Changing Africa’s Self-Perception, Changing How The World Sees Us

There’s no doubt that the image of Africa perpetuated by powerful media sources from outside the continent is in dire need of a shift. But as someone who believes that power comes from within, and that each of us has to BE the change we want to see (that is, that we are response-able rather than being at the effect of what others do), I am led to ask how we Africans see ourselves and talk about ourselves and what impact that has on us.

Yes, others may represent us poorly, but how do we view ourselves? Yes, others may talk about us as fraudsters, criminals and corrupters, but do we talk about ourselves in the same terms?

If we do not have an image of ourselves and our continent that is empowering, it is unlikely that anyone else will have an empowering view of us either. More importantly, if we are not empowered we cannot and will not take empowered actions.

If we really saw ourselves as great, we would not stand for being represented as anything other than who and what we really are as a people and as a continent.

We got 99 problems…

I haven’t done any kind of poll on this, but I would contend that there are many Africans who also see themselves and their continent in the same way that the mainstream media portrays. I know that when we get together we can tend to have hours-long debates about the terrible things happening in whichever African nation. We ourselves often focus on the negative and can often feel overwhelmed and resigned at what seems like the sheer mountain of problems that need resolving. I took the image below from an article on Nigeria. This tells you a lot:

This is not to say that we should pretend that Africa is all fine. No, pretending is not the answer. Clearly there are issues to be addressed. But acknowledging issues is quite different from dwelling on them and believing that they define you. I wonder how many Africans believe that their country or the continent is indeed defined by corruption, fraud, poverty and illness?

We just need better leaders…Or do we?

Conventional “wisdom” would say that Africans would talk differently about Africa and that we’d see ourselves and the continent differently if these circumstances weren’t present. If we had better leaders, we’d have no need to complain. If we had more resources, we’d be ok. Apparently.

This idea that our external circumstances dictate our internal perceptions is hugely popular. It is one of THE most dominant social notions. We see this on an individual level – someone who is overweight, for example, will think that she/he will feel much better about themselves once they lose weight; someone with financial issues believes that they will feel better once they get more money. The idea is that once I get X, then I will be Y. But, although this seems to make sense, is actually counter to how things work in reality.

Perception creates reality

In reality, it is what we believe and what we perceive that creates our external world. It is not the external world that creates how we perceive life. Please take that in for a second and get the impact of what that means. What that means is that what matters most is what we say about a situation. This is how The Hunger Project is able to take starving and impoverished communities around the world and transform them in the space of a few years – their premise is that it is how people see themselves that has the most impact on their external reality.

In best selling book The Three Laws of Performance – which is based on transformational work which has radically altered how problems are solved by individuals, organizations, communities and societies – author Steve Zaffron writes that: “How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them.” What this means in essence is that the way in which you perceive the world is what gives you how you act and react to the world. People take actions which correlate to how they see the world, which then shapes, influences, impacts and creates the world in which they live.

So, coming back to us Africans… This essentially means that if we shifted our perception, we would take different actions which would lead to different outcomes, all of which ultimately would necessarily result in the world seeing us differently. We are seeing this already in small ways. Magazines like ARISE which present Africa in a new light are having people outside the continent say “wow, we didn’t know this side of Africa”. ARISE could not have been created by someone who believed that Africa is defined by corruption and poverty.

Similarly, the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (disclaimer: I am part of it) which was founded by Segun Aganga, who is now Nigeria’s finance minister, could not have been created by someone who thought that Nigeria had no chance or that Nigerians were no good.

It’s up to us!

So us being viewed differently from the outside requires not just other people to shift, but ourselves to shift first. And, most importantly, once this kind of shift happens, we would impact not just perception but the actual reality of life for Africans.

Posted by: Heath Muchena
Article by: Lola Adesioye

Africa – Perception vs. Reality

Africa – Perception vs. Reality

Perception of sub-Saharan Africa is often based on western media reports. Rwanda’s genocide, Ethiopia’s famine, wide spread poverty, corruption and crime are all perceptions that we carry with us before visiting many of these Africa countries. This was not my first trip to Africa; I had already been to Kenya and Tanzania on a family safari in the summer of 2006 so I knew a bit about where I was going. As you can imagine, visiting Africa on a family safari is much different than visiting Africa on a business safari.
During the first two weeks of October, I visited seven countries and engaged with Ministers, Regulators and Service Providers in which we discussed a variety of issues facing their countries. In contrast, instead of observing what the media perception describes, what I consistently heard from each of these leaders was a vision for the future, a vision that included the need for wide spread availability of voice and data communications for their entire nation. A vision that is based upon the belief that access to information is an essential component of a stable, knowledge based society. The African leaders that I visited with are passionate about the role ICTs will play in providing access to information and distributing knowledge throughout the population. You could see it in there eyes, and hear it in their voices, these leaders will not stop until their vision is fulfilled and everyone who wants access to information can get it.

