TRIGGERnometry - Africa is NOT Poor Because of Colonialism: Here’s Why. - Magatte Wade

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

Magatte Wade is an entrepreneur, author and business leader focussed on economic development in Africa, and on correcting the various misconceptions about the state of the continent, its history, and its future potential. She is the Director of the Center for African Prosperity at Atlas Network, the leading organisation of African free-market think tanks. Magatte’s book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJH1MKN2 Magatte's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/magattew SPONSOR: Shopify - sign up for a £1 per month trial at https://www.shopify.co.uk/trigger/ SPONSOR: Try Factor today and get 50% off by using code: TRIGGER50 at https://factormeals.com Join our exclusive TRIGGERnometry community on Locals! https://triggernometry.locals.com/ OR Support TRIGGERnometry Here: Bitcoin: bc1qm6vvhduc6s3rvy8u76sllmrfpynfv94qw8p8d5 Music by: Music by: Xentric | [e-mail] | https://www.xentricapc.com/ YouTube: @xentricapc Buy Merch Here: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/shop/ Advertise on TRIGGERnometry: [e-mail] Join the Mailing List: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/#mailinglist Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media: https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod/ https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod/ About TRIGGERnometry: Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@francisjfoster) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Africa poor because of colonialism? Resounding, though. The solution to poverty is prosperity. Then who and how do we build prosperity? It's entrepreneurs, right? They always have two companies, one in Africa and one in the US. And to see that one almost took two years, the other one, barely 20 minutes to put together.

Why is it so over-regulated, though? Because once upon a time, we drank the fateful, ill-advised, dreadful, deadly ideology of socialism. Amagat, great to have you on the show. Thanks for having me, both of you. One of the questions that has been suggested to us to ask, because we obviously ask our fans, etc.,

what we should talk about, is colonialism and Africa. This is something you talk about a lot. Is Africa poor because of colonialism? Resounding, no. It's not. I mean, think about it. People like, you know, when you line up, You could line up 100 people. African, non-African, doesn't matter.

And you start asking questions. And you might probably get 100 different answers, but you can pretty much categorize, I told you, English is only meant for my fourth language. Some of these words I don't know how to pronounce. You can put it into categories. And some people anywhere, so the people who are,

some people will be like on the IQ thing, lazy thing, you know, that whole race is trend of why Africans are where they are today. And then you, You have, exactly. And then you have... You sounded like you've done a lot of research in Zaholk. I grew up in South London, mate.

I've met of you. Right? And so on the other end, you have Africans and their so-called allies. And for them, it's all various forms of victimhood, you know, anywhere from... It's because of racism. It's because, you know, we've been colonized. It's because they're stealing on natural resources. You hear all of that.

Yet, I don't hear anyone talking about what's the reason why we're still poor. And so what do I mean by that? Think about it. We are talking about poverty. You asked me the question, is Africa poor today because of colonialism? You said poverty. You didn't say anything else. Poverty.

What's the solution to poverty? Isn't it prosperity? It's not poverty alleviation. Like this idea that I should just be happy being a little bit less poor, but it's pathetic. So the solution to poverty is prosperity. Then who and how do we build prosperity? It's entrepreneurs, right? traditionally. Any nation that you look at, it's entrepreneurs that did it. Well, what do entrepreneurs

need in order to thrive? They need an enabling business environment. And we find that actually countries that offer their citizens a world-class business environment are rich. Conversely, those who offer a pretty bad, poor business environment don't thrive. And it makes sense. You're talking about corruption. Well, no, not exactly corruption. It's It's a pile of different things. So I could walk you into all of this. For example, take my country, Senegal. You know, when I started my first company back in 2003, so at that point, when you wanted to start a company, you know, you have to register the business, first of all.

How long would it take back in the days? Almost two years to register the business legally. And you look at that and you thought about the sister company because I always have two companies, one in Africa and one in the U.S., versus the companies. And to see that one almost took two years, the other one barely 20 minutes to put together. In this instance, you're married to your employees for good or for bad. Over here, employment at will. And so on and so forth. It's about everything like that.

Everything. If I want to hire you. If I want to hire you. If I want to hire you, Francis, the deal is simple. I show up. We write a contract. Done. You put it in your drawers.

I put it in my drawers. We're done. But in Senegal, I want to hire Constantin. We're over there talking to each other. I have to get a contract in three examples. Take myself physically to a government office called Inspection de Travaille. Where there, we meet with a government official. Who doesn't know the first thing about my business?

Probably never ran a business in his whole darned life. Probably maybe never was in the private sector. Has no idea what we're doing. It doesn't even know where we are. But this person gets to decide if Constantin and I get to work together or not. And he says, well, where is his health certificate showing me that he is apt to do the job? See, this type of nonsense. When you put all of this together, that's what the economists call economic freedom.

