PART 3: ‘Africa is open for business’

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BY CHARLES W. CHERRY II
FLORIDA COURIER

Friday, April 15, 2011- Day 3

Glenn and I both believed that we would lose weight in Africa because we would drink more water, walk more, and eat less than we did in the States. That wasn’t to be the case, primarily because of the big breakfasts we ate almost every day we were there.

Kweku Fleming, an American expatriate and one of our hostess Judith Aidoo’s tenants, is living his best life in Ghana. He is one of the best-educated people on the planet; an undergrad degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University; a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology, with further study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), respectively.

He’s done the 9-to-5 work thing, but decided to get out of America’s daily grind, move to Ghana, and work on projects that are important to him. Part of living his best life is eating healthy food every day, so he has a private chef who regularly cooks for him.

"Chef" was a native of Togo, a neighboring country. He cooked with the freshest ingredients, including herbs picked from Judith’s garden outside. The daily breakfast menu included fresh African scrambled eggs with herbs and tomatoes, seasoned yellow potatoes, locally baked wheat bread, sliced mango and fresh pineapple with freshly squeezed juices. The mango flesh was not stringy, and melted in your mouth. The unprocessed juice was so smooth that it made your tastebuds smile on the way down.

Occasionally when he met interesting people, Kweku invited them to breakfast, giving us an opportunity to have stimulating conversation with people from around the world. His breakfast table was to be a miniature version of the United Nations for the two weeks we were there.

On to business

Our first meeting of the day was with Chinedu Echeruo, a principal of Constant Capital Ltd., an investment bank and advisory firm that specializes in corporate finance and private equity investments in Africa. It has offices in Accra, Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Chinedu’s brother Ike co-founded the firm, which includes American-educated Nigerians and Ghanaians, as well as White South Africans. Chinedu’s assistant, Lester Lee, was also there, and after the meeting gave us a perspective of a young Asian-American who just moved to Accra.

Just as the other businessowners and advisors we have talked to thus far, Constant Capital is bullish on Ghana. The keys: governmental and political stability, and the recent oil strike that will put $800 million in the government’s bank account by year’s end – with more cash to come.

‘Interesting’ opportunities

"We believe there are lots of interesting investment opportunities. That’s why I moved back from New York in 2009," said Chinedu, a native of Nigeria who has an undergraduate degree in business from Syracuse University, a master of business administration from Harvard Business School, and who worked for JP Morgan Chase on Wall Street.

Constant Capital has invested in real estate, gold mining and agriculture, and is searching for money partners looking to invest in Africa. And they are talking big numbers. Chinedu discussed a 20-acre, $250-million oceanfront development project in Accra, including office space, apartments, a four-star hotel and a shopping area for which his firm was raising investment capital. It will be the first of its kind in Ghana.

"There are several compelling investment opportunities in Africa," Chinedu exclaimed, while urging us to be "careful" when investing in Africa.

"Find the right partner to walk you through the opportunities and give you a good sense of the risk involved, as well as the upside," he advises. (Check out www.constantcap.com for info on his firm or to contact Chinedu personally.)

Poolside lunch

There’s an Accra landmark, a high-end, luxury condo/apartment complex called the Villaggio. It’s the home of Ambassador Ereika Bennett and our next stop, where we enjoyed a poolside lunch with the ambassador and Beverly Williams, an American civil engineer who was also visiting Ghana.

Ambassador Bennett has been in and out of Africa for 35 years, and has lived in Ghana for 10 years. Bennett says she "began to feel whole as a person" in Africa, and has no regrets about moving to the continent.

"I’ve had opportunities to advise African heads of states," she said. "There are only a few Colin Powells and Condoleezza Rices (who advised presidents) in America," she explained. "And I’ve made more money in Africa than I would have ever been able to make in the States."

She is president of DAF – the Diaspora Africa Forum (www.audaf.org) – a three-year-old organization whose goal is to link African "diasporians’’ (African-Americans, and native Africans who temporarily relocate to the Americas for education or work) with Africa. To assist in her efforts, the Ghanaian government granted her full diplomatic privileges, and the organization has a formal linkage with the African Union – Africa’s counterpart to the European Union.

"We are not asking everyone to come back; we are asking everyone to look back" to Africa for investment and entrepreneurship, Bennett told us.

The ambassador says there are about 5,000 Black Americans spread out around Ghana, the largest number of Black Americans on the African continent. And there are more American exchange students in Ghana – many of whom are enrolled at the University of Ghana in Accra – than anywhere else in Africa.

Entrepreneurship, not a job

According to Bennett, Africa is "virgin territory" for Black businesses. But she warns Black Americans, "don’t come to Africa looking for a job."

"You won’t make money working on a job here that you would working in the States," she advised. "Africa is open for business. Create your business here.

"We need everything here. Everybody in the world other than us knows this. I have a friend who went to Nigeria who made a million dollars selling bicycles. We see Asians, Lebanese, etc. making incredible amounts of money here in Ghana."

