New Vision of Development for the D.R. Congo

8/14/2019 New Vision of Development for the D.R. Congo

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HOW TO INVEST EFFICIENTLY IN D.R. CONGO

LE PYTHAGORELE PYTHAGORELE PYTHAGORELE PYTHAGORE


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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: CONTEXT OF THE PRESENT DR Congo

I.1 Social.6

I.2 Health6

I.3 Education ..7

I.4 Training...8

I.5 Economy.8

I.6 Technology9I.7 Culture.9

SECOND PART: PRESENTATION OF SOME HINTS OF DEVELOPMENT

II.1 Processing Unit11

1.1 Introduction 11

1.2 Operation of processing units 11

1.3 Interest and profits 12

1.4 Benefits to the population ..13

II.2 Construction urbanized rural towns ..13

2.1 Introduction 13

2.2 Presentation of the project .13

2.3 Interest and profits 14


II.3 Information Technology and Communication 15

3.1 Introduction ..15

3.2 Project Presentation 15

3.3 Interest and profits ..16


PART THREE: OBSTACLES AND SOLUTIONS

Table of obstacles and solutions ...18

CONCLUSION


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FORWARD

This book is primarily designed to introduce men and women willing to help out

of poverty permanently DR Congo in particular and Africa in general, a tool that will enablethem to achieve, on ground, conditions for sustainable economic development.

This contribution will not be more assistance, as before, but rather to develop

profitable economic relations between the both parts: donors as investors and Congolese

and Africans in general as a profitable market. The relations should be developed along the

lines oftype "win-win": the investor must get a profit and the Congolese and Africans too.

The authors of this e-book have at least 2 or 3 pilot projects from the solutions

they developed in this work to prove to the World that this new vision of development isfeasible.

A pilot project includes a processing unit of agro-pastoral products, a rural

urbanized city, services based on ICT (Information and Communication Technology). It is true

that it will take up hundreds of processing units and rural urbanized cities to the DR Congo

only and certainly thousands in Africa. This work will be done by hundreds even thousands

of men and women animated by the desire to develop Africa in general and essentially DR

Congo.

The authors therefore call today to anyone who wishes to join this new vision for

the development of Africa in order to out it from poverty and underdevelopment. These

people will no longer be donors to African countries, but direct actors-investors in the

African market by recovering the amount invested as well as profits.

To out the DR Congo from the abyss of poverty and underdevelopment, a group

of Congolese intellectuals met to exchange ideas on the subject in order to find the best way

possible. Ultimately, they came to the conclusion that an attempt to development that

ignores the peasant in rural areas cannot succeed.

It requires that the peasant is able to produce and sell his production to obtain

purchasing power which makes him an actor on the market of his country. Moreover, taking

into account the high number of peasants in the country, to make them productive would

reduce considerably the food crisis and would increase seriously the GDP of the country.


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It was thus decided to create a platform of exchange of ideas to study, analyze

and look further into this subject as a whole in order to bring adequate solutions there. This

platform was called "LE PYTHAGORE". It is about an A.S.B.L. for the promotion of Science

and new technologies like means of development for the R.D. Congo and even for Africa.

"LE PYTHAGORE" is also a research and consulting firm that analyzes the various

projects proposed by entrepreneurs, even the young ones. The latter have many projects

which die for lack of means of financing and managing staff. If these projects are acceptable,

"LE PYTHAGORE" puts the entrepreneur in touch with potential investors. "LE PYTHAGORE"

also organizes conferences and seminars to allow the Congolese to open their minds to the

immense potentialities offered by the World today.

"LE PYTHAGORE aims also the improvement of the quality and the level of

teaching by the creation of a favorable framework to stimulate the teachers, the pupils, thestudents and all the actors working in the field of education, search and the

entrepreneurship.

The vision of the authors is not exhaustive; it is why this work presents only

some hints of solutions. The interested reader will be able to bring his ideas compared to

realities he already knows and those which he will find by reading this book.

