Tuesday, March 19

Southern Africa

Energy Resources across Africa.Source Research Gate Oghomwen Igbinovia

As Africa’s role in the global economy continues to garner prominence, it’s imperative for the continent to seal the gaping hole in its power supply.

Lack of universal power access remains a major roadblock that has retrogressed industrialization and socio-economic development. Statistics from the World Bank indicate that Africa remains the least electrified region in the world, with 568 million people lacking access to electricity.

The Bretton Woods institution, further notes that the Sub-Saharan Africa’s share of the global population without electricity, jumped to 77 per cent in 2020 from 71 per cent in 2018, whilst most regions saw declines in their share of access deficits. It has become a Hobson’s choice for African governments to prioritize the power sector, which is the epicenter of industrialization, working towards Goal 7 of the UN SDGs; which advocates for universal access to affordable, reliable and modern electricity services.

Currently, Africa’s power is …

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A Data Centre. SDN cloud connectivity provider IX Reach is launching in East Africa in partnership with the Djibouti Data Centre. www.exchange.co.tz

Findings show that increasing costs in every market due to a year of supply disruption did not deter data centre demand in most markets including Nairobi and Johanessburg.

The two African capitals were among 44 other locations that were surveyed. 

According to the study, despite the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, demand remained relatively steady when compared to other industries owing to governments’ decisions to make working and schooling from home mandatory. …

Platinum bars. Sibanye Stillwater is the world’s largest primary producer of platinum, the second-largest primary producer of palladium and a top-tier gold producer. www.theexchange.africa

Given these enabling circumstances, KKR offered to buy out RJR and reorganize the business and optimize value from its operations. This initial attempt was not warmly received, and RJR sought other investment companies to purchase it. What then ensued was what members of the investment community call putting the company in play.

This describes a scenario where one company is actively pursued by several suitors who desire to purchase it. In the end KKR triumphed albeit having paid a massive premium for the company. Unfortunately, the company did not realize the gains that it had envisaged it would.

The Nabisco operation of the company was spun off into a separate entity and the tobacco interests were also kept separate. All the gains the company anticipated it would make were swallowed up by tobacco lawsuits so that by 1994 the KKR had all but written off its investment in RJR Nabisco.…

South Africa Loses

South Africa was already in a precarious economic position and did not need the recent social unrest that engulfed its main provinces. It was bad enough that the economy according to the IMF had contracted by 7% in 2020 due to COVID-19 induced shocks through lockdown, stoppages to economic activities and resultant job losses. The new threat to economic recovery that has emerged looks certain to push the country over the precipice to economic collapse in the worst case and in the best case, make its recovery slow and painful. Whichever way the die goes, it remains a serious catch-22 situation. The world watched with shock and horror at images out of South Africa of certain members of that society protesting and subsequently looting and wreaking havoc on privately owned businesses. What had begun as an isolated incident in the country’s KwaZulu Natal province quickly degenerated into a national crisis …

VISA GMSA Report e-commerce

The lockdown occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic saw new e-commerce users rise by 5 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 when compared to the active base the previous year.

This is according to a report by VISA, which attributes this to a preference of e-commerce to fill the void left by the closure of face-to-face retail, which was implemented across many parts of the world, including the region, to fight the viral disease.

The ‘e-commerce developments across Su-Saharan Africa’ report also notes the economic shocks that followed COVID-19 have reduced spending power across the world, including in the region, but the closure of physical stores has provided a growth opportunity for digital payments and e-commerce itself.

Where, how to invest in Uganda’s e-commerce

As such, VISA projects that e-commerce sales will grow to US$7 trillion across the globe by 2024, with the Asia Pacific, specifically, China, India, and Southeast Asia, …

www.theexchange.africa

The firm has undertaken assignments in 50 of the 54 African countries and employs more than 500 people in its network of over 20 local offices.

This latest partnership comes at a time when the firm’s latest London sales and lettings reports show that June was a record-breaking month for sales transactions, lettings, viewings and new prospective tenants registering.…

BBC South Africa Lockdown

Africa’s second top economy, South Africa is yet unhinged with the grilling impacts of the coronavirus, which has already taken more than 58,000 lives and infected more than 1.7 million in the country.

“In view of the rising infections, we have therefore decided to move the country to Alert Level 3.This will take effect later this evening once the regulations have been gazetted,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.

According to President Ramaphosa speech, different issues related to the adoption of the new alert level were raised and the national leader rallied people to embrace the new precautions for the longevity of the nation.

“We know that as difficult as the last 15 months have been, we have started to recover and rebuild. Although it has encountered several setbacks, our mass vaccination programme is gaining momentum and we are finally on the path to controlling the disease. But …

apple pay contactless terminal

Digital mobile payment platform Apple Pay last week silently went live in South Africa, with at least three banks supporting the service.

This is the first time the service is being launched in Africa.

How Apple Pay works

Apple Pay is the smartphone manufacturer’s payment and digital wallet system. Users of the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch can use the feature to pay online on various apps and at Tap and Pay NFC terminals. A bank card needs to be connected to the service.

Apple Pay allows users to load a supported banking card and use their Apple device – such as an iPhone or cellular Apple Watch – to make a contactless payment at supported NFC-based terminals.

Banks supporting Apple Pay

Following the launch of the service in Africa, three South African banks are listed on Apple’s website as partners supporting Apple Pay.

They are Absa, Discovery and …

zimbabwe food security

Zimbabwe's food security levels are quite low, but there is a promise of a better outcome from the previously anticipated situation. This is mainly because the country has received above-average levels of rainfall during the current rain season. There is hope that the expected bumper harvest will help bring resolution to the challenges of food insecurity.

However, there is still a need for food aid due to the deficit emanating from the two previous consecutive poor rainfall seasons experienced in most districts of Zimbabwe. The droughts resulted in poor harvests, which caused inadequate household food stock from personal production.…

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