This hour-long program features stories of economic freedom
in action in Zambia, South Korea, Slovakia and Chile, presented by Swedish
author, commentator and Cato Senior Fellow Johan Norberg. Economic Freedom in Action: Changing Lives depicts the lives of
four entrepreneurs around the globe and how economic freedom has influenced
their lives.
Daesung Kim is a
venture capitalist in Seoul, South Korea, who funds fellow North Korean
refugees, giving them their start in business and putting them on a path of
self-reliance.
Kim escaped North
Korea at age 27, crossing the Changbai Shan River into China, after finding out
he was on a watch list for illegally trading goods across the border to help
provide for his parents and siblings. His life was in danger. Kim went to South
Korea, where he began working for a delivery service He went on to complete his university degree
and built a venture capital company focusing on small businesses run by fellow
refugees from the North.
Traveling over to the
African Republic of Zambia, we meet Sylvia Banda, an entrepreneur playing a
critical role in the development of rural Zambian farming. She has formed
partnerships with villagers, working only with hand tools, and having no
electricity or plumbing, teaching them improved farming techniques. They, in
turn, provide her with a supply of safe, hygienic food to sell.
Sylvia’s first
official business was a small, one-room, restaurant. From there Sylvia Banda
expanded her business to include extensive catering, a school for restaurant
service works and the processing and nationwide distribution of Zambian foods.
After many successful years, Sylvia and her husband redirected their focus
toward the distribution of locally grown Zambian foods -leading towards
constant innovation and training for the local farmers. Liberalization of the economy and
encouragement from the government for people to own property resulted in
economic empowerment for the Zambian people and allowing them to take charge of
their lives making the future very, very bright.
Based on Norberg's travels for the television documentary Power to the People, his investigation peels back the layers of this global challenge, often questioning the conventional wisdom on what works and what doesn't. His journey starts in the Moroccan bazaars of Marrakech, which functioned fine for eons without modern conveniences, but where electric lights, computers, cell phones and credit card readers are now everywhere. Even more telling is Norberg's journey to a remote Berber village in the Sahara Desert. More than half the world still cooks its food over open flames but this is rapidly changing, including here, where women now cook on gas stoves, and some even have refrigerators.
