My Beauty Best Teacher

Andrew Mwenda contends that:

The most enduring democratic reforms in Africa over the last two decades have not been in the sphere of politics but the economy. Governments across our continent have liberalised our economies, privatised public enterprises and deregulated economic activity. These reforms have created sufficient economic freedom and with it, the structural and technological foundations of democracy are growing.
The growth of the private sector in Uganda, for example, is creating opportunities for many professional Ugandans outside of the state. Those who work for private companies have greater space to speak their minds than state employees. The spread of internet and telecommunications is rapidly liberating information flow from state control. The boom in education is producing an enlightened population who are using Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and other social networking sites to debate public policy.

Chika Unigwe writing in the Guardian:

Image by dan mogford via Flickr

In a society where the pursuit of money takes precedence over everything, one can expect a decline in culture and in the quality of cultural production.Regrettably, this is going on. People are reading, but it's a different sort of literature: self-help books published mainly by evangelical pastors eager to win souls over to the gospel of prosperity. There is art on the street, but it is splashes of paint on trucks and buses, outsized drawings (usually religious, with a blonde Jesus). There is nothing of the grandeur and quality of Ife art in it...Perhaps this is too pessimistic. I was witness in Nigeria to the collective sense of hope in a people who, like the phoenix, keep rising from the ashes. There is a renaissance in Nigerian literature...

Robert Bryce writes:

When it comes to mineral rights, America is an anomaly. It is the only country on the planet that allows individuals to own mineral rights. And that ownership is one of the key but overlooked reasons the U.S. has become so prosperous, and why the American oil industry has led the world for decades when it comes to developing new technologies for exploiting oil and gas...[continue reading]

Within the FT's report on Nigeria an update on the country's middle class:

Within the FT's report on Nigeria an update on the country's middle class:

James Stanfield writes in Economic Affairs:

Although education may be important for economic growth, this does not mean that nationalising and centrally planning the whole sector is the best way forward, as this will restrict total investment in education (public and private) and will often result in education being provided which is of a low quality and of the wrong type. Increasing government investment in this type of education is likely to restrict growth by diverting scarce resources away from more productive uses...[continue reading(PDF)]

Actis on Infrastructure:

There is increased interest in African infrastructure opportunities from a host of investors experienced in, and new to, African countries. Development finance institutions (DFIs) continue to play a lead role in advising and financing challenging projects. African and international banks are broadening their debt offerings to include equity for infrastructure projects, contractors are prepared to commit more equity and State-sponsored entities from countries that include Russia and China are taking on significant infrastructure projects...Infrastructure assets have long lives, and it is impossible to forecast every turn in the fortunes of a country or a sector over a 20- or 30-year period. Time will tell whether the private-sector transactions currently being structured and negotiated are pricing the risk correctly, but the indications are that Africa's risk continues to be over-rated and experienced investors are able to lock in superior, risk-adjusted returns...[continue reading]

The rise of self-financed development.
Corruption and publicly owned telecom companies.
Africa the newest biofuel battleground.-Der Spiegel
"The energy market should be privatised"-IOl
The rise of consumerism-African Path
Mining privitisation in the Congo.-FT
Successful targeted microfinance-African Loft

Chido Makunike dicusses Asia's tainted attitudes towards Africa.-Cheetah Index
Which Way Nigeria puts the spotlight on Judicial corruption.
The Curse of Oil contd-SMH
Abdul-Nasser Alidu takes another look at privatization
Kofi Akosah-Sarpong writes about promoting the African Way-Patriotic Vanguard
Nigerian Muse argues against fuel subsidies.

At the African Executive Josephat Juma writes:

Kenya’s Grand regency hotel privatization saga... saw the hotel change hands at a paltry K Shs 2.9 billion instead of K Shs 7 billion in circumstances shrouded with secrecy, contradiction and high handedness.
These set of events that violated prescribed legal procedures and laws governing the disposal of public assets perhaps explains why Namibia’s labour movement has opposed the privatization of parastatals....privatization has meant the political elites selling off public assets for their own benefit. It is a vehicle-not to serve but rather to fleece the people...[continue reading]

Vuyo Jack writes in Business Report:

Production requires entrepreneurs who use infrastructural and human capital to bring their ideas into reality. Not everybody can create capital. Entrepreneurs are driven by their own interests, whether it is enlightened self-interest or greed.
Distribution comes afterwards, based on the level of effort and contribution made. If there is no equitable distribution then there would be no incentive to produce at all. So the key to reaching a balance is the fairness and equity in the system...[continue reading]

Mozambicans call for creativity in facing the 'Food Crisis'-Global Voices.
A first in Kenyan politics (maybe African) a minister resigns under pressure.
How the African Left provides cover for Mugabe and his cohorts.
A paper on managing Congo's forests sustainably.
In an argument for industrialization Sanjaya Lall asks Is African Industry Competing?

