“Africa Open for Business” is a fascinating documentary by Carol Pineau that attempts to dispel the myth that Africa is a risky continent for investment. The documentary reveals that, despite the many challenges Africa is facing, Africa remains a strong investment destination.
The documentary does this by narrating success stories of ten different African entrepreneurs who have been successful in their business endeavors, in their respective countries (Africa: Open for Business). The documentary does this about the industries that the entrepreneurs have ventured.
The business industries include housing finance industry in Ghana, which the business executive in the documentary says to be doing so well because of the high demand for home ownership in Ghana (Africa Open for Business – Ghana). The second business industry depicted in the documentary is the textile-garment industry in Lesotho, which is a booming business in the South African country (Africa Open for Business – Lesotho).
The documentary also depicts the film and animation industry in Dakar, Senegal, which is doing so well in this country despite the lack of stable government due to constant conflicts. Here, Ndiaye, the producer of Pictoon argues that his animated film industry has been booming since he started the business (Africa Open for Business – Senegal).
The fifth business industry according to the documentary is the airline industry, in Somalia, a country marred by anarchy and lack of government. Despite security threats in Somalia, Mohammed Yassin Olad, the chief executive of Daallo Airline argues that the business is doing so well because of lack of competition as investors as scared of the security situation in Somalia (Africa Open for Business – Somalia).
Clothing industry in Nigeria is the sixth business industry according to the documentary. Here, Ogunlesi who sells children clothing tells us that his business has been a great success. In fact, he goes ahead to state that he has no intention whatsoever of exporting his clothes to foreign countries because his clothes have a ready market in West Africa (Africa Open for Business – Nigeria).
The documentary then takes us to Botswana’s diamond polishing industry. The documentary tells us that the industry is doing very well as the region has a high demand for a diamond, citing South Africa as one of the countries where Botswana diamond is on high demand (Africa Open for Business – Botswana).
The documentary also depicts the mobile phone industry in Congo DRC, which according to the interviewee in the documentary is a big success in the country despite several challenges the country is experiencing (Africa Open for Business – Congo).
The eighth business industry according to the documentary is the construction sector in Zambia, which according to Mustafa Saadi of Scirocco enterprises is currently the fastest growth industry and the leading contributor of Zambia’s GDP (Africa Open for Business – Zambia).
It is then that the documentary takes us to the infrastructure industry in Tanzania and finally the coffee manufacturing industry it its neighboring Uganda (Africa Open for Business – Uganda).
Evidence for good and bad government public sector
The documentary particularly shows a lot of evidence of bad government public sector. For instance, the documentary tells how electricity supply is a serious problem in both Nigeria and Senegal. In this regard, the documentary reports that the two countries are experiencing unreliable electricity supply something that is impacting negatively on their businesses. This is because of persistent power black outs in these countries.
The governments of these countries are also blamed for not doing enough to enhance the conditions of roads to make transportation of produce to the market easy. Also, there is also evidence that public sectors in most of these countries are marred by a high level of corruption as pointed out by Olad, of Daallo Airline in Somalia and Mustafa Saadi of Scirocco enterprises in Zambia (Africa: Open For Business).
However, there is also evidence that public government sectors n some of these countries are doing good to investors. This is particularly pointed out in Lesotho where the ministry in charge of the garment industry is helping investors to bring in materials duty-free (Africa: Open for Business).
Works Cited
Africa: Open For Business. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005. YouTube.
Africa Open for Business – Botswana. NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005.
Africa Open for Business – Congo, NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005.
Africa Open for Business – Ghana. NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005.
Africa Open for Business – Lesotho, NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005. Web.
Africa Open for Business – Nigeria. NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005. YouTube.
Africa Open for Business – Senegal. NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005. YouTube.
Africa Open for Business – Somalia, NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005.
Africa Open for Business – Uganda, NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005.
Africa Open for Business – Zambia. NBPC. Ex. Prod. Carol Pineau. NBPC. 2005. YouTube.