture as one of the areas where there you can have more employment and you make money because before let me give me about the guys who make money out of the coca it Starbucks it's not our farmers yes it applies to all even you know minerals wheat so they are quite a lot of jobs that we can actually you know you know do I mean for example why should not depend on only oil oil is only called the only contribution of oil in Nigeria is 8.8% agriculture is more than 23 percent so you can see that were not really dependent hundred percent on that yet the only unfortunate thing is that 90% of our foreign exchange earnings okay coming from oil and also 60% of government's budget okay let must build about this bill how this is the future of the culture in Africa and that is super important Africa today is a net importer of food so it's kind of a contradiction why is the continent where the availability of labour is the highest where the availability of unused land is the highest where the productivity per hectare is the lowest you know why can't it move not only to be self-sufficient but also to be a net exporter and so the agriculture sector can get better you don't want to rely just on the agricultural sector it can create jobs and more value but as you get somewhat more mechanized then you do free up labour for other activities services manufacturing their challenges that the educational sector has to come in and do a really good job in agriculture you you know you don't need a very high education but for things like services and manufacturing you really need not only high school but but a fair bit of college graduates so it's a challenge to Africa while it revs up agriculture it can't just do agriculture it's got a improve education and have the cities become sort of a source of export receipts as well as the rural areas but agriculture also need infrastructure nothing the infrastructure has to be done by the private sector not by government government job is actually to encourage people facilitate and then they will depend on their taxes and this thing they are possible they you know I mean we have demonstrated a few of these things you know yeah also a share holder right these guys too sharp yeah when you look at it when we look at the issue of infrastructure okay Africa cannot really grow food out of infrastructure and we need 170 billion dollars to be spent on agriculture we went out to make sure that yes we don't really important we make sure that we produce in today 14 African countries okay I think I think we all agree an equal that investments as you know as somebody invested in Africa before an Essene invest in Africa there is a problem of perception of of Africa in the mind of investors some of it comes out of course of ignorant because Africa is 54 countries and these countries also have different characteristics in the media outside people usually talk about Africa just one you know one lump sum of something so if there is a problem in Somalia or if there is a problem in the Sahel or somewhere it's a problem in Africa and that that create a perception that Africa really is like the Wild West or like a dangerous place and that doesn't help with with investors well the other problem I think also is this perception of corruption let's be frank there's a lot of mines in the West here people think Africa is a very corrupt place corruption is a problem global problem but I don't think it is an African problem corruption exists everywhere and actually many African countries are quite good some African countries actually are better than some European countries if you look at the end a global angel corruption I mean content Leopard Botswana etc but all those people pick up on the DRC or you know the few corrupt places that becomes Africa so we have this issue of the reception and I think we will have a big fight in our hand really need to close this gap between reality and perception because that what will help in vs. really to come to invest in Africa because this is this is the last frontier now well you know no case like you know is being blown out of proportion yes there's corruption but corruption does not stop people from doing genuine business you know you don't really have to give anybody bribe to do whatever you are doing and it has actually shown that yes some of us who've been very very successful in all the businesses that we've been doing without getting involved in corrupting any body okay so what I think the difference between Africa and Asia is as the Asian Tigers they are able to grow because we are really focused and they have more entrepreneurs than Africa you know because some of us who are always waiting for foreign investors to come a foreign investor will not really go into where he's not very much aware of so you need those local investors to be able to lead and expanding the growth or the trajectory of African economies but I mean let me give you an example for example today when you look at it a lot of people they try to discourage it when the Africans from investing you will not believe that the entire sub-saharan Africa we only have two working refineries so every single thing they are talking about in terms of petroleum products is being imported and because any time when somebody wants to build a refinery sin or oh don't even try it because it is a no-go area you can't even do it it's not done it's not possible so this are the sort of things that we know we have so we must change the narrative and simplify and how do we really do it ourselves okay the economy of Japan or Korea was not really established by was not established by the Americans so we have to do it ourselves bill you met a lot of African people Arab we are Frank we're all friends here and what is obviously your perception of corruption of Africa is it a major problem does it hinder the work of your Foundation or any investments you made there well corruption it is a huge problem I mean the two most visible countries because they have the two biggest economies or South Africa and Nigeria and you know parts of the government budget does not go to help the people in the best way possible and corruption has this terrible