Hello Africa

Hello Africa,   Elitism and City Development in Africa. Development initiatives in African countries are predominantly metropolitan, and  mainly urban-focused. Crippling social challenges which include inadequate basic infrastructure, slums, squalor, and low standard of living are the resultant effect of urban development. In Africa, it is estimated that over 60 percent of urban and city inhabitants live in slums and abject poverty. The development of new cities and urban centers is mainly to eliminate these social ills, rather than reduce  poverty and inequality.   Figure 1. Atlantic City Project, Lagos Nigeria. Africa is building new cities across the continent, and most African leaders largely focus on new country capital, mainly for administrative purposes. The future of Africa is to build new smart cities that will drive economic growth and development. The Eko Atlantic City, in Lagos Nigeria, Konza Techno City in Kenya, Kigali Metro-City, and the Modderfontein ...

  The S-curve and Personal Growth and Development   Figure 1: S-curve   The S-curve framework  has been used in multi-discipline analysis and framework to depict Begin, Growth, and Decline Phase of human biology, production theory in economics, project evaluation, performance evaluation, cash flow forecast, and a wide range of  measurement factors that utilizes a cumulative distributive chart with growth and time. It is used for measuring the start, growth, maturity, and decline of a given entity or project. The S-shaped curve helps us to understand the nature and performance of a given project or role, and outcomes can help in forecast and learning for corporate and personal growth and development. The S-curve is likened to the the three stages of production in economic theory were the average and marginal contribution of factor inputs determine the output in the production function. At stage one, average product is rising, stage two average product is rising b...

  Income Per Capita and Unemployment According to the World Bank, in 2021, countries with per capita incomes of $1,025 or less were classified as “low income developing countries” and this category of countries had the least levels of economic growth advances. In comparison to other macroeconomic indicators, per capita income is used to evaluate the general health of the economy. In its report, World Bank (2021) stated that 9 out of 10 countries with the highest per capita incomes are in the Advanced Countries. Luxembourg has the highest per capita income, while Burundi has the least. The most dynamic relationship between GDP per capita and unemployment rate is contained in Okun’s law in economics. This law asserted that a country’s GDP must grow at about 4% per annum for a 1% reduction in the level of unemployment. Unemployment has devastating effects on the individual, society, and the economy. Unemployment creates challenges that include the inability to find future jobs, decrea...

  Peter the Great of Russia (1672 – 1725) Peter the Great of Russia was a great master of “walking the talk” and established how effective this management style could be. His success as a pace-setting leader stems from a sincere belief in what he was doing and from the practical skills he had developed. Peter the Great was an autocratic ruler. Unlike his predecessors, he was captivated by the democracies, way of life, science, and emergent industries of Western Europe. Peter the Great is considered one of the most effective transformational leaders in Russian history.  Peter demonstrated behaviors and competencies consistent with effective leadership in modern life, while his darker side was characterized by an unpredictable leader enforced through humiliation and horror. He was also a bit of a purist, turning him into a tyrant. In present-day workplaces, the dominant leadership style is autocratic. However, this is what businesses entail, people naturally tend to follow stron...

MAHATMA GANDHI  (1869 – 1948) Mahatma Gandhi and the dignity of labor! Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, the foremost anti-colonial nationalist and socio-political leader with strong ethical values. Gandhi led the non-aggressive resistance for the successful campaign that led to India's sovereignty from British rule and was to later inspire the global movements for civil rights and freedom. Gandhi was very concerned and critical about ethics and was devoted to moral principles that govern human behavio r. He believed in the dignity of labor, and that one respects all jobs equally and does not consider one job superior to another. Gandhi believed in the respect for labor and positions in the workplace. Mahatma Gandhi had the usual desire for justice and equality, and he was motivated by a strong ethical value of right and wrong. He was very principled, empathetic, warm-hearted, and supportive. The dignity of labor is the philosophy that all types of jobs and...

  Hello Africa, Deficit spending, in most countries in the continent, is a function of the excess of budgeted revenue of funds usually raised by borrowing rather than from fiscal measures. Since the last century, Africa has been grappling with the numerous challenges of generating enough revenue needed for infrastructural development. Sourcing funds for infrastructural development has been a standard development policy in most African countries. A large portion of the total debt incurred by most African countries is channeled toward infrastructural development. Infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational systems, structures, and facilities, such as electricity, educational and health, roads, bridges, and buildings required for the working of any nation.   Human resources, and basic equipment needed for the running of any society also constitute infrastructure. The role of infrastructure in national development cannot be overemphasized. Infrastructure enables tr...