To succeed, must Africa fail?

The need for failure as a prelude to success seems to keep coming up all around me, not only in conversations with people who have achieved notoriety for their various career or personal feats, but also in publications such as The Harvard Business Review and some of the 2011 commencement speeches I have watched, such as President Sirleaf Johnson’s speech at Harvard University and Conan O’Brian’s at Dartmouth College. The need for failure is an often-chanted mantra in entrepreneurship speak as well. For some of my start-up clients, failure is somewhat a badge of honour. The same message reigns supreme: firstly, take risks and do not fear failure; secondly, failure in one form or another is inevitable; thirdly, learn from failure; fourthly, reflect, re-strategize and perform accordingly. Unfortunately, failure does not always result in success. Due to its connotation with defeat and inadequacy, the word “failure” often scares people. As such I will use “hiccup”, implying a short lived disruption, change or malfunction. By applying the hiccup theory to African countries, I am forced to revisit my thoughts on African countries’ development.

Arguably for most African countries, the 1960s was a tough, but good period because of independence. For most African countries the 1970s to mid-1990s, the time of political fragility, dictatorships, conflict, minimal economic growth, droughts and famine, can be considered their hiccup period. With the turning of the African story from “basket case” to bourgeoning success story, the mid-1990s to early 2000s can be seen as the time of pragmatism needed to re-strategize for the current moments some countries are starting to enjoy. For instance, not only have Ghana and Zambia recently been named middle income countries, we are seeing improved social indicators and national compliance with poverty reduction measures and both countries are arguably on track to achieve many of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

This commendable performance does not eliminate the fact that there are still many social problems and economic problems they both need to tackle. Therefore, a relevant question is whether Rwanda, Ethiopia or Ghana would be the rising success stories they are today without having had a hiccup period. While some might argue their success is still too recent to be celebrated, I think credit must be given where it is due; these countries are clearly doing better than others, at least based on the strengthening of government institutions, the independence of the private sector and increasingly stable governments.

To its credit, Africa has been coined the “last investment frontier”. An increase in investment from within Africa and other emerging economies including bilateral trade with China alone at $115 billion in 2010 alone provides promise that applied to the necessary targets, there will be growth in infrastructure, a decrease in foreign aid reliance and general economic growth. The question is whether the emphasis on economic metrics alone fully encompasses the reality of Africa’s numerous facades.

Perhaps it is worth strongly considering additional models such as that of Bhutan, which incorporates the happiness of its people in its public policy. Using the reasoning that happy people are more productive, it makes sense for us to pursue happiness with the hope economic success will result. Or perhaps there should be a greater emphasis on quality in the provision of services rather than quantity for instance, beyond only measuring the number of children enrolled in school, perhaps there should be a greater emphasis on what children are learning. If African countries do not define their own success, they will fail in other ways. Africa needs to be bolder in mapping its way forward.

Obviously there is a sliding scale for degrees of hiccups; while some like Mauritius are prosperous, some like Angola are moving towards prosperity and some like Somalia linger in failed paralysis. Since there is no defined metric for degree of failure required for success or a defined timeline to attain success, countries should try to get out of the hiccup period before hitting rock bottom, that is before they become like Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe which have been repeatedly featured on the top ten failed states list published by Foreign Policy Magazine. Yet realistically, considering their political volatility and poor institutional foundation and memory in some countries, the process will likely take a long time, innumerable resources, and many more failures before seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. If indeed the premise that “failure is necessary for success” applies to all situations, African countries can be successful post their hiccup period if the appropriate steps are taken. Therefore, African countries must have a clear vision of the future and be guided by good leadership that can apply the painful lessons learned from the failures.

Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa, Esq, runs Hoja Law Group, a boutique New York law firm that uses the law to bridge the African development gap through advising on deals that create wealth for Africa. HLG advises foreign investors investing in and expanding into Africa and African governments and companies contracting with American, European and Indian companies. She is a frequent speaker and writer on African affairs.