AFRICABIZ VOL 2 - ISSUE: 105
JAN 15 - FEB 14, 2008
Previous Issue
Editor: Dr. Bienvenu-Magloire Quenum
Click here for contact & support console

Featured Article Countries Briefs Live News On Africa Support Africabiz Online

Contact Information Synopsis Rss Feed Sample A Word From the Editor Business Opportunities

FrontDoor Your Feedback Freebie For You Control Your Desktop

A WORD FROM THE EDITOR

Dear visitor and international investor,

We warmly welcome you, if this is your first visit to Africabiz Online - The ultimate newsletter on trading and investing in 49 sub-Saharan African countries. If you are a regular and faithful reader, welcome back.

- TWO KINDS OF RULERS: THOSE WHO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN DEVELOPING THEIR COUNTRIES AND THOSE WHO CREATE DISHARMONY LEADING TO CHAOS

Another African country that was known for its political stability since 1961, is now treading towards instability and chaos, namely Kenya. And Another one, gripped in a fierce struggle for power that is lasting since 2000 may soon also become instable, namely South Africa.

End of December 2007, violence erupted after the presidential ballot's electoral commission proclaimed the victory of Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent president, against his rival chief of the opposition, Raila Odinga (a member of the Luo tribe).

The opposition, backed by the majority of other tribes,, was adamant the election had been rigged to keep Kibaki in power.

Kibaki became president on December 2002, His election stirred up huge hope for changes. He promised to fight against corruption and further develop the economy to benefit the populations. Five years later, the promises were not fulfilled, and his attempt to hang on power was perceived by other tribes as a provocation, which led to ethnic violence never seen before in Kenya. Hundred of people had been killed and thousand and thousand Kikuyus are fleeing the west of the country in cars, buses and lorries heading toward the hinterland,

Indeed, Kenya has more than 40 tribes, but the Kikuyus have almost always been on top. They run shops, restaurants, banks and factories across the country. And most of the top officials and big guns in the state machine and in the government — including the ministers of defense, justice, finance and internal security — are Kikuyus.

Raila Odinga, the opposition leader had built his campaign on a promise to end Kikuyu favoritism and share the fruits of Kenya’s growing economy with all tribes.

Current political and social stand off between Kibaki followers and the opposition, might lead Kenya into persistent political instability and chaos; to joining the league of its neighbors, like Congo, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan (click here for countries briefs) .that have experienced political and social destabilization.

This just because successive Kenya rulers, since the independence in 1961, members of the Kikuyu tribe, failed to "engage" and promote other tribes people to participate into the nation building process, and benefit from the economic progress.

- South Africa: The next African country in turmoil?

The events in Kenya have exposed how fragile a country's political and social stability is when the leadership is not fully up to the task of building a nation. Which lead us to speak about the political situation prevailing now, at the beginning of year 2008, in South Africa.

Since elected as state president in June 1999, succeeding to Nelson Mandela, and reelected for a second term in April 2004,, Thabo Mbeki maneuvered to tighten his grip on the ruling party, the ANC. He relentlessly pushed forward his candidacy to be re-elected for a third term as president of the party in 2007, in order to be in the position to select the next state president - constitution forbidding him to run for a third term as state president in 2009.

To clear his path, he sacked the state deputy president Jacob Zuma in 2005, for alleged corruption linked first to his financial adviser Schabir Shaik's corruption indictment, and, second, to a corruption case linked to a multi-billion-rand arms deal. (Zuma, was fired after a judge found he had a "generally corrupt" relationship with financial adviser Schabir Shaik.)

Mbeki then appointed a woman, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (the wife of the then National Prosecuting Authority's chief,) as deputy president, hoping to get the support of the ANC Women League for his bid for the ANC presidency. (Support that did not finally materialized at Polokwane - the League voted to back Zuma!). Mbeki's followers did whatever they can, day after day, for eight years running to kill the political career of Zuma. The later was forced into a rape court case against the allegations of a former woman friend. He won the case in court.

