Strawberries are one of the healthiest and most delicious fruits around. But if you’re throwing away the top leafy parts, you’re missing out on a ton of nutritious potential!
Not to mention, strawberries, especially organically grown, can be pricey. So you want to make sure you get your money’s worth by utilizing the entire berry.
Instead of tossing those strawberry tops in the trash, here are 8 ways to use them!
Number1 - MakeAHealingTea.
You can use strawberry tops to make a healing tea that can help reduce inflammation, boost the immune system, and improve overall health. To make the tea, steep 3 to 5 strawberry tops in one cup of hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. You can also add honey or lemon to make it more flavorful.
This tea can be consumed daily or as needed to help promote health and healing in the body.
Number2 - AddThemtoYourSmoothie.
Smoothies and shakes are a delicious and nutritious way to kick-start your day. But if you’re looking to take your morning beverage to the next level, consider adding strawberry tops!
They have tons of antioxidants and fiber that could really help your health. In fact, strawberry tops have even been shown to improve digestion and reduce gas.
So instead of throwing them away, add them to your smoothie for a nutritious boost!
Number3 - MakeStrawberryVinegar.
Fruit-scrap-infused vinegar is a simple way to add a sweet and tangy flavor to your favorite salad dressing or as a topping for grilled chicken. And, it’s super easy to make.
Combine 1 cup of strawberry tops with white wine vinegar in a bottle or a pint-sized mason jar. Cover it, and let it sit at room temperature for about a week.
Strain before using.
Number4 - CleanandWhitenTeeth.
The natural acids in strawberries can help break down plaque and keep your breath fresh and your teeth healthy. Using strawberry tops to whiten your teeth is really simple. First, dip the strawberry top into baking soda and gently rub it over your teeth.
After a few minutes, spit out the remains of this mixture and brush your teeth as usual.
Of course, this method won’t give you the same results as professional whitening treatments but it’s a great way to naturally clean and remove surface stains from your teeth.
Number5 - AddThemtoYourWaterforARefreshingInfusion.
This is a great way to add a little sweetness to your water without adding any calories or sugar,
which is especially important if you’re trying to cut back on sweets and lose weight.
To make this refreshing beverage, take about 8 to 12 strawberry tops, depending on how strong you want the flavor, and put them in a pitcher.
Then fill the pitcher with water and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.
Number6 - MakeanItch-RelievingBath.
If you have dry, itchy skin, this is the perfect remedy.
Since strawberry tops contain anti-inflammatory properties, they can help soothe your skin, which means they’re perfect for calming the itch of eczema and psoriasis. Plus, their natural acid content helps remove dead skin cells.
So next time you’re taking a bath, toss in 1 cup of strawberry tops and soak in it for 20 minutes.
Number7 - GiveThemtoYourBackyardAnimalsasATreat.
When it comes to providing your backyard animals with a healthy, delicious snack, strawberry tops
make a great choice whether you have chickens, goats, ducks, rabbits, pigs, or horses.
Not only is this a great way to recycle your kitchen scraps, but it’s also an easy and inexpensive way to show your animals some love.
Number8 - AddThemtoYourGarden.
You can also use strawberry tops to give your garden or lawn an extra boost. Just toss some on the ground near plants - and watch them work their magic.
The strawberry tops will decompose and help enrich the soil, adding additional nutrients your plants will greatly benefit from.
9.Antioxidants.
Strawberry peels contain antioxidants, such as anthocyanins, which give them their vibrant red color. Antioxidants help protect the body against oxidative stress and reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, certain cancers, and age-related macular degeneration.
10.Fiber content.
Strawberry peels are a good source of dietary fiber. Including fiber in your diet can support digestive health, regulate bowel movements, and promote a feeling of fullness, which can aid in weight management.
I hope this article has given you some fun and creative ways to use those strawberry tops you would have otherwise thrown away.
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In all of World War Two, the world used about 5 megatons of explosives. Now, this is a Trident II missile, capable of carrying 12 nuclear warheads together equivalent in power to about 5 megatons of explosives. A single American Ohio Class submarine can carry 24 Trident II missiles. A single submarine can carry a devastating, catastrophic, inconceivable amount of firepower. While in reality due to arms reduction treaties and practicality these boats often carry far less than their maximum armament, submarines can still creep up anywhere, undetected, ready to unleash their firepower, more powerful that the entire arsenal of some countries, in an instant.
