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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: An economist, a global leader and a policy maker

23 October 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Politics

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has come from humble beginnings to serve two terms as Nigeria’s finance minister, and has been within a hare’s breath of becoming president of the World Bank. The “Iron Lady” of Nigeria is credited with the emergence of Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy and her work in office and in the humanitarian spheres have been greatly celebrated. She has been described as a “triple threat” with strong experience in economics, finance as well as development and governance.

She was born in 1954, in a village in the south of Nigeria when the country was still a jewel in the heart of the British Empire. She reportedly perfected her English reading Louis Stevenson and Enid Blyton and had a charmed, “wonderful” childhood. She credits her early upbringing with her later tenacity: “I learned real life, fetching wood, water. At five I could cook. This life has given me strength and a strong character.” When she was 15, she carried her Malaria stricken three-year old sister on her back for 10 miles to reach a doctor, and then insisted on her treatment, ultimately saving her life. Her sister is now herself a physician, and a rock of support to Okonjo.

Nigeria’s civil war and the end of her childhood years 

Her childhood ended in 1967 when the civil war broke out, and her father was called away to fight in the army. She explained that her parents lost “everything” and she learned what it was to have nothing. They moved frequently and often survived on one meal a day; resilience and tenacity became essential to survival. These early experiences crafted Okonjo into the woman she is today. Interestingly, she describes her humble beginnings and later greatness as similar to that of her country, Nigeria.

Her escape came at 18, when she left her warring Nigeria to study at Harvard University, followed by a Phd in Regional Economics at MIT. A prodigious talent, she was headhunted for the World Bank and spent the next 21 years here as a development economist.

Her financial experience with the World Bank

After a strong and steady tenure at the World Bank, she was elected to serve as Finance Minister in her homeland. This began her defining years. She served two terms between 2003-2006 and 2011- 2015, punctuated by four years as a Managing Director at the World Bank. During her tenure, she also held the post of Minister of Foreign affairs. Okonjo was the first female to hold either position.

Although she didn’t act alone, Okonjo is credited with being an instrumental figure in shaping Nigeria’s modern economy, bringing in necessary reforms and increasing governmental transparency. Her biggest achievements include targeting Nigeria’s rampant corruption by identifying and eliminating 5000 fake civil servants on the payroll. She also fastidiously cracked down on political and military leaders who were stealing crude oil. For this, she received death threats, her addresses were published in the media and her mother was kidnapped. She told the Observer: “Fighting corruption, corruption tends to fight back”. She did not falter and in the end, succeeded in her war against the insidious nature of Nigeria’s administration.

Shaping Nigeria’s future by fixing its economic deficit

Her economic background was showcased by her greatest achievement in office: securing a cancellation of $30bn debt from Nigeria’s name. She also added strength and stability to the country’s public finance systems by obtaining its first sovereign debt ranking in 2006. She later established the Mortgage Refinance Corporation which stimulated Nigeria’s housing market and was involved in numerous gender and youth empowerment schemes. The most recognized, the Youth Prize with Innovation, which supports young entrepreneurs and has created thousands of jobs, was evaluated by the World Bank to be one of the most successful of its kind globally.

During her time as finance minister, Nigeria emerged as the largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $481bn in 2015. After stepping down last year, she has dedicated her time to humanitarian causes. She currently chairs the board of the Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunizations and the African Risk Capacity, a weather based insurance for African countries. Still regularly leading “top 100” lists of the world’s most influential people, it’s clear that Okonjo is still a force to be reckoned with, both in Nigeria and worldwide.

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Iqbal Al Assaad: Palestinian prodigy, doctor

21 October 2016 Comments (0) Education, Featured, Middle East

As a high school graduate at age 12 and a medical school graduate at 20, Palestinian Iqbal Al Assaad is in every sense a prodigy despite many challenges. But her childhood dream to become a doctor and help Palestinian refugees is only partly realized. With limited opportunities for professional work in Lebanon, where she grew up, El Assaad instead practices medicine in Ohio – for now. El Assaad graduated from high school four years ahead of schedule at the top of her class including studies in biochemistry and mathematics she would need for medical school. At age 13, she caught the attention of the education minister of Lebanon, who helped her win a scholarship to study medicine in Qatar. In 2013, still only 20 years old, she became the youngest student ever to graduate from Cornell University medical school’s Qatar branch and possibly the youngest Arab doctor ever.

