I came out of university believing that countries like mine were diseased.
They call it developing country syndrome, in which government corruption and mismanagement weaken the institutions needed to build a strong and stable society. The result is pronounced economic disparity—high-living government officials on the one side and populations struggling with poverty, disease, and hunger on the other.
I grew up in Kenya and had traveled extensively in India, so I'd seen evidence of this problem up close. My training as a political economist and my work as an investment banker on Wall Street only solidified my acceptance of the uneven distribution of wealth and its harmful effects. "That's the way the world works," I thought. Then I had an experience that changed the way I looked at everything.
