Wednesday, 24 February 2010 16:57

Historical ties between Africa and Brazil date back many centuries, through the years of the African Diaspora and the Atlantic slave trade. From the 16th century, slaves were spirited away from Central and Western Africa across to North and South America to work as unpaid labour on sugar, coffee, cocoa and cotton plantations, as well as gold and silver mines.

Despite the multitude of parallels between Africa and Brazil, Africa too must decide how it will benefit best from the relationship. We have so many lessons to learn and opportunities to take, and not just from Brazil, but the BRICs as a whole.

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Wednesday, 17 February 2010 16:23

The world was horrified as the tragic events of 12th of January 2010 unfolded. An already struggling Haiti became the victim to one of the worst natural disasters to befall a nation in centuries. The capital of the country, Port-au-Prince, was ravaged by a magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, which has rendered the economy and civil structures of the nation ineffective, and has driven an already struggling population to the brink.

Haiti has strong historical ties with the African continent and this has been evidenced in the messages and aid that African leaders have been offering in support of the earthquake victims.

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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 19:32

In December 2009 a group of Nigerian volunteers took to the streets of a notorious, overcrowded Lagos slum armed with brushes and paint to give the area a much needed facelift. The "Mushin Makeover" saw thousands of people painting 7 streets, 294 houses and 3 kilometres of roadside curb and bus stops in Mushin, an area of Lagos known for its high crime rate.

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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 16:01

Without underestimating the challenges that African people go through on a daily basis as a result of poverty, I am always reminded of a visit to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa a few years ago. After a long drive in the most rural of areas in between small towns, I had occasion to stop at a small and dingy shop to buy refreshments. Having selected all the desired goodies, I headed for the till to pay. Between myself and the man behind the counter stood an elderly woman on whose face was sculptured the narrative of poverty and suffering.

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 17:11

Africa for the investor is a story of boom and bust, where famine and disease are punctuated by coups and civil wars. For many, its tales of war and diamonds, tribal rivalries, plundered treasuries and secret Swiss bank accounts make it too risky.

But this is changing. The International Monetary Fund believes growth in sub-Saharan Africa will be 1 percentage point above the global average, and puts eight African countries in its top 20 fastest-expanding economies in 2010. Oil-rich Angola and Congo Republic will lead the charge with growth rates of more than 9 and 12 percent respectively, both beating China, according to the IMF's most recent projections.

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Wednesday, 20 January 2010 14:41

In his article "How to Write about Africa" Binyavanga Wainaina looks at the stereotypes that are prevalent in writing based on the African continent and her people. Although presented with great humour and eloquent satire, the article highlights the dangerous discourse that permeates writing around Africa, and how this disempowers the people of a diverse and complex continent.

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 16:57

"Adversity is easier borne than prosperity forgot" - Old English proverb

There are many proverbs from around the globe that observe the benefits that can be attained through struggle. There is an acknowledgement among almost every culture that adversity breeds resilience, and that resilience is a key factor in the attainment of success. We use these metaphors and analogies in our interpersonal lives, but rarely do we use them to describe the journeys of nations and states. Yet history shows again and again that the prosperity of a nation is forged in the fires of adversity.

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Wednesday, 16 December 2009 18:57

When we launched the Africa - The Good News website, in March of this year, we had one primary goal: to start informing Africa and the world about what was going right in the continent. In the beginning we were unsure of how much good news we would actually find, but our output of 5 news stories a day, everyday, stands testament to the great progress occurring across Africa.

What follows is a review of the best stories we encountered through our coverage of an enlightening and challenging year.

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Wednesday, 09 December 2009 14:14

It is often said that an essential building block of democracy is a free and independent media. "Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost," said Thomas Jefferson. Juxtapose that with Malcolm X's comment; "If you are not careful the media will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."

We live in a world where the role of the media is being challenged like never before. There are many reasons for this; media ownership, cultural bias, and competition. As Al Franken said, "The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover."

