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Iran’s video-gaming industry poised for action

2 April 2016 Comments (1) Business, Featured, Middle East

garshasp

With international sanctions lifted, a burgeoning industry looks beyond its domestic market of 20 million gamers.

Iran, known mostly in the West for its grim political and religious restrictions, has a   burgeoning video game industry that is poised for growth as international sanctions are lifted in the wake of the international nuclear deal with Iran.

Iran has about 20 million video gamers, which represents about a quarter of the total population, according to the Iran Computer and Video Games Foundation. It’s notable that 60 percent of Iran’s population of 80 million is under 30 years of age.

With more than 38 million Internet users, more than half of them gamers, Iran “is the largest growing video games market in the Middle East,” the foundation said.

Games feature missile strikes

Iran’s video game industry is best known in the West for propaganda-driven warfare games such as Missile Strike, a 2015 release in which the Iranians break through Israel’s air defense system and launch missile strikes on Israeli targets, and Attack on Tel-Aviv, a 2011 release that simulates an Iranian military mission to the Israeli capital.

Iranian developers have said they created these games in response to a Battlefield 3, a game that simulates an invasion by United States forces in Tehran to search for the leader of a terrorist group and to look for nuclear weapons. Battlefield 3 was developed in Sweden and published in California.

“The reason we explicitly depict an attack on Israel is that they too are explicitly depicting attacks (on Tehran) in Battlefield,’’ Missile Strike developer Mehdi Atash Jaam said.

Popular games draw on Iranian mythology

Such militaristic games attract funding from conservative elements in the country. However, by many accounts, the most popular video games in Iran draw on the country’s rich history and culture rather than its contemporary international posturing.

For example, the popular Garshasp: The Monster Slayer, is drawn from Persian mythology. In Garshasp, released in 2010, the mythical hero with a hand blade fights in a series of epic battles against the evil Deevs who are trying to create an empire.

The game, created at a cost of $400,000 has sold more than 300,000 copies domestically.

A highly acclaimed 2014 release, Parvaneh: Legacy of the Light’s Guardians, features indigenous Iranian culture and promotes an Islamic lifestyle. It sold 85,000 copies in its initial release.

Most gamers are under 24

Iran video gamesClearly, there is an appetite for video games in Iran, especially among young people who make up such a large share of the total population. A survey by Techcrunch found that 67 percent of video gamers on mobile devices were under 24 and 80 percent were unmarried. Two-thirds play mobile games several times a day with the highest interest in action and strategy games followed by sports, racing and puzzles.

Since video game production began in Iran almost a decade ago, nearly 100 game studios have been established.

However, international sanctions have hurt Iran’s fledgling video gaming industry.

Developers have been unable to license their work and have limited ability to market it internationally.

Pirated games undermine domestic developers

While their games are relatively inexpensive, less than $10, the Iranian developers are often undercut by pirated versions of Western-produced games that have better production values yet cost only a few dollars.

When the prices are similar for one product developed by dozens of people at a cost of millions of dollars while another is developed at much lower cost by a small Iranian studio, “this makes for unfair competition,” said Mehrdad Ashtiani, production deputy at Iran Computer and Video Games Foundation.

Foundation provides funding and support

The foundation was established in 2007 with a gold of fostering the video game industry by providing funds and helping developers navigate government censorship restrictions.

Games such as Garshasp might not have been made but for foundation assistance.

The foundation also established a system for rating content and age appropriateness of digital content, including video games.

In January, the Iranian video game industry got some good news. United States and European officials lifted some of the harsher economic sanctions, which should open Iran to more investment from technology companies and video game publishers.

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South Africa’s March new vehicle sales down 14 % year/year

1 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s new vehicle sales fell by 14 percent year-on-year to 47,631 units in March, data from the trade and industry department showed on Friday.

Exports slipped 18.5 percent to 27,714 units compared with the same month last year, the department said.

 

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)

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World Bank sees faster Kenyan economic growth this year and next

31 March 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s economic growth is expected to accelerate both this year and next, helped by low oil prices, improved agricultural output, a supportive monetary policy and infrastructure investments, the World Bank said on Thursday.

However, the bank also warned of possible risks, stemming partly from uncertainty over Kenya’s presidential, parliamentary and regional government elections scheduled for August 2017.

“These (risks) include the possibility that investors could defer investment decisions until after the elections, that election-related expenditure could result in a cutback in infrastructure spending and that security remains a threat, not just in Kenya, but globally,” it said in a report on Kenya.

