Ndiho Media,LLC.

BY Paul Ndiho

September 17, 2012

Ethiopian airline is one of the most profitable African airlines in a troubled industry. The Air carrier is experiencing steady growth, despite the downturn in the global airline industry, the carrier flies to more than 69 International destinations including the United States.

Ethiopian Airlines celebrated another landmark earlier this year when it became the first carrier outside Japan to operate the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art passenger jet. The introduction of the 787 to African skies could transform the way passengers use air travel across the continent.

The government-owned carrier has become one of the Africa’s success stories. It is known for its efficiency and operational success and it also commands a lion’s share of the regional network including daily flights across the continent.

Kagnew Asfaw, Ethiopian Airlines, regional director for the USA and Canada attributes their success to the quality of training, time and money spent on employees.

“The main/key success factor is the employees that we have. We always say that other airlines could fly the routes that we fly, other airlines could buy the aircraft that we use; but the most important asset for us is that employees. We have a very highly skilled and dedicated staff – those are the main reasons why we are successful.”

To meet the growing volume of air travel, Ethiopian airlines added ten new planes their fleets. The additional passenger jets were financed with a $1bn loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Ethiopian Airlines is also tendering for an additional 15 single-aisle jets to solidify its African presence. Zemedeneh Negatu, managing partner of Ernst & Young, Ethiopia, is a frequent flyer on Ethiopian Airlines and he says that without the airline, it would be impossible for him to do business.

“Every day, I get up and I say – if I have to country x in Europe or China, or the United States and now Canada; I don’t have to think twice about how I’m I going to get there. In most African countries as you probably can imagine, that would be a very long planning process because they have no airlines or they do its limited services. So with Ethiopian airlines, I think for people like me and most Africans to be honest with you has made traveling much easier and much more affordable.”

Analyst say that Ethiopian Airlines generally has a good safety record, its well-managed, and has consistently exceeded the profit targets set out in its strategy plans. But some critics say the company is unusual among state-owned African airlines, because it is able to raise its own debt and finance its own expansion without government cash. Mr. Negatu, notes that Ethiopia Airlines continues to be profitable because of its sound principles.

“Corporate governance and commitment of the employees. What do we mean by corporate governance? Even though it’s state-owned, it’s run like a business.”

Despite the success, many of the carrier’s passengers are unhappy with the airline’s customer service, and baggage handling. Kagnew Asfaw admits that they have had some problems left behind luggage, but he says the airline around the clock to rectify the problem

“In the U.S., we don’t encounter this problem because the luggage we receive from the customers is handled with care. But, in places like Dubai, Banjul, Beijing, customers come with up to 10-15 Baggage’s. So when someone comes with 10-15 baggage’s then you can only take what the aircraft can take. So yes, we have issues of left behind baggage.”

With the addition of the 787 Dreamliner to its fleet, Ethiopian Airlines, a State – Owned carrier, will be stiff competition for other African carriers–  including South African Airlines, Kenya Airways, and other regional careers a run for their money.

By Paul Ndiho

September 17, 2012

Aliko Dangote is one of Nigeria’s most prominent entrepreneurs says his life’s ambition is to build the biggest company in Africa– and the biggest cement company in the world. His cement factories already span the continent.

Born in April 1957 in the Northern Nigerian city of Kano, his drive, determination and entrepreneurial skills have helped make him Africa’s richest person, with a personal fortune estimated at over 11 billion dollars according to Forbes magazine.  The industrial giant’s portfolio encompasses wide range of investments. Dangote currently has cement plants-or facilities under construction across the continent from Senegal — to Ethiopia– to South Africa.

In 2010, Dangote list his conglomerate bearing the same name on the Nigerian stock exchange– and it boosted his estimated personal wealth five-fold at over 11 billion dollars making him the fastest riser on the Forbes worldwide wealth list.

“Things are changing, if you look at other areas, before, normally, you know especially in Nigeria, Nigerians look more or less into oil and gas you know because oil and gas really messed us up big time, in the sense that people have actually dropped agriculture, they’ve dropped almost everything.”

Dangote now wants to list 20 percent of the cement company on the London stock exchange next year, at a price that would place its value at 35– to 40 billion us dollars.

If he’s successful, the move would make Dangote the world’s top cement firm by market capitalization, bigger than Lafarge of France– and surpassing mobile phone operator m-t-n as Africa’s top stock.

“The real target is for us to see what value can we add and pay back to this country of ours that we call Nigeria and also the continent of ours that we call Africa and the only way to do this is by trying to make sure that you stay where you believe you can add a lot of value in business; at least so far we’ve been taking the flag on Nigeria and the flag of Africa to put in places that they were never ever expected to be seen.”

