No longer the dark continent

Africa wires up for IT age

A mesh of fibre-optic cables on Africa’s seaboard has been quite visible in the last two years, suggesting a communication revolution is underway. Last year alone, there have been five new cables on the continent.

The net effect has been increased speeds and plummeting prices, even if access remains pricey. The enthusiasm among Africa’s Internet-hungry population has spawned cut-throat competition among service providers, such that in countries such as Kenya, rivals openly sabotage each other through cable cuts.

The International Telecommunication Union projected that there would be 5.3 billion mobile phone subscriptions by the end of last year. Africa recently clocked its 510th million subscriber, and given that most Africans now access the Internet through the cell phone, the picture becomes clearer.

But there are too few people on the Internet in Africa. Statistics back this up: cell phone penetration stands at only 41 per cent on the continent, against a global figure of 76 per cent.

By last week, Internet user penetration was only 9.6 per cent, far behind the global average of 30 per cent, and the developing country average of 21 per cent. Indeed, in some markets — such as South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt — usage is seen as approaching critical mass, a far cry from a situation three years ago where downloading a small document took half a day in many of Africa’s urban centres.

This should not paper over the huge growth seen this year; the pick up in capacity has contributed to a burgeoning African community of developers and whizkids coming up with innovative solutions — crowd-sourcing platform Ushahidi is a famous one.

E-commerce, for long touted as the continent’s next frontier, has seen dozens of upstart firms sprout and take advantage.

The Million Dollar Man

When Virtual City — John Waibochi’s tech start-up — developed a solution that would boost the profitability of small businesses, it was to many just that, another information technology solution.

But phone giant Nokia thought otherwise, picking the application as the winner of its global Growth Economy Venture Challenge.

The competition required developers to submit a mobile phone-based idea or solution that would improve the lives of people in the developing world.Waibochi’s Mobile Distributor Solution increases the number of transactions as well as inventory and records management, a task that has proved beyond many small businesses.

It also opens up cash possibilities such as mobile payments and loyalty plans, providing a platform for small businesses to make more money.

“In the future, success will depend on ability to adapt to technology and embrace mobility. This is one of the avenues that companies can now easily use to ensure real time access to the entire supply chain,” Waibochi said of his creation.

Small and micro enterprises have been touted as a growth vehicle for Africa, so much so that Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus saw it fit to bring his micro-business message to Africa in an April 2010 conference.

For his idea, Waibochi picked up a Sh80 million prize, beating close to 300 other solutions from 54 countries. Another of Virtual City’s applications, Agrimanagr — that allows users to manage agricultural processes using mobile phones, picked up the World Summit Award on Mobile Content 2010 in Abu Dhabi.

But Waibochi’s is a story replicated all over in Africa, as the cell-phone becomes a development tool on the continent. In September, Africa chalked up its 506 millionth subscriber. This means over half of the continent now has access to a cell phone.

Our very own Amazonians

Here’s to celebrating four women who have taken on The Establishment. Let’s face it: the African presidential institution is designed for men.

In some few countries such as Liberia, less so; in the vast majority of others, more so.

These four fearless women have tried the unthinkable in their countries, and left indelible marks on us last In northern Africa, Fatima Ahmed Abdelmahmoud made history as the first woman to run for presidency against Sudan President Hassan Omar al-Bashir since he took over office 24 years ago. Fatima had already made history as the first female minister in the country in the 1970s.

The leader of the Socialist Democratic Union’s candidature was, however, expectedly rejected by the country’s electoral body in January, only to be reinstated later on by an appeal court before the election.

In West Africa, Togo’s Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson became the first woman to run in a presidential poll in 50 years. She did not make it, with the odds against her in a country in the grip of a dynasty.

In Central Africa, two women ruffled (male) feathers. Burundi’s Alice Nzomukunda, a former vice president and the leader of the Democratic Alliance for Renewal, formed an alliance with other opposition parties against Pierre Nkurunzinza. She was thwarted through arrest without charge.

In Rwanda, Victoire Ingabire Umuhonza was a particularly pesky thorn in President Paul Kagame’s prickly skin the whole of last year.

