No one saw it coming, but a lasting peace deal may have <a href="http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/africa/chance-of-Ethiopia-Eritrea-peace/4552902-4627576-q14mg5z/index.html">finally arrived</a> for Ethiopia and its longtime sparring partner, Eritrea. The two countries, which share a common culture, language, and history, have been at odds for years.
The conflict came to a head in May 1998 when the two countries <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44004212">went to war</a> over the border town of Badme. Both wanted it on their side of the border. A peace deal – the <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/eritreaethiopia-agreement2000">Algiers Peace Accord</a> – was signed by both parties after two years, but neither side complied with it for the next 16 years.
But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Ethiopia’s new premier Abiy Ahmed has promised to fully comply with the accord. This means he’s willing to end hostilities between the two countries, and to pave the way for peace.
Ahmed has also promised to accept the outcome of a <a href="http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XXV/83-195.pdf">2002 border commission ruling</a>, which awarded disputed territories, including the town of Badme, to Eritrea.
On Eritrea’s part, the country’s President Isaias Afewerki recently announced that he’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/eritrea-breaks-silence-and-responds-to-ethiopia-peace-overtures-will-send-delegation/2018/06/20/80c84c5c-745f-11e8-b4b7-308400242c2e_story.html?utm_term=.989ee6374249">ready to talk peace</a> with Ethiopia. An Eritrean delegation has since landed in Ethiopia <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/eritrea-delegation-arrives-ethiopia-landmark-talks-180626112950526.html">for talks</a>. And <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-44619096/eritrean-and-ethiopian-delegates-meet-for-key-talks">the welcome ceremony</a> for the three-member Eritrean delegation indicated how much Ethiopia wanted to end the current status quo of animosity.
By accepting <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/ethiopia-offers-olive-branch-eritrea-180607104544523.html">Ahmed’s olive branch</a>, Afewerki showed his readiness to engage in a conflict resolution process that could potentially end the most damaging inter-state conflict in the Horn of Africa’s contemporary history.
Soon after his announcement, Eritrea’s anti-Ethiopian rebels (known as the Ginbot Seven) declared their readiness to <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/06/21/exiled-ginbot-7-seeks-to-return-and-pursue-a-peaceful-struggle-in-ethiopia/">end armed struggle</a> with Ethiopia.
If the conflict resolution process succeeds it will signal new hope for the entire region. A lasting peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea will provide much needed stability in the Horn of Africa where <a href="https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/understanding-east-africas-power-politics-one-core-time-egypt-somalia-kenya">competing global political dynamics</a> are often at play.
<h2>The history</h2>
Ethiopia’s military regime, led by Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/28/world/ethiopian-rebels-storm-the-capital-and-seize-control.html">overthrown in 1991</a>. The rebel forces, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, joined forces to defeat Mengistu and played a major role in bringing systemic change to Ethiopia.
After this victory, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front actively pursued its long-held aspiration to administer the state of Eritrea, which then formally seceded in 1993. Meanwhile, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front led the formation of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-strong-opposition-is-the-only-solution-to-dislodging-ethiopias-ruling-coalition-89698">four party coalition</a> known as the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front which has governed Ethiopia ever since.
The two ruling parties enjoyed a promising honeymoon period in the transitional years after Mengistu’s ouster. Ethiopia used Eritrea’s Red Sea Port for its import-export trade. Eritrea’s government continued to use Ethiopia’s currency, the Birr. But it wasn’t long before the regime in Ethiopia started questioning the Eritrean regime over a series of its <a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/eritrea/forrel-ethiopia.htm">fiscal and political policies</a>.
Relations began to sour and quickly deteriorated to the point of war which first broke out in May 1998. Because their shared border had never been demarcated Eritrea laid claim to, and invaded Badme. The invasion developed into full blown conflict, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands soldiers from both sides.
It was disastrous for both sides. Meles Zenawi, then Ethiopia’s premier, and President Afewerki oversaw the destruction of two struggling economies. They also created a <a href="http://nai.uu.se/news/articles/2016/03/23/121109/2016_2_Policy-Note_Redie-Bereketeab_Web-Version.pdf">humanitarian crisis</a> in the region. Both nations engaged in <a href="https://www.cfr.org/news-releases/ethiopia-eritrea-proxy-war-somalia-risks-broader-regional-conflict-warns-new-council">regional proxy wars</a>, most notably in Somalia. And both countries hosted anti-regime rebel forces from the other side.
Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who ruled from 2012 to early 2018, was unable to engage meaningfully with Eritrea for a variety of reasons including <a href="http://www.madote.com/2015/07/tplf-selling-fear-doubt-cheap.html">stiff resistance</a> from the old guard among political elites and lack of response from Eritrea. This impasse led to a stalemate between the two countries which became known as “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17531055.2018.1483865">no war and no peace</a>”.
But Ethiopia’s new premier is showing stronger resolve by promising to enforce the Algiers Peace Accord, and accepting the boundary commission’s decision on the Ethiopia/Eritrea border demarcation. Luckily for Abiy, Afewerki has responded positively.
<h2>Peace and economic stability in the Horn</h2>
The conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea has had a destabilising influence on the Horn. One point of contention has been Ethiopia’s <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/thousands-of-ethiopia-troops-enter-somalia-to-hunt-al-shabab-20171102-2">military presence in Somalia</a>. Backed by the West, the country’s military is supporting the Somali government to fight Al-Shabaab. Eritrea has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/10/horn-africa-growing-instability">criticised this intervention</a> claiming that Ethiopia’s presence in Somalia is doing more harm than good.
For its part, Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/07/2012716164543714168.html">supporting the terrorists</a>. Over the years, this proxy war between the two countries has had the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/news-releases/ethiopia-eritrea-proxy-war-somalia-risks-broader-regional-conflict-warns-new-council">potential to spark regional conflict</a>.
The conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea also spilled over into neighbouring Djibouti. Djibouti, which is one of Ethiopia’s main economic allies, has been engaged in a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40340210">war with Eritrea</a> over a disputed border at Dumeira Mountain and Dumeira Island, which are claimed by both countries. The area is one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and has long been recognised as being a part of Djibouti.
Ultimately, the prospect of peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea is likely to have a calming effect on the Horn. If stability is achieved, Ethiopia – a country with an estimated population of <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ethiopia-population/">over 100 million</a> – could realise its potential as a regional economic and military power. This is political capital that it could use to transform the region into a united economic powerhouse.
Regional efforts to integrate economically have already started with the governments of <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201803020619.html">Ethiopia and Djibouti’s</a> leading the charge. And Prime Minister Ahmed has also reached an agreement with Kenya to partner on <a href="http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Ethiopia-Djibouti-Kenya-partner-mega-projects/2560-4558022-o0pwn9z/index.html">port development projects</a>. The premier has also signed port development and <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201805220671.html">economic agreements</a> with Somaliland. <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/Ethiopia-Somalia-joint-port-deals/1066-4616104-e7g12uz/index.html">Similar agreements</a> have been reached with Somalia.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98888/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />In the same vein, Eritrea also has an opportunity to rehabilitate its economy by reviving its ties with Ethiopia.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yohannes-gedamu-432503">Yohannes Gedamu</a>, Lecturer of Political Science, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/georgia-gwinnett-college-2416">Georgia Gwinnett College</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-peace-between-eritrea-and-ethiopia-will-mean-for-the-horn-of-africa-98888">original article</a>.

Here’s how peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea could benefit Horn of Africa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; A U.S. law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against South African miner Sibanye-Stillwater on behalf of shareholders to recover losses suffered after a spate of deaths at its mines triggered a sharp fall in its share price.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP said in a statement the suit would deal with “misleading statements” made by the precious metals producer, which has had 21 fatalities on its operations so far in 2018, almost half of the total in South Africa’s mining industry.
Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Ed Stoddard

