Ever since the first steam-engine automobile (capable of carrying people) was developed in 1769, manufacturers have constantly sought to improve their vehicles; not only in terms of technology, performance and safety, but also with regards to their luxury offerings. An exemplary brand is Bugatti—founded in France in 1909 by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti. Raised in a family consisting of artists (his father Carlo was an importer of art nouveau furniture, as well as a jewelry designer); Bugatti emphasized design when he strove for success in competitive motor racing.
Ettore’s attention to detail was such that Bugatti engines were hand scraped to ensure gaskets weren’t required for sealing. Rather than bolting springs to their axles, Bugatti’s springs were passed through a perfectly measured opening, which proved a far more elegant solution. Ettore famously described Bentleys—whose name has become synonymous with luxury—as “the world’s fastest lorries”, which highlights just how prestigious he believed his rare cars to be.
Other notable brands that offered unsurpassed creature comforts (along with their extravagant price tags) were Delage, Delahaye, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Cadillac, Lincoln, Buick, Packard, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Marmon, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, along with newcomer, Lexus. In modern times, the three German marquee carmakers have dominated the luxury (or premium) market, but French and Korean companies are now challenging their global dominance.
China, South Korea’s closest car-manufacturing neighbor, has one of the largest and hungriest luxury car markets in the world; this segment grew more than 30% last year. Audi has been the dominant supplier for this insatiable demand with some 313,000 units making their way into Chinese hands last year. In 2008 and 2009 respectively, Hyundai began tapping this lucrative market with its Equus and Rohens offerings and more recently with the Genesis. Termed ‘Intelligent Luxury’, Hyundai, in taking on the Teutonic powerhouses, has delivered competitive quality, power, performance and customer service without a hefty price tag.
The global luxury segment has room for expansion, especially in China says Audi’s sales chief, Peter Schwarzenbauer.
“We expect the premium segment to grow much more strongly than the overall market. China has 304 cities with at least a billion people and, so far, we have dealers in only 187 of them. The premium market still has extremely good growth prospects. We’re scratching the surface in China,” he says. China is expected to overtake the United States as the world’s largest luxury car market by 2015.
As a sign of things to come, Hyundai’s Genesis was named ‘Near Luxury Car’ segment leader in 2010 according to Strategic Vision’s Total Quality Index (TQI) ousting rivals BMW (3-series), Mercedes-Benz (C-Class) and Audi (A4). TQI measures are taken according to the complete experience the cars have to offer, from purchasing to owning, driving and performing. The Genesis scored well thanks to its competitive price, warranty, many standard features and reliability. Hyundai also provides its Equus owners with a service called ‘Your Place, Your Time’. Owners simply schedule their service appointments on a mobile application and a customer care representative collects the car and leaves a loan vehicle (another Equus) in its place. Such endeavors have seen Hyundai rated among the Top 5 Brands, on the basis of brand value, according to a recent Consumer Perception Survey.
Sister company, Kia, is mirroring this bid to take over the premium segment. Sketches of its upcoming Cadenza–to be released in the Korean market in the first half of this year–which is code-named KH, have garnered much interest in the press. Kia will make use of Hyundai’s existing platform and thus shorten its learning curve. “Our new flagship sedan integrates all of our key capabilities such as design, performance, high-tech features and infotainment,” claims the director of overseas marketing for the group, Soon-Nam Lee. Kia and Hyundai plan to appeal to first-time luxury car buyers who can’t afford the traditional German juggernauts.
Naturally, the greatest stumbling block to dethroning the competition has been the fact that Hyundai, Kia, Citroën, Peugeot and Volkswagen’s brands were built on the concept of producing economical transport. Ominously, Nissan Motors CEO, Carlos Ghosn, believes the strategy of mass-market car companies branching out into the higher echelons could backfire.
“The definition of a luxury brand is a brand for which you’re ready to pay a higher price tag for what it represents. If you start to be a bargain, yes, you’re going to have a boost in sales in the short-term, but you’re going to lose the luxury halo after a while,” he says.
His view isn’t a commonly held one as other manufacturers feel that by providing premium products, they can compete in the same space.
“Volkswagen is positioned as ‘Das Auto’ or ‘The Car’ and we are the volume premium brand in SA. This is manifested in both the type of vehicles we produce and sell and in the quality, finish and materials found in our vehicles. In addition to this, while we are the market leader in South Africa, we offer a premium range of vehicles which includes the Passat, CC and Touareg,” says Matt Gennrich, general manager of Communications for VW South Africa. “The big three—BMW, Mercedes and Audi, account for the majority of sales while other players such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus and, of course, Volkswagen, are all competing for a share in the premium segment which accounts for about 19% of the total passenger market. It takes time to build a brand, and we have invested substantially in the last few years in television, print, and outdoor advertising. The Touareg established its credentials right from the launch of the first generation with the V10 diesel and the class-leading technology offered in the car in the luxury SUV market,” he says
French manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroën is also not sitting on the sidelines. The long-awaited Citroën DS5 is on the brink of being unveiled, and this will be the flagship model in its premium DS range of cars. Based on the C-Sport Lounge concept unveiled at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show, the DS5 combines a coupe with some grand touring features. This car emphasizes technology and luxury embodied in clever elements such as a color heads-up display, individually-selected lighting for the cockpit roof, seats employing the ‘watch bracelet’ design and significant soundproofing. The DS5 even sports a refrigerated storage compartment under the armrest and has Citroën Wi-Fi On-Board so passengers can surf the internet while they’re being driven.
While the mass-market manufacturers are striving to get a slice of the premium pie by offering more for your money, it remains to be seen whether consumers will be swayed by the affordability of the competitor brands, or whether they’ll subscribe to Ghosn’s ideology of paying for the privilege of luxury and exclusivity.

Luxury On A Budget

The gun cracked. The runner shot forward. Her breathing was normal. She soon found her rhythm as they hit the first bend. The group at the front was bunched. The woman in green and gold held steady. As they neared the 400-meter mark, she could feel the Kenyan, Janeth Jepkosgei, breathing down her neck. As the bell went for the last lap, she increased the pace but the Kenyan went with her. That’s when it happened. Two hundred meters to go; it was like a second gun exploded. Eighteen-year-old Caster Semenya surged forward with her long, powerful strides as she tore away from the field to win her first world 800-meter title in a remarkable time of 1:55.45—a glorious victory.
It was the 800-meter women’s final at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin, and Semenya had just become the first South African to win the event.
The world was at her feet. Then the gender controversy began. Suddenly, Semenya was known for her deep voice and muscular build, not normally associated with a teenage girl, rather than her running. She was subjected to a long and public gender verification saga by world athletics. People argued over her case; petty politicians used her as a political football. Semenya was withdrawn from competition until July 2010, before she was cleared to run again—a long and painful exclusion. Many would have given up—she could have, but she refused.
<div id="attachment_806" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-806" class="size-large wp-image-806" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/124075220_10-685x1024.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="709" />FRANCE &#8211; AUGUST 26: The 9th Athletics world championships in St Denis In Paris, France On August 26, 2003 &#8211; Maria Mutola (Moz) wins gold medal in the 800 meters. (Photo by Pool BASSIGNAC/DUCLOS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)</div>
Semenya came back to defend her title in 2011 in Daegu, South Korea, and was beaten narrowly in the final straight as she came in with a time of 1:56.35—a commendable performance, considering the events leading up to the race. Now Semenya plans to go one step further—she wants gold at the Olympic Games in London.
The odds, for the first time, are stacked in her favor. Since her win in Berlin almost three years ago, she has been in contact with former Olympic Gold medallist in the 800-meters at the 2000 games, Mozambican Maria Mutola.
No stranger to gender controversy herself, although all was proved unwarranted, the 39-year-old Mutola recently replaced Semenya’s coach, Michael Seme, at the end of last year. Legend has it that Mutola was caught masquerading as a man when she played in a football cup final back home in Maputo. Amid the furore, a coach spotted her running talent and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mutola dominated the two-lap race during the 1990s and into the next century. During this time, she became a seven-time world indoor gold medallist and she also added three world 800 meters gold medals to her tally.
Mutola and Semenya make a powerful team gunning for gold in July. Mutola trains the now 21-year-old prodigy in Pretoria, north of Johannesburg.
“Me and Caster have been talking since she won the World Championships in Berlin, so we’ve been in contact ever since,” she pauses with a glint of pride in her eye.
“Any time she needed advice, she would call me and then we would talk a little bit. It’s been a long-term relationship. I’ve known Caster since then, it just fell into place, so it wasn’t anything strange when she approached me and asked if I would train her.”
Since then, the duo have been specific in their targets, and Semenya recently ran her second Olympic qualifying time at a Yellow Pages Meeting in Pretoria on April 21, guaranteeing her place at the Olympics showpiece.
She ran 1:59.58 and in so doing, at high-altitude, became the first South African woman to run under two minutes on home soil in 21 years.
Now Mutola has her sights firmly set on the top honor: the Olympic gold.
“[I think] very good advice is to be in shape, to stay healthy and go to London in shape, to be able to win it.
“[Judging from] all the Olympics I have been through, it is going to take under two minutes to be able to win it. You have to produce 1:55/1:56 to be able to win the race because everyone is training for the same event—to be an Olympic champion.”
Now Semenya heads overseas to begin her final preparations by competing in Europe.
“The most important thing is to have confidence in oneself going to these European track meets. You have to be able to win over there, run good times and go to the Olympics with a lot of confidence. That is a very important thing for athletes.”
Semenya was expected to qualify sooner for the showpiece, but now that she has run the time, everything is back on track, according to Mutola as she alluded again to the gold medal.
“In terms of her preparations, I have to say it is going very well at the moment, I was a bit concerned at the beginning but I see that we are improving, we are doing the right thing. Everything is going well at the moment.
“The most important thing is for her to stay in shape and believe in herself. When she gets to the Olympic Games, anybody who qualifies for the finals has a chance of winning gold.”
Mutola believes Semenya could be the best ever. She says the world record set in 1983 by Czech runner Jarmila Kratochvílová looks set to tumble if Semenya stays on course. “I always thought she would be the one to break the world record because when she was 18, she was running 1:55’s and I think when she is about 25, and more mature, she would probably break the world record.
“If you are 18 and run a 1:55, that means that if you are 20-something, you would be able to run between 1:52 and 1:53 and that indication I see in Caster. I hope and I know she can be the one to break that world record that has been standing for a very long time.”
One thing is for sure: with the troubles of her past behind her, the Mutola-Semenya southern African team will be the hot favorite come the end of July. The history books await.

