Ep 215 | African Entrepreneur SLAMS 'Do-Good' Snobs Making Poverty Worse | The Glenn Beck Podcast

At Sephora, we belong to something beautiful.

That includes one of Sephora's exclusive brands, House Labs, founded by the legendary Lady Gaga.

House Labs' viral and best-selling Triclone Skin Tech Foundation and Concealer both give medium coverage, visibly blur for a natural finish, and star fermented Artica to reduce redness.

The textures are weightless and smooth, so you can feel beautiful in your skin all day, every day.

Shop House Labs by Lady Gaga, only at Sephora.

We belong to something beautiful.

And now, a Blaze Media Podcast.

A few years ago, my next guest sat down with Dr.

Jordan Peterson and finally gave a good answer to the question: do black lives actually matter?

I don't mean in the virtue signaling sort of way, you know, everybody post a black square of Facebook and Instagram.

Yeah, that's not.

I mean, do they really matter?

Do we actually care?

By 2050, 25% of the world's population will be African.

That's a lot of black lives we should care about.

But instead, most philanthropists avoid the solution that could actually lift Africa out of poverty.

Capitalism.

No more toxic foreign aid.

Even Bono gets this now.

No more raising money off of pictures of helplessly poor Africans.

No matter what the socialists say, the most effective way to end poverty is to free the the market.

My next guest today has a plan to make that happen.

Please welcome amazing entrepreneur and prosperity activist Magat Wade.

Charlie Sheen is an icon of decadence.

I lit the fuse and my life turns into everything it wasn't supposed to be.

He's going the distance.

He was the highest paid TV star of all time.

When it started to change, it was quick.

He kept saying, no, no, no, I'm in the hospital now, but next week I'll be ready for the show.

Now, Charlie's sober.

He's going to tell you the truth.

How do I present this with any class?

I think we're past that, Charlie.

We're past that, yeah.

Somebody call action.

Aka Charlie Sheen, only on Netflix, September 10th.

You imagine the number of African Americans that have died

because

of abortion.

We have a spiritual and moral mandate as citizens of this country and as Christians.

That mandate is to bring about profound change when it comes to abortion.

It's a long process and it didn't end with the striking down of Roe versus Wade.

It really just began there.

The Ministry of Pre-Born is working on this every single day by introducing an expecting mom to her unborn baby through a free ultrasound.

That alone doubles the chances that she's going to choose life.

One of the other problems is they feel, the moms feel like they're alone.

They don't have any support.

well they do with pre-born and they've rescued over 280,000 babies through love compassion and free ultrasounds and every day they rescue 200 more will you help raise and and

bring a child into the world will you help just but $28 pays for an ultrasound I want you to go right now to

to their website.

You can go dial pound250, use the keyword baby and donate, or you can go to the website preborn.com slash Glenn.

That's preborn.com slash Glenn and give.

28 bucks could mean the difference between life and death.

Preborn.com slash Glenn.

Hello, Magat.

How are you?

Hello, Glenn.

I'm very well.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Good.

I feel like I could be a brother from another mother.

You have,

I mean, everything I read from you, I'm like, yes.

And I have a feeling a lot of people who have never heard you before are going to feel exactly the same way, that we are, I don't know, maybe it's just that you're speaking common sense so clearly and you just don't hear it very often anymore.

So I'm excited for this conversation.

Thank you likewise.

So

let's start with

who you are and where you came from.

You were born in Senegal, right?

Yes.

I was born in Senegal, the west coast of Africa.

And the way I like to tell my story really is

from the standpoint of my

evolutionary intellectual journey, because I think it's very important.

So the best way

to try and follow a journey is: yes, I was born in Senegal, west coast of Africa.

And then, right around age two, my parents made the hard decision that so many African parents before them had to make, and so many African parents since them continue making, which is take this painful decision to leave their child behind.

In this case, they left me behind.

Why?

So, to provide for a better life for me.

They just decided that in order to provide for a better life for me, they had to separate from me.

Many families try to do the journey together, right?

They try to take their children together with them, but my parents said, you know, she's too young and we don't know what's waiting for us on the other side.

So better leave her alone with their parents, in this case my grandma.

And eventually they left.

You know, you might say, oh, a couple years is not much, but, you know, I think stuff like that, it follows you, right, in bizarre ways.

Oh, yeah.

But my parents did what they had to do.

They did what they had to do.

I'm not mad at them at all.

If anything, I'm very grateful, you know, for the journey that they decided to take.

So they left Mubrahan with my grandma and moved to Europe.

Back then, first they arrived in France, but then eventually later on they moved to Germany.

And by the time they decided that the immigration journey had worked, they were still in Germany and that's when they called for me.

So right around age seven or so,

I was called to go be reunited with them.

And there I had to go through the second major separation of my life because this time now I had to leave grandma behind.

And so that's a whole nother, you know, level of

trauma again.

But anyway,

moved, left grandma behind and grandma was very clear with me because she said, baby, you're going to be going to this place where almost no one is going to look like you and they won't speak the same language as you do.

And there the children have been going, they go to school.

Not something that you've been doing because I was very much a free ranch child, child, as I like to say.

Anyway, so, but grandma said something very important right after that.

And she said, she said,

although most of them will not look like you, because many of them are going to have this white skin and you have this black skin, she said,

it is still human skin.

Human.

If you're human, you're human.

That's all that matters.

And then she said, and that language they speak, it's still a human language.

So if they can speak it, you being a human, you surely will be able to speak it.

And going to school is what little humans do.

You're a little human, you'll be just fine.

And she said,

she said, you can be impressed with some of this, but under no circumstances, can you be

intimidated by it?

And my grandma was very intentional with her words.

She would always choose them very carefully.

And so sure enough, I go to Germany.

You know, very curious pairs of eyes look at me.

You know, the kids are like, what is this person?

And I'm looking at Venom and you're like, who are you?

You know, it was very fun, but you know, and so right there, you know, your little girl, and everything grandma said was true.

She said she predicted.

So, for me, she had predicted all of these things.

You have to understand, right?

So, that's how I see it.

And I'm like, surely the next thing grandma said is going to be true as well.

