Links for August 10

Reuben Abraham gives gives an account about the flaws of Micro finance:

One of the key fetishes in the international development arena of late is the celebration of entrepreneurship among the poor in developing countries. The assumption seems to be that the poor could successfully run these small micro-businesses, if only the slightest amount of help could be offered, including financial help.

South Africa's former deputy health minister has said she was sacked for doing her job.

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said she had been fired for going on an unauthorised trip to a Spanish Aids conference and for criticising hospital conditions.

Ghana: Lessons from Botswana’s Diamond Production

While former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan told Ghana’s Parliament that Accra should not “look to the discovery of oil as the panacea to the nation’s problems,” a lot of Ghanaians believe oil will be a magic potion to resolving poverty.

Kenya: Rules for 50 Women Seats

The Government has set new rules for nominating 50 new women MPs to Parliament.

The Bill seeking to increase the number of MPs by creating the 50 special seats for women and increasing the number of constituencies from a minimum of 210 and a maximum of 250, was presented in Parliament by Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, Ms Martha Karua.

Ghana: Hydro-Power Crisis Getting Worse

Ghana is undergoing its worst power crisis since 1998. People here currently have an average of only 12 hours of electricity a day, and, with insufficient rain to keep its hydropower stations functioning, the situation is likely to deteriorate, affecting individual livelihoods and the economy as a whole.

Kenya: Bharti, Reliance, Tata Eyeing Telkom Stake

India's Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and the Tata Group are bidding for 51 per cent in state-owned Telkom Kenya, a Mumbai-based paper, the Economic Times and Business Standard, has said.

Representatives of the Indian companies are in Nairobi to participate in a bidders' conference, the Economic Times newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

Nuclear energy: is Africa ready?

Africa is experiencing exponential growth that it hasn't seen in many decades. This growth has restrained resources like electric generation. Many African countries are experiencing rolling blackouts and forcing many industries to use smog generating electric generators to provide the needed back-up for manufacturing. Some have stated that Nuclear is the way to go, because it potential provides a unlimited energy source and doesn't pollute the environment. However, atomic energy is very dangerous and can be unstable if not controlled or watched closely.

There has been two major Nuclear accidents in the world. The biggest accident occurred 1986 at Chernobyl in the older Soviet Union, the other was Three Mile Island accident near Harrisburg Pennsylvania in 1979. Both accidents essentially stopped Nuclear plant investment in both countries. France however has been able to to harness nuclear to generate about 80% of the country's energy. France has been able to do this through investment and research and development in nuclear effectiveness. Per capita, France spends more in research than any other country in the world for atomic energy.

I'm a big proponent for nuclear energy in Africa, if, and only if, there are safe guards and redundancies in place to stop African versions of Chernobyl's. The biggest problem with nuclear is the expense and where to keep the spent fuel. The cost of building a nuclear power plant runs about 1-2 billion dollars depending on electric capacity needed for the local grid. The French have solved how to reuse spent fuel rods, they reprocess the uranium so that about 95% of it can be used again for electric generation. France also has the best redundancies in place to virtually stop any meltdown.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is working with many African countries to get a best practise of generating electricity using atomic energy. I wrote a few weeks ago about Nigeria's plan of building a Nuclear power plant in 2013. Ghana, South Africa and Kenya are also looking to get into the nuclear mix.

If Africa is to develop, it will need a comprehensive plan for energy generation, whether its nuclear, fossil fuel or other green technologies...Africa needs energy to power homes and sustain and grow it's manufacturing base. As promising as nuclear power is, there are many dangers that a society can face when somethings goes terribly wrong like Chernobyl.

My comment about outsourcing on Timbuktu Chronicles

I commented about Outsourcing on Timbuktu Chronicles


Nice post Emeka. Africa can seize this opportunity by adopting international standards for communications infrastructure. We also need expatriates to come back to Africa and invest in science and technology education, then we can start to build African versions of Wipro, Infosys, and Tata’s.

There are also some opportunities for outsourcing within Africa itself. Many multinationals have businesses in Africa that are not part of its core. If an African entrepreneur wants to get into BPO, the best bet is to look inside the continent for outsourcing opportunities then scale outside to larger markets such as Europe or North America.

Furthermore, because of the turnover rate in the BPO industry in India, look for India to start outsourcing work to Africa in the next 5-10 years.

Outsourcing is not as easy with SLA's and metrics

Information technology enabled services (ITES) or BPO has enabled India, Philippines and other developing markets to grow and provide badly needed jobs in those markets. I used to consult in the outsourcing industry as a consultant for Cap Gemini. Entrepreneurs attempting to get into BPO need to be aware that it is extremely difficult to get and sometimes maintain a contract. Service line agreements (SLA's) are loaded with penalties and metrics that many Indian companies avoid bidding for the RFP.

Outsourcing is quite a mature industry now, four years ago when I was consulting margins were high. Four years later corporations are getting smarter by putting more metrics and clauses into contracts to protect themselves.

I urge anyone reading this post to go and learn more about outsourcing if they are trying to become a provider of ITES in Africa.

Neo IT
Outsoucing Law
Outsourcing Center
Outsourcing Central

If you have any direct questions about BPO you can email me at nas146 AT yahoo DOT com.

Nubian Cheetah

Copper is boosting Africa's growth rate

Africa has plenty of natural resources that are untapped, copper is boosting African countries growth rates. Many African nations are using this commodity to position themselves for the future. Copper is essentially used for almost all industries because it is a good conductor of electricity.

