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Opening the Dialogue and Dispelling Myths-on Africa and Americans of African Descent

Before going into the theme behind the title to this post, I wanted to share some news with you. About a month and a half ago, IBM invited me to be a participant in an economic development think tank focusing on the African continent. I glady accepted and attended. As a show of gratitude they gave the participants a genographic kit so that each participant, if they wanted to, could trace their ancestry back to a specific region of Africa. I just learned that part of my family originates from East Africa, somewhere near the area which today we would call the Tanzania/Kenya border. From this part of the continent over several millenia we migrated west to the area that today is called Northern Nigeria. This would gve us a heavy influences of pygmy and bantu (because we crossed through Congo, which is where most of the Bantu languages of East Africa come from) culture, plus that of the culture of that part of Nigeria at the time (I will be doing more research on this in the future and am very excited) This ranks within my top three biggest personal discoveries of my lifespan.

I count myself as fortunate for I have detailed knowledge of both lines on my father's side. The other line I didn't do the genographic test on because they come from the low lying areas of South Carolina and speak the Gullah or Geechee dialect. The word Gullah originates from Sierra Leone and that particular dialect of English shares about 25% of it's vocabulary with several languages found in Sierra Leone and in the surrounding region-the two predominent langueages though are Krio and Mende. My mother's side will be very enlightening, as two generations ago our family bible was lost and with it we lost our family tree and so I am now preparing to do some research on this side of my family and it shall be eye opening, I'm sure...
I would urge anyone who is curious about their African heritage to do a genographic test.
Enough about that, here is something that is very timely. Check it out and let me know what you think...

With permission from Mr. Sow on behalf of Mr. Niang I am publishing the following post here. I think that this type of dialogue is long overdue and it is extremely healthy. For anyone who doesn't know Mr. Ogo Sow is a very successful media consultant hailing from Senegal, West Africa. He is someone that I consider to be a mentor and a friend. The gentleman who wrote this article, Mr. Thione Niang, is Mr. Sow's nephew and I respect him very much. He is a highly successful business person operating within the realm of political consulting here in the States.

Increasing contact is changing african, African-American Relations by Thione Niang City News Ohio Originally posted 3/1/2006

By Thione Niang and Kirby Freeman CityNews Contributing Writers (with contributions from NNPA)

Allegations have been traded for decades that Africans look down on African -Americans, and African-Americans don't like Africans. Those who have observed the dynamic between African-Americans, native-born Africans, and even blacks from the Caribbean in the past, and have heard the talk between and among those groups, know the stereotypes.

Before leaving their home countries, black immigrants to the U.S. have a preconception of how African-Americans are from the mainstream American media. That media source tends to disseminate a message that American blacks, as a group, have a tendency to be criminals, lazy, drug dealers, poor, incarcerated, and are only successful through music and sports.

The same media also appears to perpetuate a negative image of Africa. In this image, nothing good ever comes out of Africa. Images of disease, underdevelopment, and poverty predominate. This has in the past kept African-Americans from fully championing the culture of the home continent.

Academics have observed this dichotomy in the past, but are much more hopeful that the preponderance of communications between groups is beginning to break down these previous barriers to full acceptance among people throughout the African Diaspora.

"Oftentimes, African-Americans will embrace the symbols of the Continent of Africa, but not embrace Africans themselves, and vice versa. Now we're moving toward embracing each other, beyond the symbols," said Dr. Michael Williams, director of the Black Studies Program at Cleveland State University.. "There has been increased contact between native-born Africans and African-Americans, and that is ongoing," Williams said. He attributes a large proportion of that to the rediscovery of African culture by black Americans in recent decades. "I think over the last 20 to 25 years, you've had a lot of..n African-Americans searching for their roots," he added "So much has changed," declared Ogo Sow, an Atlanta-based freelance journalist born in Senegal. Sow recalls an experience he had as a New York City taxi-cab driver, soon after he immigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1980s.

