Overregulation & Market Failure

“We can’t regulate economic & social efficiencies into a market especially when the regulations are skewed against the market players.”

I’ve been an ardent advocate for business as a way to do good and often times I take up insights from some of the people I believe have done well in the business space. People like Howard Schultz, Jeff Bezos, David Rubenstein, Larry Page, Reed Hastings, Charles Koch, Sanjay Guptan, Satya Nadella among others. The reason as to why I’m keen to name some of these people is because of the fact that they have committed to doing business for good and while at it they’ve worked extra to ensure they are actively involved in the regulatory space. There’s no way a government will be expected to regulate cloud computing (hypothetical case) before the advent of cloud computing. It then means that the players in the industry innovating this new frontier should and have a responsibility to guide the regulations in the space. They have to share insights with regulators & policy makers while creating room for the new frontiers to flourish. It’s a collaborative ecosystem for all players to thrive.

Kenya as a country from my account and discussions I’ve had in the past with some futuristic & pro-development individuals I’ve come to acknowledge that we are overregulated to an extent. From restrictive tax regimes to adoption of regulations from advanced economies for application in nascent ecosystems that not only shrivel innovation but also discourages new entrants into the market. Being in the healthcare industry especially at this point in time when we are struggling to contain a pandemic it’s of essence that we put to use all the available resources. First, I’d want to clear the air that the private sector and to a greater extent haven’t been so pro-national good as they’ve been pro-profiteering. However, this happens not to be a challenge of the private sector but of the value systems of the people. When we have government officials doing business with the very government then it blurs the line between government & private sector with greed being the driver then we are bound to fail on all counts. This is the genesis of the current prohibition of private sector involvement in COVID-19 vaccination plan.

We’ve been accustomed to governments making decisions for the people in a monopolistic manner yet the very government lacks capacity to deliver on the market demands. With regulations coming into place including containment measures, there’s need to fast track recovery from this pandemic considering families are struggling with social & economic costs of this pandemic and any extra time taken delaying the recovery not only costs them lives but even makes it harder for them to regain their footing in the next phase post COVID-19. There’s an imbalance and we’ve got to aid our recovery by putting to place the measures that can get us past this pandemic. In my perspective, we need guidelines & directives that give the private sector a role in the overall deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, pooling of resources and procuring through a special purpose vehicle for national deployment rather than total reliance on donations through COVAX which will take over a year to meet market needs. Cost containment measures be put forth for the private sector who invest their resources in this venture to ensure they recoup their monies while helping speed attainment of heard immunity.

We’ve got to do better as a country. In my account this means putting measures with the people in mind, our intended outcome to perspective and designing the means to achieve the same. If every time we encounter a drawback and the way out is to put in place disincentives & regulatory roadblocks we make it harder to be innovative & creative to solve the problem. We need ideas and ideas can only thrive when they are given room to materialize which translates to an opportunity to see the light of day. If from start we already know that any idea we put forth isn’t going to be of any value then we stop thinking or generating any new ideas. That’s the cause of market failures and the damnation of a society.