Africa calling (5/5) - Natasha Elva Wanyeki

Centuries ago Africa was forced to dispel its children to what is no the Caribbean. But some daughters of the soil are returning to find welcoming arms and their place in the sun. Five Caribbean women talk to Lisa-Anne Julien about making Africa their home. "Really, Africa is not that far, just look across the Atlantic from the Caribbean. You can almost see it," urges one of the new arrivals. Source: New African, April 2008

Natasha Elva Wanyeki, a social researcher and consultant. From St Lucia to Kenya.

Natasha Elva Wanyeki's childhood in St Lucia was filled with all things innocent and all things Caribbean; the rolling hills above the meandering rivers which eventu­ally emptied into the emerald waters of the Caribbean, were her playground. Little black girls were dark, fair, brown and all the colours in-between. They had nappy, kinky or wavy hair. No further stratification was necessary; they all belonged to the Caribbean family.

Then Natasha left St Lucia in 1994 for undergraduate study in the UK, and life (and the issue of identity) suddenly became very interesting, albeit a little more complex.

"My linkage to an African identity was developed away from the Caribbean while at university in England and France," Natasha says. "I explored theories of Negritude, Antillanité and Creolité and dived into writers such as Senghor, Rodney, Cesaire and Fanon and started to realise alternatives within my understanding of my identity as a black St Lucian woman."

Natasha, 34, met her Kenyan husband, Ian, while studying in Grenoble, France.

Natasha Elva Wanyeki's African Identity was I developed away from the caribbean while at university in England and France. They trotted the globe for a few years, taking in South America, England and Canada before deciding in 2002 to move to Kenya.

Although Kenya is many times the size of St Lucia and much more cosmopolitan, the mood, energy and spirit of the country reminds Natasha of home. "I had previously visited Kenya with Ian and I liked it very much," she says. "I love the rich, vibrant red of the soil, the beautiful landscapes, the breathtaking Rift Valley and Mombasa."

Natasha's Swahili is now good enough for her to confidently claim to be Kenyan, although this claim is never easily digested by locals, despite their warmth and welcoming gestures. A fact which doesn't bother Natasha too much, as her Caribbean identity is as fierce as it has ever been.

"The longer one stays away, the more important it becomes to link one's identity to the place left," she explains.” And the easier it becomes to forget the reasons for having left; my childhood and early adulthood are constants, reminding me that home is still essentially St Lucia."

When Natasha is not spending quality time with her husband and two young children, Muchemi and Wanjiku, picnicking, camping and exploring the great Kenyan outdoors, she works as a UN consultant principally in planning and conducting research and analysis on the impact of HIV/Aids. She focuses primarily on orphans and vulnerable children.

"This is a very crucial area of development programming for Eastern and southern Africa," Natasha explains. "It becomes increasingly important in the context of HIVIAids, given its deleterious effect on families." Consulting at this time is convenient for Natasha since she wants to focus on being a mother. "My most notable achievement has been my ability and willingness to suspend full-time work to take care of my two children," she says. "Especially since society judges women poorly if we choose to be employed in the home."

St Lucian, Kenyan, globetrotter, stay-at-home mother, consultant, wife - Natasha has proven that the world is her canvas where she paints her reality the way she likes.

Africa calling (4/5) - Dr Gillian Marcelle

Centuries ago Africa was forced to dispel its children to what is no the Caribbean. But some daughters of the soil are returning to find welcoming arms and their place in the sun. Five Caribbean women talk to Lisa-Anne Julien about making Africa their home. "Really, Africa is not that far, just look across the Atlantic from the Caribbean. You can almost see it," urges one of the new arrivals. - Source : New African April 2008

Dr Gillian Marcelle, an international development specialist and strategist. From Trinidad to South Africa.

There are some people who are simply meant to take certain paths in life; people who, in the dawn of youth, put their dreams out into the universe and then proceeded to work with the universe to realise that dream. Gillian Marcelle, 42, is one such person. "A good friend recently told me that at 16 years old 1 wrote an essay explaining why I wanted to live in South Africa and how important it was for Caribbean people to have that experience," Gillian says. "I have no memory of it, but it resonates."

