cry, the beloved country...

The Diamond of Africa, Botswana, my motherland...as I lament for your future, with no hope in sight, we wail like motherless children longing for the soft bosom of a Mother Nature. I gaze up I look across from all the cardinal points: the cries about electricity, cries about water shortage, quality of education, monopolizing entities, corrupt officials and lackluster service across the board. I find it sad if not amusing that a country with about 2 million people is experiencing electricity shortage. Its hard to fathom what could have went wrong with a promising power plant that is now defunct. I say defunct because no one in their right minds will negotiate another contract with electricity supplier if they have home brewed source of power.

This cause-and-effect has trickled to businesses losing business, govt departments issuing us with "system idown" and general mayhem in the whole economy at large. I understand the load shedding will continue for a while till that time when the power problem is resolved.

What do we lack in our country? I say innovation. The power to innovate is  something that eludes us. We rely on copycat strategies that do nothing but increase competitiveness.  But competition is a misunderstood word because competition does not matter if our company or business innovates to create strategic advantage. How to achieve strategic advantage can be summarized by doing what we call: First Mover Advantage. First Mover Advantage works on the notion that if you create a demand for something you carve a niche market for your potential clients. Notice that I am summarizing concepts that require separate blog posts for explanation and clarity but am highlighting here to illustrate the point of innovation.

This lack of innovation has its repercussions in many areas of the economy. Most budding start-ups follow the tender-prenuer route because of its promise of fast money with low capital costs. Trust me, the country has not experienced any brain drain yet. There are so many skilled graduates out there especially in the IT sector. (IT is my specialty area and it has so much potential to grow the country's economy). Innovation Hub should be thinking of setting up think tanks to consolidate the research labs that its planning. This can push the country forward in terms of innovating and also create a platform where ideas can be executed and implemented. We are far off from reaching USA standards where someone can write a cheque of $1million before they see tour idea coming into fruition. Here in Botswana you are shot down with w can words like:' o kile wa bona kae golo mo go bereka jalo?' 'no your idea has been done?' 'it can only work in the USA not here'. These contributes a lot to lack of innovation since most people are stopped in their tracks...

This makes me pause and ponder for a while. As I introspect and look back I notice the decisions I made in the 30 years of my existence. I cannot say i am proud for all of them however I do not regret any of them. Can you believe I could be a an astronaut now? Yes. I could be flying spaceships and conversating with Extra Terrestrials in outer space. After a fruitless 'discussion' with the parentals I decided to go with Actuarial Science just to go overseas. Dumb? Maybe. Effective? Yes.

Thirteen years later I have so many stories to tell, I am enjoying life to the fullest with no regrets, am content, clean and looking to each day as it comes.What happened in those thirteen years...?? Watch this space.

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