Great customer service is something that everyone expects but not everyone receives. A 2013 Forrester report, Navigate the Future of Customer Service, states that customer service is “moving from being a cost center to a being a differentiator.” And a report on call center efficiency from the International Computer Management Institute found that superior customer service creates real value for clients in efficiency and customer satisfaction, as well as business unit and strategic value.

The National Development Corporation of Tanzania owes its existence to one of the most significant figures in the story of Tanzania’s journey towards independence. The man who was later to found and lead NDC, Sir George Kahama was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industries in President Nyerere’s first cabinet, and one of his priorities in the two years he spent in the job was to draft the legislation that established NDC. It is worth quoting Joseph Kahama’s account of the original vision in his biography of his father.

A study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, called The Challenge of Speed and sponsored by Ricoh Europe, says that only one in ten financial services leaders believe they can rapidly take advantage of new opportunities ahead or adapt to unexpected changes in the future. This is in contrast to the average of two in ten European business leaders from all industries.

The news is a stark contrast to that of this time last year when the company was still reeling from the effects of strike action in South Africa’s mining sector, where much of the company’s iron ore and platinum activities occur.

Seeking to cement relationships forged during his Africa trip last year, President Obama will invite the leaders of 47 African nations to the summit, to be held in Washington DC. The move is widely seen as a response to the economic progress of the continent in recent years, and the involvement of China in much of it. In recent years France, China and Japan have led the way in upgrading diplomatic and commercial links with African states.

“As is typical of First Quantum, the project is doing very well and is progressing on-time and to budget.” Those were the words of John Gladston, Trident Resource Optimisation Manager, when we spoke during the summer of last year. The project he was referring to was of course the Trident project, the largest single project investment in Zambian history.

Doña Inés de Collahuasi, a Chilean mining company, operates the world's fourth largest copper mine. The operation comprises two principal porphyry copper deposits, Ujina and Rosario, as well as a smaller deposit called Huinquintipa that contains only sulphide mineralisation and copper oxides. It is a joint venture owned by two mining majors, Swiss-based Xstrata and London-based Anglo American, with 44 percent of the shares apiece.

ATS started life in 1996 by plugging a hole in the market. A Canadian minerals company working in Ghana and other African countries found it impossible to get the support it needed at its remote sites – like an army, an exploration company marches on its stomach. It hired an experienced facilities manager Jez Simms to meet its immediate needs, with such success that the unit quickly grew into an entity in its own right, taking its first outside contract in 1997.