- Untapped: the scramble for Africa’s oil.
- Africa in pictures.
- Danny Glover joins Bob Marley tribute ‘Africa Unite’.
- African governments not doing enough.
- Gallery opening: NY thru the eyes of African immigrants.
- Plugging Africa’s kids in to $100 laptop.
- The silent takeover of the continent (Africa) by South African businesses.
- Gay travel in Africa.
- Luxury hotels emerge in post-peace Sudan.
- Africa’s internet infrastructure: an interview with Eric Osiakwan and Ethan Zuckerman.
- Madonna returning to Africa, but not to adopt.
- Africa is a continent, not a crisis.
- Is South Africa living up to its responsibility as Africa’s leader?
- Afrigator goes mobile.
- Climate change and Africa.
- Madonna to do charity work in Malawi.
- Africa and the information age.
The Age of African Conversations
I don’t consider myself a writer or even a journalist, but I will admit that I am opinionated and prone to debate. If anyone ever spends any time with my family you’ll notice that we constantly get into debates, some outsiders say we like to debate for the sake of it. That may be so, but so far that attitude of challenging the things even I know are normal has kept me going for this long so why stop now. A large part of what I enjoy about a good debate is the conversations that are spawned from the different sides. As the old saying goes “Opinions are like A**holes, everybody’s got one”. And the fun of blogging or writing for that matter is sharing your opinion as part of the larger conversations that ultimately can change the world around you.
When I heard about Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton‘s efforts to create a collaborative e-book titled “The Conversation Age” I jumped at the opportunity to lend an African perspective to the project. As Gavin puts it “Far from seeing an implosion, we are living in a time of proliferation — ideas build upon ideas, discussion grows from seeds of thought and single headlines give rise to a thousand medusa-like simulations echoing words whispered somewhere on the other side of the planet. All this — in an instant.” And that is the idea behind the Conversation Age and the e-book which I will be contributing a chapter to. Having never written much beyond this blog, this will be my first entrance into a formal writing project and from the list of current contributors, I’m in great company. So in the next few weeks I’ll be racking my brains coming up with 400 words to express my opinion on what the conversation age means to our growing African community. If you would like to contribute to “The Conversation Age” project please email Drew before the end of day tomorrow (Wednesday, April 11th) with your topic. “The Conversation Age” will be dedicated to fellow blogger CK‘s mother who passed away last week while 100% of the proceeds from the book will go to Variety the Children’s Charity – which serves children across the entire globe. All submissions are due by April 30th.
Update: Here is the final list of contributors to the “Conversation Age” ebook. You might not recognize some of the names but these are definitely authors worth reading.
Gavin Heaton

Drew McLellan

CK

Valeria Maltoni

Emily Reed

Katie Chatfield

Greg Verdino

Mack Collier

Lewis Green

Sacrum

Ann Handley

Mike Sansone

Paul McEnany

Roger von Oech

Anna Farmery

David Armano

Bob Glaza

Mark Goren

Matt Dickman

Scott Monty

Richard Huntington
Cam Beck

David Reich

Mindblob (Luc)

