Connecting Africa’s Skilled Professionals
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The demand for interim managers in the UK is increasing new research looking at the number of assignments started, in progress and completed by professionals on short term contracts has shown. The survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI and commissioned by Interim Management Association, saw an 18% rise in assignments in the last quarter of 2012. The average length of assignments also increased hitting 175 billable days over the calendar year, the highest recorded. Jason Atkinson, chairman of the IMA called the survey results very encouraging and indicated that 2013 may well restore the industry to double-digit growth figures. Interim managers are viewed as a cost-effective alternative to hiring management consultants or recruiting additional senior members of staff. They can be parachuted into an organisation for eight to 12 months to deliver results quickly before moving on to their next assignment.
Almost two thirds of UK business leaders say a lack of employees with key skills is hampering their firm’s growth prospects, a PwC survey has found. An international survey of 1,300 chief executives showed that British leaders are more worried about the availability of skills than their Western European peers, ranking it as the greatest threat to their company’s growth. The results show that three quarters of chief executives want the government to prioritise initiatives designed to plug this talent gap with more support for training and learning in the next 12 months. However, this view is in contrast to the leaders’ own immediate investment priorities, as only a third put filling skills gaps as their top priority for the year ahead. The majority of UK chief executives, 70 per cent, said upskilling their workforce was a longer-term goal with plans to increase investment over the next three years. Sectors with the most chronic shortage of skilled employees were mining, energy, and engineering and construction. However, Hinton also said that investment in employee training and development should be a key priority for chief executives in the next 12 months rather than a longer-term aspiration. The research also revealed that UK employers are planning to hire this year, with more intending to increase their headcount (45 per cent) than make cuts (35 per cent).
Nearly half of all workers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India think bribery and corruption are acceptable ways to survive an economic downturn, according to a report published by professional services firm Ernst & Young on Tuesday. In E&Y's annual fraud survey, 48 percent of the 3,459 respondents said either offering cash, entertainment or personal gifts and services to retain or win clients was justifiable, or thought it was alright to deliberate misstate a company's financial performance. Furthermore, more than 40 percent of employees at board and senior manager level said that sales or cost numbers had been manipulated by their company. This included reporting revenue early to meet short-term financial targets, under-reporting costs to meet budget targets, and requiring customers to buy unnecessary stock to meet sales targets. David Stulb, the head of fraud investigation and dispute services at E&Y, said the findings were in-line with both Europe-specific and worldwide surveys conducted in 2011 and 2012 and that, given the current challenging market conditions, with companies facing sustained pressure to meet growth and profit expectations, some inevitably succumb to unethical behaviour. Two-thirds of employees based in high-growth markets said bribery and corruption was widespread, compared with around one-third in developed countries. In Kenya, for instance, almost all employees thought corruption and bribery was endemic, with emerging Europe and other African countries also scoring highly for irregular practices. Furthermore, one-in-six employees fear that following their companies' compliance policies too closely could hamper competitiveness.
The number of people working from home has risen by 13 per cent in the last five years, according to new figures released by the TUC. Just over four million employees said that they mainly worked from home in 2012, an increase of 470,000 since 2007, found the analysis of previously unpublished data from the Labour Force Survey. The south-east, Scotland and Wales saw the sharpest rise in homeworking over this period. Gender-wise, two-thirds of homeworkers were male, the figures showed, but an increasing number of women were also making this career move. Women took the majority of new homeworking roles being created, said the TUC, but this was partly due to the fact that 81 per cent of these new jobs were part-time. In addition to the four million people who usually worked from home, many millions more occasionally worked from home, found the research. The TUC said that this rise in homeworking – in spite of many fearing that the recession would halt flexible working practices – confirmed that it had become an essential part of the UK labour market. It added that technological progress and the rise of the services sector, where many jobs do not require specialised machinery or face-to-face contact with colleagues or customers, had helped fuel this growth. Businesses can guard against feelings of isolation from other workers and the workplace by keeping in regular contact with homeworking staff, fully involving them in what’s happening in the office, it explained.