African Power Sisters  Strive For Gold

It shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the ethno-cultural dynamics of tipple in West Africa that what you expect to see in a bottle isn’t always what you get to drink. This is especially so with wines. So let me now welcome you to the ‘social viticulture’ of West Africa. The agronomical version of this ‘culture’ doesn’t
exist around here. Grapes, you see, don’t do too well in desert or near-desert heat.
The bottle could, for instance, contain palm wine, the very affordable, hugely popular brew tapped from the trunk of the tropical palm tree and best consumed from a drinking gourd. The sweet-and-sour milky draught reputedly has prophylactic properties. Over the last 20 years, several entrepreneurial attempts to commercialize, commodify and transform this indigenous beverage into a bottled retail product have failed. Its fermented variant is an acidic, bitter brew best avoided by those who seek to protect their social reputations and their health. Urban and rural folk living anywhere between Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon refer to it as the ‘toxic tantalizer’.
Wine could also mean bottled fruit juice, sweet and sparkling, best served chilled and for those who lead ‘alcohol-free lives’ or love any colored fizzy stuff.
And of course, wine could mean ‘foreign wine’, the grapey drink from the vineyards of the world’s wine-growing regions. How French, German, Spanish, Swiss and Flemish wineries made the palm wine- producing belts of West Africa (and South America) and the rest of the world their target market is another story, for another day. It’s safe to say, though, that the spirit of the UN is actively in charge of proceedings in most wine shops worldwide. In West African shops and supermarkets, as elsewhere, wines from the ‘New World’ jostle for space with the ‘Old World’ wines.
Of course, the African Union member states don’t—or can’t—say much. As keen members of the international consumers’ club, they can only observe the fare as they ponder their growing affection for imported wine and its intended effect on their trade balances and fiscal positions. South Africa (the only wine producer in the AU) coughs up a tipple point once in a while, and let me reveal that the wines from South Africa are the most pocket-friendly in Nigeria and Ghana.
South Africa and China (another ‘New World’ wine producer) are two interesting case studies in global viticulture. While SA Inc., through SA Tourism, is only too eager to sell and showcase its wine portfolio to the rest of the world, China’s fast-expanding connoisseur class prefers ‘Old World’ wine (preferably French) to their homegrown variety. The Chinese have massive vineyards, but I haven’t yet seen any ‘Made in China’ wine in any shop in Cotonou, Lomé or Accra, despite having spied vodka made in India in downtown Lagos! Strange:
the Chinese don’t usually hoard anything salable.
In any case, a stroll into any wine shop in many Ivorian, Ghanaian, Senegalese, Gambian, Cameroonian, Gabonese or Nigerian cities will reveal racks of liquid warfare, symbolic of the silent but ongoing battle of the wine bottles going on between France, Germany, Spain, America, Italy, Chile, Argentina, Australia and, of course, South Africa (for their share of our disposable income).
In these parts, palm wine may have already lost the battle of the bottles. Don’t ask me for figures. The fact is, while varietals like chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc, shiraz, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir are measured in hector liters, nobody has been able to guesstimate how many gourds of West African palm wine are consumed.
According to those who should know, a healthy palm tree could have a fruitful lifespan of 10 years or more. But no one knows how many kegs of this indigenous wine are filled daily by traditional palm wine tappers. These guys are busy, for the present, but their numbers are thinning. No forward-thinking person wants his child to learn how to climb a palm tree. Palm-tree tapping is a collarless profession.
Wine retailers in central Lagos tell me that tons of international viticulture finds its way into Africa’s most-populous country in regular bottles, magnums and wooden cases daily, via formal and private channels. But few folk—and they must be connoisseurs—really worry about the geographical origin of their drinks. “Why bother?” someone asked at 1662, a ritzy wine bar in highbrow Ikoyi. “Most of the world’s winemakers don’t have a clue where Abuja is on the map.”
“Quite true, but why should they care?” another patron quipped.
“Ah, my brother,” the chap returned. “It is good to know what you don’t know. That’s the beginning of knowledge, after all. You know, a flute can mean different things. It is a musical instrument. It is also the appropriate glass to use for champagne.”

How Merlot Can You Go?

There is an old adage that says people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
But the good news is you can live in a glass house and make money. Hidden in the hot Kitengela plains of Kenya is a 30-year-old factory that uses recycled glass to transform homes, hotels, offices, churches, museums and other buildings into spectacular sights.
Kitengela Glass is located on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital and borders the Nairobi National Park. The factory stands out like an oasis in the desert. It’s home to glassblowers, glasscutters, artists and sculptors who turn the recycled glass into amazing works of art.
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The studio is owned and run by 68-year-old Nani Croze. A muralist turned glassblower, Croze has been in the business for over three decades. “I am still a German, although I feel completely Kenyan. I am waiting to be given an honorary citizenship,” she says. Croze came to Africa with her first husband in the late ’60s. “We studied elephants in the Serengeti. We planned to go back after four years in a VW van we had converted for our three children. But by that time, my eldest son had grown too big to fit into the van, so we decided to stay.”
Her scientist husband got a job at the University of Nairobi, where he taught animal behavior. The family lived in Limuru, in the highlands, in a rented home. When the owner died, the house was sold to people who felled the trees in the compound. “I decided to look for somewhere with no trees so I could plant my own and no one would be allowed to cut them down,” says Croze. The search for land took them to Kitengela, an environmentally protected area where her husband had previously worked.
“He went to Geneva for a conference and his colleague said: ‘Excuse me, Dr Croze, I think you have a tick on your neck!’ We were living in the bush and he could not take it any longer.” Divorced and with three children to bring up, one of her architect friends advised that she try her hand at stained glass. “I was not going to make enough money to pay for my children’s education painting murals,” said Croze.
She went to the UK for a three-week course. She was told she would need 30 years to learn. So she learnt through experience. “The major milestone for us was that importing colored glass is very expensive, heavy and fragile—it breaks very easily. So I thought, ‘Why don’t we make our own?’ Slowly, we built a furnace with the help of a Finnish glassmaker, and I started collecting waste glass.”
Croze soon discovered that not all glass was compatible as it melts at different temperatures. “It took a long time but I am happy we invented glassmaking in East Africa!” Croze’s son, Anselm, joined her and now does his own glassblowing. She credits a Dutch Catholic priest in Uganda for teaching her some of the tricks of the trade. “I visited him because he also made stained-glass windows in the 1970s. He made his own lead and tools and imported glass from France. He showed me how to make glass in the bush.”
Kitengela Glass prides itself on being the pioneer glassmaker in East Africa. Glassmaking traces its roots to Egypt and part of the Middle East in the second millennium BC. “To my knowledge, glass was never made in East Africa. My interest is in a new craft for East Africa—making glass from recycled glass. We make colored sheets for stained-glass windows locally. We import only what we cannot make.”
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From waste glass, Kitengela produces vessels—anything that can hold a liquid—bowls, flower vases, tumblers and glasses as well as sculptures, jewelry, chimes and chandeliers.
But Kitengela Glass is perhaps best known for making dalle de verre (French for glass blocks), a new technique of making stained glass. “My work with dalle de verre can be seen in various buildings in Nairobi like the Barclays Plaza, CFC Bank and the American Embassy canteen wall. Dalle de verre is popular with banks because it is secure—made of thick glass, concrete and metal reinforcing.”
Used bottles and waste window glass are taken to Kitengela Glass to be smashed and melted before they are blown into vessels, beads or flat glass or cast into dalle de verre blocks. The difference between dalle de verre and stained glass is that dalle de verre is an inch thick and set in concrete, with metal reinforcing for stability. Traditional stained glass is much thinner and can be painted and fired. It is attached piece by piece with strips of lead which are soldered at the corners, then puttied for stability.
“I made traditional stained glass long before we started melting glass. I realized the cost and difficulty of importing colored glass and therefore started to make our own.”
Croze compares glassblowing to flying an airplane. “You must do it all the time to be good at it.” She is currently working on a major project that involves making a centerpiece mural from dalle de verre for a new Catholic church in Tanzania. “The foreground in the lower section is to have images of creation like the savannah grassland, the acacia tree, some footprints to represent Africa as the cradle of mankind and above this will be a scene of the Holy Spirit hovering over the earth.”
Dalle de verre is also used for making staircases, tables and memorials. “We made a memorial in honor of Dan Eldon, a Reuters correspondent killed in Mogadishu, Somalia. The memorial has a lens, representative of his profession, in glass. It looks nice when the sun shines through. Glass needs light from the opposite side.”
Kitengela Glass also decorated the Kenyan home of the French billionaire businessman, art dealer and racehorse breeder, Alec Nathan Wildenstein, who died in 2008. Croze is presently making a memorial piece for Kenyan Nobel Laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai.
“Our handmade glass is like the early medieval glass with bubbles and striations. No-one knows about medieval glass anymore. It is like the taste of tomatoes: people have forgotten what an organically grown tomato tastes like,” she says.