So, I will be fine.

I will learn German and I will learn.

And eventually, within six months, I was speaking a flawless German.

I was one of the best, the best students in my class.

And then quickly, I caught up on

the classes that I missed out on from back home.

And it was so fantastic, right?

And so anyway, so that's how it started.

But beyond that, when I first arrived in Germany, Glenn, I looked around.

And the only question that could come to

the little girl's mind that I was was, how come they have this and we don't?

And literally all I was speaking about in that case, what really triggered that in my mind was, How come back home, when grandma says, my God, it's time for your shower, from the moment she says that and things start getting into motion and the moment where the water actually touches my skin, 45 minutes to an hour can go by.

Why?

Because grandma

has to get

the charcoal oven going, literally.

Meaning like when you're at camping and you're not cheating with

that chimney, right?

You put the charcoal in there, you

know, put the matches in there, and then you start fanning it as much as you can so that it catches on.

And once it does you put a pot of water on it so to for it to boil once it boils you bring in a bigger bucket put it into that bigger bucket the water add colder water to it to make the temperature safer then somebody stronger than grandma would drag it to the shower area and there at last I can finally take my shower some 45 minutes after it was decided that I was going to take a shower.

But here in Germany, mom says, my God, it's time for your shower.

I'm like, where is the bucket of warm water, especially in this cold weather?

No way I'm getting naked in here.

And so, and mom would say, she would say, come on, you silly, just jump in the shower.

So I go in there, turn the knobs, water is coming down, temperatures that I want.

I'm like,

whoa.

It was literally that.

It was just like, and then I was like, how come they have this and we don't?

And then it was about everything.

It was about the paved roads compared to the unpaved roads back home.

Always coming home, having ashy feet from the dust and everything, always having to wash your feet.

And then you go to these grocery stores, you have these beautiful displays of all types of foods and products.

And, you know, it's all climatized in AC in the summer and, you know, heat in the winter.

And I think the little girl was just saying, this ease of life.

First of all, was it possible?

And if it is,

how come?

How come they have this and we don't?

And that literally became the defining question of my life.

I had to know.

And you know how kids can move.

Wait, wait, wait.

Before we get into what you learned, because

this is where I just, I just love your outlook.

When did you move to America from Germany?

Yeah, so first, when we, so from Germany, a couple years into Germany, my parents decided we're going to stay in, we're going to stay in Europe, so we moved to France.

So we went to France, and France is where I was primarily educated.

And after business school in France, I decided that France would be too small for my ambitions.

Because, you know, when you grow up in France, this is why, you know, when people complain about America, complaining about, oh, you know, black people this, black people that can't do this, can't do this in America.

I'm like, I knew one thing for sure in France.

In France, someone like me, with my background, there is no way in the world, in my wildest dreams, ever, that I could have achieved what I've achieved in the US back in France.

Wow, I've never heard that about France.

Why is that?

Because in France, a couple of things.

When you are from the immigration, and that's, by the way, how they talk about you, you are from

the immigration.

And

they would say, so when you're applying for a job, first of all,

your photo is in there, your address is in there, your age is in there.

And your address alone, forget even your face.

which right away sends a signal, but then your address alone tells them where you live.

And insofar as most people from the immigration, because that's how they talk about us, live in these ghettos that there is no other way to call it, la bonieu, you know, la bonieu.

It's pretty much ghettos where a lot of the people from the immigration are parked in because if you try to move if you try to live in a different neighborhood, there is going to be a strong bias against even your application being taken into account simply because of your skin color.

So you see how everything

follows each other.

You can't live in such a neighborhood, so you have to go to a neighborhood where we're allowed.

But if you come from a neighborhood like that, it's probably going to infringe on your ability to get this job or that job.

And on top of that, even if you're French, what they call français de souche, meaning for them, you know, white,

geo-Christian background, that's what for many French people being French means,

even if you're that, then the class system kicks in.

France,

the social ladder does not work very well.

It is very stuck.

And so you have very different types of classes where,

and they don't, it's really hard to start from this one and move to the next one.

And to this day, I even see,

you know, I grew up, for example, I'll show you just one more thing.

I grew up, you know, like TV anchors, like you, for example.

Well, guess what?

It's almost like if it was you during my time,

but now some 25 years later,

you're still there if you're still alive.

But then most importantly, it's your offsprings that are on TV.

You see the meritocracy.

Where is the meritocracy in this?

And then go there.

Stay with me.

Even think about the top French companies today.

What are they?

I mean, what is LVMH?

It's, you know, what is LVMH?

It's these brands and companies that were started many years ago and family member after family member, they're keeping it.

Don't take me wrong.

I am very happy when the brand when a company was built and your offspring start to benefit from it but what i'm saying is even at that level it's very hard to see brand new companies that are today big big big companies so anyway you see how um the social ladder seems to be stuck so for many in so in my case i would have a double jeep jeopardy as they would call it it's one being uh from the immigration And the other one, you're just in a society where the class, the class, the social ladder and elevator just doesn't work.

Doesn't work.

So, of course.

It is so amazing because growing up here, we've always heard how enlightened and how we should be more like France.

And as we have in some ways recently become more like France, it's destroying everything that America is.

So you go over from France to America, and

what was your hope, and then what did you find?

Oh, my hope, my hope was,

look, I believed and I still believe in the American dream.

Because when you're in France growing up, whether you're in France or parts of Africa, America really is the

top destination.

Even today, you ask many young French people, as a matter of fact, many young Europeans,

their dreams are still.

American dreams.

If you ask them anywhere they would like to go, for the most part, you will have some answers about some place in America they want to come to.

So the movie Sold Us America.

Why?

Is it the palm trees and the sunshine of California?

Yes.

Or is it something else?

What is it?

It's all of it.

And I would pinpoint to one word.

The freedom.

You sense it.

You know, when you're in France and you're watching Beverly Hills 90210, whatever the zip code number was.

Yeah, 9012.

Yeah, whatever.

Whatever the zip code was.

But, you know, for us, imagine you're like this young kid, you're like 16 or 17 and you're watching your counterpart 16 or 17 and they can drive and they can take themselves pretty much anywhere.

