Starting a business in Ghana does not just begin with a business idea unless you plan to run the risk of running an unregistered business and losing out of the many advantages of a registered business.
First Choose The Sector You Want to Invest In
As of 2019, Ghana has an estimated population of 30.10 million, which ranks 48th in the world. More than 2.8 million Ghanaians, representing about 10 per cent of the population, are currently living in extreme poverty. That is, these 2.8 million people are living below the global poverty line of a $1.9 spending a day. Of its current population, the percentage of rural population in Ghana as of 2016 is 45.32 % 2016, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, meaning that about more that 12.8 million Ghanaians live in rural areas. Thus, the rest of over 17 million people live in towns or other places, with over two million people living in Accra and Kumasi and appreciable numbers living in Ashanti, Sekondi-Takoradi, Ashaiman, Sunyani, Brong-Ahafo, Tamale, Cape Coast, Obuasi and others. This statistics is very important in deciding where to locate your business to get appreciable returns on your investment. Major areas of investment in Ghana include Agriculture & Agro-Processing, Cotton & Textiles, Food Processing, Forestry, Health, Mineral Processing, Oil & Gas, Tourism, Utilities, among others. Agriculture accounts for about 42% of GDP and employs more than half of the workforce, mainly small landholders.
Proceed to Register Your Business
Registering your business in Ghana is easy if you are a local. Companies may be registered in Ghana, either as:
Limited Liability Companies (
Companies Limited By Guarantee
External Company (External Companiesare companies that are incorporated outside of Ghana with a registered place of business in Ghana. They are regulated by the laws of the country in which they were originally incorporated. For example, British company may incorporate its business in Britain but has its registered place of business in Ghana)
Partnership; or
Business Names ( Between 2015-2018, Ghana had 67% registered Sole Proprietorship, 24% registered Companies Limited by Shares, 8% registered Companies Limited by Guarantee, 0% registered Partnership, 0% registered External Companies)
Ghana uses Regulations of Companies in place of Memorandum of Association which contains the Object Clause and Articles of Association.
In Ghana, you must have a TIN to register your business.
(TIN is also required to do business with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA); open a bank account; register your vehicle; get a passport; register land; clear goods from a port or airport; file a case at the court; get a drivers’ licence). Where it is a company that is sought to be registered, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) registration must first be obtained for all company directors, secretary and shareholders.
Registration of businesses and companies is primarily the functions of the Registrar General’s Department under Ghana’s Ministry of Justice and Attorney General.
The portal is also integrated with the Ghana Revenue Authority e-tax portal and both make use of the Tax Identification Number (TIN) to identify portal users. Little wonder Ghana is the ranked 114th country out of 190 countries and the 14th African country in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings, ahead of Egypt, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. At the end of the business registration, a Certificate of Incorporation and a Certificate to Commence Business are issued. Registration of businesses takes approximately 2 weeks in Ghana.
For foreign investors or businesses, they are required to complete Investor Registration Forms (Form GIPC/R1) in duplicate, after the registration with the Registrar General’s Department. Within five (5) days from the date of orderly receipt of these forms (and its attachments) the GIPC will formally register the investment.
Ghana GDP Annual Growth Rate
TAXATION OF BUSINESSES IN GHANA
Businesses in Ghana are taxed according to the sectors they belong to. Withholding Tax, Personal Income Tax and Company Income Tax and other sector taxes are applicable in Ghana. However, areas such as Capital investments ( for investment in capital projects like infrastructure, etc,), Free zone developers/enterprises, Construction of residential premise, receive 1% to 15% tax incentives.
Under the Ghana Investments Promotion Centre Act, 2013 (Act 865), there are incentives to encourage major investments in the country, especially in the agriculture; manufacturing industries who deal in export trade or use local raw materials or produce agricultural equipment, etc.; construction and building industries; mining; and tourism.
Incentives range from exemption from customs import duties on plant and machinery; reduced CIT rates; more favourable investment and capital allowances on plant and machinery; reduction in the actual CIT payable, where appropriate; retention of foreign exchange earnings, where necessary; guaranteed free transfer of dividends or net profits, foreign capital, loan servicing, and fees and charges in respect of technology transfer; and guarantees against expropriation by the government.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Logistics and distribution startup ElasticRun is in talks to raise $50–55 million, led by South African internet and media group Naspers, valuing the company at $250 million, multiple people aware of the matter told ET.
Pune-based ElasticRun is an asset-light transportation network that caters to industries including consumer goods, online retail, manufacturing, automotive and hospitality.
The company, which is based on the shared economy concept, aggregates spare logistics infrastructure capacity from businesses like kirana (corner) stores, local couriers, and small and medium businesses to fulfill customer orders.
Since it does not own warehouses or delivery centres, the cost structure is variable and on a “per delivery” basis, unlike traditional logistics players. The company claims this significantly reduces the capital required to build a national-level network, eliminates capacity wastage in lean periods and loss of business during a spike in demand. Even though this network would have high per-unit variable costs, its net spend on logistics would be lower than fixed cost networks.
“Naspers believes that this model is the most capital efficient way to build a scalable technology logistics network in India. The intent for Naspers is to double down on the investment in the next eight to twelve months,” said one person directly aware of the deal.
Naspers and ElasticRun did not respond to emails till press-time, Sunday.
NTex Transportation Services, which owns and operates ElasticRun, said in regulatory filings that revenue for fiscal year 2018 stood at Rs 63 crore on a loss of Rs 17 crore. The company closed fiscal year 2019 at about Rs 200 crore, sources told ET. In August, ElasticRun raised Rs 58.2 crore from Kalaari Capital Partners and Norwest Venture Partners at a valuation of Rs 513 crore, regulatory filings show.
