With the help of import licensing, then-Finance Minister Konan Bédié earned his first billion CFA francs within a year. Around the same time, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the former Ivorian president and a figurehead of African independence movements, publicly warned Africans of the risks of keeping their fortunes in Africa.
法郎区领先经济体科特迪瓦在20世纪70年代初是大米净出口国，直到该国精英采纳了法国人的建议，采取进口而不再生产大米。拜进口许可所助，时任财政部长柯南·贝蒂（Konan Bédié）在一年之内赚到了人生第一个10亿CFA法郎。与此同时，前象牙海岸总统、非洲独立运动精神领袖菲利克斯·霍普尔特-博瓦尼（Félix Houphouët-Boigny）公开警告非洲人可能无法将财富留在非洲。