Despite his success, the 55-year-old Dangote has detractors. His critics in Nigeria say that he has attained his success at the expenses of the smaller businesses that have no access to his kind of capital or political connections. Dangote admits he has been friends with several recent presidents of Nigeria and has enjoyed lucrative tax breaks. But, he denies receiving any special favors.

“well you see, if condition even becomes tight, the biggest difference that we have is actually we are not highly leverage, as a matter of fact, we try as much as possible to use our own money to do most of these projects even if we borrow money, today, we’ll only borrow money temporarily before we replace that money with our own cash-flow,”

However, Bismarck Rewane, chief executive officer of the Lagos based consultancy firm, financial derivatives; who has known the tycoon for more than 20 years and he says Dangote plays to win.

“Aliko is a highly driven extremely competitive and passionate individual. When committed to a cause, he will do anything to win, he wants to win every game, he wants to win every bet, and he wants to win every project,”

Uzo Nwankwo, a former executive director of corporate finance at Dangote shares the same sentiment.

“As an employer, he works like he does, the man is a workaholic, and he works basically 24 hours a day. When i used to work with him, it was the same thing, you travel, you come back same day, you go to London, you leave London that same day, finish your meeting and you’re back; he hates to travel during the day because he thinks it’s a waste of your time so he likes to travel at night, get there in the morning, do your business and basically come back so he’s on his toes and he doesn’t demand from you what he doesn’t do.”

Analysts say the speediness at which Dangote is building his pan-African empire is risky, citing project delays and management issues as their greatest concerns.  But, his supporters say Dangote demonstrates that African entrepreneurs can succeed in industry without having to rely on foreign investment from the west or china.

With annual revenue of 2.5 billion dollars, the Dangote group contributes nearly one percent of Nigeria’s G-D-P Africa’s second biggest economy. The firm also employs more than 23,000 people in a country with massive unemployment.

By Paul Ndiho

August 28, 2012

The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, named after the American civil rights leader, held its Ninth Annual Summit in Equatorial Guinea in collaboration with President Obiang last week.

Equatorial Guinea is a small country, composed of a mainland portion plus five islands. It’s one of the smallest on the African continent. Equatorial Guinea has experienced rapid economic growth due to the discovery of large offshore oil reserves, and in the last decade has become Sub-Saharan Africa’s third largest oil exporter.

Last week the country hosted the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation Summit in the Billion-dollar Sipopo Conference Center outside of the Capital of Malabo. Hope Masters, President and CEO of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, led the group of more than 300 delegates from the United States, Caribbean and African’s in the Diaspora.

“We come back from our passage today as Educators, Doctors, Lawyers, Investors, Teachers and some us just wondered back here because we didn’t know where to go but you know, you can always come back home. So we’re here never the less. We need you and you need us. This my friends, my family is the reason why we’re here today.”

Equatorial Guinea’s longtime leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema officially opened the summit and said that he was proud to host the Leon Sullivan Summit because the foundation empowers underprivileged people worldwide by promoting the principles of self-help and social responsibility. Despite the criticism from Human Rights activities and the International media, President Obiang said that his country is open for business and offered citizenship to African Americans and African’s in the Diaspora.

Former  Ghanaian President John Kufuor who chairs the of Board of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation noted that this year’s theme “Africa Rising” should not just refer to the nations and the continent more importantly it must be invested in African Citizenry to attain commanding heights in all the people do. President Kufuor also underscored the importance of the Diaspora saying that they are an important part of Africa.

“It’s in recognition of this that the African Union recognizes you as the sixth region of the continent. Even as African continent calls for partnerships with the outside world, I urge you to look back to your mother continent and bring your enormous amount of expertise and talent to help in its development. This is through partnerships and transfer of capital and technical know-how where the benefits will accrue on all sides.

Critics say that hosting this year’s Leon Sullivan Foundation summit in Equatorial Guinea was part of President Obiang’s systematic effort to whitewash his authoritarian regime and his family’s un-explained wealth. While his supporters say, that Obiang’s government deserves some credit for transforming the country and for building brand new state of the art cities that will benefit the people of Equatorial Guinea.

By Paul Ndiho, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

August 26, 2012

As the information age continues to gather pace, fiber optic cables connecting Africa with the rest of the world are making high speed internet access more widely available on the continent. Chatting on Facebook , Twitting or using Skype over the internet is something taken for granted in the United States and other western countries, but in here in Equatorial Guinea, like in most Africa countries it has not been possible because of slow and patchy internet services, relying heavily on limited and expensive satellite links.