Sean Howard

Tim Jackson

Patrick Schaber

Roberta Rosenberg

Uwe Hook

Tony D. Clark

Todd Andrlik

Toby Bloomberg

Steve Woodruff

Steve Bannister

Steve Roesler

Stanley Johnson

Spike Jones

Nathan Snell

Simon Payn

Ryan Rasmussen

Ron Shevlin

Roger Anderson

Bob Hruzek

Rishi Desai

”Phil Gerbyshak

Peter Corbett

Pete Deutschman

Nick Rice

Nick Wright

Mitch Joel

Michael Morton

Mark Earls

Mark Blair

Mario Vellandi

Lori Magno

Kristin Gorski

Krishna De

Kris Hoet

Kofi Annan

Kimberly Dawn Wells

Karl Long

Julie Fleischer

Jordan Behan

John La Grou

Joe Raasch

Jim Kukral

Jessica Hagy

Janet Green

Jamey Shiels

Dr. Graham Hill

Gia Facchini

Geert Desager

Gaurav Mishra

Gary Schoeniger

Gareth Kay

Faris Yakob

Emily Clasper

Ed Cotton

Dustin Jacobsen

Tom Clifford

David Pollinchock

David Koopmans

David Brazeal

David Berkowitz

Carolyn Manning

Craig Wilson

Cord Silverstein

Connie Reece

Colin McKay

Chris Newlan

Chris Corrigan

Cedric Giorgi

Brian Reich

Becky Carroll

Arun Rajagopal

Andy Nulman

Amy Jussel

AJ James

Kim Klaver

Sandy Renshaw

Susan Bird

Ryan Barrett

Troy Worman
Wharton Business School on entrepreneurship in Nigeria
While I’m on the subject of entrepreneurship in Africa, here’s a podcast from the Wharton Business School’s Knowledge website where Peter Bamkole, General Manager, Enterprise Development Services at Lagos Business School, talks with Olayinka David-West, a lecturer in information systems at Lagos Business School. The two men discuss Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s ambitious goal to have Nigeria become one of the world’s top 20 economies during the next two decades. Listen here and let me know what you think.
Inc. Magazine’s ease of global business map
As a follow up to my previous post on my concerns about going home to do business, here is a link to Inc. magazine’s interactive map which plots the ease of doing business around the globe. The map shows the rate of growth for a country’s gross domestic product – according to World Bank data – and helps entrepreneurs evaluate the risk/ease of doing business in countries around the globe. To construct the map for it’s new Going Global issue the Inc. magazine staff says,
“We consulted a variety of sources including the most current research from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor consortium, and the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. We also interviewed academics, government officials, business consultants, and business owners based around the world.”
The map allows you to zoom in on specific countries and, combined with the Treasure Map pdf, is certainly a good referenence tool for African investors.
TED conference heads to Tanzania
One of the most influential annual conferences for technology, entertainment, and design (TED) is touching down in Africa for the first time. Though the main conference will take place in Monterey. California in March as it usually does, the smaller TEDGlobal win be hosted at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha, Tanzania, at the edge of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Previously held in Oxford, UK in 2005, this years TEDGlobal conference entitled “Africa: the next chapter” will take place June 4-7. Sponsored by AMD, GE, Google (Yes, Google), and Sun Microsystems, TEDGlobal conference will be held in Africa for the first time and promises to be an unforgettable experience with more than 50 extraordinary speakers (inventors, business-leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, artists, writers, activists, musicians and mavericks) who are “shaping Africa’s future though innovation and world-changing ideas.” In the past the TED conference has included speakers such as Al Gore (currentTV, Apple, VP of the USA), Richard Branson (VIrgin), Bono, and Peter Gabriel. TEDGlobal 2007 is organized by Emeka Okafor: entrepreneur, analyst and creator of two of my favorite blogs, Africa Unchained and Timbuktu Chronicles. One of the speakers at TEDGlobal will be Carol Pineau, CNN journalist and producer of the World Bank-sponsored documentary “Africa Open for Business.†The documentary is now on DVD.
Trailer: “Africa Open for Business”
Via AfricaIncorp and LunchOverIP
Russell Simmons returns from African trip
I just got back from Russell Simmons’ press conference for his fact-finding mission to Africa (Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa). All I can say is Jim Jones?!!! WTF does he have to do with anything. More of my reaction later. In the mean time read up on the blood diamond controversy and hear what LA Weekly’s Nikki Finke has to say about the trip.
African designers go global
The International Herald Tribune published a good article about a new generation of enterprising African artisans who are creating cosmopolitan designs referencing Africana. The article highlights Ethiopian designer Sara Abera and Kenyan Julia Doig who has been successful in redesigning the kikoi, a traditional Kenyan wrap, for the global market.
The article makes a good point about how African brands can compete in the global design market using heritage and local craftsmanship as a selling point. This is a good point considering most African countries cannot compete with Asia when it comes to providing cheap, skilled labor and an robust industrial production. Popular apparel lines are further solidifying this point by looking to African craftsmen for just that. Premium denim line PRPS promotes it’s use of African cotton in it’s $200+ jeans, while Edun, founded by Ali Hewson (wife of U2’s Bono) and denim designer Rogan Gregory, proudly publicizes it’s use of family-run factories in South America and Africa for production of its collection which is sold at stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Fred Segal.