African Business articles from May 2008

African Business archives from May 2008

Take the Ghanaian example.(The feel-good factor)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2008... THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER. The editorial 'The power of feeling good' (African Business March 2008 issue) is very heart-warming, and it touches on the real joy of doing something, in today's world. Like Germany in the 2006 World Cup,...

Win a free annual subscription!(Prize Letter)
May 1, 2008... African Business will award a free one year subscription to the reader whose letter is chosen as the Prize Letter for that month. (Existing subscribers will receive a free annual renewal). Your views on Africa and matters affecting Africa are...

An invaluable resource.(African Banker)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2008... As a long time reader of African Business, a magazine that has proved invaluable for my work, I was really delighted that you decided to launch the African Banker as finance is my particular field. My organisation, New Frontiers Capital...

The right criteria?(Top Companies)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2008... Thanks once more for your excellent annual African Top Companies summary (African Business April 2008 issue). As ever, it makes for some fascinating reading but it occurred to me that perhaps you might broaden the criteria with regard to how...

The great debate.(Global warming)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2008... It was exactly a year ago that African Business published its cover story Global Warming and Africa (African Business May 2007 issue). Things do not seem to have moved on much. There have been a couple of conferences and plenty of books either...

Liberia to grow rice.(Agriculture)
May 1, 2008... Liberia has allocated over 15,000 hectares of land in the north of the country for commercial rice production under an aid deal to boost local production. Rice is the staple of most of Liberia's 3m population but the country imports virtually...

Lonrho acquires 51% of Rollex.(Agri-processing)(Lonrho PLC)
May 1, 2008... Lonrho plc has taken a 51% stake for an initial purchase price of R40m (around $5m) in the agri-processing and logistics company, Rollex. Rollex is in the business of sourcing, packaging and delivering produce from across Africa to its network...

Ban Ki-moon sounds warning.(Development)
May 1, 2008... While noting mixed progress in achieving the ambitious Millennium Development Goals, the UN's secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has warned they will not be reached by the 2015 target date without a major scaling up of financing and technical...

Moz to build second oil refinery.(Oil & gas)(Mozambique)
May 1, 2008... Mozambique has announced plans to build a second oil refinery in an $8bn investment signed with OilMoz. The new refinery will have the capacity to produce 350,000 barrels of oil a day and, according to a Ministry of Energy announcement, will...

Zoellick proposes new finance for Africa.(Finance)(World Bank president Robert Zoellick's proposal to invest sovereign wealth funds in Africa)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... World Bank president Robert Zoellick has proposed a new initiative for sovereign wealth funds to invest at least $30bn into sub-Saharan Africa. Zoellick said the World Bank was devising a "one percent solution" for Africa to "become a...

Emirates' new Cape Town freight service.(Aviation)
May 1, 2008... Emirates SkyCargo has launched a daily freight service from Cape Town to Dubai in a move that has been described as a further strengthening of its long relationship with South African traders. Trade between South Africa and the UAE has grown...

Bannerman takes Namibia listing.(Mining)(Bannerman Resources Ltd. listed at Namibia's Stock Exchange)
May 1, 2008... Bannerman Resources Ltd has listed on Namibia's Stock Exchange. The company, which describes itself as an exploration and pre-feasibility stage mining company has interests in its home country Australia as well as Botswana and Namibia. Its...

AfDB backs Madagascar project.(Irrigation)(African Development Bank Group and Madagascar's finnance of Manombo Irrigation Area Rehabilitation Project)
May 1, 2008... The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Madagascar have signed a loan agreement for the bank to provide $15.3m to finance more than 80% of the proposed Manombo Irrigation Area Rehabilitation Project (PRPIM), in the south-west of the...

Egypt proposes Sudan grows wheat.(Co-operation)
May 1, 2008... Sudan is studying an Egyptian proposal to grow wheat for the Egyptian market. "The Sudanese government has welcomed the Egyptian proposal calling for the cultivation of swathes of Sudanese land with wheat, and has formed committees to look into...

