The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

Kofi Annan, Michel Camdessus, Graça Machel, and Linah Mohohlo to launch Africa Progress Panel 2009 State of Africa Report

Major new report assesses the threat of the economic crisis on Africa ’s development, analyses the continent’s progress and issues new recommendations to G8 and African leaders

 

Time:              14:00-14.45 local time (13:00-13:45 GMT+1), Wednesday 10^th June 2009

Venue:            WEF on Africa - Press Conference Room, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town , South Africa

African states seek 500 million euros in EU banana deal

By Darren Ennis and Bate Felix

Africa's top banana export countries sought on Friday 500 million euros ($694 million) in compensation from the European Union as part of a deal to end the world's longest-running trade dispute. Talks drag on at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva between the EU and Latin America's leading banana suppliers aimed at reducing import tariffs and end the "banana wars" that have dragged on since the 1990s.

To be rich like them, find out how they made it

A new book 'Rich Like Them' by Ryan D’Agostino follows in the tradition of 'The Millionaire Next Door' and 'The Difference': It interviews a large group of millionaires in order to figure out what traits they have in common. 'Rich Like Them' takes this tactic and runs in a slightly different direction with it. The author identified the 50 richest zip codes in the United States and went to 49 of them. He literally went door to door, knocking on the doors of people in these communities, and asking them if they’d be willing to discuss how they “made it.”

Whose Will Constitutes 'Political Will'?

In discussing governance reform efforts that have not worked, the phrase 'political will' comes up a lot, usually in the formulation 'lack of political will'. But it appears that the phrase is so elastic it is becoming meaningless. So, what really is 'political will'? Or, better still, whose will constitutes 'political will'? In international development, 'political will' tends to mean this: we got the government to agree to a program of reform, either to accept a grant or take a loan designed to pay for the program. The leading government official involved in the process is known at 'The Champion'. Soon enough, in most cases, 'political will' means 'we have a champion  Read more...

A "Global" Economic Crisis? Mind the Frame

“Global problems require global solutions,” a newspaper editorial recently asserted in its analysis of the current economic crisis. From a communication studies perspective, stressing a particular aspect of an issue – in this case, the global nature of the crisis -- is called “framing.” To further one’s position, advocates frame an issue by emphasizing some aspects of the phenomenon and deemphasizing others. Contrasting frames on economic issues have been ubiquitous in the media for some time. Compare, for example, the ways in which The Economist and CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight interpret economic realities. Given the current crisis, the framing battle is even more apparent. Protectionists might prefer to focus on a country’s deteriorating local job market and claim that the most pressing need is for government to protect domestic employment or a “domestic jobs frame.” In contrast, those who believe in free markets might argue that protectionist policies will lead to contracting national economies and that the solution is greater liberalization or a “free trade frame.” Read more...

Health: Weal and Woe of the Sun

By Mathias Victorien Ntep

Summer is around the corner so your average punter is getting ready to rush to the sun to enjoy its warmth. Yet most people aren’t aware of the weal and the woe of the sun—While the sun’s ultraviolet rays are a source of Vitamin D, which enhances the strength of human bones, ultraviolet rays do beget sunburns. This can result in skin cancer.  Unlike dark-skinned people, fair-complexioned folks are particularly prone to skin cancer because their skin doesn’t contain much melanin. Fair-skinned people lack enough melanin because their body simply doesn’t optimally transform the tyrosine into melanin.

Stop giving us aid, say Africans

By Daniel Hannan

I've just been talking to a very clever man. He's called Thompson Ayodele,he's from Nigeria and he thinks that overseas aid is making Africancountries poorer. The statistics he produces are jaw-dropping. Theysuggest a direct correlation between the receipt of development assistanceand low growth. This is true whether you compare neighbouring countries,or whether you look at different periods within the same country. Foreign aid, he suggests, isn't useless; it's actively harmful. It discourages enterprise, fosters dependency and bolsters corrupt regimes. Asimilar correlation exists between debt remission and insolvency:countries which have their bills periodically written off becomere-indebted more quickly than countries which don't.

Fake drugs kill over 700,000 people every year - new report

A new report co-sponsored by International Policy Network (London) and Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (Nigeria) details the shocking burden of fake drugs in less developed countries. The report notes that fake tuberculosis and malaria drugs alone are estimated to kill 700,000 people a year. That’s equivalent to four fully laden jumbo jets crashing every day. The report lays bare the ballooning problem of counterfeit and substandard drugs, which can constitute one third of the drug supply in certain African countries. These dodgy drugs result in unnecessary death and increased levels of drug resistance.

Cameroon 2008 - 2009 Sugar Output Rises 8 percent Despite Smuggling

By Tansa Musa

Cameroonian sugar maker SOSUCAM, the biggest sugar producer in the six-nation Central African economic zone, boosted output by 8 percent year-on-year in 2008/09, despite illegal imports, the firm said on Thursday. SOSUCAM, Cameroon's third biggest employer, has produced 130,000 tonnes of sugar products this season, which oficially ends later this month, up from 120,000 tonnes last year, Jerome Harel, special adviser to the executive general manager, said. The company grows and processes sugar in Cameroon and intends to increase production to more than 200,000 tonnes by 2010, in order to meet local demand.

Africa's Stolen Money and The Western Media

By Lord Aikins Adusei

Quite often when you read newspapers, listen to radio and watch television in the West you learn how poor Africans are and how corrupt African leaders are. But you will never watch, read or hear anything in these media outlets about the role being played by Western banking institutions; property development and estate companies; the big corporations; and the western political and business elite in promoting corruption in Africa.