My Beauty Best Teacher

From the back cover of Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Offer More Than You Think by Vijay Mahajan:

With more than 900 million consumers, the continent of Africa is one of the world's fastest growing markets. In Africa Rising...Vijay Mahajan reveals this remarkable marketplace in all its richness and complexity, and helps companies understand the massive opportunity it presents. Mahajan tells the stories that western executives and managers rarely hear: stories of African entrepreneurs, executives, and enterprises that are identifying powerful market opportunities and capitalizing on them. He teaches the lessons that Africa's successful and failing ventures have learned about succeeding on the continent...he uncovers what may be your largest untapped growth opportunity.

"...Edited by Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka and Dorothy McCormick Industrial Clusters and Innovation Systems in Africa: Institutions, Markets and Policy aims to improve our understanding of how local clusters can be transformed into local systems of innovation and how local clusters can be better connected to global actors...",United Nations University.

Akin expands on the "Why Poor Countries Are Poor" theme covered earlier:

Corruption is exacerbated by the layers and hoops of unnecessary bureaucratic requirements that simply keep pen-pushers and deadwood in their positions of unwarranted privilege as enemies of change – people need to get things done and the only way to smooth out any activity is to grease grubby palms...The best thing any government of a developing country can do is reduce layers of bureaucracy, bureaucratic irrelevance and the people who feed that system – time to register companies, accumulation of unnecessary information, provide access to relevant economic data without strictures and nip all sources of patronage in the bud.

Commenting on the dictatorship of Gambia et al. Binneh S Minteh asks in African Path:

-How do military governments legitimize themselves within the international community of nations?
-Do some international players value human dignity before bonding and bridging with such cruel and inhumane leaders of modern times?
-Do the forces of globalization nurture the legitimization of such dictators?

Africa Today and Tomorrow highlights Africa's buy signals from Money and Markets,they include:

A slew of new American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of African companies are coming out. These stocks are traded on U.S. exchanges, but are essentially the same as buying their foreign-listed counterparts.
Plus, mutual funds are allocating more capital to Africa. For example, several natural resources funds now hold significant stakes in the continent.
And exchange-traded funds are also helping investors track different countries. For example, you can purchase the iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund (EZA). Its 52 holdings give you a broad stake in South African companies, including names like Gold Fields, Ltd ... Impala Platinum ... Anglo American ... Harmony Gold Mining ... and Sasol, Ltd, one of the leading alternative energy companies in the world today.

Martin de Wit argues that:

There are a growing body of evidence concluding that Sub Saharan economic growth is largely achieved by a depletion of capital (asset stripping). Higher levels of investment in different forms of capital as well as institutional strengthening is urgently needed.Sub Saharan countries are not homogeneous and different investment strategies and institutional focus would be required for different countries.

Deborah Brautigam asks:

"...might the increased Chinese presence play a positive role by providing a model for lower-tech industrial development, stimulating the spin-off of manufacturing, or acting to jump start local investment?
There is ample precedent for such a role. Japanese firms sparked an industrial boom in Southeast Asia in just this way, and Korean firms were central to the rapid expansion of manufacturing in Bangladesh, where conditions were much less propitious..."

Her main questions being:

-Will this new wave of trade and investment displace existing industries?
-Will these firms form forward and backward linkages and stimulate technology transfer in the “flying geese” model?

continue reading(PDF)

Fear and Loathing comments on Jeffery Sachs,paternalism and revisits concerns about MDG's.

The TED Blog reports on the recent arrest of Andrew Mwenda:

Reuters Africa is reporting that Andrew Mwenda and two other staffers of the Independent have been arrested by Ugandan officials. Reuters reports:

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan security forces on Saturday raided the offices of a magazine seen as critical of President Yoweri Museveni's government, arresting three journalists and taking computers, a lawyer said.

Read more >>

The story in the Independent has more detailed coverage of this second raid since the launch of the newspaper in October.

In March, Andrew Mwenda was named a Young Global Leader for 2008 by the World Economic Forum. Watch the recent BBC World Debate in which Mwenda participated at this year's TED.

