The key to building a prosperous future is by setting up institutions, ecosystems and strong governance. You might be thinking you will prosper by working hard and taking responsibility for yourself, but this is not a complete picture. Your success and outcomes in life as an individual will always depend upon the world you find yourself. The system that governs your world will determine the kind of people that will emerge. There is a reason the brightest and most creative people relocate to the USA and seek citizenship there. Even Elon Musk realized early in life that it would take more than working hard to build out his creations in South Africa.
There is no strong economy without having strong institutions that reinforce values in alignment with the future we want. There is no benefit to having a handful of people succeed. You have to create a world that supports and empowers lots and lots of people to succeed. In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron set what seemed like an ambitious objective: having 25 French start-ups valued at over $1 billion by 2025. These companies are colloquially referred to as “unicorns”. They achieved this by January 2022, three years ahead of schedule. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, “These 25 startups valued at more than a billion dollars, and with them all of French Tech, are changing the lives of French people, create hundreds of thousands of jobs across France and are what make us sovereign!”. They have since set a new target of 100 unicorns by 2030!
It is not sustainable to propose that everyone should seek refuge in the USA or relocate to France. Jesus wants us to salt and light up our world, not cower away in frustration. Moses could not have delivered a better future to the enslaved Israelites by helping them escape in the dozens. He could not have eliminated the Egyptian slave masters one-by-one, he had to change their government. The only way to deliver the future is to set up institutions, ecosystems and strong governance that exist to steer your world. You need to meditate on this question, “what are you going to create the necessary conditions for?”
