Infographic: Africa From Top To Bottom

For the past decade, Africa's economy has been growing, on average, by 5.3% per year. But that's not the full measure of a continent. A recent study looked at 4 different pillars derived from 88 different indicators to help determine which African countries are succeeding and which ones are still struggling.


Source: Africa From Top To Bottom

Via Master of Finance Organization.

'The Untold Story of Tanzania's Resource Curse.' - by Robert Ahearne

ANALYSIS



The recent protests in southern Tanzania were triggered by grievances regarding natural gas discoveries, but regional discontent has deep historical roots.

On 22 May, 2013 protests and street battles erupted in the southern Tanzanian region of Mtwara in response to the government's handling of mineral resource wealth and the contracts it has signed with various international actors.

The army and police were sent to quell the unrest, using teargas and live rounds, in the main southern town of Mtwara and in Mikindani, a smaller town around ten kilometres away in which at least three people died. Government and state-friendly media sources have typically portrayed the events as thoughtless violence and wanton criminality. However, this detracts from a widespread and more urgent malaise about how the government has handled the discovery of natural resources.

The 'hidden agenda' against the south

Until recently, the Mtwara region, on the border with Mozambique and looking across the Indian Ocean, did not receive much attention from the media, multinational corporations or the Tanzania government. The region had been best known for its Makonde wood carvings, its cashew nuts, and little else, and was often perceived as somewhat traditional or backwards.

It is common for Tanzanians from other parts of the country to refer to those from the south - which conventionally means the Ruvuma, Lindi, and Mtwara regions - as washamba, which can be literally translated as 'farmers' but is often used as a pejorative term more accurately translated as 'hicks' or 'peasants'.

These regions are not particularly well connected to the rest of the country, especially owing to the fact that the main trunk road south from Dar es Salaam remains tantalisingly unfinished - in spite of a promise made at independence in 1961 that the road would be completed quickly.

Many view this physical detachment as symbol of southern dislocation from the broader history of Tanzania, and some contend it is the result of deliberate ostracism by central government. Some have argued that this marginalisation has an historical precedent, a 'hidden agenda' against the south that apparently followed the Maji Maji rebellion against German colonial rule (1905-7).

Read the rest of the story here.

"What the youth could do to bring change in Tanzania." by Julius Bwahama

Dar es Salaam. The fight for the independence of the so-called Tanganyika on December 9, 1961, was peacefully led by Julius Nyerere, Rashidi Kawawa and Abeid Karume. Then followed Jomo Kenyatta and Milton Obote who fought for that of Kenya and Uganda respectively.

This proved that the youth of Africa were indeed men and women of valour who united to turn the dark pages of colonialism into a free continent. They were followed by a generation of old men; they say wisdom goes with grey-hair. True, they served their nations and saw their countries through the cold war while others went through bloody coups and civil wars, but Tanzania stood firm as a shining star of peace. The old wise men of Africa Julius Nyerere, Yoweri Museveni, Kenneth Kaunda and Nelson Mandela will always be remembered for their selfless pursuit of the good things for their nations.

This decade celebrates a change. The recent years record of Joseph Kabila, Barack Obama and Uhuru Kenyatta has put the young blood again on the scene. This time around it has been in style for there are not only presidents but also young Members of Parliament. Following the disputed elections of 2008 that led to the death of more than 1,000 people, most Kenyans must have had their fingers crossed when presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta was announced winner. Their worries became worse when his rival Raila Odinga contested the results by filing a petition at the Supreme Court.

However, this time violence was not the answer to election disputes as candidates preached peace and tolerance before their supporters.

The 2013 Kenya General elections has shown a good example to African countries where disputed election results have often led to bloodshed. A case in point is the 2007 election run-off in Sierra Leone and that of Zimbabwe in 2008. The Kenya elections have also shown us that this is no longer the time for old grandpas such as Robert Mugabe, 89, of Zimbabwe to lead their countries; rather it is era of the youth. At 50 President Kenyatta may not be a very young man, but he epitomises the new trend of more and more youngsters venturing into politics.