Why US law firm has filed lawsuit against South Africa’s Sibanye-Stillwater

By Nyshka Chandran, Reporter, CNBC Asia-Pacific
For decades, China&#8217;s presence in Africa has largely focused on economic, commercial and peacekeeping activities. Now, Beijing is building on that by establishing greater military links to protect its national assets on the continent and gain greater geopolitical influence.
The People&#8217;s Liberation Army conducts regular joint training exercises across the region and, in certain countries that are home to major Chinese infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road initiative, the communist state has been especially active.
In Djibouti, where Chinese companies have constructed strategic ports and Africa&#8217;s first electric transnational railway, Beijing last year formally launched its first overseas military base, which also operates as a logistics and intelligence facility. Many experts now anticipate more Chinese bases in the years to come, with Namibia rumored as a potential location.
Meanwhile in Tanzania, where the state-run conglomerate China Merchants Holdings International is hoping to invest in the Bagamoyo mega port, China built a complex designed to train local armed forces earlier this year. And, at the first-ever China-Africa Defense and Security Forum in Beijing on Tuesday, the communist state announced it will provide African countries with &#8220;comprehensive support&#8221; on matters such as piracy and counter-terrorism. That includes providing technologies, equipment, personnel and strategic advice, local media reported.
All that comes amid expectations for the U.S. to reduce troops in Africa under President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;America First&#8221; policy, which is set to boost Chinese President Xi Jinping&#8217;s government as the dominant foreign power on the continent.
The strengthened defense ties compliment China&#8217;s existing ventures, particularly weapons sales, according to specialists.
&#8220;In recent years, Chinese arms sales to Africa have surpassed the United States,&#8221; said Luke Patey, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies: &#8220;In particular, Chinese small arms and light weapons have spread rapidly since China is less inhibited by selling arms to countries in the midst of conflict than Western providers.&#8221; That goes hand in hand with Beijing&#8217;s expanding military cooperation, he continued.
A desire to safeguard Chinese workers and Chinese-funded projects on the continent is likely behind the government&#8217;s efforts.
&#8220;China’s security concerns are actually aimed at its own nationals, and military diplomacy is skillfully used to protect them and their interests,&#8221; the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, or Clingendael, said in a recent report.
&#8220;The evacuation of hundreds of Chinese and foreign nationals from Yemen in 2015 — on a People’s Liberation Army frigate that sailed from the coasts of Somalia — proves just how crucial the presence of a military logistics base on the eastern coast of Africa is for China,&#8221; it continued.
The world&#8217;s second-largest economy has long described Sino-Africa cooperation as a &#8220;win-win&#8221; arrangement — one that provides China with natural resources and African economies with badly-needed infrastructure. But while the flood of Chinese resources may be welcomed by the region&#8217;s cash-strapped governments, the fear is that increased capital could translate into political leverage.
In fact, many speculate that it was Beijing&#8217;s concerns over its investments that resulted in the 2017 coup that ousted Zimbabwe&#8217;s Robert Mugabe — a charge that Xi&#8217;s administration has denied.
&#8220;The concern from a lot of partners is exactly what role China is going to be playing in the region and how it&#8217;s going to fit with existing military organizations and security forums,&#8221; said Duncan Innes-Ker, Asia regional director at The Economist Intelligence Unit. &#8220;It&#8217;s really an unsettling element of something new coming into the equation that&#8217;s got a lot of people concerned.&#8221;
&#8220;African countries should be clear-eyed that the days of China’s strict adherence to its longstanding noninterference policy are over,&#8221; Patey added.

Why China is increasing its military presence in Africa

By Lusanda Raphulu, partner at Pan-African law firm Bowmans
Labour broking, working hours and minimum wages are hot potatoes in South Africa but the country is not alone in grappling with them. From Angola, Kenya and Nigeria to Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, employers are dealing with many of the same employment challenges as in South Africa – along with some twists unique to the jurisdictions they operate in. This is the view of Lusanda Raphulu, partner at Pan-African law firm Bowmans, after moderating one of the sessions at the 2018 Africa/ Middle East Client Conference of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA).
When it comes to the latest employment law trends, there are striking similarities across much of Africa and the Middle East.
Take the question of working hours which, it turns out, is highly topical in Israel and the UAE at the moment.
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Laws cast in stone stand in the way of flexible hours
In the UAE, a major challenge for many employers is the extremely low oil price, which is hitting business hard. One obvious cost-cutting method is for employers to implement more flexible working arrangements. This is easier said than done as the labour laws that were written in 1980 are far from flexible.
Many employers who can no longer afford to have all their employees working full time would like to introduce part-time work or shifts. However, the law in the UAE prohibits anyone from working more than eight hours a day, and part-time work is not an option for foreign workers (making up the majority of the workforce) who must have the sponsorship of one, full-time employer. There is no easy way around this, with penalties for breaching the employment regulations including fines, imprisonment or deportation. The only way to introduce flexible working arrangements is to obtain direct approval from the Ministry of Labour, a difficult and lengthy process that can take eight or nine months to complete. 
The situation is similar in some ways in Israel (whose labour laws were written in 1951), where the working week was recently reduced from 43 hours to 42 hours, without any cuts in pay, under a collective agreement between unions and employers.
One of the difficulties with this change is that numerous employees in Israel are paid by the hour and the complexities of adapting reduced working hours for hourly paid workers were not fully taken into account. This is a practical consideration that has had perplexed employers knocking on the door of law firms, seeking advice. 
Still, in a country whose employees work significantly longer hours than their counterparts in Europe and the United States, a shorter working week is considered a welcome step towards better work-life balance.
&nbsp;
Time off for breastfeeding stirs controversy in Kenya
Kenya is also grappling with the practical consequences of a change in employment laws, this time requiring employers to give nursing mother’s time off during the working day to breastfeed their babies. This has generated a discussion among politicians, lawyers, the media and celebrities with some commentators praising the government for its commitment to maternal and infant health and others expressing grave reservations about the practicalities and added burden on employers.
Another controversial labour issue in Kenya currently is the minimum wage, which differs in urban and rural areas and recently increased by about 5%. Commentators feel that the increase could have serious implications for certain industries, especially the private security industry. It has become the norm in Kenya for homes and businesses, especially those of national and international companies, to be guarded 24 hours a day but this is only possible while wages are low – a dilemma that highlights the tension between protecting workers’ rights and minimising job losses caused by cost cutting.
&nbsp;
The risks and costs of using labour brokers
Meanwhile, in Nigeria and Tanzania, a labour law issue preoccupying many employers, not to mention the labour courts, is labour broking and specifically the issue of who the employer is.
In Nigeria, this used to be a straightforward matter. For many years, the broker was the employer. That has no longer been the case since the National Industrial Court of Nigeria ruled that a sacked worker who went to court had two employers, the labour broker and the end-user.
Since there is a significant gap between what employers and labour brokers pay, this could have expensive implications for employers. Experts suggest a rule of thumb for employers trying to keep their costs down in Nigeria is to keep their distance from day-to-day matters affecting labour-broking employees. This way labour brokers, and not employers, are the ones managing the employees, which reduces the risks for employers. 
Although Tanzania does not yet have labour-broking regulations, the position is similar: the entity that has day-to-day control of the employees is considered to be the employer. The risk of the same employee receiving benefits from two employers has prompted some of Tanzania’s largest institutions to move away from labour broking and to start hiring people themselves, even though this is complicated and could virtually double their employee costs.
One country where the law is cut and dried on labour broking is Angola. Employers in that country are discouraged from using the services of labour brokers unless this is temporary and strictly for short periods. Since 2016, the maximum period for hiring temporary workers has been two years. After two years, the employer must hire the person directly and cannot get around this by replacing him or her with someone else as the law prohibits such replacement.
All in all, the discussions at the ELA conference showed that South Africa is far from alone in dealing with employment law challenges such as labour broking, minimum wages and the like. Other countries are in much the same boat and perhaps even navigating more challenging waters than South Africa’s currents.

South Africa's Quantum Foods warns of 38% drop in first-half profit

South Africa’s Quantum Foods warns of 38% drop in first-half profit. budget_shutterstock_249974521

Why more African countries are grappling with minimum wage and working hours

It’s difficult as an individual, a group or a nation to know how to act when faced with climate change problems. As with other global environmental problems, these challenges are economically, environmentally and socially complex. They come with ethical issues and generate disagreement between different groups of people.
This complexity is particularly apparent in cities where many different groups of people with diverse cultures and perspectives live. And cities, of course, are hot spots for the problems related to climate change.
But the good news is that cities also have the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02409-z">potential to produce solutions to climate change problems</a> because they contain dense networks, technologies and groups of people with diverse perspectives. This was a key message which emerged from the first ever <a href="https://citiesipcc.org">Cities Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> meeting, held in Canada recently.
Science alone can’t provide all the answers or solutions for cities grappling with changing climates and extreme weather. Cities’ social, cultural, economic and historical differences should be considered when planning any climate-related response. And it’s residents, citizens and local authorities who have that context.
That’s where <a href="http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/2016/11/11/whats-the-difference-between-knowledge-co-production-and-co-exploration/">knowledge co-production</a> can be useful. It’s an evolving research process that recognises the importance of multiple knowledge types and perspectives to build a holistic understanding of complex problems.
The <a href="http://www.fractal.org.za/">Future Resilience of African CiTies and Lands</a> project uses knowledge co-production by gathering together a number of different people from different areas of expertise and ordinary citizens. This was done across nine African cities: Durban, Blantyre, Cape Town, Gaborone, Harare, Johannesburg, Maputo, Lusaka and Windhoek. These groups then consider people’s priorities, cities’ histories and contexts, and what role climate science factors into decisions.
These questions guide our research objectives as people from government, NGOs, civil society groups and academia gather face-to-face to discuss and explore contextual issues and potential solutions.
<h2>Putting people at the centre</h2>
This process has forced researchers to really take local knowledge into account for each city. We’ve steered clear of a “cut and paste” approach to defining climate risks and responses as much as possible, since each city’s needs and threats are different.
Throughout history, science has informed many development decisions. A dynamic has been set up between those who use science and those who produce it that centres the producers. It’s difficult to shift from this dynamic to research processes that support inclusive conversations about potential solutions, with a diverse set of values and perspectives.
Such conversations place people at the centre of the research process instead of scientific content. These processes also clearly acknowledge the assumptions and limitations of science, and value different forms of knowledge equally.
Research institutions and donor funded programmes generally place scientific knowledge on a pedestal, especially if it is produced in the northern hemisphere. Many of these institutions and programmes also measure success using rigid frameworks that focus more on targets and outputs and less on how people are learning through such dialogues.
What’s been key in our work is that scientific knowledge is not considered more important than the knowledge held by decision makers and civilians. These people understand the effects of a changing climate in context, and can identify the potential responses that fit this context. For example, civilians in Harare have a good idea of how strong political influences intersect with the consequences of severe or frequent drought. People from Botswana can offer knowledge on novel communication approaches to support responses, such as through local community fora called “freedom squares”.
<h2>Solutions are emerging</h2>
The Future Resilience of African CiTies and Lands project is bearing fruit. For instance, scientists and decision makers <a href="http://www.fractal.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/City-Digest-Lusaka-Issue-1-digital.pdf">in Lusaka</a> are in the process of finalising four policy briefs on water issues in the city. They’ve reflected on how climate will affect these issues, and come up <a href="http://www.fractal.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/City-Digest-Lusaka-Issue-1-digital.pdf">with potential solutions</a>. These groups sat for several days in the same room to flesh out contextual issues and potential solutions together.
This is different from the usual approach of climate scientists producing information and then passing it down the chain to users of this information.
In Blantyre, Gaborone, Harare, Lusaka, Maputo and Windhoek, city governments are working with scientists, engineers and civilians to co-produce narratives about the future of their cities in the face of climate change. The Namibian capital will be using their narratives, along with other important climate information, in the development of the City of Windhoek Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98487/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Processes like these help to build relationships between governments, researchers and civilian groups, as well as between different departments within government. These networks will support cities’ climate change conversations long after the Future Resilience of African CiTies and Lands project ends.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alice-mcclure-331153">Alice McClure</a>, PhD candidate at the The Climate System Analysis Group, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gina-ziervogel-196562">Gina Ziervogel</a>, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-african-cities-residents-are-creating-climate-change-solutions-98487">original article</a>.