What she does remember is the black consciousness atmosphere that pervaded her home as a child, largely due to her father's involvement in "Black power politics" in Trinidad and Tobago.

After completing her MBA in 1987 in the US, Gillian spent the next decade in Europe. During this time, she made her first trip to Africa. "I remember having a sense of throwing off European rules anti embracing something completely fresh and. novel," she recalls. "That first trip, with just a backpack and no responsibilities still helps me to encounter Africa on its own terms rather than through a Western lens."

After developing a post-graduate course on telecoms policy at a university in London where she was lecturing, Gillian's relationship to Africa became more solid. She was able to test out some of her conceptual ideas shortly after South Africa became a democracy in 1994 and played a role in designing some of the instruments of the early regulatory institutions there.

"I really wanted to see the changes first hand," Gillian says. "So in 1998, while enrolled for a PhD in the UK, I moved to South Africa. Nearly 10 years later, it feels like home. Dreams can come through, especially if you commit to your intention one day at a time."

Gillian is committed to fostering a positive exchange between the African and Caribbean cultures, her contribution to dispelling the notion of Africa as a "backward" continent.

"There is a lot of ignorance on both sides," she says. "Many of my family mem­bers and friends have visited me in Johannesburg and this has helped to provide informa­tion about modern day South Africa."

She also suggests that Africa's mystique could be one of its strong points. "Ben Okri has suggested that one of the strengths of African cultures is the lack of duality between the spiritual and material worlds," she says. "Certainly even my most hip South African friends have a daily connection with the mystical world that is quite unusual for a Caribbean sensibility."

In the past, Gillian has worked as an advisor to the government of Angola and most recently, has been responsible for the management of a private sector development programme in Liberia for the World Bank Group.

"Development challenges in many countries in Africa require passion, commitment, energy and creative vision," she argues. "Many of the existing mechanisms to address these challenges have inherent flaws, including lack of respect for the intended beneficiaries. In my small way, I have been attempting to redress some of these flaws."

Business Skills and Tools

Many entrepreneurs fail to understand that marketing includes everything from having a clear website to responding promptly to customer e-mails. Chris Cardell, a marketing specialist (http://www.cardellmedia.com/), says the golden rule is to test and measure the effectiveness of all marketing activities. We’ll overlook problems with the audio link on his home page because it contains useful tips on advertising.

There are two key ways to bring people to your website. You can pay by bidding for keywords that appear as sponsored links on search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. Or you can learn how to be found by the search engines. This is a dark art but http://www.bizmove.com/ has useful tips. It sells this information on a CD for £50, but you can read free extracts on the website.

It’s easy to unearth invaluable information about your competitors at http://www.companieshouse.com/ for a small fee and also cheaper to file your annual tax return online. And if your site conducts online transactions http://www.clearlybusiness.com/, a Barclays company, has handy hints on web-based selling (three clicks is the maximum potential customers can be bothered with). The creators of http://www.baddesigns.com/ have had fun spotting fundamental web design errors that you could learn and profit from.

Africa calling (3/5) - Penelope Campbell

Centuries ago Africa was forced to dispel its children to what is no the Caribbean. But some daughters of the soil are returning to find welcoming arms and their place in the sun. Five Caribbean women talk to Lisa-Anne Julien about making Africa their home. "Really, Africa is not that far, just look across the Atlantic from the Caribbean. You can almost see it," urges one of the new arrivals.

Penelope Campbell, a specialist on children and Aids. From Jamaica to Kenya.

Looking at pictures of dreadlocked members of the militant Kikuyu tribe of Kenya at the time of the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s, and then glancing over at a photo of modern day Jamaican Rastafarians, the only visible differences are the garments worn and some subtle facial features.

Jamaicans in general are largely perceived as a vocal people who stand up for their rights, people in whose veins the blood of the Maroons (runaway slaves who banded together and lived independently in the forests of Jamaica) course through. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that Penelope Campbell, originally from Jamaica, feels thoroughly at home in Nairobi, Kenya.

