the Africa they Never show You

To global search giant, Google, Africa is the next Internet hotspot. Globally, there are 94 domains registered per 10 000 users. However, in Africa, there is only one domain per 10 000 users. As such, there is tremendous potential for growth on the continent in the web space.

Through its Africa programs focused on getting more Africans online, the company is betting that by developing an accessible, vibrant and self sufficient Internet ecosystem on the continent many more Africans would come online. Key among its strategies to develop the continent’s Internet ecosystem is to increase the amount of local African content online.

“If you want to be successful you have to do a good job at localising content,” said Nelson Mattos, Google’s VP of Development for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at a Google event in South Africa.

Today, the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other developing region. Early entry into African economies provides opportunities to create markets, establish brands, shape industry structure, influence customer preferences, and establish long-term relationships.

Business can help build the Africa of the future. The rise of the African urban consumer also will fuel long-term growth. Today, 40 per cent of Africans live in urban areas, a portion close to China’s and continuing to expand.

The number of households with discretionary income is projected to rise by 50 per cent over the next 10 years, reaching 128 million. By 2030, the continents’ top 18 cities could have a combined spending power of $1.3 trillion.

A proud flag flies over Juba and the map of the world has been redrawn. These symbols speak to the blood that has been spilled, the tears that have been shed, the ballots that have been cast, and the hopes that have been realized by so many millions of people.

We join our brothers and sisters in the Republic of South Sudan as they celebrate this milestone in their history. We pray that all categories of people and groups in the new Republic of South Sudan will lay down arms, embrace peace and work towards nation-building. The new Republic of South Sudan should be a model of tolerance and unity in diversity.

Nigeria’s economy may overtake South Africa’s by 2025 to become the biggest on the continent as oil prices climb and consumer spending in Africa’s most populous nation expands, Morgan Stanley said.

Gross domestic product, which will probably reach $400 billion by the end of the decade, is forecast to increase 8.4 percent in 2011 and 8.5 percent in 2012, Andrea Masia and Michael Kafe, economists at Morgan Stanley in Johannesburg, wrote in an e-mailed report today.

Government as it is known in the West does not exist in much of Africa. Leaving aside the democratic requirement that a government must be by the people and for the people, one expects at a minimum a ‘government’ to be responsive to the needs of the people, or at least, to perform some services for its people. But even this most basic requirement for ‘government’ is lacking in Africa.

‘Government’ as an entity is totally divorced from the people, perceived by those running it as a vehicle not to serve but to fleece the people. Dishonesty, thievery, and peculation pervade the public sector. Public servants embezzle state funds; high-ranking ministers are on the take. The chief bandit is the head of state himself.

In Africa, government officials do not serve the people. The African state has been reduced to a mafia-like bazaar, where anyone with an official designation can pillage at will. In effect, it is a ‘state’ that has been hijacked by gangsters, crooks, and scoundrels. They have seized and monopolized both political and economic power to advance their own selfish and criminal interests, not to develop their economies.

Their overarching obsession is to amass personal wealth, gaudily displayed in flashy automobiles, fabulous mansions and a bevy of fawning women. Helping the poor, promoting economic growth or improving the standard of living of their people is anathema to the ruling elites. ‘Food for the people!’ ‘People’s power!’ ‘Houses for the masses!’ are simply empty slogans that are designed to fool the people and the international community.

I’d like the country Ivory Coast to ultimately be able to deal with political problems itself. It’s not really good to depend on the win or defeat of the national team. That means there is something wrong.

You must not deal only with the symptoms. You have to get to the root causes by promoting environmental rehabilitation and empowering people to do things for themselves. What is done for the people without involving them cannot be sustained.