Annansi Chronicles

As the the world goes online by the millions, the possibilities for domain names grows. The internet naming governing body, ICAAN, has been doing a good job so far of keeping up with the demands of online activity and creating standard practices. But while ICAAN considers the creation of non-english domains, Andrew Mack asks, “In a world of .com and .org, why not .Africa?”. Andrew raises a good point as the African continent attempts to attract investment; what better way to reach as many people as possible than organizing around a similar domain. From a business and tourism stand point I can see the .africa domain working as it will help foreign consumers identify services available within countries on the content. Imagine if there was a www.tourism.tz.africa for Tanzanian tourism information instead of the current www.tanzaniatouristboard.com. As Andrew points out, many southern African businesses have currently adopted the .za domain in an attempt to create an association with the strong South African economy and brand. But why not eliminate the regional segmentation and create a continental domain that would aggregate the strengths of the various economies. A .africa domain will also allow the centralization of many African content, business or otherwise, and more accurately reflect the size and depth of content about the continent strengthening the Africa’s brand image. So what do you think? What are the pros or cons of a .africa domain? Would you change your domain? Read more about the .africa efforts at www.dotafrica.blogspot.com.

Inc. Magazine alerts us to an announcement by Hilton Hotels that it will open its first property in Ghana in early 2010. Named The Hilton Accra Airport City, the 186-room property will be located in Airport City, a new mixed-use development in the heart of ‘upscale’ Accra. This makes Hilton Hotels one of the first upscale international brands to operate in the capital city of Accra. Owned by Grand Real Estates and Company Limited and managed by Hilton Hotels Corporation, the new property will become Hilton’s ninth property in Africa joining hotels in Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Cameroon and South Africa. Additional Hilton properties are under development in Africa in Equatorial Guinea (Malabo) and Uganda (Kampala).

Inc. Magazine’s Mike Hofman adds “Our latest survey of Inc. 500 companies, to be published in September, shows that America’s fastest-growing firms are currently doing business in at least 12 African countries, led by cosmopolitan South Africa but including such once-hard-luck cases as Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Djibouti.”

This gives us a tremendous opportunity to establish our brand in an African country that is experiencing strong growth. Accra itself is a key commercial and tourism hub for the country, with a real and growing requirement for upscale hotels. Expansion in Africa is key to our development strategy, - Jean-Paul Herzog, President, Hilton Hotels, Middle East & Africa.

Africaincorp relates lessons from the book The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do to the African diaspora.

What makes a Kenyan “Kenyan”, what makes an Ivorian “Ivorian” and what makes an Moroccan “Moroccan” are answers the savvy professional,entrepreneur,investors and executives are actively seeking as we speak.
Businesses and other mediums that are able to provide the answer or at least a lead will make a lot of money along the way. These answers would then be at the core of any product and service development so that customers throughout the vibrant African economies would be offered products that are in line with the codes.

The 3rd edition of the The Carnival of African Enterprising has launched at the White African blog. As with the previous installments, this edition highlights some of the best posts from the African business/entrepreneurship blogosphere. Head over to White African to check out top posts from 5 of Africa’s top blogging/business talent, with a bonus addition from Annansi Chronicles (Big Thanks to Hash).To find out more about the ongoing carnival go here. Special thanks to Benin Mwangi for organizing everything.

BusinessWeek’s recent article on rising outsourcing destinations highlights what many African entrepreneurs have proposed for years. Outsourcing to parts of Africa can be a win-win situation. The BusineesWeek article refers to consultancy A.T. Kearney’s 2007 list of the 50 most desirable outsourcing destinations worldwide. For the list countries were ranked by a) financial attractiveness, based on such measures as compensation and infrastructure costs; b) a so-called people score, measuring a nation’s people skills, availability of language and educational skills, and the size and quality of the IT industry; and c) their economic/political environment, infrastructure quality, cultural exposure, and IP security. While India remains the top outsourcing destination many African countries are learning from their example. (Note: Scores are in parentheses.)