In spite of all attempts to eliminate him from the political stage, Zuma prevailed and was elected ANC president at the party's Polokwane Conference on December 18, 2007. His election was a triumph that saw the complete defeat of Mbeki and his staunch followers, who had been thrown out of the ANC's decision making bodies and structure.

And then, 15 days after the election, Zuma was charged again with corruption, while the case had been formerly thrown out of court on September 20, 2006. (Judge Msimang's ruling, stopped short of completely dismissing the case, which gave an opening to the National Prosecuting Authority to reinstate the prosecution against Zuma, with an endless list of charges, "supported" by an also endless list of witnesses.)

Zuma's followers and ANC big guns cried foul as they perceived the move as a last attempt by Mbeki's camp to impede Zuma to becoming state president in 2009.

The ANC then confirmed Zuma, on January 8, 2008, as the ANC candidate for 2009 presidential ballot during the first meeting of Zuma-era first ANC/NEC meeting. And on January 12, 2008, ANC rank and file 20,000 supporters hailed him like an emperor of Rome - during ANC 96rd years anniversary commemoration, to which Mbeki did not attended.

At Africabiz Online, we had been closely attentive to the power struggle in South Africa, that was going on for eight years running - from 2000 to 2008. We were appalled to see the amount of energy poured into the fight, that was lost to promoting and implementing the development of the economy to benefiting all. We were alarmed by the divisive ethnic rift building up. Zulus (Zuma tribe) felt offended. And Mbeki was often jeered by angry crowds, particularly in Zululand, Kwazulu-Natal..

We had believed that Mbeki's camp would have accepted defeat and let go the fight. Because once the ANC presidential bid lost, Mbeki became a toothless (political) tiger.

Indeed, the ANC and its core power brokering engines, the National Executive Comity (NEC) and the National Working Committee (NWC), chaired by Zuma and packed with people who are not Mbeki partisans or followers (to say the least) will have the last say in the political decision making process. They will dictate upon the government policy and act as Mbeki government's watchdog.

That is the new political reality in South Africa at the beginning of 2008. Mbeki lost the power struggle that he started himself.

So we, at Africabiz Online, were really surprised that Mbeki's camp tried to further the fight and deepen the rift, reopening the corruption case against Zuma, risking to plunging the country into instability because Zuma is so popular that any attempt to force him out of power would result in chaos.

Let's hope, that Jacob Zuma will demonstrate his statesmanship to the whole world, preserving social stability in South Africa., making things happen, developing the country for the benefit of all.

For sure, there is no shortage of strong opinion on the man who turned the "Umshini Wami" machine-gun song into a national hit. However, contrary to his political adversaries and "enemies" propaganda that paint him all bad names and described him as a very ambitious person, Zuma is a caring compassionate and articulate person, a shrewd politician whom presence commands respect, who listen to people and follow wise advises. Several people who met him were impressed by his openness and the author of this analysis experienced that first hand during an encounter in November 2000, in Durban, South Africa.

Indeed, Jacob Zuma exercised restraint during eight years, keeping the power struggle into the political arena; making sure that supporters's fervor does not translate into ethnic fights, revealing an astounding forgiveness capacity and resistance to stress, in spite of non-stop mud slinging from Mbeki's camp.

Truly, there are two kinds of rulers. Those who make things happen developing their countries and those who plot and intrigue to remain in power, not fearing to plunge their country into instability and chaos.

Leaders who make things happen for the benefit of their population, developing the economy and creating wealth for all, stand as examples. Click here to read more about The Oryx's Jump. Qatar, A Regional Power On The Making.

- SERVICES AND PRODUCTS FROM Dr. QUENUM & ASSOCIATES / BUSINESSAFRICA (TM)

List of Products and Solutions to trading and investing in and out emerging nations - and particularly in sub-Saharan African nations - is here to review.