Sow said that a young African-American he picked up disrespected him by refusing to pay the required cab fare. Sow said that he told the man that he saw him as "a brother" and was willing to forgive him of the names that he called him. "I'm not your brother! Go back to Africa!" the young man responded. Sow said the story stayed with him. Sow became heavily involved in communications and media after he came to New York. In 1989, he began hosting a show called "AfricVision" on WNYE-TV, Channel 25, a public-access, educational television station owned by the City of New York. He continued..n hosting the show until 2001. "We needed to have our own program in America, to show Americans the real Africa," he added. Sow later was hired as an employee of Inner City Broadcasting Corp., a New York-based, minority-owned media company. He became a producer and co-host of a radio show called "Wake Up, New York" on 1190-AM WLIB, a station which was dedicated to broadcasting music and news from Africa and the Caribbean to immigrants from the Diaspora. Sow said the show, for which he served as an on-air anchor from 1997 to 1999, featured links with radio stations in Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, and a number of Caribbean countries. Sow said that the programming he and others pioneered during those years helped to galvanize black communities in New York and in other cities throughout the nation, and allowed recent immigrants from Africa and..n the Caribbean to begin thinking of themselves as part of the wider African-American community. "

"There has been increased contact between native-born Africans and African-Americans, and that is ongoing," Williams said. He attributes a large proportion of that to the rediscovery of African culture by black Americans in recent decades. "I think over the last 20 to 25 years, you've had a lot of African-Americans searching for their roots," he added. "So much has changed," declared Ogo Sow, an Atlanta-based freelance journalist born in Senegal. Sow recalls an experience he had as a New York City taxi-cab driver, soon after he immigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1980s.

Sow said that a young African-American he picked up disrespected him by refusing to pay the required cab fare. Sow said that he told the man that he saw him as "a brother" and was willing to forgive him of the names that he called him. "I'm not your brother! Go back to Africa!" the young man responded. Sow said the story stayed with him.

Sow became heavily involved in communications and media after he came to New York. In 1989, he began hosting a show called "AfricVision" on WNYE-TV, Channel 25, a public-access, educational television station owned by the City of New York. He continued hosting the show until 2001. "We needed to have our own program in America, to show Americans the real Africa," he added.

Sow later was hired as an employee of Inner City Broadcasting Corp., a New York-based, minority-owned media company. He became a producer and co-host of a radio show called "Wake Up, New York" on 1190-AM WLIB, a station which was dedicated to broadcasting music and news from Africa and the Caribbean to immigrants from the Diaspora.

Sow said the show, for which he served as an on-air anchor from 1997 to 1999, featured links with radio stations in Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, and a number of Caribbean countries.

Sow said that the programming he and others pioneered during those years helped to galvanize black communities in New York and in other cities throughout the nation, and allowed recent immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean to begin thinking of themselves as part of the wider African-American community. "The same tool that was used to separate us is the same tool that is now being used to bring us together," he said. Sow said the galvanization that took place in the 1980s and 1990s allowed black communities throughout the country to readily identify with and be equally outraged over the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant, in New York City during the late 1990s. Diallo died from 41 gunshot wounds police determined to be an accidental shooting. He said the shooting, which triggered vehement protests led by civil rights activist Al Sharpton and others, also changed the political landscape of African immigrants. "It woke up the (immigrant) African community" to the fact that they could not escape hard political and social issues that African Americans have faced for decades. Other academics also commented on the unique treatment that black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean receive, due to their natural connection with African-Americans, compared with their white immigrant counterparts.

"A white person who comes in to this country (appears to) automatically becomes an American citizen. But, a black person coming into this country is first regarded as black," said Dr. Edward Crosby, founder of Ida B. Wells Community Academy, an Akron, Ohio-based charter school established in 1998.
Crosby, a former professor at Kent State University, also founded and chaired KSU's Department of Pan African Studies from 1969 to 1993.

"The main objective for (African and Caribbean immigrants') coming here is not a social objective, but an economic uplift objective," Crosby said. He noted that during the first few years individuals come to the U.S., they are, like most immigrants, focused on fitting into the general culture in order to advance economically.

But he noted that over time, as the new immigrants slowly become integrated, they become more comfortable with and identify with African-American culture and people. CSU's Dr. Williams also noted that African and Caribbean immigrants, when they first arrive to the U.S., come to these shores with a completely different mindset than what African-Americans have had to encounter. This mainly stems from the fact that they are very much used to enjoying the political and social benefits of majority status in their home countries. "We (black Americans) have been locked in this drama" over fighting for our rights here in America. "When you're the majority . . . you have a..n different view. Living in the belly (of Western culture) is different from living in the fringes," Williams added.

