My Beauty Best Teacher

Continuing on our theme of indigenous foundations the Kanu Heart Foundation's goals include "...to alleviate the problem of heart related diseases in Africa, the Kanu Nwankwo Heart Foundation plans to establish five specialist hospitals in several African countries and dozens of clinics in Nigeria. The Foundation also plans to promote the research for heart disease and other related conditions and disseminate the useful results of such research. In addition the Foundation, aims to mobilise international goodwill from multi-national companies and corporate bodies in order to send as many Africans as possible in need of heart surgery to Europe for this surgery, pending the completion of the proposed specialist hospitals..."

C.K. Prahalad walks though Bombay’s streets (it could just as well be the streets of Lagos or Nairobi) with Business Week and believes that the:
"…entrepreneurial ingenuity at work amid such poverty, where success depends on squeezing the most out of minimal resources to furnish quality products at rock-bottom prices, has cosmic implications for executives and consumers everywhere. Some of the most interesting companies of the future won't emerge from Silicon Valley or other places of abundant means, he says. They will come from places many executives don't even think about because they have been considered too marginal. They won't have that excuse for much longer, though.
In the world according to C.K. -- short for Coimbatore Krishnarao -- poor nations are incubating new business models and innovative uses of technology that in the coming decade will begin to transform the competitive landscape of entire global industries, from financial and telecom services to health care and carmaking..."
via PSD Blog

At the "...2005 Wharton Global Business Forum Africa Conference, entitled "Unveiling the Value; Demystifying the Risk." Speakers described the continent as bursting with opportunities, challenges and pitfalls for local and foreign companies, but the emphasis was decidedly on the word "opportunity...Paa Kwesi Nduom, minister for public sector reform in Ghana, noted that his country had reduced inflation from as high as 45% in recent years to a current level of under 15%. "You are operating in an environment where there is a shortage of everything," said Oyebode, speaking for Africa as a whole. But for companies that succeed, he stated, return on equity can approach 50%...One theme that ran through the conference was the idea that economic growth in Africa would tend to occur more rapidly in an atmosphere of reduced government regulation and greater political reform. Oyebode(Nigerian lawyer), for example, predicted that there would be greater opportunities for business in Liberia following recently held elections to replace the authoritarian government of former president Charles Taylor..."Some countries are ready for change and are indeed implementing reform. Others need to be encouraged,"noted Nduom. "We have a small group of countries that need to be dragged along. And that must happen. We have come to understand that we cannot achieve accelerated national development, create wealth and eradicate poverty without reforming the public sector..."
Via Knowledge@Wharton

Sub-Saharan Africa is witness to the unceasing imposition of unenforceable counterproductive regulations, to who's ultimate benefit one may ask? Pius Fischer in his book Rent-Seeking,Institutions and Reforms in Africa "...identifies rent-seeking behaviour as one of the main causes of poor economic performance, observed, among other places, in many countries of Africa. Rent-seeking describes the ability to capture incomes without producing output or making a productive contribution. Since rent-seekers are often an integral part of an ailing economy and resist the adoption of reforms,understanding and anticipating rent-seeking behaviour is crucial for designing more adequate and effective policy reforms..."A world bank policy paper asserts "...an autocrat who seeks to maximize personal financial return favors an inefficiently large public sector and distorts other public sector priorities more than does an autocrat who seeks to maximize national income. However, if civil servants and public officials are also venal, the ruler will not favor so large a government..."

The Economist examines the efficacy of bloodless regime change and its chances for success, "...The secret of people power's success is simple: a tyranny can cut off one head or even 1,000, but 10,000 or 100,000 is much more difficult—and becoming more so with time...It is clear that a successful popular change of regime—one, that is, that results in a reasonably democratic and enduringly free system—is much more likely to emerge if it has certain characteristics. What is needed, according to an analysis by Freedom House of 67 overthrown dictatorships, is “broad-based, non-violent civic resistance—which employs tactics such as boycotts, mass protests, blockades, strikes and civil disobedience to delegitimate authoritarian rulers and erode their sources of support, including the loyalty of armed defenders.” Such people power can be decisive. And if it is a significant feature of the change of regime, the emergence of a free society is much more likely than in a top-down change of power brought about by elites or others close to power. Moreover, the most important factor in contributing to the emergence of a freer society is the presence of strong and cohesive non-violent civic coalitions..."