Here’s how the residents of African cities are creating solutions for climate change

Mozambique was the site of one of Africa’s <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1255b/i1255b00.pdf">most devastating natural disasters</a> in recent times. In the year 2000 floods killed 700 people, displaced 60,000, and left more than 500,000 needing humanitarian assistance.
The disaster also <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/mozambique-flood-emergency-recovery-project-ferp">inflicted economic damage</a> totalling over US$273 million – that’s six times Mozambique’s GDP.
Unfortunately, neither the citizens nor the government had disaster insurance. This meant that the country had to seek donations and humanitarian aid to rebuild. At the time, Mozambique’s economy was already constrained by poverty and low levels of social development. So the aftermath of the floods was another blow to the economy.
Compare this to the 2010 earthquake that devastated Christchurch in New Zealand. There, <a href="http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/22550/20170620.pdf">over 81%</a> of the losses were covered by disaster insurance. This ensured a quick <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221242091500031X">recovery</a>, and reduced the economic burden on both the government and the people.
These two scenarios demonstrate the importance of <a href="https://www.undp.org/content/sdfinance/en/home/solutions/disaster-risk-insurance.html">disaster insurance</a>. Current global estimates suggest that over <a href="https://www.christianaid.org.uk/resources/about-us/act-now-or-pay-later-protecting-people-coastal-cities">a billion people</a> are susceptible to natural disasters.
Between 2006 and 2015 the damage caused by disasters cost Africa <a href="http://www.ifrc.org/Global/Documents/Secretariat/201610/WDR%202016-FINAL_web.pdf">$8.1 billion dollars</a>. Global estimates of the same damage costs have nearly doubled in 2017 from <a href="http://www.swissre.com/media/news_releases/nr20171220_sigma_estimates.html">$188 to $306 billion</a>.
Insurance is one way that citizens and governments can mitigate against the damage caused by natural disasters. But in Sub-Saharan Africa the uptake of such insurance remains low. This is surprising given the increased threat large parts of the continent face from climate related hazards and the extreme economic losses that may be incurred.
So what are the factors underpinning this lack of demand for disaster insurance? They include risk assessment, access to information, and the affordability of premiums.
<h2>Disaster insurance</h2>
<a href="https://www.undp.org/content/sdfinance/en/home/solutions/disaster-risk-insurance.html">Disaster insurance</a> is an agreement between an insurance company and a nation state, body corporate, or individual that entitles them to compensation for losses incurred during disasters. For that entitlement, a cash premium is paid every month.
The seminal works of academics <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00055792">Howard Kunreuther</a> and <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/DisasterandRecovery.html">Jack Hirshleifer</a> were among the first to assess the role of insurance in disaster recovery. They were both concerned with how to mitigate the effects of disaster losses.
Kunreuther argued that insurance was a potent tool in mitigating disasters by securing recovery funds for disaster victims. Hirschleifer contended that insurance would secure resources for urgent problems and ensure faster recovery for those affected. Both advocated for insurance as a way of building up the cash reserves that would be needed in the long-term management of disasters.
Despite these studied and stated benefits, the demand for disaster insurance in Sub-Saharan Africa remains critically low. Only <a href="http://www.droughtmanagement.info/literature/WB_disaster_risk_financing_insurance_sub_saharan_africa_2012.pdf">2.6%</a> of consumers have disaster insurance. An <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/may-july-2017/disaster-insurance-against-climate-change-attracts-african-countries">estimated 80%</a> of those are in South Africa. Why is this the case?
Traditional literature <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajae/article/89/5/1241/117781">points to factors</a> such as poor insurance education. But insights from <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/05/from-economic-man-to-behavioral-economics">behavioural economics</a> – the process of economic decision-making – indicate that the problem may be elsewhere.
<h2>Behavioural economics</h2>
Behavioural <a href="http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/te/MIC/3e/MIC_3e_Ch7.pdf">research</a> has consistently shown that individuals <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/peps.2016.22.issue-2/peps-2015-0047/peps-2015-0047.pdf">deviate from rationally expected behaviour</a>. In the context of the threat of natural disasters, the rational thing would be to prevent economic losses by insuring one’s assets.
And yet this isn’t how people behave in this case. While <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43151298?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">empirical evidence</a> suggests that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/iere.12184">high premiums are responsible</a> for the low uptake by ordinary citizens this is only part of the problem.
An individual’s attitude towards risk, together with a lack of information, are also likely to play a significant role in insurance uptake. While the general population is considered to be slightly risk averse, individuals who are risk neutral or risk averse are less inclined to be insured. This is compounded by the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bdm.728">geographical distance</a> from a potential disaster: for instance, the further away a person is from a disaster site, the safer they’ll feel.
<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hec.907">Research</a> also shows that general understanding of insurance products and disaster probability is limited. Finally, <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w15396">trust</a> is key. Individuals <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f170/e5bffc1e0999a9f04a586b44bd6e57f76e10.pdf">will not pay for insurance</a> if they do not believe support will be provided when it’s needed. As such, the relationship between consumers and insurers is very important for boosting demand.
<h2>Future policy considerations</h2>
To solve the sub-Saharan African insurance problem, our research indicates that a raft of coordinated policies should be implemented to ensure a net increase in demand for disaster insurance.
Behavioural insights suggest that policies should be directed at influencing individual decision-making processes by removing barriers such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-insurers-can-get-better-at-responding-to-natural-disasters-75846">lack of information</a>, mistrust and prohibitive costs.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97958/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Mandatory disaster insurance is another option; it would broaden the insurance pool, spread the risk and lower individual premiums – making insurance affordable to the average citizen.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-abunyewah-469315">Matthew Abunyewah</a>, Casual Academics and PhD Candidate, School of Architecture and Built Environment, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-newcastle-1060">University of Newcastle</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-a-savage-94980">David A. Savage</a>, Senior Lecturer Behavioural Economics , Newcastle Business School, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-newcastle-1060">University of Newcastle</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kim-maund-497893">Kim Maund</a>, , <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-newcastle-1060">University of Newcastle</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-odei-erdiaw-kwasie-310390">Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie</a>, Research fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/seth-asare-okyere-279492">Seth Asare Okyere</a>, Assistant Professor, Division of Global Architecture, Graduate School of Engineering, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/osaka-university-1303">Osaka University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/thayaparan-gajendran-497892">Thayaparan Gajendran</a>, Associate professor, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-newcastle-1060">University of Newcastle</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-people-in-africa-need-to-be-insured-against-natural-disasters-97958">original article</a>.

Why people living in Africa need insurance coverage against natural disasters

UPDATE 1-Ivory Coast&#8217;s ICP to ramp up cocoa grinding at two plants
ABIDJAN, June 22 (Reuters) &#8211; Ivory Cocoa Products (ICP) and Eurofind Group plan to begin cocoa grinding at a new 32,000 tonne plant near Ivory Coast’s main city of Abidjan by 2019, with capacity doubling by 2021, ICP’s Managing Director Ismael Al Khalil told Reuters on Friday.
ICP also plans to increase grinding capacity at an existing factory in the southern port city of San Pedro from the current 50,000 tonnes to 75,000 tonnes by 2021, Al Khalil said.
The expansion will make ICP the fourth-largest grinder in Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, behind Barry Callebaut, Olam and Cargill.
The new plant will mostly produce cocoa butter and cake. By increasing its capacity, it expects to receive tax benefits offered by the government for any increase in capacity, Al Khalil said.
All output from the new plant will be sold to Theobroma, a unit of Swiss-based Ecom Trading.
Ivory Coast is aiming to process domestically half of its cocoa bean production by 2020 in a bid to boost the value of its exports and protect its economy from the volatility of global commodity markets. (Reporting By Ange Aboa; Writing by Aaron Ross; editing by David Evans)

How increasing the capacity of cocoa production will benefit Ivory Coast’s economy

<figure><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222801/original/file-20180612-112623-1xh2v9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="File 20180612 112623 1xh2v9m.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" /><figcaption>African women do a lot of unpaid work that isn’t captured in GDP calculations. 
Rafal Cichawa/Shutterstock</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/luke-messac-235133">Luke Messac</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-pennsylvania-1017">University of Pennsylvania</a>
It’s been nearly 80 years since British economists James Meade and Richard Stone devised a method of national income accounting that would <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03086534.2018.1431436">become the global standard</a>. Today, we call it a country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Their method was intended to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of an entire national economy, by estimating the monetary value of all “economic” production that took place in a country in a given year. Like most economic statisticians of the day, Meade and Stone focused almost entirely on measuring the value of goods and services that were actually bought and sold.
But a problem quickly emerged, thanks to the experiences and observations of a 23-year-old woman named <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-phyllis-deane-leading-and-influential-figure-in-the-field-of-economic-history-8191322.html">Phyllis Deane</a>. She was hired by Meade and Stone in 1941 to apply their method in a few British colonies. In present-day Malawi and Zambia, Deane realised that it was an error to exclude unpaid household labour from GDP.
In a research paper I published recently on the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03086534.2018.1431436?scroll=top&amp;needAccess=true">history of the GDP</a>, I write that Deane believed this convention excluded a great share of productive activity – especially in rural Africa. She <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6870920.pdf">argued</a> that it was “illogical” to exclude the economic value of preparing and cooking food and collecting firewood. She contended that such kinds of labour had historically been excluded because they were commonly viewed as women’s work.
To decide which activities to include in her GDP calculations, Deane spent months <a href="https://www.ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/June-Messac_What-is-an-economy.pdf">conducting village surveys</a> in order to measure, and include in GDP estimates, particularly burdensome activities like the collection of firewood.
She concluded that if governments wanted to formulate policies that increased aggregate national income and ensured an equitable distribution of that aggregate, the contributions of all producers – including rural women – had to be counted.
Over the next seven decades, GDP calculations would not generally include unpaid (and mostly female) labour. But Deane’s work shows us this was not the only way to measure economic production. As GDP calculations come under increasing criticism, we should look to her research for a way forward.
<h2>Invisibility of female labour</h2>
Richard Stone paid little attention to Deane’s recommendations. In 1953, he oversaw the publication of the United Nations’ first <a href="https://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/docs/1953SNA.pdf">System of National Accounts</a>. This report provided detailed standards for calculating GDP.
The system ignored Deane’s call to include unpaid household labour. And because UN technical assistance programmes sought to ensure that low and middle-income countries followed the system’s standards, Stone’s method had global consequences. Activities which were central to every day life in low-income African countries – like fetching water, grinding corn, and weaving mats – were not included in national accounts.
This invisibility of female labour in national income accounting eventually provoked a backlash. While pushing for female domestic labour to be economically quantified, scholar-activists like the Italian-born philosopher Silvia Federici, who taught for many years in Nigeria, <a href="https://caringlabor.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/silvia-federici-wages-against-housework/">argued</a> that male “economic” production was impossible without women’s uncompensated “non-economic” labour.
For instance, without a wife to tend to the children and the home, how would a male factory labourer have the time or the energy to fulfil his stereotypical role as the breadwinner?
<h2>Time rather than money</h2>
Some feminist economists held a different view. In 1999 the New Zealand-born economist Marilyn Waring <a href="https://www.ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/June-Messac_What-is-an-economy.pdf">articulated concerns</a> about including unpaid labour in national accounts. Rather than using economic activity to measure the value of labour, Waring called for a different indicator: time.
Time, she explained, was “the one investment we all have to make”. Drawing on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS2nkr9q0VU">research</a> she conducted in rural Kenya, she argued that time-use surveys would demonstrate “which sex gets the menial, boring, low-status, and unpaid invisible work”.
Such surveys would show how targeted interventions, like access to clean water and efficient cooking stoves, could alleviate the drudgery of domestic labour and allow billions of women to gain greater freedom in how they spend their days.
In 2008, the authors of the newly updated System of National Accounts responded to their feminist critics by way of a compromise. They <a href="https://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/docs/sna2008.pdf">agreed</a> to include the production of all goods – whether these were sold or not – in GDP calculations, so activities like weaving mats or brewing beer would be included.
However, they continued to exclude most unpaid household services, like cooking and cleaning. And the revised system ignored both Deane’s and Waring’s calls for more data on the distribution of time-use by gender. This has caused ever <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---stat/documents/event/wcms_175150.pdf">more criticism</a> to be levelled at the system.
In recent decades, the work of feminist economics has shown how the methods of calculating GDP render much of women’s labour invisible. Meanwhile, surveys and time-use studies show the toll this has taken on women’s lives, particularly in the Global South. One recent <a href="https://washmatters.wateraid.org/sites/g/files/jkxoof256/files/The%20Water%20Gap%20State%20of%20Water%20report%20lr%20pages.pdf">report</a> found that hundreds of millions of women worldwide have to walk more than a 30-minute round-trip to reach clean water for their families.
<h2>Future of the GDP</h2>
A <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/118025/118123/Fitoussi+Commission+report">2009 report</a> commissioned by then French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated that because GDP is “treated as a measure of economic well-being” it “can lead to misleading indicators about how well-off people are and entail the wrong policy decisions”.
More recently, the World Bank <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29001">pointed out</a> that GDP only measures flows of income but doesn’t tell us whether health care, education, and the wealth of the natural world are being built up or plundered. The Economist <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2016/04/30/how-to-measure-prosperity">called</a> for a “new metric” of economic progress that included “unpaid work in the home, such as caring for relatives”.
None of these insights are new. But they do mark a renewed appreciation for the economic indices and policies that feminist scholars have long favoured. For instance, Silvia Federici’s insistence that household labour <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/wages-for-houseworks-radical-vision/">should be paid</a> has been at least partially realised in the <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4194e.pdf">spread of cash transfer programmes</a> across Africa.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98110/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />If we want to really bring women’s work out of the shadows and overturn the stereotypical gender roles that relegate women to more than their fair share of household labour, we must first take the blinders of the GDP.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/luke-messac-235133">Luke Messac</a>, PhD in History, M.D. Candidate, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-pennsylvania-1017">University of Pennsylvania</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-unpaid-work-must-be-included-in-gdp-calculations-lessons-from-history-98110">original article</a>.

Why African women’s unpaid work should be captured in GDP calculations

Kenya is perceived as one of the world’s most corrupt countries. It ranked <a href="https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017">143 out of 180</a> countries on Transparency International’s 2017 corruption perception index. The only African countries that scored worse – among them Somalia, South Sudan, Libya, Eritrea, Burundi, and Zimbabwe – were either politically unstable or in conflict.
This poor showing shouldn’t come as a surprise. Kenya has been plagued by a long list of corruption scandals. One of the more infamous was the <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/How-Goldenberg-scandal-was-hatched-and-executed-/1056-1628532-8k2yos/index.html">Goldenberg heist</a> which occurred in the 1990s during then President Daniel Moi’s tenure. The government was found to have subsidised exports of gold far beyond standard arrangements by paying a company called Goldenberg International 35% more in Kenyan shillings than their foreign currency earnings.
More recently, in 2014 <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000221706/where-the-eurobond-money-trail-goes-cold">millions of dollars were misappropriated</a> from funds that were secured by the government through a Eurobond, which is an international loan that was secured from foreign investors. A <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/markets/capital/Kenya-says-fresh--2bn-Eurobond-oversubscribed-seven-times/4259442-4315350-14pr01l/index.html">second Eurobond</a> was secured in 2018 and <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018/03/05/eurobond-cash-treasury-cagey-on-how-amount-will-be-spent_c1724415">questions have been raised</a> here as well.
Yet, the looting of public coffers is more commonly reported in recent times and the amounts involved are growing. During May and June 2018, <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/data-stories/2018/06/05/a-visual-history-of-corruption-scandals-in-kenya-2013-2018/">reports about grand corruption</a> have dominated Kenyan news. This haemorrhaging of public funds will do enormous damage to the country’s already struggling economy.
The scourge of corruption in Kenya must be urgently addressed otherwise it could be bring the economy to its knees. As things stand, Kenya is already <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/business/Kenya-s-public-debt-crosses-Sh4-5trn-mark/996-4320928-bit76az/index.html">struggling to pay its debts</a>.
<h2>The economic cost of corruption</h2>
The role of human capital on economic growth has <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.551.4862&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf">long been established</a>. So when human capital takes a hit the impact is also felt on economic development and growth.
Let’s take Kenya’s <a href="http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/102511/Kimani_The%20Social%20Economic%20Impact%20of%20National%20Youth%20Service%20%28Nys%29%20on%20Urban%20Communities%20%20the%20Case%20of%20Kibera%2C%20Nairobi%20County.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">National Youth Service</a> as an example of a public organisation where corruption is believed to be rife. In 2015, <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201609300282.html">approximately USD$17 million</a> was stolen from its coffers by a network of companies that supplied goods and service at inflated prices.
And this year <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/video/news/4146788-4561084-essehdz/index.html">billions of shillings</a> earmarked for the service were embezzled by a shadowy network of dubious service providers.
This money was all earmarked for youth vocational training. The theft not only jeopardises the country’s short-term skills provision objectives: it also portends irredeemable long-term opportunity costs.
Corruption compromises people’s futures and their development. It also costs a fortune. Rampant corruption will drain any economy of the resources needed for projects like infrastructure development.
To illustrate, let’s take a look at the misuse of funds from the Kenya government’s 2014 Eurobond, which was believed to be <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/4397a32a-f572-11e3-be21-00144feabdc0">Africa’s largest such issuance</a> at the time.
Reports indicate that some of the money may <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/ktnhome/video/watch/2000102079/raila-odinga-eurobond-money-did-not-come-into-the-country">not have been deposited into the national Treasury</a>. In economic parlance, this would qualify as an illicit financial “outflow”: an illegal cross-border movement of money or capital. The illegal transfer of funds out of African countries is a <a href="https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/iff_main_report_26feb_en.pdf">recognised constraint</a> on the continent’s economic development because it denies local populations the use of that money for national development.
The Global Financial Integrity <a href="http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GFI-IFF-Report-2017_final.pdf">report</a> estimates that from 2005 to 2014 Africa lost between USD$36 billion and USD$69 billion in illicit financial flows. This represents about 74% of all financing required (approximately USD$93 billion per year) to develop infrastructure to service Africa’s growth needs.
In Kenya’s case, the Eurobond swindle was more than just a missed opportunity to expand the country’s inadequate and dilapidated infrastructure. It also led to a <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/business/Moody-s-downgrades-Kenya-rating-over-rising-debt/996-4304706-urmche/index.html">sovereign rating downgrade</a> on the basis of its increasing inability to service ballooning public debt.
A sovereign rating is a measure of a country’s creditworthiness. And a downgrade signals that the country has not optimally invested money borrowed on capital projects, such as infrastructure. Capital projects typically increase national income and better a country’s ability to repay its debts.
<h2>Finding solutions</h2>
Given these observations, what measures can Kenya take to stem the debilitating theft of public resources?
First, a national ethos that inculcates the value of work as the only means to wealth accumulation must be built. A possible way of achieving this is for education policy makers to emphasise social ethics as a compulsory subject right from primary school all the way up to the university.
Second, Kenya’s legal system must make corruption expensive and unattractive for perpetrators by the imposition of stiff fines, and mandatory jail sentences. Another step in the right direction would be to grant both the auditor general and the ethics and anti-corruption commission prosecutorial powers.
Third, the law could be reviewed to ensure that those convicted of economic crimes suffer lasting embarrassment and the greatest possible financial loss. To achieve this, all the proceeds from corruption must be repossessed by the state and channelled back to public use. Convicts would then be barred from holding public office or doing business for several years after their release.
Fourth, strict standards of ethical conduct could be imposed for anyone seeking public office. This would entail full disclosure on the sources of campaign funds, public declarations of wealth and lifestyle audits, and enforcement of voter bribery legislation.
Fifth, the national fight against poverty, ignorance and disease must be intensified to improve quality of life, and empower citizens to perform their civic duties, such as the choice of legislative representatives, in a more meaningful way.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98255/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Finally, it would be worthwhile for the national public prosecutor to sign treaties with “tax haven” countries to block or repatriate illicit financial outflows from Kenya.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/odongo-kodongo-165242">Odongo Kodongo</a>, Associate professor, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894">University of the Witwatersrand</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-the-economic-cost-of-corruption-in-kenya-98255">original article</a>.

