When it comes to Africa, Apple’s website lists a a number of countries where the iPhone is officially available from South Africa to Egypt, Kenya to Senegal. One country which is not on the list is Tanzania, which is surprising since they love their phones here.  Even the poorest Tanzanian I’ve met has one and vendors on the streets of Kariokoo market in Dar es Salaam sell credit for as little as 500 Tsh (0.20 cents) for all the networks.

I’m pretty sure it’s legal to clone an iPhone — many other vendors now have ‘touch’ interfaces — but I’m not too sure Apple would be pleased about seeing their logo on the back of this gadget. Still, I don’t think Steve Jobs should worry too much, at 200,000 Tsh ($110) it’s way out of the reach of most people here.

You will note also in the above video that the Chinese iPhone has a SIM card. A distinct advantage over the device from which it was cloned. No lock-ins here in Africa and no need to jailbreak your device. Hear hear!

In September 2001, while images of New York’s tumbling towers were being shown on a loop on all television screens in Mogadishu, business leaders there were not too much concerned about geo-politics - yet.

Instead they kept telling me they were looking forward to paying taxes.

Taxes,  in their view, were better than security, transport and energy bills they had to foot themselves in the absence of any working government.

Of course, Somali entrepreneurs already ran banks, telecommunication networks and soda bottling plants. Crucially, they also were in charge of hospitals, schools and security.

Deals were being enforced without courts or even legal framework.

A couple of years before, in Alexandra, one of Johannesburg’s poorest townships,  a single mum working as a self-employed baker approached me with a sudden request: “Where can I find a container? Help me!”.

At the time, the unemployment rate in Alexandra was up to 70 or 80 percent.  Sewers were running out in the open — less than a mile away from Sandton,  Johannesburg’s new banking and business district.

Living with her two young children in a shack, the young mum was earning a living selling buns outside a school.

She knew she had a market and wanted to corner it. She needed capacity - in the form of a container where she would store raw material, set up proper baking facilities and a stall to conduct her business.

I have no idea whether she eventually found a container - and I certainly could not help. But she and thousands of other entrepreneurs like her have been seizing and creating similar opportunities across the continent.

This is what the BBC World Service  Power of The Private Sector series has been showcasing all week on Focus on Africa and Network Africa.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it’s like inside an IMF conference on Africa in the economic slowdown then look no further. This video was recorded 11th March 2009 in Dar es Salaam.

Back then it was my 14-year-old self sitting at home in Johannesburg and just about comprehending that the white-haired man walking out of jail in Cape Town was going to change my life forever. Since then I have seen planes hit towers in New York and an African American elected to the White House and a woman chosen to lead an African country: for good or bad, these are my Mandela moments.

Well, here’s another one. It’s the rapid death of a sacred economic cow that has got my attention. Here we go again – history in the making. It really seems like the tectonic plates of the world’s economy have shifted since September last year. Up until then we were all living with the effects of a 1980s revolution. Off the back of a century of Western economic exploitation, for almost two decades the spirits of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher bossed Africa around through the powerful IMF and World Bank. It was private enterprise or bust – with the abdication of state responsibility thrown in for good measure.

The upside of this is that small and informal private enterprise has, to some extent, benefitted. The small internet café owner in Nairobi, Kenya for instance knows that he or she must sink or swim – as do the myriad of informal traders in the bustling markets of Abuja and Addis Ababa. There’s no unemployment insurance for them – and, apart from South Africa, no social welfare net to catch those who are unemployed. Without a state or large multinational bank to rely on – and with just their wits as start-up capital – perhaps these entrepreneurs will still survive the collapse of economic orthodoxy as we know it. All this week we have heard from the IMF conference in Tanzania that Africa will not escape the global recession, but maybe we should look beyond free-market capitalism to other threats for small businesses on the horizon.

As it happens, BBC Focus on Africa magazine will be in shops in the next few days. The new issue looks at what is next for Africa – now that capitalism seems to be on its knees. You may be interested to know that the continent is in for yet more imperialism – this time from the East where, in China at least, a strange mix of Western-styled capitalism and authoritarianism exists.

China and India, contrary to what some may think, will continue to probe the continent looking for hidden riches – laying our railway tracks and digging in our mines (or at least directing operations there). So Africa needn’t worry about whether or not to expect continued interest from the dragon and the tiger across the sea - what with the economic downturn and all. Oh no. The real question is actually whether or not Africa will be prepared for what is undoubtedly going to be continued interest. China will continue to grow as will India – albeit at a slower rate. And Africa will still be the fuel to that fire. Do African leaders have the strength (and the spines) – not to mention the integrity – to stand up to those who may bully for economic profit? And does our civil society have the strength to make sure that these governments behave?

