Building competitive advantage in fast moving markets
Little else can be as visually emblematic of India’s global stature as was the confidently lavish manner in which it last played host to President Barack Obama for its Republic Day festivities. It was hard to miss the bonhomie between the two statesmen, their richly symbolic garden tea session illustrating how the son of a tea vendor and the grandson of a cook rode on the promise of their respective countries to lead it or that Prime Minister Narendra Modi often lapsed into referencing his visitor as “Barack”, it certainly aided positive perceptions of him as one who has positioned India to being a strategic partner of the United States. Preceding all of these was Mr. Modi’s spectacularly successful reception by US based Indians at the Madison Square Garden in New York last September. Yet, for all the photo-ops and lofty declarations, it is necessary to dig deeper in the aftermath to enquire, what next? How does this visit aid or reinforce India’s standing in the world? More importantly, I argue that more nuance is needed, especially to appreciate that, in a counterintuitive manner, Africa offers as much gravitas to India into the future. India must be admired among the countries of the global ‘south’ for the depth of its relationship with the United States but that alone, is insufficient to seal India’s international credentials. The apparent absence of any discernible African foreign policy thrust by Mr. Modi suspends the significant benefits, the relationship portends for both sides.
Arguably, Mr. Obama’s visit tapped into a perceptible wish by India to be taken as an equal by the Americans – not an altogether misplaced wish. Lest it gets in the way, realpolitik compelled the convenient omission, during the visit, of a recent diplomatic spat between both counties. At a wider level, it appears the wish speaks to an aspiration to rise above the often bloody mayhem in the neighborhood which India inhabits; a wish to be different and accepted on its own terms, as a responsible member of the global community. These are perfectly legitimate and India cannot be denied its fare. With its rich heritage, it is easy to imagine India recognized as a distinctive contributor to the evolving stream of global civilization, at par with others. India was already a member of Jim O’Neil’s BRICS and for all of the memorable optics which that presidential visit offered, the lasting votaries of a global India are, unsurprisingly enough, non- governmental sectors: healthcare and pharmaceuticals, indigenous educational and scientific advancement, information technology, light industry and of course, its ubiquitous Bollywood. In the period ahead, there is likely to be an increasing expectation on India to match its aspirations with its reality and on the African front, India appears often understated: there aren’t enough Indian embassies in Africa and that matters. In all but some sectors, it appears India is playing catch up to its outsized neighbor in venturing into Africa. Why should any of these or Africa matter? Well, the price or burden of leadership for starters.
Who to resemble
The fact of the matter is that, in years to come, the development of African countries is most unlikely to resemble those of the United States, EU countries or China for that matter. A harder stare at the stars suggests they are more likely to mirror the growth trajectory of India. African countries and India share similarities too hard to ignore: mutual colonial experiences and the difficulties of post-independence nation building.
Take Nigeria for example, it has had – and still has – a serial ability to generate bad copy and misgovern itself. Paradoxically, it is Africa’s biggest economy; home to a sizeable Indian Diaspora going back over a century and tellingly, India recently displaced the US to become Nigeria’s biggest trading partner. It will be hasty to dismiss it on account of its problems, even as it possesses a potential to overcome. That potential, in various guises, is spread across the continent, lurking beneath the stereotypical gloomy headlines. Nigeria’s relatively peaceful general elections for instance and the deepening effect of its democracy have reinforced its leadership credentials in Africa. Prior to 1991, it would have been a remarkable leap of prescience to forecast that India would wean itself of the License Raj and be transformed into the economic behemoth its’ become; all within living memory. Has India branded itself enough to be a model for those starting from where it commenced? The jury may still be out, but it is hardly arguable that the audience to benefit from sharing in India’s post-colonial experiences is scarcely in the US or Europe but the countries of Asia and Africa.