We draw your attention to Jobs & Projects' platform that assists first, project-owners to tender for the best experts to carry out projects at very competitive costs, and, second, job-seekers to publish for free Résumés/CV to attract project-owners attention.

The Free and Pay-Per- Click advertisement platform is also the cheapest way to advertise for your business and drive traffic to your website.

Dr. Quenum and Associates, IBC / BusinessAfrica (TM) have decided to follow Yahoo wise business practice - that is to establish business relationship only with clients who can produce email address linked to an ISP domain name or that could be traced back against a database of valid and legitimate domain names. In other words, from now on, only ISP-based email messages can expect replies from Dr. Quenum & Associates, IBC / BusinessAfrica (TM). For more on the matter, please visit this link.

- Contributor's Guidelines are here to review. Your contribution on "How emerging nations and particularly African countries / entrepreneurs could bridge the developing gap" is welcome.

Your feedback / objection / contribution is welcome. Visit WorldWide BizCenter, and choose General Information (as topic) to create a thread for discussion. On the top of the WorldWide BizCenter page, there is a HELP link to assist you making an efficient use of the discussion board. This link also is useful

Many thanks for dropping by and see you here on February 15, 2008

Dr. B.M. Quenum
Editor of AFRICABIZ

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN AFRICA

- Several business opportunities - component parts of the Integrated Developing Scheme described in Africans, Stop Being Poor! are listed in following table.

1-SHEA BUTTER (5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13) 2- BLUE GOLD (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19) 3- FREEZE-DRIED PAPAIN (20, 21, 22 and here) 4- KENAF (23, 24) 5- VEGETABLE OIL (25, 26, 27, 28) 6- CEREALS (30, 31, 32, 33) 7- FRUITS (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46) 8- ESSENTIAL OILS (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)	9- ROOTS & TUBERS (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64) 10- FOWL BREEDING (66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76) 11- FISH FARMING (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87) 12- BIOMASS ENERGY (89, 90, 91, 92) 13- SUGAR CANE & PRODUCTS (93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99/100, 101, 102, 14- LIVESTOCK (103, 104, 105, 106,

- LIVESTOCK & GAME DEVELOPMENT: PART III - FEED FORMULATION FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP

For livestock's definition you may consult previous delivery. Around 600 million tons of animal feed are produced annually around the world. And African production of global animal feed (for broilers, layers, dairy, beef and sheep, pigs, dogs, cats and horses(s breeding) is insignificant in world's total.

This delivery is a continuation to the previous one that laid down the basics for animal feed formulation.

At following link you can download a paper by D. R. Gill and D. L. Lalman Animal Science Department, Oklahoma State University titled: "Calculation of Complete Diets For Beef Cattle Checking For Nutrient Balance and Estimating Gain," that gives details about an animal feed formulation software: OSUNRC2002

- NO NEED FOR A COMPLEX COMPOSITION TO MANUFACTURE A BALANCED ANIMAL FEED

Nutrition research spanning more than 100 years has defined the nutrients required by animals. Using this information, rations can be formulated from feeds and ingredients to meet these requirements. Animals fed these rations should not only remain healthy but be productive and efficient.

Currently, as previously exposed, most African countries, South Africa excepted, import animal feed. And the formulation of imported feeds is most of the time a complex one because producers use computer technology for the formulation to maintain constant quality of productions batches; and use components that permits strict control of costs of production.

However, "in old days," in Europe and America, things were simple. It was a matter of utilizing available feed ingredients such as corn, hay, silage, whole cottonseed, soybean or cottonseed meal, etc., to balance for the basic nutrients such as dry matter, protein, energy and fiber, and to avoid animal protein intakes that had been the cause of mad cow disease in Europe during the late 1990s .

Agricultural productions in African countries generate products and by-products that are suitable to formulate healthy natural organic cattle feed.

