Entrepreneurship needed in Africa.

EAC Needs Entrepreneurship – Koech

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
20 June 2007
Posted to the web 21 June 2007
Kampala
EAST Africans should embrace the spirit of entrepreneurship and hard work if the region is to realise development, Kenyan minister John Koech has advised, reports Chris Kiwawulo.

Koech, the Minister for East Africa Affairs and outgoing chairman of the East African Council of Ministers, said entrepreneurship was scarce among East Africans, yet with it and self-determination, the region could reduce its reliance on donors.

“We have all the factors of production like land, labour and capital, which when put to use can ably create employment for our people. Governments can only create jobs for very few people,” Koech stated.

Koech was addressing over 400 Makerere University Kenyan students at the Faculty of Law auditorium on Tuesday.

He cited the situation in Kenya, where the government can only employ one million out of 10 million job seekers.

The Kenyan students’ Peace and Unity Forum organised the meeting. Their chairman, Silas Malemo, said their objective was to fight political manipulation.

The Kenyan minister noted that East Africans would gain from the regional integration, as it would widen the market for social and economic improvement.

He argued that the integration would remove non-tariff barriers, enable free movement of goods in the region, improve fishing on Lake Victoria and boost tourism.

Striving for continuity in SADC mining sector.

SADC Members Urged to Develop Mining Sector

BuaNews (Tshwane)
NEWS
21 June 2007
Posted to the web 21 June 2007
Lusaka
Member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) should work together in developing the mining sector in the region, said Zambian Mines Minister Dr Kalombo Mwansa.

SADC member states should harmonise their policies in order to create an all round friendly investment climate in the region, he said in an interview with ZANIS here Wednesday.

They should come up with common approaches to issues like taxation and the environment, which are key to sustainable development of the mining sector, he said.

He added that efforts should also be targeted at reducing the perceived political risk to investors and enhancing co-operation among SADC member states in the social, economic and political spheres.

Dr Mwansa also stressed the need for creating an investment climate conducive to exploration and mining activities in the SADC region.

Appropriately developed regulations and taxation policies were cardinal in reducing risks to the investor and enhancing the flow of investment funds to the region.

He noted that the SADC mining sector was poised for massive growth in the wake of rising copper prices and the cessation of civil strife previously experienced in some countries in the region.

Dr Mwansa said that collectively, the SADC region holds about 50 percent of Africa’s total mineral wealth, which was critical in propelling the continental economy forward.

Earlier this month South Africa had its Mining Indaba which aimed at unlocking investment prospects in the mineral industry.

The indaba emphasised promoting investment and stimulating economic growth in the country.

It also called for a greater collaboration between the government and the private sector.

One of the challenges facing the South African mining industry was to ensure sustainable growth in all parts of the mining sector from exploration to product sale.

The indaba’s outcomes would advance the course of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa’s (AsgiSA), through the sector’s significant contribution to South Africa’s growing economy.

AsgiSA is a set of government interventions which seek to achieve an average economic growth of 6 percent by 2010 and to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014. – BuaNews-NNN