I experienced my first coup d'état at the age of four. Because of the coup d'état, my family had to leave my native home of Ghana and move to the Gambia. As luck would have it, six months after we arrived, they too had a military coup. I vividly remember being woken up in the middle of the night and gathering the few belongings we could and walking for about two hours to a safe house. For a week, we slept under our beds because we were worried that bullets might fly through the window.
Doživio sam svoj prvi državni udar s četiri godine. Zbog državnog udara moja obitelj morala je napustiti rodni kraj, Ganu i preseliti se u Gambiju. Sreća je htjela da, šest mjeseci nakon našeg dolaska, i kod njih se dogodio vojni udar. Živo se sjećam buđenja usred noći, sakupljanja imovine koliko smo mogli i hodanja otprilike dva sata do sigurne kuće. Tjedan dana smo spavali pod krevetima jer smo bili zabrinuti da će meci letjeti kroz prozore.
Then, at the age of eight, we moved to Botswana. This time, it was different. There were no coups. Everything worked. Great education. They had such good infrastructure that even at the time they had a fiber-optic telephone system, long before it had reached Western countries.
U dobi od osam godina, preselili smo u Bocvanu. Ovaj put, bilo je drugačije. Nije bilo državnih udara. Sve je funkcioniralo. Odlično obrazovanje. Imali su toliko dobru infrastrukturu da su čak i tada imali telefonski sustav putem optičkih vlakana davno ranije nego što je takav sustav stigao do država Zapada.
The only thing they didn't have is that they didn't have their own national television station, and so I remember watching TV from neighboring South Africa, and watching Nelson Mandela in jail being offered a chance to come out if he would give up the apartheid struggle. But he didn't. He refused to do that until he actually achieved his objective of freeing South Africa from apartheid. And I remember feeling how just one good leader could make such a big difference in Africa.
Jedino što nisu imali bila je njihova vlastita nacionalna televizija, stoga se sjećam kako sam gledao televiziju susjedne Južne Afrike i vidio Nelsona Mandelu u zatvoru kojemu su nudili šansu za izlazak ako bi odustao od borbe protiv apartheida. Odbio je to učiniti sve dok nije dostigao svoj cilj oslobađanja Južne Afrike od apartheida. Sjećam se osjećaja da samo jedan dobar vođa može napraviti toliku razliku u Africi.
Then at the age of 12, my family sent me to high school in Zimbabwe. Initially, this too was amazing: growing economy, excellent infrastructure, and it seemed like it was a model for economic development in Africa. I graduated from high school in Zimbabwe and I went off to college.
U dobi od 12 godina, obitelj me poslala u srednju školu u Zimbabve. U početku, tamo je također bilo odlično. Rastuća ekonomija, odlična infrastruktura, činilo se kao model za ekonomski razvoj u Africi. Maturirao sam srednju školu u Zimbabveu i otišao na fakultet.
Six years later, I returned to the country. Everything was different. It had shattered into pieces. Millions of people had emigrated, the economy was in a shambles, and it seemed all of a sudden that 30 years of development had been wiped out. How could a country go so bad so fast? Most people would agree that it's all because of leadership. One man, President Robert Mugabe, is almost single-handedly responsible for having destroyed this country.
Šest godina kasnije, vratio sam se. Sve se promijenilo. Država je bila razbijena na komadiće. Milijuni su iselili, ekonomija je bila masakrirana, i činilo se da je 30 godina razvoja bez traga izbrisano. Kako država može toliko brzo krenuti niz brdo? Većina ljudi bi se složila da je sve zbog vodstva. Jedan čovjek, predsjednik Robert Mugabe, je gotovo isključivo zaslužan za uništenje ove države.
Now, all these experiences of living in different parts of Africa growing up did two things to me. The first is it made me fall in love with Africa. Everywhere I went, I experienced the wonderful beauty of our continent and saw the resilience and the spirit of our people, and at the time, I realized that I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to making this continent great. But I also realized that making Africa great would require addressing this issue of leadership. You see, all these countries I lived in, the coups d'état and the corruption I'd seen in Ghana and Gambia and in Zimbabwe, contrasted with the wonderful examples I had seen in Botswana and in South Africa of good leadership. It made me realize that Africa would rise or fall because of the quality of our leaders.
