Pan-African Firm to Invest in Infrastructure on the Continent
Africa50
is an infrastructure investment platform that contributes to Africa’s growth;
its COO, Carole Wainaina, talks to African Business about how Africa50 is
building a team to support its mission and describes some of its priority
projects in the energy, ICT and transport sectors. Infrastructure is essential
for development and affects industrialisation at all levels, be it building up
traditional manufacturing, which is a priority, to the fourth industrial
revolution based around ICT and innovative technologies. It helps diversify
production, expand trade, raise productivity, and lower costs. Road, airports
and ports open and connect markets; telecommunications enable information and
services; water and sanitation improve health; and electricity binds it all
together. In many African countries expansion of traditional infrastructure is
unlikely to keep pace with technological advances, so innovative technologies,
mostly in ICT, must bypass existing constraints by leveraging alternative forms
of tech-enabled infrastructure.
SOURCES: AFRICAN
BUSINESS MAGAZINE
What the Most Admired Brands in Africa Tell Us about Consumer Behaviour
Overall, African brands faltered to an all-time low 14% share of
the Top 100 most admired brands in Africa. Faced with a relentless focus on the
African opportunity and investment by non-African brands, Africa’s share of the
most admired brands has been rapidly declining over the past 3 years from a
high of 25% in 2013/4 to lows of 16% in 2015/6, 16% in 2016/7 and 17% in
2017/8. Non-African brands have entrenched their positions in Africa,
with North American brands, dominated exclusively by United States of America
brands (28%), leading with a growth of 17% versus 2017/8. The strength of USA
brands was boosted by the entry and/or re-entry of stalwart American brands
such as #71 Levi’s, #91 Chevrolet and Pepsi’s Miranda at #80, who are all among
the 20 new entrants. European brands (41%) are up by 2,5% and Asian brands
(17%) down by 10%, round up the continental spread of brands Africans admire.
The Brand Africa 100 rankings are based on a survey among a representative
sample of respondents 18 years and older, conducted in 25 countries across
Africa. Covering all African economic regions, collectively these countries
account for an estimated 80% of the continent’s population and 75% of the GDP.
SOURCES: AFRICA.COM
Building the First Waste to Energy Facility in Africa
Ethiopia’s largest rubbish dump Koshe was for almost 50 years,
home to hundreds of people who collect and resell rubbish trucked in from
around the capital Addis Ababa. It, however, made headlines last year when it
killed about 114 people, compelling the government to rethink an alternative
use for the site which is said to be the size of 36 football pitches. Ethiopia
has since turned the site into a new waste-to-energy plant via the Reppie
Waste-to-Energy Project which is the first of its kind in Africa. This forms
part of efforts to revolutionise waste management practices in the country. The
plant is designed to generate electric power from solid waste collected from
the capital. Incinerating 1,400tn of waste a day, the plant is meant to
contribute 185GWh of electricity a year to the national grid. But disputes
which was between EEP and two contractors, Cambridge Industries and its partner,
China National Electric Engineering Company led to the plant ceasing
operations after its inauguration.
SOURCES: CONSTRUCTION
REVIEW ONLINE
Lagos Becoming Go-to Place for Tech in Sub-Saharan Africa
The fading facades of century-old buildings in a neighborhood of
the Nigerian megacity of Lagos house a vibrant technology cluster that’s caught
the eye of Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. The Yaba area, home to the
Yaba College of Technology and the University of Lagos, is an emerging
technology ecosystem — from fewer than 10 startups in 2013 to more than 60
today, including businesses like booking site Hotels.ng. It also hosts digital
labs for Nigeria’s oldest bank, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd., and Stanbic IBTC,
the local subsidiary of Africa’s largest lender. Lagos, like other major cities
such as Nairobi and Accra, is at the height of this exciting expansion in
innovation across tech, with Yaba quickly finding itself at the center,” said
Chimdindu Aneke, program manager of platform partnerships for sub-Saharan
Africa at Facebook, which last year launched a hub space in the neighborhood.
SOURCES: BLOOMBERG
East Africa Plans to Increase Spending on Infrastructure Projects
But the question many ask is whether those countries can afford
it? Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi will unveil plans to fund the
building of more roads, railways and power plants, as well as expand services
such as health care and education, for the year starting July 1. In most cases,
this will raise budget gaps as a percentage of gross domestic product, and
increase borrowing requirements. Spending will probably climb about 10% in
Kenya in the next fiscal year, 17% in Uganda and 11% in Rwanda, while it will
be broadly flat in Tanzania, the nations’ respective governments have said in
forecasts. While the governments forecast that revenue will increase by double
digits next year, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania all have plans to approach the
debt markets to help raise the funds to finance their deficits. GDP in East
Africa will probably expand 5.9% in 2019 and 6.1% in 2020, according to the
African Development Bank, making it the fastest-growing region on the
continent.
SOURCES: CGTN
AFRICA
Remote Classrooms to Improve Higher Learning in Africa
Unicaf University is an African institution founded in 2012 in
Zambia with programs in fields like business, education and health care management.