She was destined to live in Africa. "Before I was born, my family lived in Uganda in the 1960s," Penelope says. "One of my sisters was born there. I wanted to re-trace their steps to know where they lived."

For the last year, Penelope has been part of a UNICEF team in Nairobi which gives support to 24 country offices in Eastern and Southern Africa, working with children orphaned or made vulnerable by Aids.

At home, she, along with her husband, supports their own three children as they are exposed to the beauties and contradictions of African life. Whilst the rich landscapes and vast expanse of space provide a stimulating environment which the family is thoroughly enjoying, there are class and ethnic divisions in Kenyan society that threaten stability, as seen in the post-election riots of the past months.

"It was a challenge getting used to how black people treat other black people here," she says. "Ethnicism is strong and being kenyan is secondary to one's ethnic group. But I have to demonstrate respect and egalitarian values to all whom I meet; it's important for our children whilst living here to respect and learn these values."

Although Penelope feels strongly connected to Africa, her identity remains firmly Jamaican. She is unapologetically passionate about this. "I identify more with being a black woman, especially a strong Jamaican black woman, than African," she explains. "During the 1970s in Jamaica, there was a lot of social mobilisation promoting black consciousness. That is the era I grew up in and it has had a lot of influence on me."

Although Penelope is often viewed as “Mzungu" (white person), possibly due to quasi-English accent (she lived in England 15 years), she is warmly accepted for her Jamaican identity.

"1 was surprised at how popular, well respected, Jamaicans appear to be here in Kenya," she says. "Whenever one introduces oneself as Jamaican, there's widespread interest, a very warm welcome reception, and sometimes even applause!"

This has, in some way, reinforced Penelope's pride in being Jamaican and she remains committed to the Caribbean, particularly Jamaican, development. She intends, at some point, to return to Jamaica to live.

"Follow your dream": that's Penelope's anthem. It may sound a cliche to those who have verbally worn out the phrase but never corroborated it with action. But for Penelope, who 14 years ago was a single mother in south London and today is inhaling the wonders of East Africa, anything is possible.

EFBWBO: Are cultural assumptions killing your business?

As businesses endeavour to extend their global reach, entrepreneurs and managers face many challenges in dealing with the broader social, cultural, ethical, political and business representation. And there are innumerable examples where cultural misunderstandings have wrecked business deals, damaged working relationships and affected profitability. But what exactly is “culture”? One general definition is “a complex pattern of ideas, emotions and observable behaviours that tend to be expected, reinforced and rewarded by and within a particular group” or put simply “the way we do things around here”. It can be categorised on 4 levels - national, individual, team and organisational. And any business wishing to improve their success rate must develop a cultural strategy for their company. Take the cultural challenge.


In planning to go global, build your organisation’s Cultural Strategy around the following 10 dimensions:
1. Environment – how an individual views and relates to people, objects and issues
2. Time – how an individual perceives the nature of time and its use
3. Action - conceptualisation of actions and interactions
4. Communication - how individuals express themselves
5. Space - demarcation of physical and psychological space
6. Power - How individuals view differential power relationships
7. Individualism - How individuals define their identity
8. Competitiveness - How individuals are motivated
9. Structure - How individuals approach change, risk, ambiguity and uncertainty
10. Thinking - How individuals conceptualize. And size is no obstacle in the global market.

Technology and tenacity are helping small businesses to break through international borders and change the shape of world economy.

What are you waiting for? African Caribbean Business Network (ACBN)

For more details: http://tinyurl.com/5a434m

Africa calling (2/5) - Shurnell Andersson

Centuries ago Africa was forced to dispel its children to what is no the Caribbean. But some daughters of the soil are returning to find welcoming arms and their place in the sun. Five Caribbean women talk to Lisa-Anne Julien about making Africa their home. "Really, Africa is not that far, just look across the Atlantic from the Caribbean. You can almost see it," urges one of the new arrivals.

