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East Africa’s fintech corridors: from Gulf remittances to regional payment hubs

11 November 2026 Comments (0) Non classé

From Nairobi to Dubai: the anatomy of a new financial corridor

For years, the story of East African fintech was largely domestic. M-Pesa launched in Kenya in 2007 and within a decade had transformed how Kenyans transferred money and accessed basic financial services, without crossing a single border. That domestic focus made sense: mobile money was solving an acute local problem, connecting an unbanked majority to essential services.

The focus is shifting. A new generation of fintech companies in Kenya, Rwanda and, more cautiously, Ethiopia is building cross-border payment infrastructure that connects East African users directly to exchange houses and digital wallets in Gulf Cooperation Council states. The push is driven by a clear economic reality: GCC countries host an estimated 2.5 million migrant workers from East Africa, and the money they send home is a critical pillar of household income.

According to World Bank data, Kenya received approximately $4.1 billion in remittances in 2023, making it one of the top remittance recipients on the continent. Ethiopia’s inbound transfers have exceeded $5 billion in recent years. The challenge is cost: the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database shows that sending $200 to sub-Saharan Africa still costs an average of around 8 percent of the transaction value, nearly double the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target of 3 percent. For a migrant worker in Riyadh or Dubai, that gap is felt every month.

A regulatory race to attract corridor business in East Africa

Rwanda has positioned itself most deliberately as a fintech hub for cross-border services. The National Bank of Rwanda operates a regulatory sandbox that allows companies to test interoperable payment products before full licensing, reducing the time and cost of compliance. This framework has attracted startups building East Africa–Gulf corridors and enabled partnerships with regional card networks and Gulf exchange houses, according to Disrupt Africa, which tracks startup activity across the continent.

Kenya’s Central Bank has progressively expanded its frameworks for licensed payment service providers, and partnerships between Kenyan platforms and Gulf-based fintech players have multiplied. Integrations with UAE-based digital wallets and Saudi exchange networks now allow users to send and receive funds in near-real time, compared with the multi-day processing that traditional bank transfers require.

Ethiopia represents the newest frontier. After decades of a tightly controlled financial sector, Addis Ababa has begun opening banking and payment services to private actors. A 2023 directive allowing foreign investors to hold minority stakes in Ethiopian banks was a significant regulatory step, one that fintech observers noted as an opening for diaspora-oriented payment services, given the size of Ethiopia’s Gulf-based diaspora. According to Disrupt Africa’s annual fintech reports, East Africa consistently attracts among the highest shares of fintech venture funding on the continent, with corridor-focused companies drawing backing from Gulf family offices, regional venture funds and development finance institutions.

Beyond the transaction: regional and continental implications

The expansion of these payment corridors carries consequences well beyond individual transfers. For families in Nairobi, Kigali or Addis Ababa who depend on Gulf remittances, lower fees and faster settlement mean more disposable income and greater financial predictability month to month. Central banks benefit as well: when transfers flow through regulated digital platforms rather than informal channels, monetary authorities gain clearer visibility into foreign currency flows, an advantage for monetary policy management.

There is a larger strategic picture. The African Continental Free Trade Area has set ambitious targets for intra-African trade, and seamless cross-border payments are a prerequisite for reaching them. Fintech corridors between East Africa and the Gulf can function as proving grounds for the interoperability standards that pan-African payment systems will eventually need. Each cross-border integration negotiated today, whether with a Saudi exchange house or a UAE neobank, produces the technical and legal templates that can later be adapted to African-to-African corridors.

Product managers in Nairobi consult with compliance officers in Abu Dhabi. Founders in Kigali pitch to sovereign fund analysts in Riyadh while adapting interfaces for Arabic-speaking users. These relationships, built deal by deal and license by license, form the connective tissue of a genuinely regional financial market.

The road ahead is not without friction. Liquidity management across multiple jurisdictions, combined with the patchwork of Know Your Customer requirements in both regions, creates ongoing compliance costs that weigh more heavily on smaller players. Currency volatility adds another layer of risk. Cross-border instant payment rails remain more aspiration than standard, despite progress by systems such as PAPSS in West and Central Africa and Buna in the Arab world.

