Sub-Saharan Africa Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

3Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Energy, Main

Resolving infrastructure and energy disputes in sub-Saharan Africa

By Mouhamed Kebe, Court Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. Managing Partner of Geni & Kebe Africa has the world’s lowest use per capita of modern energy. As its population and incomes grow, demand for modern energy continues to expand. Africa is a continent with huge reserves of oil and gas, with a large capacity for green energy, but more than 600 million people do not have access to electricity. The need for infrastructure buildings and projects are higher than in any other region in the world, and therefore the energy and infrastructure sectors are of paramount importance given their key role for economic and social growth. Another key factor for the continent is the global energy transition. According to the African Development Bank, the continent needs to alloc...

12Aug

By Mike van RensburgNo Comments

African News, Business, Main

Massive increase in M&A deal value in Sub-Saharan Africa in the first half of 2021

There were 333 M&A deals announced in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the first six months of 2021 (H1 2021), valued at USD 57.7 billion, according to Baker McKenzie's analysis of Refinitiv data. When compared to the same period last year (H1 2020) this amounted to a 14% increase in deal volume and an astounding 576% increase in deal value. H1 2020 recorded 293 M&A deals with a deal value of USD 8.5 billion. Last year was a relatively difficult year for investors in Africa, with considerable uncertainty. Pandemic impacts had a limiting effect on numerous sectors and many deals had to be postponed as a result. The boost in M&A deal value in 2021 is, in part, due to a post-COVID boom, where last year’s postponed and delayed transactions were able to proceed in the first half of 2021...

7Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Ericsson Mobility Report: Sub-Saharan Africa to reach 70 million 5G subscriptions by 2026

Discernible volumes of 5G subscriptions are expected from 2022, reaching 7 percent in 2026. By the end of 2026, Sub-Saharan Africa will have around 70 million 5G subscriptions Consumers will have added an average of 3.4 online services to their daily online activities by 2025 Ericsson recently unveiled two reports that, together, forecast the post-pandemic world and the future of 5G in Sub-Saharan Africa and around the world. Ericsson projects that 5G mobile subscriptions will exceed 580 million by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day. The forecast, which features in the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, confirms the expectation that 5G will become the fastest adopted mobile generation. 5G is expected to surpass a billion subscri...

Deal making slows across Africa but post-pandemic opportunities look interesting

6Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Ethiopia News, Ghana News, Kenya News, Main, Mauritius News, Mozambique News, Nigeria News, South Africa News

Deal making slows across Africa but post-pandemic opportunities look interesting

Deal making activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) dropped in the second half of 2020 (H2 2020), when compared to the second half of 2019 (H2 2019) and year-on-year, deals were also down in both volume and value compared to 2019. As the continent gears up for post-pandemic recovery in 2021, the opportunities presented by free trade across the continent, foreign investment opportunities due to new partnerships and trade relationships, as well as the post-pandemic focus on technology, healthcare and renewable energy, will be key factors in attracting valuable mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity to the region. Further, South Africa’s deal volume and value both dropped in 2020, with the industrials and healthcare sector attracting the biggest investments. Ghana stood out as a country that...

Has the PE industry failed Sub-Saharan Africa?

10Mar

By Abhishek MittalNo Comments

African News, Kenya News, Main, South Africa News

Has the PE industry failed Sub-Saharan Africa?

African PE (Private equity) firms raised less than $20bn in the decade to 2018, equivalent to just 2.5 per cent of the capital raised by the world’s emerging markets, according to a Preqin report. Moreover, most of that African capital was invested into the relatively advanced economies of South Africa and North Africa, with very little flowing into the rest of the continent. This limited investment into Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is explained by investors in PE funds as a result of the low returns from such investments. The PE firms, themselves, acknowledge the limited returns, but claim these markets are still nascent and that returns will rise as these economies evolve. Yet the reality is that it may be the approach being taken by SubSaharan Africa’s PE investors that is causing them such...

Improved housing doubles in Sub-Saharan Africa

1Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Botswana News, Gabon News, Main, Real Estate, Tanzania News, Zimbabwe News

Improved housing doubles in Sub-Saharan Africa

A new study led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London and Malaria Atlas Project, University of Oxford has revealed that improved housing had doubled on the African continent between 2000 and 2015. The study published in the “Nature International Journal of Science” is the first accurate estimate of urban and rural housing quality in sub-Saharan Africa and was done using state-of-the-art mapping. While highlighting the positive transformation in the region, the prevalence of improved housing doubling from 11% in 2000 to 23% in 2015, the study also estimates that 53 million urban Africans (in the countries analyzed) still lived in slum conditions in 2015. Lead author Dr. Lucy Tusting, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who co...

20Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

A ten-year strategy to support the development of social protection systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Social protection, which comprises both social assistance and social insurance programs, is a powerful tool to reduce poverty and vulnerability The World Bank has a new 10-year strategy for social protection in Africa (2012-2022) The vision is to help governments build country-owned national social protection systems Social protection, once thought of as exclusive to rich and middle-income countries, is being increasingly employed in low-income countries in Africa, where policymakers are recognizing its potential as a powerful tool to reduce poverty, vulnerability, and social inequality. The food, fuel and financial crises of 2008 have shown the vital role that social protection can play in cushioning poor and vulnerable households from shocks. Acro...

14Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

DHL Global Connectedness Index shows signs of progress for Africa and others

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa The latest reports on African Connectedness are showing great things for the future. And African countries are showing the largest increases in their global connectedness, according to DHL. While recent announcements from Cape Town, South Africa reveal: • The countries with the largest increases are Mozambique, Togo, Ghana, Guinea and Zambia • Global connectedness has yet to recover from its steep drop at the onset of the financial crisis • The world’s shifting economic center of gravity is reshaping industry connectedness DHL recently released the second edition of the DHL Global Connectedness Index (GCI), a comprehensive analysis of the state of globalization around the world. The report, drawing on over one million data points fr...

13Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

SkyVision to improve the level of communication in Africa

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa SkyVision has invested in Africa and will be expanding its local presence. On Monday of this week SkyVision Global Networks Ltd, a leading global provider of IP connectivity over satellite and fibre optic systems, announced in Cape Town, South Africa that it will continue expanding its local presence across Africa. "And following an intense strategic process, it became clear that in order for SkyVision to keep its position as a major African player offering services specifically designed for the rapidly developing African markets, it will also need to enhance its local presence in key African markets. Ben Sira stated: “It was clear from day one that if SkyVision was to enhance its market leadership in Africa, the company would have...

10Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Mauritius News

IMF to open regional training center for Sub-Saharan Africa in Mauritius

By Wallace Mawire The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to establish a Regional Training Center (RTC) for Sub-Saharan Africa in Mauritius, according to a spokesperson. RTCs elsewhere in the world have facilitated the training of government officials on the formulation and implementation of macroeconomic policies as well as related statistical and legal frameworks. With support of donors, such centers and programs are operational in Austria, Kuwait, and Singapore, complementing training at IMF headquarters. The new center is expected to close a longstanding gap, as Africa has lacked an IMF training center despite considerable training needs. The RTC in Mauritius will start operations in 2013 with courses and seminars covering macroeconomic policymaking and financial programming, p...