Britain’s employees are feeling more insecure and stressed at work than at any time in the past 20 years, according to a new study. For the first time, public sector workers felt less secure than those in the private sector, and were also increasingly worried about a loss of status and unfair treatment at work. The results are from the 2012 Skills and Employment Survey, which has been conducted by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The research, undertaken every six years, said: “The major change that occurred between 2006 and 2012 was that for the first time public sector employees were quite clearly more concerned about losing their employment than those in the private sector.” People in workplaces that had downsized or reorganised were the most likely to feel these concerns, it added. The findings, based on face-to-face interviews with 3,000 workers aged 20 to 60, also revealed that overall, half of employees were concerned about a loss in their job status. The biggest concern was around pay reductions, followed by a loss of say over things affecting their role. The research also found that people were working harder and that “work intensification” – which was previously rife in the early 1990s – has resumed since 2006. Job stress had gone up and job related well-being had gone down in the past six years. Both the speed of work and pressures of working to tight deadlines had risen to record highs, the survey showed. But although technological change was a key factor, contrary to common belief, work intensification was not associated with downsizing, concluded the study.
There will be more job vacancies for graduates leaving university this summer, new figures have revealed. Income Data Services (IDS) has forecast an 8 per cent increase in the number of graduate roles advertised this year, up from a rise of just 0.1 per cent in 2012. Their survey of more than 100 employers found that the retail sector was predicting the greatest uplift in vacancies, by as much as 30 per cent. However, the finance and legal sectors forecast falls of 12 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, according to the research. Despite the overall increase in graduate recruitment, seven in ten employers said that they would be imposing a freeze on starting salaries. The average joining salary for university leavers would therefore stagnate at £25,500 until 2014, the research predicted. But the legal profession remained the highest paid industry, with joiners earning an average of £36,500 a year, while graduates in the finance sector could expect a starting salary of £29,250.
The Business Council for Africa (West and Southern) has announced that Mr Arnold Ekpe is to become the Council's first Honorary President. He will act as a figurehead and ambassador promoting the Council's mission, values and objectives and offering thoughts and advice. Mr. Ekpe is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential African businessmen of his generation. In December 2012, he retired as chief executive officer of the Ecobank Group after two periods at the helm, from 1996 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2012. He is widely credited with building the first truly African-owned private sector pan-African bank. He left Ecobank having grown it into a resilient African institution with a presence in 32 sub-Saharan countries, assets of $17.2bn and a customer base of over 8.4m. The Business Council for Africa West and Southern (BCA W&S) is a membership organisation supporting companies and entrepreneurs with business interests in Sub-Saharan Africa. Established for almost 60 years, the BCA’s trusted network enables it to provide support to over 400 companies and entrepreneurs operating across the continent.
Expected economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa should be significantly greater than the global average over the next three years, according to a World Bank report. The continent’s growth is expected to boost up almost 5 per cent due to increasing investment opportunities, higher commodities and a general uplift for the better in the world economy. By comparison, the global GDP is projected to grow by an average of 2.4 per cent for this year. The report also mentioned that strong economic growth in Africa has been crucial to the reduction of poverty in the continent over the past decade. However, the World Bank has added that the governments in Africa need to do more with regard to ensuring that this growth reduces poverty even further. The report adds that income inequality and an over-reliance on mineral and mining exports is what is actually holding back the poverty reduction in the continent. Counter-intuitively, countries rich in resources like Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon were making much less progress in combating poverty than those countries with fewer resources – often referred to as the resource curse. The World Bank emphasises that development of infrastructure is critical to ensure the stable pace of economic growth in the continent. Investment in this field would further enhance the oil and gas sectors in East Africa and would help with the full exploitation of coal deposits in Mozambique and the mineral sectors in areas like Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Overall, foreign direct investment is said to increase rapidly over the next few years, poverty rates are estimated to reduce substantially.
