Here’s your Daily Brief for December 8th through December 9th:

Conspicuous Correlation: Coltan and Crisis Reports (via Appfrica) – One of the major factors feeding genocide and violent crimes against humanity is that ruling regimes have established business relations with foreign companies, earning them an political ally and a source of revenue to fuel local conflict. The foreign companies often get exclusive access to local resources in exchange for their unwavering political support and usually a cut off the top. We have seen this in South Sudan with Chinese oil companies, and also in DRC with Coltan mining. This excellent report by Appfrica takes Ushahidi (conflict mapping) data and mashes it with mining data to illustrate the “conspicuous correlation” between the two. Coltan can be found in the capacitors used in your hearing aids, pacemakers, airbags, GPS units, laptops, mobile phones, video games, and the list goes on. 60% of it can be found in the DRC, where conflicts since 1998 have killed an estimated 5.4 million people.

A business plan competition for entrepreneurs that deliver access to clean energy Africa – If you’re an entreprneur working on clean energy solutions for Africa (in particular Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Gambia, Uganda, or Zambia), there is a business plan competition for you! Awards include mentorship, expert advice, consideration for up to $100k in financing, and access to over 100 prospective investors!

The Dragon in Africa: How Chinese Investment Changes The Game (via Triple Pundit) – Interesting question posed: Does China’s appetite for risky investments in some of the most unstable parts of the world (and the investment benefits that come along with it) outweigh its questionable tactics of investment?

Al Jazeera Looks At Investment in Equatorial Guinea

Image Credit: Appfrica Labs

Here’s your Daily Brief for October 12th through October 13th:

Can ‘The Simpsons’ Really Improve Lives in Africa? (via SocialEarth) – This is an awesome look at a startup in Kenya selling “Hand Made African Stone Sculpts” as Simpsons memorabilia. I think it’s awesome what 20th Century Fox saw the social benefit associated with the merchandise and agreed to grant the rights to sell and distribute the products! This is also an awesome opportunity to begin bringing artisans from the informal sector into the formal economy.

The lives of these artisans have drastically improved since the company started. The artisans are paid 450 shillings or $6.50 per statue, which has allowed many workers to put their children to school. But the one the biggest improvements for workers is the regularity of work. Prior to Craft Village, artisans would go for weeks without work, but now there is a steady flow of work for not only the sculptors, but also the miners who dig up the soapstone rocks for carving, and the female assistants.

Did You Know: BMW Has Been In South Africa Since 1968!? – Well it’s true! Since 1968 BMWs have been assembled in Rosslyn, South Africa! If you have a 3 Series, it may very well have come from that plant! Africa Business Source reports that BMW will invest around ZAR 2.2 billion to increase production in SA by 45% from 60,000 to 87,000 cars.

Women in Social Enterprise: Sweta Mangal, CEO “Dial 1298/108 for Ambulance (via Beyond Profit) – The social enterprise magazine Beyond Profit is running an awesome series on “Women in Social Enterprise”. This post takes a look at Sweta Mangal, the CEO of a venture called “Dial 1298/108 for Ambulance”. What I particularly like about this post is that it takes a look at an even larger question that is often asked: What makes a social entrepreneur?

Portfolios of the Poor – a great new book (via Poverty to Power) – One of the keys to BOP business strategy is truly understanding the dynamics of poverty. Duncan Green does a good job of summarizing “Portfolios of the Poor” — an examination of poverty that goes beyond the stereotypes and takes an honest perspective on how the poor manage their money.

Kagame Praises China’s Role in Africa (via BBC) – It’s interesting to see Rwandan President Paul Kagame praising the role China is playing in Africa. I’ve written frequently about this topic (most notably here and here), and I agree with Kagame when he states that Africa needs business investment rather than sympathetic aid.

“The Chinese bring what Africa needs: investment and money for governments and companies,” he told business newspaper Handelsblatt.

“China is investing in infrastructure and building roads,” he said, adding that European and American involvement “has not brought Africa forward”.

But where I strongly disagree with Kagame is that China’s role in Africa is one to be praised. It’s exploitative and does nothing to stimulate local economies. Business investment in African and the whole of the developing world needs to be responsible and ought to seek to promote local economic development.

An article in todays Business Daily newspaper caught my eye and has inspired me to begin my discussion on the role of China in Africa. This is a wildly important discussion and I promise there is more to come on this topic.

Anyways, this article suggests that the rise in US trade-related engagement with Africa is in direct response to China’s threatening stake-hold on the continent. I don’t entirely agree with the suggestion, but it raises a critical point: the US needs to take a serious look at the role of China in Africa and throughout the developing world, and then reevaluate our approach to these undervalued and underestimated developing regions of the world. Historically, the United States has taken a very ethnocentric and paternalistic stance when dealing with Africa — an approach that, from the receiving end, tends to be condescending and demoralizing. America’s long tradition of attaching conditionalities to all forms of foreign assistance (for better or for worse) further exacerbated nationalistic sentiments and resentment towards the US within the aid-receiving countries. So it was no surprise that when China invited 35 African Heads of State to Beijing in 2006, providing celebrations and red carpet treatment, to discuss China-Africa relations, Africans were thrilled to have a new partner in the world — one that treated them as equals.

Now there is a stark contrast between US and Chinese engagement with Africa. While the US does come off as paternalistic and restrictive (particularly with the large number of conditionalities attached to aid), it is trying to uphold certain standards of human rights and morality. Additionally, many conditions (particularly economic) on aid are intended to protect the investment and maximize its impact. But the US has, for the most part, dismissed Africa as a mutually beneficial trading partner. US engagement with Africa is out of a “moral imperative”.

China, on the other hand, has approached Africa as an “equal” and as an alternative to the US and the West. China’s investment in Africa has been less humanitarian and more economic. When an African country want to get a certain project complete an they are looking at two bids: one from the US government and one from the Chinese government, the Chinese offer a blank check with no political or economic conditions whatsoever. However the Chinese have a high propensity of making unfulfilled promises at the outset of a deal, importing their own labor to carry out a project, and mostly extracting natural resources. And the Chinese are ruthless business people, doing business with countries under the backdrop of genocide and dictatorship. They are adept to protecting corrupt leaders in exchange for access to local resources.

That being said, I don’t believe that America’s increase in trade-related engagement with Africa is a direct response to China’s growing stake over the continent — otherwise we would see a decline in conditions and political stipulations attached to trade policy like AGOA. Rather, I believe that this shift is a direct response to a rapidly changing global landscape whereby African markets are becoming more stable both politically and economically. Additionally, I see a dramatic shift coming in the future toward increased investment in Africa driven both by a moral imperative and an economic understanding. This, I believe, will grow as the younger generations begin to assume control of US policy and business.

For now, I’ll leave you with some video for the weekend! This is Riz Khan’s “China in Africa” series:
Part 1/2:

Part 2/2:

In Other News:

Standard Charter shocks rivals with 43 per cent profit growth (via Business Daily) – The banking sector in Kenya is one of the largest recipients of FDI, despite the fact that only about 10% of Kenyans potentially eligible for a bank account actually hold one. Despite the post-election violence in 2008, three out of four of Kenya’s major banks still experienced growth. It seems that still today the banking sector in Kenya continues to surprise!

Chinese and Indian Growth in Latin America: New Business Opportunities (via NextBillion.net) – This is a nice piece on the current and possibly future role of China in the Latin America / Caribbean (LAC) region. I disagree with the zero-sum suggestion in the second paragraph, but the rest of the article is great!