By: Jeff Spagnola
Posted by : Heath Muchena

What `hopeless continent’? – The Economist’s perception of Africa

New Internationalist, Sept, 2000 by Ama Ata Aidoo

I grew up knowing that Europeans had dubbed Africa `The Dark Continent’. My emotional response was to wish that the description referred exclusively to the pigmentation of the skin of the majority of its peoples. It did not. I am not a psychologist or a psychoanalyst. However, I do know that it has not been easy living with that burden.

That expression was first used in the Nineteenth Century. Since then its ugly odour has clung to Africa, all things African, Africans and people of African descent everywhere, and has not faded yet. Any time we were confronted with it we felt like we were carrying the proverbial sack-full of salt, to which a steady trickle of water was being added. Was it any wonder that some of us hoped that a new century would usher in new beginnings all round?

Little did we know …

At first it was only a rumour. Then, last March, The Economist had a map of Africa on its cover, with the headline `The Hopeless Continent’. What, one wonders, is the source of such malediction? What compels some editor in London or New York to characterize a whole continent of nearly 700 million people, and all of its 300,175,000 square kilometres as `hopeless’? What have Africans done to deserve such absolute hexing? Many Africans at home and abroad who saw the piece greeted that damning declaration with a characteristically resigned: `But what did we expect? Europeans have always done this sort of thing to Africans. They are just at it again.’

However, those of us who are paranoid or incurable believers in conspiracy theories go further. We suspect that The Economist has got a really dark and sinister aim. Clearly, as our masters’ voice, one of its agendas is to make sure that Africans do not regain any of the self-confidence they may have lost from the `Dark Continent’ label. Otherwise, what do the editors at The Economist know about what is in store for Africans which Africans themselves do not know?

If there really is any argument, then it is about whether Africans are ever going to shake themselves free from the present malaise and build a meaningful life for themselves out of the over-abundance of their physical environment.

Dear Economist: Africa a `hopeless continent’? Hardly.

Bibliography for: “What `hopeless continent’? – The Economist’s perception of Africa”
Ama Ata Aidoo “What `hopeless continent’? – The Economist’s perception of Africa”. New Internationalist. FindArticles.com. 12 Aug, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_327/ai_30300965/

Posted by Heath Muchena

Africa’s Brand Challenge

PERCEPTION is King; and in the case of Africa, there is so little global knowledge about individual African countries to the extent that every country ends up sharing the same reputation of civil strife, corruption and poverty.

In as much as individual African countries and persons who share an African heritage may try to distance themselves from the generally perception of Africans, Africans cannot avoid being painted by the same brush.

As Africans continue to mourn about why they are perceived lowly in the global development chain, it is important that we recognize that Africans and its people wherever they may be have not invested in better communicating who they are to the global audience. Although some Africans have done exceptionally well as individuals, body corporates and nation states, they cannot avoid being contaminated by the African image disease.

The need for Africa and its global family to communicate, differentiate and symbolise itself to all the global audience of consumers and investors cannot be overstated. It is very important to underline that the audience is split into two major categories: African people and everyone else.

In the case of Africa, government leaders are more concerned about improving the image of the continent to foreigners than invest in image building targeted at citizens. Ultimately, the hope of Africa and its global family lies in investing in a new identity of a functioning Africa than a selective approach where islands of hope are created in the midst of an ocean of hopelessness and misery.

Every African nation has its own brand in as much as each individual and family has theirs. A nation’s brand is defined by its people, by their temper, education, look, by their endeavors. Africa with one geographical mass and many tribes has its own identity and it is not easy to come up with a one size fits all perspective on branding. It is very hard to change African people’s values and attitude to life. This requires an investment in literacy, a change in the economic status of Africans, and a new way of life. This takes generations to change but can be fast tracked by the few Africans who realise that it is in their self interest to work towards the collective transformation of Africa and its global family.

Africans need to write their own story in the own words. We need to ask why it is the case that non-Africans have the last laugh in Africa and its own natives have to bear the brunt of bad governance and policies. Africa and its leaders are more than eager to export African jobs through policies that reward imports and welcome foreign capital in preference to domestic capital formation while maintaining an anti-imperialist hypocritical posture.

The improvement of the Africa brand lies not in the work of branding agencies, not even of governments but instead in every person who shares Africa’s heritage and we need to invest in making Africa and its global family’s values being better known, minimise the effect of several accidents caused by individuals that affect the brand. Africa has a fair share of bad leaders who intentionally and unintentionally have made the African story difficult to sell and as long as they cling to power for the wrong reasons the job is cut out for all of us. Africa’s development and the advancement of its people will continue to be arrested by the few who have taken it upon themselves to monopolize the political and economic space whose enlargement is a prerequisite for the establishment of a new African identity.

