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The Africa Tech Summit returns to Nairobi for its 4th Edition

15 March 2022 Comments (0) Business

 In February 2022, the Africa Tech Summit returned to Nairobi with over 500 delegates, 150 guest speakers, and more than 350 companies, with the aim of bringing African Tech leaders and international players together across three key summits.

February 2022 marks the 4th Africa Tech Summit

On February 22nd and 23rd 2022, the Africa Tech Summit returned to Nairobi for the 4th edition of the exposition. This two-day event will bring together over 500 delegates, 150 guest speakers, and more than 350 companies to share their insights on technology on the continent. Attendees, both companies and investors, had networking and business opportunities in the FinTech, Startup, and Mobile sectors. The goal was to connect startups and visionaries with industry leaders from across the world and there were opportunities for startups to pitch live on stage, along with attending workshops, use a deal room, and join venture showcases. Previous Africa Tech Summits have been held in Kigali, London, Washington DC, and Shanghai, all with the aim of bringing African Tech leaders and international players together.

Getting the necessary funding at the Startup Summit

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, 2021 saw over $4.27 billion invested into African startups, a huge increase on 2020. In such a fast-moving ecosystem the Africa Tech Startup Summit is the perfect place for companies to pitch to investors. This summit, a recurring component of the Africa Tech Summit, will encourage collaboration and showcase investment opportunities with the aim of developing entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa. Industry leaders, corporations and startups will all have the opportunity to connect at the summit.

Crypto was prominent at the summit

FinTech (Financial Technology) solutions have become massively important across the continent, illustrated by the $200 million acquisition of Paystack and Beyonic by Stripe and MFS Africa, respectively. FinTech companies work with digital identity, remittance, cyber security, and payment and banking systems to offer services previously only available from traditional brick-and-mortar banks. This year’s summit focused on Decentralized Finance, a term for various financial applications of cryptocurrency or blockchain that has the potential to disrupt traditional financial intermediaries in Africa. This was continuing the theme set in the previous years where a Money and Blockchain Summit was held.

This year’s summit was supported by Celo and VerifyMe, and featured African Fintech leaders as they deep-dive into the opportunities offered by FinTech, Crypto and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) in Africa through conferences, panels, and organized sessions.

Tapping into Mobile Technology in Africa

Nearly 800 million people in Africa lack a mobile internet connection, but the sector is expanding quickly. By 2025 over 425 million people will be using mobile services on the continent, and the data center market in Africa and the Middle East attracted over $6.55 billion of investment in 2021. Opportunities are plentiful, and the Africa Mobile Summit featured keynotes, panels, and breakout sessions from across the sector. MarTech (Marketing Tech), gaming, connectivity, cyber-security, cloud computing, and application development were focused on during the mobile summit, which was supported by Ethiopian startup, Gabeya, a pan-African source for freelance professional talent that recently launched its talent mobile application. The 2022 Mobile Summit is the evolution of 2020’s Future Summit, which focused on new technologies across the African digital landscape.

Photo : resilient.digital-africa.co

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A circular approach to the economy promises huge gains for Africa

2 February 2022 Comments (0) Politics

Turning towards a ‘circular economy,’ one that focuses on avoiding waste, promoting repair and reuse, and embedding ecological principles, is quickly gaining popularity in the world, but the transition to a circular economy will require policies, incentives, new infrastructure, and business support to make the change a reality.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has shrunk the economies of nearly every country in the world, which has led to renewed calls to restructure economies to support more resilient future growth. Turning towards a ‘circular economy,’ one that focuses on avoiding waste, promoting repair and reuse, and embedding ecological principles, is quickly gaining popularity in the developed world. In Africa these principles have always been practiced both consciously and unconsciously, and the continent is in a very strong position to take advantage of this. With support from local governments, industry, and the international community, Africa could leapfrog the developed world in embedding the principles of the circular economy into its industrial growth and infrastructure development projects.

