These two Tunisians are part of a changing mentality. A growing fitness-oriented culture is emerging across the continent. Fitness is not new to Africa. Ethiopia hangs its pride on its long distance running culture and the results delivered by that culture in the Olympics. But the continent has never been known for an active exercise culture. Yet over the last 5 years, bigger and more professional gyms have powered their way into the market.

Searching for a moderately priced gym in Mozambique implores a change in the definition of ‘moderately priced.’ Local neighbourhood gyms sell memberships for about $40 to $50 per month but lack equipment, especially elliptical machines and bikes favoured by most gym-goers. Newer gyms sell memberships for about $100 to $130 per month and provide a noticeably wider amount of equipment and weights. But these gyms are not offering the extent of amenities and equipment expected in America and Europe for a similar or even lesser price. Still these facilities are filling up day and night. And it is not because of the local fixation on Brazilian novelas and a growing culture of sexy clothes and tiny bikinis.

Investors are slowly asking questions about the potential of fitness chains for Africa. South Africa provides an insight into the potential. Sixty-one percent of the South African population is overweight. Dialogue around lifestyles in the country change slowly and push the need for a more active population. Virgin Active’s chain of gyms have captured this change. The company plans to expand with 8 more facilities. Bodybuilding has also grown at a rapid rate in South Africa. Experts estimate that nutritional supplement spending in total value has slowed in growth because the South African market is saturated with brands. But these same experts predict that other African countries will deliver new opportunities.

The Kenya Bodybuilding Federation (KBBF) represents the growing popularity of bodybuilding in the country. Nairobi is slowly becoming home to one of Africa’s largest gym going communities. From one matatu (name giving to local Kenyan minibuses around the city) to another you make your way from home to gym to work to gym to home each day, says John standing outside Premier Fitness Center. John is not alone as Kenyans push their way through the sidewalk to the gym. Abidjan recently hosted the Open West Africa Bodybuilding competition in March. Harare hosted All Africa Olympia for 2012, featuring both women and men. It is not just bodybuilding, John continues, but it is more a growing culture of getting healthy. He is not wrong as more women wait anxiously to use the elliptical machines.

The emergence of these cultures bids well for the young fitness sector across Africa. Yearly memberships surpassing $1000 in countries where per capita GDP is just above $500 speaks to the rapidly expanding consumer demand. But the expansion of any African fitness chain requires more strategy, networks and capital not so readily available in most countries.

According to a Johannesburg-based analyst, the revelation was shocking given the fact that many thought the discovery of oil and gas in African countries was closing the gap between the rich and poor.

“More so after the number of dictatorships have collapsed and openly corrupt governments have been reduced,” the analyst said.

The Africa Progress Report says: “Although much has been achieved, a decade of highly impressive growth has not brought comparable improvements in health, education and nutrition.”

Though the Report’s panel is assured that Africa can enhance the management of the vast natural resource wealth.

This will be aimed at advancing the lives of the region’s communities by launching strong agendas, transparency and accountability plans.

But, according to the Report, the international tax evasion and corruption have been presenting the continent with major problems.

It is believed that Africa squanders twice as much in illegal monetary expenses as it receives in international aid.

“The Africa Progress Panel finds it unconscionable that some companies, often supported by dishonest officials, are using unethical tax avoidance, transfer p ricing and anonymous company ownership to maximize their profits, while millions of Africans go without adequate nutrition, health and education,” it revealed.

Jane Karuku, President of AGRA, and Strive Masiyiwa, Vice Chair of AGRA and Founder of Econet Wireless, made these comments at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Cape Town.

Karuku said it makes “good sense” to pour money and other resources into agriculture.

“As our evidence shows, every dollar invested in agriculture in Africa has an impact on poverty reduction which is up to three to four times greater than the same amount invested in other sectors,” Karuku said.

“As the clock ticks towards 2014, the pressure is now on for our governments to live up to the commitment they made in Maputo. Growth in Africa’s agricultural sector, food security and poverty alleviation across the continent all depend on achieving this goal”.

In Maputo, only eight African countries promised to dedicate 10 percent of their national budget to agriculture, according to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Masiyiwa said the WEF Africa 2013 is asking how it can carry on Africa’s promise?

“The answer is that agriculture must be at the heart of our efforts. Governments must become much more courageous on this issue, especially when it comes to land rights, the policy environment, and access to finance and infrastructure,” Masiyiwa said, urging the private sector to play a major role in Africa’s agriculture.

“Promoting investment in the agriculture sector requires governments and other stakeholders to speak to private investors, so that they gain a better understanding of the business environment, the regulatory bottlenecks they face, and the incentives on offer.”

AGRA is a dynamic partnership working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.

VENTURES AFRICA – In recent years, an assortment of executive jets, helicopters and other private aircraft have appeared at airports across Nigeria. But the causes and consequences of this aviation trend are not quite as obvious as they might seem. Nigeria’s commercial airlines generally remain in a parlous state, while the country’s airline sector is perhaps among Africa’s most underdeveloped. Last year’s Dana Air crash in Lagos, which killed 163 people, forced the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to suspend Dana’s operating licence. Just a few months later, Air Nigeria, a larger airline owned by billionaire Jimoh Ibrahim, collapsed under an unsustainable debt burden.

