Comments for Africa on the Blog

Comment on Six steps to becoming an African Billionaire by MsTinga

MsTinga — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:08:16 +0000

What I like about Mo Ibrahim, is that when he was building Celtel from from the ground up in Tanzania, and growing it to multiple countries- corruption free. He literally refused to bribe people in govt. He got govt officials to invest in the company, so that’s where they got their returns from. He also gave up contracts with countries that wanted to do things corruptly. I think that his business ethics were good and didn’t conform to what people thinks African business needs to look like. I know so many young entrepreneurs on the continent that feel that in order to do business in Africa, the prerequisite is that you need to grease a few palms. This is not always the case. We need to shift from the type of thinking that says business can not be done in Africa without corruption. Stereotypes working against and not for us. These blanket statements, as he has proven are wrong. The sad thing is that this aspect of his business is rarely talked about. In a survey by Transparency international, they found out that the new east European countries are the most corrupt in the world. They also found out that everyone (including Africans) think Africans are actually the most corrupt – Its almost a self fulfilling prophecy. Corruption in Africa happens but we are not the most corrupt – its a negative stereotype attached to the continent that we can afford to break. What i like about Ibrahim’s story is that doesnt fall into the stereotypes.

Comment on Six steps to becoming an African Billionaire by Freedes

Freedes — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:14:02 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more there Edward. Education is powerful and makes a macro impact on economies, even to tiny units like churches of all places.

Comment on Ida Horner Meets James a Ugandan farmer and business man by Edward Amartey-Tagoe

Edward Amartey-Tagoe — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:59:54 +0000

What I admire about this entrepreneur is that he is solving local problems; providing an avenue for locals to grind their grains for food and fixing what may seem to be the most common form of transportation in his town. Way to go

Comment on Six steps to becoming an African Billionaire by Edward Amartey-Tagoe

Edward Amartey-Tagoe — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:56:35 +0000

I also think overall, Africa needs to create an environment for its own people to exercise these 6 steps you’ve outlined. I would just summarise all 6 steps into just one big one. EDUCATION. If the continent paid more attention to training its own for the live ahead, am sure these steps wouldn’t be too difficult for the majority to identify.

Comment on Six steps to becoming an African Billionaire by Freedes

Freedes — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:33:32 +0000

Thanks for your kind words Tosin

Comment on Six steps to becoming an African Billionaire by Tosin

Tosin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:43:14 +0000

I can feel your sincere love for doing good and being great through this writing. Surely you’ll make a difference. Cheers.

Comment on Nigeria: benevolence or enlightened self interest? Part Two by Freedes

Freedes — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:15:22 +0000

Startling and a stark reminder of the realities Africa faces. After reading the widely publicised piece from mindofmalaka about the lazy African intellectual scum, my eyebrows are double raised every time I hear of the IMF and now even more so when I hear about an elite African doctor of politics. I started to smile and visualise how wonderful it would be to have the cash released from the subsidy invested in public services, alas, the subsidy now being the lesser evil due to the perceived risk of opportunism with guile (very much openly) on the part of the government. Why are they not jailed when caught out if we know they are lining their pockets? Would it be too optimistic to ask whether these services could be delivered by entities in the private sector. I have been studying the construction economics of public private partnerships with much enthusiasm and cannot help but wonder if it was possible to finance a project privately, with a guarantee (tsk tsk) that the government would progressively reduce the subsidy in exchange for paying for public services delivered. Oh well, I will keep re-running that thought in my happy place.

Comment on Ida Horner Meets James a Ugandan farmer and business man by Ugandan and American girls party via twitter — Ethnic Supplies

Ugandan and American girls party via twitter — Ethnic Supplies — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:00:37 +0000

[...] Ida Horner Meets James a Ugandan farmer and business man (africaontheblog.com) Filed Under: Good Practice, Latest Tagged With: Africa, GirlUp, Ivanka Trump, Uganda, VILLAGES IN ACTION About idahornerFounder of Ethnic Supplies a social enterprise working to alleviate poverty amongst East African women involved in textile and handicraft production. Managing Editor of Africa on the blog [...]

Comment on Your logo reinforces stereo types about Africa by ethnicsupplies

ethnicsupplies — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:30:15 +0000

Tourism is about experiencing something that you would not ordinarily find in your own country and many African countries are gifted with unusual wildlife and if I had a choice of stereo types I would prefer the one of unusual wild life animals that bring in tourists than the dying babies or slums.

But lets go back to reasons behind this platform

AFRICAN SHARING THE AFRICA THEY KNOW AND LOVE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD

Comment on Your logo reinforces stereo types about Africa by ethnicsupplies

ethnicsupplies — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:24:22 +0000

We are full os surprises here! Our readership has continued to grow, with most readership coming from Ghana, South Africa and Uganda. We have the odd reader from Iraq and Vietnam. Like you my concern is the content.

And hopefully you will be back with a guest post sometime soon?