For further coverage see Jen Brea's posting
And the Free Andrew Mwenda Facebook page here

Brill's overview of George Ayittey's Indigenous African Institutions-2nd edition:

Since the publication of the first edition of Indigenous African Institutions in 1992, Africa has undergone a substantial change. Still, much mythology and misconception enshroud Africa and its people. An enduring myth claims that pre-colonial Africa had no viable institutions. This book is an attempt to provide a better, modern understanding of Africa and its people – not for cultural rehabilitation or romanticism but for practical reasons.
Traditional or indigenous Africa has not vanished; it is still the home of the real people of Africa – the peasant majority, who produce Africa’s real wealth using ancient institutions and practices. Kings, chiefs, and village markets still exist in Africa.
The object of development is to improve the lot of the peasants – not the pockets of Africa’s ruling elites – and it starts from the “bottom up” – not from the “top-down.” What is there at the bottom are the peasants, their institutions, practices, and economic ways of life. Africa cannot be developed by ignoring its traditional sector, nor can this sector be developed without understanding how it works. Africa’s salvation, then, lies in returning to its roots and building upon its own indigenous institutions. This ethos is captured by such phrases as “sankofa” by the Asante, “majimbo” in Swahili, and the mantra, “African Renaissance,” touted by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
Botswana is the only African country that built upon its own indigenous institutions and prospered. Moreover, it was the same indigenous institutions African peasants utilized to engineer what historians call, “The Golden Age of Peasant Prosperity, 1880-1950.” In recent times, pro-democracy activists revived and modernized an indigenous African institution (the village meeting) into a “sovereign national conference” and used it as a vehicle to craft a new political dispensation for Benin, Cape Verde Islands, South Africa and Zambia – in the same way as the United Nations used a loya jirga, an ancient tribal democratic institution, to chart a new political order for Afghanistan in 2002. Similarly, the same indigenous African institutions can also be used to craft uniquely “African solutions to African problems.” Thus, the blueprint for Africa’s economic rejuvenation can be found in its on backyard; that is, its own indigenous institutions. Tragically, African leaders, elites and their Western development partners have seldom looked there.

Sholto Byrnes argues for adaptive political systems, liberal democracy should not be seen as a complete panacea:

"...Our faith in western liberal democracy, and our unshakeable belief that it is the unique possessor of a superior moral truth, have blinded us time and again to the realities in countries with other traditions...If the west doesn't try to understand the forces that swirl through societies which have not drawn deeply from the wells of Athenian democracy and the European Enlightenment, it will never be able to engage with them...Seeing different countries' value systems and cultural customs in the context of their own implicit social contracts enables us to relate to them more easily. Then you can accept, for instance, that in many countries there is sufficient attachment to tribal solidarity and hereditary rule as to make a different form of government appropriate. The western liberal sees no merit in such considerations because he has long ceased to give them any weight, but others do..."

via Bill Totten

Joe Nocera reports at the NYTimes on China's tremendous strides in just over a generation:

What China has done in less than three decades is nothing short of astonishing. As Byron Wien, the chief investment strategist for Pequot Capital Management, wrote last summer, “Nothing I have read, heard or seen will dissuade me from my view that China has made more economic progress in the last 30 years than any country in history.” It is impossible to visit today’s China and disagree.

Continuing on job growth and wealth creation:

motivated by the prospect of wealth, people started companies. And as those companies succeeded, millions of new jobs were created. In Shanghai — a place with more entrepreneurial energy than any place I’ve ever visited, including Silicon Valley in the 1990s and Houston during the 1980s oil boom — you can practically see wealth being created before your very eyes. If Shanghai doesn’t make you a believer in the power of capitalism to improve lives, nothing will.

Echoing some aspects of earlier posts on entrepreneurial ability and entrepreneurial vs political careers, Ryan Baebler at Next Billion writes about his visit to Sewale:

Almost everyone whom I spoke to in Sewale wanted to know "what are you going to do for us?" We met with the village headman who wanted my four colleagues and me to build a village meeting house. When we met with the chief's cabinet, they told us that they were "ready to be developed." But we had not introduced ourselves as a development organization; we had introduced ourselves as students....this community had been habituated into accepting government and aid handouts. There would not have been anything wrong with the question of "What can you do for us?" if it had been prefaced with "This is what we have to offer." Their feeling overwhelmed coupled with the consistent aid from outside of the community had led many of them to the conclusion that they could not realistically help themselves. This disempowered mindset had proven to be cancerous as even in situations where the community had the capacity to help themselves if they worked together – some would not lift a finger

Nitin Rao at Next Billion makes a point that has worried me for while. A wave of capital of is flowing into the 'development sector' without an equivalent amount of effort being put into seeding the pipeline:

In recent years, the capital markets have infused millions of dollars into the 'development sector.' While we applaud the growing interest in development through enterprise, the question arises: are there enough quality investees? Or, more simply, is too much money chasing too few investments?...From anecdotal experience, I have come across top talent managing fund portfolios, advising donors, consulting and taking on similar roles of indirect participation -- but not too many driving entrepreneurship that taps into this capital...There could not be a better time for DOers to take the plunge, launching profitable vehicles to use this capital to create services for those who need it the most.

