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Mark Borelli, Owner, Borelli Financial Services My last trip to South Africa was on business in 1984. My company advises other companies on merger and acquisition activity globally. Africa still has opportunities. There is a lot of mineral wealth in natural resources, especially for companies willing to get into those markets. Of course, there are a lot of political and economic risks there. If there is a company who wants to get into Africa, we would advise them on how to do that, whether it be a joint venture with a local company in South Africa, or setting up to buy another company, how to set up partnership deals and how they work. I don’t know if AIDS is affecting businesses on the surface. It is definitely affecting populations and making local markets harder to develop. Getting a media business into South Africa would be a matter of getting known and meeting the right people. The right connections can get your media venture across. |
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Lya Sorano, Principal, International Business Association (originally from the Netherlands)
The International Business Association is an organization of international businessmen and women in companies involved in international business in North Georgia. We provide networking, educational opportunities, and a cross-cultural bridge between different communities. Most of the international communities in Atlanta are very much off to themselves. They do not mix with other groups. We are trying very much to bring groups together. Networking gives people the opportunity to meet each other, but meeting is only as good as the follow-up. Nothing will happen unless you follow-up. If you want to do business in Africa, go there. Just experience the country: smell it, taste it, look it over, meet people, get people to know you, and then decide if there is a match between you and the people you meet in pursuing business together. In general, AIDS all around the world is dampening economic prosperity no matter where it occurs, and it is a big problem.
Jarrod Jordan, Clark-Atlanta University Student
As a business venture, I think hip-hop will go over very well in Africa. Hip-hop has a lot of different branches. Not only do you have the music, you have hip-hop entertainment, fashions, education, religion and media. They will definitely embrace hip-hop in as far as culture. I have seen photographs from the African continent with throwback, athletic jerseys. Many people from my university who are from abroad tell me that when they watch television, they see hip-hop - Jayzee, DMX, and Jermaine Depree - and that contributes to their way of thinking. That tells you that hip-hop is global already, and they have already embraced the culture and will continue to embrace it.
Hip-hop does have its negative connotations. Some imagery is very demoralizing, with women wearing their scantily-clad clothing and the men in their prison fashions. I think the biggest positive thing that hip-hop has done for the African American culture and the African Diaspora as a hold is that it has taught us to be more entrepreneurial in our objectives in life. The old notion of going to school, getting an education, and then working for the man has been thrown out the door by this younger generation. They now see entrepreneurism as their means and their goal to achieve wealth in America and the world.
Michael Tyler, T Mike T Productions
I am here tonight because hip-hop/R&B music is the number one genre in terms of the music industry in the world. Hip-hop is no longer considered community-based music; it is now a worldwide conglomerate dealing with fashions, politics, and economics. We feel it would be advantageous for the hip-hop industry to be more culturally diverse and how we approach and expand it globally business wise. Music is a very, very different type of industry. Music is a people/person business. Nine times out of ten, if the music is good, people will grab hold to it. We’ve found that throughout the world. Hip-hop started in the basement and has now grown to the No. 1 selling music on planet Earth. We’ve found that it’s touching people’s hearts.
The most positive thing hip-hop brings to the table is the rhythm of the music. Most hip-hop rhythms are based on African rhythms. Africans are very sexually oriented; the body is really a form of art, so we have to look at it from an artistic perspective. I went to Zimbabwe with Andy Young in 1985, and women were walking around without bras and showing themselves and the men were not walking around looking at them with their tongues hanging out because that was a cultural expression. In our society, where sex and money rules…we should not take it in a sexually promiscuous connotation.
Wilford Wondera (originally from Kenya)
When trying to make business investments in Africa, first and foremost, you must know the environment, the current culture, and know what markets to invest in. More importantly, people tend to bring products or investments that are not in line with what actually can be obtained on the ground. We need to have that research done so that we can be able to know what is required in the market before you go out to invest.
Kenya is in the process of democratization. The government has gone a long way in developing that country. The cultural industries and tourism are doing very well as far as economic development. We are veering away into industrial development, too. We need investment industries to come to provide jobs and to create an environment to grow into more than third world countries. There is potential out there. Right now with the new government, we need industries that will go a long way in helping develop countries.
I don’t think panhandling in Atlanta or Africa is hurting tourism. This can be taken care of by the government and has nothing to do with tourists because you see beggars all over the world. It’s a part of life. It is not at a high multitude that it would discourage tourists for that matter. The AIDS pandemic is a problem; I must accept it, in Kenya and Africa for that matter. Kenya is at the crossroads of fighting it and would like to use the donor agencies with the billions of dollars that are pouring out to fight it and educate the masses so they can try to eliminate it if not reduce the pandemic in Kenya. I know there are agencies that are really targeting this course. Right now, it’s a big problem that we must accept.
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