The Fragile  Business Of Glass

Tanzania’s political landscape is dominated by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which was re-elected into power in 2010. CCM may remain in power despite whispers of infighting and corruption and a rising challenge from the opposition.
President Jakaya Kikwete fired the ministers of finance, energy and minerals over allegations of corruption and mismanagement. Since November, President Kikwete has faced increasing political and public pressure over corruption allegations on members of his cabinet. Over the last two years Tanzania has plunged 32 places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. In the 2010 survey, Tanzania ranks 116 out of 178 countries.
Nevertheless, Tanzania’s economic prospects look bright, especially in contrast to subdued growth in the Eurozone. Over the past decade, economic growth has averaged above 6%. Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank expect growth to reach 7% in 2012, higher than the 6% for the continent overall. The Economist magazine has identified Tanzania as one of seven economies that it predicts could grow 7.2% on average annually.
Prudent macroeconomic policies, anchored by the country’s engagement with the IMF, will support growth. Macroeconomic policy will be focused primarily on poverty reduction to uplift the lives of millions of marginalized people. Growth will likely be driven by reforms in the agricultural sector to encourage commercial investment which will likely buoy the country’s biggest employer.
Infrastructure development aimed to address bottlenecks, particularly in the energy sector, will boost the construction sector. The services sector—transport, telecommunications and finance—is also expected to be a key growth contributor, as investors continue to show a keen interest in these sectors.
Mining, one of the economy’s mainstays, will also favorably contribute to growth. Tanzania is the continent’s fourth largest gold producer and foreign investment in the sector is high. Oil and gas discoveries will further buoy the extractive sector as investors flock in. Tanzania’s gas reserves are estimated at over 10 trillion cubic feet. The World Bank expects gas revenues to boost domestic growth over the next decade.
There are several risks to the country’s positive outlook. The main risk to growth lies within the country’s energy sector. Tanzania faces a chronic energy crisis following a drought in 2011 which led to the authorities instituting the emergency power plan (EPP) to help alleviate the crisis. Tanzania has one of the cheapest power tariffs in the region yet only 13.5% of the population have access to electricity. In January the authorities increased tariffs by 40% to cater for the higher cost of energy production. Energy tariff increases will in turn drive inflation higher to the detriment of the economy at large.
Inflation has been another bugbear for the economy. Inflation increased in 2011 on the back of higher food and energy prices as well as weaker shilling. In 2012 prices have remained stubbornly high—year-on-year inflation was recorded at 19.0% in March, down from 19.4% in February. In the face of elevated inflation coupled with uncertainty surrounding the stability of the shilling, the Bank of Tanzania (BOT) is likely to be reluctant to loosen monetary policy. The IMF expects inflation to decline to single digits by year-end. However this view is heavily dependent on this year’s harvest.
Lastly, uncertainty surrounding global growth also poses a risk to Tanzania’s growth outlook. The European sovereign debt crisis is probably the country’s biggest risk factor. With the European Union a key export destination, a deeper and prolonged contraction in growth, is likely to dent demand for Tanzanian exports.
At a regional level, the authorities are likely to be focused on the further integration of the East African Community (EAC). The BOT governor, Benno Ndulu, in February this year pledged that the government will improve the investment climate in order to attract regional and global investment. With the Europeans’ woes the world will be closely watching when the monetary union of the EAC will come into effect. Given the lessons from the European Union this may well be put on the back burner for some time to come.

Choked By An  Energy Crunch

It doesn’t matter how many capital cities you have flown into; the descent into Maputo never fails to impress. It is a breath-taking expanse of wide, deep water flowing into the Indian Ocean, 92km long and 32km wide, that sparkles in the sun. When Portuguese navigator, Lourenço Marques, surveyed the bay in 1544, on behalf of his seafaring country, tears of joy must have welled up in his eyes. Maputo is a perfect natural harbor made for ships. Marques laid the foundations for the port and lent his name to the colonial city that grew up.
The mouth of the harbor is hemmed in by banks thick with bush, and the blue waters lead right up to the city of Maputo, perched on a ledge of rock above the cranes, palm trees and funnels of the mighty ships in dock. Offshore tankers from Namibia to New York line up for their turn at the quayside.
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They say in Maputo you are never far from the port, and in many ways it dominates the city, home to two million people. It helped pay for the high-rise concrete buildings of this rich city center—or “cemento”, as it is called in Maputo—but for many years it was failing.
In the early years of this century, the port was crumbling to dust after decades of neglect. By 2003, the roads to the port, once among the busiest in Africa, were strewn with rubble. There was barely enough working equipment to load the dwindling amount of cargo. Hundreds of idle casual dock workers lounged by the waterfront waiting for jobs that would never come.
It is a sign of changing economic times in Maputo that private business has been allowed to ride to the rescue with the dash of Zorro. The government of Mozambique invited Grindrod—Africa’s largest shipping company—from South Africa, and DP World, from Dubai, to operate the harbor in return for a stake each.
The turnaround was dramatic.  The number of ships docking in Maputo has doubled, compared to 2003, to more than a thousand-a-year. Coal exports have more than doubled to four million tons and chrome exports are set to reach two million tons this year—five times what they were in 2003. The port is reopening rapidly to trade and now handles everything from citrus fruit to steel from neighboring Zimbabwe.
The change in fortunes, for this key piece of infrastructure, couldn’t have come at a better time to support the rising economic fortunes of Mozambique. The Moatize coalfields, in the north-west corner of the country, are set for a boom; gas has been discovered on the northern coast of Mozambique and BHP Billiton’s Mozal smelter in Matola, south of the capital, is churning out aluminum for export. Rio Tinto has been buying up coal mining assets to add to its international portfolio.
Maputo millionaire Venancio Matusse, an engineer by trade, is one of 42 shareholders in the consultancy, Mozambique Gestores, which manages the port and owns 3% of the free carry business. He said the port is investing $800 million in security and dredging the channel leading to the docks to make way for the big ships. The Maputo River empties into the bay, bringing with it tons of silt that choke the channel.
“A lot of money needs to be spent on the dredging; it is a job that almost never ends,” says Matusse.
“Now the port has all the equipment it needs, but still needs to grow. We need to earn more of the container cargo market because that is where the money is. One challenge is the time goods take to go through the port inspection side. You can take three or four days to clear your goods and that costs money.”
Fernando Lima, a veteran journalist in Maputo, agrees that the port has a long way to go.
“If you look at the container terminal, it is completely congested. Grindrod has attracted a lot of business and now the terminal is facing serious problems of congestion,” he says.
“There is also a problem with bureaucracy, especially when it comes to customs. Delays mean you are losing money as an importer or exporter, which is bad when you have to compete with Richards Bay and Durban in South Africa.”
Even so, millions of dollars are
flowing into infrastructure at the port and another school of thought is that exporters from South Africa—struggling against high cost and a lack of rails at home—could be looking towards Maputo. Either way, to borrow from the words of American writer Mark Twain: reports of the demise of the Port of Maputo have been greatly exaggerated.