ElasticRun was founded by Sandeep Deshmukh, formerly a senior executive at Amazon India, and Saurabh Nigam and Shitiz Bansal, who were both with EdgeVerve, the product and platform unit of Infosys. Just before starting ElasticRun in 2016, Deshmukh was at Amazon India leading a similar business vertical “I Have Space” (IHS) — a crowd-sourced transportation channel for the etailer, and prior to that, Amazon’s Kirana Now initiative.
ElasticRun competes with Matrix Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners-backed Loadshare, which was founded by former Myntra top executive Raghuram Talluri.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
You’ve just invented the self-tying shoelace in your head. It’s intellectual property that could make you millions. But you’re stuck in a 9 to 5 job. Is the dream over before it’s begun?
Certainly not. More and more people are having small business ideas and starting up SMEs, or small-to-medium enterprises, in their spare time. And thanks to new technology and techniques, setting up a business is easier than ever.
The idea
First of all, take a look at your idea. Do we really need self-tying shoelaces? Great ideas solve problems and plug gaps in the market. Maybe you don’t have time to sit around brainstorming all day. But you can look at what’s missing where you work or study. Working in Belgium, GU founder James Averdieck saw the potential for high-quality puddings like the ones from his local patisserie to sell in supermarkets.
British student Ben Francis saved his money from delivering pizza to buy fitted fashionable gym wear that young people would like. After just four years, his successful brand GymShark turns over £26m. While working for Louis Vuitton, Kunal Kapoor noticed there was no opportunity to buy pre-owned, luxury fashion items at a discount. So he started Dubai-based online platform Luxury Closet where people could buy and sell their designer handbags. US toy manufacturer Mattel started making picture frames. With the leftover materials they tried their hand at dollhouses. The dollhouses sold better. All saw the opportunity and had the idea.
The business plan
So you’ve decided we do need self-tying shoelaces. It’s a great idea. If you’re setting up a business, you need a business plan. Business plans can seem daunting. Fortunately, there are lots of tools and templates out there to help you get started. The $100 Startup’s One Page Business Plan asks simple questions to help you work out what your business is and what to do next. Enloop makes it even easier. Not only can this app autowrite sections of your business plan, it uses the data you input to automatically generate financial forecasts, saving you time and money on fortune-tellers.
StratPad for the iPad or Business Plan & Start Startup for Android also provide plenty of tools, resources and tutorials. Make sure to register your company. There are numerous online company formation services that can register your business quickly and easily at low-cost. It’s important to understand the legal aspects of starting a new business in your country as well. Websites like enterprisenation.com and startups.co.uk can give you information on tax law, intellectual property, employment regulations and digital rights, for example.
The time
You’ve got the plan. Have you got the time? Finding the hours while working, studying or raising a family is one of the biggest obstacles to starting a new business. First of all, remember: there are 24 hours in a day. Take away 8 for work and 8 for sleep — you’ve still got 8 left! There’s a whole other day in there. If you manage your time effectively, you can get a lot done.
Of course, there’s an app for that. Wunderlist is one of the most popular. An easy-to-use to-do list and task manager, it can help you decide what you need to do and when you need to do it. But how long do you do it for? Try the Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo. Spend 25 minutes doing a task and nothing else. Congratulations. You’ve completed one Pomodoro. Take a five-minute break to celebrate before starting the next Pomodoro. Every four Pomodoros, take a longer break.
The place
One day you’ll have an amazing HQ for your new company. For now, you have to work where you are. Chris Orrell, the founder of Hotelstayuk.com, used to call clients from the car park during his lunch break. If you’re running a home business, Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation suggests setting up dedicated business spaces in your home to minimise distractions. But when life intervenes, try and incorporate it. She calls it the ‘work-life blend’. If you’re going out to make a delivery, why not take the kids along?
Sara Mauskopf founded Winnie, an app that gives parents local information, while bringing up a new baby and helping her husband through chemotherapy. She’d work from hospitals and crèches, while managing her time by preparing tasks and setting time limits. These days, you don’t need an office or a company secretary either. Office companies like Regus and Anvic provide virtual office services with professional administrative support and an official business address. That helps with company registration.
The people
One of Sara’s pieces of advice is don’t go it alone. You’ll find more time if you can delegate and outsource tasks. Use people you know. For example, a number of friends Ben Francis met at university now work for GymShark full time. Vetements is an international collective of young, like-minded fashion designers who were fed up with the clothes they were making for big names. Creating their own designs in a Paris bedroom at weekends, the brand now regularly sells out in high street stores. Luxury Closet receives its products from 15 countries a month and sends them on to 40. Such a logistical operation is beyond its means, so the company outsources the supply and delivery of luxury items to DHL.
The tech
E-commerce has made it possible to run a business in your sleep. Customers can buy your product or service whenever they want online. Marketplaces like eBay and Amazon make it quick and easy to get started. If you want something a little more tailored, web hosting companies offer web shop services. Shopping cart systems like Shopify can let customers buy stuff directly from your website, while you’re doing something else. But what happens if something goes wrong? Now you can digitally outsource your tech and customer support. Amazon Web Services can host your website and apps. Snapengage can integrate live chat support directly into your website. Zendesk offers support ticketing, knowledgebase and FAQ features along with apps for all major smartphone operating systems.
Communication with customers is key to the success of your new business. But you can’t be on call 24 hours a day. Email is a reliable way to track customer complaints or queries. Use auto-responder to notify customers when they can expect a response. There are also customer relationship management apps like Nimble to organise your contacts and track what’s going on wherever you engage with customers. There are tools as well to analyse the data.
