Lobito Corridor: Illustrates Lack of American Imagination in Africa
September 15th, 2024
Via the Pan African Review, critical commentary on the Lobito Corridor: “This is a project that will showcase the American model of development.” These were the words of US ambassador to Angola, Tulinabo Mushingi, when he spoke to the Financial Times on the subject of a new $10bn US-funded rail investment in the country. At a time […]
Read more »Toyota Land Cruiser, and The Rise and Fall of the 21st-Century African State
September 15th, 2024
For Pan African Review, Charles Onyango-Obbo traces the emergence and rise in the popularity of Toyota vehicles in Africa to the ideological shift in early independence days, the 1987 Chadian–Libyan War and now the ongoing Sudan conflict. He notes that the Toyota brand became a symbol of power and prestige to the ruling elite, against […]
Read more »Paraguay Loves Mickey, Its Cartoon Mouse. Disney Doesn’t.
September 15th, 2024
Courtesy of the New York Times, an article on how Mickey, a homegrown food-packaging company, is famous for facing down Disney in Paraguay’s Supreme Court: One is a colossus spanning theme parks, merchandise and movies, with 150 Academy Awards, 225,000 employees and annual revenue of nearly $90 billion. The other is a third-generation family firm […]
Read more »Zambia: Back In Business
September 15th, 2024
Via African Business, commentary that – with US$40 billion in investment committed last year – Zambia is back in business: Three years ago this month, thousands of Zambians flocked into Lusaka’s National Heroes Stadium to celebrate the inauguration of President Hakainde Hichilema, whose landslide election victory had been built on the promise of growing the […]
Read more »Can Afghanistan’s Economy Survive Without Aid?
September 14th, 2024
Via The Diplomat, a report on the need for the Taliban government to acknowledge the potential loss of international aid and cash shipments next year, and focus on identifying alternative ways to support livelihoods: The evolving political landscapes and priorities of the United States and other donor nations may pose a threat to the ongoing […]
Read more »Pakistan and China Pursue Corridor Dream Despite Financial, Security Risks
September 14th, 2024
Via Dialogue Earth, an article on how – despire recent attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province and shifting project dynamics, both countries remain committed to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: More than 50 people were killed in late August during multiple attacks in Pakistan’s impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan. Despite extensive infrastructure investments made in the region, mostly through […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.