Other risks to the outlook include subdued prices of coffee and tea, key hard currency earners, the World Bank added.

Kenya’s gross domestic product will increase by 5.9 percent in 2016 and by 6 percent in 2017, above an estimated 5.6 percent expansion last year, the bank said.

The east African nation’s government expects the economy to grow by 6.0 to 6.5 percent in 2016.

The World Bank cited the benefits of cheaper oil, good weather that is supporting farming, an appropriate monetary policy stance and sustained investments in roads and railways.

But while Kenya’s economy is faring better than others on the continent, it is still struggling to create enough jobs, which means a large section of the population is not enjoying the benefits of the economic expansion, the bank said.

Most of the jobs being created are of low productivity in the informal services sector, the World Bank said.

In the next decade, nine million young people are expected to join the labour market, with most of them getting work in small businesses due to a scarcity of formal sector jobs, it added.

“Formal firms will not create jobs for all young Kenyans,” the bank said in its twice-yearly Kenya Economic Update.

The World Bank said in another report in early March that while Kenya’s economic growth in the past decade may be remarkable by Kenyan standards, it was not even close to stellar when viewed from a broader perspective.

 

(By George Obulutsa. Editing by Duncan Miriri and Gareth Jones)

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Development bank: ‘High 5’s’ will drive African economic growth

31 March 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Featured

Powering and industrializing the economy of Africa are among key priorities outlined in March by the new head of the African Development Bank.

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the bank since September, told about 500 business leaders from 43 countries at the fourth Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan that the continent will rely on private investment as it seeks to advance on “the value chain” from being a source of raw materials to becoming a manufacturing economy.

Adesina said the African Development Bank will focus on five key priorities as it seeks to improve the business climate and quality of life on the continent.

The priorities, which Adesina dubbed the “High 5’s,” are:

  1. Light up and power Africa

This priority is critical to the development of a manufacturing economy, the bank president said.

He noted that more than 645 million Africans do not electricity while energy bottlenecks power shortages cost Africa about two to four percent of gross national product each year, undermining economic growth and job creation.

He said the African Development Bank has launched a program New Deal on Energy for Africa that has investment commitments of $12 billion over the next five years, in addition to public and private partnerships worth about $50 billion.

  1. Feed Africa

With two-thirds of the world’s uncultivated arable land and more than 60 percent of its population involved in agriculture, Africa could become a powerhouse in providing food to the world, Adesina said.

Nevertheless, many on the continent suffer from malnutrition and African nations are forced to import food at a high cost, some $35 billion annually.

Adesina said African leaders must change their strategy from thinking about agriculture as a way of managing poverty to treating it like a business to generate wealth and diversify economies.

  1. Industrialize Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturing accounts for only 11 percent of economic output on the continent and less than two percent of global output.

However, without infrastructure, power, and a supportive business environment, Africa will continue to import manufactured goods that might otherwise be made in Africa, Adesina said.

  1. Integrate Africa

Adesina said the fragmentation of African economies is holding back progress and integration will be critical to driving industrialization.

He called on African governments to implement regional and inter-regional agreements that would remove barriers to integration.

He said the African Development Bank would continue to invest in regional infrastructure and work with regional partners to facilitate integration of trade and transport.

  1. Improve the quality of life for Africans

Adesina said the bank will accelerate its investments in vocational training and education to help drive economic development.

The centerpiece of this effort is the “Jobs for Africa’s Youth Initiative,” a partnership of the development bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union.

Adesina said the goal of the initiative goal is to reach 50 million young people and create 25 million jobs in the coming decade, to enable young Africans to “realize their economic potential through business incubation and financing.”

Private sector critical to growth

He said the private sector, which accounts for 90 percent of African jobs, must play a major role in the youth education initiative and in the overall development of the economy.

The private sector, he said, accounts for 90 percent of employment on the continent, 80 percent of production and two-third of investments.

He said the bank’s effort to support private enterprise includes investment in private projects. In 2015, the development bank approved private sector projects at a cost of $2.4 million out of a total of $9 billion.

Adesina said the continent is poised for growth in spite of challenges to the global economy and, in Africa, declines in commodity prices and in demand from China.

He said economic growth on the continent will outpace global growth. The global economy is projected to grow by three percent in 2016 while the predicted growth rate for Africa is 4.4 percent this year and five percent in 2017, he said.

