By Kristine Pearson in Addis Ababa

When the London cabbie driving me to Paddington on Sunday asked where I was going and I replied that I was headed to Ethiopia, he said ‘What’s it like there now, is everyone still starving? Perceptions, it seems, aren’t easy to erase.

It’s my third visit to Ethiopia. I flew on British Airways from London to Nairobi and on to Addis Addis on Ethiopian Airways – voted Africa’s top airline in 2011.  My work takes me across Africa and I would agree.  This was a far easier than my previous trip here in late 2002, an exhausting 48 hours to reach Addis from West Africa with stops in Paris, Frankfurt and Cairo. That journey today would be a direct five-hour flight.

As a social entrepreneur and a fellow of the Schwab Foundation of the World Economic Forum, I’m here to attend the first Africa Regional Forum to be held in Ethiopia. This year’s theme is suitably Shaping Africa’s Transformation. And transforming it is.   Whirlwinds of change are gusting across the continent and will be reflected in our conversations – trade, growth, political stability, economic policies, the green revolution, business models, and investment, amongst others.  Africa continues to face seemingly insurmountable challenges, yet words like optimism, opportunity and innovation are more likely to be heard than poverty, famine and aid. Africans are discovering African solutions.

A decade ago I couldn’t buy a local sim card and had to use my South African GSM cellphone to make a call. There were only 17,000 mobile phone owners; now there are an estimated 6.5 million subscribers.  Today, instead of paying roaming charges, I bought a sim card from MTN Ethiopia In 2002 I paid $1 per minute for a dial-up Internet connection.  In my hotel now, it’s free and fast. Although still less than 6% of Ethiopians have Internet access, an hour online averages 18-30 birr (the local currency), or roughly between $1-2 at an Addis cyber cafe.

I’m excited to be here not only to see the immense changes that have taken place, but also to catch up with my Schwab Foundation network. There are 17 social entrepreneurs attending the Forum. What they achieve is always a source of inspiration.  It’s my ninth Africa World Economic Forum and I’m eager to see how this one compares to the others I’ve attended in Maputo, Dar es Salaam and Cape Town.

With any luck, events like this and new images from Ethiopia will help to reshape my taxi driver’s perception of this complex, historic, diverse and culturally rich nation.

Its great to be back at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. This is my 7th time attending WEF and there are lots of new faces as well as some familiar ones. There are approximately 2,500 delegates and about 150 South Africans – it’s definitely ‘our year’!

We’re hosting the big Saturday night soiree. Everyone attending received a neck scarf in the five colours of our flag and I am wearing mine with pride !

The programme kicked-off with a packed cocktail party last night with delegates then going on to private dinners. I attended dinner hosted by Schwab Foundation for social entrepreneurs and the community that I’m honoured to be a part of.

The way it works at the WEF is that there are concurrent sessions that start early, most of which you have to sign up for via their internal web-based system. They finish around 6:00pm and then crowds exit the Congress Centre to rounds of corporate cocktails and dinners with topics .

Sessions and workshops this year reflect the theme, “Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild”

This afternoon I attended a lively session on social networking which featured best selling author Don Tapscott and executives or founders from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and YouTube. The WEF totally underestimated delegate’s interest in the subject. I sat on the floor.

I also attended a discussion on design for the future; a workshop on Business Solutions to Rural Poverty and an amazing session with five people who had just returned from the front line in Haiti. It’s only 1730 and I still have a Harvard cocktail and a dinner on ‘Imagination’. What a full and stimulating first day!

To watch the latest sessions in Davos, please visit World Economic Forum Webcasts 2010

“It begins with a regions-wide consensus on action – home-grown, home-based approach to unity, progress and peace,” said His Majesty King Abdullah II in his upbeat opening address at the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea. The King was referring the bold Arab Peace Initiative, a negotiated settlement to finally end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.

I’m attending the event as a fellow of Schwab Foundation, which has brought together government, business and civil society leaders mainly from across the Middle East, although there are a good number of Europeans and Americans here with interests in the region.

Like with all WEF events, the discussion breakfasts start early, the dinners finish late and for me it’s the networking (and a float in the Dead Sea) that makes the journey worthwhile. The food is good, the service impeccable, the weather is sultry but not unbearable, and am enjoying connecting with people I haven’t seen for some time, especially the social entrepreneurs.