Africa Reloaded: The Black Panther Legacy

Black Panther

October 6, 2018//-Spoiler alert! If you haven’t yet watched the movie, look away now!

A number of confession to make: I grew up reading comic books and to see those comic heroes come alive in modern day fantasy movies have been such a thrill for me.

Second confession is I’m a marvel fan and I’ve seen all Marvel movies til date. Both confessions are intended to set the background for why an imagined African country captured my imagination in the same way Tolkien’s middle earth does.

Why is this important? For Africa to be reloaded it first needs to be reimagined. It needs to move away from taking from the world to giving to the world. It needs its sense of pride restored so its various cultures are celebrated, not impugned.

So, what are the lessons from this imaginary Wakanda that can help present day Africa?

STOP HIDING

As the movie showed, there is a tendency for Africa to keep to itself and not share its know-how with the rest of the world. We aren’t as advanced as the rest of the world but we have leap frogged in certain areas for example the successful mpesa in East Africa is now being adopted in other parts of the world

THE PAST VERSUS THE FUTURE

There is a lot of looking back in Africa to the point it becomes a distraction. Not as much energy is put into what the future should be as much as is put into examining how we got here and we get a paralysis from analysis and not able to do much about our situation. Less finger pointing, more solution finding

COURAGE TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT

There are traditions we have inherited, practices meant for the ancient past which we have carried into modern day thinking and its holding the continent back. We need the courage and conviction to break away from past mistakes and champion a new cause, a new purpose for the continent.

KICK.ASS

Time again, a villain comes along, sometimes from our own tribe that will be in our way and want to move us away from our purpose. What to do about that is simple. Kick. Ass. There is no excuse for Africa not to be successful. We need to be ready to do what it takes to get the job done.

At Grey Africa, we are championing this new thinking. A bold, confident continent is emerging from the shadows and we are well placed to take advantage of that with our concept of open creativity.

Entrepreneurs around the continent are providing solutions that is moving Africa forward. We salute them and offer them our services that are focused on business results.

If like us, you have ideas on how to make the continent a Wakanda in the not too distant future, you definitely want to have a chat with us. Wakanda forever!!!!

From Grey Africa

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