A previous delivery exposed a small-scale operation to producing cassava chips, that can be used as basic feeding stuff in addition to: cassava peels, molasses, pineapple peels, tropical fruits pulps, hay, grinded cereals cobs, cotton seeds, nuts, salts, breweries's wastes, supplements and ingredients.

According to Countryside Natural Products' experts, the following ingredients and supplements are suitable to formulate healthy feeding stuff for cattle and sheep: Organic Field Peas; Organic Corn, Organic Oats, Organic; Alfalfa Meal; Organic Flaxseed; Hydrated Sodium Calcium; Aluminosilicate; Dried Organic Kelp, Salt, Condensed Corn, Fermentation Solubles, Soft Rock Phosphate, Dicalcium, Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Condensed Lactobacillus Fermentation Solubles, Seashell, Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Oxide, Potassium, Chloride, Yeast Culture, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A, Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite, Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), d-Calcium, Pantothenate, Sodium Bentonite, Zinc Polysaccharide, Complex, Manganese Polysaccharide Complex, Iron, Polysaccharide Complex, Copper Polysaccharide Complex, Cobalt Polysaccharide Complex, Cobalt Choline Citrate, Niacin, Riboflavin, Thiamine, Folic Acid. In addition to the listing available here

For African countries, cereals (sorghum, corn and rice) are preferably used for human alimentation. One can find most of above listed agricultural products/by-products, supplements and ingredients in African countries. Only would be imported chemical/ medicines additives.

Next delivery, Issue 106, will deal with a small scale operation to fattening cattle. At following link you can buy standard feed formulation to breed cattle, poultry, sheep, goats, rabbits, horses and swine. In a previous delivery, feed formulation for pig fattening was exposed.

MORE ON LIVESTOCK & GAME DEVELOPMENT

1-Handbook of Livestock Management by Richard A. Battaglia (Paperback - Jul 21, 2006) 2- Raising Small Livestock: A Practical Handbook by Jerome D. Belanger (Paperback - Feb 11, 2005) 3- The Homesteader's Handbook to Raising Small Livestock Goats, Chickens, Sheep. Geese, Rabbitts, Hogs, Turkeys, Guinea Fowl, Ducks and Pigeons by Jerome D. Belanger (Hardcover - April 1974) 4- Backyard Livestock: Raising Good, Natural Food for Your Family, Third Edition by Steven Thomas and George P. Looby (Paperback - Jan 2, 2007) 5- Keeping Livestock Healthy: A Veterinary Guide to Horses, Cattle, Pigs, Goats & Sheep, 4th Edition by N. Bruce Haynes (Paperback - Nov 1, 2001) 6- Alternative Health Practices for Livestock by Michael Keilty and Thomas Morris (Hardcover - Jan 1, 2006)

7- A World Dictionary of Livestock Breed Types, and Varieties by V. Porter and I. L. Mason (Hardcover - Jun 6, 2002) 8- Livestock waste facilities handbook (Paperback - 1985) 9- Raising Small Livestock: A Practical Handbook by Jerome D. Belanger (Paperback - Feb 11, 2005) 10- Livestock Feeds and Feeding (5th Edition) (Hardcover - Jun 8, 2001) by Richard O. Kellems and David C. Church 11- Raising Game Birds by Lessiter Publications (Paperback - Jun 1986) 12- Livestock Production in Unfavourable Economic Environments: Strategies for Attaining Sustained Competitive Advantage by P. G. A Jennings (Hardcover - Mar 30, 2007)

- Interested parties - private African and international investors / companies, government agencies, international development agencies - to make contact through the Free Access Support Console available at this link

Contact through the support console will get quickest reply from Africabiz Online's staff, than contact by emails. Click here for contact information. Be advised that first contact should be through the support console to be followed by phone calls. If you are a VIP-Member, use VIP-Members Support Console available here. Before you consult please click here to review this clarification

COUNTRIES BRIEFS