AB guide to African currencies.(exchange to UK pounds sterling, American dollar, and Euro)(Table)
May 1, 2008... Country Currency [pound sterling]STG Algeria (Dinar) 128.40 Angola (New Kwanza) 147.98 Benin (CFA) 817.50 Botswana (Pula)...

The 'six Ps' of management.(Editorial)(Editorial)
May 1, 2008... Travellers and even non-travellers among our readers must have read or heard about the fiasco that followed the opening of the new Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport. Even as I write this, I gather that thousands of bags, minus their...

The South-South revolution.
May 1, 2008... Two inescapable trends have emerged over the past few-years one is that growth in the Southern hemisphere (including Africa) has been higher than the global average; and second, that a substantial volume of FDI destined for Southern countries...

The logic of South--South co-operation.(COVER STORY)(Conference notes)
May 1, 2008... There were two major conferences in the space of about three weeks in March and April that could well set the course for Africa's future economic development. In fact, informed opinion is convinced that the events set in motion over this short...

Movement gains momentum: although the Africa-India summit in Delhi grabbed all the headlines, an equally intense conference was attempting to establish new lines of South-South cooperation in the island state of Mauritius. Anver Versi attended the conference.(COVER STORY)(Commonwealth Business Council)(Conference news)
May 1, 2008... The Africa-America-Asia Business Summit, organised by the Commonwealth Business Council, the Republic of Mauritius, the Mauritius Investment Board and Unctad brought together key public and private players from the three continents for a...

Rebalancing the world economy.(COVER STORY)(Cover story)
May 1, 2008... The subject of South-South cooperation has been a prominent issue on the agenda of developing nations since the 1960s. There has been since then the emergence of regional blocs focusing on giving a spur to intra-regional trade and cross-border...

The shifting balance of economic power.(COVER STORY)(Cover story)
May 1, 2008... Over the past 30 years, we have seen tremendous changes in the South that have fundamentally altered the world economy. Average real growth rates of Southern economies reached 6.4% in 2005 and are estimated at 7% for 2006--in both years over...

The Latin America-Africa potential.(COVER STORY)
May 1, 2008... South-South cooperation--between Argentina and the Southern African countries for example--is currently difficult to implement due to historical reasons, lack of information and the scarcity of trade instruments. This is despite the fact...

Mauritania bounces back: Mauritania's history of oil and gas development has been a chequered one. but the Sahelian country now appears to be enjoying a renaissance. Neil Ford investigates Mauritania's huge potential and the companies that are beginning to realise it.(ENERGY)
May 1, 2008... China's recent attempts to strengthen its ties with Mauritania underline the tide of renewed interest in the northwest African country's oil and prospects. After the initial wave of excitement generated by the discovery of the Chinguetti...

Rusal to invest $5bn in West Africa: one of the world's largest aluminium producers, Russia's united company Rusal, has reaffirmed its commitment to Africa despite several operational difficulties. in an exclusive interview with African Business, Alexander Livshits, the company's director for international and special projects tells Katrina Manson why Africa is such a crucial piece in its international strategy.(MINING)
May 1, 2008... Alexander Livshits, Russia's foreign minister in the mind--1990s and renowned for his reform-minded free market principles, says: "In the coming five years, major Russian industrial and mining comapanies intend to invest as much as $5bn in...

Africa's premier banking multinational.(Celebrating 20 years of Pan-African banking)(Company overview)
May 1, 2008... Africa's first true multinational, the Ecobank Group celebrated its 20th anniversary by recording yet another outstanding performance. Figures released in April 2008 show that in 2007, the Group's total assets increased by 87% from $4.2bn to...

Birth of an African champion: how it all began.(Celebrating 20 years of Pan-African banking)
May 1, 2008... The 1980s have been described as 'Africa's lost decade' when the post-independence euphoria had given way to a series of political and economic calamities. Productivity and revenue had hit the nadir while the debt mountain grew ever higher....

