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Somalia slowly rebuilding itself
Somalia flourished precisely because of the "world community’s" neglect.
In Somalia, "the very absence of a government may have helped nurture an African oddity — a lean and efficient business sector that does not feed at a public trough controlled by corrupt officials," wrote Peter Maas in the May 2001 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. Tele-communications, transportation, and shipping companies were organized up to provide services to the liberated private sector. Internet cafes have sprung up in Mogadishu. Private security firms helped businessmen protect their investments and property.
A recent World Bank study grudgingly admitted: "Somalia boasts lower rates of extreme poverty and, in some cases, better infrastructure than richer countries in Africa." This is almost certainly because it is not cursed with a World Bank-subsidized central government to siphon away the nation’s wealth.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman...rticle_996.sht ml
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Somali Businesses Stunted by Too-Free Enterprise
By Ian Fisher
There are five competing airlines here; three phone companies, which have some of the cheapest rates in the world; at least two pasta factories; 45 private hospitals; 55 providers of electricity; 1,500 wholesalers for imported goods; and an infinite number of guys with donkeys who will deliver 55 gallons of clean water to your house for 25 cents.
What Somalia does not have is a government, and in many ways, that makes it the world's purest laboratory for capitalism. No one collects taxes. Business is booming. Libertarians of the world, unite
It is striking that Somalia, unlike many parts of Africa, has achieved this thriving business climate on its own, without the usual aid and advice from rich nations. They have all but disengaged from Somalia since the failure of the United Nations operation here in the early 1990's. Somalis have learned that they are pretty good at making money.
It's entrepreneurism that's doing it," said Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, director of programs for Horn Afrik, Somalia's first independent radio and television station, established last year. "It's who has more creativity. It's who is willing to take risks. Before it was the government. The government could make you rich one day and poor the next
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The Answer for Africa
by Shafer Parker
According to Andrew Cockburn in the July issue of National Geographic magazine, Somalia is rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the 1993 war and becoming an economic powerhouse in eastern Africa precisely because anarchy has reigned ever since. Consider Cockburn’s on-the-scene assessment of what has happened since the war. "Like plants sprouting after a forest fire, Somalis have managed to survive and build on their own, in some respects with more success than developing nations on the receiving end of international aid and advice."
Significantly, the Somalis get it. They have learned through experience that less government is good, and that no government is better. Hear what telecommunications tycoon Abdirizak Ido told Mr. Cockburn: "We have been through some hard times, but the worst was when we had a government. Once there was no government, there was opportunity!"
Small entrepreneurs are doing well. Better yet, they also understand they are doing good. "In the northwestern city of Hargeysa, in the congested Sheikh Nur community for returned refugees, the Ismail family invested their meager resources in a water tap to supply the entire neighborhood. Abdi Ismail not only garners a weekly profit of $20 but also points out: ‘We are contributing to rebuilding Somaliland.’"
Needless to say, in a land where enterprise is truly free, the customer is king. Ten phone companies compete for business in the capital city of Mogadishu. Landline service is connected eight hours after it's ordered. And it only costs $10 a month. North Americans should be so well off. Cell phone connections are instantaneous. Local calls are free and international calls are only 60 cents to a dollar a minute. Amazingly, long distance is available even in remote villages, due to shortwave radio hookups. Somalis proudly point out that their phone service is far superior to anything found in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.
All kinds of private enterprise is flourishing. Mogadishu now boasts a spaghetti factory, a plastics factory, a mineral-water plant, a bakery, and two fiercely competitive cable companies. And contra the protestors that have flocked to the G-8 summit to scream out their belief that economic fairness means the UN must be allowed to forcibly redistribute the world’s wealth, Somalia’s nouveau riche even give something back to the community. For instance, Abdirizak Osman, an entrepreneur in the desert town of Gaalkacyo who started with phones, then branched out to electrical generators, now provides street lights and free electricity to the local hospital.
Incidentally, the local Muslim fundamentalists can't get a foothold, not since 1993, anyway. People have better things to do. And clan loyalties, now allowed to flourish, prevent the fundamentalists from controlling any significant power-base. Despite rumors and innuendos flowing from the US State Department, Somalia is no friend of al Qaeda terrorists either. When the US government reported that Osama Ben Laden might be heading for the Horn of Africa, Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah suggested he should stay away if he did not want to be cashed in for the $25-million reward.
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A certain Canadian conglomerate, the Horn of Africa Free Zone Authority, will be constructing a free port on the peninsula Hafun. On a map of Somalia, Hafun is that body of land which doesn't look like its apart of the land mass that is Somalia but is extending outwards from the Puntland area. The group is currently putting the concrete and the basic foundation of this future city. It is 200 square miles, enough for major hotels, beaches, or other buildings to be created. Seeing that Somalia will become a likely in let for business with the African continent, and as long as Mogadishu remains a closed port, Hafun seems like an unbeatable investment. HAFZA will be publically traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). I have no idea what they want to do about security, but seeing as they are building this city, the corporation, much like those government corporations in Dubai like Nakeel, will be the sole provider of security.
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Business Attraction in Puntland, Somalia
Bossaso city has become a magnet for foreigners who want to invest in Africa. This week alone, there are about half a dozen business people representing Chinese and South Korean corporations in the city. These representatives and others who frequent Puntland want to invest in the region and expand their business to this part of the world. Interested people include wealthy business men from the Middle East.
Puntland (North Eastern Somalia) has not been touched by the country’s civil war and has remained stable after the fall of Somalia’s central government in 1991. It lies on the tip of East Africa and borders Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
ps: I dont know how much of this is true and ho much is bs.
Some pics
[IMG]
http://www.swan.ac.uk/cds/rd/Peterbrown/PB24.JPG[/IMG]
Somalia flourished precisely because of the "world community’s" neglect.
