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Astral Aviation expands towards Abu Dhabi

29 March 2023 Comments (0) Business

Astral Aviation has just signed a code-share agreement with fellow Kenyan cargo operator, Kenya Airways Cargo. It has also just signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Etihad Cargo, and looks set to take advantage of the closer ties being sought by the two countries.

Astral Aviation, a cargo-only airline in Africa flying scheduled routes to 20 destinations across the continent, has just signed a code-share agreement with fellow Kenyan cargo operator, Kenya Airways Cargo. It has also just signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Etihad Cargo to enhance cooperation between the two entities. With these partnerships, Astral Aviation hopes to increase trade between Africa and the Middle East. The announcements come off-the-backs of several other partnerships announced earlier in the year, including an agreement with Air Logistics Group, the world’s leading cargo sales and services agent, that would increase online booking capacity for the airline. As Astral Aviation has just celebrated 22 years in operation, we look back at its interesting history.

The humble beginnings of the company

Although Astral Aviation now flies regularly to 20 destinations across Africa, and delivers everything ranging from perishable goods, vaccines, mining equipment, up to humanitarian aid, it started in a very different, and much less secure position. Upon its foundation in November 2000, it was a simple charter airline operating wet-leased (where the aircraft owner will supply air crew members along with the aircraft) Russian-owned Antonov planes.

At the time, the company did not have the funds for Boeing or Airbus freighters, so Astral Aviation began operations with three Antonov AN-12 turboprop planes transporting UN food aid to Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eight years later, Astral Aviation was in a position to be able to renew its fleet, where it returned the aging Russian turboprops and instead dry-leased (where the aircraft is leased without crew) Douglas DC9 freighters. This fleet was then expanded with McDonnell-Douglas MD83s, and eventually with Africa’s first Boeing 767-200F.

Recently, Astral Aviation has made the news again by ordering the first Brazilian-made Embraer E190Fs in Africa. They join a long order list: two Boeing 767-300Fs, two Airbus A330-200Fs, four A330-300P2Fs, and four Boeing B777-300ERSFs. These aircraft will join the current fleet of 14 that includes four Fokker 50s – used for short landing strips in remote areas – and two Boeing 747-400Fs.

Covid-19 creates huge demand for cargo carriers 

Astral Aviation found itself extremely busy during the first fourth months of Covid-19, flying every single day. Originally this was perishables and pharmaceutical cargo, and then increasingly, masks, personal protective equipment, and PCR and rapid-testing equipment. Astral found itself delivering to 48 of the 54 African countries.

When the first vaccines arrived in 2021, Astral Aviation was ready to assist. In particular, a million doses of AstraZeneca, refused by the Kenyan Government due to the lower efficacy shown against the dominant variant in Kenya at the time, were re-distributed across 16 other countries on the continent. To date, Astral Aviation estimates they have delivered 59 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines across Africa.

As jet fuel prices soar, cargo operators face new pressures

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The resulting backlash against Russia saw it ostracized from much of the international community and demand for its oil and gas exports fell, or were intentionally cut off. Fuel prices across the world rose quickly, with jet fuel right alongside.

Cargo airlines like Astral Aviation found themselves facing costs rising by as much as 35%, in part due to the older age of cargo aircraft compared to those operated by passenger airlines. For example, production of the Boeing 727-200Fs that Astral Aviation leases ended in 1984, and the aircraft is significantly less efficient than more modern planes. On top of this, cargo flights are typically unbalanced between outward and return journeys – a flight from Europe to Nairobi will be nearly full of high value-added products, but on the return trip Astral Aviation often has no choice but to fly a near-empty plane. Nonetheless, the airline has shown resilience and continued to operate.

Closer links to the Middle East could fuel growth for Astral Aviation

In October 2022, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates agreed to expedite trade agreements and investment opportunities between the two countries. Astral Aviation’s new code-share agreement with Kenya Airways Cargo and MOU with Etihad Cargo will mean Astral Aviation is likely to see more flights into Abu Dhabi, taking advantage of the closer ties being sought by the two countries.

Photos : aircargonews.net

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TotalEnergies becomes QatarEnergy’s first partner on the North Field South LNG project

21 February 2023 Comments (0) Business, Featured

TotalEnergies, already heavily involved in the North Field East liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, has been chosen as the first international partner for the North Field South LNG project. Under the new agreement with QatarEnergy, TotalEnergies will gain a 9.375% stake in the North Field South project.

