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Jackson, Mississippi, USA - Mihai Nica, a Romanian from the city of Timisoara is 42 years old and a very optimistic man. He grew up during the communist era, worked for the Romanian government and at one time was in charge of disposing of artifacts associated with the former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. But Nica's optimism has been softened by time and reality, buttressed on experience. He rarely talks much but when he does his jokes will keep you on the edge of the seat, his few words seems to mask his engineering background laced with a graduate degree in political science. The hot and humid summers in Mississippi can be an incentive to bring out the creative part of anyone, including Nica particularly if an intoxicant is not far. While sipping a Mexican intoxicant, which appears to be a cross breed of beer, juice and the name of a lady, he made an observation that, though made earlier, is becoming truer each day, "One way to get rich is to take advantage of great changes like the shift from communism to democracy in Romania and Russia."
X.N. Iraki Though we grew up on different continents, under different structures of government and -- some Americans will point out very fast -- we are of different colors, it is amazing how much the two cultures, Romanian and Kenyan have in common. Nica argues that people at the same economic level behave the same, irrespective of their color and origin; I suspect he may be right.
[A special story for Kenyans:] At one time he surprised me by telling me a joke about how someone climbed a tree to return home after seeing trees moving in the opposite direction [while] traveling from one Romanian city to the other. Sound familiar? It seems humanity has more in common than the media and pessimists want us to believe. Enough Digression.
Nica's observation on how to get rich easily is borne [out] by facts, even in Kenya. In his country the only major recent shift is from communism to democracy. But in Kenya there have been a number of major changes in quick succession: independence, multipartyism and now a new political dispensation -- NARC (National Rainbow Coalition).
In advanced countries, changes are usually technological; the railway system, the automobile, the computer, Internet and, now, biotechnology. All these changes spawned rich men both in Europe, [the] US and other countries. Names [of some of the rich] include Vanderbilt, who built his wealth from railways; Ford, from autos; Akio Morita of Sony, from electronics and; Bill Gates from computer software. [Gates] bet on a change, from emphasis on hardware to software. Biotechnology is still too young to produce mega-riches, but it would be a surprise if it does not. [Likely] by ... coming up with a cure for one of the degenerative diseases like cancer or AIDS.
In Kenya, such great names are yet to emerge but a few names, like Ndegwas, emerged after independence, [and we can]not forget [the] Karumes and Kenyattas. [The] Multiparty [system also] [produced] its share of rich people, though they are cast in a bad light. Some observers consider such nouveau riche as having engaged in [the] redistribution of wealth, as opposed to [the] creation of wealth. In Kenya, those who embraced computers in the '80s and mobile phones in the '90s made money. Those who took advantage of liberalization and sourced products like cars cheaply from abroad also made money.
Other people believe a new Constitution will usher in a new crop of rich people; on that [notion,] I can contest. The new constitutional order will consolidate [the insulation of] the already rich. In fact, barring technology changes, the last chance to make money from political changes seems to have gone with the wind.
Why does a great change produce a new crop of rich people? Such periods are often punctuated by turbulence and, at times, by real chaos thus creating new alignments, particularly in politics, business and even in the underworld; note how conmen have been doing well after [the] NARC party came to power. Keen people exploit such changes to make money. New opportunities arise because new services and products are needed. Those who make a fast move make money before the markets get flooded; did you know that after the invention of the automobile there were about 240 companies making cars? A friend of mine used to boast about his big cell phone that cost him 124,000 Ksh(1500 US dollars)in 1994 and could not fit into any of his pockets.
If changes spawn rich people, can we anticipate them and exploit them as individuals, firms or nations? As individuals we can. Reading news, listening to experts talk, attending conferences can put you ahead of the pack. Firms and governments sponsor research and development, where new ideas that spawn change are [revealed]. Often firms precipitate change which they can control instead of being overwhelmed by being observers.
Take a mobile phone, all we do in Kenya is buy and use. We never bother to know what is inside apart from the battery and, after a few months, the manufacturers come up with a new pricier model. We buy and the cycle continues. They get richer and we think we look richer because we have a pricier phone.
One way to create change and control it is to be at the forefront of new ideas. Such new ideas are then protected by patents and copyrights, ensuring a constant stream of money to cover your costs and make you tidy profits.
But too often we never notice opportunities until it is too late; did you anticipate the computer era? Did you complain that computers would kill jobs? Did you anticipate the cell phone era? Or [did] you just hate Telkom (Kenya's Public Phone company)? Did you anticipate biotechnology? Or did you take political science at the University instead of biology? Did your anger distract you from focusing on what is critical to your success, changes taking place? Preoccupation with our day-to-day activities, coupled with pessimism and anger, have often blinded us to opportunities that great changes present to us.
It is no wonder that the rich are getting richer; they have the luxury to think and identify the next big thing, get it and make money, as you curse them.
It is our hatred for new ideas that has often condemned us to our unwanted positions in the society. Yet listening to students leaving school, one of their major vows nowadays is that they will never read. A sad vow. Scanning your environment and keeping yourself abreast of new ideas can go a long way in increasing your chances of exploiting opportunities presented by change, whether you are an individual, a firm or a nation. Such ideas include political ones; despite our hatred for the government, we shall not abolish it soon.
Where do we go from here? Some people contend that, since we are not equally endowed, there will always be people doing better than others, some even argue that becoming rich, making profits, presupposes that someone must get poor; I highly doubt that, we can apply Pareto's principle.
What cannot be debated is that the great cycle of change outlives us, when we finally find our way under the sod where another great change initiated by the maggots takes place. The maggots, at leisure, seem to hit back at us [and] recall how we stepped on them under our heavy boots of pride.
As individuals, firms or nations, we must not allow ourselves to be slaves of change; we can take advantage of change when not initiated by us, but we can do much better if we initiate change ourselves, control it and even export it. Change is progress [with] another name; that is not about to change.
© 2005, GENERATOR 21.
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