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STATEMENT
Libel case against Moneyweb
The Citizen Newspaper carried a Moneyweb article on Monday, March 27 2006 that was entirely defamatory against Chief Executive Everest Ekong and the Business in Africa Group.

EDITORIAL
Going to war over a tender is 'business'
�That�s business,� a colleague once told me, responding to questionmarks hanging over the death of slain South African mining magnate, Brett Kebble, last year.

AFRICA
Africa's courageous women entrepreneurs
With women comprising 52% of Africa�s estimated 805 million people there can be no doubt that the empowerment of women is imperative for the continent�s sustainable growth.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Developing practical leadership
One of the major paradoxes of leadership is that while people expect a leader to have a significant amount of self-confidence, they may be repelled by such a leader if a perception develops that he is veering towards arrogance. Therefore, good leadership calls for a happy equilibrium between a lack of cantankerous arrogance and a level of humility that may not allow a leader to be decisive.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Moulding African enterpreneural talent
Within the African continent, one other problem that has accompanied a lack of good political leadership has been a lack of entrepreneurial leadership. This has resulted in low economic growth across the continent. Countries that have come to enjoy a great degree of stability and economic growth tend to be endowed with good leadership.

EDITORIAL
A challenge of entrepreneurship
Now that the G8 Summit is behind us and the noise about aid and debt relief has subsided, allow me if you will to turn to the fundamentals. According to research by the World Economic Forum, sub-Saharan Africa is now measured as being the least competitive region in the world.

EDITORIAL
Unlock Africa's dead capital!
It may seem obvious. But lost on traditional assumptions of Africa�s potential mineral wealth is the commodification of the most natural of resources on earth � land.


What is an SMME?
The African business graveyard is littered with corpses of small and medium scale businesses that would have survived if anyone took notice.


African multinationals are here
Whether or not you are interested in mining, you would not have failed to notice the recent relentless courtship as international gold miners tried to woo Ghana's Ashanti Goldfields. After weeks of elaborate display of corporate plumage, South Africa's AngloGold eventually won Ashanti's commitment.


Elections and omissions In Africa
The names Rosa Parks, Biko and Soyinka are synonymous with socio economic and political revolutions. There is content, time and geographical contrasts and adjustments to be made, of course.

RWANDA
Life after War
A decade down the line, Rwanda's post-genocide economy is still trying to pick itself up and to identify its true abode in the economically challenging world.

AFRICAN ELECTIONS 2004
What price democracy?
Thirteen African countries will go to the national voting polls for elections during 2004. A decade ago, it would have been unthinkable for so many millions of Africans to express their right to chose political leaders. Our cover story previews Ghana and South Africa.


An African dream
More than 100 years ago, a man had a dream to connect the northern and southern tips of the African continent by rail. That man was Cecil John Rhodes.


Why NEPAD will fail
In many respects Africans are crying out for a new brand of political leadership, more in tune with the aspirations of youth than the old guard and more at ease with the challenges of a new world order. In many respects they are being short changed by short-sighted leaders.


South Africa and Africa
Ten years of democracy has seen South Africa migrate from a changed agent to an agent of change in Africa. If timing is everything, the combination of circumstances that led to the demise of apartheid also played in Africa's favour.


Africa's $100bn corruption shame
It is impossible to estimate just how many billions of dollars are disappearing each year into the pockets of Africans through corruption. The World Bank and other institutions say that about five percent of the value of all direct foreign investment and imports into countries known to be corrupt disappears. This underestimate amounts to a staggering $ 100 billion a year. Surveys after survey points to Africa as the most corrupt of continents.


Corruption kills
Although post-Moi Kenya and Obasanjo's Nigeria are enjoying some optimism with regards to anti-corruption legislation, relentless graft continues to paralyse governance structures in Abuja and Nairobi. Essentially, many believe that the new legislations only pay lip service to a critical problem.


China spreads the gains
As we went to press, the great and the good of the business world were gathering in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Summit. Besides the ongoing military build-up around Iraq, the main worry at Davos is the state of the global economy, with pundit after pundit trying to explain the dismal performances of the US and other prime economies.


African gold rush
Gold has always been a major income generator for many African countries, and it is no wonder that the moment an opportunity arises to buy into a potentially profit-making company, companies will race for the prize.

This is once again evident from the bidding battle between South African gold-mining companies AngloGold and Randgold for a stake in Ghana's Ashanti Goldfields.


Getting smart
In Africa, dealing with cash is still the most common way of doing business. Especially in rural areas where there is hardly any infrastructure - let alone services such as banks.




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Energy in Africa
Energy in Africa is an intelligent and in-depth look at how energy impacts people, places, projects, price and development around the African continent. It is the first pan-African bilingual publication in both English and French in Africa, published quarterly.
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African Business Leaders Forum
African business and public sector leaders define and construct a prosperous future for the continent.
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