The economic cost of corruption in Kenya explained

By Brianna Hansen, admissions and data coordinator for Cornerstone University&#8217;s Professional &amp; Graduate Studies division.
Communication is critically important for advancing your career. Whether you are a public speaker or spend most of your workday interacting with a computer screen or a steering wheel, effective communication skills will serve you well.
From improving your customer service to creating better relationships with your boss and coworkers, the benefits of communication are both obvious and surprising. Good communication is essential to achieving your professional goals and to being heard and understood.
Of course, this raises an important question: how can you grow in communication? If it&#8217;s so important for your career, you need actionable steps you can implement immediately.
Here are eight methods for improving your communication.
1. LISTEN FIRST
Female professional having a conversation with a male professional at a table
The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success. —James Cash Penney
Have you ever worked with someone who is more than willing to share their opinion but isn&#8217;t interested in anyone else&#8217;s? It&#8217;s frustrating, right? They make you feel like nothing you say matters.
Communicating is a two-way street. Listening is the most important communication skill because it makes the other party feel heard and improves your understanding of the situation. This may seem a bit counter-intuitive, but it&#8217;s critically important. Two-way communication simply can&#8217;t happen if you&#8217;re not attentively listening to others.
By waiting to listen before talking, you create a positive dynamic between you and anyone else in the conversation. Listening also creates trust, and if you give someone your undivided attention and listen with your entire body, you can build trust and empathy far quicker than any other communication method.
You also give yourself an opportunity to compose your thoughts before delving into your desired message, which is a critical aspect of effective, results-oriented communication.
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2. ASK QUESTIONS SECOND
I&#8217;m a very strong believer in listening and learning from others. —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
There is no more explicit way to make someone feel heard than to ask them questions and, when possible, to repeat some of their main ideas back to them.
Not only does this help you get to know them better (and help you form memories of important details), it makes it clear that you are an intentional listener who is committed to fully understanding people and their needs.
And by reiterating some of their main points, you ensure that you truly understand the points they make. This is what&#8217;s often called &#8220;active listening.&#8221; Active listening is not just hearing a person&#8217;s words but processing and incorporating them into your own response.
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3. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK
Graphic showing head with two speech bubbles
There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak. —Simon Sinek
Preparing for a conversation can be very helpful. It allows you to structure your thoughts, anticipate objections and consider how your words will be received.
In the conversation itself, there may be times when someone says something you instinctively disagree with. In those moments, pause before you respond. Take time to consider what they&#8217;re saying. Speaking rashly can lead to painful consequences for both you and the person hearing you.
If something upsets you, it may be best to not respond at all in the moment. Let your emotions pass and come back to the subject when you can speak in a calm, clear and helpful manner. The last thing you want to do is lash out against the other person.
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4. BE YOURSELF 
Communication—the human connection—is the key to personal and career success. —Paul J. Meyer
Many people are so focused on communicating &#8220;professionally&#8221; that they forget to communicate personally. You&#8217;ve seen it and maybe you&#8217;ve even done it. It often involves a person using a lot of jargon words that don&#8217;t actually mean much. If you find yourself using words and phrases like synergy, incentivize, outside the box, ideate or move the needle, you may be slipping into jargon talk.
Professionalism is important. But if you worry more about seeming professional than just being yourself, it&#8217;s easy to get overlooked in the hustle when people are forced to make decisions based on gut feelings.
In those situations, people turn to their subconscious, which bonds with personalities far more than with polished, impersonal jargon.
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5. BRIEF IS BEST
Two adult males having a conversation at a table
Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people. —Jim Rohn
This may seem counterintuitive after the encouragement to listen, ask questions and slow down before making your statement or request. But there are several good reasons why being brief is best.
Aiming to be brief prevents you from making potential mistakes, trims the filler around your main purpose and leaves the other party with the sense that you listened far more than you spoke. Even if you make a big request, do it in fewer, smaller words.
Ever notice how much more believable stories are when there aren&#8217;t too many seemingly-impossible details in it? The same is true of your communication. Be honest and forthcoming, but also be straight to the point. Even if you have a large chunk of time for a conversation, devote most of it to listening.
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6. BE ASSERTIVE
Honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect of the one for the other. —Benjamin E. Mays
This is a fine but very important line to walk.
Many people mistakenly believe that being assertive or having an opinion in the workplace is bad. They choose to remain silent in hopes that they will be perceived as more agreeable, only to find that the people with louder opinions get more attention.
This isn&#8217;t always because they are annoying or controversial. Oftentimes, being assertive about your opinions can show that you are confident and care about the work you&#8217;re doing.
You don&#8217;t have to be uncooperative to offer an opinion, and there is a fine line between caring and seeming selfish. But not inserting your thoughts or opinion may is far more likely to make you seem uninterested or forgettable than to help you achieve your goals.
Simply be respectful and humble in the way you share your opinions and you&#8217;ll be heard without coming across as overly aggressive.
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7. DON&#8217;T COMPLAIN, MAKE SUGGESTIONS
Close up photo of two individuals having coffee
Words—so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. —Nathaniel Hawthorne
It is seemingly natural to complain when things are stressful, frustrating or not going according to plan. But instead of complaining, offer up helpful suggestions for what can be improved and how to do it.
Complaining is perceived as negative, while offering helpful feedback is perceived as being personally invested in the situation. Within reason, try to avoid complaining and instead offer positive, insightful suggestions.
You&#8217;re more likely to get results and leave a positive impression on those around you. Suggestions for improvement build teamwork, while complaints are perceived as selfish, even if everyone secretly agrees with you.
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8. OFFER ENCOURAGEMENT
Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble. —Yehuda Berg
Most of us think of encouragement as cheesy, awkward or simply hard to do. However, few things are more refreshing and motivating than simple compliments.
But you may notice that when someone does something well, and simply mentioning that from time to time is one of the most surefire ways to demonstrate that you are invested in other people and aren&#8217;t afraid of communicating that with them.
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YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS
The good news is that if you want to, you can improve your communication effectiveness by focusing on a few skills. A sincere desire to hear and be heard is a great place to start—after all, communication is a two-way street.
Start with listening and identifying a few areas that you could improve. Even if your primary goal is career advancement, you can&#8217;t fake good communication. So, slow down and commit to learning some of these valuable skills. There&#8217;s no limit to how much you can improve as a communicator, or how far that can take you.