Opportunities for Palestinians limited

But since then, she has been unable to use her skills to help Palestinian refugees and offer them services by opening a free clinic for them in Lebanon. Medicine is one of several dozen professions from which Palestinian refugees are barred. Palestinians in Lebanon were allowed to take clerical and lower-level jobs starting in 2005 and allowed to work in some professions in 2010. But highly skilled fields including medicine are regulated by professional associations that impose strict membership restrictions in order to protect jobs for Lebanese nationals. These associations are concerned that Palestinians might overwhelm the labor market, “so they feel it’s about job opportunities for Lebanese nationals”, said Lina Hamdan, a spokeswoman for the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee.

Refugee population swells with Syrian conflict

As the ranks of refugees grow in the Middle East, Al Assaad’s situation is increasingly common. The United Nations Relief Works Agency, estimates there are about 450,000 Palestinians in Lebanon and more than 90,000 have arrived from Syria since that country’s conflict began five years ago. While the UN agency provides primary medical care, it does not pay for more serious medical conditions, often forcing refugees to chose between forgoing treatment or going heavily into debt to pay for care. Growing up in Bar Elias, a rural village in the Bekaa valley, after her parents arrived in Lebanon, Al Assaad visited relatives in refugee camps and was struck at an early age by the poverty and lack of access to medical care.

Inspired to help refugees

Inspired to help, she pursued an education in math and science, which led to help from Lebanon’s education minister Khaled Qabbani in winning a full scholarship from the Qatar Foundation to attend Weill Cornell Medical College. Recognizing her accomplishment in graduating medical school and obtaining a prestigious residency in the United States, Arabian Business named her one of the 100 most powerful people under 40 in the Middle East in 2015.

Inspired to help refugees

Inspired to help, she pursued an education in maths and science, which led to help from Lebanon’s education minister Khaled Qabbani in winning a full scholarship from the Qatar Foundation to attend Weill Cornell Medical College. Recognizing her accomplishment in graduating medical school and obtaining a prestigious residency in the United States, Arabian Business named her one of the 100 most powerful people under 40 in the Middle East in 2015.

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Malian physician probes genetic disease

17 October 2016 Comments (0) Health, Science

The only doctor in Mali who studies rare genetic diseases is the recipient of a grant of more than $1 million to further his research. Guida Landouré, who trained as a neurologist in Mali, the United States and Britain, was awarded funding for four years by the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3 Africa) fund, an initiative sponsored by the United States and the United Kingdom to support genetic research in Africa.

Landouré, who is based in the neurology department of University Hospital Center in Bamako, divides his time between seeing patients at the hospital and conducting research on 123 families at the center of his research protocol. Genetic disease in Africa has long been overshadowed by the continent’s challenges with infectious diseases, Landouré and other researchers said in a paper published earlier this year.

More genetics studies urged

However, they noted, genetics may play a significant role in increasing vulnerability to infectious diseases and increasing resistance to treatment. They said research in Mali has already revealed disease-associated mutations but more study is needed to increase understanding of the functions and interactions of different genes. They argue that Africa is the logical place to focus genetic research. “Because of the population diversity in Africa and the limited studies done on the continent, genetic and genomic research in Africa will answer health questions that cannot be solved by studying other populations.” In Mali, Landouré is at the forefront of this research.

Focus is neurological disorders

Because African families tend to have more siblings than in Europe, sampling can detect defective genes more quickly and develop treatments of inherited diseases more effectively, he said. He said the Malian research would investigate genetic defects that cause hereditary neurological disorders, such as epilepsy, which is a major public health issue in the region.

He said funds also would be used to support a bioinformatics network that will use computers to collect and analyze genetic information.

From neurology to research

Landouré became interested in genetic research by happenstance. As a doctor at University Hospital in 2002, he met visiting officials of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Since neurological studies were not available in Mali, he opted to take a research position in the United States in 2004 and went on to study in London. He returned to Mali in 2010 to become the only researcher working on rare genetic diseases.

