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Editor’s Note

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ver the years, Endeavour Magazine has had the privilege to follow the changing fortunes of the African business world.

Suffice to say, this has given us a great vantage point from which to observe this remarkable continent’s transformation in recent years. Isn’t it wonderful that Africa is finally beginning to realise it’s almost limitless potential? The change has been a sight to behold, as lights turn on across every corner of the continent. While the global economy has spluttered through a decade which has been characterised by stagnant growth rates and stubbornly high unemployment, the African continent has undoubtedly been one of the world’s brightest economic hotspots. What is there to say? Africa, with its increasingly prosperous people and markets, is the future. It has finally succeeded in shedding its reputation in the eyes of the international community as a place synonymous with poverty and conflict. Of course, there is still work to do. Challenges and threats are never far away and will continue to emerge – particularly in light of the threat posed by populist revolts against free trade and globalisation in the developed world, and rising national debt levels closer to home. In order for the continent to maintain its upward trajectory, investment must continue. If this happens, job creation will continue, trade between nations will rise, and high growth rates will likely be maintained.

Endeavour Magazine | 3

Features 7

Minerals Commission Ghana

Investing in Mineral Resources

13 Davis and Shirtliff

Community Based Development

19 Port Autonome de Dakar

Strengthening Senegal’s Seaport

25 Universal African Lines Alliance

Global Shipping and Logistics Solutions

31 The Ghana Chamber of Mines

Uniting Ghana’s Mining Industry

37 Liebherr-Africa Pty Limited

Leading Technical Experts

43 Vanadium Resources Limited

Leading Vanadium Producers

51 The Victoria Falls Hotel

120 years as Africa’s Best Known Hospitality Venue

57 World Oil Tanzania Ltd. Rwandan Development Board 4 | Endeavour Magazine

Fuelling Tanzania’s Petroleum Industry

Vodafone Ghana 61 Vodafone Ghana

A New Future for Vodafone Ghana

67 Kenya Bankers Association

Transforming Kenyan Banking

75 Rwandan Development Board

Strategic Investment

81 African Seed Trade Association

Uniting the Seed Industry

87 Zambian Seed Trade Association

Success Across the Industry

93 Macsteel South Africa

South African Steel Success

99 Cotton Egypt Association

A Reputation of Luxury

Cotton Egypt Association Endeavour Magazine | 5

INVESTING IN MINERAL RESOURCES Minerals Commission Ghana chevron-square-right https://www.mincom.gov.gh/ phone-square 233 030 27 1318 envelope-square info@mincom.gov.gh

Minerals Commission Ghana

As the leading gold producer in Africa, the mineral industry in Ghana is vast and profitable, with a whole host of critical metal and mineral reserves naturally occurring across the country. Therefore, a regulatory body was established by the government to ensure that this natural resource potential brings vital economic development to the region. With the sole responsibility of developing and coordinating the mineral sector across Ghana, The Minerals Commission of Ghana takes great pride in implementing policies and regulations to bring continued prosperity to the people of Ghana and establish it as a key player in mineral trade on a global scale.

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he Mineral Commission of Ghana was established as a government agency under the Minerals Commission, which gave the commission legal backing to act as a regulatory and management body for the utilization of Ghana’s miner’s resources and establish any policies relating to the mining of these minerals. The commission aims to foster an efficient and effective regulation and management system developed through knowledge which recognises and establishes the means for mining investments to bring joint prosperity for both investors and the country. The goal of the commission is to make Ghana the leading destination of mining sector investment in Africa as it works to establish an atmosphere where mining companies, investors, stakeholders, and local businesses all mutually benefit to bring continued investment and support the economy of Ghana for the future. Before the establishment of the commission, there were two governmental agencies which were working to develop and promote the industries for specific minerals in Ghana. These agencies were the Aluminium Industries Commission (AIC) for Bauxite and the Integrated Iron and Steel Commission (IISC) for iron ore. However, the maintenance of two separate agencies with similar mandates posed some challenges and concerns over budgetary constraints and scarce human resources. Therefore, a single united body was established by the government to develop and coordinate the mineral sector all under one roof. The new company, which we today know as The Minerals Commission of Ghana, was then made responsible for coordinating mineral sector policy and monitoring its implementation across all mineral types. This greatly reduced the division of resources and promoted a well-established governing body better suited to manage key investments into the sector for the country. Today the commission is overseen by a board of 9 members, with the secretariat headed by the Chief Executive Officer. The secretariat is made up of 3 main divisions which oversee the Commission’s operations. These divisions are support services, promotion and development, and inspection and compliance. The commission oversees the vast resources across the country, which has 6 mineralisation belts including the KibiWinneba, Shanti, Sewfi-Bekwai, Bui, Bole-Nangodi and Wa-Lawra. Between these belts are a range of basins including Birim, Kumsai (Asankrangwa Belt),

Minerals Commission Ghana

Sunyani and Maluwe. This vast resource potential makes Ghana the preferred destination for mineral mining, and so the Commission’s divisions work across all of these belts and basins to oversee mineral operations to ensure continued economic development.