They can have these jobs.

It was just, I think, the abundance.

and most importantly the sense of freedom at least for me that's what made it the abundance and the sense of freedom that I was feeling from anything related to Americans all the way to how Americans speak and it's something that just feels very free you know in the tonality of it.

Because you have to understand, I learned British, not American.

I only learned when I came to America, but I did not learn American.

I learned British.

So even between those two languages, there is a sense of freedom going from one to the other.

So I think that sense of freedom is really very much what is the driver.

And this sense of anything is possible.

Anything you're possible.

Your background won't stop you.

Your gender won't stop you.

Nothing will stop you, literally.

And these stories of people who came in and they were doing dishwashing in the restaurants, and all of a sudden, next thing you know, they have a chain of restaurants.

It's just like, are you kidding me?

This doesn't happen in many other places, it just doesn't.

So, you found that those stories were true.

Yep.

Do you still feel that way?

I still feel that way.

I still feel that way.

Even with all of America's problems.

Now, does it mean that I am not worried that this country is

am I worried that this country is

losing you know what

hang on hold that thought because I want to go now back to the problems that you found that as a kid you realize now

why you didn't have all those things.

And then we'll come back to that question about America because I think people will understand your perspective on what you're finding about America today

after we go through what you found.

So

why don't they have those things

in Africa?

Yeah, so

then from the little girl's question of

how come they have this and how come we don't, the question eventually evolved with time.

And what the question became, the question became much more precise.

And it became, how come some countries like mine are poor, while others like the US, New Zealand, Singapore, those countries are rich?

Why?

And along the journey, I've heard so many things, Glenn, as to why that was the case.

Chief among...

Colonialism.

Well,

this is the funny part, Glenn.

I like to use this because I will say people.

You can take

100 African people and line them up over here and take 100 African people and line them up, a non-African people, and line them up over here.

Ask them, why is Africa still the poorest region in the world?

Africans and their so-called allies will come with their usual suspects, are going to be all

colonialism, slavery,

racism, they're stealing our natural resources, and all of that.

And then non-Africans who don't even seem to care much, they will come up with, ah, those guys, low IQ,

lazy, always fighting each other.

They come up with that.

And both sides would both

sides would also say, oh yeah, and they're all corrupt and they have corrupt leaders, bad governance and corrupt leaders.

You will hear all of that.

That's what those are the EU suspects.

Keep that in mind.

Now let's go back.

Why some countries countries are poor some countries are rich so i've heard all of those usual suspects as to why we were poor all of those from both sides okay i hear that

and then it makes no sense most of this makes makes no sense because why because i'm looking around and thinking if any of this stuff was true how come my parents the same people

the minute they leave senegal and they come in this case to you know france or despite everything i said about france they come to france because to Europe they get to self-actualize how come how come so I'm starting to think this has nothing to do with this the human being in this case but the only variable in this equation you just told me is the place that these people happen to be in or not so now I'm interested what's up with these places what's up with them and then at first of course I'm thinking of course it's because here they're rich of course it's gonna happen and here they're poor that's why it's not gonna happen but meanwhile guess what God is so good this way god is so good this way because you have to understand at some point in my life glenn through all of this through these years um eventually i made it to the us after business school like i told you and i started out as a headhunter in finance in silicon valley in the heydays of the dadcom boom you know working finding talent for google before google was a household name brand they had only one building and even within that building it was just like one you know like i think a few offices

same with Netflix same with Netflix getting lost so many times going to the Netflix offices because we were so tiny no one knew what these things would become so when I tell you that I've seen it close I've seen it close so anyway so so doing extremely well for myself extremely well for myself Glenn buying a home in one of the most expensive zip codes in America Los Altos Hills so you cannot tell me that the American dream does not exist little gal my gad could never have made it in under any other circumstances I am sorry and I stand by my words.

So anyway, so this is all happening and eventually doing extremely well for myself.

And one day driving down Bixar, so happy, so excited, feeling such a sense of, you know, just achievement and all the gratitude that I was feeling for everybody who helped me on the journey.

All the way from my grandma back home who no longer was with us to all these Americans that have come my way, to my French teachers, to everybody that has come along the way, because it takes a village to make a person.

So thanking all of these people for all of these opportunities and everything.

And eventually, all of a sudden, my mood turned dark, as it would always do, Glenn, when I felt that way.

What has been my lot, and when I tell people I am literally haunted,

it's because when you grow up, with stories of people like you packing themselves into little fishermen's boats to make the journey to another country so that they can help those of their families stay staying back home with a better life, economic better life.

So, but many of them don't make it because the boat tips over and they're at the bottom of the ocean right now serving as fish food.

When you grow up with stories like that, and these are not strangers, these are friends, these are friends of friends, these are family friends, these are family.

And it's happening all the time to this day and actually it's accelerating that phenomenon.

And when people don't do that, they get into planes trying to make it, you know, to Europe, somewhere above England, a body drops because somebody thought it would be a good idea to hide into the landing gears of a plane.

Or you open the cargo section of a plane and there's a frozen body because somebody thought it would be a good idea to hide there, but they didn't know.

The temperature goes so down up there and you die.

And when they say those routes are too dangerous and they say, let's go land route, when they go land route, what happens to them?

They get stuck in Libya, where today, Glenn, when that happens to someone like me, you get sold literally as a slave and your cost is between $300 and $500.

It took for CNN to do a piece on it, for the rest of the world to finally believe us.

And so, would you not be haunted if, like me, these were the stories that you grew up with your whole entire life?

Every single month, there is one of those coming up.

Okay, so as soon as you would be in this mood of happiness, this is what would happen.

The minute I was in such a state of elation,

that the next second I would be reminded of this.

And then,

of course,

it's like having a form of depression almost right on the spot.

But that day, as I was driving down Big Sur,

something happened that never happened before.

I think at that moment, Glenn,

basically my body started to jerk around so much that I almost, the steering wheel almost, you know, took me down below to the ocean.

You know probably what I'm talking about, Nixir, you know, how steep it can be there.

And anyway,

and I stopped the car as soon as I could.