For four years, the research will be funded with a grant of $1.1 million from the H3 Africa initiative. A partnership between the National Institutes of Health and Wellcome Trust, a London-based global charity, the project has committed $37 million for genetic research on the continent. The African Society of Human genetics has acted as the organizing partner for the initiative as well as providing a forum for genetic scientists in Africa.

In addition to supporting genetic research, the project aims to expand research capacity on the continent through improvements in facilities and creation of new collaborations among researchers in Africa, the United States and Europe.

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With fiber optics, Ivory Coast seeks to become a tech hub

13 October 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Featured, Technology

Pushing its nascent digital economy to catch up with its booming commerce, Ivory Coast is investing $165 million to lay more than 3,000 miles of additional fiber optic cable. The West African nation has already installed nearly 400 miles of fiber optic cables and planned to add another nearly 900 miles this year, according to Andre Augustine Apete, Minister of information and communications technology. When the work is completed, the country will have more than 4,000 miles of cable, about one-fifth of its goal of more than 12,000 miles. As Ivory Coast emerges from a decade of political turmoil, the government has adopted an ambitious agenda of investment in infrastructure that has driven economic growth to about nine percent during the past four years, one of the highest growth rates on the continent. While commodities-reliant economies elsewhere in Africa have slowed, Ivory Coast posted growth of 8.4 percent for its gross domestic product and projects growth of 8.5 percent this year, according to the World Bank. The country has seen large increases in overall production, particularly in agriculture, as a result of regulatory reforms, public investment programs and infrastructure development.

Mobile banking, shopping boom

The world’s top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast has also experienced a boom in digital activity driven by mobile banking and shopping that total nearly $2 million profits a day, outpacing traditional banking. “I don’t think all our banks put together are doing as much”, Apete said. However, the government has more ambitious plans to grow the emerging digital economy, which today directly or indirectly employs about 150,000 people out of the country’s population of more than 20 million. Until recently, mobile access has dominated the marketplace with more than 85 percent penetration, while the internet and broadband sectors have been largely undeveloped in the Ivory Coast.

High costs limit development

High international bandwidth costs played a major role in limiting development because the unique submarine fiber optic cable served merely Ivory Coast. With the landing of a second cable in 2011 and as many as three additional cables expected to be added, prices have begun to decline. Another major development in Ivory Coast was the introduction of 3G mobile services in 2012, with the launch of the first 3.5G mobile broadband service. The wide geographic reach promised by 12,000 miles of fiber optic cable is intended to position the country to develop a booming digital economy. Fiber optic cable is much less expensive than copper wire, and, importantly for digital communications and data, it has a higher carrying capacity and provide fastest broadband connexion.

Ivory Coast aims to become a regional tech hub

Innocent N’Dry, head of new technologies, innovation and services development at Ubifrance in Abidjan, said the Ivorian government wants the country to become a regional hub for communications and information technology. The sector has seen sustained growth in the past decade, and it was one of only a few countries in West Africa that obtained 3G coverage by 2012. However, the lack of a fiber-optic network has held the country back at a time when technological entrepreneurship is emerging. “In terms of young companies and new technologies, there is real entrepreneurial dynamism, with the creation of incubators,’’ N’Dry said. He cited development of the Orange Technocenter in Abidjan, where marketing, research and engineering teams develop new products and services for the Orang telecommunication company’s customers.

Support for startups is key

N’Dry said Ivory Coast is emulating a model from Senegal in which the government provides support for young companies. To encourage new digital businesses, the Ivory Coast government implemented a free zone dedicated to information and communication technology companies. More recently, the government in July announced a fund of more than $260 million to strengthen the infrastructure for tech innovation and to support tech companies, especially startups. The fund, created with support from the African Development Bank, will also be used to help establish networks of investors and to train entrepreneurs from Ivory Coast and other countries in the region.

Mobile improvements sought

While the Ivory Coast government seeks to develop broadband capacity, it is also moving to encourage improvements in mobile services. This year, Ivory Coast will limit the number of operating licenses for telecoms to four. Three companies, which account for 96 percent of the country’s more than 20 million mobile subscriptions, will be re-licensed. They are France’s Orange, South Africa’s MTN and Mov, which was sold the Morocco Telecom by the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat in 2014. At the same time, the government said it was withdrawing the licenses of several smaller mobile operators, stating that they had not paid for due taxes and fees. Apete said smaller companies might have the opportunity to merge into one single company controlled if a new majority shareholder emerges. “We are leaving this fourth place free in case a significant operator comes in tomorrow and says it’s interested. Those companies can then join with it”, Apete said.

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The race to succeed to UNESCO leader Irina Bokova has started

12 October 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Middle East

unesco-Moushira Khattab

At the end of her second mandate as head of the UNESCO, Irina Bokova will no longer occupy her position as Director-General of UNESCO in 2017. Eight years after her first nomination, will the Arab world manage to access the presidency of the United Nations body?

Since summer, rumors have gone strong, and the idea of nominating a representative from the Arab world as head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has resurfaced. No country from the Arab region has ever managed to arise their candidate to the top of this organization. Against a backdrop of anti-Semitism Egypt former Minister for culture Farouk Hosni missed the opportunity by next to nothing in 2009 faced with the current Director-General at the fifth round of the ballots.

In 2009, the Egyptian press and Cairo’s intellectual circles spelt out against what they identified as pressures from “Jewish lobbies”, the United States and the polarization between the North and the South. On the same occasion, Farouk Hosni’s director of campaign condemned member states’ intention to block a cultural movement. So what? Under the pretext that European officials had been elected several times, would the UNESCO be in need of quotas established by Egyptian representatives themselves?

Moushira Kattab on the run to take the succession

Now that Egypt is reassured, it seems like it is willing to give a it go once again after the candidature for nomination of Moushira Khattab was made official on last July during a ceremony with grand apparat. Under Hosni Moubarak, Moushira Khattab was responsible for the Ministry of Family and the people from 2009 to 2011 and had no governmental role since the fall of the former President after the Arab Spring. From 2017 onwards, the diplomat – highly sensitive to children’s rights – will have to prove herself and legitimize her candidacy and that of her country.

Interviewed by Al Monitor in August 2016, Moushira Khattab was aware that there still was a long way to go. She has focused the arguments of her campaign on two major pillars to set sights on the presidency of the organization: Egypt’s legitimate demand and her past experience. On her background first: she can hardly compete with that of her competitors especially in the field of cultural affairs which she has barely dealt with along her career.  But most importantly, she bears an unforgiving burden, that of her government’s reputation and that of a country beset by many problems, in particular in terms of fundamental rights.

Egypt to head the UNESCO: still a long way to go?

Official member of the UNESCO since 1946, Egypt is nonetheless far from respecting the organisation’s premises. Freedom of the press is under threat, human rights regularly challenged and artistic freedom censored under the pretext of “religious exception”. The idea of nominating an Egyptian representative as head of a body like the UNESCO would send a rather paradoxical message. Current political and legislative affairs of the country hardly comply with both the moral values and the ideals of an organization that seeks for example to “protecting freedom of expression”, “building intercultural understanding” or even “learning to live together”, all of it put together on a bedrock of the defense of human rights. These are advocacy fields upon which shadow is cast in Egypt.

The country continues to evolve under a very restrictive vision of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. In 2015 still, Sissi’s government passed a law seeking to harshly sanction journalists who would cover terrorist attempts without strictly referring to official information released by the government. A law that not only constitute a move backwards for freedom of the media, but also applies to social media networks that are under strong scrutiny. This law was made official in a judicial report handed to the Egyptian state council in last September. Such a decision reminds repression to limit the role of social networks during the Arab spring and infringes the freedom of expression of an entire people whose liberties in the end are never really set in stone.

The announcement sparked outrage among human rights’ observers and defenders from all across the world. The candidate has not expressed her opinion about these measures, but she will certainly have to during her campaign to win the nomination to the UNESCO.

