*Originally published in 2023 and preserved as part of our archive project. E-International Relations is free to read. We rely on reader support to make this possible.

Max Koffi was born in Togo and grew up in Congo. While he completed his studies in Medicine and Psychology in Brazzaville (Congo) and Nice (France), he now is a prominent advocate for Africa's economic decolonization. Max is the founder and CEO of Africa in Motion, a non-profit organization that aims to increase the impact of the African Diaspora on the sustainable and economic development of the African continent. Additionally, he is the founder and chairman of the Equal Trade Alliance (ETA). The ETA aims at bringing European and African professionals, students, and civil society actors together to reflect upon the current (trade) relations between Europe and Africa, as well as the challenges that arise.

Where do you see the most exciting research/debates happening in your field?

Value chain debates between Africa and the rest of the world are mostly frustrating. If we’re strictly talking about research or debates, I might not be able to answer the question. The good news is that our target group – the youth – is reacting very positively to our work. When discussing how the system operates on their behalf, young people from the West display eagerness to participate. However, engaging in conversations with larger organizations often leads to significant resistance.Regarding research, we have been actively advocating for an ‘equal trade academic alliance’. The aim is to conduct comprehensive research encompassing both the upstream and downstream aspects of value chains. Unfortunately, there is limited support from funding sources for such endeavors. In terms of debates, one of the primary frustrations lies in the current discourse surrounding poverty in Africa, which inhibits accurate action and policy formation. On one hand, African leaders struggle to establish an authentic position in relation to poverty, regularly echoing Western perspectives. On the other hand, there is a severe lack of education regarding Africa's virtues, philosophies, and resources. The media predominantly portrays Africa through the lenses of poverty and conflict, perpetuating a limited understanding. Just last week, I encountered a 24-year-old student who was unaware that agriculture was possible on the African continent. Similarly, as a panelist at events, the initial excitement quickly gives way to reaffirming the hegemonic discourse on African poverty, disregarding the unjust hold that Western nations have on Africans through exploitative value chains and the imposition of Western values on a diverse and distinct continent. If this is the level we’re at now, in my view, the exciting developments are yet to come. It is still a struggle to gain awareness, but it’s something we have to do.

How has the way you understand the world changed over time, and what (or who) prompted the most significant shifts in your thinking?

I left Africa with the idea that there was something wrong. I’m fortunate enough to have been brought up in a relatively wealthy household, but I was dedicated to studying the reasons for poverty in Africa from a young age. One of my first dreams that I told my friends was that I wanted to be the first President of the United States of Africa. So my mind has always been on changing, or challenging, the root causes of Africa’s poverty. The only changes in understanding relate to the methods for doing so. Through my first organization (Africa in Motion) and after collaborating with Wageningen University, I realized that the core of poverty in Africa is rooted in the distribution of wealth along the value chains. It’s a problem that happens in every single country on the continent, and problematizing it can bring the different countries together. So the mindset didn’t necessarily change, just the approach towards the problem changed a couple of times.

How are price and profit distributions currently determined in value chains between Africa and so-called Western countries?

African countries have value chains with Europe, the United States, and Asia. The core of these trade relations haven’t changed since the times of slavery. When colonization happened, the raw material in Africa wasn’t even bought: it was stolen from the African people. The colonizer decided what to do with the raw material, which was simply to extract it for profit. This hasn’t changed. African raw material prices remain determined externally, even after independence of the countries. The ownership of raw materials was given to governments rather than citizens. Trade........

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