Discussing international trade often elicits a large yawn from the bored reader, who instantly clicks away from the web page or turns the page of the newspaper.  But trade is a crucial subject that has vast implications for the quality of the lives of people on the African continent.  Not [...]

The notions of “mismanagement of public resources” and “corruption” are very closely associated.  The first relates to incompetence by those responsible for custody over assets that belong to the state.  The second relates to criminal activity by those who should be in custody for misusing assets that belong to the [...]

Historically, entrepreneurs and small business owners have always made an important contribution to the economic welfare and development of nation states. Today, most countries that prosper economically do so based on a strong foundation of innovative and competitive businesses established by individual entrepreneurs. These risk takers contribute immeasurably to the [...]

The great globalisation of the early 1960s to 2020 seems to have been slowed down, if not stopped, by the Covid virus crisis. All the conditions for globalisation have been affected. Free trade is impacted by America’s continuing trade war with China, long distance transport has stopped as international flights [...]

More than a year has passed since the ratification, to general acclaim, of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) on 30 May 2019. The purpose of the agreement is to liberalise trade across the continent by creating the largest free trade area in the world measured by the number [...]

There is so much written in academic journals, government and agency reports, as well as newspapers, about the need to diversify the Zambian economy…but nothing seems to happen. To the man in the field, factory or street this story has now been told so many times that either they don’t [...]

It is always easy for commentators to paint Africa as a continent that lurches from one crisis to another. A continent where extreme poverty, corruption, natural disasters and health crises hold back the progress of individuals and of countries. But even in this time of Covid crisis, Africa is actually [...]

Numerous African leaders are lauded in the annals of history. Their names are recognized the world over – Nkrumah, Nyerere, Lumumba, Obote, Kenyatta and Kaunda. Whilst at first glance, their main achievement seems to have been the post-colonial establishment of the African nation states, these were actually based on weak [...]