 

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African Union launches electronic passport for the continent

11 October 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Featured, Trade

Seeking to boost trade, tourism and investment, the African Union has launched a common electronic passport that the organization hopes eventually will give holders visa-free access to all of the organization’s 54 member nations. The African passport initially is being made available to heads of state and diplomats. The goal is full use by all citizens by 2018, although because of complicated logistics that aim is far from guaranteed. The passport, launched in July at the 27 th African Union Summit in Rwanda, is part of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 plan to develop a more unified “One Africa” economy on the continent in order to boost development and growth. Officials say the common passport is aimed at facilitating free movement of people and goods around the continent as a way of fostering intra-African trade and development.

One step toward economic integration

The passport “is a steady step toward the objective of creating a prosperous and integrated Africa,” outgoing African Union chairman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said at the launch. The African Development Bank has been a strong advocate for the common African passport, noting that cumbersome visa requirements in many countries limit intra-African tourism and make trade between African countries cumbersome and expensive. “African countries are closed off to one another, which makes travel within the continent difficult,’’ the development bank said, noting that the continent has some of the toughest visa restrictions in the world. Moreover, restrictions are particularly high from Africans traveling within the continent compared to European or North American visitors, the bank said, noting that business visas are more difficult to obtain than tourist visas. The cost of visas places a burden on citizens who would travel or do business across borders. According to the bank, Central Africa, the region with the highest use of traditional visas, is the least connected to other regions. At the same time, East Africa, with the highest number of visas available on arrival, is among the most open regions in the world.

Benefits in Rwanda cited

Rwanda, which allows entry visas for all African citizens who come to its borders, has seen a 24 percent increase in tourist frequentation from other countries on the continent since it loosened requirements in 2013. The African Development Bank estimated that easing visa requirements could generate an additional $200 billion in the tourism sector and create as many as 5 million new jobs. The bank also said visa restrictions limit the ability of businesses to attract and retain the best African talents, saying that the lack of mobility of professionals is impeding economic growth. Emerging fields such as banking, mining and information technology in particular require more flexibility to compete in the marketplace. A new Visa Openness Index developed by the bank in support of easing restrictions concluded difficulty for business travelers was underscored. According to the index report, more than half of the 55 countries ranked require visitors to obtain visas in advance. Only 20 percent do not require visas and only 15 percent offer visas on arrival. Moreover, many of Africa’s strategic hubs have more restrictive visa policies while smaller nations tend to be more open.

10 countries stand out for openness

The top 10 nations for openness posted an average score of 0.86 (out of 1) on the ADB index, twice the overall average. The top 10 countries are Rwanda, Seychelles, Mali, Cape Verde, Togo, Guinea-Bissau Mauritania, Mozambique, Uganda, and Mauritius. At the bottom of the rankings were Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Angola, Gabon, Libya, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Western Sahara.

Access to biometric systems not assured

While the African Union wants full implementation of the new passport by 2018, the logistics of that timeline are daunting. Each country can decide when to begin accepting the new passport. But many nations do not have access to biometric systems that are required to access the electronic passports. Despite the challenges, advocates say the transition to a common passport is a vital part of the goal of “One Africa,” embodied in Agenda 2063. Visa “restrictions harm our integration efforts, negatively affecting tourism, investments and trade. A more relaxed visa landscape could help push our shared vision of one competitive African market,’’ said Moono Mupotola, manager of integration and trade at the African Development Bank. “To encourage intra-African trade, without a doubt, we need to work on visa openness.”

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Mobile weather forecasting tool helps West African farmers yield profits

29 September 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Agriculture

A Swedish company has developed an innovative application that is delivering accurate GPS-based weather forecasts to farmers in six African countries.

Since the beginning of 2016, more than 80,000 farmers in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal have put Iska Weather to use. The app has generated more than six million weather forecasts.

The forecasts, which the developer said are more than twice as accurate as those provided by other models, help farmers determine the optimum times to sow, fertilize and harvest their crops.

Farmer doubles yield

Enoch Addo, a farmer in Ghana, said the application has already helped him double his cocoa production from 10-15 bags of cocoa to more than 30. “Because I was able to spray fertilizer and pesticide at the right times, I collected more than 30 bags of cocoa.”

Obtaining accurate weather forecasts have become more and more critical for African farmers as many parts of the continent grapple with drought and severe weather attributed to climate change.

Ignitia, the Swedish company that developed the mobile weather forecasting service, wants to expand the service to other West African countries using a grant of $2.5 million from the governments of the United States, Sweden, South Africa and the Netherlands.