The calls for a new economic system

The 20th century has been characterized primarily by the ‘linear’ economy, one that heavily relied on the “make, take, dispose” model. This has been hugely successful in industrialized nations and generated massive amounts of material wealth, however the extraction of resources has been highly unsustainable, and in the early 21st century it became increasingly clear that this type of consumption would have severe consequences for ecosystem quality, human health, and food and water prosperity. With the world’s population growing at rapid rates, the impacts are only going to become more severe, and the need for a more sustainable economic system is undeniable. The circular economy has gained traction over the years as an effective approach to achieve global, national, and local sustainability. The principles of mindful ecological practices, repair and re-use of items, and avoiding waste could be the solution to guaranteeing sufficient resources for future generations.

The Circular Economy exists informally in Africa

The idea of re-use, repair, and refurbishment of goods instead of disposing of them is practiced in Africa, but much of it exists at a startup or informal level. In Senegal a company called Proplast produces plastic resin from recycled plastic waste. In Kenya, Ecopost turns plastic into building materials. Despite the 5 million tons of plastic Ecopost has up-cycled so far, the country still produces far more plastic every year than the company can handle. Other industries are more developed though. The high cost of luxury goods like electronic equipment or cars is prohibitive to many people on the continent so cheaper options must be found. In Nigeria, 95% of cars are second-hand vehicles, and in Ghana 80% of second-hand electronic products are re-used, repaired, or refurbished.

Challenges to the circular economy in Africa

The circular economy in Africa is mostly practiced at a small or informal level, but if the benefits are to be properly realized, a coordinated, strategic approach will be necessary. If this does not happen, there is the risk that companies will adopt token or even harmful activities under the name of ‘circularity.’ This could ultimately lead to even worse results, for example waste-to-energy initiatives could see sub-standard burning practices employed that create health risks.  In Agbogbloshie, Ghana, it is common to burn insulated copper wire. Once the plastic insulation is gone, the copper wire can be easily recycled for trade, however this process exposes workers to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and other hazardous chemicals. Likewise, recycling initiatives with poor practices could see ‘pickers’ risking physical harm in landfill sites – a practice that is already common in much of the developing world. 

At the other end of the spectrum, switching to circular solutions would lead to large-scale shifts in industrial policy and this could risk job losses for those employed in resource extraction and processing. Careful consideration and management of these problems will be required in order to see a successful transition to a more sustainable economic system.

Making the circular economy a success for the continent

In a report by the World Economic Forum’s Circular Economy initiative titled “5 Big Bets for the Circular Economy in Africa,” the waste conversion, plastic waste recycling, e-waste recycling, mass timber, and garment recycling industries are identified as the sectors that can lead the charge towards a sustainable, circular economy on the continent. Training farmers to recover irrigation wastewater and converting food waste into organic fertilizer, instigating bottle deposit systems, conserving forests, and developing the e-waste repair and recycling capacity of nations can bring new opportunities and resilience to Africa’s economic sector. But these are not overnight projects, and the transition to a circular economy will require policies, incentives, new infrastructure, and business support to make the change a reality.

Photo : iucn.org

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Africa stands to benefit from $1 trillion of investment into solar energy

21 December 2021 Comments (0) Business, Featured

 A partnership between the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Bloomberg Philanthropies to mobilize over $1 trillion worth of investment into the solar sector could see the continent – home to 40% of the world’s solar potential – become a global leader in green energy.

International Solar Alliance and Bloomberg Philanthropies working together

A partnership between the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Bloomberg Philanthropies was announced at the end of October 2021. The goal of this partnership is to mobilize over $1 trillion worth of investment into the solar sector to scale up solar energy production across the 80 member countries. Across the world, solar power capacity stands at about 788GW. $1 trillion in investment would see roughly an additional 1.6 TW of capacity added by 2030. Africa stands to benefit heavily from this investment – most of the ISA member countries are in Africa and much of the continent sits in the world’s ‘sunshine zone’ near the equator, the prime location for solar power generation.

Launched recently, the ISA aims to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels

The International Solar Alliance was launched in 2016, set-up by the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi alongside former French President François Hollande with the goal of realizing a massive deployment of solar energy across the world. This would also help pave the way for future technologies. Since its inception, over 80 countries have signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement – a majority of them being African countries – making it the largest grouping of states world-wide after the United Nations.