TotalEnergies takes second stake in the world’s largest LNG project

TotalEnergies, already a major partner of QatarEnergy and heavily involved in the North Field East liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, has now also been chosen as the first international partner for the North Field South LNG project. Expected to produce 16 million tonnes per year (Mt/y) of LNG, the North Field South project will, along with further development of the rest of the North Field project, increase Qatar’s LNG export capacity to 126 Mt/y. The offshore project will be developed via 50 oil wells that will feed 5 oil platforms, all of which are linked to the onshore processing plant by gas pipelines. Two liquefaction trains will also be installed as part of the project.

Extracting from the world’s largest LNG field

North Field South and North Field East combined make up Qatar’s North Field project, which it claims is the world’s largest LNG project in the world in terms of capacity. The field itself is a natural-gas condensate field located in the Persian Gulf, part of the South Pars/North Dome Gas-Condensate field that is shared between Iran and Qatar, holding around 51 trillion cubic meters of in-situ natural gas, plus around 50 billion barrels of natural gas condensates. The field is by far the world’s largest natural gas field, and the extremely high amount of resources present means that the area is incredibly geopolitically important.

Qatar is already the world’s largest LNG supplier, but nonetheless it aims to expand LNG production from the North Field, along with producing condensate, LPG, ethane, sulfur, and helium. LNG production from the new North Field South project is expected to start in 2025.

High tech, low-carbon

North Field South is aiming to use the highest standards of extraction to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project. The processing plant will be connected to Qatar’s electricity grid, meaning it will be powered in-part by renewable energy, mostly from the 800MW Al Kharsaah solar plant and the QatarEnergy solar plant currently under construction. Along with this, native CO2 released during natural gas production will be captured and sequestered rather than lost to the atmosphere. A system to recover gas evaporated during shipment will also be implemented that is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually.

TotalEnergies enjoys booming LNG prices

TotalEnergies, just like BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and others in the gas sector, has had a windfall year, with oil and gas prices being pushed to record highs in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Due to Western sanctions on Russian exports, the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline, and public outcry of the invasion pushing nations to move away from Russian oil and gas, buyers in Europe scrambled to replace Russian imports, which caused prices to skyrocket. TotalEnergies sat in an enviable position with access to 20 million tonnes of regasification – roughly 15% of the total capacity available on the continent – and was able to leverage this by maximizing spot purchases and sales.

All of this fueled a year of record net profits for TotalEnergies – $36.2 billion in 2022 – and has led some to call it the ‘year of LNG’.

The company has since indicated it will double-down on the LNG business, aiming for it to make up 50% of its energy sales mix by the year 2030. CEO Patrick Pouyanné has even stated that it will be a “pillar of the company’s growth in the years ahead.”

Under the new agreement with QatarEnergy, TotalEnergies will gain a 9.375% stake in the North Field South project, with QatarEnergy holding 75%. The remaining 15.625% will be available to other international partners. Pouyanné has said that, “we are very proud and honored that Qatar has once again chosen TotalEnergies as its first partner on the North Field South project…We see Qatar as a long-term strategic country for TotalEnergies and this new addition of capacity to our portfolio marks an important step towards achieving TotalEnergies’ growth objectives in low-carbon LNG, a key pillar of our transformation into a sustainable multi-energy company. It will also enhance our ability, alongside Qatar, to contribute to Europe’s energy security. “

Photos : offshorewind.biz and splash247.com

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Growing Africa’s Tech Startup Sector

24 January 2023 Comments (0) Business, Featured

Africa is home to a rapidly-growing tech startup scene. From 2015 to 2020, the number of African startups receiving financial backing stood at over 6 times the global average. Thanks to hosting the world’s largest free trading area and a young, growing population that makes use of new technology like e-banking and mobile phones to leapfrog traditional development pathways, the tech startup sector grew by about 46% a year. For the continent to truly become a launch pad for innovation and for the tech sector to maintain its stunning growth trajectory, it will need some help.

An increasingly attractive continent for investors

For any startup, obtaining early-stage funding is crucial, and entrepreneurs often seek external investment to raise this. Historically, venture capital on the continent has been limited, however this is changing. In 2014, only 70 venture capital deals were recorded in Africa, while by 2020 this had risen to over 300, with around a third of investors from the United States. This growth in investments has led to the rise of new unicorns – privately-held companies valued at over $1 billion – with four companies holding the status in 2021.

