Quote:
Originally Posted by fuluck
This is a pretty interesting interview on it.
http://www.internationalman.com/arti...ead-of-college
"Where would I go? There are around 50 countries in Africa. I like small, obscure ones. Maybe Ghana is too developed. Look at Benin or Togo or maybe the Ivory Coast. Mauritania, where I just was, is actually quite interesting. Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, you’ve got lots of choices. Somebody should get on a plane and just take a look. Then when they get into a country, a capital city, which is always where the action happens, get on the telephone to local lawyers and real estate agents and businessmen to set up appointments and see who you can get along with. One thing will lead to another."
This is something I'd like to try, but I wouldn't know what the hell to say to these lawyers or real estate agents.
What you need to keep in mind with Doug Casey is that he's not just giving out advice, he's always trying to sell something.
Saying that, I completely agree with his advice on college. If you go to college today you have rocks in your head. Period. As far as his advice on doing business in Africa, it's okay up to a point. It can work that way but it won't always work that way. I wouldn't jet into Guinea-Bissau with any sort of expectation. You'd have to go and then see what happens. But yes, things tend to happen faster there if you keep one thing in mind:
Everyone will rip you off at every step of the way. Now this is fine, if you factor it into your equations. You have to budget for this. The best approach is to work out how much the ripping off part will cost you, what your expenses are, and then see if you can make a good profit. Avoid going into partnerships with locals like the plague as they will set things up to take everything from you. That especially goes for the Indian merchant class that is prominent in Africa.
Now the obvious question is how do you work out what is a reasonable price to pay for all this ripping off. To answer that question you first need to network with the local expats. Local expat businessmen, lawyers, real estate guys. If they're desperate to help you then that's not a good sign because desperation in Africa means you haven't been able to cut the mustard.
There's a lot to this. It's not just about stepping on a plane. I tell you what - you can hire me as a consultant and I'll come along with you and show you how to play the game.