Sandy Dhuyvetter: Welcome back to
Travel Talk Radio. My name is Sandy
Dhuyvetter. We have with us somebody
that’s been on the show quite often
and I can’t tell you the amount of
traffic that he is bringing to the
website. You are all very interested
in Africa, and you are all very
interested in The Corporate Council
on Africa, and we are all very
pleased to have back with us the
President and CEO, Stephen Hayes. He
is in Washington, DC, just back from
Kenya and Ethiopia and, by the way,
I’ve heard he just had dinner with
Hillary Clinton, so we will quiz him
on that, too. Thank you, Stephen,
for joining us again.
Stephen
Always happy to Sandy, it’s a
pleasure.
Sandy: It sure is great to have you
on the program. You have realy done
a great job on educating us and
entertaining us actually, too, on
Africa. There’s so much to talk
about. This continent is huge and I
was just looking at our home page at
TravelTalkRADIO.com. We played a
“Best of” show not too long ago and,
sure enough, you were right there on
the top of the chart. So you are
mentioned, I think you've got 3
different segments on the homepage
so, congratulations!
Hayes: Well, that’s great!
Sandy:
Yeah, and I also want to say that we are going to have a
transcript of this so if you are
interested in reading it, we are
going to have that, too. By the way,
welcome back home. You were just at
Kenya in Ethiopia?
Hayes:
Right, I was over at the annual AGOA
forum, which is the Africa Growth
and Opportunity Act. We've been a
key part of that; we headed the
private sector forum for that. The
AGOA forum is actually a meeting of
ministers, all trade ministers from
throughout Africa, as well as a high
level US delegation. In this case,
the US delegation was headed by
Hillary Clinton.
Sandy: And so, you were there and I
heard you had dinner with her?
Hayes:
Well, we had dinner with her before
she left. She had called ten, I
suppose, advisors or whatever you
want to call it, to have dinner with
her before she left in Washington
over at the State Department. So, we
had a two hour dinner to discuss her
trip to Africa and the issues that
each one of us thought should come
to fore while she was there and that
she really needed to address. So, it
was a very good dinner, and I was
also lucky enough to have the seat
next to her. So, it was an excellent
dinner.
Sandy: Nice, and you found her
charming?
Hayes:
Yes, I did. I found her very, very
personable. I understood the level
of support she has, and I think
she’s going to make a great
Secretary of State.
Sandy: Seems like that. You know,
what I find so interesting [is] we
had President Obama just lately in
Ghana. We have, of course, our
Secretary of State Clinton in Kenya.
There seems to be a lot of attention
to Africa right now.
Hayes: Well, I think there should be for all kinds of reasons. The Secretary of
State went to seven countries and I
know she said that she was far more
committed to Africa than even that
before she started the trip, after
she came back. There is certainly
the energy needs. Everybody knows
that, well, most people know, that
Africa is going to supply about 25%
of our energy needs. So, that makes
Africa important to us just
economically. But, I think given the
economy and the challenges that we
have in our own economy now, I think
that Africa offers one of the best
new markets anywhere in the world
and I think a greater US-Africa
business relationship would help
both the continent of Africa and the
53 countries on it, as well as the
United States.
Sandy: You know you said 25% of the
energy is going to come from Africa.
Is that to the US?
Stephen Hayes:
To the US. That's right.
Sandy: Very interesting. How will
that be? Will that be in solar or…?
Hayes: No, I mean in terms of oil. Our oil needs are, 25% is coming from Africa.
And so, that makes that supply
vital. It's possible that that could
grow over time, too. Particularly,
also, if we go to natural gas.
Africa has enormous resources in
reserves in natural gas. So, we are
going to be dependent on Africa for
our energy needs for several
decades.
Sandy:
You know, I realized when I said
“solar,” I don't know how can
transfer solar, but certainly solar
energy would be huge there, too, it
seems.
Hayes: In terms of Africa's own energy needs, there is already quite a bit of
solar energy experimentation. It’s
still difficult to get the price
down for solar energy as compared to
other, more traditional forms, but I
think it’s got to be a part of the
future, especially in Africa. So
yes, there is a great opportunity
for those people who are investing
in solar energy, particularly as it
regards to Africa. But Africa's
energy needs are going to be
enormous as well, so to be able to
buy energy they are going to have to
sell energy in terms of traditional
supply of oil, and then invest in
other forms of energy for their own
consumption.
Sandy: When you think in those
terms, within ten years the
continent could be very strong,
couldn't they?