The commission’s role is vast, as we have seen with the expansive mineral potential across the country. However, its overarching mission is to bring continued prosperity to Ghana by investing revenue generated from mineral sales back into the Ghanaian economy. To do this the commission work with stakeholders and government agencies to formulate recommendations for national policy regarding the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources with special reference to establish national priorities. Furthermore, the Commission continues to monitor the implementation of these policies throughout all bodies operating within and alongside the country’s mineral industry.

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Just last year, The Minerals Commission of Ghana announced the implementation of the newest edition of its procurement list which now has 50 items on the provisions of goods and services. In an announcement by the CEO of the Mineral Commission, Mr. Martin Kawaku Ayisis, outlined how the procurement list’s regulatory purpose is to promote job creation using local expertise, goods, and services throughout the country’s mining industry. The list is part of the Minerals and Mining (Local Content and Local Participation) Regulation 2020. Part of this legislation requires the commission to provide a public local procurement list which stipulates the goods and services with Ghanaian content which are to be procured in the country. One of the purposes of the regulations and procurement list ensure continued economic benefits for the country. This means all mining companies are expected to ensure that a minimum of 60% of their financial services including revenue from sales are submitted to local banks. In a similar way, regulations are in place to ensure that 60% of all insurance services which also require placements are to be made with insurance companies which

Investing in Mineral Resources

are owned exclusively by Ghanaians. This regulation ensures that banks and insurance companies are keeping a large amount of money from mineral mining within the country. This commitment to keeping the economic impact of the mineral industry benefitting Ghana is crucial as a whole range of new mines are set to come into commission, and existing ones will continue to expand. New projects expected to begin are with Newmont Ghana Gold Limited and the US$850 million investment in the Ahafo North Gold mine project, the US$500 million gold project currently being undertaken by Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited, a $200million gold mine in the upper west region, and a $125 million lithium project in Ewoya. The planned projects are set to be roughly US$1.7 billion of investment to Ghana. It is these crucial investments that will bring sustained economic development

to the region, as the Commission expects these investments to support the growth of the economy and boost local participation. Overall, The Mineral Commission of Ghana is focused on ensuring that the mineral resources of the country are constantly working to benefit the people of Ghana. As a governing body, it has been vastly successful in regulating and overseeing the mineral industry, which in turn has brought several large investment opportunities to the industry. With over a billion in investment announced just last year, the Commission continues to solidify Ghana’s place as a vital mineral and mining sector not just in Africa but across the globe. As a key area that already benefits from mineral resource potential, a stable regulatory environment, and a favourable fiscal scheme; the Commission’s work continues to make Ghana a hub for minerals.

Endeavour Magazine | 11

COMMUNITY BASED DEVELOPMENT Davis and Shirtliff chevron-square-right www.davisandshirtliff.com/ phone-square 254 711 079 000 envelope-square contactcenter@dayliff.com

Davis and Shirtliff

As the leading supplier of water-related equipment across the East African region, Davis and Shirtliff is committed to playing a vital role across the industry by offering a comprehensive and competitive product range. The company is focused on pioneering the industry with unrivalled technical and service support to ensure that every customer is met with only the best for all their water-related activity needs. However, for the company, a central focus is on community development, and helping ensure that those across the East African region have vital access to water-related equipment and resources, as well as sustainable solutions, to make every day a little easier.

avis and Shirtliff was founded in 1946 with the goal of distributing high-quality equipment from industry-leading companies across the region. However, over the years it has developed its own manufacturing and assembly line of products to allow it to distribute its own products alongside those from leading manufacturers from around the world. Therefore, the company continues to put a key focus on infrastructure investment to allow it to expand its steady stream of distribution throughout the east of Africa and across international markets.