Between them, the two airlines handled about a third of Nigeria’s commercial air traffic, so their disappearance decimated seat capacity throughout the country. Indeed, by December 2012, annualised capacity on Nigeria’s most important air route, the Lagos-Abuja shuttle, was down by 36 percent – one million seats – compared to a year earlier. Capacity to Port Harcourt, a major oil city, fell by 26 percent. In response, Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest surviving carrier, raised its network-wide fares by an average of 50 percent.

This was a private jet operator’s dream. With airlines suddenly unable to satisfy demand, the private jet companies were able to bulk up their fleets and routes. The large number of multinationals in Nigeria – many of whom operate in relatively remote locations when drilling for oil and gas – meant that there was a ready market.

It was hardly surprising that Switzerland’s ExecuJet Aviation Group, which manages the world’s largest fleet of private jets, last year chose Lagos as the location for its first West African facility, over several other potential locations in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. “In Nigeria, companies are looking for solutions to get them to places, which are now inaccessible by commercial airlines,” says Ettore Poggi, the company’s Head of African Operations.

Globally, ExecuJet manages more than 150 private jets, from Global Expresses (built by Bombardier) to Legacies (built by Embraer). Owned by wealthy private individuals or companies, the jets are chartered out when not in use, usually for many thousands of dollars per hour. A three-hour round trip flight on a Global Express 6000, for instance, might cost $22,000 (N3.46 million). In a Bombardier Challenger, a oneway trip from Lagos to Dakar would be around $37,000 (N5.8 million) – versus $1,100 (N173,000) for a business-class airline ticket on the same route.

Though the vastly more expensive option, private aviation has numerous advantages in a country like Nigeria. Naturally, the experience is luxurious: private jets typically boast reclining armchairs, minibars, retractable televisions and even beds. “They like our beautiful cabins and the service we provide,” remarks Poggi. The private terminals now appearing in Lagos are wellappointed, so that passengers can shower, eat and relax prior to departure. And most importantly, in a country where scheduled airline flights are so often delayed, private jet users can choose when they want to leave, where they want to fly, and even how quickly they want to get there. Says Poggi: “For time-pressed businesspeople it’s the perfect product.” Whether corporate or private, typical customers buy flight time in pre-purchased blocks of 100 hours, which guarantees them a jet on-demand, at any time of their choosing, anywhere in the world.

Behind the scenes, operators such as ExecuJet take care of everything from the pilots to the flight planning, and also perform the necessary maintenance work – which takes much of the hassle out of jet ownership. Indeed, ExecuJet’s Lagos base has been certified by both Bombardier and Gulfstream as a line maintenance facility, one of only a handful in the whole of Africa. “Just fly,” says the company’s slogan, “we take care of the details.” Those ‘details’ are a big part of business aviation’s appeal to the oil and gas multinationals operating within Nigeria. Unlike the country’s commercial airlines, which are licensed by the NCAA, most private jet operators are licensed by European agencies and are therefore required to operate to European safety and maintenance standards, which satisfies the multinationals’ auditors.

With the private jet market growing apace in the region, ExecuJet is not alone in trying to get a piece of the action. Rivals like VistaJet, also headquartered in Switzerland, are also building their brands. Within four months of establishing its West Africa office in 2010, VistaJet operated 1,200 hours of flights for seven major clients. The company then took the unprecedented decision to deploy three dedicated aircraft to Lagos and Abuja, which are maintained by a team of expatriate engineers seconded from Bombardier. VistaJet founder, Thomas Flohr, says that he envisages Nigeria becoming one of the company’s biggest markets.

VistaJet’s success in Nigeria was specifically mentioned by Flohr as a factor in his recent decision to place the largest private jet order in history, which added 20 planes to his company’s fleet. “From a commodity location somewhere in Siberia, to fly to Abuja, how do you do that without a private jet?” he asked. “People talk about the BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India, China] emerging markets, but I would like to extend that to BRINC. I would like to insert an ‘N’ there because we see Nigeria as a tremendous growth market.”

VistaJet’s achievements in Nigeria rest partly on its partnership with local businessman, Kola Aluko, who is also a member of the company’s advisory board. Aluko claims to have tailored VistaJet’s operation to the Nigerian market’s cultural expectations. “The catering we offer here, for example, is very different from what you have elsewhere, and the behaviour of the crew means they’re respectful to the passengers in a way that’s based on West African customs and Nigerian traditions,” he said.

Other private jet operators to open Nigerian offices in recent years include Britain’s Hangar8, for which Lagos is one of only five global bases.

Many of Nigeria’s wealthiest people have eschewed ad-hoc charters arranged through thirdparty operators like ExecuJet, VistaJet and Hangar8, and instead purchased their own aircraft. In the five years leading up to 2012, 120 private jets worth a total of $6.5 billion were imported into Nigeria, bringing the country’s private jet fleet to about 200 aircraft – almost 10 times the number of planes operated by Arik Air. Recent buyers have been companies including Global Fleet Group, Zenon Oil and Azikel Group, which has stationed its jet in Port Harcourt in an effort to promote that city’s aviation expertise.