Africa Business Magazine has a good report about copper growth

The exceptionally high prices of commodities, particularly those of industrial metals, which leapt by over 50% last year, will help Africa nudge past 6% growth this year. The trend is likely to continue for the next couple of years, driven mainly by strong demand from China. Moin Siddiqi reports.

Mineral-rich Africa is reaping the benefits of strong commodity prices driven by robust global demand. Africa’s economic growth is projected at 6% this year, the highest in two decades, according to the African Development Bank. It will be primarily fuelled by demand from China and other rapidly-growing economies for the continent’s crude oil and metals.

Sales in emerging markets are boosting the fortunes of tech's giants

BusinessWeek has an article on how corporations are expanding revenues in emerging markets. The article mentions that some of silicon valleys big tech titans are experience growth from the mobile, and oil industries. Cisco, the networking company expects growth to go from 2.5 billion to 10 billion by 2010 in emerging markets. Research in Motion with their popular blackberry service is expanding service in Africa and other emerging markets.

Article link

It is now time for meso financing for SME's in Africa

When I'm discussing Africa with others who are not familiar with African affairs, many wonder how and what kind of business opportunities there are in Africa? Sometimes I feel that I'm an advocate for African business in general. Many times I here, "oh I know so and so working for this NGO". I think to myself, that is nice, is that all you think of Africa one big begging pot looking for hand outs?

It's unfortunate that the media focuses on negative events. It's therefore up to us Africans, and bloggers of Africa to spread the message and let the world know that Africa is vibrant and alive with ingenuity, passion and investment opportunities. For the next couple of weeks I am going to focus on meso financing opportunities in Africa and it's positive spin-off with other sectors of the economy.

You see there are really only two things I'm interested in when it comes to development.

1.) How do we get SME's to make a sustainable living.
2.) How do we get more SME's to hire and train workers to do a particular task.

Obviously there is more, but I'm being very simplistic here because I'm going to make a point. SME's that are sustainable and hire workers have a profound impact with a market economy. Workers that earn disposable from their jobs are able to spend money to improve their health, send their kids to school, and boost the overall economy.

To me this is the tipping point of development, getting SME's to make sustainable money and hire more workers who can earn disposable income. Technoserve is a great NGO, that shows SME's how to write business plans and establish a business. Technoserve with the help of Google foundation have a program called, believe begin become. Believe begin become is a Business Plan Competition developed by TechnoServe to support and grow new businesses. It is an incentivized, practical training and business development program to help entrepreneurs turn their business ideas into fundable and implementable business plans.

There is a proverb out there that says, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". Technoserve is leading and teaching entrepreneurs to Fish through believe begin become.

AllAfrica has home page articles about TED Global 2007

You Didn't Have to Be There

If you weren't at the TechnologyEntertainmentDesign (TED) conference in Arusha, Tanzania in June, you can be there virtually - thanks to Ethan Zuckerman who captured the proceedings live on his laptop and the TED folks who have begun posting video presentations from the conference on their website.

Meso Finance: the next area of financing for SME's in Africa

There's been a lot of talk on micro-finance and it's impact with the base of pyramid market (BOP). Dr. Muhammad Yunus's non-profit Grameen bank was the first to commercialize micro-finance in Bangladesh, now everyone from Latin America, India and Africa are copying this model. Micro-finance works well and helps the improvished and especially women sustain a living.

However, there is a flaw is micro-finance. Micro-finance as the name suggest, is about utilizing small amounts of financing usually $50 to $500 or start a small business. But what if your a farmer in rural Mali, Sudan, Zambia, or Kenya who has hundreds of plots of land and you need heavy machinery to till, or sow your land? Where do you get financing to purchase a Kubota, John Deere, or Caterpillar equipment? Micro-financing is simply not the solution in this case, farming equipment on average costs about $30,000 to $500,000.

The type of financing needed in most developing markets is in the small medium enterprise space (SME), another name for this type of financing is called Meso-Financing. Meso finance is above micro-finance and below traditional finance like; bank loans, and venture capital. Meso means middle and most aspiring SME's fall into this category. There is now a small movement under foot to harvest funds to finance and help the SME market.

I belong to the DC chapter of International Private Enterprise Group (IPEG), and we had our monthly event Aug 2 at the World Resource Institute (WRI) about meso financing. Ricardo Teran and Ben Powell spoke about how their non-profit Agora Partnerships helps entreprenuers in Latin America with Meso-financing. They are so successful that entrepreneurs are making money, hiring more workers and changing the mind-set of doing business in Latin America.

I myself, am involved with starting a Meso finance fund for Africa. In the next few months I will give you an update on what the fund will be doing and who I'm working with in establishing this fund.

Links for August 02

Emerging markets help Nokia sales

Quarterly sales at Nokia have hit their highest level for five years helped by strong business in emerging markets.

Global sales between April and June rose by 28% on the same period a year ago to 12.6bn euros ($17.2bn; £8.5bn)

Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone company, increased its share of the mobile handset market to 38%, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

It expected Nokia's momentum in countries such as India to give it a 40% market share by the end of 2007.

Oil price rises to all-time high

(photo: Kimberly White/Getty Images)

The price of a barrel of US light, sweet crude surpassed the previous high of $78.40 a barrel, seen in July 2006, before falling back to $76.53. Prices have risen steadily in the past few weeks following disruption to output in Nigeria and the North Sea. Wednesday's initial rise followed data showing a fall in US crude stockpiles.