To facilitate this distribution, Davis and Shirtliff have roughly 900 highly trained employees across its operation. In Nairobi, the headquarters for Davis and Shirtliff provides 10,000 square metres of warehousing, manufacturing, and training and administration facilities. It is from here that the company ships production across the region and beyond via its own fleet of trucks. The in-house nature of its storage, manufacturing, training and shipping operations allows Davis and Shirtliff to ensure the quality of product and service remains extremely high. In terms of products, Davis and Shirtliff’s business activities can be broken down into four central product sectors which are water pumps, water treatment, swimming pools and renewable energy products. Davis and Shirtliff provide a range of pumps including its own range Dayliff, and others including Grundfos, Davey, DAB and Rovatti Pompe. In addition to regular water pumps, the company also offers a range of borehole pumps and general machinery. This machinery includes a range of generators and engines, as well as accessories such as trimmers, mowers, and induction motors. For water treatment, Davis and Shirtliff provide a range of domestic treatment, reverse osmosis, and UV water treatment plants, alongside blowers, filters, softeners, chemicals, and water treatment media. Water pumps and treatment cover a wide range of Davis and Shirtliff’s manufacturing and distribution to help people across the region gain vital and clean access to water. The company then also works to provide a range of swimming pool essentials such as filters, pumps, chemicals, chlorinators, accessories, spas, saunas, and fountain nozzles. However, one of the most interesting parts of Davis and Shirtliff’s operations

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Davis and Shirtliff

is to provide renewable energy products. These include solar solutions such as solar panels and their accompanying support structure, solar water heaters, inverters, backup systems, solar pumps, digital solutions, energy storage systems and controls. To provide vital products and structures to facilitate renewable energy solutions, Davis and Shirtliff is both supporting the global movement towards carbon reduction, whilst also implementing vital infrastructure to support continued sustainable power generation for years to come. This is vital in remote areas where water infrastructure may not be as developed, to provide households, businesses, and local communities with the vital products to access water and maintain the water supply for future generations. This focus on renewable energy highlights a vital part of Davis and Shirtliff’s purpose to give back to local communities. The community aspect of Davis and Shirtliff has been present since the company’s very beginning in 1946. To ensure giving back to the community remains a crucial part of Davis and Shirtliff’s operations it has launched the #ImprovingLives initiative which is helping to solve some of the most pressing challenges and unlock the potential of the communities through sustainable implementation. Davis and Shirtliff is 30 | Endeavour Magazine

Community Based Development

focused on corporate strategies and interventions using a multi-sectional approach which is designed to end poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental degradation. Currently, there have been 1,066,248 beneficiaries from the initiative from across 6 countries and 545 projects. In January this year, Davis and Shirtliff worked with The Upper Manza Community Based Organisation to help bring water and sanitation facilities to over 10,000 residents in Machakos County. The Upper Manza Community Based Organisation currently runs two high-yielding boreholes in the area to meet the existing demand of the community. However, the region has faced an increased rate for power over recent months. Therefore, bills for local residents have been extraordinarily high, and this has affected the running costs of the existing pumps and the operations of the organisation. This price increase in late 2023, threatened to interrupt the organisation’s project as it could not cover the costs. Consequently, Davis and Shirtliff’s initiative has implemented a 7.5-kilowatt borehole with the Upper Manza Community Based Organisation to help lower its operations costs and

guarantee a constant and efficient water supply for the community. This borehole highlights the firm commitment by Davis and Shirtliff to implement vital resources and infrastructure across the region and ensure that 10,00 residents will now have reliable access to water resources. For Davis and Shirtliff it has led the industry for over 75 years as a vital supplier of water-related equipment which is delivering vital products throughout Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia. This equipment and product line ensures that reliable access to water supplies is made more readily available for more communities. However, it seems the heart of Davis and Shirtliff is its commitment to giving back and supporting local organisations to ensure that people across Eastern Africa benefit from its operations and product lines. We look forward to seeing how Davis and Shirtliff continue to expand its distribution network and product line offerings as it continues to play a vital role as a supplier of vital water-related equipment across the continent.

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STRENGTHENING SENEGAL’S SEAPORT Port Autonome de Dakar chevron-square-right https://www.portdakar.sn/ phone-square +221 33 849 45 45

Port Autonome de Dakar

Located on the most advanced point of the West African coast, the Port Autonome de Dakar (PAD) is in a key geographical position at the intersection of maritime lines linking Europe, South America, North America, and South Africa. Its location aids ships travelling from the North with the benefit of a navigation gain of two or three days compared to other ports across the coast of West Africa. Therefore, PAD has established itself as a key player in the shipping and tourism industries, as it remains committed to developing the port and battling decongestion to expand Senegal’s position in the global maritime industry.

s the first deep-water port touched by ships coming from the north, the port has been a major player across global shipping industries since the 1850s. However, it wasn’t until 1987 that PAD was established, with its central role of operating and maintaining the seaport of Dakar, whilst managing all vessels and activities that take place across the port. The port provides access to a 13.5-metre (m) dredged channel and a large turning circle with a 500m diameter. It also has a stable and protected harbour with direct access at any time, a 10-kilometre (km) quay length, and a tidal range of 0.2-1.8m. This means the port is perfect for any sized vessel which can be accessed 24 hours a day. The round-the-clock accessibility makes it the perfect stopping point for many vessels, and, consequently, Dakar’s seaport is now the thirdlargest port in West Africa.

