Is the American dream still even a thing?

Hey,

I spent the past couple of months in India, Indonesia and China, and if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s this: the next wave of great companies, ideas, and wealth creation won’t come from Silicon Valley or Wall Street. It’ll come from places like Bengaluru, Jakarta, and Shenzhen.

India is too good to be ignored.

India was once bankrupt at the hands of British colonisation, yet today, it’s one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The numbers speak for themselves:

• India has 117 unicorns, with a startup ecosystem worth over $50 billion.

• With over 800 million internet users, India is the second-largest online market in the world.

• Bengaluru, India’s Silicon Valley, houses 60% of India’s tech talent, with over 400,000 engineers working there.

• More than 50% of the world’s top 30 tech companies have a base in India.

The West spent decades painting a picture of India and other emerging markets as places of struggle. Meanwhile, cities like Paris, New York, Geneva, and London were romanticised endlessly. 

But that narrative is shifting, and I hope our work plays a role in accelerating that shift.

Indonesia is taking back some of its cacao and more countries should do the same.

In Indonesia, I saw chocolate brands pop up everywhere. I looked into it and found out the country is the third-largest cacao producer in the world, churning out over 500,000 tons of cacao annually. Yet, for years, most of its cacao was exported to be turned into luxury Swiss and Belgian chocolate. Now, Indonesian brands are keeping more of that value at home. The country’s middle and upper class is projected to reach 90 million by 2025, creating a massive local market.

Why is this important?

For decades, emerging markets have exported their most valuable resources—whether raw materials, talent, or technology—while Western countries built billion-dollar industries around them. But that’s changing fast.

This shift isn’t just about chocolate. It’s a global pattern. Other emerging markets are reclaiming control of their exports too:

• Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire produce over 60% of the world’s cacao but historically saw little profit. Now, they’ve introduced price controls and are processing more cacao locally. Ghana even launched its own premium chocolate brands.

• Nigeria’s booming tech talent was once siphoned off to work for Western firms, but now, startups like Flutterwave and Paystack are proving that African companies can build global fintech giants.

• China’s semiconductor industry is investing billions to produce its own chips instead of relying on the U.S. and Taiwan.

• Vietnam, once a major textile exporter, is now home to fast-growing domestic fashion brands that are competing globally.

China: the end of the American brand era?

Unlike the Middle East, where American brands are still very dominant, I’ve noticed that in China, the tide is turning big time.

For years, China’s 1 billion shoppers were a gold mine for U.S. brands, but recently:

• Luckin Coffee has overtaken Starbucks in China.

• Apple sales dropped 20%, while Huawei grew 70%.

• Nike is struggling, while local brands like Anta dominate by tapping into national pride.

The biggest opportunities in the next decade aren’t where the old guard is looking.

Maybe the question isn’t “Is the American Dream still a thing?”, it’s “Whose dream is next?”

Where will you build? 🌍

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