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.
我四歲大的時候時就遭遇到 人生第一場軍事政變, 因為軍事政變我們全家 必須離開在迦納的家園, 搬去了甘比亞; 碰巧在我們抵達後的六個月, 他們也發生了軍事政變, 我清楚地記得在大半夜裡被叫醒來, 而且盡我們一切努力打包了稀少的行李, 大概走了兩小時抵達一間安全的房子, 有一整個星期我們是睡在床底下的, 因為我們很怕子彈有可能會 從窗戶外飛進來。 後來在八歲大時我們搬去波扎納,
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.
這一次就不同了, 那裡並沒有發生政變, 一切運作都正常、很棒的教育建設, 他們有非常好的基礎建設, 在當時他們甚至還有著光纖電信系統, 遠早於光纖出現西方國家以前;
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.
他們唯一所沒有的東西, 就是他們沒有自己國家的電視台, 因此我記得收看到鄰國 南非的電視節目, 看到了曼德拉在監獄中 被人給了一個機會能夠出來, 前提是他要能放棄對種族隔離的抗爭。 不過他沒有放棄、他拒絕了, 待在獄中直到他真的達成目標: 從種族隔離中解放了南非人。 而且我記得感受到 就只是有著一個好領導人, 竟能帶給非洲如此大的改變。
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.
後來我十二歲的時候, 我的家人送我去辛巴威讀高中, 起先這邊也是一樣棒透了的, 不停成長的經濟、優質的基礎建設, 它就像是非洲在經濟發展上的楷模。 我就從辛巴威的高中畢業了, 離開了辛巴威去唸大學;
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.
六年後我重新回到了這個國家, 一切都走樣了, 它被破壞得分崩離析, 已經有數百萬人遷出了, 經濟是一片混亂, 它看起來像是30年的經濟發展 霎時間都被破壞掉了! 一個國家怎麼能這麼快 就變得如此悽慘呢? 大部分人都會認同全都是因為領導風範, 有一個人─ 總統羅伯特‧穆加比, 幾乎得對摧毀這個國家負上全責。
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.
今天生活在非洲各地的成長經驗, 對我學到兩件事情, 第一是它讓我愛上了非洲, 每處我到過的地方, 我都體驗到我們大陸絕妙的美麗, 看到我們人民的適應力以及熱情, 而在那時候我就明白我要投入我的餘生 來使這塊大陸變棒。 不過我也瞭解要讓非洲變棒, 將需要處理領導風範這個議題, 你也都知道我曾經住過的國家, 我在迦納、甘比亞還有辛巴威曾經看過 軍事政變還有貪污; 相較於我在波扎那還有南非看過的 好領導風範之絕佳例子, 讓我明白了非洲將會因為領導人的素質 而躍升或是殞落,
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.
可能有人會說:「那當然! 在任何地方領導風範都是重要的」; 可是如果你有在我今天的 談話裡學到什麼, 那就是非洲更甚於世界上的任何地方, 只是有著一個好領導者 而能做到的改變, 要比在其他任何地方還要了不得, 原因在這裡, 因為在非洲我們有孱弱的體制, 就像司法、憲政、公民社會諸如此類者。 所以我所篤信的經驗法則是 當社會存有堅強的體制時, 好的領導者能做的改變是有限的; 但是當社會有著孱弱的體制時, 就只要有著一個好的領導人, 他就能成就或毀掉那個國家。 讓我來講更具體些吧,
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.
你變成了美國的總統, 你想著:「哇!我做到了! 我是世界上最有權力的人了!」 所以你決定好 「或許讓我來通過一條法律吧!」 突然間國會就拍了一下你的肩膀, 說了:「不行!不行!你不能這樣做!」 你說:「讓我換個方式好了」, 參議院就出現了以及說: 「我們不認為你能這樣做啦!」 你說:「也許讓我來多印些鈔票吧, 我認為經濟需要有一些激勵!」 央行行長會認為你瘋了, 你還可能因為這樣被彈劾。 但是假如你是辛巴威的總統, 你說:「我真的很喜歡這個工作, 我認為我會想要永久一直做下去的。」 (笑聲) 沒錯!你就是可以的! 你決定要印鈔票, 你打個電話給中央銀行的行長, 你說:「請將鈔票的供給量加一倍」, 他就會說:「遵命!長官, 是否還有其他事情是我可以為你做的?」 這就是非洲的領導人們所擁有的權力, 這就是為什麼他們能在這塊大陸 做出最多的改變, 好消息是在非洲領導風範 的素質已經在改善了的,
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.
在我的印象中我們有著 三個世代的領導人, 第一個世代是那些出現在 1950-60年代者, 這些人像是迦納的夸梅·恩克鲁瑪、 坦尚尼亞的朱利葉斯・尼雷爾, 他們遺留的成就是他們把 獨立帶給了非洲, 他們從殖民主義中解放了我們, 讓我們為這個來讚揚他們。 緊接在他們後面是第二個世代, 這些是除了破壞、混亂外 什麼也沒帶給非洲的人, 想看看戰爭、貪污、違反人權等, 這是傳統的非洲領導人的刻板印象, 我們總是想到薩伊的蒙博托·塞塞·塞科、 奈及利亞的薩尼·阿巴查, 好消息是這群領導人大多已經不在位了, 他們被第三個世代的領導人所取代了, 這些人像是近代的尼爾森‧曼德拉、 還有大部分今天我們在非洲 所看到的領導人們, 像是保羅·卡加梅...等等; 這些領導人也稱不上完美, 不過他們所做到的一件事 是他們已經整理好大部分 第二世代造成的亂象, 他們停止了戰爭, 我叫他們「比較穩定世代」, 對人民來說他們可信得多了, 他們已經改善了總體經濟的政策, 而且我們首次看見非洲的經濟成長, 實際上它還是世界上第二快 的經濟成長區域。 所以這些領導人一點也稱不上完美, 不過他們絕大多數是近50年來 我們所知道的最佳領導人。
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.
那麼接下來呢? 我相信接在這個世代後面的世代, 也就是第四代, 有一個轉變這塊大陸的難得機會, 特別是他們能做到前面世代 還沒做到過的兩件事的話。 第一件他們需要做的事, 是他們需要創造富足給這片大陸, 為什麼富足如此重要? 因為先前的世代都沒有人 有辦法處理好貧窮的問題, 今天的非洲有著全世界成長最快人口, 不過也是最窮的國家, 等到2030年時非洲會有 比中國還多的勞動力, 到了2050年它會有 世界上最多的勞動力, 非洲將會有10億人口需要有工作, 所以假如我們不趕緊提升我們的經濟, 我們就是坐在一顆定時炸彈上, 不只是對非洲,對整個世界也一樣。 讓我舉個例子給你看,
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)
有一個人做得就跟打造富足的 成就一樣棒:拉堤莎, 她是來自肯亞的年輕女孩子, 在13歲的時候就輟學了, 因為她們家沒有辦法幫她付學費, 因此她展開了自己的生意-飼養兔子, 在肯亞她所住的那個區塊把這變成佳餚, 這門生意不到一年就發展得很好了, 她雇用了15個女人, 而且能夠積攢足夠的營收, 讓她有能力送自己回去上學, 而且又透過這些員工 資助其他65位的孩子去唸書, 她所積攢的利潤被她拿來蓋學校, 今天她讓她們社區的400個小孩有書讀, 而且她才剛滿18歲而已。 (掌聲)
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.
另一個例子是艾瑞可‧芮喬奈利, 艾瑞可來自馬達加斯加的小島, 艾瑞可明白農業會是在 馬達加斯加的農村地區 創造出工作的關鍵。 可是他也明白對大多數的 馬達加斯加農夫而言 肥料是非常花錢的開銷; 馬達加斯加有非常特別的蝙蝠 會產生非常有養分的糞便, 在2006年艾瑞可辭掉了 執業會計師的工作, 成立了用蝙蝠的糞便製造肥料的公司, 如今艾瑞可已經打造出 能收到好幾百萬美金收入的公司, 而且他全職雇用了70個人, 還有在蝙蝠排泄最多糞便的 季節另外聘用的800人, 我最喜歡這故事的地方, 是它證明了創造富足的機會 幾乎隨處都能發現, 艾瑞可就被當成蝙蝠俠了。 (笑聲...) 有誰曾經想過你能設立 有好幾百萬美金的公司, 只是靠蝙蝠的糞便就雇用了許多人。 這個世代需要做到的第二件事情 是建立我們的體制, 他們一定得建立這些體制, 那我們就永遠不會再受制於 像羅伯特‧穆加比這些少數人了。
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.
這些全部聽起來很棒, 但是我們要到哪裡找到這些第四世代呢? 難道我們就乾坐盼望他們碰巧的出現嗎? 或是上帝會把他們帶來給我們嗎? 錯了,我不這麼認為, 這問題對我們來說重要到 不能放任它偶然發生, 我深信我們必需建立非洲本土的體制, 那將會在一個有系統、務實的方法下 找出以及栽培這些領導人, 我們透過了「非洲領導力學院」 做這些事情已有十年之久, 拉堤莎就是其中一位我們的年輕領導人, 今天我們有700位的年輕領導人, 他們被培訓來給非洲大陸所用, 而接下來的五十年內, 我們預計教出6,000位這樣的人, 不過有件事情一直在困擾著我,
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)
我們一年大概會收到4,000份 入學申請書, 為了申請我們可以收進學院的 100位年輕領導人的名額, 我看到了有非常巨大的需求存在, 就為了參加我們提供的領導人訓練。 但是我們無法滿足這個需求, 所以今天我要公開做出首次的聲明, 非洲領導力學院為了這願景 的擴建計畫, 我們計畫要在非洲建立25間全新的大學, 打算栽培出下個世代的非洲領導人們, 每個校園我們會同時有 10,000名的領導人學生, 這麼一來我們在任何時點都可以 教育、栽培出25萬位的領導人, (掌聲)
Over the next 50 years, this institution will create three million transformative leaders for the continent.
經過接下來的五十年, 我們創造的這個機構可以為非洲大陸 產生300萬位有改造力的領導人。 我的希望是他們中的半數
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?
會成為我們需要的企業家, 創造出我們需要的工作; 而另外那一半會進入政府和非營利部門, 而他們會建立我們所需要有的體制。 而且他們不會只有學唸書, 他們也會學習如何成為領導人、 以及他們會培養出企業家的技能。 所以把這想成是非洲的長春藤聯盟, 不過被錄取卻非是因為你的SAT成績、 你多有錢、或是你的出身, 進入這間大學主要的標準, 是你有什麼樣的潛能來轉變非洲。 但是我們所正在做的只有一小群的體制,
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.
我們無法靠自己轉變非洲, 我的希望是本土許許多多 的其他非洲體制也會興旺, 這些體制將會一起合作, 秉持同樣的願景: 培養下個世代的非洲領導人, 也就是第四個世代。 他們會教給他們這個共同的訊息: 「創造工作、建立自己的體制」, 尼爾森‧曼德拉曾經說過:
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.
「有時候某個世代會被拜請要傑出, 你可以成為傑出的一代。」 我相信只要我們用心找出以及栽培 下一個世代的非洲領導人, 然後這個即將到來的第四世代 將會是非洲最傑出的一代, 而且會是整個世界還未見識過的。
Thank you.
謝謝!
(Applause)
(掌聲)