Introduction
Education is a vital need of modern society. It allows people to develop their skills and talents so that to further use them for their own prosperity and for the glory of their countries and continents. In Africa, the issue of education is rather burning as the weak economies of numerous African states do not allow their citizens to get proper education and work for the glory of those countries. Thus, students studying abroad are in an advantaged position as they can get an internationally acknowledged education and help their motherland develop. In this paper, I will focus on the areas of African development, namely oil and gas investments, which I might be useful for with the degree of master of finance I am eager to obtain in the nearest future.
Background
Needless to say, Africa experiences the great need of educated people able of structuring the work on developing the deposits of gas and oil that are rather substantial in Africa. Upstream and downstream oil production industries constitute the basis of economies of a number of African states including Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, etc (Mbendi, 2009). In 2007, African countries produced 9.49% of the world’s oil. The production of crude oil, moreover, amounted to 12.5% of the world’s amounts in 2007 (Mbendi, 2009). As for the gas reserves, in 2007 African countries provided 8.22% of the world’s total amount, while in 2008 this amount grew by 6.45% more (Mbendi, 2009). This proves that oil and gas production is a vital sphere of African development.
At the same time, African countries mostly fail to present their youth with the proper education to prepare qualified professionals for developing this industrial branch (Mbendi, 2009). The poor people are deprived of educational access almost completely, while the middle and upper classes of society can afford to study abroad. Recently, the domestic South African, Nigerian, etc. universities started granting scholarships to the talented and focused youth to get educated and work for the development of Africa (Scholarship, 2009). However, these programs are yet at their beginnings and African development demands more professionals, so I think that my master of finance degree can be of help for this goal.
Master of Finance Degree
First of all, I am convinced that my degree can help develop the oil and gas production industry in Africa as the educational levels that I am able to acquire in my current university are rather high and only several of the African educational establishments can provide their students with a high quality of knowledge as the one I study at (USB, 2009). The educational basis I obtain in the university is able of providing me with a good position in a reputable company so that I could actually help to develop African industry through implementing certain practices that help American and European countries prosper from oil and gas production.
Moreover, the international acknowledgment of the educational establishments of the United States is also an important point in presenting the purpose of my master’s degree. In other words, the international validity of the degree can facilitate my employment in a reputable and influential organization and might in its turn allow me to have more ways to help African industry develop. This will also allow me to find investors for the oil and gas industry, as Africa is currently suffering from a lack of funds for the development of its deposits (Mbendi, 2009). In other words, the more opportunities I will have through my master’s degree, the more progress I might bring to African development.
Finally, the degree of master in finance obtained while studying abroad will allow me to have either already established or potential business- and cultural ties with the partners and potential assistants from the USA and some European countries and attract investment to the power generating industry in Africa. In other words, my knowledge of the international financial reality and ability to apply it to the African setting will provide Africa with new investments from the international companies interested in developing their businesses overseas and launching new areas of activity (USB, 2009).
Thus, the knowledge of financial principles and methods of effective investing, which I have learned for obtaining my master’s degree, combined with the knowledge of African business reality will allow me to apply my master’s degree in finance with the greatest use possible for the development of Africa. I would be able to attract investments into the power generating industry in Africa as I know, due to my master’s degree and the knowledge it allowed me to obtain, that the favorable tax climate and conditions for business development will bring international investors to Africa.
Conclusions
To conclude, education is a burning issue in Africa where little amounts people have access to education and can really help develop the continent of Africa. Drawing from this, my master’s degree in finance will obviously be of help for this purpose. IN other words, what I can do with my internationally acknowledged and highly professional education is I can take a rather high position in an African company dealing with oil and gas production and attract international investors to this branch of African industry. Having knowledge in finance, I know how to make those investments effective and how to bring Africa to a higher level in its industrial development.
Works Cited
- Mbendi. “Oil and Gas in Africa.” 2009. Overview.
- Scholarship. “ Master’s Scholarships for Emerging Leaders – Denmark/South Africa.” 2009. Scholarship Positions.
- USB. “USB to present development finance master’s degree in Nigeria.” 2008. Communications.