Zoo Station

As promised, here is my response to Nick Kristof's piece in the NYT that picked up from my post on TED.

Hi Nick,
Reuben Abraham from Zoo Station here. First of all, thanks for highlighting my/our side of the debate as well. Secondly, I have a great deal of respect for what you're doing in highlighting the problem in Sudan.

Don't get me wrong: I think you're absolutely right about highlighting the genocide in Darfur, and I'd dare say that without your coverage of the situation there, things might well be quite a bit worse. There's no other word for it besides a genocide. However, is Darfur all there is in a continent of 53 countries?

As someone who works regularly with investment professionals, I can testify to the fact that perception matters and the relentless coverage of the bad news does have a major impact. The trouble, as I see it, is that for most of the world, Africa is a country not a continent and the problems in Sudan somehow get attached to Namibia or Botswana and drives away potential investors.

So, when you see these amazing entrepreneurs struggling to raise capital for a generics pharma expansion (for example), because the providers of capital simply do not believe Africa is investment worthy, it's very frustrating.

Ultimately, the greatest poverty alleviation story in human history is going on currently in India and China as anything between 400-500 million people are being lifted out of absolute poverty. Similarly, a sizable chunk of Africa could potentially follow the same path, which makes inflows of capital absolutely necessary.

Does this mean Darfur is not a serious problem that requires the immediate attention of all the major powers? Absolutely not. However, people like you and Bono, who have a bully pulpit and an influential captive audience should, I believe, also be making a case for real investment (not aid) in Africa which is, IMHO, ultimately the way to ensure real economic development on the continent.

Let's look at Malaria, as a random example. There is a school of thought that believes that economic growth cannot happen without getting rid of problems like Malaria. I disagree. Are there any regions of the world that do not have Malaria and yet stagnate economically? Absolutely. Are there any countries that are high-income and yet are malarial? I can't think of a single one. Can you? The point I am driving here is that economic growth has the potential to solve a lot of seemingly intractable problems, but this will require massive investment, among a whole host of other enablers.

There is an entire generation (what George Ayittey calls the cheetahs, as opposed to the hippos of the earlier generation who are quite happy to keep themselves in power using western aid) of young Africans who are willing to call a spade a spade and do something to radically change the status quo. However, their cause is not helped at all by the consistent bad coverage in the media, which exacerbates the problem of them having no real say in the debate in the first place, thanks to a domination by well-meaning, yet misguided, westerners and the hippo generation.

If you would like to get in touch with some of the leaders of that crowd, I'd be happy to make the introductions. Thanks, and apologies for the long comment.