Historically, nation branding and invention of tradition has always happened by accident more than continuous economic planning. Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, China, India, Vietnam, Japan, New Zealand, Australia etc have created and represented much more consistent brand leadership than exhibited by most global companies. What is important is that some countries with the same colonial baggage as Africa took ownership of their own destinies and invested in new brand architectures that have resulted in the improvement of standing of their citizens in the global family of nations.

The Japanese have changed the global language by producing products that have now been accepted in the world as representing good quality and today the world speaks the Japanese language through the consumption of products produced in Japan. Equally countries like South Korea have demonstrated that a determined people can in one generation be accommodated in the global marketplace on its terms through the production of quality products and not through speeches that have now been the defining characteristic of African leaders at every opportunity they can get. To my knowledge South Korea still hosts American troops and yet did not use this as an excuse to invest in a uniquely Korean brand. If South Korea was an African country it is not difficult to imagine what its citizens would be subjected to in terms of propaganda.

Nation-branding as a discipline is the confluence of two seemingly disparate fields: marketing and diplomacy. In the 1960s, marketers became interested in what is called the ”country of origin” effect. Why is it, they asked, that simply sticking a ”Made in Japan” label on a stereo boosts its value by 30 percent? Clearly, they argued, there was something about Japan itself-perhaps its reputation as a technically savvy society-that made consumers value Japanese technology over similar products from, say, India. What are the roots of these national stereotypes, and how can marketing take advantage of them? And what if India wanted to develop its own high-tech export industry? How could it change those stereotypes?

In a world increasingly connected by 24/7 media, there has to be a ”brand” strategy for Africans-the message has to be coordinated and consistent, and it has to respond to stereotypes already in circulation. Nation-branding, then, is what you get when you take traditional public diplomacy strategies and add marketing tools designed to change global perceptions.

True nation-branding is a complex and involved exercise that requires strategies to “harmonise” the brand message across African governments and communicating the message internally as well as externally. That means surveying citizens on the values they think should go into the ”Africa brand,” as well as reiterating the importance of ”living” that brand. The idea of defining and changing Africa’s ”brand” has to start with its citizens who stand to lose a lot if the message continues to be contaminated by bad apples which Africa continues to produce and nurture in their abundance. The way to address this issue is not through propaganda but through actions.

For Africans in general, it’s very difficult to step back and listen particularly for the educated and affluent. I submit that this has to be the starting point. The first stage is for Africa’s people to first admit that Africa has a fundamental image problem whether caused by slavery, colonialism, imperialism, socialism, communism, etc that needs to be addressed.

One of the fundamental tenets of branding is consistency. We have only a certain number of chances to register in people’s minds and unless each time we register, it appears to be making the same point; we don’t have much of a chance. It’s advice many African governments would do well to heed. After all, anti-imperialism and look East agenda is as much about rhetoric and symbols as it is about genuine development interest of Africa.

If Africans want to lead by example, then, Africa and its family has got to make sure that its message and actions are consistent. We have seen many authoritarians hijack the nation-building agendas of a number of African countries because inherently there are authoritarian undertones in nation-building strategies. Africa’s problem is not just with its brand-which could scarcely be stronger-but with its product. If you close your eyes, and think of Africa as a place to do business, what images spring to mind? Poor, corrupt and hopeless? Or a developing market with huge untapped potential? Too often, it’s the former, which is one reason why the whole of Africa receives less than 3% of the world’s total foreign direct investment annually.

South Africa where I am now a citizen has blazed the trail in Africa. In 1998, government and business came together to create a “Proudly South African” campaign. The logo can be licensed by companies for products whose content is at least 50% local, and who commit themselves to responsible labor and environmental practices. About 2,500 firms now use the logo, and are starting to enjoy the benefits. It’s all part of a greater focus on Africa.

The continent’s economy grew by about 5% last year, in large part thanks to improving prices for natural resources, including oil. Foreign direct investment in Africa, while still a trickle compared to the amounts flooding into China, is on the rise too. South Africa is the youngest African country with the biggest white population of a little more than 4 million. South Africa through its corporate citizens has now become one of the few African countries to join the global marketplace with products and services that have originality and reputation.

