by Charing Ball
Several years ago, I took a stroll down the streets of Salvador Bahia, Brazil looking for a bite to eat. It had been a long day sight-seeing with my African-American tour group and we were given the evening free to do some exploring of our own. As I walked the cobblestone streets near my hotel, I came across a restaurant district with every kind of food imaginable. There was Italian and Mexican, Chinese and even Thai. And of course, there were several local food eateries, each with their own flare of authentic Brazilian cuisine. Just about every culture through food was represented with the exception of African-American. All of sudden, my hunger pains were replaced by the movement of the wheels turning in my mind; why isn’t there any a chain of soul foods restaurants, specializing in African-American cuisines, in places outside of America and parts of the UK?
I imagine this is how Billionaire Bob Johnson, founder of B.E.T and first African-American to control a company on the New York Stock Exchange, must have felt when he choose Liberia as the site of his latest venture – but instead of food, he was thinking a hotel spa. In an interview with CNN, Johnson said that he knew that choosing Liberia, which has been ravaged through years of civil war and unrest, to construct his 78-room beach side resort was a risk but he’s also banking on a big reward.
Granted, we are talking about Robert “Bob” Johnson, the same Bob Johnson, who once took out a full-page ad urging for a repeal of an estate tax, which he argued would close the wealth gap between white and black families. However, after careful consideration, I began to wonder: what if Johnson has a point. What if more African-Americans took his, as well as the nameless black investors, lead and started putting their financial faith more in the Motherland?
Many African Americans have distorted views of the region, thanks to the sensationalism of civil wars, famine and regional destabilization in the mainstream media. But by other indications, Africa is now an emerging market. The continent is sharply growing out of the recession with 4.5% of growth in its regional economy]. Moreover, China and India are investing heavily throughout the continent – although, much of the Chinese and Indian investments are contingent on extraction industries such as oil and mining, which is more about taking from the continent rather than putting in.
But perhaps this focus on one or two natural resources can present more valuable opportunities for African-Americans to engage African countries with more meaningful investments options including agriculture, arts and entertainment, hospitality, textiles, media and retail. With our historical and cultural affinity with the continent and the African Growth Opportunity Act, which offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets, African-Americans have a stronger reason and advantage to invest in the region. And that investment can produce return greater rewards for not only African-Americans but the continent as a whole.
Now granted, I would have loved to have been reading about a better symbol of a black billionaire opening up shop in Africa. Johnson, who is also planning similar ventures in Haiti, was also quoted sd saying that he’s avoiding Liberia’s capital of Monrovia because of its social problems and basically would be displacing people from the resort site.
However, Johnson’s actions could be the catalyst for more blacks business folks and investment capitalists to consider continent, as well as other less developed black nations, which could go a long way in reconciling Diaspora relations, more effectively building wealth and circulating black dollars for generations to come.
