Constantly, telemarketers are out there calling everyone, from every location, asking if they all want the same product and/or service. Due to the vast economic disparities all our dying green Earth has (happy Earth Day for yesterday btw), each continent will have its own priorities as to how money is spent.
For example Africa, according to the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook survey, in 2021 managed to achieve a nominal GDP figure of US$2.7 trillion. This was US$296 billion more than in 2020, so as a finance somebody you'd think well, there's plenty of money to flog life insurance policies, retirement plans, and other household tax-free savings investment outfits. Africans face so much financial uncertainty on a daily basis, that being tolerant with high levels of said uncertainty has become something of a superpower compared to other wealthier continents. Human beings who face uncertainty are not in the state of mind to think about the long-term money spending patterns they'll have. Uncertainty sparks a need to find a quick fix solution for today, and hopefully that can work for tomorrow, and the day after that as well. This is why a lot of short-term deals (not least of all corrupt ones) happen in Africa, because very few are really thinking about finding a stable job that can help then build their pension pot and look after loved ones, let alone themselves.
Having lived and worked in South Africa as a Financial Adviser (hopping from one decent low-level sales gig to the next), the mass affluent prospective clients I met and explained the beauties and joys of long-term investment planning and what tax-efficiencies could exist if done so correctly, just couldn't penetrate through their skulls. It was all about "what life insurance policy can I sign up to, that will pay a fat load when I die?" mentality, and quite frankly, I always had a European/Far East Asian long-term orientation mindset to Financial Planning, and couldn't appreciate how that was never going to get me anywhere in a short-term environment like Africa's.
Short-term presents exciting opportunities, such as car, household, inventory (business & personal) insurance planning, as well as the Holy Grail of mining and excavation insurance planning. I wish I had focused on these more before starting DW, as these aforesaid areas of financial planning are definitely the busiest in Africa than in any other part of the globe. For as long as you keep your hands clean (out of the trouble corruption will bring), proper discernment of where these short-term opportunities are, such as in Angola, can produce heaps of commission revenue.
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