But it’s not only businesses that are buying planes: pastors and politicians are among the buyers, too. Last year, the government of Rivers State sanctioned the purchase of a $46 million Bombardier Challenger. Other popular choices include Gulfstreams, Falcons and Legacies. Beyond the cost of the aircraft themselves, annual upkeep, crew and maintenance can cost as much as $1 million per year.

Robert Habjanic, a sales director for Bombardier in Africa, reports that Nigeria is now his firm’s second-largest market, after China.

Sources at the ultra-exclusive Jet Business, a private jet dealership on London’s Hyde Park Corner, say that Nigerians are among their most prolific customers. The firm’s premises contain a full-sized replica of a jet interior, as well as a floor-toceiling computer screen on which clients can design their own aircraft upholstery.

Nicky Oblie, a Ghanaian-born business aviation consultant who focuses on the West Africa region, is enthusiastic about Nigeria’s potential. “There are a lot of rich people and businessmen with limited time on their hands, who can’t find flights on commercial airlines or who don’t want to be tied to an airline’s inflexible schedule,” he says. “So they fly privately. Now that the oil and gas companies are moving into Ghana and Sierra Leone, there’s a real opportunity here for Nigeria to establish a lead in this market. If private jets arrive in Nigeria, auxiliary businesses like maintenance shops will arrive too. Nigeria can become the region’s principal player.”

As Oblie points out, this is already happening. Private jets need regular maintenance, so several Nigerian-owned support facilities have opened in Lagos. One of them, Evergreen Apple, is headquartered near Lagos’ bustling Ikorodu Road and was the first such company to open a fixed operating base at Lagos Airport. The base measure 15,000 square metres and offers an accredited maintenance facility, in partnership with an American engineering firm. As well as building the skills of local engineers, the base makes Lagos an attractive destination for private jets from across the region, which no longer need to go as far as South Africa, Dubai or Europe for scheduled maintenance. Today, private jets from Ghana, Cameroon, Congo, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire can all be seen on the apron at Lagos Airport.

But Nigeria’s federal government has misgivings. Little treasury revenue has been raised from the $6.5 billion spent on private jets by the Nigerian elite, as most planes were purchased through shell companies based in offshore tax havens. The proliferation of private jets has also unquestionably weakened the commercial aviation sector, which the government is keen to reinvigorate but whose profitability depends on lucrative business traffic. In January, the Special Assistant to the Ministry of Aviation revealed that the government had temporarily banned private jet imports, pending a ministerial review. Affected parties may include Dazair, Skypower Express, and Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church, all of whom currently have private jets on order. More significantly, the ban is likely to affect Nigeria’s growing band of auxiliary service outfits, like Evergreen Apple, which expects to see income dip as a result. “We’re extremely disappointed. We think the ban is totally unjustified,” said one source at the company, on condition of anonymity. “Aviation maintenance and safety is an area in which Nigeria has traditionally lagged its neighbours, so the government should be encouraging our work, not damaging it by banning our customers.”

Even so, Oblie sees the latest developments as another boon for the private jet operators who charter out their own jets. They remain unaffected by the government’s manoeuvre since technically they do not ‘import’ their aircraft. “Companies like VistaJet can expect to see meteoric growth,” he says. “They can target the mining, drilling and oil prospecting companies and also branch out regionally to other countries where airlines perhaps aren’t quite as reliable as passengers might like them to be.”

Indeed, private jets are proliferating across Africa. Afrijet, a Libreville-based group founded in 2004 by Gabonese private investors, offers private jet charters around central Africa, while Greece’s Gainjet proposes a concerted push for market share in the east. Together with ExecuJet and 16 other suppliers, they formed the African Business Aviation Association (AFBAA) in 1012, in order to create a unified industry voice. In an interview, AFBAA’s newly appointed chairman, Tarek Ragheb, described the continent as a vast, untapped business aviation market. “There are few railways, there are few roads and certainly the infrastructure is poor. The best way to get around is through the air, and the best way for an entrepreneur, government official or businessman to get around is through private jets,” he said. AFBAA has plans for an annual conference circuit that would tour Africa, modelled on the events that NBAA and EBACE, business aviation associations for North America and Europe respectively, organise in their own continents.

But of all Africa’s business aviation markets, none are as big as Nigeria’s. The country has surpassed South Africa as foreign operators race to establish premises in Lagos, and as wealthy Nigerians continue to order more aircraft. Growth is unlikely to slow soon. Auxiliary operations like maintenance and training facilities should continue to thrive and with luck, Nigeria’s federal government will also succeed in extracting more revenue from this booming trade. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s highest flyers will continue to fly high.

The risks of reversal – and of humanitarian crisis – are always there, and we are not yet done with the effects of disaster. News agency reports last week remind us of the delicate humanitarian and fragile political situation.

But while Somalia has a long way to go, it is clear that it has also come a long way. The country now – with its new Government, Parliament, President, Prime Minister and 6-point reconstruction plan – is getting to its feet. This week’s Lancaster House Conference, convened by the UK and the Somali Government, marked a significant step on a long journey.