And you know, in retrospective, all I can think of is what they talk about.

They say that

the mind has an amazing ability to make pretty much sense of anything, including the worst.

That's how you could, Nazis can justify these actions.

We have that capability as humans, but they say the body, the body doesn't, doesn't have that ability.

And in my case, I would go further.

I would say that the soul, and maybe that's the differentiation for me between the mind and the soul.

And the soul is much more connected to the body than to the mind.

And I think that day, that day they separated, that day the separation happened, body slash soul said, I am done with you, mind, trying to justify pretty much anything or accept pretty much anything.

You're on your own with that madness.

So literally, two people in one body: soul body here,

and mind over there.

And I had to, and I think that separation is what caused the jerking around the body because it's so violent.

And I stopped the car and I got out.

I got out

and got on my knees, literally.

And I said, God, this is it.

This is it.

I surrender.

Because surrendering was the only thing I could do to alleviate the pain.

Because what happened is...

It's the best thing you can do.

It is.

Surrendering.

Surrendering.

And so

I made a vow with God and I said, look, from here on, I will show up.

And I want for every breath that I take to be to the service of Africa, of my people.

Now, mind you, I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do about this.

Because my whole life, what I've said to myself, I would push it under the rug and I would say, listen, This problem was there before you.

It will probably be there long after you're gone.

Please live your life.

Please try to have a successful life at your own level.

That still will be a great thing.

Physicists, just try to live your life.

But that day didn't work anymore.

I just felt like maybe this is what I came here for.

I had to do more.

And I would never be left alone until I did more.

And once you realize that, you're just like, okay, I get it.

I heard you now.

Okay, but you're going to have to show me the way, God, because I don't know what to do from here.

And sure enough, Blan, everything started to happen, everything.

So eventually I went back home to Senegal.

It's been four years since I haven't been back then because, you know, with my immigration and everything, you have to wait, make sure your H-1B, everything gets through before you get out.

Otherwise, you know.

So, anyway, so I took my husband back then, who was French, to Senegal, and to show him where I came from and everything.

And there, discovering that the hibiscus that I grew up with has disappeared.

The women who used to grow the hibiscus to, you know, to make the beverage were losing their livelihoods, leaving the countryside, packing themselves to the cities, becoming maids, treated really badly.

badly, the cycle of poverty going on, and meanwhile, this beverage, which is part of my culture, disappearing.

And I was just like, you got to be kidding me.

So I was

in shambles.

And eventually remembered what my father would always say, criticize by creating.

It's okay to have a problem with the world, but you have to offer alternatives.

You cannot just be in criticism mode.

And I got up and I'm like, okay, I'm just going to start a company.

It's going to be bringing back this beverage.

We're going to put women back to work.

By the time the UNDP did a case study on us, we had put back to work 400 women and later 9,000 women.

And it was all happening.

Came back to the US, got myself a business partner.

We went at it.

We did all of this.

But you know, Glenn, the reason why I bring up this story is it's in doing that that I got my answer.

Why some countries are poor, others are rich.

Because while I was doing that,

we had a sister company in the US and a sister company in Senegal, my home country.

And just from the get-go, back then, it was in 2003.

We were setting up

the legal entities.

In the US, it was so fast.

We're talking less than a day back then.

We're talking maybe a couple hundred dollars.

Over there back then, almost two years.

Thousands of dollars.

Thousands of dollars.

Opening a bank account, you had to jump through all types of hoops.

Over here, 20 bucks, you could open a bank account, you're on your way.

And then the labor laws, the labor laws, back home, you marry to your employees for good or for bad the minute you hire an employee first of all it's the state that also has to agree that you can hire so-and-so

and at which price and when you need to let them go the state also has to approve that

and it's at all levels the tax laws the tax laws are so complicated that it's worth truckloads of laws and regulations so much that you will make a mistake And making a mistake means you're always subjecting yourself to being harassed and or imprisoned by the government.

So I'm comparing these two things and I'm like, wow, it is so easy to start and run a business here in America and over here it is so hard.

And then my answer was again, oh, but of course Americans are rich, that's why.

And America, we're poor, that's why.

Just come to think, wait a second, you just said poor?

Wait a second.

You're poor because you don't have enough money, at least not enough money to take care of your basic needs.

You don't have money because you don't have a source of income.

What is a source of income for most of us?

It is a job, isn't it?

Where do jobs come from?

It comes from businesses, the private sector.

Oh, but wait, didn't you just tell me it is super hard over here to build, to start and run a business?

And here you told me it is super easy to start and run a business.

Connect the dots.

Connect the dots, Glenn.

Now it's all making sense to me.

Yeah.

If indeed jobs are what's needed for people to get an income, income which

gets them out of poverty.

Yet, you're telling me that in this place it's almost impossible to start a business?

Wow.

And then you look around and you start looking at all of these economic indexes, the doing business index

of a World Bank, the Heritage Economic Freedom Index, all of these indexes measuring how hard or easy it is to start and run a business pretty much anywhere in the world.

And systematically, these indexes are showing what as an entrepreneur I have been going through.

Basically, it is harder to do business in almost anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa than it is anywhere in Scandinavia.

And I take Scandinavia because even the most anti-business people among us, Bernie Sanders, I'm talking to you, like to use, you know,

like to use, like to use Scandinavia as a model.

I'm like, because of course Bernie Sanders doesn't understand that Scandinavian nations are more capitalist than almost any sub-Saharan African nations.

Yeah, so there, Glenn, I had it.

Africa is the poorest region in the world because it happens to be the most over-regulated region in the world.

It is a region in the world that offers the least economic freedom to its entrepreneurs.

It means our entrepreneurs are not free to enterprise.

And when entrepreneurs are not free to enterprise, they cannot build the companies that create the jobs, jobs which provide the income, income which takes somebody from poverty to prosperity.

There you had it done.

And of course,

is it 5% of the businesses in Senegal are legal?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's, and those numbers are pretty much the same all over, you know, sub-Saharan Africa, except for four of them.

So one of the problems that I've always thought, and I was so glad when I heard Bono say this, because he's been raising money for Africa forever.

