The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced the appointment of Mr. Constantin von Moltke as its Director of Syndications and Agency. Prior to the appointment, Moltke had been serving as the Head of Syndicated Loans at Afreximbank, having joined in 2016. He has more than 20 years’ experience in structured finance, including over 15 years focused on syndicated lending. Moltke’s experience spans commercial banks and development finance institutions in the loan markets in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Mr. Constantin von Moltke
He was the Head of Loan Syndication and Co-Financing in the Private Sector Department for four years at the African Development Bank (AfDB) and prior to his AfDB experience, he was Global Head of the Project and Commodity Finance Loan Syndication team at UniCredit Group from 2002 to 2012. Mr. von Moltke also served as Manager in the European Energy and Utilities project and acquisition finance team at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein from 1996 to 2001.
In these roles, Moltke has been responsible for advising, arranging and syndicating project acquisition financings and structured commodity financings in the energy, infrastructure, natural resources and industries sectors. He started his career at the International Trade Centre (UNCTAD/WTO) in Geneva having graduated from Fribourg University, Switzerland with a Master’s degree in economics and political science.
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
Before Africa can reach the uplands of digitization — the robotics and the AI — it must first do the hard slog of reforming telecoms markets and opening up to competition, argues the outgoing head of the IFC. In a COVID19-treatment facility in Rwanda, Akazuba, Ikizere and Ngabo are moving through the hallways relaying doctor’s messages and delivering blood samples.
Philippe Le Houérou, CEO of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group
The three health workers are not at risk of infection. They are robots. Meanwhile, Babyl, a chatbot, triages first medical problems and schedules physician appointments for 30 percent of the population. In Rwanda, digital technologies have become literal life savers.
Such inspiring examples, which are found across many sectors and countries in Africa, offer a glimpse into the profound development potential of digitization. A number of reports highlight (correctly) that a bright future awaits when vibrant digital business models permeate throughout economies to create new consumer markets; and when frontier technologies – such as AI and 3D printing – reshape entire industries.
The big pot of gold at the end of the path to digitization can lure us into believing that most countries are speedily heading towards it. Many are not. Digitization remains constrained by the poor state of internet connectivity. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 20 percent of the population subscribes to the internet. When people subscribe, they use it sparingly: The average user consumes 300 Megabytes per month, roughly enough for half an hour of video conferencing.
Addressing these constraints has little to do with AI, big data and an army of coders. The first steps to digitization are decidedly unsexy and very analog. Governments need to address vested interests, monopolization and regulatory barriers in connectivity markets to get people connected to the internet.
Fast internet requires a seamless integration of different providers. It travels through undersea cables, landing points, fiber landlines and wireless masts into the phone of the end-user. If one provider in this chain holds too much control, it can hold players downstream hostage to its pricing power and faces few incentives to upgrade its network.
In Africa, until today, monopolistic incumbents, often tightly linked to governments, operate critical infrastructure nodes for fast internet. Both mobile and broadband markets are the most concentrated in terms of ownership.
Even where companies compete, markets are not necessarily open for new entrants: Regulatory capacities to close down on collusive behavior and to enact important enabling regulations – such as granting new competitors open and fair access to existing infrastructure networks – are in many cases insufficient or absent.
Companies may find it attractive to ask for exclusive contracts. But investment that is contingent on adopting anti-competitive practices can end up blocking digital development.
Take a typical country where one government-owned telecommunications company owns all landing stations and has a dominant position in operating the fiber infrastructure. It charges money from retail companies to move their internet traffic through its lines. It is also a retail provider itself, competing with its own customers.
Competitors seeking to change the status quo by building out their own fiber networks have mostly been unable to obtain permits. Despite the country’s abundant connection to international traffic, internet quality is low; an investment backlog in the billions has accumulated.
Consumers pay for this lack of competition: A mobile bundle with 500 Megabytes of data costs on average 16 percent of monthly income, 10 percentage points more than the global average of 6 percent.