This is the first time in a long time that there has been such optimism, even if it is tempered by the unfinished business on the security and humanitarian front.

Pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have fallen by three-quarters in a year.

Somali armed forces – with the help of the AU and the UN’s newly extended AMISOM mission – have reclaimed territory from the insurgents of al-Shabaab, retaking their last urban stronghold of Kismayo in October. What was the world’s largest settlement of internally displaced people at Afgoye, outside Mogadishu, has seen its numbers drop by two-thirds in a year. Canvas is replaced by brick, and fear is replaced by hope as business picks up, from construction in Mogadishu, to mobile telephony and property.

Somalis are returning: over 60,000 came back last year alone. We estimate that two billion dollars are sent back each year. The Somali shilling has appreciated; commercial airlines are doing well; and there are nine mobile phone networks across the country. Cargo ship arrivals in Mogadishu, seeking to regain its reputation as the white pearl of the Indian Ocean, have risen dramatically in a year. UNICEF reports that children are going back to school in large numbers. Somalis are not just talking with their neighbours; they are talking amongst themselves. Their commitment to dialogue with all the regions of Somalia is testimony to the potential of a collective national will.

The country of one language, one history, and one religion has more to unite it than divide it: Somalia can build itself anew.

In this, the international community which turned out in force to join the Somalis at Lancaster House has a critical role to play. If it is to play an active role in Somalia, however, there are certain preconditions.

First, we must apply the lessons we have learned in post-conflict state-building in Africa and elsewhere. The meeting on Tuesday was a good beginning. The Somali Authorities reported on their own progress on their own plans, especially in the security sector, the judiciary, the rule of law, and the management of public finances. These are indeed the start-points. The Somalis must be in the driver’s seat, and be seen by all – above all their own people – to be so.

Our task is to support them as they build their own capacity, plan, and execute. At no time should the international community want to supplant what the Somalis themselves are planning and doing. It may be well intended, but it will not work.

Second, we need to manage the complex relationship between humanitarian agencies providing short-term emergency help, and those addressing longer-term issues of development, ‘resilience’ and reconstruction. Time has taught us that the two phases can blend and reinforce each other.

The famine and drought of 2011-12 claimed over a quarter of a million Somali lives, reminding us of the close links between security, humanitarian support and long-term resilience-building.

Thirdly, we must remember the regional context. The Greater Horn is not only a collateral victim of the Somali crisis; it is also the bedrock of the security solution. If today we see light at the end of the tunnel, it is thanks to Kenyans, Ugandans and Burundians who have been ready to lay down their lives. There is no solution for Somalia which does not involve the people and the countries of East Africa and the Greater Horn.

Rebuilding the Somali state will challenge us all. There is no manual, no toolkit. We will be learning as we go, drawing on the lessons of the past.

In London, the Somalis reported on their progress in putting in place a transparent Public Finance Management system, with a strong fiduciary framework. It is a very good place to begin. It is this kind of detail – and commitment – that will assure Somalis and their partners that the scarce resources available for the rebuilding Somalia will be well used.

The African Development Bank, with a uniquely African character, is already on the ground, helping to strengthen the foundations in Somalia, and to apply the lessons learned in other fragile states.

In the history of Somalia, especially the 1970s and 1980s, the outside world did not always help, and at times it actually contributed to some of the causes of the Somali crisis of the last twenty years. That is why it is essential that it supports Somalia now – and that it does so with humility. Let us empower Somalis to take charge; let us minimize the burdens and demands on the new young State.

An immediate priority is regularising Somalia’s relationship with the International Financial Institutions. Let us begin by ensuring that a quick external debt arrears clearance scheme is put in place. It took three frustrating years in Liberia to clear the bilateral, multilateral and London Club debt, but Somalia’s modest debt should enable the process to go faster.

Somalia’s journey of reconstruction has begun. It could be the most complex African journey in fifty years, but it can prove to be the most rewarding if we get it right.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank.

Construction sites scattered amongst a bustling downtown that resembles Johannesburg right before it became the financial power of Africa. Windhoek is not Africa’s next financial powerhouse. Or, at least, there is no sign of it at the moment. Namibia has all the good and bad remnants from South Africa’s 75 year rule over it. Namibia and South Africa share similar literacy rates and businesses. Good infrastructure supports the country’s small population.

On the contrary, the Namibia also inherited an unequal society that continues to grow a greater divide. The Gini coefficient places Namibia’s inequality in the top one percent. About one in three Namibians live on less than $1.25 a day. Unemployment still hovers around 50 percent and the HIV/AIDS rate, while dropping, is still above 13 percent. Namibia has an underwhelming welfare system and is struggling to meet the demands of trade unions.

The potential of natural resources continues to bring hope especially for a population of 2.2 million, one-twenty-fifth the size of South Africa. The discovery of large oil reserves almost two years ago still creates a buzz on the streets. Namibia is the hidden gem or unspoken country in the emerging African oil & gas conversation, says one government insider, but we like it that way.

