Carol Pineau

Carol Pineau knows something about Africa that American business needs to know - Africa may be a continent of wars and disasters, but it is also a continent with the world's fastest growing stock markets, the highest return on direct foreign investment, and savvy entrepreneurs who seem able to surmount the most unbelievable hurdles. In her groundbreaking documentary, Africa Open for Business, Ms. Pineau documents Africa's surprising business potential. The film premiered in April 2005 and has screened around the world at such high level venues as the Cannes Film Festival, World Economic Forum, The United Nations, UNESCO, U.S. Congress and Department of State.

Ms. Pineau is a journalist who has specialized in Africa for more than a decade and is a frequent contributor to CNN Inside Africa. Throughout two postings in Africa, as well as several assignments worldwide, Ms. Pineau has interviewed both Heads of State and rebel leaders, covering many of the world's major hot spots. From the battlefields of the Eritrean/Ethiopian war, she reported live for CNN on, what was at the time, the world's biggest war. From Belgrade, she covered the NATO bombings, and from East Timor she reported on the newly independent country's first elections. Carol Pineau reported live on the first-ever genocide conviction at the UN Tribunal for Rwanda, did exclusive reports from a secret military base in rebel-held Eastern Sudan, and was one of the first journalists into Nigeria after the fall of the military dictator.

Carol Pineau has also reported extensively on the changing face of Africa. While living in Paris in the 1990's, Ms. Pineau hosted and reported for RFI's (Radio France Internationale) Crossroads, a half-hour world-wide radio show that reported on Africa, for Africa. The program featured stories on Africa's trouble spots, as well as business, trade, culture, and more. She also presented African and international news for the French overseas television RFO (Radio-Television de Frace Outre-Mer).

Ms. Pineau is the author of numerous articles as well as a book. She currently lives in Washington with her husband and daughter and is working on a new documentary on Africa's emerging markets.