New aid; the change in development assistance to Africa

Change is afoot across the African continent and even where it is slow in coming, there's evidence all around of a new generation of Africans -- entrepreneurial and inventive who are shaping a brighter future for the their communities. Jacqueline Novogratz explains a new path to development assistance, one which leads only in facilitation, providing investment rather than traditional aid.


Read More and watch the video here.

Funding a start-up

The August issue of the Entrepreneur magazine has a feature on the 500 fastest growing businesses in the United States between 1998 and 2006.

My message to all out there who want to start their own business, all the best wishes and may you go on to realise your dreams. I hope that in the coming years a Kenyan will be featured in the Entrepreneur magazine's 'America's 500 fastest growing businesses'.

Read more here.

Africa: Understanding China's Interest

Ahmed Mohammed seeks to analyze the Chinese economic interest in Africa urging an objective centered on "the attraction of more Chinese direct investment specifically in infrastructure and services". Follow this link for more on this.

The Chinese President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao's interest in Africa and the rest of Asia is similarly based on two important factors, namely trade and material resources. While Emperor Zhu Di demanded tributes and fancied giraffes and other exotic animals for his personal zoo, Jintao is principally focused on markets and fossil fuel amongst other natural
resources for his massive industrial appetite. But President Jintao's hospitality for dignitaries is not any different from that Emperor Zhu. Small talk from some of the dignitaries who have had the chance to enjoy Chinese hospitality give glimpse of the unreserved and tantalizingly luxurious receptions accorded them. Is such indulgence aimed at creating a reckless exuberance on the part of the African for Chinese benefit?