Sva ova iskustva života u različitim dijelovima Afrike prilikom odrastanja su mi učinila dvije stvari. Prvo, zaljubio sam se u Afriku. Gdje god sam išao, doživio sam neizmjernu ljepotu našeg kontinenta i vidio otpornost i duh naših ljudi. Shvatio sam da želim posvetiti ostatak života čineći ovaj kontinent velikim. Shvatio sam i da ta tranzicija zahtjeva isticanje problema vodstva. Sve te države u kojima sam živio, državni udari i korupcija koju sam vidio u Gani, Gambiji i Zimbabveu, bili su u kontrastu s predivnim primjerima dobrog vodstva u Bocvani i Južnoj Africi. Shvatio sam da će se Afrika uzdići ili pasti zbog kvalitete naših vođa.
Now, one might think, of course, leadership matters everywhere. But if there's one thing you take away from my talk today, it is this: In Africa, more than anywhere else in the world, the difference that just one good leader can make is much greater than anywhere else, and here's why. It's because in Africa, we have weak institutions, like the judiciary, the constitution, civil society and so forth. So here's a general rule of thumb that I believe in: When societies have strong institutions, the difference that one good leader can make is limited, but when you have weak institutions, then just one good leader can make or break that country.
Netko bi, naravno, mogao pomisliti kako je vodstvo važno svugdje. Ako ćete išta zapamtiti iz mojeg današnjeg govora, zapamtite ovo: U Africi, više nego bilo gdje u svijetu, razlika koju dobar vođa može napraviti je puno veća nego bilo gdje drugdje. To je zato što u Africi imamo slabe institucije, kao što su pravosuđe, ustav, civilno društvo i tako dalje. Generalno pravilo u koje vjerujem je: Kada društva imaju snažne institucije, razlika koju jedan vođa može napraviti je ograničena, a kada su institucije slabe, tada samo jedan dobar vođa može izgraditi ili slomiti tu državu.
Let me make it a bit more concrete. You become the president of the United States. You think, "Wow, I've arrived. I'm the most powerful man in the world." So you decide, perhaps let me pass a law. All of a sudden, Congress taps you on the shoulder and says, "No, no, no, no, no, you can't do that." You say, "Let me try this way." The Senate comes and says, "Uh-uh, we don't think you can do that." You say, perhaps, "Let me print some money. I think the economy needs a stimulus." The central bank governor will think you're crazy. You might get impeached for that. But if you become the president of Zimbabwe, and you say, "You know, I really like this job. I think I'd like to stay in it forever." (Laughter) Well, you just can. You decide you want to print money. You call the central bank governor and you say, "Please double the money supply." He'll say, "Okay, yes, sir, is there anything else I can do for you?" This is the power that African leaders have, and this is why they make the most difference on the continent.
Dozvolite mi da budem precizniji. Postanete predsjednik SAD-a. Razmišljate, "Uh, Uspio sam. Ja sam najmoćniji čovjek na svijetu." Pa odlučite da biste mogli predložiti zakon. Odjednom, Kongres vas dotakne i kaže, "Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne možeš to napraviti." Kažete, "Hajde da probam ovako." Senat dolazi i kaže "A-a, mislimo da ne možete to napraviti." Kažete, možda, "Dopustite mi da tiskam nešto novaca, mislim da ekonomija treba poticaj." Guverner banke će misliti da niste normalni. Možete biti opozvani za to. No, ako postanete predsjednik Zimbabvea, i kažete, "Stvarno mi se sviđa ovaj posao. Mislim da bih htio ovo raditi zauvijek." Jednostavno možete. Odlučite tiskati još novca. Nazovete guvernera banke i kažete, "Molim da udvostručite dotok novca." Reći će, "Da, gospodine. Postoji li još nešto što mogu učiniti za vas?" To je moć koju imaju Afrički vođe, i to je razlog zašto rade najveći utjecaj na kontinentu.