An interested reader who would like to support the authors or just to contact

them can use this address: [email protected]


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GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Since the advent of independence, Western countries have greatly helped Africa

to its development. But so far, this aid has not delivered the expected results. Poor countries

have become even more indebted because they have received aid - loans which have not

improved the daily lives of their citizens.

So far, the relationship between developed and underdeveloped countries is still

based on this vision of using a rich to a poor: the underdeveloped country presented the

World as poor countries unable to produce by its own force an unspecified wealth.

But the development of DR Congo is not a myth. This development has alwaysbeen possible but was lacking until today a pragmatic vision to create conditions for a real

sustainable development.

"Give me a fish and Ill eat tomorrow, teach me to fish and I will never hunger".

This proverb fits the pragmatic view that the authors had to achieve the true development

of the D.R. Congo.

Humanitarian aid is important but do not really contribute to the integral

development of people who receive them. Indeed, it makes possible to improve for a timethe living conditions of these populations without being, in themselves, driving factors of

development. To dig a well for a village makes an improvement of living conditions but not a

real development.

This is why, after analyses and multiple investigations, the authors realized that

the only possible way is to put the peasants of the country at work so that they become

really productive by assisting them in their various operations of production:

to place at their disposal agronomists and veterinarians to advise them andassist them in the agricultural and livestock works;

to provide them an attractive and urbanized environment with all thecomforts so that they can accept their living environment;

to provide them new information and communications technologies so thatthey can open completely in the World.

This book is divided in three parts:


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The first part presents the context of the DR Congo in the social, educational,

vocational training, cultural, economic and technological development. It develops, without

being exhaustive, problems and difficulties faced by the Congolese in their daily lives.

The second part presents various solutions to remove the DR Congo of povertyand underdevelopment. It shows that sustainable development can only come from the

development of rural areas, i.e. in the hinterland as a whole by promoting agro-pastoral

activities, by establishing small enterprises processing agro-pastoral products and improving

the quality of life in the countryside.

The third part, however, presents obstacles that investors may encounter and

some solutions for them. As for about 3 years, the Congolese government endeavors to

establish a framework conducive to investments, this section also presents some openings

that might push investors to look to areas other than those presented in the second part.


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Part I: CONTEXT OF THE CURRENT R. D. CONGO

In light of macroeconomic data, the Congolese lives miserably and is facing many

difficulties in his daily life. Most economic indicators show that the average Congolese live

under the poverty line.

The situations presented in this section aim to show the different areas in which

the Congolese had some difficulties. This will enable potential investors to target areas that

may be useful for the development of D.R. Congo.

I.1Social

The average Congolese despite his many degrees does not find structures in his

country that guaranteed his daily life. The unemployment rate is incalculable because too

high. There are no jobs and when they are available, the salary is not guaranteed and is

often inadequate. As a result, active Congolese people encounter in their lives the following

problems:

irregularity and even not payment of the wages; lack of effective trade-union organization; lack of direct access to the advantages related to the social security; difficult access to loans in order to undertake commercial activities; growth of the number of children of street because given up by their parents

who are without resources;

children work to support the insufficient family budget.I.2Health

The majority of Congolese people do not have access, in urban areas, to

appropriate medical care and even less in rural areas. The medical staff is not motivated and,

for the most part, lacks the necessary qualifications to practice this profession because of

gaps accumulated during their formation. The conscientious medical staff encounters

several difficulties such as:

outdated medical equipment; lack of means to keep the medical installations in a state of cleanliness and

hygiene required;


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the irregularity in the provision of the electric power and drinking water in thehospitals;

insignificant wages; etc.These problems make that the medical staff does not know how to take care of

poor patients. Hence, many Congolese people die at the entry of hospitals for lack of care.

And, as the drugs are expensive, the average Congolese is looking increasingly to traditional

medicine cheaper but less secure.

D.R. Congo is at the mercy of various epidemics such as swine influenza or bird

flu because of the lack of an effective public health monitoring. In addition, it is to deplore

the glaring inadequacy of health centers in urban and rural areas.

