Africa is home to the birthplace of civilization, yet years after those events, Africa is still playing catch-up in many areas. Africa is home to thirty-three of the 48 United Nations’ least developed countries and also home to some of the world’s poorest countries. These are some of the well-known facts about the “Dark Continent”. In 2020, Africa has become home to the youngest population in the world with a reported median age of 19.7 according to World Meters. This group of promising young people has begun to show how their embrace of affordable technology is transforming the continent into a “developed” region.

While more than 70 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans do not have a bank account, more than 75 percent own a SIM card, this means that more than 70 percent of the population doesn’t have access to a bank but they have access to a mobile phone (MOURDOUKOUTAS, 2017). This became a possibility because of the increasing amount of affordable mobile phone devices that have been coming in from China. Africa has become some sort of dumping place for Chinese goods that aren’t fit for the world’s middle-class market. Phones are sold for as cheap as $15. Despite the dark circumstances of the arrival of these devices, they are helping solve so many problems. In 2008 a Kenyan telecommunication company found a way to use mobile phone SIM cards as financial accounts. Other telecommunication companies throughout the continent also embraced this technology (think Venmo or Cashapp on regular internet-free phones). People do not need to get validated by banks anymore before opening accounts, they just need the same SIM card that they use in their phones for everyday communication. As a result, telecommunication companies have become the new financial services. because. Insurance companies also saw potential in using mobile phones and now an uninsured mother of three who lives 10 kilometers away from the closest insurance company, doesn’t need to leave her house to get signed up. Because of the lack of a credit system in almost all African countries, the majority of people could not benefit from loans and credit benefits like other countries do. Banks now use people’s mobile phone financial transactions to build credit reports and history for its potential clients and as a result, people are finally getting access to capital that they never had (MOURDOUKOUTAS, 2017). Most Africans use their mobile phones as the primary source of an internet connection. This increase in internet penetration is giving kids access to the same quality material and education that kids in the developed countries of the world are receiving. These are just a few of the many benefits that mobile phone devices are bringing to the continent.

All of Africa’s 54 countries have their own struggles, cultures, governments, and way of life but the use of mobile phones has been the same throughout the continent. With more than 700 million phone owners, Africa is not the world’s fastest-growing mobile market. (MOURDOUKOUTAS, 2017). We are finally seeing the continent move forward using the same tool. I couldn’t be happier to be African right now. 

 

References

MOURDOUKOUTAS, ELENI. July 2017, www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/may-july-2017/africa’s-digital-rise-hooked-innovation.

WORLD METERS.  APRIL 2020, www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/

For years, China has been known as the earth’s factory. Growing up in the late 90s early 2000s I mostly knew China because most of my clothes and favorite electronics had tags or labels that said: “Made in China”. Today, the China that I know, has a completely different face and a different position in the world as a powerful nation. It has the world’s largest army, the world’s largest population, and the world’s second-largest economy according to Nasdaq. If you asked anyone 40-50 years if they could have foreseen China’s place in today’s global power players most people would not be able to predict this change. That is mainly because just 40 years ago, China was considered to be a nation in poverty. More than 88 percent of the population was in poverty in comparison to less than one percent today according to the World Bank.

Part of what makes the US the current superpower is its military strength and presence in the world which gives it a huge voice in the most significant global political issues. As an African, I have begun to see the Chinese military and economic presence overtake that of the United States. For a long time, giving financial and humanitarian aid to emerging economies has been a way that many powerful countries use to gain political support and diplomacy globally. In the United Nations assembly, it is much easier to guarantee the vote of a poor country if they are in debt to you and the number of African countries in debt to China only grows with time. In 2018 alone China pledged $60billion to Africa (Quartz, 2018). If the African continent with a population of 1.1 billion (World Bank, 2018) acknowledges China’s presence as the global leader then they are on track to be.

China has been known as more of a selling country than a buying one but this is starting to change. Years ago when multinational companies looked to China it was only for their cheap production labor. For many years manufacturing goods in China was the primary way to cut down on costs for many companies that made the world’s favorite products. Some examples are Apple, Nike, Levi, New Balance and hundreds of others. Because of the way China’s economy grew over the years, the standard of life has drastically improved and the people have started to seek after the luxury goods that they once sold to the world. Hollywood studios now look to China to help break even on their movie releases. Tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google spend months trying to adjust their privacy policies to adhere to the demands of the Chinese govt to stay in that market (Sheehan, 2018). China is not a seller anymore, it’s also a buyer that is quickly becoming America’s biggest market.

To become a superpower, the world needs to embrace your culture, your language and your way of life. Economic domination has to come along with all of these influences. “For millennia, the Chinese have always held themselves in high esteem. The name of their ancient country translates as “center of the world”—their image of themselves, their country, and culture has long been viewed as the center of human civilization. For past centuries, they expected that all other people and nations would pay tribute to the Chinese and their unique culture…” (Moran et al, 2011). This culture spread goes beyond the “Made in China” tags that I saw everywhere growing up. Now, whenever I walk through an African building donated or built by the Chinese, I see writings of Mandarin everywhere; in the elevator, at the front desk, at the local airport’s terminal entrance. Everywhere I see reminders of the ever-growing presence of the emerging superpower that is China.

References

Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (% of population) | Data. data.worldbank.org. Retrieved June 1, 2019.

Population, total – Sub-Saharan Africa (2011 PPP) (% of population) | Data. data.worldbank.org. Retrieved June 1, 2019.

