Sub-Saharan Africa Has and Deserves to Avoid another Lost Decade.

In one of my previous posts ("Can Greed Save Africa?"), I shared a remarkable report on a series of very profitable business ventures undertaken in some of the rare spots on the African continent. A couple of week ago, I was delighted to read two FT articles with very meaningful titles: "Investors start a new scramble for Africa" by Robin Wigglesworth and "Global inflows to Africa at two-year peak" by Alessandra Stevenson and Andrew Browman.

In the aforementioned post, I celebrated the evidence that human greed and capitalism, even if to the extreme might in the long run construe a viable solution to African's poverty curse, whilst building the fundamentals for private sector initiative in the short term. 

The global financial crisis did dramatically reduce some of the capital inflows into the continent's bourses, shielding Sub-Saharan Africa from its proper form of financial bubble which nearly brought the global economy to its knees. 

In the meantime, when US and EU investors were staying in their office to speculate on the African's future, Chinese investors were scrambling to position themselves on the continent. It is an exception today if you have the chance to know about a Sub-Saharan African country without a Chinese stampede. The Chinese model is aggressive, involving state-owned giants in the likes of Sinopec, the communist state Sovereign Wealth Funds and the private sector. 

Mygeopin Now Available on iTunes

Mygeopin is now available for download on iPod and iPad @ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mygeopin/id596453896?mt=8

Please post your comment on its usability, user friendliness and its innovative aspect if any.

Mygeopin - A Revolution to Tradional Localisation Systems?

After a long silence since my last post, I am delighted to command a comeback with a new localization concept which has caught my attention and served my constant search of solutions to cut the gap between the north and the south of the hemisphere: Mygeopin.

Finding a place or communicating a whereabouts is difficult at the best of times. Traditional localization systems now in use and GPS codes help out in more metropolitan areas that we live in, but even then we are confronted by erroneous addresses and assorted abbreviations that still send us astray. 

Traditional GPS localization apps, a basic element in use on smartphones have changed our lives to the point that we cannot do without. Everything works perfect as long as the system does not make confusion amongst similar addresses, if street name duplications are not an issue and the margin of error is confined to a few mishaps.

As a normal user of one of the GPS localization apps available for Android, I have directly experienced the aforementioned mishap with some good degree of frustration as I have missed my appointment a number of times and have had a hard time finding my way out to the right address. 

HAPPY 2013

As year 2012 is preparing to leave us, let's learn from the mistakes we've made and celebrate the successes we've earned.

May year 2013 come with better ideas and opportunities, for an even more successful 12 months.

Best wishes,

Eric  

Can "Greed" Save Africa?

I have decided to adopt this title for today's post ironically but do not think it is appropriate, as the subject hereunder discussed construes serious matter.

In other form, I would have asked if increasing private sector involvement, to an extent that overwhelms public sector and charity altogether will be enough to bring the ever sought human development on the African continent.

Statistics on foreign aid to African's development (estimated at more than $600 billion since 1960s) hint that the continent has been huge receiver of hundreds of billions of dollars of donors' money, but evidence suggests that these funds have been the curse that has fed today's rampant extreme poverty and isolation for the populations and unparalleled levels of corruption amongst politicians and local businesses.

Africa has increasingly become an attractive place for private business ventures in sinc with China's interest on the continent, fuelled by its thirst for natural resources. The continent has been seeing a growing number of western private investors, adventurers and mercenaires all interested to level of returns unseen nowhere on earth. Some are organized to modern forms of private equity firms developing ventures in various sectors, from agri-business to mining, to oil&gas, to energy, to sustainable ventures having the aim to reinvest profits locally. A few are simply mainstream investment banks moving ahead of the curve and snapping already organized local bunch of Harvard alumni that have headed home attracted by opportunities otherwise increasingly less available in the Western hemisphere.