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The country scores very low on the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings and Transparency International’s corruption index. The US State Department warns that there have been recent investment disputes involving American companies that have not been paid by the government, while there are “few established mechanisms to compel the government to pay investors”. It cautions that: “Bureaucratic procedures are neither streamlined nor transparent, and can be extremely slow for those without the proper connections.” Two incidents highlight the risk of doing business in the country. In February, a South African businessman, Daniel Janse van Rensburg, was released after being imprisoned since December, apparently after a deal with a local businessman with ties to the president went wrong. In the second case, Italian businessman Roberto Berardi, who partnered with the president’s son Teodorin in a construction company, is serving a sentence in Bata prison after he was convicted of charges of misappropriation. Berardi says he was unjustly jailed after demanding an Map showing explanation from Teodorin about why their uatoria uinea company was named in a US investigation, oi and ga f e d Reuters news agency reports. Reaching the market The government controls the broadcast small, low-skilled communication media through one state-owned agencies in the country and it is difficult to television station and radio station, while find people with the appropriate training Teodorin owns a private radio station. Harland says the newspapers he However, international satellite television saw were in Spanish, while English is widely available. was not widely spoken. He also noted a Similarly, newspapers and magazines proliferation of billboard advertising. COUNTRY FACT FILE are limited and are also largely state-owned. The country may have declared Reaching consumers via the Internet itself open for business and may be Language: Spanish is hardly a mass-market marketing spending millions of dollars on upgrading Currency: Central African option, as there are only around 42 000 infrastructure; but Harland says that, while CFA franc users, of which nearly 33 000 subscribe the people were friendly, “there was an Population: 736 300 to Facebook, according to the website air of tension around the place, as though (World Bank, 2012.) Internetworldstats.com. people were being very careful to follow Capital: Malabo Medias Communication, founded by the rules”. Gross national income per capita: Jose Luis Rodriguez Méndez, calls itself Despite the concerns, the country US$13 560 (World Bank 2012) the largest marketing and advertising attracted investment of US$13,5-billion Per capita income on a purchasing agency in Equatorial Guinea and lists in 2012, the fifth highest in sub-Saharan power parity basis: the president as one of its main clients. Africa. Becoming the ‘new Dubai’, though, US$22 300 (World Bank 2012) According to Méndez, there are many still seems to be some way away. Third quarter 2014 strategicmarketingafrica 47 45-47 Country Focus v2.indd 33 2014/06/26 3:46 PM