africosmic

The Importance of Remembering the Uniqueness of African Countries

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:38:00 +0000

The president of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, warned the western countries at the end of the Third African-Germany Forum that the rest of the world needs to stop viewing the continent of Africa as one big country. In the past, some countries have blamed all of Africa for one country’s leader’s mistakes, leading to a loss of aid, investments, and support for the entire continent.

Much like Europe or South America, African countries all have differences and problems, but not necessarily the same ones. However, when the other countries of the world see Africa as one giant country, whose total citizens are not worth supporting because of the actions of one country, the entire continent suffers.

The other African presidents in attendance – Festus Mogae of Botswana, Umaru Yar Adua of Nigeria, and Thomas Boni Yahi of Benin – were in agreement. They also supported Guebuza’s position that the African countries that are trying to make a difference, with democratic governments and efforts to stamp out poverty, should be supported. The only way to ensure this is through improved communication between Europe and the individual African countries.

To stress the point, Yar Adua made mention of the crisis in Zimbabwe. Yar Adua stated that the Europe-Africa summit scheduled for December should not be conditional on to whether or not Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, attended. This was a specific example of the western world viewing Africa like one giant country. While the leaders were in agreement that Mugabe’s rules and policies were not favorable, it would only be punishing the countries that had nothing to do with the crisis by canceling the summit.

The Africa-Germany Forum took place in Germany under the hosting of president Horst Koehler with the theme “The Challenges of Change – the African and German Response.” Over 45 representatives from both Africa and Germany attended.

Koehler does not believe that globalization has benefited Africa in the same way that it has other continents. Along similar lines, the endemic disease and persistent poverty were not entirely the fault of the African citizens, since many countries had shown willingness to improve and change economic conditions. If the rest of the world had increased aid to Africa, and/or purchased goods at a fair market value, Koehler believes that Africa would have exceeded its recent average growth rate.

Without changes in how the world views Africa, the whole global economy will continue to suffer, while the millions of African people will still suffer under crushing poverty.

On The Edge of Success or Failure – A Look at African Biofuels

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:15:00 +0000

November 13, 2007 marks the fourth quarter analyst briefing on sub-Saharan African Biofuels Markets. Taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, The Chemicals Group at Frost & Sullivan will host the briefing and discuss the newest developments on the biofuels market in sub-Sahara Africa. This will be the first international networking event in that region, involving the entire biodiesel and ethanol value chain, including 200 of the leaders of industry from Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Most of the focus will be on factors that are driving and restraining the market, new opportunities of special notice, and current developments. The briefing is designed to be of particular interest to government decision makers, suppliers of equipment and technology from around the world, and the biofuels and feedstock producers themselves. The two day conference will highlight new business development strategies, opportunities for investment for foreign and local companies, success stories on biofuel industries already located in the area, and what can be expected for future technologies. Countries that do not produce oil are expected to show particular interest in the sub-Saharan African biofuels market.

This does not mean that biofuels do not have their own potential problems. The biofuels industry will need sufficient support and protection from the government in order to be successful. There is also a concern of biofuels impacting the food supply, and thus, proper planning will need to be in place before biofuels are developed.

South Africa has been the leading developer of biofuels in Africa, and as much as 10% of the country’s petrol and diesel needs could be met with biofuels by 2010. Biofuels in general present the opportunity to result in a massive economic impact on the entire continent, including the development of jobs in rural areas. It can also provide inspiration for countries that are looking for a green alternative to fossil fuels.

Frost & Sullivan, the group hosting the briefing, works with their clients to speed up growth. They provide services, consulting, and information to allow clients to create growth that is successful and effective. The company offers over 45 years worth of experience working with the top companies around the world, new businesses, and the investment community as a whole.

If you want to be a part of the teleconference of the briefing, you can contact Patrick Cairns – Corporate Communications at Patrick.cairns@frost.com. In your email, include contact information, phone number, email, and location. You will then be provided with registration details.