In addition, the continent is an easy place to start a company, with one of the highest entrepreneurial rates globally. This is not unusual – developing economies often have high numbers of startups driven by a lack of employment – but the increasing prevalence and the sinking cost of mobile phone technology has meant Africa is increasingly digitized. This has motivated entrepreneurs, especially in the technology sector, to innovate to match the continent’s needs. From this, a wave of investment followed: In 2015 only $190 million was invested into startups in Africa, but by 2021 it had gone up to $2 billion. South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya were the most favorable African countries for startups in the last year, hosting high numbers of companies, good co-working spaces, and a generally robust economic system.

A growing sector, but one that is still far behind

It is easy to conclude that the continent is already a hotbed for tech startups, especially as economic forecasts predict a record year for tech in Africa in 2022, with the possibility of total investments into startups reaching more than $7 billion. But while there is more money flowing into more companies than ever before, Africa’s record of scaling up these companies or even sustaining them, is poor.

There are only 4 unicorns on the entire continent, compared to over 50 in the EU, over 100 in China, and over 200 in the United States. Even for lower-value companies, such as African ‘Zebras’ valued at $200 million, numbers are slim. There are only 20 zebras across Africa, as most startups only make it to the series B funding stage. In fact, the returns on venture capital investments in Africa are less than 3% over 5 years on average, compared to 11% in Asia-Pacific and 16% in Europe.

A challenging place to grow a startup

Startups struggle in Africa for several key reasons:

  • Despite the free-trade area, the market is very fragmented
  • Consumer purchasing power is low
  • Data communication infrastructure is inadequate for the number of people it serves
  • Digital talent is scarce
  • Regulations across the 54 countries are varied, inconsistent, and often-times complex

On top of this, key sectors, especially business-to-consumer ones such as financial services and energy are often controlled by state monopolies that use their market power to prevent new companies from challenging the status quo, rather than advancing the national interest or providing a level playing field.

This leads to an inhospitable startup environment that in turn stops job creation and economic development, and threatens the entire startup sector by preventing innovative products from reaching the market.

The outlook for the future

Africa has all the pieces needed to become one of the most innovative regions in the world: high entrepreneurship, a large free-trade area, and a young and growing population that adopt new technology quickly. To see continued growth in the sector, African governments need to build and deploy a digital economic policy that encourages investment, improves the business environment through clearer regulation, and creates support networks for startups, as well as expand the continent’s digital infrastructure. Not only does this lead to short-term startup growth, but it stops the biggest companies from growing dependent on the world’s leading technology players, making the continent more self-sufficient in the longer term.

Sources : cioafrica.co and visualcapitalist.com

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With a Digital Tech 100 Award, Kobo360 cements itself as the best e-logistics company in Africa

24 October 2022 Comments (0) Business, Featured

Kobo360, the company that connects truck owners and shipping customers through an Uber-like application, picked up the title of ‘Best e-Logistics Platform,’ bringing it one step closer to becoming the leading provider of e-logistics on the African Continent.

Kobo360’s new award testifies to the company’s progress

On the 29th of July, at the Movenpick Hotel in Kenya, Kobo360, the African E-logistics company that connects truck owners and shipping customers through an Uber-like application, picked up the title of ‘Best e-Logistics Platform.’ With this prestigious award from the Digital Tech 100 Awards, renowned for recognizing the top tech companies in Kenya and attended by key individuals and stakeholders in the logistics sector, Kobo360 is one step closer to achieving its goal of becoming the leading provider of e-logistics on the African Continent.

Despite low quality infrastructure throwing challenges at the company that are unique to the intra-African trade ecosystem; dilapidated railroads, poorly maintained road systems, high duty taxes, and excessive and often corrupt bureaucracies, Kobo360 already serves over 700 businesses on the continent. It has also acquired investment from high profile international groups including Goldman Sachs, who put $20 million of Series A funding into the company back in 2019.

Obi Ozor knows the challenges personally

Obi Ozor, co-founder of the e-logistics platform, began working in African logistics while a college student in the United States. While studying in Michigan, he made extra money by exporting goods to his home country of Nigeria. After working for JPMorgan in the states, he returned to his home country and worked as Uber Nigeria’s operations chief.

He has spoken about how he would send diapers and soap to Africa during his university years, and how ‘a 1,000 kilometer journey was taking 8 days, but it cost more than moving a container from the US to Nigeria.” Because of this experience, he knew that there was a need for a data-driven service that could help move goods efficiently and securely across the continent.

