Today, more than half the world’s poorest
people live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Why?
Why is it that most of Africa stays poor,
while other parts of the world prosper?
People have lots of theories.
Clean water is simply hard to find.
The present day problems of the African continent
are tied to its colonial history.
But I say Magatte Wade’s explanation
makes the most sense.
African governments simply have too many rules.
Once you hire someone
good luck getting rid of them for any reason.
Then there’s taxes.
The tax code is so complicated.
Some people say it's worth at least two
or three truckloads of paper.
Wade started this lip balm company in Senegal.
Some ingredients she needs are not made there,
so she imports them,
but the government makes that expensive.
Some of them have a 70 percent import tariff on them.
So it almost doubles the prices.
Exactly.
Many people, then escape the tax by paying bribes.
We hear about African corruption.
People complain about corruption as
if corruption is a root problem I say no --
Corruption is also a natural consequence
of stupid senseless idiot laws.
There’d be just as much corruption in America
if we had these rules?
Absolutely.
The only way to fix corruption is to simplify.
Wade’s business survived because she was
fortunate to find a helpful bureaucrat.
I went to see the Head of Customs
and we started looking together.
He didn’t demand a bribe.
We found a clause in one of the binders saying
actually if you're exporting at least 80 percent
of your products and if you've been in business
for two years then you can ask for an exemption.
You survive through a loophole but that takes
connections and time
Exactly. Exactly.
I imagine the leaders of these countries
mostly mean well.
They see how damaging this is.
Why do they impose all these rules?
I am not so sure all of them get it.
Look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The UN’s development goals includes things
like “Inclusive and equitable education,
climate change, and gender equality.”
There is no mention of rules that kill business.
We have chains around our necks.
No one is seeing it.
And then they want to come talk to me about inequality.
We need greater economic freedom.
Simple rules that everyone can understand.
Yes. Yes.
That diagnosis is known by almost no one.
It should be known!
If you just look at the rest of the world
you can see what’s worked and what hasn’t.
Wade just made this movie about that.
Why is it that a couple decades ago you know
China was at the same level as most African countries?
Countries like Singapore made it.
Countries like Hong Kong made it.
Even a place like Dubai
bare land of sand, desert sand
and all of a sudden within 12, 15 years,
Dubai – one of the financial centers of the world -
and you’re like what?
What happened here?
They understood if we do not work hard to
make it easy for businesses to set up and
be ran no businesses is going to come
But international aid organizations
have a different solution.
They say the nations of the world
need to send more help.
Governments already send $50 billion a year to Africa.
And companies promote themselves by donating.
What if I start a shoe company,
and every time I sold a pair of shoes,
I gave a pair away.
These kids’ll have shoes for the rest of their life.
Tom’s shoes has donated 93 million pairs of shoes.
Do you know that we have two hundred thirty-two
hundred thirty-two shoe making small businesses
each one of them hiring directly at least 15 people
In this little village.
Yes.
So when you buy your shoes in the US
and pairs of shoes are being put in a container
to be shipped over to my village.
Shoemaker has now to close the doors because
who can compete against free?
This man is still in business, but it’s a struggle.
I know it came from a good place.
I get it.
But can you just think further down the road
unless you think that we really sincerely
have nothing including even shoemakers!
And I think that's terrible!
To give in such a way that has no end
Yet Tom’s Shoes two-for-one deal is popular.
One company started it did so well with it.
With a buy one we're going to give one
for free to poor people.
But now you're seeing it with tampons
you're seeing it with soap,
you're seeing it with everything.
It would be better, says Wade,
if westerners encouraged African governments
to stop strangling their own entrepreneurs.
If I have a job then, guess what?
My malnutrition problem goes poof!
My even access to clean water goes poof.
You know it just poof, poof, poof!
But without jobs, millions risk their lives
trying to get to richer countries.
Some of my most entrepreneurial people
who are right now serving us fish food
at the bottom of the ocean
because there is not enough jobs
and why there is not enough jobs?
Because the business climate sucks so much
that people like me can't do that work
of creating companies and jobs.
Many of those deaths would be prevented
if Africa just didn’t have so many dumb rules.
And that's what inequality we should talk about.
No one talks about it.
An equal playing field of rules.
Yes.
Let's create greater economic freedom
in all countries so that all people everywhere
get a chance to free enterprise.