Time is a scarce resource for everybody. That’s the case for business leaders anywhere, including those from places stereotyped as time-mindedless (excuse the linguistic liberty!) such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. There’s a reason why most leaders in these places have a driver: this way, they can work while in traffic jams. How do these […]
Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria
Last week, I wrote about the potential for growth in Nigeria. That kept me thinking about the many opportunities companies have to contribute to the socioeconomic development of the country if investing in the right industries – and doing so in the right way! Wondering about foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country, I came […]
African Investments in Africa
Great news! . This is according to a perspective paper by Ralf Krüger and Ilan Strauss published by the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investments. So it looks like African development is finally beginning to come from within the continent. Over 400 Africa-to-Africa projects (which I like to call intra-African development projects) were carried out between January 2003 and January […]
Doing business in Africa: some practical advice
Last week I heard a talk by a consultant from Roland Berger who specialized in Sub-Saharan and Southern Africa. He offered some practical advice for doing business in Africa. This is what he said, and some of my experiences of how it holds true: 1. Take market intelligence and customer understanding seriously: product-oriented companies won’t make […]
Tribal attributes
In a comment to an earlier post, Christian referred to how strongly Kenyans feel about tribal attributes. I think he has better insights about this than me but let me tell you about what I’ve heard, and maybe he and others will add some comments. Kenya’s ethnic diversity is high. The various tribes can be […]