Ingabire, who also chairs the opposition Unified Democratic Forces (UDF) party, has known little peace since she declared her intentions to run for presidency. She did not make it past the starting bloc in an election won by a staggering landslide in August.

For Sudan, yes we can

Tanzania, Sudan, Rwanda, Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and even Guinea went to elections last year. And even East Africa’s Burundi, that brought back President Pierre Nkurunziza.

A peaceful outcome in the Tanzania, Rwanda and Burkina Faso polls was almost obvious, but not in the Sudan case, where tension has been growing over the years.

The country, which faces secession this month, was going to the polls to end a transitional period that began in 2005, ending the second Sudanese Civil War.

Unlike the rest, this was one of the more tense elections in Africa, as is this month’s referendum, which is expected to carve out a new country in the African map.

There were obvious logistical challenges and irregularities that election monitors noted, but one surprise that the country gave the rest of the world was the vote and its results.

And the structures left by the election are encouraging signs that the country can pull it off. Again.

Breaking the manacles

In the late 1980s, HIV/Aids gained a foothold in Africa. And by the time governments woke up to the pandemic in their midst, new infections and deaths were out of control.

To their credit, some of the early reactions were well intentioned, such as Kenya declaring the condition a national disaster, but interventions were largely rudderless. At the turn of the decade, the World Health Organisation projected that some 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were infected.

In 2000, 2.4 million people in sub-Saharan Africa died from Aids.

But interventions in many African countries are now paying off. A recent UN report indicated that HIV infection rates in the region have declined significantly — by as much as 25 per cent.

This decline was recorded in 22 countries that had in the past been infection hotspots: Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Any good news on the HIV/Aids front is welcome: in 2009, the South African Institute of Race Relations estimated that, between 2002 and 2007, the number of children who had lost both their parents in the country rose by 25 per cent.

What changed? The onslaught on the epidemic was initially hindered by a combination of factors, from retrogressive cultural practices to ignorance and, in some cases, indifference. In the case of South Africa, the government proved the biggest obstacle.

But this year, many leaders have gone an extra mile. Jacob Zuma’s administration outlined new policies for the treatment of HIV-positive (and pregnant) women and children, in addition to the rollout of a big testing campaign.

The World Cup comes to roost

When world icon Nelson Mandela broke down on May 15, 2004 after Fifa awarded the World Cup to South Africa, his tears spoke of a tortured journey for a continent seeking to host world football’s most prestigious event.

“I feel like a young man of 15,” sobbed South Africa’s liberation hero.

The run up to the tournament was dominated by media speculation over whether an African country could get its act together to host the world’s biggest sporting event.

And, initially, South Africa did its best to prove the naysayers right. A wave of strikes, missed deadlines, empty stadium seats and an out-of-control bill provided rich fodder for the tabloids. Even some in Africa questioned the odds of holding a good tournament.

It turns out such fears were unfounded, even if relevant. The bill was finally reined in at 16.5 billion rand (approximately Sh190 billion) — but what was even better was how the entire continent got behind South Africa in a manner not envisioned.

The result was one of the most successful tournaments in football’s history. Some 310,000 foreigners joined in the party punctuated by the ever-present vuvuzelas and kuduzelas, with 32 per cent of these coming from Africa alone. While many neighbours may have groused that the envisaged windfall for them did not really materialise, the support was unquestioning.

And the event did wonders for South Africa’s deep racial divide, even if only for a period. It spawned a period of introspection for a country with deep scars following a troubled past, such that racial gulfs were briefly bridged.

The success of the tournament certainly opened up a new chapter for the Rainbow Nation, and cast a positive spotlight on the continent that had for years been seen as incapable of anything.

EAC trade bloc powers on

African trade blocs often come in for some sharp rapping for lacking in economic direction. Their proliferation does not help either: There are close to 10 on the continent formed on an economic platform, and often pull in different directions, achieving little in the process.
But one has caught the eye this year.

The East African Community (EAC) on July 1, 2010 abolished trade barriers and collapsed borders between its five member countries when the common market protocol came into effect. This allowed for the free movement of factors of production such as labour and capital for the five member countries, and created a potential market of 126 million people.

