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Welcome to AFRICABIZ,

Welcome to Africabiz Online Synopsis RSS Feed edition. Previous issue available at this link.

Dear faithful reader,

HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS YEAR 2002

AFRICABIZ team wishes you all a very successful business year 2002.

BusinessAfrica™ NEW WEBSITES AND THE BROWSERS' WAR

If you are an old faithful reader / visitor to businessafrica.net africabiz.org or countries briefs, you will notice that AFRICABIZ Online inaugurates year 2002 with completely revamped look and design.

The team was working on it since some times ago in order to easily manage the growing "complexity" of the websites.

However, what you do view - being a faithful visitor or a new passerby - will highly depend on which browser you are using.

At the bottom of all pages of the websites the following mention had been added: WEBSITE OPTIMIZED FOR INTERNET EXPLORER FROM VERSION 4.5 AND ABOVE.

Putting that mention, we are not taking side in the browsers' war and promoting Microsoft IE against other browsers and particularly Netscape. We deeply apologize to the users / fans of Netscape and Opera browsers in particular.

We feel obliged to do so because Microsoft IE is truly the only and single browser which displays integrally and faithfully BusinessAfrica™ websites layout, settings and configurations.

And we invite you to judge by yourself.

For the test let's consider the latest editions of the three most used browsers: Microsoft IE Version 6, Netscape Version 6.2.1 and Opera Version 6.0.

Please kindly do use alternatively one of these three browsers to visit the following links: 1- businessafrica.net; 2- africabiz.org and 3- Benin.

You will notice many glaring shortcomings from Netscape 6.2.1 and Opera 6.0 in comparison to Internet Explorer 6.0 - which are extensively exposed here.

Things are even worse with the Copyright page where a big chunk of the main text and relevant images are simply nonexistent when viewed with Netscape 6.2.1. Opera performs better. Only three images are missing.

In conclusion we rightly felt obliged to clearly mention to our visitors that the website is optimized for Microsoft Internet Explorer.

All that said, Internet Explorer 6 also has some annoying shortcoming such as stopping to load or inadvertently interrupting an important surfing session. Click here to review "Control Your Desktop" which deals with the problem.

"CONTRIBUTOR'S GUIDELINES" are available here. You are invited to contribute to AFRICABIZ ONLINE MONTHLY ISSUE - with articles related to "How Africa Could Bridge The Developing Gap".

Many thanks for subscribing to Africabiz. See you here next month on February 15, 2002.

Dr. B.M. Quenum
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Business Opportunities

ETHANOL / BIO-FUEL PRODUCTION'S ENERGY BALANCE PROBLEM

in previous delivery a simulation was made to evaluating the saving resulting for a landlocked country which produces ethanol as bio-fuel substitute to fossil based energy.

Figures exposed in this Table give several costs of production of bio-fuel from different feedstocks. Now is knowing the least costly feedstock enough to selecting the best raw material to producing the best ethanol / bio-fuel?

- WHICH IS THE BEST FEEDSTOCK?

Asking that question boils down to asking two main closely linked questions:

a)- Which feedstock acquisition / production / purchasing price is the lowest for the ethanol plant b)- Which feedstock provides the best Energy Balance. In other words which feedstock produces ethanol which energy content (plus the energy content of byproducts) had a positive balance versus the energy content to producing the feedstock.

Table here available gives answer to question a). However the least costly produced feedstock does not have necessarily the best Energy Balance.

- CHOOSE THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY FROM THE START

This very short consideration of the problem of ethanol production's energy balance highlights the paramount importance of selecting the right technology from the start to produce Ethanol bio-fuel / alternative to fossil fuel as here extensively exposed.

Feasibility Study and Business Plan should be implemented thoroughly to covering extensively all the aspects linked to the Energy Balance problem here extensively covered.

-In order to obtain the best ethanol plant African decision makers should be careful not to acquire outdated or obsolete technology. Not to purchase a second hand plant to save pennies!

Control Your Desktop

SOMETIMES INTERNET EXPLORER 6.0 MAY BEHAVE WEIRDLY AND EVEN STOP LOADING

Some day ago during a very important business conference call using CogniConference facility the browser freezed and spoiled the conference session.

After a period which seems to last for ever a Windows Alert screen pops up stating the following: "Microsoft Internet Explorer had encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience and so on."

At the bottom of the panel two buttons shine: "Send Error Report" and "Don't Send". I pressed upon Don't send and IE restarts again.

Few days latter, as soon as I punched the quick launch IE logo in the system tray, the infamous Alert Panel pops up. IE refuses to load.

I start thinking and searching for the reason for all that weird behavior. Oh yes, I deleted few days ago a third party Add-on to IE and certainly the discarded tool either left with some "dynamic link library" (DLL) or just corrupted them to let me know that it is not easy to disuse its service!

- You may encounter the same problem with Internet Explorer 6 even if you do not delete any utility / Add-on. I have noticed also that the pop up of the Error Panel occurs inadvertently from times to times.

HOW TO TROUBLESHOOT THE PROBLEM

If you ever suffer from such a weird and annoying behavior of Internet Explorer 6, don't panic. A solution exists. Proceed as follows to troubleshoot it:

1- Start / Settings 2- Control Panel / Add Remove Programs 3- Highlight Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and Internet tools 4- Click on the Add / Remove button at the bottom of the Add Remove Programs' panel. A new panel shows up with three options: 4- a- Add a component (to IE) 4- b- Repair Internet Explorer 4- c- Restore the previous Windows configuration (which means that you will be deleting IE 6 and reversing to the former browser version existing before you installed IE 6).

Freebie Of The Month

THIS IS NOT A FREEBIE BUT A BIG BARGAIN: SAVE TIME MONEY AND ENERGY ON LONG DISTANCE TRIPS / USE COGNICONFERENCE.

Instead of traveling long distance to meet with business partners around the world or contact family members scattered overseas, BusinessAfrica™ give you the opportunity to have working sessions with employees, partners and so on around the world and around the clock from the comfort of your office or house.

CogniConference is a new service from BusinessAfrica™ Communication Center which allows you to conference with business partners, parents and so on for a tiny fractional cost of the trip to the conference destination.

No flight - with security concern - no hotels booking, no meals and your health / energy conserved for better purposes at home!

You will be spending - using CogniConference - only 14.9 cents/minute for each participant.

Compare that astounding offer with flight ticket cost, plus hotel booking cost and accommodation hazards. A trifle!

And no set up fee using CogniConference while Big Telecom - such as AT&T conference call - are charging US$15 setup fee for each call, plus 68 (Sixty Eight!) cents PER MINUTE, PER PARTICIPANT on the call.

No doubt CogniConference is a real bargain time savior, money savior and energy booster!

A typical conference call with 10 participants for 30 minutes with AT&T is well over US$ 200, while CogniConference for the same call is well under US$ 50.

I have used it myself and it works well. -Click here to set up your account with CogniConference now and save money on long distance trips.