This week in Dublin, world leaders, policymakers and civil society representatives met to discuss the urgent and interrelated issues of hunger, nutrition and climate justice that are facing the poorest people and nations. In parallel, the global community is already discussing the goals and metrics that should shape sustainable development after the millennium development goals [...]
Africa: The Next Global Middleclass Juggernaut
December 29, 2012 | Posted by
Hardly a week goes by without an African investors’ conference or growth summit. Portuguese professionals are looking for opportunities in Angola. Silicon Valley companies are coming to Kenya to learn about its home-grown ICT revolution. This is not an irrational fad. Since the turn of the century, Africa’s growth has been robust (averaging 5-6 per [...]
President Obama and Sub-Saharan Africa: A Way Forward
December 13, 2012 | Posted by
On June 14, 2012, President Obama affixed his signature to the “U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa.” It identified four focus areas: democratic institutions; growth, trade and investment; peace and security; and opportunity and development. The response from the policy community was a shrug. Mwangi Kimenyi of the Brookings Institution claimed that the policy document was [...]
With Impressive Growth, Half of Sub-Saharan Africa is Middle Income
November 18, 2012 | Posted by
Out of the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, nearly half of them—22—are considered middle-income countries based on the per capita income of their citizenry—a number that grows with each year as the African continent continues to be the fastest growing region in the world. Granted, the standard set by the World Bank for “middle income” [...]
Western Companies See Big Money-Making Opportunities in Africa
October 19, 2012 | Posted by
Drawn by the chance to make significant return on investment, Western companies from the U.S. and Europe are flocking to countries in sub-Saharan Africa looking for opportunities and recruiting more managers willing to relocate to Africa. Companies like J.P. Morgan now view Africa as a much less risky investment than they did a few years [...]
Ghana’s Economy Remains Strong Despite Global Economy Setbacks
October 6, 2012 | Posted by
Despite setbacks in the global economy and continuing market instability stemming from the Euro zone crisis and the occurrence of economic slow down in some of the largest developing countries, such as China and Japan, Sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana, has been displaying a stable and robust economy. According to the latest World Bank ‘Africa’s Pulse’, [...]
Ghana’s Economy Continues to Outpace That of Much Larger Nigeria
September 7, 2012 | Posted by
Despite a series of reforms to improve the economic conditions and business competiveness in Nigeria, the country still trails smaller African countries like Ghana, Cameroun and Kenya in global competiveness. The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) Index 2012-2013 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) indicated that Nigeria ranked 115th out of 144 countries assessed – [...]
Easy Access to Safe Drinking Water: Innovative Bag is Portable Water Purifier
August 6, 2012 | Posted by
More than a billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water, and some 300 million of them are in Africa. Industrial design students Ryan Lynch and Marcus Triest have an interesting approach to tackling the problem in sub-Saharan African with his Solar Bag. This design concept is both a shoulder bag-style container [...]
Angolan Journalist Shows the Price of Free Press
May 31, 2012 | Posted by
Independent news sources are a rare commodity in Africa’s sub-Saharan region, where, according to watchdog group Freedom House, only 10% of the countries have truly free press. This past December, a census organized by the Committee to Protect Journalists revealed that 47 journalists have been imprisoned in the region, largely for having upset their respective [...]
$6 Billion Lost Yearly To Crude Oil Theft In Nigeria, While Fiscal Crisis Looms
May 15, 2012 | Posted by
Lagos — Nigeria is on the verge of a major fiscal crisis following unabated massive theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta, THISDAY has learnt. While all attention has been focused on the activities of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria, an unprecedented theft of crude oil is being perpetrated in the Niger Delta on [...]