Some 400,000 residents of Mozambique will gain access to clean, locally produced cooking fuel following a commitment by Danish company Novozymes through Business Call to Action to save thousands of acres of forest in the Southeast African country. Novozymes is pioneering CleanStar Mozambique – an integrated food, alternative energy, and forest protection business focused on addressing the interconnected spiral of poverty, biodiversity loss, and the impact on primary health and well-being that exists across much of rural Africa. BCtA is a global initiative that encourages companies to fight poverty through innovative business models, supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and other international organizations. Wood and its derivative, charcoal, remain the primary energy source for most Africans, despite growing concern about its long-term implications. The continent has already lost one-third of its forests to charcoal production. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), smoke produced by cooking with charcoal and wood contributes to 2 million deaths annually worldwide as well as chronic respiratory illnesses that affect mainly women and children. In Mozambique, 80 percent of urban households rely on charcoal for cooking. In addition to the significant health and environmental consequences of using charcoal, its rising price also creates an additional financial burden. By 2014, CleanStar Mozambique expects to provide farmers with an income-generating alternative to charcoal production, while restoring degraded soil and improving biodiversity. The company projects this effort will save 9,000 acres of forest annually, with 2,000 low-income farmers growing a range of trees and crops on their land. This agroforestry system will allow farmers to eventually triple their incomes by selling crops they do not consume themselves to the company. Using enzyme technology from Novozymes, CleanStar’s facility will process surplus cassava into 2 million litres (530,000 gallons) of ethanol-based cooking fuel annually, which will be sold in Mozambique’s capital Maputo along with clean cookstoves. Sub-Saharan urban household energy is a rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar market. Several investors have joined the venture, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Soros Economic Development Fund, and IFU, the Danish Fund for Industrializing Countries. CleanStar Mozambique aims to become profitable by 2014, providing proof-of-concept to enable scale-up and replication in other markets.
A high salary has risen to the top of the wish list for graduates looking for their first employer, the first time it has done so in five years. The research, conducted by Ernst & Young, surveyed 2,205 students and found that, due to rising tuition fees and concerns over job security, 22% considered a large pay packet as the most important consideration when choosing a future employer. Training and development opportunities, which topped all previous polls, also scored 22%, however this had dropped from 41% in 2011. According to the poll, work-life balance is also becoming an increasingly important consideration for students when choosing an employer moving to third place in the ranking, up from fifth place in 2011.
Nine out of ten (89%) UK executives feel that talent management is the single most important corporate strategy for their company to implement, according to new research from Korn/Ferry International. The survey placed talent management ahead of marketing, financial management and capitalisation, but half of respondents say that their companies do not currently have a strategy in place for talent management. Jim Tapper, Managing Partner, Leadership & Talent Consulting, UK, Nordics and Middle East, says: “The survey shows that despite the importance placed on talent management, many companies have yet to align their talent strategies with their business strategies.” Interestingly, when asked who has primary responsibility for a company’s talent management strategy, 50% respondents said it was the CEO, followed by Chief Operating Officer (29%) and Chief HR Officer (21%).
Bank of Kigali Limited, the largest bank in Rwanda has received an e-Payment Gateway from iVeri Payment Technologies, a leading provider of multi-channel e-payment solutions, making it the first bank in Rwanda to acquire e-Commerce merchant transactions. The iVeri Payment Gateway software will allow merchants in Rwanda to offer e-commerce services through their websites, a service that has yet to fully permeate the Rwandan business scene. iVeri’s technology will initially drive the deployment of e-Commerce at Bank of Kigali and once this channel is established, other channels will then be deployed. iVeri is Africa’s market leader in card acceptance software, creating technology for financial institutions and businesses to facilitate multiple-channel transaction acceptance. IVeri has been developing electronic payment technology since 1998 and today processes millions of transactions and has customers in several countries.
Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, has been appointed as prime contractor and turnkey supplier to provide Ghana Immigration Services (GIS) with a highly secure electronic visa and border management solution. This initiative is part of the eGhana project, an ambitious plan with backing from the World Bank to create a modern IT infrastructure that can support the country’s sustainable development plans in the years ahead. With a population of 24 million, the Republic of Ghana is experiencing rapid expansion of cross-border travel. Recognizing the need to improve the security and efficiency of its existing procedures, the country’s immigration service has turned to Gemalto to deliver the benefits of a country-wide electronic border management system based on biometric authentication. Gemalto acts as prime contractor and will take responsibility for integrating the advanced visa and border management solution, including change management, transitional training and maintenance services. The company will deploy border management systems at Ghana’s main ports of arrival and will implement a fully computerized system for visa and permit applications processing and issuing, with the collaboration of Avalon Biometrics. The project also covers the set up of an online portal service for visa application, and the implementation of electronic gates at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport, for rapid, convenient and automated border control of arrivals and departures. Aided by biometric data, the authorities will be able to account accurately for everyone entering and leaving the country. The system will also improve the travelling experience, delivering faster and significantly more convenient border control procedures for visitors.
The Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, and Virtual Terminal Network VTN, one of Nigeria's leading mobile payment operators, has launched a mobile money transfer service in Nigeria - giving Nigerians, for the first time, the choice to use their mobile phones to direct Western Union remittances into their electronic VTN VCASH account. VCASH subscribers can use this convenient service 24/7 to directly transfer individual Western Union remittances they receive, up to US$300, and combined daily remittances up to US$800, into their accounts. Monies in their VCASH account can be sent on to other VCASH users, known as a person to person (P2P) transfer, or be used to pay bills and purchase goods or services. VCASH users can also deposit funds into their accounts in any of Nigeria's commercial banks. With a population of more than 160 million, Nigeria currently has over 105 million mobile phone subscribers and received US$21 billion in annual remittances in the year ending 2012, according to a World Bank brief .Yet, only 29.7 per cent of adults over the age of 15 are banked, according to the World Bank.
The international Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to pay $5 million for a 15% stake in Gulf African Bank, a Kenya-based financial services company. The bank will use the financing to bolster its capital base, and also expand services, particularly to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Gulf African Bank is also looking to raise an additional $9.7million (Kshs 850million) through a through a rights issue. Prior to the IFC investment, the bank had been 32% owned by Istithmar PJS a private equity investor based in the United Arab Emirates. BMI Bank of Bahrain and Sheikh Abdallah Mohammed Al Romaizan of Saudi Arabia each held 21.3%. GulfCap Group of United Arab Emirates, a private investment company, held 10.3%. PTA Bank of Eastern and Southern Africa owned 5.3% while rest was held by individual investors. Based in Nairobi, Gulf African Bank provides Shari’ah compliant retail and corporate financial products. The bank commenced operations in 2008 and currently has 14 branches across the country, including in Eastleigh, Parklands, Muthaiga, Mombasa, Bondeni, Lamu, Malindi and Garissa. Gulf African Bank reported profits of approximately $4.3milion (Kshs 374 million) for the full year up to 31st December 2012, a 141% year-on-year rise.
South Africa is the top ranked market for retail expansion in Africa in the latest survey by UK financial services provider Barclays. The survey asked British retailers about their attitudes towards international expansion. While the United States remains the top destination, Africa is emerging as an attractive market to invest in, the survey found. Almost a quarter of companies surveyed said Africa would be the “new retail growth story” in the next decade. Only 21% of the surveyed retailers currently generate sales on the continent. “Of those which do, more than half (53%) say South Africa is their top market,” the company said. When asked where in Africa they would consider expanding in future, South Africa remained the number one choice with 18%. Ghana and Kenya were next on the list, with 6% and 4% respectively. This was due to the emergence of a growing middle class, as well as growth in the use of mobile technology.
South Africa’s Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has been awarded the 2013 Templeton Prize by the US-based Templeton Foundation for his work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness. The prize was announced at the foundation’s headquarters in West Conshohocken in Pennsylvania and is valued at $1.7-million (about R15.6-million). It is the world’s largest annual monetary prize awarded to an individual. Tutu joins the ranks of 42 former winners of the prize, including the 2012 Prize Laureate the Dalai Lama and the 1973 winner Mother Theresa. The prize honours a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension and was established in 1972 by the late global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. There will be an award ceremony at the Guildhall in London on 21 May, when Tutu will officially receive the prize.