A paper(PDF) by Frederic Suatet "...argues that institutions are not the fad of the moment but are fundamental to the existence of a vibrant and productive entrepreneurial activity. Institutions are defined as the rules of the economic game and their enforcement arrangements. Entrepreneurial activity is about creation and discovery in the commercial context, that is, within the price system with the guidance of the profit-and-loss mechanism.What matters to economic performance is a set of institutions that favor socially productive entrepreneurship.The problem with most developing countries is not that entrepreneurial activity is missing but that it is misdirected into socially destructive activities. The aim of economic policy and social reform must be to re-establish an institutional framework that allows for socially productive entrepreneurial activity to flourish..."
via PSD Blog

Wafula Okumu analysed what he described as Afro-Pessimism, "...Although I recognize the role the foreigners, particularly Europeans and Americans have played in making Africa one of the poorest places on earth, I fully hold the African leaders accountable. It is tempting, but facile, to generalize that Africa's problems are self-inflicted by vaulting political ambitions of its leaders. However, it is hard not to see Africa's pathetic leadership in the wider context as a reflection of Africa's persistent failure to throw up progressive leaders, not merely colorful visionaries seeking to rewrite history with themselves as central players..."

Khalil Tian Shahyd reviews African Renaissance by Fantu Cheru he "...calls on us to rethink the concept of “decolonization of the African mindset”. Africa’s dependence on foreign aid, he says, has done the opposite of its claimed mission, but in fact has been used to keep Africa’s people disempowered through the support of dictatorships and undemocratic regimes. Further, the habits of import consumption and the rejection of products produced in Africa is the highest example of how deep the colonial ingraining has been.Further along, he challenges African universities, scholars and heads of state to commit to strengthen their people’s capacity in “all the relevant specializations” and improve the ability for sub-Saharan trade negotiators to engage in meaningful dialogue during WTO meetings, and other international negotiations..."

The role an Al Jazeera type organisation would play in Sub-Saharan Africa is undeniable, from investigative journalism to re-education its effect could be profound. Africast reports on an effort to realise this vision with the establishment of "Africa TV", "...Driven by the vision of Africans reporting on Africa for the world, a group of professional broadcasters, business people and reporters is setting up a pan-African satellite television network, to be launched within a year.Modelled on Arabic satellite network al Jazeera and led by Salim Amin, son of legendary Kenyan photojournalist Mo Amin, Africa TV aims to be an independent voice reporting on all events - good and bad - to the continent and the rest of the world."My vision is to give a more balanced view of Africa by Africans rather than by foreign correspondents,"..."The way the international 24-hour news machine works the big networks have a lot of other big stories that need to be covered and they can't devote the resources that I believe are necessary to cover Africa properly..."

Greg Mills And Lyal White write about the China conundrum from an African perspective "...ultimately the path of African development -- and its relationship with China -- does not depend on what happens in China, but instead hinges on the response of the continent's own states to their plight. Low levels of productivity, high transaction costs, poor and costly access to markets,labour market rigidity and lukewarm receptiveness to investors are among key factors inhibiting African countries from becoming key sources of supply for manufactured products and light assembly items. Dealing with these constraints has, after all, put China where it is today..."
via AllAfrica

Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie critiques Make Poverty History "...making Africans invisible objects and recipients of the campaign – to be wheeled onstage to give a brief smile and a wave when the time is right – defeats the object of helping people liberate themselves from misery. When people see themselves represented only as helpless objects, they lose the power to determine their own future, the will to take responsibility for their own destiny..."
via OpenDemocracy

Sabella Abidde takes issue with the undue emphasis on Africa's history as a reason for its present ills, "...Africa is not a peculiar continent. Everything that has ever happened in Africa has happened elsewhere. Slavery, wars, colonialism, natural or man-made disasters, ethnic conflicts, corruption... you name it and it has happened in other places, too. But while other continents seem to be getting their houses in order, things seem to be adrift in our own continent. Nothing works. There is a pronounced disconnect between the government and the vast majority of the people. Why, for instance, is it taking Ethiopia a quarter century or so to recover from food and water shortage?..."