Submarines are different in purpose to some other elements of a navy. While an aircraft carrier, for example, is intended to be big, foreboding, and noticeable as a means to display a nation’s power to the world, submarines are meant to to be unseen, undetected, an invisible, silent force that could or could not be anywhere at any time. In a way, submarines almost serve a purpose of psychological warfare—an enemy can never know for sure whether a submarine is looming off its shore.
While dozens of countries operate submarines, the most powerful and often largest of these boats are those capable of firing ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads. Only six nations are confirmed to have these submarines—The US, UK, France, India, Russia, and China. In addition, analysts have found evidence suggesting that North Korea and Israel also each have nuclear-missile capable submarines. Nowadays, there are essentially two different types of military submarines with two different missions.
The attack submarine, the more common kind, is generally smaller and, in combat, attacks other close-range targets like ships using torpedoes, shorter range missiles, and other armaments. The other, often larger type of submarine are those ballistic missile submarines which essentially serve the purpose of being a mobile, hidden launch platform for nuclear missiles. The idea is that, as a stealth launch platform, a country’s submarines would survive any nuclear first strike and therefore be able to retaliate against an aggressor.
Ballistic missile submarines are therefore crucial to the idea of mutually assured destruction—if anyone attacks with nuclear weapons, assuming those attacked had nuclear weapons that would survive a strike and they retaliated, both the attacker and those attacked would be destroyed. Therefore, many consider these nuclear missile equipped submarines to actually be a form of nuclear deterrence—they say they reduce the likelihood of others using nukes since they assure their subsequent destruction.
Considering that these submarines might survive when a country and its government do not, they therefore need the independent authority to use their missiles. While other operators likely have similar setups, it’s known that the UK’s four ballistic missile submarines each have a letter locked in a safe instructing their commander on what to do if the UK is wiped out by a nuclear strike. These letters are written by each prime minister at the beginning of their term and destroyed, unread, at the end. Each PM essentially has to chose which of the four potential options they want to instruct the sub commanders to do—nothing, to place themselves under the command of an ally like the US or Australia, for the commander to use their judgment, or to retaliate and launch nuclear missiles at the attacker. Of course, what gives submarines their stealth is the blanket of water.
American Ohio class submarines are publicly known to be able to go down as deep as 800 feet or 250 meters. In reality, it is believed they can go much further. As soon as a sub surfaces, though, their stealth is lost especially in today’s era of satellite tracking. Therefore, it is important that submarines can stay underwater for long periods so that that can dive underwater on one side of the world and make their way to the other undetected. Of course, almost all of the world’s ballistic missile equipped submarines are nuclear powered meaning they have virtually unlimited range. These boat’s reactor cores only need to be swapped every few decades.
In addition, most submarines have oxygen generators and desalinators so, like nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the only thing that really limits how long they can stay deployed is their food supply. How it works on American nuclear subs, which work similarly to those of other countries, is that each boat has two fully staffed crews at any given time—the Blue and Gold crews. The Blue crew will first man the boat while on patrol which lasts, on average, 77 days.
The different submarines different patrols are scheduled so that there are always submarines deployed. Despite this long patrol period, in the US Navy at least, submarines are actually known to have the best food of any vessel. Some say it’s because submarines are small—the chef has nowhere to hide if a meal is bad. It more likely has to do with the fact that submarines get a higher food budget than other vessels. Food is important to morale especially considering submarine duty is one of the Navy’s toughest jobs. Of course, fresh food can only last, at most, two weeks, so the meal quality deteriorates as the weeks go by. Eventually, the only ingredients left are canned, dried, or frozen.
The sign of food quality deteriorating does mean that the end of patrol is coming at which time the first crew, the Blue crew, would take the boat back to either its home port or a allied overseas port. The Gold crew will then arrive and then both crews will work to complete a turnover, restocking, and maintenance period of 25 days. Then, the Blue crew will fly home for vacation and subsequent training before the cycle repeats again. Most crew members keep this cycle going for years on end.
Submariners even live their days in cycles as well. They work eight hours on then have sixteen off to train, conduct maintenance, work out, eat, and sleep. Now, to get a sense of the scale of the largest of these submarines, here’s a Boeing 747-400 and here’s an American Ohio-Class submarine. It is almost 2.5 times longer with a hull circumference far larger than the plane’s fuselage. But even this is not the world’s largest submarine. That title goes to slightly longer and far wider Russian Typhoon-class submarine. These are so large that their amenities include a sauna and small pool.