And at one point, I think he was talking maybe at the London School of Economics, and he said, and they didn't like to hear this, but he said, you know,

aid is one thing, but I think I've been wrong all these years.

What they need is jobs and industry, and they need

maybe a hand up, but not a hand out.

Otherwise, we're just perpetuating this.

And I think of all the people that claim to love

Africa and want to help,

I think most of the things they're doing is keeping Africa down.

Glenn, let me say something right there, because I think this correlation most people don't make.

Obviously, I'm a black person.

I'm privileged to travel around the world.

I live not only in one place, but a couple places.

I have, you know, I live in Senegal as well as I live in the U.S.

because my business also is in Senegal.

We manufacture products there and we sell them in the US.

And

you see, what I have noticed, it's always the same.

When you said the people who claim to love Africa, I will push it further down.

In this case,

let me bring race into this.

The people who claim to care about black people

systematically seem to be the self-proclaimed people.

And they always have the same MO

with black people.

And it is never about looking at us as fully capable people

but it's almost like there must be something inherently wrong with us that that which works with other people cannot work with us let me let me make the the comparisons here for you

for Africa

What do these self-proclaimed people who care about Africa, what have they been promoting?

They have been promoting foreign aid

and humanitarian aid.

Here in the U.S., what they have been promoting?

Welfare for the most part.

Right?

And of course, that stuff is not working.

Why?

Because in both situations, it is robbing us of our self-agency.

as if we're not capable of doing as much or more than others.

And when you follow that train of thought, of course

it's going to instruct everything else.

This is how you end up with some women saying that two plus two equals four is racist.

And math is simply not something that black people can handle.

Therefore, we have to dumb, dumb math.

We have to even erase math if possible.

Because that's the only circumstances under which they can thrive.

You do the same thing to me when you are not seeing what economic freedom freedom means.

So here, what I'll do is just take a little

comparison again.

Look, Glenn, for anything in the world to thrive, whether it's for you as a human being or a tomato plant you're going to plant or anything, I believe there are two things that are needed.

It needs to start with a good seed, a good core.

The seed for me is, and the core for me is just that, character and virtue.

And then it needs to be implanted in the right soil with the right nutrients, with the right sun exposure, all of that good stuff.

If you optimize those two, you get the best tomato plant you can find in the world ever.

You find the best person, most productive, healthy, happy person you could find ever.

Let me let me wait, wait, wait, let me push back on you and play devil's advocate here.

Please.

Yeah, but

you were born underprivileged.

You don't, you've never been exposed.

They've never been exposed to these things.

You know, they don't know how the rest of the world works.

Whatever the excuse is, they'll say it comes from oppression, being colonialized, or canalized, and

oppressed by people sold into slavery.

So you have all these disadvantages that you can't make it on your own.

Yeah.

How do you respond to that?

The answer that I would have to that is bullshit.

Bullshit.

Why bullshit?

Let me explain.

Right?

Oh, I love you.

Why bullshit?

Why?

Because first of all, even in the U.S.,

how many millions of black outliers do you have?

How many?

How many, Glenn?

How many?

And then you have those of us who come from Africa coming to the U.S.

Again, look at how many, if you want to take that premise, I am starting to see that the outliers are that many more than

what you just put on the table.

Now, the problem is they're the most vocal ones, and they have academia, media, and Hollywood on their side, which

it's a big, huge megaphone.

So we live under this illusion that what they're saying is actually true and the only people who are going to get screwed by it are the people who are actually

willing and listening to them.

And by the way, it's not necessarily the white people who are going to suffer from this, but any black person who stakes their future on these narratives is going to be doomed.

So I was talking to James Lindsay,

who is an atheist,

very, very bright man.

And I said, James, I've sworn off the word evil um

but i i can't think of another word that fits this now this is an atheist and he said well what what do you mean i said this whole philosophy is telling people because of your race

you can never make it without us

and you know without without our little group here that's going to plow all these people under and they're never going to let you uh buy I said you are destroying people's

will their self-esteem their willingness and hopefulness of looking forward and going I can do anything you're destroying it there there's no other word that fits other than evil that's right and he said I think I agree with you it's evil what's happening That's right.

That's right.

Now, evil is definitely happening, but you know,

even if I say there is evil,

and this is me now

doing devil's advocate on you,

even then, it might be evil.

But Glenn, in the end of it, at the end of the day, this is what, again, I learned from grandma, is they,

whoever they is, and sometimes they is, I don't know, white people, they can be...

another nation, they, whoever they is, and whatever reason why they supposedly do not want you to self-actualize

as optimally as possible, my grandma would say, you know what?

And so who cares?

The minute you give them that power,

you're done.

So for me, I am not even willing to stop at the very evil.

Because if you're stopping at the very evil, it's still

letting me off the hook.

Me, this human being who has the choice or not Right.

To hear that or not.

That is the, I think that's the thing about socialism, is it tries to crush your

self-determination so it can control you.

And the minute the populist stands up and goes, no, I'm not giving,

in some cases, it has been very bloody for a very long time.

But as long as you have this, this is why I think they're after religion so much of the time.

Because when you have a belief in God,

you have this faith that, you know, even if you plow me under, it's all going to be for God's good.

And so I know who I answer to.

That's right.

And they can't have that.

No.

So capitalism, when done right, when it's not crony capitalism, where it's not in bed with the government,

that frees people and feeds people and has changed the world.

And now it's getting such a bad name.

It is, it is.

It is getting such a bad name.

But

I think capitalism is getting more of a bad name in wealthy nations today than it is, for example, in places like Africa.

Yeah, do we have people, especially the Pan-Africans, who are anti-capitalism?

And this goes back to, by the way, the days of the African liberators.

You know,

so we do have people like that.

But Africa is the youngest population in the world, 19 19 years old, 1.9.

And by 2050, one quarter of a world population will be African.

And unlike...

One, way, way, way, way, way, way in the world.

You heard me right.

One in every four people will be African.

Yes.

Yes.

Wow.

No one is paying attention.

At least, definitely America is not paying attention.

And

this is something that's really, to me, it's mind-boggling.

Because think about it.