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Wednesday, 02 December 2009 15:31

Despite being packed to the rafters, the room in Accra is dead silent. From whichever angle or perch necessary to see through the crowd, every pair of eyes are glued to the TV screen. When the event started there was excited chatter and the clanging of beer bottles as numerous toasts were made but that was 2 hours ago. After a tense game, a stressful and goal-less 30 minutes of extra time and a round of penalties which ended in a draw, the mood in the room has completely changed.

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Wednesday, 25 November 2009 12:20

Over the last decade, we have witnessed an unprecedented rise in conflicts leading to millions of human casualties and atrocities that have been committed on our continent. Women and children have borne the brunt of this with millions displaced and forced to become refugees. Citizens in Africa might be forgiven for wondering what they have done to deserve such savagery and violence; with displacement, poverty and hunger their daily lot. As Africans, ending the violence and restoring lasting peace to our continent remains a key imperative.

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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 15:02

I was fortunate enough to attend a conference in Johannesburg earlier this year, at which Dele Olojede, head of Timbuktu Media in Nigeria, was one of the speakers. Olojede told a story about a challenge he gave a young journalist in his employ. If my memory serves me correctly, the young man had to travel from Nigeria to Ethiopia for business and as an experiment Olojede urged him to try and travel from Lagos to Addis Ababa, using any transport means he wished, without setting foot in Europe. The journey took four days. What this anecdote serves to demonstrate is that Africa's streams, of transport, trade and information, are designed to leave the continent, and nowhere is this more acutely felt than in the African media space.

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Wednesday, 11 November 2009 15:41

It's pitch dark and we are travelling along a dirt road blocked from all directions, inching forward only a few meters every five minutes or so - not because of traffic, but because it's Saturday night! In one of Kinshasa's (DRC) many shanty towns the streets are buzzing with people. Some are doing business, others just having a good time and when the people start outnumbering the cars the spill over ends up in the roads. My white face causes interest but nothing negative or intimidating - instead most offer directions, after all I must be lost! They then notice the driver and look at each other knowingly: ‘Ahhh one of those Mzungu's!'

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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 18:06

The commodities boom of the 2000s was an unprecedented event in history of global economics; driven by the rising demand from emerging markets such as the BRIC - Brazil, Russia, India and China have since firmly laid claim to their portion of the global economy.

As the astronomical rise of these economies seems unstoppable, this unique development story has fascinated financial and media institutions across the world. Off the back of this narrative there has been a renewed interest in where the BRIC nations are doing business, as it is in those markets that large amounts of their wealth is being generated. And it is in this context that Africa enters the fray.

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Wednesday, 28 October 2009 13:44

October 19th was Media Freedom Day in South Africa. It has its origins in 1977 when, on this day, the Apartheid government cracked down on newspapers, black consciousness movements and detained a number of prominent media individuals. The day became known as Black Wednesday. After 1994 when some hundred laws curbing free speech in South Africa were removed from the statute books, its name was changed to Media Freedom Day. This prompted me to think about why we started this business South Africa - The Good News (Pty) Ltd six years ago and why we continue to do this work with such passion across the continent. You may have recently read the newsletters I wrote on my visits to Colombia and Nigeria. I'll pick it up from there...

"Good news in Nigeria, is there any?" was the incredulous response to the next book we intend to publish. (Much the same as when we launched South Africa - The Good News and Africa - The Good News!). And it got me thinking, why do we do this work, why do we focus on good news out of South Africa and Africa when seemingly there is so much bad news?

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Wednesday, 21 October 2009 13:53

Micro-irrigation pumps, being sold by an international Non-Profit Organisation called KickStart, have started revolutionising output levels for small scale farmers in Kenya, Mali and Tanzania. At the end of January 2009 over 80 000 new enterprises had been formed and this in turn had led to over 400 000 individuals being moved out of poverty, all because these farmers now have an easy and cost effective way to irrigate their lands.

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Wednesday, 14 October 2009 15:32

I came across this quote while reading the book titled "The State of Africa" by Martin Meredith which, as you probably know, paints a rather gloomy albeit true picture of our continent. At the very end of his book, the author launches a scathing attack on African leaders and compares them to vampires who thrive on the blood of their citizens. But he also goes on to say that the African people have resigned themselves to a life whereby they have to accept these bad leaders as yet another burden they must bear in their struggle for survival. This book and in particular Nelson Mandela's urgent call to his fellow leaders some fifteen years ago, prompted me to re-examine my personal role as a citizen and my responsibility, passive or active, direct or indirect, in the affairs of my state and the affairs of the continent.