Connecting suppliers with truckers with customers

Given Ozor’s experience, it is perhaps no surprise that Kobo360’s model bears similarities to Uber, connecting suppliers and cargo owners with truck drivers through an online or mobile-based application. Through Kobo360, customers can schedule, book, track, and pay for goods to be moved.

Despite the basic idea being similar, Ozor has had to apply it to an entirely different market, one that comes with its own unique challenges. Kobo360 started operations in Nigeria in 2018, and it has since expanded to Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Benin Republic.

Helping truckers as well as customers

Ozor knows that the quality of trucks and experience of the drivers is key to solving many of Africa’s logistics challenges. With so many trucks bought second-hand in Africa, and infrastructure problems abounding, the company set out to make sure that their drivers, who are independent contractors, are not alone. To help, the company offers loans to purchase new vehicles, as well as support for those who are targeted with extortion attempts, both by police and by bandits, by dispatching rapid-response repair teams and coordinating with authorities in the event of a hijacking.

Kobo360 also guarantees truckers access to discounted diesel, tires, spare parts, and working capital. This approach clearly works, as the company now has over 50,000 registered truck owners on the platform.

Ready for the next free trade area

With Africa beginning its implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement in 2021, creating the world’s largest free trade zone across 54 countries with a collective GDP of close to $3 trillion, competition is sure to start. Free movement of goods and services will make it easier than ever to move goods between locations, a fact that many will be keen to exploit. Nonetheless, Kobo360 is well positioned to be at the forefront of a logistics revolution on the continent and the company is set to take advantage of this.

Photos :

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Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2022

19 July 2022 Comments (0) Business, Featured

Between the digitization of informal trade and agriculture, new banking options for those without banks, and co-working opportunities, the African continent is ripe for investment. With the release of the Statista report by the Financial Times on Africa’s fastest growing companies, three stand out – Wasoko, Flocash, and AFEX.

The African continent is a unique and rapidly-evolving economic environment. In recent years new opportunities have arisen to fill the newest niches, from the digitization of informal trade and agriculture, to new banking options for those without access to traditional brick-and-mortar banks, to co-working opportunities; the African continent is undergoing a change. With the release of the Statista report by the Financial Times on Africa’s fastest growing companies, it is possible to get an insight into what businesses are flourishing in the current environment. The list of fastest-growing companies is dominated by technology providers in every industry including agriculture, financial services, logistics, and transport. The top three of these are Wasoko, Flocash, and AFEX.

Wasoko – 346% compound annual growth

The informal retail sector is huge in Africa, with hundreds of billions of dollars of product sold yearly from shops and kiosks. Yet these sellers have little access to capital, and face challenges getting goods either regularly, or on time from suppliers. This is where Wasoko comes in. It has become a full-scale distributor, owning and leasing facilities in the supply chain from warehousing to logistics. It began in Kenya, but quickly expanded into Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal.

Wasoko allows retailers to order products from suppliers via SMS or its mobile app for same-day delivery to their stores and shops via a network of logistics drivers. The company also offers a buy now, pay later option for retailers who need working capital to order more goods. The company is trusted by over 50,000 retailers and has over 1,000 employees, with their revenue having gone from 0.3 million in 2017 to 27 million in 2020.

Flocash – banks for the unbanked

In a continent where around 57% of the population do not have a traditional bank account, making electronic payments is difficult. With the growth of e-commerce, and greater prevalence of internet access, it was doubtless that someone would step in to fill the void. Flocash, a provider of payment services across Africa and the Middle East is the fastest-growing. It offers more than 200 payment options, 20,000 cash points, and 30 different currencies.

The company currently covers 60 different countries and has more than 400 million customers, with a compound growth of 275% and revenue going from $0.121 million in 2017 to $6.3 million in 2020.

AFEX – the reference point for commodities

Until 1990, commodity exchanges were generally restricted to industrialized nations but the rise in affordable technology has seen them spread globally. Commodity exchanges began to emerge in Africa in the 1990s but the only successful exchange was the South African Futures Exchange which was birthed from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited provides commodity brokerage services. The company has been developing a viable commodities exchange and supply chain infrastructure to support agricultural products since 2014, and it reached $31 million in revenue in 2020.

Many notable companies in the top 10

There are many interesting companies listed among the fastest-growing in Africa. Starsight Energy is ranked number 6, and delivers comprehensive, end-to-end solar solutions. AfricaWorks is a partner with Seedstars and offers workplace solutions, including co-working spaces with a compound growth of 238%. Lori systems has built an e-logistics platform that is revolutionizing the cargo-transport value chain in frontier markets from the ground up, currently number 7 on the list.

