One Dream Two Roads: Haile Gebrselassie and the BJ-50

  

 

 

Today, 15^th August is a memorable day for two populous nations of the world.

India which achieved independence on this day in 1947 after ending nearly 200 years of British rule.

The DRC on the other hand, also gained independence from French rule on this day in 1960.

India which is one of Asia’s most populous nations with over 1 billion people, has gone ahead to become a global power and an economic giant in many ways.

India’s technology, healthcare, and automotive industries have helped to spur its growth over the years. 

Its labour market has also provided a relatively cheap workforce to the globe with most nations like the US and UK exporting jobs online to India.

The DRC, however, seems to be embroiled in a never-ending conflict and political upheavals the last 60 years.

With its vast resources of oil, diamonds, copper, cobalt, coltan and gold, the country should have been a towering giant in the African continent by now!

On the contrary, the DRC has some of the worst roads in Africa with most of its major cities inaccessible by road. 

Some analysts say that the conflict in the DRC over the years is a smokescreen by some Western powers who sponsor militia to cause instability as they plunder the country’s wealth.

Coming closer home though, Ethiopia is making headlines ever so frequently with giant leaps in technology, huge water projects like the Renaissance Dam, and just a few weeks ago the launch of a fully electric car.

The Hyundai Ioniq is an all-electric car produced by Marathon Motor Engineering; a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Company and Olympic Champion Haile Gebrselassie.

These leaps in technology should inspire us to desire a better life for ourselves and future generations.

Kenya for instance has the opportunity to get on the gravy train and reap its fair share of growth.

A few months ago however, when the BJ-50 stepped on the runway, she was booed and despised for her looks. Yet she carries dreams of a new dawn in the Kenyan automobile industry.

She may have started out really rugged and an unkempt but am sure that in the minds of her makers, she represented that first step to a big dream.

The BJ-50 car which is produced by Sagak Autotech retails for KSH 450,000 and has a capacity to carry 7 passengers.

After the BJ-50 made the headlines, the government through the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency  announced a partnership with Sagak Autotech to mass produce the car.

This news sparked of a harsh debate on social media with many Kenyans saying the new invention was overpriced and some saying the car was not pleasing to the eye aesthetically.

However, we must first give credit to Sagak Autotech for reviving Kenya’s dreams towards industrial revolution. They have dared to try where the government failed even with its vast resources with the collapsed Nyayo Car project.

And perhaps there’s a lesson to learn from Ethiopia in this case.  A good partnership deal with an established automobile company can spur exponential growth for the auto industry in Kenya.

For a long time, Kenya and Africa in general have depended on foreign aid and assistance to meet our recurrent expenditure and development needs.

It’s now time to partner with multinational corporations in technical fields so that we can ingest that technical know-how into our workforce.

Ghana for instance has now banned the importation of salvaged vehicles from October 2020 to encourage the growth of the local assembly industry.

Through a proactive Automotive Development Policy, this has seen companies like VW set up an assembly plant in Accra to take advantage of the opportunity while Toyota and Nissan are set to open up plants later in the year.    

The BJ-50 may not look like your ideal, posh, and luxurious ride, but in it is a seed to a great dream.

Let’s borrow a leaf from Haile Gebrselassie and build partnerships that will not only create jobs but also build technical capacity to enable a strong auto industry that can spur economic growth.

Let’s also believe in ourselves, in our ability to do more, to create wealth and to provide solutions to the world.

Our greatest resource thus far remains unexploited. It is our ability to create and invent new technologies that will offer solutions to other nations and keep us above the water from foreign debt. 

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