13 July 2009

Business Action for Africa ~ Progress To MDGs...

Thanks to NextBillion.net's Tayo Akinyemi for the pointer to Business Action for Africa's newly released report From Crisis to Opportunity: Harnessing the Power of Business to Sustain Progress Towards the MDGs. I was especially intrigued by a few distinct insights, first by Prof Paul Collier...
"...the downside of modern industry is that the typical task is most efficiently undertaken by clustering many firms together in the same place. This creates a chicken-and-egg problem in that no firm wants to be the first to produce in a new location. African governments can help to counter this coordination problem by promoting export zones at ports, ensuring that infrastructure and the regulatory environment is supportive."
And by Richard Liang of the CDC...
"...members of the African diaspora are returning home because they see prospects that they cannot find in the us and europe. This "reverse" brain-drain can have a positive impact, particularly in countries like Ghana where recent oil and gas finds are big news and offer good prospects. They have seen the huge potential of their homeland and are doing something about it."
And by Cartridge & De Cleene from Yara...
"...the work we are doing to create an agriculture growth corridor along the existing Beira infrastructure and trading corridor in Mozambique illustrates a new way forward. Initiated in partnership with the government of Mozambique, and organisations including the Norwegian Government, AGRA, World Bank, African Development Bank and InfraCo, the concept provides an example of how to tackle constraints, such as low yields, limited access to finance and poor quality infrastructure, through a holistic and co-ordinated approach. Crucially, the initiative is underpinned by an innovative financing structure, which combines commercial and concessional sources of finance. [...] Although the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor offers a replicable model, we need a step change in the way stakeholders collaborate to achieve real and transformative scale, and the appropriate mechanisms and frameworks to deliver this, particularly as it relates to small holder farmers. This includes, for example, a greater willingness to share the risks associated with early stage investment in agricultural innovation, especially as it takes time and patience for new approaches to bear fruit. We also require more creative and flexible ways to leverage sources of finance to support and fast track promising new business models. The Africa Enterprise Challenge fund is a good example of what can be achieved."
Very interesting.

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