Dashboards like Microsoft Power BI service and 9-Spokes automatically harvest data from all your business systems. They then present it back to you in an easy-to-read form, highlighting which areas of your business need work.
The marketing
If you’re working 9 to 5, you probably don’t have the time or the money to market your new self-tying shoelaces. In that case, learn from GymShark’s use of social media influencers. Sponsoring 18 top global YouTubers, Instagrammers and bloggers, with a combined following of 20 million, the company raises awareness of its brand at a fraction of the cost. Enterprise Nation suggests engaging influencers before asking them to promote your product and reaching out to smaller ones first. Also offer free samples or trials in return for a review.
Don’t have time to trawl through social media? As ever, automated tools are at hand. The bizarrely named Followerwonk searches for Twitter accounts that tweet about relevant subjects. Buzzsumo finds the most shared articles on a topic. Buzzstream identifies influential websites.
The money
So everything’s come together. You’ve set up all aspects of your self-tying shoelace business over a few lunch hours. Now you just need the money to make some self-tying shoelaces. It takes time meeting investors and venture capitalists to secure business finance. Thanks to crowdfunding on websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, you can let the investors come to you. ForeverSpin is a company making spinning tops that crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Originally trying to start a software company, the founders didn’t have enough capital. So they brainstormed a product that was simple, unique and nostalgic — high-quality metal spinning tops — and went to Kickstarter for funding.
First they tested the website with an unrelated project to find out how it worked. Then they made a good, simple video for an international audience. People loved the idea, which in turn increased its visibility on Kickstarter and drew in more backers. Read our guide on how to get funding. It really is easier than ever to set up a business. You can fund, make and sell a product or service pretty much anywhere, anytime. So what are you waiting for? You could be sitting on a billion dollar self-tying shoelace company, or a knot-for-profit.
This article was originally published by on DHL’s Discover platform.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Reviewed by Chido B. Nwakanma, School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University.
Good literary works benefit from serendipity. Serendipity was at play in the coincidence of the ending of Chinua Achebe’s fiction in A Man of The People and the real-life first coup in Nigeria. It is an interesting coincidence that the storyline of Where the Waters Recede, embedded in history, coincides with the happenings across Nigeria and in the South West featuring Fulani herdsmen and the indigenous people.
Rotimi Olaniyan’s first novel is a masterful historical fiction that takes in several epochs in the history of South-West Nigeria. It deals with the transatlantic slave trade, the invasion of Yoruba land by the Fulani, banditry, the Yoruba Wars, as well as the incursion of the foreign religions of Islam and Christianity. It shares the myths and details of the strengths and weaknesses of the many gods of the land and the deities the people worshipped.
The life and times of Omitirin, a young woman devoted to the goddess Yemoja, is the vehicle for exploring many issues in history.
Upon attaining puberty, Omitirin’s parents’ hand her over to the service of Yemoja. She goes into a convent for preparation for over three months. As she gets ready with the traditional ritual bath at the river at the end of her initial training, her first, slave raiders kidnap her. They take her on a bewildering journey. One trader passes her over to another, and thence to another. She escapes rape the first time at the hands of drunken sailors by the assistance of a woman ostracised for witchcraft on the false allegation of a trade debtor. The lady kills the sailor as he fights to rape Omitirin but ascribes the murder to Omitirin.
Young Omitirin, age 14, is branded. Her protector hands her over to the palace of Oba Osinlokun, son of Ologun Kutere of Lagos. The king brings in Ifa priests who advise that they handle Omitirin with care and show mercy. Oba Osinlokun would not but rather hands her over to an Oyo warlord, Balogun Ijeru. She suffers through a failed effort to escape the warlord’s harem because of his brutality.
The story takes a turn when fate brings Omitirin together with the captured missionary Graham Thomas. Balogun Ijeru assigns her to the task of nursing Graham back to health based on her knowledge of herbs. Based on the counsel of the Ifa, Balogun Ijeru releases Omitirin and Thomas the missionary. Twenty-five years later, they return to Akindele, her village in the Egba heartland only to learn of the destruction of the community by an infestation of smallpox.
The novel is set in the 18th century but stretches to today. We meet the Abolitionist Movement that fought to end the slave trade, William Wilberforce, Samuel Adjayi Crowther and the early kings of Lagos as well as the warriors of the Oyo Empire.
Where the Waters Recede teaches about the 400 Orishas of Yorubaland. It dwells only on a few. They include Oya, “goddess of the Tapa River and deity of the tempestuous harmattan wind” who was also the wife of Sango, the god of thunder and Osun, “goddess of the Osun River who protects her worshippers from epidemics, loves children and gifts goodies to people”. Then there is Yemoja, the deity of the Ogun River who blesses women with fertility and the land with abundance. Also treated is Ori, “the Yoruba deity in charge of one’s destiny who amongst the Yoruba was represented by one’s head”.
Details enrich this novel. Rotimi Olaniyan goes into great descriptive details that provide picturesque views of things. The Yemoja figurine has a face “etched with Ile-Ife tribal (identikit) marks, a torso with ample bosom and cowrie beads on her neck” while it carried a boy and a girl in her hands.
Where the Waters Recedebenefits from prodigious research that breathes in the rich details. The enquiry covers the history of the slave trade and the abolitionist movement, the creation of Freetown as a home for freed slaves, and the church movement in England. There are much study and interpretation of the Yoruba Wars, the infighting of the children of Ologun Kutere of Lagos and the impact of the conquest of Ilorin.