The good news is that the quality of leadership in Africa has been improving. We've had three generations of leaders, in my mind. Generation one are those who appeared in the '50s and '60s. These are people like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. The legacy they left is that they brought independence to Africa. They freed us from colonialism, and let's give them credit for that. They were followed by generation two. These are people that brought nothing but havoc to Africa. Think warfare, corruption, human rights abuses. This is the stereotype of the typical African leader that we typically think of: Mobutu Sese Seko from Zaire, Sani Abacha from Nigeria. The good news is that most of these leaders have moved on, and they were replaced by generation three. These are people like the late Nelson Mandela and most of the leaders that we see in Africa today, like Paul Kagame and so forth. Now these leaders are by no means perfect, but the one thing they have done is that they have cleaned up much of the mess of generation two. They've stopped the fighting, and I call them the stabilizer generation. They're much more accountable to their people, they've improved macroeconomic policies, and we are seeing for the first time Africa's growing, and in fact it's the second fastest growing economic region in the world. So these leaders are by no means perfect, but they are by and large the best leaders we've seen in the last 50 years.
Dobra vijest je ta da se kvaliteta vodstva u Africi popravlja. Imali smo tri generacije vođa. Prva generacija su oni koji su se pojavili u '50-ima i '60-ima. To su ljudi poput Kwamea Nkrumaha iz Gane i Juliusa Nyererea iz Tanzanije. Njihovo nasljedstvo je neovisnost Afrike. Oslobodili su nas kolonijalizma i dajmo im zaslugu za to. Naslijedila ih je druga generacija. To su ljudi koji nisu donijeli ništa Africi osim kaosa. Rat, korupcija, povrede ljudskih prava. To je stereotip tipičnog afričkog vođe kakvog se inače sjetimo: Mobutu Sese Seko iz Zairea, Sani Abacha iz Nigerije. Dobra vijest je da je većina tih vođa napustila te države, i zamijenjeni su trećom generacijom. To su ljudi poput pokojnog Nelsona Mandele i većine vođa koji su danas u Africi poput Paula Kagamea i tako dalje. Ovi vođe nisu ni u kojem slučaju savršeni, ali jedna stvar koju su napravili je da su počistili većinu nereda preostalog od druge generacije. Zaustavili su borbe, i ja ih nazivam generacijom stabilizatora. Puno su odgovorniji prema svojim ljudima, unaprijedili su makroekonomsku politiku, i po prvi puta vidimo da Afrika raste i, ustvari, je druga najbrže rastuća ekonomska regija u svijetu. Dakle ovi vođe nisu ni po čemu savršeni, ali su nadaleko najbolji koje smo vidjeli u zadnjih 50 godina.
So where to from here? I believe that the next generation to come after this, generation four, has a unique opportunity to transform the continent. Specifically, they can do two things that previous generations have not done. The first thing they need to do is they need to create prosperity for the continent. Why is prosperity so important? Because none of the previous generations have been able to tackle this issue of poverty. Africa today has the fastest growing population in the world, but also is the poorest. By 2030, Africa will have a larger workforce than China, and by 2050, it will have the largest workforce in the world. One billion people will need jobs in Africa, so if we don't grow our economies fast enough, we're sitting on a ticking time bomb, not just for Africa but for the entire world.
Dakle, kuda dalje? Vjerujem da sljedeća generacija koja dolazi, četvrta generacija, ima jedinstvenu priliku transformirati kontinent. Točnije, mogu učiniti dvije stvari koja prijašnje generacije nisu učinile. Prvo što moraju je stvoriti prosperitet za kontinent. Zašto je prosperitet toliko važan? Jer nijedna od prijašnjih generacija nije mogla ukrotiti problem siromaštva. Afrika danas ima najbrže rastuću populaciju u svijetu, ali je također i najsiromašnija. Do 2030., Afrika će imati veću radnu snagu od Kine. Do 2050., imat će najveću radnu snagu na svijetu. Milijardu ljudi će trebati posao u Africi, ako naše ekonomije ne izrastu dovoljno brzo, sjedimo na tempiranoj bombi, ne samo za Afriku nego za cijeli svijet.
