The New Capitalist Manifesto

“Every week, Ms. Ruto walked two miles to hire a motorcycle taxi for the three-hour ride to Mogotio, the nearest town with electricity. There, she dropped off her cellphone at a store that recharges phones for 30 cents. Yet the service was in such demand that she had to leave it behind for three full days before returning.

That wearying routine ended in February when the family sold some animals to buy a small Chinese-made solar power system for about $80. Now balanced precariously atop their tin roof, a lone solar panel provides enough electricity to charge the phone and run four bright overhead lights with switches.”

An awesome example—but what’s really going on here? Developing countries are seeing a 21st century energy infrastructure emerge—one that’s built on two of the principles in The Manifesto: value cycles and resilience. It’s a grid that cycles power renewably, instead of just “generates” it via non-renewable sources. And it’s a grid that’s massively, flexibly decentralized—so it’s marginally resilient relative to the monolithic industrial age architectures that developed countries continue to invest in.

The point? It’s about thick value and smarter growth. Developing countries are on the cusp, just maybe, of a taking a quantum leap past developed countries, leapfrogging them by letting 21st century institutions emerge. And that’s awesome.