Vilakazi's Clear Cut Vision for BUSA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:51:00 +0000

A clear-cut vision is what defines leaders from others. Jerry Vilakazi became the CEO of BUSA in early 2006 with his own set of visions. He wanted to champion transformation for South Africa’s business landscape. In his beliefs, transformation would bring about many things, including social equality and the implementation of Black Economic Empowerment.

The man is already considered a transformation leader. Holding masters degrees from Thames Valley University, the University of London, and California Coast University, his credits prior to the BUSA appointment also include Managing Director of the Black Management Forum. With knowledge gained in his prior roles, he hopes to unite the business community of South Africa.

Vilakazi has other goals as well. He wants to be a representative of South African businesses in both national and international scopes. He also wants to maximize the strength of the voice for the South African business community. BUSA itself has other aims, such as ensuring that organized business plays a role that is constructive, and to move their own representation of businesses in South Africa from 80% to 100%. BUSA holds a mandate, which is to lobby the government on behalf of the business community in South Africa. They also hope to promote South Africa for investors.

By bringing people together, and by creating rules and regulations that work with the governments and for all businesses alike, Vilakazi and BUSA hope to create and maintain business opportunities in South Africa. They also hope to help the nation grow as a business leader in the eyes of the world at large. With a drive to find solutions for business problems, as well as to create communication among business leaders and governmental associations, BUSA strives to help businesses grow and thrive in South Africa. Through this, they hope to help the nation become a business hub that is competitive internationally.

The biggest challenges include problem solving and communication, which are a main factor for why Vilakazi was brought onto the team. He hopes to use his skills to benefit BUSA, South Africa, and in the world at large. By implementing problem solving strategies and communication goals, he aims to help the overall business industry move forward, including small business owners, large businesses, and the government alike.

Stopping the Aid

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:46:00 +0000

It isn’t always that aid is seen as helpful by everyone. James Shikwat, a 35 year old Kenyan economics expert, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. He is a proponent of globalization, and claims that Western development policies in Africa create corrupt rules and overstatements of the AIDS problem.

There are many reasons that Mr. Shikwati believes the aid to Africa might not be as helpful as it might seem. He believes that the intentions of the G8 summit at Gleneagles - which is usually cast as a way to get more aid and developmental ideas to Africa - is actually harming the continent, and have been doing so for the past 40 years. He believes that the proof lies in the fact that the poorest countries in Africa have been the ones who are getting the most aid, and yet these are the countries that remain the poorest. He believes that there are huge bureaucracies that are financed with the aid money, and this leads to just more corruption among the various aid agencies as well as other problems.

Part of Mr. Shikwati’s idea is that with all of the aid, the countries in Africa have no real reason to learn how to sustain themselves. He believes that all of the aid is only teaching Africans to be beggars and to not be independent. He also feels that the various forms of development that the aid from other countries sends in doesn’t strengthen much - in fact, it weakens the local markets and also makes it very hard for entrepreneurs in Africa to actually begin to help themselves and their country.

Another point that Mr. Shikwati makes is that he does not believe countries would starve without the AID that is given from programs like the World Food Program. He feels that if the aid was no longer coming into African nations, these nations would be forced to figure out new ways to feed their own. These ways will include things like making deals with other nations, and learning more technologies that will allow them to learn how to better take care of their own.

Getting rid of these programs is going t cause lots of various problems with the countries, and the idea of doing so is something that is going to come to a lot of heated debated and arguments. This is something that is going to have to be researched, discussed, and decided upon.

Investing In Africa: Investing in Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:18:00 +0000

Cash and monetary aid are not the only useful investment tools in Africa. In 10 African nations, a movement is under way to bring mobile phones and handsets to the population. In a world where the computer had at one time been critical for globalization, the heads of the African nations are striving instead to use mobile communication for progress. The mobile phones will bring communication, raise standards of awareness, and allow citizens to have knowledge of the world around them.

Mobile phones are quickly becoming the number one asset to many countries in Africa. The GSM Association, which is a global trade association, and the Connect Africa summit that is meeting currently in Rwanda, is announcing an investment of $50 billion in mobile phones and technology infrastructure for Africa.

