I ARRIVED IN MTWARA

I WAS IN MTWARA, TANZANIA


Flight PW 401 left Dar es Salaam at 8h00 on Sunday, 5 December 2010 for Mtwara; we landed at 9h10 safely, thanks God.


It was a smooth and pleasant flight and I realised after we landed that we had two ministers in our midst, one of them, a minister in the office of the President. How I knew, is that I was very surprised as we were getting off to see a delegation in the tar mark clearly very happy. The first time I saw people accompanying or collecting a dignitary right at the steps of an aircraft was in Lagos, Nigeria. I seem to think it’s an African thing.


Mtwara, maybe, could be forgiven because even though it has a very long landing strip there is hardly a proper demarcation between the terminal building and the landing strip. By the time my friend’s luggage arrived there was still singing and ululation by a group of the political party of the ministers. Remember, Tanzania has just had yet another round of peaceful elections and the new ministers took office the previous week. So, the two were “coming home” for the first time after they had been sworn in as ministers even though both were on second term.


Precision Air is the only airline that goes to Mtwara. The same aircraft that took us in would be leaving in 20minutes time, back to Dar (as it is affectionately called). Even though our business was only 3hrs, maximum, I was to spend the whole day until I go back to Dar the following morning. Travelling in general can be stressful, continental travelling is painful.


Mtwara is a “forgotten” area in the South of Tanzania, at the border with Mozambique. Tanzania share its borders with 8 countries, I am told.


There is a lot beginning to happen in Mtwara. Gas fields have been found, another port is being planned, a fertiliser plant is being considered (there is something between gas and fertiliser) etc.


Amongst other reasons for coming to Mtwara, was to see a piece (big piece) of land the (Tanzanian) friend of mine has bought in what I must consider to be amongst the most beautiful coastlines. He is now the owner of a long beach area along a crispy blue Indian ocean. Call it virgin beauty.

The land was bought from a villager. I had the opportunity to meet the Chairman of the village who came to confirm the piece of land now owned by my friend. He also told him that there was another 3 hectares available for 1.5million Tanzania shillings (+/- $1000).

The chairman, who is a wonderful man, told us a lot of stories one of them was that the Minister we were with in the plane is an MP for the area, and that during her last period as an MP, she visited them around October 2005 and the next visit was in October 2010, just before the elections. The chairman said they, as the community, were looking forward to see her in 2015 again, you could not miss the sarcasm in his face.

The community is very poor. His village has about 768 people, and he is very particular about the count. He invited us to his place; a gesture I thought was of great honour to me. We met his family including some of his 8 children. His house is right next to the beach and has a stunning view of the ocean.

I wish many could see Mtwara. Mark my words, in the next few years, that giant will be awake. I am happy my friend has great plans about developing his place and do something for the community of the chairman.

I believe what he has is a jewel.

I am just not sure anybody reading this piece how many opportunities he/she will identify. All I could say now is VUKA AFFRICA.


Sango Ntsaluba

Two un-ignorable giants: Nigeria turns 50 and Sasol is 60 years

Two seemingly unrelated events but both of significant importance to the African continent and Africans in general and to black South Africans in particular.

Let us start by looking at Nigeria, which was amongst the first countries in Africa to be liberated from colonial rule celebrated 50 years of independence at the end of September 2010. Federal Republic of Nigeria has so many unique characteristics like having the largest population in Africa; estimated at 120million or possibly 159 million - take your guess.

The idea is not to do a historical or economic analysis of the country but rather to look at lessons we can learn. I have had many trips to Nigeria over the years and it’s a country that never stops amazing me. The first thing that strikes me is its entrepreneurial spirit. The country is buzzing with that and because there are many entrepreneurs at the lower income levels, to a foreign eye it looks rather disorganised. It is also a country that is cash flush. The lesson we can learn from this is that economies are driven by businesses and not by governments. The levels of education across the board are very high. Nigeria has also been very receptive to investors from rest of the continent and hence you find companies from South Africa like MTN and Southern Sun amongst others that have thrived in that country.