As we look at Africa’s 54 countries and try to locate companies that were originated by blacks and are led by blacks whose products and services have helped to reposition the African brand, we struggle to come up with any meaningful names. Yes, South Africa’s companies like Anglo American, South African Breweries, Old Mutual, Standard Bank, Investec Bank, Dimension Data, Bidvest, Sanlam, BAT, (the list is long), have now become not only pan-African players but world class players who share Africa’s heritage. But at the same time, the companies are driven by individuals who would ordinarily be classified as foreigners in Africa. In fact, many of Africa’s people and governments are cynical about the role of South African capital in Africa’s renaissance and yet they have done little to encourage domestic capital formation.
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I bumped into one Zimbabwean politician who had read my article entitled: “Is Mugabe Corrupt?” and he expressed his views about Mugabe and felt that I should not even have asked the question because in his mind there is no doubt that Mugabe is guilty of corruption. He was adamant that Mugabe cannot and should not be absolved of the decay in Zimbabwe and he should be personally identified as culpable and liable for the mess.

As an individual who has also been identified by the state appointed administrator, Afaras Gwaradzimba, as culpable and liable for my own company’s affairs, I can now understand why my views in the article may have been a source of misunderstanding. I had not thought through the implications of Gwaradzimba’s appointment by the government of Zimbabwe to steal my companies under the guise of reconstruction. It was only after the intervention of this politician who maintained that if I can be held culpable and liable for the alleged financial state of affairs of my company by the government, led by President Mugabe, then surely President Mugabe should be held culpable and liable for impoverishing Zimbabwe.

He argued that it is imperative that Zimbabwe urgently finds an administrator to take over the affairs of the country and investigate Mugabe in as much as Gwaradzimba has been appointed to do. Incidentally, I was shocked to learn that this politician had actually read the Reconstruction of State-indebted Insolvent Companies Act 2004 that is now the law of the land in Zimbabwe that allows the government to expropriate private assets without following any due process of the law.

The law applies retroactively and what is significant is that the state does not exist at law begging the question of how a person can be indebted to a ghost. Under this law, any person identified by a partial administrator as culpable and liable will have his assets forfeited to the state without any compensation. I was encouraged that the intervention of the Friends of Zimbabwe Coalition on the property rights question has helped to open the eyes of many Zimbabweans including politicians who had a naïve understanding of the ramifications of this draconian piece of legislation.

This politician observed that if Mugabe’s government can steal companies in broad daylight how can I dare say that he is not corrupt? I responded saying that all I wanted to do was to generate debate on Mugabe’s legacy and have come to accept that the expropriation of property rights of blacks will also be part of the legacy. What was more fundamental in the observation of this politician was that if the government of Zimbabwe can steal assets and citizens’ human rights, why should anyone trust such a government to hold an election where it will lose?

I was encouraged to learn that many people are indeed reading my articles and to the extent that they are helping expand the knowledge base, I am satisfied that my intervention is directing Zimbabweans and Africans in general to think hard about what kind of future they deserve and how they should be governed.

In pursuit of this, there can be no justification of anyone prescribing what is non-negotiable. For what is sovereignty worth when a government can operate outside its own laws and how can the challenge of building a new Africa be addressed when those in power are working constructively to undermine it?

Without the rule of law and not rule by law, there can never be a new Africa. Africa can rise to the challenge when its citizens get the respect from those they have chosen or those that have chosen themselves to lead Africa understand the true meaning of common citizenship and the need to create and nurture a new African identity premised on the respect of human and property rights.

In pursuit of the goal to help create a new Africa found on new values, I am a member of the Africa Heritage Corporate Council (AHCC) and from now onwards you can reach me on my new email address: mmawere@ahccouncil.com. I realise that this mission can only be considered as work in progress requiring the intellectual and physical resources of all persons concerned and interested about Africa’s destiny.

I know we can create our own identity through enterprise and as Africans we can made the difference that we enhance our collective profile in a competitive global environment. Let us invest in challenging the consensus that Africa should be a conveyer belt for what God has endowed it with in form of minerals and natural resources to feed the world without its citizens taking ownership of their resources.

The governments of Africa have consistently underestimated the potential of citizens in preference for the promise of investment that is solely aimed at exploiting the resources of Africa. While we are being encouraged to look East, let us begin to look at ourselves.

As I have said before, the only power people who have no power is the power to organize. To this end, I welcome all those who are passionate about Africa to join us in the AHCC family to hopefully invest in bridging the knowledge, execution and capital gaps that confront us as a people. Our website address is: www.ahccouncil.com.

By Mutumwa Mawere
Posted by: Heath Muchena

Star Perfomers of Africa

Yes, Africa has its failures. But on a continent of sustained economic growth, of fewer conflicts, of doubling of remittances and of exponential increases in foreign direct investment, failure is the exception, not the norm. While the stories out of Africa’s failed states are well-documented, the stories of the countries that are quietly recovering, reforming and flourishing are not. In fact, it’s hard, not easy, to pick just ten of Africa’s star performers because, believe it or not, there are more than a handful of them. However, the hard work is not over yet and African economies still have much to do in terms of positioning themselves to be competitive on a global level if they are to succeed and prosper in the long-term.

