What shall Africa be like in 2050, let alone 2100?

Family bonding on Zoom 2020 #Corvid-19

I recently watched this Video, recorded in 1974, of a technician explaining to a reporter what he expected the world to look like 50 years from then. My first impression was, who has the audacity to think so far ahead; but then i began to marvel at the wisdom in such enterprise. He and many others had so much foresight of what the world would look like by 2020 with computers and communication. It's amazing how right they were for the time.🤔 

Because they had such foresight, they invested in making computers faster and smaller and now it is no wonder that the world is controlled by computer and communication driven entities like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix and so on. 

That begs the question. 

• What will our African world look like in 2050, let alone 2100? 
• What will our nation look like in 2050, let alone 2100?
• If you are an entrepreneur, what will your organisation, that you have invested so much into look like in 2050, let alone 2100?
• What will your home, that you cherish so much, look like in 2050, let alone 2100?
• What will your children, grand children and great grand children be invested in by 2050, let alone 2100?

As Africans, are we thinking and planning our government's, our companies, our assets and our families that far? Because I promise you there's a competitor in some far off nation planning just that for you right now. Yes, for you...    

In an article that I wrote, I described how dangerous it is to live as a social island. Africans, historically lived in clustered islands centered around family and tribes. This was great for our togetherness, but once foreigners invaded our lands, that probably became one of our weakness. Today, we've broken that family connectivity and adopted more western ways. Urbanization and expatriation to foreign nations is our new way. Our family units are destroyed and that original vision for the future is lost. We now follow the vision of others, visions that we do not fully understand and cannot entirely keep up with. 

As Africans, we are divided in our visions for the future; whether to follow tradition or western ways. Modernization driven by technology is tripping us endlessly and a large segment of our populations remain marginalized. We do not have control of our assets. Like the people of Laish, we are prone to attacks from foreigners who see our solitude as weakness and they corrupt our leaders and our children to give away more and more of our assets. 

So then again the question, what will your children, grand children and great grand children be invested in by 2050, let alone 2100? 

Write down your visions plans and make them known to all! 

• For the continent. I'd love to imagine that Africa will be one giant country and trading as the 3rd largest world economy. The African Union must play a bigger role than just being a centre for talk. The generations can figure the steps to get there unified, but the goal must be plain of sight. 
• For the Enterprise(s) that you operate today, you must define the expectations of the organisation over the next 100 years. I discussed this in an earlier post on succession planning for African businesses. Let it be clear what the expected values are. Shall it be global, shall it remain local, shall it be niche? Set clearly and plainly how the family members should benefit from the organisation, how they should contribute and therefore they do not purge it. Learn from established 100 year old organisations on how they do it. 
• For your home and assets, don't wait until the Will or Trust reading to define who gets what. Train your family to know what they shall inherit and let them learn to earn or safeguard the assets while you can still influence their planning.

All this is learned. Let us take that time to learn how to do it. 

Lawyers today will draft up a Will & Testament, a Trust and a Foundation for you, at the drop of a hat. It's all copy and paste material that is great for the courts but does nothing for your future. It's contestable when you're gone, if the right environment is not set. There needs to be more that can be added to our legacy planning, that can be used by Trustees to lead an Enterprise, a Country, a Continent into the next 100 years. 

Lets make our visions plain... like that guy did in that archive video.