Once a bundle has been bought, poor connection limits user experience: 91 percent of the connections in sub-Saharan Africa are 3G or slower. In the face of prohibitive prices, only 2 out of 10 people subscribe to mobile broadband internet despite the fact that 7 out of 10 people are geographically covered by network.
Certainly, digitization requires more than open internet markets. It requires digitally savvy consumers, a workforce that keeps innovating, and entrepreneurial capacities to create new products and services that are relevant for local needs. Those capacities need to develop. But for people to build skills and for entrepreneurship to take advantage of fast connection, people and businesses must be connected in the first place.
The recipe for moving forward is in many ways simple: African governments must aggressively open infrastructure markets for investment; they must break monopolies and shut down rent-seeking behavior. For the complex modern internet value chain, the presence of strong politically independent regulators and competition authorities with the capacity and authority to instill competition is crucial.
Governments have the opportunity to cooperate across borders.
Taking down cross-country communication barriers and opening markets for regional competition, coupled with harmonized regulation and anti-trust prerogatives, can instill a virtuous cycle of investment and lower prices. Moreover, speaking with a common regional voice is the best way to enforce common standards on private companies and prevent them from demanding special treatment.
That the recipes are simple does not make them easy: Entrenched national interests and institutions are hard to break. Immediate revenue from high fees and taxes is hard to sacrifice in favor of future revenue. And conceding authority to regional bodies is unpopular.
First and foremost, the challenge of digitization is one of political will. The will to think bigger, to understand the big pot of gold as a call for taking the unflashy steps now and not as the soothing promise that digitization will happen by itself.
Philippe Le Houérou is the CEO of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries.
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 Staff of Guaranty Trust Bank Gambia have begun an indefinite general strike for the second time in three months accusing the bank’s managing director of violating policies on promotions, pay raises and career development among others. The staff held a similar strike in July which was called off after three hours following an intervention by the Central Bank of the Gambia, which requested that the staff select a committee to represent them at a meeting with the Governor and his management, at which the demands were presented.
The demands originally included restoration of appraisal bonuses, 15 percent performance induced payment, promotion of recommended staff for 2020, quarterly payment to senior staff, payment of full month salary of 25 percent as per other permanent staff and automatic confirmation of all senior transaction officers and University graduate staff to executive trainees among others. The staff further charged that assurance was given by the Central Bank to resolve the conflict but to their dismay, the apex bank has since failed to proffer any tangible solutions after several follow-ups.
“This latest strike is going to take a different dimension and will prolong until our demands are met, including this time, our managing director Adesina Adebesin should go. We don’t have confidence in him leading us anymore,” a senior protesting staff said. The striking staff further accused him of interference into negotiations to alter the staff policies in order to safeguard him against their interest and demands with support from the Board.
“Among his amendments is that of the appraisal committee or management to not have a final say in decision making for promotion of staff.
“It is important to note that since the coming of Adesina, he has harshly acted against the staff and the bank’s interest growth, which is gradually sinking the GT Bank brand down the drain. He has single handedly depreciated the process and future progress through cut cost measures to the detriment of staff’s smooth work process such as lack of slip free printers, papers, fuel for marketing staff, just to mention a few among others which continue to cause delays in service delivery across the bank,” the staff decried in a write up.
The strike comes at a time when employees from both the public and private sectors are expecting salary payments for September as all GT Bank branches across the country have been closed amid the strike.
A senior manager at the Bank told The Standard that when the protest erupted yesterday morning, the concerned managers confronted the managing director who said he could not do anything more in the matter.
“As senior management, we are concerned and resolved to calm the situation that is why we approached the Central Bank and convened a virtual meeting to reach solutions and they promised to get back to us within 24 hours.” According to our source, the senior management of the Bank is in solidarity with the general staff and will do its utmost to settle the problem.
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 president of Cote d’ivoire Allasane Ouattara has put paid to speculations on the planned regional currency, The Eco, saying that there’s still much work to be done before the dream is realised.
President Quattara singled out the covid-19 pandemic disruptions as being responsible for the delay. The planned new West African currency to replace the France-backed CFA franc this year according to him has been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic and its launch could now be up to five years away.