Bloomberg NEF analytical backing paints Africa as the perfect place to start

The recent BNEF report titled Scaling up Solar in ISA Member Countries Report, paints a positive picture for investment in African solar power.

Global electricity demand is set to double in the next 30 years, however among the 80 nations that make up the ISA’s ‘beneficiary’ classification – low income countries with solar markets of less than 100MW annually – demand is set to triple.

At the same time, cost of photovoltaic modules and lithium-ion batteries have fallen rapidly. In 1976 crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules cost around $77/W when adjusted for inflation, while in 2021 the cost stood at only $0.24/W. The BNEF report predicts that the price will fall further still as manufacturers tweak the technology for higher efficiency and reduced amount of material waste.

Many of the ISA’s beneficiary countries are in Africa where strong sunlight, coupled with a lack of infrastructure to create energy from fossil fuels make these markets perfect for development. Unfortunately the report notes that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, investment in solar projects in 2020 fell below 2019 levels by 44%.

Solar power promises huge benefits for the African continent

Developing solar power on the continent has the potential to lift at least a billion people out of energy poverty. Along with that, strong investment in solar power on the continent would be a significant driver of Africa’s shift towards renewables. Right now, Africa is home to 40% of the world’s solar potential, but is home to only 1% of the world’s solar panels. This means Africa has the potential to become a global leader in creating a low or zero-carbon energy grid if solar power is developed heavily.

Along with lifting the region out of energy poverty and creating a new, green direction for power supply in Africa there would be economic benefits for the continent. If the One Sun, One World, One Grid Declaration (OSOWOG) released at Cop 26 achieves its goal of creating a worldwide grid where clean energy can be transmitted anywhere and anytime then a solar-rich region like Africa can sell the excess power generated across the world.

No small number of challenges still to be met

While the region certainly has potential, there are many challenges to overcome in order to turn the goal of $1 trillion into actual, on-the-ground investment. In a continent as large as Africa with thousands of languages and cultures across over fifty different countries, potential investors must deal with multiple governments, regulatory bodies, legal restrictions, and of course, cultural differences.

As of yet, how the money will be materialized, by who, and in what capacity remains a mystery. For those beneficiary countries that signed the ISA Framework, the only thing to do now is wait patiently for the ISA and Bloomberg NEF to release their upcoming Solar Investment Roadmap for 2022, which will shine a light on what the next steps will be to turn the goal into reality.

Sources: theafricareport.com – financialexpress.com

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Demand for Internet Growing, but Infrastructure lags Behind

18 November 2021 Comments (0) Business

Broadband penetration across the African continent is limited, and to meet the growing demand, the continent needs an additional 700 data centers, which will require collaboration between engineers, telecoms and governmental organizations.

Current state of internet in Africa

Broadband penetration across the African continent is limited. Even the leaders for internet penetration – South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya – only have broadband penetration of 64%, 45% and 40%, respectively. This is a far cry from countries like the UK, that boast a 96% penetration. This disparity has been highlighted by the pandemic, but even putting aside the increased demand on internet services during Covid-19 restrictions, demand for internet is growing fast on the continent, following a similar path to the rest of the globe. Streaming services, ride-hailing and banking are all leading the growth in content consumption. A new report by African Data Centers Association (ADCA) and Xalam Analytics has calculated that in order to meet the growing demand, the continent needs an additional 700 data centers for an additional 1000MW of capacity.

Differing responses to pandemic pressures

Across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic forced people to work from home and stay indoors. In countries with high broadband penetration internet usage more than doubled. On the African continent the situation varied. In Uganda, Rwanda, and Nigeria peak traffic actually decreased at the end of March 2020, while in South Africa usage spiked. This has been put down to the fact that in offices in Uganda, Rwanda, and Nigeria there is typically a good internet connection. This allows high-bandwidth applications to be used, but as people adjusted to working from home and using their own, often limited internet connections, these high-bandwidth applications caused problems. By contrast, in South Africa where internet infrastructure is more developed, industries were much better prepared to work from home, and so internet usage increased.