It was the culmination of years of work by the partner countries, with the mistrust and fear that sunk its predecessor in 1977 threatening to rear its head again. Tanzania was, for example, itchy over land rights. Uganda manufacturers feared being overrun by Kenya.

But, month-by-month, steady ground towards forging a common ground has been covered, with some leaders such Rwanda’s Paul Kagame providing the solid stewardship that such a motley of interests requires.

And the benefits may yet be apparent, with all the five member countries back to economic recovery this year. Elimination of the various hurdles may yet take a period, but the political will has been present this year, setting an example for other regional economic blocs. The SADC, for example remains colourless at best.

The EAC bloc now forms some of the most important markets for companies across the region, and investors in the five member countries can now take part in share sales of any one company — and, importantly, on an equal footing.

This easing of the movement of capital has helped cap flight while creating wealth, not to mention creating a far more important, even if intangible, feeling of a shared economic destiny.

The EAC bloc last year achieved far more for the region than would have been possible in any of the single states.

Chinese dragons at the door!

At the start of 2010, China overtook the United States as Africa’s biggest trading partner. The race is on to model how soon China will surpass the US as the world’s biggest, with punts at between nine and 19 years.And, given that Africa’s population recently passed the one-billion mark, the opportunities for trade that China has sensed are numerous.

But China’s advance in Africa has not been without its critics, who charge that it has ‘no morals’. That is unlikely to bother the Asian country, which was, by the end of last year, expected to have sunk $109 billion — and counting — into the continent.

When the 2010 World Expo opened in Shanghai in May, a six-month show that is estimated to have cost $4.3 billion, 192 countries took part, a pointer to just how much China’s clout has grown.

Unencumbered by Cold War politics, China’s approach to the continent has now been strictly trade, a policy stand that enamours few, given that some of its partners include countries such as Zimbabwe and Sudan.

Politics aside, Chinese-run infrastructure projects have popped up all over the continent. Deals have been signed with major oil producers such as Angola. Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki has been to China thrice since he took over in 2002, waving big bills for the country’s envisioned projects as it seeks to make strides towards its vision 2030. Chinese oil companies have been sniffing around in Uganda and Ghana.

Deborah Brautigam’s The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2009) examines the finer details of the relationship. The author found that African countries do not really get to see any of the billions allocated to the continent by Beijing. Instead, the investment is repaid in earnings from commodity earnings. Others are now following in China’s footsteps — India, Malaysia, Singapore — such that others have argued that the West needs to actively compete instead of whingeing.

Lest we forget TP Mazembe

TP Mazembe Englebert, or the All Powerful Mazembe, has this year put African football clubs on the global map.

It made history as the first club from the continent to reach the final of the Fifa Club World Cup final, a tournament that, in its current form, brings together the best of six football confederations. In six previous attempts, no African club had reached the final, not even the well-heeled North African teams that have, for years, looked a big cut above the rest of the continent.

Previous winners of the competition include Barcelona, Manchester United and AC Milan. The best-placed finish by an African team had been Al Ahly’s third place finish in 2006. And so it was that millions of Africans joined some 65 million Congolese in praying for what would have been a remarkable story.

The club is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s better run clubs, and boasts a budget rarely heard of on the continent. It is not even based in the capital; but is pitched at Lubumbashi in Katanga province, a city that is 2,000 kilometres adrift of Kinshasa. But its pedigree is unrivalled, being a three-time winner of the African Champions League.

Though it wasn’t to be, the team’s exploits among the very best competition capped what was a fine year for African football, following Ghana’s stellar performance in the June World Cup in South Africa, a tournament hosted for the first time on African soil.

It also brought back memories of the glory years for Congolese football. In 1974, they were the first black African team to qualify for the Fifa World Cup.

It was also a story of hope for the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that is better recognised for strife, and whose biggest moment in the news this year was the unfortunate rape of hundreds of women. TP Mazembe’s story of perseverance is one that will hopefully go some distance towards healing the country’s wounds. Its outing this year may well be the inspiration template for Africa’s underperforming clubs.

Reporting by Lee Mwiti, Janet Otieno and Mwena wa Micheni