On American and most other submarines, the amenities are more lacking, though. It’s important that submariners have things to do in their down-time considering they’ll spend three months without sunlight in a metal tube, but there just isn’t much space. The mess is really the only open space not devoted to work. Submarines tend to have gym equipment but it’s not usually consolidated in one room—more often it’s just spread out in different nooks and crannies. On large Ohio-class submarines, a submariners tiny bunk is their only true personal space.
On smaller submarines, like the American Virginia-class, the number of sailors exceeds the number of bunks so the most junior sailors will have to share bunks—while one works the other sleeps and vice versa—and there’s no true personal space. Compared to many surface Navy ships, which have phones, frequent mail deliveries, and even internet, communication to the outside world is limited on submarines. Each submariner is given an email address that their family can send messages to. When the submarine is able to receive communications, all these messages are then sent electronically. Onboard, the messages are all reviewed by a dedicated crew member.
They check through to be sure that no information is being sent that they don’t want known by the sailor. For example, they might choose to not pass on information of a family death in order to not affect crew morale. There’s often no way to get sailors off, anyways, so many believe it’s better to leave that news for the end of the patrol. How submarines communicate, though, is complicated because they do, of course, spend months underwater. Almost all radio waves can’t travel through salt water but submarines do need communications to receive orders.
Very low frequency radio waves, though, do penetrate water to an extent. That’s why VLF radio forms the core of submarine communication systems. Different navies have large VLF transmitters—for example, the US has ones in Maine, Washington, Hawaii, and elsewhere; India has one on its southern coast; and Australia has one in Western Australia. These VLF signals are able to penetrate the ocean and be picked up by a submarine as deep as 60 feet or 20 meters. One major disadvantage of VLF, though, is that it is very low bandwidth. It can’t even transmit real-time audio signals—the most it can do is about 700 words per minute in text.
When deeper, some submarines also have the capability to launch buoys to shallower depths to receive signals. Submarines also typically can’t respond with VLF frequencies since they don’t have large enough transmitters so they have to raise to shallow depths so they can have antennas sticking out of the water to respond. It’s at this depth that modern submarines will often have quick transmissions with satellites in order to download and upload information. There are a few other techniques used less commonly, some new technologies under development, and some separate systems designed for use when the main systems are compromised, but VLF radio forms the bulk of communications with most submarines. But the fact that submarines spend their time underwater in stealth also makes another crucial element difficult—navigation. Both GPS and Radar don’t work underwater since they use higher frequency waves that can’t make their way through any depth of water.
What does work underwater is Sonar where the submarine essentially generates a sound and then listens to when and how the sound comes back to map out its surroundings but emitting this sound makes it quite easy for others to track a submarine. Therefore, when operating in stealth conditions, submarines can’t use active sonar. Rather, they use an inertial navigation system. These are essentially systems of accelerometers and gyroscopes that take the last-known accurate GPS position of a submarine and then tracks the submarines movements relative to that. It uses this to estimate position but of course, as time goes on from the last reliable reading, the accuracy of this system diminishes. 24 hours after the last reading, these will drift to only about 1.15 miles or 1.85 kilometers of accuracy.
Now, this technique combined with the consultation of maps is usually fine since most of the time the ocean is a big, wide open space but there are a few objects floating below the surface that submarines could collide with—submarines. Some modern submarines are so well cloaked that another submarine just feet away might not be able to detect it. That’s what happened on the night of February 3rd, 2009 when the British Navy’s HMS Vanguard submarine felt a resounding bump while sailing in the East Atlantic ocean. It had collided with the French submarine Le Triomphant seemingly just by chance. Luckily they were going at low speed and there were no injuries but, considering both these subs were both equipped with nuclear warheads, one can only imagine the potential consequences of a more damaging collision.
Submarines are dangerous—even in peacetime. They are designed to disappear so, after something does go wrong, they often do just disappear. Many submarine operating countries have rescue submarines that can hypothetically be used to save stranded submariners by going down, latching on, and shuttling sailors to the surface but in practice, these have never really had much action. Sometimes submarines sink, their systems fail, and nobody can get to them before oxygen runs out. As submarines become better at masking themselves submarine tracking technology is simultaneously advancing.
There’s some thought that there will be a time when nothing can hide in the ocean’s depths but until then, submarines are a crucial aspect of any modern navy. Nowadays, just as they were in World War Two, even traditional, non ballistic-missile submarines and their torpedos are effective and deadly. One of the best ways to track submarines is also by sonar equipped submarines so it’s a situation where countries need submarines because others have submarines. That’s why there are still hundreds of them somewhere, or rather, anywhere, ready to strike at any moment.
There are roughly 295,450 people with at least $30 million.
