The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Edun, the company started by Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, is now producing most of its products in China. Edun's mission is to "encourage trade with Africa" and "celebrate the possibilities and the people of the continent." Edun "celebrates" Africans by moving the supply chain to China?
Edun's high profile failure to produce goods in Africa is devastating to the brand of Africa. Our continent already has the worst brand of any region on earth. In a world in which almost no one believes that Africans are capable enough to create successful companies, Edun's failure will quietly confirm those bigotries.
As an African entrepreneur, when I meet with potential investors, the vast majority of them are afraid of investing in an African business because they envision war, disease, and lazy Africans who can't produce quality goods. But most of the stereotypes that people have of Africa - war, coups, heat, tropical diseases, etc. - are not true of my home country of Senegal. Although most people believe that Africans are lazy (whether or not they'll admit it) Senegal is known for its entrepreneurial diaspora (ask a black entrepreneur on the streets of Manhattan, Paris, or Milan where they are from and odds are they will be Senegalese). But that doesn't mean that it is easy to create a supply chain even in Senegal.
Clearly Edun did not do its homework on supply chain creation in Africa. I will be the first to acknowledge that it is difficult to create a world-class supply chain based in Africa. With my first company, Adina, when I began trying to buy hibiscus from women hibiscus growers in Senegal, their product cost twice as much as did organic hibiscus from China or Egypt, and was much lower quality. I flew back to Senegal several times to organize them into co-ops, then coach them in a no-nonsense manner about what they needed to do to produce to world-class quality standards. But after I firmly walked them through the implications of their existing quality standards several times, and showed them exactly what they were up against by showing them the Chinese and Egyptian products, they learned to produce to world-class standards, and are doing so to this day.
If I had not been Senegalese myself, it is unlikely that the women hibiscus growers would have improved their performance in response to my demand for quality. There is all too often a resentment against foreigners who tell us to work harder or that our work is not good enough. There is a deep and widespread inferiority complex that leads many of us to believe that we are not good enough, and will never be good enough. As a consequence, when we are harassed by white foreigners for not doing good enough, all too often we acquiesce in their presence and then go on doing things the same old way behind their backs. And, as a consequence, our products are inferior, business goes elsewhere, stereotypes are re-enforced, and we remain poor.
This inferiority complex will only be relieved when African entrepreneurs build companies that succeed in the developed world. Many Indian entrepreneurs acknowledge that the Indians also had a deep inferiority complex that prevented them from succeeding - until Infosys succeeded as a global brand, and showed them that Indians could create world class companies that could compete at the highest level. Now thousands of Indian entrepreneurs have created thousands of companies, many of which are competing globally, and there is a widespread stereotype of Indians as highly entrepreneurial and intelligent rather than being passive and stupid.
African audiences understand immediately the point I am making. As damaging as African poverty is, it will not be alleviated by well-intentioned rock stars creating African pity brands - and then producing the goods in China because they can't get Africans to produce adequate quality goods. Bono and Hewson are half right - entrepreneurial activity is the only long-term solution to Africa's problems. What they don't realize is that actions speak louder than words. And there is no way that they can "encourage trade with Africa" and "celebrate the possibilities and the people of the continent" by means of producing the more elegant goods in China and the ugly, amateurish t-shirts in Africa.
Most prospective investors in any African enterprise, hearing the Edun story, will think "Well if Bono couldn't do it with $20 million and the best contacts in the world, clearly it is not possible to manufacture in Africa. If Bono can't make it happen, who can?"
Hewson says of her husband that "he is unencumbered by practicalities." Thanks Bono, but no thanks. Unlike you, I am "encumbered by practicalities." You've just made my life as an African entrepreneur much, much more difficult.
Follow Magatte Wade on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magattew
Edun requires every factory to be audited by a third party on an annual basis to ensure they follow our strict code of conduct. We have built our Edun Live business solely in Africa and are committed to expanding production of our Edun fashion line - currently 15% African made - on the continent on a year to year basis." -- Edun
Magatte Wade, don't always believe what you read in the Wall Street Journal.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/i-b-m-africa-is-the-next-growth-frontier
from Edun's Facebook page. It's easy to get angry when an article tells us to and it's easy to hate Bono but you shouldn't always believe the hype because it's sometimes wrong.
Bono is still a hero.
"In 2010, revelations were made that only 15% of EDUN's line was produced in Africa, with 70% produced in Asia with the remainder sourced from Peru. [3]“
Here is the article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478310504593870.html
Its so easy to love someone when they tell you that they love you and will always be your special friend, I mean what else did you expect them to say on their facebook page?
And don't blame the writer of this article, if EDUN is right it is the Wallstreet Journal who has to apologize. But I seriously trust the WSJ more than a corporation's facebook page.
You are no better than the "do-gooders" as you are foreigner who believes he knows all the ways to fix Africa's ills, and you do it without needing to know the people, environment, or culture of African people because you believe that there is on and only one way to solve a problem.
I say that as a middle eastern person because I do understand where they are coming from. its so easy to sit in West and tell them what they need to do or fix their problems for them, either way has problems.
The solution is ingrained in the African mentality, just as the Chinese could not bring their country out of the chaos of the Qing dynasty using Western principles and Eastern Europe will never succeed in aping the West, each place is unique and the way it must grow and evolve is unique (being different is a lateral movement, being good or bad is a vertical movement).
If foreigners have any place its to give money smartly (don't throw it at them) and know when to pull away for non-political reasons but for self-growth reasons (as you said, few people get served by pure handouts), and a promotion of their country and culture in the Western world so we can best deal with them.
Its NEVER a black and white question with a simple answer.
And how exactly are the free market and capitalism affecting place like, oh, I dunno, the Congo right now? Are they stopping violent and exploitative practices that lead to human rights abuses on an unbelievable scale? Or are they turning a blind eye so they can continue to get minerals on the cheap?
We invest in African countries and people (sorry, but I'm looking at you) cry foul. Oddly though, those same people don't seem to have an issue when we plunder the same countries for minerals and resources, gems and cheap labor. I wonder why that is.