The Thing about Integrations <warning nerd-alert>
Integrations are an interesting thing. We are all born and told to integrate into the world around us based on pre-defined standards/expectations — Go to primary school, go to secondary school/high school, go to university/college, get a job, save, get a pension, get a car, get married (and have a few girlfriends on the side), have kids, raise kids, buy a house, have grandkids (and great-grandkids), prepare your will, get sick and die.
Don’t ask questions. Just integrate.
This would have been all fine and dandy if the integration settings were the same — for all of humanity. Unfortunately, its not. The truth is the African masses are being required to integrate into poverty as the default setting and told to work, save and pray their way out of it by African and Global elites — and their consultants. For the past 2 decades (much to the bewilderment and bemusement of the those around me), I have searched far and wide in my quest to locate the right integration specifications for humanity. It turns out, the elite already know what to do and will pay or maim anyone who tries to change the way things work.
Don’t ask questions. Don’t change the specification document. Just integrate!
And the world has integrated alright. We have integrated into consumerism, climate change, wars, conflicts, supersonic missiles, racism, police brutality, environmental degradation, zombie unicorns, cancers, air pollution, land appropriation from the poor in the Global South, flooding, hunger, forced economic migrations, student debt crisis in the US, wildfires and much more. But they say don’t ask questions. Don’t change the specification document. Don’t make bespoke requests. Just integrate!
For now, a little history about this recovering hypomanic — I am a Lagosian (a person born in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria), and my earliest recollection of visits outside the city of Lagos was during my paramilitary secondary school years, where I made the tummy-turning journey to Abeokuta (I hated secondary school). I was part of the highly regarded Foxtrot division. We were renowned for our synchronised marching skills and at a time, we got rewarded for our delightful marching with a trip to the Ibadan Zoo. These were my only trips outside of Lagos that I can recall as a child and a teenager.
My next trip outside of Lagos was to the North of the country during my National Service year (a mandatory integration specification in these parts before you are allowed to work) — Gombe precisely — a very beautiful place with clouds touching the tips of green hills!.
I looked forward to that 10 hour road-trip with so much excitement. Finally, I was going to see Nigeria — The Giant Of Africa in all its glory!
Boy was I disappointed!
There was so much underdevelopment outside of Lagos…where were the cities that this supposed Giant Of Africa was supposed to be standing on? Where were the rich and educated masses that were lifting this giant up? My outlook on life as well as its course changed after my National Youth Service. Seeds of discontent had been sown. They lied to us. Our leaders lied to us… and they still do so to this day.
As someone who was not well travelled, I somehow felt this underdevelopment was solely a Nigerian problem, until I saw the poor and homeless in the bitter cold of Nairobi…and read about the sufferings of Africans in countries all over the continent during my research into financial services for the poor. Why was this so? What caused it? In the past couple of months since my last post, I have journeyed through the world of international development, venture capital and impact investing and only one thought comes to mind…my oh my…
Africa is in a fine mess!
How did we get here? Donors keep pumping millions and millions of dollars into white elephant projects through consultancies who have no interests in the progress of the continent or its people; VCs keep throwing and loosing money at entrepreneurs that have no sustainable business models as they try to replicate business models in the Global North. Everyone is getting paid in this model of integration. Everyone except the poor. The poor of Africa, who are mostly smallholder farmers who are left to wallow and eke out a living, all while being told they can save, pay micro-insurance or farm themselves out of poverty. The hypocrisy stinks and I am having none of it!
I will ask questions. I will make bespoke requests. I will not integrate. The Force is with us and we will proceed boldly towards utopia.
I will end this post with some wise words from the last lines of the first Matrix film.
“I’m gonna show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders and boundaries…a world where anything is possible. Where you go from here is a choice I leave you”
P.S. It looks like 2021 is ending on a good note as we are finally making good progress with the startup (we just signed the NDA towards implementing a proof-of-concept with our first African Bank) — it is sure to be a interesting couple of months ahead…and yes, we hope to execute on our vision while integrating on our own terms.
