Juorno.it previewed the book "Afrika. Access keys"of Ebone Editions, whose author is Francescomaria Tuccillo. Soon the book, unique of its kind, will be available for purchase in all Italian bookstores and will open to readers a beautiful window on a continent rich in resources and, among a thousand contradictions, very special indeed that deserves to be known through the words author who made his second home in Africa.
Its pages offer an overview, written by a fluid pen and dotted with episodes of real life, of what is defined in the introduction "one of the most mysterious places on our planet". It is so. We talk a lot about Africa (almost only about migration) and we know little.
It is therefore worth investigating the topic with the author that Juorno.it interviewed.
Let's start with the title. Why "Afrika" with the "k"?
Simply because this is written in Swahili, the "cross" language of sub-Saharan Africa, where I lived for years. That "k" therefore wants to be a tribute to African culture, as well as a small detail that can arouse curiosity in the observer.
The subtitle is also interesting: "access keys". What exactly do you mean?
I intend to indicate the objective of the publication, which is not to exhaust the vast and complex African theme in a few pages, but rather to offer some interpretations to all those who, for reasons of work, study or intellectual curiosity, intend to learn more a continent very different from the stereotypes in which it is confined by our prejudices. Africa is not just an exotic tourist destination, as some think, or a threat of migratory invasions, as too many believe. It is much more and much more.
Could you summarize what Africa is today?
Exercise is difficult. No coincidence that the first chapter of the book is entitled "It is easy to say Africa". The African continent is a very heterogeneous mosaic of climates, natural environments, populations, traditions and social classes. It is both very hot and cold, dry and fertile, modern and conservative, very poor and rich, Christian, Muslim and pagan, international and tribal, postcolonial and free from subjection of any kind. However, I try to summarize its essential features by citing three elements that seem to me to be fundamental: natural resources, democracy and youth.
African natural resources are among the richest and most strategic on the planet. Africa has oil, gas, uranium, radio, iron, chromium, phosphates. It produces 50% of gold, 60% of diamonds and 97% of world copper. And I could go on. It is also experiencing a difficult but decisive phase of transition from the ancient leaders for life to real democracy, which is always a condition of stability and economic and social development. It is no coincidence that the average growth of sub-Saharan Africa in 2019 is estimated at 4% by the International Monetary Fund, with a peak in some countries: in Kenya for example it will exceed 6% and in Ethiopia it will be 7,7% this year and 8,8% in 2020.
Finally and above all, Africa is the youngest continent in the world. Today the West is constantly aging. The African population instead has an average age of 18 years. This figure is useful alongside that of demographic growth: Africans are today one billion and three hundred thousand and in 2050 they will become two and a half billion, there will be more Chinese and half of working age, because their increase is not due to increase births, as one thinks wrongly, but to a longer life span. These numbers are destined to shift the centers of the planet to which we have been accustomed for centuries: the political and economic, as well as the social and cultural. An Italian magazine came out with a beautiful cover, in its latest issue. Next to a black baby he put the title in red: "This child will save the world". And he commented with a subtitle: "The world population ages and will fall by the end of the century. But there is a continent that can still count on the energy of young people: Africa ". It is so. And with these young people we will have to confront to survive.
Are we ready to do this? In other words, how are Italy and Europe interacting with Africa from an economic and political point of view?
To be direct, I reply with one word: bad. While the eastern giants - China and India - have long understood the strategic weight of Africa and have never been so active from a commercial, political and military point of view, Europe is presented in a fragmentary and uncertain manner. And Italy, turned in on itself and on its internal disputes, is almost absent. It's a shame. Europeans in general and Italians in particular have many historical and cultural affinities with the African continent and, if they acted strategically and not occasionally, they could build concrete prospects of development for their economies in Africa and with Africa. young people and their future. As I wrote in the book, there is still space. Time, on the other hand, is very little, because the other world powers are moving in a much more rapid and structured way than us.
Which are the keys to accessing Africa and its markets?
I have no doubts: culture, in a broad sense. By culture I mean first of all a knowledge of history, traditions, customs and society that allows us to go beyond preconceptions and approach Africa with awareness. Furthermore, to move to the economic and industrial sector to which the book is aimed primarily, culture means long thinking or strategy. One mistake of the Italian companies that have tried to do business in Africa has always been small tactics. I allude to the tendency to seize opportunities without building a stable relationship over time, without knowing the real needs of African countries and too often resorting to corruption as a marketing tool.