The African Development Bank has approved an African Development Fund (ADF) grant of USD $ 25.7 million and an ADF loan of USD 12.6 million for a Skills, Employability and Entrepreneurship Program (SEEP) in Rwanda. The program will support the Government of Rwanda’s policy reform to promote human capital development, inclusive growth and poverty reduction. Rwanda has an average skills deficit of 40% and limited quality off-farm job growth and expansion which is a major factor contributing to youth underemployment. Despite notable progress in education reform, Rwanda still faces challenges in terms of skills gaps, education quality and relevance for the labour market. Critical actions are needed to tackle limited skills availability and low labour productivity which prevail in all sectors of the economy, stifling private sector growth and competitiveness. The SEEP aims to assist the Government of Rwanda in its efforts to create jobs and sustain the remarkable growth it has achieved in the past decade. Rwanda has been an economic success story and has maintained a strong growth path averaging above 8% a year in the last decade. Rwanda has also made remarkable progress on the MDGs, particularly in lifting 1 million people out of poverty (MDG 1), and on health (MDG 4, 5 and 6). The remarkable reduction in poverty has been driven by a combination of improved agriculture incomes, off-farm job creation and public and private transfers. The program aims to protect job creation schemes and the education sector which are being threatened by protracted aid. This Sector Budget Support operation will contribute to the implementation of reforms in skills and employability; and entrepreneurship development to ensure that the notable achievements already undertaken by the Government of Rwanda are not reversed. The challenges ahead are sustaining and scaling up the skills and employability to create private sector jobs under highly uncertain prospects of donor aid and the global environment. For the medium term, they include sustaining strong private sector led growth and poverty reduction while gradually winding down Rwanda’s high dependence on foreign aid. The SEEP was developed jointly by the African Development and the Government of Rwanda and in close consultation with key development partners (Belgium, European Commission, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA and World Bank) and the private sector. Established in 1972, the African Development Fund (ADF) is the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group.
Total and its partners, including Chevron have invested $10 billion into a development off the coast of Congo, which is expected to produce 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2017, according to the French oil company. The Moho Nord joint development, which is scheduled to be fully operational by 2015, is one of a series of Total’s African investments which it hopes will help the company to increase their oil production by 25 per cent over the next five years. The offshore Moho Nord oil and gas project is the largest of its kind in the Republic of Congo. Total the operator of the Moho-Bilondo license, has a 53.5 percent share and Chevron a 31.5 percent working interest, and the Congo’s national oil company holds the rest. Further south the US oil and gas company also has a significant investment off the coast of Angola.
Gemalto, the digital security company, has been appointed as prime contractor and turnkey supplier to provide Ghana Immigration Services (GIS) with a highly secure electronic visa and border management solution. This initiative is part of the eGhana project, an ambitious plan with backing from the World Bank to create a modern IT infrastructure that can support the country’s sustainable development plans in the years ahead. With a population of 24 million, the Republic of Ghana is experiencing rapid expansion of cross-border travel. Recognizing the need to improve the security and efficiency of its existing procedures, the country’s immigration service has turned to Gemalto to deliver the benefits of a country-wide electronic border management system based on biometric authentication. Gemalto acts as prime contractor and will take responsibility for integrating the advanced visa and border management solution, including change management, transitional training and maintenance services. The company will deploy border management systems at Ghana’s main ports of arrival and will implement a fully computerized system for visa and permit applications processing and issuing, with the collaboration of Avalon Biometrics. The project also covers the set up of an online portal service for visa application, and the implementation of electronic gates at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport, for rapid, convenient and automated border control of arrivals and departures. This mission-critical solution will streamline processes, reinforce national security and provide the GIS with enhanced border information and intelligence. Aided by biometric data, the authorities will be able to account accurately for everyone entering and leaving the country. The system will also improve the traveling experience, delivering faster and significantly more convenient border control procedures for visitors.
South Africa has broken ground by becoming the first country to allow companies to be registered within one day of opening a bank account, in collaboration between the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission and First National Bank. The initiative will be launched in May. It has taken 18 months to finalise and been piloted by FNB to ensure the system operated properly. Other South African banks - Nedbank, Standard and Absa - have been invited to take part in the initiative, but do not have the required systems in place yet. This collaboration with banks is a world first, and the initiative includes another first as South Africans will be able to electronically file intellectual property applications on trademarks, designs and patents. Collaboration with the Home Affairs Department and South African Revenue Service are also being forged in the hope of establishing high-speed links and an integrated service that provides exchange and verification data. This will mean that SARS could register a company and register it for Value Added Tax (VAT) simultaneously. The CIPC said the initiative is designed to make it easier for entrepreneurs to interact and do business with the South African government.