Rank - Country (overall - financial - people - environment)
#13 - Egypt (5.6 - 3.2 - 1.1 - 1.3)
#25 - Mauritius (5.4 - 2.8 - 1.0 - 1.6)
#26 - Tunisia (5.4 - 3.0 - 0.9 - 1.5)
#27 - Ghana (5.5 - 3.3 - 0.9 - 1.3)
#31 - South Africa (5.3 - 2.5 - 1.2 - 1.6)
#36 - Morocco (5.1 - 2.9 - 0.9 - 1.3)
#39 - Senegal (5.1 - 3.2 - 0.8 - 1.1)

We live in a celebrity-powered society. I don’t like it, but it’s the truth. Whoever said everyone will get their 15 minutes of fame, was way off. It seems like the expiration date on fame is being extended longer and longer. Fame in itself is not a bad thing, however, the individualism, it comes with in today’s society is another story. With all the reality show mania and with reputable organizations paying talentless people like Paris Hilton ridiculous amounts of money for an appearance, the American culture of celebrity and individualism is playing an even bigger role in how and where money is spent in business. But if this the nature of the world we live in, where do Africans, and our culture of community and modesty, fit in?

Certainly all African’s are not so modest. However, our definition of celebrity and entitlement is definitely different from the West. Many would argue that the American definition of celebrity is based on fantasy while the African definition is based on reality. Where western celebrities are celebrated apart from the community, African celebrities are celebrated for their effect within the community. Is either definition right or wrong? Who knows, but when one dominates the other in global influence, a problem arises.

On Wednesday the United Nations Population Fund released an insightful report - State of World Population 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth - detailing it’s research on the future of global urbanization. Declaring that “urbanization is unavoidable”, the most interesting predictions were that by 2030 the populations in African and Asian cities will have doubled. The populations of those cities will be greater than the number of people living in China and the United States combined.

While the world’s urban population grew very rapidly (from 220 million to 2.8 billion) over the 20th century, the next few decades will see an unprecedented scale of urban growth in the developing world. This will be particularly notable in Africa and Asia where the urban population will double between 2000 and 2030: That is, the accumulated urban growth of these two regions during the whole span of history will be duplicated in a single generation. By 2030, the towns and cities of the developing world will make up 80 percent of urban humanity.

Not long ago I highlighted a feature in Trade Forum magazine called “Changing Brand Africa”. It turns out they’ve updated their site with a new section called “Who’s Doing Business in Africa?”. The new section complements the previous feature with six new stories:

• Creating an African Business Superpower
• Rwandan Coffee Goes from Ordinary to Star(bucks)
• CSR(Corporate social responsibility): A Must for Big Firms in Africa
• New Markets for an Ancient Heritage
• CyberTrackers of the Kalahari
• Tunisia’s Boom in ICT (Information and Communications Technology)

In all, the six sections give a well rounded view of the various opportunities to do business on the continent. A good read.

The articles below are a collection of inspirational models that reflect the new “Brand Africa.” It is the second in the series of stories about Changing “Brand Africa” to be featured on the Trade Forum site.
From an African media mogul in South Africa, we go to the founder of a home furnishings firm in Ethiopia. A coffee supplier outlines Rwanda’s rapid improvement as a coffee producer, and a Tunisian businessman shows how his country is embracing information and communications technology with a passion. We also look at trends in corporate social responsibility, a “must” for businesses, as practiced at Shell, and at how modern technology used by bushmen opens new job opportunities. - Trade Forum Magazine

Last Saturday I attended the 5th Annual Hip-Hop Odyssey (H2O) Awards, held at BB Kings in New York City. Organized by the Hip-Hop Association, the awards ceremony recognized today’s hottest Hip-Hop filmmakers, industry professionals and pioneers. The event always features appearances and performances by Hip-Hop heavyweights. This year’s event, as usual, was packed with many of the individuals who have played a major part in shaping the hip-hop landscape including, artist/entrepreneur/hip-hop personality Fab 5 Freddy (that’s him in the picture standing in front of me as we listen to DJ Beverly Bond speak about YO! MTV Raps’ late producer Ted Demme), Ice-T (who gave an excellent acceptance speech about staying true to oneself), Dana Dane, Grand Wizard Theodore, (Dr.) Roxanne Shante, Ralph McDaniels (Video Music Box), The Cold Crush Brothers, Chubb Rock and much more.