Writing about globalisation Kevin Alcena asserts that developing countries "...need to establish public-private partnerships, both domestically and internationally... so as to be able to manage the various dimensions of globalization and their interrelationships to mutual advantage. This effort will help developing countries to develop adequate Research and Development perspectives, sustainable technological innovation that will make them less reliant on the developed countries..."

The democratic process needs to be progressive and evolutionary in nature.From the young to the less privileged its relevance and resonance need to be maintained and nurtured, various civic minded organisations have a role to play here. One of them "...the African Youth Parliament (AYP) is a continental network of young leaders, peace builders and social activists from 50 African countries working in promoting and advocating for youthful solutions to Africa’s developmental challenges... the AYP is an initiative of the African Action Partners to the International Youth Parliament ..."

Stella Orakwue comments on diasporean dissatisfaction and alienation in Europe.She argues for a reverse brain drain and asks the question "...What are Africans doing in Europe? Can someone tell me, please? I was brought here as a four-year-old child. If you are reading this and you are an African in Europe, I ask you this: Why are you here? Why did you come? Why did you stay? What are you doing?...It is the individual who empowers a society. It is individuals who think. It is individuals who create businesses. It is individuals who lead political parties. It is individuals who establish universities. It is individuals who build institutions. It is individuals who change societies. You cannot look after a society without looking after the individual..."

A paper by Uche Nworah on the Nigerian Diaspora highlights amongst other things, inefficiencies in the allocation of remittance revenues. "...the issue of foreign remittances back to Africa has become a subject of interest in the international community. According to a recent report (Migrations and Development) by the International Development Select Committee (UK), over $300 Billion was sent from developed to developing countries in 2003 by diasporas living in the developed countries. Global remittance, the report maintains is growing faster than official development assistance from the developed countries, also global remittance is the second largest source of external funding for developing countries, behind Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and also accounts for as much as 27% of the GDP for some African countries. The report also says that global remittance accounts for 5% of GDP in Nigeria, this figure is predicted to increase in the coming years. A U.S government official recently claimed that Nigerian diasporas remit back to Nigeria the sum of $12 billion annually, while other sources claim that Nigerians send a total of $3Billion annually through the official channels of the Western Union and other financial institutions. While there appears to be different conflicting figures with regards to the exact amount of such capital outflows or global remittances back to Africa and Nigeria in particular, the fact remains that it is a phenomenon that is on the increase and also one that is good for the continent, sadly though, such remittances have not been channeled effectively by the recipients to areas that will yield long term benefits and sustainable growth..."
Via Global Politician

Julius Court and Toru Yanagihara suggest strategy alternatives for African countries in a world of globalisation "...Most countries in Africa are small and poor, making an inward looking strategy unattractive. Significant advances in economic development in Africa in the future will depend in no small part on the success with which countries can exploit the opportunities and avoid the risks presented by globalisation. A viable outward oriented strategy for countries in Africa will have to reflect the structure of the economy and endowments relative to other parts of the world. On the first point, the primary sector dominates most economies in Africa. On the second, Africa has low levels of human capital in comparison to other regions. The familiar proposition seems to hold – for most countries in Africa comparative advantage lies in primary production and unskilled labour-intensive primary processing...Given the long gestation period of investments in human capital, this is likely to remain the situation for many years to come..."

The BBC reports on increased corruption levels in Africa "...Unlike their Asian counterparts, Africa's robber-barons prefer to take their booty to Europe or the United States, far from prying eyes.It's a system run by an international network of criminals, involving corrupt bankers laundering money, lawyers and accountants setting up 'front companies' and trusts to collect bribes, contract-hungry company directors, local middlemen in Africa and the corrupt officials in African governments..."
Via Globalisation Institute

Jeevan Vasagar writes "...What exactly are the NGOs trying to achieve? If the purpose of aid work is to diminish poverty, the past decade looks like a dramatic failure...Reliance on aid can be dangerous. Ultimately, it threatens to sever the political contract between the government and those it governs...Ending poverty appears to have little to do with overseas aid or the activities of NGOs. It has to do with pragmatic governments that create a business-friendly environment and place a heavy emphasis on education.By contrast, Africa has suffered from rulers who are parasites on their people, where the elites loot resources to line their own pockets and create an environment where investors fear to tread.Dependence on aid will only prolong the lives of these parasite states..."
photo courtesy of the Guardian Unlimited