Global energy group BP has announced a more than R5-billion (US$540-million) investment in South Africa and Mozambique over the next five years, the bulk of which will go to South Africa, saying the move was a vote of confidence in the country as an investment destination. According to BP Group chief executive for refining and marketing, Iain Conn, the company will invest R2.5-billion of the total in upgrading the Sapref refinery it shares with Royal Dutch Shell Plc in Durban in order to meet the cleaner fuels specifications that the government will be introducing in 2017. According to Engineering News, BP will also invest R1-billion on new fuel terminals in South Africa and Mozambique, and R2-billion on upgrading and expanding its retail network, including a partnership with retailer Pick n Pay to open 120 Pick n Pay Express stores on its forecourts countrywide. According to Moneyweb, BP will also be partnering with the National Empowerment Fund to help previously disadvantaged South Africans to own BP outlets. Conn said the investment plan was a sign of BP's growing confidence in South Africa as an attractive investment destination and in the policy direction the country was taking.
There has been a slight increase in the representation of the black population in top management positions, according to the 13th edition of the Employment Equity annual report. According to the 2012 report, Blacks occupied 12.3 percent of top management positions in 2012, compared to 10 percent in 2002. While, Whites constituted 72.6 percent of top management positions in the country last year, down from 81.5 percent in 2002. Coloureds occupied 4.6 percent of top management positions in 2012, compared to 3.4 percent in 2002; and In Indians 7.3 percent, from 5 percent. The number of foreigners in top management positions in 2012 was 3.1 percent, compared to zero in 2002. The report reflects the public and private sectors. A total of 23,312 reports were received and 22 012 were analysed for the 2012 reporting period. Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant expressed concern on the low levels of blacks occupying management positions, saying that this must change. She urged companies to adhere to the law and continue to report to the Commission. The minister said the policy towards implementation of Employment Equity (EE) in the workplace is here to stay, saying to those calling for a sunset clause on employment equity that it would be mischievous at best or at worst a callous disregard of history and its negative ramifications that will be felt way beyond the two decades of freedom. She said South Africa as a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was obliged to comply with International Labour Standards for ratified conventions. This relating to issues of convention that deals with equal remuneration, and elimination of discrimination in the workplace. She said it was the priority of government to deal with the inequalities left behind by the apartheid legacy to bring about socio-economic freedom. Women, Children and People with Disabilities Minister Lulu Xingwana also expressed her concerns on the low number of people with disabilities in management positions.
South Africa has won the prestigious European Outsourcing Association (EOA) Offshoring Destination of the Year Award, confirming its status as a leading Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) destination. In 2012, South Africa won the prize for UK Offshoring Destination of the Year. BPeSA is the Investment Agency for the BPO sector in South Africa facilitating growth in the BPO and contact centre industry. As an investment agency for South Africa, the organisation’s core focus is on attracting foreign investment, in order to drive job creation in the country. The BPO & Offshoring market in South Africa continues to grow and is estimated to account for around 18,500 jobs. Having a similar culture and the same language as the UK has put South Africa in a good position when it comes to servicing the UK market. But now South Africa is servicing a number of other European countries as well, including: Germany, France, Netherlands and Switzerland. BPO companies / service providers currently operating in South Africa include: IBM, Capita, Serco, Merchants, WNS, Teleperformance, Aegis and Genpact.