Hayes: Well, I think economically it’s a continent that just has some enormous
potential, in terms of almost
anything. In terms of your own
traditional audience of the travel
industry, it’s just beyond enormous
the opportunities [that are] there
in any country. Ethiopia has great
untapped tourism potential and so
forth. The economic potential of
Africa is enormous, but they’ve
still got to overcome quite a few
obstacles to meet that potential.
Sandy: True. We work a lot with
Ethiopian Airlines, and I don’t know
if you have had the opportunity to
fly them yet, but my hat goes off to
them They have really kept that
country together, making and keeping
routes going with not a whole lot of
passengers, just in making sure that
the open skies at least in their
world, stay open. Do you have
trouble when you travel across to
Africa having to come in and out?
Hayes: Well, not really since I have been going to the main ports, but if you
are trying to go [from] one country
to another, it’s far more difficult.
I'm glad you said what you did about
Ethiopian Airlines; I think they are
one of the best ones in Africa.
Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airlines,
and South African Airways are all
members of The Corporate Council,
and I think all of them are
critically well run but I think
especially, of late, Ethiopian
Airlines is just a very well managed
airlines. I think they just won a
big prize in London…
Sandy: Oh good! We are going to
take a quick break and when we come
back, we've got Stephen Hayes. He is
the President/CEO of The Corporate
Council on Africa, a very, very
important organization. We are going
to talk a lot more about it.
>>>>>>>>
Sandy: Welcome back to
TravelTalkRADIO. My name is Sandy
Dhuyvetter and we've been talking
about Africa. And, if you have been
to Africa, you know exactly what I
mean. It tears at your heart
strings. It’s something that just
gets to you. It grows on you. You
start loving it, and there’s just no
turning back. I've had my eighth
trip to Africa. And we are talking
to Stephen Hayes. Stephen, you
must’ve had what, 50, 100 trips to
Africa now?
Hayes:
It’s probably close to 50, that’s
right, certainly this decade.
Sandy: That's amazing. Stephen Hayes
is the President and CEO of [The]
Corporate Council on Africa. He’s in
Washington DC. He just got back from
Kenya and Ethiopia. We've been
talking a little bit about, not only
his trip there, but some of the
things that are going on in Africa,
not only in tour and travel, but in
all industries and opportunities
[that are] amazing. Now, you are
getting ready for the big summit and
it only happens every two years, so
you must be very excited about it.
Hayes:
Well, excited is one way to put it.
Nervous, apprehensive, yes. It’s the
major US-Africa business meeting of
any kind and we expect, because it’s
in Washington DC this time, we
expect about 2,000 participants,
business people from throughout the
United States and Africa. We've
already had two Cabinet Secretaries
confirmed for this: the Secretary of
Commerce, the US trade rep. I am
very optimistic that we will have
the Secretary of State and,
hopefully, we will have the
President of the United States also
here. We have about ten African
presidents already confirmed for
this, as well. So, it’s a major
program both economically,
politically, and socially, as well.
It’s the key business event in terms
of US-Africa economic relations. If
anyone is interested [in] investing
in Africa in a range of areas, be it
tourism, energy, infrastructure,
health, any number of sectors, then
they really need to be at this
summit.
Sandy: Now, this is going to be at
the end of September, correct?
Hayes:
Right. September 29th-October 1st.
But, this is actually going to be a
summit week in many ways. Before the
summit on the 28th and 29th,
we are doing separate what we call
"no-compete" workshops: Doing
Business in Ethiopia, Doing Business
in Nigeria, and Doing Business in
Angola. Half day workshops. They’ll
be free to anybody that’s paid to
come into the summit. So, those are
going to be important and,
afterwards, we are having by
invitation-only bilateral dialogues
with South Africa and Nigeria.
During the summit itself, we will
have 64 workshops, a number of
plenaries and, of course, quite a
bit of major speeches from what we
hope will be the President of the
United States, but certainly from
his senior Cabinet level, as well as
other African heads of state.
Sandy: If
you were a company outside of The
Corporate Council in Africa, and you
could see that the opportunity was
very much in Africa, what sector
would you probably put your finger
on?
Hayes:
I think that the agro-business
sector and the tourism sector [are]
two areas where American companies
can really benefit [and] where they
also have a comparative advantage.
Every country in Africa needs
stronger agro-business sectors.