Considering that the current two biggest companies in Africa by revenue are oil and gas companies, and the third is a timber company, this could be seen as a sign of the continent becoming more developed, and moving away from traditional resource extraction markets.

Photos : breakingnews.com – ft.com

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Video Games Thriving on the African Continent

12 April 2022 Comments (0) Business, Non classé

In 2015, sub-Saharan Africa had approximately 77 million gamers, but in 2021 that number had shot up to 186 million, making Africa one of the fastest-growing in the world.

Video gaming is taking off on the African continent

In 2015, sub-Saharan Africa had approximately 77 million “gamers” – someone who plays video games at least semi-regularly. In 2021 that number had shot up to 186 million. Crucially for developers, the number of people willing to pay for video games has also skyrocketed. When taking into account the growing youth population in Africa and greater access to mobile phones on the continent, analysts are predicting a compound annual growth for the video game market of 12% until 2026, making Africa one of the fastest-growing in the world.

Impressive growth, but small total numbers

While the number of gamers in Africa is increasing rapidly, the total numbers are still relatively small. Across the world, there are an estimated 3 billion gamers, meaning that sub-Saharan Africa currently only accounts for 6.2% of the total number of gamers in the world. South Africa accounts for the biggest market within in Africa, with nearly 40% of the population identifying as ‘gamers,’ compared to only 27% in Ghana and 23% in Nigeria. In Kenya and Ethiopia the gaming population makes up 22% and 13% of their overall population, respectively. For comparison, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in the United States of America estimates that 67% of American adults play video games at least semi-regularly.

Why this growth is not just a pandemic pop

One of the biggest drivers of growth in gaming across the world has been in mobile games. Mobile gaming now dominates the market with the segment worth nearly $100 billion and showing a 7.3% YOY growth.

In Africa, video gaming has gone hand-in-hand with greater proliferation of mobile technology and smartphone ownership. In South Africa nearly 51% of the population have access to a smartphone, and it is estimated that by 2023 nearly 84% of the sub-Saharan population will own a mobile phone. This proliferation has meant that along with gaming, online shopping and social media have exploded on the continent. In some industries, such as banking, this has even led to a ‘leapfrog’ effect where traditional players, such as brick-and-mortar banks, have been skipped in favor of smartphone and internet-driven solutions. In the video game market, traditional devices such as personal computers or games consoles have low ownership numbers due to the relatively high cost of equipment, along with often unreliable power sources, and people are going straight to mobile gaming.

When looking at growth that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic there is always the question of whether lock-downs and social distancing played a part and how long the trend will last post-pandemic. The video gaming trend in Africa has been going on a similar trajectory for many years now, and when comparing the percentage of adults that play video games in Africa to that of the United States it is clear that there is plenty of room for further growth.

The link – or not – with cryptocurrency

Frequently making headlines, it is no surprise that analysts have looked to see if cryptocurrency is important to the gaming community in Africa. TripleA notes that gamers are more likely to own crypto compared to non-gamers, with 55% of gaming millenials owning crypto as compared to just 5% of millenials overall. On top of this, 80% of gamers who own crypto are interested in using cryptocurrency for gaming purchases. In Africa and the Middle east, a total of 5.9 million gamers own crypto. Along with this, many game developers are looking for more ways of integrating cryptocurrency into gaming.

This has not always been a welcome choice however. Globally, crypto and blockchain technology in gaming is a controversial topic. Vice Magazine describes it as a ‘culture war’ between developers and players, and executives and crypto evangelists. Developers at major studios that are actively using or considering crypto in their games, such as Electronic Arts, Zynga, Behaviour Interactive, and Ubisoft, have described internal turmoil and disapproval over what is often seen as “dollar signs guiding executive-level decisions that seem to add little to the already wildly popular medium, and if anything, present a threat to how and why games are currently made.”

But if gamers want to use crypto, then perhaps it is simply a matter of implementation.

Local games, local developers

The African video game market is one that so far has seen little attention from the international community. This is allowing local developers like Nairobi-based Usuki Games, Ghana’s Leti Arts, and South African startup Carry1st to thrive. But with Africa having one of the fastest-growing video game markets in the world, it is unlikely to be long before multinational companies have the continent in their sights.

Photos : euronews.com – inews.co.uk

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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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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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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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