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Namibia’s GDP growth slows to 5.7 pct in 2015

31 March 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

WINDHOEK (Reuters) – Namibia’s economy grew by 5.7 percent in 2015 compared with a revised 6.3 percent expansion in 2014, data on the statistics agency’s website showed on Thursday.

The manufacturing sector is estimated to have declined by 7.1 percent during 2015, while mining industry recovered, shrinking by only 0.1 percent compared to 6.2 percent decline in the previous year, Namibia Statistics Agency said.

 

(Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo)

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APM Terminals to operate new automated port in Morocco’s Tangier

31 March 2016 Comments (0) Business, Latest Updates from Reuters, Middle East

Apm terminals

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The world’s third largest port operator APM Terminals said it will invest 758 million euros ($858.3 million) in a new transhipment terminal in Tangier, Morocco, that will be the first automated terminal in Africa.

The new container terminal will have an annual capacity of five million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), and APM Terminals has the right to operate the port for 30 years.

APM Terminals, a unit of Denmark’s shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk, is currently operating a port facility in Tangier that handled 1.7 million TEUs in 2015.

A.P. Moller-Maersk also controls the world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk Line and it has committed to use the new facilities.

“At a time when the container shipping industry is in crisis due to low global growth and too many vessels for too few goods to move it is important we are able to invest in bigger and more effective port facilities,” Chief Executive Kim Fejfer from APM Terminals said.

Tangier is the second-busiest container port on the African continent after Port Said, Egypt and the location of Tangier provides a natural transhipment location for containers carrying anything from flat-screen televisions to sportswear from Asia to Europe and Africa.

APM Terminals also see high growth in Africa will demand more and better infrastructure on the continent.

“Significant investment in port and transportation infrastructure will be required to meet the anticipated needs of the expanding African population and corresponding economic growth,” it said.

APM Terminals is the largest port operator in Africa with 12 facilities operational in 10 countries.

 

(Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen, editing by David Evans)

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South Africa grants first bourse licence in over 100 years

30 March 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa has issued its first stock exchange operating licence in more than 100 years, paving the way for a local company to compete with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

ZAR X Stock Exchange said on Wednesday it would start operating in September after securing approval from the Financial Service Board (FSB).

The bourse will be the second exchange after the more than a century old JSE, Africa’s biggest and most liquid stock market.

ZAR X plans to facilitate listings of restricted share schemes, currently trading over-the-counter (OTC), which the FSB ruled were in contravention of capital markets regulations.

 

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing David Evans)

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The African CEO Forum 2016

30 March 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Featured

africa-ceo-forum-2016

The first African CEO Forum Awards held within the continent sees new awards and renewed progress.

The 2016 African CEO Forum and its accompanying award ceremony was a benchmark event in the forum’s 4 year history. Taking place from March 21st to the 22nd, this was the first time the business networking event was held within Africa. The Ivory Coast was chosen to play host to the annual conference of African CEO’s, bankers and developers that aims to continue the continent’s economic growth and innovation.

“We concluded deals worth $30 million”.

Since the inaugural forum of 2012, investors and business figures from across Africa have used the event to form new commercial opportunities, broker deals and establish a stronger network of communication and development among the men and women who are steering African development through the 21st Century.

Official figures indicate that since the first edition of the CEO forum, 70% of all participants have come away having identified new business ventures or actually concluded new deals, with the likes of Felix Bipko of the African Guarantee Fund, finalizing deals worth $30 million in only the first year of the forum’s existence.

The Ivory Coast – progress in the face of adversity

After the third edition of the African CEO Forum broke all attendance records, the 2016 conference aimed to not only break old records but break new ground in bringing the forum to African soil for the first time. The Ivory Coast seemed an obvious choice given that it is seen as the driving force behind the integration of the 15 nations that make up the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), an area that has had the highest economic growth in Africa over the past 5 years.

African CEO Forum founder and President, Amir Ben Yahmed explained the choice of the host nation further:

“[W]e have chosen a country and a region that is showing clear signs of robust economic development. The fact that the African Development Bank is based there …was a further contributing factor.”

However, when terrorist attacks shook the nation on March 14th, the event seemed in jeopardy. But a strong united stance from both the organizers and key political figures within Africa ensured that progress and development continued to triumph over individuals trying to use fear to derail stability.

“We continue our mission.”  – Amir Ben Yahmed

A resolute stance was immediately taken in the wake of the attacks as the organizers made it clear that the event would go ahead and a strong message of solidarity was sent when the respective presidents of The Ivory Coast and Ghana, Alassane Ouattara and Dramani Mahama, confirmed their attendance.

