The Heart of A Cheetah Quotes

“Capitalism is the best thing that ever happened to feminism. Women can escape poverty—and bad husbands too.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“At this point I have no patience whatsoever with people who claim they want to help Africans or Black people but who are “anti-capitalists.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“Anti-capitalist intellectuals, both in Africa and abroad, endlessly repeat a victimhood narrative about Africa being poor due to slavery, colonialism, and ongoing exploitation. Yes, Africa has been victimized. But until and unless these same intellectual forces articulate and endorse the positive capitalist path forward—which will let us leave that past behind—they are part of the problem, not part of the solution. They are the bad guys.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“I wanted to do my part to raise the poor of Africa out of poverty, and that meant jobs, not gifts.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“But I am one who believes that a first step to success is to “be so dazzling they can’t ignore you.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“Corruption is a natural consequence of too many senseless laws—laws that keep us poor.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“The level of unconscious, well-meaning attachment to the pity branding for Africa was quite profound.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“As I soon learned, 95 percent of my former network didn’t care. It was more important to them to be identified as enlightened (albeit wealthy) critics of capitalism. That was depressing.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“My parents were not entrepreneurs, but their thinking was entrepreneurial. My father told me never to come to him with a problem unless I also had a solution. “It doesn’t have to work,” my father said, “but you must think about solutions.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“Why isn’t the need for economic freedom in Africa a mainstream cause, supported by 100 percent of the people? No one—and I mean no one, left or right—would support the imposition here in the United States of the senseless laws that prevent economic development in most African countries.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“Businesses create jobs. Jobs pay people money. And when Africans have money, they will no longer be poor.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“In the end, I blame the poverty in the majority of African countries for this poor image the world has of us. Just forty years ago, China was poorer than most African nations today. China was held in utter disrespect. You may (and should) despise the Chinese Communist Party, but no one believes the Chinese aren’t smart, hard-working people.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“But the worst of all are the people who say to these kids, “We’re so sorry about what happened to you. There is nothing wrong with you. If you don’t have a great job, it isn’t your fault. All the bad choices you have made and continue to make are not your fault. It’s all because of racism—and racism alone. Remain the way you are, bad choices and all. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“That’s why I advocate for school choice. I want to see each child offered so many educational choices they can choose one almost custom-made for them—one suited to their special genius and their dreams and goals in life. The goal should be to give every child, of any skin color, the equal opportunity to develop in the way that suits them best.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“In 1960, Singapore was a bit more than twice as prosperous as Senegal (US$1,400 vs. US$3,500 annual GDP per capita). Now they are almost forty times as prosperous as we are (US$1,500 vs. US$58,000). Imagine if we had the commitment to capitalism provided by Lee Kuan Yew instead of the socialism provided by Leopold Senghor!”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“We were a strange but not rare combination—business-oriented people who felt guilt about business and capitalism.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“There’s only one problem with Sachs, really. His approach to Africa was all wrong.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“of all the companies in Senegal, maybe 5 percent are operating legally. The rest—the 95 percent of companies that operate illegally—can only get so big before the government notices and starts creeping in, their threats focused on all the ways in which they are not legally compliant.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“Finally, a word about blockchain technologies and bitcoin:  first, there have been initiatives to use blockchain to document land titles.  Without claiming that it is a magical solution, transparent public ledgers that cannot be altered without a record of such alteration is certainly a solution worth exploring in nations with notoriously bad recordkeeping systems and pervasive corruption. Second, bitcoin is invaluable in nations with significant inflation and currency controls that prevent citizens from bringing capital in or out. In order for entrepreneurs to create prosperity in Africa, they need the freedom to deploy their choice of currency and to move capital freely. In many African nations, there are sharp restrictions on capital flows. But businesses often need to shift capital from one use to another quickly and frictionlessly.Many in the West have come to associate bitcoin with speculation, especially after the spectacular collapse of crypto exchange FTX. They are unaware of what it is like to live in a nation with weak financial institutions and, in many cases, chronically high inflation rates. Bitcoin is also a path to liberation from the CFA, a French-controlled currency that is currently used by fifteen nations and 180 million-plus people.