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Wednesday, 07 October 2009 14:34

Rwanda's people have been facing a severe problem in the form of poverty and starvation. Contrary to the many perceptions of what the causes of poverty are, the root of the problem in Rwanda is environmental degradation. The beautiful hills of Southern Rwanda have for decades been exposed to soil erosion and the land is now essentially sterile. President Paul Kagame has tackled this problem head-on, and after 3 years the results are starting to show. Stunningly simple in its conception, the programme is not only ensuring more food on tables, but also greatly aiding the reconciliation process in a country where resolution is needed almost as badly as sustenance.

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Wednesday, 30 September 2009 14:52

The growling drone of a generator reminds me, as I write of my visit to Lagos, Nigeria, that I am in a city where electricity supply barely exists, and that my hotel could not function without it. I have just returned from a no-holds-barred tour of the city and in the background there is an "Inside Africa" CNN report on Zimbabwe; lamenting economic disaster, corrupt politicians and the purging of white contribution. I have seen first hand a mad combination of unbelievable squalor and surprising elegance, of aggressive, rude scooter drivers and demure, polite people, of wallowing poverty and sophisticated wealth.

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Wednesday, 23 September 2009 13:30

China's foray into Africa since the turn of the century has indeed been remarkable, with trade volumes increasing ten-fold and the Chinese government identifying Africa as the future engine of global growth. However, China's return to Africa has not been without controversy as the Asian giant is accused of manipulating weak African states to control access to their resources and for flooding markets with cheap goods from the Mainland.

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Wednesday, 16 September 2009 16:39

"Welcome to the highway" this was Chris Kabwato's, Director of Highway Africa, opening address to the 500 plus delegates of the largest gathering of African journalists and editors in the world.

Highway Africa is the brainchild of Rhodes University's school of journalism, and its goals are astronomically large; to help educate, train and inform the African media on the tools that will enable them to perform their jobs more effectively. The conference includes lecture seminars, practical workshops and networking functions; all geared to help the media leave better prepared to do their job than before they arrived.

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Thursday, 10 September 2009 17:01

Launched in August 2008, Verdade (the Truth) is a full-colour, high quality newspaper that is published weekly in Maputo. It has a print run of 50 000, the highest for any newspaper in Mozambique and is distributed across Maputo and to some neighbouring cities. Verdade is Mozambique's first free newspaper. Fittingly, our slogan is Verdade Nao Tempreco which means The Truth is Priceless. Making Verdade free was done purposefully to remove the barrier to access to information. In many African societies the struggles of the poor are so intense that the cost of access to news is unbearable.

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Thursday, 03 September 2009 15:40

Africa has long debated the development and use of biotechnologies such as genetically modified organisms. Advocates point to their potential for solving economic, social and environmental challenges, highlighting their nutritional benefits, for example, or the environmental benefits achieved through reduced pesticide use. Critics focus on the low public funding available, problems with intellectual property rights, limited human capacity, poor infrastructure and biosafety issues.

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Wednesday, 26 August 2009 15:08

In the Turkana lake district of Kenya a howling wind blows almost all year round. The meteorologists attribute this anomaly to the valley floor lying between two mountains, the heat difference between the desert and the lake and a scientific process called the venturi effect. Besides the wonder of these strong and predictable winds, there is another benefit to this natural phenomenon; energy. It is here that the biggest wind farm in Africa will be constructed, and it is from here that Kenya will receive over 30% of her electricity.

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Wednesday, 19 August 2009 13:25

The stories of Africa's entrepreneurs are the stories of Africa's heroes. While the media focuses on adversity, they are missing another great story: that of Africa's entrepreneurs who are busy getting down to business.

Africa's new generation of entrepreneurs show extraordinary ingenuity. They are determined visionaries who find solutions to seemingly impossible challenges and strive to succeed against all odds. Not only are they pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps. They are pulling up an entire continent as well.

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