I suppose Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday is as good a time as any to briefly reflect on Africa. As an African by both birth and choice, I must admit that my heart is often broken by this continent. Albeit that Africans are resilient, remarkably adaptable and generally hospitable and friendly (among the black languages of South Africa, for example, there is no indigenous word for “stranger”), there never seems to be a week without some tragic tale emerging from the 52 nations of this mighty continent. I am not saying that everything is as bad as the global news headlines often make it out to be. But, Africa nevertheless seems to have massive problems when compared to the issues facing other regions of the world. Why is this?
One thing that has helped me recently is reading Jeffrey Sach’s “The End of Poverty” in which he lists the major causes of extreme poverty (and most of Africa is in this category), showing that many of the factors that cause African poverty are beyond the control of people. Africa’s mosquitoes carry malaria, whereas India’s do not, for example. Africa has no major navigable rivers (OK, there is one, but that is all within the DRC). Africa has the worst top soil of any continent (except, I suppose, Antarctica). And Africa’s tribes are more divided by culture and language than any other continent (in South Africa, for example, there are eleven official languages. In Nigeria, there are over 100 unique, indigenous languages). So, Africa is partly as it is due simply to the lottery of geography.
But, in the 21st century, that does not explain the whole story. It does not explain Sudan, for example. And, it most certainly does not explain Zimbabwe.
Here’s a 
Graeme Codrington moves to our UK branch in August this year. While not a permanent relocation, it’s expected that Graeme and his family will remain abroad for three to five-years. Already an internationally recognised expert on talent and the future of work, Graeme will continue to help organisations to understand global societal changes, and how these changes affect their staff, leaders and customers. While abroad, Graeme will periodically return to South Africa to honour requests from clients who wish to engage with him directly.
Accenture released an excellent report last year entitled “The Multi-Polar World”. In it, they argue that right now we live in a world going through major transitions, caught between different “poles” of focus, interest and power. I think they are spot on the money.
I live and work between Johannesburg and London. For the past few months, South Africa has been plagued by the short supply of electricity. This is due to lack of planning for the sustained economic boom we have experienced over the past decade. As early as 1998, forecasters were warning that South Africa would run out of electricity in about 2007. Well, to be clear - that we would reach the point where demand and supply were so closely aligned that any blip in the system would result in blackouts. That is precisely what happened.
Only 30 years old, Parag Khanna has spent more than two years traveling to more than 100 countries, hoping to see firsthand the flash points of geopolitics and globalization. From his observations emerged a book, the recently published The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order 
McCain is not a Boomer. The Boomers (born after World War II and into the 1960s) are old and aging (although they will hate to read that bald fact stated so bluntly). They’re now in their mid 40s to mid 60s. But, they feel 25. Or, at least 35! Any decent marketing efforts aimed at them cannot treat them (or show visual images of them) as they are - i.e. over 50, ageing individuals. Marketing efforts aimed at Boomers should think of 35-39 year olds, and use similar images, too.
The Olympic torch has left Athens, Greece on its traditional torch run around the world until it eventually arrives at the Beijing Olympic stadium during the opening ceremony. Right from the first day, it has been met with something that the Chinese officials did not anticipate: protestors. In an unprecendented move, the torch was actually extinguished in Paris so that it could be loaded onto a bus and rushed away from growing violence amongst the protestors. TV news scenes from London, Paris and San Francisco show police beating protestors, dragging them into prison vans and frog marching them away - none of these are scenes that add to the Olympic brand and mythos.
I write this entry as a South African. I say that because we’re extremely hard on ourselves on this end of the planet. We often compare ourselves to the resources, experience and might of the ‘developed world’ when we open our world class attractions. And when things don’t work the way they’ve been billed to, we simply blame our ‘African-ess’ on our inability to deliver to the standards and levels that were expected.
Regular readers of this blog will know that many of the contributors are passionate cricket fans. (For our American readers, that’s the mysterious game that, in its purest form lasts five days and can end in an exciting draw!) Our fanaticism for the game is shared by at least 1 billion Indians. The world’s largest democracy has just had an unprecedented auction for international cricket stars, for the newly formed Indian Professional League. In the league, a number of Indian provincial teams get to “buy” international super stars to play with them. Each team can only have a maximum of 4 of these stars on the field at any time. They must also have four players under the age of 22 from India in the teams. The rest of the team is Indian. The bids in the auction will be paid to the player as a salary (I think I saw correctly that the Indian players in each team will be paid the same as the top paid international super star in their team). The contract is for three years.
Today the world wakes up to the most expensive oil ever. Those who believe in market dynamics of supply and demand will have an interesting time explaining this. The problem with oil is not that there isn’t enough oil around, but rather to do with where the available oil is to be found.
The latest Economist has a short note on an interesting trend: the massive increase in selling prices of artworks. This has been a great investment trend over the past few years. But, now, the trend has hit emerging markets, so to speak. Russian and South African artists, in particular, were singled out in the article (read it 
This is how new markets are made, and how worlds are changed! Today, Tata released their latest car. It was a car that all of their rivals said could not be made. About 5 years ago, Tata announced that were going to build a car that would cost less than 100,000 rupees, or US$ 2,500 (the price of a DVD player in most luxury cars).
It’s 40 years later! Prepare yourself for a year (or at least a few weeks) of breathless nostalgia as the Baby Boomers put on their misty eyes and remember back to one of their most defining years as young people (and just when you think it’s over, the 30 year reunion of the “summer of ‘69″ will be upon us next year).
The prospect of a Zuma ANC presidency is becoming more and more of a reality and with it a scenario so long feared by the chattering classes. The prospect of a Zuma ANC presidency is becoming more and more of a reality and with it a scenario so long feared by the chattering classes.
The long awaited monster passenger plane, the Airbus A380, is now ready for delivery. In fact, Air Singapore today took delivery of their first plane with much pomp and ceremony. 
Of course, the generational model is not applicable to every single individual everywhere (which model is?), but it IS exceptionally robust. And more and more research around the world is showing this to be true. The latest piece of research I picked up comes from one of the students my colleague Keith had contact with at the 
There has been a rise in the number of households living below the poverty line over the past 15 years. At the same time, households in already wealthy areas have tended to become disproportionately wealthier, with many rich people now living in areas segregated from the rest of society. The widening gap between rich and poor had led to a fall in the number of average households, which were classed as being neither rich nor poor.
For those who travel regularly to different cultures, you know the nightmare of arriving in a new country and realising that you don’t know some important local customs. I’m not talking about the customs officials at the airport, but rather issues like do you tip the taxi driver, and if so, how much. Do you tip the porter at the hotel, or the waitress at the restuarant?
A nice innovation is being experimented with by 