Investing in Gorongosa

60 Minutes, A very popular American Investigative news show, just profiled Greg Carr, a former IT entrepreneur that was largely responsible for the creation of voicemail. Howeverm, the 60 mintues piece was solely about the work that Greg Carr is doing in Mozambique using $40 million dollars of his own money.

Carr has made one of the largest individual commitments in the history of conservation in Africa. He's going to restore Gorongosa National Park, which is a National Park in Mozambique that was once reknowned as one of the most beautiful game parks in Africa. He has pledged as much as $40 million over 30 years, an almost unheard-of time frame in a field where most donors—governments and nonprofit organizations alike—make grants for four or five years at most.

He also is spearheading one of the largest animal reintroduction efforts on the continent and hopes to answer one of the most debated questions in conservation today: how to boost development without destroying the environment.

This is a noble, yet risky undertaking. His efforts could transform the lives of people living in that region of Mozambique and help boost the countries revenues from tourism. It doesnt hurt that his story is getting around and should be the recipient of at the very least curious tourists and other philantropic contribution.

I imagine the tourism industry in Southern Africa is paying keen attention to this project as are conservationists around the world.

Trading blocs seek agreement on ways to harmonise rules

By Samson Ntale in Uganda

Three Sub-Saharan trading blocs have agreed on a memorandum of understanding spelling out their terms of cooperation and integration.

The East African Community (EAC), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) announced the bold step, when they took the first major step to institutionalise their new-found unity.

A closed ministerial meeting of the trio: that ended late on Monday, agreed that the MoU would be signed by the Chief Executives of the three regional economic blocs within a period of six months.

implementation

In the agreement, the three blocs will commit themselves to the creation of a free trade area, with a combined population of over 527 million people and a GDP of $624 billion.

"Our belief is that greater rapport and understanding between and amongst the three blocs is a more assured way towards realising the Abuja vision," said EAC Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Julius Onen.

"It means we have agreed to pursue the development of common programmes and projects which enables us to effectively and efficiently utilise the available resources to alleviate poverty and improve the quality of life of people in the Eastern and Southern Africa region," Onen added.A Tripartite Taskforce was then formed to spearhead the process of harmonisation. The first meeting took place in Kigali, Rwanda in 2005. The taskforce has since met severaltimes.

A milestone in the making, the MoU defines in very clear terms the roadmap for harmonisation of trade and investment regimes, infrastructure programmes, and cooperation in facilitating free movement of persons. It also sets out the process for dispute resolution. The 26 countries that are members of SADC, Comesa and EAC make up half of the African Union in terms of membership, and just over 58 per cent in terms of contribution to GDP.

The tripartite arrangement between the blocs was established out of the realisation that the three trading blocs were implementing similar programmes in the areas of trade, customs and infrastructure development. "The MoU also has provisions for consultation and exchange of information and expertise, mobilisation of financial resources and sharing of experiences," he added. Consequently, a need arose to harmonise and coordinate these projects and programmes in terms of joint planning and implementation, exchange mechanism that is also set for introduction.

Since the first meeting of the three blocs in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2005, other meetings have been held bi-annually in different countries.

Africa should be included in discussions on the current Financial Crisis

No region has been immune to the effects of the global economic crisis and credit crunch. Yet, you rarely here American or European ministers mention Africa or include African governments in their search for a comprehensive solution.

It's good to know that African governments and IFI's are not standing by leaving the African continent's economic fate to the West. I was happy to get a wire that African Finance Ministers and Central bank's governors will be gathering in Tunis, on November 12th, 2008, to discuss the international financial crisis and its potential impacts on African economies.

Organized by the African Development Bank in close cooperation with the Commission of the African Union, the Conference aims to mobilize Africans to bring an answer to the Global Financial Crisis.

"Although Africa is relatively protected from the initial impacts on the financial markets, the continent could be seriously affected by the weakening of global economic growth and a decline in demand for products. Budgetary pressures caused by the bailout plans carried out by rich countries might reduce the volume of official development assistance. This situation, coupled with the negative impacts of the recent escalation of food and oil prices, could undermine the gains of its economic growth over the past several years" said Dr Donald Kaberuka. He also pointed out that some middle income countries, and others aspiring to attain this status, recently raised funds on capital markets. The current crisis will increase the cost of borrowing on capital markets, and make access to the markets more difficult.