Such individuals, referred to as ultra-high net worth, represent about 0.0037% of the human population, yet they hold about a third, $35 trillion, of the world’s wealth.
Therefore, it’s no wonder why a massive, global industry exists, fully centered on supporting the nomadic lifestyles of the world’s wealthiest 295 thousand.
As with any socioeconomic class, ultra high net worth individuals are more likely to socialize with other ultra high net worth individuals, yet intriguingly, the number of people earning and spending similarly to you goes down as your income goes up.
Therefore, once you get to the top of the income scale, the scarcity of people like you stretches your social networks out to a global scale.
Through the years, this led to the creation of the informal but remarkably systematized so-called “Billionaire’s Social Calendar.”
The year often starts on St Barts—the traditional New Year’s Eve spot for the wealthiest few—then February might include the Superbowl, and March skiing in Aspen or St Moritz.
Spring starts with the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, while May includes the Cannes Film Festival and the conveniently close Monaco Grand Prix.
June’s highlight is the Henley Royal Rowing Regatta in England, July’s is Wimbledon, August’s is the Venice Film Festival, while September often includes a return to Monaco for its yacht show.
October’s the Frieze London Art Fair, November might include a trip down under for the Melbourne Cup, and finally, the last major event of the year, before St Barts, of course, is Art Basel Miami Beach.
These events are hardly about the events themselves—most wealthy attendees to Monaco’s grand prix hardly care about the racing and its yacht show is far more than a sales event for the vessels—but rather they serve as an exclusive space made available only to wealthy people who want to socialize with other wealthy people.
While few go to all, and each adapts the calendar to their preferences, ultra-wealthy individuals have often expressed a feeling of obligation to join the circuit in order to maintain their social standing.
Such pressure may have motivated Jeff Bezos, for example, to start his 2022 as he did—on a yacht off St Barts with his partner, Lauren Sanchez.
Thanks to publicly-available aircraft transponder data, however, we’re able to see what he did with the rest of his January.
Bezos’ pair of G650 jets are too large for St Barts’ short runway, so they waited on neighboring Saint Martin while the billionaire rang in the New Year.
Then, on the 1st, N271DV took off for the seven-hour flight to Los Angeles to drop Sanchez off, while the other, N758PB, flew the next day to take Bezos directly home to Seattle.
Over the next two weeks, both jets regularly shuttled up and down the west coast between Seattle and Burbank, presumably to take Bezos and Sanchez to visit each other.
On January 13th, however, one of the jets flew from Burbank to Maui while the other flew from Seattle and stopped briefly at LAX before continuing on to Maui, presumably carrying Sanchez and Bezos respectively to the billionaire’s new $78 million vacation home on the island, then each jet returned to the mainland four days later.
Bezos appeared to visit Sanchez again on the 23rd, then four days later flew directly to
Washington DC—Bezos owns the biggest home in the District; the largest newspaper in the city; and his company, Amazon, is constructing its second headquarters across the river in Crystal City, Virginia—so he was likely there for business.
But finally, Bezos finished out the month by flying back to Burbank, once again—and he did all of this while threading the needle between highlights on the Billionaire’s
social calendar, as just 11 days later he flew down to LA for the Superbowl.
Across January, Bezos’ lifestyle called for his G650s to fly 29,000 miles or 46,000 kilometers in total, which is roughly equivalent to flying between Seattle and Sydney four times.
To fuel this extent of travel, his jets used about 24,838 gallons or 94,022 liters of fuel, which could otherwise be used to propel the largest passenger aircraft in the world, an A380, across the Atlantic from DC to London with 500 passengers aboard.
But Bezos’ travel is indicative of the way that market analysts think ultra-luxury travel is heading.
You see, two phenomena are crashing head on into each other to throw the industry into turmoil.
First, more people are getting wealthy than ever, as money is becoming increasingly consolidated at the top, and second, merely wealthy people are traveling less frequently than in years past, but spending more than ever.
Data indicate that prior to COVID, Americans spent an average of $4,871 on a trip to Greece, but now, it’s all the way up to $6,561.Airline executives have also jubilantly noted that first and business class revenue is remarkably strong, despite the continued weakness of the traditionally lucrative business-travel segment, mostly thanks to leisure travelers opting to pay the premium for more luxurious travel at a greater rate than ever.
In New York City, the ultra-luxury hotel market is said to be booming, with all-time high prices and occupancy rates and new super-premium properties opening faster than ever.