Infrastructure investment opportunities in Africa

Many in development ask themselves, "how can Africa grow", or "how do we alleviate poverty in Africa"? The quick answer to all that is investment in some form of loans, aid and so on, and so forth. However, let's remember that great civilizations such as; Roman Empire, Greeks, Egyptians, and Incas grew by infrastructure. Infrastructure is key in linking people, places, things, and most important commerce. Commerce is the lifeblood in any civilization, this lifeblood enables farmers to grow crops and be able to transport their produce thousands of miles. Kenya is a good example of this, farmers are transporting flowers to be sold in the European market.

What Africa needs right now is multi-billion dollar investment in the following infrastructure: railways, and roads. I didn't mention telecom, because to have fiber optics you need roads to build the fiber network. This fiber is what is needed if Africa is going to take that leap in Information Technology Enabled Services (think Outsourcing/BPO - ITES).

People reading this post will ask, "how can Africa afford all this". I wrote two months ago about how the Chinese use a process called full-cost recovery to recoup the cost of any public works project. When a highway is built, the Chinese levy tolls to recoup the costs of the road. Tolls pay for the cost of the roads faster, then raising public taxes to build and maintain the road. Read this post I wrote in June.

China's infrastructure investment could have a very positive spin-off in lowering transaction costs and assisting African governments to address social calamities such as poor health services, energy crisis, and skills development among others.

China: Africa’s Friend or Foe?

Why China is making headway in Africa

Africa has suffered under the structural adjustment programs forced upon it. Aid and trade have been increasingly conditional. The US and World Bank claim to be fighting poverty in Africa, but after two decades of structural adjustment, the conditions of the African poor have worsened, with indices of exploitation and deprivation increasing by geometric proportions. According to one estimate, at the present pace of investment in Africa from the West, it will require more than one hundred years to realise the Millennium Development Goals. Chinese investment potentially provides an alternative for African leaders and entrepreneurs, while providing long term potential for the development of African economies.

Read more from African Executive

TED Global 2007 talks available online now!

TED has put online its videos of panelists from the TED Global 2007 conference in Arusha, Tanzania.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Let's have a deeper discussion on aid

Listen to William Kamkwamba: How I built my family a windmill

George Ayittey: Cheetahs vs. Hippos for Africa's future

Climbing the Outsourcing Ladder

Read Emeka's Timbuktu Chronicles post about outsourcing opportunities outside of India and my comments.

Nice post Emeka. Africa can seize this opportunity by adopting international standards for communications infrastructure. We also need expatriates to come back to Africa and invest in science and technology education, then we can start to build African versions of Wipro, Infosys, and Tata’s........

Nubian Cheetah (Nii)

Links for July 30

Here are some interesting links:

Kenyan managers now rank among the best paid globally

Written by Geoffery Irungu

Kenya’s executive salaries have reached record levels with senior managers taking home the highest pay in Africa ahead of South Africa, Egypt and developed countries such as Japan, United Kingdom and Canada.

Kenya is now ranked 15th among the countries that pay the best salaries in the world and just Sh50,000 behind the United States of America—its nearest competitor—a country that has in the last decade gained global notoriety for overpaying company bosses and senior managers of listed companies.

Rwanda: Phone Banking

Daniel Karibwije

Kigali

Phone banking has finally come to Rwanda courtesy of the commercial bank of Rwanda (bcr).

This was announced by the marketing and communication manager of bcr, Mr. Hannington Namara during a function held at the Hotel des Mille Collines last week.

"This is the first of its kind in the banking industry in the country. People in the diaspora can now call the bank and get real information on their account without having to go through a relative or a manager who might be busy," he revealed during the press conference.

Read more

Nigeria: Country's Nuclear Power Plant Begins 2011

I'm a big proponent of nuclear power. However, many people have concerns for it's safety. In the next week or so I will cover more about Nuclear power in Africa and how France has utilized it for 70% of it's energy needs.

Nigeria, despite it being a producer of oil is moving forward with plans for construction of it's first nuclear power plant in 2011.

Juliana Taiwo
Abuja

Problem of epileptic power supply in Nigeria may soon become a thing of the past, as the Director-General of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), Dr Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, yesterday said the Commission hopes to begin actual construction of the nation's first nuclear power plant by 2011.

He said the Commission was expecting the design certification and requisite regulatory approvals to be concluded in 2009, while power generation would begin by 2017.

Read more here

End trade barriers, says Cameron

Reposted from BBC Africa

Tory leader David Cameron has called for an end to trade barriers that put developing countries at an "unfair disadvantage", during a trip to Rwanda.

He said all rich countries should end trade tariffs unilaterally and British aid spending should be speeded up.

Launching a policy group's report on global poverty, he said trade rules were "immoral".

The group's proposals, which may or may not be adopted as Tory policy, include making aid spending more "transparent".

In a speech in Kigali, Mr Cameron called for an immediate end to trade barriers, saying: "Forget the endless tortuous negotiations about getting something in return.

"Just do it. We can afford it, Africa needs it, and we will all benefit from it."

Read More Here

Kickstart Technologies: irrigation, and cooking oil human-powered pumps

I'm a affiliate blogger for Erik Hersman's Afrigadget. I just wrote about KickStart technologies pumps used for irrigation and building construction.