The Harambe Bretton Woods declaration from Harambe Endeavour states:

While Africa has not established the conditions necessary to convert the knowledge and technology-intensive ideas into successful local and international ventures to improve the lives of its inhabitants, there exists a large number of skilled, creative and innovative minds on the continent – a talent pool of young adults, conscious of the painful lessons learned by preceding generations; aware of the toils and sacrifices of the few; cognizant of the daunting challenges that face a continent; yet eager, to take their turn at Africa’s helm; determined to maximize the opportunities of their time; yearning for a peaceful and prosperous Africa.
We, therefore, sons and daughters of Africa, assembled in Harambe Endeavor, with the assistance of those who have come before us and those who share our vision, publish and declare our intention to work together as one to unleash the potential of Africa’s people, pursue the social, political and economic development of our continent and fulfill the dream of our generation.
We believe in the unlimited power of ideas and the immediate need for action; we value the untapped potential of Sub-Saharan Africa and we sustain that our continent's greatest resource is its people. Our mission is to empower a people, to inspire a nation and forge the destiny of a continent.
Like Ayn Rand, we refuse to lose our knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. We will not let our fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at- all. We will not let the hero in our soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life our continent deserves, but has never been able to reach. We will check our road and the nature of our battle, yet in the end, the Africa our generation desires can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is ours.
Sons and Daughters of Africa

Derek Newberry of Next Billion reports:

The Miami Herald interviewed Root Capital founder Willy Foote this week about the basics of his enterprise development organization. Root Capital identifies and supports SMEs in countries where the private sector is dominated by micro-enterprises and large corporations. This structure represents a dearth of businesses in the investment range of roughly $100,000 - $3 million - the infamous "missing middle"Willy, a key player in this space, believes that providing success stories of SME finance can help set off a rising tide of investment in this sector - very similar to the New Ventures approach. In his words: "...we can really do what microfinance did. That is, show local financial institutions that this is an asset class they can penetrate profitably."

Prerna Mankad writes in Foreign Policy:

SWFs are obligated to make the best investments for the citizens of their home countries. They are not in the business of aid or charity work; nor should they be... If African governments are not even willing to invest in their own continent, why should others do so?...there are good reasons why many private companies are unwilling to invest and set up operations in Africa. Why else would Zoellick and others be pushing SWFs to fill the equity void in the first place? Corruption, lack of security, and failure to protect property rights are just a few of the reasons countries in Africa have failed to create a positive investment climate. If SWFs step in with billions of dollars, they may well undermine efforts to promote good governance. In the long run, it is those efforts -- not easy cash from Abu Dhabi or Beijing -- that will attract private investment and generate sustainable economic development. So, although an extra $30 billion for Africa should be welcomed, SWFs may not be the best way to deliver it.

Matthew J. Cockerill and Bart G.J. Knols write that:

...[D]eveloping countries are now more connected than ever before, and the digital infrastructure that now exists has the potential to transform access to knowledge. The primary obstacles are no longer technological but are related to issues of content licensing, distribution, and access control.Access to knowledge is clearly a fundamental requirement for development...The simplest and most reliable way to ensure that knowledge is available where and when it is needed is to avoid access barriers altogether through a universal open-access model....

via Open Access News

The award winning "...Cleen Foundation was established with the mission of promoting public safety, security and accessible justice through the strategies of empirical research, legislative advocacy, demonstration programmes and publications, in partnership with government and civil society..."

Sit tight leader Yoweri Museveni shares his pearls of wisdom on becoming a NIC :

Africans must find answers on why Asian countries, which were also colonised, had taken off.The GDP of Uganda of $11b, Tanzania $12b and Kenya's $19b is embarrassing, Museveni added. "I have been observing the situation for the last 43 years.Forty years after independence the GDP of Africa is still small. Why? People who don't know what they are talking about say it is lack of good governance. There are no elections in China - I don't know whether that's good governance, but China is a roaring economic success.

Nigerian Banks are steadily transforming themselves into regional powerhouses, the Punch reports:

Quoting Charles Soludo(Nigerian Central Bank Governor)...the expansion of Nigerian banks into the economies of other West African countries "is just a natural way to manage the huge funds at their disposal"...This is largely because, virtually all the banks that accessed the capital market in 2007 recorded an over-subscription of their shares,and consequently a overly cash heavy balance sheet which had to be managed profitably.

Nigeria's banking reforms are now perceived as the benchmark across the region.