The process of black immigration in the U.S., which has significantly increased in recent years, seems to also renew the African-American experience. "We must all acknowledge that the historical lesson seems to indicate that over the course of one or two generations, immigrants of African descent (whether from the Caribbean, Africa, or Latin America) come to play an important part in defining what it means to be an African-American," wrote Bill Fletcher, Jr., president of TransAfrica Forum, a Washingtoon-D.C.non-profit organization, in a recent column in NNPA News Service. The increasing dialogue and networking with Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, could also put African-Americans in the unique position of helping to form economic..n bridges to emerging economies, which could begin to experience rapid expansion during the coming decades. "If you have black people who are prepared, there's a whole world of opportunities that's available to them," Dr. Williams said. "We (African-Americans) are probably the most powerful lobby in the world. We could make some things happen if we just adjust our sites a little bit."

CSU's Dr. Williams also noted that African and Caribbean immigrants, when they first arrive to the U.S., come to these shores with a completely different mindset than what African-Americans have had to encounter. This mainly stems from the fact that they are very much used to enjoying the political and social benefits of majority status in their home countries.

"We (black Americans) have been locked in this drama" over fighting for our rights here in America. "When you're the majority . . . you have a different view. Living in the belly (of Western culture) is different from living in the fringes," Williams added.

The process of black immigration in the U.S., which has significantly increased in recent years, seems to also renew the African-American experience. "We must all acknowledge that the historical lesson seems to indicate that over the course of one or two generations, immigrants of African descent (whether from the Caribbean, Africa, or Latin America) come to play an important part in defining what it means to be an African-American," wrote Bill Fletcher, Jr., president of TransAfrica Forum, a Washingtoon-D.C.non-profit organization, in a recent column in NNPA News Service.

The increasing dialogue and networking with Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, could also put African-Americans in the unique position of helping to form economic bridges to emerging economies, which could begin to experience rapid expansion during the coming decades.

"If you have black people who are prepared, there's a whole world of opportunities that's available to them," Dr. Williams said. "We (African-Americans) are probably the most powerful lobby in the world. We could make some things happen if we just adjust our sites a little bit."

Are you a blogger, blogging about African American interests or do you blog about social issues relating to the African continent? If yes, you are now tagged to join this discussion by writing your response to this post on your blog. Some questions that might be helpful to this discussion are: *what can be done to dispell the myths?
*what can be done to put everyone at ease?
*how can African Americans understand their African counterparts better and vice versa?

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Theo I didn't forget you!

Theo Johnson

Mr. Wanyama, you know I had to tag you too! Joshua Wanyama

Posted by beninmwangi on beninmwangi.com

Hi, here is something which has been gaining a tremendous amount of traction lately- it is the discussion on informal market economies vs formal economies in Africa. Namely, if there was a place that companies, organizations, governments, and individuals should direct there energies and resources for their benefit and for the continent’s where should it be-to Africa’s formal economies or to the continent’s informal economies?

This question or debate has been directed not only to developing economies on the African continent, but also those outside of the continent. Fortune 500 companies in the US have been asking themselves this question too, as I recently witnessed at IBM’s Global Innovation Outlook on Africa in Atlanta, GA that took place this past July. But perhaps nowhere has this debate been gaining more steam than in Africa’s blogosphere.

Emeka, Omodudu, Imnakoya, Mr.K, Hash, Robert Shaka, Adjetay, A B Kargbo, J Arrey, and Nii Simmonds are just a few of the names which have contributed to the thoughts and discussion on Africa’s informal economies. Now someone that I have corresponded with several times on this topic with is Whythawk-aka Mr. Gavin Chait. And if you are a.) from South Africa or b.) a follower of development economics in Africa then this fellow needs no introduction. However, I still thought it appropriate to include a snippet of his bio before proceeding:

Gavin Chait specializes in economic and enterprise development. He both creates systems for economic and business generation and then project manages these through the implementation phase.

Gavin has worked with the University of Cape Town Department of Management Studies in the Faculty of Commerce to develop student entrepreneurial consulting projects. He has a close relationship with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism working on projects as diverse as tourism development and support; and the 1000 x 1000 Project in which 1 000 individuals were given the opportunity to start a business for R 1 000 each. Gavin assisted with the initial project scoping and development of his original idea for implementation at such a large scale. He further wrote the training and feedback manuals to be used in the event and project managed the event.