From Afrigadget:

I met the managers of Kickstart technology at the recent TED Global conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Kickstart’s patented technology bridges the gap between expensive industrialize equipment used to pump, squeeze or pack and all it’s products are human powered. This is a very important feature in Africa for the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) market, because it solves the issue of energy and cost for equipment used in agriculture, and construction.

Kickstart’s most popular product is an irrigation pump that uses the stepping motion you see in a work-out gym to move water hundreds of feet to irrigate land. Kickstart also has been able to sell several thousands of these products all across Africa, and has been approach by the United Nations to sell globally.

Read more here:

TED fellow Segeni Ng'ethe MamaMikes, hooks up Diaspora with motherland

I just read this article about TED fellow Segeni Ng'ethe's company Mama Mikes.

Written by Bob Wayne Bell Jr.

Mr. Ng'ethe (seated) and colleagues

25-July-2007: Tech firms are being established by a new breed of technology entrepreneurs who are tapping and exploiting international markets, making a profit, and making a difference in the lives of Kenyans.

MamaMikes is a local e-commerce company that allows the Kenyan Diaspora to meet the needs of their family at home without the need for money transfer services.

Kenyans abroad can pay school fees, provide vouchers for shopping or home utilities, buy stocks, or transfer mobile airtime directly through the Internet. MamaMikes is cashing in on the estimated Sh70 billion remittances industry, which catapulted ahead of Kenya’s tourism sector last year.

According to a study done by Monice Nyamwange of William Paterson University, 72.5 per cent of remittances are for consumption while 64.9 per cent are spent on school fees.

With MamaMikes focusing on consumption goods and services as well as school fees, this company is tapping a lucrative market while reducing the transactional costs.

Estimates of the Kenyan Diaspora in America vary from 40,000 to 60,000 depending on the source.

However, the average Kenyan in the US has more education and makes more money per capita than other black African immigrants as well as average Americans.

With many African enterprises bootstrapped for growth by the low incomes of their customer, MamaMikes targets customers with relatively high incomes.

The founders of MamaMikes conceived the company in Washington, DC. They are part of what Professors Barbara E McDade and Anita Spring of the University of Florida (USA) consider to be “new generation entrepreneurs.

Read more here

Somalia, a 'failed state' that functions

All that we hear and see in the press about Somalia is very depressing. However, Somalians enjoy one thing most people around the world don't have to deal with, bureaucracy. Somalia officially has no government, so one doesn't have to deal with the bureaucracy that comes with a government. When Somalia had a government there were many state owned enterprises that were monopolies, today you have many competitors in several industries.

There is no functioning national grid so entrepreneurs provide electricity on a local basis using generators bought from overseas. Wireless providers don't need to worry about buying a license to operate a Mobile network, because there is no government! In late 80's the national air carrier operated just one airplane and only a few routes. Today the airline sector has 15 firms, many aircraft, and more routes than before.

Many reading this would ask, "how is the law operated"? Disputes are settled at the clan/tribe level, by traditional systems run by elders. Security is handled by each local city itself, and it is paid by it's citizens.

Women are shaping Africa's renaissance

There is a paradigm shift going on in Africa, this shift has giving women opportunities they never had before. When the Apartheid finally came tumbling down, there was no question that the decisive blows came from South African women.

Today, women from Monrovia to Nairobi are building on African indigenous foundations. Women are beginning to flex their intellectual muscle and are beginning to lead and manage institutions and businesses across the continent. Today, Africa has the first African female President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia. Women in growing numbers are beginning to serve and be heard across Africa.

African needs to embrace and encourage equality for women. The only way Africa is going to prosper is participation from women. We need more women entrepreneurs, artists, scientist, engineers, and risk-takers.

Here is a small list of women making an impact in Africa:

Winnie Byanyima, Uganda
Director of the AU Women, Gender and Development Directorate



Samia Nkrumah, Ghana
International Journalist



Mamphele Ramphele, South Africa
Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Town




Wangari Maathi, Kenya
Environmentlist and Nobel Peace Prize winner



Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria
Author



Gertrude Mongella, Tanzania
President of AU Pan-African Parliament



Alek Wek, Sudan
Model



Asha-Rose migiro, Tanzania
UN Deputy Secretary General

100 dollar laptop production begins

By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called $100 laptop is poised to go into mass production.

Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build millions of the low-cost machines.

Previously, the organisation behind the scheme said that it required orders for 3m laptops to make production viable.

The first machines should be ready to put into the hands of children in developing countries in October 2007.

"There's still some software to write, but this is a big step for us," Walter Bender, head of software development at One Laptop per Child (OLPC), told the BBC News website.

The organisation has not said which countries have bought the first machines.

Continue reading story

Must read articles from African Executive

Anyone interested on business in Africa needs to subscribe to the African Executive eNewsletter. This online magazine has a weekly newsletter on business, development, and technology in Africa. It's basically the African version of Business Week.

China: Not All that Glitters is Gold!
By Yemisrach Kifle

Over the past several weeks, unsafe Chinese goods have made world headlines. Countries such as the United States are taking action to ensure that their citizens are protected by inspecting goods coming from China closely and banning some types completely. Read more here



Is the United States of Africa Already Here?

By Ken Teyie

The proposal to officially create a United States of Africa may not have come at a better time than now when international trade is dictating the pace of development. Thanks to technological innovation. Recent trends indicate that the unity is already here. Through various communication technologies, Africa has transformed into a large business unit.