Summer 2022 saw the opening of the highly-anticipated Aman New York, with the cheapest room starting at $2,600 a night, but more regularly pricing in the three or four thousands.
Five years ago, the Aman’s sister property—the Utah desert resort known as Amangiri—started at $1,400 a night, but these days, that’s doubled to $2,800 a night, and even with dynamic
pricing charging a hefty premium for the most attractive dates, plenty of nights are regularly sold out, even many months in advance.
And of course, for those lucky enough to get a booking at resorts like the Amangiri, they need a way to get there so it’s no wonder that 2021 saw an all-time record-high number of private jet flights—3.3 million globally.
This tremendous growth was in large part enabled by the propagation of the on-demand charter business model.
Companies like Wheels Up, NetJets, and XO have revolutionized the industry by simplifying one-off charters of private jets, which makes the means of travel far more achievable for the twice-a-year wealthy leisure traveler.
These private jets are serviced by fixed-based-operators, which essentially act as private terminals-for-hire, and these are also observing record traffic, leading to more FBOs being developed, which is pushing up prices for airport real-estate and hangars to an all-time-high as well.
So, as the industry has grown as large as ever, it’s simultaneously more expensive than ever and more frustrating than ever to get access to a private jet.
Essentially, across the ultra-luxury travel segment, there’s a capacity crunch. More people than ever are willing to pay more for a night in a top hotel than most do for a month of rent; or more for a two-hour private flight than most pay for their cars.
The pace of industry growth is outmatched by the growth in demand for the segment.
The incredible consequence is that the super wealthy have pushed the ultra-wealthy out from their traditional stomping grounds.
There simply are not publicly-available travel experiences expensive and exclusive enough for the wealthiest of the wealthiest anymore, so they’re essentially turning to private everything.
Yachts fulfill this need well—they allow the ultra-rich to travel on their own terms,
bringing the quality of accommodations they expect to wherever they want to go, largely
regardless of outside demand.
But where they want to go is still largely dictated by that Billionaire’s calendar,
so each fall, as the temperatures in the Med drop and the final summer events finish up,
a maritime migration begins.
Some of the superyachts push off the dock with pared-down crews to begin the lengthy
transatlantic passage under their own power, and while most yachts are capable of taking
on most ocean crossings, it’s an expensive, impractical, and dangerous endeavor.
That’s why these exist—yacht-carrying ships.
These ships work year-round connecting the world’s yachting hotspots, but in the fall
and spring, it’s all about the transatlantic migration.
So, at the end of the Med season, a deluge of vessels descend on yachting hubs like Genoa,
Italy and Palma de Mallorca, Spain to load up on one of these vessels—their owners
paying up to $100 thousand for the convenience.
Upon arrival in the Caribbean, their owners can once again access their yachts, providing
convenient access to winter events like Art Basel Miami and New Year’s on St Barts.
As with every other segment of the industry, however, the superyacht industry is growing
faster than ever, meaning what was previously a refuge from the constraints of land is finding
itself increasingly stuck out at sea.
Take, for instance, a berth at the Yacht Club de Monaco.
First and foremost, it’ll cost you.
During the summer season, a night will cost the shortest vessels $275; but if you’d
like to dock the same boat during the Monaco Grand Prix, the price skyrockets to over $16,500
a night.
To get one of the few spots that can fit the largest 60 or 70 meter vessels, it’ll cost
$73,000 a night, but even then, the clubhouse building blocks the view of the track, so
to actually see the race, this fee includes access for two to the building itself.
But cost is hardly the issue here.
Rather, it’s club membership, which requires that you were first sponsored by a member
then approved by the admissions committee.
Once in, to secure a spot during the Med Season, berth reservations have to be booked months
in advance.
But for the only event that parallels the Grand Prix in exclusivity, the yacht show,
just getting a berth is only half the battle.
When showing your superyacht off to other attendees, the best spot to dock is here,
across the way, so onlookers can take in the full profile of the vessel rather than just
its rear.
But getting these spots requires first that the yacht is too long to fit in a traditional
spot, and that you, or your captain, has a strong relationship with the event directors—relationships
that take years to form.
Navigating these busy waters is an expensive pain.
Superyacht ownership in general is an expensive pain.
Yachts don't actually get someone from one place to the next efficiently at all—on
the open ocean they’re generally unpleasantly bumpy rides—and yearly costs generally average
around 10% of the boat’s value.
Yet, across the board, no matter the length, sales only continue to rise.
Anecdotally, the deals cut on the decks of these behemoth boats, and the valuable relationships
curated at yacht club bars are said to make the investment worth it.