I.3Education

The base that guarantees the development of society and even of a country is

education. In our country education is declining because for years the quality of education is

increasingly discount the fact that teachers are poorly paid or not. As a result, so they give

their lessons very badly and are easily corrupted by their students. Thus the latter pass to

the higher class without having the required level. And as this situation lasts for several

years, the current teachers do not have any more, in general, the level recommended to

practice. Even though the teacher would have the will, he encounters many difficulties that

prevented his from doing his job.

The difficulties encountered by teachers in their work are:

obligation to walk to get to his work place, regardless the distance and theweather, by lack of the transport charges;

lack of handbooks and the didactic hardware required to ensure a good baseof education to his pupils;

over-populated classrooms not allowing him a correct monitoring of hispupils;

poor wages which remove enthusiasm and support corruption;The difficulties encountered by the pupil to study are:

difficulties in paying the tuition fees by the parents;


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obligation to walk to get to the school regardless distance and the weathersome either time especially in rural areas where transport is non-existent;

over-populated classrooms with an insufficient number of the benches andsometimes missing roof;

lack of textbooks for pupils and when one finds some, their prices make theminaccessible to the majority pupils;

lack of library in the schools, which does not give to the pupil the taste of thereading and search;

lack of follow-up of the children by their parents because too much occupiedseeking money.

Thus, children do not read and therefore do not have access to knowledge.

Although this problem is universal, the Congolese children do not feel the need to read,

write or learn because their entourage does not push him to do it.

The data to which the teachers as well as the pupils have access nevertheless are

not up to date, which further increases deficiency in the level of knowledge.

I.4VocationalTrainingThe gaps that we have listed in item above also exist in the vocational training

centers. Thus the student who comes out of these centers has neither the expertise nor the

qualification required for the job that the diploma obtained grants to him.

The reasons of this under-qualification are:

the lack of didactic hardware and those existing are decayed; repercussion of the gaps of the professors to the students; the corruption of the teachers by the students to pass to the higher level and

even to obtain their diplomas.

On the basis of the low level of training and gaps in teaching, D.R. Congo is

unable to provide on the job market a skilled workforce to international standards.

I.5EconomyThe economic crisis in DR Congo did not wait for the global economic crisis to

occur. Indeed, the Congolese people are living in a permanent economic crisis.


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A country that wants to have a stable economy should have a consistent

production and its workforce must have the purchasing power to allow a high internal

consumption. However, in D.R. Congo, there is no production and about 80% of the

population is without real job and therefore has no purchasing power. This deficiency leads

to the following consequences:

exploitation of minors in any kind of work to contribute in the budget of thefamily;

the increasingly recurring violence caused by poverty and unemployment; a very marked rural migration which causes the creation of slums because the

peasant flees misery in the campaigns

an increased development of the black market and piracy.The Congolese people are living day to day thanks to small businesses that allow

them to survive but not to change.

From the foregoing, we must conclude that the D.R. Congo does not produce

anything in foodstuffs, for internal consumption and in manufactured goods. There is no

export to create a commercial balance with the imported products. In products of first

needs, the D.R. Congo depends completely on outside.

I.6TechnologyThe only technology now integrated into the lives of Congolese people is the

mobile phone. Fixed phones and fax services are practically non-existent. The services

offered in the use of the Internet are totally ignored by the majority of the population. Those

who frequent Internet cafes are there in general and for their mailboxes and ignore the

capacities of this powerful tool.

The high price of internet browsing does not allow the Congolese people to surf

and takes away the desire to discover, integrate social networks and even work online.

Attendance cybercafs/internet caf is also very limited due to their rates.

I.7 CultureIt is mainly because of its culture that Africa stagnates in the

underdevelopment.


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The African culture with its habits, its rites, its ceremonies and its traditions does

not have in itself any base for an economic development. Alienation in the rites and habits

prevents the individual from having initiatives to develop.