Every country in Africa can produce
agriculture, and we need to
strengthen that trade relationship
and I think there’s a real role and
need for US agro-business. I think
tourism is another area where it’s
just unlimited potential, country by
country. What really needs to happen
though, is that the infrastructure
needs to be built to make tourism
work and to be able to get crops to
market and that’s one of the major
challenges of Africa is
infrastructure and the lack of it,
and a lot of our summit will be
concentrating on developing that
infrastructure.
Sandy:
You know, it’s so interesting when you mentioned Angola,
because I was in Angola and, of
course, they are out of a 30 year
war maybe four or five years ago.
So, they are still rather fresh, but
while I was there we had professors
in from Hawaii that were talking and
training some of the farmers on
growing pineapple, and it was very
interesting to see that. And then
they had another group there that
was turning the land mines in to
grape vines and they called it
"mines to vines." A lot of things
like that happening, huh?
Hayes:
Well, Angola is one of the countries
that [are] really booming and its no
accident that the Secretary of State
had that on her itinerary, also.
It’s a huge country with only 13
million people, so there is almost
unlimited land to be able to use, in
particularly, in agriculture. Also,
Angola is going to be our largest
producer of oil in Africa, passing
Nigeria before long. It’s enormously
important to the United States and
it’s just a country with great
potential that’s beginning, just
starting to do things the right way.
Sandy: Wow, very interesting. I am
talking to Stephen Hayes. He is the
President and CEO of The Corporate
Council on Africa. We are going to
take a quick break and come back and
do a little bit more of that
talking.
>>>>>>>>
Sandy: Welcome back to
TravelTalkRADIO. My name is Sandy
Dhuyvetter, if you have not been to
our website, please come on over to
TravelTalkADIO.com, or even open the
door at TravelTalkTV.com, or
TravelTalkMEDIA.com. You will go all
into that same area that has the
programming, the archives, photos,
[and] links. It’s so wonderful
[that] radio just doesn’t go just
out into the airwaves anymore. We
really can just put our arms around
that and keep it for you as long as
you like. [Commercial message
omitted.] We are talking to the
President and CEO of The Corporate
Council on Africa, Stephen Hayes.
You know, we became a member not too
long ago and I am just blown away at
what I get as far as information
every day, Stephen you've got a
great staff.
Hayes:
I do. I'm very proud of this staff.
I like to tell the people in
Washington [that] I'll put this
staff [up] against anyone. It’s a
very dedicated staff. It’s
relatively young with very talented
[people] and really very committed
to the US-Africa relationship. I
think I'm very fortunate. [I have]
two Rhodes Scholars on staff as
well, and so it’s a smart staff.
Sandy: It certainly is. And now you
also put out, and this is for
members and we will talk about
membership, but I wanted just to
kind of tease it by saying that
every day we get The Corporate
Council on Africa daily news, and it
is spread across the whole
continent. And every day, it is
filled with news. You do a great job
on that, too.
Hayes:
Thank you. Well, the Daily Clips
just concentrates solely on business
and as you know, Sandy, you don’t
see any of that in newspapers.
There’s an enormous amount of
business deals being done in Africa
that this country just doesn’t know
about. And, I think that our Daily
Clips have become the best source on
business information on Africa in
this country.
Sandy: It is the best. I want also
talk, too, [about the fact that] you
do video conferencing. Is it
tomorrow that we have the video
conference for the ambassador for
Ghana?
Hayes:
It’s the 28th, next Thursday, I
think it is. But yeah, every month
we do a live video conference for
our members with a selected US
ambassador in Africa. It’s an
off-the-record discussion on issues
that our members may have and also
what is going on in that country,
and it helps our members make better
investment decisions
Sandy: Absolutely. Lets talk a
little bit about members and who can
become a member, and do you have to
be a member to be a the summit that
we have been just talking about
[that is] at the end of September.
Hayes:
Let’s start in reverse. No, you
don’t have to be a member. You just
have to be able to pay. The members,
obviously, get lower rates at such
events, but the summit is open to
all who are genuinely interested in
Africa and who are genuinely
interested in investment
opportunities. If you are serious
about Africa, you can save an
enormous amount of money by going to
the summit. And, I say that because,
for less than an airplane ticket to
Africa, you can meet any number of,
almost [an] unlimited number of
African Leaders, African Ministers,
decision-makers, business people,
[and] potential partners from
America. Only though, if you are
serious, and then if you are, I
think it is the best decision you
can make.
Sandy:
You know, when you talk about the Ministers coming, I mean,
these people are Cabinet-level
people that will be there and I
would imagine you can network with
them personally.
