For a nation to rise, its people must do the work. The Democratic Republic of Congo needs to rise, and it will, but the rise won’t happen thanks to foreign aid, direct foreign investment, or other globalist initiatives. It’ll rise thanks to the Congolese people’s ability to get the job done. The rise of Congo is directly linked to the rise of Africa as a great power.
As a kid, I remember telling my parents and siblings that when I grow up, I’ll build the Kingdom of Blandache. The Kingdom would be a place full of prosperity, where people would live great lives, discuss great ideas, access great technologies and become the pillar of modern civilization. It was a random vision, one that initially sounded like a childhood fantasy. Until the day I realized that the vision could be a reality if I helped make the Democratic Republic of Congo, Blandache. Now, I am not talking about the name; we don’t need another name change- though if I could, I’d advocate removing the DR and just keeping Congo, but that’s for another day.
Today, I’d like to share my plans to make the dream a reality — a reality not just for me but for the African continent as a whole. There is no point in keeping it a secret since it will require every congolese people across the world to play their part.
Politicians won’t build Africa; entrepreneurs will. In Africa, we expect too much from the government. It’s true that the government needs to create the right environment to expedite job creation, aka entrepreneurship, but to expect the government to create jobs is very naive. That has never been the government’s mandate, and the ones that did it led their country to the ground. Why? Because the government doesn’t create value and, therefore, doesn’t make profits, its main source of income is taxes.
Politicians won’t build Africa; entrepreneurs will.
In a poor country, governments receive even fewer taxes, which is not enough to even create administrative jobs within the government. What we need are entrepreneurs. Not the social media entrepreneurs who want notoriety without putting in the years and efforts to become masters in their field; that class of entrepreneurs want to be famous; they do it because it’s sexy- we don’t need more of them. We need the lunatics class, the entrepreneurs crazy enough to tackle big problems, fail big, win big and most importantly, become tycoons.
Africa as a whole needs more African tycoons, people with enough wealth who are willing to bet on Africa. Congolese people need Congolese tycoons to invest in Congo. Foreign investors aren’t in Africa for Africans. Their risk assessment and high interests are great for their shareholders but not good for Africans. The first step to power the rise of Africa is to create more African tycoons.
According to Forbes Africa, the 20 billionaires on the 2024 Forbes list of Africa’s Richest are worth a combined $82.4 billion. Twenty billionaires are simply not enough. Especially that among these billionaires, many won’t be applying the Dangote playbook but instead live lavish lifestyles that won’t serve the continent. None of these billionaires are Congolese, by the way.
What is the Dangote playbook?
Believe in your country’s potential and bet big on it to make your people life better. Plain and simple.
Foreigners won’t do it, they have other priorities.
I’ll focus this article on the DRC in particular, but I invite other Africans and even South Americans to replace the word Congo with their country; the playbook can be applied in many places. The following playbook is the one I am already applying myself to save my country. It requires more than one person to get it done, and I truly hope that more young African people will create a similar game plan to save their nations. Africa needs the DRC to rise, but all other African nations must do the same.
Part I
But First, An Intervention
We need Congolese people with a lot of resources and a love for the country to bet big on it and make life better for the 90 million + Congolese citizens.
But how do we create tycoons? Well, tycoons are often successful entrepreneurs who make it big.
Okay, so where do these entrepreneurs come from? Well, from their families; after all, it took two people to get together and birth these would-be tycoons. We’re getting somewhere.
Since no one is born a tycoon, we need to foster a culture of high achievers to increase the number of ambitious lunatics who will shoot for the stars. Some of them will fail miserably, but the ones who will succeed will bring us one step closer to this goal.
We need to foster a culture of high achievers to increase the number of ambitious lunatics who will shoot for the stars.
To foster a culture of high achievers, we need to all push for Congolese excellence in everything we do. Right now, we are known for our music and for the way we dress. We’re also known for our natural resources, but that has led to more troubles than anything else. We really need to change the culture and push for excellency in everything we do.
To foster a culture of high achievers, we need to all push for Congolese excellence in everything we do.
This is the most crucial step of this plan and one that every single Congolese person, at home or abroad, can participate in. Congolese excellence in everything we do will be the most impactful cultural intervention of our times. I guarantee you that it will trickle down everywhere, including the government. We must hate mediocrity and laziness; love hard work and excellence. I repeat we must hate mediocrity and laziness; love hard work and excellence.
We must hate mediocrity and laziness, love hard work and excellence.
I don’t know how I can explain this besides saying that we must hate mediocrity. Our current cultural climate is full of mediocrity, and the ripple effects are felt everywhere; it has to stop. Congolese people must be known, at home and abroad, as ambitious, hard-working people. Why? Across the world, we need more Congolese people in high positions at every level of society. Currently, we do well in music and are invisible anywhere else. The few Congolese who are about to make it big in sports and business are the exception, not the norm. The country will only rise once Congolese excellence becomes the norm.