Business Sweden (a collaboration of businesses in the private sector), the technology company Ericsson and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has announced a strategic partnership for a two-year ICT venture in Sub-Saharan Africa. ICT is one of Sweden’s key industries and has made Sweden top ranked globally in terms of connectivity, e-governance and ICT innovations. The ICT industry also represents a major source of employment in Sweden, and the officials involved in this venture believe Africa has similar potential. The ICT programme aims to share knowledge, increase collaboration and trade between 10 of the fastest growing ICT markets in Africa and Sweden. The ten countries include: Ghana, Angola, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The programme started in Lagos in November and in April moved to Ghana. One of the unique aspects the project seeks to address is to bolster e-governance on the continent. Hemström said they had already started with a few projects including a big one with the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
The racial profile of South Africa’s more wealthy has been changing faster on a number of fronts in favour of blacks in recent year than is generally perceived. The latest indicator, produced by the University of Cape Town’s Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing (UISM), found that the spending power of the black middle class surpassed that of their white counterparts by R80 billion last year. The latest findings of the UISM’s “4 Million and Rising” project comes on the heels of a report by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) in February this year that the emerging African middle class is catching up to the white middle class in terms of home ownership and a report in December of last year from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSA) that black investors hold similar stakes in listed companies as white investors. The UISM project, which has been conducting research on the country’s black middle class since 2004, said that South Africa’s black middle class has shown strong growth in the 19 years since the transition to full democracy in 1994. It has now reached an annual consumer power worth R400 billion compared to the R320 billion from the white middle class. The institute states on its website, “We could never have predicted that black middle class spending would have skyrocketed to a staggering R420 billion per annum – substantially outstripping white middle class spending power." Since 2004 the black middle class market has more than doubled in size, growing by 250% from 1.7 million in to 4.2 million last year. The research shows that black middle class spending began pulling ahead of the whites in 2008 and has skyrocketed since. By contrast, the white middle class remained stagnant over the same period as its adult population grew from 2.8 million in 2004 to 3 million in 2012. The study exposes a vastly transformed consumer segment. Research on behalf of the JSE and released in December, which focused on ownership of the top 100 listed companies on the JSE, found a similar participation level among domestic black and white South African investors - 21% and 22% of the Top 100 by value respectively. This calculation is based on the 24% of shares held directly by South African individuals and excludes the 34% held by foreign investors and 2% by government. Institutional investors such as pension funds and life insurance companies owned 40% of the share holding, according to the research.
South Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa present significant potential for business investment by companies in the Middle East, according to a report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The findings were announced by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry as part of the Africa Global Business Forum 2013, hosted in Dubai in May. South Africa already has an established relationship with the United Arab Emirates, and the forum was organised to explore opportunities for further cooperation. Sub-Saharan Africa is now competing with Asia to become the world's fastest growing region," the report said. The report said Africa's growth was driven by rapid urbanisation, a young population and emerging middle class. According to the UN trade agency UNCTAD, Africa offers the highest return on foreign direct investment in the world, where key sectors such as agriculture, banking, infrastructure, retail and telecommunications offer numerous opportunities. Structural changes over the past decade have brought more political stability and economic growth to the continent, despite some marked exceptions. The report identified challenges to doing business in Africa, including limited infrastructure, skills shortages, poor governance and inconsistent policy making as the biggest obstacles to investment. The Africa Global Business Forum was organised to examine how both the public and private sectors can form partnerships to overcome these obstacles.
South Africa and Germany have committed to further increasing their economic and political cooperation following an official visit to the country by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. Westerwelle held talks with International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane in Pretoria, before paying a courtesy visit to Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. Germany is South Africa’s third-biggest trading partner and second-biggest investor. According to the 2012 tourism figures released last week by the Department of Tourism, Germany is also South Africa’s third-largest overseas tourism market. The country is also a big supporter of South Africa’s national development priorities, having donated millions of rands over the years in technical cooperation support. Through last year’s South African-German Year of Science partnership, more than 40 joint research projects were undertaken by scientists from both countries, focusing on renewable energy, health, pharmaceuticals and information communication technology.
South Africa is attracting new attention from Chinese, Indian and Russian investors - including a planned visit by Chinese buyers who aim to spend R5-billion in the country later this year, says Department of Trade and Industry director-general Lionel October. October said the Chinese government was planning to co-ordinate a buying mission for their retail trading houses and state-owned enterprises in September, and was looking at spending R5 billion in provinces across the country. He said his department had signed a range of agreements at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit which took place in Durban in March. These included agreements signed with China for setting up a cement plant in Limpopo province, and another with Chinese conglomerate Cherry to explore the possibility of setting up ship repair and small ship building facility in Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal. In another agreement concluded at the BRICS summit, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which has a 20% share in South Africa’s Standard Bank, agreed to invest its share of dividends over the next five years in local renewable energy projects. He said Russia was now the biggest market for South Africa’s citrus fruits, with 12% of citrus exports heading to Russia. Additionally, in March, Indian conglomerate the Action Group signed an agreement to set up an agricultural export hub at the Dube Tradeport in Durban.