Over the past 5 years, the cost of communication in Africa has come down to manageable levels providing a wide menu of communication technology to choose from. The cost factor has largely dictated the choices made with an aim of bridging the digital divide. Read more here

How do we help other William Kamkwamba's in Africa?

Myself and others have paid a lot of attention to William Kamkwamba's Windmill. William deserves all this attention, and I'm sure his family is grateful to him and all the support they are getting. However, how do we spurn grassroots education and risk-taking across Africa? You can ask the same question in another way. How do we spurn millions of Williams to also be risk-takers and inventors?

One of my favorite two invention type of magazines I've been reading for years is Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. These two magazines show how to make and repair almost everything. Next time I go back to Africa or my own country Ghana, I will be giving away all old magazines: business, technology, and others.



We as Africans need to look at small tipping points that make a big difference. I want anyone reading this blog to think about your own respective countries and think of ways you can make a difference by sending old textbooks or computers you don't use anymore.

Where to invest in Africa

I was talking to an old friend of mine a couple days ago about business in Africa. During our short conversation about this subject she asked, "where are the investment opportunities and what sectors should one invest if they had minimal funds." I just realized she was being very serious and said, "there are all kinds of opportunities," but before I gave her anymore answers I suggested she Google Africa Open for Business and watch the video. I told her we can talk more in a few days about where to invest, but she had to watch the video.



You see, we humans are a unique species; we learn better by watching or witnessing something. I called her a couple of days later and she told me she watched the video and she wants to invest in media and the stock market, I replied those are very good markets to invest in right now. My friend then told me how astonished she was that Carol Pineau was able to film and interview all the African business owners. I made her watch Africa Open for Business, because if I told her where to invest without her actually seeing the opportunity she may have not really believed me.

For those reading this, if you are interested in investing your money in Africa these are the sectors I would be focusing on.

1. Health - water purification, generic pharma

2. Media - Africa's has a growing middle class and many are starting to watch African generated content. Nigeria leads the continent for it's films.

3. Energy -Solar energy, Wind power, bio-compost

4. Stock Market - talk to your broker to see if there are any ADR's listed on your home country's stock exchange.

5. Education - there is a lot of money one can make in education, especially for the growing field of information technology.

Does the BOP address wealth creation?

C.K. Prahalad's book, Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, The: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits is a great book with many opportunities for global companies who are trying to reach the 4 billion humans living on less than a dollar a day. The BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid or Base of the Pyramid) has enabled a new thinking among people in the development field, and has business schools re-writing their curriculum to adopt some practices from Mr. Prahalad.

As great as the BOP is, the current theory about the BOP is a little flawed in that it does not really address the most important issue in development - how can the poor make a sustainable living in emerging markets? I was discussing this issue with a colleague of mine, Dr. Reuben Abraham. Reuben is with the Cornell University’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the Johnson School of Management and a visiting faculty at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad. Speaking with Reuben we both agreed the theory behind BOP is great for companies who are trying to reach a underserved market, it is also good for the 4 billion at the bottom of the market to buy smaller quantities of a product they normally couldn't buy. However, how can we enable the poor to generate income and make it a sustainable revenue stream?

In CK's book he does give some examples of how Proctor & Gamble and Coke help entrepreneurs with making a living. In one example in the book, Coke supplied refrigerators to vendors as long as they use Coke products and P&G helps with logistics in India. Reuben even told me that the best selling product made for the BOP market in India is a skin-bleaching cream. This cream is so popular for this consumer-products multinational it is marketing this product and people are lining up to buy it. When I heard this I thought of my own country of Ghana...people to this day, try to bleach their skin and don't know the health implications of such actions.

Speaking with Reuben, we came to the conclusion the best way to help the world's poor is through investment and micro-financing. Reuben is a Cheetah that is doing some great things; he serves on the global board of directors of George Soros’ Economic Development Fund, a $140 million fund which is involved in catalyzing growth in emerging markets. He founded and runs the International Private Enterprise Group (IPEG), a New York based network of professionals, which promotes the role of the private sector, capital markets and technology in catalyzing economic development in emerging markets.

When you get a chance check out his blog: ZooStation

Links for Fri 13th

From AllAfrica.com

Southern Africa: SADC to Set Up Gas, Petroleum Body

The Southern African Development Community is setting up a Regional Petroleum and Gas Association to promote trade in the respective products.
The project will also harmonise standards and regulations in the sector.


Kenya: Brokers to Accept Plastic Money

Stockbrokers can now accept card payments for shares bought by retail investors.
The move is expected to increase access to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) by overseas retail investors.

Also check out Reuters Africa - very good for African business news.

http://africa.reuters.com/

This is belated, but thanks TED and Emeka Okafor

Chris Anderson, Emeka Okafor, and David McQueen

I was sitting in the subway today and was thinking how fortunate it was that I was invited to TED. Organizing that event was not that easy, I organized the 2003 Ghana Outsourcing Conference a few years ago in Philadelphia and that was hard. Multiple my event times 1000 and you have TEDGlobal 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania.

First, I owe a lot of people thanks to. I want to thank Bono, who had the vision of bringing this event to our continent and for even showing up. I want to thank Chris Anderson the owner of TED for putting his resources and time into organizing a wonderful event. I want to thank the TED staff, for without their help we probably would be stranded in Arusha or Nairobi (I believe some did actually...like me). I want to thank the all the sponsors, especially Google and Dan Shine from AMD on giving the Fellow's a choice of our own laptop (PC or Mac).

