Two Ways to Grow a Forest (or an Economy)

Pic: uberculture

Let’s imagine that you want to create a forest from scratch.

You’ve got two basic options: transplant one big tree or plant thousands of native seedings.

If you decide to transplant one big tree, the hope will be that that one tree drops a few nuts, which turn into little seedlings, which grow up to be more trees, which drop some more nuts and so on. A big tree will also provide shade and fruits from the start – perfect if you’ve got a hungry population to feed.

Of course, there are a few problems with this idea. First off, you’ve got to get the tree – which is gonna cost – and the transplant might not take; the big tree could wither and die and you’re back where you started. You’re also placing all your proverbial eggs in one basket, if that tree gets hit by lighting of falls foul of some illness then, again, you have to start all over.

Planting hundreds (or even thousands) of tiny saplings is a lot more work and there’s a lot less to look at from the outset. It could be years before you start to see the results, and, chances are an awful lot of your precious saplings won’t survive the winter.

But with hundreds to choose from the chances of a few taking root and growing strong are pretty good – and you’re also much more likely to attract lots of other little plants and animals to add depth to your budding ecosystem.

That, and you’re teaching your community to become growers – so when you have one forest, you also have everything you need to keep adding new trees.

Needless to say I’m not talking about trees, or forests or plantlife of any kind.

I’m talking about business. More particularly I’m talking about the transplanted trees of large multinational employers (foreign direct investment) versus the saplings of indigenous startups.

Not a perfect metaphor I know, but where would you place your bet?

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