Misfiring Economist

Africa made the cover of The Economist last week, as it does the cover of many a magazine these days. And lately the news, or more accurately the views, have been largely positive. I don't mean to be churlish towards our good friends at The Economist -- and one should never take these things too literally -- but is a giraffe with an abnormally elongated neck really the best visual depiction of "Aspiring Africa" that they could come up with?

If the aim was to dispel stereotypical (and wrong) notions about "Africa", doesn't representing the continent by this abnormal giraffe achieve the exact opposite? (And giraffes are wonderful creatures, I hasten to add.) Sadly the first thing that springs to the minds of many outside Africa about Africa are wild animals, not aspiring people. So when people think about Madagascar, or more recently Zambezia, for instance, they think of talking animals and almost never of the remarkable people that populate those African locations.

Just a thought.

When Hope and History Rhyme

 

The memoirs of Amina Cachalia, a prominent South African political activist, who died recently. She was a longtime friend and ally of Nelson Mandela. The title comes from some verses of Seamus Heaney's wonderful translation of Sophocles's tragic play Philoctetes:

History says don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

Kierkegaardian (adj.)

Life must be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
- Soren Kierkegaard

Mama Africa

On what would have been her 81st birthday, the late great Miriam Makeba was honoured with her own Google doodle:
 

The Straits Master

A Favourite Building

Designed by the Ghanaian architect David Adjaye, the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management is one of my favourite works of contemporary architecture:

Flip Magazine Zambia

Zambian satirical magazine:

The Pickens Leadership Plan

The Start-Up of You

The slideshare visual summary of the book is now available.

Inspirational Words

It's my birthday today! I got two beautiful cards, one from my wife and one from our kids. One of our kids wrote this in their card:

To the world you're just a dad, to your kids you're a hero.

Wow. That made my day, my week, my month and my year. In fact, it's enough inspiration to last my whole lifetime.

Reids shaking in the wind

Reid Hoffman is one of the best commentators on the contemporary tech industry. I always find his writing insightful and thought-provoking. He writes short(er) blog posts for LinkedIn and long(er) essays for his own website.

Alternative Finance

The BBC's Evan Davis recently interviewed the co-founders of three technology-based services that are disrupting conventional banking and financial services: M-Pesa (mobile money), Zopa (peer-to-peer lending for individuals) and MartketInvoice (auction-based online marketplace for unpaid business invoices).

Masterpiece

From the King's Singers, 400 years of classical music in less than 10 minutes:

From Indignation to Indifference

The Economist (13 May 2000)

The Economist (3 December 2011)

I can still remember my immediate reaction to The Economist's now (in)famous "hopeless continent" cover back in the year 2000: indignation. How dare they pass judgement on an entire continent and its millions of individual citizens?

My response to the magazine's "Africa rising" cover over a decade later was not one of elation, rather it was one of indifference. Why? What had I learnt in the interim? It was this: Ultimately, it doesn't really matter what "they" think, whether good or ill, and whoever "they" may be. What really matters is what Africans themselves think (about themselves and about their continent) and, more importantly, what they do -- or don't do -- about it.

Who is African?

"We are Africans not because we are born in Africa, but because Africa is born in us."
- Chester Higgins Jr. 

Africa is People (Chinua Achebe)

Fair or Fowl?

Having just finished reading The Hobbit (a most enjoyable experience), the boys and I were in need of another bedtime reading companion. And so, foraging in the children's section of our local bookshop, I came across the latest Artemis Fowl novel prominently displayed at the top of the shelf. The eighth in the series. The eighth! Successful then, very successful, but are they any good? We shall soon find out. Being new to the series, we have begun at the beginning:

Rwanda, Inc.

Instant: The Story of Polaroid

Hear, hear!

I agree fully with the following comment by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda made at yesterday's World Economic Forum panel session on "De-risking Africa" (Don't all investment destinations and opportunities necessarily come with some form of risk? The whole notion of "de-risking" an entire continent seems misguided at best...):

The major problem is that Africa's story is written from somewhere else and not by African themselves. That is why the rest of the world looks at Africa and wants to define it. They want to shape the perception about Africa. The best we can do for ourselves is to own our problems, own our solutions and write our stories. That will also give us the right definition about the level of risks, real risks and the perception part of it will also be put in its right place.