We as Africans need to trade more among ourselves as well. For example, Zimbabwe imports her petroleum from the Middle-East, and has to pay for them in US$ which she doesn't have at the moment, yet Angola and Equatorial Guinea have such a commodity.

The West has established organisations like the Trilateral Commission, tasked with ensuring the continued dominance of the America, Europe and the East. No such organisations are formed in Africa. The only time African leaders get together is to give each other a pat on the back for maintaining tyranny, gerontocracy and kleptocracy.

An excuse economists give is that Africans cannot trade with each other because their currencies are weak. Rubbish. The western nations have an agreement to buy each other's currencies periodically to prop them up. Whenever these discussions come up, I always hold up the Zimbabwe dollar, with its image of Great Zimbabwe, the symbol of a bygone age of prestige and prosperity and the US dollar, with its Satanic symbol and ask people- most of them Christian- which money they really should value, then I quote Jesus' utterance, Whose inscription is on this?

The culture of trade within Africa has to be fostered. Not brought down from high along with political slogans, the people have ceased trusting their politicians so much they will instinctively reject the idea. The media, however, can play a role in shaping new attitudes towards African business. Just as American movies extol the American Dream, authentic African cinema should define what African business is all about.

Blacks in the West too can support this drive through buying African products. More and more companies are putting up websites. The US$ goes a long way in Africa.

For a country like Zimbabwe, however, there is still the problem of bureaucracy, and a government that is paranoid and delusional, which treats any private business venture outside the oligarchy with suspicion. There are too many restrictions, too many forms to fill, too many fees to pay, and this is just for the company namesearch, registration and the licence alone. That needs to be sorted out as well.

Once this gets under way, we won't need Western markets. They will still need us, though, and we should be geared up to dictate terms and conditions.

Well, let's do business, shall we?