Shurnell Andersson, a human development practitioner. From Barbados to South Africa.

Most Caribbean people who emigrated to the UK during the post-war period have comical, albeit painful stories about early life in the "Motherland". There is always talk of harsh winters and sunless summers, racism and cramped quarters. And amid all of this, they would tell you about that "go-to" person - the one who, although he or she was "ketching dey arse" in Britain just as much as anyone else, would be constantly recommended as someone who could hook up newcomers.

Shurnell Anderson sees herself as the new "go-to" person in the "other" Motherland: Africa. And for anyone's information, she is anything but "ketching her arse". "I open my home to those Caribbean citizens who are brave enough to visit and learn about this wonderful continent and its people," Shurnell says enthusiastically. "Know that you have a family here who will help you settle in and locate your space in Mica."

If there is anyone who can manoeuvre their way around Africa with ease, it's Shurnell. She has lived and worked in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, with the latter being her home for the last 12 years.

Growing up in Barbados, she felt cheated about not being able to fully claim she was an African. She decided from early on that her home would be in Africa but she didn't expect that love would intervene to make it happen.

"I met my husband in Zambia where I went to pursue studies in social work. We moved to Botswana in 1991 and were married there," Shurnell says. "To marry a white-skinned African was very surprising to me."

Today, the love between husband and wife is as evident as ever and they have four beautiful children. Shurnell is also stepmother to her husband's daughter from his first marriage. Shurnell is currently the programme director and partner of Make a Difference Empowerment Solutions & Services, which offers coaching, training and speaking services related to HN/Aids, personal transformation, leadership, team building and organisational development. Although in South Africa she is often mistaken for an African-American or someone from another African country, Shurnell has been warmly welcomed and is continually inspired by South Africa and Africa in general.

"When I visited Ghana, I was recognised as 'coming home' and compared to their great female warrior Yaa Asantewaa," she recalls. "Our being here is no accident and should not be seen as 'luck' or just about the oppor­tunity that may have brought us here."

Shurnell believes the Caribbean presence is slowly growing in Africa and with it, the opportunity for both sides to learn about each other. She is enthusiastic about bridging this gap and calls on all Diasporan Africans to come and share in the African experience.

"Follow your heart and listen to the will of God for you," Shurnell advises. "We need to accept that Africa is rising and its people will achieve their greatness. This will happen with or without us so choose to be a part of it rather than on the sidelines looking on."

28-30 April ACP-EU First Regional Assembly

The first Regional Assembly of the JPA will take place in Windhoek, Namibia, from 28 to 30 April, with 15 MEPs and 15 ACP members, one from each member state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to discuss regional issues.

EFBWBO: Black Women In Enterprise

Black Women In Enterprise The spotlight is beaming on women; the focus is women in Enterprise. Around the country there is evidence to suggest that policy makers and business support organisations are waking up to the idea that women entrepreneurs are good for the economic prosperity of the country. Even banks are recognising the untapped potential of women; some have gone as far as creating specialist women in business teams. Much of this momentum has gathered force as a result of the government’s Strategic Framework for Women’s Enterprise. The framework sets out an action plan with very ambitious targets for the number of women starting up in enterprise and accessing business support.
This sets an important precedent, as never before has there been a co-ordinated strategy aimed at encouraging women into business. Comparative figures with the United States reveals the embarrassing gap that exists with the UK, only 15% of all businesses are owned by women compared to 30% in the US.
If we had the same levels of female entrepreneurship in the UK, there would be a further 750,000 more businesses created. But whilst the overall number for women owned businesses are disproportional to their numbers in the population, a dissection of the data shows that in fact black women in London have the highest level of business ownership among all other ethnic groups, representing 29%, compared to 21% of Whites and 15% of Asians. (The London Annual Business Survey 2003). For those of us that have been working in the field to address the disproportionate levels of Black and Minority Ethnic Businesses (BME) in the UK and London in particular, this is positive news. There are many reasons cited for this rise, some are cultural; black women’s entrepreneurial flair and business acumen can be traced to towns and villages in Africa and the Caribbean for examples of the daily ritual of buying and selling goods, often providing the main source of family income. For others the idea of being their own boss is far more appealing than working for someone else.
Others may have experienced discrimination in the job market and have no alternative other than to start a business as a means of survival. It is indeed impressive and a welcome change to receive news of black women in the UK leading a field and to have the figures to validate the facts is even better. But does this mean we have a happy end to the story? No, not necessarily, further research is required to examine the reasons so many black women are starting up in business. If the motivation is to avoid discrimination or lack of advancement potential in mainstream employment, then a different story unfolds that is far less positive. Business Support Needs We should continue to be optimistic and encouraged by the news.
Sustaining the Success The challenge for black women business owners is to identify and select the most beneficial support from the array of business solutions and support networks that exist. The question for business support organisations is a simple one. Is your organisation prepared to meet the potential demand for support that will arise from the growth of black women starting up in business and what are you going to do about it?