The Port That Came  Back From The Dead

The world descended on Africa’s political capital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on May 9.  The queues were long and winding at Bole International Airport as global airlines landed one after the other, offloading hundreds of delegates bound for Africa’s most exclusive economic event.
Throughout the World Economic Forum on Africa, the streets were abuzz with vehicles and people going about their daily routine, oblivious to the occupation of their capital. This humming capital is the epitome of Ethiopia’s remarkable economic achievements in recent years.
Ethiopia is the second most-populous nation in sub-Saharan Africa with a population of more than 80 million people. It is also one of the fastest growing economies on the continent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects growth at 5.0% and 5.5% in 2012 and 2013 respectively. This is a far cry from growth prospects in Europe and the rest of the developed world. Most Eurozone economies are either in recession or teetering on the brink.
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The skyline over Addis Ababa is full of swinging construction cranes. A delegate, who had worked in Addis Ababa since the late nineties, told of his surprise at the building and economic progress since he was last in the country.
Rain and dark clouds hung over the capital for most of the conference, but this didn’t dampen the enthusiasm as delegates exchanged business cards in the hope of new business opportunities. Almost every conversation talked of how the fast growing continent of Africa was the place to be.
“‘It is a tremendous time for Africa where Africa is coming to the world, and the world to Africa,” says Josette Sheeran, vice-chairman and member of the Managing Board, World Economic Forum, speaking to CNBC Africa on the eve of the forum.
Sheeran, in her remarks at the opening plenary session, said Africa was in an era of the hand shake with people banding together to galvanize the continent’s transformation.
The discussions were wide and varied, ranging from innovation and technology, to social and gender issues. Several themes were pervasive throughout the three days—among them infrastructural development, regional trade, leadership and governance.
Infrastructure development was identified as the biggest impediment, bar none, to growth in Africa.  Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, talked of a recent trip to an African capital. To his dismay, this particular city of a million people had water infrastructure to cater for a mere 17,000 people.
This story brings to light Africa’s gaping infrastructure hole. Delegates at the forum were unanimous. Africa needs to invest heavily in roads, ports, railway lines and power stations to remove bottlenecks and promote efficiency in the economy. Sufficient infrastructure will reduce the cost of doing business on the continent dramatically, which will in turn spur investment.
Many African governments have taken heed. Governments across the continent are spending billions of dollars on infrastructure. In February, South Africa, Africa’s biggest economy and by far the most advanced in terms of infrastructure, announced a $100 billion capital expenditure program over the next three years.
The forum also heard Africa’s global and regional trade was at risk through uncertainty created by the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. Delegates were concerned about low intra-Africa trade.  Intra-Africa trade is only about 10% compared to 70% in the Eurozone; 52% in Asia; 50% in North America and 26% in South America.
Low intra-regional trade is a missed opportunity for growth and development for the continent.  Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organisation, blamed this low intra-regional trade on poor infrastructure, inefficient border procedures, regulatory discrepancies and insufficient trade finance.
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“The issue of boosting intra-African trade is not so much the diagnosis on what needs to be done, but on how to do it.” He added that “we know that the necessary initiatives have to happen at the regional level. Regional organizations have to address these problems one by one. The key to removing these bottlenecks lies in the political energy of regional leaders to do it,” says Lamy.
Over the last decade, six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world were African.  Part of Africa’s stellar growth during this period has been partly attributed to good leadership and governance. Kofi Annan, chairman of the Africa Progress Panel, praised the continent’s leadership and governance standards.  He was confident that over the next decade Africa’s progress will continue.
Annan stressed the need for public policy debate which, he rued, was practically non-existent across the continent.  He lamented that as much as there is democracy there is no engagement between governments and their citizenry. As such there is no policy consensus in nations which means that at each change of government, every five or 10 years, there is a change in policy. He said that lack of policy debate not only promotes myopic policies but also policy discontinuity. This limits consensus and nation building on the continent, ultimately putting a cap on economic growth and development.
Gao Xiqing, president and vice chairman of China Investment Corporation, hit the nail on the head when he referred to a quote by Chairman Mao referring to China’s poverty.
“This may seem a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for changes the desire for action and the desire for revolution. On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written; the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted,” he says.
Africa, like China then, is also fortunate enough to have ‘a blank sheet free from any mark’. It is Africa’s opportunity given its many desires to rise and produce a unique, beautiful and heavenly masterpiece in the form of inclusive, strong and sustainable economic growth to lift Africans from poverty.

Build And We Will Grow

Sri Lanka is a tropical island steeped in history—boasting multiple ethnicities and beliefs. It is a melting pot of Sinhala, Tamil and Indian people, as well as the ancestors of Dutch, British and Portuguese colonialists. The country’s diverse landscape offers visitors a multitude of activities and experiences; Sir Arthur C. Clarke called Sri Lanka “the island jewel of the Indian Ocean”, and he had seen the universe.
Swift reconstruction efforts, after the 2004 tsunami, have been funded by NGOs and returning tourists who have recognized its potential as a leading tourist destination. It is now possible to rent a fully furnished villa with personnel attending to your every desire. Perhaps a private island, previously owned by a count, takes your fancy? Comparable are the luxurious resorts that spoil residents with palm-tree-fringed private beaches where falling coconuts are the highlight of the day. Visitors are beckoned to book themselves into a spa, participate in a yoga retreat or take a course on meditation.
At dinner—after a day of scuba diving and snorkeling—you can fantasize about tomorrow’s whale watching cruise. Satiate your adrenalin cravings with numerous water sports or challenge the waves the following day. Ascending the country’s highest peaks; rock climbing and abseiling have also proved popular among tourists.
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With its fortifications perched on a rocky outcrop on the south-western peninsula of Sri Lanka, the city of Galle is one of Sri Lanka’s top tourist hotspots. The Unesco World Heritage Site remains the largest European-built fort in Asia and is best viewed while sipping champagne in a hot air balloon. Its cobbled streets are dotted with Dutch colonial buildings, which have been rejuvenated as museums, boutique hotels and elegant restaurants. The latter provide ideal respite after a sightseeing tour in Marco Polo’s footsteps.
Food is abundant in Sri Lanka. If you need something quick and easy, most bakeries sell vegetable curry-filled rotis and carefully wrapped samoosas. For something more elaborate, handpick a lobster or crayfish from a local fisherman and have a beachside restaurant prepare it for you while you watch a live fire-throwing performance. Indian and colonial influences have infused Sri Lankan food with unique flavors which include an abundance of coconut milk and bouquets of spices.
Being chauffeured northwards, in the comfort of your privately hired car, allows you to observe the majestic landscape. The small hilltop town of Nuwara Eliya is especially charming. It is brewed in nostalgia, with local traditions adopted from the British colonialists. Here, you can join a white-clad gentleman on the golf course or place bets on horse races. The cool atmospheric conditions—it’s located 1,860m above sea level—are ideal for tea cultivation. Take the time to visit the privately-owned plantations. Look through bakery windows and you’ll find English scones being served for breakfast alongside a pot of Ceylon tea. After all, the island was called Ceylon until 1972.
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Kandy, which recollects childhood fantasies due to its name, is a cultural haven and home to the Buddha tooth relic temple and the burial grounds of kings gone by. Further along, you will encounter Sigiriya, meaning ‘Lion’s Rock’ in Sinhalese. This hardened magma plug of an extinct volcano rises sharply 370m above the plains. Age-old rock paintings suggest that its caves have been inhabited since prehistoric times. According to local folklore, it was the royal playground of King Kassapa I. Since its re-discovery in 1831, it has been declared a ‘pre-1900 creation’ and the eighth wonder of the world. Palace pools and ruins lie atop its flat peak, which offers magnificent panoramic views.
The ancient city of Anuradhapura was Sri Lanka’s capital city for 1,000 years. The assortment of dagobas (Buddhist shrines); high-rise temples; ponds and ancient palaces are vestiges of its cultural, religious and architectural importance in Sri Lanka’s history. Unesco has classified it as one of the oldest continually inhabited cities: the new city center arises at the foot of the ruins. The Ruwanweliseya dagoba, which is synonymous with Anuradhapura, is revered for its architectural splendor. It is one of the world’s largest brick monuments built before the 20th century.
Although the majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhist; Hindu, Christian and Islamic influences are also visible. The birthplace of Buddhism in Sri Lanka can be traced back to Mihintale. I accompanied barefooted, white saris on a short pilgrimage, up 1,840 stairs to the meditating Buddha statue.
Sri Lanka is overflowing with local cultures, traditions and a fascinating history. The smiling locals are fully inclusive.
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www.srilankatourism.org should set you on the right path. According to icanholidays, you should budget at least $500 a day to live in the lap of luxury.