Across the world, we need more Congolese people in high positions at every level of society.
I’d like to add that the showoff culture that has been the norm since the Zaire era has been more detrimental to our nation than colonialism because it made us heartless. We’re so busy trying to signal our tiny wealth that we’re willing to watch our own people starve to death. As long as our family have food on the table, right? Let’s do better.
That culture of excellence will also create a strong sense of national unity, something that we desperately need right now. The rise will be hard to make without this cultural shift, one that I hope to greatly influence by leading by example.
The two things we need to turn the DRC into an economic powerhouse within the next 20 years are tycoons and stable (business) laws.
Tycoons
Become one yourself (or die trying). I’m working to become just that. I repeat, Congolese money has to build Congo. Foreign investments aren’t in it for the local population, and aid money is funding the lifestyle of corrupts politicians. We need Congolese entrepreneurs to step up and build the nations. I am dedicating my entire life to this cause. Not to be a rich billionaire on a yacht but to invest my entire wealth in the Congo and change the faith of the nation. I’m close to making step 1 a reality; I hope that there are more of us on this mission.
Stable Laws
I’ll be honest: I hate most politicians. The political circus the nation has been dealing with for decades is nothing but an embarrassment for us. As I said earlier in this piece, the government’s role is not to create jobs, but it needs to create the right environment to speed up job creation. The environment is created through policies, and what we need are stable policies that incentivize long term investments. This is important. To make long-term plans, we must have stable laws so we can focus on things we can control (finding resources) instead of being worried that a crazy idiot can wipe out all of our investments just because he or she feels like it. This is true for the Congo and throughout Africa. Funny enough, foreign investments would greatly increase if, regardless of who is in charge, the policies would stay consistent enough for the builders to focus on building.
Foreign investments would greatly increase if…the policies would stay consistent enough for the builders to focus on building.
Part II
This is exactly what I will do the moment I become a tycoon myself.
Get Inga Done
Someone has to build the Grand Inga Dam. It’s a project that has been stalled for decades because the government doesn’t have the expertise to build it or even raise funds for it. It’s not a project that should be done by foreign investors either because the bulk of the energy generated will not benefit the Congolese people.
The (under)estimated cost of $80 billion budget isn’t crazy if the project can be run like a private enterprise.
This is a critical project that could offer residential electricity for free in the country and light up several other African countries. I’m gonna get the job done. The (under)estimated cost of $80 billion isn’t crazy if the project can be run like a private enterprise.
So, really, the first step to making it happen would be to convince the Congolese government to privatize Inga, enabling me to raise the capital necessary to do the following:
- Upgrade the current dams (Inga I and II) to make them run at full capacity (they’re currently running at 30%). The extra revenue generated from the upgrade will help fund the construction of Inga III.
- Start building Inga III while upgrading the national grid infrastructure across the nation. Industrial electricity use, especially in the mining sector, will pay their share of the bill.
- Use Inga 3 to start lighting up the nation first before selling the excess electricity to other nations. This is a matter of principle, and natural resources must benefit the location population first. A success story at home will speed up the development of the remaining five dams and light up Africa.
The reason why it has to be privatized is simply to have access to financial instruments that governments just don’t have access to, especially governments in “corrupt” jurisdictions per Western standards. So yes, my first venture in the DRC will be in the energy sector, with the single mandate of building the Grand Dam of Inga and making electricity free.
To get the job done, we need a crazy lunatic willing to bet a significant amount of capital to bring this vision to life. We can’t be waiting for the World Bank or any other organization to have enough pity for Africans and make promises, then change their mind when they feel like it.
Give me Inga, and I’ll get it done.
Make Public Fund Public
The only way to solve corruption in Africa is to make public funds public. There are technologies for it, like the blockchain, which I intend to leverage. Essentially, builds a blockchain-powered technology that governments can deploy at the national, provincial and municipal level that essentially stores the funds and disburses them upon activation of hard coded smart contracts (publicly available to all). This is the technology that will fight corruption in the DRC, in Africa and across the world.
Such a technology would make public funds public because all taxes raised by the government would land in the digital public national vault. And all government expenses, including payroll, would also be linked to the vault so the money gets disbursed to the right person at the right time.
Essentially, it is a way to automate public fund management and increase transparency available for everybody. Public servants’ salaries are already public, and such a technology assures that everybody gets paid on time.