For East Africa’s fintech founders, the direction is clear. The Gulf is both a source of diaspora capital and a live market for digital financial services. Building reliable bridges between these two realities, one corridor at a time, is becoming the defining strategic bet of this next phase of African fintech. Whether the region can sustain this momentum will depend as much on regulatory coordination between African and Gulf authorities as on the technology itself.

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African and Gulf Airlines Quietly Forge a New South-South Aviation Corridor

26 October 2026 Comments (0) Business, Non classé

A network taking shape across the Indian Ocean corridor

Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport has become the clearest emblem of this shift. Ethiopian Airlines, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest carrier by network reach, operates direct services to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Riyadh, and carried more than ten million passengers annually in the years before the pandemic, according to the airline’s published performance data. Its recovery since 2021 has been brisk, and its Gulf routes rank among the most commercially significant in its network.

On the Gulf side, Emirates operates services to more than twenty African destinations, a figure confirmed by the carrier’s own route maps. Flydubai, its low-cost affiliate, has added secondary African cities, extending connectivity to markets that full-service carriers previously bypassed. Qatar Airways has historically maintained services to at least a dozen African cities, with East and West Africa both featuring prominently in its expansion plans. Collectively, these networks have materially changed the direct travel options available from Kigali, Harare or Zanzibar over the course of a decade.

The corridor is not uniform. East Africa’s connection to the Gulf is the most developed, built on decades of labor migration and trade flows linked to GCC states. West Africa has historically relied on European hubs, but carriers like Air Senegal, alongside Gulf entrants such as Flydubai and Air Arabia, are beginning to alter this balance. North Africa occupies a distinct position: Cairo serves simultaneously as an African and an Arab hub, while Morocco’s growing aviation sector has attracted Gulf investor attention alongside expanded direct services.

RwandAir illustrates the ambition of smaller African carriers in this space. By positioning Kigali as a continental transit hub with Gulf-facing routes, the airline has secured partnerships and codeshares that amplify its network well beyond what its home market alone could sustain. Air Senegal is pursuing a comparable logic from West Africa.

Cargo as a driver of Africa-Gulf corridor growth

Passenger numbers tend to dominate aviation headlines, but freight is an equally significant driver of corridor expansion. East Africa’s fresh flower and vegetable export economy depends almost entirely on reliable air freight, with Kenyan roses destined for Gulf retailers transiting through Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on daily schedules. Ethiopian Airlines Cargo, one of the continent’s largest freight operators, has expanded its dedicated freighter capacity precisely to serve these high-value, time-sensitive flows.

The pandemic years reinforced cargo’s centrality in an unexpected way. When passenger planes were grounded, airlines discovered that dedicating freighters to medical supplies and essential goods on Africa-Gulf routes was both operationally necessary and commercially viable. That experience accelerated investment in cold-chain logistics, cargo terminal upgrades and direct freight partnerships. Gulf logistics operators, including those connected to Abu Dhabi’s and Dubai’s free-zone ecosystems, have since entered anchor agreements with African airport operators to handle growing volumes.

The direction of flow is not one-sided. Pharmaceuticals and manufactured goods moving from Gulf distribution hubs into African consumer markets are also reshaping cargo patterns. As African e-commerce platforms scale and regional supply chains tighten, demand for reliable direct air freight between Gulf distribution centers and African capitals is forecast to increase further, according to IATA’s regional aviation outlook for Africa.

Open skies policy and the regulatory gap

The commercial dynamism of this corridor exists in tension with regulatory fragmentation. Africa’s Single African Air Transport Market, known as SAATM, was launched under African Union auspices in 2018 to liberalize intra-African air travel and strengthen the continent’s competitive position. Progress has been uneven: as of recent AU assessments, fewer than forty of the fifty-five member states had formally acceded to the agreement, and practical implementation of open-skies provisions has lagged considerably behind the initial timetable.

Bilateral air service agreements between African states and Gulf counterparts add a further layer of complexity. Traffic rights and flight frequencies remain subject to negotiation, sometimes reflecting protections for national carriers rather than the interests of consumers or exporters. Where these constraints have eased, route expansion has followed quickly. Rwanda’s relatively liberal aviation policy has helped Kigali attract Gulf-facing services disproportionate to its population size, a lesson that other governments are now studying carefully.

