There is an issue of the mentality that Western products are better, but like Wendu said, there is often the issue of quality control. Really, if you improve the quality, people tend to buy local. An example is Nigerian music where the production and marketing – I don’t necessarily think the talent – has improved remarkably in the last decade. Now events play only Nigerian music all the time: from parties to clubs to TV shows, and really it isn’t because of any conscious effort to ‘listen Nigeria’ They simply got better. I listen easily to the music but hardly watch the movies, I would if they got better!

There is a lot to be said for good governance/ leadership and fostering the right environment. The decline – at least in Nigeria, which is where I have been – has been due to a sustained bad Government with bad policies literally sucking the life out of entrepreneurs. The few instances where a sort of enabling emviroment has been created (even if minimal e.g deregulation only) like the telecoms industry shows that there is a lot of willingness and ability to do good business.

On the other hand I do think we have a ‘It’s the Govt’s job’ mentality. One of the things I admire about the US is the ‘we can do’ attitude, the belief in the ability of the individual to make a difference.

What do I think we need. Really, a lot. But perhaps more than anything else, an attitude change. It’s time to start acting and living smarter. To stop being short-sighted as individuals, communities and nations. I would like to help cultivate a service attitude among young people. Because, they will eventually become the leaders, and hopefully if that is the prevalent attitude, then they will serve when they have the chance.

I can’t stop us from being selfish or ambitious, but maybe we can channel these to more positive ends e.g a leader seeking posterity, not prosperity. And it’s not just the leaders, it’s about everyone; From the businessman who strives for excellence and a reputable brand rather than quick profits, to the student who aims to understand and become prestigious rather than to pass by any means.

It’s simple really. However a couple of years ago, I realised that simple solutions though often the best, are also paradoxically often the hardest to implement.

the truth is people would rather pay more for a foreign product because they trst them more merely because its foreign and we dont trust ourselves. we find it hard to listen to our own music merely because its african, ready to criticise and find reasons not to like it because its african. we have a wealth of culture and art that has developed in the past twenty years and all we need to do is take time to see the value in it. it took the zimbabwean governemnt declaring 100% local music only on television and radio for some of us who had never been interested in local music to realise the wealth of talent we had,the creatvity that was possible and the beauty of our own music. this gave many young people the opporutinity to actually have music as a viable career option which was nto possible before, especially in this continent.
let us learn to find value in what we have, not to be continously live under this false impression that we were given over a hundred years ago that anything out there is better than what is african.

Also, don’t be so quick to cite history as evidence of foreign products always being better. Early sailors to the coast of Africa exchanged trifles like cloth, alcohol and kitchenware for our ivory, gold and iron. It’s not like we didn’t already have these things, the biggest problem then and arguably, even now, was that we did not see what we had as valuable enough and seem all too ready to exchange our gold for the fleeting equivalent of cloth or alcohol.

Regarding our holding foreign products in higher esteem than indigenous ones i think many of us did so simply because the foreign made products were by and large better. For example: Kelloggs cornflakes was probably better than Nasco cornflakes, Ovaltine was probably better than Bonvita.

While it’s true that everything foreign is (incorrectly) automatically viewed as better i don’t think it’s a coincidence- I think historically foreign products have been better and people won’t spend their hard earned money on indigenous products simply because of African pride.

You might want to hold local manufacturers accountable to higher standards but then they also find themselves in a tough situation. How do you make products cheap enough for the average African while also maintaining the standards found elsewhere?

I think that as people’s standard of living picks up along with their purchasing power they will demand better products. If those better products happen to be foreign then so be it – Indigenous industries would then have to compete globally.

We should change how we view one another but i think that when it comes to the economics – demand & supply – the consumer will always go for the products that gives him the most bang for the buck. African products ideally should be that product.