Sydney Musonda with his first batch of chickens

Never have I been so excited about chickens! Earlier this year in Uganda, I and Sydney Musonda developed a business model for a chicken farm he would run in Zambia. He spent the next five months pursuing financing for his venture and secured funding in November. To date, he has purchased 205 day-old chicks and secured a facility to house them. He will be ready to make his first sales at the end of January.

Sydney and I recently caught up on his venture and our conversation reinforced two things concerning entrepreneurship. The first is that the external environment, both political and macroeconomic, will always make things challenging for entrepreneurs. The second is that entrepreneurs can leverage these kinds of challenges to grow their confidence, brand, and business model.

During the five months Sydney spent pursuing funding, he had a difficult time getting potential investors to buy into his idea. He got a significant amount of great feedback on his model, yet the investors he approached were having difficulty with their finances and were concerned about the political environment in Zambia at the time, it being an election year.

Zambia is one of the better performing economies on the African continent, with its current $16.19 billion GDP projected to grow at an average rate of 6.9 percent between now and 2015, though the country is still trying to make sure that growth is inclusive. Like most of the world though, the economic crisis in the European Union is surely having an impact Zambia’s economy as well.

The country seems to have transitioned well to President Michael Sata’s administration and Patriotic Front party after President Rupiah Banda’s three-year term and the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy’s 20-year control of power. In the months leading up to the election, there was tension on the ground. Sydney shared that one of the banks was taken over by the Zambian government showing that their concern was not completely unfounded.

Despite the challenges he faced, Sydney says that his confidence continued to grow pitch after pitch. He was able to glean advice from the investors he approached and found the feedback helpful in refining his model. In the face of his disappointments, he did not give up and finally secured his funding.

Sydney is launching his business at what seems to be a promising period in Zambia’s poultry industry. Mathews Ngosa, President of Poultry Association of Zambia, noted that Zambia’s poultry industry closed at 2011, having produced 40 million broiler chickens and 2.1 million layers. He projects production growth to land between 20-25 percent, a marked difference from the 40 percent reduction in growth the country experienced in 2009, and an increase from the 17.5 percent growth in 2010.

I look forward to watching Sydney grow his business. The energy in his voice was so infectious as we spoke, and I am really excited that he has progressed this far with his venture. I am sure he will face further challenges considering that his venture is still young but I think his tenacity will help him drive the business forward.

A geothermal well at the Menengai crater. Credit: Suleiman Mbatiah

United Nations climate talks end today in South Africa and the United States and China are playing chicken on who will take the lead in stewarding the environment well while also driving economic development. Quietly, Kenya has signed major deals just this year that will see the opening of at least three plants that will grow Kenya’s geothermal capacity to 514 megawatts (MW) by 2014. By 2030, Kenya aims for geothermal energy to make up 5000 MW of the total 15,000 MW of power the country will produce to meet growing demand – an estimated $16 billion investment. Imagine that, an African country driving the uptake of clean and renewable energy.

Experts estimate that Kenya has the potential to generate 7,000 MW to 10,000 MW. The country began developing geothermal in the 1980s and currently produces about 209 MW. In 2008, the country set its geothermal power goal in the Vision 2030 strategic plan. Since that time Kenya has aggressively grown geothermal with the 36 MW expansion of the 48 MW Olkaria III, the construction of the 280 MW Olkaria IV, and the drilling of the 1,600 MW Menengai field.

Contrary to what the Wall Street Journal reported on December 6, Kenya is not the only African country developing geothermal energy. Kenya lies within the East African Rift System that runs 6,500km from Tunisia to Mozambique. In a recent conversation with Dr. Meseret Zemedkun of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), she explained that some countries in the East African region are looking to complement their current hydropower capacity, while others like Eritrea and Djibouti are looking for primary renewable energy sources. Ethiopia has drilled a pilot 7 MW plant. Eritrea is conducting detailed exploration. Djibouti is drilling wells, and Uganda and Rwanda are conducting semi-detailed and detailed exploration.

According to Dr. Zemedkun, “[African] countries are very keen to develop their resources.” She cited the high availability rate of geothermal compared to hydropower – 90-95 percent versus 50-55 percent. Changes in weather impact the availability of hydropower whereas geothermal energy is not impacted by changes in weather. Furthermore, enhanced technology is reducing the unit price of geothermal energy, increasing its accessibility to African countries.

