The developed nations of today were built on fair competition, where every citizen had a chance to thrive, not by government hand-picking a few to benefit from state-crafted policies.
As Feyi Fawehinmi, an author, noted in his review of Femi Otedola’s memoir “Making It Big”, in Nigeria, “you need not invent anything to become a billionaire. That is a waste of precious time.” This stands in stark contrast to wealth creation in other climes. In the United States, billionaires rose on the back of inventions, protected by patents.
“Many made fortunes based on their patents. Take Thomas Edison, the inventor of the phonograph and the light bulb and the founder of General Electric, still one of the world’s largest companies,” wrote Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.