Equity treads where angels won't

Early analysts of Africa probably experienced their first encounter with the African continent through Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Many decades later, Michela Wrong was to do a sequel in the in the book entitled In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz.

Honoured and reviled in equal measure, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is many things to many people. It is the land where Mohamed Ali and George Foreman staged Rumble in the Jungle. It is the birthplace of Franco Luambo, he of TPOK fame. These days you will still meet Fera Gola, Mbilia Bele, Kofi Olomide, the cast.

Not to be outdone, Kenyans have also decided to export something to DRC; banking. Equity Bank has just announced that its Pan African foray proper will be launched soon in what was formerly known as Zaire.

To be sure, our bad politics aside, you will be sure to meet Kenyan professionals in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Gaborone, Malabo, Lagos, New York, Kampala, Lagos name it.

We are trailblazers in the service industry in particular. Outside of Geneva, tell me where else hoteliers are trained better than in Kenya. We have experts in health, power operation, tourism, IT, among others.

Now is the time to be genuinely patriotic. Patriotism has been described as the ability to look outward in the same direction.

James Mwangi believes that the best way to establish peace and lasting development in Congo is by providing hope to its citizens. People must find a reason and purpose, however mundane, to live for. A proper study of the problems of eastern DRC – Kivu Region – will reveal that besides the pent up anger over the murder of their son Patrice Lumumba, primarily their grievances are rooted in lack of opportunities and viable means of sustenance.

This is Africa’s curse. Tom Mboya called it The challenge of Nationhood in his water shed post – independence essays. Africa must find inclusive, bottom up development models. As we keep busy with malls, highways and ports; we must spare a thought for the farmer, he who picks the hoe , armed with faith and residual dignity. We must think about the shopkeeper, the doctor in his rural clinic. We must re–imagine Africa without losing sight of the attendant realities. Africa may one day be a huge gated community. One day. Equity will roll out its financial literacy programme (Fika) to spread the magic and ethos that has made it a runway success in Kenya.

As job opportunities contract, we must make Kenya a conceptual rather than a territorial entity. Let us borrow from the Chinese. The Chinese Diaspora is roughly the entire population of France. They migrate as they follow Chinese investments around the world. Besides, we must for once genuinely enter into the realm of conquest through sheer knowledge and smarts. The British Empire was once the kingdom where the sun never set because of the then pre–eminence of Whitehall.

When the whole world is ours to grab, we will not mind school playing fields and any available public space. We will stop looking at Kenya as the only space to scramble over. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jack Ma, Donald Trump, all these people exude power and control more territory than Alexander The Great ever did.

They command the affection, imagination and loyalty of more individuals than do Barrack Obama and the Queen of England combined. Building Brand Kenya must take more than rhetoric and better understanding of the Kenyan dream.

The founders of Equity Bank dared to dream, then went around the world to shop for the best talent to deliver that dream. They started small. They were insignificant. Insolvent even. But the dream and fight inside the cat is what mattered.

That is the Kenyan dream. It is the cocky hope and perseverance of the roadside seller. The unforgiving determination of the slum dweller.

It is the ambition, at once laughable and admirable of all those who carry the weight of Kenya and Africa on their tiny emaciated shoulders to prop up the strong of Africa Rising. When that story is finally in, Equity Bank, its millions of customers who are the true owners of the Kenyan dream, must be immortalised therein.