If you have two equally talented race car drivers in the US and in Egypt.  If you give the American a Ferrari and the Egyptian a VW beetle, clearly the very skilled Egyptian driver would be at a disadvantage.

 If you had two very bright epidemiologists, one if the US and one in Ethiopia, and you gave the American access to the library of Congress, and the Ethiopian access to the National library of Ethiopia, there are 1000 times more research books at the library of Congress, again an enormous disadvantage.