Visa regimes compound the friction. For Gulf-based business travelers seeking to access multiple African markets in a single trip, the patchwork of visa-on-arrival policies and traditional embassy requirements remains a genuine barrier. Several African governments have simplified entry procedures in recent years, but continent-wide harmonization remains a medium-term aspiration rather than a present reality.

The stakes extend beyond traveler convenience. Aviation connectivity functions as infrastructure: it underpins deal-making and supports export-dependent industries from floriculture to pharmaceutical distribution. Investment flows between Africa and the Gulf are, in part, shaped by how accessible cities are to one another. Civil aviation authorities that push for open-skies provisions alongside airport investment are positioning their countries as genuine nodes in a reconfiguring South-South economic geography.

The commercial momentum behind this corridor is reflected in every new route launch and cargo terminal agreement. Whether institutional reform can move at the pace that airlines, exporters and investors now require is the question pressing hardest on policymakers at both ends of the route.

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Agricultural data is becoming big business in Africa

30 July 2023 Comments (0) Business, Non classé

Africa can often be a continent of major contradictions, but perhaps especially when it comes to agriculture. The African Development Bank (ADB) released a recent report which stated that the continent contained an astounding 65% of the world’s uncultivated but arable land. Many areas also have an abundance of fresh water. The soil is extremely fertile, and the continent has around 300 days of sunshine every year. And when you look at the working population, in excess of 60% of people work in the agricultural sector in some capacity. 

Yet despite that potential, the continent as a whole continues to import much of its food ($64.5 billion in 2017) and many regions continue to suffer annual famines with around five million Africans dying every year from hunger and over a quarter of the population classified as “severely food insecure in 2016”.

To increase efficiency and productivity – and thus hopefully reduce hunger and reliance on imports – many African countries are now looking to data collection and analysis for solutions and creating a new demand and market by doing so. 

A lot of Challenges to Face

There are a number of challenges that Africa’s agricultural sector faces. As far as development of uncultivated land is concerned, many areas have poor or no transport links. There may be little in the way of communications, little credit to buy the machinery and seed stock needed to cultivate the land, issues with property rights, endemic corruption at local and national levels, a lack of access to technology, and various other issues. 

Many now see the use of data identifying the areas offering the most lucrative prospects as the way to move forward. Coupled with simpler smart phones to be used in situ, data scientists can analyse data from satellite imagery and records of climate and weather patterns to help focus on those initially promising areas. 

Another major problem that faces the sector, and also another that technology may offer a solution to, is that many African agricultural products are subject to the overuse of pesticides (or the use of banned pesticides). This means that they do not pass the stringent standards of target markets such as the European Union. 

Using Technology

Companies such as Acquahmeyer in Ghana are now using drones to monitor the health of crops so as to allow farmers to reduce their reliance on these pesticides. At $5 to 10 per acre, this is a growing data market across the continent. 

The ADB are also investing in data and data collection. As of 2018, they had launched a drone programme partnering with the Tunisian government and the city of Busan in South Korea. The programme will include training 32 young Tunisians on how to pilot drones and collect agricultural data. 

South African startup, Zindi, is another African company looking to harness data to improve agricultural yields. They use their platform to host competitions that brings together over 9,000 African data scientists to crunch numbers and data from satellite imagery and other sources to provide real solutions on – and in – the ground. 

But it is also about different data sets being harnessed to improve agriculture. In Nigeria, the government are undertaking a major registration programme to include its farmers on an electronic wallet system. This will allow the government to make grants and subsidy payments, share information on better farming practices, and help improve the continental supply chain. 

Monsanto Has Established Data Sharing Agreements: Good News for Africa?

Multinational conglomerate, Monsanto, has already established data sharing agreements with the American agricultural machinery producer, Agco. They also launched Climate FieldView in 2018, a tool specifically designed to collect and exploit agricultural data from across Africa. Given Monsanto’s track history, there are justifiable worries that while African NGOs seek to reduce hunger and poverty by increasing crop yields. 

Hopefully, the Pan-African efforts by various parties will continue to yield promising results.

Photos : blogs.worldbank.org / idss.mit.edu / agroinformatics.org

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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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Andrei Bokarev, the President of Transmashholding, is exerting his company’s influence on a new frontier: the African continent.

