Magatte Wade: Why it's too hard to start a business in Africa -- and how to change it
Magatte Wade: Perché è così difficile avviare un'impresa in Africa e come cambiare la situazione
Magatte Wade creates jobs in Africa -- and calls attention to the obstacles to job creation on the continent. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
is something that happened to me,
una cosa che mi è successa
weeks ago, it happened.
I would ever hear it said to my face
profondamente rattristato.
they filled it with so much hope.
mi hanno riempito di speranza.
renewed my commitment
ha rinnovato la mia fede
to share with you today.
condividere con voi oggi.
that I am a haunted person.
una persona tormentata.
gente come me
laying at the bottom of the ocean,
proprio ora, giace in fondo al mare,
that's the best we can do?
sia la nostra aspirazione?
who are trying to migrate to Europe --
a emigrare in Europa,
per cercare un lavoro,
to Europe to find a job.
when we're trying to cross through Libya
la Libia e siamo bloccati lì?
maybe sometimes 500 dollars.
of bodies that fall off an airplane.
di corpi che cadono dagli aerei.
the landing gear of a plane
nel carrello di atterraggio
from the moment you were a little girl,
come me se sin da bambini
and they keep repeating themselves,
as my people are dying,
culturalmente inferiori,
we have this culture inferiority,
da noi non va mai abbastanza bene.
that comes from us is not good enough.
by creating, it's Michelangelos.
in maniera costruttiva.
da me con un problema
come to me with problems
of a couple alternatives.
abbia pensato a qualcosa".
that you thought of something."
se una cosa non va, cerco di aggiustarla.
something is wrong, find a way to fix it.
di un certo tipo di affari,
the businesses that I start,
the very best of my African culture.
della mia cultura africana.
21st century, world-class tendered,
con tecniche all'avanguardia,
più sofisticati al mondo,
sophisticated markets in the world,
third one is launching next month,
la terza sarà lanciata il mese prossimo.
where they are, there's no jobs.
is the root cause of why they're leaving.
principale che li costringe ad andare via.
because they have no money.
because you have no source of income.
per le maggior parte di noi?
what is a source of income?
fonte di guadagno, ditemelo?
source of income, what is it, tell me?
si risolve con il lavoro,
and medium size enterprises, SMEs --
e medie imprese --
i piccoli imprenditori
for a small-business person
il rapporto Doing Business
at the Doing Business index ranking
it is to start a company,
it is literally impossible
letteralmente impossibile
in these countries of ours.
what it means on the ground
significa questo in pratica
facility in Senegal.
that I can't find in the country,
che non riesco a trovare nel paese,
di tasse di importazione?
on everything that comes in?
even to look for fine cardboard
una buona qualità di cartone
finito negli USA,
are not going to come here
di 3000 dollari di cartone in magazzino,
3000 dollars' worth of cardboard
so that I can have cardboard,
prima di cinque settimane.
for another five weeks.
with the most nonsensical laws out there.
gestire le imprese.
said to me words that marked me,
di una persona mi abbiano colpita,
to my employees in Senegal.
ai miei impiegati in Senegal.
si chiama Yahara.
her name is Yahara.
ero arrivata a credere,
because I had come to believe --
sempre come poveri,
represented as poor people --
yes, maybe we are inferior.
era vero che siamo inferiori.
in the begging situation?"
come ho fatto ora con voi,
just what I explained to you,
che non sono io il problema.
that I am not the problem.
that's my problem."
they now change their outlook on life.
atteggiamento nei confronti della vita.
of our solutions, then?
that we should be simplifying
che dovremmo semplificare
of all of these countries?
from the other 50 countries
delle altre 50 nazioni
facessero lo stesso.
to do the same thing.
faremo la nostra parte.
e voi cosa state facendo?
what are you doing?
lascio due consegne importanti.
everybody here in this room,
is educate yourself,
for e-government solutions.
how do we fight corruption?"
combattere la corruzione?
I'm here to tell you
by the stroke of a pen.
when and how to do that.
vi dica quando e come farlo.
senza dover aspettare nessuno,
for anyone to do, so do it.
that you want to fix corruption.
che volete abbattere la corruzione.
from the other 50 countries
per importare la merce nel paese,
to get my stuff in the country,
sarei costretta a pagare una tangente?
that I would have to go a pay a bribe?
orribili e insensate.
you don't need to wait for anyone.
vi manca l'autorità per farlo,
that maybe you have no sovereignty,
un altro problema.
I have simple words for our "leaders."
chiare per i nostri politici.
of millions of young people
di milioni di giovani
chiara nella vita,
and everything is good,
non ci si ostacola,
you get out of my way,
il proprio lavoro, crei posti di lavoro,
we create all these jobs we need,
this very prosperous country
che è destinato a essere,
it should have been for a long time.
da tanto tempo.
e andiamo avanti con le nostre vite,
we move on with our lives.
the calm, productive way.
pacifica e produttiva.
ever even try to think
se non scegliamo quella via.
if we don't go there.
happiness, human flourishing --
prosperità, felicità e sviluppo;
se facciamo il nostro lavoro.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Magatte Wade - Brand creatorMagatte Wade creates jobs in Africa -- and calls attention to the obstacles to job creation on the continent.
Why you should listen
Magatte Wade's first company, Adina World Beverages, brought Senegalese bissap to US consumers through Whole Foods Market, Wegmans and United Natural Foods, Inc. Her second company, Tiossan, brought Senegalese skin care recipes to US consumers through Nordstrom and boutique beauty retailers. Her third company, SkinIsSkin, manufactures lip balms based on Senegalese ingredients in Senegal and markets them in the US to reduce racial bias.
Based on her experiences creating consumer brands and building agricultural and manufacturing capacity in Senegal, Wade has spoken at dozens of universities including Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and MIT, among other, as well as at global conferences on innovation and economic development in France, Dubai, Guatemala, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and many more. She writes for the Huffington Post, Barron's, and the UK Guardian. She is a Young Global Leader with the World Economic Forum at Davos and has appeared on the cover of Forbes Afrique. She was also named one of the "Twenty Young Power Women of Africa" by Forbes US.
Magatte Wade | Speaker | TED.com