Let me show you an example of one person who is living up to this legacy of creating prosperity: Laetitia. Laetitia's a young woman from Kenya who at the age of 13 had to drop out of school because her family couldn't afford to pay fees for her. So she started her own business rearing rabbits, which happen to be a delicacy in this part of Kenya that she's from. This business did so well that within a year, she was employing 15 women and was able to generate enough income that she was able to send herself to school, and through these women fund another 65 children to go to school. The profits that she generated, she used that to build a school, and today she educates 400 children in her community. And she's just turned 18. (Applause)
Pokazat ću vam primjer osobe koja živi dosljedno ovom nasljedstvu stvaranja prosperiteta: Laetitia. Laetitia je mlada Kenijka koja je odustala od škole s 13 godina jer njena obitelj nije mogla plaćati njeno školovanje. Započela je svoj posao uzgoja kunića, koji su delikatesa u tom dijelu Kenije odakle dolazi. Taj posao je tako dobro rastao, da je nakon godinu dana zapošljavala još 15 žena i generirala dovoljno prihoda da je mogla završiti školu, i kroz te ostale žene financirati školovanje još 65 djece. Profite koje je generirala, je iskoristila da izgradi školu, i danas podučava 400 djece u zajednici. Nedavno je tek navršila 18. (Pljesak)
Another example is Erick Rajaonary. Erick comes from the island of Madagascar. Now, Erick realized that agriculture would be the key to creating jobs in the rural areas of Madagascar, but he also realized that fertilizer was a very expensive input for most farmers in Madagascar. Madagascar has these very special bats that produce these droppings that are very high in nutrients. In 2006, Erick quit his job as a chartered accountant and started a company to manufacture fertilizer from the bat droppings. Today, Erick has built a business that generates several million dollars of revenue, and he employs 70 people full time and another 800 people during the season when the bats drop their droppings the most. Now, what I like about this story is that it shows that opportunities to create prosperity can be found almost anywhere. Erick is known as the Batman. (Laughter) And who would have thought that you would have been able to build a multimillion-dollar business employing so many people just from bat poo? The second thing that this generation needs to do is to create our institutions. They need to build these institutions such that we are never held to ransom again by a few individuals like Robert Mugabe.
Drugi primjer je Erick Rajaonary. Erick dolazi s otoka Madagaskara. Erick je shvatio da je poljoprivreda ključ u kreiranju poslova u ruralnim područjima Madagaskara, no također je shvatio da je gnojivo vrlo skupo za većinu farmera na Madagaskaru. Madagaskar ima posebne šišmiše koji stvaraju izmet s vrlo visokim udjelom hranjivih tvari. 2006., Erick je odustao od posla ovlaštenog računovođe i započeo vlastitu tvrtku za proizvodnju gnojiva iz izmeta šišmiša. Danas, Erick je izgradio posao koji generira nekoliko milijuna dolara prihoda, zapošljava 70 ljudi trajno, i još 800 ljudi tijekom sezone kada šišmiši najviše izbacuju izmet. Ono što mi se sviđa kod ove priče je što pokazuje da se prilike za napredak nalaze gotovo bilo gdje. Erick je poznat kao Batman (čovjek šišmiš) (Smijeh) I tko bi pomislio da će biti moguće izgraditi multimilijunski posao koji zapošljava toliko ljudi, samo iz šišmiševe kakice? Druga stvar koju ova generacija treba učiniti je stvoriti institucije. Trebaju stvoriti institucije takve da nas više nikad ne mogu ucjenjivati individualci poput Roberta Mugabea.
Now, all of this sounds great, but where are we going to get this generation four from? Do we just sit and hope that they emerge by chance, or that God gives them to us? No, I don't think so. It's too important an issue for us to leave it to chance. I believe that we need to create African institutions, home-grown, that will identify and develop these leaders in a systematic, practical way. We've been doing this for the last 10 years through the African Leadership Academy. Laetitia is one of our young leaders. Today, we have 700 of them that are being groomed for the African continent, and over the next 50 years, we expect to create 6,000 of them.
