Africa Open for Business documentary airing on BBC World TV series in May

Heads Up Bloggers!

BBC World TV will be airing a series about the documentary film Africa Open for Business starting on May 20th. The film by journalist and filmmaker Carol Pineau was funded by The World Bank and featured at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, the World Economic Forum, the AGOA Summit, and the G8 Summit 2005 at Gleneagles, Scotland. For anyone who has never seen this important documentary about successful entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa, BBC World will offer a 3-part series with airtimes starting Saturday May 20th at 0930 GMT and 1630 GMT. The program is scheduled to repeat on Sunday May 21st at 0130, 1330 and 2030 GMT.

Below is an excerpt from the promo for “Africa Open for Business” on the BBC World Business Frontiers special programmes airing throughout May 2006:

"In a new three-part series, Africa: Open for Business, offers a glimpse of flourishing entrepreneurship in a continent where war, famine, natural and man-made disaster is rife. The series features a variety of small and larger businesses in 10 African countries, offering an insight into the continent that is not seen very often by the rest of the world.

They are inspiring stories of human force of will, demonstrating that Africa is viable, has capacity and can be competitive in the global economy. The series features a wide range of companies, from a tiny café in Kampala to a major flower exporter in Kenya. Some of the companies operate in African countries with good governance; others operate with no government at all.

The series speaks directly to the individuals behind the initiatives, looking at the successes, the struggles, the challenges and the solutions involved in running a business in Africa. Companies featured include HFC Bank Ghana Ltd, the largest provider of housing finance in Ghana today; Homegrown, a Kenyan company who export vegetables and flowers to all the UK supermarkets; and Pictoon in Senegal, Africa’s only animation design studio that produces TV series and feature films."

More information about the film and the director/producer Carol Pineau can be found online at the links listed below:

Africa Open for Business official website
Africa Open for Business - World Bank news (Mar 18, 2005)
Africa Open for Business – NPR News & Notes (May 20, 2005)
Interview with Carol Pineau – Washington File (Jul 14, 2005)
Interview with Carol Pineau – BBC World Talking Movies (Jul 26, 2005)
Interview with Carol Pineau – allAfrica.com news (Sep 09, 2005)
The Africa You Never See by Carol Pineau - Washington Post (Apr 17, 2005)

Drawing a whole new image of Africa – TIME Europe (Aug 14, 2004)
A TIME Magazine feature on the Senegalese animation firm PICTOON

Timbuktu Chronicles blog by Emeka Okafor – a view of Africa and Africans with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, practical remedies and other self-sustaining remedies. If you want to learn about 100’s of great SME business opportunities in Africa, Timbuktu Chronicles should be your first stop.

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