According to Kawe MP (Chadema) Halima Mdee,35, the recent elections in Kenya have significant lessons that Tanzania politics could learn from, such as live debates of candidates. “President Uhuru Kenyatta, his main rival Raila Odinga and others took part in debates. These give the politicians a chance to represent their policies on social, economic and political issues. “However, in Tanzania debates are not mandatory, thus voters cannot easily identify the candidate with policies that can solve their problems. At the end of it all they choose candidates according to their big names rather than their potentials,” explains Ms Mdee. She says the new constitution of Kenya has given an opportunity for unsatisfied candidates to challenge presidential results in court. Thus at the end of it all the real loser is not left grieving, which is not the case in Tanzania, she explains.

“For Kenyatta coming into power, it is clear that the youth can also take very high posts in politics because at 50 he is not very old. “Being a bit young gives you the chance to do more research and thus bring issues that affect the people. It should also be noted that the majority of East Africans are young,” argues Ms Mdee. She says being a young politician one can easily mingle with the youth in the streets and neighbourhoods apart from easily interacting with them and identifying their problems. Saying most old leaders have nothing to lose, she explains: “I am a councillor in the Kinondoni Municipal Council and MP. Since I started my tenure, MP John Mnyika and I have managed to increase revenue collection from Sh15 billion during the time of our predecessors to Sh23 billion in 2012.

“I have also managed to improve feeder roads in my municipality to tarmac level, in such areas as Sinza and Kijitonyama.

“My advice for the youth seeking to join politics is to be patient and strong because politics is not for the faint-hearted. This is a job with a lot of blames and rivalry. So you have to have a strong heart and faith in order to survive.’’

Another MP, 32-year-old Moses Machali (Kasulu Urban-NCCR-Mageuzi), the Kenya elections have taught us several lessons. One is accepting defeat as did Raila Odinga after his petition was thrown out by the Supreme Court. He says there is a dire need for the Judiciary to be appointed by a separate entity rather than the president as in Tanzania. “We need to change the system because if the president appoints the Judiciary he/she may sometimes be biased because it is difficult to bite the hand that feeds you,” says Mr Machali.

In Kenya Judges and Magistrates are selected by the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board that forwards names of candidates to the Parliament for approval before officially appointing them. He says young people should also be more involved in politics. “I am happy to see that Mr Kenyatta is not very young but a dynamic man. “In the past CCM had not done enough to accommodate the youth, and that is why most left for the opposition such as Chadema which has very many young politicians,” he explains. Most young politicians are aggressive in presenting issues that are of importance to the public, especially in Parliament. “The youth are achieving a lot. For example, I recently conducted a research with fellow MP James Mbatia into challenges of the education system in our country such as lack of a national school curriculum and what could be the solution. “As an MP, I have managed to break the secrecy that surrounded the expenditure of funds allocated to the Parliament for my constituency. Beforehand the funds were used without anyone being accountable,” says Mr Machali.

However, Mr Said Nkumba (CCM Sikonge, Tabora) says the Judiciary in Tanzania is independent. “Even if the judges are appointed by the President, justice is still separated from the government. For example, take the many petitions that the opposition has won. He states that the new trend of youth going into politics is a sign of the maturity of Tanzania politics. “So long as they are able to deliver then the seniors should transfer power to them, but they should learn to accept defeat rather than causing mayhem,” advises Mr Nkumba.

Read more here.

Entrepreneur VS. Intra-preneur

In the past few months I have attended a few seminars/discussion forums centered on “youth entrepreneurship.” I had the privilege of speaking at one forum facilitated by a youth group called Yes! Tanzania. While listening to other speakers and audience members, I came to realize that some, if not a lot of people are mistaking the definition or the characteristics of an entrepreneur. For example, not many people were and are able to differentiate what a business person is to who an entrepreneur is. The key message they are missing is that being an entrepreneur is having more of a mindset/vision than it is making money or a product/service that will sell. Let’s face it, there are lot of entrepreneurs that are not wealthy, as much as there are a lot of people doing business that are not entrepreneurs.