Innovation takes banking to the people.(Celebrating 20 years of Pan-African banking)
May 1, 2008... In keeping with its position as the leading African bank on the continent, Ecobank has taken the lead in introducing innovative retail products in the market. The objective is to tap into two key areas: the preference for cash transactions and...

Moving into hi-tech: 3G spurs new growth.(ITC in Africa)
May 1, 2008... The state of the telecommunications industry in Africa is characterised most strongly by continued mobile growth, with figures increasing between 50% and 60% a year. Limited fixed-line infrastructure and an information and communication-hungry...

Mauritius--small but vibrant market: over the last two years, telecommunications in Mauritius have been marked by unprecedented change since the liberalisation of domestic and international telephone services. with 98% telephone penetration already reached, there might not appear to be much scope to develop locally, but operators are finding new ways and means to achieve growth. Nasseem Ackbarally reports from Port-Louis.(Telecoms in Africa)
May 1, 2008... Until the end of 2002, the incumbent monopoly, Mauritius Telecom, provided all national and international telecommunications services on the island of Mauritius. Today, with two fixed-line, three mobile and several international operators, the...

Indian Ocean cyber-city: originally, the creation of the cyber-city at Ebene, 25km south of the capital in the heart of Mauritius, was justified by the vision of developing a cyber-island and creating some 25,000 jobs. today, the cyber-city is best known for its call-centres and business processing outsourcing.
May 1, 2008... Multi-media, software development, web page designing, business solutions and knowledge process outsourcing have yet to be developed but the island is moving fast to achieve its objectives. Two cyber-towers have been built on a 60,000sq...

Africa's Gateway: Gateway Communications is the continent's largest and most advanced pan-African communications provider.(Telecoms in Africa)
May 1, 2008... Since 2005, Gateway Communications have invested more than half a billion dollars into Africa's ITC industry, building connectivity networks and facilitating communications within and between no fewer than 37 African countries. What also...

Algerie Telecoms goes for cutting-edge triple play.(Telecoms in Africa)
May 1, 2008... Cheap, fast broadband access of the calibre found overseas is still not quite a reality on the African continent, but this could change if a new approach to last-mile connectivity gains widespread support. Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) offers a...

HP--creating tomorrow's data centres.(Telecoms in Africa)
May 1, 2008... Some 2,800 delegates from 18 countries travelled to Barcelona last March for HP's technology@work summit and heard Ann Livermore, the head of HP's technology solution group, quote research indicating that global data storage requirements are...

Four steps to trade success: Dr Mohan Kaul (below), director-general of the Commonwealth Business Council, outlines four key steps that would have a dramatic impact on the pace and volume of trade both within the continent itself and abroad.(GUEST COLUMN)
May 1, 2008... It is widely agreed that unless Africa dramatically increases its share of world trade, it will fail to achieve sustainable growth and poverty reduction. Unfortunately, Africa's relative performance in the global market has reached drastically...

Reforming the business environment.(CAMEROON COUNTRY REPORT)(Report)
May 1, 2008... In the World Bank's 2007 Doing Business report, Cameroon was judged to be one of the most difficult countries in the world to startup and conduct a business. Ranked 152 out of 175 countries in a league table that evaluated a country's business...

A new mining era for small and big firms.(CAMEROON COUNTRY REPORT)
May 1, 2008... Although largely under-explored, Cameroon's extractive resources are becoming increasingly attractive to the world's large mining companies. According to a report on Cameroon's mining sector presented by the prime minister's office, while the...

Banks reluctant to lend to small companies.(CAMEROON COUNTRY REPORT)
May 1, 2008... Despite the good health of Cameroonian banks, they are still reluctant to lend to the productive sector. Is this really due to a lack of viable proposals? Cameroon's banking system is a mirror image of the country's economy. In the first...

Cameroon's half-million tourist target.(CAMEROON COUNTRY REPORT)(Cameroon's fifth National Tourism Council)
May 1, 2008... Embarking on a strategy aimed at significantly increasing tourism numbers entering Cameroon could revive a previously neglected sector, but attaining half a million visitors a year by 2010 will certainly be a challenging exercise. Discussing...

Fifa gives South Africa 'nine out of 10': Fifa has given South Africa's stadium readiness nearly top marks, but late starter, Port Elizabeth, could lose out as a host to the Confederations Cup the World Cup's curtain-raiser.(WORLD CUP WATCH)
May 1, 2008... Another top brass Fifa inspection delegation has toured South Africa's 10 soccer World Cup venues and the members have pronounced themselves happy with progress, with the exception of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro's new arena. The problem with...

Nigeria insurance's gold lined future: the Nigerian insurance industry's recapitalisation consolidation exercise has now been successfully concluded and a bright new dawn beckons. but a great deal of internal cleaning up is required if the industry is to forge ahead. Anver Versi attended the industry's first major summit after consolidation in Abuja last month.(FINANCE)
May 1, 2008... After one false start followed by bitter internal acrimony, the dust seems to have settled and Nigeria's insurance industry is poised to try and emulate the remarkable success of the country's banking sector. While the banking consolidation...

Sasol BEE deal shuns 'fat cats': taking a cue from De Beers diamond company, South Africa's , Sasol, has isynthesised fuel colossusgnored 'the usual suspects' and will distribute its black economic empowerment (BEE) largesse amongst ordinary South Africans.(SOUTH AFRICA)(Sasol Ltd. will distribute R26bn Black Economic Empowerment)
May 1, 2008... Sasol, the listed synthetic fuel and chemical giant will distribute R26bn ($3.7bn) Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) largesse amongst its employees, education foundations, selected empowerment partners, suppliers and other service providers....

On the edge of history: for a few giddy hours Zimbabwe teetered on the edge of history. but, with the exhilaration of impending change sweeping the country and the region, most overlooked the golden rule: "he who has the gold makes the rules.(ZIMBABWE)
May 1, 2008... Apparently having won the parliamentary election and appearing to have secured the presidency in polls in March, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties started writing a new chapter in the country's political...

Fertiliser success stuns western donors: fed up with having to beg for food aid, Malawi's president Mutharika defied donor conditionalities and provided the country's struggling farmers with subsidised fertilisers. the result was stunning. Malawi changed overnight from a food aid importer to an exporter.(MALAWI)
May 1, 2008... Over the last two decades the World Bank and donor countries have been pressing Malawi to adhere to free market policies even though both the US and EU continue to subsidise their agricultural sectors. USAid, for example, has urged promotion of...

The strangest invasion in history? was the assault on Anjouan island really necessary or was it a convenient and easy face-saving victory for AU peacekeepers? Tom Nevin examines the evidence.(COMOROS)
May 1, 2008... It was one of the strangest invasions in history; it was probably also the most unnecessary. The attackers were a detachment of Comoros government soldiers backed by 1,350 African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops. Their target was the island of...

Power-sharing dynamics: at long last, after intense mediation by a panel of eminent African leaders, Kenya's main political parties agreed to meet halfway and share power, with opposition leader Raila Odinga becoming prime minister, while Mwai Kibaki retains the presidency. Dennis Onyango has the details of an historic deal.(KENYA)
May 1, 2008... President Mwai Kibaki, after reaching an agreement with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, finally named a cabinet of 40 ministers and 50 assistant ministers in mid-April. This is the largest ever in Kenya's history. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

So you want to build a hospital? a guide for medical entrepreneurs.
May 1, 2008... Establishing Private Health Care Facilities in Developing Countries By Seung-Hee Nah and Egbe Osifo-Dawodu $25 World Bank Institute Development Studies ISBN: 0-08213-6947-4. News emerged last month that the African Development Bank...

Celebrating freedom: Ghana's new stars.
May 1, 2008... Black Stars--Ghana's Hiplife Generation Various Artists Out Here Records Cat OH 008 On 6 March 1957, when Ghana became the first African country to gain independence from colonial rule, "Ghana is free forever" were the words uttered by...