And that's also part of, that's also what we call the business environment. Technically, how free or not are you to enterprise? How free or not are you to run the business? business. And so when you realize that Africa is the region in the world, that's the most over-regulated region in the world, that's the one that offers its entrepreneurs the least freedom to enterprise. Then you understand why we're poor. Poverty solved by prosperity, prosperity built by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs entrepreneurs need a business class business environment. It happens to be that in Africa they have the worst business environments in the world.

You haven't looked there and you want to sit there and scream about all of these so-called reasons as to why we're supposedly poor, give me a break. Give me a break. So this is what we have found and that's what we need to work on and no one is working on because there's 100 people I told you about. You line them up. You ask them why we're poor. None of them.

None of them speaks about the shackles that are around my neck as an entrepreneur trying to do business underground. Good luck with that. Why is it so over-regulated, though? Because once upon a time we drank the fateful, ill-advised dreadful, deadly ideology of socialism. And I will try to describe here what socialism means, you know, because our friends, our friends who feel victimized all the time and our young people who think socialism is a good idea. You know, for them, when they think about socialism, it's just like,

oh, everybody's provided for what they need and all of that. But no, it's, you know, the government owning, you know, the means of production. So, or when the economy is completely planned from, top down. So what happened, Francis, is when we got out of slavery, we got into colonialism. And towards the end of colonialism, what we had was the liberators of Africa. So all over the continent, we had various people fighting for, you know, the freedom of their nations. And so what you had is around right before the independences in the latest. 50s, early 60s, what you had was basically you were, for people who know their history, we were at the height of this ideological battle. On one end, represented by the Western nations

practicing, you know, capitalism and what they were promoting was freedom, facing off with the eastern block, you know, promoting various forms of statism. And the both blocks were looking for influence, usually looking down south. And so we were no different. They were looking for influence with us as well. And so that's when our people, especially many of these liberators of Africa, they're thinking, okay, the West is who colonized us.

Whatever they're standing for, we cannot be for. And they threw the baby out with the bathwater. That's when we made the fateful decision to side with the Marxist socialist of back then. That's how, as most African nations we're starting to become free, most of these leaders were also socialist leaders. And as you know, this thing doesn't happen in a vacuum. You just don't be like, oh, I'm a socialist and it doesn't show anywhere else. So everything is following, you know, the socialist ideologies.

Basically, all of these, what do you call them, these five-year plan, a la Soviet style, that's what almost all African nations had. And then some people were like, well, Nigeria was not social. Well, Nigeria still was doing a five-year plan on a Soviet style. And so this is what happened to us. And we, to this day, have not reconsidered any of us, any of us. Because when I go and this gentleman is telling me, you have to bring me your Constantin's health certificate. And I'm asking, where is it in the law? And they open it.

and I look at the date from the colonial times. So yeah, this is how we became socialist. But no one sees that today because what the world sees is, it's so funny because I talk to people even on the right. And they say, what do you mean? Africa is this lawless land. So for most people, there's no law going on in Africa. It's like every man for themselves.

And my fellow Africans also feel the same way because they'll be like, what do you mean that Senegal and in general Africa is the region in the world where the employees are the most protected. I'm like, yes, on paper, this is the region of the world where employees are the most protected around the world.

And I'm like, which Africa do you live in? Because the Africa I live in and I'm in every day, I see people who have not been paid for eight months. I see people who are treated like crap at their jobs. I see, I don't see protected people. I say, I'll explain. What you see is the result of us on paper.

I take my country. Senegal is one of the countries where the employees are the most protected in the world. How does it translate for us? We're one of the 25 poorest countries in the world. What people need to understand is the law is the law. If you make it super, an employee being super protected means there's tons of labor regulations that stand in the way. That at will employment that I get in the US, absolutely not over here. Because remember, the government gets to tell me, when we can hire each other, when I need to get rid of you. Even if you're stealing from me, the government has to sanction that decision. So the government makes a decision as to when and how much it's going to cost me to get rid of you,

even if you're at risk. And then what does it mean? Most people don't want to hire people full time. So they play with the law around the, they basically hire somebody for two years as a contractor. Right before the two years is over, you need to leave. then come back two days later or a week later because that way we can start over again. Because if you try to renew those contracts after two times, it turns into an indefinite contract. And when that happens, it means you're now an employee.

You're considered like, this is it. It's almost like a permanent situation. And so I tell people, think about it. If you're about, you fall in love and you're about to marry. And I say to you, Constantine, be very careful because, you know, this person you're about to marry for whatever reason, no matter what happens and you need to divorce, you can't divorce. Do you think you can never get married? No. So I tell people, if I can't fire you, I can't hire you. I know it sounds cruel, but it makes sense, right? And so this is what we have.

So what happens is because the laws are so cumbersome, almost no one wants to set up a business, at least not a legal business. There's a reason why there's 97% of businesses in Senegal that are in the informal sector. I repeat, 97% of the businesses in Senegal are in the informal sector. It's directly correlated to what I just explained.