Even intellectuals trained on the spot or abroad lose their spirit of initiative and

progress when they work in their territories of origin. Unfortunately, alienation with the

tribes and the traditions pushes the individuals to be gathered in homogeneous group by

rejecting the others what is the source of marked mental underdevelopment.

Therefore accept the idea of economic development in the African culture is

utopian. And perpetuate a culture in isolation is a sign of underdevelopment.

It is necessary that a culture opens with the others so that it tends towards anevolution.

The veneration of the "head" in the African culture has led to all kinds of abuse

as the dictatorship in political terms. And regards to the social aspects this "veneration"

prevents the African to assert his rights. It also pushes the head to place in strategic

positions, both in politics and at the enterprise level, the nationals of his clan and his tribe

who are often incompetent.

It is necessary that the D.R. Congo opens to the World so that Congolese peopleadhere to a modern culture in order to change their minds.


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PART II: PRESENTATION OF SOME HINTS OF DEVELOPMENT

Poverty is not a fate but a state of mind which should be fought. In the case of D.R.

Congo, Congolese people must mobilize their intellectual and physical energies to design,

build and begin to out their country of the state of poverty. The average Congolese, who is in

contact with the World, must refer to the development of other countries to find ways and

means to develop his own.

Here are some hints that the authors give for the sustainable development of the

D.R. Congo.

II.1 Processing units of agro-pastoral productsThe first hint that the authors propose is to create a new relationship between

the active rural population and the businessmen eager to invest in the rural areas. To do

this, they will have to create on the spot processing units of agro-pastoral products. The

relation of these activities will be based on the type of "win-win": businessmen must find

their interests and peasants too.

1.1 Introduction

In spite of its poverty, the D.R. Congo abounds in human, agricultural andlivestock potentialities. Indeed, the R.D. Congo counts in its surface of 2,345,221 sq. Km

approximately arable land 70% suitable for agriculture and the livestock.

During the colonial period, rural labor Congolese allowed Belgium to gain great

wealth through the exploitation of the fields of hva for the rubber, cotton for fabrics,

cocoa, coffee, peanuts, palm oil and oil cabbage tree.

This labor still exists today in rural areas but is totally ignored and neglected

because it is composed for the most part by illiterate.

1.2Operation of processing unitsThe investor set up to rural areas processing units of agro-pastoral products

bought from peasants living around these units. These units transform the gross products

into marketable finished products. Peasants will sell to these units, for example, the

following products: peanut, soybean, maize, cassava and livestock products.


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The marketable finished products are, for example:

for agricultural products: peanut oil, peanut paste, soybean oil, soy butter,maize flour, starch made from cassava, cassava flour, the palm oil, etc.

for livestock products: butchery, pork-butchery, dairy, canned food, etc. cosmetics and pharmacology products.

1.3 Interest and profitsAs we said earlier, the relation will be based on the type of"win-win":

a. For the peasant:

guarantee to sell all his products regularly; guarantee of a stable and permanent payment; suppression of storage and transport problems of his products; increase in purchasing power; reducing the need to migrate to cities.

b. For the investor: certainty to have products to treat; purchase of the gross products at low prices because they are bought on the

spot;

his first customers are the peasant families who now have a purchasingpower;

easy to sell finished products in the city because they are better conditioned.For example, 100 kg of peanuts, which grown on one hectare, producing a

harvest of 1000Kg that the peasant sells at $ 0.30 / Kg to the processing unit. Thus the

peasant made a turnover of $ 270 ($ 30 being withdrawn for the purchase of seeds). Theinvestor, after treatment, removes 400 liters of oil / 1000Kg peanut kernels. The oil

produced will be sold at a price of $ 1 per liter, resulting in a gain of $ 400 while cakes, sold

in peanut paste at a cost of 1.5 $ / Kg, will bring in $ 900 for 600kg. In total the investor will

earn $ 1300 per ton of treated peanuts, in which will be subtracted purchases, taxes and

other charges.