At a time when discussions on Bretton Woods institutions are going on, AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka and African Union Commission Chairman, Jean Ping wish to ensure that the continent voice is heard.

America's 'Richest Black County' Opens up Africa Trade Office

Prince Georges county has been dubbed, 'The richest black county' in America for several years now. It used to be home to tobaco farms and slave plantations in the 1800's, but this suburb of Washington, DC has evolved into 'home' for many Blacks that fall into the top 2 percentile of income level and people employed in executive positions. It's not uncommon to find multi-million dollar homes, horse ranches, olympic size pools and that like here.

I remember my first experience of the county being when I met my wife who lived in the county with her parents. I had no idea it even existed for the 4 or so years I'd lived in the area, but came to like being in an environment that was predominently African American. Something that I wasn't used to. That being said the county has its drawbacks, but nonetheless symbolizes major progress in the African American community, rarely depicted in the media.

That being said, I was pleased to hear that county officials secured a $4oo,ooo grant from the Small Business Administration to set up an Africa Trade Office in the county. The office will help facilitate trade between county resident businesses and Africa. In particular, they hope to take advantage of the AGOA legislation which provides tax incentives for companies doing business in Africa.

Patricia Hayes-Parker, a vice president of the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp., oversees the new trade office and expects it will take time for trade opportunites to materialize, but nonetheless, the process has started and they've already begun to prepare businesses for the African business environment.

I believe this African American constituency has an obvious and natural affintiy to trading with Africa. This community has a lot to offer Africa, especially in the area of knowledge transfer and capacity building, however, despite the real and lucrative opportunities, doing business in Africa can be frustrating and draining to the American way of doing business and they will need to be prepared for real setbacks. If they do, I'm confident they'll see some the benefits that other African Americans have seen. A recent DVD titles "Blacks Without Borders," may be a good example of some success stories of African Amercians doing business in Africa

This office, if successful, be serve as good model for other African American and Afro-Descendant communities around the world.

Kenya Positioning itself to be a leader in the BPO Industry

Kenya's ICT board announced yesterday that it plans use part of a credit from the International Development Agency (IDA), worth US$114.4 Million toward bandwith capacity support for their Business Process outsourcing industry.

Most local BPO providers have had to close shop due to high bandwidth costs and have been waiting for a very long time for this subsidy that was supposed to keep them afloat until the new Fibre Network comes online enabling cheaper access to broadband bandwidth. This should come as good news to those that will be able to open their doors again and/or those still in business.

The Kenya ICT Board is on a mission to market Kenya as a key BPO destination. This bandwith capacity support will reduce the cost of bandwidth and allow local companies to be competitive it the global BPO market.

Eligibility for the bandwidth capacity support is open to all BPO operators in Kenya who currently offer outsourcing services. The Kenya ICT Board will audit the companies and oversee the disbursement of the funds to the BPO operators upon receipt of applications from operators.

Interestingly enough, it's not just the Kenyan government investing in this sector, but Indian companies that are setting up shop in Africa. At least one company has offered $300,000 in scholarships towards training in this sector.

I imagine training in the BPO sector is a growth area that some indivuals might want to invest in.

From Brain Drain to Gain

It seems like the opportunities in Africa are more apparent now than ever, as people look for new opportunites, markets and ideas. One of our brands (http://www.jamati.com/) recently sponsored a Bar Camp in Silcon Valley at Google Headquarters dubbed BarcampAfrica. I wasn't able to attend, but was able to watch the first panel live on ustream.

It was during that session that I first heard the term 'Reaspora', which refers to Africans in the diaspora that have decided to return to their home countries to make a positive change. I know this has been going on a much larger scale than in the past in many countries like Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa, but had never heard any one coin it 'Reaspora.' Well, it's been coined and it seems like this will be the segment of African's to watch.

There is a lot of talent still in Africa, however it seems that this group of Africans that used to be considered a part of the Diaspora, now belong to a new club -- The Reaspora. Look for a new website and space online for this group of individuals to interact with each other and collaborate on projects. http://www.reaspora.com/