Business Daily (Nairobi)
Macharia Waruingi And Jean Njoroge
21 May 2008
opinion
Researchers working in Africa have discovered huge products that can be of great value to the people if properly packaged and commercialised.
For example, professionals working in university laboratories throughout Africa have identified and catalogued hundreds of plants with medicinal value.
Herbert Cocker, a pharmaceutical scientist and chemist from the University of Lagos, has tested and catalogued hundreds of such plants in Nigeria.
Jack Githae, a leading Kenyan herbalist, has similarly discovered hundreds of medical remedies, and catalogued them.
Professionals working on the discovery and cataloguing of the medicinal plants and other products are many in the continent. Global agencies such as the World Health Organisation collect these data and collate them into a manual.
However, the story of discovery of useful products in the African continent is not limited to plants. Engineers have designs that are relevant to local conditions.
The problem is that most of the intellectual property in Africa remains that way: discovery catalogues. Millions of such works that are never commercialised litter the benches of African universities and research centres - to use the familiar parlance, they are gathering dust on the shelves.
Why is commercialisation of the products not taking place or has been taken to the back burner in the continent? According to one African scientist who formerly worked at the renowned Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) for many years, product commercialisation is unfunded. Research bodies in Africa receive funding for experimental and non-experimental research.
The interest of people funding research institutes stops at the research level. All the money is geared towards financing the research agenda, and everyone is happy when the research is done, the products and ideas are identified and catalogued.
For a product of research to become available on the shelves of the supermarket, someone would have to come out of the research institutions and think of ways of manufacturing it in large quantities, package it and then distribute it.
This process is the development aspect of research and development (R&D). Development is a risky affair, and launching such a new product into the market carries significant financial risks. The market may not respond positively to the launched products leading to financial losses to the investors-at least in the initial phase of growth.
People who finance business perceive development as a big risk, and so it is avoided like the plague. Business financiers such as venture capital funds, private equity funds, banks, and public money markets invest readily in business expansion.
The focus on funding research in the universities, and research institutions in Africa and focus on funding business expansion in the market, leaves product commercialisation unattended.
In this context, the products and ideas sitting on African universities do not find the power to jump from the benches of university and research laboratories to supermarket shelves, and shops, and eventually to people's homes.
Whose work is it to ensure that products and ideas find their way out of the benches of the laboratories to people's homes?
General thinking pushes this assignment to researchers who must "think out of the box" and market their creations. But a quick survey of scientists in Nairobi revealed that they do not think it is in their place to do this work. Many scientists believe their work ends with the discoveries and cataloguing.
But there is a missing link: Expertise in research is certainly not good expertise for commercialisation; this area requires a different set of skills and guided dedication.
Can the businesses do it? A quick survey of the business revealed that the business people feel it is not in their place to go to the research institution looking for the scientist. One banker in Nairobi captured the spirit: "The scientist should come to us if they need money for their work. It is not our work to go to them."
What about the governments? In the developed world, governments have played a major role in facilitating the product and the idea commercialisation. Many western governments either provide incentives, or directly provide financial support to businesses and professionals engaged in R&D.
Such government-supported funds go to finance the discovery and recognition, securing intellectual property rights, obtaining regulatory licenses, product development and refinement, and market research and planning. Such funds enable the product and idea owners to make their work available to the people.
Now, we know that many African governments are not endowed with huge fund, and anyway the political process is weak and disenfranchised in many African countries.
Some people feel that many African political leaders do not have the capacity to comprehend the concept. This is a brutal assessment of our leaders. We have some genuinely brilliant politicians in Africa, and if only scientists made the effort to reach out to them, they could possibly discover a way of working things out. Political brilliance is incongruous with scientific brilliance; they are not incompatible.
In western countries, the government does not fund all R&D and commercialisation; large companies dig deep into their pockets, or raise money from the money markets to achieve this.
The companies receive huge tax incentives, and multinational corporations have developed specific capabilities for efficient product commercialisation. With appropriate financial structure, these multinational corporations could participate positively in the commercialisation of African sciences.
Marsha Wulff, of Wulff Capital (Dallas, Texas), says the participation of multinational corporations in commercialisation of African science is not new. Companies from the G8 countries have for years researched and commercialised products from Africa.
The problem is that the companies from the G8 countries commercialize the product for use in G8 countries but not for use in African countries. According to Wulff, in this traditional model, the G8 company develops the new products, sources the raw materials for manufacturing from Africa, and sells the finished products in the western markets.
The company donates the left-over products to Africa or as a part of public gesture sometimes for tax incentives from the home government. This approach to funding development is one sided, and is not concerned about Africans.
In any case, many products that have no value to populations in the western countries are not put to commercial use. Ultimately, the effort by multinational corporations worsens the local situation.
The advent of information and communication technology in the past two decades has enabled creation of global knowledge and financing networks. Many Africans in the Diaspora have received education in G8 countries and have participated directly in the product commercialisation.
The African diaspora sits in a unique position to facilitate transformation of the commercialisation of African sciences. They have both a direct stake in development of their countries of origin, and useful knowledge in this area.
Many are returning to establish companies in partnership with the business people at home. The return of the scientists, however, does not guarantee funding for product development. The deep pockets of the multinational corporations are still necessary for injection of capital that would ensure liquidity of the process.
Wulff suggests a new form of partnership where the multinational corporations work hand in hand with the local businesses to commercialise the products.
The local business would collaborate with a G8 company to refine the product for larger global market, co-brand the market, ramp up manufacturing, and distribute globally.
When phased this way, hundreds of potential partnerships and collaborations come to mind. For example, pharmaceutical companies could collaborate closely with local professionals such as Mr Githae in Kenya, or Prof Cocker in Nigeria to facilitate commercialisation of the medicinal plants.
The writers are members of Knowledge Development Network
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