African Business articles from January 2009

African Business archives from January 2009

The financial crisis: Did Africa's economists fail us?(THE MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... I should like to make additional comments on your Cover Story, The global crunch: is Africa safe? (African Business November 2008 issue). When the US first accepted the reality and extent of the financial crisis, and Europe conceded its...

It's incompetence that pays! How the World Bank made a mess of things.(THE MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... I found Wycliffe Muga's Letter from East Africa headlined When it pays to be poor (sometimes!) very interesting (African Business, November 2008), but would question his premise that it is being "poor" that pays. Rather, I would argue, it was...

Ruling the waves: protecting shipping.(THE MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... I refer to the very prescient reporting in your magazine on the scourge of piracy in East African waters (Pirates Rule the Waves, African Business, November 2008). It appeared just weeks before a Saudi supertanker was seized almost 500 miles...

Africa's Top 100 Banks: Wrong information.(THE MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... We refer to African Business, October 2008 and its special report on "The 100 Top African Banks". We were surprised by the information published on page 30 regarding BGFIBANK's capital. It reads: "Gabon's BFGI retains the top spot with capital...

Working conditions: a lack of attention.(THE MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... I write in response to your article How safe are African miners? (African Business, January 2008 issue) and the criticism that is heaped on the environmental and industrial record of the South African government especially for the lack of...

Kenya and Uganda redraw their borders on Lake Victoria.(Border accord)(Brief article)(Conference notes)
January 1, 2009... A glow of bright beacons is to signal the end to a century of cross-border fishing conflict on Lake Victoria now that Kenya and Uganda have agreed to redraw their boundaries. The often acrimonious issue was tackled at a meeting of fisheries...

Korea plans major food output in Madagascar.(Agriculture)(Daewoo Logistics Corporation)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... A South Korean company has plans to transform an empty stretch of rural Madagascar into a maize-production centre of global proportions. Daewoo Logistics Corporation, one of Korea's biggest companies, has mapped out a scheme that will see...

Aluminium project for Ghana.(Resources)(aluminium smelting industry)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Ghana is on the verge of concluding an investment for the development of a $4bn integrated aluminium smelting industry. Former president John Agyekum Kufuor reported that discussions with Brazil and Norway, the project's lead investors, were at...

Third spot for Cape Town on global Monopoly board.(Games)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Cape Town has claimed the third top-spot on the first ever World Edition Monopoly board. It will be among the more expensive cities in the Monopoly Here and Now World Edition Game board, coming in ahead of cities such as New York (10th), Sydney...

Can't see the noughts for the zeroes.(Inflation)(banking system)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Zimbabweans have had to wait for their dividend payouts from South African-headquartered Old Mutual, Africa's largest insurer. In a statement to the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, Old Mutual's main listing, the company said the problem was...

High-tech coup for Botswana.(E-passports)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Botswana will become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to "go electronic" when the first batch of 150,000 electronic passports is delivered in 2010. A contract signed in late November between the Botswana labour and home affairs...

British banks rated less sound than Botswana's.(Finance)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... A survey of business opinion conducted for the World Economic Forum has found that banks in Botswana are more financially sound than Britain's banking system. Corporation CEOs and asset managers in Britain rated UK banks 44th in the world...

African poverty rates decline--World Bank.(Development)(Report)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Poverty rates in sub-Saharan Africa have been steadily declining over the last 10 years or so, according to a new World Bank paper. Setting a new poverty line of $1.25 a day to reflect improvements in internationally comparable price data, the...

Industrialise, says Ban Ki-Moon.(Benificiation)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says adding value to raw materials is the solution to African economies in the wake of the global financial crisis. "A slowdown in the global economy will hit exporters of primary products hard," he warns,...

Zambezi chiefs warn miners.(Mining)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Chiefdoms along the Zambezi River are on the warpath against mining companies that they say are posing an "unparalleled and imminent" threat to the river region's ecology. In all, 17 chiefs and chieftainesses from Zambia, Zimbabwe and...

Single tourist visa for East Africa.(Tourism)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Five East African countries have become a "single" tourist destination in a move designed to maximise the benefits of tourism and wildlife in the region. The initiative of the enlarged East African Community--involving Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda,...

Walking tall: adding a little flavour to life.(journeys to inspire)(Tunji Olaniyi)
January 1, 2009... TUNJI OLANIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR OF COSMOS TRADE Nigeria Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, is a teeming, roaring city even at the quietest of times as its 10 million plus population hustles and bustles about its daily...

Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?(global economy)
January 1, 2009... There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the...

African in 2008-a review: the best of times, the worst of times.(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... 2008 will long be remembered as the year that first raised the global economy to peaks of achievement then brought it crashing to the ground. While the world struggles to shore up crumbling economies, Africa has not been immune, although its...

The best of times, the worst of times; hanging tough.
January 1, 2009... For Africa, as for the rest of the world, 2008 will go down in history as the year that best epitomised the phrase "the best of times, the worst of times". In this one year, global economic growth and prosperity hit new peaks and then plunged...

Africa in 2008-best of times, worst of times; The Commodities Sector.
January 1, 2009... Overview It seems a long time ago now, and almost a different world, but 2008 began with commodities basking in the warm sunlight of rampant demand. The first half of the year was filled with concerns not about demand, that would come...