The last person I want to thank was very instrumental in getting many of the speakers. I've talked to this person via email a couple of times before we actually met at the annual Wharton African Business conference. I want to thank Emeka Okafor for a brilliant, masterful, and diverse speaker line-up for TEDGlobal2007. If Emeka hadn't told me to apply for a Fellowship I might not have made it to TED.

Many know Emeka as the face behind his blog Timbuktu Chronicles, jokingly I introduced Emeka to a friend of mine Derrick Ashong, at the Wharton Conference last November as the Walter Cronkite of Africa. No, Emeka is not a journalist. I think if you would talk to Emeka, he would say he is an entrepreneur with a journalist itch of spreading the word every now and then. Emeka in every sense is an entrepreneur, he is co-owner of specialty Food company called Caranda foods. Caranda specializes in Coffee, Tea and specialty foods.

African Union meeting - Hippos are not being relevant!

The recent African Union meeting in Accra, Ghana was what I would call a bunch of Hippos talking about irrelevant items. This meeting was really to address pressing issues such as; Darfur, economic development and energy crisis. What happened instead... most of the summit was focused on a United States of Africa. I have to say, these Hippos did talk a little about other issues effecting Africa, but the focus on this United States of Africa seem to be the topic for the whole conference.

I do agree we need a unity trading block like the European Union, the African Union should just be that and nothing more. Furthermore, Africa is quite diverse with divisions in language, customs and religion. One Hippo in East Africa mentioned that the official language for this new republic should be Swahili, I laughed when I heard that. Over time I believe we will see a single currency, Ecowas in West Africa is actually planning on having the "Eco" currency by 2012...whether this happens time will tell.

Next year when they have this summit they should talk about these pressing items.

1. Economic Development
2. Energy (Nuclear, Solar)
3. Human rights (Darfur, Congo, etc)
4. Education
5. Capital Markets
6. Last, but most important Health!

Read more about the conference here

Softtribe's SMS payment agnostic service for developing countries

Herman Chinery-Hesse

Developing countries have scarce capital, credit or loans available to them to engage in commerce. So when the CEO of Softtribe spoke at TedGlobal2007 about his agnostic sms payment service I was overjoyed with pleasure (I'll explain this later).

There are quite a few sms mobile payment options out there in the world; Kenya has M-pesa by Vodafone, Indonesia, India, and now I hear Paypal is getting into the mix. All these payment systems are OK Herman says, but they are a closed systems. Softtribe's system Herman claims will be totally agnostic.

I called Herman a few weeks ago in Accra, Ghana where he is based. We talked a bit about TED, the weather in East Africa compared to West Africa and about this SMS payment service he is working on. Herman sees this service being the Gold standard in Africa and other developing markets.

The mobile phone has disrupted the landline phone service, has enabled Africans and others in developing countries to communicate with the outside world. Now the mobile phone is getting ready to disrupt another industry credit/debit cards. This is already taking place in Japan, Japanese use their Mobile phones to pay for Metro/subway fares, movie tickets, a cup of green tea and other items.

As an entrepreneur, I want to see Herman's service and other uninhibited payment systems flourish. Many Africans such as myself are Internet entrepreneurs, we are embracing alternative payment systems that allow consumers in Africa to be able to buy things through our websites.

Softtribe's service comes out later this year, be on the look out!

Zimbabwe: Rand Set to Prop Up Zim Dollar

The crisis in Zimbabwe is very depressing and shameful. Zimbabwe used to be the bread basket of South Africa. I just read this article on how the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will use the RAND to curb the high inflation rate in Zimbabwe.

However, President Robert Mugabe would first have to agree to fundamental political reforms in talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which are due to start near Pretoria tomorrow.

Read more from All Africa.

Africans to Bono: 'For God's sake please stop!

I just read an interesting article written by TED fellow Jennifer Brea. Jennifer basically summarizes the discussion about aid and Bono and Africans wish of more trade then aid for the continent.

Please read Jennifer Brea's article here.

African Tigers Re-Born

Some scientists believe that there were tigers in Africa a million years ago, but some species died out. The more recent hopes that the continent would generate tiger economies have been equally blighted.

Think of Ghana. When the former Gold Coast gained independence in 1957, its prospects were bright. The new country was rich in cocoa and gold and its population was relatively well-educated. But a long series of coups and persistent corruption dashed those hopes. Ghana is still resource-rich, but it relies on foreign aid for 11% of gross domestic product, and 60% of the population still toils away in subsistence agriculture.

An oil discovery and some changed thinking may be giving Ghana another chance. As John Kufuor, Ghana's president, put it, 'We're going to really zoom, accelerate.'

Oil alone certainly won't work miracles, despite a local newspaper's enthusiastic headline: 'Thank God, Oil at Last, Thank God.' In Nigeria, Angola and Venezuela, huge oil wealth has been disastrous, thwarting the nonoil economy and fertilizing corruption. Fortunately for Ghana, the country's oil revenues are expected to be more moderate -- a little less than the current flow of foreign aid.

A few brave global investors claim that some African countries, including Ghana, are finally learning the lessons of African failure and Asian tiger success. What makes economies successful isn't gifts from foreigners or royalties from oil producers, but bourgeois virtues: education, infrastructure, honest government, middle-class savings, a widespread work ethic, small families and so forth.