Essentially what Mr. Chait has done is memed or tagged me, but instead of writing about myself this meme is actually about expressing our thoughts on Africa’s informal economies. Thanks Gavin! So in keeping the conversation alive I am tagging the following:
* Black River Eagle
* Branded
* Joshua Wanyama
* Emeka
* Omodudu
* Imnakoya
* Mr.K
* Hash
* Robert Shaka
* Adjetay
* A B Kargbo
* J Arrey
* Nii Simmonds (host of the next Africa Enterprising Blog Carnival)
* Jen Brea
* David McQueen
* Coldtusker
* Oluniyi David Ajao
* Juergen Jay Nagler
* Frederic Tape
* Bankelele
* Ryan Shen Hoover
* PLUS the Africa Enterprising Group members not mentioned above

Ok, so here is an excerpt of the post that inspired the discussion, which Gavin, Hash, and I later decided might make a good meme:

Benin Mwangi, who blogs about doing business in Africa, asked me recently: “should the discussion be about how to get the informal sector to become part of the formal sector or should it be how to cater to the informal sector?” This in an excursion into the morass of African poverty and development. The short answer is: neither; ending poverty has nothing to do with the informal sector. This is not to dismiss the question, which is an important one. With the failure of most centralized economic policies and governments in Africa the informal sector is the largest employer and service provider in most of the continent. However the question conflates symptoms with causes. For starters, how do informal markets even come to be? The break-down of property rights A centralized state exists largely to protect contract and the enforcement of property rights. Individual rights and the welfare state are a relatively recent development. And you can’t have these without taxes. And taxes don’t exist without businesses and incomes to tax. And those incomes and businesses require contract protection and the enforcement of their property rights.

So where do I stand on this topic? Well, while I may agree with the reasoning behind the formation of Africa’s informal economies that Gavin eloquently outlined in the quote above, I do believe that the informal markets should be the focus of attention. However, not in the way that Mr. Chait understood me to say. Which is to say that my reference was to private business looking to the informal sector, not government involvement.

The premise is that in Africa’s informal market settings you can easily have several layers of formal participants acting as “go-betweens” between formal and informal businesses. What this does is raises prices, without changing the output, while lowering the income of informal export-oriented market producers. This is made possible by several factors; the two that I would like to address are infrastructural gaps and a very uneven flow of information-with the informal producers historically being on the weaker end of the information flow. With the recent relative abundant flow of mobile phones into Africa’s rural areas, however, the tide is beginning to change-at least on the information front. As a result agricultural producers who receive food commodity price updates by mobile are able to reduce the layers of middlemen involved in transactions and get closer to the end-user.

I think the discussion should be on how foreign companies could team up with these participants to reach new markets and on how they could move around the middleman , to go deeper within the supply chain and closer to this informal sector. I do agree with Gavin though, that paying more attention to the causes of the informal sector would be more productive for a government than focusing solely on eliminating the informal market.

Also, I would like to add that Whythawk’s analogy of someone in a wheel chair crawling before walking is very apt. It reminds me of George Ayittey’s call to Africa’s cheetahs to embrace indigenous solutions and technologies as a means to market participation before investing in complicated solutions. This is something which is extremely practical, it embraces the idea of “scratching where you can reach”. This is where I think Africa’s informal market participants are right now, which again is why I think that they deserve attention.

Here is an excerpt from Imnakoya, where he talks about enabling the producers behind the informal economies:

The beauty of this approach is that the discussion becomes multi- faceted (political, policy, social, private vs public sector, etc) and breaks out of the rarefied arena of just talking about “business”. It also incorporates the several angles already suggested above. And it can be easily (hopefully) synthesized into actionable points/agenda that we/someone/TED Cheetahs can explore (point #3 from Omodudu) further.

And here is another excerpt from another blogger, Emeka, actually coming by way of a comment that he made on an earlier post:

What leads to or has led to good governance in most parts of the world has been the growth of alternate power bases with the accompanying increase in financial power. Be it the burghers of the middle ages in Europe or the middle class in military ruled South Korea there was a common factor—an empowered class that derived its wealth from a growing capital base—Until you build that class of individuals or they build themselves you might as well be whistling in the wind. Must the growth of this group be directed top-down by aid and or fiat, not necessarily so,in fact they rarely do get built that way. Once again we have quite a few examples of disenfranchised expatriate populations that were able to achieve this feat,in fairly hostile environments: The Non-resident Indian,Chinese and Jewish Populations are the better known examples. Are there African corollaries? Yes the unrecognized Mourides of Senegal for example, or within Africa the numerous populations that have spawned informal industrial clusters.Have we recognized their promise and looked for means to strengthen their nascent steps ? No we have not. The point here is that we need to strengthen and build on those areas of strength and recognize them for what they are. With a growing stake in even an informal economy the individuals demand and over time obtain the means to implement the governance that we seek.Governance like every thing else has to proceed from bottom up and not the other way round.