Here in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s Capital , this public park has become a Hot Spot.  Teenagers from different parts of the city frequent the park to surf the net because of free WiFi. They say that  its cheaper to use  and faster  and that its transforming their way of life and how they communicate with each other and the rest of the world. Santos and other young people say this free WIFI access is making a difference.
“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”

“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”
According to research commissioned by ESET, almost half of internet users worldwide connect to the web using portable devices as the primary connection device: notebooks or laptops are the most popular 41 percent, followed by notebooks – three percent, smart phones, two percent, and tablets -one percent. This is indicative of the demand for wi-fi hotspots.
Technology experts note that Wireless technology may be convenient, especially for travelers since wi-fi hot spots are plentiful, but users should guard against criminals prowling networks. For these teenagers, the sky is the limit.

By Paul Ndiho, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

August 26, 2012

As the information age continues to gather pace, fiber optic cables connecting Africa with the rest of the world are making high speed internet access more widely available on the continent. Chatting on Facebook , Twitting or using Skype over the internet is something taken for granted in the United States and other western countries, but in here in Equatorial Guinea, like in most Africa countries it has not been possible because of slow and patchy internet services, relying heavily on limited and expensive satellite links.

Here in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s Capital , this public park has become a Hot Spot.  Teenagers from different parts of the city frequent the park to surf the net because of free WiFi. They say that  its cheaper to use  and faster  and that its transforming their way of life and how they communicate with each other and the rest of the world. Santos and other young people say this free WIFI access is making a difference.
“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”

“This is the first I’ve come here but usually children from all over the place come here for free WiFi.”
“There are very few places where you go and there is free WiFi or Internet access. I was actually shocked, I came to this public park and i saw quite a number of young people with there laptops, ipads, tablets trying to take advantage of the free internet.”
According to research commissioned by ESET, almost half of internet users worldwide connect to the web using portable devices as the primary connection device: notebooks or laptops are the most popular 41 percent, followed by notebooks – three percent, smart phones, two percent, and tablets -one percent. This is indicative of the demand for wi-fi hotspots.
Technology experts note that Wireless technology may be convenient, especially for travelers since wi-fi hot spots are plentiful, but users should guard against criminals prowling networks. For these teenagers, the sky is the limit.

By Paul Ndiho

August 16, 2012

Ugandan fashion designer Gloria Wavamunno has always been a fashion fanatic. She is the founder and artistic director of her own label, Gloria.  And today, her use of the “African kitenge fabric” has made her one of the Africa’s top young designers, as she makes her mark in the fashion industry.

Gloria Wavamunno launched her clothing label in 2009, since then, she has stirred up quite a buzz on the global fashion scene.  Wavamunno has participated in the London, New York and Johannesburg fashion weeks, showcasing innovative, unique and cutting edge fashion designs.  Her works have also been featured in the prestigious arise magazine.  Wavamunno’s fascination with fashion and love for raw african fabric started when she was a young girl– and now she competes with some of the biggest names in the african fashion industry.

“Probably from age thirteen I’d make little tank tops or little dresses from Africa fabrics. So it carried on with me to where i started to use it in my own brand — because it’s beautiful fabric and i also love anything that has a story to it.

Arise magazine says the rising designer’s collections are known for their uniqueness and amazingly and sharp cuts.  But wavamunno also manages to maintain the eccentric, romantic feel of the garment.  She accomplishes this with a smooth mesh, between the use of African fabrics, transformed into stylish pieces of contemporary african wear.

“I do hope that my brand does evolve and it changes with the time. Because i think we are in a period in the world that everything is changing and evolving at a rapid speed for the good and i just hope that my brand is able kind of tap into that whole change and be able to evolve.”

Wavamunno attributes her success to her parents and other supporters who pushed her to pursue her dream in the fashion industry.

“I’ve had wonderful role models in my life with very encouraging words as I was growing up. And the one thing that my mom said to me, when I was very young, that stuck through and kind of embodies a lot of what my brand if based on is that “if it doesn’t start with you, then who will it start with.”

Since the creation of Gloria, wavamunno has worked tirelessly to release a new collection every season, showcasing her best work in a very tough environment.  Like other African fashion entrepreneurs that are based on the continent, she uses local, regional and continental expos to highlight and sell her brands.

“I do want my brand to be seen like any other big international brand that people from other parts of the world can embrace, wear it, and just hope for growth really so that i can continue doing what i love to do.

