Posts by peterburdin

And finally…here’s a story which sums up everything about the power of investing in Africa- and how it transforms lives as well as bringing good returns. A few years ago a friend of mine -American student Will Smith -travelled to Liberia where he set up the LEAD Monrovia Football Academy. His business plan was to…

South African rugby has been transformed in recent years to become a multi- racial sport- and a World Cup Victory is the result. To see the Springbok’s black captain Siya Kolisi lift the Webb Ellis trophy is a unifying moment in the history of this divided nation: Kolisi had no doubt of the significance of…

Nobel Prize win shines rare positive light on Africa. Nobel Prize win shines rare positive light on Africa

Something is stirring in Africa. First the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wins the Nobel Peace Prize, then his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa makes a passionate pitch to global investors about the continent’s rising economic  prospects, now their fellow African leaders are invited to Russia by President Putin as world leaders scramble to demonstrate…

Archbishop Tutu’s grand-daughter Mungi Ngomane arrived in London to promote her grandfather’s message of peace and reconciliation. I was delighted to meet her and receive a copy of her book “Everyday Ubuntu” which highlights the African philosophy that a person is a person because of other people. Basically Ubuntu teaches that we human beings are…

When Stanford Business School graduate Fred Swaniker left McKinsey’s to set up the African Leadership Academy his mother wasn’t happy.   She was worried that he’d thrown up a top job in a top consultancy to launch a high-risk scheme to open  a school for young Africans in Johannesburg.   Fifteen years on that school…

Twenty-two year old undergraduate Farai Munjoma is typical of many of ALU’s students. – He studies by day and runs a business by night!   When he was just seventeen, he set up an online A-level course complete with test questions and a study guide for high school students in his native Zimbabwe. Farai’s Shasha…

Live on African Leadership University’s campus radio station Radio Ubuntu.   Teaching young minds at the African Leadership University is tough – so many challenging questions, so many ambitions, so many dreams as the students seek the information, they need to become Africa’s next generation of leaders.   I’ve just spent a month at the…

The attack on the DusitD2 hotel and office complex in Nairobi’s upmarket business district which killed more than twenty people was an horrific reminder that the war with the Somali-based terrorist group Al Shabaab is far from over.   When I arrived in Nairobi shortly after the Al Shabaab attack I found a city pulling…