The many wars also make this book a mini treatise on leadership. Each ruler must watch his back, calculate his moves and loyalties. Leadership is fraught with many trials, including the vaulting ambitions of persons such as Balogun Ijeru.
Where the Waters Recede runs through a prologue, four parts and an afterword. It is a book of many stories. As Iya Agba, wife of the Balogun Ijeru tells Omitirin, “Stories celebrate the moments of our lives. We might be blessed to live through each in the present, but how quickly they are spent, to become only memories that we spend the rest of our lives protecting with all our might, from fading with time. So, let us create memories worth fighting for” (p287).
Where the Waters Recede “creates memories” and lends itself to explication deploying several theories. Theories deepen understanding of phenomena as well as organise the existing knowledge in specific areas. The obvious ones are the Narrative Paradigm theory of Walter Fischer and Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory as well as Lev Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory.
In his afterword, Dr Olaniyan states: “The themes that I have explored in this novel are ones that have fascinated me and I hope that in some way, the telling of this story helps them find a valuable place within your thoughts and conversations. It is important that Africans come to terms with the need to reconcile their culture with their history. It is even more important that these powerful human stories from our past, locked within the ethos of Africa’s various artefacts that were mostly lost or stolen during the colonial era, and now lay imprisoned in the various museums, galleries and private collections in the West, be allowed to find their way back home. Because it is only then that Africans can truly finish telling the stories of their past”.
Against its noble mission, Where the Waters Recede occasionally falls into usages that put down Africa such as “in the dark African heartland” on the blurb, “primitive art” and “Ile-Ife tribal marks” rather than Ile-Ife identikit.
Rotimi Olaniyan schooled at the Universities of Jos and Lagos, as well as Lagos Business School. He received his Doctorate in Business Administration from the Nottingham Business School in 2015 and now teaches there as a member of the Marketing faculty. He worked in brand management at Cadbury Nigeria plc and Colgate Palmolive Limited and owns an experiential marketing business in Lagos.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
AI-powered start-ups in Africa face a set of challenges not experienced by entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
In Africa, like everywhere else in the world, artificial intelligence (AI) is moving up the agenda as companies, entrepreneurs and governments work out how to keep pace with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. While the continent has a long way to go when it comes to AI adoption, these technologies already play a prominent role in many individual organizations: Nigerian mobile-lending platform Carbon uses machine learning to evaluate credit applications, South African fashion retailers rely on algorithms to predict the next season’s top sellers and Kenyan ride-hailing app Little has implemented AI to assess driver performance.
For the continent to remain relevant on the global stage, it is not only vital that companies embrace AI, but also that local entrepreneurs have equity in these technologies. That said, building an AI-powered start-up in Africa comes with a unique set of challenges not experienced by entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, particularly in terms of raising capital, human resources and market receptiveness.
Entrepreneur Vian Chinner has first-hand experience of both worlds. Having founded, and sold, a well-funded start-up that applied machine learning to the rental real estate market in the US, he is now CEO of South Africa-based Xineoh, which uses AI to predict consumer behavior.
Here are three lessons running an AI start-up on the African continent has taught him:
1. Early stage AI start-ups struggle to get good valuations
“In a single morning in North America, more VC funding is raised than in an entire year in South Africa,” he says.
According to the Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, the region’s VC industry made investments to the tune of $77 million (converted from 1.16 billion South African Rand) in 2017 while KPMG puts US VC deals at $84.24 billion for the same period — an average of $115 million per morning.
In Chinner’s experience, South African VCs, with a few exceptions, are much more risk averse than their Silicon Valley counterparts. Whereas US-based VCs are generally willing to take a bet on a high-innovation/high-risk idea; South African investors typically avoid companies that don’t have a proven cash flow and solid traction.
“In Silicon Valley you basically need to sell the direction in which you are going. There’s an understanding that a start-up won’t have an exact business plan until it has launched its product in the market,” says Chinner.
“Once the start-up has received initial feedback from customers, it will start iterating to create a product-market fit. US VCs put a very high premium on innovative products and ideas, but attracting investment based on a concept or idea is tough in South Africa.”
Another challenge faced by start-ups in South Africa is that VCs often don’t have the in-house expertise to adequately evaluate AI solutions. According to Chinner, most South African VCs have a banking background, unlike Silicon Valley where many investors are former techies.
Looking abroad for funding is an option but it’s not always an easy route. While the economic and political situation in many African countries may make some VCs nervous, distance is an even greater factor — early stage investors tend to prefer start-ups that are based close to them. Chinner says:
“A San Francisco-based VC would be skittish about investing in a start-up in Phoenix or New York. People generally prefer to back teams based in the same city as them. They want to keep a close eye on them and be able to check in once a week.”
Working at a start-up on the US’ West Coast allowed Chinner to build a solid contact book, which helped with Xineoh’s fundraising efforts. To fund the company, he approached Canadian investors who were willing to back him at a valuation almost 10 times higher than what he could have raised in South Africa at the time.
Without such a network, Chinner believes Africa-based entrepreneurs will find it much tougher to attract investment from US-based investors.
Although AI and machine learning have become hot topics at tech, employment and economic forums and workshops, Chinner hasn’t seen a meaningful increase in the number of trained data scientists. He says,
“South Africa has enough smart people with the potential to become data scientists, but for some or other reason it hasn’t been a popular career choice.”
Chinner hires applied mathematics graduates and trains them in modern-day data science:
“The best people to train, by far, are those who come from applied mathematics. I can’t explain it, but suspect it has to do with the way they view the world.”
Xineoh has also adopted some unorthodox recruitment strategies: “We normally ask recruitment agencies to send us the names of the people who interviewed worst. People who are bad at politics and social skills usually end up being good data scientists.”