Namibia also is the world’s fourth-largest producer of uranium. It produces a large quantity of zinc and a moderate amount of gold among other minerals. Foreign investors are coming to the country with an interest in commodities trading, says Kela, owner of Cutting Edge Enterprises. A growing amount of consulting companies are coming online to help facilitate the interest of foreign investors into the system. Foreign investment and trading will definitely help to create more employment opportunities for Namibians. But how much is unknown. Botswana’s approach to the diamond industry is definitely a model to consider, says a group of local business, as long as the government provides the rewards to the people.

The new consulting businesses also represent the changing small and medium enterprise (SME) landscape in the Namibian economy. More than 70 percent of businesses are very small and employ less than three persons. The new SMEs in Namibia will have to create more than three jobs. Consulting companies are a start. Manufacturing and mining have the greatest potential to create jobs in the SME space. But entrepreneurs still need more capital and government support.

The Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) is making its best efforts to provide loans to SMEs. Experts estimate that the DBN will not be able to provide more than $15 to 20 million to SMEs per year in the near future while the sector requires more than double that amount of capital. Private equity and venture capital firms will have to provide the remaining capital demand. The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Tjekero Tweya is strongly promoting this need for private capital investment and declaring the government’s readiness to work with newcomers to the country. Such talk signifies Namibia is ready to come from under the radar.

VENTURES AFRICA – Libya has never been a country with a good reputation, and with all of the bad news about terrorism, chaos and disorder that has appeared since the fall of Qaddafi, it’s hard to believe that things are getting better. But with parliamentary elections later this year and the drafting of a constitution slated to take place before the end of 2014, Libya has a real chance of creating stable public and private sector institutions that will enable dramatic growth for businesses and the country as a whole.

Though many might counsel investors to steer clear of a place characterised by uncertainty, Richard Griffiths, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Libya, based in Tripoli, thinks differently. “It is key to be in Libya,” says Griffiths. “To understand the market is to be fully aware of the country. The value of visiting Libya and seeing it firsthand is significant [enough to] open up new business channels and models.”

Libya’s economy has always depended heavily on hydrocarbons. If used correctly, oil will be the springboard for the country’s recovery. The latest estimates put proven crude oil reserves at 48.08 billion barrels, 9th highest in the world and the most in Africa, besting Nigeria by 9.5 billion barrels. Proven natural gas reserves were estimated at 1.495 trillion cubic metres in 2012, behind Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt within the continent. When discussing energy, Libya’s regional and global importance as a producer cannot be ignored. Multinational oil companies are eager for tenders in the new Libya and they are more than willing to pay. This interest could very well form the backbone of Libya’s economic renewal.

The forecast for Libya’s projected total daily production capacity of oil has increased to 3 million barrels per day (bpd) from the 1.6 million barrels per day during Qaddafi’s rule. However, 2012 production figures only peaked at 450,000 bpd, a mere 15 percent of total capacity, due to logistical obstacles. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Libya’s 2011 revolution cut oil production and caused a 60 percent retraction in the country’s GDP for 2011. With increasing political stability over the past year, Libya has seen a near 70 percent increase in GDP growth.

The key for Libya’s oil sector is the rapidly increasing number of oil exploration and production sharing agreements (EPSAs) signed with oil companies like Eni, Total and Suncor. On 15 February this year, Italy’s Eni reported profits of €19.75 billion ($26.44 billion) in 2012, up 14.6 percent from the previous year. The company’s press release stated: “Product ion benefited from the nearly complete recovery of production levels in Libya in spite of the complex transition phase the country is undergoing following the revolution”. Eni’s wholly owned subsidiary, Eni North Africa, expects that in 2013, onshore drilling in the prolific Sirte Basin, 300 kilometres south of Benghazi, will increase its upstream activity to pre-revolution levels. Chairman and CEO of Total, Christophe de Margerie, zeroed in on one of the group’s main objectives, indirectly alluding to North Africa in comments about Total’s full-year 2012 results by saying Total is “[…] to rely on a recently expanded exploration portfolio for more significant discoveries.”

Oil companies such as Canada’s Petro-Canada, which merged with Suncor in 2009, and oilfield service providers like Schlumberger, are all attempting to get a slice of the lucrative pie. Suncor stated in its Q4 report to shareholders on 5 February that the restart of operations in Libya partially offset the decrease in exploration and production (E&P) levels. Notwithstanding, Suncor issued a cautionary note that the E&P segment may, in part, be affected by “[…] political, economic and socioeconomic risks associated with Suncor’s foreign operations, including the unpredictability of operating in Libya […]”.

The efficacy in distributing oil wealth throughout the country will not necessarily be a cure for all of Libya’s ills but it will be the jumping-off point for recovery from the collapse of the previous government and a disruptive civil war. Part of the difficulty involved in making sure oil revenue is properly used will be reforming Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), formerly the Libyan National Oil Company, which had been run under 40 years of Qaddafi’s dictatorial rule. Oil produced prior to 2011 in Qaddafi’s Libya was subject to 95 percent tax aimed mostly at multinationals. The figure has now decreased to approximately 75 percent, on par with energy giants like Russia and Norway. With nothing but time to bide, the proper divestiture of oil revenue to a vulnerable population, coupled with a flourishing democracy, may just reverse the bygone days of Qaddafi’s centralised socialism.

