Ernesto Sirolli’s first assignment as an “economic development” officer whose task was to help Africans “improve their economy” (as if Italy’s were so hot!) was to supervise a tomato growing project along the Zambezi river.
Along the way they had to addict the natives to alcohol, tobacco and other staples of the West to encourage daily work, but that’s a story best left to the book.
Just as the tomato project was about to come to seeming fruition andthe first day of the harvest approached, the first rays of the new dawn found the tomato beds looted of their bounty.
The Hippo’s of the Zambezi had struck in the night and engorged themselves on the wonderful red fruit they’d found.
The centralized planning had overlooked this contingency and the whole project went bankrupt.
It was then Ernest Sirolli became an ardent apostle of grass roots entrepreneurship and eschewed the central planning model.
This is his story.
Every one interested in reviving local economies should read this… it’s a great remedy to the hopelessness that fills communities when factories shut down.
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