The goal is to connect 1.2 million small farmers with the service by the end of 2017. Eventually, the company plans to offer the service in 20 countries in Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia.

Highly accurate forecasts

Lizzie Merrill, Ignitia project manager, said the company’s forecasting model is more than twice as accurate as others, which typically are inaccurate more than 60 percent of the time. For farmers in the dry climates of sub-Saharan Africa, even a slight change in weather can results in significant losses, she said.

“Traditional global weather models have only been able to predict weather in the tropics with 39 per cent accuracy – not good enough,” she said.

Ignitia says its model has a weather prediction accuracy rate of 84 per cent since it launched as a pilot in Ghana in 2014.

Peter Okoth, an agronomist and soil scientist at Newscape Agro Systems Ltd. in Kenya, said governments in tropical nations have failed to invest in programs to provide accurate weather forecasts.

Investment could change farming

Okoth said Iska Weather could be used in other dry parts of Africa and that governments would benefit from because farmers could produce and earn more.

Support for better forecasting tools could “bring a big change on how farming is conducted and managed on the African continent,” Okoth said.

Yields of small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are among the lowest in the world, resulting in food insecurity, poverty and low economic growth. Estimates of crop losses in the region because of weather range from 20 to 80 percent.

Ignitia’s tool provides two-day, monthly and seasonal forecasts to farmers via SMS in a text-light format, which can be received on the most basic mobile phone. The forecasts are tailored to each farmer’s specific location by an automated tool that pulls in the closest GPS coordinate for each subscriber.

Low cost of service

The farmers are charged four cents per day for the service. They can pay in micro-installments using pre-paid credits and it is easy to opt out. The service is delivered in partnership with telecommunications companies in each country.

The forecasting service typically accounts for less than two percent of their total expenses, according to Ignitia. The expense is more than offset by increased income, the company said.

Liisa Petrykowska, Ignitia’s chief executive officer, said Iska Weather provides small farmers with “vital information they need to mitigate risk and create resilience,” enabling them to “increase yields and improve their livelihoods year after year”.

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Zambia fights drought with an unlikely weapon: sun

27 September 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Health, Technology

Zambia is currently in the midst of the worst drought the country has faced ever. Partly due to the El-Niño weather cycle, the lack of water has severely affected large swathes of the country notably in the southern regions where rainfall is particularly low.  In order to fight dramatic consequences of drought on Zambia’s most affected regions in 2015 the government focused on sun as a resource to help address the crisis by developing solar technology.

The case of Kanzungula’s solar powered pumps

Kazungula is a rural district located in the country’s far south. Its parched lands saw only 40mm of rain fall between November 2015 and January this year. Zambia’s Climate Chance Secretariat (CSS) identified Kazungula as an area in desperate need of attention which represented an ideal testing ground for a new solar powered scheme. Three new solar installations were built throughout Kazunglula as part of the project. Solar powered schemes involved drilling a borehole 50-60 meters deep into the arid earth to access the water table far below into the ground. Once water struck, a solar powered pump brings clean water to large storage tanks on the surface. The solar array element is critical in this process as it powers reliable water extraction in remote areas with no access to the main grid. For locals in Kazungula, the results have been nothing short of life-changing. Munji Malambo a 16 year old boy who lives in the area said in an interview with Thompson Reuters that “before this (borehole) we used to walk long distances every morning to get water before coming back to go to school […]. Most of the shallow wells in the area had dried up and the closest one was two kilometers away. Sometimes the water would get very dirty and not safe to drink.”

Implications for the future

The success of the Kazungula schemes has prompted plans for 200 installations of solar powered pumps across Zambia that the CSS hopes to complete within two years. According to Zambia’s Ministry of Finance droughtshave costs the economy an estimated US$13.8 billion over the last 30 years.  Solar schemes have then turned out to be real value for money to local and national governments. For instance, the three projects in Kazungula cost a mere $6,100 dollars. What’s more, the costs of solar installations have plummeted almost 50% over the last year. Contractors are now bidding to provide solar schemes at lower cost per MW than coal-fired generators, the cheapest historical source of energy. Solar pumping solutions like those recently used in Zambia are now being recognized as a major tool to be utilized across the African continent to fight drought consequences. With the obstacle of price removed solar energy with its many applications is set to proliferate throughout Africa.