President of Cote d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara
Last December, West Africa’s eight-nation monetary union announced it would sever some financial links with Paris and switch to the new currency, called the eco, by the end of 2020 while keeping it pegged to the euro.
But these ambitions have been thwarted as countries instead grapple with the economic fallout from the global pandemic. The International Monetary Fund expects Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy to contract 3.2% this year – its worst performance on record. According to President Ouattara the proposed Eco cannot be put in place now with the Covid-19 pandemic and its disruptions. Adding that talks on the Eco were held in Niger on Sept 7., where countries vowed to work on achieving the agreed criteria for the currency’s launch, including national budget deficits at or below 3% of gross domestic product.
“We think it will be difficult to get to a 3% deficit for two or three years, so personally I don’t see the eco’s arrival for three to five years,” he said.
He was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the currency union, which has not yet commented on a new timeframe for the currency’s launch.
Ivory Coast is the largest economy in the bloc, which includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo – all former French colonies except Guinea-Bissau.
Ghana has said it would also want to adopt the eco, but has urged members of the currency union to ditch the planned euro peg.
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
Ghana’s opposition party has promised to construct an inland port at Hamile as part of the Big Push agenda by the next Mahama led government. This was made known by the Former Deputy Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam constituency, Cassiel Ato Forson who said that if given the opportunity, the next Mahama led government will construct an inland port at Hamile in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Speaking to journalists, the former finance minister said that the project forms part of a larger project to open up the Western part of Ghana to trade and investment through the construction of a railway line linking Sekondi-Takoradi to Hamile.
Former Deputy Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam constituency, Cassiel Ato Forson
This inland port falls under the proposed commercial infrastructural plan of the $10 billion ‘Big Push’ agenda. As part of their recovery plan for the economy, Mr Forson revealed that the NDC will open up the western corridor of the country to economic activities with the construction of a railway line from Sekondi-Takoradi to Hamile in the Upper West Region of Ghana.
“We are putting up a railway line that will start from Sekondi-Takoradi to Axim. It will connect all the way to Elubo, extend to Enchi, from Enchi we’ll extend it to Asawanso, Goaso, take it to Sunyani, Wenchi, all the way to Bamboi and Bole and take it to Sorla with the hope that we can connect it to Wa, Nadowli and Hamile. So when we get to Hamile we are creating an inland port at Hamile.”
According to Ato Forson, the choice to situate the port at Hamile instead of Paga is because of Hamile’s proximity to the commercial hub of Burkina Faso as compared to Paga.
He noted that the introduction of the railway line in the western corridor of the country will create the avenue for businesses along that route as well as promote businesses in that enclave.
“And we felt that that alone you have created an avenue for business in that enclave, the western part of the north, Upper West Region. And so the vehicles coming all the way from Burkina Faso to take the things from Tema port to Burkina Faso will not be using the roads now to go out there,” he added. He stated that the project was very commercially viable as the trains could carry both passengers and goods as well.
“Remember that when these goods go all the way from Takoradi to Hamile and the people pick it up there, the trains will come, when they’re coming they may come empty. They may take passengers, ok, so not just empty.
“They’ll be coming with passengers and the very enclave that we are talking about is where the cocoa is. So they’ll be able to haul cocoa to the ports of Takoradi and ship it out there, so clearly this is a commercial venture,” he explained.
He also mentioned that the Takoradi port will be extended and dedicated to the Sahel Region as the entry and exit point for goods and services to and from the Sahel.
“We will extend the Sekondi-Takoradi port and dedicate that port as the dedicated port for the Sahel region. So if you are in the Sahel region let’s say Burkina Faso and you intend to ship using the ports of Ghana, the things will get to Takoradi port and you’ll use the railway line. So the things go straight to Hamile.”