NB: the annual production should not be less than 400,000 Kg for a profitable business. This

study is made for two peanut processes, which lasts for only 4 months in total. Between


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the two processes, the investor may deal with other crops such as maize, soybean,

cassava,...

1.4Benefits to the populationThe benefits that the Congolese people will earn with processing units installed

in rural areas are:

supply on the national market of the domestic food at low prices; reduction in the national market of imported products which are often

damaged and that the cost is always expensive;

job creation.II.2 Constructionurbanizedruraltowns

The second hint proposed by the authors is the construction of urbanized cities

in rural areas with a good level of comfort and a low selling price.

2.1 IntroductionThe peasants, in rural areas live in unspeakable conditions of habitat. His place of

living does not meet any standard of modern life:

lack of potable water; lack of electricity; lack of health center; lack of schools; lack of leisure; lack of communication; etc.However, the countryside is not only for the peasant and his family. It should

also allow the hosting of national and international tourists, scientists for various researches,inspiration for artists, merchants for business, entrepreneurs, etc. This environment must

also have adequate reception conditions to enable those who wished to settle there.

The project was designed to create attractive environments in rural areas to curb

rural-urban migration and to allow sustainable development of these environments.

2.2Presentation of the project

The project consists of building cities in rural areas. The cities will have:


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center of water treatment; production center of green electricity; sewage system for sanitation; processing center of rubbish; health center; schools; shopping center and market; space for leisure; administrative space: office administration, police, firefighters, postal

services;

spaces for houses of types A and B and homes.All these spaces and buildings will be separated by primary and secondary roads

according to international standards.

Apart, the spaces for the various buildings, those designed for the construction

of houses can accommodate about 100 to 200 homes of Type A and B combined.

The houses of type A will have 1 living-room, 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom(shower, sink and toilet) and 1 kitchen.

The houses of type B have the same parts as those of type A with thedifference that they have 2 bathrooms.

Homes and buildings will be built with local materials and with economic

construction technology to reduce costs.

2.3Interest and profitsa. For the peasant:

a durable and comfortable house at low cost of purchase; easy access to the education of children; easy access to medical care; access to piped water and electricity; offer of a commercial space nearby and with a wide diversity of products; opportunities to entertain easily near his home.

b. For the investor: interest on all buildings;


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monopoly of the sale of water and electricity; interest on each recycled products sold; sale of some wastes as manure to peasants.

2.4Benefits to the population sustainable development of rural areas; promotion of national and international tourism; acquisition of a flow of local products; creation of new jobs; migration of urban populations to rural areas which leads to reducing of

overpopulated cities;

decrease of unemployment and insecurity in cities; improvement in the percentage of schooling of children; improvement of hygiene, medical care leading to the overall health of the rural

population.

II.3Information Technology and CommunicationThe third option proposed by the authors is the creation of an Internet network

covering the whole country in order to make available to the rural population of the new

information technologies and communication at low cost.

3.1 IntroductionInformation and communication are virtually inaccessible to the majority of the

Congolese people as a result of the inadequate coverage of the country by the operators on

ground and the high cost of equipment and the subscription.

Lack of information is a form of poverty we must also fightbecause it keeps theuninformed person and even a whole country in a state of underdevelopment.

The number of Congolese urban and rural areas connected to the Internet is less than 0.5%

for the whole country. This opens many opportunities for investment in this area in the D.R.

Congo.

3.2 Project PresentationThis is for the operator to set up an Internet network covering the entire

Congolese territory in order to connect the Congolese to information and communication


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technologies.

Since the fiber optic link does not exist in the D.R. Congo, the operator must

create a network of VSAT to achieve complete national coverage. The dimensions of the

antenna and the bandwidth will be determined by the number of subscribers to be servedfor each city and urbanized rural center.

The distribution of Internet service by the operator, in cities and centers, will be

through a wireless network (Wi-Fi). This will have only one VSAT station by city and center.

The operator will also benefit from this system to install fixed telephone and fax services

which are almost non-existent throughout the country.