Libya needs to do more than just collect revenue from oil if it is to form a new and flourishing society. Other sectors of the Libyan economy impacted by its civil war and current instability also need attention. Within the country there appears to be a swathe of investment potential across all segments of society. As the EU–Libya Chamber of Commerce said, this progress is central to the state’s reconstruction programme. “There is a newly emerging security environment, space in the NGO sector, a total healthcare modernisation and expansion programme, as well as media and publishing and ongoing infrastructural projects are being renegotiated and gradually returned,” the Chamber stated, following its sponsorship of an infrastructure and investment summit in Tripoli during October and November 2012. Says Griffiths: “The population statistics show a massive market potential beyond oil and gas and defence in areas such as health, consumer goods, transport and food and beverage.” Still, there are red flags aplenty.

The country needs to address the deterioration in quality of loan assets, the seizure of property used in the past for collateral, and finally, a liquidity crunch that resulted with the flooding of the Libyan dinar (LD) onto the currency market. Measures by the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) are proving futile in projecting confidence in lieu of a shaky banking infrastructure, but the CBL’s decision to maintain the dinar’s peg has bolstered confidence in the currency. This bodes well for Libyans, where credit cards are not widely accepted and cash is still ‘king’ along the coast and in the vast lawless areas of desert.

Says Sami Zaptia, cofounder and Managing Editor of the Libya Herald, a new English-language daily newspaper based in Tripoli: “The old regime nationalised and centralised for decades. It imprisoned businesspeople, confiscated their properties and destroyed their businesses. It centralised all procurement and imports as well as distribution for a decade in the 1980s.” Zaptia, also the CEO and founder of Know Libya, a company that specialises in business research, training and consultancy in Tripoli, says that the people and businesses that made substantial money during the Qaddafi regime are in the best position to take advantage of the new open market. He cautions that there has been little change over the past 24 months and that the movers and shakers will truly be determined when the economy resurrects itself. “The challenges facing Libya today must be separated into those that are a legacy of 40 years of Qaddafi and the short-term ones caused by the 2011 revolution and conflict,” says Zaptia.

Despite its problems, Libya can still be an attractive country for investment, provided you know what you’re getting into. The security situation in the country will continue to be the major challenge, but even so, Richard Griffiths still considers Libya a great place to be. Says Griffiths: “Libya has been on a very long path to developing systems for trade and business. The period of establishing a government is now over and the process of rebuilding and developing is now underway. The timing for direct engagement is starting.”

Participating in Libya’s transformation could be very lucrative for the investor willing to take on his or her fair share of risk, but for the country, this current phase of change is about much more than making money. After its revolution, Libya has a real chance to do things right. Stable and effective governance will provide the economic conditions businesses need to flourish and create the jobs needed to keep a large segment of the population between the ages 18 to 35 – especially young men— from releasing their frustration by joining groups like Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Women – the segment of the population whose worth is most often underestimated – must also be empowered if Libya’s new economy is to take-off. Following the erasure of the Qaddafi regime, there is strong hope for real social and economic change. A liberated Libya is a bright business prospect indeed.

“I am a big Sinophile because I recognize we need China’s investment and we need jobs and trade and we need something to happen,” China Daily quotes her as saying.

“Americans are not prepared to write bigchecks to drive trade and job creation in Africa anymore,” she added.

According to report, Moyo, a former Director with Barrick Gold, made the statement after speaking at the 20^th annual African Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town.

She praised China’s focus on trade, job creation and infrastructure development.

Moyo, who was on the 2009 Time 100 most influential person in the world list, shot to limelight after her New York Times bestseller Dead Aid, which criticized the West’s aid to Africa and shed light on its inefficiencies.

She argued that Western aid had become like a drug to many African countries,giving them little incentive to develop industry since aid rather than tax was a more reliable source of government revenue,” China Daily reported.

Moyo is an author of several books including: How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly – And the Stark Choices that Lie Ahead and Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What It Means for the World and Dead Aid.

By Marie-Soleil Frere

Better and wider access to Internet and mobile is changing how journalists work in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), bringing more access but also sometimes greater risk. Internet and mobile devices allow journalists to contact multiple sources on a single day, something that was difficult until now in a country where fixed phone lines are almost non-existent. Internet and mobile also mean citizens are better able to contribute to media content and make their voices heard interactively. But they also create new opportunities for intimidating or silencing journalists. There are many in positions of authority and power whose status is shaken by the greater circulation of information made possible by connectivity. At the same time, alerting others when a journalist is under threat and rallying support has never been quicker. More information also means increased requirements for verification and fact checking—procedures that Congolese journalists have not always been inclined and trained to do. The annual report of Journalist in Danger, a Congolese non-governmental organization, offers insight on how ICTs have changed journalists’ practices and challenges in the country.

