To develop Africa means to upgrade its producers: to transform the informal, subsistence small businesses carrying out the big percentage of African production into big formal commercial business organizations. To accomplish this, technology upgrades, product improvement upgrades, capital investment upgrades, business organization upgrades, business management upgrades and business operation upgrades that suite the target production sector must be properly coordinated and simultaneously executed. Providing one kind of upgrade or a number of uncoordinated upgrades will just keep Africa undeveloped despite the billions of aid spent.
A country’s production has numerous sectors and sub sectors and in developed countries, almost all these are modernized. In undeveloped countries like Uganda only a few sectors are developed or semi developed. As a result most of the production in the country has to be done with traditional undeveloped means. Instead of using the modern ways to produce like use of machines, new knowledge, innovations, factories, industries, companies, brands and others, Africa still largely relies on outdated ways run by subsistence producers and small business producers.
Africa would be developed if these informal local businesses that carry out most of the production were formal big companies. This is why to develop Africa means to upgrade the informal small businesses making up the big percentage of production into big formal business organizations. Only then would Africa transform, income levels improve, improved cheaper products/services be created and made affordable enough to change livelihoods removing the persistent African problems of poverty, hunger, disease and others.
Such a modernization process however requires doing a number of upgrades at the same time: To provide to the local producers modern operating knowledge, provide technology upgrades, product value addition upgrades, guide producers in product development, increase investment in their enterprises, organize the producers in a proper business organization, enable them to carry out improved business management, enable the local producers to improve business operation for increased profitability and to turn them into a company that keeps doing all the steps automatically.
The efforts of the current modernizers and aid programs unfortunately focus on a few of the needed upgrades . These upgrades cannot be sustained without the other needed upgrades and they soon fail. lack of sustained modernization of production despite all the trials keeps keeps African communities.
Apgrade Center strives to break out of this trap of underdevelopment by using the complete upgrade effort and providing simultaneously, all the needed upgrades under its project adapters that turn local producers into owners of modern startups.To transform local businesses Apgrade Center will provide a combination of improved green technology, improved product development, increased capital investment, improved business organization, improved business management and improved business operation. Upgrades in these areas are essential to production modernization because:-
- Improved machines and improved green production techniques must be used by local producers (traditional businesses) to make their production efficient, easier, and cheaper.
- More products, new products, cheaper products of higher value must be produced and afforded by the local population to keep the market sustainable enough to allow continued modernized production. Normally after modernization of a production sector only elites can afford the improved products without the masses, the modern products lose the needed market and modernization fails. This feat can only be accomplished when all the upgrades on this list are present.
- The businesses must be organized to allow investment, raising of capital from different sources and to enforce better business operation. The current local, informal traditional businesses making up the sectors of production have to be in some way turned into formal companies, start-ups and organizations for this purpose
- Improved business operation must be adopted with world class business strategies and behavior essential for business success, such include better leadership, improved business models, marketing models, new products new standards, branding, marketing, outsourcing, advertising etc.
- Improved business management has to be adopted and people with modern skills and knowledge finally allowed to take part in most of African production. Most production in Africa is done by the unskilled because the skilled only focus on the few developed sectors of production. Because most of production has not developed enough to provide attractive occupation to the skilled. This can only be changed when when all the upgrades on this list are present.
- Capital is needed to develop or buy improved technology, carry out proper organization and implement proper business operation. More capital has to be raised easily, properly invested and used to fund all the other required upgrades. The producers’ capital raising and usage capabilities had to be improved.
The Complete Upgrade Effort 