Speaking of the sea – did you know that come June Africa can expect a massive underwater cable (SEACOM) to spark into life. This promises to deliver not only better broadband for internet users along the east coast of Africa, it may also reduce the cost of doing business for those struggling to keep their enterprises above water (so to speak). It’s not the first time that such a fibre-optic cable has stretched up the coast – for instance West Africa has one at the moment (have a look at this map from the latest Focus on Africa magazine)

But telecommunication companies in West Africa involved in the SAT-3 cable have been accused of artificially driving up the cost of accessing the cable through monopolies. I guess this points to what should be the focus of any meeting or clashing of heads over this economic crisis – how to keep the small business owner afloat in his or her battle against poverty.

Just look at the export list. First, there’s coffee, and not just any old coffee; Ethiopia is aiming to break into the speciality market, with trademarked regional varieties.

Then there are roses and other cut flowers, and fancy, out-of-season vegetables. And there’s chaat — the narcotic leafy plant much chewed in the Middle East. And finally - tourism; not the sea-and-sand, Club 18-30 kind (well, Eritrea also got the beaches) but up-market holidays for older, richer people interested in culture and antiquities.

In fact the only necessity at the top of the export list, the only thing which Ethiopia sells to poor people, is pulses — peas and beans and lentils.

Now the world recession is on us, people will still eat lentils. In fact they may eat even more lentils, if they can’t afford steak. But what about the rest?

Tourism is starting to show signs of strain. There’s been a time lag, because some holidays for this winter season would have been booked well in advance, before the downturn began to bite. But some operators — especially those with a lot of North American clients — have now had to cancel departures for March and April because they don’t have enough bookings to make up the groups.

Flower growers have just warned of a downturn in the Dutch market, the gateway to Europe for most of their flowers. Faced with a likely 40% drop in demand, they are frantically trying to diversify, to sell to Dubai and Saudi Arabia, Dubai and the Far East.

But that still leaves coffee and chaat. And the good news is that both are addictive. And the bankers and brokers, savers and investors in the once-rich world may need a good cup of coffee even more, to help them through the hard times ahead.

Still, we managed to get several Tanzanians on air at the Coco Beach bar and heard their views on the impending crisis. Special thanks to WHYS regular Adam who heard us on FM 104 — a local World Service rebroadcaster — and turned up to take part.

The podcast is here.

Some of the contributors left to right: Emmy, Dina, Jacqueline, Salim and Ranjiv

And a massive thanks to the World Service business unit’s Rob Young who’s quick thinking with batteries saved our equipment from getting fried. Cheers Rob!

11:05 A question has been posed: “Washington-lead governance is over? Do you agree?”

11:06 Not many in support of the motion which was posed by Jeffrey Sachs yesterday.

11:07 What is Tanzania doing to drive private entrepreneurship.. . . ? Asked to President Kikwete directly.

11:08 He seems a little fazed by the question . . . Trevor Manuel from SA has stepped in to help.

11:12 Same Q to Senegal’s Abdoulaye Diop.

11:14 Bob Geldof’s on . . . watch out: “Unless we pull the poor into the system it will not stabilise.”

11:16 Sir Bob: “Dar es Salaam is rife with corruption” . . . Kikwete’s response not recorded.

11:18 Sir Bob to President Kikwete: “You snigger instead of naming these thieves.”

>>>>>>>>>>> Click here to hear Sir Bob Geldof

11:19 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is on now, she is a strong speaker: “My continent is hurting . . . ”

11:26 Trevor Manuel on the IMF: “These organisations have a built in recalcitrance to change . . ”

11:27 Trevor Manuel re the USA financial crisis: “If that had been any African country the IMF would have been all over you like a ton of bricks”

11:29 Dominique Strauss-Kahn, MD of the IMF: “I’m hoping the G20 will give some answers. The crisis is the first in history that originated in another part of the world and which will affect Africa”

11:20 DSK: “We need to change the governance of our organisation”

11:34 Trevor Manuel: “The IMF is not a donor agency it’s a devlopment finance institution.”

11:35 Trevor Manuel: “We [Africans] are too weak to engage with the experts [from the IMF]”

11:35 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria: “We need to mobilise the diaspora to help . . let’s try and encourage them to come back home” Food for thought . . any Africans outside of Africa care to comment

11:36 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I’m gonna give you fireworks. We want a change in global governance. Women — that’s an aspect that hasn’t been put on the table. Even on this table [APPLAUSE!]”

11:39 The moderator has a question for President Kikwete again “What are you doing?” You can’t deny, it’s a direct question . . .

11:40 President Kikwete “The issues are difficult to comprehend” Very true . . . very true.

11:40 President Kikwete: “The current crisis has not yet hit us. There is an impending crisis.”

11:42 President Kikwete “I’m trying as much as I can.”

11:43 Bob’s on again . .

