Africa Management Expert, Speaker, Author
William Easterly argues in his new book “The Tyranny of Experts” that for the last decades authoritarian development has been the default consensus on global poverty reduction. Authoritarian development relies on technocratic solutions, tries to implement pre-fabricated ideas and plans in whatever local situation and – this is its core misunderstanding – beliefs that development is the result …
Continue reading “Authoritarian Development and Systems Thinking”
Africa’s next Billion WEF on Africa – Today the World Economic Forum in Davos brought a very interesting discussion on Africa. “We’re enjoying in Africa what I call the democracy dividend“, said Ghana’s president John Dramani Mahama. The basic assumption behind almost all statements was that Africa will be the success story for the next decades. …
Recently I had a very interesting talk with my colleague Johannes Fiedler, architect and urban planner, who just came back from Ethiopia where he spent one year as a Visiting Professor at the University EiABC (Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development). Read what he is saying about Ethiopia, the Chinese development model, …
Continue reading “Europe supports authoritarian Chinese development model in Ethiopia”
The South African transition from the apartheid regime to a multi-racial democracy in the early 1990s was one of the most successful change management projects in history. It is commonly agreed that Nelson Mandela was the leading figure and without him things would have gone differently. Although the greatness of Nelson Mandela stands out, present-day change …
Nelson Mandela The world gathered on Tuesday in Johannesburg to commemorate Nelson Mandela. Much has been said. In a way it was Nelson Mandela who heralded the big change on the continent and the era of modern Africa. Until the 1980s many African countries were paralyzed by “anti-growth syndroms” – excessive control regimes, clientelism, excessive debts, …
Europe is the largest provider of development aid to African countries. Although aid is still very much needed in certain places, it increasingly becomes an outdated concept. It is also outdated because its influence on Africa’s realm of ideas has become limited. Global economic development is possible Today we know that global economic development and …
Continue reading “Europe and Emerging Africa, part 3 – Europe’s Chance”
China’s State-Capitalism and US-Shareholder Value Thinking The economic success story of several African countries over the last 15 years has a lot to do with the emergence of non-Western countries, particularly China, India, Brazil, Turkey, and other Asian and Arabic nations. Today, more and more of these so called “South-South” cooperations are in place and …
Continue reading “Europe and Emerging Africa, part 2 – “China in Africa””
Emerging Africa is on the move The economic performance of Africa’s 54 countries more than doubled in real terms since 2000 (GDP based on PPP + 145,2%), income per capita improved alone in Sub-Sahara Africa from 1.380 to 2.580 USD per year. Although in absolute terms the economic performance of the continent is still quite …
Continue reading “Europe and Emerging Africa, part 1 – Emerging Africa”
Maputo, 24.10.2013 – „Mozambique shall put at stake all its economic boom?“, my vis-à-visis asks. And answers herself: „No way!“ We are sitting in Sabores, a recently opened restaurant in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, the current boom land of Southern Africa. The restaurant is located between new office buildings in the new business district …
Continue reading “Mozambique – terrorism threat yes, civil war no”
The three globally dominating economic powers – US-America, German-speaking Europe and China – lead and manage in different ways. While the US and German-speaking Europe have developed their ways of doing during centuries, China is new in the club and still has to adapt its approach and its style. (See the very interesting blog post …
Continue reading “African Management Style – a hot development issue”