She mentioned a trade mission she led with Ghanaian officials who visited Prince George’s County, Md., the wealthiest Black-majority county in America. Out of that trip, Black Americans started businesses in Ghana in the energy, tourism, and agriculture sectors. Her goal is to continually replicate that success, and she suggested that we contact some Black Americans living in a nearby town called Prampram to get their perspective on living in Ghana.

The Villaggio ownership is constructing another set of luxury high-rise condominiums right next to its current development; its exterior is designed to look like a giant piece of kente cloth. We bid the ambassador and her guest farewell and got a guided tour of the new facility, much of which has already been sold to rich Nigerians, we were told.

‘I know her!’

Judith had one more business stop for us – a conversation with the CEO of a new company involved in the oil sector. Before that, we stopped at one of Accra’s signature hotels: the African Regent Hotel (www.african-regent-hotel.com), which refers to itself as "Simply Afropolitan" – cosmopolitan with a West African theme.

I loved the lobby and other public spaces, which reminded me of the Artists Alliance Gallery and the Ghanaian antiquities we had seen the night before.

Ghana’s art and culture, especially adinkra symbolism, was incorporated in the design of the Regent’s interior rather than added as an afterthought. Authentic art (with price tags) was located throughout the various hallways, and the staff uniforms were Ghanaian prints and patterns, not the typical European polo-style shirts.

As Glenn was working in the hotel’s business center, a female staffer caught my eye – and I was 21 years old again, not 54. I caught myself staring at a young lady who was the spitting image of a Spelman College student on whom I had a secret but serious crush as a Morehouse College freshman. (I was too shy to tell her then; she’s married with multiple kids now, and I see her every five years during class reunions.) I gathered myself, and the young woman graciously let me take a picture.

That "I’ve seen you before" experience is not uncommon. Without exception, every Black American I’ve ever spoken who’s been to Africa speaks about how somebody there looks like some other Black person in America – a relative, classmate, friend, co-worker. And Judith says she often sees Black Americans who look like her Ghanaian cousins.

Real opportunity

Another quick taxi negotiation by Judith, and we are at the oil CEO’s office. Here’s the story (thus far) about oil in Ghana, according to various press reports:

In 2007, a Bermuda-based oil exploration company, Kosmos Energy, found what is (to date) the two largest oil and natural gas discoveries in Africa off the coast of Ghana, with the oil fields holding a combined total of approximately one billion barrels of high-quality crude oil and billions of cubic feet of natural gas. The Ghanaian government cut a deal to split the oil revenue with Kosmos and other oil companies that are licensed to pull the oil up from deepwater wells.

Oil production in Ghana is expected to stabilize at 120,000 barrels per day. (By comparison, the world’s No. 1 oil producer, Russia, produces 10.1 million barrels a day.) Still, oil will bring in at least $1 billion per year in oil revenues to Ghana. If that money flows through the economy, especially for projects like badly needed roads, sewer systems, electricity, improving education, etc., there will be many opportunities for small companies in almost every area of business activity.

Serious growth

Even without oil revenues, Ghana’s economy is growing at the rate of almost 10 percent a year. By comparison, America’s economy is growing at the rate of 1.8 percent this year.

Government officials swear that they will properly manage the oil jackpot and avoid the mismanagement and corruption that has plagued nearby Nigeria, now ranked as the world’s 15th largest oil producer. (Nigeria produces 2.2 million barrels per day.)

Thus far, Ghana has gotten high marks on how it is handling itself – though it’s still early in the day. European Union officials believe that if Ghana handles its oil revenues correctly, it could become a financially independent nation – free of European, America and Chinese "welfare’’ – in nine years.

That would be a helluva thang: a free, stable, self-supporting, independently wealthy Black African nation with abundant natural resources, including oil; the world’s second-largest supply of cocoa; the world’s 10th-largest supply of gold; and surely other natural resources – rare earths and precious metals – that are yet to be discovered and exploited.

It reminded me of something I heard during a conference in Miami on doing business in Africa some 20 years ago. Winnie Mandela, then Nelson Mandela’s wife, said, "Mother Africa has enough natural resources to enrich all of her children around the world."

The oil executive doesn’t want to be identified, but as part of our due diligence, we reviewed government licenses, contracts, and corporate documents that verified our initial thought: there’s real money to be made here. This ain’t a West African scam.

Berlin and Paris in Accra

Our next stop was a Paris-style high-fashion runway show at the Goethe Institute, the center of German culture in Accra. The nighttime fashion show is one of a series of events celebrating the Institute’s 50 years in Ghana.

Glenn, Judith and I all slathered on the strongest insect repellent we could find, maximum-strength DEET, on ourselves as we strolled down the darkening street. Judith was just getting over a bout of mosquito-borne malaria; I had no wish to repeat the feeling I had of being broiled in an oven when I contracted malaria in 1991.

Energetic show

Many times, watching folks’ reactions is actually the best part of going to an event. That’s the way the modeling show was for me. It was well organized and showed the diversity of Ghanaian culture: an excellent acappela quartet that sang "welcome’’ in about 10 different languages; a modeling show featuring local models of all ages (and an effeminate male designer) sashaying down the runway; traditional singers; a steel drum player; and rappers who got some rabid fans out of their seats.

