For maverick entrepreneur Ian Cox, Africa is the last frontier of free enterprise. The former small-time hustler has been busting his ass on the continent for years, selling and moving merchandise. In 2012 he nabbed a lucrative United Nations contract to transport equipment from South Africa to South Sudan, a country on many countries’ embargo list. The other problem: the journey north entails passing through countless checkpoints and dealing with bribe-happy officials and their nonsensical paperwork and regulations.
Photographer and filmmaker Tim Freccia followed around Ian and the guys he hired for this job. Cowboy Capitalists documents their attempts to navigate the continent’s dangerous roads and bureaucratic chaos.
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Watch our other documentary about truckers in Africa, West African Truckers.
Tim Freccia was a guest on The VICE Podcast Show last week to discuss living in conflict zones.