VENTURES AFRICA – In December 2012, Journalist in Danger (Journaliste en Danger), a Congolese NGO that defends media freedom, issued its latest annual report. As well as describing many attacks on journalists over the previous year, the report shows how much mobile phones and the Internet have transformed the daily work of Congolese journalists. Journalists now are more connected to people, places, facts and opinions that were often closed off to them before this new technology became more widespread. The DRC remains one of the least connected countries in the world, but even the small foothold made by this technology is having a significant impact. This greater access also brings greater risk for the DRC’s journalists and most cases examined by Journaliste en Danger involve these new communication tools.

The astonishing impact of mobile phones was seen, for instance, in March 2012, during an open-mike radio program on Radio Television Kindu Maniema, in eastern DRC. The show hosted by Mira Dipenge and called “Voice to the People” (“Parole au Peuple”), allowed callers, many using mobile phones, a forum to discuss and often criticize life under the Governor of Maniema Province, Tutu Salumu. These open mike programs and talk shows have benefited hugely from the spread of mobile phones, making it possible for people in areas without fixed lines to join in the programs. The free and open exchange the progam allowed did not go unnoticed and now Dipenge, the program’s host, has been forced into hiding after receiving threats.

Mobile phones have also facilitated access to information, allowing local journalists to reach sources they would never have been able to connect to a few years ago. On August 4 2012 Radio Soleil (Sun Radio), in Butembo, was suspended by the mayor after broadcasting a telephone interview with the spokesperson for the M23 rebels. The mayor claimed this interview violated the broadcasting regulator’s ban on radio stations in DRC from taking any calls about the war in Eastern Congo.

Mobile devices are not the only tools that are changing journalists’ daily work; social media plays a role as well and not always a positive one. On July 26 2012, a threatening message was posted on the Facebook wall of Tuver Wundi, a correspondent for National Congolese Radio and Television (RTNC), based in Goma. Also posted on the rebels’ website, the message accused Wundi of being “anti-M23” and warned him not to be around if and when they captured Goma. Journaliste en Danger evacuated Wundi to Kinshasa before the M23 took Goma in November 2012. After the rebels withdrew, he returned to Goma, where is now working normally.

Better Information and Communications Technology is providing a voice and a platform to once unheard DRC citizens. The audience becomes the news provider. In September 2012, a member of parliament (MP) directly threatened a television journalist, Roland Isso, who had broadcast mobile-phone video—sent in anonymously—that showed the MP openly calling his supporters to attack policemen who were guarding the property of a businessman with whom the MP had a dispute over property. (Isso works for Molière TV, which specializes in unedited video of eye-catching events around Kinshasa, caught by its roaming journalists or members of the public, and broadcast with little concern for privacy or professional ethics.) The MP subsequently denied any involvement in the death threats and announced that he would bring a libel action against Isso.

While they facilitate journalists’ access to information, these new tools also expose them to other dangers such as manipulation. “Journalists are now forced into doing the job of verifying, cross-checking and analyzing information,” explains Thsivis Tshivuadi, the secretary general of Journaliste en Danger. “Before, their job was mainly to provide information, but now that any citizen can access such a huge number of sources and even produce data, the role of the journalist is to discriminate between reliable and unreliable stories.”

These new tools also help to improve the journalists’ security, by speeding up the circulation of information when one of them is in trouble. Ten years ago, Journaliste en Danger had to transmit its alerts and reports about journalists’ rights abuses by fax, and the information could only be sent to a very limited number of targets because of the high cost of fax transmission.

Today, every attack on media freedom in the DRC is immediately relayed to thousands of subscribers who receive Journaliste en Danger alerts. Any journalist who is arrested or physically attacked makes his last phone call to Journaliste en Danger before their phone is confiscated. “This has changed our job too,” says Tshivuadi. “More and more we have to interact directly, by mobile phone, with the people who are detaining or threatening journalists. We can talk to the policemen or army men and try to convince them to release a colleague who was arrested while taking pictures or shooting video. We have become long-distance mediators.”

While the email alerts mainly go to foreign recipients, Journaliste en Danger has also developed a mobile service which is received by some 700 individuals inside the country, including diplomats, senior officials and major NGOs. On March 11 2013, when the Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and ICTs announced that nine broadcasters were suspended for not paying their annual broadcasting fees, Journaliste en Danger sounded the alarm. “The first SMS recipient to call me back was the Minister himself,” explains Tshivuadi. “He is on our distribution list and felt embarrassed, and he wanted to justify his decision.”

For Congolese journalists, Information and Communication Technologies have become a source of empowerment, helping them to open up and connect to the world, while they reshape their working practices. Organizations like Journaliste en Danger can provide support and protection for journalists as they navigate this new and challenging environment.

VENTURES AFRICA – Agriculture in Africa currently stands at the crossroads of persistent food shortages compounded by climate change threats. Communities in several African countries are battling food security, as many are not producing enough crops and grain to feed themselves, let alone to sell as surplus. Analysts believe that the effects of unemployment and the resulting increased crime rates can be halted by innovative agricultural solutions that include commercialising crop and livestock production.

The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa, written by Calestous Juma, examines these topics. The book suggests that Africa currently faces three major opportunities that can transform agriculture on the continent into a force for economic growth. These are: advances in science and technology; the creation of regional markets; and the emergence of a new crop of entrepreneurial leaders dedicated to the continent’s economic improvement. Furthermore, the book asserts that Africa is quite capable of feeding itself.