The energy sector.
January 1, 2009... Overview This has been a year of mixed fortunes for the African energy industry. The continent's biggest oil producer, Nigeria, has had a fairly torrid time, with militant attacks and general lawlessness in the Niger Delta driving down oil...

The Telecommunications Sector.
January 1, 2009... Overview There were some 300m mobile phone users in Africa at the beginning of 2008. The continent is the fastest-growing telecoms market in the world, increasing by at least 50% a year. Forecasts suggest subscriber numbers will grow to...

Surviving the cold winds of a global storm: the current economic crisis is in a league of its own and few markets, emerging and frontier, will escape the consequences unscathed. But there is light at the end of the tunnel and the future may even become sounder.(VIEW FROM THE CITY)
January 1, 2009... The New Year will prove exceptionally harsh for both developed and emerging economies. Africa, as a major recipient of capital and principally a commodity exporter, will find it very difficult to "decouple" from the anticipated worldwide...

Understanding value chains: what determines the price you pay when you buy a product at your local shop? what is the value chain of, say, an African diamond from the point of mining to the sale of a finished piece of jewellery in a store in the US? The answer could be astounding, as M J Morgan explains.(TOPIC)
January 1, 2009... Africa as a continent is abundantly blessed with resource wealth and yet historically has not always been able to capitalise on that abundance to build material wealth for its citizens. Globalisation offers that possibility, but without an...

Africa's "superfruit" arrives in the west: the growing trend for healthy, nature-based products in the developed world, and the more wealthy developing nations as well, is creating a potentially massive demand for some of Africa's traditional health-giving produce. Tom Nevin reports.(TRENDS)
January 1, 2009... Natural products--food, cosmetics or alternative medicines--are becoming increasingly popular with a new generation of health-conscious consumers. These products most often draw on the traditional knowledge of communities in Africa and more...

Seeds of hope for African power.(Power in Africa)
January 1, 2009... After years of clashed hopes and failed privatisation promises, the shoots of a power sector renaissance can finally be seen across Africa. Investors are at last beginning to tap into the continent's renewable energy resources, while many...

Taking the renewable option.(Investment)(Renewable energy schemes )
January 1, 2009... While the traditional options of thermal power plants and hydroelectric schemes have largely failed to satisfy Africa's power requirements, interest across the continent is turning to renewable forms of energy. Solar, wind, wave, geothermal and...

Fifa promises Africa free radio and TV broadcasts: easy visas, free-to-air African television broadcasts and cheap rate-fixed tickets will open 2010 matches to millions more.(WORLD CUP WATCH)
January 1, 2009... Fears that cash-strapped Africans might not enjoy the full effect of the 2010 World Cup seem to be abating as special arrangements for "Africa's World Cup" are rolled out. Three far-reaching agreements have suddenly brought the football...

Why Africa needs more tourism; Our East African columnist argues that the surest path to Africa's economic development is through upgrading the tourism sector as it not only provides jobs but can lead to several other benefits as well.(LETTER FROM EAST AFRICA)
January 1, 2009... Most accounts of the early years of Africa's independence--the late 1950s through to the 1970s--are filled with the promises made by political leaders that they would create jobs and end poverty by "industrialising" their countries. You will...

Rand slides down steep slope: a number of African currencies have depreciated against the dollar but the South African rand has taken a real tumble. This means that while the country's exports will become cheaper, its imports will become very expensive. This will severely impact projects such as the infrastructure development for the World Cup.(SOUTH AFRICA)
January 1, 2009... While the plunging value of the rand should be good for Africa north of the Limpopo River, it could be depressing for South Africa as an enthusiastic investor and corporate raider in most countries of the continent, backed in the recent past by...

The "if-only" budget: President Umaru Yar'Adua's much-delayed budget reflects the current global economic realities, but was met with general hostility. Adamu Kibla explains why.(NIGERIA)
January 1, 2009... What a difference a year makes. When Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua presented his very first budget roughly a year ago, wave after wave of optimism seemed to roll off the speech. It was a very different matter this time around. The 2009...

Big power of small organizations: like many other African countries, Kenya suffers power shortages, and the situation in rural areas is even more difficult than in the cities. Now a small group in Kenya's Central Province has decided it cannot wait for the government's rural electrification programme to make its way to their doorstep. They have decided to take matters into their own hands. Albert Muriuki reports from Nairobi.(KENYA)(Kenya Power and Lighting Company Ltd.)
January 1, 2009... The inefficiency and incompetence of Kenya's official power supplier finally drove Mzee Ngai into action. He applied for an electricity connection to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) in 1994. "For 14 years, I waited patiently for...

Why booms go bust; Explaining the world of money.(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Ascent of Money A Financial History of the World By Niall Ferguson [pounds sterling]25 Allen Lane ISBN 978-1-846-14106-5 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Niall Ferguson's new book provides a lively history of the world of...

From delinquent to Grand Maitre: the Congo colossus.(Book review)
January 1, 2009... FRANCOphonic Africa's greatest--a retrospective Vol 1; 1953-1980 Franco & le TPOK Jazz Sterns Cat: STCD3041-42 When Francois Luambo, better known as Franco, died in 1989, he left behind one of Africa's finest musical...