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
Leading healthcare and consumer private equity firm, Alta Semper Capital, which controls the majority shareholder of West Africa‘s major pharmaceutical retail chain, HealthPlus, has named Chidi Okoror as Chiet Transformation Officer of HealthPlus and has also announced its continued commitment to the company. This comes as some shareholders of the company threaten legal action over the decision. Mr. Chidi Okoro who is on secondment as Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) has the mission to optimise daily management and elevate the business to novel scale and profitability. The founder of the company, Mrs. Bukky George who remains a director and a shareholder has threatened court action.
Chidi Okoror, Chief Transformation Officer of Healthplus
There are also plans to inject fresh capital to accelerate growth and utilise emerging opportunities in global healthcare. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, HealthPlus’ strong brand, diverse product mix and wide footprint uniquely position the business to be on the forefront of supply chain innovation and strategic expansion.
Okoro said: “I would like to recognise HealthPlus’ role in spearheading the evolution of modern pharmacies across Nigeria and scaling retail capabilities in the industry overall. “I am incredibly excited to now have the opportunity and the resources to take the platform to the next level, at a time of unrivalled opportunity for the sector. I look forward to working with all stakeholders to achieve even greater things in the future.”
Okoro is a licensed pharmacist and management executive with over 30 years of multinational and multi-sector experience, spanning leadership roles in pharmaceuticals, personal care, food, and telecommunications.
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
One of South Africa’s biggest financial institutions has said that with the dwindling contribution of check payments to total payment volumes in the country, it will discontinue the use of cheques as legal tender from next year. Nedbank printed its last cheque books on September 1. As of January 1, 2021 Nedbank clients will no longer be able to use cheques as a payment option.
Anton de Wet, Chief Client Officer at Nedbank Retail and Business Banking
An announcement by the bank said this is because few clients make use of the service. The decision to stop offering cheques was not taken lightly. Anton de Wet, Chief Client Officer at Nedbank Retail and Business Banking, said the extensive availability of cheaper, safer and more convenient digital, card and other payment alternatives had largely driven a rapid decline in the use and acceptance of cheques in South Africa over the past few decades. “It has become clear that cheques have become obsolete and can no longer be supported.” Cheque payments contribute less than 0.1% of total payment volumes in South Africa.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated the decline of cheque use as clients opted for safer, paperless payment options. This trend is not expected to reverse,” De Wet said. Nedbank began the process to suspend cheques in 2019, to help clients migrate to more suitable options. Aart Jurriaanse, divisional executive of transactional information solutions at Nedbank CIB, explained the process as of January: “Parties that have been paid with a cheque will have to deposit the cheque before January 1, 2021 for the payment to be processed. Clients that have a Nedbank-issued cheque after January 1, 2021 will not be able to deposit the cheque and will have to contact the person or entity that issued the cheque and request an alternative payment, as the cheque will no longer be accepted at any bank.”
From May 2020 the banking sector reduced the cheque limit from R500 000 to R50 000. This was driven mainly by concerns arising from persistent fraud in its use. Nedbank is the last of the ‘big four’ banks to announce the abandonment of cheques.
FNB stopped printing cheque books this month and will no longer issue cheques come the end of the year. Standard Bank will no longer issue cheque books from October 1 2020 and Absa will exit cheques as a payment instrument by the end of this year.
Deputy CEO of Absa’s Retail and Business Bank Bongiwe Gangeni, previously said bank charges for processing cheques are relatively high, making it an expensive form of payment. “Moreover, with the need for verification and validation, it can take up to 10 days for a cheque to clear. This extended timeframe makes the process more open to abuse and fraud.”
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 World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that Africa’s
mild Covid-19 cases could be as a result of the continent having far more asymptomatic cases than the rest of the world. This was made known by the World Health Organisation’s Regional Office for Africa citing its preliminary analysis that over 80 percent of COVID-19 cases in African countries are asymptomatic.
WHO Regional Director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti
The global health body disclosed this through its Regional Director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti who made series of tweets using the agency’s official tweeter handle. She equally noted that studies are now underway to test if communities have antibodies for COVID-19.
It tweeted “Interpreting the #COVID19 situation in the Region is complex, & requires a combination of metrics & tools, which I’m sure our panelists will elaborate on in our discussions today.“ There are now more than 1.4 million reported #COVID19 cases on the African continent & 34,000 people have sadly lost their lives.
