African Business articles from May 2002

African Business archives from May 2002

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... INVOLVE PEOPLE IN NEPAD Your recent coverage of the NEPAD initiative prompts me to write. What has appeared in your magazine suggests a vital flaw in the project. That is the apparent lack of grassroots contributions. Instead, we are being...

AB Guide to African currencies.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... AB Guide to African Currencies Country CURRENCY [pounds sterling]STG Algeria (Dinar) 116.27 Angola (New Kwanza) 54.27 Benin ...

DRC could renege on mine deals. (Business Briefs).(Democratic Republic of Congo)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In a surprise development at the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD) at Sun City in South Africa, delegates were told that a post war Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government would not recognise war-time contracts and concessions that are not...

Africa telecoms grows against the odds. (Business Briefs).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Unlike the mature markets of the United Kingdom and other parts of the developed world, most of Africa holds huge growth potential in telecommunications, according to Paul Edwards, chief executive of wireless communications giant M-Cell. MTN,...

WB calls for global partnership. (Business Briefs).(World Bank)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Much has been learned about ways to improve aid effectiveness, including the lesson that aid should encourage developing countries to design their own strategies for reducing poverty, says World Bank President James Wolfensohn. He told a...

SAA ditches Boeing. (Business Briefs).(South Africa Airways to use Airbus Industrie planes)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... South Africa Airways is to ditch its entire fleet of long-haul Boeing airliners in preference for aircraft from Europe's Airbus Industrie, in a $3.Sbn deal. Airbus has been asked to supply 41 planes over 10 years, replacing its 54 Boeing...

Capes of Storms. (Business Briefs).(South Africa tourist spots)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The normally peace-loving folk of Cape Point and Cape Agulhas in South Africa are at daggers drawn over where the Indian Ocean ends and the Atlantic begins. Geography has little to do with it; it's all a matter of attracting tourists to gaze...

Africa's newest airline. (Business Briefs).(AfricaOne)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Africa's latest airline, AfricaOne, risen A from the ashes of now defunct Alliance Air, was due to take to the skies on May 1, this year. The new airline's fleet comprises a single DC 10-30 passenger aircraft that will operate out of airline...

Coping with culture clash.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... Have you ever felt like pulling out your hair in frustration because somebody you are doing business with in another country keeps messing you about? They don't return your calls promptly, they do not stick to the schedule, they say they will...

Can SA win the war against crime? SA Police turn to technology for help. (Cover Story).(South Africa)(Cover Story)
May 1, 2002... Despite strenuous efforts, South Africa's police force has been losing the war against crime - now reaching epidemic proportions. The economic impact of SA's crime wave runs to billions of lost rands. Now, Tom Nevin reports, there is hope that...

The riddle of the rand. (View from the City).(South African rand)(Column)
May 1, 2002... Sub-Saharan African currencies are deemed to offer a 'one-way bet' for currency traders. Last year, hefty falls against the US dollar (the benchmark currency across much of Africa) were recorded by member-countries of the Southern African...

Privatisation in Africa: Panacea or salvation? (Special Report).
May 1, 2002... Privatisation is seen by many as a panacea for Africa's economic woes, the catch-all solution for inefficient state-run organisations and a cure-all medicine for ineffective service provision. But is this really what Africa needs? Neil...

Nitel soap opera rolls on. (Special Report).
May 1, 2002... After weeks of reassuring Nigeria's government and its people that all was well, the Investors International London Limited (IILL) finally defaulted on its commitment to pay the remaining $1.185bn for a 51% stake in parastatal Nitel on March...

Kenya Telcom sale stalls. (Special Report).
May 1, 2002... Following the collapse of the deal with the Mount Kenya Consortium to buy 49% of Telcom Kenya's shares, the Kenya government has been scrambling to find another 'suitable' bidder. There is also growing pressure from donors to speed up the...

South Africa's privatisation hinges on Telkom.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The South African government plans to reap more than Rl2bn ($1.08bn) in privatisation receipts during the financial year that ends in March 2003. While government says this is a 'conservative' estimate, its success in meeting this target...

'Africa will take possession of its own development': ADB Group President, Omar Kabbaj. (Interview).(Interview)
May 1, 2002... The African Development Bank Group's next annual meeting, on 28-30 of May at the Addis Ababa UN Conference Centre, is expected to be a watershed in the economic history of Africa. Some 1,500 private and public sector managers, including Finance...

Mr Barman...please! (Products & Processes).(Mitsubishi Electric Research Division develops high-tech glass)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... There is a gravestone in Ireland on which the epitaph reads: "Here lies Paddy O'Connelly, barman. God finally caught his eye." The frustration of trying to flag down a barman may be a thing of the past when a new high-tech glass finds its way...