Caution and diligence are needed

For nations such as Zambia which rely heavily on hydroelectric plants drought has placed a major strain on power production. As a result there has been a major shift to chopping and burning lumber for energy. Unfortunately this can negatively affect the water system, causing instability to recharge rates while affecting runoff to bodies of water. In the long term solar installations can help to address the energy shortage but major schemes take time to implement. Similarly, oversight is needed to manage borehole schemes themselves. Excessive drilling can cause serious consequences for the long term health of water systems. Water management is complex, and governments need to make sure the correct expertise and regulation is in place. If properly managed solar-pumping projects can become a significant ally to Africa in its fight against drought.

 

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Study: Mobile levels the banking playing field

25 September 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Technology

Mobile phone ecosystems and favorable regulatory environments areeasing access to banking and other financial services in Kenya and other African countries, even among populations that are typically marginalised from banking services. A study of 26 countries led globally by the Brookings Institution gave Kenya the highest rating – a score of 84 percent – for “financial inclusion” of woman, migrants and youth, who often are left out of the financial services system. Four other African nations received relatively high scores: South Africa (78 percent), Uganda (78 percent), and Rwanda (76 percent). Among the other countries ranked were Nigeria (72 percent), Tanzania (68 percent), Zambia (67 percent), and Malawi (61 percent). Ethiopia and Egypt hit the lowest rankings, respectively 53 percent and 49 percent. The rankings were based on four factors: national commitment, the regulatory environment, mobile capacity and adoption of traditional and digital financial services.

Survey finds increased inclusion

A survey conducted by FinAccess echoed that of Brookings showing that the number of Kenyans having access to the banking system had grown by 50 percent since 2006. The study states that in 2016, 75 percent of Kenyans had an access to financing, an increase from 67 percent three years earlier. On the other hand the Brookings Institution study revealed that Kenya’s financial inclusion landscape has benefited from the “country’s vibrant mobile money ecosystem, which features exceptionally high adoption rates – the highest of any country (in the study) by about 23 percentage points.” According to Brookings, Kenya is considered as the most mature mobile money market in the world, driven by the widespread use of the M-PESA service offered by Safaricom. As of 2015, Kenya was one of only 19 markets globally with more mobile money accounts than bank accounts. This success is explaied by government’s commitment to reinforce access to financing opportunities. Kenya’s government is a founding member of the Better Than Cash Alliance, which provides resources to ease transitions to electronic banking. Kenya’s Vision 2030 National Development Strategy highlighted the importance of inclusive finance and set a target for decreasing the proportion of the population without access to financial services.

Governments regulations to allow access to financial services

The country has also implemented regulation designed to lower the risk of fraud, promote competition in the financial sector and increase access to financial services, Brooking said. In a key regulatory change, Kenya enacted in 2009 guidelines to enable banks to name third-party agents such as post offices, markets, pharmacies, gas stations and other businesses in order to make transactions more convenient. In 2014, the government of Kenya launched a Government Digital Payments program to facilitate people-to-government payments through digital channels. By accessing a web portal, individuals can make digital payments for services such as driver’s license and passport applications. The report also pointed out that Kenyan banks have made high-level commitments to financial inclusion.

South Africa put forward

Mobile is also driving inclusion in South Africa that ranked fourth on the Brookings Institution list after Columbia and Brazil. About 70 percent of the population aged 15 or older in South Africa has an account with a mobile money provider or with a financial institution, the report said. However, regulatory challenges have slowed adoption of mobile money accounts. While South Africa does not have a formal policy to promote inclusion, the government has defined it is a priority. The report noted that South Africa has a much more robust traditional banking structure than other countries in the study. South Africa has indeed more than 10 commercial bank branches and about 66 ATMS for every 100,000 adults. Still, a Finscope South Africa survey found that about one sixth of adults in South Africa do not have a bank account or other financial services.