Another observation I have made in the past few months is that people – especially young people – are bent on either coming up with an original idea by themselves, that will make them money or doing exactly what another person is doing, but making it better, cheaper, more efficient etc. I am yet to hear a young person talk about joining forces/ideas with another person or company to improve their idea and most likely increase their chances of success. Nobody has confessed to being an intrapreneur. So who is an intrapreneur? According to an online article by Forbes Magazine, “An intrapreneur is someone who has an entrepreneurial streak in his or her DNA, but chooses to align his or her talents with a large organization in place of creating his or her own. “ (source: Forbes )

I believe thinking more like an intrapreneur can increase the likelihood of a person and/or people gaining success in their business endeavors. This may be surprising to most people but Steve Jobs – a person who many consider to be one of the greatest “entrepreneurs” of our generation was actually an intrapreneur. In a case study conducted by The Intrapreneurship Institute titled “Steve Jobs the Ultimate Intrapreneur and Ultimate Entrepreneur,” it states that, “Apple Computer itself was potentially an intrapreneurial venture, as it was an outgrowth of two big corporation employees. Steve Jobs had worked at Atari and Steve Wozniak (“Woz”) worked at Hewlett Packard part-time when he and Steve Jobs were first experimented with creating “personal computer.”” (source: Intrepreneurship Institute)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY – Whose baby is it anyway?

In today’s world of copy & paste via computers and the Internet, original work is becoming somewhat of a dying art form. However, most tertiary institutions around the world are combating this by having strict plagiarism policies and proof of ownership of work. In fact, universities and education institutions in the west earn revenue from the intellectual property created by their students and staff alike. But this is only in academia. In developed nations and amongst corporations and multinational companies, there are also patent and copyright laws, which further ensure ideas, and inventions belong to the original owner. In the most recent case we can look at Samsung’s suing of Apple over such a topic. Not only does intellectual property affect companies, but it may also affect countries’ rights or lack there of to produce goods as this article by Henry Mitzberg suggests.

So what is intellectual property? It is not a new concept but I find – especially in Tanzania and probably most of Africa – that it is a concept that is not understood or even thought to be able to physically possess. On the contrary, not only can it be possessed, it can be transferred and modified just like any other physical properties.

Intellectual property is “Intangible property that include ‘patents’, ‘trade marks’, ‘copyright’ and registered and un registered ‘design rights.” Conventional intellectual property is categorized into two categories: -

1. Industrial property – which consist of patents of invention trade and service marks, industrial designs, geographical indication of origin, undisclosed information (trade secrets), integrated circuits topography.

2. Copyrights which include – literary and artistic works performance, architectural designs and some kinds of computer databases.

In the case of Tanzania, one would be surprised at just how long intellectual property right laws have been in place. According to a workshop that was conducted by Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (TCCIA) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in May 2005, intellectual property right laws were implemented by British colonialist in 1924 and Tanzania became a member of WIPO in 1983 (source: WIPO) of course who these rights protected is a debatable issue on it own.

'Critical Mass Theory – Tipping Point for Tanzania’s Development' - Modesta L. Mahiga

I bumped into one of my uncles at Nairobi airport recently and he shared something which I had known but never quite stood still long enough to formulate like he did that day but, now that I think of it, that’s exactly what the Professional Approach Group is about; building the critical mass of patriotic, professional, ethical, entrepreneurial, quality-conscious and results-driven young leaders in the public, private and NGO space to tip Tanzania’s values, behaviours and in turn, culture to one that will foster and not hinder our pursuit of “high quality livelihood, peace, stability and unity, good governance, a well educated and learning society, and a competitive economy capable of producing sustainable growth and shared benefits.” as enshrined in Tanzania Development Vision 2025.

So what is the Critical Mass theory?

