There was an awakening article in yesterday’s issue of The New Times titled; "Why do we import cure-dent from China?” referring to the common wooden toothpicks on our dinner tables.

The very idea that we have to cross oceans to buy toothpicks that can be manufactured in our backyards is very telling and should act as a wakeup call to think out of our perennial "we-have-to-import-everything” box.

Successful entrepreneurs usually start small and grow their businesses gradually, usually basing on innovations and adapting to the environments they work in. 

There are very few entrepreneurs of the kind in our societies compared to the famous Asian Tigers because we have become too dependent on externally manufactured products. This stifles potential creative initiatives and creates the dependency syndrome that we all seem to suffer from.

Manufacturing small items like toothpicks in the Great Lakes region would fit in with call by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on boosting regional trade, as a key development factor in Africa.

But bureaucracy, feet dragging and the perennial trade barriers will make most African economies play second fiddle to their Asian brothers and sisters. Most of the barriers can be wiped off the slate with just a few signatures accompanied with the right dosage of governmental goodwill.

With the upcoming common market, movement and customs protocols still in the pipeline, the importation or exportation of toothpicks to say, Kenya, would be cheaper than going all the way to China or Dubai for the same.

But the main question that remains is; are our entrepreneurs ready to take up the challenge?