And the nice thing about this population is unlike maybe what might be going on in Latin America, where there is a strong sense of identity related to socialism for various reasons.

Various reasons.

The African population, the youth, does not have that baggage against capitalism per se.

They just want to see a system that works for them as well.

Sadly, for most of them, the only businesses that they have seen work for the most part is crony businesses.

My friend

would call it crapitalism.

But

in this case,

that's what they have seen happen.

But what you have is this amazingly young population who doesn't have preconceived

mental blockages against capitalism.

All they want is for it to work.

They want to have fridges.

They want to have cars.

They want to have all of this, all the things I talked about.

They want to have it.

This is like the youngest population in the world.

And I see here, so far, who has been dealing with us?

The Europeans, primarily in my side of Africa, the French.

And what has been their relationship to us?

It has been, you leader, corrupt leader, I am going to work with you where, in a way, I protect your national boundaries and in exchange for your natural resources.

In this deal, the everyday ordinary African, what's in there for him to see?

Nothing.

In that deal, they don't exist.

Russian slash Chinese, the Chinese come and say,

you corrupted leader, this is how I'm going to help.

I'm going to work with you.

We're going to build the infrastructure with you so that your people don't rebel against you for the time being, in exchange, your natural resources.

And by the way, we give you the loans, you pay us back, and we bring our own people to work on these projects.

So no jobs for the Africans.

Even the rice that they eat is imported from China.

Nothing, not even a USB key, stays on the ground.

So that's the Chinese deal.

What's in there for the ordinary African, except for the road they get on or that bridge that maybe is gonna collapse, is gonna collapse 10 years from now because it was not done the right way and many of us die on it, but nobody's ever gonna care.

Not much for the ordinary African.

And then the Russian now comes in and the Russians are like, you corrupt leader, how I'm gonna work with you is I'm gonna be here to protect you, your personal integrity against your people and and against your military and against your

secret defenses and all of that.

In exchange, your natural resources, of course.

Ordinary African sees nothing.

This is a place where I see for America to say, to show to show up.

And when I say America, I mean the people of America to say, guys,

guys, in this case, meaning you ordinary Africans, we're going to go hand in hand together.

And with the power of a free market, which means we're going to do business with one another, we are are going to elevate each other together, because that's what the markets do.

And then, Glenn, imagine the opportunity that we have here for this next generation, one quarter of the population, to all of a sudden have a natural relationship to capitalism, as you say, done right.

Have a natural, healthy relationship to it.

Why?

Because they experienced what it is and what it means and what it can do to their lives.

This is the opportunity we have on the table right now that America is not taking.

We think it's all about guns and

that soft power right there.

We have a way of doing it.

And Americans, who Americans better than Americans does this?

That's what they've done for this country.

So we are missing out on this.

And meanwhile, right now, our youth is becoming pretty much corrupt.

Russia is the latest one to come to the scene.

So that's something that I think Americans have to think about.

But instead of thinking about this, Glenn, let me give you an example of what they're doing instead.

So remember when we talked about the business environment, being one of the

African countries having some of the most ratten business environments in the world, which doesn't allow their entrepreneurs to work?

Well, one of the solutions that I'm working on is what we call the charter city, the startup cities.

These are next generation special economic zones with their own law, their own governance when it comes to business, so that straight at home, I too get to benefit from a world-class business environment from ever having to take my little feet and trying to migrate somewhere else in the world to build my business and be successful.

I can do it straight straight from home and achieve all of that from home, do it surrounded by my family, surrounded by my community, surrounded by my people, surrounded by my land, all of that.

Do it just like you get to do it in the US.

So here we are doing these things.

But guess what?

Right now, something like that is happening in Honduras on the island of Roy Tan.

There is an initiative called Prospera.

It's just that, special economic zones.

So Honduras on its own is, I think, 130 or 142.

I should know better.

And

on their own, they're 130 or 142 on the doing business

index ranking.

Either way, really bad ranking.

Really bad.

But this zone on its own, guess which number it is, Glenn?

Give me a number.

Number 20.

Number nine.

Top 10.

9.

Number 9, top 10.

And we're seeing the results.

Companies are coming, jobs have been created, all of that good stuff is happening.

But then guess what?

What did people like Senator Warren,

Corey Bush,

and

Bernie Sanders decide to do?

They decided to side with the government, the current government of Honduras, which is known to be in bed with the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, and China.

Are those really the best actors we can be dealing with?

So they're all in bed together.

Especially not with business.

Exactly.

So now trying to push out this zone and expropriate American investments.

And Elizabeth Warren, like I said, Corey Bush and Bernie Series are helping.

While they're doing that, while they're promoting the expropriation of American businesses, guess what?

They're using the IMF arm to actually

give an a $900 million package, aid package, to Honduras.

So what are you doing when you're doing that?

You're saying no to the businesses that will build the jobs that the Hondurans need.

And by the way, now connect that to the immigration happening in the US.

We're all, everybody here is fighting with one another because of the immigration.

Right there, we have an opportunity for the people of Honduras to be able to stay home and build lives back at home in the most serene way possible.

And we're denying them that right.

Meanwhile, financing, promoting aid.

So these governments, then you ask me, what incentives do they ever have to do the right thing?

But then you turn around and say, oh, they're corrupt.

Well, you're feeding the corruption right there.

Right.

So

Glenn,

which is it going to be?

Because you can't have it both ways.

But I guess in this situation, I am starting to think that maybe Elizabeth Warren and the left only wants the immigration going on.

They use us as political pawns.

That's the only thing I can think of.

Oh, yes.

I mean, it is, you know,

the idea, some of

the most racist people that I've ever seen in bulk

are those that are saying things like,

to save the planet, we have to make sure that Africa doesn't build power plants.

Who the hell are you to tell people anywhere that they can't have cheap power?

Cheap power is the first stepping stone.

No, no, no.

Power is the first stepping stone to being able to build your country and build business and become self-reliant.

And we are...

We are crushing,

crushing not only our own country, but the poorest countries in the world because

we say, no,

you can't have that kind of power.

We won't help you build that.

Exactly.

And in addition, it's a very good point.