Uganda with large number of mobile accounts

Uganda has committed itself to increasing the number of financially included citizens from 54 percent in 2013 to at least 70 percent in 2017 according to the Brookings report. Recent regulatory changes to promote offerings of financial services through agents should drive increases in access to digital financial services in Uganda, which has already seen a proliferation of mobile money services and has the second highest level of mobile money account ownership in the study. A 2015 InterMedia survey found that about 40 percent of Ugandan adults age 15 and older were financially included, with 35 percent of adults holding mobile money accounts. Rwanda has also benefited from mobile adoption along with the expansion of community savings and credit cooperatives and agent banking locations. A 2016 FinScope survey found that financial exclusion among Rwandans aged 16 and older declined by 17 percentage points in the past four years. Chile, Mexico and Nigeria rounded out the top 10, the report said.

Egypt, Ethiopia ranked lowest

Ethiopia and Egypt both ranked at the bottom of the Brookings Institution list with much lower mobile capacity and adoption of traditional or digital banking services. In Egypt, the report said, adoption of banking services is relatively low with only about 14 percent of those aged  15 or older holding a formal bank account, a level it said was comparable to other countries in the Middle East. While mobile penetration is high, use of mobile money services has not kept pace. The report said Egypt’s political turmoil was likely to slow movement towards better access to banking services. Ethiopia also had low adoption of financial services with only about 22 percent of adults having a bank or mobile money account. While the country has sought to promote financial inclusion, its mobile capacity is also low.

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Tidal Wave of Change for London’s Property Market

19 September 2016 Comments (0) Business, Middle East, UK

In late June of this year, the United Kingdom shocked the world when it voted Leave to the referendum on the European Union. The effects of the vote were immediate: the British pound plummeted 11%, reaching its lowest point against the American dollar since 1985 and the booming commercial real estate sector in London hit a wall. One-third of on-going deals either collapsed or had to be re-negotiated as realtors and buyers dealt with the news of the “Brexit.”

The Gulf Steps In

Some overseas investors, however, were not quite so shakened: buyers from the Middle East, particularly from the Gulf region, identified an opportunity. With the drop in value of the Pound, wealthy Saudis moved in to purchase Londonian properties that were out of their budget weeks ago.
One notable example was the $1.3 billion bid put forward by a group of Saudi and UK investors for the London Grosvenor House hotel as well as a share in the Plaza and Dream Downtown hotels, both being located in New York. Prior to the vote, institutions based in EU countries were the largest consumers of British property but, following the Brexit vote, a “window of opportunity” opened for “more agile private investors and corporates seeking to make the most of currency shifts.”
Jassim Alseddiqi, chief executive of Abu Dhabi Financial Group, said his company is looking to acquire other London properties while potential rivals are hesitant to wade into the post-Brexit market. Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) has already an impressive portfolio of about $2.6 billion in capital developments in London. ADFG includes investors from Abu Dhabi’s elite, including the royal family. The company plans to bid on Hyde Park Barracks in the upscale London neighborhood of Knightsbridge. The properties are currently owned by the British Minister of Defense, who is looking to sell.
According to Mr. Alseddiqi, investment requests from Gulf buyers have increased by about 25% since the referendum. What makes this all more interesting is that most of Mr. Alseddiqi’s clients had shown no interest in capitalising in real-estate investment prior to the vote.

Those Closer to Home Step Back

While opportunities for investment are increasing, European institutions are retreating from the market. Germany’s Union Investment pulled out of a long-negotiated potential settlement to purchase a $610 million office building to the City of London in the immediate aftermath of the referendum.
James Beckham, head of central London investment firm, Cushman & Wakefield, is confident in that this trend is temporary : “institutional investors have become more cautious. For them it’s a ‘wait and see’ approach over the summer. They will come back in September and see what the temperature is like.” One can only hope that the property investment climate is warmer than the infamously grey British summers. Middle Eastern investors are not the only ones capitalizing on the delightfully low value of sterling: Chinese investors, particularly those from Hong Kong, are also seizing the opportunity to purchase properties in some of London’s most elite neighborhoods. The reason behind this is, according to those in the know, that for those who have been in the property game for a long time the chance to buy a building at a 10% discount is simply too good to pass up. It will be interesting to watch what happens to London as the population demographics of property owners change in the city’s commercial and high-end neighborhoods.

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