The newfound optimism may be a triumph of hope over experience, or a misreading of the effects of the current boom in resource prices. But it does look like a smaller portion of the windfall revenue is being wasted than in the past. That goes along with growing middle classes and more economically responsible governments.

Right now, the only tigers in Africa are a few specimens imported from China. But Mr. Kufuor may be right in his hopes for an indigenous species: 'You come back in five years, and you'll see that Ghana truly is the African tiger.'

Source: StreetInsider

George Ayittey conversation about a Cheetah sustainable fund

George Ayittey & Bono

I had a wonderful conversation with George Ayittey last friday about the recent TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. I have profound respect for George because he is a old-school pragmatic thinker. Dr. Ayittey is trained as an Economist, but he doesn't talk like most Economists who talk about Africa such as Jeffrey Sachs or others.

During our 30 minute conversation about the TED conference, George asked, "so Nii how do we get you TED Cheetah's to contribute to African development"? I thought about it for a second and said, "I would be nice if TED sponsored fellows to their respective countries to use their professional work experience to help a business for a month or so. I heard a pause, and George said, "well that is nice, but what about a fund, called a Cheetah Fund that is sustainable was set-up to help TED fellows or other African Cheetahs with funding for their respective businesses".

Wow, I said to myself, how come I didn't think about this before. African chiefs have been using this system for centuries before colonialism, we just have to go back to some of our indigenous roots. George mentioned that the fund would be sustainable by having the Cheetah's repay the fund the amount giving to him or her, this way the fund would be sustainable.

In Africa, before there was European colonialism, African tribes taxed each other to fund small-scale businesses. If a business would fail that tribe would pull it's resources together to help that particular business. African countries had these types of systems in place years before any Wall Street Hedge Fund, or a Silicon Valley venture capitalist like, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) were around.

We as Africans have to be progressive with our future and start addressing African opportunities. This Cheetah Fund is a good start to address African opportunities.

Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania

If you have never been on a safari, I highly recommend for you to go to Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. I'm native to West Africa and we unfortunately don't have the Safari's or the scenic mountains East Africa have. I was astonished to see once a mountain, a crater with 30,000 animals stuck within it, it reminded me of Jurassic Park the movie.

Just getting to Ngorongoro is a adventure in itself, you drive through many towns and villages to a top elevation of about 6000 ft sea level. To reach the Ngorongoro crater you have to travel about 2000 ft down to reach the floor, reaching the floor are about 30,000 animals living and evolving.

Check out these links to learn more on Ngorongoro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area

http://www.pbs.org/edens/ngorongoro/

It's noble for you celebrities to adopt African babies

People have been adopting African babies for years now, now the celebrities are trying to help out dear old Africa. While I applaud these celebrities and their noble efforts to help African babies find a better life in Western countries, maybe they should put their resources into other areas.

Most celebrities are in the entertainment industry. Why not have an African entertainment fund to help African entrepreneurs develop African entertainment content for African audiences? Better yet, fund projects directly. There are thousands of artisans, and musicians that could use collaboration and some western know-how to entertainment.

China: Developing Giant and Emerging Development Actor

I took time out of my busy management consulting schedule to attend an event about China development in Africa by Center for Global Development here in Washington, DC. I actually learned a few things about China's development, (some of you know I very passionate about China's investment in Africa). David Dollar, the country director for China and Mongolia for the World Bank, shared his thoughts and views about the Chinese approach to infrastructure development.

David mentioned that China uses full-cost recovery for most infrastructure projects, that's how the Chinese have been able to grow their infrastructure at break-neck pace. Full-cost recovery in public infrastructure works like this; when a highway is built there are tolls levied so that the costs of the highway project can be recouped and used to fund other public works projects. China is even selling some of it's infrastructure to the securities markets and getting a second return of their monies. David said, that this Chinese approach is a novel and interesting idea that the Chinese are not even initiating in Africa. In Africa, the Chinese ask governments what they want and they fund and build the projects according to that countries particular need.

Callisto Madavo a Zimbabwean, said that it's noble for the Chinese to invest in Africa and build projects. However, the Chinese are not allowing knowledge transfer to take place. For most projects in Africa they import their own Chinese workers and they do all the engineering and the design. The work the African natives do are mostly labor type of activities.

Africa is now at a interesting point in history: growth rates are high, turmoil and war are down, and Mobile handset penetration is high. We also have developing countries looking at our continent for resources and returns for their capital, mostly China, India, some Middle east countries. What I think is going to happen in Africa for the next 10-15 years in extreme growth fueled by natural resources (hard metals, and oil) and telecoms (Mobile phones and broadband). However, we will need to address the negatives of this growth; disposable income, public health reforms and sustainability.

Oil in Ghana, be carefull!

Oil companies have been exporting Oil out of West and Central Africa for years. Now the country of Ghana can finally say it will be a net exporter of this Black Gold. We all know that Oil is in great demand around the world and countries have used this commodity to help with development.

I just hope when the oil starts flowing the Government of Ghana doesn't abuse it's new source of revenue.

Read more from Ghanaweb.com

Africa needs comprehensive development package!

The biggest topic of TED was AID, and it's impact on development and corruption. Speaking with many none Africans or first time visitors, many asked, "so Africans don't want help or Aid". My reply was a little bias because I consider myself a Capitalist. My reply was, Africans want the ability to showcase their products or services on a world stage.

