CAVIE-ACCI] “After bread, education is the first need of a people”. Danton’s diagnosis is highly topical in the African market. The continent must tear up its bread to survive, educate itself by escaping the influence of the former masters, trust its resources to move from last and first place.
The African continent is going through a particular phase of its history, a real turning point which, like the statue torn from the marble, expresses all the strength of the lusts of which it is the centre. In view of this situation, which is further encouraged by the generous treasures buried in the deepest depths of Africa’s lands, and among other things, by the fine figures in international rankings, which reflect the continent’s considerable progress, particularly in terms of macroeconomic management; Michel Camdessus will very quickly conclude that “Africa is the new frontier of global development”. This is hardly a scoop any more, considering that in the first quarter of 2015, 60% of non-African countries in the world already had a perfectly assumed African strategy and that this figure should explode to 80% by 2020 according to experts from Knowdys Consulting Group.
Faced with this overdose of attention, with the complexity of the environment in which it operates and with its claimed ambition of emergence, it is appropriate to subscribe to Carlos Lopez and affirm with him that it is time for us to “seize this opportunity to transform our continent while we have the wind in our sails”. More than ever, the African continent must find in itself the useful and necessary resources for its breakthrough. It is also beyond reasonable doubt that he needs his daughters and sons, whose arms alone will have to work on the construction of the mast that will raise the flag of the ideal so much desired; for indeed, “the emergence of Africa will be African or will not be”.
However, in the depths of this reservoir of arms lies a real Achilles’ heel of the continent because, as Guy Gweth, President of CAVIE, said in Forbes Afrique, “contrary to what the media of convenience say, Africa does not yet have sufficient human resources for the emergence of the continent”. However, Mr Lansana Gagny Sakho, CAVIE’s Resident Representative in Senegal, is unequivocal on the question: “no one will do the job for us”, he says! Because “attachment to work is the only key to any economic development”. However, all Africans must understand this and act in close ranks because it is time to really roll up their sleeves, decades of hard work await us.
CAVIE’s sensitivity is well aligned with these issues and as such, the Centre is viscerally convinced that investing massively in the education and training of Africans is a priority lever to be maintained in constant activity. This has been a key element in the development of countries such as Singapore and South Korea, which remain flamboyant examples to this day. The Centre is all the more convinced of this, as it is constantly listening to the most pressing needs of the business world (large groups and SMEs / SMIs) operating with or on the continent, but also to the ever-increasing challenges of African public administrations and civil society, in terms of skills capable of responding effectively to current emergencies not only with speed and precision but also with an ultra-competitive state of mind and a total decomplexion.
Since competitiveness is not an empty word for CAVIE, the development of training courses that meet and adjust to the objectives of acquiring professional know-how directly applicable to daily practice has clearly proved to be obvious.
In order to make an effective contribution to a latent problem, the Centre has carved out of the stone of the requirement, tailor-made training courses that are intended to be real stepping stones to the successful development of economic activities on the African continent, notwithstanding the fields of activity they cover. Indeed, whether it is energy, defence, logistics, insurance, ports or construction; practically all African markets are subject to strong constraints in terms of competition both nationally and internationally, in a context of globalization often involving actors with unscrupulous behaviour.
Under such conditions, African Economic Intelligence seems to be the most appropriate channel to drain and sell this competitive flow at very high speed, as well as the corollaries that result from it, through specialized and adapted systems. CAVIE is working with determination, faith and energy to make this effective remedy available to as many people as possible in order to strengthen economic activity on the African continent at its roots.
Surgically designed, sized, tested and approved for their effectiveness and precision, CAVIE’s short, intensive and certifying training courses, starting with the three sisters “Monitoring and Intelligence of African Markets”, “Influencing Public Decision Making in Africa” and “Security of the Information Heritage of the African Decision Maker” are currently being deployed on the continent. Not only do they equip their participants, they also push the service envelope further, to offer them the best keys to reading the African continent, by opening an absolutely incomparable window of opportunity to understand it not only in terms of its history and context, but also in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. What better way to look to the future?
Now able to compete with their bare hands in CAVIE’s training courses, the soldiers who, on a daily basis, join the Centre, know that information from reliable sources is the fuel that drives any economic intelligence system. They are therefore equipped with tools, techniques and methodologies that enable them to monitor all types of sectors of activity, collect, analyze and process information from human and electronic sources quickly, secure it and disseminate it to inform decision-making. This is a vital attitude in a hyper-competitive environment and represents what makes it possible for any operator to acquire defensive, attack and influence capabilities.
CAVIE’s mission is to bring this dynamic to the four corners of the continent, the aim being to provide Africans with the knowledge and expertise they need to absorb the constraints and fight effectively the battles that will take the continent to higher heights.
Moulded in a purely avant-garde logic, the Centre’s action mainly consists in not reducing Africa’s future to a simple calculation of probabilities but in anticipating eventualities and building it with the means at its disposal. This is the least mutilating scenario for us and it is imperative that the whole of Africa adhere to it, because no one will do the job for us!
Beaugrain Doumongue
Coordinator of the CAVIE Clubs
