If there’s a document that summarizes the spirit of African 2.0 that Emeka is trying to showcase at this conference, it’s Carol Pineau’s film, “Africa: Open for Business“. She tells us that her reason for making a film focusing on African entrepreneurship was her frustration as a journalist. She covered wars and famines, but she couldn’t sell a story to her editors about cellphones on the continent. She tells us that an African can-do ethic gives Africa amazing potential: “As an American to put a nail into a board and they’ll complain they don’t have a hammer. Ask an African and they’ll find a brick, or a shoe. Imagine what that spirit can do for African business.” She shows us three clips from her movie: a Nigerian clothing company, making fashions for children called “Rough and Tumble”; Alieu Conte’s hugely successful mobile phone company in the DRC, which has had more than a 1000 times return on investment capital; the remarkable Somali airline Diallo Airlines, which operates in a country without a government (In his clip, CEO Mohammed Olan notes, “It’s sometimes a blessing not to have a government: corruption is not a problem because there’s no government.” That line… (more)
(Posted by Ethan Zuckerman in Business at 8:52 PM)