African Business articles from November 2008

African Business archives from November 2008

Yearning for stability.(Zimbabwe)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... The Zimbabwe conundrum continues to perplex observers, and many will have much sympathy with the view of Jimmy Koulango of Johannesburg (responding to African Business' cover story "Last chance saloon' August/September 2008 issue in Letters,...

A continent ascending.(Africa Rising)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... Your review of Vijay Mahajan's new book Africa Rising (African Business August/September 2008 issue) particularly caught my attention. Thanks to the insights of Mahajan, it was refreshing to see countries like Zimbabwe, Southern Sudan and Congo...

Chinese the new black?(Race and equality)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... This is in reference to your article 'Chinese are now black--official' in the August/September 2008 issue of African Business magazine. Throughout my youth in my native South Africa, I was classed, treated and identified as a coloured (the same...

Super sorghum.(GM foods)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... Your article regarding GM food crops in Africa (GM foods: Hobson's choice for Africa, African Business October 2008 issue) was an interesting study of the risks and rewards of Africa adopting genetically modified crops. However, in my opinion,...

In the nation's interest.(Waiving tax)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2008... I was pleased to see in the Briefs section of your magazine, (African Business August/September) that Armando Guebuza of Mozambique's government has acted out of the interest of the nation, rather than to gain interest out of the nation. ...

Giant entertainment centre to be built.(Development)(themed entertainment development )(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... A Dubai-based real estate company has confirmed that it plans to build a multi-billion-rand themed entertainment development in Durban, South Africa, the largest of its kind in the African continent. 'Amazulu World' will be what the...

$1bn boost to combat malaria.(Medicine)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The World Bank will boost its war chest by $1bn in the fight against malaria in Africa. The bank group's president Robert Zoellick says the new financial commitment would help African countries over the next three years to expand thTeir malaria...

Is GM the answer to Africa's needs?(Food Security)(African Union )(genetically modified crops)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The African Union (AU) has urged African presidents to forego their fears about allowing genetically modified (GM) crops to be grown commercially in their countries. The AU's commissioner for rural economy and agriculture Rhoda Peace...

Zimbabweans use cows for school fees.(Barter)(instead of cash,animals can also be used to pay the fees)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... School fees are now being paid in cows or fuel coupons in parts of Zimbabwe in the place of its wildly fluctuating currency and shortage of banknotes. According to a report on the BBC, residents in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, say Petra...

Orange to cut mobile costs.(Telecoms)(Telkom Kenya partnership with France Telecom)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The recent launch of Orange by Telkom Kenya in partnership with France Telecom will deliver "unrivalled value, a simplified customer experience and the assurance that Kenyans will receive world-class communications services at competitive...

AfDB lends $32m to Tema power.(Energy)(African Development Bank )(Tema Osonor Plant Ltd)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $32m private sector loan to Tema Osonor Plant Ltd, a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Ghana to finance the country's Tema Power Project. The loan will help finance the design,...

Lifestyle diseases increase in Africa.(Health)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Hypertension and other lifestyle diseases are becoming a serious threat in developing regions, dispelling the long-held notion that such 'white collar' afflictions are confined to the west. The warning comes in a report by Kenyan medical...

ABN Amro support for Botswana gem industry.(Resources)(ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (Amsterdam, Netherlands))(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... ABN Amro's diamond unit is planning an operation in Botswana to support the country's emerging diamond industry. "We are interested to establish quickly, but we have to go through the formalities of application," reports Victor Van der Kwast,...

Zimbabwe hotel group targets South Africa acquisition.(Tourism)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Hotel and leisure group African Sun Limited says it's on the verge of acquiring a five-star hotel in South Africa in line with its regional expansion. According to CEO Shingi Munyeza, the group has secured the new property, although he's...

Cassava-based fuel project for Nigeria.(Biofuels)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Nigeria has begun construction on the region's first fuel ethanol project, a fuel-from-cassava distillery that will have cost around N14.4bn ($111m) when it begins production in 2013. James Awoniyi, CEO of the CrowNek Green Energy Company...

2010 soccer stadiums seriously over budget.(Construction)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Stadium construction cost overruns for the South African-hosted 2010 World Cup will exceed budgets by around R2bn ($285m). South Africa's Deputy Finance Minister, Jabu Moloketi, says increases in the price of oil and steel along with...

Private sector shuns infrastructure.(Funding)(New Partnership for Africa's Development)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Aid and government donors were the major funders of Nepad's regional infrastructure projects of $4.3bn over the past four years while the private sector appeared reluctant to get involved in Africa's development drive. NEPAD Business Foundation...

