Olakunle Soriyan
Guest Article
In the late 90s, Silicon Valley, the haven of multi billion dollar IT companies, witnessed dramatic shows. The experience is a wakeup call to entrepreneurs and business executives of this century and beyond to make room for the arrival of a global economy driven by knowledge, technology and “dominance thinking” where superiority is determined by originality and innovation. Now, an African folktale spells out this way: Every morning, a gazelle walks and thinks, ‘to stay alive, I have to run faster than the fastest lion.’ This is always a significant incentive for gazelles to learn to run faster. But just over the hill, a lion realizes, ‘I have to run faster than the slowest gazelle otherwise I could go hungry’; meaning that even lions (if they get lazy and/or if gazelles get smarter) can starve; and so can great corporations and great empires.
Christian organisations will not win because the owners and promoters pray or speak in tongues. No! They will win because, yes, they will pray and fast; but equally because they will think, work and outperform the adversary. Somehow, Christians forget that God is not as interested in receiving glory and acknowledgement through lip service as he is in that which comes from Christians ensuring their “LIGHT SHINES” “BEFORE MEN” (not just in their bedrooms or churches); that the world, the secular especially will SEE their “GOOD WORKS” (not necessarily their prowess in prayer or exploit in fasting or skill in singing); and glorify Him, the father. Zechariah 1:17 already says “my cities shall once again spread through PROSPERITY”; and “wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and the strength of salvation (Isaiah 33:6). The big evangelism of today will overcome some of the greatest complexities of gospel history; superior knowledge and funding. Today’s Christian corporations must learn to use knowledge as a critical factor or simply risk fading into oblivion. If they fade despite their prevailing enviable status and supernatural leaning, they will not be the first or the last. As our Christian companies prepare for the next decade, we must begin to generate concerns that will be globally compliant and viable; and knowledge, authored in digital format especially, is the determinant factor— this is the platform that has guaranteed robust economic renaissance. Interestingly, the global competitive challenge of Christians is the same as the global competitive challenge of Africa. I tell my team, “The church is like an Africa that speaks in tongues”. I perceive the emotional, intellectual and financial poverty of the Body of Christ and that of Africa as the same. Already, Africa is confronted with the real demands for unprecedented and increasing numbers of self-initiated projects and those we must attract from outside; and the propensity is threatening. Global competition is fast becoming a compelling force, then new technology is restructuring our market’s scenery; customers are expressing new interests beyond satisfaction, our industries are consolidating themselves. At almost every spin, there’ll be something on the horizon we are not envisaging. We must launch critical renaissance programs by initiating policies and adjustments to deliberately pursue beyond the mediocre standards of our society and reach out to the possibilities that our universe can offer. Some of those adjustments might be no more than realigning our goals; others may mean operational compromises, squaring offs and resettlements; others may characterize and embody strategic alterations, renovations and revolution.
The United states ability to attract the world’s best brains and shift towards a knowledge economy create rapid shifts. That’s BRAIN GAIN! If the African continent will rise above its inferiority complex and low self-esteem to attract the world’s best brains, vigorously take responsibility for the education of its population, train and protect smart entrepreneurial people, and insist on a government that provides economic and political stability; then the shift towards a knowledge economy that will create rapid shifts becomes a reality. As at 1990, not one of the world’s ten wealthiest individuals were American; and by 2000, six out of the world’s ten wealthiest individuals were American. The truth is: MUCH OF THE WORLD’S NEW WEALTH IS CREATED by people and organisations working with NEW KNOWLEDGE. Unfortunately, most of the world’s population still works explicitly with KNOWN KNOWLEDGE in businesses or endeavours that produce, assemble or sell commodities. So, as complexity is intensified, the gap between those who are technologically –literate and those who are not; easily widens as research and development accelerates. The countries that get rich are the ones attracting the great minds or the ones taking responsibility for the education , training and protection of their own. Sadly, most of Africa is not; and as long as it does not, it has little hope of accomplishing very much beyond surviving; and renaissance becomes a mirage. If Africa continues to invest primarily in stuff they can see and touch, when two-thirds of the global economy is already a knowledge economy, particularly when it fails to make the next generation smarter, it’s only a matter of time before the continent becomes so economically weak, it will become irrelevant and a major part of it disappears and exist as new colonies of richer nations. Though this thought may be avant-garde, prophetically however, the next colonisation will be voluntary. Nations will practically ask to be absorbed by richer nations, not necessarily bigger nations. It has happened before. In after an isolated, tiny poor island, Singapore gained independence, its future was so bleak that its leaders went to Malaysia and asked whether it would be willing to absorb Singapore and make it part of its state. Malaysia’s leaders decided that absorbing Singapore would make their county poorer so they declined the offer.
Friends, yes, Africa can fade! If we don’t competitively find quality intellectual space in the global scheme of things, we will fade; but not vanish. We will simply exist as colonies or states absorbed by those who cared about what we are neglecting. Our future, that of our children, our institutions, literature, and that of our children, our institutions, literature, and that of our country and continent depends on understanding, and playing effectively in a global economy driven by knowledge and technology. The Stone Age did not fade because the world stones vanished; rather, it faded because concerned humans found and will always find credible alternatives. The world is already preparing to move away from Nigeria’s greatest economic strength, Oil. Through the mid-twentieth century, the great powers of the world were still worried about and fought over Africa, its people, its territory and resources. Today, Africa is the world’s single largest liability with amazing reputation for consuming what it doesn’t produce, and producing what it doesn’t consume. Even, the futuristically weak material it produces is actually as assisted by nature. Today, ever fewer of the great powers of the world care about what happens to the African continent. Some of its countries have ceased to exist to all intents and purposes , whole generations are dying of AIDS, and genocide is common. Wake up friends, Africa has become irrelevant to the knowledge economy, and the continent is abandoned to its fate. Note that neither starvation nor AIDS may end up being the biggest African problem; because by 2025, smoking could kill more Africans than AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, car crashes and homicides do together.