9 October 2020 Comments (0) Featured, Non classé

Andrei Bokarev is one of the most important individuals in Russian business. As President of Transmashholding (TMH), he is head of the leading manufacturer of railway equipment in Russia as well as the leading supplier of equipment to the Russian rail transport operator RZD. The company is also present on the ground in Egypt and South Africa, where Bokarev has implemented a strategy of investment and expansion into the African continent.

Andrei Bokarev began his career following his graduation from the Moscow Institute of Finances in 1990. After holding various managerial positions, he began holding various positions within the companies of the UMMC group in 1998. His drive and abilities were quickly recognized; by 1999, Bokarev was Deputy Managing Director of Kuzbassrazrezugol, one of Russia’s largest coal mining companies. The same year, he became a member of the Board of Directors, where he has remained ever since.

In 2000, he joined the Board of Directors of the UMMC group, and then joined the boards of Rosterminalugol, a coal port company, and Transmashholding in 2004.

Andrei Bokarev and TMH: success on rails

Under Bokarev’s leadership, TMH has become the fourth-largest engineering company in the field of transportation technology in the world. As of 2017, it had operating revenues of $2.67 billion, and has contributed to transportation projects across Russia and Europe, including the metro systems of Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. The company manufactures and sells subway cars, passenger diesel locomotives, freight cars, diesel engines, flat cars, and diesel trains. TMH’s customers include major customers outside of Russia as well, notably in Bulgaria, Belarus, Ukraine and elsewhere. TMH also encourages active development of skills and employee potential, with continuous training and improvement of professional skills, modernization of production lines and work organization, and full-scale support for manufactured products throughout their life-cycles. TMH also aims to pay close attention to all health and safety standards while incorporating the newest technologies into their products and manufacturing lines.

TMH’s venture into Africa started in April 2019, launching a commitment of expansion and investment into the continent. The company’s first African factory was opened in Gauteng, South Africa, which capped off the first stage of TMH International’s planned African investments totalling over $32 million.

TMH’s African business ventures have also brought it to Egypt, where the company signed its first contract with Egyptian National Railways (ENR) in 2018, which was worth over 1 billion euros. Fast-forwarding to 2020, the company has produced 5 different train car models for ENR, with an expected operating life of 40 years. By the end of 2020, several passenger train batches will be delivered to the Egyptian government. This is yet another step towards further business development in the African continent for TMH.

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Zindi: finding solutions by encouraging competition

9 April 2020 Comments (0) Leaders, Non classé

Social enterprises, companies, and NGOs are always looking for new and innovative ways of solving problems that can be used in real time and in real situations. Cape Town-based Zindi, founded in 2018, have combined that aim of solving problems with the natural competitive spirit that exists in us all. 

Zindi works by bringing together any organisation – including private sector companies, government bodies, or NGOs – to put together a challenged based on data. Their platform has more than 9,000 data scientists from across Africa already enrolled, and they can choose to join any particular competition, submit their solutions, and gain points to move up a leader board and win cash prizes. To date, the highest prize pot has been $12,000, and it was split between the top three data scientists in that competition. 

A good example of what they are trying to achieve is the completion being held for FarmPin, a South African startup that wants solutions as to how to classify fields by the crop type they produce or can produce. Their idea is to find a simple process combining satellite imagery with the smart phones now so common across Africa. Step forward Zindi who brings together the data scientists vying for the $10,000 prize. This brings together experts in that particular area who may have little work at the time and helps to produce a practical solution that can help increase crop yields in areas that need it.

Corporate Interest 

A good indicator of how well a startup is performing – or how good their idea is – is the interest that comes from corporate giants. And it hasn’t taken long for Zindi to come to the attention of a couple of major companies both within and outside Africa. 

African communications giant, Liquid Telecom, which operates across much of Eastern and XCentral Africa, has been hosting competitions on its network on behalf of Zindi. And in August of 2029, Zindi announced a partnership with Microsoft which will see the corporate behemoth’s cloud based system, Azure, powering Zindi’s platform. Microsoft will also host and provide the prize money for another two competitions to support Africa’s AgTech industry. 

The Continent’s First Ever Inter-University Machine-Learning Hackathon

But Zindi look beyond current data scientists and have one eye on the future of Africa. Their latest project sees students from across Africa invited to take part in the continent’s first ever inter-university machine-learning hackathon. The idea is for the students, in teams of up to four, developing machine-learning solutions to one of three real-world problems. 