Offering degrees largely online, with some blended learning options, Unicaf
reaches 18,000 students across the continent, many of them working adults.
Unicaf offers the convenience of anytime, anywhere study — as long as the
internet service is sufficient. Initially, Unicaf was essentially a
distance-learning platform, taking courses offered by British and American
universities, translating them to an online environment and marketing them to
Africans. Partner institutions set admissions standards, approve hiring and
determine whether students meet graduation requirements. The cost of a degree,
about $4,000, is not cheap by African standards, but it is within reach of the
region’s growing middle class, and many students receive scholarships. Ms.
Kamizi, a former safety worker in a mine, got a full ride after she won a
Unicaf-sponsored business competition with an idea for manufacturing low-cost
sanitary napkins. Africa’s longstanding public universities have wrestled with
the pressure to expand capacity without sacrificing quality, and not always
successfully, said Jamil Salmi, a higher education consultant and former World
Bank official from Morocco. Such universities have grown up, but they vary in
caliber and can be costly. Going abroad to study is an option for only a select
few.
SOURCES: THE
NEW YORK TIMES
Solving Nigeria’s 900,000 Housing Deficit With Blockchain
Rising population, rapid urban migration and uncoordinated
policy direction of the government are some of the critical factors deepening
the housing gap. Because of the scale of this deficit, innovative investment
solutions are all-important right now. Crowdfunding is a permissionless way of
raising money. So far, the trend of pooling capital from several retail
investors to finance a new or existing business venture has proven successful
in Nigeria. The growth of AgricTech platforms has provided a template for other
poorly funded areas of the country. Thrive Agric, which crowdfunds investments
for smallholder farmers, have funded more 14, 000 farmers with over ₦180
million ($500,000) raised in February, 2019 alone; and providing returns of up
to 20 per cent for retail investors. Currently, there are up to ten different
crowdfunding startups providing value in the agric space. Tokenisation on the
blockchain makes it possible to represent ownership in a property on an open,
distributed digital ledger. Simply, it means converting rights to an asset into
a digital token. Hypothetically, say an apartment of 50, 000 square metres cost
N30,000,000. That can be converted into 500,000 tokens (a token representing 10
square metres). Though blockchain is nascent and there are still few
regulations around the industry, there are some apparent advantages to
tokenising crowdfunded real estate projects.
SOURCES: AFRICA.COM
Difficulty Repatriating Revenues Earned in African Air Travel
The International Air Transport Association says that a number
of African countries are holding up funds by airline operators as a result of
foreign exchange crunch. At its annual General Meeting in South Korea early
June 2019, IATA said as at the ending of March 2019, five African countries
were holding a total of $413 million meant for airlines. Amongst them are
Eritrea, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Angola and Algeria. Eritrea is holding a total of $73
million of such funds with six million of the chunk belonging to Ethiopian
Airlines. Other airlines impacted by the same situation include Egypt Air,
Turkish Air and Fly Dubai. Reports say the financial difficulty had forced
Qatar Airways and Luthansa to abandon the route. According to the IATA,
Zimbabwe holds USD 192 million, Sudan 84 million, Algeria 80 million, Angola
seven million.
SOURCES: AFRICA
NEWS
Getting Around Africa’s Logistical Nightmare
Industries can make a variety of goods, but they struggle to
transport them safely and quickly to customers without established networks.
According to global property consultancy Knight Frank, the cost of transport
takes up 50-75% of the retail price of goods. But there is hope, from both
foreign investment and home-grown solutions. For example, in Nigeria, digital
start-up Kobo360 developed an app that revolutionises cargo delivery by making
sure that everyone in the supply chain is connected to ensure the safety and
accountability of cargo in transit. n the Senegalese capital, Dakar, more and
more people are shopping online, and getting goods delivered to your front door
is a growing trend amongst shoppers. Quicarry is a service that delivers
packages in Senegal from international ecommerce websites, particularly
targeting young adults. There are other start-ups in Senegal also trying to
offer new solutions, such as delivery app Paps, which aims to deliver anything
you want to your front door in half an hour. But technology isn’t enough to fix
Africa’s logistics problems – more support is also needed to help new
businesses get off the ground.
SOURCES: BBC
Will Nationalising Part of the Kenyan Flag-carrier Lift it Out of Debt?
Kenya Airways Plc. is willing to operate under a state-owned
holding company after the troubled airline failed in its bid to jointly run the
country’s main airport. Lawmakers in the East African nation are expected to
issue alternative proposals, including the possible partial nationalization of
Kenya Airways, after they last month rejected the airline’s proposal to operate
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with the state-owned Kenya Airports
Authority. The airline, which reported a $59 million full-year loss, is
proposing a model similar to Emirates Airline and Ethiopian Airlines
Enterprise, which operate as units of state-owned holding companies. Such an
arrangement would enable it to double its fleet in five years. Kenya Airways,
which is 48.9% owned by the government, is also on the hunt for a chief
executive officer after Sebastian Mikosz said he would step down before the end
of his three-year contract.
SOURCES: AL
JAZEERA