People are not stupid. And the reason I asked about corruption early is I know from Russia, for example, where it's not as bad in terms of regulations, etc. But the reason that these restrictions and these apparatchiks

and these bureaucrats exist to get involved in your business is because because they get to exercise power over a business. And then they can say, well, you know, I could look at this letter now. I could look at it three weeks from now. Exactly. And that depends on whether you want to leave this envelope on my desk as you walk out of the road.

Exactly. We have the same thing. We have the same thing. But then the reason why I will not accept corruption as a reason why we are poor is because corruption is a symptom. It's a consequence of this system. Exactly. And I am just tired.

Tired when it comes to Africa, especially that most people are stuck at this. symptoms at the consequences level. We'll never get there otherwise. So we have to, I don't know, it's, I know that it is not sexy to look at laws, to think about laws. For most people, laws are invisible. And it's true. And that's what makes it so complicated. It's an invisible thing. But everything around us, if you think about it, oftentimes is ruled by regulations and some type of laws. So, so this is, so when you talk about corruption, the reason why I, I hear many people, like, those hundred people I told you about being lined up, corruption is going to be, probably way up there. And I say, no, corruption is the sign that there are too many laws

and also too many senseless laws. Because every time that gentleman gets a chance to interact with me, this person from the state interacts with me, if I did not have to deal with this person like it is in the US, there is no friction. There is no point. There's no place in which this person can exercise the power that the state gives them. When the state said to this person, you get to, to decide if Constantine and Magat can work together, right there, right there, you opened everything up for corruption because this person knows now that my fate depends on his decision or her decision. And so what happens is they're just going to sit there, make things last longer than they should, and eventually that's what also happened. They apply every single piece of the law,

hoping that at some point you get tired of it and eventually it's just faster, easier for you just to pay the bribe and move on with your life. So corruption, to me is not a good thing, of course, but it's an easy one to fix. Remove the law, remove the interaction between me on the state official, and you remove that opportunity for corruption and bribe happening. But the problem is, as well with corruption, as someone whose mother comes from one of the most corrupt nations in the world, which is Venezuela, is it becomes part of the culture. And that's really dangerous, because I always think corruption is like a cancer. Once it starts to metastasize, you see the, you see the, you see the, you see your

country fall apart, which is partly what I've seen. Yes, yes. And exactly what you're talking about, Francis, is the reason why one of my most radical solutions is basically around this concept of startup cities. I don't know if you guys heard about them. Some people call them but charter cities, But basically, these are next generation special economic zones that have their own law, have their own governance, and also have custom regulatory framework. And so the reason why we suggest, because right now I'm involved also in policy reforms. So we're talking about piecemeal legislation. As you all know, this takes time. And by the time you manage to get one law taken out or, you know, cleaned up over here,

20 million popped up over there, and it's an endless cycle. Meanwhile, I have hundreds of millions of young people who come to an age of working every single year in Africa and have nowhere to turn. This is literally a ticking bomb, a ticking bomb. Maybe the Europeans see it in the form of all the migrants trying to come to Europe, the Americans. And now we know that some Africans are also using the Central American routes going to Nicaragua and from their passing over to the U.S. I don't personally blame those young people. They have done what humans have done throughout times. In my country right now, what they love is to pound on them,

you know, be like, you should have more pride and stay in your own country. No, no, no. The story of humans is, if here it doesn't work for you, you go over there. All of us are results of just that. And it's the most healthy instinct to have. So I am not mad at that. I am sad. I'm, I'm, oftentimes, I'm,

unconsolable. Even today, you get up, you watch, you check for news every single day. There are news of boats. Little fishermen's boats, bless you, leaving my country trying to make it to Europe with tons of

young people in them. And I like to say, are most entrepreneurial people, because who lives? This is a self-chosen group, right? These are the ones we need back home. But right now, for most of them, they're laying at the bottom of the ocean, as fish food. And I sit there and I ask myself, is this the best we can do? When they don't die

like that, you find them bodies dropping from the plane, you know, like, because somebody thought it was a good idea to hide in a landing gear and somewhere above England, here where we are, a body drops. Or you open the cargo section of the plane and you see a frozen body. Because no one told them that, you know, when it gets up there, things get really cold and they're going to die. And then when they think that air route is too dangerous, sea route is too dangerous, then they're like, we're going to go land route. And land route, so many of them get stuck in Libya. And in Libya, right now, when you caught someone like me, they sell you as a slave between $300 and $500. So the misery, the misery. So for me, it's just, I look at this and I'm thinking to myself,