Most Congolese are not attracted by the Internet because they do not see and

do not know the benefits they can derive from it. That's why the operators cannot increasethe number of their subscribers easily. In this context, the authors propose some ideas to

make the Internet profitable for operators and Congolese people.

These ideas are:

creation of a PayPal like virtual bank adapted to the D.R. Congo; setting up a virtual platform marketing; web hosting at low cost; creation of jobs on the internet.

3.3 Interest and profitsa. For the customer:

internet services to low prices; acquisition of a new working tool; acquisition of a free account with a virtual bank that can be operated from

anywhere in the World;

ability to sell and purchase items easily; ability to send authentic documents by fax.

b. For the operator: obtaining a fully open market with a large number of subscribers; significant gain by the creation of the virtual bank and the virtual platform of

trading;


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additional revenue on the provision of fixed telephony and fax services; additional profits by web hosting.

3.4 Benefits to the population creation of a new form of work; opening of the whole country to the World; improved access of rural areas; knowledge of new opportunities for making money.

NB: the interested reader who would like to have more information to take part in therealization of the projects presented or to invest in an unspecified field in R.D. Congo

can contact the authors with the address: [email protected]


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Part III: OBSTACLES AND SOLUTIONS

The government seeks to establish a framework for any new investor to carry

out the project with fewer restrictions and hassles by:

launching the program "5 chantiers de la Rpublique", initiated by thePresident, which promotes education, health, employment, infrastructure and

energy;

the establishment, by the government, of the National Agency for thePromotion of Industry (ANAPI) which assists new investors to get their

documents easily and exemptions on the rights of entry of imported materials

even on taxes related to remuneration. ANAPI also allows the investor to get

tax cuts on incomes over a certain period (2 to 3 years) so that he can repaythe debts incurred to achieve his investment.

The authors also offer the services of the research and consulting firm "Le

Pythagore" for the various steps necessary to government and administrative offices.

Table of obstacles and solutions

Area obstacles solutions

Administrative Lack of enthusiasm by somenational administrative officials

in any project aimed at

developing rural areas;

Slowness in obtaining officialdocuments

Need to speak directly to theofficials governing territories

where will be carried out the

achievements of projects.

Infrastructures Lack of roads and decay of

existing ones;

Lack of access to electricity anddrinking water in several areas of

the country

To take place near existingroads, rehabilitate them where

its necessary and repair the

damaged bridges;

The investor shall plan in hisproject the production of

electricity and drinking water


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Security The country is relatively stableexcept in the eastern part of DR

Congo

Start by investing in areas withless territorial insecurity

through investigations to be

carried out by the research

and consulting firm;

Bring always means ofcommunication and transport

Cultural The tribalism hampers thedevelopment.

To the Congolese Diaspora,avoid investing in the territory

of origin


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CONCLUSION

In this book, the authors attempt to show the Congolese people and Africans in

general that they can become rich in their country and even in rural areas by using

intelligently their resources. They still want to show them that the West is not the only

possible place where they can make money.

The authors also want to show potential investors that its possible to invest in

D.R. Congo and Africa because they are capable of becoming a true market economy.

As presented in the solutions, the idea of the authors is to create hundreds and

even thousands processing units, urbanized rural cities connected to the World by ICT

(Communication and Information Technologies) in order to develop countryside of D.R.Congo and Africa.

According to the vision of the authors, the development begins with the peasant

by making him productive through the sale of his products. For this trade to be regular and

continuous, the idea is to set up units for the processing of his products to make finished

products sold by the investors. In doing so, the peasant earns purchasing power and the

investor get profits in the sale of finished products. Now that the peasant has a purchasing

power, he should be led to like his living place. To achieve this, he must be settled

comfortable conditions by building urbanized cities in rural areas responding to thestandards norms.

To prevent the peasant from stagnating in his culture and, therefore, in the

underdevelopment, it is necessary to give to him an opening to the World via the ICT.

The authors advise the use of renewable energy for energy requirements of

processing units and cities because green energy is also economic.

Documents

New Vision of Development for the D.R. Congo