What is the World Economic Forum doing about the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
To thrive commercially, AI companies also need salespeople who can explain complex algorithms in a way that corporate executives can understand. Finding them hasn’t been easy in South Africa and after several failed hires, Xineoh began appointing salespeople who also have an applied mathematics background.
“They are scarce, but they are out there,” says Chinner.
3. Corporates don’t fully appreciate the benefits of AI
AI sales pitches in South Africa usually have to include a significant educational component. Although large corporates generally recognize the importance of AI, they are mostly in the information-gathering or experimentation phases and are not close to adopting AI on an industrial scale. Chinner also found that South African companies often believe they can build their own AI solutions, but that in-house initiatives rarely get to the implementation phase.
One industry that has shown a particular willingness to adopt AI solutions is the brick-and-mortar retail sector. Retailers’ transaction data (on which AI algorithms feed) is generally in good shape. Chinner ascribes this to the highly competitive nature of the industry: “South African retailers are extremely focused on customer service and having the lowest prices. In order to succeed at both, they need highly accurate real-time data. It is the competitive tension in the industry that makes them open to innovation.”
Software is, however, a global game, with solutions from names such as Microsoft, Oracle or IBM used throughout the world. Xineoh’s two biggest international competitors in the consumer behavior prediction space both sell their solutions globally, including in South Africa.
So is there a case to be made for South African-based AI companies that cater to the local market? Yes, says Chinner:
“Local players often have a better understanding of in-country nuances. For instance, in many African companies, even large ones, transanctional data is not as structured and clean as it would be in an American multinational. This is mostly because they typically don’t have as much resources available to allocate to data administration. As a result, the algorithms used by AI players in the developed world more often than not struggle to cope with Africa’s unstructured and unclean data, whereas local companies build their solutions with this in mind.
“Think of it this way: a top US tech company is a bit like an F-16 fighter plane: highly efficient, but needs near perfect conditions to take off. By comparison, a MiG [an alternative jet fighter plane] can take off on a dirt road and doesn’t need the same ongoing maintenance. The software platforms created by local companies are MiGs; they tend to be more robust, flexible and suited to local conditions.”
Jaco Maritz is the Editor-in-chief at How we made it in Africa, a pan-African online business publication
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Nigeria is struggling to produce enough electricity to power its growing urban and rural population. With fluctuations in power generation capacity over time, the highest power output the country could ever boast of is 4,000 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity.
In fact, at this rate, Singapore, a Southeast Asian nation, which Nigeria is more than 1280 times bigger than in size and 33 times bigger than in population, produces more than three times as much electricity as Nigeria. Indeed, Singapore is so self-sufficient in electricity generation that it once reached its peak demand in 2007, averaging only 7,000 MW that year that it left a spare capacity of electricity of 48 per cent in the system.
To understand the range of this absurdity, Lagos, Africa’s largest city and Nigeria’s smallest state by size is two times bigger than Singapore by size.
Back home in Africa, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is 13 times behind South Africa in terms of total power generation capacity. As a matter of fact, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has noted that currently Nigeria already has the potential to generate 12,522 megawatts (MW) of electric power from existing plants, but is still hovering around 4,000 MW, which is insufficient.
Although the biggest issues currently plaguing Nigeria ’s electricity sector revolve around lack of transparency by sector regulators, lack of creditworthy utilities and other macroeconomic forces, including the capital intensive nature of the electricity industry, there has been concerted participation by different players towards shifting the negative trends away. Startups are particularly becoming active players in this regard. Below we look at how startups are trying hard to change the narrative in the Nigerian electricity ecosystem.
‘‘When we started in 2014, the first community we provided electricity for was Sagbo Kodji Island in Lagos. They had been without electricity for 100 years and we went there and did a few pilot projects,’’ said Femi Adeyemo, CEO Anergy.
The last time we were there to check how the system was working, we met a young 15 year-old boy who started a business on the Lagos Island because of uninterrupted power supply. He makes up to N1000 a day charging mobile phones for people.
So if we did not provide that opportunity, the boy might just be there doing nothing. We derive a lot of joy when we go to these rural areas and see people starting such businesses. Africans are very smart; they just need the enabling environment.
Imagine if we do this across the country and we see our teenagers starting businesses; before you know it, we can put an end to poverty in Nigeria. This is part of our motivation.’’
Founded in 2014 by Femi Adeyemo and Kunle Odebunmi, Arnergy provides solar power systems to homes and businesses in Nigeria.
Arnergy builds, owns, maintains and supplies 24 hours electricity to residential estates, universities/campuses, telecom operators infrastructures,commercial and manufacturing firms using renewable energy predominantly solar energy with no initial cost requirement to the clients who only pay them by the month to enjoy uninterrupted power supply in their homes and businesses.
In the last half-a-decade, the startup claims to have installed over 2 MW of clean energy solutions for more than 2,000 clients. Arnergy’s 5KW modular systems also hopes to include small businesses, healthcare, hospitality, financial services, agribusiness and education.
Facing A Brick Wall Because of The Capital Intensive Nature Of Nigeria’s Electricity Industry
Indeed, even though Arnergy’s pilot off-grid projects started as far back as 2014 in villages Osun State, South-Western Nigeria, when the startup set out to connect over 1000 households to electricity, the founder, Femi Adeyemo, once admitted that:
‘‘If we are looking at people paying for the solar solution, obviously it will be more profitable in the immediate term if we supply the solution to the people in the city. But the module we run is a service module and that is why we call it a mini-utility. We just go into the village and deploy our solar solutions and they pay us for the energy they use by the day.’’
