Author: APO Group

African Energy Chamber  (www.EnergyChamber.org) Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk will attend the Ninth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-IX) in Cabo Verde on the 13^th – 17^th of September 2021 where he will contribute to and drive a collaborative discussion on what a just energy transition looks like for Africa.

Focused on ensuring Africa’s climate change mitigation strategies coincide with, rather than restrict, Africa’s economic development, Ayuk will bring a valuable perspective to the conference.

Organized by the Economic Commission for Africa and the Government of Cabo Verde, with partners the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank, CCDA-IX will take place under the theme ‘Towards a just transition that delivers jobs, prosperity and climate resilience in Africa: leveraging the green and blue economy.’ The conference serves as a prelude to the Conference of Parties to the United …

Senior development practitioners and experts are scheduled to participate in the 15th IsDB Global Forum on Islamic Finance to discuss unleashing the potentials of Islamic finance to spur economic recovery post Covid-19 pandemic.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Institute is organizing the forum as a virtual side event to be held on 28 August 2021, in conjunction with the 2021 Annual Meeting of the IsDB Group. The theme of the forum is “The Role of Islamic Finance in Post-Covid-19 Economic Recovery of IsDB Member Countries.”

In the wake of the global economic upheaval triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the forum will focus on tapping Islamic finance to mobilize resources to support IsDB member countries’ economic recovery efforts and tackle rising inequalities and extreme poverty.

IsDB President and Chairman of the IsDB Group, H.E. Dr. Mohammad Al Jasser, is expected to deliver the keynote opening speech.

Following this, the Acting Director …

As the world observes International Youth Day, Africa is producing a growing number of young entrepreneurs who are adopting new ideas to bring more affordable, quality food from farm to fork.

This year’s theme is “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health”, putting the spotlight on the role of young people in achieving the success of such a global effort.

“Africa’s youth play a key role in scaling up the continent’s agricultural production that can transform Africa’s food systems. On International Youth Day, we celebrate Africa’s next generation ‘agripreneurs,’ whose innovations in agribusiness are helping to feed Africa,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, at the African Development Bank.

Ikenna Nzewi is one of those agripreneurs. The Nigerian-American is CEO of Releaf, a Nigeria-based smallholder farmer food procurement company focusing on industrializing food processing in Africa. In keeping with this year’s …

On International Youth Day, the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) announces the enrolment of 130,000 users in its Coding for Employment digital skills program.

The milestone comes as Coding for Employment works to equip African youth with information and communication technology, entrepreneurship and soft-skills training to compete in a digital economy. The program’s online platforms offer in-demand technical courses such as web development, design, data science and digital marketing – for free.

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in lockdowns and school closures across the continent, the Coding for Employment platforms experienced dramatic increases in the number of users. During a one-week period in September 2020, registrations skyrocketed by 38.5%. Through the Bank’s partnership with the Government of Nigeria to launch the Digital Nigeria eLearning platform (https://bit.ly/3xKrJsd) during the pandemic, Coding for Employment has hit a combined total of 130,000 students. Registered students are achieving …

The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated that for Africa to be able to transform herself, and become the epitome of economic empowerment and self-reliance, she needs to have the wherewithal to be able to protect and optimise the resources at her disposal.

To this end, President Akufo-Addo, speaking at the EBII Africa Investments Risk and Compliance (IRC) Summit, on Friday, 30th July 2021, at the University of Oxford, has admonished African governments to build robust financial compliance systems, and ensure strict enforcement of these systems.

Speaking on the theme “Financial Crime Compliance and ESG – The Future of African Investment”, the President stated a recent report has put the cost of financial crime compliance across all financial institutions, globally, at an all-time high of $180.9 billion for the year 2020.

Part of the reality in Africa, according to President Akufo-Addo, is that there …

Imperial (www.Imperiallogistics.com)is pleased to advise that in F2019 and F2020, it created value of R146 billion ($10.23 billion) and R98 billion ($6.86 billion) for its stakeholders and communities in Nigeria and South Africa respectively, as confirmed by a recent Socioeconomic Impact Assessment study undertaken by Accenture.

“Imperial plays a key role in connecting Africa and the world and improving people’s lives with access to quality products and services. As a purpose-driven organisation with Environmental, Social and Governance imperatives embedded in our business strategy all our businesses remain committed to not just creating but sustaining value for all our stakeholders across our 25 countries of operation”, says Mohammed Akoojee, Imperial’s Group CEO. “We take a holistic approach regarding value creation wherein value is created not only for Imperial but also for other stakeholders in the value chain, including the development of our communities and countries of operation.”

In assessing …

Kuwait’s Al-Sumait Prize (www.AlSumaitprize.org) for African Development today announced that Dr Ismahane Elouafi, the first Chief Scientist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (www.FAO.org/home/en) of the United Nations has joined the Al Sumait Prize Board of Trustees.

Dr Khaled Al-Fadhel, Director General of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) (www.KFAS.org), member and rapporteur of Al Sumait Board of Trustees, said: “we are privileged to welcome Dr. Elouafi, a distinguished scientist and a leader who has espoused passionately the improvement of the quality of life for African societies.”

Dr Elouafi has been a board member of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the  USA; the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), the UK; and the Professional Development Institute, Canada. She is also a member of the Scientific Group for the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and of the CGIAR …

This week, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power helped to kick off the Prosper Africa Build Together Campaign at the Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit. As announced by Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Senior Director for Africa Dana L. Banks and reinforced by Department of Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo, the campaign is a targeted effort to elevate and energize the United States’ commitment to trade and investment with countries across the African continent under the Biden-Harris Administration.

USAID will play a leading role in the Prosper Africa Build Together Campaign, joining 17 U.S. Government agencies—and working hand-in-hand with the private sector, African governments, and multilateral organizations—to bolster trade and investment in key sectors such as clean energy and climate smart solutions, health, and digital technology. Through this next chapter of the Prosper Africa initiative, USAID is committed to driving billions …

Global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has affirmed the African Development Bank’s (www.AfDB.org) credit rating at ‘AAA’, with a stable outlook.

Fitch said the triple-A rating was driven by the ‘extraordinary support’ of the Bank’s shareholders.

Fitch views the Bank’s risk-management policies as ‘conservative’ and assesses them as ‘excellent’, in line with AAA-rated peers. “Concentration risk is ‘low’, with the bank’s five largest exposures accounting for 32% of total banking portfolio at end-2020.”

Bajabulile “Swazi” Tshabalala, Vice President for Finance and Chief Finance Officer of the African Development Bank, said: “The affirmation of the Bank’s triple-A ratings by Fitch, recognizes the very strong shareholder support our institution benefits from, as well as its strong capitalization and risk management capabilities. The affirmation also speaks to the importance of the Bank’s public policy mandate, particularly during these very challenging times.”

The global ratings agency assesses the Bank’s overall exposure to …

The African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) and the Government of Ethiopia have signed two separate grant agreements for new projects to boost youth employment and electricity trade between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The grants fall under the Bank Group’s concessional lending window, the African Development Fund, and will go towards the Productivity Enhancement to Support Agro Industrial Parks and Youth Employment Project worth $47 million, and the $71 million Ethiopia-Djibouti Second Power Interconnection Project, which aims to boost electricity trade between Ethiopia and neighbouring Djibouti.

The industrial parks and youth project will see the development of irrigation and water management infrastructure around the Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks, offering opportunities for graduate “agri-preneurs” to establish agro-related, commercially viable businesses. The $102 million venture is being co-financed with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), with a $5.25 million contribution by the Ethiopian government.

Under the scheme, 12,607 ha of …