Why exactly are mobile phones such an important part of the changing times in Africa? Mobile phones are incredible versatile. Students use their mobile phones to check course schedules, get assignments, and turn in their work for college courses – all without having to travel hundreds of miles to school and leave home. Mothers are able to phone doctors to describe symptoms in their children, perhaps saving them a trip to costly hospitals. Farmers can check prices on their produce in other areas by making a simple phone call, before they set prices on their own produce and risk setting them too low or too high. In regions where televisions and computers are few and far between, people can call each other with news, warnings, and other information that can help to save lives. Mobile phone technology is hard at work in many different areas in Africa, and it will only get better as time continues.

Being in touch with the entire world is the goal of the groups, which have already spent billions creating phone networks. Currently, 70% of Africa is covered with mobile phone technology. After the investment, that number will rise to 90 %. This will allow even more of the population to have access to phones, information, and a connection with the rest of the continent and world. With better communication comes a rise in GDP, a general increase in attitudes, and an overall feeling of being connected to the world. The GSM Association and Connect Africa Summit will work together to bring the investment funds to Africa that will connect the continent via mobile phone technology.

A Broadband Connected Africa to Become a Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 07:59:00 +0000

At the Connect Africa Summit in October 2007, much of the focus lay on a need to get Africa connected to the World Wide Web. As part of the agreements surrounding this focus, the International Telecommunication Union (also known as ITU) and the African Development Bank agreed to work together to help connect the major cities and capitals in Africa with information and communications technology infrastructure, as well as to increase Africa’s connectivity to the rest of the world.

The announcement of this union came along with the announcement of the various goals for Africa’s connectivity. Part of these goals included: having all of the African capitals connected with broadband and to the rest of the world by 2012, and have all the major cities join the network by 2015. The ITU and the African Development Bank will help with the financing and mobilization of the different partners involved in this process.

One of the things that the African Development Bank does is host the Secretariat of the African Infrastructure Consortium. The Consortium connects the donors and financial institution in the region, and finances the different projects while making sure that a clear approach is being followed by all members.

Private investment in information and communications technology, especially in the mobile phone networks, has been a major player in bringing connectivity to Africa. The various financial partners and development banks will help fill in the gaps that are still remaining in the network.

The idea behind the Connect Africa Summit is to not bring more charity into Africa, but instead develop a strong, reliable infrastructure that will allow Africa to create its own jobs and economic growth. By connecting to the global economy, Africa can actively compete and strengthen its own economy.

The International Telecommunication Union will execute the funds provided by the African Development Bank, as well as provide technical assistance and expertise as needed. It will also help by mobilizing over 650 Sector Members, many of whom are involved in information and communications technology. The ITU and the African Development will also study the feasibility of different projects and come up with project proposals to help meet goals.

The ITU and the African Development bank will work together to rationalize funds and keep projects on task to integrate information and communication technologies to more areas. This includes laying fiber optic cables, transport and energy projects, and encouraging innovative infrastructure. They will also assist countries with the development of new regulations and policies that will encourage a growth of the new infrastructure.

Microsoft to Team Up With ITU to Help Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:07:00 +0000

At the Connect Africa Summit in October 2007, a good deal of focus was placed on the need for Africa to get connected to the global network through broadband and mobile connectivity. The hope is that expansion in these areas will strengthen Africa’s economy as a whole and allow the continent to become a major player in the global market.

At the Summit, Microsoft and the United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union (also known as ITU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding that they would work together to build an information society that was safe and inclusive for all countries. They also launched an ITU Global view. This earth-based online platform will help accelerate and track the goals of a more connected Africa.

The partnership has agreed to help with the skills development and capacity building programs throughout Africa, as well as the delivery of the services needed to support these programs. This also includes a way for the different investors in Africa to track the new developments online, as well as a commitment to work on cyber-security and regulations in the developing continent.

The Connect Africa plan calls for the private sector to step up to the plate and get the technologies implemented, and many are encouraged by the roles that Microsoft and the ITU will play in making the vision a reality.