what are we going to do? What do we do? So like I said, I've been working on reforms, but that takes too long. And the kids are not waiting. The kids are not waiting. They're like, I've got a life to live. I've got to go now. I've got to try this. Okay. So what's the solution? We have to speed everything up. We have to be radical. And because trying to do things at the national level takes forever, we're like, how about on a smaller piece of land, the size of a city, there we basically change the rules of the game. There, we bring to the local entrepreneurs

the best business environment that there is a la Singapore or a la Denmark, if not better. And we bring that to people right where they are. And from there, you're almost basically building this area where people get to try before they buy. And for me,

this is very much the future. This is very much part of a solution. Because like you said, at some point corruption becomes part of, it's, it's, it's in everything. And you try to fight it. You have people fighting you back everywhere. You have all of these entrenched interests fighting from everywhere. You go nowhere. So it is smarter to do it this way. And then when it starts to work here, what we have also found is that actually all these other oligarchs who used to benefit from the system and were very, you know,

thriving in this corruption, corrupted world, all of a sudden they're finding that, oh, wait, First of all, this is extra business for me, because now there is activity going on here. And on top of that, now they're starting to convert slowly to the place where you don't have to, you don't need to know anybody in order to thrive. And they're starting to realize, oh, wow, I actually can make money in a manner where I don't have to be bonded to anyone. You know, because a lot of them, they're not leaving the best lives. You might see them with a fancy homes, fancy cars and fancy elevator thing, but I see I'm not going to say slaves because, you know, out of respect for the real slaves,

but I see people that are not free at the very minimum. People that owe everything that they have to these governments. There is a government in West Africa, I won't say the name here, where the president is quite known, where you go to the parties, so all of these people who benefit from his largest, they have these great big businesses, all crony business. You know what he does? He'll invite your wife to go dance with him. You're sitting right there, and he's there. touching her, doing all the things he wants to do to her, and there's not one single damn thing you can do about it, because you open your mouth or you even flinch your eyelashes out of, you know, anger, and the next day he'll send you all the people, the auditors that are going to come

and tell you how much taxes you actually owe them after all of these years and everything else. Do you really think people like that want to continue like that? So when you create these zones, all of a sudden, they start to see, and even them eventually start to convert. So the plan is you do it somewhere where there's actually almost nothing existing and then from there you create a new reality. I call it I call these little islands of excellence and then from there you you watch the island of excellence become an inspiration for other people and then they try to imitate this what happened over here and that's

little by little how you get to change everything around you. So that really is a path I've been on and I've been promoting it for the past year on the continent. At first it was one country that you know was very interested and we had to do all the jump through all the who and to interest them. And now I'm happy to say there's four nations that we're talking to. And out of those, one I think is ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra promising. And hopefully within the next few months, we'll be now able to announce where we're doing this. So I am so bullish on the continent. It's not even a joke. Because we know that when you do things like this, it takes within 25 years, we're talking about a generation, you can see the change starting to happen. So that's why my

goal is my stated goal is by 20, 2.5 billion prosperous Africans by 2050, because that's how many we will be by then. So yeah, that's pretty much what the plan is. And I'm really, I'm really inspired by what you said, because one of the things I noticed when I were in Venezuela was, we call it Terseermondista, which means third world, third world attitude. And people, you know, in the West would be like, oh, that's a really horrible way to look at it. But it's true. You know, in particular when you look at politics and these politicians, all they care about is reaching the top,

not because they want to serve their nation, not because they want to turn what should be one of the richest countries in the world in terms of resources into one of richest countries of the world. But all they care about is getting to the top and enriching themselves. That's right. That's right. And you think to yourself, you look at it and you go, well, it doesn't matter how rich your country is. It doesn't matter the potentiality a country has.

you are always going to be doomed to fading. That's right. That's right. Yeah. No, very much. And so that's why for me, you know, it's very much my attitude in life is criticized by creating. So it's like when something is wrong, of course, put your finger on what's wrong so that you can, because without a proper diagnosis,

you can't really come to a right solution. But beyond that, then get working on the solution. Otherwise, sit down and shut up. Well, I do think history is very important because people, in order to control the future, you control the past, right? And the stories that people are told about their own history and the history of other people and the history of the relations between them are really important, I think, in terms of people's sense of who they are.

So I imagine if you tell people constantly, well, you are where you are because of colonialism or because of slavery, because of this, it creates a certain mindset. And I just want to come back to that because is it really true that colonialism, you know, isn't really important in the history of Africa, in the history of where Africa is today? And I'm always the first one to say. Did it have a big role in it? Absolutely. Absolutely. But my problem is if you, you know, the thing is, I always like to say,

Yes and, right? And not be stuck at we cannot. You've done improv then. What happened? There's nothing we can do about that. Nothing. And denying what happened also is definitely not where I'm coming from. I'm the first one to say, yes, this stuff happened.

