Monthly Archives: October 2011

#civ2010 – Democracy in Ivory Coast

Posted on October 31, 2011 by admin

It’s exactly a year since the first round of Ivory Coast’s long-delayed presidential election. To commemorate, I’m going to try and write a series of reflections over the next month looking back on that turbulent electoral period. Democracy, as Africans … Continue reading →

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Conquest of Paradise

Posted on October 30, 2011 by admin

It would be hard to make this up. As president Alassane Ouattara arrives, the loudspeakers blast out a stirring tune from Vangelis, most famous for composing the Chariots of Fire theme. The ‘grand entrance’ music is always the same. What … Continue reading →

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Café Carrefour des Possibles Cote d’Ivoire

Posted on October 29, 2011 by admin

I attended an interesting meeting last night organised by the Akendewa association called ‘Cafe Carrefour des Possibles’, an evening for Ivorian entrepreneurs to present six ideas to the public who select two from the six to go to to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Web | 1 Comment

World Bank magazine

Posted on October 29, 2011 by admin

Institutional magazines are at the worst a waste of money and frequently serve no further purpose than aggrandizing the noble leadership of said institution with managers pictured seated behind dark mahogany desks. So, I was pleasantly surprised by the recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | 1 Comment

In praise of…Ema Lohoues

Posted on October 21, 2011 by admin

While Theophile Kouamouo, Jean-Patrick Ehouman, and possibly even my humble self run a campaign for Ivorians to get more interested in producing content for the web, I wanted to highlight someone I think does an exceptionally good job of using … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Web | 1 Comment

Ivorian agricultural fiscal policy 101

Posted on October 20, 2011 by admin

Ivory Coast is both the world’s biggest cocoa grower and Africa’s biggest producer of natural rubber. The former is done by 700,000 small holder farming households, the majority of whom live below the poverty line. The latter is the current … Continue reading →

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In praise of…parkers

Posted on October 19, 2011 by admin

Not the pens, not the fur-lined jackets, but the young men who wait throughout Abidjan for the moment you need to park, then guide you into the right spot and look after your car. Not a bad service for 100 … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

In five years time…

Posted on October 18, 2011 by admin

There’s no denying the importance of having clear objectives; just by physically writing down your goals you increase your chances of achieving them. At my talk at Abidjan barcamp 2011, I tried to encourage the web community here to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Web | Leave a comment

Ivorian cocoa prices

Posted on October 17, 2011 by admin

New cocoa season, same problems. Only this time it’s worse than ever. A quick recap on the Ivorian cocoa price problem. For at least 11 years, the cocoa market in the world’s biggest cocoa grower, has been liberalised, meaning the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Leave a comment

Four reasons to be pessimistic about Ivory Coast

Posted on October 16, 2011 by admin

There’s a good degree of optimism about the future in Ivory Coast given how quickly the new government has set to work and the rapid improvement in security and peace. However, some are at risk of getting carried away, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics | 2 Comments