Can Coffee Kick-Start an Economy? - NYTimes.com

Can Coffee Kick-Start an Economy? - NYTimes.com: So what real meaning can a company like Good African hold for the continent’s economic development and competitiveness? Easterly — whose research, in collaboration with the University of Virginia economist Ariell Reshef, has examined Rugasira’s company — emphasizes that stark advantages and outsize triumphs, like China’s, aren’t necessary to the success of individual businesses or to pushing Africa forward. He stresses that merely reaching the market and holding your own there can be a major victory for a company like Good African, not only because the brand may grow gradually but also because when it comes to African enterprise as a whole, the continent needs to prove, for starters, that in the world of business, it can just coexist. Sachs adds that what’s termed “the Asian miracle” began with lesser-known progress in low-level commercial farming. This is the very thing Good African is fostering around Kasese. And as for the moral elements in Rugasira’s pitch, it doesn’t take an economist to point out that an inspiriting message can be a strong capitalist tool.