And it was violent among probably one of the most violent colonizations that they were if we have to measure these things. So absolutely, all of that happened. just like, you know, if you're born to, I don't know, drug addicted parents, whatever, of course it's going to be part of who you are today, but does that control what you can do later for yourself? No, I had this great friend of mine, he passed away, but he said, no matter what happened to you, you're responsible for what you do for you. And I really, really, for me, that's, I'm trying to extract our people from that place of commiseration, of this is what happened to us, of this was so wrong.

We got to depart from that place. However defining part of our history thought it was, and someone like me, I like to remind our people, there were Africans on that great continent before the white man ever sat foot on the continent. Who were we? What were we doing? What was our story? And when you look there and you look at the work of

people like Professor George Jaité, great new, also historians that are coming up. And you can, and you see that Africa had some of the richest empires of their times. We don't know this. We don't think about this. In fact, I argue that for most people, Africans and non-Africans, the story of Africa starts with slavery, moves onto colonialism to present day. So we are robbed from a very important time of our history. And when you look at that time of our history, Africans were practicing the free enterprise. We were free marketeers.

Trade routes, among some of them most vibrant in the world. So that's also part of my birthright. Yeah, have we gotten derailed afterwards? Yes. Yes. Does it play a role in who we are today? Yes. Yes.

But is that where the story ends? I guess some people would like it to be that way. What about the way we have these conversations in the West? Because obviously you're someone who's come from Senegal and you live in the US some of the time. And I imagine because you have a certain skin color, people assume certain things about you and want to sort of bring you into a certain conversation.

Yes. How do you see the way we talk about these issues in the West? You know, Constantin, when when I came to by the way, I love the French pronunciation of my name. It's so good. Constantin. It's sexy. I like it.

Corby me. Francis. Yeah. That's saying actually sounds good. Francis. Francis. Francis. It sounds sexy than Francis.

When we're in Austin, that's all anybody said to me, all the Americans, Francis. I know. Americans. And I keep telling them, you are the one with the weird accent. Yeah. They are actually.

Yeah, they are. They are. It's funny because when I first moved to America, that's when I learned that actually the English that I learned was British. And yes, that's what we learned and the accent, everything. So since I got to the US, you learned correctly. Yes. You're welcome. Yes. I agree. That is not a good look, mate. Just spent half and I were talking about slavery and colonelism. And then I'm like, thank you. Yeah, thank you. Well, you know, if I, that part of a language, but. But anyway, sorry, we got No, but you know, when I came to visa, when I came to understand everything that I understand today that I'm sharing with you, I literally lost 90% of my friends. I came from the left. I used to belong to the left. I was borderline calming. If you can believe that. Really? Yes. Why? Because that's the, that's, that was what you were taught or? Because because for the longest, I've always cared about people. I've always cared. I've always cared about, um, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, um,

I don't know what the right word is, but maybe not the little people, but you know what I mean by that. But I've always cared about those among us who are disadvantaged, you know. And so for the longest time, I really believed what that side was saying, what the socialist was saying. I believe that maybe it was the best chance for, you know, disadvantaged people. I believe, and especially, you know, and yes, back then I used to think all the things that I push back on. today. I used to think that yeah, colonialism is the reason why we were where we were.

The fact that our national natural resources are being literally stolen is where we are. Maybe racism. Maybe, you know, they just didn't, they, the white people just didn't want us to get somewhere. So I believed all of this for a long time.

But what I discovered is once I started running this business of mine, the first time, that's when I started to really, I saw the discrepancy between running a business back home and running a business in the US. And at first I thought to myself, well, of course, we're poor. That's why it's so hard. And conversely, they're rich. That's why it's so easy. Just to come to understand that relationship that I told you about, we're poor because we don't have enough money, at least not enough money,

to take care of our basic needs. Where does money come from for most of us? It's a job, right? And where do jobs come from the private sector for the most part? And so once you understand, that and then you realize that, yeah, and for companies to be, they need a good business environment, and you realize, and here I am seeing that it's so hard for me to do business over here, that's when I was like, wait a second. So the dots started to connect, and I was like, wait a second. And so from that moment on, everything started to collide in my head because I was like, the people that I have been with this whole time, who were very good at, you know, comforting me in those thoughts of victimhood in a way, they don't like that. They don't like

business. They think business is evil. Yeah. They do. Is that not, does I not, is that not the weirdest thing? I find that's so strange. And there's a lot of it here in England. There's a lot of it here in England. They, you know, on TV, people talk constantly about, oh, the 1% this and the 1% that. And I'm going, they pay like a shit ton of tax for all the public services that we enjoy. And most of them, look, there's chronic capitalism. Of course there is. But most of those people got to where they got to by providing a service to other people that those people want to pay for. Exactly. And yet these people hate them.