"...International Development Enterprises has pioneered a market-based approach that has enabled millions to permanently escape poverty. IDE uses business principles to facilitate unsubsidized market systems in which the rural poor can participate effectively as micro-entrepreneurs and earn income. In this way, our programs create an environment that helps small farmers progress from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming, beginning an upward spiral out of chronic deprivation and vulnerability..."Paul Polak the founder discusses their ethos at Poptech:

"...Nigerians for Super Energy is a grassroots campaign aimed at supporting the need for energy in Nigeria and the sub region. 35% of all black people in the world need energy to improve their daily lives. We have two main goals:
1. 50,0000 MegaWatts in a well planned grid system.
2. 24 Refineries in a National/Publicly traded oil company with global reach..."
Watch their publicity video:

The WSJ reports:

Unreliable power poses a major constraint on the region's economic development. Much of sub-Saharan Africa still operates largely on the margins of the global financial markets, isolating it from the economic turmoil buffeting the developed world. Booming commodity prices of the past few years, however, have made the region attractive to foreign investors. Now the electricity crisis is damping their enthusiasm.
"It's one of the biggest concerns for the business community," says Vivien Foster, the World Bank's lead economist on sustainable development in Africa

The Economist writes:

If Mr Mbeki had an iota of honour or courage or sense, he could have squeezed Mr Mugabe out of power several years ago—just as South Africa's leaders pulled the plug on the nastily bigoted Rhodesian regime of Ian Smith three decades ago, albeit after succouring it for far too long. Most of the other leaders in southern Africa—with a few notable exceptions, including Jacob Zuma, Mr Mbeki's rival and possible successor—have been equally feeble and downright dishonest. By failing to come together to denounce Mr Mugabe unequivocally, they have not only prolonged Zimbabwe's agony; they have damaged the whole of southern Africa, both materially and in terms of Africa's reputation.

In the concluding chapter of his Democracy and Development in Africa the late Claude Ake stated that:

What has been lacking about earlier development attempts is that they have been received and not nurtured locally. "Development cannot be received; it has to be experienced as participation in the process of bringing it about" . Development is about self-reliance and self-reliance is about responsibility.

via Godwin Rapando Murunga's review

Benin Mwangi at the Cheetah Index, comments on rice imports in Ghana.

There is not really an inherent problem with Ghana or any other African nation importing rice from other countries. However, if enough of it is imported, then it puts downward price pressure on Ghana's local agricultural producers who are the engine of the country's economy. One reason for this is because the long grain rice coming into Ghana from abroad is typically sold below what it would cost to produce the same quantities and qualities of rice in Ghana. In the US this is possible because of government subsidies to farmers, which cause large surpluses and in Asia it is presumed to be because of the low cost of labor and the largely intact road infrastructure.

"...The Intsimbi National Tooling initiative has as a national objective, the rehabilitation of the South African Tool, Die and Mould Making (TDM) industry and thereby contributing to a strategic growth stimulator for Manufacturing and Technical skills development..."This is an initiative that deserves emulation across a continent that has a non-existent but critically needed machine tool industry.
via Cheetah Index

Eloi Goutchili writes(Fr) at Babilown:

“..the Western press, so harsh when it comes to a Mugabe and so concerned with democratic progress in Africa remains silent about the exploits of this hero of françafrique's [sham democracies, Biya]. For this self-righteous press, as for Whites, it's dictatorship only when their interests are endangered.”

via Global Voices

The press(within and outside Africa) did raise a fuss regarding Kenya's recent crisis and the Nigerian 2007 'elections'. Mightn't this lopsided coverage have more to do with the Anglophone/Francophone divide and their differing histories?

Atta A. Addo writes in AfricanLoft:

For Africa to start thinking about equitably sharing its pie it must first have a pie and a significant one at that. This is why the question of equitable distribution, though important, may be secondary to economic growth and capital accumulation.

Thabo Mbeki remains true to type-spineless- the Telegraph reports:

"I wouldn't describe that as a crisis. It's a normal electoral process in Zimbabwe. We have to wait for ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) to release (the results),"

David Kaiza writing in the East African discusses the wider cultural impact of Nollywood:

The future impact of this is beyond what Pan Africanists a generation ago would have dared dream: Almost at one stroke, these films have ring-fenced the African world. Once, not too long ago, scholars looked at the African world as a fractured existential context in which Africans craved for Western objects by which to present themselves.