At a time, the continent prided itself in its economic development, dependent on agricultural production; having a lot of natural resources and a lot of land. Today, driving economic change on these variables may be a simple show of short-sightedness and intellectual deficiency. The greatest example here is not even an African or Third –World nation . In the words of Juan Enriquez, in his dynamic book ‘As The future Catches You’, “ It’s actually the now-extinct SOVIET UNION which was until recently the largest and richest country in the world in terms of natural resources. No border contained more gold, oil, uranium or forest. The Soviet Government decreed that the empire’s power depended on exploiting natural resources. People became instruments to be used and controlled; not the main means to generate wealth. The great scientists, engineers, mathematicians worked on secret projects and found it hard to travel, communicate and apply what they knew. To photocopy an article or start a new business was illegal. In a world that increasingly value Entrepreneurship, Communication, Freedom, the Soviet Union got poorer and poorer until it went broke and broke apart. The Soviet Union is no exception … rather; it is one of many examples … Nigeria has oil…Indonesia precious woods… South Africa diamonds and gold… Brazil jungles and minerals… Argentina vast fertile lands…Congo minerals and gems …Mexico silver and oil…Columbia emeralds…Saudi Arabia oil… Venezuela …Each is supposed to be a great country… And most of the inhabitants of these great countries are poorer today than they were twenty years ago.”
Bruce Scott says you do not need a lot of resources to do well. I also know that the only natural thing in today’s Singapore is the people of Singapore. They are small and not even self-sufficient in water, much less food, minerals, and fuel. The Singaporeans were able to create a knowledge economy and are now inhabited by some of the richest people on the planet. Ghana , Burma, and Sri Lanka seemed richer, far more promising countries than Singapore. And in August 1965 , the Sydney Morning Herald concluded: “an independent Singapore was not regarded viable three years ago. Nothing in the current situation suggests that it is more viable today”. But Singapore took responsibility and fought hard. It had no choice but to educate its people, reform its government, attract knowledge and get to work. Which it did! By 1976, General Electric was the country’s largest employer and Singapore was recognised as a leader in electronic manufacturing. By 1985, Singaporeans were producing $8,116 per person while their ex-colonial masters, the British, were at $11,237. By 1999, Singaporeans were 2 percent wealthier than Brits. Today, Singapore is a First World economy— a country that did not have a national anthem before the late 1960s; and where a single generation, before coming up with their own, grew up singing three different anthems, Britain’s “God Save the Queen”, Japan’s ”Kimigayo” and Malaysia’s “Negara Ku”.
Friends, knowledge and technology are determinant factors. The call is to add wisdom to known knowledge to author intellectual capital in digital format especially. KNOWLEDGE MATTERS. INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL is the SYNONYM but the ability to use knowledge is EVEN MORE CRUCIAL. In January 2000, before its close encounter of the judicial kind, Microsoft was valued at around $592,000,000,000…just one company. The figure is ten times what Brazil exported in1998… or five times more than total exports of the United States second largest trade partner, Mexico. But BRAZIL and MEXICO had 171,853,126 and 100,294,036 people respectively; and Microsoft employed only 32,902 people. Knowledge authored in digital format is the singular difference. When societies turn their back on technology and stop building intellectual capital they begin to decline rapidly; and those who forget are often forgotten. Most people don’t know that in that in 1200, Cambodia was one of the richest countries in the world. In 1500, Peru and Mexico awed Europeans. As late as the 1960s, “ the Switzerland of the middle east” was Lebanon. And the “Switzerland of Africa” was Uganda. A civilization with a great history, culture, and pedigree, but that did not find a way to multiply its citizens’ output, became far poorer. In 1840, just as industrial revolution was beginning, two great states, China and India accounted for 40 percent of the world trade. These two countries continued producing the best and most luxurious handmade goods in the world …silks, jewels, jade. And China’s first emperor, Qinshihuang, set the tone by burning all books …To erase what had come before.
Our business operational practices MUST BE ABLE to alter its formula to new challenges, particularly the global challenges of knowledge and technology. The alternative is to remain in the time-bomb-mode, riding “SAFELY” on the wings of convenience and be caught napping when the tide changes, Remember Persia? The Spartans? Babylon? The Greek Empire? Ottomon Empire? Vyzantine Empire? What do they all have in common? They all faded. In A.D.900, the world’s two leading cities were Bagdad and Cordoba (Spain). Alas, neither Rome nor Andalusia, nor Bagdad remained empires…today’s empires are built in the brain. Yet , there’s a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty giveth understanding. This is the advantage of the church. The greatest consolation to victory of the church is that the zeal of the Lord is what will accomplish it; not necessarily the fancies, preferences and prejudices of men (Isaiah 9:6-7). The future belongs to genomics, digital information, bioinformatics, bio computing and the likes. This is the terrain to function in . Welcome to the future.
Written and published by the endorsement of :
OLAKUNLE SORIYAN.
e-mail: pts@olakunlesoriyan.com
Principal Transformation Strategist
OLAKUNLE SORIYAN COMPANY (c) 2008