In Somalia, "the very absence of a government may have helped nurture an African oddity — a lean and efficient business sector that does not feed at a public trough controlled by corrupt officials," wrote Peter Maas in the May 2001 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. Tele-communications, transportation, and shipping companies were organized up to provide services to the liberated private sector. Internet cafes have sprung up in Mogadishu. Private security firms helped businessmen protect their investments and property.
A recent World Bank study grudgingly admitted: "Somalia boasts lower rates of extreme poverty and, in some cases, better infrastructure than richer countries in Africa." This is almost certainly because it is not cursed with a World Bank-subsidized central government to siphon away the nation’s wealth.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman...rticle_996.sht ml
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Somali Businesses Stunted by Too-Free Enterprise
By Ian Fisher
There are five competing airlines here; three phone companies, which have some of the cheapest rates in the world; at least two pasta factories; 45 private hospitals; 55 providers of electricity; 1,500 wholesalers for imported goods; and an infinite number of guys with donkeys who will deliver 55 gallons of clean water to your house for 25 cents.
What Somalia does not have is a government, and in many ways, that makes it the world's purest laboratory for capitalism. No one collects taxes. Business is booming. Libertarians of the world, unite
It is striking that Somalia, unlike many parts of Africa, has achieved this thriving business climate on its own, without the usual aid and advice from rich nations. They have all but disengaged from Somalia since the failure of the United Nations operation here in the early 1990's. Somalis have learned that they are pretty good at making money.
It's entrepreneurism that's doing it," said Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, director of programs for Horn Afrik, Somalia's first independent radio and television station, established last year. "It's who has more creativity. It's who is willing to take risks. Before it was the government. The government could make you rich one day and poor the next
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Answer for Africa
by Shafer Parker
According to Andrew Cockburn in the July issue of National Geographic magazine, Somalia is rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the 1993 war and becoming an economic powerhouse in eastern Africa precisely because anarchy has reigned ever since. Consider Cockburn’s on-the-scene assessment of what has happened since the war. "Like plants sprouting after a forest fire, Somalis have managed to survive and build on their own, in some respects with more success than developing nations on the receiving end of international aid and advice."
Significantly, the Somalis get it. They have learned through experience that less government is good, and that no government is better. Hear what telecommunications tycoon Abdirizak Ido told Mr. Cockburn: "We have been through some hard times, but the worst was when we had a government. Once there was no government, there was opportunity!"
Small entrepreneurs are doing well. Better yet, they also understand they are doing good. "In the northwestern city of Hargeysa, in the congested Sheikh Nur community for returned refugees, the Ismail family invested their meager resources in a water tap to supply the entire neighborhood. Abdi Ismail not only garners a weekly profit of $20 but also points out: ‘We are contributing to rebuilding Somaliland.’"
Needless to say, in a land where enterprise is truly free, the customer is king. Ten phone companies compete for business in the capital city of Mogadishu. Landline service is connected eight hours after it's ordered. And it only costs $10 a month. North Americans should be so well off. Cell phone connections are instantaneous. Local calls are free and international calls are only 60 cents to a dollar a minute. Amazingly, long distance is available even in remote villages, due to shortwave radio hookups. Somalis proudly point out that their phone service is far superior to anything found in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.
All kinds of private enterprise is flourishing. Mogadishu now boasts a spaghetti factory, a plastics factory, a mineral-water plant, a bakery, and two fiercely competitive cable companies. And contra the protestors that have flocked to the G-8 summit to scream out their belief that economic fairness means the UN must be allowed to forcibly redistribute the world’s wealth, Somalia’s nouveau riche even give something back to the community. For instance, Abdirizak Osman, an entrepreneur in the desert town of Gaalkacyo who started with phones, then branched out to electrical generators, now provides street lights and free electricity to the local hospital.
Incidentally, the local Muslim fundamentalists can't get a foothold, not since 1993, anyway. People have better things to do. And clan loyalties, now allowed to flourish, prevent the fundamentalists from controlling any significant power-base. Despite rumors and innuendos flowing from the US State Department, Somalia is no friend of al Qaeda terrorists either. When the US government reported that Osama Ben Laden might be heading for the Horn of Africa, Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah suggested he should stay away if he did not want to be cashed in for the $25-million reward.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A certain Canadian conglomerate, the Horn of Africa Free Zone Authority, will be constructing a free port on the peninsula Hafun. On a map of Somalia, Hafun is that body of land which doesn't look like its apart of the land mass that is Somalia but is extending outwards from the Puntland area. The group is currently putting the concrete and the basic foundation of this future city. It is 200 square miles, enough for major hotels, beaches, or other buildings to be created. Seeing that Somalia will become a likely in let for business with the African continent, and as long as Mogadishu remains a closed port, Hafun seems like an unbeatable investment. HAFZA will be publically traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). I have no idea what they want to do about security, but seeing as they are building this city, the corporation, much like those government corporations in Dubai like Nakeel, will be the sole provider of security.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Business Attraction in Puntland, Somalia
Bossaso city has become a magnet for foreigners who want to invest in Africa. This week alone, there are about half a dozen business people representing Chinese and South Korean corporations in the city. These representatives and others who frequent Puntland want to invest in the region and expand their business to this part of the world. Interested people include wealthy business men from the Middle East.
Puntland (North Eastern Somalia) has not been touched by the country’s civil war and has remained stable after the fall of Somalia’s central government in 1991. It lies on the tip of East Africa and borders Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
ps: I dont know how much of this is true and ho much is bs.
Some pics
[IMG]
http://www.swan.ac.uk/cds/rd/Peterbrown/PB24.JPG[/IMG]
.
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