Throughout the conference I think many Africans came to the conclusion that we don't need AID or help, we need access to capital and markets, however one speaker who kind of closed out the conference was the Ex. Finance Minister of Nigeria and what she said left me thinking in a completely different way.

Here is a synopsis of what many speakers said:

Dr. George Ayittey

Africa needs young leaders whom he calls Africa's saviors or Cheetah's. Africa needs to go back to it's indigenous roots and rely on those institutions to fuel the growth for Africa. The Hippos or the Fufu leaders should be ashamed for squandering Africa's resources and should stop complaining about colonialism and it's after-effects. George is an old school intellectual who pulls no punches, he doesn't care what people think of him or whom he disregards.






Andrew Mwenda

Says aid makes African leaders complacent and dependent. This dependency makes Africa lazy and always reliant from the West. He asks why African governments haven't allowed entrepreneurs to market their services or products to international markets. Andrew is in favor of sustainable development for Africa.


James Shikwati

Has the same sentiment when it comes to aid and dependence. Andrew and James are microcosms of each other with some subtle differences. James is an economist and deep thinker and Andrew an journalist that has been jailed in Ugunda for telling the truth. James however goes into more depth about the African mindset and impressions about it. At TED he says if you give someone aid, you create a mindset of dependence and this dependence will only teach begging. James also says if the West really wants to help us, they should open up their markets to our products and services.




Herman Chinery Hesse - Africa's Bill Gates

Herman is a dear friend of mine, anytime he opens his mouth people sit down and watch him in action. Herman is a story teller, his stories always have humor and that humor is what sets him apart from most. At TED, he told some short stories about misery and triumph of Softribe. One thing that he mentioned that I never heard anyone say before is that he expected ministers to take bribe if they were not getting paid adequately. His quote, "how can you expect a minister with a masters education, who sees all this money cross his desk, not line his pockets, it's inevitable! Herman from his experience says what Africa needs is empowerment from people in the "Bush", this empowerment should allow these people to grow, make, or ship their products to earn a good wage so they can buy his software services.



Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Dr. Ngozi the first Finance and Foreign Minister of Nigeria spoke with such conviction at TED that the curators were afraid to stop her speech after it went over 18 minutes. I don't know if putting her last was done on purpose or because she was probably the most important speaker at TED.

Synopsis: Dr. Ngozi said Africa needs comprehensive development package. A hybrid package that includes investment, development and aid. She says Africans should be proud they get aid, AFRICA USED TO GIVE AID AND WASN'T COMPENSATED FOR IT! The aid she is talking about is slavery and natural resources used to grow and build Europe and America. Dr. Ngozi also says Ireland and Spain receive aid from the European Union so why shouldn't Africa receive aid. She also says, aid needs to be classified as SMART AID! Aid that has accountability and goes to grassroots organizations and public programs that are closely watched. Dr. Ngozi tells a story about when she was little she carried her little sister on her back to a clinic to be treated, she says without aid her sister would have died. This Sista is on point!

Remarkable speakers, remarkable talks, remarkable though-provoking discussions!

Quintessential Quote: I saw, I make

I get an awaking every time I come back from Africa. We should appreciate things we take for granted everyday; running water, reliable electricity or even getting Movies On Demand from Comcast. An African Cheetah I met at TED, which I'm helping sponsoring his education spoke at TED about his electric windmill.





William Kamkwamba was 14 when he picked up an old donated Science textbook from the states, which showed how to make a electric windmill. His small town in Malawi where he grew up didn't have much electricity, William was able to build from scratch a windmill out of scrapes wood, and corrugated aluminum shingles. On stage at TED Chris Anderson the Curator of TED asked William how he got the idea for this windmill. His response, "I saw, I make". This is a remarkable African ingenuity story, in any case William is quite lucky that he was profiled in a magazine and was able to come to TED.

Africa has many William's, ingenuity has always been ingrained in Africans DNA. We sometimes need what Malcolm Gladwell would call, a Tipping Point. In William's case that Tipping point was an old discarded textbook from the states that was considered expired! I can't wait till MIT's Nicholas Negroponte launches his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). What if this computer had an elearning science/technology model that showed students how to make small simple devices/gadgets into everyday uses?

Africa needs a lot right now, in terms of education I think we need to really change our curriculum to a more of an entrepreneur fun model. This curriculum should allow risk-taking and thought-provoking learning. As soon as we figure ICT infrastructure costs the OLPC will still be nothing but a machine that awesome tasks without the ability to connect to the global Internet.

Ted Global &Tanzania the best experience of a lifetime!

I just got back from Ted Global in Arusha, Tanzania. I'm still trying to comprehend what I witnessed and heard last week, the thought-provoking and speaker line up was very good. I would also like to congratulate the TED staff on a wonderful organized conference. I can't imagine what it took to manage people, logistics and safety for all who attended. I want to thank Chris Anderson for having the foresight into putting his resources and energy into this endeavour, last but not least, I want to thank Emeka Okafor for organizing a good speaker line-up and picking to attend this conference.



TED Global as Dr. George Ayittey would call it was full of "Cheetahs". His definition of a Cheetah is someone who is provoking change, challenging old thinking and taking calculated-risks in Africa, I believe I fall in this category. This conference is a small step in changing mindset and debate about sustainability, accountability/governance, and overall growth on the African continent. Mark my words, the Africa's Cheetah's welcome the challenge of growing Africa!