The entrepreneurial spirit is not only at the lower levels but in larger businesses. One of the first companies to be listed on the main board of JSE from the continent is Oando from Nigeria, founded and headed by one of the smart business people in the African continent, Wale Tinubu.
Of course, I cannot leave the impression that it is a perfect country because it is far from that. It is sad that its 50th Anniversary celebrations were marred by bombings. The fact is: it has not managed to utilise its vast oil resources for the benefit of all citizens. Lastly, the failure of the general population to ensure that State-owned Enterprises, e.g. the electricity utility provide adequate infrastructure for its citizens, the business community and investors is a serious indictment on its citizens. The lesson that South Africans should learn from this is to be vigilant in ensuring that our taxes are used for the intended purposes.
On the home front, another milestone which I wish to scrutinise is Sasol celebrating 60 years of existence. What does Sasol turning 60 years in 2010; have anything with black South African entrepreneurs?

Sasol which was founded as Suid Afrikaanse Steenkool en Olie (SASOL) in 1950 had accumulated assets, about $18.8 billion as of 2009, employing over 3000 people. This was just two years after the nationalist party came to power. Whatever Sasol is today, there is no doubt in my mind that it was established to advance the Afrikaner community.

There are and could be a lot of discussions about its origins and funding, sure, but that is maybe a debate for another time.
Some of the questions we need to ask ourselves are:
· Is South Africa today, with black political leadership, on its way to creating another giant,
like Sasol?
· Will black entrepreneurs 60 years from 1994 stand tall and be a beacon of hope to future
generations; not because they bought into other peoples businesses but because their
entrepreneurial spirit will stands out as a shining example?
· Is there a debate or are there initiatives in that direction, if you know of, please raise your
hand.

I am sure some will be quick to point me in the direction of MTN, AVUSA, etc. They may be correct, I do not know. The question is: Will we arrive in 2054 as proud black business people with a huge track record of enterepreual monuments to showcase?

In the meantime, our aim as black South Africans is to show that it is, at least, a Work in Progress.


Sango Ntsaluba

South Africa – Back to where we never left

South Africa has successfully delivered the first Soccer World Cup on African soil, having received a 9 out of 10 from FIFA and a ‘thumbs-up’ from the rest of the world. Sadly, none of the African Countries expect Ghana, made any seriously challenging impact to the tournament that was dubbed the African tournament.

I started asking myself how soccer can be a success if the whole country is not? i.e. if the other spheres of the life of the nation are not in success mode. I asked myself whether we, as a country and a continent, are on a slow building process or are we actually slowly going nowhere?

It then occurred to me that both in South Africa and in the rest of the African continent something is missing. Something fundamental needs to happen and it must start to happen soon.

The change that needs to happen must affect all the spheres of life. I have tried to look at where SA and the rest of the Continent is in the other spheres of life e.g science, art, business (entrepreneurship), intellectual (public thinkers), education, innovation, etc, and sadly, I think we are nowhere near where we should be.

I know in SA we are busy with correcting the wrongs of the past, which has to be done, but that is not enough to make us a successful nation. Sadly I do not see a plan.

A part of me says the current leadership, in all the spheres mentioned above seem to have exhausted all their capabilities. I do not think they are capable of coming up with anything new. It’s time for substitution, to borrow a soccer term. Even a soccer player, considered good, when he seems to be running out of ideas, gets substituted in the interest of the success of the team.

We need fresh faces with new ideas, we need to experiment with new combinations. What we should set out to do, is to build a winning Nation and a wining Continent. It all boils down to leadership.
We need younger people, in fact we need to experiment with young people, with this generation before taking a back seat as mentors. We need a total reconstruction of the country and the Continent.

I would rather spend the next 20 years without success but on the road to a lasting legacy than be confronted by the reality 20 years from now that we still have not started the process.

Where do we start – I do not know. What I do know is that we need people:
1. With energy – it is going to take a lot of effort,
2. Who are ambitious,
3. Who are prepared to take risks and are not bound by the bondage of the past,
4. Who do not owe anybody anything,
5. Enthusiastic- hungry for success,
6. Patriotic – not noise makers who are only concerned about their enrichment,
7. Who really believe in the ability of all South Africans and Africans in general. The belief includes accepting the fact that we are at the bottom, is not God’s creation but our own doing and it can be resolved.

It is in taking into account of the above that I do not think the older generation can ever attempt to deal with the turnaround and the overhauling needed.

Soccer cannot succeed when the whole nation is failing. If we ever needed something done urgently, it is now.

