The 2010 list of The Network Journal’s 40 Under Forty Achievers is the 13th in the history of this highly anticipated annual list.

By U.S. government accounts, the longest economic slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s came to an end on March 31, a date that sealed the third consecutive quarter of growth. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the country’s gross domestic product — the measure of its total output of goods and services — grew 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010 as consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in three years, after growing 2.2 percent in the third quarter of 2009 and 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter.

In the new wave of filmmaking rolling across Africa, there’s Nollywood, Nigeria’s $250 million industry, which, according to a May 2009 UNESCO report, has overtaken Hollywood as the world’s second largest producer of feature films, behind India’s Bollywood; and there’s Gollywood, the Ghanaian industry with a plethora of talent and gumption.

You are ready to step back into the job market after staying home with the children, but you don’t know where to start. Don’t worry: being nervous is completely normal.

African markets will benefit from millions of visitors heading to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which starts June 11. Tourism, transportation, food services and banking are among the sectors likely to post gains.

In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama announced a goal of doubling the country’s exports over the next five years to support two million jobs.

When starting a professional practice, or indeed any service-oriented business, here are your seven most important marketing tools (in no particular order of importance — they are all “must-dos” in my book).

In 1925, as I was graduating from elementary school in the eighth grade in Rankin, which is a little borough of Pittsburgh, a Croatian student and I who were planning the class activities realized that there were 57 of us and at that time, there were the Heinz 57 varieties.

It seems the credit-card companies have all the power these days, in spite of the benefits of the new Card Act, which took effect in February. If you make the decision to close your credit-card account, assuming your credit is in good standing, it might have a small impact on your credit score.

The eyes of the world turn to South Africa this month as the nation hosts soccer’s World Cup from June 11 to July 11, the first time that the world’s biggest sporting event is taking place in Africa.

Tom Rush is one of many African-Americans who have made South Africa their home. Like others, he sees abundant opportunities for U.S. companies, as well as some serious challenges.

Very few American politicians have been in office long enough to say they have defeated both a father and a son. Congressman Charles Rangel can make that claim having edged the redoubtable Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in 1970 and his son, Adam Clayton Powell IV, in 1994.

In the heart of New York City’s East Harlem community known as “El Barrio,” there is a new mecca, the FB Lounge, where authentic improvisational Afro-Caribbean and Latin music resides.

The German maker of a new tablet PC is setting out to rival Apple’s iPad with the promise of even more technology, such as a bigger screen, a webcam and USB ports.

Every year, on the last weekend of July, thousands of Caribbean-Americans cross the border into Toronto, Canada, for the culmination of Caribana, reputedly the largest Caribbean festival in North America. Celebrating its 42nd year, Caribana 2010 officially kicks off on July 14 and closes Aug. 1.

Inside the shabby backyard of the Maxson home, there is important work to do — finish building the fence. “Some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in,” Bono says.

Book review