Op-Ed: Eight ways to grow in communication and seriously boost your career

Africa is the world’s <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/continents/africa-population/">second most populated continent</a>; it’s home to 54 countries. Yet, according to football umbrella body FIFA’s rules, only five African countries can qualify for the World Cup tournament which is held every four years.
In the 2018 tournament Africa is represented by Nigeria and Senegal from West Africa, and Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco from North Africa. Countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon and Burkina Faso – which all feature in the top 60 of <a href="https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index.html">FIFA’s ranking</a> of its 206 member states – will be watching the 64 matches in Russia from home.
All of this raises questions about more than just football. It’s a chance to reflect more broadly on identity. For instance, is there a shared African identity from the north to the south of the Sahara desert? Is the Sahara desert, in addition to being a natural separation between north and south, also a wall that separates <a href="http://en.lisapoyakama.org/how-north-africa-became-white/">two cultures</a>: black Africa and Arab-Berber Africa?
The term “black” is not used here as a pejorative, although as someone who’s originally from Algeria I must acknowledge that blackness with its rich culture and history is not celebrated enough in North Africa. The region suffers still from <a href="https://sajjeling.com/2013/11/14/orientalism-and-black-africa/">orientalist vision</a> and a colonial legacy that constructed north Africa as nomadic or a place of “Arabic charm”. There is also a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/09/north-africa-algeria-black-africa-shared-history">false idea</a> in north Africa about the rest of Africa as a place of “black magic”, poverty and military coups.
And some North Africans would consider themselves closer to Europe (which they consider “the norm”) than to sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Cup and the events surrounding it offer a useful chance to consider all of these biases and misunderstandings. After all, football and all sport offer powerful opportunities for divided people to unite – even if it’s just over a sports tournament.
<h2>African disunity</h2>
The 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, held in the week before the tournament’s kick off, was another test for African unity. The question was: who to vote for as host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup? A North African country, Morocco was bidding for the fifth time. They were competing against the joined Canada, the US and Mexico bid. The so-called “United 2026” bid <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/13/world-cup-2026-vote-north-america-morocco">received</a> 134 votes compared to Morocco’s 65.
There was also very little sign of African unity behind Morocco. Many sub-Saharan African countries gave their vote to the American bid, including Guinea, Benin, Burundi, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The all-Arab solidarity did not help either as many Arab nations did not vote for Morocco. Economic and political interests overtook considerations of belonging to the same continent, race and ethnicity.
Having said this, there is mutual fascination about football culture and history, uniting Africa across its four corners.
Morocco’s progress to the second round of the 1978 World Cup tournament held in Argentina was a milestone for African football. Algeria’s performance in Spain in 1982 made an impact that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/13/1982-world-cup-algeria">changed</a> the World Cup tournament forever. The North Africans were on the receiving end of one of the worst cases of match fixing, involving West Germany and Austria. FIFA’s limp response to calls for punishing the Europeans or staging a replay was to rule that from then on the last pair of games in every group must be played simultaneously.
Algerian striker Lakhdar Belloumi said afterwards:
<blockquote>Our performances forced FIFA to make that change, and that was even better than a victory. It meant that Algeria left an indelible mark on football history.</blockquote>
Eight years later all of Africa celebrated and danced with the then 38-year-old <a href="https://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/players-coaches/people=79318/profile.html">Roger Milla</a> in 1990. The brilliant Cameroonian forward scored four goals in the tournament, hosted by Italy. Four years later in the US, he became the oldest player to score a goal at a World Cup tournament.
Nigeria’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/nigeria-football-team">Super Eagles</a>, with five World Cup appearances and performances, led by <a href="https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/tribute-amazing-jay-jay-okocha-great-bolton-team/">Jay Jay Okocha</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rashidi-Yekini">Rashidi Yekini</a> and <a href="https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/ode-daniel-amokachi-everton-cult-hero-best-sub-never-made/">Daniel Amokachi</a>, have inspired generations of young Africans from the north to the south. Many young Africans wanted to be goalkeepers following role models like <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/joseph-antoine-bell">Joseph-Antoine Bell</a> (Cameroon) and <a href="https://www.mytripblog.org/pg/blog/morocco-social-manager/read/150146/badou-zaki-">Badou Zaki</a> (Morocco).
<h2>More chances for unity</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98391/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />At this year’s tournament in Russia fans from across the continent, and of course beyond, will be cheering on the new emerging star of African football, Egypt’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/mohamed-salah">Mohamed Salah</a>. As a proud African, I know that most fans on our continent will be like me during this tournament: supporting Africa’s five teams, whether they lie north or south of the Sahara.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mahfoud-amara-499253">Mahfoud Amara</a>, Assistant Professor in Sport Policy &amp; Management, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/qatar-university-2693">Qatar University</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-cup-is-a-chance-to-talk-about-african-identities-and-unity-98391">original article</a>.

Why World Cup brings forth opportunity to discuss African identities and unity

By Simon Brayn-Smith, Global Head of Sustainability, Olam Cocoa
60% of child labour is in the agricultural sector. That’s a staggering fact made only more concerning when you learn that in West Africa, where 70% of the world’s cocoa is sourced, 2.1 million children work in cocoa fields . This is an issue which agribusinesses like Olam &#8211; along with our peers, customers, NGOs, and international governments &#8211; should be thinking about 365 days a year. But today is the UN’s World Day Against Child Labour and I want to take the opportunity to share with you some of the realities on the ground from my experience as Olam’s Head of Cocoa Sustainability, and how we’re playing our part to tackle the interlocking challenges faced by cocoa growing communities across West Africa.
You might be questioning why, despite the efforts of an entire industry, there could still be so many instances of cocoa related child labour in 2018? Unfortunately, I can’t give you a simple answer because the hurdles to reach a child labour-free cocoa supply chain are far from easy. However, there is one issue at the heart of the problem: extreme poverty. The decision to send your child to work on a cocoa farm often comes from a place of necessity in the face of little or no income.
In the face of this kind of intractable situation, a joint effort across the supply chain is essential. In Olam Cocoa’s role as the world’s leading exporter of cocoa from Africa, we are focusing our efforts to eradicate child labour in our supply chain on three key areas.
Pulling smallholders out of poverty
It is an undeniable fact that helping smallholder cocoa farmers to increase their income will undoubtedly reduce the number of children relied upon to work on family farms. That is why Olam Cocoa provides a range of interventions that help farmers sustainably increase their productivity from coaching in Good Agricultural Practices to providing access to agricultural inputs and finance. Diversification of income is also key to improving total household income and Olam works with youth associations and women’s groups in activities such as beekeeping, intercropping and the development of community pruning teams. Alongside this, we work with local farming cooperatives to not only pay sustainability premiums to farmers but also channel investment into social infrastructure projects that help prevent child labour, such as building local schools and hiring teachers. For example, in the Ivory Coast, our teams on the ground work to support 10 sustainability programmes, involving 85,000 farmers and paid over USD$23 million in sustainable crop premiums to over 185 cooperatives across the country.
Identification and remediation
Shifting cultural attitudes around child labour is crucial and requires a hefty investment of time and resources. We have been active in developing the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS), a system that involves each cocoa producing community or cooperative electing a representative body to ensure implementation and effectiveness of the identification and remediation focused programme. In partnership with the Fair Labor Association (FLA), the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) and manufacturer customers, 180 cooperatives in the Ivory Coast, have established CLRMS initiatives with our support. However, there is still a lot more work to be done to build community trust that they won’t be punished for reporting an instance of child labour. Instead, it’s about remediation in the form of helping parents obtain the birth certificates they need to send children to school, paying school fees and offering alternative income sources like soap making or rearing small livestock.
Harnessing data
Technology is a crucial tool for dealing with the myriad issues at play when it comes to child labour. The Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS) collects farm level data via a smartphone to identify where vital social infrastructure like schools are lacking alongside details of farmer families, like the number and age of children, if they are attending school or living within proximity of one. With this data, working with the cooperatives, we can identify any issues and find solutions. Currently, we have 100,000 cocoa farmers in Africa registered on the OFIS platform.
It’s fair to say that companies such as Olam and our industry group partners like World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), CocoaAction, and ICI are making progress on the issue of child labour. But the problem is vast and it’s simply not enough to reach all 2.1 million children. More needs to be done.

[EXPLAINER] Child labour in Africa’s cocoa sector: Why it’s so hard to combat and what Olam Cocoa is doing about it

President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a working lunch during their historic Singapore summit meeting.
U.S. delegation members in attendance included Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un participated in a working lunch Tuesday, following their face-to-face meeting at the highly anticipated summit in Singapore.
Who&#8217;s there 
American delegation members at the lunch included U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
North Koreas in attendance included Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers&#8217; Party of Korea Kim Yong Chol, who determines foreign policy and defense strategy for the country.
Also present was Ri Su Yong, vice chairman of the Central Committee; Ri Yong Ho, minister of foreign affairs, and No Kwang Chol, minister of the People&#8217;s Armed Forces.
What they&#8217;re eating 
On the menu were prawn cocktails with avocado salad, green mango kerabu and fresh octopus and Korean stuffed cucumber (&#8220;Oiseon&#8221;) for starters.
For the main course, the participants had a choice of beef short rib confit, sweet and sour crispy pork and Yangzhou fried rice and soy braised cod fish.
For dessert, diners had the choice of dark chocolate tartlet ganache, vanilla ice cream and tropezienne.
Earlier in the morning, the two leaders shook hands and took a photo side-by-side before moving to another room, where they gave brief statements to the press.
It was the first time that sitting leaders of the two countries have met, and it came after years of bluster and threats from Pyongyang — and from Trump — that have raised fears of war.
— CNBC&#8217;s Everett Rosenfeld and Nyshka Chandran contributed to this report.

