Author: Opinion

The African Energy Chamber predicts that oil markets in 2024 will stay balanced and somewhat flat, with only marginal growth. Aviation-driven liquids product demand—primarily from the US and Asia—likely will comprise over 50% of global demand during the next 18 months. Another key driver will be industrial demand, particularly from the petrochemical sector in the Middle East, Asia, and the US, along with power generation projects. Six months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 is no longer a health emergency, it’s still difficult to fully grasp the far-reaching damage the pandemic has inflicted, from the tremendous toll on…

Behind every discovery in the African energy industry, final investment decision (FID), and first oil announcement in our continent are companies of all sizes. Collectively, these companies are validating the long-held assertion by the Africa Energy Chamber (AEC) that the African continent represents the next frontier for energy exploration and production. Where international corporate divestment from Africa’s oil industry is occurring, smaller players are taking up the slack. Behind every discovery, final investment decision (FID), and first oil announcement in our continent are companies of all sizes, advancing our energy industry and bringing Africans closer to realizing the energy security…

As AfCFTA becomes a part of the daily business environment, governments and businesses need to know how product standards and regulations protect traders and the society. Governments need to create an enabling environment for investors, which becomes more attractive to foreign direct investment if harmonization of standards exists. Other trading blocs such as the European Union are strong because they collaborate on standards and compliance regulations. The African continent presents huge potential for growth, and the recently introduced African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement promises to underpin trade facilitation and economic expansion, becoming the largest free trade area since…

Yield-chasing investors have poured money into Africa, but an emerging, recent challenge for the continent is that in a now higher interest rate environment, investors don’t need to come to Africa to find higher returns.

Even US treasuries are now yielding far more attractive yields than just a month ago: three-month government bonds offer 5.32 per cent, while 2-year bonds offer a yield above five per cent. Yields have risen in part in response to Fitch’s recent downgrade of the US from AAA to AA+, echoing S&P’s move in 2011.
African bond issuers, spooked by the high-interest rate environment and refusing to issue bonds above the psychological barrier of double-digit yields for Sub-Saharan African bonds, continue to wait it out on the sidelines.

South Africa’s poultry sector is currently undergoing serious challenges. The ongoing load shedding and power disruptions have put tremendous pressure and additional costs on the industry, which makes producing poultry products extremely expensive. One company (Astral Foods) has spent an additional $47.56 million (R919 million) due to load shedding alone. This has had a significant impact on the profitability and sustainability of the company. To make matters worse – South Africa’s poultry sector has been hit with a significant avian influenza epidemic.

Contrary to the general belief that Nigeria is the giant of Africa, incessant violence and armed conflicts have drastically reduced the influence of Nigeria on the continent. Despite its huge resources, Nigeria still suffers from poverty, inequality, unemployment, insecurity, corruption, high fuel and commodity prices, and other political and economic hardships. The biggest threats to Nigeria’s stability include bad governance, electoral mal-practices, corruption, economic hardship, inflation, terrorism, kidnapping, and ethnic divisions. It is one of Africa’s behemoths. A country with vast resources and immense complexities. Boasting the largest economy of all states in Africa, Nigeria has long been considered one…

The Cortex Hub and Angel Fair Africa have reached the milestone of a decade of nurturing innovation, fostering entrepreneurship, and connecting African startups with investors. The initiative aimed to create an innovation hub in the Eastern Cape to unlock the latent potential of the region’s emerging talent pool and drive technological innovation and break down barriers hindering growth. It was initiated by the author, who had previously worked in the ICT field during the apartheid era and had a personal interest in driving technological advancement and economic empowerment in the region. In a landscape defined by the ebb and flow…

Africa has a capacity of 125GW of hydrogen, second only to wind in terms of renewable energy. The Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA) aims to produce 30-60 million tonnes of clean hydrogen annually to add up to $126 billion to the continent’s GDP by 2050. The gas is an environmentally positive fuel with low emissions when produced with electrolysis powered by renewable energy. There’s a new powerhouse in African renewables. And it has plenty of experts talking about it. The report “The State of African Energy 2Q 2023 Outlook,” recently released by The African Energy Chamber (AEC), discusses the current…

Africa possesses huge renewable energy potential, including 60% of the world’s best solar resources. There is 1,300GW of wind energy potential in the sub-Saharan region, and a capacity to produce 5,000 megatonnes of hydrogen annually. However, to realize this potential, Africa must invest in infrastructure development, and build effective grid systems. Africa must establish robust energy storage facilities, and create favorable policy and regulatory frameworks. Of the nearly 1.5 billion people living on this continent, how many of us know just how blessed Africa is with renewable energy resources? (Modafinil) How many of us know that Africa has the potential…

Despite the worldwide call commanding the global business community to divest from fossil fuels and shrink their carbon footprints in the name of net zero, international oil companies (IOCs) still recognize Africa as their next frontier.