Click here to view the embedded video.

AFTER giving a speech at a business conference in London a young analyst chatted with investment executives in the audience, then followed two of them to a nearby hotel lobby. Over glasses of Chablis the executives raved about their company’s worldwide network of extravagantly decorated offices and their fat annual bonuses. Then they offered the analyst a job. What surprised him was not their interest, nor the chunky salary, but the place where they wanted him to help invest their millions: west Africa, the most backward part of a poor continent.

In recent years investors have been piling into Lagos and Nairobi as if they were Frankfurt and Tokyo of old. Anaemic growth in the rich world has made sub-Saharan Africa an attractive destination for money and its managers. Foreign direct investment has increased by about 50% since 2005. Once regarded as casinos, local capital markets now seem less risky. J.P. Morgan has just added Nigeria to its government-bond index for emerging markets; South Africa had hitherto been the only African country on its list. The American bank, the world’s biggest underwriter of emerging-market debt, predicts that adding Nigerian bonds to its benchmark will lure an extra $1.5 billion to the country. New funds will pay for so far non-existent infrastructure on a continent with a land mass equivalent to that of China, India, Japan, America, Mexico and Europe combined (see map).

Read more at The Economist webpage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Innovation Pioneers is organizing the acclaimed, most action-oriented and inspiring innovation symposium, Innovation in Action for its third year running. 23rd-24th of October in Stockholm, Sweden.

Are you and your company interested in Africa’s potential as an emerging innovation-driven context and economy? Do you want to learn more about how innovation in shaping the continent’s future? Africa’s growth is among the highest in the world. Innovation drivers in Africa are making innovation happen in a greater speed and spread than ever before and the potential is vast.

This workshop is about leadership, strategies, business models and dynamics of innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Learn from practical examples and get insights on how innovation is conceived in Sub-Saharan Africa with practitioners from Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda.

The workshop will cover areas such as: IT, mobile, cleantech, design, business models, emerging markets and more.

This workshop is facilitated in cooperation with SIDA, the Swedish International Development Authority.

The workshop is facilitated in cooperation with Sida and Innovation practitioners from Sub-Saharan Africa

This year’s symposium will focus on Openness and Sustaining Innovation. We will share methods, insights and tools to master two very important factors for successful Innovation. Building long-term sustaining innovation from multiple perspectives and opening more than one door to customers, suppliers and external influencers. We believe these are fundamental factors for change in business and society.

The 200% Symposium
Innovation In Action is based on 10 high quality workshops, which are led by experts from leading organizations in their respective fields of Innovation. 100% of participation time is spent learning case-based workshops and 100% of focusing time is spent on building your Innovation network. That is why we call it the 200% Symposium!

Participants choose 4 out of 10 half-day workshops and work side-by-side to share knowledge around real-life situations. Undeniably, your network of professional contacts will be expanded instantly. You will leave the symposium inspired, with new knowledge, ideas and solutions to problems you didn’t even know you had.

The IIA 10 workshops
The workshops for IIA2012 will focus around 4 themes within the iP Innovation Theme Chart; Culture, Strategy, Process and Methods. Immerse yourself in iPs collaboration with Sida during two of the workshops,

For more info.

For more info, check out.

Our vision is to have five Swedish companies are already doing business in the region. The Greentech for Africa project intends to initially showcase the rising energy needs in Kenya and Rwanda and in turn working on bridging these needs through business generating ideas.

Through seminars, discussions, newsletters, website, virtual discussion forum and a business visit to East Africa over the next two years, the project will provide Swedish companies with a solid knowledge on doing business in that part of the world. Together with the companies the Project management will assess the company’s ambitions, business ideas and resources in detail to increase the success factor of doing business in East Africa.

Seminars and workshops will be held in Sweden in the autumn of 2012 and spring 2013 and the business visit to Kenya and Rwanda is planned for the later part of 2013.

Through the project support, the companies will gain;

• Firsthand knowledge from business men already doing successful businesses within the sector and in the region
• Investment preparation activities through analysis of renewable energy options in the countries and current strategies of the sector
• Companies will be part of the growing market of renewable energy in the region, and play a key role in improving the standards of living for the people in Kenya and Rwanda
• The Project will provide companies with a solid knowledge for making informed decisions on making business in the region
• During the period up to the business visit to the region, the companies will constantly be provided with key information on the developments in the renewable energy sector of the region.

Kindly contact Birgitta Piippola if you have any questions about this project.

Birgitta Piippola
E-mail: bp@greentech4africa.se
Cell: +46 (0)70 250 2604.

There is hope in Somalia. An influx of African Union troops has pushed insurgents out of Mogadishu and representatives from the country’s clans are meeting to discuss the formation of a new government and draft constitution. With sustained peace on the horizon, the Somali diaspora is returning home and starting businesses. International investors are exploring opportunities and the first Somali bank has now opened.

While the stability remains fragile, Somalis are optimistic that a turning point has been reached after 21 years of conflict, and we are witnessing the rebirth of Mogadishu.

The video stream will be available on this page beginning 2pm Somalia time, 1pm European time, 12pm London time, and 7am New York time on May 17. Mark your calendars.

http://tedxmogadishu.com/live/

http://tedxmogadishu.com/speakers/

TEDxMogadishu.com

https://www.facebook.com/tedxmogadishu

Program

A detailed program will be sent out soon if you’re a member of SWEACC.

·       Among the speakers will be the managing director of TANESCO, the governmental energy company in Tanzania. Other speakers will include independent expert on the energy market in East Africa, representatives from the Swedish government, Sida, SWEACC and others.

·       Lunch at Sida

·       Workshops concerning B4D, solar power, wind power, bio power, hydropower, wave power, waste power, sewage power, geothermal power, e.tc.

·       Information about coming activities regarding  renewable energy including  follow up  workshops  somewhere in Sweden and a seminar in Arusha, Tanzania.

·       Mingle.

The seminar fee of 500 SEK for SWEACC members and 600 SEK for non-members will be invoiced the participants. The fee includes coffee breaks, lunch and mingle refreshments. SWEACC members are invited to inform and display their products, services, business ideas etc. on tables and with posters close to the meeting room. Your application to take part in the seminar should reach us latest by March 30^th. Please fill out your application here:

Application Form: SWEACC – Renewable Energy in East Africa

For questions and suggestions, please contact

Göran Frisk, SWEACC, goeran.frisk@telia.com, 0706-140240 or

AnneLi Avenäs, Sida, anneli.avenas@sida.se, 073-257 25 68

Most welcome!