Server racks with telecommunication equipment in server room

With growing demand, Africa offers opportunities

For the data center sector, Africa offers a land of opportunity. The industry only entered the continent in 2008, and investment and development has been slow and uneven. IBM entered in 2016, and more companies like Microsoft and Huawei have joined since then. More than 30 Tier III or higher data centers have come online since 2016, effectively doubling the region’s hosting capacity. Despite this, only one third of Africa’s cities with a population of over 1 million have a local data center that meets Tier III standards.

Demand for internet services is growing across the world and more and more devices and industries are taking advantage of high-speed internet, so demand will not shrink. On top of that, Africa’s median age is 20 years old, less than half that of Europe, and an age at which data consumption is particularly high. This makes Africa a golden opportunity for those looking to invest in data centers. Investment was valued at $2 billion dollars in 2020, and the data center industry in Africa is expected to value $6 billion by 2026.

Concerted, coordinated effort required to meet requirements

ADCA’s report, while positive about the future growth prospects of internet in Africa, did warn that achieving the 700 data center target would be challenging. The land, power, and water requirements for data centers of a meaningful scale would need national, regional, and local government involvement. It also would come with a high cost. The average yearly cost to operate a large data center ranges from $10 to $25 million, before taking into account the upfront costs of building the data center and the initial set-up. When including access, power, network connections, servers, storage units, and software licenses the cost can be significant. One mile of fiber-optic connections alone can cost as much as $250,000. To make things more difficult, the infrastructure supply chain in Africa is significantly less developed than in Europe, Asia or the USA and many important components will have to be brought in from overseas.

With such a high price tag, it is clear that collaboration will be important. Industries must invest in connectivity across the continent, with engineers, telecoms and governmental organizations working together to improve connectivity and capacity across the continent as a whole.

A varied continent means varied challenges

While unified and coordinated action is required, addressing the continent’s data problems will also require looking at each region individually. With 54 countries, 2,000 spoken languages and vastly differing populations and population density, there is no universal approach to the problem. In many of the remote and poorly connected areas mobile internet like 4G may be the most economical option, and still a lack of access to electricity will be a major consideration. Nonetheless, the prospects of rapid growth demand and usage of the internet makes the investment a promising one.

Photos : cio.com / infotechlead.com / iclg.com

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African Nations Descend on Dubai’s Expo 2020

16 September 2021 Comments (0) Featured, Politics

After being postponed for a year due to pandemic, Expo 2020 is finally set to begin in Dubai, with nearly every country on the African continent represented both individually and through a dedicated pavilion for the African Union.

No expenses spared to make Dubai’s Expo 2020 a success

After being postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Expo 2020 is finally set to begin on the 1st of October 2021, with Dubai hosting the Universal Exhibition. For the first time in the 170 year history of World Expos, nearly every country on the African continent will be represented, both individually and through a dedicated pavilion for the African Union. Architecturally alone the event will be spectacular, with Morocco’s pavilion being a vertical earthen village that offers views of the whole event from it’s rooftop. With an estimated allocated budget of $8.7 billion, it is not a cheap event to host, but if successful it has been expected to generate up to US$17.7 billion in revenue for Dubai. Aside from the potential economic benefit, for the United Arab Emirates hosting the expo is a way to position themselves as a country of influence on the international scene, and further their political and economic presence on the continent of Africa.

A unified Africa presents a new image of the continent

For the continent too the exposition is an opportunity, as a myriad of countries wish to deepen their ties with Africa. With it’s Agenda 2063 – a 50-year plan to see an “integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens” – the African Union is ready to use the expo to show that the continent represents a dynamic force in the international arena. Aspiring to an Africa with no borders, whose people see themselves as Africans first, united in common heritage, culture and values the African Union pavilion will highlight Africa’s potential and ambitions, showing a new face of the continent that is exciting, young and modern.

The highlights of the continent on display

Within each carefully curated pavilion, over 40 countries on the continent will showcase to the world what they can offer:

Investment Opportunities

Some countries, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo will showcase the resources of the country. To attract investors the Congolese pavilion will highlight the country’s 80 million hectares of arable land, and the energy-production potential of the Congo River. Likewise Zimbabwe’s pavilion will showcase a destination filled with mining, construction and agriculture opportunities. In the Ethiopian pavilion conveyor belts will display locally-made products, while Nigeria’s ‘Opportunity City’ will put the country’s booming creative and technology sectors at the forefront for visitors to see.