To simplify, summarise and apply to our situation, the Critical Mass theory states that when seeking to influence and change values and behavior for overall performance and cultural transformation by choosing to first focus on influencing individuals in a specific target group, as the number of individuals in that target group influenced by the new values and behaviours increases, there will come a time when an additional person influenced by the new values and behaviours will bring about not just their personal transformation and performance, as it had individually for each person before them, but that this one additional person thus influenced will be the tipping point to spur on widespread values, behavioural and overall performance transformation of many more people around them, going as far as influencing the value, behavioural and overall performance transformation of people who were not even in the initial target group.
The Critical Mass theory implies that at this tipping point, it is possible to completely override initial undesired values and behaviours such as to create the new and desired values and behaviours as the new norm, the new performance standard, entrenching a completely new culture.



Does the Critical Mass theory work?

It is Critical Mass theory that has tipped women’s inclusion into formerly male dominated business roles; as the increasing number of women in these new roles one day became significant, became, critical, society’s perception of women shifted; women could no longer be ignored as applicants and contenders for these roles (the challenge now is to get, on merit, the critical mass of capable women in the roles). I believe gender inclusion and empowerment is best facilitated when individuals in our families, especially children, see our mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers simply “be the message” by “doing” rather than “plead the message” by “saying”. When we see enough women “being”, the critical mass of women doers, in time, will form in our minds the acceptance that this is the norm, not the exception.

Critical Mass theory has worked to include minority groups in governance, education, employment, etcetera, and Critical Mass theory will oust the values, behaviours, performance output and culture we do not want to have in Tanzania and usher in what will prove both foundation and pillars for this Great Nation’s rise to economic lead.

'Modeling and Mentoring' - Modesta L. Mahiga

This is what securing Tanzania’s future boils down to, two words “modeling” and “mentoring”.

If we want to fuel tenacious, patriotic, professional, ethical and competitive mindsets in our people, we need to “model”, that is ‘live out ourselves’ the picture of what we want others to emulate, such as to be a role model to them, and then “mentor”, that is, take deliberate steps to groom others to be able to do and be the values and qualities they have seen and want to emulate in us. It is as simple as that.

I think we often get overwhelmed and bogged down in detail when we think of the challenge of developing our people to move from State dependency, with everyone screaming for government to do everything from sweep their back yard to regulate industry, to independence, where people now see that they have a role to play in their personal and community development to eventually maturing to co-dependence where state and citizen, collaborate both at the local government and state levels to develop the values, constitution, policies, laws and programs that would lead to “a better life for every Tanzanian”.

I know that just the thought of lending one’s mind to the mammoth that is human resource development in Tanzania gets people in analysis-paralysis, not seeing where to start and how they, as an individual could ever do anything significant enough to even make a dent to the challenges in national value system, employment and self-employment opportunities, competitiveness vies a vies foreign competitors and equitable share of the Nation’s wealth. Aaahhh! All of that is too much gibberish for the average person who just wants to have the few square meals they can put together and pray that malaria doesn’t strike any family member such as to require healthcare because there is always more month at the end of the money.

But wait a second people, how do we eat the proverbial “elephant”? One piece at a time, right? And this is how we are going to develop the human resource that will propel Tanzania into her rightful position as an economic super power; by transforming one mind at a time through “modeling” and “mentoring” today, the values, knowledge, skills and attitudes, we want to see in our people, today and tomorrow.

When we think of ‘empowering all 45 million of us to change the way we think, perform and present ourselves for a responsible and competitive business environment’, we might hang our heads in despair, saying “not in my lifetime” but, what if as individuals who are ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired’ about the status quo of low morale, corruption, poverty, irrelevant education, inadequate employment, infantile entrepreneurship, inappropriate governance, unfair competition and of course, not to mention, erratic utility supply, decided enough is enough?

What I know is that there are always “bright spots”, people in our families, communities, societies, today, who live in the same environment as us but somehow think, act and speak differently, higher. Bright spots are people who, despite the challenges, have chosen to both know and live the values and competencies we want our Nation to be moulded from. The reason why, no matter how hard stricken the economy, no matter the illiteracy or poverty levels, there will still be role models to look up to, is because values and behaviours are absolute, transcending current socio-economic and political dynamics. Good remains good and evil remains evil and there are still people who will never pretend to merge the two into the grey area of “it depends…”.