During my recent 5-day market study in 'Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,' focusing on the beauty and personal care products sector, I uncovered fascinating business insights and aspects of Ethiopian culture that were new to me and are certainly worth sharing. Ethiopia is a landlocked country located in East Africa. It is the 10th largest country of the continent with a total area of 1,104,300 square km. It has a population of more than 85 Million, with more than 50% of it aged bellow 20 years old. Agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy with 90% of the population earning its living from the land. The country main agricultural export is Ethiopian coffee, for which it is internationally renowned, and the local currency is the Ethiopian Birr (1Euro=26 Birr). (more…)
Over the last couple of years, I have been involved in few research projects on the ground in different regions in Africa, including northern, western and sub-Saharan parts of the continent. Few learnings kept coming up over the course of these assignments showing me what a vast geographical space Africa is ,and that conducting business in the continent can, oftentimes, be challenging, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Hereafter my top 5 learnings that I thought it would be worthwhile to share: (more…)
In the past decades, China has been the center of all attentions, rising from a third world country to being the second largest economy in the world. While it eased access to its vast domestic market, it also emerged as the world’s factory floor, becoming a world class location to produce and source a wide range of products. Arising as a global economic powerhouse, China is now going on a shopping spree, buying companies and increasing cooperation with economies all around the world to capture opportunities that globalization stands to offer. (more…)
Infomineo provides services to companies seeking either a nearshore outsourcing platform for their EMEA operations or looking for information of African and Middle Eastern services. To promote these services my partner Hamza and I travel extensively to visit our clients and prospects around the world, including in the USA, France, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, the UAE, South Africa and of course where our head office is based, in Morocco. Although these insights may not be statistically valid we have been able to see different attitudes towards Africa. (more…)
Once famous only for its abundant natural resources, Africa is gradually becoming a growing pool of qualified human resources. From the African diaspora looking to come back to seize opportunities in home countries to locally educated talent, the continent is now offering recruiters a bigger pool to choose from. Needless to say, this hasn’t always been the case: decades of political conflicts and failing economic policies have led to a continuous drain of Africa’s talent towards more stable and growing parts of the world. This post will address talent sourcing issues in Africa and assess the current switch that the continent is witnessing, from a talent exporter to a talent importer. (more…)
