SOUTH AFRICA
Back in 2012, and in the prime of my early-twenties I got the opportunity of being sent to South Africa as an expat by one of America’s leading law firms. I was to be part of the team responsible for building up the Firm’s newly established Africa Practice. Newly minted out of grad/law school, I was young, idealistic, and ready to take on the world. You see, my passion had always been “doing business in Africa”.
Though the current health pandemic plaguing three countries on the continent (Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia) are overshadowing the tremendous gains which the Continent has achieved in the past years, you may be surprised to know that 3/5 of the fastest growing economies in the World are on the African Continent. Needless to say, 2012 was one of the ripest times it seemed to be working in Africa, everything was booming. Oil discoveries, Mobile Technology reaching new heights, burgeoning/market power of the African middle class…..you name it. In business terms, profits on the Continent seemed like an El Dorado. And so it was that I left the United States to work in Africa for the first time……shivering like a leaf, with two suitcases to my name and not knowing anyone, I landed in Johannesburg, SA with the determination to be part of the success story that Continent was trying to become. In Johannesburg, my best friend became Joseph Molefi. Botswana – born Europe and American educated, he like me was young, ambitious and idealistic as to what we thought we could bring within the business development landscape on the Continent. WE WERE MISTAKEN.
Together, Joe and I navigated the sometimes precarious conditions of “working in Africa”…we had many rough days, but on average the good by far outweighed the bad. However, roughly six (6) months in….late in the afternoon one day, my boss (an Englishman who sold himself in the West…as an adviser to two African govts and spoke French; either of which, I never saw him do. But, that’s not my business tho) called me into his office. With panic in his voice…he sits me down, and informs me that we’d received word that government officials in Lagos, Nigeria were about to inspect company records of one of our biggest clients. Our compliance data on all company info had to be up to date. I rolled my eyes, this seemed an impossible fit, I knew for sure we weren’t been 100% compliant on all matters – it was common place to let a few things slide here n there. However, to my dismay, I was told I had to “play with the numbers”…..in lay man’s terms, I had to not break the law but “go around it”. Specifically, this was regarding a legal requirement which most foreign companies operating in Africa have to comply with called “Local Content”. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve spoken up, maybe I should’ve faked a tummy ache and be sent home…..I don’t know. However, taking the information he gave me I went back to my desk. I remember the feeling of contempt washing over me. When the deed was done, I went home and gave myself a good cry in my pillow. For you see, there’s this thing called “your conscience” which though you might want to ignore it, eats at you and does not let go. In that moment, I knew very well………that I had become part of everything that was going wrong in Africa: I had become part of the problem and not the solution.
The next day after work, I narrated the events of the past day to my friend Joe. He felt my pain, for he too was going through the same moral conflicts on the job that I was experiencing. People like our boss from “England” could come to Africa, make a killing and leave. But for us, No!! We had a vested interest in every African country doing well, we were from there, our brothers, sisters, parents, and half of every one we knew was from there. We could in no way be part of the problem. We had made the thousands of miles journey to S.A to be part of the solution…..and that was that. Like I said in the beginning, we were young, idealistic and still incorruptible.
As we rode home in the Guatrain bus, which is mostly used by the well to do members of society (the average South African cannot afford it) the blaring air conditioner gave us no comfort. Sweat beads caressed our foreheads as we sat there debating on what our next moves should be. One only needed to look out the window into the “real world”, in which we sat in our 30 –seater luxurious bus with roughly 5 passengers in it……while the average South African on the street was doing cartwheels and somersaults to enter an already choked and crowded minibus to get home. So knowing all that we knew…..we couldn’t just go with the status-quo. Needless to say, roughly three (3) months later, my friend Joe….quit!!! He moved on to bigger and better things and I still remain one of his biggest fans. Nine (9) months later I also quit, and headed not to another job, but to pursue my PhD in Law.
FRANCE
While in S.A. 80% of my clients were Mining/Oil and Gas companies, so this is how I got interested in the Mining and Energy business. I left S.A. with a wealth of practical knowledge on how business is conducted in Africa, but somehow I couldn’t explain why with all the money and high GDP …….the development index of countries remained stagnant. I wanted to know why countries such as Sierra Leone or Mozambique, had some of the highest recorded GDP but with all the economic growth, the betterment of life for the average citizen in these countries was not visible. So then, where was all the FDI money going?.
Which brings me to the topic of “Personal Responsibility”’; while working in S.A. I got to see the other side of the “problem with Africa” in that the locals were the reason behind a good chunk of their own mishaps. Yes!! Foreign companies bend/break the rules…..but so do locals, who are the same people meant to protect the system. Many times, with dismay, I saw citizens rob their own country’s coffers and willingly get entangled in bad deals. Though enriching themselves in the process they would screw their countries over with no remorse. During my first year in Paris, I slowly but gradually got to learn and understand the answers to all of my many questions on this subject.
In true Juanita style…….you couldn’t shut me up about my new found passion; I wanted to talk about development and the Law all day, every day. So in January of this year, I embarked on what at the time was a frightening journey on becoming a Law Lecturer at Sciences Po Law School. I was assigned to teach a course on Law and Development. It felt so daunting at the time; I remember wearing bright red lipstick to class just so I could appear older. Teaching the subject was not a problem, it was the act however of week in and week out molding young minds into seeing the world via a different set of lens, is what took the most toll on me. However, in the end, I survived and so did they. But “talk and teach” about law and development is one thing…….actually seeing it being applied first hand I imagined would be a different ball game, which is what took me to Brazil.
BRAZIL
This PhD program has taken so much out of me emotionally; it is amazing I am still sane. I constantly go through conflicting emotions on whether or not it was a good decision. Most times it’s a Yes…but I do have my days when I wallow in self-pity on all that I have sacrificed in order to do what I do. I have seen my peers, get married, get job promotions, have kids….and here I am in my hotel room in the middle of the Amazon writing a blogpost. However, on most days…..I am full of life and busy chasing my dreams, like today.
Dear Friends and fellow Book Worms: today on my first day of Field Work in the city of Belem, in Para State, Brazil, I got my first glimpse of the “thing” called sustainable development. It brought me so much joy, you would think I just gave birth to my first-born. In a way, it was sort of witnessing an idea which I talked about, lectured about, gave speeches on, quit my job in S.A. for,….come to life. I witnessed a lowly Roman Catholic Priest and his parish of sparsely educated folks, stand up against the local government and one of the largest mining companies in the country. While they agreed with explanations of royalties/taxes and GDP growths for the state, what they wanted even more was proof of the “human development” that would take place in their community; proof of higher incomes, reduction of poverty, better healthcare and sanitation programs, increase in literacy, etc.. As simple as that, they claimed their right for the implementation of “sustainable development practices” within the natural resources sector in their community. I tell you, it is one thing to “talk and teach” about these things but it is another thing to see it first-hand being applied and working in favor of the average citizen.
Currently, my goal is figuring out a way of applying everything that I am a part of here as reference for African countries with mining and energy -reliant economies. Day one in the field has been an eye-opener, but there is much more to be done!!! So, A Luta Continua……..
Diaries from the field!! To be continued………
Your Girl,
Juanita-Nene xoxoxoxo
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