Author: Editorial Staff

UPTAKE of device-based mobile money services in sub-Saharan Africa is being hindered by barriers including a lack of awareness of what’s on offer, and a want of understanding of the benefits of mobile money, says global communications giant, Ericsson. While a survey conducted in five of the region’s major markets revealed that high numbers of people in sub-Saharan Africa are unbanked – meaning they have no access to regular bank accounts – and that most of those consumers access mobile money services via an agent, the research showed that less than a quarter regularly access such services on a mobile…

A NEW mobile operator, ntel, commenced 4G LTE services in Lagos and Abuja in early April, increasing competition in the 170 million-person telecoms market. Operating on the 900-MHz and 1800-MHz bands, ntel is looking to challenge the four major telecoms operators in Nigeria – South Africa’s MTN, India’s Bharti Airtel, UAE’s Etisalat and local Globacom – with the promise of internet speeds of up to 230 Mbps. Ntel first announced it would be entering the market in the autumn of 2015, beginning with coverage in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, and eventually spreading out to smaller cities and towns across…

THE ministry of mines, industry and energy of Equatorial Guinea has signed an agreement with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT Polytechnic) to provide comprehensive technical training to Equatorial Guinea nationals in Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. The two-year programme, which will provide the students with core and specialised oil and gas knowledge, is part of the government’s drive to promote workforce nationalisation in the industry. SAIT’s International Workforce Development and Workforce Nationalisation Training have been successful in transferring technology to Africa countries, boosting national capacity and promoting local content. The first partnership between SAIT and Equatorial Guinea saw the…

FRENCH multinational electric utility company Engie, as leader of  a consortium with South African partners, has signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Eskom – South Africa’s state owned power utility – to build a concentrated solar park in the Northern Cape Province, 600 km South-West of the national capital Pretoria. Expected to be operational in the second half of 2018, Kathu Solar Park is a 100 MW greenfield Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project with parabolic trough technology and equipped with a molten salt storage system that allows 4.5 hours of thermal energy storage and thus limits the intermittent…

A SOUTH African solar power plant has set a new African record for the continuous, round the clock supply of electricity. Within the first month of commercial operation, the newly inaugurated 50MW Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant built and operated by ACWA Power produced electricity for a continuous period of 161 hours, equivalent to almost seven days. Located in Groblershoop, within the Kheis Municipality in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, the project’s optimised performance was boosted by its 1300MWh molten salt energy storage facility which provides  9.3 hours of thermal storage, the highest on the African continent.…

WHEN in September last year Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari declared his modest assets, he more or less implied that he expected Nigerians to live within their means, as he launched a war on corruption. But his opponents have pointed out that for a man of such modest and virtuous means his family’s extravagant travel budget seems somewhat out of place, particularly in a country on the brink of financial collapse. The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), whose members have suffered the brunt of Buhari’s much maligned anti-corruption campaign, has hit back by highlighting on social media the anomalous situation of…

IN 2011 Ghana experienced a sudden acceleration in gross domestic product growth — from 7.9 percent in 2010 to 14 percent in 2011, according to World Bank figures, writes George Rautenbach. Soon it was reflected on in financial and economic analysis in South Africa. The main argument was that the start of oil production and the tailwind generated through the rise in commodity prices were contributing factors. Added to this was the broadening of a more affluent middle class in Ghana. Goods and services from South Africa followed suit: exports jumped nearly fourfold, from $138 million in 2010 to $516…

THE apparent end to the commodity supercycle has sent shock waves across the global economy. It has sparked turbulence in stock markets, put pressure on currencies and fuelled concerns about prospects for growth and the stability of public finances. Africa has not escaped this pessimism. Questions have been asked about the continent’s economic future, with fears that the remarkable gains of the past two decades could be reversed. The mood reminds me of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings I attended at the height of the Asian financial crisis nearly 20 years ago, when analysts were predicting the Asian miracle…

GROWING African businesses looking to sell their products and services beyond the continent present a growth opportunity for Standard Chartered, says the bank’s chairman. The group has operations in 16 African nations, including Kenya, and offers services via correspondent banks in 22 more markets in Africa, where sliding commodities prices have put the brakes on previously strong growth. Rival Barclays has responded by reducing its exposure to Africa, but Standard Chartered takes an alternative view. ‘We see Africa as an opportunity to invest rather than exit or divest,’ its chairman John Peace told Reuters in Nairobi mid-April, adding that the…

CHINA has offered Nigeria a loan worth $6bn to fund infrastructure projects, the Nigerian foreign minister said early April. The announcement came as both countries signed a currency swap deal to boost trade. Nigeria has been in talks with China on an infrastructure loan for months. Nigeria is one of Africa’s top oil producers. But its public finances have suffered as the price of crude oil dropped around the world. Although President Muhammadu Buhari wants to triple capital spending in 2016, he also needs to plug a projected deficit of $11.1bn. ‘It is a credit that is on the table…