As one new yacht owner told the New Yorker “one deal secured on board will pay it all
back many times over.”So, increasingly, the yacht is now perceived as a necessary
component of the Billionaire’s social calendar, meaning the same way the wealthiest few are
feeling about private aviation and ultra-luxury hotels now extends to the yachting world as well.
In response, the ultrawealthy are getting more creative.
Over the past five years, just as overall sales and superyacht builds have risen, the
number of superyachts over 40 meters being refitted has nearly doubled.
More often than not, refitting means a visit to a boat yard for minor alterations.
Sometimes, though, these refits are major, which reflects a growing trend: the rise of the expedition yacht.
With traditional waters busier than ever and the experiential economy as big as ever, billionaires
are rebuilding and buying superyachts capable of taking on more adventurous trips, be it
sojourns into the Arctic or lengthy, remote prowls across the Pacific. At the extreme end of this trend is a former Soviet icebreaker now rebuilt as an equally tough and luxurious expedition yacht called Legend.
On the other, experiential yachting firms have popped up that create World War II battle simulations in the Pacific for bored kids or set up temporary restaurants on sandbars in the middle of the Maldives.
The trend toward exploration and expedition isn’t just a superyacht thing either. At the same time that increasingly numerous millionaires are pushing the ultra wealthy away from their old stops, the interest in and social value of unique experiences is
pulling billionaires to services offering one-of-a-kind adventures—from up-close gorilla safaris in Rwanda, to luxurious overland treks to the south pole.
These luxpeditions, as they’re called, are individually curated by companies like Brown and Hudson to push their guests through Bear Grylls-like experiences in frigid winter conditions before they escape to tents with heated floors and Michelin star-worthy food waiting on them.
Their goal is that the trip, in their words, is seared into the participant’s memory. And if the extreme outdoors isn’t of interest, Brown and Hudson offer the opportunity to travel like James Bond, to live a few days like someone else entirely, or go off on a globe-trotting Grand Tour.
For the ultra-wealthy, the options are really endless.
As long as it’s legal, said one representative of a referral-only travel service, they’ll do anything for a client. Bespoke traveling for the billionaire class is booming, and as long as the traveler gets a good story out of the experience or the ability to brag about visiting the Salar Uyani
salt desert in Bolivia or the most rural reaches of Sudan before any of their friends, they’ll keep paying well into the hundreds of thousands for it.
But of course, the true top of the market is what we don’t know about yet. Increasingly, wealthy people are traveling to be seen—either in person or on social media.
In response, ultra wealthy people are increasingly traveling to disappear—as reflected in the record sales of secluded $30, $40, and $50 million vacation homes in places like Hawaii, Colorado, and the Caribbean.
We don’t have a great sense of the ins and outs of the most expensive travel experiences, because the secrecy is part of the premium itself.
By the time we do, the top of the wealth pyramid will have moved onto something else—always staying one step ahead of the merely wealth.
Africa is often viewed quite poorly on the world stage. The continent holds plenty of violent, corrupt, and unstable nations and the majority of world’s least developed countries, but Africa is big. There are 54 countries there and not all fall into the generalizations of the continent as a whole. Perhaps most notably, Rwanda.
One of the easiest ways to compare countries is through their indicators and Rwanda’s are impressive. For every 100,000 residents, Rwanda has, on average, only 2.5 murders per year. As a point of comparison, that’s lower than India’s 3.2 or the United States’ 5.4. It’s even more impressive when looking at the kind of neighborhood Rwanda is in.
Uganda has 11.5, Tanzania has 7, Burundi has 6, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has 13.6 murders per 100,000. In addition, Rwanda is ranked as the 48th least corrupt country in the world. That’s not perfect, but on the continent, only Botswana, a far richer country, ranks higher.
The country also has a 67 year life expectancy, tied for forth best in Africa, and only slightly below the world average. That 67 year number is believable, but what’s truly unbelievable is that 25 years ago, the average Rwandan had a life expectancy of 28 years. 25 years ago, Rwanda was in the midst of one of the most horrific genocides in history.
In only 100 days, 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in the midst of this ethnic conflict. The group primarily targeted, the Tutsi, saw the loss of about 75% of its population. With time, though, the country emerged from the other end, peace prevailed, and its indicators began their steady climb upwards to where they are today.
It is now the 15th fastest growing economy in the world as its government has set out a clearly defined mission—they want to become the Singapore of Africa. To understand what this means, though, you have to understand what Singapore is. It’s easy to forget that east Asia was not the highly developed, economically powerful place it is today 100 years ago.