Dr. Zemedkun is currently driving the African Rift Geothermal Project, an initiative that brings together several African countries in working to build their geothermal capacity. It also helps reduce the risks of exploration through exploration studies, site selection, and surface exploration. UNEP partners with the World Bank in this work, leveraging its risk mitigation fund to further the exploration of geothermal energy.

I am excited about the work Kenya is doing to develop its geothermal energy capacity. Its leadership has also kickstarted the exploration of geothermal energy in other countries along the East African Rift System. Hopefully, the US and China will figure out a way to do their part and contribute to the preservation of this earth while meeting the economic needs of their citizens.

I was surprised to learn that Brazil’s entrepreneurs are more active in meeting the needs of the middle class by providing some of the technologies already available in the US like Groupon copycat, Peixe Urbano. In a year and a half, the company has expanded from Brazil to Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. Another Brazilian company, Vostu, is locked in lawsuits with Zynga which is arguing that the company is committing copyright infringement of its games including Farmville, a Facebook favorite.

In Africa, we are not seeing a lot of “copycat” or “geographic innovation” technologies as one of the panelists preferred to call them. We are seeing technologies like Paga in Nigeria that enables mobile bankers to use any bank they choose. We see Sproxil, a company that has developed technology which uses text messaging to confirm that the drugs you are taking are not counterfeit. These creative innovations are exciting developments and ones that increase the fundability of entrepreneurs across the continent from investors both inside and outside the Africa

The second observation that struck me was the presence of VCs encouraging entrepreneurs to try new things in bringing various technologies to Brazil – providing entrepreneurs with mentorship that can help them increase their success rates in the country. Earlier this year, Ndubuisi Ekekwe, an entrepreneur and scholar wrote a nice article on African entrepreneurs’ need for nurturing. Mentoring fell under this bucket. As entrepreneurs learn from the mistakes of their mentors to avoid those same pitfalls, stronger products enter the market. I am extremely happy for Tayo Oviosu, CEO of Paga and the access he has to a mentor like Tim Draper. I think we will see more mentorship as time elapses but the involvement of Brazil VCs in the growth of their companies bolstered my understanding of the importance of mentoring.

Two takeaways came from the panel – the African entrepreneurial market is more disruptive than the current Brazilian entrepreneurial market, while more African entrepreneurs are going it alone as Brazilian entrepreneurs more readily have access to mentorship. Both are interesting phenomena and ones whose evolution I look forward to tracking over the next few years as I believe the presence of venture capitalists and mentors will grow rapidly over the next two or three years.

The following are recent CNBC Africa conversations on entrepreneurship in South Africa and Africa as a whole:

Photo Credit: Afrinnovator

Source: Slavery in America

The author follows Prime Minister Cameron on his trip to South Africa and Nigeria, highlighted by the fact that the Prime Minister brought with him the heads of several heavy hitters already doing business on the African continent – Vodacom, Barclays, and Diageo to name a few. Mr. Cameron’s theme throughout the trip was that Britain sees Africa in a new light – a trading partner, not just an aid recipient. Business leaders touted the economic opportunities on the continent, and expressed their wishlists of improved regulations to enable business to thrive.

The African continent’s countries are really making moves in growing their economies and improving governance. Those improvements are drawing increasing attention from Asia and the West, and it is increasingly important that African countries protect their interests. My recent trip to Uganda revealed the downside of China’s investment on the continent – socks that had holes after a week of wear. Again, it is increasingly important that African countries protect their interests.

Source: The Economist

Those of us in the Diaspora have an incredible opportunity to seize in serving our countries. Tons of us have studied the way the Asian, European, and American players work the markets, run governments, etc. We can work with Africans on the continent in serving as gatekeepers to ensure that non-African penetration of African countries is healthy.

Source: Marvel Comics

I look forward to working with you in some fashion. I’m sitting here with goosebumps as I watch childhood daydreams morph into reality.

While in Uganda a few weeks ago, I heard stories about the challenges the country faces in retaining the medical doctors it trains. Imagine an entire district that has thousands of citizens, needs ten doctors to care for them, but has only been able to fill two positions. In Ghana, there were 0.85 physicians per 10,000 people in 2009. The country has around 23 million people, yet there were 2,000 doctors in 2009. According to the World Health Organization, African countries only have 3 percent of the global health workforce despite having 11 percent of the world’s population and 24 percent of the global disease burden: Global Health Workforce.