The two above excerpts sort of echo’s why I think we, private folk, should be looking at the informal sectors. Imnakoya’s part about how the informal sector analysis opens the discussion up to wider issues is sage. Also, what Emeka says about the bottom up approach is very timely and often I think that we forget that people through trade and ownership precede governance. Governance comes in when the demand to protect property and foster an enabling trade environment outweigh the costs. So again, I think that foreign businesses can look to the informal sectors as customers and suppliers, by doing so they will be fostering development. On the other hand, Africa’s governments should focus on collecting taxes to build infrastructure and enforce property rights .

So that’s my take on it. What do you think? Let us know with your comments or by being part of the meme. Thanks!

Originally posted by Benin Mwangi on African Path Recently I had a chance to chat with Mr. Tunde Noibi, co-founder of a very innovative sneaker company called Afrokicks. What I like about the company is thow they’ve carried out their idea to showcase African countries through sneakers. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that they are so fashionable and appealing to different crowds-these kicks are hot! Let’s hear what Mr. Noibi has to say about Afrokicks… Q)Who are Afrokicks founders and what are your backgrounds? A)Afrokicks was founded by an experienced management team with various business & entrepreneurial backgrounds. We combine many years of expertise within fashion, entertainment & technology industries. Q)What inspired this venture and when did it begin? A)The venture was inspired by the lack of representation for Africa in the sneaker market. We wanted to fill that void with a shoe. Q) Africans are proud of where they are from and are always looking for ways to showcase and represent themselves. A) The venture officially began summer 2006 but the concept started a few years ago. Q)Do you have any role models either in the African business context or in fashion in general? A) I do not have any particular role models when it comes to African owned businesses. I just admire and respect anyone that takes the entrepreneur route to help improve their respective communities and take their business to the next level. Q) Will you be doing 54 brands for 53 nations or will your brand be based more-so upon the Afrokicks name? A) It will be based on the Afrokicks brand name, but we are constantly finding creative and innovative ways to showcase various African nations. We have more countries and designs coming soon. Q)How and where can one purchase a pair? A)You can currently purchase a pair online at www.afrokicks.com. We will release a list of stores within the next few months, so stay tuned. Q)Are there any special endorsement deals in the works? A) Most definitely! We are working on a few endorsement opportunities with a selective group of professional athletes and celebrities that will represent the Afrokicks brand and Africa in the right way.

About three months ago I received a rather short and nondescript comment in my guest book. Now around the same time I had been receiving spam comments and the like, so I didn't pay the visitor's words much mind. About one or two weeks after that I received an email from someone who said they were from IBM-huh? And the email had something to do with Africa. Ok, that got my attention. So, I read the email again, just to make sure that it was real. Indeed it certainly appeared so. The letter conveyed that IBM was working on putting a small panel together-sort of like a think tank, consisting of about 30 people, and the focus of these "deep dive" sessions would be to brainstorm about economic progress on the African continent. They are calling this forum the IBM Global Innovation Outlook (GIO) and this series is titled IBM GIO Think Africa. To make a long story short, I accepted the invitation and attended the event. What a treat it was to event to attend this event. One of the highlights for me was participating on a discussion about the impact that the continent's informal economies have had upon the lives of the participants of the event, as well as the overall impact upon the continent's economies. I also had a chance to sit down with an IBM vice-president to talk about the company's strategy on the continent. The post will be published on African Path this week. Perhaps even more major, though, were the one-on-one connections that I was able to make while there. There was a NEPAD official, several university professors, a Ghanaian King, several fortune 500 executives, two university students, and several others. Here is a snippet from the GIO blog summarizing the event: "Hubert Danso, vice chairman of the African Investment Advisory Group at NEPAD, spent years shopping positive business stories around to the international media types. He got nothing but lip service. So he finally decided that if he wanted the stories of Africa’s burgeoning economic prowess and entrepreneurial spirit to reach the world, he was going to have to tell those stories himself. Danso is now the managing editor of Africa Investor magazine. It’s as slick as anything you’d pick up on a New York newsstand, has top-notch research, and relentlessly covers business issues in and around the continent. If you want to get the other side of the business climate story in Africa, it’s a must-read. Other deep dive participants have broached the idea of a news portal that focuses exclusively on positive stories coming out of Africa." You may find out more about the IBM deep dives by visiting their blog here. Otherwise, be on the lookout to hear what an IBM Vice President has to say about doing business in Africa. Please stay tuned!

