In life I have realized nations try to be different from others often making a wreck of their people’s lives. The way in which resources are distributed, processed and shared among the people have shaped nations into greatness or doom. Of particular interest is how most African nations once independent took different routes albeit to the same destination of chaos, poverty and corruption.
What has always been of interest to me in this scenario is how business relates with the government sector in an economy. In United States of America we read of Obama meeting with business leaders and recently Donald Trump met with executives in the technology sector. You would think that Trump summoned them to put them in line or specify what he wants, NO. He wants to hear from them, he wants to understand which policy direction to take. We are at the beginning of a technology led economic revolution worldwide, so for Trump this economic unit can determine where America will be in the next years.
The relationship between politics, people and business is an interesting one, the politician derives a mandate to lead from the people but does not have much understanding of the people, and the business is led by Entrepreneurs and must have a deep understanding of what the people want for it to survive or make a profit. So for a politician to understand what people want, he must ask the business people. This is what Trump is doing, in the company executives is a wealth of wisdom that will help catapult his mission to a success. Fortunately for Trump he is among familiar folks, he too is a business man turned politician.
We can deduce that a nation’s prosperity or downfall hinges on how relationships play out between people, politicians and business.
Even the campaign for United States presidency shows Hillary Clinton being financed by businesses and in turn listening to them for policy direction. We can rightly deduce that in America and most western nations, business people have a huge say in terms of how the nation is governed. We can look into history on the influence of the likes of Rothschild to determine economic direction of countries. The politicians follow the business and the business follows the market indicators which are in fact the people. This is a well-balanced equation since in the world information is power and the business people have a wealth of knowledge about people’s needs and wants. In the more prosperous nations we can see that Politics follows Business.
We can deduce that a nation’s prosperity or downfall hinges on how relationships play out between people, politicians and business. I’m yet to read a book regarding this relationship especially as far as business and politics is concerned. We were raised to believe that politicians are more powerful than everyone in the land but observing most successful nations it doesn’t appear so. Great Britain was built upon the work of business people exploring the world and conquering on behalf of their motherland. We know the likes of Cecil John Rhodes as colonist but he was a business man and a successful one for his time, read about him with the eyes of an entrepreneur, and died only 48 but the wealth he created for Great Britain lasts to this day.
In concluding this first part we have seen how great nations see business as a strategic ally to help shape the policies and patriotic programs. The next instalment we put the situation in nations where business follows politics under the microscope. We will see if there are lessons to learn and adjustments to be made.
The views expressed in this blog post are the independent opinions of the writer and do not reflect any company policy or position of Savanna Investment Group (Pty)Ltd