effect donors are very chicken about corruption if a ritual donor gives say a billion dollars if there's a new story about a few hundred thousand of it being misused that will you know get the headlines and that donor is not going to come back again likewise in these countries the amount being collected from the domestic economy tax wise is very very low so Nigeria is the lowest in the world of any established economy and the bootstrap of saying to the people hey we're gonna put in a value-added tax but we're gonna have better roads we're gonna put in a value out of tax and the education will improve bootstrapping that it's very difficult if people are cynical domestically forget what anyone outside the country thinks it just makes it harder and so you know in Nigeria having starting at the state level to have exemplary governors who clearly are minimizing the corruption and showing that the current revenues the health the education I roads although we're not we don't work it out so I'm not an expert on that piece I do think that if we can get you know a new generation of governors that all have to be young that are trying to be exemplars then you can start building that credibility the area that we work in health care primary health care it's not subject to gigantic corruption it's not like an oil deal or a road that you know there's a bunch of money and you may spend the money and not get the road in health we import the vaccines so the most expensive input comes in kind so you can't and there's no black market for that and the labor market is not that gigantic so primary health care can work everywhere in Africa and that's a key piece of building things up but you know you you publish a very honest set of figures which you you get help from transparent international and other people I'm afraid those figures really do tell the story which is that there is work to be done on on corruption not just in Africa but including everywhere yes it is delicious is also that business international business also is a player in the corruption I have to say many people have to behave both sides the u.s. passed a thing called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and as people said when it was being passed it has damaged us business it means that businesses from other countries I won't name them can still play by tough rules now Europe later adopted the same sort of things and even some of the you know great company Siemens is a great company but they've had some activities that they had absolutely had to change so the FCPA I do think has been a great thing for the world that can bring in all the actors then we can minimize the greed which it's this outside influence which certainly for oil deals at defense contracts there's been a lot where it's the external actor comes in with the way of doing I mean I I am great admirer of the SBA and we always businessmen corrupt leaders to hide the legitimate game in this opaque and so we have been fighting with together with a lot of other civil society groups and business groups to change the law because we say why do need to have this class of companies what function does it do for anybody and fortunately it has been successful campaign the British Parliament passed a law they said there must be a public register for ownership of companies Europeans about similar law we're still fighting at the Congress here you write about this law and I was surprised when there is a big fuss about banaba papers and the verdice islands papers when actually there are more anonymous companies in United States than in Panama on Barrabas I said guys do what this hypocrisy what are you you know what I mean here at home Africa yeah we have this here at forum so this is one and I'm so to retrieve money illegitimate money from even Abacha as far back as a Basha which was hidden in really and what I was told actually that the reputation damage now to banks and is helping in really people behaving well also some countries don't behave well I heard that there are seven billion dollars Swiss government DC managed to retrieve from Mobutu's money and has been begging DRC government to take the money and refused to take it and then another mister Mobutu who's the son who's Deputy Prime Minister then I said okay did not want the money give it to me the given and there is a similar situation in Nigeria actually some money from Abacha the government refused to take it back I told I told them I'm going to speak about this public he said please do and people asked the questions was going on here great thing that we have you know having this Center so when we now City I will discuss all issues about culture about business yes about policy you know and you know that will help quite a lot and I I'm told that it is zero now so I think any we need to wrap up the discussion unfortunately we can spend all afternoon talking with two wonderful people here just to sum up I think we in general we think the future in Africa really is a young people educated young people not too many hopefully and and investment is very essential Africa and Africa should be orbital investment we have a reasonable rule of law is not perfect but it's really reasonable I don't have our own experience to show that we need courage in addressing our issues whether family planning or corruption or whatever we're not shying away for anything and we hand over probably as older people a continent which is maybe is reasonable health but to hope you young to be able to take it forward and I hope this place Blair all and really moving it as Borno said this is going to be born as a is an Irish musician a supporter of this he said this is a wonderful really Street signpost to Africa and the cross are you know between Harlem and Street yeah which i think is a good statement thank you Bill thank you regard thank you very much thank you you

Channel: Channels Television

Views: 213,388

Keywords: Channels Television, Channels TV, Africa News, Top African News, Breaking news, Nigerian Top Stories, Dangote, bill gate, mo ibrahim, africa center

Id: KVav3wZvS0M

Length: 23min 40sec (1420 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 02 2019