Many refer to the 1800’s as Britain’s century, the 1900’s as America’s century, and the 2000’s as Asia’s century. It’s thought that we are currently in the century where Asia will prevail and one of the countries driving that is Singapore. Singapore sits at the top of all the indicators—not just for Asia, but the world. It’s the eighth safest, third richest, third least corrupt, third longest living country in the world.
60 years ago, in 1960’s, Singapore’s economy had a size of about $700 million. Today that number is $320 billion. In the last ten years alone its GDP has doubled. It went from a definitively third-world country to a definitively first-world country in less than a lifetime.
The country is intensely focused on being the business hub for Asia. Of the world’s 20 largest companies, 15 have operations in Singapore. It’s tough to look at the results of Singapore’s economic development without being impressed. They have done the nearly impossible.
Some of the ways Singapore has achieved this growth, though, has met some criticism. The way Singapore is run politically has been described as, “paternalistic.” it’s not quite authoritarian, but some freedoms are lacking.
One of the few indicators that Singapore does rank at the top of is the Democracy Index. It scores a 6.4 out of 10 which ranks it at 66th in the world and categorizes it as a, “flawed democracy.” The elements of this paternalism range from small things like the country’s ban on chewing
gum for cleanliness purposes to big things like the limitations on freedom of speech, assembly, and the press. To this, proponents would say, “look at the results.” The country has succeeded economically based off the trade that seemingly more and more countries are embracing, “liberty for prosperity.”
Rwanda has been paying attention. Paul Kagame, its president, declared that mission to turn the country into, “the Singapore of Africa,” and in many ways, it’s already well on its way. Arguing that Rwanda is authoritarian is easy.
On the same democracy indicator where Singapore is categorized as a, “flawed democracy,” Rwanda earns a score of 3.4 out of 10 and the categorization of, “authoritarian.” Paul Kagame was first elected in 2003, then again in 2010, then again in 2017 with 98.8% of the vote.
The US Department of State, though, described that third election as having some, “irregularities.” That also came after a constitutional amendment lifting term limits to let Kagame take power again. He is clearly well-liked and impressive.
He began his career in the military, played a part in toppling the oppressive governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC, and has been described as, “perhaps the most successful general alive.”
He is by all accounts a military genius and since his fighting days he has risen Rwanda from chaos into peace and prosperity but as a political leader, he himself is still oppressive. Just like Singapore, there are severe limitations on the freedom of speech, assembly, and the press.
There are even accusations of Kagame supporting or arranging the assassination of his political opponents. Looking at the ends, though, there are clearly more parallels with Singapore. Singapore’s success as a business hub is can be attributed to three factors: geographic centrality, political stability, and ease of doing business.
As part of Kagame’s mission, Rwanda is working to improve these same three factors. For the first factor, Singapore’s sits as a central point in the world. Within an eight hour flight one can get to the major business hubs of the middle east in the UAE and Qatar, all of India, all of east Asia’s major business hubs, and all of Australia.
Meanwhile, Rwanda sits only 600 miles or 950 kilometers from the geographic center of Africa. It is about as central as you can get on the enormous continent. For both countries, though, geographic centrality means nothing unless you can actually get to them.
One of Singapore’s largest companies is Singapore airlines—often considered one of the best if not the best airline in the world. Thanks to this airline, one can get from Singapore to five different continents in a matter of hours. It’s easy to underestimate the importance of having a globally competitive airline to establish a city as a business hub.
It’s safe to say that other business hubs, such as Dubai and Doha, would not be as influential as they are today without their airlines. Rwanda has clearly noticed this. Their national airline, Rwandair, which is government owned, has grown from a tiny operation with a few regional jets to a significant, intercontinental airline operating brand new planes.
They now fly all around Africa, to Dubai, Brussels, and London and have even announced plans to start one-stop service to both Guangzhou, China and New York. While the airline is not yet nearly at the level of some larger players on the continent
like Ethiopian Airlines and South Africa Airways, it’s serving its job effectively of connecting Rwanda to the world. The second factor to Singapore’s economic success is political stability. The World Bank rates countries in terms of, “political stability and absence of violence and terrorism,” and for this, Singapore, unsurprisingly, comes up in the 99th percentile—better than almost any country in the world.
This is a big reason why a CEO might choose to set up their Asian hub in Singapore over Hong Kong, for example, which only scores in the 75th percentile for political stability and is trending downwards. They want to operate in a place that they know won’t change quickly on a political level since there are inherent costs involved with a changing external environment.
