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Contents

AFRICAN BUSINESS Winner o f the Diageo 2 0 0 S Best Publica t io n award APR IL 2007 ISSUE 330 WWW.AFRICASIA.COM

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Member of The A ud it Bureau o f C irc u la tio ns.

12 Cover Story Africa’s Top Company rankings

29 Special Report Nigeria Insurance sector reforms

44 Countryfile East Africa Rwanda, Burundi join EAC

Editorial 11 Mugabe - the lost opportunities

Cover Story Africa’s Top Companies 14 South Africa reigns supreme 16 Top 200 Companies Table 22 North: Egypt and Morocco retain top places 24 West: Nigeria’s rule continues 28 Central: Foreign companies hold sway 30 East: Kenya still the champion 36 Southern: A homogenous honey-pot view from the City 42 Investors bet on Nigeria Energy 44 Nigeria to double power output Commodities 46 Cocoa, coffee, sugar up -

tea declines Special Report Nigerian Insurance 51 An historic transformation 52 Big is beautiful 54 List of recapitalised companies 56 Selling the message 58 Company Profiles: IGI, Leadway

Assurance, Sovereign Trust

Infrastructure 64 Freight back on the rails

Guest Column 68 An incomplete legacy?

Corporate profile 71 Western Union

A 150-year-old success story

Finance 70 Would Grameen work in Africa?

Business off the beaten track 72 Mauritania

Trends 74 San peoples win legal battle

Countryfiles 80 S Africa: 2010 Capacity crunch 82 Zimbabwe: Skilled workers head south 84 Madagascar: Path to self-sufficiency 86 Guinea: Can Conte hold it together? 87 Somalia: AU troops arrive 88 E Africa: Rwanda, Burundi join EAC

Reviews Books/Music 94 The Audacity of Hope and other books 98 The dignity of defiance