The technology can even be designed so that suppliers are paid properly, especially for public infrastructure projects. The technology would either have to work with banks to ensure that the money lands at the right place or would have to replace banks as everybody would run on the national blockchain. Yes, the solution is crypto, but this is not about launching Bitcoin or another alt-coin; this is about fighting corruption and until proven otherwise, the blockchain can get it done, and I will make it happen.
Clean & Connect Africa
Making funds public will have one main benefit: properly fund infrastructure projects. Starting with roads, I want to see a country where Congolese people can move around freely without issues. To make it happen, we need roads that connect the entire country. I don’t trust the government’s ability to get it done, so a private company partly funded with taxpayers’ money should get the job done.
Now, just building roads does not generate money. I need to start a company with the mandate to clean our cities and build roads. The company will leverage state-of-the-art waste management and recycling technology to turn the wasted plastic into industrial goods across Africa and thus kickstart the recycling industry in the DRC. A company that can clean our cities to make money and get government funding to build roads is poised to create jobs across the country and facilitate trade with other countries. Once successful within the DRC, the expansion will be continental, helping clean and connect Africa while pushing a recycling culture across the continent.
This is a key project because we need to connect the DRC to the trans-African highway; it is crucial. Many African countries are making massive infrastructure investments to facilitate trade within the continent, which will boost everybody’s economy. Congo has a major role in it, and this company will be a key player in making it happen- I will get it done.
The three companies listed above are all multi-billion dollar companies with positive ripple effects affecting millions of Africans across the continent. I didn’t talk about the industrial agriculture sector and the tourism sector, which are two other key pillars to turning the DRC and the African continent into an economic powerhouse. I hope that other future tycoons can help make it a reality.
I’m already going into the mining sector; that’s where I’m going to make my first billion. Building the mining sector in 3 main economies has never been done before, a challenge that Rosa Ventures is taking on and will succeed. Across the Rosa triangle (Canada, Brazil and Congo), we have access to a lot of natural resources that could be the bedrock of its nation’s economy, but also all kinds of problems preventing the sector from thriving.
Our philosophy at Rosa is that natural resources should benefit the local population and have to be good for the environment, so we aim to bring prosperity to every jurisdiction we operate in. Prosperity in the DRC means more revenues for the government (now you understand why I want the funds to be public; I’m literally planning to bring in billions) and more prosperity for the local population via jobs, electricity, clean water, sanitary infrastructure and education. This work is ongoing; it’s a lot of work, and we’re on track.
The tourist zone
The east side of the country and its neighbouring country needs an economy of its own. Rwanda needs to fund its growth, and they are currently doing it by sacrificing Congolese blood. The entire Kivu area is beautiful and should be set up to generate billions in tourism revenue. Tourism would also make it a safe zone for Congolese, Rwandese, guardians and Burudians while generating billions in development capital.
Without a proper economy in that region, mining will forever be the only way for these countries to fund their development, and the DRC will not rest. Making tourism the number one source of revenue for the zone will bring peace, prosperity and growth to the region- a win for all.
There are several parts of the nation that could benefit from a tourism economy; for the sake of this article, I won’t dive in deeper because I expect that you, the reader, think of ways to get involved and roll up your sleeves to join the mission. Congo is not just my country; it’s for all of us, so we need to work together.
The three initiatives listed above are all ventures that I intend to found, fund and lead. We need more. Congo needs more, Africa needs more. What about the politicians, you may ask? If we all work together to push a culture of excellence, the political class cleanup will happen automatically. We need a cleanup; we’re tired of seeing the same names and faces holding big titles and doing nothing. I’m tired. You’re tired, the world is tired.
If we all work together to push a culture of excellence, the political class cleanup will happen automatically.
The DRC has to succeed for Africa to truly rise. Aliko Dangote is doing his job in Nigeria; despite the challenges he’s currently facing, his refinery will change the Nigerian economy and, ultimately, the African economy. We need a Dangote in every country, African entrepreneurs who want to see the continent rise.
I envision a world where every Congolese can drive from east to west, north to south without issues. I envision a world where every Congolese family have access to electricity. I envision where economic development within and outside our borders is the norm. I envision a world where access to clean drinking water becomes the norm, not the exception. A world where Congolese people want to stay in Congo, work in Congo, study in Congo, build families in Congo, and move up the social ladder without having to become politicians or pastors (I said it!).
The Congolese Miracle is not a dream.
Africa will not become a powerhouse as long as Congo is on its knees; we (the Congolese people) have a strong role in assuring that Africa is a thriving continent. The Congolese Miracle is not a dream; it’s something that can happen, and will happen. It will require more crazy men and women to drive it and put it into action. I’m okay being one of the crazy men; it’s a burden I must live with and will devote my entire life to until we make it.
I write about my experiences, entrepreneurship and stoicism on medium, and tweet at @NedNadima.