The consensus among African doctors who leave the continent is that they left for higher salaries and better working conditions. The following video covers that tension well: Africa’s Deadly Brain Drain. Understanding a small piece of the challenge African countries are facing in growing their medical professional workforces increases my appreciation for some good friends of mine, and the work to which they have committed themselves in driving health improvements in African countries.

Claud Crosby is a Tuberculosis Research Specialist at Emory University after living on the African continent for half a decade. He has spent a significant amount of time in Swaziland and South Africa working in medical facilities. Seeing the public health challenges in those countries drove him to re-enroll in college here in the US in efforts to pursue a medical degree. Claud’s ultimate aim is to practice medicine on the African continent. His vision is for public health systems that empower people to drive improved health conditions in their respective communities. He also aims to build profit-generating entities alongside these systems in order to reach individuals despite their ability to pay.

Rivka Ihejirika is completing post-baccalaureate studies at Harvard University before enrolling in medical school. She set her mind to be a surgeon and contribute to the improvement of Nigeria’s healthcare system after a summer trip to the country. While there, she volunteered with a hospital and came back heavily impacted. Hopefully her leadership in surgery combats the challenges Patrick Awuah describes in the beginning of this talk: Training Our Next Leaders.

Valentine Dike is an Army Officer in the US Army. His vision is to improve the sustainability of Nigeria’s health care infrastructure. He wants to see hospitals in which the power doesn’t go out in the middle of surgeries. Alongside conducting his duties in the Army, he is collaborating with a doctor in studying Nigeria’s health environment in depth. In studying Nigeria’s health care system, he has four areas in which he wants to grow his understanding:

1. What are the Policies that are in place?
2. What is the reality for the medical professionals on the ground?
3. What are the conditions of the communities at hand
4. What are the conditions of the primary care facilities?

He aims to enroll in a Master of Public Policy/Master of Business Administration dual degree program in efforts to drive this vision from a policy and business perspective.

While I am encouraged to see my friends going back to the African continent, its countries need their doctors, nurses, technicians, public health workers returning home. The challenges of compensation and working conditions are staggering in some countries, but more hands on the plow can push through them.

Though back in the US, I am still in awe at how lush Uganda’s land is. I am also in awe to have seen so many children with malnutrition at the church I worshipped at on my last Sunday in the country. I and some friends travelled to a village called Kayongo that is located about 3-4 hours east of Kampala. One of my friends has a relationship with a pastor who lives in this community, and we spent a significant amount of time together over the course of our last week in the country.

Agriculture is the primary source of income in the Kayongo area, and drought conditions during the past two years have had a significant impact on families’ abilities to feed themselves – let alone make some money. Imagine how I was trying to figure out how fast Kayongo can realize its piece of the continent’s $880 billion potential agricultural output?

Seeing so much arable land, coupled with the reality of hunger that some of these families were facing left me stumped. The pastor in this community seems to have done a lot to identify potential resources that they can tap into to improve their farming practices. I believe the Uganda Clusters Program could really have an impact in this community, connecting subsistence farmers to fellow farmers who are effectively operating their farms as businesses.

Seeing that community really put meat to the PowerPoints and white papers I have read on agriculture on the African continent. I look forward to learning more about driving agricultural growth on the continent among small-scale farmers.

My first meeting of the week was with Dr. Yasin Ziraba, Chairman of the National Steering Committee for the Innovation Systems and Cluster Programmes of Uganda (www.ugandaclusters.com). This is an incredible program that works to foster innovation, collaboration, and competition among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda. If you are into collaboration, this is a program to watch out for. I cannot wait to connect you with this program when I get back to Atlanta.

Dr. Yasin Ziraba commenting during an ICT facilitator training session for the Uganda Clusters Program

-The Management Consulting cluster securing a contract with Emirates Airline to hire 300 personnel for the airlines operation in Uganda.
-The Katwe Metal Fabrication cluster building an entire car from scratch.
-The ICT cluster developing a system that utilizes SMS messaging to determine Uganda’s national milk supply

Uganda has a burgeoning film industry, and I met with the Director of Uganda’s Investment Authority and the Program Director of Maisha Film Labs in efforts to gain a better grasp of Uganda’s film space.

Maisha Film Labs trains filmmakers through laboratory training sessions in partnership with the likes of Columbia University, Goteburg Film Fund, and the Danish Film Festival. After the labs, filmmakers produce four short films, some of which have appeared in renowned film festivals. Oscar-nominated director Mira Nair founded the organization in 2004, and it hasn’t looked back since.