UmojaHack Africa offers the winning team a share of $2000 for them and a share of $15,000 for their university in each challenge as well as runners-up prizes. With reams registered from universities from more than 10 African countries, Zindi CEO, Celina Lee sees this as an ideal model to both stimulate student interest in their projects and to find real solutions that can be applied across the continent. 

The competition is sponsored by African Bank and Alliance4AI, and Data Science Nigeria is also on board as a regional partner. 

As Africa’s tech sector continues to grow, startups such as Zindi will continue to lead the way, bringing together established and experienced data scientists with the best students Africa’s universities has to offer. 

Photos : globalafricanetwork.com / aiexpoafrica.com /

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New Challenges Faced by the Food Industry in Emerging Markets

1 April 2020 Comments (0) Non classé

Matthieu Malige

Between physical sales, ensuring a brand’s visibility and enabling the development of customer experience, as well as harnessing digital sales and ensuring a wide geographical reach, the heart of the food giants is in balance. Matthieu Malige, Chief Financial Officer of the Carrefour group, offers us some food for thought.

Physical Sales, a Necessary Step

Physical presence in emerging markets is essential: a reason why many groups develop solid subsidiaries abroad. Matthieu Malige, Chief Financial Officer of the Carrefour group, told us that this was the case for his business, which has formed partnerships with the Majid Al Futtaim group (250 stores in the Middle East and Africa, including 6 in Kenya) and the CFAO Retail group (3 stores in the Ivory Coast, 1 in Cameroon and 1 in Senegal).

The physical sales format, “Cash & Carry”, persists as a particularly popular for customers within emerging markets. Carrefour, via its CFAO subsidiary, intends to massively deploy the “Cash & Carry” format in Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Cameroon,  in their “Supeco” supermarket chain. Matthieu Malige, Chief Financial Officer of the Carrefour group, aims to develop around 100 stores of this type across the African continent over a ten year period, already representing an investment of around 30 million euros in 2019.

But beyond the above scope, and despite its costs, it remains essential to commit to the digital development of emerging markets.

Digitalizing to Conquer Targets with High Purchasing Power

If physical sales can convince very large segments, a digital strategy should make it possible to reach a broader target, particularly customers with high purchasing power. While the digital industry is still emerging on the African continent, it has proved its ability to reach a  bracket of the population that is connected and eager to buy international products.

While the online sales sector in Africa is largerly dominated by American Gafa (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) and Chinese BATX (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi) a few African players do remain present on the scene, including Jumia, MercadoLibre, Shopee and Konga.

And indeed it was with Jumia, a local actor, that Carrefour chose to collaborate with. In 2018, Matthieu Malige, Chief Financial Officer of the Carrefour Group, announced the online sales of Carrefour products with the e-commerce leader on the African continent. This partnership has already enabled the marketing of Carrefour product ranges in four African countries: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Senegal.

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2020 World Expo Dubai: a first for the region

6 November 2017 Comments (0) Non classé

world expo dubai

The World Expo will be held in Dubai in 2020, meaning that the MENA & SA (Middle East and North Africa & South Asia) region will host the event for the first time. The Expo began in London back in 1851, and once every 5 years a new location plays host to the global event. Hosting such a prestigious event comes as a huge boon for Dubai’s continually growing economy, and marks a breakthrough for the region as a whole. The event demands a lot of planning, not just for the initial hosting, but for the long term use for all the investments.

A long road to completion

The process of securing the right to host the 2020 World Expo began back in 2011, when 5 cities made the final shortlist. These cities were Sao Paulo in Brazil, Yekaterinburg in Russia, Izmir in Turkey, and Dubai of the UAE. Dubai’s bid was titled “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, and in 2013 it was announced that Dubai had won.

The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) are the body responsible for selecting the winning bid, and after 164 member nations had voted, Dubai was the runaway victor with 116 votes.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said at the time “I am proud of our teams who earned this victory for Dubai with two years of hard work, dedication and commitment.”