Although, Arnergy’s initial strategy was targeted mostly at rural dwellers, given that more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population who live in rural areas have no form of connection to the national grid, Arnergy was quick to re-strategize about its locations. Of course, rural areas would be considered but profitability needed to ensure that the startup continues to exist would first be guaranteed.
The startup was already under a loan agreement with Nigeria’s Bank of Industry at a single digit interest rate and more than 10 years to repay with a mandate to provide energy solutions at a very affordable rate to a minimum of 100,000 rural homes in the next five years.
Also faced with ‘‘lack of a cost-reflective tariff, policy back and forth, and over-regulation’’ in Nigeria’s electricity sector, the startup has since changed its business model to remain in business, extending its reach to cities and previously neglected territories.
Challenged by these, the Nigerian based solar energy distribution startup has recently raised 9 million (NGN3.2 billion) in Series A to fund its commercial growth with new business models, improve on partnership avenues, and expand its activities. The funding round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, while Shell-funded All On Energy, the European Union-backed ElectriFI and the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) participated in the capital injection.
Despite all this, including the recent funding, Femi Adeyemo believes Nigeria’s power problem could be solved by startups like Arnergy if government is clear on regulations and policies.
‘‘Nigeria must be wary of over-regulating renewable energy technologies and applications,’’ he said. ‘‘Import duties are currently being charged on solar power balance of system components, and value added tax (VAT) is still being charged on sales of solar panels and accessories. Enacting a zero tax regime for all renewable energy components will fast-track private sector participation and consumer adoption of renewable technology, in particular solar.’’
The potential for the local manufacture and assembly of solar panels, batteries and inverters, as well as capacity expansion for existing cable manufacturers, is significant. As in other countries that have seen a huge uptake in solar power generation, the government has provided a very conducive environment for its implementation. Full-blown pioneer status, zero VAT and tax holidays could jump start the industry in the export of renewable energy products and diversify revenue streams away from oil-based income. This in turn would create employment opportunities for thousands of unemployed youths in Nigeria’s labour.”
Unarguably, Arnergy is nowhere around Lumos, another Nigerian startup that is helping to solve Nigeria’s power sector problems, in terms of financing.
Launched in Nigeria in 2013, Lumos secured $90 million in fundraising, the Nigeria’s largest ever investment in the power industry in 2016. The investment included $50 million of debt funding from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (“OPIC”), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution and a total of $40 million of equity. The equity was raised from a consortium led by Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund (“PRIF”), the African infrastructure investor, and existing investors VLTCM and ICV.
Lumo enables people to replace hazardous and expensive kerosene generators and lanterns with modern solar electricity that can power lights, cellphones, fans, computers, TVs and other compatible small electronic devices. By offering Solar Power as a Service, Lumos offers homes and small businesses a simple and affordable way to pay for electricity in small installments using their mobile phones. Lumos targets off-grid residential and small businesses. Lumos reached its 500 system goal for the pilot in May 2015 and sold over 3,000 solar home systems in 2015.
‘‘The process your company goes through as it graduates from a start-up to a fully-fledged business is a much bigger challenge than I had anticipated,’’ Jumo co-founder and President Nir Marom said. ‘‘There is a very difficult skill set between getting a project and company off the ground — making an idea a reality — to running a growing business. It has many different demands, requires different skills and a very different management style.’’
Ultimately though, the biggest challenge I face is also why I started this company in the first place: how do you bring power to 1.3 billion of the world’s poorest people who don’t have access to electricity?
People left behind by the conventional grid tend to be tricky for businesses to reach, to communicate with, and to service.
We overcame this by partnering with other organisations, leveraging their strengths in respective areas. We know that MTN have better billing, payment and sales systems in Nigeria than we do — and they know that we make better solar systems. This is the future of business and its working for us right now. We just celebrated reaching our 200,000th customer in Nigeria.
In partnership with MTN, Nigeria’s leading mobile phone operator, Lumos Global today allows its customers to pay for the system as they go, obtaining electricity for less than 50 US cents a day, using mobile phone credit.
‘‘Our partnership with the biggest mobile provider in the Africa, MTN, might have seemed risky for a start-up, but it has made us what we are today. Partnerships are a key component of our expansion model,’’ Nir Marom said.
Founded in 2015 with over 2000 customers, Rensource is rapidly disrupting Nigeria’s energy generation and distribution. Rensource partners with project sponsors to develop, fund and manage decentralized energy projects to address the energy drop in Nigeria — by providing reliable energy to consumers, growing businesses and industrial clients.
Rensource has raised a lot of funding from different venture capital firms as well as international organisations. Notable among them is the startup’s 2018 $3.5 million bridge financing to hire more personnel, expand operations into Kano and Abuja, and expand its product base.The round was led by Mauritius Amaya Capital Partners with participation from Omidyar Network and South Africa’s CRE Venture Capital.
The startup has also raised €500,000 in debt financing to contribute to solving Nigeria’s problem with electricity by helping small and medium-sized enterprises to replace the heavy usage of fossil fuel-powered generators with solar systems. The loan from investors on Trine would provide at least 4,000 shops in Nigeria access to electricity.
Rensource previously raised a US$1.1 million seed round, also funded by CRE Venture Capital, as well as Sissili Limited, among others.
The startup is also pushing for Nigeria’s power sector reform through major partnerships. In 2018, the startup signed a partnership deal with CARS45, Nigeria’s pioneer used-car buying service, which will see Rensource deploying renewable power solution infrastructure to over 100 Cars45 inspection centres across Nigeria.
