Entry Forty Six: An idea to fix slums in Africa!

Two Future Concepts of Masdar City (Borrowed)

Random thought: What would you think of a corporately run, self sustaining, charter city placed near African Slums?

Nothing like this has been done before. During the colonel days when Britain tried to colonize much of Africa, The Dutch East India Trading Company operated as a dictatorship under the power of the monarchy, they forcibly dominated communities, taxed them, and created a kind of politically corrupt economy where ever it went.

My plan would enact multiple companies operating in the same vicinity, creating more of a free market environment, like capitalism, used as an umbrella to help support smaller economic operations like local business and better finical or economic infrastructure. Eventually, once it is sustainable, will support a community based trade system, and because currency and wealth isn't fluid enough to actually sustain itself as a method of trade. And in the long run, provide the basis to support small independently run businesses, the product of an early independent economy.

In other words, companies would form an economy based on none currency labor, (not like a sweat shop) in return for a permanent start of good basic infrastructure. They would feed and then at the end of the day pay workers who run the facilities, with double portions of food, and clean drinking water. Some who are promoted to supervisor positions would  even be give temporary housing. These things initially would all be provided by the investment of the company, and in return give the company a working city, with an nearly unlimited work force, it then can do anything with, run factories in, run research in, run storage space, run logistics. This would work by using a trade for essentials, rather then a salary, not to be immoral or unethical, but because money is useless for the most part, in the slums, it cant buy anything because there is really nothing to buy...

Just imagine if your only desire, and motivation was to obtain clean water and food, you would find this amazing. With the double portion sizes you could travel, sell half and get real currency to buy clothes, other things, and eventually make something of yourself. This kind of trade would then spread. This form of operation would begin to compliment outside communities and their economy, by providing a simple base for people to provide for their families, food, water, and fill a need of others through exchange. trade would spread and become available in other places as well, allowing them to become healthy, efficient, hopeful, and eventually get to a place where they have the means to survive on their own (Buy or make a business), and have ambition.

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In a nutshell think of it this way. If you put a large farm, huge farm, and asked people to run it, you would collect 50% of the harvest for yourself and earn profit by shipping it over seas, and then pay 50% to the people who operated it, making a %100 return in cash from what you sent overseas which could be used to cover the investment. You wouldn't lose money, because the cost to pay employees would be free (self sustainable) which is a very hard idea for people to wrap there head around.

Its like paying an eight year old to mow your lawn, you make an agreement that in return for mowing your lawn you will allow him what he really needs and desires, which is that really cool happy meal for breakfast tomorrow, because it has a toy inside. It was on the spot, took the kid 15 minutes, and some instruction. Your paying him a happy meal which is 4 dollars. It would cost you, scheduling and 35 dollars for an adult or professional. What is the ratio of cost over profit?

Now if you use this model, scale this up into creating a self sustaining CITY ECONOMY, education, agriculture, food preparation, utilities, logistics, industry (factories) and storage. By using agriculture and clean water (the farm and water treatment plan), they will run everything in your city economy. You just have to build a farm large enough and create enough water for proper payment, to cover everyone. But because both of those things are easily mass produced it shouldn't pose a real problem and cost is near to nothing.

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Heres the idea reiterated one last time, with terms everyone can understand. You have a factory here in the United States which builds cars. The workers who operate this factory, are put in charge of training new employees on how to use the equipment and handle his job, each picked to help run the factory. These new employees then carry out duties of opening up food (farming) which is being delivered to the cafeteria, others are in the cafeteria preparing the food for all the workers, some are put into building the car, some are put into storing the car, and some are put into shipping the car - all of this on the site location of the Car factory. But, then some are also told to run the bank (agriculture) which also prints money to pay them all just across the street - all under the rules, regulations, and authority of the body who made such an investment or the building of the factory: the company.

Now I will further explain how this would work in a city.  You have a building for education, like Adult school in the United States, how to be a citizen 101 - people are trained in different skills and then put in different sections of the city running operations. Some decide they like working in a warehouse which stores product, food, and materials for the factory near by. Some decide to work in the factory which produces huge quantities of product to go over seas. Some really really want to learn how to drive so they are put in logistics and ship the products down to port cities. Some want to learn how to cook so they are put in a massive cafeteria / break room. Some people have a green thumb, and nick for operating massive farm equipment, so they are put in the agriculture surrounding the city, which pays for everyone to work there. Some are put in the water treatment plant.

At the end of the day, these people leave with 3 meals in their body breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Along with two pre-made meals to take home and a bucket of water. Some of it they trade to their neighbors who were not as fortunate to be picked to work on the site, and some feed their families. Eventually, their life becomes sustainable, healthy, happy, and hopeful. They become ambitious, work hard and get promoted to different positions in the company's city, get more portions, and investments are being made outside the city in other communities with currency they have collected from trading goods being taken home. This mechanism spreads to other villages, the trading of food and water for currency produces more small business, and these small business eventually becomes a sustainable economy. This economy grows, and I could go on but you get the picture - its no longer a slum.
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With this system three needs are filled

The need of the company for affordable labor and cheep product production. (Capitalism)
The need of clean drinking water and food by citizens (Human activism)
The need of most basic infrastructure for community building (Human activism)

Some may say that paying people in food and water is inhuman, but in a place like the slums money is rarely used, whatever it can buy other then food and water is useless.