A man ran away from Ethiopia years ago during the Mengistu regime. He came to America at the age of 17 and with a vision of surviving he started a successful business. Hairsalons. Mr Tadiwos used to charge more than $100 (£52) for a haircut in Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts. But after 23 years in the US, he went back home. In Ethiopia, he only charges $11 dollars for a haircut, but "I wanted to be part of the development of Ethiopia," Mr Tadiwos explains.
"Be a leader, not a follower," my father would say to me every 5 minutes, at the most appropriate and inappropriate times. There are many reasons people avoid the idea of going back to Ethiopia to invest their new knowledge, vision, and source of money. The bureaucracy, the trade laws, seem to be at the top of the list of reasons. So, in ethiopia you have bureaucracy led by the government, in America you have bureaucracy led by walmart, starbucks, credit card companies, universities, banks, starbucks. Everywhere you go someone is trying to rip you off. Here in the USofA, in a free market, humans are a potential for big profit. So, I wouldn't be so quick to denounce Ethiopia's market and support US's "free market." Be a leader, not a follower.
Click on the title of this blog, and read the BBC article.