The proposal to officially create a United States of Africa may not have come at a better time than now when international trade is dictating the pace of development thanks to technological innovation. You may not have noticed but recent trends indicate that the United States of Africa is already here. Through various communication technologies, Africa has transformed into a large business unitclick on the link to read the rest of the post. from The Benin Epilogue

Experts Trade Views on US of Africa with Benin Mwangi My good friend, Branded-thank you so much for helping to expand and share the knowledge on this whole United States of Africa idea that just swept by. Also, there are many wonderful online pieces on this United States of Africa. I have spoken to a number of people on the subject also, many have been from various African nations. While, others that have shared their thoughts on the subject have been from other parts of the worlds. What the conversations seemed to mirror in each other was a certain level of caution. Primarily, I felt this to be more of cultural or a social concern- the question of "whose voice takes precedence under a United States of Africa?" Whether social or not though, I have to say that it is a very valid concern. So, I think that the decision to apply the brake pressure and slow down was a very wise one. There are just too many issues that would have to be addressed before the discussion could become practical. But underneath this, it should also be said that a more united continent could have the potential to bring about almost unfathomable macro economic benefit to certain areas and sectors on the continent. Believe it or not, just prior to the 9th Assembly of African Union Heads of State, I spoke with several experts on the subject of business across African borders and I believe that they bring some unique and tremendous insights to this topic. One of the many people whose ideas on this topic have helped to shape mine was East Africa America Business Council Chairman and official Liaison of the East Africa Community, Mr. Patrick Ayota. I asked him, what did he think about the idea of African countries removing their borders all together and could there be any benefit to doing this and here's what he had to say, "A more connected Africa would reduce the existing barriers that prevent African nations from doing more business with one another. Also, it could reduce costs. However, it is not necessary to have a single president for such a union to work. Here's what could work: * Creating a highway infrastructure linking the the countries together. * Removing visa requirements for members of the union * Creating a common market He goes on to add, "On a smaller scale this has largely already done by the East Africa Community (EAC). There is now a single entity in the EAC that licenses companies moving products between Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. This means that a Ugandan company can hire a Tanzanian employee and offer the same benefits to that employee that a Ugandan employee would receive. Also, Mr. Ayota illustrates countries working out there differences, "because Kenya has a stronger economy than Uganda and Tanzania, it has agreed to allow its neighbors to temporarily impose small tariffs on Kenyan goods. While Kenya has removed tariffs on goods from Tanzania and Uganda." What Mr. Ayota mentioned, as far as that cooperation between the East African nations is something that you don't often hear about coming from neighboring states on the continent, however this shows that it does and can happen. Of course, it has not always been this way between the three countries that he mentioned and it is in fact the result of an amazing amount of time, hard work, and diplomacy between the three nations. But, I believe that this is exactly what we need to see happen in order to make this discussion more practical. And I would think that it must happen, for a number of reasons. But primarily because today's voters on the continent are a lot more savvy than they were just one generation ago. Before they agree to go along with just any suggestion, my observation is that it would be better to demonstrate some of the benefits first. And isn't that the case around the globe? So, I agree with Mr. Ayota, before any serious thoughts of unifying all or a large part of the continent under one rule, there must be more connectedness on the basic items-like standardized educational systems with continental accreditation, looser tariffs, free movement of nationals across borders, better intra-roadways, communication systems, and a stronger system to support and document investment from one border to another. However, with the rise of the continent's regional economic blocks these things are slowly becoming materialize within smaller regions on the continent I also had the pleasure of speaking with an investment researcher from the world acclaimed Barron's , Mr. Ryan Shen- Hoover. I asked him roughly the same question that I asked Mr. Ayota and Ryan's response was focused more along the lines of stock markets across the African continent and what these stock markets might look like if they were merged into one market. Here's what he says, "In brief, I believe a continent-wide stock market would be a welcome development for all involved. It would greatly lessen the difficulty of opening trading accounts in a dozen or so different countries and therefore would be great for any investor seeking exposure to more than one country. It would likely also have the effect of unlocking value in some companies that are listed in markets that trade infrequently (e.g. Swaziland, Ghana, Malawi) and could have the opposite effect in some of Africa's more overheated markets ( e.g. Nigeria and Kenya).So, how would a common stock exchange be brought about? There are a couple ways it might happen. One way would be for all countries to sit down and hammer out the structure of a totally new market. They would agree on listing and reporting requirements, trading rules, location, etc. One obstacle I see to this is that most countries take a degree of pride in running their own national stock market. It would take a lot of political will to dissolve them in favor of one continent-wide market. The other way to achieve a common market is more organic. Already in East Africa we are seeing Kenyan companies trade on not only the Nairobi Stock Exchange, but the Ugandan and Tanzanian exchanges, too. This is called cross-listing. Some other companies cross-list on the Johannesburg and Namibian stock exchanges. If one of the big exchanges (perhaps Nigeria, Kenya, or South Africa's) would actively encourage cross-listings, we could see a common market develop quite quickly. And each country could continue to run its own national market if it wished to do so." I like Mr. Shen-Hoover's notion of voluntary participation on the part of African stock markets, whereby exchanges in different across different African borders can decide whether to cross list based upon the perceived risk or reward, rather than having the idea imposed on them. This to me would seem like more of a natural course to the continent finding that ever elusive unity that the founding fathers of the AU through the Organization of African Unity dreamt about only one generation ago. So we said all of this to say what? Well, what we are getting at is that like Mr. Ayota says it is possible to harness the economic power of a unified continent without necessarily having all the continent's nearly 1 billion human inhabitants under a single national banner. Furthermore, the steps mentioned here need not be mandated. In fact, mandates seem to stir apprehension within voters. Instead, a more gradual and laizzez faire approach might be the way to go about this. One more thing that I failed to mention earlier is that the African Union decided to support the further development of the continent's 14 regional integration groupings-I say that if nothing else ever comes out of that 9th Assembly of the African Union Heads of State this development in itself is major. Although, I wouldn't have minded hearing the AU discuss how to fully harness the power of the informal economies existing in different regions of the continent. Of course, I love your comments. But, if you can't comment at this particular time- but would like to let us know that you were here; please sign and View my guestbook Nkrumah-King (Mr. Ogo Sow this photo is for you, I appreciate what you do, you're the only person that I am in close contact with who attended the event and I hope that we can do a follow up story to this one together ) photo courtesy of Wikipedia African Union Flag Courtesy of African Union article courtesy of benin mwangi dot com