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“But now imagine bigger: the ultimate e-government system would allow citizens to track all revenue and expenditures of their government. With a few exceptions, such as personnel decisions, every meeting would be recorded and every email made public. That means every procurement deliberation would be documented, and every receipt for every expenditure would be openly available. While such a system wouldn’t eliminate graft, it would make it considerably easier to catch and identify the culprits. Politicians and bureaucrats would still steal, but over time the most egregious excesses could be eliminated. Why would a politician ever allow such an encroachment on their gravy train? The best rationale would be leverage from the international donor community. Much of Africa remains heavily dependent on foreign aid. Instead of allowing leaders to siphon off hundreds of millions to put in their Swiss bank accounts, why not require rigorous e-government so that everything can be tracked?”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“The new colonial boundaries didn’t match the tribal boundaries; instead, they were and are perfectly arbitrary. Whoever seizes power within the new borders gains power over the diamonds, oil, foreign aid, and everything else of value, including the other tribes. That’s how democracy becomes a sectarian or ethnic battlefield.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“I agree with virtually everything Thomas Sowell and Glenn Loury have to say regarding the path for Black success. Their basic message is, “Pick yourself up, dammit, by the bootstraps.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“But if we really want to reduce bias toward people with black skin, those of us with black skin need to succeed at higher rates. No amount of Ibram Kendi-style anti-racism propaganda will change that. Remi Adekoya, a Polish Nigerian writer, notes: Whether it is Libyans selling black Africans into slavery, which is happening right now, Chinese people contemptuously discriminating against blacks in China, or Indians doing [the] same in India, a general low regard for black people across the world does seem to be a constant. In fact, the reason we focus on racism in the West and not elsewhere is because western societies are the most responsive to black opinion. As a general rule, the Chinese, Indians and Arabs don’t seem to care very much whether we consider them racist or not. Their societies are openly assertive of their felt superiority.20 He goes on to note that only when Black Africa becomes prosperous will Black people begin to be respected around the world.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“I also want to point out—and this is much more distressing—that the only people I saw complaining were White. I posted the Smithsonian’s image on my Facebook page, where I expected many of my 250 Black friends would express their outrage. Only one commented. I called Ibou in Senegal. I told him the source of the poster and explained why it was a big deal. I said, “I’m just going to read it to you, from top to bottom. Without comment. Just listen.” So I read it to him: “To be White is to be logical. To be White is to believe in hard work. To be White is to be rational.” When I was done, he just said, “Then I guess I’m White.” He went on to say the people who wrote it are inhuman because these are the things that it takes to be a well-rounded human being. These are the character traits that everyone needs to succeed in life and to lead a good, honorable life.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“From there, you can follow a sort of mindfulness practice made of five exercises, scientifically designed to rewire your brain to free yourself of stereotypes. The process to rewire the brain takes approximately one year. The whole thing is beyond fascinating.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“If you’re a cop, you may shoot a Black boy first and ask questions later. It is brutally unjust—and it is often unconscious. But that same cop may not have the same information encoded in his brain about a White boy. The hard drive in his head provides a message that the boy probably just needs help, or maybe he has a mental illness. Help him! Again, this is brutally unjust—and again, it is often unconscious. So he doesn’t shoot the White boy.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“You may have seen the video of the psychological study in which young Black girls are given two Barbie dolls. With the exception of their skin tone—one is white, the other brown—the dolls are identical. The little girls are asked, “Which is pretty? Which is nice?” Over and over they choose the White doll. It is heartbreaking. They have been programmed, and the “real world” impact is this: if you’re a White girl, it gives you confidence. If you’re a Black girl, no confidence. But confidence is imperative. How do you do well on a school test without confidence? How do you handle relationships without confidence? How do you handle job interviews without confidence?”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing

“If it is nearly impossible for entrepreneurs to create jobs, then it really doesn’t matter how much we pour into education. The NGOs and governments can absorb only so many university graduates. Without an ecosystem that allows for the creation and growth of businesses, we have tens of millions of frustrated university graduates who are underemployed and poor. A university degree on its own, in the absence of a vibrant economy, does not feed the holder.”
― Magatte Wade, The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing