Last week I interviewed the Country Manager for Kenya of a large agricultural trading group. The group originated in Africa, and it operates worldwide. What attracted my attention the most is its cooperative approach to dealing with its suppliers. In this group, they buy commodity products from small farmers, and accumulate their volumes to sell.…

After the injection of capital announced by Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), I stopped to reexamine what I knew about monetary policy and what I believe I know now. What conclusion did I reach? At first I thought, “This is not the monetary policy that I studied and have taught for…

When I wrote about intra-Africa business travel a few weeks ago, Charles Ivenco – one of my friends from Lagos Business School – left a comment in which he told us about the improvements in air transportation over the last decade, and how this is related to the increased levels of intra-African trade. According to…

Obvious business ideas – of the kind that makes you say, “How come no one ever thought of that before?” – may not sound very exciting, but it’s an area where entrepreneurs can do wonderful things. A good example of an "obvious" business idea is when an entrepreneur spots an interesting product or service in…