The plans outlined at the Summit will have a huge impact on the developing economy in Africa. Bringing the Internet to over five billion people is no small task, and will require the support of several international organizations, the different African governments, and the private sector that is already connected. The development of the technologies alone will help create new jobs and opportunities for the people involved.

Global View, the on-line visualization program, was also introduced at the Summit. This program combines the current and new data sources for information and communications technology development on a global scale. It will help keep track of the goals set up at the Summit for a more connected Africa.

The software was developed with the help of IDV Solutions. Designed to be easy to view, the ITU will help maintain and host the program. Anyone who is a part of the Connect Africa program, including stakeholders, governments, industry leaders, organizations, and the private sector will be able to access it. This allows the users to see which goals are being met, which programs are overlapping unnecessarily, and where there are gaps that need to be filled.

Africa and U.S. Business Links to Be Strengthened

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 04:57:00 +0000

November 14-16, 2007 marks the U.S./Africa Business Summit that will take place in Cape Town, South Africa. The 200 member Corporate Council on Africa, who accounts for about 85 percent of U.S. business investments on the continent, will be hosting the summit. This event is touted to be the leading event in trade and investment between the U.S. and Africa.

2,000 delegates from both the U.S. and Africa will meet to discuss the focus, “AFRICA – Entering the Door to Opportunities.” The goal will be to enhance the investments and trade made between Africa and the U.S. The Summit is held biannually, with this year’s Summit being the sixth event.

Part of the Summit’s event will include a major trade exposition, where both African and U.S. companies will have the opportunity to show off products, and services. It will also provide the companies a chance to hear where trade relations are going, what new investment opportunities are available, and what practices should be enforced to create economic growth on the continent of Africa.

The Summit will also include different sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities for the members involved. Over 30 organizations from around the world are expected to attend the Summit. The sessions will focus on items like infrastructure development, telecommunications, transportation, and tourism, as well as other important topics.

The U.S. is the largest investor in Africa, with the majority of the investment focused on energy. However, without more companies investing in Africa, the U.S. could lose out to other players in the global market. Successful U.S. and Africa partnerships are needed, particularly from small to medium-sized businesses. Many of the countries are open and waiting for investors, while some African countries need to position themselves better in order to attract investors.

Much of this work comes in the form of developing infrastructure and governments that are open to business expansion and investments. The current bureaucracy in some of the countries makes it too expensive for investors to consider them. By becoming more open to business development, both from outside investors and their own private sectors, the African countries can develop a stronger economy. For instance, South Africa encourages its business to invest in Africa, and in turn, these businesses are performing successfully. This is the process that will create more business opportunities.

By working together with U.S. companies, South African companies will be able to sell to all of Africa, increasing their business base and creating more jobs. With all likelihood, South Africa will again surpass the U.S. in trade investments.

Foreign investments in Africa will not only help the economy, but also strengthen secondary industries like information and communications technologies and agro-business. Use of the readily available local labor will help create new jobs and economic opportunities.

Summit Decides Africa Must Invest In Telecommunications to Get Ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 04:18:00 +0000

October of 2007 marked the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. $55 billion (US) was committed to be invested in the emerging economies on the continent.

While many of the major businesses in Africa will need to do their parts to help the continent get ahead, many people feel that the telecommunications industry is a key player. Instead of the aid and charity that many African nations have been relying on for years, a growth in investment and trade will have long-reaching effects on the economy. And to do this, Africa needs to get connected with the rest of the world to the Internet.

In order for Africa’s economy to grow, the nations must build relationships with the global economy leaders. By increasing information and communications technology developments across the continent, the African economy can grow to be a major market player.

At the Summit, a commitment was made to get all the capitals of African countries, along with the major cities, connected with broadband infrastructure in the next five years. Three years later, the goal is to see this connectivity spread to all African villages. This will provide a platform for other goals, such as enabling investors and creating e-government services. The different governments will be crucial to building the framework for Africa’s ICT capacity.