The tale of the failed Africa, of the likes of Sudan, Zimbabwe, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Somalia is oft told. Less told is that of Africa’s success stories. What follows is a tale of eleven countries in sub-Saharan Africa that prove that there is indeed another face of Africa, a face of hope, of growth and of opportunity.

Angola
Planes to Luanda are always fully booked and hotel rooms are not easy to come by, reason being, that the whole world wants to do business in this southern African country. Angola, which emerged from a 27-year civil war in 2002 and successfully held elections in 2008, is one of the fastest growing countries in the world with a growth rate of 18% expected for 2008. This is largely as a result of it having recently overtaken Nigeria as Africa’s number one oil producer but the country is also moving quickly to diversify its economy and rebuild its infrastructure.

Botswana
At independence in 1966, Botswana had just two secondary schools and 12km of paved road, and relied on the UK for half of government revenues. Today it is Africa’s golden child. Between 1966 and 2001 it was the fastest growing economy in the world (China and Singapore were tied for third). This is thanks to the discovery of diamonds, a win-win partnership with mining company De Beers, and effective use of the diamond revenues to provide health, education and infrastructure. It is also thanks to a government that has ruled democratically and remained stable – today it has an A+ credit rating (the highest of any African country).

Cape Verde
In 2007 the tiny archipelago of Cape Verde became only the second country ever to be “graduated” by the United Nations from the ranks of the world’s fifty “least developed countries” (Botswana was the first). The decision was due in part to its impressive economic growth rate (above 6% in 2006 and 2007) driven by the light industrial, services, and tourism sectors. Foreign investment as a percentage of GDP is now three times more significant than economic assistance. It is ranked among the best countries in Africa in human development and governance indicators and is the most advanced African country in achieving the Millenium Development Goals.

Ghana
There is an oft made comparison between Ghana and South Korea, whereby at independence Ghana was richer than the Asian giant. But in recent years Ghana has moved to reverse off its post-independence failures by ensuring political stability, reforming at a rapid rate (Ghana was listed as one of the top ten business reformers in the world in the World Bank Doing Business report 2008) and revamping its cities. This is attracting investment and resulting in growth rates of close to 6% an annum.

Liberia
Nearly 20 years of civil war had turned Liberia into a story of unbelievable brutality and deemed it a classic failed state. But today, under the leadership of Africa’s first democratically elected woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia is quickly turning itself around. The country is reopening its mines, forestry and oil palm plantations, replanting its rubber, reconstructing its roads and schools and clinics, and restoring its lights and water. In just three years it anti-corruption campaign has seen the country jump up 73 places on the World Bank Institute’s “control of corruption” index.

Mauritius
Since independence 40 years ago, Mauritius, with no mineral resources and far from major markets, has flourished using trade preferences from Europe on its key sugar and textile sectors. Thanks largely to its enviable political stability, the World Bank and other groups now rank Mauritius as Africa’s top country for economic freedom, ease of doing business and good governance.

Mozambique
Mozambique was one of the world’s poorest nations at the end of a 17-year civil war in 1992, but has had one of the fastest growing economies in southern Africa over the past decade. Working together with South Africa it has effectively courted international investment, most notably at its deep-water port just outside Maputo where the Mozal Aluminium smelter has been built. The Maputo Development Corridor between Mozambique and South Africa has also brought investment and trade traffic to the country. It has also quickly established a thriving tourism industry, immensely popular with South African holidaymakers.

Nigeria
With immense oil wealth and a massive population (and therefore potential market) Nigeria is a country not to be overlooked, despite its notoriety for corruption and the splurging of petrodollars by the country’s elite. Goldman Sachs considers Nigeria among the next 11 quickly emerging economies (N-11) after the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China (Egypt is the other African country on its list). Goldman Sachs predicts that Nigeria’s economy could by 2050 become one of the largest in the world, outstripping those of France, Canada and others with a GDP of $4,64 trillion.

Rwanda
In 1994 close to one million people lost their lives in a 100-day genocide in Rwanda – 15% of the population. Yet, today Rwanda, under the leadership of Paul Kagame is rebuilding itself and former enemies are working side by side. Although heavily reliant on coffee and tea for the vast majority of its foreign exchange revenues, the country is intent on building a knowledge-economy. Between 2001 and 2006, the financial and insurance sector grew 13,3% a year and mining grew 41% a year.

South Africa
The world watched in awe as South Africa successfully entered into democracy in 1994. But perhaps even more remarkable was how a “revolutionary party” with a communist background has steered Africa’s greatest economy into a period of growth never before imagined. In mid-2008 Africa’s economic powerhouse celebrated its 39th quarter of consecutive economic growth; the effects of which are being felt throughout the continent. Since 1994 South African annual trade with Africa has increased fivefold, to more than $7bn and the country is now the biggest foreign direct investor in the continent.