Hayes:
Well, yeah you do. Any normal
business person can sit there [and]
talk with one of the Government
Ministers. Yeah, they are Cabinet.
That is the definition of an African
Government Minister is a
Cabinet-level member. And, we will
have at least 100 ministers from a
variety of areas and countries and
sectors. Ministries of Trade will
certainly be there, Ministers of
Health, Ministers of Tourism, and so
forth.
Sandy: Amazing. Let’s talk a little
bit about membership, is there a
criteria that you look at for
becoming a member?
Hayes:
Well, basically, if you are a
business and you have an office in
the United States, a physical
presence. In other words, you don’t
have to be a US company, per se,
but if you have a physical presence
in the United States. For instance,
Standard Bank of Africa is a member
of CCA. It’s the largest bank in
Africa, South Africa-based, but it
has offices in the United States so
it can join CCA, and it has. So,
membership is for businesses. I
suppose an individual can declare
himself a business, but he’d still
have to pay the same membership rate
as any other business.
Sandy:
Besides getting the clips, the CCA clips every day, and the
video conferencing, is there
anything else you can add to the
membership?
Hayes:
We do over 100 events a year. We
have a security working group. You
don’t have to be in Washington to
attend that. You can do that by
teleconference or call-in and be
there. But, we have a security
working group, we have a working
group on infrastructure that meets
monthly, we have a health industry
meeting every month, [and] so forth,
[and] conferences. We also have
research services. If a member needs
research on a particular market
area, then we have staff that will
write that paper out, [and] will
work on them and advise them. Even
for the largest of companies, they
often have a difficulty getting
meetings with people. We will set up
[for example], if you need a meeting
with the Nigerian Ambassador, and
you have got a good case for it,
then we will set up that meeting.
The ambassadors tend to respect us
and listen to us and we can get in a
lot easier than most companies for
such meetings. If you need advice on
going to country, you need advice on
who to meet, we will get that for
you, as well. Otherwise, by not
joining CCA, and trying to do it on
your own, you can go to, say, any
country and not have the slightest
idea of how it works, who to see,
[or] where to go. You waste an
enormous amount of time and an
enormous amount of money. I say that
if you are interested in Africa,
investing in Africa, a membership in
CCA is one of the best bargains you
can have. But if you are not going
to be use us, though, you’re wasting
your money. So, if somebody joins
us, they have to be committed to
using us.
Sandy: What I love about it [is
that] it’s like having a partner
without having to share the equity.
Hayes:
Well, I think it is. It’s an extended staff. It’s a lot
cheaper than you could pay a single
staff person to do what 30 of our
staff can do for you.
Sandy: Absolutely. You are
absolutely right. Are you going to
Africa again before the summit in
late September?
Hayes:
No. I’m not going to be traveling
anywhere now. I'm not even taking a
vacation until after the summit.
Sandy:
Well, I was going to ask you, every
time I've talked to you, you have
[just] been to Africa and these are
not short trips. I mean. It’s much
bigger than going to London or to
Paris. This is huge. As a traveler,
and I just wanted to get in your
head on that part of it, any kind
advice you might have for travelers
that are going to Africa?
Hayes:
Well, you know, be patient. That
would be the number one advice. The
airports aren't the same quality for
instance. They are a little more
crowded. You just have to be patient
but also, again, prepare in advance.
Make sure you have somebody to meet
you at the airport, not so much for
safety reasons, but for reasons of
ease and being able to move around a
lot more. So, you need to make
preparations more. You can’t just
fly into a city easily in Africa the
same way you can fly into London and
poke your way around. It’s more
exciting if you do, of course, but
it may be more excitement than you
want or need.
Sandy: Right, right, and if you are
there for business, you want to get
to business, so that’s the other
aspect of it as well.
Hayes:
That's right, that's right.
Sandy: Well, as always, we’ve really
enjoyed our time with you. Can you
believe it goes so quickly?
Hayes:
I have as well.
Sandy: Yes, we have, too, and we
will get you on against next month.
We are looking forward to being with
you in Washington DC in late
September at the summit. We invite
everyone that is listening to take a
look, come on over to the website,
link in to This Week's Program,
you'll see a picture of Stephen, a
link in to the CCA, [The} Corporate
Council on Africa and, of course,
you will get more information on
this wonderful summit. And it
happens only every two years, so
don’t be putting that off. You've
got to attend it with us. Thank you,
Stephen. We will talk to you soon.
Hayes: Ok, thanks Sandy.
Sandy: Thank you very much.
>>>>>>>
