Author: Opinion

Sahera Sumar is the epitome of what a global citizen represents. Having travelled to over 25 countries and delivered programs to diverse industries, sectors and cultures, Sumar has become a beacon of strength, knowledge and hope for women all over the world.

Equipped with her passion for capacity building and her expertise in leadership, talent and organisational development, Sumar is set to embark on her next big project.

The project; Worldwide SHEroes, will see successful global leaders engage, empower, enable and mentor women leaders; sculpting them into women who are admired or idealised for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

Worldwide SHEroes will provide women around the world with a global network of mentors and leaders who will share their collective wisdom. The goal of the platform is to accelerate the journey of women into positions of leadership and influence while at the same time improving their economic equity …

On 1 January 2021, trade began within the African Continental Free Trade Area (‘AfCFTA’). After years of preparation, and being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AfCFTA becomes the largest free trade area in the world based on the number of participating countries since the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) was formed and connects some 1.3 billion people across the African continent.

Among many other key developments under the AfCFTA, member states have agreed to remove 90 per cent of tariff lines on non–sensitive products within five years for developing countries and within ten years for least developed countries.

The AfCFTA seeks to provide member states a comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement that aims to boost intra-African trade. As noted by the World Bank, “[a]s the global economy is in turmoil due to the COVID-19 pandemic, creation of the vast AfCFTA regional market serves as a major opportunity to …

With a favorable geographical position on the westernmost point of Africa, an abundance of natural resources, and strong political leadership and stability, Senegal is set to transform its economy through the development of its energy sector. The country is endowed with vast natural resources, including significant natural gas reserves and renewable energy sources, and has committed to the diversification of its energy mix to meet rising energy and electricity demand.  With a clear presidential vision in which the energy sector is seen as a key driver of economic growth, H.E. President Macky Sall is pursuing increased investment in Senegal’s growing energy industry. Through the promotion of an attractive business environment, the implementation of industry supportive regulation, and an integrated sectoral approach, H.E. President Sall is transforming the country into an energy hub.

Also Read: 8th Angel Fair Africa to be held in Senegal

Senegal boasts immense oil and gas discoveries …

The first quarter of 2021 ended on a great note as two African fintech businesses gained unicorn status, a rare fit amidst a ragging global pandemic that is finally being aggressively tackled by the speedy supply of much-needed vaccines. Such is the African story – a trail of surprises in the midst of uncertainty. On 18^th March 2021, Airtel Africa announced it had received a $200M investment from TPG’s Rise Fund at a valuation of $2.65B making it the latest African unicorn[1]. Exactly a week before, March 10^th, 2021, Flutterwave from Nigeria also announced a $170M investment from Avenir Growth Capital, Tiger Global Management and others at a billion-dollar valuation[2]. In the tech world hitting a billion-dollar valuation is a big deal – you earn the name Unicorn, a mythical animal that represents the statistical rarity of successful ventures coined in 2013 by …

Insurance uptake in any sector is always influenced by the insuring public’s awareness about insurance. Other factors are secondary to the fact. 

A recent high profile insurance round table session discussed insurance penetration based on secondary factors like introduction of affordable products in the market, introduction of bancassurance into the market, agricultural insurance and micro-insurance. Other factors discussed included unhealthy competition in the market which leads to predatory pricing. Public awareness on insurance was touched on based on the need to create a risk management culture among the public and more so to educate the public on the benefits of insurance uptake. This round table however did not expound on how this can be achieved.  

Insurance penetration and its growth in the initial stages was mainly through insurance intermediaries comprising of agents and brokers and this drove insurance growth steadily upwards until the two started being …

There is a certain state of mind where someone is so sure something is true they consider all information as proof, and ignore everything that suggests otherwise. It is how the majority of the world’s population believed the Earth was flat long after measurements showed the curve on the planet’s surface and its changing position relative to the sun and stars. 

For, when you want to believe the Earth is flat, facts are only interference.  

And so it is with the current fashion for declaring that spraying locusts or any insects that eat part or all our crops is necessarily bad, even when there is no evidence at all that that is the case. 

Indeed, so extreme is the anti-pesticide noise that we are in danger of plundering our food output and increasing our dependency on Europe for generations ahead. Some have even have called it the new colonialism, in …

 Economic prospects are predicting that 2021 will be a happier year for Pension Schemes. The devasting impact of Covid-19 had far reaching implications on the pension sector, especially in 2020 caused by several factors.

Also Read: Covid Economics: Kenya’s navigation of debt relief

• We had massive payouts, especially in the hospitality sector as companies closed down and retrenched. Pension scheme members made early access to pension benefits to cushion their financial well-being.
• A number of employers could not afford contributions funding to pension scheme and So they adapted to this challenge by obtaining a reprieve from the Retirement Benefits Authority to have temporal suspension of contributions deduction and remittance.
• The stock market also had a significant dip in valuations occasioned decline in earnings from a number of counters especially banking sector.
• In 2020 the GDP growth dropped to 1% growth compared to the projected growth of about 5%.

Despite the …

As the largest economy in Africa, with huge gas reserves and high solar energy potential, Nigeria has all the natural resources necessary to meet the growing demand for electricity. However, the inadequate energy infrastructure still leaves a significant part of the population without power or relying on oil-fired back-up generators. If Nigeria can improve its energy infrastructure and unlock its gas-to-power generation potential, it paves the way to integrating low-cost renewable energy, bringing electricity and development opportunities to rural villages, driving industrial growth and employment, and increasing prosperity across the country.

There is no doubt that gas has an important role to play in meeting Nigeria’s electricity demand, but to achieve this, there is an urgent need to reform the gas and electricity sectors. The poor condition of the gas transmission and distribution system is a major constraint as domestic supply shortages and insufficient pressure severely affect the reliability of …

Three significant news items went on the global wire on 25^th February 2021 as follows;

1. Liquid Telecom, a member of the Econet Group that has laid more than 70,000km of fiber optic cable across Africa[1], raised $840M financing package (US$620M bond and a US$220M equivalent term loan in Rand). This was Liquid Telecom’s second bond issue and it was 5.5 times oversubscribed with JP Morgan Chase & Co, Standard Chartered Plc and Standard Bank Group Ltd as joint global bookrunners[2].
2. Convergence Partners, a leading Pan African Private Equity fund[3] entered into an agreement with Nasdaq listed Inseego (INSG) to acquire 100% of their subsidiary Ctrack’s operations in Africa and the Middle East[4].
3. Ecobank Nigeria, the largest country operations of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), issued a London listed $300M bond that was 3 times oversubscribed[5] and drew significant international

In the developed world corporates have big IT budgets so software is built, bought, integrated into existing systems because skilled developers and software packages tailored to meet the needs of businesses are abundant as corporate spend on IT.  

Throughout East Africa there are incredible inefficiencies in the SME business section all the way up to large corporates who struggle with limited budgets and limited skilled people to develop IT solutions and no-code platforms and tools mitigate these challenges by being both, affordable and easy for non-technical people to learn and use.…