Corruption is, among all possible tactics, the most stupid: apart from ethical assessments, from an economic point of view it may generate immediate value, but it compromises the reputation and sustainable development of those who practice it in the medium-long term. I could cite dozens and dozens of examples of corrupt practices that generated contract losses, legal problems and even, eventually, the bankruptcy of the companies involved. The last episode concerns a construction company in Kenya: six of its executives are the subject of an international arrest warrant, the infrastructural works they were doing are canceled and the company is in bankruptcy agreement.
Yet one of Africa's problems is corruption. Is this perhaps why Italian companies have "adapted" themselves by practicing it too?
I don't think so, because those same companies didn't practice it only in Africa but also elsewhere, including Italy. Anyone who considers corruption a tool for growth tends to always corrupt anyone and everywhere. I would add that many African countries, aware that corruption is synonymous with paralysis, are now fighting it by all means. I think again, to mention just two cases, to Kenya and Ethiopia. Finally it is interesting to recall the data of the last report of Transparency International, the body that measures the perceived corruption in 180 nations of the world. If it is certain that this problem remains strong in Africa, some of its countries have seen a marked improvement and have a higher score than Italy, which with 52 points out of 100 remains the most corrupt country in Western Europe. So we don't have much to teach anyone. And in any case, the corruption of others never justifies ours, neither ethically nor economically.
She spent ten years of her professional life in Africa and went to live at the peak of her Italian career, when she was successfully practicing the profession of lawyer between Naples and Rome. Why this unusual choice?
It was a choice of space and freedom. Let me explain. Ours is a closed society, made up of potentates, castes and thighs. If you do not belong - or want to belong - to one of these power groups in Italy you do not go ahead. Work and merit are not only insufficient to grow personally and professionally, but even constitute an obstacle. In a world where acquiescence matters more than competence, those who are able to do their job and have a free thought are seen as a threat.
This is not the case in Africa. In Africa there is still space and the freedom to build something without bending your back in front of the powerful on duty. In Africa merit counts even more than the titles. In Africa we can reinvent ourselves a path. My story proves it: I started working there as a business lawyer, then I created my own small successful business. Finally, I was hired as a manager by a large Italian industrial group. This heterogeneity of path, which has enriched me, would have been impossible with us.
But I wouldn't just like to talk about my example. We also look at Africans. Who is today at the top of some countries, or it was yesterday, really started from the bottom. I am thinking of Jomo Kenyatta, leader of the Kenyan anti-colonialist movement and first president after independence from Great Britain. Jomo was born in an internal tribe of the country and lost his parents as a child. He lived in an orphanage of Scottish missionaries who, given the child's intelligence, paid for his studies in Europe. I think of the African myth par excellence: Nelson Mandela. Born into a peasant family in a tiny South African village, Madiba became a lawyer, a heroic leader of the anti-apartheid movement, a prisoner for twenty-seven years and then president of his nation and a man of reconciliation between blacks and whites. Finally, I think of the young Abiy Ahmed Ali, Ethiopian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize 2019. He recalled it himself in Oslo, receiving the award a few days ago: he was born in a village without water systems and without electricity. He was one of those children who went to get water at the distribution points with buckets on their shoulders. And today he has two degrees, speaks four languages and is radically transforming his country. They have two points in common, these three gentlemen of different ages and nations: culture and charisma. All three have tirelessly studied to become what they have become. All three have or had a personality that knows how to convince, motivate, influence society and its dynamics. Here: the studies and the charisma are still, over there, criteria of evaluation of the people. With us - and I say this with bitterness - the studies count less and less and the charisma is confused with the propaganda junk. This is also why I decided to live in Africa and go back, now, whenever I can.
She is a Neapolitan and publisher of her book too. Is it a case?
No I do not think so. Naples is the "bridge over the Mediterranean" par excellence, by history, by culture. And Africa is overlooking the Mediterranean. It is therefore no coincidence that I felt naturally pushed towards those shores. Nor that a Neapolitan publisher, whom I thank, took an interest in my book and published it with conviction. Our "polis" has always been open to the world. She is tolerant, generous and curious. Let us hope that it remains. Its future, and that of its industrial and artisan businesses, will depend very much on the ability to dialogue with other parts of the planet. And with Africa in particular.