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Have you heard? Melbourne has vaulted Vancouver to become the best city in the world to live, according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Survey. Country City Top 10 Australia Melbourne Austria Vienna Canada Vancouver Canada Toronto Canada Calgary Australia Sydney Finland Helsinki Australia Perth Australia Adelaide New Zealand Auckland Bottom 10 Cote d'Ivoire Abidjan Iran Tehran Cameroon Douala Pakistan Karachi Libya Tripoli Algeria Algiers Nigeria Lagos PNG Port Moresby Bangladesh Dhaka Zimbabwe Harare A liveable city is one that is pleasant to live in, fun to spend time in and creates a desire to invest. In these economic hard times and dwindling federal government allocations, good liveable indices put a city ahead of the comp...

The Free Trade Zone is a catalyst to business growth and economic expansion. It is also known as the export processing zone, free export zone and special economic zone. Whatever name it is called should not bother us, as it has been noted that the different terms over time and space often reflect the specific activities carried out within a particular zone. What should bother us is why we have not taken advantage of this opportunity to grow our economy? Clearly defined, a free trade zone is one or more special areas of a country where normal trade barriers such as taxes, tariffs and quotas are eliminated and bureaucratic requirements are lowered to attract new business and foreign investments. Corporations operating within a FTZ may also be granted certain host country income tax breaks or holidays as an additional incentive. These zones are often located in an underdeveloped part of the host country, and the zones are expected to promote economic activities and thus reduce pover...

Nigeria’s potential as a Business Process Outsourcing destination is very bright, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Rajan Swaroop, has said in a report by the Punch Newspapers. Swaroop, who said this at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja, added that the mobile operator with Indian origin would help Nigeria to harness the possibilities of BPO in the country. According to him, through outsourcing, Nigeria can create over one million jobs within a short period of time if the potential is harnessed. The Airtel boss disclosed that one of its partners, Spanco, a specialist in BPO, planned to establish in Nigeria and use it as a hub of its outsourcing operations in the African region. He added that with increasing wages in India, which had a reputation as global outsourcing destination, Nigeria stood a good chance to reap from the global outsourcing business reckoned to be worth multi -billion dollars per annum.

In Nigeria, preowned cars take on the gloss of status symbol and have developed nicknames. The 2000 Honda Accord is widely known as "Baby Boy." The flashy 2003 Accord earned the sobriquet "End of Discussion." Then came the redesigned, equally impressive 2007 Accord: "The Discussion Continues."

Business experts at the just concluded West Africa Global Trade & Investment Forum in London advised current and potential investors in Africa "not to be caught up in the (business) hype" common on the continent reports 234next newspapers. David Cowan, chief economist and director of Africa at Citigroup, a multinational financial services company, said while "gold rushing (seeking for investment opportunity)" is important for investors in Africa, there are "simple rules" that need to be observed in order to succeed in business. "The first is, don't get caught up in the hype," Mr Cowan said. He said that the big hype at the moment around Africa is meeting the need of the middle class. "But there is no real middle class in Africa. There is growing wealthy elite and there is very rapidly growing poor population which in itself provides huge market opportunity for discerning investors," he added. Mr Cowan also said that invest...

REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE CONCEPT. Definition: A Representative Office is an office established by a company to conduct marketing and other non-transactional operations, generally in a foreign country where a branch office or subsidiary is not warranted. Representative offices are generally easier to establish than a branch or subsidiary, as they are not used for actual "business" (e.g. sales) and therefore there is less incentive for them to be regulated. FUNCTIONS • Coordinate your company’s activities and schedule appointments • Establish contacts with local clients by personal visits, phone calls, emails etc • Assist in business networking and liaison with local clients and prospects and attend meetings • Provide local logistics support including hotels and vehicles reservations, airport protocols, security escort arrangements and visas facilitation • Relate with relevant professionals, trade associations and government institutions • Offer market research assist...

This has become a familiar storyline... During a series of trips to Africa last year, Tim Solso had a realization: China was beating him at his own game. So the chief executive of Cummins Inc., a maker of truck and machinery engines, vowed to catch up. He plans to quadruple the company's sales in Africa to about $1 billion within five years, investing $15 million annually to train staff and build sales offices from Johannesburg to Casablanca. The company recently installed in South Africa an executive to oversee Africa operations, previously supervised from Europe and Indiana. Cummins joins a growing number of U.S. companies vying for a stronger foothold on the continent. Caterpillar Inc., the giant maker of construction equipment, is selling more trucks to Mozambique and Zambia. Harley-Davidson Inc. is opening dealerships in Botswana and Mauritius. General Electric Co. has its first aircraft-leasing office in Ghana for Central and West African airlines. Google Inc., Archer Dan...