On the greatest challenges facing the startup, Ademola “Demmy” Adesina, the founder and CEO of Rensource noted that:
‘‘We’re still in the early stages of growth, but I’m most proud of the team I’ve been able to assemble and the robustness of the various processes I see the team building and implementing. From two guys with an idea, we’ve come a long way in learning how to execute precisely.’’
The firm develops renewable power projects and provides solar energy solutions to rural Nigeria. The company has been given a grant by the United States Trade and Development Agency for a solar power project that they are developing in northern Nigeria. Quaint Global Energy Solutions is working with California-based Tetra Tech. On its completion, the project is expected to bring 50 megawatts of clean energy to Kaduna State and generate more than $160 million revenue.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Swvl is invading its Kenyan market with over Sh1.5 billion ($14.5 million) investment to finance an aggressive route expansion plan in Nairobi.
“The investment will go into building the ecosystem, including supply and demand, bringing in drivers and creating awareness,” said SWVL co-founder and CEO, Mostafa Kandil, during the firm’s official launch in Nairobi on Thursday.
Here Is All You Need To Know
Swvl is already operational on multiple Nairobi routes, has set a target to grow its network to 500 routes served by 1,000 buses.
The app-based public service transport operator that launched in Nairobi on a test basis seven months ago has already signed up 150 buses on 100 city routes.
The firm, which started in Cairo, is seeking to take advantage of Nairobi’s chaotic and largely unreliable public transport system.
“Kenya is a market with a need for a stable solution for the perennial traffic snarl ups and SWVL believes that we can be of great benefit to the local consumer and the transport sector as a whole,” said Mr Kandil.
The tech company leases the vehicles that currently include 11-seater and 14-seater vans as well as 22-seater shuttles at a daily rate of $70 (Sh7,000) and $150 (Sh15,000) to ply the various routes. It tops up the daily collection if the earnings for the day are less than the daily leasing amount, but collects any income above the agreed rate.
The app-based service allows users to book trips using their mobile devices, which notifies them of the nearest pick-up point, price and time by the bus.
The driver’s contact and registration number of the vehicle as well as live map update appear on the app interface for easy identification once the buses arrive.
“We’re building a mass transit system. The investment will keep us going in this market,” said Shivachi Muleji, SWVL general manager for Kenya.
The firm says its popular routes include Ruiru to the CBD/Upper Hill, Karen to CBD/Westlands via Upper Hill, Ongata Rongai to Westlands/CBD via Upper Hill, Ruiru to Westlands, Ndenderu to CBD/ Upper Hill, and Kikuyu to CBD/ Upper Hill.
According to Mr Muleji, the company is in negotiations with local Ford dealers and a financial institution to provide vehicles at 20 percent cheaper than the market rate as well as financing options for drivers. This is aimed at growing its bus network to meet the demand of the planned route expansion. The app company, which has received pushback on some of its routes from PSV (matatu) operators, says it is engaging some Saccos in the sector to invest in the business.
The service currently charges a flat rate of Sh200 but has plans to offer distance-based pricing at the end of 2019 or early next year.
“Kenyans are picky consumers so you have to offer a premium service for the extra 10 percent you charge,” said Mr Muleji.
Tech-based solutions in the transport sector have been causing a ripple locally with Uber making its entry in the taxi business several years ago despite protests by taxis at the onset.
Kenyan-based Little Cab also offers a similar shuttle service in the market while Safiri is still in the pilot stage of data collection.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Ethiopia to install 4G network ahead of telecoms liberalisation
Ethiopia ’s state-run Ethio Telecom plans to install a 4G network in the capital and other regions and to upgrade other network services, it said on Friday, as the government prepares to open up the sector to private foreign investment.
In Summary
Ethio Telecom to roll out 4G network capacity in Addis Ababa and other regions, and improve network coverage and capacity.
It also plans to open 73 new retail shops in the year to July 2020., bringing the total to 438.
In July, Ethiopia announced it would award two telecoms licenses to multinational mobile companies.
In July, Ethiopia announced it would award two telecoms licenses to multinational mobile companies, signaling a move toward opening up one of the world’s last major closed telecom markets.
Referring to the liberalisation drive, Ethio Telecom on Friday announced a three-year strategic plan to “reshape the company and lead with business orientation and a competitive mindset.”
Based on data traffic growth and demand, Ethio Telecom will roll out 4G network capacity in Addis Ababa and other regions, and improve network coverage and capacity, the company said.
The statement gave no budget or financing details for the expansion.
The company expects to increase total subscribers by 16 per cent to 50.46 million in the year to July 2020.
It plans to open 73 new retail shops over the same period, bringing the total to 438, it said.
Ethiopia, which has a population of more than 100 million people, has been among Africa’s fastest growing economies for more than a decade.
However, the vast majority of the population live in rural areas. Around a third of Ethiopians have a phone and about 70 per cent have no electricity, a 2018 World Bank study found.
Ethio Telecom’s network quality is notoriously poor. An internet blackout in June cost the economy millions of dollars and crippled businesses.
The telecoms industry is considered the big prize in a push to liberalize the economy launched last year by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
By Reuters
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
President Muhammadu Buhari Meets With Japan Bank For International Cooperation (JBIC).
President Buhari Meets with Japan Bank of INTEL COOP Team 1. R-L;
President Muhammadu Buhari, Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi, Director Planning and Cooperation Division Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group, Takahiro Hosojima, Chief Representatives Representative Office in London, Hitoshi Nagano during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019.
PRESIDENT BUHARI MEETS WITH JAPAN BANK OF INTEL COOP TEAM 0A. R-L; President Muhammadu Buhari Chats with the Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019
President Buhari Meets with Japan Bank of INTEL COOP Team 1. R-L;
President Muhammadu Buhari Chats with the Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019.