KNOWING MY CONTINENT, AFRICA, BETTER

In the News Week of January 2010, there is an article titled “How Africa is becoming the new Asia” please read on if you thought the continent (by that I mean the African Continent) is at its beginning or its end.
Here I share my personal experiences in the four months, December 2009 to March 2010. I have had the pleasure of visiting three countries: Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. This is just the beginning, as I am due to be back in Nigeria in April 2010. It’s the beginning because personally, I have decided to get to know my continent better, and our company, Amabubesi Group, is exploring various business and investment opportunities throughout the length and breadth of this continent.
I have always suspected, but now I am beginning to know, that South Africans, Black Africans in particular, are bad travelers. I overheard some people the other day planning a trip to Mozambique (602km from Johannesburg). They were talking about:
Ø Informing their friends exactly where they would be at any given time, just in case,
Ø Understanding hospitals there,
Ø Enough cash (dollars) just in case they have to return in a hurry.
Please note that you no longer need a visa now to travel to Mozambique.
My personal interest to explore has been increased by the huge numbers of fellow Africans from various countries, who visit, do business and invest in South Africa. Have you visited some restaurants lately, in Morningside and other shopping centers in Johannesburg?
The perceptions you gather in South Africa about Africa will cover:
Ø Most of what you will read will be about corruption, lack of infrastructure, Malariacomplex ways of doing business,
Ø You would be made to believe that hardly anybody travels to these countries,
Ø You might even be convinced that people in the continent are not interprenual,
Ø There are hardly government plans to improve the conditions of people.
I am the first one concerned about corruption in the rest of the African Continent but I am more concerned about corruption in South Africa because I have a feeling it’s on the increase. I want to see corruption being reduced drastically in South Africa and beyond.
Let me, for now, just highlight my experiences in Equatorial Guinea. Statistically it’s a country of just over 600k. A small country but if you read more about Africa you will, notice that there are lots of small countries, please exclude Nigeria (±120m people).
I found in Equatorial Guinea, a country that does business with everybody including the western world e.g.
Ø America and France are firmly in the Oil and Gas industry
Ø Israel – in hospitals
Ø Arabic countries– building of roads
Ø Chinese companies – construction
The country is abuzz with international operators but if you were to read today about Equatorial Guinea, you would swear nobody, especially from the western world, goes there. It is a country with immense opportunities, which is why everybody is there.
Off course, I do not want to leave an impression that it easy sailing, after all it’s been said that “Africa is not for sissys”. You will experience network congestions, hotels (top ones) do not take credit cards and therefore take cash along and it is rather expensive.

WELCOME TO OUR CONTINENT!

Views on the Budget speech 2010

I would like to go on a relatively long quotation. The reason for this is that it offers a glimmer of hope to the business community who were beginning to doubt what they are regarded as in the recent pronouncements by some politicians.
Some of us have long argued that business, government, labour and civil society is connected by an umbilical cord. Any attempt to cut out any of these without proper surgery, all the quadruplates will die!
The Mail & Guardian, February 19 to 25 2010, vol 26 No7 and on page 2, referring to Minister Pravin Gordham when he delivered the budget speech,
“ … and he ended his speech with a call to government, the private sector and organized labour to forge a new social compact in terms of which government would provide the policy frameworks and socioeconomic conditions to accelerate job creation while business should balance the pursuit of profit with social justice”.
Organised labour, he suggested, must look beyond its existing constituency-with formal sector jobs-to “embrace and act on behalf of all our country’s workers, both those employed and those desperate for employment”.
The key observations I would like to make are:
(a) With due respect Minister, what you are calling for is not “a new social compact”. It is a relationship in the eyes of the private sector that has always been there. The only problem is that the private sector in the recent past has almost believed that the other parties have suspended this compact.
(b) The private sector must take heed of the call to “balance the pursuit of profit for social justice”. It is not a new call but the private sector has sometimes treated the issue of social justice as a peripheral.
(c) This relationship needs to be taken seriously as a relationship in the workplace and not only in the formal structures like NEDLAC.
In the last blog I placed, I indicated that there are 20 young people whose careers I want to follow. I will be challenging them to provide their views specifically on the issues of whether they think it is necessary for the private sector to balance the pursuit of profit with social justice and whether they are prepared to take less profits if that is done to pursue social justice. I would like to know further how they see this balance could be done.

Let me conclude by also leaving one matter hanging, coming also from the same budget speech, and this relates to the relaxation of labour legislation for workers aged between 18 and 25 and state subsidies to reduce the cost of employing them. A lot of attention needs to be given to this considering the effect it will have on the overall employment rate in this country.

2010, a year of great expectations.