I can't get my head around it. No, and I can't either. But at some point, I came to realize that there's probably nothing to understand. You know, when I listen to these people, I saw something. And I saw, because when I started to confront them, why? Why? Why? Once upon a time, I believed in these ideas and I believed in your good heart. I believe that you two were into it because of, because you believed like me that was the best chance that the global poor had. The global poor has always been my concern because I come from a continent that's known for that and that needs to change. So I believed that you guys cared. And now that I'm confronting you, all I hear from you is something rather ugly. Do you know what I hear from them?

Envy. Yes. Envy. It's disgusting. It's wrong. All I could hear and all I could sense was envy. And then I realized, oh, so I was a cover-up for you disgusting, most vile sentiment. You were using me and my likes.

to promote your stupid ideology that in the end just goes to serve your envy. That's when for me, the left lost their moral high ground. That's it. I was done. And yeah, and I guess they were done with me as well. There has been quite a number of criticisms against France and its relationship with the French-speaking African countries. and they say that there have been a lot of criticisms that France has quite a parasitic relationship to these countries.

Do you agree with that? Do you disagree? I absolutely agree with that. I really do. Most of our economy seems to be controlled by the French. But that's not how we correct the way we correct the situation. Sure to interrupt you there, because you said most of our economy has is being controlled by the French. Can you tell people, people like me, who have just heard this and got,

what do you mean by this? Yes. So basically, in my country, Senegal, for example, you look at the telecommunications company.

It's called Orange. And it's what all Africans use. And basically, we're talking about our cell phones, all of that. I mean, these people are making billions of dollars every single year. And for the longest time, they were the only game in town. And you should see the crappy service that we have had. But that's what happens, I guess, when you have a monopoly, right? So there,

then a lot of our gas stations owned by the French as well. Even today, the biggest, the largest grocery store chain is called Oshan. So don't take me wrong. I think they set it up as a franchise. So yes, many Senegalese people are, you know, they own these franchises and they, there's a lot of people who are being employed. It's, business is happening. So my point is not that business is happening or not happening. Business happening is always a good thing. But I think the reason why people have such a big problem is in looking at it and it seems like everything is controlled by France, which in a way it is. And I, I am sure that France is probably playing its power, its hand in that.

Also, our currency is pegged against the euro, and France is there are guarantors. Even before the euro was there, our currency was not printed in my country. It's printed in France. And they keep a big reserve back there for, you know, guarantees. And so it's unbelievable. Even this language that we're speaking, I have a problem with. Why is it that French should be our official language? It is our official language.

And then what you see there is because I'm like, if we're going to have to speak another language, an international language, because I understand, you know, it's good to have an international language because you can belong then to the global scene of business and you can be included. But France, I mean, are you kidding me? Are you really seriously kidding me? Is French really going to be, is it really a language of international language of business? Are you kidding me?

No. But I feel like we're trapped in that thing just because of their ego. When I hear someone like Jacques-A-Tali telling me a few years ago, it's like, well, by 2050, you know, French is going to be the third most spoken language in the world. I'm like, oh yeah, because I know you're relying on us Africans for that to happen. Because we're the youngest continent in the world, 19 years of age, in the world. average. And by 2050, one out of four people walking this earth will be African. So I know where is it that trans things are going to get their language to not die. It's going to be thanks to us. I'm like, but if I have anything to do with that, that's not going to happen. Thank you very much.

Because so right now, so anywhere from the language to all our economy, like some of the biggest companies making the most money are French. And it's pretty much the same up and down the Francophone, you know, corridor. are. But there again, you asked me, and I say, you know what, the French are doing exactly what they should be, I shouldn't even say they should be doing, they're doing exactly what they can get away with. So I'm not going to say they're doing what they should be doing. I don't think actually what they're doing is smart. So I wouldn't even call it what they should be doing. I don't think it's smart. I don't think it's right. But they're doing what they can get away with.

And as long as the rest of us are locked out, our country remains poor. It remains poor. It means it has no sovereignty, really. Has no sovereignty means it needs to answer to the people who bail it out, which is usually going to be France for the most part, in all the European nations and some the U.S. as well. So as long as you keep your entrepreneurs down and they can't produce the wealth,

that all nations that are prosperous rely on, then you are going to remain a poor nation, which means you have no sovereignty, which means you're entering to a foreign entity, a foreign government in this case, because foreign aid. So this is also the part that my fellow Africans, I feel, don't really understand. So their natural instinct is we see this.

It doesn't look right. It doesn't feel right. And then our solution to this is, we're going to do a coup. I'm sure you've been hearing about the, you know, resurgence of coups in West Africa, they're back. And so the plan there is we're going to kick these people out who are responding to who are basically the valets of France. And then we're going to have people in here who are not going to be the valets of France anymore. And then, voila, things are going to change.

Well, they're going to be the valets of Russia and China now. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Because what we don't understand is that the only way to be truly, truly, truly sovereign is to make your own money. That's the only way. And until we get there, we are always, always going to be under someone's rule. The sooner we understand that, the sooner we get to work, and we know what to do when it comes to get to work, and the sooner this gets corrected. And like I said, within 25 years, it can be a very different story.