Here’s the guest list and menu at historic Trump-Kim summit meeting

<figure><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221950/original/file-20180606-137301-bcluaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="File 20180606 137301 bcluaq.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" /><figcaption>It would be in Africa’s best interests to limit a rise in global temperature. 
Shutterstock</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shingirai-nangombe-485487">Shingirai Nangombe</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/chinese-academy-of-sciences-857">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>
At the end of the century, if <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_wcover.pdf">carbon emissions aren’t reduced faster</a>, the global temperature is likely to be 2.6°C to 4.8°C higher than it was in 1986–2005. Africa could be even hotter than that, to the tune of between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415386.002">3℃ and 6℃</a>.
If the world doesn’t make a bigger effort to cut emissions than it does now, global warming might have a severe effect <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_wcover.pdf">on sub-tropical Africa</a>.
Our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0145-6">research</a> has found that for Africa, it would make an important difference to limit a rise in global temperature to 1.5°C. That limit would shrink the likelihood of extreme climate events like heatwaves. And that would be good for societies and economies.
A global mean temperature of 2℃ above pre-industrial levels has been under discussion for years as a threshold for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wcc.457">danger</a>. Many countries already experiencing extreme climate events have raised concerns, though, that a 2℃ target is insufficient to shield them from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2572">these extremes</a>.
These countries welcomed the 2015 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2939">Paris Agreement</a> on efforts to confine global warming and reduce risks of climate change in the future.
Africa is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415386.002">climate change hotspot</a>. But there has been little research on how much difference a lower temperature target would make.
To fill this gap, we explored potential benefits for Africa from limiting global warming to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0145-6">1.5°C compared to 2℃</a>. We used a model that enabled us to simulate how heat and hydrological extremes might change in Africa under stabilised 1.5°C and 2°C scenarios. We focused on the likelihood of seeing a repeat of record-breaking seasons that have already happened.
We found that keeping global warming to 1.5°C could significantly decrease the frequency of extreme climate events across the continent. In particular, the probability of events like the southern African hot December–February <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0145-6">1991/1992</a> and the heatwave in North Africa in <a href="http://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_1074_en.pdf">December–February 2009/2010</a> would be a lot lower.
<h2>Severe high temperatures</h2>
Over the past decade, Africa has recorded <a href="http://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_1167_en.pdf">severe high temperatures</a>.
It was particularly hot in North Africa between <a href="http://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_1074_en.pdf">December 2009 and April 2010</a>. The region observed <a href="https://go.nature.com/2Jngrm0">new records</a> of 47.6℃ for Faya-Largeau in Chad, 48.2℃ for Bilma in Niger and 49.6℃ for Dongola in Sudan in 2010. In 2015 Egypt’s Luxor reached 48.4℃ and South Africa’s Vredendal observed a record <a href="http://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_1167_en.pdf">high of 47.6℃</a>.
We established that if global warming were to be limited to 1.5℃ instead of 2℃, the chances of extreme heat events in Africa might be reduced. Specifically, the likelihood of annual high temperatures that exceed the 2015 record is estimated to be 100% under 2℃ level, but 91% under 1.5℃ levels.
Under a 2℃ scenario, we projected that there is a 30% chance of occurrence for extreme high temperatures similar to that of 2009/2010 in North Africa. But if temperatures were kept at a projected 1.5℃, there would be only an 11% chance of such an extreme occurring.
<h2>Flooding and droughts</h2>
In February 2000, there was a <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0434%282004%29019%3C0789%3ATCEAIU%3E2.0.CO%3B2">tropical cyclone</a> that brought <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0145-6">unusually high rainfall</a> to southeast Africa and as far west as Namibia. It was also a year when Namibia experienced its wettest summer <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0434%282004%29019%3C0789%3ATCEAIU%3E2.0.CO%3B2">since 1976</a>. It resulted in devastating floods and <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0434%282004%29019%3C0789%3ATCEAIU%3E2.0.CO%3B2">loss of life</a>.
Global climate model simulations in our study estimated that similar extreme events in this region will be rare under low global warming scenarios in the future, with slight difference in occurrence between 1.5℃ and 2℃ warming levels. But in general, global climate models have been known to draw differing results in terms of the direction of future precipitation. That’s why our confidence levels are higher for temperature projections than <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_wcover.pdf">precipitation projections</a>.
Almost all subsistence farmers in Africa who practise rain-fed agriculture are affected by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/8/085004">natural climate variability</a>. Increased frequency and severity of droughts is projected in the 21st century over most of the continent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415386.002">because of climate change</a>.
Using rainfall deficits and high temperatures as drought indicators, we explored the likelihood of droughts similar to the 1991/1992 one in southern Africa under <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0145-6">low warming scenarios</a>. We found that, even though the rainfall would be similar in both the scenarios, the high temperatures might increase the probability of such droughts.
<h2>Benefits of a low-warming world</h2>
Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0145-6">study</a> projects that limiting global warming to 1.5℃ instead of 2℃ would have considerable paybacks for Africa. In particular, extreme heat events like the ones in 2015 and 2009/2010 might be reduced by 10% and 20% respectively under 1.5℃ of global warming level compared to under 2℃ level.
Temperatures as high as those in the December–February 1991/1992 southern African drought are estimated to be 25% less likely under 1.5℃ of global warming level compared to under 2℃ level.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97098/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />So, continued efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C may offer considerable benefits to Africa in terms of reduced occurrence of heat extremes.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shingirai-nangombe-485487">Shingirai Nangombe</a>, Doctor of Philosophy, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/chinese-academy-of-sciences-857">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-africa-stands-to-benefit-if-rise-in-global-temperatures-is-kept-to-1-5-c-97098">original article</a>.

Here’s why it would be in Africa’s best interests for rise of global temperatures to be kept to 1.5°C

By Bunmi Akinyemiju
While Israel raised $5.24 billion in investment in 2017, Nigeria only raised $115 million, despite having a population 20 times larger. From Tel Aviv to Seoul, from Beijing to Palo Alto, startups are engines of modern economic development, transforming industries from security to finance to agriculture. Nigeria may be a hotbed of recent start-up activity, but deep developmental challenges remain. In order to better offer opportunity to a fast growing and young population, Nigeria needs to take disruptive approaches to development challenges in infrastructure, financial inclusion and education to become the Africa’s first “startup nation.”
Across the globe, political developments have spelled the end of business as usual &#8211; now it’s time for economies to catch up. For Nigeria to succeed in this changing environment, it must go from a nation of startups to a startup nation. More specifically, Nigeria needs to use the minimal viable product approach to spur learning and iteration and aligned incentives, ensuring that the country moves forward with common goals. Taking such an approach ultimately creates a feedback loop to guide future developments, as each iteration of the product is improved. The combination of aligned incentives amongst all strata of government alongside the feedback loop of minimal viable product means that Nigeria will become a startup nation, rather than a nation of startups.
Powering Growth Through Infrastructure
The explosion of mobile phone owners and deepening internet penetration in Nigeria shows the economic impact of leapfrogging. Nigeria is one of the fastest-growing internet consumers in the world with approximately 76.2 million Nigerian internet users &#8211; an increase of 50% from 51.8 million users in 2013. The only thing preventing even more growth is a lack of adequate power and broadband infrastructure. The World Bank estimates that the unreliable power supply costs Nigeria over $25 billion annually, amounting to over 6% of Nigeria’s GDP. But this has been a reality for decades and the young generation entering the ranks of business executives no longer have the patience to wait for government and donors to fix it. Rensource, a power-as-a-service company that provides renewable energy, is already taking this initiative, providing SMEs with access to off-grid energy to power their businesses. Considering continued failures in orthodox power delivery, it is time to take a startup approach.
180 Million Opportunities to Invest in Talent
Nigerians may be the best educated immigrant group in the US, but back at home, poor education and training means that skilled labor, especially in the ICT sector, is lacking. While the Nigerian government has taken notable steps to invest in ICT education through the establishment of programs such as Internet of Things (IoT) innovation centers or the Yaba ICT Hub, the potential of Nigeria’s youth remains largely untapped. Innovative companies are stepping in where government has left off. Andela, a company that trains software developers and then places them with leading technology companies, has been a leader in this field, receiving funding from the likes of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Gidimo, a mobile learning platform, is another example of a startup taking the initiative to remedy inefficiencies created by the public sector.
Both the IoT innovation centers and the Yaba ICT Hub are in part sponsored by private partners, including industry leaders such as Cisco and Google, highlighting the success and sustainability that partnership with private companies can bring to ICT training programs. Nigeria’s youth is the country’s biggest asset &#8211; over 50% of Nigeria’s population is under 30 &#8211; government agencies can either partner with these new companies or get out of the way.
Financial Inclusion
One out of ten adults across the continent have a mobile money account &#8211; the highest global ratio &#8211; but a McKinsey study finds Nigeria to be a “sleeping giant” when it comes to the country’s mobile money penetration. However, companies like Flutterwave, Onefi, and Paga are bucking this trend and leading Nigeria’s mobile money revolution. These companies are providing vital loans and payment services to everyday people via mobile platforms, thus bridging gaps within the traditional banking sector.
Now is the time to add fuel to the start-ups fire in Nigeria. According to VC4A, an online community of Africa-focused investors and entrepreneurs, the average investment secured by Nigerian startups rose from $57,000 in 2015 to $73,000 this year with over 40 per cent able to secure external capital. Yet despite the increase, Africa as a continent received only $560 million in venture capital funding in 2017, compared to India or China, which received $17.6 billion and $95 billion, respectively. Nigeria is the largest recipient of VC funding in Africa, which is reflective of its relative population and GDP size.
Some startups are not even waiting for traditional venture but are turning to ICOs (initial coin offerings) to raise money. SureRemit, a Nigerian remittances startup, raised over $7 million from investors in over 60 countries, in what was Africa’s biggest ICO to date. As ICOs gain popularity and traction, they are a sure way for startups to secure the funding they need to succeed, not least because they provide founders and investors with a shared interest in the startup’s success.
The creation of this virtuous cycle, where success stories lead to increased growth capital and investment for future success stories, has occurred around the world, from Turkey to Argentina, and as Nigeria’s VC funding grows, it also looks to experience this virtuous cycle.
Bunmi Akinyemiju is CEO of Venture Garden Group, a leading provider of innovative, data-driven, end-to-end technology platforms.