By Carol Sam The Knowledge Centre on Black & Minority Ethnic Businesses (KCBMEB) Business Link for London


For more details: http://tinyurl.com/5q2726

Africa Calling (1/5) - Dr Tricia Lawrence-Savane

Centuries ago Africa was forced to dispel its children to what is no the Caribbean. But some daughters of the soil are returning to find welcoming arms and their place in the sun. Five Caribbean women talk to Lisa-Anne Julien about making Africa their home. "Really, Africa is not that far, just look across the Atlantic from the Caribbean. You can almost see it," urges one of the new arrivals.

Dr Tricia Lawrence-Savane is a student services director and therapist. From Trinidad to Senegal.

Getting to her Catholic secondary school on time every morning was often an uphill battle for Tricia Lawrence. Literally. The school, perched on a 60O-angle hill, seemed deliberately designed to remind those in mid trod, just how Jesus must have felt carrying his cross on the way to Calvary.

For Tricia, the daughter of a teenage mother from a disad­vantaged background, every step up was one step more towards breaking that cycle. Today, Tricia has not only broken the cycle, she has flung its pieces far into the recesses of yesterday, never to haunt her again.

In 2000 Tricia was awarded a Tuner post doctoral fellowship after obtaining her doctorate in psychology in New York, USA. During this time, she met and fell in love with Lamine Savane, a then basketball player. They married in 2000 on Goree Island, off the coast of Larnine's native Senegal, a ceremony which involved libations at the "Door of No Return" (doorway to the ocean where Africans left as slaves never to return). The family settled in New York but when Lamine was offered an opportunity to return to Senegal to launch a sports agency, he enjoyed Tricia's full support and they moved to Dakar in 2004: a move that would probably surprise most people. "Everyone thinks that you have to be certifiable to leave the US to go live in Africa!" Tricia says.

She quickly got into the rhythm of African life and began to excel; she is currently the student services director at Suffolk University Dakar and also a therapist in private practice.

In addition to this, she is involved in. along with her husband and brother-in-law, a non-profit organisation, XAM XAM (meaning "Knowledge" in Wolof). The initiative is intended to benefit student athletes by providing scholarships and sponsorships.

Apart from battling asthma, Tricia loves the African experience. She also admits that seeing so many people in poverty is difficult to digest but she remains inspired by the Senegalese people, who, she notices, do not hesitate to share what little they have. She has mastered French and Wolof and because of her complexion is often being mistaken for one of the Toukouleur people of northern Senegal. But more than anything else, Tricia enjoys raising her two children, daughter Marcire and son Landing, on the vast landscapes of Senegal.

"They will grow up having known the true Africa, not an Africa as portrayed by the media, but the real thing," she says. "How they feel about Africa and the decisions they make later in life will be highly influenced by this experience."

Tricia encourages anyone flirting with the idea of migrating to Africa to seriously consider it. "You need to believe in yourself first," she advises. "Get involved by volunteering to work in Africa or find out through your local church if there are any missionary opportunities. Really, it's not that far, just look across the Atlantic from the Caribbean. You can almost see it"

Britain, The rise and rise of black business (3/3)

British African entrepreneurs are increasingly making a major contribution to London and the UK through job creation, employment, GDP, income and wealth creation.