And that's the only reason why I added the anti-fossil fuel zealots to my war because

they're a huge threat to this development that we need because without power, like you said, what's going to run these businesses?

But you know, Glenn, it's even what happens to Africa if we get rid of fossil fuels?

We're dead.

We're dead.

We have a sacrificial lamps on this, on in this story.

Didn't you get the memo?

And so there's even worse than that, Glenn.

There's worse than that.

Every year,

every year on the African continent, African continent alone, because the numbers get much bigger when you take the rest of the poor nations, one to two million African women are dying every single year due to indoor air pollution

because because these women don't have access to clean burning fuels.

Meanwhile,

anti-fossil fuel zealots are telling them, oh,

don't you want these solar stoves we gave you?

Give me a break.

Solar stoves, that's the best you can.

That stuff doesn't work.

You know, it's laying around all over the place.

It doesn't work.

These women don't want it.

Leave me alone.

So then they're telling them, well, too bad then, because that's the only other thing you're allowed.

It's that.

And then women are like, oh, fine.

So I'm going to go back to burning my lungs, literally frying my lungs using biomass of different sorts and this is happening people don't

right now.

I know and people don't realize in in America 125 30 years ago the number one killer of

women was not childbirth.

It was fire.

There you go.

It was fire because you were cooking indoors.

And

nobody's willing to really look at these things.

Instead, they're pushing this narrative, you know, that Black Lives Matter.

I don't think they do to those people.

I don't.

I don't think Black Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter, those words I'm 100% on board with, but the organization made especially of self-proclaimed Marxist.

No,

it's a sham.

It's a sham.

The crooks.

whatever you want to call it

it is what it is how again when you go back to whoever in this country or back in Africa, by the way, Africa, Glenn, is home to 90% of the representatives of a black race.

And when you know that what Africa needs the most right now to grow, to get out of poverty, into poverty, out of poverty, into prosperity is economic freedom, meaning capitalism, free market capitalism, and you being a Marxist, which is the opposite of it, you can't, with a straight face, tell me that you care about black lives.

You cannot tell me with a straight face that the very force that africa as a continent where again 90 of the representatives of a black race lives

what it needs the most you are against yet you tell me that black lives matter no it doesn't

so so let's go back to a solution the the startup cities i mean i I, for a while, because

I'm a big fan of Walt Disney.

And I think if Walt Disney would have lived an extra 10 years, the world would have changed because he was working on Ebcot, which was not an amusement park.

It was a prototype city of tomorrow.

And he was completely redesigning it in a way that would be much more independent, freer from

many regulations,

and the best ideas would win.

And, you know, I brought that to Texas, that spirit to Texas.

And even Texas is just over-regulated to where you can't just open up a space and say, let's just think freely here for a second.

Forget everything else.

Let's just think freely.

Is there a place in Africa that that can be done where the government will protect it?

Yeah.

So the good news is we've been talking to six nations going on eight, and I'm very confident that very soon we'll be able to announce one.

I was very close a year ago.

I was very, very close.

But then, you know, government being what it is, you have some things happening in...

There's always something happening in government, as you know.

And a deal that was almost about to be signed, something just happens and everything gets thrown off track.

But like I said, I have six going on, eight that I'm working with.

And what I'm seeing is actually the excitement.

And that's what I'm really excited about.

Really excited about.

There are many little considerations that come into mind when

we look at which country to go after, right?

Ideally, you're looking at a country where you have a leader that despite the public figure that

he or she gives to the rest of the world, this is somebody who

understands these issues, understands, has some understanding of

how prosperity is built.

They may not have had the opportunity to build it because not maybe the right team in place or whatever, but they have it.

You're looking at people who have been, who still have time on their mandate or mandates.

You're looking at the geography of the country itself.

Ideally, you don't want landlocked, but you can still do it with landlocked with some extra caveats in there.

And then when you do that, then you start to look at the constitution of that country, but you also need to look at the international treaties that they signed.

Because for anybody who understands anything about this, international treaties, for the most part oftentimes supersede even some parts of your constitution.

I think

many European nations are seeing that and that's also a big problem.

That's why probably

some very specific parties will be elected in June when the EU goes for elections,

people trying to elect representatives who are going to go back and renegotiate immigration laws within the EU because right now it's superseding country-by-country immigration laws.

So in any case, so you have to look at all of these parameters, and then you also have to look at the layer of the land and kind of help them design a plan as to how we're going to do this.

Some of these countries are going to have in this zone to allow for common law to happen within the zone when the rest of the country is on civil law.

And so that can be a pretty heavy undertaking, as you can imagine, right?

So there's all of this type of work that needs to be done.

And as you can imagine, at that level, too, there is these extra forces happening with,

Especially in the case of Francophone nations There's always these tensions that are happening with the hold that France might have on some of these nations So finding ways to do this in a way that is not threatening to pretty much anyone and that's why this the the

city is the model because what we do there really is on a rather unoccupied plot of land Where literally there is nothing because people decided there is not there could be nothing

There is nothing to fight for over there and so what you do is uh you always have to find a country where not you know in every of these countries where the laws are so bad uh only the cronies for the most part can get to do business and i i don't when when i say crony i want to be very careful here because you got to do with what you have right um

you have to do with what you have it's not like these people woke up and said i want to be a crony so i'm going to be a crony but you know you get started you start being shaken down you realize the only way to stay in business is to you know get give into it you would prefer different ways but this is what it it is.

But anyway, by the time you arrive, some people are benefiting from the status quo.

Some people are benefiting from the status quo, and they definitely do not want it to go anywhere.

So you do not want to frighten those people under no circumstances, ever, because if you go to war with them, you will lose.

just the way it is.

So you don't go to war with them, but what you do is you go to the next layer.

So we're talking about the cousins, we're talking about the younger brother, you know, those who are

close enough to smell the goodies, but they can't touch it because

layer one already has it.

So, if you have people like that who are close to the government, then this is where the magic can start to happen because you speak with them, they get you

in contact with the government, you have all of these conversations, and then this is going to be actually the place that layer two gets to actually get some real work done.

So, remember

the other layer of people who are close to the government.

So, and it's with them actually that you work.

