After the previous discouraging post about the negative impact of foreign aid in Africa, this article in TIME, 23 March, is very encouraging about business developments across Africa. May they continue to grow!
Africa, Business Destination. Unlike a lot of other banks, Ecobank is expanding. It has opened 200 branches since 2006 and aims to set up in three more countries by June. What’s more, it actually makes money: annual profits were up 47%, to $191 million, in 2007 and up 32%, to $104 million, for the third quarter of 2008 alone, the latest period for which figures are available….
In Africa’s case, the perception has long been that…Africa is hopeless, a place of war and famine… According to this view, if Africa generates any kind of growth, it is in suffering — and in the overseas aid sent to address that, now a $40-billion-a-year industry.
And that debate is important, no doubt. But it is drowning out a more significant development. Ecobank’s success is not an isolated blip, and aid is no longer Africa’s main source of foreign income. Africa is becoming a business destination.”
Read more at the link above.