Uganda
Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world, but the country’s firm commitment to poverty reduction has been remarkable. The poverty headcount dropped from 56 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2006. What is also remarkable about Uganda is that its HIV/AIDS prevalence declined significantly over the last decade from about 18 percent in the early 1990s to 6.7 percent in 2005 thanks to effective Government intervention.

Note: This not a exhaustive list of sub-Saharan Africa’s top performers (indeed there are many others including Kenya, Namibia and the Seychelles), but rather a snapshot of eleven African countries in east, west and southern Africa, chosen at the editor’s discretion to illustrate Africa’s successes.

Article by Africa Good News
Posted by: Heath Muchena

People

Dambisa Moyo

Dambisa Moyo is an economist and the author of Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way For Africa, published in the spring of 2009. The book offers proposals for developing countries to finance development, instead of relying on foreign aid. It became a New York Times bestseller upon its release in the United States of America and remains a bestseller amongst Political and Economic books. Her book is published internationally by Penguin Books and in the United States by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

In May 2009, TIME Magazine named Moyo one of the world’s 100 most influential people and Oprah Winfrey featured Moyo in her September 2009 power list of remarkable visionaries.

Moyo was born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia. She holds a Doctorate in Economics from Oxford University and a Masters from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She also has an MBA in Finance and Bachelors degree in Chemistry from American University in Washington D.C. She worked for the World Bank for 2 years as a Consultant (from 1993-1995) and at Goldman Sachs for 8 years (from 2001 to 2008), where she worked in the debt capital markets and as an economist in the global macroeconomics team.

DEAD AID

Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa

In the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Has this assistance improved the lives of Africans? No. In fact, across the continent, the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse—much worse.

In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth.

In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined—and millions continue to suffer. Provocatively drawing a sharp contrast between African countries that have rejected the aid route and prospered and others that have become aid-dependent and seen poverty increase, Moyo illuminates the way in which overreliance on aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the “need” for more aid.

Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world’s poorest countries that guarantees economic growth and a significant decline in poverty—without reliance on foreign aid or aid-related assistance.

Dead Aid is an unsettling yet optimistic work, a powerful challenge to the assumptions and arguments that support a profoundly misguided development policy in Africa. And it is a clarion call to a new, more hopeful vision of how to address the desperate poverty that plagues millions.

My Commentary:

I can honestly say like many young Africans with a desire to see the continent elevate to a better level, hearing about the book Dead Aid really got me excited and I knew i had to go out and buy a copy and really take time to read for myself what the book is really all about. After i received my copy of the book, i did not waste anytime and I had my hands firm on the book for severals days reading it. I must admit I had never heard much of the author Dambisa Moyo prior to the surge in media exposure that surrounded the release of the book. Firstly, I would like to mention that I was not disappointed.

The book begins with a look at the world of aid with chapters including a brief history of aid. It was enlightening to learn about the different types of aid and the history behind the aid model that has existed for decades. Some of the most interesting parts of the book are on how Dambisa highlights how the current aid model has failed to facilitate development within the African continent and how the model hinders job creation. I like the fact that throughout the book Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo makes use of good and realistic examples to show the role aid has played in creating government dependancy on foreign donations throughout the continent and often at the cost of private sector development and even how in many cases aid has been used to fund civil wars and the role it plays in corruption and poor governance.

The delivery of her message is intelligent and impressive throughout the book. The message I received from reading the book was that of advocating for a different approach to aid and its delivery and the fact that non-emergency or humanitarian aid should be reduced and gradually stopped. I connected with her views and I believe many share the same sentiments, which are mainly comprised of the desire to see Africa emerge as a competing force on the global market, a self-sustainable and aid free continent. There is great foresight in the way she recommends alternative ways of stimulating development like trade, micro-finance, direct foreign investment and so forth. So apart from learning from the failures of the current aid model. There is a lot that readers can take away from the book in terms of what needs to be done to get Africa to a place that many Africans dream to see the continent rise to. All the suggestions seem very practical despite being difficult to implement, due to the many years of narrowed perceptions and structures of ineffective aid models that have existed for so long. Both donors and recipients of aid need to shift perceptions and there needs to be a restructure to the aid model to make progress happen. If the leaders and masses of Africa, start implimenting some of these great ideas and working towards a better Africa (one that is not dependent on aid) then maybe one day our children and us will enjoy much more fulfilling and prosperous lives within our great continent.

