Author: Opinion

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…

Three significant news items went on the global wire on 25th February 2021 as follows; 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]. Convergence Partners, a leading Pan African Private Equity fund[3] entered into an agreement with Nasdaq listed Inseego (INSG) to acquire…

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.

Concerns about the pandemic especially with new fast spreading mutations, heightened political activity and uncertainty around the shape of business and economic recovery continues weighing heavily on risk asset pricing in the local market.

The distribution of vaccines is off to a slow start especially in the developed countries while locally, news flow indicate vaccines will be available later this month than as previously indicated.

Debt service is putting tremendous pressure on East African governments because of limited foreign exchange earnings; therefore the Covid-19 vaccination program for East Africa will give investors confidence in most sectors especially agriculture and tourism which are major foreign exchange earners for the region.

The foreign exchange gains will lead to a positive trickle-down effect to the different businesses and general population.

English sea-faring merchants would pay banks to cover them in case of a shipwreck and if the ship returned safe from its journey the bank would keep the premiums.
A premium so paid covers the cost of insuring the individual and provides assurance to the insured that in the event of a loss he/she will be covered.

Across the Global South, agriculture is essential to livelihoods for the majority of women at the base of the pyramid (BOP). Modernising agribusiness value chains in climate-smart ways will be a key element in building emerging economies, combating food and income insecurity, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. This modernisation must take a gender-progressive approach, which requires a shift in the investment landscape to better integrate gender, from capitalising women-led companies to ensuring women farmers are empowered across the value chain. Not only are such approaches vital to SDG 5 (Gender Equality), they are directly relevant to climate action…

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic gripped the world with shock and overwhelmed the health care systems of most nations. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel human coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, which began in Wuhan, China on December 8, 2019, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020, with over seven million cases globally as of June 7, 20201.  In July 2020, over 663,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in Africa with more than 343,000 recoveries and 14,000 deaths. 324,211 cases were recorded in South Africa with 4,699 deaths, followed by 34,854 confirmed cases…

With a view to nation-building and inclusive growth, South Sudan is seeking investment in hydrocarbon exploration, infrastructure development and power generation capacity, with opportunities to be showcased at the upcoming South Sudan Oil & Power 2021 Conference & Exhibition in June. South Sudan represents one of the fastest-growing frontier markets on the continent, driven by a renewed transitional government with a commitment to economic growth, infrastructure development and an oil revival. Led by H.E. President Salva Kiir, the newly formed unity government is prioritizing infrastructural development and exploration activities, with a view to rebuilding the nation, improving the standard of…

In the last century, the fashionable and accepted route to success for young Africans was to complete their education and join the corporate world. A few university students aspired to become entrepreneurs; most educational institutions did not offer entrepreneurial programs. With few exceptions, African families used to guide their children to join a leading multi-national or work for a state institution, hoping they would climb the corporate ladder to become CEOs or at least senior management. That was prestigious until the paradigm shifted to tech entrepreneurship with the emergence of the computer, mobile and Internet industry in the latter part…