Here’s your Daily Brief for August 20th:

AGOA Nations Frustrated By Administration’s Adherence To Status Quo (via The Whitaker Group) – I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the African Growth and Opportunity Act that was being promoted at the AGOA Forum by several high ranking US officials including Secretary Clinton. This excellent post from Whitaker Group outlines the disappointment of the private sector and African governments in the Obama Administration’s lack AGOA reform, despite its very public “commitment” to promote trade and investment in Africa.

In my previous post, I wrote about some of these concerns — a major one being the number of products covered under AGOA. Another being the US possible extending AGOA benefits to non-African countries like Cambodia or Bangladesh (two countries that would easily out-compete and drown out African markets).

Despite African countries being quite vocal in local media outlets about what THEY wanted from AGOA, it appears that the Obama Administration intends to maintain the “status quo”

Nuclear Power for Energy Security in Africa (via The Whitaker Group) – Another gem from the Whitaker Group, this time on Energy Security in Africa. Reliable electricity throughout Africa has always been a problem – and a serious one when you consider the income lost by businesses during blackout. It is an all to common occurrence, and that combined with the high costs of electricity have been a major impediment to investment.

With SEACOM and TEAMS coming online in the months to come — dramatically decreasing the costs on internet and connectivity — African governments need to focus on the next big infrastructure challenge: electricity.

African countries are looking to nuclear power as the solution. The coolest part about this is detailed at the end of the post and includes seriously import research benefits that could come about and help across multiple sectors. Also nuclear power creates and maintains high-paying and high-skilled jobs that cannot be offshored.

Patient capital, markets that work and ending the endless emergency of poverty (via Seth Godin) – Here’s a nice post from Seth Godin explaining in very concise terms the importance of “patient capital”.

The Microfinance Debate:

As Muhammad Yunus, founder of microfinance and Grameen Bank, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, critics assailed the very institution he was being awarded for. Microfinance has revolutionized development and blazed the path for social entrepreneurship. But the model has its flaws — including high overhead costs barely covered by interest payments, that it’s largely subsidized credit, and the lack of a long-term financing option. Here are a few articles to help you follow the debate:

• The backlash against microfinance (via Duncan Green) – A good breakdown of the arguments at hand over microfinance
• A $9 Trillion Question: Did the World Get Muhammad Yunus Wrong? (via Foreign Policy) – Peter Schaefer argues in this Foreign Policy article that the work of de Soto (integrating the poor into formal markets) and Yunnus (delivering micro-loans to the poor) must be built upon and combined “in order to develop a more viable way to realize their [the poor's] inherent promise.”
• Economics focus: A partial marvel (via The Economist) – The Economist weighs-in to the discussion

And here are posts I’ve already included in previous briefs:

• A Global Surge in Tiny Loans Spurs Credit Bubble in a Slum (via WSJ Subscription Req.)
• A Response to the WSJ Micro-Credit Crisis Article
• Is There a Mortgage Boom in Sub-Saharan Africa?