Q: Hi Omodudu and welcome to Askablogr. It looks like you don't use widgets at all, so let me know if I can help you use a text link to invite questions. And please take a moment to introduce yourself.
Asked by
A: Thanks for checking up on me. I like the minimal feel of my blog. I tried the widget but it was sort of rigid. I could not use custom css. That is why I took it down. I am very impressed with the concept.
I am interested in testing out the text alternative.
Here is a diagram showing the activities of the 20 largest Sovereign Wealth Funds since 2005. I know Nigeria has her own fund. Is there anybody out there with some info about this. I figure since we are not building infrastructure a la China and UAE we are probably investing this money wisely. Wink wink.
China has offered export guarantee facilities worth up to $50bn to encourage investment in Nigeria in a bold strategy to woo Africa’s biggest oil producer. From the . This is a symbolic boost on the part of China. However my concern is that I would not like Dr. Usman to negotiate the terms of my credit card let alone the term of this line of credit. Why you may ask?
Dr Usman said. “Which other country has made that kind of money available? Has the UK or America or any one of them? For me this is a sign of real commitment by China.”
It is a line of credit dude. The terms can still go both ways. Is he representing China or Nigeria?
I recently had a chit chat with a friend, of the . Below is an excerpt of the interview/chit-chat with Benin. He shed some light on the development and outlook of the an Africa themed which was launched by the . Please see the interview below and I hope you enjoy it. Could you give us a little introduction to the African Path Village. Some reader may not yet be familiar with the community? Sure Omodudu, we are an online community for people who are interested in making connections with the . We are a place where members can find interesting discussions on culture, business, politics, relationships and the like- and again it all goes back to (re)connecting the members to the African continent. What is your role in this community? A few months ago we at African Path decided that the African Path brand would not be complete without a robust . So we set out on the path to building one and my role in the community began as a co-founder of the community with . But today my role has morphed into being more of a joint facilitator in the ongoing development of this vibrant young community. As a member of this community myself, I must say that I am impressed with the growth which this community as experienced. What will you attribute this growth to? In addition, Does African path village have a niche? Good questions. Well, one of the things that has helped is invites. During the month of February "Village" members collectively invited more than 800 friends, colleagues, and family members only a small number of those that were invited became members during the month of February. But just during the first week of March 1000 invites went out and a fairly larger percentage of the recipients actually became members. We feel that this can be attributed to the ever increasing amount of activity within the community. It is impossible to talk about an African themed community without falling back on discussion about issues in Africa. Are there any current themes/issues that the community seem to forming around? Yes, there are some re-current themes that can be found on the African Path Village. One of them comes from having such a diverse and well heeled group of members. This would be the topic of building, starting, or improving upon various lines of business. There is usually always at least two or three Village members possessing detailed knowledge within specific industries and these conversations often drive group discussions. Then there are discussions related to social issues-especially as they relate to the concept of an African identity. Lately we have also noticed more members who are delving into relationship issues too. It is quite impressive to see Africans taking on the reins and also making moves to get others involved. So let us say I am small business owner, or investor or just an individual interested Africa and business in Africa. What is at African path village for me? *You have a community of fellow Africans to bounce ideas off of. *spreading your businesses message to members who might be in the market for your services *And also increasing your company's overall profile The bottom line is that a business person on the African Path Village increases their opportunity to make new sales. I like to hear the word sales. Okay moving on, where do you see African Path Village in the Near Future? We certainly would agree with you that it is indeed exciting.We see the Village sprouting with "Village Elders" who will act as ambassadors for the brand both on and off line Are there any upcoming features? I have a few feature request of my own, I would like to see a Business In Africa Wiki and a Q and A section about doing business in African countries where the power of the community can be put to use? I must admit I am a sucker for crowdsourcing research. In terms of milestone, our next one is the 1000 member mark and after that will be the 10,000 member mark. There are several members of the community that we are currently brainstorming with as to how to best communicate the message and which are the best tools and so forth. Although, we are still in the early stages of investigating whats out there-I can say that the Wiki is a topic which has come up... Have you run into any challenge(s) in your attempt to develop a successful Africa themed online communities? I would say that two of the toughest challenges seem to be in keeping the attention of the members 24/7 with engaging content and in convincing members of the larger Facebook like networks that there is value in a smaller and more niche oriented network like the African Path Village. I think that where we have been successful in making this point is that on the larger sites members interested in genuine topics affecting Africa must filter through a great deal of distractions before they can actually find the real issues. Whereas with us they don't need to walk very far before finding relevant discussions. I am sure there a some readers out there that would have questions for the you and your colleagues at the Village. How can the public contact you? Benin: Sure, they may contact me either via benin@africanpath.com or through profile at http://village.africanpath.com/profile/BeninMwangi Do you have any additional information for anyone out there contemplating joining the group? Yes, one more point that I would like to add is that we really would like to encourage more of Africa's bloggers to become acquainted with the site. There are a number of great stories that are springing up in the form of photos and discussions and I am sure that their readers would benefit from this.
I believe some these topics will be beneficial to anyone out starting off in finance. There are also a few lessons in there suitable for those curious about personal finance issues. The classes aren't very dense, which makes the classes easy to go through. Good luck. The lessons are a part of the Morning Star class room . Hat tip to .
I am testing out a Firefox plug-in that promises to help discover links, articles and other resources automatically. It works with blogger, and a few other blogging platforms. So far I am very impressed. To test this tool out I have used an old blog post which has been sitting in my draft folder for a second. Unfortunately, I have not been able to develop this entry, so for now we have to make do with list and a few from the Marginal revolution blog. I also threw in one or or two of mine. Please feel free to include the good themed you have read. I intend to develop a concise list from all the entries I find on the web. I hope you like the list. I have used only links suggested by . This tool has a very strong potential of being abused. P.T. Bauer's West African Trade, 's The African Predicament, Martin Lynn on the trade, and 's . Robert Bates' "Market and States in Tropical Africa", 's "The Coup", Untapped: 's Oil, by , Martin Meredith's The Fate of Africa, The Wizard of the Crow by Nagugi wa Thiongo is an allegory for post-colonial Africa, The Shackled Continent by Robert Guest, Also 's African novels: The Ice Cream War, Brazzaville Nights, "The State of Africa" by Martin Meredith, Ryszard Kapuscinsk's . Jeffrey Herbst's Bill Easterly's Pierre Englebert's Nicolas van de Walle's . Long Walk to Freedom, King Leopold’s Ghost, Hochschild, A Man of the People: A Novel of Political Unrest in a New Nation, Achebe. And a pretty list from the
