IDEAS ARE CAPITAL, THE REST IS JUST MONEY
Philip Emeagwali, Baltimore, Maryland USA
I once believed that capital was another word for money, the accumulated wealth of a country or its people. Surely, I thought, wealth is determined by the money or property in one's possession. Then I saw a Deutsche Bank advertisement in the Wall Street Journal that proclaimed: "Ideas are capital. The rest is just money."
I was struck by the simplicity of such an eloquent and forceful idea. I started imagining what such power meant for Africa. The potential for progress and poverty alleviation in Africa relies on capital generated from the power within our minds, not from our ability to pick minerals from the ground or seek debt relief and foreign assistance.
If ideas are capital, why is Africa investing more on things than on information, and more on the military than on education? Suddenly, I realized what this idea could mean for Africa. If the pen is mightier than the sword, why does a general earn more than the work of a hundred writers combined? If ideas are indeed capital, then Africa should stem its brain drain and promote the African Renaissance, which will lead to the rebirth of the continent. After all, a renaissance is a rebirth of ideas. And knowledge and ideas are the engines that drive economic growth. More >>
Nigeria needs diaspora funds to stimulate economy
Okonjo-Iweala
By Yinka Kolawole
Friday, October, 2006
FORMER Finance and Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that Nigeria needs to attract remittances from Nigerians in diaspora to stimulate the national economy on the path of sustenable growth.
The World Bank estimated that total remittance flows to developing countries in 2005 amounted to about $167 billion. Africa alone received about $7.7 billion in 2004 with Nigeria accounting for nearly half.
Okonjo-Iweala, who is currently the Managing Director/Chief executive of NOI Global Consulting, stated this in Lagos, Tuesday, while speaking on Energizing Economic Transformation through Venture Capital at a workshop on Venture Capital and private equity financing organised by A.S. Consulting and Gemstone Capital. More >>
WE SHOULD BEGIN TO THINK
October 13, 2006
By Phillip Emeagwali
I once believed that capital was another word for money, the accumulated wealth of a country or its people. Surely, I thought, wealth is determined by the money or property in one's possession. Then I saw a Deutsche Bank advertisement in the Wall Street Journal that proclaimed: "Ideas are capital. The rest is just money."
I was struck by the simplicity of such an eloquent and forceful idea. I started imagining what such power meant for Africa. The potential for progress and poverty alleviation in Africa relies on capital generated from the power within our minds, not from our ability to pick minerals from the ground or seek debt relief and foreign assistance. If ideas are capital, why is Africa investing more on things than on information, and more on the military than on education? Suddenly, I realized what this idea could mean for Africa. More >>
Business in Africa: You are welcome
Sub-Saharan Africa is still a hard place to do business. But a report from
the World Bank shows that things are starting to change, says Fortune's Cait
Murphy.
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Out of Africa, the headline news is usually related to
the legendary four horsemen of the Apocalypse - pestilence, war, famine and
death. No question, these horsemen run rampant on the continent; but there
is another story worth hearing too. More >>
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Africa: Out-of-the-Box Thinking in an In-the-Box World
BY Philip Emeagwali
DATE : Sunday, 01 October 2006
I once believed that capital was another word for money, the accumulated wealth of a country or its people. Surely, I thought, wealth is determined by the money or property in one's possession. Then I saw a Deutsche Bank advertisement in the Wall Street Journal that proclaimed: "Ideas are capital. The rest is just money."
I was struck by the simplicity of such an eloquent and forceful idea. I started imagining what such power meant for Africa. The potential for progress and poverty alleviation in Africa relies on capital generated from the power within our minds, not from our ability to pick minerals from the ground or seek debt relief and foreign assistance. More >>
Nigeria tops migrant remittances in sub-Saharan Africa
By Femi Makinde
Published: Wednesday, 20 Sep 2006
The United Nations has ranked Nigeria as the country with the largest remittances of migrants in the sub-Saharan Africa.
Sudan was ranked second while South Africa was rated third. More >>
Ex-Im Bank to Conduct Seminars in Houston, Texas and Los Angeles, California on Exporting to Africa
Ex-Im Bank is scheduled to conduct training seminars in Houston, Texas and Los Angeles California in June and July, respectively. These half-day training sessions are targeted from U.S. exporters interested in exporting to Africa. The focus of the programs will be to explain export credit support available through Ex-Im Bank programs. Ex-Im Bank will cover its initiatives in Africa and specifically review the Short-Term & Medium-Term products.
The training seminars are scheduled as follows....Click Here
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Jesse Jackson Jr.: Congressional Support for Liberia’s New Government an American Link to Africa
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2006
By: Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.,
A fragile peace now prevails in Liberia, and remnants of various rebel groups remain a serious threat. Liberia needs immediate political and economic reconstruction assistance for critical high impact projects to build public confidence in the new government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and to address critical, pressing needs -- including public works projects, civil service reform, security sector reform and emergency employment for demobilized child and youth soldiers.
Continue
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Nigeria’s Economy in the 1st Quarter:
An Appraisal
By Tunji Adegboyega
With the first quarter gone, and the year’s budget assented to by President Olusegun Obasanjo in April, it is interesting and useful to assess the progress of the Nigerian economy. After a protracted disagreement between the Executive arm of government and the Legislature, the economic policy thrust of government for the year can, at best, be said to be taking shape.
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Getting Africa Out of Poverty
By Okey Ndibe
The answer to Africa’s poverty lies principally in Africa’s hands. I am aware of how unwelcome such a posture must seem to some. Many intellectuals, in the West and Africa alike, are likely to disdain this position as heretical or naive, perhaps both. After all, did not European rapacity in the era of colonialism sow some of the seeds of Africa’s impoverishment? At any rate, how are African nations to combat their myriad crises--among them a crippling debt burden, bleak social indices, the absence of basic infrastructure or their terrible deterioration, as well as the rampancy of AIDS and other preventable diseases--on their own weak steam? Considering the scope and depth of the continent’s travails, why should anybody expect Africa to generate its own panaceas?
After a decade of (benign) neglect of Africa and its woes, many Western intellectuals, politicians and policy wonks seem to have awakened to the depth of the continent’s crises, and are offering answers. The enormity of Africa’s woes has compelled the question: How can Africa be pulled out of poverty? Debt forgiveness and dramatically increased levels of financial aid are favorite prescriptions. These are worthy proposals, but it is doubtful they would prove magic wands.
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