Examples of London's successful British African business people include:

Adam Afriyie - a multi-millionaire British-born Ghanaian businessman and the conservative MP for Windsor. He was founder of Connect Service - an IT service company pioneering fixed-price support. Connect Services was recognised in the Virgin Sunday Times Fasttrack 100 of Britain's fastest growing firms in 2002. Afriye is also a non-executive chairman of Adfero Ltd, an information services company. He is reputed to be worth £40m.

Dr Ken Ife - the Nigerian-born manufacturing chemist, educationist and international economic development consultant, who has been running his businesses for the past 20 years with controlling interests, including cosmetics manufacturing and computer education.

Alexander Amosu - a 30-year-old second generation Nigerian multi-millionaire and founder of mobile phone RnB music Ringtones. He identified a gap in the market while an engineering student at university and earned £1m in his first year of trading.

Oswald Boateng - a menswear designer widely credited with introducing Savile Row tailoring to a new generation. The British-born Ghanaian also designs clothes for a celebrity clientele, including former British prime minister Tony Blair, Hollywood actors Will Smith and Lawrence Fishburne, and rocker MickJagger.

Sam Gyimah - founder and MD of Clearstone, one of the fastest growing HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) recruitment companies in Britain. The 30-year-old British- Ghanaian entrepreneur graduated from Oxford University and worked for the investment bank, Goldman Sachs, before setting up Clearstone. The company has an annual turnover of £8m and employs over 30 people.

Dr Peter Julu - founder and MD of Medifit Instruments Ltd. The Ugandan born doctor is the inventor of Neuroscope, the world's first off-the-shelf monitor for the brain and heart stem. The Neuroscope is a device that enables doctors to determine whether the heart is being controlled by the brain through impulse sent thorough a nerve. Hospitals in Britain, Sweden, Australia and Uganda are using the Neuroscope on people suffering from diabetes, heart disease, and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's or epilepsy.

Ed Yeboah - founder and CEO of Proactive Capital, a financial services company based in the City of London, UK's most prestigious business and financial district.

Bernard Ampaw - The Ghanaian-born businessman is the founder and CEO of OBE TV - a 24-hour satellite TV channel targeted at African communities in the UK, Europe and North Africa. It has an audience of eight million people.

Alistair Soyode - The Nigerian-born entrepreneur is founder and CEO of BEN Television, the first black-oriented television channel in the UK and Europe. He was educated in Nigeria and in the UK.

Isabel Appio - founder and MD of Sugar Media, a publishing company for Student Times and Black History Month women's magazine. Isabel was the editor of the UK's first black broadsheet newspaper, the Journal.

Elsie Owusu - founder and principal of a successful London-based architect practice. Her firm has won many major commissions, including housing development across the UK, design strategy for the UK Supreme Court and a range of developments in Ghana and Nigeria.

Kofi Kusitor - founder and MD of the UK's Colourful Radio, a talk radio station, and the internationally renowned Black Enterprise awards.

Charles Ejojo - MD ofTechnography Industries Limited and inventor of the umbrolly vending unit - an innovative product that dispenses disposable umbrellas. Utilising flat-screen technology, the umbrolly unit is also able to display full motion, television quality still and moving adverts. The product can now be found in a number of rail sta­tions, shopping centres, sports grounds, and universities across the UK.

However, despite the increasing number of successful business people of black African and Caribbean background, evidence suggests that black-owned businesses encounter disproportionate barriers to development and growth - particularly in accessing start-up and growth finance, securing contracts, accessing quality business support, and international trade opportunities.

Major improvements are still needed if this group is to reach its full business and economic potential. For the UK blackowned businesses to realise their full potential and increase their contribution to the local and regional economy, the challenge in the short to medium term is to increase start-up and expansion of their businesses in the mainstream and international growth sectors - whilst adopting effective business strategies to increase the size, turnover, prof­itability and job creation potential of their firms.