Elaborating on the burgeoning cultural capital of West Africa in comparison to East and Southern Africa he asks:

Were they more gifted? No. They had the advantage that the pre-colonial cultures their peoples developed remain, to this day, intact and wholesome. Along the length and breadth of Nigeria, annual cultural festivals provide a rich heritage of types, symbols, language, narratives and drama that creative Nigerians dip into time and again.

The 4th Lagos Economic Summit:

Will present a forum for government to identify and engage with prospective solution providers and investors who can assist the government in its goals to make Lagos Africa's model city.”With two years to the 20 million-population mark as projected by the UN-Habitat the state must begin to consider the various strategies that others have successfully adopted make Lagos a world-class livable state. The new challenge before the state is to continue to act positively and attract investors and solution providers.

Speakers include:
-Hernando De Soto author of the Mystery of Capital
-Pat Utomi
-Bharat Singal of New Delhi's Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System

Hinsley Njila founder of Real Focus writes about the deleterious effects of the CFA franc and echoes calls for Francophone countries to free themselves from its yoke:

For every growth in France’s GDP, the euro appreciates against the Dollar, thus the CFA franc assumes too high an exchange rate. This puts the brakes on growth in the African economies that are also heavily dependent on commodities produced by Asia and South American countries that have much more flexible currencies. Put simply, a strong euro just kills CFA member economies as they experience declining export prices...A high fixed rate also kills economic growth in member countries, as it’s incompatible with productivity. The level of regional integration among member countries and the two central banks is remarkably low, even further undermining economic growth. Because the economies of Central African countries are heavily dependent on oil, and those of West Africa heavily dependent on other commodities, it is hard to argue for the long-term viability of the CFA unless of course you’re De Gaulle.

via Cheetah Index

The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) of Nigeria has received a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.The foundation stated that:

In reforming the administration of criminal justice, training government officials, and instilling a respect for the law as a positive element of a healthy democracy, LEPAP is making a vital contribution to Nigeria’s aspirations for a society that respects the rule of law.

via Nigerian Times

In a recent Heritage lecture Karol Boudreaux stated:

Africa’s future lies in the entrepreneurial spirit. More and more young Africans are being entrepreneurial, and as they move Africa forward in the 21st century, they need for their leaders to fix governance problems; they need a better rule of law; they need other strong institutions like secure property rights; and they need more and more expansive economic freedom.

The Arvore da Vida Rural Trading Point Model "...focuses on Feedstock Development and Security for key stakeholders in the bio-fuel Industry in Mozambique and Southern Africa.Large quantities of feedstock (the raw material used for vegetable oil production) are secured via an integrated community involvement program. This program focuses on utilizing available community resources by stimulating economic and social activities in previously forsaken rural communities via the establishment of rural Trading Points. These points create rural agricultural business hubs where local communities and farmers can either sell their local produce, or purchase basic household goods and products..."

Mima Nedelcovych of Global Partners and Buchanan Renewable Energies discusses infrastructure at VOA:

“It’s the very lack of infrastructure that actually is making Africa non-competitive.” For example he says no electricity means no competitive industry, and no industry -- such as an effective system of transporting agricultural products -- means no jobs, and no jobs means poverty.

Davos Newbies comments on a FT article about innovation in the Arab world:

A number of Arab countries are now pouring vast sums into research facilities. That’s all to the good, but without a deep-rooted culture of open, inquiring minds there is a danger that these countries will end up with magnificent complexes of buildings, a number of highly paid imported minds, and little else to show.

Food for thought for those in SSA that complain only about the lack of investment in research. All to often we do not recognize innovation when it stares us in the face. We complacently assuage ourselves with empty white elephant edifices that are are not self sustaining.

CNet reports on the vision of Paul Romer:

Using Western know-how and bureaucracies, he wants to build modern metropolises in one of the most challenging areas of the world: Africa...The idea is to create city-states along the coast of Africa that can become economic hubs (or maybe more realistically- clusters) for the region and at the same time be insulated from the continent's notorious corruption and political chaos. In a sense, it's what the British did with Hong Kong in the 19th century when China was relatively unstable.

What does one make of this? Is it wishful thinking and or well meaning paternalism? Successful city-states have largely been self-organized and self-governed, spawning them in a hierarchical top-down manner remains to be seen.

AfricanLoft poses the question, "Is Africa a case of Bad Leadership aided by complacent Followership?".Underlining the importance of an involved and responsible populace they posit that:

The business of democracy - as it’s been conducted by its originators in western societies - relies on an informed and active electorate, without which the concept has no meaning. It’s enormous weight of responsibilities is borne on the shoulders of ‘the people’ who are made up of the leaders- the elected, and the followers - the electorate. These people man the various components that constitute collective democratic society.