This will be the first of my writings on the African Union (AU). What I wanted to do is convey a sense of the hope that surrounds the African continent as well as provide a brief primer on the history of the African Union. To catch a glimpse at this sense of hope all that one has to do visit any of the following sites-TED Global, Africa Travel Association, beninmwangi.com, African Path, and any number of 1000's more sites which focus on the business and political advances which have been sweeping across the continent. But before all of this there was a movement taking place from behind the scenes. This movement was started by an organization called the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was the predacessor to the organization that we today call the African Union. The African Union consists of 53 African states and was formed in 2000. The aim of the organization is to have a unified defence force these states, as well as integrated political and economic institutions. Currently the Union is chaired by the Ghanaian President Mr. John Kufour. The secretary of African Union is the AU commsion, which is scheduled to change hands at the 9th AU summit that is taking place in Accra Ghana this week. The two organizations that preceded the African Union were founded by the late Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah during the 1960's; these bodies were called the Union of African States and the Organization of African Unity. The period between the 1980's to the 2000's was generally thought of as a time of turbulence for the organzation. However, many have viewed the replacement of OAU in 2002 by the African Union as the ushering in of a new era. And since that time the AU has been instrumental in peace keeping, economic development, and public relations for the continent. Perhaps, the most notable achievement of the AU has been the proposal to create a single and sovereign nation consisting of the 53 that we see in it's place today. But this notion has not gone without controversy, with some saying that it may be too soon; while others note that it would create the largest trade bloc in the world. I for one think that whatever the case, the AU's support for the regional trade blocs already operating on the continent is momental in itself. What do you think?

Hi there, my name is Benin. Many know me as Benin Mwangi. In the weeks to come I plan on sharing with you some of the greatest treasures of the African continent-Africa's entrepreneurs! Over the last few months this is what I have talked about on www.beninmwangi.com and The Benin Epilogue: Africa Ready for Business. I met Mr. Ogo Sow as a result of my interest in the Africa Travel Association and I am really happy that we met. Thank you Mr. Sow!

This is a great opportunity for our network to convey to you the artistic expression of our talented youth