And usually, layer one, meaning

the people who are benefiting from the status quo right now, they have these big businesses, whatever, they don't see you as a threat because you're just there.

And if nothing, and some of the ways you do this also is you have ways for them to have, for example, you know, there is a the zone, all the money that it's going to build, there is a

part of that income that is going to go back to

the normal government, right?

To the national government.

And you can have deals where, for example,

you know, the money is going to go through this bank, that is a very legitimate bank, but it's owned by some of these people.

And you see, so you start to figure out

how are you going to make sure that everybody's interest is in a way together.

Because that's what I love about peaceful commerce.

If we're in the same freaking boat, you're not going to mess with me because you put the hole in the boat, we all go down.

So

instead of fighting, I think people have to really have a different mindset.

And first of all, really look at the people of the land and look at these government officials also as the heroes of a story.

They have been used to being called all types of names.

But again, Glenn, I guarantee you anything you want.

You know, a lot of these people, many of them get into government to do good things and then they go in and you know how it is.

The system corrupts you or it will tell you clear, flat out, you want to be clean here?

You're going to be spat out because the antibodies like you cannot, we can't keep them here.

So anyway, whatever, from whatever reason it is, it ends up being the way it is.

So, I think what happens is you have to come with

a clean and different mindset where the local people are going to have to be the heroes of a story, where the people in government working with you to make something like this happen have to become the heroes of a story, where you don't look at the oligarchs on the ground as de facto enemies, but you try to understand how and where can we honestly,

legally join forces to make this thing work.

And these zones, by the way, the one we have, we negotiated a

50-year protection plan from the government signed in.

So meaning no matter which government comes in, they cannot really attack you.

In Honduras, they're trying, but I think they're finding that it has teeth.

So it has real teeth.

So if you take all of these parameters into account and you go in with a very different mindset, then I think you really get to build something amazing.

And then all we need is one, two, three to be built, and then change happen because everybody's going to emulate you rather than you trying to keep knocking more doors.

So that's pretty much how I've been going at it as the co-founder of Prospera Africa, working with the Prosper team, which is one of the best in the world for this.

On our team, we have an ex-chief strategy officer of a Dubai International Financial Center.

So amazing people like that.

But again, what our team has in check.

Tell me, tell me.

Tell me real quick: what is what?

I know you are.

What do you do?

Because your team is actually putting this into practice all, you know, so the world can come to Africa.

Yes, yes.

We're doing it in my case, especially in Africa.

I am doing it so no child, because you have to remember, Glenn, at the end of the day for me, everything is personal.

I have vowed at some point in my life that no child ever would have to be separated from her family because of economic reasons.

I've just, it's just, it's just, it's just...

It's just a vow of my

I could not, I could not do it for myself, but if I can, if I can have a say in it for other children, you betcha.

You betcha.

So the reason why I'm doing this is because I want for anyone at home who would like to build a life at home to be able to build a life at home.

So we're creating these zones primarily so that Africans no longer have to migrate away from their countries the way they have to right now, simply due to

bad

business climates in their countries.

And beyond that, of course, the caveat to this is because the laws are so, I mean, these business environments are so well designed, Glenn.

When you're thinking about the fact that you have, you know, law, it's on law and its own governance when it comes to business, also custom regulatory framework.

You're designing these zones so that the regulatory cannot be co-opted.

It cannot be captured.

And so I give you, for people listening to us, I give you an example.

It's almost like, you know, right now, anybody in the US starting an LLC or a company, you know that you can incorporate it pretty much in any state you want, regardless of the state where you live, right?

So

that right is what we call choice of law.

So most companies, especially,

everybody in the U.S.

has it, at least within the U.S.

And then globally, multinationals get to pick pretty much their choice of law from anywhere in the world.

So choice of law is there.

We think it should be for everyone up and down.

up and down the stream.

But in addition to choice of law,

regulatory choice, you know, choice of of regulatory, meaning that, for example, if you're going to be a medical in the medical industry,

you should be able to get to choose, am I going to subject myself to the FDA as a regulatory body, or am I going to subject myself to the OECD or any of the OECD countries?

Because this is how you see, sometimes you need a treatment, the FDA says you can't have it here, then people have to travel over to Germany, so only those of us who can afford it go there to get a treatment that works.

So right here on this zone, you get to have also regulatory, choice of regulatory.

It's rather amazing, and that in itself is such an amazing innovation.

Game changing.

It's amazing.

And this, along with many other things, like and also even property rights, pushing it from where it is now to like having a three-dimensional property rights model where property rights doesn't even just have to be the superfici, meaning like

this table here, and then height, but also width, like meaning the view.

The view is already taken into account.

this is maybe too much for people to follow in but for anybody who is into law and regulation here follow up if you want to have more details but so what I'm saying here is that it is so amazing that it promotes innovation first and foremost so what's gonna happen so now all of a sudden Glenn imagine what's gonna happen to me as an African I go from being one of the least respected places in the world because we are the poorest region in the world, which by the way, I think also fuels racism.

But anyway, we go from that pathetic state of affairs.

The rest of the world doesn't even think, people don't even think we could ever get anywhere.

We go from that to leapfrogging into places where our people don't have to move anymore if they don't want to, because it's all about choice.

You want to go?

We want for immigration to become all of a sudden, we want for people to no longer immigrate because of hunger, but because of taste.

That's where we have to get to.

So now we got to that place, and on top of that, now the most amazing, innovative companies in the world, in the most cutting-edge industries in the world, choose Africa to go build their businesses because

the business climate allows it.

And now we go from being the last in the world to being,

we took the elevator and we're like on top.

That's what I see, Glenn.

That's why I'm bullish on my continent because we know how to do this and we know how to get there and it doesn't need too many people.

It's only one to 5% of the population that changes the world, for good or for bad.

I find my people, we go, and we're going to get it done.

Margot, you are a delight.

Thank you so much.

The name of her book is The Heart of a Cheetah.

And I think you can see that

in you.

The Heart of a Cheetah, Margot Wade.

Thank you.

Thank you, Margot.

Thank you so much, Len.

I appreciate you.

Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast and pass this on to a friend so it can be discovered by other people.