Sri Lanka: The Pristine Island

At a quarter to noon on a slow Friday in November, Aslam Khan is in a hurry. As he leaves his third floor corner office, he punches buttons on his BlackBerry. “I’ll be there in a flash,” he says in a deep baritone voice that doesn’t appear to fit his body.
Khan is the chairman and co-founder of Aviation Leasing Services (ALS) Ltd, an aircraft rental company based in Nairobi. He knows that when it comes to flying, time is of the essence, and he runs downstairs to the hangar where Captain Nahashon Mutea is waiting for him in a chopper.
The journey to Kisumu, a city 500 kilometres west of Nairobi on the shores of Lake Victoria, lends a rare chance to interview the aviation entrepreneur where he makes his money—up in the air. Khan, a renowned rally driver, has a tough race the following day, but right now that is the least of his worries as the helicopter rattles through headwinds.
“Kenya is such a beautiful country,” he says, peering down at the green tea estates hemmed in by forests that dot the Great Rift Valley.
Flying a chopper on a hot and humid day is a study in the business of running an aviation company. Everywhere you look there are risks—turbulence, fog and the deadly possibility of mechanical failure. As co-founder of ALS Ltd 20 years ago, Khan, along with his late brother Ashraf, has piloted the company from a scrappy outfit, with a single Cessna 150 aircraft, to a thriving company with 25 planes and three subsidiaries.
“The aviation business is not for the faint-hearted,” says Khan, who turned 60 in December. “It’s a very sensitive business.”
It is so sensitive that the recent volatility in the Kenyan shilling forced the company to charge Kenyan clients in dollars to avoid exchange rate losses. Even a small rise in interest rates can ground business, he says, given that regular piles of cash are needed to finance operations.
ALS Ltd leases aircraft to humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross and World Food Program as well as oil companies; it also operates charter flights for businesses. The firm has shareholdings in local airlines Safarilink and Severin Air Safaris and runs Heliservices, a wholly owned helicopter division.
Khan is a former Kenya Airways (KQ) pilot with experience in the Kenyan Air Force. He joined the Air Force in 1970, where he completed his training as a pilot. Six years later, he joined East African Airways, which was later absorbed by Kenya Airways when it was carved from the regional carrier in 1977. He says that if it were not for the Air Force, he would probably be doing something different today as his father could not afford fees for a commercial flying school.
“When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a pilot,” he said back at his office at Wilson Airport, near Nairobi, “but I also dreamed of owning a professionally run business. I had achieved my pilot dream; now it was time to chase the business aspiration.”
While at Kenya Airways, Khan says he started saving up and together with his brother, Ashraf, they bought a small Cessna 150 aircraft worth $7,000 so Ashraf could learn to fly. That was a fortune in an era when flying, let alone owning a plane, was a luxury for government officials and rich businessmen.
“We leased the plane to a flying school and discovered that it was an interesting business,” says Khan.
The lease gave them the business name, Aviation Leasing Services, too. As ALS’s fleet of aircraft rose, so did Khan’s position; he became the Airbus captain for Kenya Airways in 1991.
At the time, Somalia was slipping into anarchy as President Siad Barre was overthrown. Sudan was at war. Humanitarian organizations started trooping into the countries to assist the innocent civilians caught in civil war. This presented an opportunity in the relief business which Khan and his brother seized. Most aircraft serving the countries were foreign, mainly from South Africa.
“We got into relief and grew the business over the years,” he says.
Expansion was a problem—in the 1990s, financing was hard to come by, especially for African-owned businesses.
“We had to depend on leasing aircraft from outside because there was some kind of stigma about Africans. We had to negotiate through leasing until we started owning our own airplanes.”
ALS outgrew the stigma and eventually won the confidence of banks to expand its fleet. Khan had to quit his captain’s job in 1992 to take charge of the business and in the same year, his brother and co-director died in a plane crash. Every opportunity in aviation came with competition and as he discovered to his chagrin, pilots were not only rare and sought after, they were also fickle and open to the highest bidder.
“We do a lot of pilot training, but many move on to other airlines. It’s a reality we have to live with. Retention of pilots is a major problem because people tend to move to better conditions and bigger airplanes. We try to have retention schemes and more opportunities for pilots to grow, but it’s hard to stop it.”
With ALS and three other aviation companies, Khan is still dreaming big. Last year, he relinquished the CEO post to Cornwell Muleya, a professional airlines manager from Zambia, partly as a succession plan and to bring in new ideas. Going forward, ALS plans to work with Kenya School of Flying, which is run by captain Martin Ririani, his former colleague at Kenya Airways, who quit to start training pilots.
“We want to set up an academy for flying,” says Khan. “Kenyans are hard-working and there’s huge potential for pilots, even in the region. The only way to overcome supply and demand is to have enough pilots. We’ve got infrastructure to train and the opportunities. Many people leave Kenya to go to South Africa and the US to train as pilots. Local facilities are inadequate, so we are in negotiation with schools in Europe and South Africa to see if we can partner and set up a high-standard flying academy.”
The larger plan is to make ALS a one-stop shop for aviation services and solutions—from leasing aircraft and training pilots to operating scheduled flights. This is a highly capital-intensive business and the founder is scouting for a management buyout to bring in investors.
The idea of a management buyout is more of a succession plan. The business is very much a family culture, he says, and he is looking to change that by turning it into a corporate business. “This is very important,” says Khan, who was voted the best rally driver for 2011 by the Kenya Motorsports Association.
“To achieve success companies have to be run professionally. Family can be involved in the business, but successful companies are the ones that follow corporate governance.”
He says family-owned companies lose out on the contribution given by professional managers, though they enjoy the virtue of trust—critical for business and hard work. But trust can be extended to employees if you find the right ones. Khan says that in a competitive market, even family members find it hard to resist the allure of better opportunities outside. “My niece started with us as a pilot; now she has joined Kenya Airways.”
Reputation is critical and so the company’s operations constantly undergo audits carried out by its customers and industry regulators. The company invested millions of dollars in meeting security and safety benchmarks, including IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification for meeting international aviation safety standards in June 2011. It is the second after KQ in Kenya to get such a certification. In September of the same year, the firm was admitted to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), joining KQ and Precision Air in East Africa.
Khan says this has positioned ALS to partner with major airlines and global aviation firms to expand its market. It can now lease its aircraft to leading airlines and is in talks with national carrier Kenya Airways. It already leases to RwandAir, Southern Star Airlines in South Sudan and an airline in Sierra Leone.
To serve bigger carriers it needs medium-sized planes in the 70 passenger capacity. But that needs more cash, he says, with a single unit going for $10-25 million. “We are looking at Dash 8 models. But then this means we need cash to buy enough parts and staff like crew and engineers etc., and unless it is backed up with a contract, it’s difficult and risky to invest.”
ALS has found itself with idle planes like other airlines—unable to stay afloat due to cash flow problems which ground operations, such as the Southern Star of Juba and an airline based in Sierra Leone, which stopped operations last year.
Piloting and rallying experience has given Khan some of the most important management traits: focus and attention to detail. “Rallying has been very much in the family and when on the rough and at times muddy roads you must focus, just as with managing any business.”
Rallying is an expensive hobby and he has to invest both time and money into it. His best career moment, he says, was when he qualified as a pilot in the Air Force. So does that mean good pilots make good managers?
“Good pilots are not necessarily good managers and good managers are not necessarily good pilots. I’m lucky I got both,” he says philosophically.