Welcome back from holidays with renewed energy. The year 2010 starts on a positive note and for a second we have forgotten the dreadful 2009 except those who have already been called by their bank managers.

The soccer world cup is the buzz word and judging by the high standard and the upsets in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Angola, we werw trully entertained beyond our expectations. I was pinning my hopes on at least two African teams going to the quarter finals. I picked Cot De vour and Cameroon but still a loyal South African. We congradulate Egypt for the winning the cup, once again.

Reading the Financial Mail of 15 January 2010, it listed various black people (Pg 30-33) with their wealth and where it comes from. I have said before that some of these names are exaggerated because some of these gentlemen might have the wealth, it is said what we seem to always forget to list is our white compatriots who have far more than these gentlemen (it was only gentlemen).

How do we assist young people to move to the next stage? What we must consider is, if a great number of us would identify at least twenty (20) young South Africans in categories of business and entrepreneurship, intelligence etc, who are possibly in their 20s and we showcase them and look at the contribution they will make in the next ten (10) years or so. Since the financial mail has regular columns which say “Where are they now”. I want us to have one that says where will they be. I have picked twenty (20) youngsters from the ones I know and will follow their career moves and encourage them as they rise and offer support when they stagnate.

On the BEE space, I am going to do an analysis of some of the key figures in 1990s and follow their businesses or what they are doing 20 years later, I want to see what progress has been made.

WE MUST DEFINE THESE INSTITUTIONS BETTER

The role of State owned Enterprises (SOEs) has been a matter of discussion and sometimes controversy for many years in South Africa. It has moved from ideological views e.g. support a developmental state, to individual preferences of the leadership of the time.
We have recently had the debacle at Eskom, the still lingering and unresolved issues at Transnet and there is also the role of the regulators that still need to be clarified, especially referring to ICASA, since recently both parliament and the department of Communications have been dealing with the issue of unterconnect charges.
Typical of South Africa, debates sometimes get lost by / around personalities and the whole nation after these have been sorted out, if they are ever sorted out or people simply get tired and move on, has no better understanding of the fundamental issues being debated.

It is becoming clear to me, at least, that we need to address, inter alia, the following issues regarding SOEs and similar public institutions.

1. What is the role of these institutions
a) Are they an extension of government departments
b) Are they expected to make a profit
c) Are they meant to deal with areas which the private sector would not / could not deal with because of the low returns. By the way, there is nothing the private sector cannot do as long as there are commensurate returns.
d) Are they national assets which therefore could / should be funded from the fiscus.

2. What is the role of the shareholder or of the ultimate owner
a) Is it to set them up and leave them alone.
b) Is it to dictate what they should, and should not do.
c) Is it to create one channel of communication and representation so that they should not be answerable to everybody.

3. What is the ideal governance structure
a) Who should oversee the functioning of these
b) What qualities are required from those who oversee these:, independent minds, people merely carrying out instructions of the ultimate owner?
c) How should those charged with governance relate to those they oversee i.e those charged with day to day management
d) Those tasked with governance, who are they answerable to
e) How should their success or failure be judged.

4. What is the caliber of those in management
a) Are they / should they be experts in the filed
b) Should it be people more politically inclined.
c) Who should appoint or dismiss these i.e who are they accountable to
d) How should their success / failure be judged.

5. What is the role of other stakeholders they interact with
a) What are the powers of these vis - a – vis the institutions

Of course, all these considerations must be made understanding that there are rights of individuals, groups, and structures that are enshrined by our constitution. All these discussions should take place with full knowledge that the world over, there are different models and our country must choose what suits it.

The sad part about this continuous state of flux, may I add, which is not new, is that there are many individuals who have made sacrifices to serve these institutions and are getting despondent day by day. There are also opportunists in the process, who will forever derail these institutions to the detriment of the whole nation. These opportunists strive when there is chaos and by the time we wake up, they would have looted these institutions. Good people will move on and these institutions will be plunged into a new form of crisis.

Somebody out there must finally put this matter out for debate so that the whole nation should know if we are dealing with a fish or foul because it has to be something whatever it is, we would even settle for a bat.

The asset base of Eskom, Transnet and SABC (to mention a few) at the last count was about R103 billion for Transnet, R199 billion for Eskom and 443 billion for SABC and the number of people employed by them collectively was over 130 000. By way of comparison, BHP Billiton has a market capitalization of about R509 billion. We are not talking pinutes here.