Ikechukwu Eze of Businessday reports on the growth and increasing relevance of public-private partnerships:

Defending the importance of PPP Sania Nishtar in a scholarly article entitled 'Public - private 'partnerships' in health - a global call to action', observed that such collaborations are being increasingly encouraged as part of a nation's comprehensive development framework. "The need to foster such arrangements is supported by a clear understanding of the public sectors inability to provide public goods entirely on their own, in an efficient, effective and equitable manner because of lack of resources and management issues. These considerations have necessitated the development of different interface arrangements, which involve the interfacing of organizations that have the mandate to offer public good on one hand, and those that could facilitate this goal.

The Africa Monitor reports:

After being privatized to a share company, the National Cement Factory(of Ethiopia) has doubled production and works are underway to open another plant, according to the company's representative.Found inefficient and bankrupt, the 70 year old company was put under the management of the Mugher Cement Factory, before its 80 percent share was finally sold out to the East Africa Group in February 2006, as per the country's privatization policy.The Governmental maintains ownership of the remaining 20 per-cent.

Roben Farzad writes in Businessweek:

In many ways, Africa's economic situation seems hopeless. While $625 billion in foreign aid has poured in since 1960, there has been no rise in the region's per capita gross domestic product, notes William R. Easterly, economics professor at New York University. What's more, from 1976 to 2000, Africa's share of global trade dropped to 1%, from an already negligible 3%. The U.N.'s scale of human development, which considers health, education, and economic well-being, ranks 34 African nations among the world's 40 lowest. Thus far, foreign aid hasn't made a dent.
Greed, however, might. Thanks to the global commodities boom of the past few years, sub-Saharan Africa's economies, after decades of stagnation, are expanding by an average of 6% annually—twice the U.S. pace. And like bees to honey, investors are swarming into the region in search of the enormous returns that ultra-early-stage investments can bring. Blue Financial, for example, has already netted its early private equity backers a ninefold gain thanks to the 385% rise in its stock since its October, 2006, initial public offering in Johannesburg. Emerging Capital Partners has bought all or part of 42 African companies this decade and cashed out of 18, with gains on their investments averaging 300%. "The money we can make is matchless," says Emerging Capital Partners CEO Thomas R. Gibian, a former Goldman Sachs (GS) banker.

The FT reports

When the military ruled Nigeria, it was the generals who boasted most of the fattest bank accounts. They were careful to keep these far offshore. By contrast, eight years of civilian rule has seen the emergence of a cabal of business tycoons whose net worth amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars and in some cases far more...Big business and some of the banks are heavily invested in the political system, just as politicians and government appointees are invested in the Nigerian banks and businesses making money, he says. There are significant changes, however, in the way Nigeria’s newly mega-rich are deploying their wealth. In the past, the wealth was hoarded in banks abroad. Today, it is mostly being poured into business enterprises within Nigeria...Among those Nigerians already in Africa’s big league, five names regularly crop up, led by the merchant-turned-industrialist Aliko Dangote. When complete, the many cement factories his Dangote group is building – or has bought from the state – will give him overwhelming dominance in domestic and potentially regional markets. Mr Dangote also dominates the distribution of sugar and salt and the manufacture of flour products. He was among the beneficiaries of the sale of the two dilapidated state-owned oil refineries in the days before Mr Obasanjo relinquished power.
Also in that deal was Femi Otedola. A licence to import and distribute diesel has given his company, Zenon, control over a commodity on which businesses depend to run generators in the absence of reliable power from the grid. Two bankers close to Mr Obasanjo, Jim Ovia of Zenith bank and Tony Elumelu of United Bank of Africa, also feature among the super-rich. Their banks have wrestled for the largest slice of government business and for ascendancy in the top industry tier.

Carol Adelman writes:

Remittances now exceed official aid from all donor countries to developing nations combined — they are a global social security system that works. Studies show they reduce poverty and boost health and literacy. Private banks, setting up accounts for immigrants in America to send money back home to families and villages, help poor people earn interest, and establish credit worthiness for loans. Remittances also play a crucial role in strengthening poor countries' balance of payments, which improves credit ratings, allowing them to tap into international financial markets on better terms.

The aims of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, are "...To promote private sector influence for business growth and competitiveness through policy advocacy and capacity building in a sustainable manner...To strengthen private sector capacity for effective policy advocacy and market competitiveness..."

Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, extols entrepreneurship:

I believe in Nigeria. I believe there is always going to be Nigeria. My faith and belief in this country is unshakeable. We have to live together in peace and not in pieces. Why are we important in the world today? It is because of our population. Population and our oil. It is not because the world loves the name Nigeria. No. When was the last time you heard about Kuwait or Brunei? The importance of Nigeria is the market. The population is there. The money is there. It is just a matter of having good entrepreneurs who can push this thing forward…We are not a company that is owned by government. People are still doing business in troubled areas like Congo. In fact, Congo is one of the best countries to invest in. During the war in Liberia, people were still doing business. A friend of mine opened a flour mills six months ago in Cote D’Ivoire.

Yasmina Zaidman writes:

It might be possible that a government would cross-subsidize water, charging wealthier customers more and poorer customers less, but this is different from charging nothing at all. There are a few problems with any system, public or private, that provides water for free to a large segment of the population: First it eliminates the interest of entrepreneurs, distributors, innovators and investors to find cheaper and more reliable ways to make water available to those who need it most.