Tourism

For many countries the Expo offers a chance to sell the country as a tourism destination. With the recent rehabilitation of Benin’s cultural sites, the country wants to revitalize its tourism industry. In fact, standing out as a tourism destination will be the challenge at Expo 2020. Heavyweights in tourism like Egypt will deploy pyramids, hieroglyphic signs and genuine antique pharaoh statues, while Nigeria will show visitors around it’s untouched destinations on a virtual reality Eco-tour.

Culture

Along with highlighting the economic opportunities, African countries will be reminding the world of the wealth of culture on the continent. Entering the Ethiopian pavilion will see visitors coming face to face with a replica of ‘Lucy,’ the world’s oldest human fossil, while in the Nigerian pavilion the ‘Nollywood’ film scene will be highlighted. Meanwhile in the Kenyan pavilion is the opportunity to meet the 44 different tribes that make up the country, and visitors can leave with a Kenyan name and digital copy of their own Kenyan passport.

Enticing investment into the continent remains a challenge

Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, Africa as a continent had seen 25 years of continuous economic growth. Despite this, the bottom half of the global Human Development Index is dominated by African countries, and the continent’s lack of infrastructure remains a barrier to international trade. This makes international investors wary, further holding the continent back. This is acknowledged by Eugene Manga Manga, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s General Commissioner for Expo 2020. He has stated that, “The continent has a lot of difficulties, but it has also started to develop.” With rich natural resources and a youthful, entrepreneurial population, the continent does indeed have a lot to offer, and Expo 2020 may be the perfect chance to remind the rest of the world of this fact.

Photos : expo2020dubai.com/

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Ory Okolloh’s Fascinating Career from Activist Blogger to Manager at Google

13 August 2021 Comments (0) Featured, Leaders

Ory Okolloh Mwangi might be one of the most well-known women on the internet, at least across Africa, gaining recognition for her creation of online platforms to monitor Kenyan politicians and map violence.

Activist, Lawyer, Blogger, Manager

Ory Okolloh Mwangi might be one of the most well-known women on the internet, at least across Africa. Born in Kenya in 1977, she studied Political Science as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, and also gained a degree from Harvard Law School. She rose to fame for her role in creating a public website to monitor Kenya’s parliament. Two years later she created another monitoring utility aimed at reporting violence during the tumultuous elections, and she later worked as Policy Manager for Africa at Google. Okolloh has earned a spot on Forbes’ top 20 Power Women in Africa, as well as TIME’s 100 most influential women.

Keeping politicians accountable in the public eye

Okolloh first came to prominence with the launch of Mzalendo, a non-Governmental, non-partisan Parliamentary monitoring website in Kenya. With many details of MPs missing from the official parliament websites, and finding constituencies and boundaries difficult or impossible, Mzalendo was launched as a way of systematically recording speeches, bills, attendance of MPs and their voting record. The name comes from the Swahili word for patriot, and the goal was to increase public participation in politics and to hold MPs to account. In 2010 the site received funding from Omidyar Network which allowed for a relaunch. Users of Mzalendo can now see ‘scorecards’ for each Member of Parliament that assesses their attendance, contactability and spending performance.

Testimony to violence 

Okolloh, who was living in Johannesburg at the time, returned to Kenya to vote in the now-infamous 2007 elections. After a contentious election where the results were called into question, riots and looting swept the country. During a period of limited news and few official statements, Okolloh used her blog to give updates from political parties, journalists and sources within parliament. She reached out for help, and soon like-minded people had set up a new site with a link to Google Earth, allowing Okolloh to add the information to the map – where violence was taking place and what and where peace efforts were active.

This was the tumultuous birth of Ushahidi, a phrase that means ‘testimony’ in Swahili. It has since evolved into a platform that can be used by anyone around the world to gather and map reports to create a crowdsourced archive of events with geographic and time-date information.

From crowd-sourced activism to google to beer?