The process to build the infrastructure for the Expo then began; as the 6 month event will see millions of visitors arrive, with the potential to generate an additional $40 billion of revenue for the economy, as 277,000 new jobs are created. The main site for the event is named Al Wasl, which means “The Connection” in Arabic, and the 4.38 sq km site will feature a 65 meter tall dome that includes a 360 degree screen to project images to the thousands of visitors.

Every nation that is appearing at the Expo will have its own pavilion, and there will also be 3 main pavilions for the central themes of the event, which are “sustainability”, “mobility” and “opportunity”. Contracts for the construction of these 3 key sites will be awarded later this year.

The UAE is only 45 years old as a nation, but the history of the people and the region is obviously far deeper. To try and illustrate this point, the 2020 Expo’s logo was based upon a ring that was discovered at a 4,000-year-old archaeological site in the Al Marmum area of Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed said that the logo “represents our message to the world that our civilization has deep roots. We were and will always be a pot that gathers civilizations and a center for innovation.”

Building for the Future

Many major global events lead to their hosts finding that they are left with large debts rather than long term growth. The Olympic Games and soccer World Cup have often proved a cost, rather than an economic boost, to their host cities. However, Dubai’s planners are confident that they are building for sustained growth.

Aside from the new jobs created to prepare for the Expo, the organizers say that 80% of the buildings created for the event will continue to be used once it has ended. An additional 28,000 hotel rooms will have been built by 2018, and this should help continue Dubai’s growing tourism trade.

In addition, major expansion of the Al Maktoum International Airport is planned to carry on after the Expo, with the works to finish in 2025. The 2020 Dubai Expo is also aiming to be the first one in which more than 70% of the visitors are from overseas, which should again help sell Dubai as a tourist destination to many people new to the region.

A new city is being built in the Dubai South region, a city which will eventually host 1 million residents and 500,000 jobs. Long term contingency plans for the various developments used at the Expo are in place, and already Siemens has announced that, from 2021, it will use Expo site as its global logistics base.

The arrival of the 2020 World Expo should dovetail well with the government’s Vision 2021 plans, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid has promised “to astonish the world in 2020.”

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South Africa central bank accuses anti-graft watchdog of incompetence

14 July 2017 Comments (0) Non classé

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s central bank accused the head of anti-graft watchdog of incompetence on Friday, following her proposal to switch the target of its monetary policy from inflation and currency stability to economic growth.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane set off a political row and sparked a selling frenzy in the rand currency last month when she said the Reserve Bank current mandate focuses on a “few commercial interests”.

In a scathing court filing, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the constitutionally mandated watchdog was “reckless” and her later explanation of the report showed a lack understanding of the constitution and the central bank’s powers and functions.

“This is a grave, rudimentary error,” Kganyago said. “The only explanation that the Public Protector has offered for her clearly unlawful conduct exposes her own lack of competency.”

Opposition parties, Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters, have also branded Mkhwebane incompetent and urged her to resign or for parliament review her ability to execute her duties.

Public Protector spokeswoman Cleopatra Mosana rejected the accusations of incompetence, saying Mkhwebane continued to “discharge her duties as prescribed by the constitution.”

Mkhwebane has been in the job since October last year. Her proposal was also opposed in court by parliament and finance minister Malusi Gigaba, both of whom have said she over-stepped her powers.

The call threatened to further stain South Africa’s credentials as an investor-friendly emerging market, coming less than a week after mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane spooked investors by raising the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30 percent from 26 percent.

 

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Toby Chopra)

 

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Autos supplier Faurecia opens second Moroccan factory, plans third

13 July 2017 Comments (0) Latest Updates from Reuters, Non classé

PARIS (Reuters) – French auto supplier Faurecia plans to open a third Moroccan plant to build car interiors and emissions control parts for clients, including its parent PSA Group, the company said on Thursday.

The future plant will open next year in the coastal city of Kenitra, Faurecia Chief Executive Patrick Koller said in a statement marking the formal inauguration of its second Moroccan production site, a seating facility north of the capital Rabat.

The seating plant represents an investment of 170 million dirhams (15.4 million euros; $17.58 million) and employs 1,300 workers making seat covers and leather trim for vehicles such as the Peugeot 3008 and 5008, as well as Opel models built at PSA plants. Faurecia is 46.3 percent-owned by the maker of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars.

($1 = 0.8760 euros)

 

(Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

 

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