According to a recent Ernst & Young report on investment, South Africa has invested in more projects in the rest of Africa than any other country. Despite China and the European Union being the largest investors in Africa in monetary terms, South Africa plays a key role as its multinational organisations expand into the region. Most of the current projects that are attracting foreign direct investment in Africa are in the service sectors including: banking, retail trade, and telecommunications. These are, according to Ernst & Young, creating far more jobs than the mining industry and South Africa plays an important role in developing them in Africa. These jobs are also required to further diversify economies in the region. Diversification of African economies is one of the major themes of the World Economic Forum on Africa, which opens in SA in Wednesday. According to the company’s Africa business centre director, Michael Lalor, the longer-term story is the contribution that South Africa is making to the development of service sectors across the continent, which is helping to reduce dependence on natural resources. The primary South African companies investing in Africa currently are MTN, Sanlam, Standard Bank, Tiger Brands, Shoprite, and Nampak. The country is gradually proving to be critical in the process of sustainable diversification in other regions in Africa. The continent is now seen as an attractive investment destination, and SA is playing a key role in its development.
Student accommodation specialist, Aengus Investment Properties is expanding into six African countries as demand for safe, affordable, modern student accommodation takes off. The niche commercial property player started buying up buildings and converting them to student accommodation in South Africa about six years ago. It already manages nearly 7 000 beds in the South African market. The company plans to invest $300m (R3b) in student property developments in Africa over the next five years in Botswana, Kenya, Zambia, Lesotho, Ghana and Uganda. The company says while it is difficult to calculate accurate numbers of students needing accommodation, in Kenya alone there is a shortfall of about 350 000 student beds. The company’s strategy is to source opportunities for both Greenfield and Brownfield developments, but because the property market in most African markets is not yet sophisticated, there are few opportunities to buy up old buildings and retrofit them as they have done in South Africa, making building from scratch an attractive proposition. Over the past six years, the company has gained first-hand experience in both the design as well as management of student accommodation. It plans to use this during its African expansion drive: rentals will include fully furnished apartments or single rooms with all the mod-cons, including free access to broadband internet, high-tech security features, as well as communal areas, for both leisure and study and services such as laundries and canteens. The company has partnered with South African modular construction company, DV8, which specialises in using Alternate Building Technologies (ABTs) and expects the turnaround time from order to opening a building to be six to eight months.
The UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa has been inaugurated in Addis Ababa by the United Nations Development Programme. According to the organisation, Addis Ababa has become Africa’s capital, the hub for global and regional discussion about Africa’s development and UNDP needs to be at the epicenter of regional development discussions and policy making at the highest level. The regional service centre “is a central pillar of UNDP’s work as a world class, knowledge-based organization.” The Regional Service Centre supports the work and partnerships of the 46 country offices supervised by UNDP Regional Bureau of Africa and offers strategic policy and programme advice based on UNDP’s expertise and experience. The centre is the result of a merger of the two centres in Dakar and Johannesburg, a decision taken by UNDP Senior Management based on practical and technical considerations to improve UNDP’s cost-effectiveness, efficiency and support to countries in Africa, enhancing both the impact and efficiency of its work. As an integral part of the merged centre, several policy advisors will remain in Dakar given that their support is concentrated on a number of countries in the sub-region and as such their proximity is more cost-effective.
The MDG Report 2013: Assessing progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals concludes that while Africa is the world’s second fastest growing region, its rate of poverty reduction is insufficient to reach the target of halving extreme poverty by 2015. The progress report, prepared by the African Union Commission (AUC), UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), was launched on the final day of the African Union Summit. An analysis of food insecurity – the report’s theme – provides insights into how this phenomenon impacts other MDGs, particularly health-related goals, and how concerted efforts to improve agriculture, food distribution and nutrition would fast-track progress towards other MDGs. The report reveals that climate-related shocks manifested by extreme weather conditions have destroyed livelihoods and exacerbated Africa’s food insecurity, resulting in a high incidence of underweight children, widespread hunger and poor dietary consumption patterns. With fewer than 1,000 days until the 2015 target for the MDGs, the report takes stock of Africa’s overall performance on the MDGs and identifies the best performing countries by indicator, based on progress relative to each country’s initial conditions. Globally in 2012, 15 of the 20 countries which made the greatest progress on the MDGs were from Africa. Countries such as Benin, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Malawi and Rwanda are making impressive progress on a number of goals and targets. The report concludes it is imperative that countries continue to learn from one another, as the countries that have sustained, equitable growth, with political stability and human development-oriented policies, are doing well in most of the goals.
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