Missed Ebola
Although India proffered significant financial and material assistance to combat Ebola, it is a barely mentioned fact. We must therefore rue what appears to be a missed opportunity for India regarding the Ebola crises in West Africa. At its intense height, there were justifiable fears of the ravaging impact and spread of the virus. There was a global scramble to assist, even from as far afield as Cuba and Venezuela and somehow, India generated no memorable mention in that list. To be sure, India was not the only notable country which did not feature but then, not every one of such other notable absentees necessarily has the same global leadership aspirations as India. Again, the price and burden of leadership at work. As I was subsequently informed by a senior Indian gentleman of my acquaintance and who is in a position to know, India had indeed rendered substantial assistance against the virus. The assistance, it emerged, included a financial contribution to the UN Trust Fund for Ebola and the donation of protective gear and medical supplies to the worst affected countries. Apparently, there were plans to possibly deploy Indian medical teams just as there are also medical training programmes through ITEC and soft loans to strengthen the health care sector of those countries. For all of these commendable acts, it is nevertheless mystifying why the news of these initiatives seemed intended to remain a secret; on the other hand, countries who made less contributions to India, stirred a media cacophony to demonstrate how responsive they were. Perhaps, the traditional Indian preference for a discreet act of charity is at play here, but in today’s world, where the most intimate act is garnished to be tweet-worthy, mustn’t some of the old, give way to the new? The space in which countries seek to exercise global leadership straddles both the traditional and emerging areas of our ecosystems and the creative use of a national advantage is strategic. India has consistently advertised its healthcare and pharmaceutical prowess (Indian hospitals are, after all, the major destination for African patients) and the Ebola incident was a golden opportunity to have optimally demonstrated leadership. Nigeria for its part showed remarkable leadership on Ebola and while the crises is certainly not over, it is no more being reported by the media in the near apocalyptic tone of a few short months ago; an appropriate time therefore to collate the valuable lessons so far learnt and diffuse knowledge from this tragic episode? Few countries can, ordinarily, be as qualified to take the lead on that as India and of course, Nigeria.
Of ideas and services
No matter how it is viewed, Africa must continue to matter concretely to India now and into the future. It is not accidental that counties and groups as disparate as the US,
France, Turkey, Brazil, China, South Korea, Japan and the EU periodically convene
No matter how it is viewed, Africa must continue to matter concretely to India now and into the future. It is not accidental that counties and groups as disparate as the US, France, Turkey, Brazil, China, South Korea, Japan and the EU periodically convene African themed summits. If for no other, India cannot be indifferent to this trend and to its credit, it does have a track record on this albeit, so much more energy and creativity is required. The forthcoming 2015 edition of the India Africa Business Partnership Summit in November 2015 must therefore be framed around an agenda that seeks to leverage and build on mutual needs, advantages and competencies of India on the one hand and Africa on the other. Relatedly, the inevitable change to the composition of the UN Security Council to possibly admit India must see it resting on its store of cultivated goodwill in Africa’s 54 countries and it is not an irrelevant fact that India’s other outsized neighbour is, arguably, ahead with a much larger investment footprint on the African continent. Interestingly, this was not always so, until 1999, India’s trade with Africa trumped that of any other Asian country. The occasional wonder is why, with all its pluses, India appears not to be lending enough of its soft power to drive its presence in Africa. It cannot plausibly be content to be punching below its obvious weight. Why for instance, isn’t there a more obvious synergy being built between Bollywood and the movie industry on the continent? Elsewhere, the presence of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in Africa is, regrettably, too small to properly anchor, presumably, what India has to offer the continent. The reported statement of Mahatma Gandhi that the “commerce between India and Africa will be of ideas and services” remains strikingly correct and indicative of how the contours of the relationship may evolve in the period ahead. Indians have long been woven into the fabric of Africa and howsoever India matures into a major power, the times call for more, not less, interface between it and Africa.
Kunle Ajagbe
Kunle Ajagbe is a Partner with Perchstone & Graeys, Lagos.
An edited version of this article was published in the April 2015 edition of Business Digest of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).