Fashion analysts say the industry has tremendous potential to meet the growing demand for high-end products in the global market– including Africa’s growing middle class.  Wavamunno notes that young African designers can play a significant role, and be part of the change, that will boost development and growth on the continent.

“It’s extremely important that we’ll be part of the movement and the change that comes within Africa because as much as we know, we can always educate other people abroad on what really is happening here because we live here we are part of it and its part of our culture.”

As the Gloria label expands and makes its mark in the fashion world, other African designers are looking forward to expressing their creativity in the marketplace as well.

Paul Ndiho

August 16, 2012

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton met with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan last week during her multimillion tour of Africa.  Her talks with President Jonathan in Abuja focused on oil and security.   The security discussion focused on Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram.

Since 2009, the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has escalated its attacks across Nigeria, targeting the country’s security forces, politicians and civilians – both Muslims and Christians.  Hundreds of people have been killed.  The AL-Qaeda linked militant group wants to establish a strict Islamic state in the country’s northern territory.

Insecurity in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger delta region has long dominated American concerns about the stability of the West African nation.  Now, the emergence of the Boko Haram, in the predominantly Muslim north, is sparking even more concern in Washington.  The U.S has pledged to help Nigeria with forensics, tracking suspects and “fusing” dissimilar strands of police and military intelligence.

“We intend to remain very supportive on your reform efforts. Thank you for mentioning the work we did together on the elections. We are also very supportive of the anti-corruption reform efforts, more transparency in the work you and your team is also championing because we really believe that the future for Nigeria is limitless.” Secretary Clinton said.

In the early stages of its rise, Boko Haram was not taken seriously by some in the international community– even though U.S intelligence and the United Nations confirmed their links to AL-Qaeda.  But, when Boko haram bombed the u-n headquarters in Abuja last august, Washington began to pay more attention to the group as an emerging threat to U.S. national security. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic council’s Michael s. Ansari Africa center, has written extensively on the rise of Boko haram and he says that the Islamic militant group is a security threat– and that some elements within the opposition are trying to use the group to undermine President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

“We’ve seen the group evolve from a rather idiosyncratic localized group of trouble makers in the far northeast to a national level group with clear ties to transnational terrorist organizations both for ideology and for tactics and were seeing right now an ongoing evolution that may take it version 3.0 which will make it even more dangerous.  So there’s clearly a security threat behind the security threat there’s also a political threat.”

In November 2011, the sub-committee on counter-terrorism and intelligence of the house homeland security committee, chaired by Congressman Patrick Meehan, released a report on Boko Haram’s threat to America.  The report noted that Boko haram had evolved from a locally focused group to a transitional and trans-national organization capable of conducting coordinated truck bombings against western targets.

Both critics and sympathizers have accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to halt the violence. Jennifer Cooke, director, of the Africa program at the center for strategic & international studies says the government’s approach has been slow in past and that it’s incumbent on the leaders of all the political parties to be part of the solution.

“There are various factions some much more criminal in nature some may have political supporters who are giving resources to them and that raises very tricky delicate questions.  I’m not sure that the government has a handle on this i think it’s losing the confidence of many in Nigeria.  It’s weakening the government politically, at the end of the day though this isn’t just about a government responses there are communities there are state governments there are political leaders from all the parties who have some responsibility  in coming up with a solution.”

Security experts believe Boko Haram’s bombing campaign has raised fears that the group is trying to ignite a religious conflict inside Nigeria which is evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

By Paul Ndiho and Rush Perez

August 9, 2012

A United Nations report has implicated the Rwandan government in supporting the M-23 rebels in eastern Congo.  The fighting has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee.  In response to the report, some western nations have cut aid to Rwanda.

Since April, the Congolese army, supported by the UN Peace Keeping Mission, has been battling the M-23 rebels.  The violence began when several hundred disgruntled government soldiers deserted the army and joined the rebels, led by Bosco Ntaganda– nicknamed the terminator.  Ntaganda has been indicted by the international criminal court and just last month the I-C-C issued a new warrant for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Last month, in a major policy shift, the U.S State department announced it would be cutting 200-thousand dollars in military aid to Rwanda, and several other western nations followed suit, and also trimmed their aid.  Jennifer Cooke, head of the Africa program at the center for strategic and international studies – CSIS Says since 1994 Rwanda has enjoyed immense support from the west.

