I recently saw two videos reproduced here and they provoked the thought stated above in the title of this post.
The first video advertised a carbon for water program consisting in sending to Africa a lot of water filters. The second was about solar-powered internet schools manufactured by Samsung and placed on the African soil.
And then I remembered this young engineer, whose name is Tsengue Tsengue, student of the Ecole Centrale de Paris, who came back in his native country, namely the Congo, to patent several of his invention and install a factory which hired numerous young unemployed.
What should be the best: bringing materials and devices already packaged to Africa or bringing well-educated African engineers to Africa? Neither of the two propositions aren’t good in my view. Instead, the best would be to form directly engineers in Africa with exchange of students between Africa and other countries. Indeed I think that it serves better the African’s interests to develop enterprises leaded by African entrepreneurs than to carry toward Africa devices and goods already manufactured abroad. That’s why the OAPI (African Intellectual Property Organization) must be strongly supported. Patented African innovations would be the only pathway to reduce the unemployment of the youth and to enhance the proud of African nations.