Ballmer: African Business Needs to Be More Transparent

Brenda Zulu, IDG News Service

African governments must commit to transparency to eliminate barriers that hamper entrepreneurship and business and economic opportunity, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Monday.

Real progress requires that commitment, Ballmer said, speaking at the second annual Information and Communication Technologies Best Practices Forum in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Although some countries in Africa have made progress, according to the World Bank, African nations on average rank 136th out of 178 countries when it comes to the ease of doing business there, he said.

"Technology alone will not turn these goals into achievements," Ballmer said. "Technology is just a tool to empower people to make progress. It is an enabler."

Africa needs to increase Internet bandwidth to drive short-term benefits and long-term development, he said. Access to Web-based information and communications is essential to expand educational opportunities, improve health care and provide access to government services, Ballmer said, adding that it is vital for countries to develop Internet infrastructure.

He also observed that telecommunications deregulation could help improve the quality of fixed-line telephony and open the doors to even broader expansion of cellular communications.

African governments must also reduce taxes on ICT, Ballmer said. In many African countries, high taxes on imported technology limit the affordability of computing and hinder technology's ability to benefit people.

Partnerships between governments, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector are crucial to development, he said. "Together, we must invest in education and the development of local business to drive change and enable Africa to reach its potential," Ballmer said.

He cited three markets in Africa -- those who already have access to technology, those who want that access, and those for whom technology is currently irrelevant.

Relatively affluent businesses and consumers in Africa already enjoy the same level of technology sophistication as users in any developed market, he said, adding that there also is an emerging middle class that aspires to the same, but cannot now afford high-end computing.

"For this segment, access to computing will mean better educational opportunities, health care and government services," he said.

"[Technology] will provide opportunities to acquire skills that are relevant in the knowledge-based economy," he said.

"For the emerging middle class, access to more powerful, more affordable computing will mean the ability to become full participants in the knowledge economy. The coming information technology revolution will open the door to improved educational opportunities and skills training, along with better knowledge of local and even global markets. And it will support the rise of ... entrepreneurs," Ballmer said.

The third market is economically inactive, he said, and is what most people think of when they picture emerging markets -- people for whom technology is mostly irrelevant because they lack access to basic infrastructure and economic opportunities.

"The economically inactive are the poor of the poor of the world. ICTs will not solve all the issues they face, but in a world where a cell phone will have the power of a personal computer and wireless networks will provide access to the Internet from almost any location, technology can have a significant impact," Ballmer said.

The world is on the verge of a technology revolution that will speed the pace of adoption in Africa, he said, with more processing power in smaller devices. Storage will continue to expand, while wireless broadband networks will be more common. Meanwhile, natural user interfaces activated by voices, handwriting and gestures will become common, and high-quality displays will be cheaper and more portable, Ballmer said.

Power of Black Business

Britain, The rise and rise of black business (2/3)

Black business women are an integral part of the black business success story as they now own more businesses than any other female ethnic group. Recent UK government figures show that black women have the highest level of business ownership in London with 29% owning businesses, compared to 21 % of whites and 15 % of Asians.

One notable black female is the remarkable Kanya King, founder and CEO of the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) awards. She has risen into an internationally recognised entrepreneur and innovator in the British music industry. Through MOBO, King has for the past 14 years played an important role in elevating black music and culture to mainstream popular status in the United Kingdom. She is also the publisher of the successful Mobo magazine, which celebrates black music, entertainment and culture.

A significant development in the UK business sector is the large number of firms owned by second and third generation Africans (British Africans), particularly entrepreneurs of West African background.

Other than their larger population (there are 451,000 black Africans in London compared to 415,000 black Caribbeans), there are a number of further reasons for the growth of British African entrepreneurs:

* Identifying and successfully exploiting the business opportunity or gaps in the mar­ket like any entrepreneur. Some individuals in this group tend to have cultural mindset which sees entrepreneurship as a first choice rather an option where jobs are scarce.