“I think perceptions of Rwanda are definitely changing there’s been a lot of hesitance by the us to be too critical of Kagame there’s the overhang of guilt from the genocide and not taking actions soon enough, there’s the idea that Kagame did restore stability after a terrible situation. Rwanda ‘s been seen as a model aid recipient using the assistance well transparently speaking a language of the west on the development side, so there’s been a hesitance to critique him on whether its domestic policies in terms of authoritarian rule or the narrowing of political space or for his external engagement.”

In Eastern Congo last week, hundreds of people demonstrated against Rwanda’s support of the rebels.  Meanwhile, here in Washington, some members of the Congolese diaspora camped out in front of the Rwandan embassy.  Kambale Musavuli, a spokesman for friends of the Congo, explained why.

“Yes it’s definitely a symbolic move, but we do think it’s very encouraging for the past decades over a decade Rwanda has acted with total impunity for sections in the Congo. With the U.S actually taking steps to end the culture of impunity by withholding aid it sends a signal to the international community that Rwanda’s image is not that clean.”

Another protester shares Musavuli’s sentiment.

“we’ve been treated unfairly in the eyes of the creator every human being is accounted for there were six million eight million Congolese killed, 4 million women raped, ethnocide genocide the world has forgotten about us and we are very disappointed with the leaders of the world, the media of the world, and the people of the world everybody knows what’s going on.”

Felicity Nkudo, a Congolese native who traveled from New York to Washington to voice her concern about the issue of sexual violence in eastern Congo:

“As a woman i am deeply moved by the fate of my sisters back in the Congo there is a phenomenon that’s been created in the Congo by the Rwandese attackers, and the European Union spoke about it that it started in 1996 when Rwandese attacked the Congo it’s called rev that means rape of extreme violence.  And in the Congo women are being raped they’re being stabbed in the womb the children are being raped that is unacceptable that is a total violation of human rights.”

Despite the violence, Jennifer Cooke believes there is hope for a diplomatic solution through dialogue:

“Ultimately there’s going to be needed a strong diplomatic push that involves the government in the DRC so Kabila and Kagame to come to some kind of agreement on security architecture for that region.”

According to the u-n, violence began gripping the eastern Congo in 1999– and has since caused more than 5 million deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of citizens to flee from their homes.  Analysts say the conflict has been termed “Africa’s great war” and at one time or another, involved of at least eight countries.  VOA tried to contact the Rwandan embassy in Washington for comment– but they declined.

By Paul Ndiho

July 12, 2012

Mobile phones are revolutionizing the way people communicate. They are also giving entrepreneurs an opportunity to create applications for the technology just like the big software companies.

Twenty two-year-old Abdu Sekalala is a college student in Uganda and also a successful businessman. He creates mobile applications that compete with some of the biggest names in mobile software.

So far the young entrepreneur has developed nine internationally recognized applications including Wordbook — a dictionary app with a “word of the day” function that includes definitions and synonyms.

Sekalala earns just over one US dollar for each download from Nokia’s Ovi store and his applications have been downloaded over 300,000 times so far.

“I have about four themes and five applications or the other way around five applications, four themes. Now the themes are basically to customize the UL of your phone, the way your phone appears, the screens, the transitions, the colors and the apps. We have Wordbook, which is a dictionary, and the Tutu Translate which is basically a translator and then there is World Sports which is a sports application for soccer fans.”

Sekalala caught his big break when mobile phone company Nokia held a training session in Uganda last year to help software developers expand their skills in building applications.

He quickly learned how to develop his own application and Nokia was willing to adapt it for their online applications store.

Nokia plan an aggressive growth strategy focusing on outing their productions in the hands of millions of new customers. This gives developers like Sekalala a wider market at a time when the demand for applications to access the internet is at an all-time high.

Nokia’s Agatha Gikunda says developers like Sekalala have a unique opportunity to access an international market and make money.

“So one of the ways that they can actually make money is they put it on the store for free so that consumers around the world can download it for free but they make money through advertisements, so one of the apps that Abdu created, that’s what he incorporated so he put in advertising. So advertisers around the world pop up their ads within that application so he makes money from that and that money is entirely his.”

Africa has the world’s fastest growing telecom markets and analysts say internet based mobile solutions are helping boost development and growth on the continent.

Gikunda said there is great potential for mobile app businesses in Africa because companies are looking for new ideas to engage consumers.

“So Africa is definitely the next frontier, developers here have a huge opportunity that they have never ever had before to create businesses that require very little startup capital.

Sekalala and other African entrepreneurs see great opportunities in mobile technology and look forward to continued growth in the future. He makes over 100 US dollars a day from his apps. He says he will not be looking for job soon but instead he will continue developing applications.