In 2010 Okolloh caused a shock by joining Google as Policy and Strategy Manager for Africa. When asked why she left her position at Ushahidi she stated, “It is a huge opportunity to bring Google’s resources to bear as far as the growth and development of the internet in Africa (and hopefully a reminder of why I went to law school in the first place!).” Google’s operation in Africa at the time already included Gmail and Chrome in Amharic and Swahili, YouTube South Africa, University Access Programs, Google SMS and Google Trader.

In 2013 she moved to Omidyar Network as a director of investments, staying with the company until January 2020. While Okolloh maintains her blog and is prevalent on Twitter, her latest job is something of a departure from her previous roles and she is currently Independent Non-Executive Director of East Africa Breweries.

Photos sources : ifex.org – alchetron.com –

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Music Streaming Service Anghami gets listed and moves to the UAE

12 July 2021 Comments (0) Business, Featured

Anghami is now the first Middle East Tech Company to be listed on NASDAQ, following its acquisition by a SPAC and pending relocation the United Arab Emirates

The Middle East’s Top Music Streaming Platform

In 2012, Anghami revolutionized the way music was consumed in the Middle East by launching the first legal music streaming company in the Arab World. Now, it becomes the first Middle Eastern tech company to list on NASDAQ after merging with a special acquisition company (SPAC), Vistas Media Acquisition. With a music catalog including Arab labels such as Melody, Mazzika and Platinum Records alongside international labels like Sony and Warner, Anghami quickly grew in popularity. Initially launched in Lebanon, the company is relocating its headquarters to the United Arab Emirates with the support of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s (ADIO) Innovation Program. Anghami co-founder Elie Habib has been quick to make sure people know that they will “continue to have offices and teams and [they] are still recruiting in Beirut.”

Where Spotify goes Solo, Anghami goes Social

Anghami faced tough competition when it initially launched, with French company Deezer pouring $130 million into a regional expansion in the same year. Since then competition has only increased, with Spotify, Apple Music, and of course YouTube having a global reach, and significantly more resources at their disposal. Despite this, Anghami has managed to grow to have more than 70 million registered users, with over 1 billion streams every month.

Despite the crowded space, Habib was never worried about competition from these other providers as he felt the product was fundamentally different. He has stated that “We aren’t exactly tit for tat with Spotify – we have our own roadmap and differentiators that we focus on…we noticed, for instance, that most users were sharing music with others on WhatsApp, and a lot of our incoming traffic [also] happens via WhatsApp. If users use WhatsApp to send music, this means that they want to share.”

It is sharing that has been key to Anghami’s success. Habib’s theory is that music was meant to be social, not consumed alone, so the service makes it easy to connect with people and bond over music choices. Deep-learning and machine learning algorithms are used to match listeners with profiles that choose similar music, which led to people following more playlists from their matched users.

Anghami has continued with this focus, launching a live radio that features real-time text chat and voice chat to let any user, including artists and DJs talk to each other while playing songs and podcasts from Anghami’s library.

Another Tech Company in Abu Dhabi

The Government of the United Arab Emirates has been trying to entice innovative tech companies for some time, with the goal of turning the country from a consumer of technology to a producer of technology. Its Hub71 incentive program offers subsidized housing, office space and health insurance for companies in the seed and emergent phase, and while Anghami might be beyond that, Habib has stated that the city will invest in both the team and their research in the years to come. Part of the merger agreement is a $40 million commitment from UAE financial firm Shuaa Capital.

Capitalizing on the Extra Capital

Anghami will continue to operate under its own name after the merger with Vistas Media Acquisition. The pro-forma enterprise value is listed at $220 million, and it has been speculated that the company could be valued at close to $300 million following the deal. It is the first time a Middle East Tech Startup has made it on to NASDAQ and speaks volumes to the success of the company. Habib has said that they want to have “deeper penetration into high-growth, high revenue markets.” The newly raised funds are expected to be used to expand further in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Photos : Voicebot.ai – oerlive.com

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Pure Harvest Aims to Change the Face of Fresh Food

7 June 2021 Comments (0) Business, Featured

Having secured $60 million in funding, Pure Harvest Smart Farms is looking to expand its operations into Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, using advanced technology to bring food security to the arid Middle Eastern climate.

