Global presence does not automatically ensure competitive advantage. Otherwise, worldwide African presence would have easily yielded the culture-based wealth that provides the necessary financial capital and the political-economic edge enjoyed by other cultures worldwide. Some cultures have taken advantage of their perceived competitive edge and effectively established developed markets virtually everywhere possible.

Up till today, we have witnessed multinational corporations integrated into many countries across continents. Their presence in other countries will continue to change people's thinking and consumption habits. Multinational corporations usually have specific origins. They must always remain loyal; along with their products and finances, their underlying ideas and cultures must circulate freely to ensure the established economic relations' sustainability. Since culture is a way of life, all specialized products and services reflect particular cultural identities. Each global product contributes to the wealth of a particular culture or nation.

An excellent example of a multinational corporation with an inconspicuous global presence can be found in the Automobile where GM and Ford are known to American, Hyundai is Korea, Tata is Indian, VW, BMW, Mercedes are German, Volvo is Swedish, Mitsubishi, Toyota is Japanese, Fiat is Italian, Lada is Russian,  Citroen is French. Range Rover and Rolls Royce are British. Similar cultural identity can be found in technology, be it in computers, audio systems, refrigeration, televisions, etc. Good examples of specialized banking can be found in Banking and Finance, namely the IMF, World Bank, ADB, The Caribbean Development Bank, etc. One other area worth mentioning is the media entertainment sector, where cultural institutions such as Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood, Ghallywood, Riverwood, etc. If deliberate from the onset and adequately organized, this type of attunement can help tap into its natural and instinctive resources to contribute to the collective conveyance of African values and eventually lead to the creation of necessary financial wealth, which constitute what can be described as an economic power.

Turning global presence into a global competitive advantage requires a culture to consciously match its value creation potential with the opportunities generated by its predisposed global relationship and presence. This means that if globalization is indeed a relationship economy, there is no reason not to think of the possibility of a new global African economic relationship initiative driven by culture and technology because the culture is what we already have in abundance. Technology makes it possible to organize information, create efficient communication, production, distribution, risk assessment, and monetization virtually on a global basis. Africa and the Caribbean are linked together by their origins; therefore, the condition of being related provides an excellent opportunity for economic trade relations, which can also serve as the necessary means to reconnect and strengthen the ties between Africa and its Diaspora.

Diasporic, transnational identities and social structure—coupled with the increasing ease of cross-border capital and investment movement—have given rise to a particular case of international ethnic entrepreneurial behavior:  This presentation is designed to help identify opportunities and suggests a framework for analysis and actions necessary to create global African competitive advantage.

The Cultural Resource Framework identifies a broad set of assets in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors that are understood as being cultural resources  and lays out the taxonomy for a Cultural Resource Database. Nonetheless, a community resource and need database must first be established as prerequisite for establishing or developing the cultural resource mapping database. Using the Maslow theory on the hierarchy of human needs, we can arrive at a consensus of community needs (we can observe these basic community needs on the next slide). Specifically, the resource mapping process can help a community gain in-depth information to community resource including its cultural resources. It can also help identify gaps in the demand and supply of services and needs. This provides a great opportunity for business development.

Types of Industries

Cultural Industries: businesses and non-profit groups involved in the creation, production, manufacturing and distribution of cultural goods or services. It includes everything from theatre costume making to creative software design. For example, industry data could tell you how many people are employed by a museum, and this would include everyone from the curator to the parking attendant.

Cultural Occupations: the labor force aspect of cultural industries. It describes employment in the various jobs that people perform as cultural workers. For example, occupation data could tell you how many graphic designers are employed in your community, whether they are employed by a museum or a hospital.

Community Cultural Organizations: organizations that represent arts, heritage and ethno-cultural interests in the community. These are usually non-profits and can include arts and heritage advisory committees, ethno-cultural associations, local arts councils, dance schools and library boards. Cultural Facilities & Spaces: buildings and sites that host cultural activity. These can include spaces in the public, private and non-profit sectors, and include everything from purpose-built facilities, to facilities that include cultural programming.

Natural Heritage: natural wonders and areas of environmental and cultural significance. These can include municipal parks, conservation areas and botanical gardens.

Cultural Heritage: the management and exhibition of objects, buildings and sites of historical, cultural and educational value. These can include everything from pioneer villages to public art and archive collections. Cultural Events & Festivals: festivals and events in your community. These can include performing arts events, tours of culturally significant places, seasonal celebrations, and many others. Intangible Culture: These are assets that are not necessarily manifest in physical form. They include stories and legends, shared beliefs, customs and rituals, as well as digital cultural expression.

To explain the role and what I would herewith describe as the African opportunity, we need to explore the dynamics of the world economy through cultural lenses, not only national perspectives. My goal is to understand how a real and lasting economic improvement within Africa and the Caribbean can be achieved by reorganizing the existing complacent global trade relations. Note that not all trade relations are complacent; there are individual trade relationships with well-established integrity and have brought about beneficial political policies, technology advancement, and regulatory frameworks.

Great Economists know that the power of economics is underrated. Economics is by virtue the most potent stem of all social existence. Religion, politics, war, and academic pursuit, and professionalism are all adaptive virtues of interconnected roles within the economic system. Therefore, economics is the underlying framework of the symbiotic relationship system between a unit, a society, and the environment. It takes a specific mindset to understand economic full power as a principle for the natural order of unitary potential and social identities within the universal ecosystem. Suppose we understand the critical impact that the nature of people's relations has on the economy. In that case, we will understand how to use economics as a shared group identity tool with a common purpose of healing to which wealth creation is vital. Economic power is generated when the economic and financial system of a shared identity (based on the condition of being related) can adapt themselves to the global-integral world, in which economic ties cross borders and firms, in which people depend on one another and affect one another, with a conscious goal for sustainable wealth creation and the stability.