From The Cockpit To Corporate Suite

Crossing Pont Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan, you get to see Côte d’Ivoire’s dichotomy clearly. In front of you, mid-rise buildings glow with neon lights through the darkness: Pepsi, Mitsubishi, MTN create a mask that hints at prosperity. But the queues of young men waiting on street corners and the cranes pecking at the drifts of garbage on the water’s edge tell a different story.
Once the region’s most sophisticated economy, Côte d’Ivoire is now a case study for the economic impact of conflict and political paralysis. But even though its election descended into violence and the country teetered on the brink of another civil war, the much-delayed completion of the transition from post-war junta to democratic state has put Côte d’Ivoire back on the path to regaining some of its former glory.
A shaky cease-fire, signed in 2003 to hold the country together after an attempted coup, led to a government that controlled the south—under Laurent Gbagbo—and a north run by Forces Nouvelles rebels.
During that limbo, investors talked about the country’s potential and the build up of money that was waiting to be released once the election finally passed. But it was delayed, then delayed again, until it seemed as though the delay would be interminable. While regional neighbors, such as Ghana, saw their economies boom and attract international investment, Côte d’Ivoire was in stasis.
In November 2010, there was one last twist. The incumbent old warhorse Gbagbo refused to yield, leading to a violent standoff. The victor, Alassane Ouattara, formed a government within the compound of the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, protected by a ring of UN peacekeepers while militias fought in the city around them.
Escalating international pressure and financial sanctions eventually led to the collapse of Gbagbo’s support. Ouattara, a former International Monetary Fund official, took over in April last year but not before the country had defaulted on its bonds by failing to make coupon payments to international creditors London Club, while its assets were frozen.
His early achievements—in reassuring investors that the arrears would be repaid and getting backing for debt relief from France—were encouraging, and today in Abidjan there is a cautious optimism. The city is not visibly transformed from two years ago, but construction projects are restarting and traffic is building. Though the change has not been dramatic, the lifting of the deadlock means that companies can finally plan beyond the short term.
“There’s a sense that a lot of things are possible,” says the director of the private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners’ (ECP) Abidjan office, Brice Lodugnon. The security situation has improved and there’s some certainty over the direction of the government, which has pledged to increase spending on infrastructure and agriculture.
The good news is that at least around Abidjan, infrastructure and utilities still function. There are good companies in many sectors and a relatively strong system of governance. Key industries, including financial services, are competitive and the country is still the world’s largest exporter of cocoa. But while Côte d’Ivoire has some of the political risk of a post-conflict environment, it does not have an abundance of underpriced opportunities. That’s a problem for investors.
Even before the crisis, there were tentative expansions into previously politicized industries, including cement making and flour milling, with companies from North Africa, as well as the country’s large French and Lebanese expat communities, moving into manufacturing and processing. Agribusiness group Olam has pledged a further $200 million in investments, while ECP is expanding its portfolio in the power sector. Rather than looking for a new cohort of investors, Ouattara’s government might find more support from those existing players, now free to make long-term plans.
Many businesses were battered by the 2011 crisis but now stoically downplay the human cost of that period, talking instead of the relief at their newfound ability to plan beyond the short term. Still, the scars are there. At the height of the violence, pro-Gbagbo forces executed one of the country’s largest foreign investors—Yves Lambelin, the former president and patriarch of Sifca. That story gets told regularly.
International investors speak highly of Ouattara. One CEO of a multinational operating across the continent said that the president—while his ability to create a government is unproven—is one of the most accomplished leaders in economic planning in Africa.
Politics are bound to be difficult. An hour’s flight north of Abidjan is Ouattara’s hometown of Bouaké, until recently the headquarters of the Forces Nouvelles. There, the difference in development is marked. The roads are in worse condition and the security presence, in the form of UN peacekeepers from Pakistan, are far more visible. People living there refer to the country’s “reconstruction”.
Further up country the situation is worse, with an entire generation denied access to education after the southern government abandoned schools. An executive in a cotton company, with an extensive presence in the north, called the state of some areas “appalling”.
Making sure that the country’s redevelopment is even and that the government—headed by a northerner—does not re-open divisions that are still fresh, will be a massive task for the new president.

Healing The  Divide Will Be  No Easy Task

Gluttony and chocolate drive birthday parties, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas and Halloween.
“All of our great celebrations of life are associated with chocolate,” says Carol Off, author of Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet.
Even three million tons of chocolate a year is not enough to satisfy the world’s voracious appetite. More than two thirds of it comes from Africa.
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The chocolate craze began with the harvesting of cocoa by 16th-century Spanish settlers in Central America, where it was discovered. Five hundred years later, West Africa grows 70% of the world’s cocoa. The industry is valued at $105 billion. The Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria are the world’s three largest producers. The Ivory Coast produces 41% of the world’s cocoa. It grows around $1 billion worth annually.
For more than two million small-holder African cocoa farmers—90% of which are family-owned farms no bigger than 5 hectares—cocoa is life. Aside from this, the chocolate industry is fragile. Small farms often struggle against bad weather conditions, pests and disease, which can cut yields by 40% annually, according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO). Ecobank predicts that this year’s delayed, but good, rains in the Ivory Coast will boost mid-crop yield to 350,000 tons: a 10% increase compared to the last 10 years. Despite this good fortune, the people who grow the cocoa complain they are being squeezed.
“Cocoa farmers in West Africa receive between 3.5% and 6.4% of the final value of a chocolate bar (depending on the percentage cocoa content), whereas the manufacturer’s share has increased from 56% to 70% and the retailer’s share from 12% to 17%,” according to the Fairtrade Foundation. It campaigns for a bigger share for the growers.
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) launched the African Cocoa Initiative (ACI) in mid-March. It encourages profitable sustainability by equipping 100,000 cocoa famers, over five years, with farming and management skills. The ACI increases farmers’ revenues and helps to raise low yields. The foundation’s member companies—Barry Callebaut, Ferrero, Kraft Foods, Lindt &amp; Sprüngli, Mars and Nestlé—pay for it.
While the cocoa industry is lucrative, farmers in the Ivory Coast are being wooed by rubber. Cocoa farmers are replacing ageing plantations with rubber seedlings. Rubber—after around seven years—produces a monthly income, whereas the average cocoa tree bears 30 pods over two annual crops.  This is nearly enough to produce 1kg of dark chocolate, according to the Hershey Company.
Ghana, which meets 18% of the global demand, is the second-biggest supplier of cocoa. Author Carol Off traveled to Ghana to investigate the cocoa industry. She wrote of falling abusive labor practices and better healthcare. On the other side of the coin, cocoa farmers are also accused of reporting lower yields and hiding beans to raise the market price. Illegal smuggling between cocoa producing countries is also rumored.
The Ghanaian cocoa industry is regulated by Cocobod, which ensures a fixed price at the beginning of each season. If prices fluctuate during the season, farmers are paid the difference. Farmers sell their cocoa beans to licensed buying companies. This regulation ensures that high-quality Ghanaian cocoa beans are highly sought after.
There’s an apparent paradox: Africa is the world’s leading cocoa supplier, yet the top 10 confectionary companies are outside Africa; most are based in Europe and the United States. While the challenges of producing in Africa are plenty, so are the opportunities.
Afrotropic Cocoa Processing, a Ghanaian manufacturing company, grinds over 6,000 metric tons of local cocoa beans annually. It sells its products—cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and cocoa powder—to international food manufacturers. A large percentage of European chocolate is made from Ghanaian cocoa. Switzerland eats the most chocolate. World-famous companies like Cailler-Néstle, Toblerone, Lindt, Teuscher and Sprüngli call it home.
Kraft Foods is the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer, and has manufacturing plants in South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Kenya and Namibia. It is leading by example with commitments of $150 million towards investment in manufacturing facilities in the Southern Africa region over the next three years. Cadbury, owned by Kraft Foods, buys its cocoa beans from Ghana and Nigeria and manufactures in South Africa and Namibia. By 2015, Nestlé, the third largest manufacturer, will add five African factories to its already existing 28. A two-fold increase in its products, in the last few years, has made it more competitive.
These companies understand that this investment is a stepping-stone into African markets. What if chocolate brands like CÔte d’Or and Toblerone, both owned by Kraft Foods, were being made in Africa? This development of skilled jobs would help to alleviate poverty and possibly decrease the cost of production.
During the last decade, Africa has boasted a 5% annual growth. While the continent is open to industrial growth, it only accounts for 1% of global manufacturing. Africa is a fertile terrain for private-sector investments in industry and manufacturing, with small manufacturers going where multinationals fear to tread. Africa has the capacity to become a manufacturing powerhouse.
Madécasse chocolate is the proof. It has created jobs by producing chocolate in Madagascar. While problems with electricity and water persist, the company is training up a skilled workforce. Maybe investing in chocolate is as simple as spotting the obvious that everyone else misses.