Rwanda sits at the 48th percentile for this political stability indicator, well in the middle of the pack. This isn’t phenomenal but, compared to the sub-Saharan average of 31, it’s doing alright. It’s a contentious issue whether elements of authoritarianism promote or impede political stability.
In Rwanda’s case, with so few years under the current form of government, it’s tough to know if the country really is stable or not. Rwanda is now, by many accounts, a police state. There are random checkpoints all around the country and strict security at most buildings in Kigali, the capital.
Kigali is now one of the cleanest cities in Africa, let alone the world, partially due to a ban on single-use plastics and plastic bags but also because all able-bodied members of the population are required to participate in a community cleaning day on the last Saturday of each month. According to one report, there’s even widespread unlawful detention of what are described as, “undesirables,” on the streets.
The test of whether this country is truly stable or rather in a state of temporary fear-based obedience might not have yet come.Rwanda has not experienced a transition of power since 2000 and nobody really knows whether the country can continue on the right path after Kagame leaves. He himself even said that if he had not groomed a successor by 2017, “It means that I have not created capacity for a post-me Rwanda. I see this as a personal failure.”
It’s now well past 2017 and Kagame is still in power with no signs of leaving. Regardless of the reasons, though, for Rwanda’s current political stability, it’s sure that businesses like it. It’s one of the top factors they look at when deciding which countries to operate in. The third factor that led to Singapore’s business success, ease of doing business, is perhaps the most important one and it’s also the one at which Rwanda most excels.
This is a broad factor but it’s one that the World Banks tracks with a well known indicator—the Ease of Doing Business Index. This looks at ten factors—ease of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.
Singapore ranks as number two in the world behind New Zealand and is followed up by Denmark, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Rwanda, meanwhile, scores as the 29th. This is an impressive score by itself but it is incredibly impressive when considering how the rest of the continent ranks up. Rwanda is by far the highest ranked among mainland African nations.
The nearest trailing African nation is Morocco at number sixty and plenty of highly developed countries like the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Japan rank lower than Rwanda. To achieve this Rwanda has made plenty of economic and legislative reforms to foster the business-friendly environment.
They’ve also been focusing on building both soft and hard infrastructure. The government, in collaboration with private investors, built an enormous $300 million convention center along with a five star Radisson Blu hotel to attract the convention market in addition to less flashy infrastructure projects building roads and airports.
Overall, Rwanda is on the hunt for international investment in the country and so far, that’s paid off. In 2005, $10.5 million were invested from abroad in Rwanda. In 2017, that number was $293 million. Clearly a lot is working in Rwanda. It’s safe, clean, and growing economically. What more could a country want? Well, there are serious questions from abroad on whether Rwanda’s growth is ethical, replicable, sustainable, and even real.
The way Rwanda has achieved its current stability and growth have some external observers condemning it. Appearances of Rwanda can also be deceiving. It is still one of the poorest countries in the world with the average resident earningonly $750 a year. Some question whether the country should be spending so much on its airline, its infrastructure, and its capital when so many in the country are so poor.
Some question whether the country is growing for its middle and upper class while leaving its rural poor behind. It’s no surprise, though, that many of the countries neighbors, curbed by violence and poverty, have pondered whether they should be replicating the ways of Kagame. External observers have given mixed answers to that question. Some believe that the the current authoritarian policies will let dissent bottle up and eventually explode.
They worry that the country will erupt into violence again. Some say that the current regime is solely focused on making things seem like they’re improving through climbing up the indicators without making real, rational change. There are even some accusations that Rwandan GDP growth figures might be inflated or otherwise manipulated. It’s sure that Rwanda has been growing enormously, but is it really this much? There is no one recipe for economic growth.
The fact that the United States became the superpower of the 20th century and China is becoming the superpower of the 21st century proves that more than anything. Democratic states grow and autocratic states grow—they might grow in different ways, but there are success stories on both ends of the spectrum. What external observers have so much trouble answering is the means to the end question. Should Rwanda’s growth be lauded given how it is achieved? Can you tolerate some bad in exchange for much good?
In the end, Rwanda is the country of Rwandans and they are the only ones that matter with these questions. If Rwanda is truly working for all Rwandan’s, then Rwanda is working. There are a lot of, “ifs,” but if Rwanda’s growth is sustainable and if Rwanda’s politics are stable and if Rwanda’s investments pay off and if businesses pay attention to Rwanda, there is a very good chance that the country is well on it’s way to becoming the Singapore of Africa.