PRESIDENT BUHARI MEETS WITH JAPAN BANK OF INTEL COOP TEAM 1. R-L; President Muhammadu Buhari, Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi, Director Planning and Cooperation Division Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group, Takahiro Hosojima, Chief Representatives Representative Office in London, Hitoshi Nagano during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019
President Buhari Meets with Japan Bank of INTEL COOP Team 1. R-L;
President Muhammadu Buhari, Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi, Director Planning and Cooperation Division Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group, Takahiro Hosojima, Chief Representatives Representative Office in London, Hitoshi Nagano during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019
PRESIDENT BUHARI MEETS WITH JAPAN BANK OF INTEL COOP TEAM 2B. R-L; President Muhammadu Buhari Chats with the Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019
President Buhari Meets with Japan Bank of INTEL COOP Team 1. R-L;
President Muhammadu Buhari, Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi, Director Planning and Cooperation Division Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group, Takahiro Hosojima, Chief Representatives Representative Office in London, Hitoshi Nagano deputy Director-General Director Division 3 Manabu Kato during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019.
PRESIDENT BUHARI MEETS WITH JAPAN BANK OF INTEL COOP TEAM 3. R-L; President Muhammadu Buhari Chats with the Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019
President Buhari Meets with Japan Bank of INTEL COOP Team 1. (M)
President Muhammadu Buhari (M) flanked by Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi. Others are Director Planning and Cooperation Division Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group, Takahiro Hosojima, Chief Representatives Representative Office in London, Hitoshi Nagano and Deputy Director Division 3 Yuichi Shoji during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019
PRESIDENT BUHARI MEETS WITH JAPAN BANK OF INTEL COOP TEAM 4. R-L; President Muhammadu Buhari, Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi, Director Planning and Cooperation Division Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group, Takahiro Hosojima, Chief Representatives Representative Office in London, Hitoshi Nagano during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019
President Buhari Meets with Japan Bank of INTEL COOP Team 1. (M) flanked by Deputy Governor Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mr. Nobumitsu Nayashi. Others are Director Planning and Cooperation Division Energy and Natural Resources Finance Group, Takahiro Hosojima, Chief Representatives Representative Office in London, Hitoshi Nagano and Deputy Director Division 3 Yuichi Shoji and members of the President team during a meeting alongside line of the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama Japan. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. AUG 30 2019.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
The Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) and President of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu has challenged Japan to help lift Africa out of its present development challenges by supporting organizations and projects that are focusing on massive job creation. Mr. Elumelu made the speech yesterday at the ongoing 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama, Japan. He called on the Japanese government to invest 5% of its $50billion commitment to Africa, in empowering African entrepreneurs.
Recalling the events of the previous TICAD 2016 in Kenya were Japan pledged $30billion for Africa, he said, “this year you have generously increased this to $50 billion. If we invested just 5% in Africa’s new generation of entrepreneurs, following my Foundation’s robust, proven model of getting capital directly to those best placed to catalyse growth and create real impact, we could touch 500,000 lives, across the 54 African countries” he said, adding that it could be achieved by broadening markets, facilitating job creation, improving income per capita, and laying the key foundation for political and economic stability.
Mr. Elumelu used the opportunity to capture his vision of a relationship between Japan and Africa, which prioritises economic and shared prosperity. He outlined the three key pillars of a bold and transformative structure: investment in infrastructure, partnership with the African private sector, and investment in Africa’s youth.
He urged Japan to learn from the example of the Tony Elumelu Foundation which champions empowering African entrepreneurs, as the most sustainable means of accelerating the development of Africa. The Tony Elumelu Foundation, in just five years has assisted over 7,500 African entrepreneurs across every African country, with seed capital, capacity building, mentorship and networking opportunities through its $100 million Entrepreneurship Programme.
Elumelu’s advice carried the weight of his track record of business success, founding Africa’s global bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), which has grown its presence to 20 African countries, as well as in the United Kingdom, France, and the USA; and Heirs Holdings, Africa’s private investment company which actively invests in key sectors of Africa’s economy and controls millions of dollars in its investment portfolio. Together, they employ over 30,000 people and transform the communities they operate in.
“Africa is one of the world’s viable destinations for investment. Our huge population, of nearly 1.3 billion people, creates one of the most attractive markets anywhere in the world. The world is paying close attention to Africa, but is Japan at the centre of this conversation or is it on the sidelines?” he queried.
Mr. Elumelu’s philosophy has become increasingly popular on the African continent, where he is acknowledged as the pioneer of a private-sector-led approach to accelerating development. He repeated the message at the Generation Unlimited breakfast meeting with H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, with its focus on job creation in Africa, where he emphasised the role the African youth plays in this narrative.
Speaking in same event, the President of South Africa and Co-Chair, TICAD, H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa corroborated Mr. Elumelu’s stance by saying that “if you want really good returns, as Mr. Tony Elumelu said, come to Africa. Africa presents risk-adjusted returns and is a market in which investments are flowing at a hundred billion dollars – that is the new profile of Africa that is being presented to the world.”
In his own submission, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Achim Steiner, praised Tony Elumelu’s Private-Sector led approach to development in Africa. He said: “I want to refer to my dear friend and colleague Tony Elumelu because he alluded to the vital role that business can also play in investing in the future of the youth. These are the kinds of partnerships that will drive business and development agenda to very different heights in the future”.
Responding, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke of the potential of the African continent, noting that “n Africa, some countries have joined top nations in the ranking on the ease of doing business. The scale of the market continues to expand. We can envision a day when the entire continent of Africa becomes an enormous economic zone.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
By Reuters