Year-round Local Fresh Food

Pure Harvest is a farming startup using hi-tech, fully climate-controlled greenhouses and a coconut shaving hydroponic solution. Their aim is to provide year-round fresh food in a region where nearly 90% of food is imported. Having secured $60 million in funding, with a further $100 million earmarked by Kuwait’s International Investment Company (Wafra), Pure Harvest Smart Farms is looking to expand its operations into Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, using advanced technology to bring food security to the arid Middle Eastern climate. CEO and co-founder Sky Kurtz described their pilot project in Abu Dhabi as showing promising results with the “potential for year-round local production at very high quality and at a very good cost structure.”

Taming the Desert with High Tech Solutions

Farming consumes huge amounts of water, leading to water scarcity even in temperate regions such as Europe and America. In the arid, dry desert wasting even a drop of water is inconceivable, and Pure Harvest Smart Farms claims their self-contained greenhouses offer a level of efficiency 30 times greater than traditional field farms.

This model of controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) uses greenhouses that go far beyond glass walls to isolate plants. A climate chamber removes heat and humidity from the outside air; this humidity is condensed and fed to the plants inside. There is no soil as plants are grown inside a nutrient rich solution and monitored by sensors to keep the plants healthy. Triple-paned smart glass windows and over-pressurized airflow help manage temperatures to within a 1 degree Celsius margin and carbon dioxide is added to optimize plant growth. 

Kurtz claims that Pure Harvest is expecting a yield of six to eight times more food per meter than other greenhouse farms, while using only one-seventh the amount of water. It will produce 17 to 23 times more food per meter than a traditional field farm.

A Large Market but Pure Harvest struggles to Gain Funding

Despite the success of the pilot, Pure Harvest has a long way to go. According to Kurtz, once they are producing at a scale of 30,000 square meters the produce should be 20-40% cheaper than imported fresh food giving them a very promising market.

But even with the investment of $60 million, and the $100 million soon to follow, Pure Harvest has struggled to secure the funding to expand. The industry is extremely capital intensive, and the Middle East venture capital market is less developed than in other countries. The company has managed to raise $50 million through bonds known as “Sukuk,” Shariah law compliant Islamic bonds, with a further $10 million investment from a January fundraising round led by Sancta Capital.

With the additional $100 million from Wafra, the total sum might appear to be significant, but compared to comparable ventures it is low. Recently a vertical farming firm in the U.S., Plenty, raised more than $500 million in funding.

A Promising Future for Local Food

With global supply chains heavily disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and further shaken by the blockage of the Suez Canal by the Ever Given in March 2021, the UAE region has become increasingly concerned about securing a food supply. If Pure Harvest can deliver on their promises, they stand to benefit handsomely. At the moment there is no reason to suspect otherwise as the company moves forward with expansion plans. Already the Pure Harvest has reached a $35 million agreement with The Sultan Centre in Kuwait to build a farm stretching across 80,000 square meters that can produce millions of kilograms of fresh fruit and vegetables, well past the size that Kurtz marks for profitability.

Photos : findwonder.abudhabi / agfstorage.blob.core.windows.net

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David Adjaye unveils his latest work, the Princeton University Museum of Art

4 May 2021 Comments (0) Featured, Leaders

In late 2020 David Adjaye unveiled the face of the future Museum of Art at Princeton University in New Jersey.

David Adjaye unveils his latest work, the Princeton University Museum of Art

In late 2020 David Adjaye unveiled the face of the future Museum of Art at Princeton University in New Jersey. This is just the latest in a series of high profile buildings that the award-winning dual Ghanaian-British architect has been involved with. Sir David Adjaye, OBE is known for his community-driven projects, his ethos and his imaginative use of materials. The bespoke designs he has shown the world have marked him apart as one of the leading architects of the generation. From private houses to exhibitions and temporary pavilions all the way to major arts centers, is there anything he can’t do?

Early Years of Impermanence on the Continent

Adjaye’s early life was one of frequent moves. Born in Tanzania to a Ghanaian diplomat, he lived in Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon all before the age of nine when he moved to Britain. He was able to see much of the continent, visiting places such as Kampala, Nairobi, Accra and Jeddah by joining his father’s travels. This history of travel would later be showcased in Adjaye’s project, ‘African Architecture: A Photographic Survey of Metropolitan Architecture’ that documented the urban history of fifty four major African cities.