With over 800 participants from across Africa, the forum was a triumph that continues to grow and open up new horizons for African commerce and trade.

The 2016 event added to the existing structure of debates and meetings by introducing new “Deal Rooms” that allow smaller meetings between investors and company owners to forge new links, exchange ideas on fostering growth of their businesses and to put pen to paper on new deals.

“Our future is bright and belongs to us all” – Oba Otudeko.

As always, the forum hosted its annual award ceremony in which a panel of carefully selected figures within African business select the winners of various awards from African CEO of the year to Private Equity Investor of the Year. This year also saw a new award for Young CEO of the year.

Oba Otudeko of the Honeywell Group won CEO of the Year and accepted the award from one of the forum’s major sponsors, Jay Ireland, CEO of General Electric Africa.

Sebastien Kadio-Morokro of Petro-Ivoire was awarded the maiden Young CEO of the Year by Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President of the African Development Bank.

Dangote Group won the African Company of the Year and was presented with their trophy by African CEO Forum President Amir Ben Yahmed.

BGFI Bank was awarded with the African Bank of the Year accolade by Adama Koné, the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance.

Emerging Capital Partners took home the prize for the Private Equity Investor of the Year, and were presented with the title by Cheikh Oumar Seydi, the regional director of the International Finance Corporation.

Heineken were rewarded with the title of International Corporation of the Year.

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Glencore to invest $1.1 bil in Zambia, kwacha gains

30 March 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

LUSAKA (Reuters) – Glencore will invest over $1.1 billion in Zambia to sink three copper mine shafts with new technology that will extend mine life by over 25 years, pushing the kwacha to its highest in two months.

By 1040 GMT the currency of Africa’s number 2 copper producer had gained 1.3 percent to 11.1100 per dollar, its firmest level since Jan. 19.

“The news from Glencore obviously sent a positive signal but overall we are seeing a lot of dollar supply with very little demand,” analyst Maambo Hamaundu said.

Glencore plans to make the investments between now and 2018 and it was expected that Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) would be turned into a world-class mining operation by 2023, it said.

“We firmly believe that we shall be able to overcome the challenges that we face today as a company and become profitable and operationally efficient,” Mopani said in a statement.

Glencore was fully committed to Mopani and had invested over $3 billion in upgrading infrastructure and in major capital expansion programmes since 2000, Mopani said.

An electricity shortage in the southern African country and weaker copper prices have put pressure on Zambia’s mining industry, threatening output, jobs and economic growth.

 

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Susan Thomas)

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Nigeria talks to Chevron, Total and ENI to revamp refineries

30 March 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria is in talks with oil majors Chevron, France’s Total and Italy’s ENI to get help revamping the ailing refineries in Africa’s top crude producer, its oil minister said on Tuesday.

The West African nation has been trying to restart its outdated refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna to end its dependency on costly fuel imports. For weeks, motorists across the country have been queuing to get petrol.

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who also heads state oil firm NNPC, said OPEC member Nigeria wanted to privatize the refineries within 12 months following repairs.

“We have gotten commitments from some of the majors. (ENI’s) Agip has indicated interest to work with us on Port Harcourt, Chevron on Warri,” he told the Senate or upper house. “We are talking to Total on Kaduna.”

Kachikwu has previously said NNPC was looking at partnerships or takeovers.

“We are advertising just in case there are better terms out there,” he said, adding that NNPC was also seeking partners to run pipelines and fuel depots as joint ventures.

NNPC had managed to repair the pipelines feeding the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, he said. Kaduna is fed by a pipeline from Warri.

Kachikwu said that from next week on fuel queues would disappear.

He said NNPC had reached deals with oil majors, with which it works in joint ventures, to help make up for a shortage of dollars due to a slump in oil revenues hindering fuel imports.

“The major international upstream oil companies have indicated their willingness to support major oil marketing companies with some of the required foreign exchange,” Kachikwu said.

“As of today, we have been able to work, in collaboration with the majors…with them to see how they can sell us foreign exchange for the naira components they require for their local operations,” he said, without giving details.

In February, Kachikwu told Reuters NNPC was in talks with oil majors and banks to raise capital for new drilling and to repay its debt accumulated from years of mismanagement. The debt had fallen to $3 billion by December, down from $3.5-$4 billion, he said on Tuesday.

President Muhammadu Buhari fired the NNPC board and appointed Kachikwu last year to overhaul the company, whose opaque structures have allowed corruption and oil theft to flourish.

 

(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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