NEWSFLASH 5 Newsflash 6 Agenda 7 Psst. . .

_______________ FEATURES_______________ 9 Cover Story: Women in Business - Focus on the Kenya Women

Finance Trust

____________ COUNTRY BRIEFINGS____________

13 Nigeria: Clashing agricultural agencies fight it out 14 Mozambique: Good workers rewarded with forex; 15 Food aid keeps south alive

16 Botswana: Drought diminishes economic sparkle

17 Zaire: Investors are warm, IMF cool

19 Kenya: Getting seed there in time; MPs favour drought-resistant crops

20 Burkina Faso: Working together for new revival 21 Mauritius: Sugar industry braces for restructuring

23 Liberia: Doe's empire crumbles in election year

25 Lesotho: World's largest water scheme 26 Guinea-Bissau: Pragmatism gains a toehold

PORTS & SHIPPING SURVEY 31 Cover 33 Overview: Africa's shipping industry at a low ebb

35 Shipowning: Not just a “ symbol of virility" 36 Liner Shipping: Shipping code fails to live up to promise 39 Shipbreaking: Recycled parts could be Africa's gold mine

41 Kenya: A drive to popularise container exporting

41 Cameroon: Home ship-repair industry 45 Finance: Funds for port facilities dry up

9 Our cover story takes a hard look at banking and uncovers a strong business sense that belies a male contributor’s dismissal of a financial institution for women as "yet another of the irritating agitations of the women’s liberation movement”

ITALY & AFRICA SURVEY 51 Overview: Italy's “ common sense” approach to Africa

53 Construction: Building up a market 55 Italian projects: A photographic selection 57 Plastics: Company funds health research in Africa

57 Ghana Connection: Co-operation pact

_____________ SECTOR BY SECTOR_____________

61 Agriculture: Ploughing a second-hand furrow in Malawi;

Takeover bid for cocoa dealer

62 Banking & Finance: Central bank leaders demand IMF flexibility;

63 Breeding insurance brokers at home in Zambia; Ugandans queue at banks; 64 Badea calls for African self-reliance

64 Construction: Ghana will refloat Volta Lake transport;

65 Manufacturing paint in Ghana; Saudi funds for Zimbabwe housing 65 Energy: Malawi plants for future fuel needs;

66 Kenya & Tanzania swap oil 66 Labour: Nigeria congress faces crisis of confidence;

67 New Zimbabwe labour act caught in crossfire 68 Manufacturing & Technology: Kenya's rags to riches trader;

69 Tanzania canvas; Ghana palm kernels help cast iron 69 Market Network: On Sudan/Zaire border, traders run high risks;

71 Botswana defends its fences

71 Mining: Guinea opens up for mineral bonanza; 72 Malawi mining funds

73 Transport & Communications: New Swaziland cargo airline; Sudan will keep Sudan Airways; Tanzania tyre plant needs rubber; Kenya modernises rural telecoms

BOOKS 74 Small is beautiful.. . and appropriate

Botswana is still managing to maintain one of the strongest external economic positions in sub-Saharan Africa, despite its present drought-stricken countryside - witnessed by these shrivelled beans.

O 4 A H s Ports & Shipping Survey notes little W I has been done to solve the industry’s entrenched problems, although shipbreaking could be a successful path if investment is forthcoming.

African Business July 1985 3