I returned recently from Nigeria, where we were conducting surveys in neglected areas as a prelude to commencing our pilot. I saw decades of neglect and lack of investments in basic infrastructure and social amenities that are taken for granted elsewhere, but which are so vital to societal wellbeing. I saw poverty of infrastructure and social amenities. I also saw opulence, outside of the villages, in Lagos, where billions of dollars are invested daily, not in alleviating the suffering of the masses but in transactions that further enrich a few of the top 10% of the populace. I concluded that the problem of lack of infrastructure and social amenities is not necessarily a problem of inadequate capital but one of mindset.

The most common mindset seems to be one of consumption, whether in politics or business. With that mindset, what exists right now is all that can be, so there is a tendency to scramble and compete for the little that is presently manifest. This may be why probably 80% (my own guess) of economic activities in Africa's largest economy takes place in Lagos, and a few other cities. Those cities have some infrastructure to support commerce and the society as a whole, most of which were put in place decades ago, so everyone wants to be in Lagos and a few other cities. So, Lagos is bursting at the seams. When all there is all that can be, maximization, survival of the fittest, competition become the order of the day as everyone tries to grab their share of whatever exists now. It is a broad way and many there be that enter in.

I think the mindset that is urgently needed is a creation mindset. That mindset sees what can be, rather than what is. That mindset is very patient and involves doing the opposite of what the crowd is doing, because it sees what the crowd does not see. This mindset looks at poverty but sees the possibility of prosperity. This mindset sees decades, even centuries into the future. I think what we need is not to scramble for what exists today but to start to create what will be in the next 50 years, if time as we know it continues to exist till then. 

One of the most radical and hopeful thoughts I encountered while I was in Nigeria, was the thought that we can create new cities. We need the creation mindset to look at poverty of infrastructure and social amenities and see the possibility of societal prosperity. It is an exciting thought that we can turn present poverty into prosperity, rather than consume, plunder or compete for whatever prosperity seemingly exists now. It is exciting to realize that even though Hamel and Prahalad wrote about Competing for the Future in their book with the same title, there is really no competition for the future because the way of the future is seen only by so few and the mindset that allows creation of future prosperity precludes competition.

ResurgeAfrique is seeking to work with the creation mindset in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. We will be engaging in development entrepreneurship. We are in it for the very long haul. We are not in it to compete for what exists now but to create what will be tomorrow. In Collapse, Jared Diamond wrote beautifully about societies that were once thriving but became extinct, in my mind, due to maximization and the consumption mindset. ResurgeAfrique seeks to create thriving societies of tomorrow where decadence exists today. It is a radical mindset, a narrow road, a winding path and it is exciting to be on it.