Corruption in Africa Government graft, often with the collaboration of private companies, is choking African economies Africa is a notoriously difficult place to do business. Many investors remain sceptical of their ability to navigate the continent’s often murky operational environments, where weak governance, regulatory failure and unstructured economies have created the conditions for corruption to thrive. The scale of graft has been particularly noteworthy in extractive industries. As a result, the citizens of many African countries rich in oil, gas and minerals are mired in poverty. Rather than investing resource revenues into infrastructure, health care and education, governments, often in…
Ronak Gopaldas
Ronak Gopaldas
RONAK GOPALDAS is a director at Signal Risk, an exclusively African risk advisory firm. He was previously the head of country risk at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) for a number of years, where he managed a team who provided the firm with in-depth analysis of economic, political, security and operational dynamics across sub-Saharan Africa. He holds a BCom degree in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) and a BCom (Hons) from the University of Cape Town (UCT). He also has an MSc in finance (economic policy) through the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.[
India’s diaspora in Africa From adventurous seafaring traders to forced labourers to billionaire businessmen Families of Indian origin control some of Africa’s largest companies and three of the continent’s richest men are Indo-African. The Dewji family owns Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania, with interests in manufacturing, distribution, trading, haulage, storage and real estate. Annual revenues are $1.3 billion and the firm employs a workforce of over 20,000 people, according to CE Mohamed Dewji, who runs the family business. In Ghana, the diversified Mohinani Group has created 3,000 jobs in its multi- sector operations that range from packaging and plastics to trade and…
Africa’s brain gain by Ronak Gopaldas Femi Badeji left his native Nigeria nearly 20 years ago and moved to the United States. He earned an MBA at Wharton, one of the US’s top business schools, and then worked as an engineer and later as an investment banker on Wall Street. He recently returned home because he says the time is ripe to play a part in Africa’s growth story. “It took me around 17 years to make the move back to Nigeria but I had to position myself in such a way that I could help fix the continent while…
Africa’s monetary unions Plans to launch a common currency in West Africa flounder With the structural failings of the European monetary union at the root of Europe’s economic malaise, the viability of a single monetary union in west Africa has come squarely under the microscope. Fifteen states in this African bulge formed a regional economic union in 1975 known as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to promote growth, stability and economic development. Languages and currency, however, divide the regional grouping. ECOWAS’s seven former French colonies use the CFA (for Communauté Financière Africaine) franc as their common currency.…