But how do you disentangle those roots, McGat? How do you stop your currency being pegged against the euro? Because that is something that I've heard. And when I found out about it, I was shocked. And we talk about, you know, modern-day colonialism. In a way, isn't that sort of modern-day colonialism? It really is. It is.

But again, my point with all of that is, I have two things to say on that. First of all, I want to put a caveat in this. having your own currency is that a good idea? Yes. Every time it's possible, I say, be in control of your own currency.

In this situation, though, I would like to say when you see what happens to some of these nations that have their own currency and what they do, I mean, look, again, remember the 100 people

that you line up and you ask them why we're where we are? Bad leaders, corrupt leaders. They don't think about us. They don't care about us. These are the same people that I've been hearing on TV

when, you know, we had a risk, when we have inflation, all of that stuff. And you know what I hear them say? Oh, well, during COVID, they were watching what the West was doing, you know, the printing machine. And they said, you see, we should have the right,

we should have the ability to do the same thing. Except that us, it would not have happened just for COVID. It would have been something that happens all the time. I mean, you come from Venezuela. You know how that thing works. Yeah. You see what happens in Zimbabwe.

You see what happens. I mean, we're not talking about, you know, 20% inflation of things like, we're talking about, you know, hundreds, 400s, some parts of Sudan, it's not even a joke. Yeah. So that's what, you know, when you have irresponsible people, you know, in charge of currency, that's what they do. That doesn't mean that I'm saying we should be under somebody else's rule when it comes to our monetary, you know, tools. That's not what I'm saying. But I also would like for our people to remember that as well. Because right now, I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of the Francophone African-African nations, if they had their own currencies, they would be crying probably more than the Nigerians are crying in Nigeria with the Naira.

Right. And everybody's looking for dollars under the undercover. So that's the thing about currency. Now, it doesn't mean that this should be the way. What I advocate for, forget being pegged to anything. Forget fiat currency. I don't trust fiat currency, period. it. This is why I'm big time on Bitcoin, something like Bitcoin. Because Fiat currencies don't have the qualities that a good currency has, especially when it comes to sound money. We don't have sound money anywhere around the world. You look at it. So for me, this is a place where, again, Africans are going to need to leapfrog. Forget jumping on some type of fiat currency just so later to exactly have the same problem with having all over the world with fiat currencies.

and then be thinking about, you know, cryptos or some, and in my case, I believe really in Bitcoin. So for me, it's like today, if we want to get rid of that, make it that Bitcoin is legal tender, along with anything else that people might want, give people a choice. And this is really something that our country, it's a matter of, it's a political will. Sign, sign somewhere, but you want to get rid of that. Our people, instead of understanding and putting the pressure where it needs to be put, it's all about we're just going to destroy everything, put in place some people who are, you know, like these military people through a coup and let's watch things happen. Mali has been, they have, they had their coup more than, I think, two years ago.

Broca and Afaso had a coup on top of a coup. What changes am I seeing there? Not really. Niger just had one recently. And their big plan was, oh yeah, you know, without us. Friends can't make it because you know. know, they rely on our uranium, you know, without us. Yeah, we're going to sit on this and you're seeing what happened. Well, guess what? The French are like, now making multiple billion

dollar deals with some other nations. Because guess what? We don't have a monopoly of natural resources. Some people are just keeping it in their ground because they don't need to have access to it yet. But if you want to mess with them over here, they go somewhere else and they do that. And I think Africans have not understood that yet. What kills me the most is this African belief that, oh, if we just sit on our natural resources. First of all, the plan is, let's become one. I'm like, aren't you the same people who are always complaining about the leaders? And now you're telling me that the whole fate of the whole continent is going to be into the hands of one of these people?

Really? At least now when the Chinese want to buy us or the Russians want to buy us, they have to go and negotiate country by country by country. They have to do the dance 54 times. And out of those 54 nations, some are like, no, thank you very much. Others are like, yeah, here is my newborn on top of that as a, you know, as a bonus. You know what I mean? It's all over the place. But now you're going to make it that one person gets to sell all of us at once because

that's what's going to happen. Unless you're telling me that maybe you will be the leader of this. And because you're so good, you're so saintly, it's all going to run properly. Don't you worry? And even if that was the case, you forgot that power corrupts. Absolute power, absolutely corrupts. So this idea of one Africa speaking with one voice is going to make us stronger. And then when we get to that one Africa, then we sit on our natural resources.

We tell people, you cannot touch our natural resources. This is the price we command and or you have to produce here and think that the world is going to follow on that. You know, it's this Wakanda nonsense. I mean, seriously, but that's where so many of us are stuck. And this is a big problem. And so these are the same people that have an issue with me when I say Africa is not poor because of colonialism. But, my God, isn't it not a contradiction in what you're saying?

