What Does Africa Need : Entrepreneurialism, Technology or Aid?

Readers may have noticed our excitement over projects like mobile banking in Africa and micro-financing in Asia which seem to give everyday people in those countries the tools to improve their lives on an economic level. For a long time, there has been a call for more and more aid to the ‘Third World’, but now we’re witnessing a call to help drive the entrepreneurial spirit of the people there.

Recently the TED conference held a spin off in Africa called the TEDGlobal 2007 which explored how can the world could help make every African family better off. In the NY Times, Jason Pontin describes what he saw as a “small skirmish” in a larger ideological conflict between those who believe that Africa needs more and better international aid, and those who think entrepreneurialism and technology will lift the continent out of poverty. One example of entrepreneurialism, he points out, is the success of home-grown Vodacom Congo which had more than 1.5 million mobile phone subscribers in 2006.

Another article in the times looks at the work of economist Jeffrey Sachs in Africa. Under the scheme Millennium Promise, Sachs gets companies and organizations to sponsor villages in Africa. For $300,000 a year, the village gets a decent school, bed nets for everyone, fertilizer and better seeds. Sachs has currently 79 villages funded in this way. However, the NY Times’ Joe Nocera comments:

The real question is how to turn Mr. Sachs’s efforts into more than just a pilot program that temporarily helps a bunch of villages. How will it transform all of Africa?

Ultimately, Millennium Promise is hoping that the governments of these countries will pick up where the Fortune 500 companies leave off. But given Africa’s history, that is one serious leap of faith.

Better aid, better technologies or better entrepreneurialism? Is the issue that simple? Your thoughts readers?