Posted By: Heath Muchena

Governance

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is an attempt to statistically monitor African governance levels throughout all the sub-Saharan African countries. It uses a number of difference indicators to compile an overall ranking of countries, which is designed to be used as a tool for civil society in African countries to hold their governments to account.

The index was designed to reflect accurately the nature of governance in Africa. The idea of the Ibrahim Index is to measure this statistically, and be able to compare increases or declines in governance year on year. This serves two purposes – firstly, to show that Africa is not always badly governed, and should not be judged by only those countries experiencing severe problems. Secondly, to allow citizens of individual countries, and civil society institutions, to accurately monitor how well their government is doing.

The Ibrahim Index measures the the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government and non-state actors across 84 indicators of governance. Those governance indicators are grouped in four different categories: Safety and Security, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development. All 53 of Africa’s countries are then ranked according to their total scores across the categories.

Top 10 countries 2009
1. Mauritius
2. Cape Verde
3. Seychelles
4. Botswana
5. South Africa
6. Namibia
7. Ghana
8. Tunisia
9. Lesotho
10.Sao Tome and Principe

Posted By: Heath Muchena

Governance

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is an attempt to statistically monitor African governance levels throughout all the sub-Saharan African countries. It uses a number of difference indicators to compile an overall ranking of countries, which is designed to be used as a tool for civil society in African countries to hold their governments to account.

The index was designed to reflect accurately the nature of governance in Africa. The idea of the Ibrahim Index is to measure this statistically, and be able to compare increases or declines in governance year on year. This serves two purposes – firstly, to show that Africa is not always badly governed, and should not be judged by only those countries experiencing severe problems. Secondly, to allow citizens of individual countries, and civil society institutions, to accurately monitor how well their government is doing.

The Ibrahim Index measures the the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government and non-state actors across 84 indicators of governance. Those governance indicators are grouped in four different categories: Safety and Security, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development. All 53 of Africa’s countries are then ranked according to their total scores across the categories.

Top 10 countries 2009
1. Mauritius
2. Cape Verde
3. Seychelles
4. Botswana
5. South Africa
6. Namibia
7. Ghana
8. Tunisia
9. Lesotho
10.Sao Tome and Principe

Posted By: Heath Muchena

Business

The top ten largest companies in 2008 are shown below:

Standard Bank Group
Rank in Africa: 1
Forbes Global Rank: 266
Country: South Africa
Industry: Banking
Sales ($Bil): 18.41
Profits ($Bil): 1.54
Assets ($Bil): 137.97
Market Value ($Bil): 17.39
Profile: Founded in South Africa in 1862, Standard Bank Group is Africa’s largest company and operates in 38 countries around the world, including 18 in Africa. 2007 was a busy year for the company, with the company acquiring controlling interest in IBTC Chartered Bank in Nigeria in August 2007. This gave subsidiary Stanbic Bank Nigeria Limited significant presence in the Nigerian market.

In the same month, Standard Bank Group also acquired a 67% share of the Turkish bank Dundas Ünlü Securities and now operates in Turkey under the name of Standard Ünlü.

In October 2007 the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China acquired a stake of about 20% in Standard Bank for US$5.5bn. Half the stake will come from ICBC acquiring existing shares and half from new shares. ICBC will also get two seats on the board of directors.

FirstRand
Rank in Africa: 2
Forbes Global Rank: 308
Country: South Africa
Industry: Banking
Sales ($Bil): 18.41
Profits ($Bil): 1.54
Assets ($Bil): 137.97
Market Value ($Bil): 17.39
Profile: FirstRand was created in April 1998 through the merger of the financial service interests of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited (AAC) and RMB Holdings Limited (RMBH).

With International operations on all the continents, FirstRand has a strong presence in South Africa, where it employs 42 882 people and has a retail franchise footprint of 766 branches and 4997 ATM’S in Southern Africa alone.

Sasol
Rank in Africa: 3
Forbes Global Rank: 349
Country: South Africa
Industry: Oil & Gas
Sales ($Bil): 13.91
Profits ($Bil): 2.41
Assets ($Bil): 16.76
Market Value ($Bil): 32.65
Profile: Founded in 1950, Sasol is the largest company on the continent involved in mining, energy, chemicals and synfuels. In particular, they produce petrol and diesel profitably from coal and natural gas using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The company has factories at Sasolburg and Secunda and has taken a stake in projects under construction in Qatar (Oryx GTL), Iran (Arya Polymers) and Nigeria (Escravos GTL).

MTN Group
Rank in Africa: 4
Forbes Global Rank: 522
Country: South Africa
Industry: Telecommunications
Sales ($Bil): 7.35
Profits ($Bil): 1.51
Assets ($Bil): 13.44
Market Value ($Bil): 29.72
Profile: Launched in 1994, MTN Group is Africa’s largest telecommunications company and is active over 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. As at the end of December 2006, MTN recorded more than 40 million subscribers across its operations.