Keeping sharks at bay. (Products & Processes).(SeaChange Technology introduces electronic device to repel sharks)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The millions of people who make their living, or enjoy their leisure, in the seas around Africa and other parts of the world will be made considerably safer with a new shark deterrent developed in South Africa by the Natal Sharks Board, and...

Tom Thumb with an attitude. (Products & Processes).(three-legged robots)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Hundreds of three-legged robots the size of a thumb, complete with onboard computers, powerful microscopes, and biosensors will be ready to manufacture nano-scale materials by mid-2002, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of...

Water into wine? (Products & Processes).(nano-capsules containing the colour, fragrance, and taste of numerous drinks)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Still on matters nano, the scope and impact of nanotechnology were brought home by researchers in Spain working with Kraft Foods, the world's second largest food processing enterprise. Kraft's Nanotech Lab, in conjunction with Spanish...

For the record. (Products & Processes).(production abilities of self-replicating nanobots)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The possibility of self-replicating nano-machines has inspired debate and derision for years. US scientist Richard Smalley has calculated the barriers facing a single nanobot, capable of building at a speed of one billion atoms per second,...

Stirring the ethnic pot. (Products & Processes).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... More than any other continent, Africa is the world's ethnic melting pot. It is the proven cradle of mankind and is home to folk of every colour and creed. Many of the people of Africa are unaware of their original roots and would be...

Stopping drowsy browsing. (Products & Processes).(Internet Solutions introduces tool to control employee Internet browsing)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... For all the efficiencies the Internet brings businesses, a big drawbacks is that staff often spend time visiting web sites that are not work-related. Some of the most popular sites for workers are entertainment related and include anything from...

New oil finds in Eq. Guinea. (Oil and Gas).
May 1, 2002... Amerada Hess has made another sub-stantial find in the Rio Muni Basin, off-shore Equatorial Guinea. The Akom discovery in the Block G was made in 443m of water, at a total depth of 2,481m, encountering 49m of net pay. The announcement follows...

Return of the ugly American? (Dateline USA).
May 1, 2002... When the US Ambassador to Kenya, Johnnie Carson took the highly unusual step of actively lobbying for a contract on behalf of a US company, competitors were appalled. When he added threats, everybody in Africa sat up and took notice. Milan...

Ghana put's faith in gas. (Energy).
May 1, 2002... Ghana's power dreams came to earth with a thump when drought severely curtailed HEP generation during the late 1990s. The loss to the economy was in millions of dollars. Now, to avoid a repeat of the disaster. Ghana is turning to gas as the...

Make or break for Nepad. (Agenda).(New Partnership for Africa's Development)
May 1, 2002... There has been no shortage of ambitious pan-African development plans in the past but most of them have failed. Now a new plan, Nepad has been launched with much fanfare. Will this one succeed where so many others have failed? Tom Nevin ponders...

Renault's Vel Satis: Substance with style. (Wheels).(Product Announcement)
May 1, 2002... Renault. saved from the breakers' yard as a result of its alliance with Nissan just over three years ago, is now thriving and has taken a plunge into the crowded luxury executive car market. Stephen Williams ponders if the Vel Satis can compete...

Highways across the ocean: the expanding business of carrying cars to and from Africa. (Shipping).
May 1, 2002... In the Atlantic Ocean somewhere off Dakar, two ships pass; one heading south from Antwerp to West Africa, the other northbound from Durban to Bristol, UK. On their radars they track another vessel heading north-east from Brazil. The goods...

How much do calls cost you? Comparative telephone costs in Africa. (IT Africa).
May 1, 2002... The exponential growth in telecommunications services in Africa masks the fact that consumers in some countries are paying through the nose to be part of the African telecoms revolution. As mobile lines are growing by a dizzying 50% a year...

Business under the gun. (Countryfile: Somalia).
May 1, 2002... The 11-year civil war in Somalia has left most of Mogadishu completely destroyed. With no central government to speak of, the capital is still divided between factions each trying to muscle its way into power. Pickup trucks full of armed...

The morning - after hangover. (Countryfile: Zimbabwe).
May 1, 2002... The election fever that had gripped the nation for months before the incumbent, President Robert Mugabe romped home as the winner, is slowly evaporating, Zimbabare digesting the results and raking stock. The uncertainty that had become...

The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of a Slave Trader.
May 1, 2002... By Robert Harms [pounds sterling]17.99 Perseus Books ISBN 1-903985-18-8 The gruesome Trans-Atlantic slave trade from Africa to the New World has spawned many studies, but few are as vivid and informative as this book. It is based...

Desert Divers, 'Exterminate all the Brutes'.
May 1, 2002... By Sven Lindqvist [pounds sterling]6.99 each Granta ISBN 1-86207-507-7/1-86207-508-5 These two books from the pen of Swedish author Sven Lindqvist are now both available in English translations by Joan Tate. Both books reveal an...