In South Africa, Nedbank is promoting and rewarding agricultural best practice and innovation. The bank has invested around R8.3 million (approximately $1 million) in conservation group WWF South Africa’s Sustainable Agriculture Programme, an initiative that tackles food security challenges and protects natural resources through sustainable and innovative measures. “If our country [South Africa] is going to overcome the significant environmental, social and economic challenges involved in feeding our population at this time, it is the responsibility of every one of us to start thinking and acting more sustainably right now,” said John Hudson, a Nedbank Agriculture official.

In Kenya, the recently established Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC) is expected to revitalise and boost home-grown green technologies throughout the East African region. The KCIC, set up by the World Bank Group’s infoDev Climate Technology Programme, offers support to climate-focused technology ventures in order to boost agricultural productivity and agro-processing.

Robert Van Wyk, a South African agricultural research expert, said: “Farmers today are operating in an increasingly uncertain environment in which climate change is affecting future planning and productivity. The KCIC will help farmers cope with climate change and give them relevant information useful to their planning. It will also equip them with technology and knowhow to counter the effects of climate change.”

Jonathan Coony, coordinator for the infoDev Climate Technology Programme, said companies supported by the KCIC will have access to funding, business advice, market research and facilities for the design and development of products. This is expected to help give the companies, including those in farming and other agricultural support sectors, opportunities to make themselves more attractive to investors. Other climate innovation centres have been planned for Ethiopia and South Africa.

In rural Zimbabwe, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has implemented an electronic voucher (e-voucher) system to help cash strapped small-scale farmers access agricultural inputs. Inputs can be loosely defined as those goods put into a system or expended in an operation to achieve an output. In agriculture, inputs include water, fertilisers, pesticides, fuel and equipment, to name but a few.

Ngoni Masoka, the Permanent Secretary in the Zimbabwean Ministry of Agriculture, says: “The use of the vouchers will ensure that rural agro-dealers are revitalised and will lead to an improved organisation of the markets, which will benefit farmers as they access inputs close to their areas.”

The e-voucher system is designed to improve the food security situation among vulnerable households through crop and livestock production. It is also hoped that the programme will resuscitate the fragile rural agricultural input supply chain in Zimbabwe, through the re-engagement of markets, the provision of subsidised inputs, and farmers’ timely access to their required inputs. Inputs already accessible through the system include a variety of seeds, fertilisers, lime, agrochemicals and implements, as well as spare parts for farming equipment.

Development-focused entrepreneurs and organisations are looking beyond just the accessing of inputs and equipment. Martin Fisher is the co-founder and CEO of KickStart, a non-profit organisation specialising in irrigation technology targeted at improving crop productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. KickStart sells portable pumps, such as the MoneyMaker Hip Pump and the Super MoneyMaker Pump, costing between $35 and $95, to smallholding farmers in Mali, Tanzania and Kenya.

Numerous farmers in Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia have already started using the lowcost pumps for irrigation purposes. Fisher says his organisation sells the pumps instead of giving them away because this promotes entrepreneurship instead of dependence, and ensures that the people who really want the pumps get them.

Further north, in Nigeria, mobile phone technology is proving invaluable to innovation and development. Here, mobile technology is being put to excellent use though an initiative called the ‘Growth Enhancement Support Scheme’. Through this, farmers receive fertiliser and seed support through their mobile phones, or ‘electronic wallets’.

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is optimistic that this development will see Nigeria’s agricultural sector become tech-friendly and will work towards decreasing the challenges farmers face because of delays in accessing critical information.

Nigeria is the first country in Africa to reach farmers by such means. According to Akinwumi Adesina, Nigerian Minister of Agriculture, by 2013 Nigeria aims to have distributed 10 million mobile phones to farmers across the country, making it easier for them to gain access to inputs.

Mobile phones are also assisting farmers in Kenya, by bringing market-related produce prices to their attention. The Kenyan Agricultural Commodities Exchange has partnered with mobile operator, Safaricom, in launching SokoniSMS64, a text messaging platform that provides pricing information to farmers. M-Farm offers a similar service.

Mobile app, iCow, billed as “the world’s first mobile phone cow calendar,” allows dairy farmers to track the gestation periods and progress of their cows. It makes use of SMS and voice services to do so.

Weather apps such as FarmSupport, accessed through the Internet and mobile phones, are helping farmers across the continent by providing up-to-date weather forecasting. The app also collects crowd-sourced information from farmers on which crops they planted where, and their yields, as well as the types and amounts of fertiliser used. The crowd-source feature uses a modified Geo-Wiki, promoting two-way communication between data providers and farmers. This data is then collated by researchers and could lead to the development of more accurate early warning systems for food security and to better estimates of the current yield gaps in Africa.

Innovation in agriculture will indeed go a long way to boosting productivity, creating employment and bettering food security on the continent. Agricultural research scientists need to establish stronger linkages and share ideas and expertise to better tackle challenges impeding the growth of Africa’s agricultural sector. After all, who better to solve African problems than Africans themselves?