The Ugandan government is establishing the environment for filmmakers to be successful through the creation of intellectual property laws, and the capacity building of officials responsible for enforcing such laws.

Yesterday, I and three friends had a terrific dinner with Derreck Kayongo’s parents. Derreck works at Care International and is Chariman of the Global Soap Project (www.globalsoap.org), an Atlanta-based organization that reprocesses used soap from US hotels. His father told us how Derreck, at a young age, would watch him make soap. A lot of people are grateful that he was paying attention.

I have stayed with a most gracious family, the Kajjubis, who has given me an eye into people living at the bottom of the economic pyramid. They lead a church in a struggling suburb of Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. They have a vision to impact the lives of the community spiritually and economically. I have learned so much from this family in the past week. We have had incredible fellowship every day – praying, building business plans, playing soccer with the local boys. I am most grateful to my friend for inviting me to join him in visiting close friends.

Today, we leave for Bugiri, a rural city east of Kampala. Agriculture is one of Uganda’s leading economic opportunity areas, and I am eager to spend time with farmers working the land in that part of the country. I will be back in Kampala next Wednesday, and I look forward to updating you at the end of next week.

In Switzerland, trams are an indispensable ingredient of a convenient commute. Street-level light rail in Geneva enabled me to easily jump on a train and get off when I saw my stop. I watched hundreds of people do the same during a day trip to Zurich.

Traveling regionally, I took express trains that didn’t stop on the way to our destination, making for very efficient trips. My wife and I only had one late train on our entire trip. I took several naps in my clean, cushioned seat during one-and-a-half-hour train rides from the Alps to Zurich. I awakened to at least one nightmare upon realizing that I spend the same amount of time driving from Decatur to the University of Georgia in Athens twice a week.

Returning home, I couldn’t help but think about how metro Atlanta could benefit from Zurich’s expertise in establishing a tram network that encourages commuters to use rail within the city.

Rapid transit has been a major discussion point in metro Atlanta due to the city’s stifling car traffic and the lack of access to the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s (MARTA) rail lines in certain areas.

A series of projects in the pipeline could combat these challenges. The Atlanta Beltline includes a 22-mile rail line that will connect the majority of Atlanta’s neighborhoods. And last year, the City of Atlanta won a $47.6 million federal grant to construct a streetcar connecting King Memorial and Centennial Olympic Park. Atlanta won this funding after falling short in securing nearly $300 million in funding for a streetcar that would run along the Peachtree Street corridor between Downtown and Midtown.

In researching these efforts, I learned that Atlanta officials have already engaged Swiss leaders to learn more about the country’s transit model and its lessons for Atlanta.
Councilman Kwanza Hall traveled to Switzerland to participate in an intensive study of the country’s transit system. Atlanta’s Swiss consulate general also has hosted multiple sustainable transportation conferences at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

One of Atlanta’s African sister cities would do well to join Atlanta in learning from Zurich’s experience. Lagos, Nigeria, with its 15 million people, is the country’s most populous city and the second most populous city on the African continent. Its government has committed 70 billion naira (about $452 million) to install a light rail system that would improve the ability of Nigerians to move within a city projected to be Africa’s largest by 2015, according to a United Nations HABITAT report. By establishing links with Zurich’s Public Transport Authority (ZVV), Lagos could ensure that it reduces car traffic as much as possible.

The completion of the Lagos light rail project could also increase the ease of travel between Atlanta and Lagos, which are already linked by a nonstop Delta Air Lines flight. The light rail line will connect Murtala Muhammed Airport to the rest of Lagos, enabling foreign businesspeople to more easily travel throughout the city. This convenient change would be a small but significant contribution to the growth of business engagement between Lagos and Atlanta.

Zurich provides a light-rail model for Lagos and Atlanta, one from which I hope they partner in learning. It would be great to see Lagos and Atlanta residents and visitors utilizing their rail lines as admirably as Switzerland, for the long-term benefit of both cities. 

