Africa Needs to Make Conservation a Growth Industry

Conservation is a vast topic, and it can often slide into abstraction. With the escalating, urgent crises of the world, some of the slower-burn existential issues can slide out of the news cycle. But it's vitally important. Michael Lorentz, a private safari guide, told me that with the pace of Africa’s population growth, if nothing changes and leaders do not create new forms of African-centric solutions, it will ultimately be futile — "Like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." The dangers to wildlife are well-publicized. Poaching represents a profitable trade, especially in impoverished communities. There’s also the short-term economic benefit of forestry and selling off materials for profit. Illicit ivory trade bankrolls guerrilla armies and their weapons. As the population grows, there’s more demand domestically for items derived from natural resources, along with new trade relationships externally with other ravenous goods importers around the world. The short-term benefits of exploiting these resources are real. The most relevant — and existential — question here is this: How do we turn conservation into a growth industry? Fred Swaniker, founder of African Leadership University (ALU) and a former McKinsey consultant and Stanford MBA, has been looking at how a new wave of African entrepreneurs and busin