The World Eats:  Africa Misses Out

It is tempting to see the KAZA Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) as a country in the making. But reality falls short of this—at least for now.
The project is so breathtaking in both its scope and ambition that it does inspire dreams of a different tomorrow for a region that is still suffering the miseries inflicted by one of the most brutal wars in recent history. After nearly four decades, the anti-colonial conflict that turned into civil war and at stages involved South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Cubans and, in surreptitious ways, even the Russians and Americans, came to an end 10 years ago when Angola’s Unita strongman Jonas Savimbi died in a hail of bullets.
<div id="attachment_621" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-621" class="wp-image-621 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_2009-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />Dr Victor Siamudaala program manager</div>
Part of the wonder of the project is that the vision for turning the area into a “peace park” started taking shape immediately after the Angolan civil war ended.
“KAZA” stands for the Kavango and Zambezi rivers, with the territory including adjoining sections of Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its map is practically a state in its own right.
The binding factor is the region’s exceptional natural beauty, including the Victoria Falls, the Okavango Delta and the vast elephant herds traversing its plains and swamps. The area’s relatively sparse communities are so distant from the heartland of their respective states that most of them probably associate more closely with each other than with their countrymen.
Of course, Zimbabwe and Zambia would not dream of ceding those spectacular falls thundering between them. Neither would Botswana consider letting go of the Okavango and the Chobe National Park. These are their countries’ signature natural wonders, and they are the geese laying those golden tourist eggs.
But it is to the credit of the five governments that they have agreed to join these adjacent portions of land in a transboundary scheme that comes to a mammoth 444,000 square kilometer chunk of Africa, with conservation at its heart and tourism as the economic objective for the 2.5 million people living there.
At last year’s Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Luanda, the countries’ leaders issued a declaration when they signed the KAZA TFCA treaty, which came close to conferring a kind of satellite, if not colonial, status on their shared holding.
It said: “The KAZA TFCA shall become an international organization with a legal persona, capable of entering into contracts, and acquiring and disposing of property. Institutions established through the treaty to govern the TFCA, particularly its secretariat, will be empowered to ensure that the objectives of the treaty are realized and corresponding strategic plans and protocols implemented.”
The project includes a range of national parks, game and forest reserves and conservancies. Although these are in varying states of repair, many can be linked across boundaries and through corridors to become mutually supportive within a broader framework that will have nature-based tourism as its main industry. There is even talk of a “KAZA visa” to ease cross-border traffic within the territory.
The scheme has the backing of the German and Netherlands governments, the Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation, the Peace Parks Foundation and the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Victor Siamudaala, the program manager, is a veterinarian from Zambia. His secretariat is based in Kasane, the charming north-eastern Botswana town where it is not unusual to see elephants wander through, or pedestrians casually step around warthogs scuffling on the sidewalk.
The secretariat is at the center of an intricate bureaucratic web that gives practical effect to the scheme.
As explained by Werner Myburgh, chief executive of the Peace Parks Foundation, each country made a development plan for its particular part of the greater territory with the help of various government departments, the private sector and affected communities. The five plans were then aligned under the umbrella plan for the scheme as a whole. The result is a detailed plan showing how the boundaries run, which areas are earmarked for conservation and which for development, and what the infrastructural requirements are.
Each country has a coordinator who, together with the central secretariat, reports to a committee of senior officials, which is in turn overseen by a steering committee of five ministers from the respective governments.
The wide range of factors that need to be taken into account, including security, customs, veterinary, agricultural and conservation matters, require the involvement of several government departments in each country. Generally, decisions are taken by consensus, which makes the process even more complex.
It explains why the central secretariat, which drives the program’s implementation, prefers to abide by the governments’ jointly approved statements.
But the transfrontier project has caught on since its initiation in 2006. The official launch function was held on March 15, 2012 in the Caprivi town of Katima Mulilo where, under the magnificent trees along the bank of the Zambezi, the South African Defense Force had its forward base more than two decades ago.
The occasion was attended by more than 700 people, including the environmental and tourism ministers of the five governments, SADC’s executive secretary, Dr Tomaz Salamão, and traditional leaders from the five countries.
Myburgh says the sense of ownership of the joint project was tangible. He quotes Botswana’s minister of the environment, wildlife and tourism, Kitso Mokaila: “… (We) have emphasized in the KAZA Treaty… that we will own and lead the planning and development process of the TFCA. We take cognisance of the fact that our land and other natural resources are a valuable heritage of the five partner countries.”
Dr Salamão spoke of the project as a commendable achievement and “a true symbol of regional integration”, which is one of SADC’s goals. He saw it as “a door to further milestones that have the potential to change the lives of communities who live in the KAZA TFCA area for the better”.
The project is not without challenges. Land mines left by the war are scattered around Angola’s Cuando Cubango province that adjoins the Caprivi in the south and southern Zambia to the east. The mines were planted despite the Geneva Convention’s requirement that such areas be mapped, which makes them hard to locate. But, according to Myburgh, clearing has been going on for some time and remains a high priority.
The area includes the Luiana Partial Reserve, which, like rest of the area, was left stripped of game by the fighting armies. But already the vast elephant herds of Botswana have started migrating across Namibia’s Caprivi strip through Zambia, back to the vast woodlands where their ancestors once roamed without fear of soldiers and their explosives.

At The (Trans)frontier Of Conservation And Tourism

Gleaming white sands, crystal waters and luxury beach villas are all part of Zanzibar, but there is a lot more to the island than that.
Zanzibar has a rich history—the island is home to the first mosque in the southern hemisphere, built between the 11th and 12th centuries. From the 1st century AD, it was a trading post for Arabian and Indian merchants.
There are two main islands: Unguja, or Zanzibar Island, and smaller Pemba Island; plus 51 islets. The Zanzibari archipelago offers rich pickings in terms of accommodation, ranging from private boutique villas to large, internationally branded and managed hotels and resorts—of which there are many. If seclusion is what you’re after, some of the smaller islands present the perfect spot. Set among a series of coral atolls, Mnemba Island Lodge, on Mnemba Island—4.5km from Zanzibar Island, has 10 individual ‘bandas’, or chalets, in a beach forest. The bandas are constructed using hand-woven structures made from natural material. Each has its own sprawling bedroom, verandah and private walkway that leads onto the beach. While there is a selection of activities to choose from on Mnemba Island, a trip to the island when the green turtle lays its eggs in February is a must.
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There are plenty of hotels in Zanzibar but most tourists prefer the north-west and east coast of the island, with the Diamonds range of hotels among the nicest.
Your stay in Zanzibar would be incomplete without a trip to Stone Town, where the island’s early Arabian and Indian influence can be seen in the architecture. Stone Town, or Mji Mkongwe—Swahili for ‘Old Town’—grew into what was a booming city center during the height of its spice and slave trade in the 19th century. UNESCO named Stone Town a World Heritage Site in 2000 and it forms part of the New City, Ng’ambo, meaning ‘the other side’. Most entry and exit points into Zanzibar are in, or close to, Stone Town so planning cleverly will allow for a few hours to be spent browsing through the East African city’s history.
<h3>The logistics</h3>
Set 35km off the coast of Tanzania, the Zanzibar islands can be reached either by boat or air. KLM (with Kenya Airways), Gulf Air, Ethiopian Airlines and Air Mauritius fly regularly to Zanzibar International Airport. Be prepared for a lot of traveling if you’ve chosen Zanzibar and any of its surrounding islands as a holiday destination. Car hire is an option for those individuals feeling brave enough to navigate Zanzibar’s poorly maintained roads, but there are also minibuses, operating from Stone Town, that take sightseers to visitor hotspots around the island.
Tourism in Zanzibar peaks in July and August, the dry season, and again between December and February, so a more expensive trip during these months can be expected. Zanzibar offers splendid scuba diving and snorkeling, particularly during the hot, humid months from December to February, and it is well worth paying the higher rates, as the warmer waters attract a wide variety of marine life.