Sanlam
Rank in Africa: 5
Forbes Global Rank: 631
Country: South Africa
Industry: Insurance
Sales ($Bil): 10.29
Profits ($Bil): 1.03
Assets ($Bil): 47.32
Market Value ($Bil): 5.65
Profile: Established in 1918, Sanlam is one of Africa’s leading financial services group based in South Africa. The company is also involved elsewhere in Africa, Europe and the United Kingdom.
The Sanlam Group conducts its business through Sanlam Limited, the corporate head office and four business clusters – Life Insurance cluster consists of Sanlam Personal Finance (SPF) and Sanlam Employee Benefits (SEB); Short-term Insurance cluster, Santam; the Investment cluster, driven by Sanlam Investment Management and 11 other businesses; and the Independent Financial Services cluster invests in independent entities and intermediary business in the financial services industry.

Telkom
Rank in Africa: 6
Forbes Global Rank: 803
Country: South Africa
Industry: Telecommunications
Sales ($Bil): 7.08
Profits ($Bil): 1.19
Assets ($Bil): 8.03
Market Value ($Bil): 9.67
Profile: Founded in 1991, Telkom is a semi-privatised, state owned wire and wireless telecommunications provider in South Africa. It currently has a monopoly on both handling international connections to and from South Africa on the SAT3 & SAFE backbone lines, which account for the majority of international bandwidth and fixed-line communications.

Impala Platinum Holdings
Rank in Africa: 7
Forbes Global Rank: 815
Country: South Africa
Industry: Materials
Sales ($Bil): 4.46
Profits ($Bil): 1.03
Assets ($Bil): 7.08
Market Value ($Bil): 26.65
Profile: Impala Platinum (Implats) has swiftly become the world’s second-largest platinum producer, producing 2 million ounces of platinum annually from its mines in South Africa (the Bushveld Complex) and Zimbabwe (the Great Dyke). The company also produces palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium (all platinum group metals) as well as nickel and other metals.

The bulk of Implats’ platinum is sold to the chemical, electronics, glass, and petroleum industries in North America and Asia with exploration projects in China and elsewhere in Southern Africa.

Royal Caribbean
Rank in Africa: 8
Forbes Global Rank: 855
Country: Liberia
Industry: Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure
Sales ($Bil): 6.15
Profits ($Bil): 0.60
Assets ($Bil): 14.98
Market Value ($Bil): 7.47
Profile: Established in 1969, Royal Caribbean currently operates 22 shipsand is perhaps best known for having some of the largest passenger ships in the world (142,000 tons); these are the ships with rock-climbing, ice-skating, and in-line skating facilities; Johnny Rockets diners; promenade shopping malls; and more. In fact, the rock-climbing walls have proven to be so popular that RCI has added them to the entire fleet.

Orascom Telecom
Rank in Africa: 9
Forbes Global Rank: 865
Country: Egypt
Industry: Telecommunications
Sales ($Bil): 4.44
Profits ($Bil): 0.73
Assets ($Bil): 8.64
Market Value ($Bil): 16.61
Profile: Founded in 1998, Egypt’s largest company, Orascom is like a wireless oracle for the developing world. It is a leading provider of wireless communications services in the Middle East, including Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The GSM (global system for mobile communications) network operator has more than 35 million subscribers. Since its inception, the company has expanded and reshaped its holdings through a long series of acquisitions. The company’s 2000 listing on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange set a record at the time as Egypt’s largest IPO. The family of chairman Naguib Sawiris owns 57% of the company.

Investec
Rank in Africa: 10
Forbes Global Rank: 904
Country: South Africa/United Kingdom
Industry: Diversified Financials
Sales ($Bil): 3.85
Profits ($Bil): 0.67
Assets ($Bil): 51.65
Market Value ($Bil): 4.82
Profile: Investec is an international specialist banking group that provides its select clients with innovative products and services. Its South African operations mirror those of the international Investec group, focusing on investment banking, treasury and specialised finance, private client activities and asset management.

Through a Dual Listed Companies structure, Investec has primary listings in South Africa and the UK. Investec Limited is one of the top 30 largest companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) and Investec plc is one of the top 200 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Arts

Alfred Mensa

I stumbled upon Afred Mensa and his art on http://myafricanpainting.de/ and http://twitter.com/africanpainting

Personally, I think Alfred Mensa’s art is visually excellent and artistically genius. The paintings give a sense of familiarity. They are accurate depictions of everyday scenerios in African society.

It is very exciting to see such young African talent with exposure to platforms that make it possible to exhibit such great culture through art.

Here are some of his paintings:

Posted by: Heath Muchena