Harris, P. R., Moran, R. T., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing cultural differences. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.

Dahir, A. L. (2018). Chinese lending to African countries jumped tenfold in the last five years. Retrieved from https://qz.com/africa/1463948/chinese-lending-to-african-countries-jumped-tenfold-in-the-last-five-years/

Sheehan, M. (2018).How Google took on China—and lost. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612601/how-google-took-on-china-and-lost/

Bajpai, P. (2020). The 5 Largest Economies In The World And Their Growth In 2020. Retrieved from https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/the-5-largest-economies-in-the-world-and-their-growth-in-2020-2020-01-22

 

Depending on who you ask, secularism can be defined in multiple ways. Growing up as a protestant Christian I always thought that for something to be considered secular it had to be forbidden or looked down upon by the Bible. Because my country, Tanzania, has a religiously split population of 50 percent Muslims and 50 percent of Christians I’ve been learning through my Muslim friends thought some of the things that I do as a Christian are secular to them. After learning more about the middle east and it’s ever-changing relationship to the world I now realize that the middle east and the west, which includes the United States and other first world countries, may have the same problem.

Civilization is the stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced and the middle east is home to the world’s earliest acts of civilization. If the middle east has been at the forefront of world civilization for a long time why does it feel like they are currently behind and trying to catch up with the western world? Again, you will receive multiple answers depending on who you ask. Some people might say that it is because western countries practice ideologies that are more secular thus creating friendlier and faster environments for development and modern civilization. While this may be true, it does not necessarily mean that the lack of secularism may be responsible for the slow growth of some middle eastern economies and civilizations. Some middle eastern countries have existed for many years. Saudi Arabia, in particular, is approximately six times the age of the United States. During their 1400 years of existence as a dominantly Islamic state, they have been able to grow with the world and they are now one of the wealthiest nations. More than 80 percent of their 25 million population live in urban areas and at 87 percent they have a higher literacy rate than the United States.

While secularism is not a priority in middle eastern countries like Saudi Arabia it is understandable why it is hard for them to embrace new ways. 1400 years of culture and a way of life cannot be changed because of how a different part of the world feels about it. Saudi Arabia has been rich without embracing the benefits of secularism so they will most likely stay that way. It is important for the world to realize that to be secular does not mean to be developed or progressively civilized. Secularism can just be a different way of life depending on the culture involved.

“Usiogope, tumeshayamaliza” which is Swahili for “Don’t worry it’s done” is such a common way to finalize agreements in Dar Es Salaam, the commercial capital of the East African country of Tanzania. As a Tanzanian who spent most of my adult life in the United States moving back to Tanzania and having to adapt to a new way of business transactions due to the differences in culture was frustrating for me at first. It took me a while to realize that it doesn’t make my people less civilized or reasonable, it’s simply a different culture. Every moment that my frustrations resulted in a negative interaction with a business partner it was a good example of what can only be defined as cross-cultural conflict. 

Conflict can be defined as seeing the world from a different perspective than someone else or competing for resources (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). Cross-cultural conflict occurs when that conflict is a direct result of actions that stem from having a cultured perspective; a different view on how things are seen or done (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).

 I work in the tech business, and as a start-up, NDAs are an important part of our dealings especially whenever dealing with a new company or partner. The first time that my cofounder and I asked a business partner to sign an NDA he thought we were being very disrespectful and in turn, we thought that he was being very unprofessional by refusing to sign it. It took us several similar refusals to understand that in Tanzania signatures and paperwork do not symbolize professional trust like they do in the United States. Conversations of business are finalized by talking about religion, family and current politics which are topics that are usually off-limits whenever you do business in a western country. 

To be able to do business in a different country or environment it is always important to remember that the world has thousands of cultures and they all have a different way of doing things. When you take the time to learn about them, you will have a more pleasant experience and even find opportunities to better your businesses due to these cross-cultural differences. The less knowledgable you are of other cultures, the more chances you create for yourself to be caught in cross-cultural conflict (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).

 

References

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., Moran, S. V., & Harris, P. R. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Conflict is most likely to take place after an attempt has been made to resolve an issue through communication. According to At its most basic level, communication is about the exchange of information between individuals. That information is then used to make decisions that will affect the present and the future of the people involved in communicating those ideas (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2013).

When two people get into a physical fight, it is common to see an exchange of words first before any blows are thrown. “conflicts cannot be reduced to the acts of individuals. Rather they are composed of interaction among the parties: moves, responses, and countermoves.” (Joseph Folger, Marshall Scott Poole, and Randall K. Stutman 2012)

Good communication comes as the result of knowing and understanding who you are talking to. Depending who you ask, irony and sarcasm are not a regular thing in Japanese culture. If you are to engage in a sensitive conversation with someone who grew up around Japanese culture that would be something good to know beforehand, otherwise you might come off as being offensive or vague in your attempt to communicate something serious.

Approaching a conversation with bias can also lead to the escalation of the conflict. Recognizing that the world is a diverse place filled with different ideas and beliefs may help you realize that the definition of right and wrong vary based on where you are or who you are around. Conflicts can be avoided by simply taking steps to understand many cultural differences like the few stated above.

 

References

(Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2013, p . 126) Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2013). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles: Sage.

Folger, J. P., Poole, M. S., & Stutman, R. K. (2009). Working through conflict: Strategies for relationships, groups, and organizations. Boston: Pearson Education.