From All Africa

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita became Mali’s president-elect after his rival conceded defeat in the August 11 run-off. The successful vote means that billions of dollars of pledged international aid should soon be on their way to help rebuild the country.

In 2012, the economy hit its first slump in two decades after a military coup and Islamist takeover of the north plunged the country into crisis. Business owners in capital city Bamako say the new government can not get to work fast enough.

The Kone family imports and sells cement. It’s a family business: father and son, husband and wife. The son, Souleymane Kone, said the March 2012 military coup cut business in half almost immediately.

“The investors pulled out. So all the big construction jobs were halted,” he said. “And on the local level, those with money are not spending it.”

His father, Abdoul Kader, said things are looking up.

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