The newer technologies that have made it to Africa are growing rapidly. The mobile market in Africa is growing at twice the rate the global mobile market is, with a projection of over 270 million subscribers by the end of 2007. To help expand this rapidly growing network, the GSM Association pledged $50 billion (US) in investments to upgrade and improve networks in the next five years so that nearly all of the population will be able to receive cell phone coverage.

Also on the table for improvements in Africa was 100 million Euros in grants and an additional 260 million Euros in loans from the EU Trust Fund for Africa. This fund finances cross-border and national projects that have an impact on the region and the continent, and will also help with the information and communications technology building in Africa.

Since the population of Africa has responded so well to mobile technologies, there is a lot of hope that broadband connectivity will follow suit. This in turn can lead to new jobs and more economic growth across the continent.

To help, the World Bank Group will be doubling its commitment to information and communications technologies in Africa over the next 5 years to help the private sector. The African Development Bank is also going to increase its investments in ICT over the next 3 years, with nearly $65 million (US) invested into infrastructure projects.

Connecting the African Continent with Powerful, User-Created Content: AfricaNe.ws

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:08:00 +0000

Heading to the African continent is easy these days; you simply need to jump on the web and visit a news portal that directly involves you with the news and happenings in Africa. Having developed a strong relationship with Web 2.0, the African continent is connected with the international community and allows worldwide visitors to utilize key buzzwords to travel intimately into the news of the continent.
Domestically, with Web 2.0, the African continent is connected through social bookmarking networks, such as AfricaNe.ws, which develop and strengthen the relationships between all of the countries and people in the continent. By encouraging individuals to choose the most relevant and important news stories, the information is organic, unfiltered, and comes straight from the people. Thus, the news that is derived from this process is real and important, without any filters created by news organizations in other countries. The current events and news, as told by the first-hand witnesses on the African continent, is broadcasted all over the world.

Fundamentally, with a social bookmarking network, the fundamentals of discrimination and filtering are eliminated. The grassroots news and information about the African continent can flow across international boundaries, without any type of filtration or suppression. When an user engages with Web 2.0, they take the news into their own hands by having the ability to connect with the African continent, collaborate with others, and share information with the world. Web 2.0 and social bookmarking networks allow people, both domestically and internationally, to make a real connection with the countries in the African continent.

The divisions amid social media have recently gathered frequently to discuss censorship, regulations, and even blogging in the realm of news portals. There have been heavy discussions whether other media producers might join in the revolutionary social media. There are many issues that centre around the relevancy of blogging and the news, and whether or not news bloggers should be added to the mainstream news media.

Despite the news media debates, the importance and relevancy of Web 2.0 and social bookmarking networks is making a deep impact for African news, both domestically and internationally. By bringing people and countries together, social bookmarking networks have allowed people to link together on the net and experience cultural growth. It has been an important step in distributing real, relevant, and organic African news to others around the world.

With the advent of Web 2.0 and social bookmarking networks such as AfricaNe.ws, people are connecting with the African countries, both domestically and internationally. Breaking down international boundaries, social bookmarking networks bring people closer together. Through the process of creating, producing, and sharing web content, Web 2.0 news portals continue to empower individuals to share with the world relevant, real news and events. This process in itself provides the news media with unfiltered news stories that come straight from the people of the African continent.

Web 2.0 and African social news networks will make a tremendous impact on the domestic and international communities, with the important, real news stories connecting people and the news media around the world.

The Rise of Social Bookmarking

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:51:00 +0000

Social bookmarking is fast becoming the next best thing for webmasters and web users around the globe. So, what are social bookmarking sites and where did they originate from?

Social bookmarking is an online method of storing, organizing, sharing and searching bookmarks of selected web pages. A bookmarking site allows members to save links they have an interest in, as well as sharing them with others web users. These links are generally viewed;

In chronological order
In order of popularity
By selecting a specific tag
Randomly

To look at the history of social bookmarking we have to go back to 1996 with the launch of the website itLists, this was the first site to utilise the concept of shared bookmarks. A few years later this idea was followed by companies such as Backflip, Blink, Clip2, Hotlinks and Quiver. These companies however failed to make an impact on the market due to the dot com crash of 2001. We then had to wait until 2003 when del.icio.us launched its own tag related social bookmarking site. In a short space of time del.icio.us expanded very quickly, this led to other companies following their lead. In the next few years websites such as Simpy, Furl, Stumbleupon, Netvouz, Diigo, Digg, reddit, Newsvine joined the fray and expanded on the priciples of social bookmarking.

