Benevolence is not a strategy; investment is

Author: Dr. Ayo Olufade, STEAM Educator | Podcast Host | Author | Entrepreneur | Advocate for Diversity in STEAM

This morning, I came across a post that stopped me cold: 

“Benevolence is not a strategy; investment is.”

I’ve been trying to make this point to African leaders and our BIPOC communities for years. Africa does not need pity, we need leadership and tough choices like China, India, and Rwanda shown is possible with technology. Africa cannot depend on the benevolent acts of outsiders, governments, or corporations for long to provide for its independence and strategically leverage its resources and sustain development. That model of depending on others and inability to leverage and position itself not only as resource abundant but the ability to refine these resources as finished has failed Africans repeatedly.

With abundance of resources need to scale up technology and energy in the West and capacity to generate graduates in various STEM/STEAM fields, Africa and the BIPOC community must build from within. In 2026, it is wild and, frankly, inconceivable that African nations still export raw materials to be processed abroad, only to repurchase them at inflated prices. That is not sovereignty. That is dependency.

Africa must develop its own manufacturing plants or at the least find ways to renovate the old ones. Africa must build industries within the continents or its neighborhoods in the Diaspora. We must stop outsourcing our potential.

And here’s the truth: Africa have the wealth and talent. What Africa lack is coordinated investment and new generation of fearless and visionary leadership.

The wealthy and positioned members of our communities must reinvest in infrastructure, fund the dreams of our youth, and build the guardrails for success and return on investment.

Are we not wealthy enough to employ our people, who will, in turn, spend their earnings in our communities?

Here’s a question we must ask:

Has anyone studied the talent in our communities and asked, “What do you want to create, build, make, or develop?”

For example, I want to build a pharmaceutical company in my community.

So, let’s do the math:

How many biotechnologists, engineers, MBAs, and skilled professionals do we already have?  

How many more are waiting for the opportunity to meet the vision?

We must reimagine our future, not as a distant dream, but as a present blueprint.

Africa and the BIPOC communities don’t lack talent. We lack fearless leadership.

Leadership with vision, unity, and integrity.

Africans in the diaspora are building nations across the globe. So why does it take leaving the continent to thrive? The issue isn’t ability; it’s systems, purpose, and accountability.

Too many leaders are petty, greedy, and short-sighted. They fight for power, not progress.

They divide instead of building. But here’s the truth:

Africa can build Africa. The BIPOC community can build the future.

But not with leadership that lacks purpose and accountability.

Until we fix the systems at home, we’ll keep exporting brilliance and importing dysfunction.  

Something’s broken. What we have now isn’t working, and it never truly has.

We need to talk about it.

We need to act on it.

Like the Israelites in biblical times, we risk turning a 40-day journey into a 40-year delay.

But the promised land isn’t a place, it’s a mindset.  

And the time to claim it is now.

Your prayers were answered generations ago for those who’ve been praying for a better tomorrow.  

Now it’s time to build.

#AfricaRising #LeadershipMatters #DiasporaPower #BuildAfrica #WakeUpAfrica

“Let’s redefine what it means to be influential by focusing on the lives we touch, the problems we solve, and the inspiration we spark. In the end, titles may fade, but the positive influence we leave behind endures.” ~ Dr. Ayo Olufade