Op-Ed: Nigeria needs to become a startup nation

On Tuesday, June 5, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front’s (EPRDF) Executive Committee began its first leadership meeting since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed in April.
Three big announcements followed: 1) the state of emergency was lifted two months early on signs that the security situation is improving, 2) the government said it would cede disputed land to Eritrea that it has occupied since the war ended in 2000, and 3) it announced details of significant liberalisation of certain sectors of the economy. 
In addition to the above, there have also recently been talks with opposition groups to set up a national dialogue, the release of high-profile political prisoners and promises to amend the anti-terror laws that allowed for the rounding up of dissenters. The signals are positive. 
Two questions arise from the recent reform push. Firstly, how much of the change in direction can be attributed to Mr Abiy and the shift in power within the EPRDF coalition? Secondly, how far will the reforms go?
With regard to the first, it should be noted that the economic liberalisation policy was first proposed by Mr Abiy’s predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, last year. Thus, this does not necessarily signal a change in mindset within the EPRDF.
The fact that the liberalisation policy was supported unanimously by the 36 members of the Executive Committee (nine members from each of the constituent regional/ethnic parties), according to Addis Fortune, suggests that this was not Mr Abiy’s Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO) and its Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) ally calling the shots and forcing the issue thanks to its majority of seats within the House of Peoples’ Representatives.
Furthermore, Government Communication Affairs Minister Ahmed Shide made it clear on Tuesday that the move is in line with the government’s development State model rather than a change in thinking.
The decision to lift the state of emergency, likewise, does not necessarily point to fundamental change within the coalition. The intensity of conflicts has declined since February and international partners had put pressure on the government to lift the emergency measures as soon as possible. It is likely that the EPRDF under Mr Hailemariam would have made the same decision.
The decision on Eritrea, however, may point to a change in thinking. 
The disputed land falls within the Tigray region and up until Mr Abiy’s ascension to prime minister the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was the dominant party within the EPRDF. Thus, this could be a result of the power shift.
The TPLF still has significant control over the security forces, but Mr Abiy appears set to change that. In April, the prime minister emphasised the need for the military to be above the political fray when he met with generals for the first time. “It should be an army that is adaptable to regime change as long as a popular mandate elects another party should the EPRDF fail in its politics,” he told the country’s top brass, according to Addis Fortune. 
But there were indications that the military leadership would be diversified prior to the change in prime minister.
In early February, the military promoted a number of officers and appointed three deputy chiefs of staff: the first time such a role has existed. It also promoted four lieutenant generals to full general rank: the first time a promotion to full general has taken place in a decade. The creation of the posts for deputy chiefs of staff and promotion of four others to the rank of full general hint that the current chief of staff, General Mohammed ‘Samora’ Yunis, may be replaced at the top of the military hierarchy in the near future.
Finally, with regard to meeting with opposition groups, freeing prisoners and changing the anti-terror law, it is likely that Mr Abiy is a more credible interlocutor than his predecessor (he is an Oromo like the majority of protesters over the past few years). On this front, his policies may have more chance to succeed thanks to the extra political capital he has with those calling for change and we should expect a fresh approach.
It should be kept in mind that the US House of Representatives adopted HR-128 – a resolution calling for the US government to support human rights and inclusive government in the country – a week after Mr Abiy took office. This indicates a change in US policy which has in the past been supportive of the Ethiopian government and downplayed rights abuses so as to keep its military ally in the region on its side.
While this may be thought of as a negative development for the prime minister, it could actually strengthen his hand if he wishes to carry out reforms. He can more easily sell the reforms as a necessary step towards maintaining relations with the US. A softer touch with regard to opposition could then be attributed to pressure from a powerful ally rather than to a change within the EPRDF.
The above analysis would suggest that the reforms announced this week are not a clear sign of a radical shift in thinking within the EPRDF. 
Make no mistake, the reforms are significant and welcome, but they fall within the EPRDF’s comfort zone.
On some fronts, they really did not have much choice. The economy is in a dire state, with foreign reserves only able to cover around two months of imports. The demographics of the country, with a large youth bulge and not enough jobs to accommodate it, also mean that the EPRDF is well aware that it needs to stimulate job growth in order to ensure stability. 
How far will the reforms go? That is not yet clear. Mr Abiy’s rhetoric promises much, but he is an EPRDF man and the ruling coalition sees development through its preferred approach as its mission. A sign of real change would be opening a discussion on changing the political structure (away from ethnic-federalism), dismantling the regional endowment conglomerations that fund EPRDF coalition parties (like the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray – Effort) or instituting democratic reforms that give opposition a real shot.
However, we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This week’s news is positive for political risk and economic development.
Jared Jeffery (Political Analyst)

Ethiopia’s EPRDF makes three big announcements at first meeting since appointment of Abiy Ahmed

<div id="attachment_308674" style="width: 686px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-308674" class="wp-image-308674 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Sifiso-Falala1.jpg" alt="" width="676" height="380" />Sifiso Falala. Photo: Supplied.</div>
Observations from the past 20 years – the evolution of market research and its impact on decision-making
By Sifiso Falala, Chief Executive, Plus 94 Research
The days when the all-knowing conglomerates dictated consumer demand are behind us – consumers have become more discerning, and service providers that fail to have their finger on the pulse of evolving consumer needs through innovative use of tools such as market research and big data analytics run the risk of being left behind.
The market landscape is changing rapidly as lifestyle changes precipitated by the economic downturn, evolving innovations, trends and the growth of the health-conscious lifestyle have empowered consumers to take more control of their life and lifestyle.
<h4>Businesses are rethinking their products &amp; services</h4>
Market research has always played a very important role in businesses throughout the world and also in South Africa, but the financial crisis we have witnessed has led businesses to rethink the bouquet of products and services they offer and how they are offered in order to remain relevant. Although the role of market research as a business tool has become increasingly important, the evolution of technology has increasingly shaped and influenced how companies and organisations conduct market research.
There is a big transformation shift today compared to 20 years ago when Plus 94 opened its doors for business. There has been both a consumer and business mindset shift. Research is no longer a black box, and researchers are no longer quasi-crystal ball gazers and wavers of magic wands. Everything is a lot more open, and a lot more integrated.
<h4>The role of technology</h4>
Technology is playing a big role in empowering respondents, clients and researchers. The transition between the collection of data and reporting it has been radically reduced in time span. We can now talk of live reporting which is quite nice but places an extra burden on remaining current.
Ten years ago, research was conducted using pen and paper. This process of deciphering all this data today would be laborious and labour-intensive given the market scale growth. Today research can be completed without the use of pen or paper and in a growing number of cases without an active human interface. Sophisticated technology has meant sophisticated respondents, clients, and researchers. Deliverables are now expected to have synergies and integration with other aspects of the business which may be running in parallel such as advertising, the product, distribution and pricing.
The use of devices operates with the aid of live or delayed Internet connectivity. Accessibility of complementary customer databases has increased the importance of data fusion in recognition of the fact that all national sample surveys are approximations of the same population.
<h4>Challenging new technologies</h4>
The world is on the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will be characterised by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical and digital and challenging ideas about what it means to be human.
Market research has always been done, but what makes it seem that much more important now is that it is easier with the use of technology while uncertainties about customers have and continue to increase in the face of rampant consumer sovereignty. Notwithstanding the proliferation of technology, the basic principles of research design, questionnaire design, and field ethics remain fundamental to the success of market research projects.
We are in an era where business is more competitive, and some industry barriers have become blurred. The risk of whole industries becoming obsolete is at its highest.
Despite the advent of technology, the underlying tenets of market research have remained intact.
<h4>Keeping up with consumers</h4>
Consumers evolve; brands, products, and services have to go where consumers are going and research is helping brands keep up with the constantly evolving market and consumer trends.
Market research is a kind of accessory that enables decision-makers to reflect to ask the difficult questions about whether the products they sell are what the customer wants, whether the prices they charge are affordable for their target audience, how products fit in with their daily lives, and what the long-term implications of using their products and/or services are.
Now more than ever, businesses are taking into account facts from the consumer or how customers feel about their product because they are aware of the flooded nature of consumer options and the speed at which migration could be affected.
The automotive, mining, agriculture, banking and FMGC industries are examples of sectors that have benefited from advances in market research over the past 20 years. In fact, benefits accruing from advances in data collection, processing and dissemination have meant that there are more new users of market research in the past 20 years than in the previous 20.
<h4>Growing importance of personalisation</h4>
Some of the examples of successful transitions include the personalisation of formulae, service structuring, and communication. Consumers are now more than ever before exposed to larger doses of aggregated service offerings where so-called value adds are thrown in to go with a basic value proposition.
Consumer platforms and social networks mean that research no longer needs to be a prerogative of the researchers to initiate. Consumers can now spontaneously give a stream of vital, albeit unsolicited, research data, using both direct and passive means. To that extent, therefore, harnessing and reducing consumer messaging has become even more important, in line with the dire consequences of failing to do so in a modern world that is alert, empowered and inherently not motivated by loyalty.
 
About Plus 94 Research
Plus 94 Research is one of South Africa’s leading market research companies. The company was established in 1998 and is recognised for its progressive thinking and leadership. Founded by Chief Executive Sifiso Falala and his partner Tirhani Mabunda, the company has become a key player in the delivery of quality market research solutions to local, regional and international clients. The company’s vision is to remain uncompromising in its approach to the verification and validation of research methods and processes, and to continue in the deployment of the best available human and technical resources needed to resolve research problems.

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