Social bookmark sites encourage their members to organize their own bookmarks using specific tags. Some sites vary slightly by implementing a combination of folders and tags. The methods used to organize bookmarks vary slightly but the general principles remain the same.

Many social bookmarking websites provide an RSS feed. This enables members to receive information on new bookmarks as they are saved, shared, and tagged by others. Another common feature is to allow members to rate and comment on bookmarks, this has become very popular with web users worldwide. Receiving information via a live feed is a very good method of carrying out research or simply reading the research of others.

Rather than slowing down, social bookmarking is growing at a phenomenal pace, this is due to web users realizing they can gather information on specific or niche topics from a single source. As we move towards full web 2.0 compliance, it is of no surprise that social bookmarking sites are giving us a glimpse of how the World Wide Web will be structured in the future. Bookmarking sites have certainly brought a degree of order to the Internet, in the past this has always been a problem area for web users, as they generally have to visit many sites to gather information on a single subject.

The main downside to social bookmarking is in the fact webmasters quickly realised these sites are a great medium for search engine optimisation, this has led to bookmarking sites being hit hard by spammers. I believe this will be short lived as many sites are starting to incorporate the ‘no-follow’ attribute.

My personal feelings are we have only seen the tip of the iceberg in regard to social bookmarking, in the future I believe these type of websites will be fully integrated into our online way of life.

The Digital Rise of Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:40:00 +0000

In comparison to other regions of the world the African continent still remains under developed in regards to Information Technology. This is only to be expected due to poverty and lack of developed infrastructure in the region. Having said that, large I.T corporations view Africa as an emerging market, which has led to a dramatic increase in the amount of investment flooding into the continent. Africa’s growth potential is considered huge as they have a population of approximately 680,000,000 making up 10% of the world's overall population.

African based firms are now enhancing their technical capabilities in terms of manufacturing, marketing, and product quality in order to remain competitive with the rest of the world. Information Technology plays a strategic role in the long-term survival of any firm. It is now considered a necessity for businesses to have a sound online presence that works alongside their offline business model. While many people in world enjoy easy access to information through the Internet, hundreds of millions of people in Africa as of yet do not have this luxury. The technological divide is not a problem in itself, but rather a symptom of a deeper, more important divide of income, development, and literacy. Fighting poverty is more than transferring money to the poor or direct job creation for the poor; it is providing tools that will empower people to be more independent.

Internet usage for the Africa population currently lies at 4.7%, this figure is low when compared to 21.3% for the rest of the world. However if growth figures are analyzed it shows Africa has grown at a rate of 874% over the past 7 years, compared to 236% for the rest of the world. This figures show first hand why Internet based businesses view Africa as an untapped market with huge growth potential.

Recently Africa’s first news based social networking site was released; the website is called AfricaNe.ws. It provides a platform for African news and related stories to be bookmarked by region. The site encapsulates the full ethos of web 2.0, which is a statement to the rest of the world that African website developers are not willing to sit back on their laurels in regards to the Internet's continual development.

Web based entrepreneurs with vision view Africa as a challenging market, however they also understand that being first to market could prove to be very lucrative in the future. Mike Kofi Okyere the owner and developer of AfricaNe.ws is fully aware of the growth prospects that Africa holds in relation to Internet based products and services. Although Mike Kofi is a successful businessman in his own right he is also passionate about providing Africa and its people with Internet based products that are on par with the rest of the world. Having spoken with Mike Kofi at length on the subject of Africa and Internet development I fully realize how passionate he feels about providing Internet services for the African people.

One thing is for certain, it will take many years for Africa to close the gap in the technological divide, however with entrepreneurs like Mike Kofi Okyere working hard to promote African based Internet products and services, when the gap is closed Africa will be in a much stronger position.