Because on the one hand, you say Africa's not poor because of colonialism, but on the other hand, when Francis asked you about French influence, isn't that what people mean by the legacy of colonialism? I think that's what they mean, but I think they're wrong in that. Because my point is, anytime we could have done this, anytime we could have done this, Constantin, time. Any time over the past 60 years, we could have, without even touching orange, because if that's the other thing, for me, it's not about you destroy orange, you kick total out, you kick all of this ocean out, that's not an end business as usual. That's not how we're going

to become, we're going to get anywhere. We're actually seeing them doing that. When you look at Burkina Faso, more or less, they have kicked the French out. What do they have to show for themselves right now. The malignors have done more or less the same thing. What do they have to show for themselves? I guarantee you, but unless anything changes, six years from now, it's going to be the same. But except like you said, the Russians are the ones coming in right now. So next, next, what is it going to be? All the Russians are nuclear nomenal and then else. So my point is, yes, the French control a lot of the economy, but that's not the reason why we're poor. Remember again, Constantine, go back with me. You're poor poverty is solved by prosperity.

Prosperity is built by entrepreneurs. You are not allowing your entrepreneurs to create. When the friends show up, what you're doing for them is, here is the red carpet. The nonsense laws that my God has to deal with, you don't have to deal with it. The nonsense laws that my God has to contend with all of these terrorists when she brings up her product,

you we made a negotiation with you that you're not going to have to put up with that. They give you all types of exoneration, but to me they don't. And I am the one my country needs, me and others like me, but we are excluded from the forces that allow us to release our magic of building something out of nothing, which is what I call entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are those who criticize by creating, and those who create something out of nothing. You don't allow me to create. So what's left?

And so if I'm not creating, we as a nation-state world. When a big corporation shows up, which is what Total is, Orange is, all of these companies are, Coca-Cola, whatever, when they show up, you deploy the right carpet for them because, like, oh my God, we needed you, we needed you, because we're so poor. We want you to come and create these jobs over here. When you have completely overlooked to me over here. So what you're talking about is essentially people are having the wrong conversation. It's not whether colonialism was good or bad. Of course, it was bad. It's that talking about it is not actually changing anything.

It's making people feel like victims. It's actually making them victims in the future because you're not creating the wealth yourself. And then, as you say, when the big corporations come in, you need their money because you've been brainwashed into being a victim this entire time. Exactly. Because you're focusing on the past instead of the future. Exactly. Okay. You got it.

But exactly my point. That's the point I'm trying to make. And it's just people are just stuck where they are. And but it's okay. Constantin Francis. It's okay. Do you know why it's okay? Because it only takes one to five percent of the world, one to five percent of people to change the world for good or for bad. That to me is the great promise. So while the masses are all busy crying out loud all day that God makes, I am out there. The reason why I'm even doing these podcasts with you guys and I have this book. Yeah. And you're a big fan of the show. Yeah. I mean, come on. Let's say it like it is. Speak the truth. There you go.

No, but you know, the reason why I'm doing this, I'm putting myself out there, and I have this book coming up November 13th. It's called The Heart of a Cheetah. The reason why I'm doing all of this is because I'm putting myself out there with this message. And the idea is to light the beacon of light and for like-minded people to see the message. And we want to build this place for them. And I want them to all start congregating. I'm looking for the Cheetahs.

I'm looking for them all around the world. And as we congregate and we form the coalition, that's how a pack of cheetah is called, then we go and we now go for the run of our lives. And for me, those are the people that are going to change Africa. And the reason why we call it the cheetah, we have this reference to the cheetah is because of Professor Aite, George Aite, who is one of my intellectual fathers. And he's the one who saw that Africa was going to get where she needs to get to thanks to the cheetahs. These are the fast runners of Africa. It's a mindset mentality. We are not there waiting for anybody.

We are the ones who are going to get it done for ourselves. So I'm looking for the one to five percent. It might sound very elitist, but that's who I'm looking for. Because we know the rest of the world is followers. And they will at first make fun of us like they have. You know, first they've been making fun of me. Now some people are also, no, first they ignored me. They ignore you.

I'm right now in this phase where they're making fun still some ignoring some still making fun we know the next step is going to be attacks and then after that though we win

so I'm right where I need to be but I'm looking for my 1 to 5% and once I get them all we go we're going to have a run of our lives we're going to run in leaps and bounds the way a cheetah runs because like I like to say

the time for catching up is over now is the time for leapfrog. So that's pretty much what the plan is. But I'm so glad Constantin, you made that clarification because that's really, I think, one of the tensions we're having out there, you know, because they're like, we're still colonized. That's why we get nowhere. And I'm like, whatever is going on now has nothing to, nothing to do with the fact that you're still poor. It's just a wrong conversation. It's a wrong conversation. Well, I'm glad we had the right conversation, McGat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Head on over to locals where we

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