Nonetheless, to people of African descent, the reality of economic crisis has been within us. In the relationships between us, the rest of the world since the false and fictitious denigrating picture and narrative about Africans was constructed and cultivated for many years through various slavery and colonialism elements.  Thus, our depiction is of a people that are economically powerless and culturally weak. At the same time, the narrative reflects distorted interconnections, manipulations, and false values. However, people have begun to understand that an economy based on lies, speculation, manipulation, and mistrust is unsustainable. In a sense, the current crisis offers us an opportunity to examine our relations' nature and change it, so it fits what is required of the global world and the necessary interdependence among its parts. Such harmony and congruence will necessarily create a different economy, optimistic, balanced, and stable. An excellent example of this positive change can be seen in the normalization of the US_-Cuba  diplomatic relationship after several decades of the embargo that we know today has been unnecessarily hurtful.

Nature works in harmony and balance, and now it is up to us to change our thinking and behavior, our relationships, and as a result, our common plight, including the current weak socio-cultural, economical system to become balanced and harmonious like nature. Behavioral economics describes the nature and power of human relations, their collaborations. It shows the extent to which tendencies and fundamental perceptions of human economics rely on values of mutuality. I believe that since the distorted desire and anxiety for economic survival is what created slavery and colonization of the indigenous people, therefore the new paradigm must rise one level higher and correct the problem created by the perversion; hence the solution would be normalizing natural human relations and connections at the economic level. Suppose we understand the critical impact that the nature of people's relations has on the economy. In that case, we will understand the economic system we must build to carry out its roles effectively and maintain its stability. Yet, not only must the economic focus change,  the economic and financial systems being the reflections of human relations, the entire international community (United Nations, State governments, and other authoritative economic and financial Institutions)  is required to support that solution that rearranges the system of human relations. When the economic relationship between African and African Diaspora in the Caribbean and North America begins to change toward bonding, unity, social cohesion, care for others, and mutual guarantee, we will all begin to see a positive socio-cultural paradigm improving accordingly.

To explain the role and what I would herewith describe as the African opportunity, we need to explore the dynamics of the world economy through cultural lenses, not only national perspectives. My goal is to understand how a real and lasting economic improvement within Africa and the Caribbean can be achieved by reorganizing the existing complacent global trade relations. Note that not all trade relations are complacent; there are individual trade relationships with well-established integrity and have brought about beneficial political policies, technology advancement, and regulatory frameworks.

Great Economists know that the power of economics is underrated. Economics is by virtue the most potent stem of all social existence. Religion, politics, war, and academic pursuit, and professionalism are all adaptive virtues of interconnected roles within the economic system. Therefore, economics is the underlying framework of the symbiotic relationship system between a unit, a society, and the environment. It takes a specific mindset to understand full economic power as a principle for the natural order of unitary potential and social identities within the universal ecosystem. Suppose we understand the critical impact that the nature of people's relations has on the economy. In that case, we will understand how to use economics as a shared group identity tool with a common purpose of healing to which wealth creation is vital. Economic power is generated when the economic and financial system of a shared identity (based on the condition of being related) can adapt themselves to the global-integral world, in which economic ties cross borders and firms, in which people depend on one another and affect one another, with a conscious goal for sustainable wealth creation and the stability.

Nonetheless, to people of African descent, the reality of economic crisis has been within us. In the relationships between us, the rest of the world since the false and fictitious denigrating picture and narrative about Africans was constructed and cultivated for many years through various slavery and colonialism elements.  Thus, our depiction is of a people that are economically powerless and culturally weak. At the same time, the narrative reflects distorted interconnections, manipulations, and false values. However, people have begun to understand that an economy based on lies, speculation, manipulation, and mistrust is unsustainable. In a sense, the current crisis offers us an opportunity to examine our relations' nature and change it, so it fits what is required of the global world and the necessary interdependence among its parts. Such harmony and congruence will necessarily create a different economy, optimistic, balanced, and stable. An excellent example of this positive change can be seen in the normalization of the US_-Cuba  diplomatic relationship after several decades of the embargo that we know today has been unnecessarily hurtful.

Nature works in harmony and balance, and now it is up to us to change our thinking and behavior, our relationships, and as a result, our common plight, including the current weak socio-cultural, economical system to become balanced and harmonious like nature. Behavioral economics describes the nature and power of human relations, their collaborations. It shows the extent to which tendencies and fundamental perceptions of human economics rely on values of mutuality. I believe that since the distorted desire and anxiety for economic survival is what created slavery and colonization of the indigenous people, therefore the new paradigm must rise one level higher and correct the problem created by the perversion; hence the solution would be normalizing natural human relations and connections at the economic level. Suppose we understand the critical impact that the nature of people's relations has on the economy. In that case, we will understand the economic system we must build to carry out its roles effectively and maintain its stability. Yet, not only must the economic focus change,  the economic and financial systems being the reflections of human relations, the entire international community (United Nations, State governments, and other authoritative economic and financial Institutions)  is required to support that solution that rearranges the system of human relations. When the economic relationship between African and African Diaspora in the Caribbean and North America begins to change toward bonding, unity, social cohesion, care for others, and mutual guarantee, we will all begin to see a positive socio-cultural paradigm improving accordingly.