Sve ovo zvuči odlično, no gdje ćemo naći 4. generaciju? Da samo sjedimo i nadamo se da će iskrsnuti slučajno ili da će nam ih Bog podariti? Ne, mislim da ne. Previše nam je važan problem da bismo to ostavili slučajnosti. Vjerujem da trebamo stvoriti Afričke institucije, domaće proizvodnje, koje će identificirati i razviti te vođe na sistematičan i praktičan način. To radimo zadnjih 10 godina kroz Afričku akademiju vodstva. Laetitia je jedna od naših mladih vođa. Danas imamo njih 700 koje pripremamo za afrički kontinent, te kroz narednih 50 godina, očekujemo stvoriti njih 6,000.
But one thing has been troubling me. We would get about 4,000 applications a year for 100 young leaders that we could take into this academy, and so I saw the tremendous hunger that existed for this leadership training that we're offering. But we couldn't satisfy it. So today, I'm announcing for the first time in public an extension to this vision for the African Leadership Academy. We're building 25 brand new universities in Africa that are going to cultivate this next generation of African leaders. Each campus will have 10,000 leaders at a time so we'll be educating and developing 250,000 leaders at any given time. (Applause)
No, jedna stvar me mučila. Primamo oko 4,000 prijava godišnje za 100 mladih vođa koje možemo primiti u ovu akademiju, pa sam uvidio neizmjernu glad koja postoji za ovaj trening vodstva koji nudimo, ali ju nismo mogli utažiti. Stoga danas, najavljujem prvi puta javno produžetak vizije za Afričku akademiju vodstva. Gradimo 25 novih sveučilišta u Africi koja će odgojiti sljedeću generaciju afričkih vođa. Svaki kampus će imati 10,000 vođa istovremeno što znači da ćemo educirati i razvijati 250.000 vođa u svakom trenutku. (Pljesak)
Over the next 50 years, this institution will create three million transformative leaders for the continent.
Kroz sljedećih 50 godina, ova institucija će napraviti 3 milijuna svestranih vođa za cijeli kontinent.
My hope is that half of them will become the entrepreneurs that we need, who will create these jobs that we need, and the other half will go into government and the nonprofit sector, and they will build the institutions that we need. But they won't just learn academics. They will also learn how to become leaders, and they will develop their skills as entrepreneurs. So think of this as Africa's Ivy League, but instead of getting admitted because of your SAT scores or because of how much money you have or which family you come from, the main criteria for getting into this university will be what is the potential that you have for transforming Africa?
Nadam se da će pola njih postati poduzetnici kakve trebamo, koji će proizvesti poslove koje trebamo, a druga polovica da će ići u vladu i politiku, te neprofitni sektor, i da će izgraditi institucije kakve trebamo. No, neće učiti samo školske predmete. Učiti će također i kako postati vođa i razvit će svoje vještine kao poduzetnici. Razmišljajte o ovome kao o afričkoj varijanti najboljih američih sveučilišta, no umjesto da ste primljeni zbog rezultata mature ili zbog toga koliko novaca imate ili iz koje obitelji dolazite, glavni kriterij za upis na ovo sveučilište će biti potencijal koji imate za transformaciju Afrike.
But what we're doing is just one group of institutions. We cannot transform Africa by ourselves. My hope is that many, many other home-grown African institutions will blossom, and these institutions will all come together with a common vision of developing this next generation of African leaders, generation four, and they will teach them this common message: create jobs, build our institutions.
No, ono što radimo je samo jedna grupa institucija. Ne možemo transformirati Afriku samostalno. Nadam se da će mnoge, mnoge druge domaće afričke institucije procvjetati, i da će se te institucije ujediniti sa zajedničkom vizijom razvoja sljedeće generacije afričkih vođa, četvrte generacije, i da će ih naučiti zajedničku poruku: stvarajte poslove, gradite naše institucije.
Nelson Mandela once said, "Every now and then, a generation is called upon to be great. You can be that great generation." I believe that if we carefully identify and cultivate the next generation of African leaders, then this generation four that is coming up will be the greatest generation that Africa and indeed the entire world has ever seen.
Nelson Mandela je jednom rekao, "S vremena na vrijeme, generacija je pozvana da postane sjajna. Vi možete biti ta sjajna generacija." Vjerujem da ako pažljivo identificiramo i odgojimo sljedeću generaciju afričkih vođa, tada će ova, 4. generacija, koja dolazi, biti najveća generacija koju su Afrika i cijeli svijet ikada vidjeli.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)