To qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations 2013, was no mean feat. Zambia had to work extremely hard for the right to defend its title. Football today is tougher than people know. It is interesting that Egypt—AFCON winners in 2006, 2008 and 2010—was absent in 2012 and will again miss out on next year’s tournament after being defeated by minnows Central African Republic.
There are no longer weak teams in Africa. African football has become unpredictable. On no other continent, do rankings mean so little. FIFA rankings can be misleading because friendly matches also count, which means that football associations with larger budgets can afford more significant high-profile friendlies, earning them false gradings. My opinion is that rankings should only be calculated through official qualifying international matches. If one were to use rankings as a true measure for the grading of teams, how do you explain the likes of Ethiopia, which is ranked 33rd and Niger ranked 42nd in Africa qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations, over Egypt, Senegal and Cameroon? Each of these teams is brimming with international stars.
In order for Zambia to qualify for the AFCON 2013 we were drawn against Uganda—a team ranked 22nd in Africa and 90th in the world. As African champions, we went into this battle confidently, yet cautiously. Uganda had a track record of being unbeaten in Kampala. They are also reigning CECAFA, Eastern and Central African champions.
The AFCON qualifying format is home and away. Chipolopolo went into their home game to a capacity crowd at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, with only one thing on their minds: to score enough goals to win the game outright. Zambia won the game 1-0, yet were left with a dangerously narrow comfort margin.
In Kampala, we were confronted by a formidable Ugandan team. A team that never let up; a team that kept their shape and that fought until the bitter end, which ended in a 1-0 win to Uganda. Notwithstanding, with an aggregate score of 1-1, we went into penalties. Zambia’s composure and big match temperament paid off in the end, Zambia winning 9-8.
The Africa Cup of Nations was always a very exciting period throughout my career. I relished the opportunity to represent my country and did so with enthusiasm and ambition. All the effort, preparation and sacrifice is rewarded with incomparable satisfaction. National pride and honor are the greatest  incentives.
Becoming continental champions is the ultimate goal for any football association. As the Zambian Football Association president, Zambia winning this coveted title in 2012 filled me with immense pride and satisfaction.
The 2013 edition of this prestigious tournament will be held on South African soil. A host most worthy of this tournament after staging one of the most successful World Cups, in 2010. The world-class infrastructure that exists in South Africa is hard to beat.
The final 16 teams have qualified, the groups have been formed and the battle lines drawn. Next year’s tournament will see the return of powerhouses such as Algeria and the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Rookies Cape Verde, which qualified by overcoming the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, proved that no country is to be underestimated.
In fact, there are probably eight or nine countries which could conceivably become the champions. Zambia proved, in 2012, that a happy camp and a good result first up, builds momentum that can see a less fancied side go all the way.
Certainly, Zambia believed it had a squad capable of winning the tournament, but not many outsiders gave us a chance before the event. Now we go into this tournament with a weight of expectation both at home and across the continent. Many have become new fans of Chipolopolo, after what was achieved in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Group A hosts South Africa and Morocco, are probably the two favorites to advance, but Cape Verde has made great strides, in recent years, and even Angola has a squad, which can surprise.
Bafana Bafana has proved to be very difficult to beat at home. Over the last 20 years, they have lost just a handful of times to African opposition in South Africa. Morocco underachieved in 2012, of that there is no doubt, and their squad is better than recent results suggest.
Group B features perennial favorites Ghana and Mali, who finished third in 2012. They are two very good sides and it is hard to see past them when looking for candidates for a quarter final spot. But the Democratic Republic of Congo has been buoyed by the recent success of TP Mazembe in the CAF Champions League with coach Claude Le Roy, a seasoned tactician, who served as mentor to Zambia’s Hervé Renard. Niger is not the same force outside of Niamey as they are at home.
Zambia were the top seeds in Group C, as defending champions, and they have been drawn in a difficult pool. Nigeria is an obvious threat, though they are rebuilding under Stephen Keshi, while Burkina Faso can be a match for anyone on the day. Ethiopia has held South Africa and Nigeria in recent times and did very well to get past Sudan in the qualifiers. They will be no pushovers.
Group D could be the Group of Death. This could be the final chance for CÔte d’Ivoire’s golden generation to win the Africa Cup of Nations and it is something Didier Drogba is desperate for. He has had so much success at club level in his career, it seems incredible that he may end his glittering career without a Nations Cup win.
Algeria has proved to be one of the top teams on the continent since the last Nations Cup, while Tunisia may not have the strength of old, it still has some top individuals. Togo make a welcome return after the horror of the events preceding the tournament in Angola in 2010 when their bus was attacked by guerrillas. I think the whole of Africa is glad to see them back on this biggest of continental stages.
The open nature of the field, the wonderful stadia and surroundings, and the passion of the African people for football will, I believe, make this one of the best Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in history. African football is on the rise and this is our chance to prove this to the rest of the world.
May the best team win!

This Could Be The Best Ever

Despite its problems, East Africa’s third-largest economy has enjoyed a measure of political stability. In 1986, pragmatic former guerrilla leader, Yoweri Museveni, overthrew President Milton Obote and his National Resistance Movement (NRM); he has dominated the political landscape ever since and is expected to do so for the foreseeable future.
This vestige of political stability, coupled with western-backed economic reforms, culminated in robust economic growth for the east African nation. Between 2006 and 2010, growth averaged an impressive 7.2%. Growth has been supported predominantly by coffee exports, household consumption and infrastructure development. The commencement of oil production, following the discovery of oil in 2006, will be a further boost for growth in years to come.
However over the past financial year growth has taken a knock and was the lowest it has been for several years. Official statistics show growth to have slumped to 3.2% in FY2011/12, down from 6.7% the previous financial year. Growth was weighed down by rampant inflation and weak external demand, primarily emanating from concerns surrounding the Eurozone debt crisis.
<div id="attachment_994" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-994" class="size-large wp-image-994" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/iStock_000001291877Medium-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="711" />The equator, exactly at zero degrees north or south, The line is also painted on the road.</div>
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects growth to improve to 6% in 2012 and rise to 7% in 2013. Growth is likely to benefit from less stringent monetary policy on the back of subdued inflation. This is likely to improve credit extension to the private sector that had been adversely affected through tight monetary policy pursued since the middle of last year.
Inflation last year spiralled out of control prompting the Bank of Uganda to raise the central bank rate from 13% in July to 23% in November. Inflation decreased to 18% in June, from 18.6% a month earlier. Declining inflation allowed the central bank some scope to ease the policy rate. The central bank rate was lowered to 19% in July, down from 20% in June. Despite falling inflation, the Bank of Uganda is likely to be cautious in its monetary policy stance in months ahead. Rightly so as core inflation still remains high at 19.5% as of June.
Fiscal policy will complement monetary policy and remain accommodative in line with the country’s infrastructural and developmental ambitions.
Macroeconomic policy will be further anchored through the IMF’s Policy Support Instrument (PSI) program currently in place. In June the IMF gave the program a thumbs up which will soothe investor concerns.
There are several risks to growth in coming years. Uncertain global growth given the lack of a comprehensive and permanent solution to the European sovereign debt crisis should keep external demand low and continue to curtail exports. About 22% of Ugandan exports are destined for Europe.
Slowed global growth should keep energy prices low. Conversely, inflation will soar in the event that oil prices rise significantly. Food inflation in particular will also be dependent on rainfall conditions. Poor rains drove food inflation higher last year and it remained sticky at 12.7%, in June.
The possibility of war between Sudan and South Sudan will also have a considerable bearing on Uganda’s growth. The two neighbors engaged in border conflicts earlier in the year and have threatened each other with full-blown war. In the unfortunate event of war, Uganda has pledged to support South Sudan. A war between the two neighbors would threaten lucrative trade between Uganda and South Sudan.
Uganda has been rocked by mass protest following the general elections last year, which threatened the county’s stability. Continued protest will disrupt production. The protests have been led by opposition leaders and aim to turn the government’s attention to rising living costs, unemployment and rising corruption levels. Worryingly though, the protests have turned violent and police heavy-handedness to quell the protests has been reported.
Investors will be watching the economy closely in months to come. Top on their radar will be how quickly President Museveni addresses protests concerns. Any escalation of the protest would be detrimental to the economy. Investors will also have an eye on the commencement of oil production slated for 2013.

Uganda — Buffeted But Breathing

The Madhvani Group is a Ugandan-established international conglomerate with assets of $750 million. It generates between $250 million and $300 million in annual revenue and has more than 10,000 employees through its operations in the Middle East, India, North America and East Africa. At the helm of this massive family business is English-educated Mayur Madhvani, the senior director and last born of the founder, Muljibhai Madhvani.
<div id="attachment_552" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-552" class="size-large wp-image-552" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/MR.-MAYUR-MADHVANI-GIVING-A-SPEECH-AT-A-RECENTLY-CONCLUDED-COMMONWEALTH-BUSINESS-FORUM-IN-UGANDA-681x1024.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="713" />MR. MAYUR MADHVANI GIVING A SPEECH AT A RECENTLY CONCLUDED COMMONWEALTH BUSINESS FORUM IN UGANDA</div>
The journey began in 1898 with two farmers, Vithaldas and Haridas Madhvani, from the Indian village of Vanscharia, and their quest for greener pastures. The two brothers crossed the Indian Ocean and found themselves in eastern Uganda, where they opened up a trading business. In time they bought land and grew coffee on a farm in Kakira, near the Nile River, which flourished.
Muljibhai Madhvani, born in 1894, immigrated to Uganda to work for his farming uncles. While still a teenager, he opened up and managed his own shop in Jinja, a fishing village that is now the largest town in Uganda and the second largest commercial center.
The family business faced losses when coffee prices fell at the end of the World War I, so it switched to producing jaggery, or unrefined sugar, using donkey-driven wooden mills.
In 1930, under Muljibhai’s direction, Vithaldas Haridas &amp; Co—the company founded by his farming uncles—built and commissioned the first sugar factory in East Africa.
“He came from humble beginnings. He then had the business acumen to start from basically having nothing and developing his business talents—the vision that this man had is just incredible,” says Mayur.
This sugar factory is now the massive Kakira Sugar Complex. It produces 160,000 tons of sugar a year, around 62% of national production. It generates about 24 megawatts of power from waste products every day, selling 14MW to the national grid and feeding 10MW back into the complex.
The group also owns Kakira Sweets &amp; Confectionary, also inside the complex, which produces everything from fruit drops to lollipops.
The sweet smell of success is the fruits of decades of planning. In 1947, the company expanded throughout East Africa and the partnership dissolved. By 1949, Muljibhai was joined by his sons, Jayant and Manubhai. The company’s 5,000 employees worked hard manufacturing cotton, beer, tea, steel and confectionaries, all while enjoying free housing, electricity, education, water and healthcare.
In 1956, Manubhai, Madhvani’s second eldest son, was sent to India to secure a textile mill for his father. In his book titled Tide of Fortune he wrote: “My father’s dream was to own a mill, so he instructed me not to return without this one.”  Manubhai did this in a couple of days at a cost of 3.7 million rupees.
<div id="attachment_551" style="width: 484px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-551" class="size-large wp-image-551" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/KAKIRA-IN-THE-OLD-DAYS-1024x782.jpg" alt="" width="474" height="362" />Karika in the old days</div>
The shop owner-turned-industrialist, Muljibhai Madhvani, died on July 11, 1958. His eldest son, Jayant, took over the reins and developed the business into a large conglomerate with presence in seven countries. The group diversified into glass, textiles, matches, packaging and plastics.
It appeared the Madhvanis could go anywhere and do anything, but this growing family empire would soon be under threat when President Idi Amin assumed power in 1971. By this time, the group was the largest private sector investor and employer in Uganda, with more than 9,000 employees and about 70,000 tons of sugar being produced at Kakira.
Fate dealt the family a double blow. First, Jayant Madhvani, the head of the family business, died. Then President Amin expelled all Asians from Uganda.
“This was a very tragic, unbelievable expulsion… a period of sadness,” says Mayur.
Manubhai, the new head of the Madhvani family business, was taken and detained at the Makindye military prison for 21 days. The prison was notorious for inmates disappearing and being brutally murdered. The family worked tirelessly behind the scenes with regional leaders and respected international individuals to get him out.
Outside the jail, the group’s assets were nationalized and mismanaged—business came to a grinding halt. The family fled to London, focusing on their assets outside Uganda.
When President Amin was toppled and forced into exile, the family came back to reclaim what was theirs, but even then, all was not well. A family feud broke out.
“We had one segment of the family saying that the assets belonged to them,” says Mayur.
He laughs it off more than 30 years later, saying cool heads prevailed and the property was returned.
“One tries to keep family business away from the actual business.”
Mayur admits family businesses are difficult, but points out that the major companies in the United States started off with single entrepreneurs and developed into family businesses, like the Ford, Rockefeller and Wal-Mart empires.
The trick, he says, is keeping everyone informed. Three meetings are held in Bermuda every year to tell the family and shareholders what is happening in the group.
Many members of the family work for the group, but it is not a birth right. Family members must prove themselves and are only given a chance to participate in the business if they can a make a contribution. Mayur says he started at the bottom and so did his brothers.
“Actually, I had visions of being in a grand seat, but that never happened,” he says.
Instead he was out in the fields, toiling and learning.
With the family business back in the hands of its rightful owners, the 1980s were dedicated to rehabilitating and restructuring the businesses. This was made possible with $60 million from the World Bank, African Development Bank and Uganda Development Bank. Once the factory was back on its feet, the loans were paid off.
Manubhai Madhvani, the man once imprisoned by Idi Amin, died on May 17, 2011, aged 81.
The Madhvanis’ fighting days are far from over. The family is embroiled in a court battle over land and assets in Kwale, Kenya, worth millions of dollars. The family has 199 title deeds proving the land in the Ramisi sugar belt is theirs. According to Mayur, he has owned the land for 30 years, but despite this, the Ministry of Land feels it should be taken back by government, he tells FORBES AFRICA, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.
“I hope the Kenyan authorities encourage the private sector, rather than resort to this kind of malice. I call it land grabbing,” he says.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the Madhvanis: Their company owns a Beechcraft King Air B200 and many lodges in Uganda and its tourism arm has already opened a hotel, with others under refurbishment. It also recently acquired three properties in Kenya and is exploring religious tourism in India, where people visit places of pilgrimage and holy sites.
Its construction company, Excel Construction Ltd, has projects worth nearly $13 million in Uganda and was involved in the development of the SABMiller brewery in South Sudan. It has been appointed as the main civil contractor for the construction of a brand new brewery in Mbarara, Uganda.
The group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of South Sudan for the construction of a sugar plant. It will increase its Kakira sugar production to 180,000 tons and plans to generate 50MW of electricity daily and sell 30MW to the national grid, along with producing 20 million liters of bioethanol a year.
The next challenge is taking Kakira public.
“Some members of the family may feel that you have to leave family business in the family,” he says.
He argues that in order to achieve sustainability, you need the proper corporate governance and transparency that comes with a public listing—the latest battle for the industrialists who came to East Africa with nothing and fought every step of the way to wealth.

Tag: Uganda

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

This Could Be The Best Ever

Uganda — Buffeted But Breathing

From Sweating In The Fields To Cool Meetings In Bermuda