The following manufacturers will make up part of the manufacturing panel and are sure to provide a solid on-the-ground perspective of manufacturing in African countries:

-Gary Hannam, Olivado Limited – avocado oil plant in Kenya
-Hans Peter Werder, HPW AG – dried fruit factory in Ghana
-Ramadhan Madabida, Tanzani Pharmaceutical Industries – pharmaceutical plant in Tanzania

Tony Hawkins, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe, painted a dreary picture of African manufacturing prospects. According to his assessment, South Africa generates 60 percent of the industrial output on the African continent. In the continent’s de-industrialization, Africa cannot compete with Asia which is producing high-tech products for the global market compared to the localized low-tech products African manufacturers are producing, according to Mr. Hawkins. Combatting this analysis are manufacturers like Nigeria’s Dangote Group which is successfully manufacturing rice, cement, flour, and other commodities for African countries. Dangote Cement’s initials will soon be scrolling across the London Stock Exchange.

Trade and investment opportunities in East Africa will be a topic covered by the following:

-H.E. Menilik Alemu – Ethiopian Ambassador to Switzerland
-H.E. Jacques Pitteloud – Swiss Ambassador to Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Somalia, and the Seychelles.
-Professor Maggie Kigozie, Executive Director, Uganda Investment Authority
-John Gara, Rwanda Development Board

As Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and the Seychelles continue their rapid growth, Switzerland will need to invest in establishing embassies solely focused on each of these countries. Between 2001 and 2010, Rwanda was one of the ten fastest growing countries in the world. Ethiopia was one of the six African countries on that list and is projected to retain that spot for the next five years. For Switzerland to maximize business relationships with these countries, a focused presence in each will be essential to success. One ambassador is not able to develop the deep relationships and knowledge of these very different countries, in efforts to support all types of relations with Switzerland.

Executives in the renewable energy sector include:

-Felix Obada – Managing Director/CEO, Global Biofuels Limited, Nigeria
-Jorgen Sandstrom – Deputy Managing Director, Addax Bioenergy Management SA, Sierra Leone

On his visit to Atlanta, Kenyan Ambassador to the United States Elkanah Odembo discussed the effort Kenya is making to be primarily reliant on renewable energies like solar power and geothermal energy by 2030. The African continent has a lot of sunlight and strong rivers among other resources. The opportunities to harness that energy responsibly will make for a great discussion.

The exchange line up is sure to make for stimulating discussion and the initiation of business deals that will contribute to the economic growth of African countries. Click on the following link for more information on the Swiss-African Business Exchange:

1. According to 2010 U.S. Census data, Atlanta has the second largest number of black-owned businesses in the United States. One cannot help but notice the entrepreneurial spirit within the black community, with individuals operating in industries ranging from dry-cleaning to management consulting.

2. Through Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Delta launches direct flights to Accra, Johannesburg, Monrovia, Abuja, Lagos, and Cairo. One can fly to Accra in a time not much longer than it takes to fly to Los Angeles.

3. Mayor Kasim Reed has a vision for Atlanta to be the Western Hemisphere’s logistics hub – an aspiration that will contribute to the growing impact of the African Growth and Opportunities Act on trade between the US and African countries.

4. Georgia Tech University develops numerous engineers whose skills could contribute to Africa closing its $93 billion gap in infrastructure development.

5. Though not in Atlanta, the University of Georgia develops a talented pool of students in the agricultural industry who could contribute to Africa reaching $880 billion in agricultural output by 2040.

Dr. Adetunji Adegbesan, a strategy professor at Lagos Business School, shared an incredible story that crystalizes the potential of entrepreneurship on the African continent. An MTN executive monitoring data usage on the company’s Nigeria network noticed that a significant amount of data was passing through the network, but someone was not paying for that usage. After alerting the company’s network engineers, MTN blocked the source of that usage. A few weeks later, the same executive noticed more data passing through that was not accounted for financially. He again approached network engineers who blocked the source. Yet again, data was passing through after a few weeks and the executive approached engineers in Europe who established an elaborate block that was sure to keep the data from passing through. Data was passing through the block a few months later.

Who was breaking through MTN’s network? The company tracked the source of the data and located a small college city where a group of graduates helped families set up their computers. As part of the package they offered, these entrepreneurs “installed” the internet on these computers. They figured out a way to log the computers into MTN’s internal network while keeping the computers’ identities masked. The end result – MTN hired these innovators.

Entrepreneurship is essential to economic growth on the African continent and in the US. One can be sure that the vibrancy found in that small college city in Nigeria is not isolated, and US entrepreneurs would do well to engage this movement. Atlanta-based entrepreneurs should take the lead in engaging fellow entrepreneurs in African countries.