11:44 Sir Bob: “We built a leveraged society and there’s no more leverage”

11:45 Sir Bob has calmed down a bit: “Whatever hopes DSK and Kikwete have about the IMf and Africa this is about a different relationship between Africa and the world. don’t go anymore with the attitude of being supplicants. We go into the G8. The G8 which has done so little . . forget the word PROMISE . . it comes with emotional issues. Why don’t Africans say WHERE’S THE MONEY” Echoes of Live Aid in 1985 which I’m sure many of you will remember. Actually, I don’t think he’d calmed down at all . . .

11:49 Trevor Manuel from South Africa is on again: “The impetus in wealthy countries tends towards nationalism in times like this. It’s the electorate that matters”

It’s been a dynamite Kikwete v. Geldof session. I’m posting a video of it soon.

12:02 DSK: “You need to have meeting where everyone is represented . . that’s the strength of the IMF and the World Bank. African voices may not be strong enough but there IS a voice.”

12:06 An unknown minister is on: “People have accepted that Africa is at the table. Will they listen?”

12:07 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “African leaders need to hold an alternative forum and invite the G20 to come [APPLAUSE]. We don’t know how to manage our own media relations. We should hold it in London.”

12:09 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “Africans developed Europe. With the resources taken from Africa Europe developed.”

12:10 President Kikwete “What Ngozi said is important. We may organise that meeting and they may not turn up. E.g. in the SADC region we have this annual consultation between SADC and Europe . . it is supposed to be at the ministerial level. . . and no ministers from Europe come except senior officials. And this is suppoed to be a consultative forum!”

12:16 Trevor Manuel is talking about ” . . . people in the IMF who write and look and behave exactly like each other. You need diversity to engage differently. The problem is there’s been one song sheet, one gospel . .. you were rewarded for taking the gospel to the heathens out there in Africa. The institution has to change”

12:20 Trevor Manuel: “We don’t have a banking crisis like the united States has. African countries have sound financial regulation.”

12:22 Trevor Manuel: “Between Zimbabwe and ourselves [SA] we probably have 90% of the world’s platinum. Same for DRC and Zambia re copper. If people don’t have money for jewellery it has an impact. It’s different from industries in Detroit that have surpassed their life.” A harsh message for car workers in the USA.

12:30 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “President Kikwete is doing a wonderful job” Some support for the Pres at last . . .

12:32 Linah Moholho, governor of Botswana’s central bank: “The IMF is prohibitively expensive in technical assistance. Decision-making is still skewed in the direction of the Gs . . G8 . . G20.”

12:35 Mr. Akwetey of Ghana: “Kikwete’s approach is commendable but inadequate. We need to find methods of getting people to comprehend what is difficult.”

12:36 Sir Bob is putting his faith in the internet: “It’s not up to presidents or parliamentarians . . . the access to the web means they must engage with civic society. Who appoints the regulators . . .? We’re all the victims of this massive Ponzi scheme which everyone participated in.”

12:40 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “The NGOs have to get to gether to make sure the NGIs — Non Governmental Individuals –are put to one side.”

12:41 President Kikwete: “My friend in Ghana . . . I will give you the assurance that we have a civil society in Tanzania that is free.”

12:57 President Kikwete: “I’m going to London on the 16th to communicate to Gordon Brown our sentiments. We’ll try as much as we can to communicate this message to the G20. Thank you you’ve made us proud. It is an honour for us to host this meeting. Africa is the last frontier in man’s development. Something is being don but what is being done is not enough. Promises are not being kept. Keep the promise. Thank you for coming.”

13:10 Dominique Strauss-Kahn: “For some in Africa it’s not just about unemployment it can be about life a death. We need to act now. It’s time to keep promises — resources of course but all the other kind of promises too . . . fighting corruption. Advanced economies have to have in mind they have a responsibility to the citizens of the world”

13:15 DSK: “Advanced economies need to be less arrogant” . . . He’s including himself when he was French finance minister . . . “I can be proud of many things done by the IMF in the past.”

13:17 DSK: “We are your institution. You need to use us but you need to be confident that we are on your side. In the coming months and unfolding crisis we wil be able to found a new kind of partnership”

That’s it

. . .  and is famous for hectoring governments to keep their promises of aid to Africa. I put it to Mr Sachs that Africa had received a lot of aid to date and asked him what good more aid would do?

It’s easy to think everyone in Africa is worried about the economic crisis which we in the developed countries report on a great deal but many here in Tanzania haven’t even heard of the phrase and when asked how business is they’ll simply say it’s ok. Putting on a brave face perhaps or has the crisis yet to hit Africa?

These two guys were playing Bao at a market just outside Dar es Salaam. It looks impenetrable but from an old chap nearby where I’m staying I’ve just received a much-photocopied piece of paper dated 1971 from the National Museum of Tanzania. It’s called ‘How to play Bao’ and is written in perfect English.

Problem is I’m still none the wiser.

I’ll perservere and if I can fathom what’s going on I’ll post my thoughts here. Till then, it’s kind of therapeutic just watching them while away the afternoon with the kete (the stones) and the mashimo (holes).

Click here to listen to Ranjiv (3 mins 37 secs)