Zest For  Zanzibar

A swift 30 minutes’ drive from Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos leads you to Lekki suburbs, home to the Nike Art Centre, a busy double-story building that keeps some of the best and most treasured contemporary artwork in Nigeria.
The white halls, decorated with castings of Yoruba art patterns, mimicking the unique techniques of indigo cloth dyeing, also known as Adire, display some of the 7,000 odd artistic works in this gallery.
The award-winning Nike Davies-Okundaye and her husband worked hard over decades to build a business enterprise that spans the whole of Nigeria.
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Mama Nike, as she is popularly known, needs no introduction. She is one of Nigeria’s best known art entrepreneurs. Her life story rivals the drama and intrigue of classic novelist Charles Dickens’ characters—deprived orphans prodding through life against the back-drop of an ugly world, but eventually making a success of themselves at the end.
Okundaye lost her mother and grandmother at a young age. Still her misfortunes, that virtually rendered her an orphan, didn’t rein in her urge to work hard. Even with hard work her business struggled for many years to take off owing to a lack of interest in the arts by many people. Numerous other factors, including politics, contributed to her challenges. At one stage tension between the government and artists ran so high that it stifled creativity in the country. But as luck would have it, Mama Nike met her current husband who was then a senior police administrator. His influence led to the antagonism easing out and artists provided new platforms and opportunities for expression.
Okundaye started her business in 1968 as a textile artist in Kogi. At that point she used her bedroom as a gallery. She eventually moved to Oshogbo, the headquarters of her business empire today. Since then, her business has expanded and has branches in Ogidi, the capital Abuja and Lagos. The Lagos art gallery, completed in 2009, is where she generates most of the revenue that supports the operating costs of her other business centers.
“In Nigeria, only oil is discovered but good artists aren’t. My aim is to discover artists and to showcase their beautiful work in our country and in Africa as a whole” says Mama Nike.
Her art centres reveal prospect for the economic benefits that can be reaped through art in a country that offers limited opportunities for artists. They conduct workshops where art students learn the practical aspects of indigo cloth dyeing. The students are all women from surrounding poor, rural communities.
Although it costs a premium to teach, house and feed each one, the women do not pay a penny. Okundaye covers their expenses. Mama Nike also supports these women by selling their artwork on their behalf at her gallery in Lagos.
The Lagos Art Gallery caters for both first-time and seasoned art collectors with artwork prices ranging from $62 to $ 38,000.
In this gallery, some of the most sought-after artworks by well-known contemporary Nigerian artists fill the walls. The displays of painter Rom Isichei, well known for high textured surface of oil or acrylic and outstanding skill in the use of colors, take up a whole wall. The adjacent wall showcases Kunle  Adegborioye’s latest works, which capture the essence of the current political and socio-economic issues in Nigeria. The displays provide an artistic vision that depicts real life and mythical stories of hope and despair.
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The gallery has made 60-year-old Okundaye’s business one of the most promising art enterprises in Nigeria. The sizable tourism industry has benefited her business in many ways. Over the years, tourists, excluding the international art collectors, have been the main consumers of her artwork. To cater for this demand, Okundaye has created a tourist paradise in each of the other three centers, namely Oshogbo, Abuja and Ogidi. The centers offer three services: guided tours, inexpensive lodges and arts exhibitions. A visit to the Oshogbo center, for example, would be more than just about her artwork. It would give a full exploration of ancient Yoruba culture. Oshgobo, in the cocoa-producing region, provides an awe-inspiring experience. The environment is enriched by the presence of internationally known artists such as Jimoh Buraimoh, Jacob Afolabi and Chief Oloruntoba.
Mama Nike believes that things would be rosier for her business if people understood the investment value of art. “You can use art as collateral at the bank and as a stock,” she explains.
Her second last daughter, Allyson-Aina Davies, recently returned from England, is planning to tap into the potential the creative industry in Nigeria and Africa has to offer. As the managing director of the Lagos gallery, she will be in charge of over 7,000 artworks of Nigeria’s finest in the industry.
The value of the creative industry is about to explode now that international and local art collectors are recognizing the investment value in Nigerian art. The 2010 UNESCO report on the creative industry indicated that “…the large majority of developing countries are not yet able to harness their creative capacity for development. This is a reflection of weaknesses both in domestic policy and in the business environment, and global systemic biases.” Benedict Enwonwu’s piece titled Underwater Still Life made waves in 2008 when it fetched $27,788 at Bonhams in London, exceeding the pre-estimates phenomenally. Two years later, Nigerian artwork was still attracting cash and collectors abroad. At the first commercial auction of artworks from sub-Saharan Africa in the United States (New York), the five most expensive pieces were from Nigeria. One of Ben Enwonwu’s paintings went for $91,000.
International interest in Nigerian art has also sparked interest locally over the past five years. The banking and the oil and gas sectors created dollar millionaires in Nigeria and out of this select group a few individual collectors have emerged. Recently, the Ben Enwonwu Foundation hosted a workshop on art as an alternative investment. Prince Yemisi Shyllon, Nigeria’s biggest collector whose collection at his house can take more than a day to view, was in attendance. He says in Nigeria “Art could be a form of investment, and is growing tremendously.” Commercial art auctions were not common in Nigeria until 07 March 2008 when Kavita Chellarams hosted the first commercial art auction in Lagos. Since then Chellarams’ Art House Contemporary has hosted seven auctions with average sales tallies exceeding 70% by volume per event. Among several of Mama Nike’s artworks that featured at these auctions were the piece entitled Village Market Scene which fetched $8,750; an untitled piece by Tola Wewe sold at $16,666; and the unsold Poetic Pattern of Love with an estimated value between $5,260 and $6,580.
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Developing interest in Nigerian and African art both locally and internationally is certainly Mama Nike’s intention. Until her dreams are achieved she is unlikely to put her feet up or hit the golf course.

Drilling For Art

In a rundown street in the center of Mombasa, Kenya, a short walk from the port, I sat down in a Chinese restaurant for a meeting with an infamous man of whom I had heard many talk about. Waiting for him to arrive, watching the door, I saw him enter the restaurant, his eyes flitting across the empty room. He beckoned to a table more secluded and out of the view of most patrons.
As I sat down, extending my hand to greet him, he looked me up and down with suspicion. “Who are you?” he asked, seeming very wary of me despite the fact that we had been in email contact for about a month before my arrival in Kenya. I pulled my papers and business cards from my bag, by way of introduction, only for them to be taken from me. He made off, papers in hand, to conduct an inspection and make copies.
“It’s a very sensitive business this, Miss Otto,” he elucidated upon his return, staring at me intently, still clearly unsure of my intentions.
Piracy, the topic that I was there to research, is a complex affair, and now also an industry that costs the global economy between $7 billion and $12 billion a year.
Andrew Mwangura, the man I met that day, is a famed piracy negotiator at the heart of this industry, which has spawned an underground economy generating hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profit every year.
Mwangura has been dealing with piracy for nearly two decades, spending most of his time running the East African Seafarers’ Association. The rest of the time he negotiates ransom deals between pirates and shipping companies for vessels and kidnapped crew.
Mwangura has found a degree of notoriety in this line of work. Indeed, modern-day piracy, particularly the Somali version, has captured the attention of the world through reports that could be straight out of a big-budget movie about growing organized crime plaguing African waters. These are tales of desperate, young, armed men in fishing boats; capturing vessels, kidnapping crews and holding them for months claiming multi-million dollar ransoms.
The 21st century face of piracy is a world away from the adventurous romance of Blackbeard 300 years ago. It is a slick and nasty trade.
Since the turn of the century, piracy has been on the increase and shifting from Southeast Asia to Africa’s north-eastern coast. Maritime piracy is now a well organized and sophisticated industry where young Somali men, armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, carry out attacks on specific targets and collect roughly $240 million in ransom money each year.
According to the latest figures released by the International Maritime Bureau, on January 19, Somali pirates held 151 hostages to ransom; worth roughly up to $90 million. A study released by Oceans Beyond Piracy in 2010 illustrates that the cost of ransom payments only makes up a small portion of the total cost that the global economy incurs.
While these costs are being carried worldwide, countries in the Horn of Africa region are suffering even more, especially Kenya. The Kenya Shippers Council estimates piracy costs the Kenyan economy $400 million every year.
Piracy surcharges, which are now applied as an additional tax to shipping tariffs, have increased the costs of both imports and exports in Kenya. These surcharges are now commonplace, as a result of the rising cost of insurance, owing to the risks they take in pirate-infested waters. Inchcape Shipping Services says piracy surcharges have added around $100 million to the cost of container imports, and roughly $260 million to the costs of dry bulk and liquid cargoes.
Tourism, a cornerstone of the Kenyan economy, has also been suffering. Cruise ship calls, for example, which brought in around $300,000 a year, have declined from 35 in 2008 to none because of the pirate threat.
Despite so much money being at stake, the fight against piracy has been ineffectual. Why? There are a number of reasons: the lack of the political will to galvanize money and people into action. One of the biggest problems has been that piracy, having arisen from the failure of the state in Somalia, has been fought on one front alone—the ocean. In reality, piracy must be tackled in a two-pronged approach—also in the land from which it emanates.
Somalia suffers from acute instability. It is under these conditions that piracy carries relatively low risk and high reward. It is this element that counter-piracy ventures seem to ignore.
“Piracy must stop naturally,” Mwangura would say. “You can’t fight poverty with guns.”
How can Africa fight piracy? Some gung-ho types have argued that international law can be interpreted to allow forces to ‘blow’ pirates out of the water—perhaps using private armies onboard. Other more peaceful methods include: following the flows of pirate funds; attempting to bring stability to Somalia; improving the quality of life in Somalia for those who otherwise may be seduced by piracy; prosecuting pirates and strengthening the laws against them.
As Captain Jack Sparrow, the fictional buccaneer in Hollywood’s Pirates of the Caribbean, said: “The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can’t do.”
According to the latest figures released by the International Maritime Bureau (updated on February 29, 2012), Somali pirates are currently holding a total of 12 vessels and 177 hostages to ransom; worth roughly $120 million, assuming that top ransom settlements are attained.
Up until now, the Somali piracy debacle has been overwhelmingly characterized by what the pirates can do and what international forces cannot.
<h3>Pirates Punish With The Pain Of Captivity</h3>
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Twelve gunmen wielding AK-47s stormed a South African yacht en route to Richards Bay, on the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, on October 26, 2010. They took hostage Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend, Debbie Calitz. The pirates turned the vessel around and set sail for Baraawe in Somalia.
In the 16 months since then, armed groups have bought and sold the couple like a commodity. First Pelizzari and Calitz were sold to Al-Shabaab, a radical Islamist group associated with al-Qaeda. The group then sold the couple to Somali traders.
In the quest for freedom, a complication has arisen—the South African government does not pay ransom demands. Defense Minister Lindiwe Sisulu dispatched the Navy frigate, SS Mendi, to patrol the Mozambican Channel in a bid to curb piracy.
The Gift of the Givers Foundation, the largest African disaster relief organization on the continent, has been in Somalia to negotiate their release. It has managed to bargain down the ransom price from $10 million to under $1 million. The ransom was increased to $1.5 million when negotiators met with the captors on February 27, who alleged that a third party had matched the amount.
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the Gift of the Givers Foundation, hopes the hostages will be home in Durban before the end of April.
“We know where they are. The time is now… We are telling them take it, leave it, or keep them forever,” he says.
Vera Hecht, Bruno Pelizzari’s sister, raised money for the ransom through an online and SMS campaign. She said car guards and petrol attendants reached for their cellphones to SMS when they saw a campaign poster on her car. Small businesses have also come up with thousands of rands, along with South African-based Somali communities.
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