Nigeria: Siemens Bribery Scandal - Indicted Men Face the Music

http://allafrica.com/stories/200711191176.html

I found this story to be particularly relevant after my experience of working for GTZ in Abuja.
The GTZ website states that the EoPSD project in Nigeria is funded by "the Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)", i.e. the German Government. In fact, I was told that 60% of the funding is coming from the BMZ, the other 40% is from another source (un-identified). It would be very interesting to establish who is providing the rest of the funding, and whether there is any connection to Siemens.


"Companies cooperating with GTZ for the first time tend to be disappointed with the amount of public-sector money on offer. When asked after the measures are concluded, however, the majority report being positively surprised by the quality of the advice they received and the fact that the "development workers" often had excellent contacts useful for helping the companies get into the market and reduce the risk of their engagement."

http://www.inwent.org/E+Z/content/archive-eng/06-2003/foc_art2.html

mobile phones and entrepreneurship in Africa

"This is the Village Phone-model, which provides a business in a box. With loans, budding entrepreneurs can buy a mobile phone, a car battery to charge it, and a booster antenna that can pick up signals from base stations situated up to 25 kilometres away.

The handset is loaded with software that tracks revenues from every call.

The loan providers, so-called microfinance institutions, take on the task of ordering the equipment and transporting it to those who cannot afford to travel long distances."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7071636.stm

HP helps Africa with recycling standards

An estimated 500 containers of used computer scrap enter Nigeria each month,” says a report from the Basel Action Network, a lobby group specialising in e-waste issues.

http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2199600/hp-helps-africa-recycling-3505547

Wind-up lights for African homes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7072741.stm

"The technology behind the wind-up radio could soon be helping to light up some of the poorest homes in Africa."