Reminder - government is a public servant.
November 1, 2008... Despite the severe pessimism about the global economy following the extraordinary meltdown of the Western financial system (see this month's cover story), the outlook for Africa remains very bright. It is not so much that the continent has...

Can Africa survive? The massive and unprecedented intervention by many governments around the world appears to have halted the financial meltdown just in the nick of time. But while global banks were crashing all around it, the industry in Africa remained firm. Is it really stable or are there so far invisible tremors building up? Tom Nevin reports.(COVER STORY)
November 1, 2008... Two months ago, sub-Saharan Africa's financial markets, led by the banks and corroborated by institutional experts, were confidently stating that they would escape the worst effects of the current global credit crash-now they're not so sure....

Anatomy of the global financial crisis; How did the global financial crisis begin and what is the latest situation? African business editor Anver Versi provides some answers.(The Global Finance Crunch)
November 1, 2008... It now appears that if the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown had not bitten the bullet and effectively nationalised some of the country's major banks, the entire Western banking system would have come crashing down. As it fell off the cliff, it...

Private equity flocking to Africa; The growth of private equity funds in Africa is now on a par with Latin America and Russia and is expected to triple in size over the medium term, making it the fastest-growing asset class. Why has Africa suddenly become a magnet for international funds?(VIEW FROM THE CITY)
November 1, 2008... The credit crunch and global asset repricing in Western markets have led yield-hungry investors further afield for higher returns and diversification. Look no further than sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which exhibits low correlation to other...

What will Obama do for Africa? Are Barack Obama's blood ties with Africa cause for hope that he might be more sensitive to the continent's needs than his predecessors? Tom Nevin investigates.(TRENDS)
November 1, 2008... Of course it would be good to have a brother in the White House," observes Kenny Ngubane, a Durban, South Africa, commodities trader, "but I don't think we should go overboard with what that means for Africa. Will the colour of the next US...

Credit crunch threat looms over African boom.(Energy)(Table)(Report)
November 1, 2008... These are times of unprecedented opportunity for the African oil and gas industry. The continent's proven reserves of all forms of hydrocarbons are increasing. Firms from Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and Brazil are pouring...

North Africa; Targeting European markets.(Energy)
November 1, 2008... North Africa's growing importance as a gas supplier to the European Union (EU) has been underlined by recent plans by Algeria. The country's veteran oil minister and current Opec president, Chakib Khelil, has revealed that Algeria will boost...

Changing fortunes.(Gulf of Guinea)
November 1, 2008... Angola has now established itself as the biggest oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea as a result of falling output in Nigeria and the development of a string of multi-billion dollar deepwater projects in Angolan territory. Angolan output...

East Africa joins the party.(New frontiers)
November 1, 2008... While interest in the African oil and gas sector has traditionally focused on North Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, much greater investment is now being made elsewhere in the continent. An oil price of $20 a barrel made frontier exploration...

CDMs can be Africa's energy development lifeline: after 11 years, Africa still has less than 2.5% of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism's largesse, yet it is the perfect solution to financing much of the continent's urgently needed energy infrastructure development. What are we doing wrong, and how do we fix it to get our rightful share? Tom Nevin reports.(Energy)
November 1, 2008... With the global trade in carbon credits soon expected to top $100bn annually, there is wide recognition that ways must be found to bring Africa, the least -eveloped of the world's continents, more fully into the market - and Africans are eager...

Africa-wide pool of winners scoops the 2nd African Banker; The 2nd edition of the African Banker Awards was held at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, DC on the 10th of October. A glittering array of Africa's top financiers attended the event.(AWARDS)(Awards list)
November 1, 2008... The sense of irony was inescapable as bankers from every region of Africa went up to the podium in Washington, DC to be honoured for outstanding achievement, while some of the biggest banking institutions in history were on life-support...

When it pays to be poor (sometimes!); Has Kenya been penalised for diligently repaying its international debt obligations, while its East African neighbours have lived beyond their means are being rewarded for their folly?(LETTER FROM EAST AFRICA)
November 1, 2008... One of the first things I noticed when I returned to Kenya from a sabbatical year in Boston was how bad the Kenyan roads were. Then I noticed how unreliable the water supply was. And though in the time I have been back, there have been no major...

More local content, broadcasters told: although television is spreading all over the continent, most of the non-news content is still imported from outside. African film producers are still handicapped by a number of factors but, as became clear at the first Africa Broadcast and Convergence Conference held in Nairobi. there is a huge demand for local content. Andrea Bohnstedt reports from Nairobi.(MEDIA)
November 1, 2008... No matter what topic was being addressed, one message came across persistently at the First Africa Broadcast and Convergence Conference, held in Nairobi from 23 to 25 September 2008: More local content, and more local content! ...

How big a hole has Mbeki left? Over a stunning few days when Thabo Mbeki shocked the world by standing down from the presidency, South Africa's political landscape changed forever. Several top-ranking ministers followed his lead and left the government. What happens next?(TOPIC)
November 1, 2008... In the space of a handful of days, the South African political, economic and social ethos was consumed in an internecine firestorm that reduced the body politic to ashes, and left it desperately in search of a phoenix. Whether the political...

Quiet man of the revolution.(TOPIC)(political activity of Kgalema Motlanthe)(Occupation overview)
November 1, 2008... Kgalema Motlanthe, South Africa's caretaker president, was born on 19 July 1949 in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, to a working-class family. Most of his childhood was spent in Alexandra and much of his adult life was spent in Meadowlands,...

Jumping the technology gap: Africa can bypass the cumbersome process of intensive industrialisation deemed essential to its sustained growth by leapfrogging technology - as it has done in the telecoms sector. Neil Ford argues that many other sectors are equally ripe for this treatment.(TOPIC)
November 1, 2008... Any discussion of improving infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa generally focuses on whether the private or public sector is the best option. Commentators usually have fixed ideas on whether the market economy or state control is the best...

Blatter finger-wagging causes offence: Fifa supreme Sepp Blatter has been laying into South Africa's World Cup organisers, accusing them of being lax on marketing. He has also blasted the performance of the local team, Bafana Bafana. Is he justified or trying to make a meal of normal glitches? asks Tom Nevin.(WORLD CUP WATCH)
November 1, 2008... Rightly and righteously, the men and women charged with putting the many pieces together to make South Africa ready for the 2010 soccer World Cup get a little indignant when their efforts are continually harped upon. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Pirates rule the waves; The hijacking by Somali pirates of a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying military weapons triggered strong activity by US and Russian warships. But, argues, the long-standing problem of piracy in this region has often been ignored by the international community.(SPOTLIGHT)
November 1, 2008... Modern-day pirate activity off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean date backs to at least 2000, but this latest bout of piracy has highlighted just how out of control and free of any fear of retribution these seafaring thieves are. It has...

Sasol hit with huge anti-competition fine: South Africa's synthetic fuels giant, Sasol, together with other international energy companies, was heavily fined by the EU for breaching competition rules. This, says Tom Nevin, comes in the wake of tighter anti-competitive behaviour policing.(SOUTH AFRICA)
November 1, 2008... Talk show hosts, comedians, journalists and other keepers of the national conscience are quick to pick up on and label current events of particular moment. And so it was that Sasol, South Africa's synthetic fuel colossus, overnight became known...

New JICA is born.(Development)(Japan International Cooperation Agency)(Japan Bank for international cooperation)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... JICA-the Japan International Cooperation Agency-has become the world's largest bilateral development agency following its merger with the overseas economic co-operation section of the Japan Bank for international cooperation (JBIC). "New"...

Nairobi's housing boom: while the financial crisis gripping Western markets has its origin in the housing market's sub-prime debt, and is being keenly felt by homeowners facing falling house values, in Kenya a housing boom looks set to continue. John Thuo reports.(KENYA)
November 1, 2008... It is projected that Kenya will have a population of over 60m people by the year 2030 and more than 50% of them will be living in urban areas, creating a huge demand for new housing. Kenya's capital, Nairobi, has the country's biggest share...

Mutharika initiative gains favour; the agricultural revolution initiated by Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika has continued to prove his international critics, led by the UK and US, completely wrong. It has also now won him a prestigious Southern Africa award. Lameck Masina reports.(MALAWI)
November 1, 2008... When Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika launched an agriculture subsidy programme aimed at relieving one of the worst food security situations to hit Malawi in 2005, he ran into the teeth of opposition from the UK and the US. ...

Provinces of plenty: crude's conundrums.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Oil and Politics in the Gulf of Guinea By Ricardo Soares de Oliveira [pounds sterling]20 C Hurst & Co ISBN: 978-1-85065-858-0 In this groundbreaking, tightly argued and extensively researched study of one of the world's...

Rare tracks, traditional rhythms; Secret recordings from Benin.(Music)(Sound recording review)
November 1, 2008... The Vodoun Effect By Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Volume 1,1973-1975 Analogue Africa Cat: AACD 064 Following on from the compilation 'African Scream Contest - Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds from Benin & Togo 70s' -...