Adjaye states that a formative moment in his childhood was when he realized the difficulties his partially paralyzed brother had to face when going to school. Adjaye noted that the run-down and degrading facility was very inefficient and during his university education he began to think about design solutions that would provide better care for those with less mobility. He describes this as the moment he understood how architecture melds with egalitarianism.

From Houses to Exhibitions, Adjaye’s Career is certainly not boring

Adjaye graduated in 1993 from the Royal College of Art in London, and in the same year won his first bronze medal award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). His early works included residential projects, such as the house of his future-best man, Chris Ofili. He also designed Lorna Simpson’s studio-home, and the Dirty House studio. Adjaye’s architecture firm would have its first solo exhibition in 2006 at the Whitechapel Gallery called ‘David Adjaye: Making Public Buildings.’

Things picked up quickly for Adjaye when he was selected to design the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver that opened in 2007. It was his first museum commission, and was designed in such a way as to minimize the boundaries between the exterior spaces of the city and the interior galleries of the museum. Adjaye was later selected as lead architect for the design of the $540 million National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. When the museum opened in 2016 it was named the cultural event of the year by the New York Times, and Adjaye’s signature touches included a crown motif from the West African Yoruba Kingdom.

His grandest work yet, the upcoming Princeton Museum of Art

In 2018 David Adjaye won the competition to create the new art museum in the heart of the Princeton University campus and he has just revealed new images of how the building will look. As a former guest professor at the university, Adjaye knows the institution well and his proposal is nothing if not ambitious.

The museum will be open to all and inclusive. Materials such as stone, bronze and glass will intertwine and the project will double the area offered by the original museum. The upcoming space has been described as a campus within the campus. It will have three levels with seven interlocking pavilions connected with intimate spaces. Spread across this impressive area will be nearly 110,000 works of art, with pieces dating back to antiquity standing alongside more recent works. Estimated to be completed in 2024, the building will be one of David Adjaye’s most important personal achievements, along with being one of the most important university museums in the world.

Sources: africatopsuccess.com – stirworld.com

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Fujin, John Dodelande’s real estate company involved in the development of the Georgian tourism sector

12 April 2021 Comments (0) Business, Europe

John Dodelande Fujin

If John Dodelande began his professional career with a passion for contemporary Chinese art, after having developed a leading agro-industrial activity in the Caucasus region (Georgia), he is today one of the pioneers of an ambitious real estate developments company called Fujin.

Georgia is a country where European and Asiatics cultures meet, and have been blending harmoniously for thousands of years. Regarded as Europe’s green zone and ranked seventh in the World Bank’s 2020 index on ease of doing business, with a well-developed infrastructure and a skilled workforce, this “European jewel” has been determined in recent years to becoming one of the most influential tourist areas on our continent. 

And John Dodelande quickly understood this. His goal? Make this country an attractive territory for investors. This is why this businessman of the new generation built Fujin, a hotel development company based in Tbilisi which links the country from one end to the other. 

If Fujin has been able to rapidly develop its activity in order to attract numerous European or Chinese investors, always with the aim of further developing the Georgian tourist sector, it is thanks to the large network of influential contacts along the Silk Road, but above all,  to the unequalled experience of its director in the creation of partnerships. And even today, large-scale projects are still pouring in.

Among them is the development of the Tbilisi Airport Hotel. With this new 39,000 square-metre complex, the construction of a 120-room Ibis International Hotel and the opening of different local shops, the aim is clear: to create a new travel and entertainment centre in order to take advantage of the exponential increase in the number of tourists travelling through the country in the long-term. 

John Dodelande’s projects also include the development of a ski resort.  Thanks to the new road from Tbilisi, to be completed in 2023 and which will reduce travel time from the airport to two hours, this all-season destination, should attract a larger flow of travellers curious to discover all of Georgia’s breathtaking landscapes.  

We hope that this businessman will bring new surprises for the coming year! 

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