Jacques Peters in Kinshasa, entrepreneurial virtue at the ECB Business Meetings
It is a particularly interesting character that the ECB (Bogaerts Business School) invited to Kinshasa. Not by his engineering training: from Solvay, certainly an index of value, but they are cohorts. Not by his banking background: exceptional, but without any Congolese experience. Not by its high rank within international financial structures: its Indian and Chinese alter egos already occupy the field. What distinguishes Jacques Peters of all is essential, it is his ability to play on ingenuousness. Playing, yes, because it is a deliberate attitude, not candor. His questions are direct, without ambiguity. He is interested in reality, with an open mind to learning as on the first day, questioning his interlocutors about their respective experiences. John Bogaerts, President of the B19 Business Circle and host of the John Late Show, led the discussion; the discussions allowed the public to discover a sort of Tintin of development, driven by the desire to benefit others. We feel Jacques Peters driven by a higher intention than just the lure of gain: virtue, in the philosophical sense of the term, in an entrepreneurial perspective.
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Facing him, students from the ECB, the Franco-Belgian higher education school of commerce and marketing, and “distinguished guests” to use the local expression. Congolese. All listening to this Tintin from Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg. It looks like a country from Hergé’s imagination, San Theodoros, Hambalapur, Poldavie or Rawhajpoutalah. Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg borders the Kingdom of Belgium: it is the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Two constitutional monarchies. One, twelve times smaller than the other; which does not prevent it from being much more efficient in many respects, especially when it comes to respect for business. An observation that should inspire any economic player in Congo, where there is a tendency to believe that gigantic dimensions are sufficient in themselves. However, nothing is worth anything without people. With a territory corresponding to 77 times Belgium or 905 times Luxembourg, the Central African giant does not even have the banking network of the smaller of the two. Barely 19 banks, minor on an international scale, while Luxembourg has 118, including the most efficient ones.
The weakness of the giant is not an absolute fatality, but it will nevertheless remain inevitable as long as the belief in easy enrichment persists. A surprising failing because the general state of daily misery should have opened the eyes of the most obtuse for ages. Professor Kasongo Numbi (UNIKIN) castigates this self-destructive collective tendency: “The underdevelopment of Africa is based on laziness expressed everywhere by the love of easy gain and also by the lack of love for others. Black Africans sold as slaves, or killed, the most intelligent or the strongest, out of jealousy or fear, and this before the arrival of Christianity. They have not yet put an end to this culture of exclusion of the best in the management of public affairs”. He is not heard. Now, in the country, the slogan on the advertising posters of a large Congolese bank is puzzling, but we can assume that it knows its customers: “Triumph effortlessly!” ». In another register, evangelical pastors undermine mentalities by attributing success to the observance of their lucubrations. Easy! Currently, the publicity of one of these unhealthy fanatics assures the average person: “The miracle is a right”. In this context, with sincerity and naturalness, our Tintin of development testified about his journey and the place that work occupied there. In particular, he provided advice on maintaining intellectual dynamism. Regularly ask yourself the following question: “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” ». And we start to think that Jacques Peters, so different, could initiate a pragmatic approach to the renewal of Belgian-Congolese socio-economic ties, a major first. Congolese companies are looking for partners. And Belgian companies cannot count on effective help from their diplomatic representatives. The latter have only administration as their paradigm and only cooperate with Belgian public structures. The dull penny-pincher does not understand that he lives off the taxes paid by those who produce. So, Tintin, when will we return to Kin?