* Capitalising on qualifications, British African businesspeople tend to have higher educational levels and tend to start businesses in sectors where they can use and exploit their degrees or professional qualifications, such as law, accountancy, ICT, business and financial services.

* "Push factors" - British Africans are often forced to start up their own business due to many reasons including difficulties in finding suitable employment that matches their qualifications and experience sometimes due to discrimination in the job market, lack of job promotion, etc.

A number of reports have concluded that African men, in particular, face severe disadvantages in the UK job market despite educational success. The national UK research organisation, the Joseph Roundtree Foundation QRF), found that an African graduate was seven times more likely to be unemployed than a white graduate.

In May last year, another report by the JRF found that black African workers were paid up to 25% less than their white counterparts despite having the same or higher qualifications and doing the same job.

Capitalising on business opportunities available in Africa presented by emerging African economies such as Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, brought about by economic growth, privatisation and liberation of key sectors such as IT, telecoms and financial services, have led to a significant growth of British Africans doing businesses in home countries.

Often these entrepreneurs build on their social and business networks across the UK and extend them into black African communities in Europe and North America.

In addition, these entrepreneurs are capitalising on the increasing trade between the UK and African countries. For example, UK Custom and Excise figures revealed that in 2004, commodity imports from the top five African countries totalled £4bn, while UK exports to these countries totalled around £3bn.

Africa Open for Business - Congo

Britain, The rise and rise of black business (1/3)

Black-owned businesses are a rising economic force in London. Reports by the UK Business & Enterprise department and Barclays Bank, as well as research by the London Development Agency, shows that the majority of new businesses are now started by people from ethnic minority backgrounds, a large proportion of whom are black. Eric Osei reports. April 2008 New African

There are now around 16,000 businesses owned by people of black African and Caribbean descent in London - making up 4% of all businesses in the capital and a further 27,000 black Londoners are self-employed - up by 80% over the past decade.

London's black-owned businesses now generate a combined annual sales turn-over of £10bn and employ 100,000 people. Coupled with the £4.5bn spending power of London's black community, African and Caribbean people are wielding increasing economic power.

A decade ago, the majority of black-owned businesses were concentrated in traditional, ethnic niche sectors like hairdressing, food retailing and catering - and were limited to serving mainly the black community.

However, an increasing number of black entrepreneurs are now running multimillion pound companies in mainstream growth sectors such as financial services, law, business, and professional services, lT, media, fashion, retail, property services, consulting and recruitment.

There are many reasons for this shift. Part of the answer lies in the increasing numbers and the generational changes that have occurred within the black African and Caribbean community over the past 40 years. There has been a growing increase in the black population in London, and the figure is projected to grow by 31 % in the next three years.

Most of the second and third genera­tion black people are either British-born or came to the UK when they were young.

This experience, coupled with the greater economic opportunities now available to them compared to their parents who came in the 1960s and 70s, has resulted in a major shift in mindsets and ambitions.

These newbreed second and third-genera­tion black entrepreneurs possess higher levels of education and communication skills as well as a range of business and social networks, all of which influences their entrepreneurial behaviour and business decisions.

Furthermore, they tend to establish their businesses in mainstream sectors because of the larger market size and greater business opportunities that exist in these sectors.

A shinning example of a British-born Caribbean entrepreneur who is excelling in the corporate business world is Damon Buffuni. The managing partner of Permira, Europe's biggest private equity/venture capital firm, his company recently acquired major UK firms such as Homebase, New Look, Bird's Eye, Travelodge and Little Chef.

The 43-year-old's business journey is a classic rags to riches story. He grew up in a single parent household in a tough Leicester council housing estate. He later went on to graduate in law from Cambridge University and MBA from Harvard. His personal fortune is estimated at £300m.

Other notable examples are Michael Webster and Dawn Dixon – founders, joint MDs and partners of Dixon Webster Solicitors, the only black-owned law firm in the "City of London", the UK's financial capital.

Specialising in business, tax and employment law, the 13-member law firm has built an impressive client base including multina­tional companies, banks, satellite TV firms and radio stations.