The Germans in attendance reminded me of White folks in America you’d see at a Black Church of God in Christ (COGIC) or Baptist church on Sunday morning. They were interested bystanders –wiping sweat off their foreheads – who seemed to appreciate the energy, but still couldn’t quite grab ahold of the culture.

As in America, when the music played, they clapped "off the beat.’’ The Africans clapped on the 2 and the 4; the Germans on the 1 and 3. Nice to know that some of our White brothers and sisters are much the same all over the world.

Showing how it’s done

Judith and Glenn overheard a White woman complain about how "sexualized" the young girls were as they strutted down the runway. I didn’t see sexualization; I saw, as I was to see throughout this trip, the influence of American culture – specifically, the impact of "Miss J," Tyra Banks’ ace boon coon on my occasional guilty TV pleasure, "America’s Next Top Model."

Anybody who’s seen that show – and Tyra took the "Top Model" concept worldwide – knows that it’s how a woman rocks her hips that rocks a runway. It was Miss J who taught Naomi Campbell how to walk in the early 1990s, and runway modeling hasn’t been the same since.

The Budweiser Clydesdale-type horse-clomping down the runway that makes a model look like she’s stepping over dog poop is DEAD. The Ghanaian girls were just doing what they had seen done.

Party time

A 15-minute nighttime taxi ride – past the high-security American Embassy building, a Ghana Army checkpoint, and some Ghanaian "working girls" on the street who looked like refugees from a bad 1980s Madonna movie – and we were at the home of one of Judith’s schoolmates for a birthday party.

Many of Judith’s friends are part of Ghana’s emerging educated elite – CEOs, government ministers, doctors, lawyers, CPAs, investment bankers. They have world-class educations from the best colleges and universities in Europe and America.

Many have returned home, make six-figure salaries, and live in small compounds (guardhouses, electrified fences, courtyards, multiple car garages, multiple buildings) that could be compared to upscale suburban housing you’d find anywhere in America. And to the best of our knowledge, all those compounds are paid for IN CASH, as right now there’s very little consumer debt financing in Ghana.

HBCU-style

The party was typical of what you’d find during homecoming or a class reunion at Morehouse, Spelman, Howard, Hampton, or other HBCUs – an open bar with folks drinking, laughing, and catching up with each other, and heads bobbing to the old-school R&B mixed with Ghanaian "hip life" (a mixture of hip-hop-and African "high life" music) by a young DJ.

For good measure, our host David broke out his secret stash – a bottle of 15-year-old French brandy – blew the dust off the bottle, and gave it to Glenn for his personal consumption. Party guests literally ate "high on the hog"– a whole pig had been roasted and was being carved up on the buffet table, right next to a baked 15-pound whole fish.

Something to think about

I know bunches of highly educated Black Americans; I’m one of them. Four generations of my late father’s family have graduate degrees. But have our educations, by and large, really translated into greater financial success in the States?

I say no, for several reasons – starting with 400 years of historical White supremacy followed by 250 years of slavery and another 100 years of legal racial discrimination, of course.

But most importantly, Blacks are a racial minority in America. We control nothing: not America’s natural resources, not the land, the politics, or the economics.

Ghanaians – Black people – fought the British during the 1960s-era independence movement and regained control of their coastal nation, rich in natural resources. They own their land. They control their occasionally dysfunctional politics. They control their economics (though America, Europe and China are fighting each other to establish economic dominance in Africa).

In Ghana, education can still propel you to great personal and financial heights in a country where one-third of the population can’t read or write – and everyone in power looks just like you. That’s not true for Black America.

But there are still major class differences, gender differences, ethnic/tribal differences in Ghana. We were to learn that even personal family history can help determine whether you rise to the top, as had many of the people in Judith’s orbit that we’d met – or if you’re on the street corner hawking oranges or bottled water, as were many of the people we passed on the streets.

Accident of birth?

There’s also timing. My great-great Aunt Leila graduated from Spelman College in 1922, got a master’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin in 1924, and was recognized nationally (by White folks) as one of America’s best language instructors in 1958. My great-Aunt Mable earned a master’s degree in education from Columbia University in 1947, and taught in Miami-Dade County public schools for more than 60 years – but never rose higher in the educational system than an assistant principal.

In their America, all most Black women could do then was teach, wash White folks’ clothes, or clean up after them. (Some Black women did all three.) Had Aunt Leila or Aunt Mable been born in Ghana, either one could have headed the national Ministry of Education or become president of the University of Ghana and its 40,000 students.

Are the opportunities real for Black Americans? Is NOW the time? That’s what’s on my mind as we bid Noni the birthday girl and her friends goodbye and our host’s driver speeds us back to Judith’s place, where Glenn and I reflect on the events of another full day.

 

Click here for Part 1

Click here for Part 2

Click here for Part 4

 

Click here for a gallery of Day 3 pictures. Contact Charles W. Cherry II at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .