Controversial “anti-Bono” to join SABMiller’s board
Dambisa Moyo, 40, completed a Doctorate in Economics at Oxford University and holds a Masters from Harvard University. She has a Bachelors degree in Chemistry and an MBA in Finance at the American University in Washington D.C. and worked at Goldman Sachs for eight years in the debt capital markets, hedge fund coverage and global macro-economics teams. Previously she worked at the World Bank in Washington D.C.
In her book Dr Moyo argues that western assistance has given rise to a dependency culture in developing countries. Her book has sparked a furious response from aid organisations angered by the attention given to the former Goldman Sachs strategist, also named by Time Magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world.
Trust SABMiller to latch on the opportunity to recruit a high-profile, pro-business woman to their board. If anything, Dr Moyo’s reputation as an intellectual sparring partner for white western males who have made Africa their domain (from economists Paul Collier, William Easterly and Jeffrey Sachs to rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof), makes sure that SABMiller’s engagement in Africa will continue to receive investors’ support.
After all African and Asian markets (where volumes are but profits little) contributed almost 40 percent to SABMiller’s EBITA in their past financial year ended March 2009.
The outlook for African economies is fairly mixed. According to the OECD’s recent report on Africa, the international environment facing Africa has turned decisively negative. GDP in the OECD countries is expected to contract by 4.3 percent in 2009 and to be virtually flat in 2010. Growth in emerging economies is also expected to slow dramatically.
In turn world trade is expected to contract by 13.1 percent in 2009 – the first decline in world trade in 60 years.
African countries will be hit hard by the global meltdown, especially those that rely on the export of commodities. Most commodity prices have fallen back to their 2005 or 2006 levels, many of them registering declines of 40 percent or more.
As a result, prices of exports have fallen by more than prices of imports. For many countries, the persistence of high prices for internationally traded food continues to contribute to a food crisis situation, especially for the urban poor.
Economic growth in Africa is expected to be only 2.8 percent in 2009, less than half of the 5.7 percent estimated for 2008. It is expected to rebound partially to 4.5 percent in 2010.