“Even before the first cases were reported in #Africa in February, at @WHO we were working with governments & partners to ramp-up preparedness & response capacities for #COVID19 & other infectious diseases.
“From March, Governments quickly implemented restrictions on movement & gathering & this created a window of opportunity to keep case numbers low & strengthen public health capacities.” #COVID19.
“Studies are now underway to test if communities have antibodies for #COVID19, meaning people were infected, but not detected. Some early results… suggest a higher number of infections than those reported.”
“Our preliminary analysis suggests that over 80% of cases in African countries are asymptomatic… & this is reinforced by the fact that in most communities, health facilities have not been overwhelmed by severe #COVID19 cases. #Africa.”
Moeti noted that although cases are being missed, this does not affect the deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the Region.
“We are not seeing evidence of excess mortality due to COVID-19 or missing deaths.
“Overall, I really commend the response in African countries. We are making progress thanks to the concerted efforts of governments, communities & partners.
“Going forward, countries should continue to strengthen data & information, in implementing the key public health tools of surveillance, testing, isolation & contact tracing,” she said.
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
Algeria’s Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of micro-enterprises, Nassim Diafat, has indicated that the National Agency for the Support of Youth Employment (ANSEJ) will soon be renamed in order to be reoriented towards entrepreneurship.
Minister of Industry, Ferhat Ait Ali Braham
“We have moved away from the social approach of ANSEJ. Today, we have a new economic approach which has prompted us to change the name of this organization into a National Agency for the support and promotion of entrepreneurship ”, he announced during the inauguration by the Minister of Industry, Ferhat Ait Ali Braham, from a FabLab of the company “ALRIM, a subsidiary of the group of metallurgical and steel industries” Imetal,
The Minister Delegate specified in this context that this agency will be focused 70% on training and 30% on funding and monitoring.
Algeria’s National Agency for Youth Employment Support ( Ansej ) is the country’s organization responsible for managing a credit fund for the creation of businesses. She participates in the public employment service .
Ansej is in charge of implementing a support system for business creation for people under 40 years of age. It manages a credit fund, granting loans at zero interest rate (0 rate loans), complementary to bank loans. Committees composed of representatives of banks and institutions grant the loans after examining the files of the promoters.
A bank guarantee fund supplements the financing instruments. Algeria ‘s Ansej advisors provide follow-up to promoters who have obtained a loan.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
Kenya has launched its first licensed investment fund for citizens living overseas, in a move that is expected to channel more of the diaspora’s money into development projects across the country.
“The use of technology will be the hallmark of the five diaspora funds, available to investors from all over the world as well as Kenyans. Using the ADAM mobile app, they are able to invest, check their investment balances and even sell their units in real time using VISA cards, bank accounts and MPESA,” Susan Muigai, ADAM’s head of global business development, said.
Here Is What You Need To Know
Almost three million Kenyans living in mostly North America and Europe sent an estimated $3bn in remittances to Kenya last year, representing the largest source of foreign exchange for the country.
While remittances are usually sent to families, direct investment is also common. Though studies have shown that difficult procedures, lack of information and informal channels often lead to unsuccessful ventures.
Kenya’s diaspora can now make investments through the African Diaspora Asset Managers (ADAM), an investment firm that has been granted the first licence of its kind for a diaspora fund by the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority.
The fund is expected to provide a safe and regulated investing body for Kenyans living overseas.
It also allows payments to be made using Kenya’s popular mobile money platform M-Pesa, enabling Kenyans to make investments from as little as five dollars.
“Kenyans living in the diaspora send billions home every year, but mostly for consumption and social support. A few have tried their hand in investments including real estate and farming, but without a way to establish what is happening on the ground, it has in numerous instances ended up with them losing their hard-earned money. We are delighted with this development, as all this will now be a thing of the past, as those investing through these licensed diaspora Funds will have the recourse and protection of the CMA as a regulator,” Abubakar Hassan, director of market operations at the Capital Markets Authority, said.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