The port has implemented a range of nautical access and marking solutions, including upgraded navigational aids such as buoys, lighthouses, and security infrastructure to ensure that vessels are safely and securely navigated into shore. The port’s Marine Safety Service is responsible for ensuring this is managed under the Subdivision of Lighthouses and Beacons. This subdivision facilitates a range of operations across the port to ensure that every vessel can safely enter and begin to receive the full range of the port’s services. These services include piloting, which is compulsory for any vessel over 1500m3, and is facilitated through PAD’s 15 long-distance pilot captains, 6 pilot boats and 7 mooring PCs which assist ships as they enter and exit the port. PAD also offers towing, refuelling and mooring options at the port for visiting vessels. PAD is also home to one of the largest shipyards on the West African coast, which is home to modern equipment ready to repair and refit a range of vessels. The floating dock is 235m long with a wingspan of 38m and a 28,000-tonne lifting capacity; the rift basin is 191m in length with a 25m wingspan; and a repair dock with a repair quay of 500m with a max draft of 9m and all mooring conditions. These repair services ensure that ships can make all the crucial repairs needed in such a key geographical spot as the vessels make their way across long voyage routes. 20 | Endeavour Magazine

Port Autonome de Dakar

Inside the port, PAD facilitates all loading and unloading operations. It takes goods when they arrive in the port and oversees their entire journey ending in ship stowage or in PAD’s various storage and warehousing areas. Handling of cargo is largely facilitated by entrusted private operators, but PAD oversees all operations to ensure that the goods travelling in and out of Senegal are transported in a timely manner. The speed with which cargo is moved through the port increases the export value of cargo and decreases importing delays. The port has recently seen a large amount of congestion as the demand for importing and exporting across Senegal continues to rise. Therefore, by optimizing external logistics companies, PAD has raised the level of equipment at the Port and increased the handling rate to reduce the amount of time ships need to dock in the harbour. This increases ship turnover and subsequently, the amount of cargo that the port is able to effectively transport on and off ships, and then across the country. However, with the increasing demand for imported and exported cargo across the region, PAD has been working with external companies to develop the city of Dakar and its cargo capacity with

the implementation of the new Port of Ndayane. The new port will increase Senegal’s capacity for cargo and continue to develop the region as a key seaport hub both locally and internationally, whilst effectively mitigating supply chain disruptions, with the aim to decrease the cost of essential imported goods over the coming years. PAD has been working with the team behind the Port of Ndayane, and last year supplied a range of topographical and IT equipment to help the development. The development is set to take place over the coming years, with a completion date of 2026. PAD is not limited to just cargo, instead, it also benefits from a rich tourism industry which is facilitated through the port’s International Maritime Station of Dakar which can accommodate over 800 passengers and provides boarding, storage and catering services for people visiting the port. Furthermore, PAD works closely with the Dakar Gorée Maritime Liaison which is a public service set up by the State of Senegal responsible for ensuring that transport is available to the island of Gorée. The Société Nationale du Port Autonome de Dakar therefore ensures that the operation and upkeep of rowboats for this are maintained across the

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Strengthening Senegal’s Seaport

port, as well as ensuring the safety and security operations of passenger ships to help support the tourism industry to the UNESCO island.

In more recent news, PAD has welcomed the Global Mercy Ship, the largest private hospital ship in the world which docked at the PAD earlier this year. The large ship has 6 fullyfledged operating wards, 102 acute care beds, 7 isolation/intensive care beds, 90 convalescent beds, as well as a range of classrooms and an auditorium. The ship features a laboratory which means the vessel has the facilities to carry out a range of surgical operations, including maxillofacial and reconstructive surgery, tumour removal, cleft lip and palate repair, plastic and orthopaedic surgeries, cataract removal and repair to obstetric fistulas. The ship remained docked at the PAD as part of a crucial humanitarian mission, for which the port played a crucial role in facilitating.

African coast for its essential shipping and maritime industry operations. Through its range of services, PAD provides a necessary stop for many ships with a range of services, in a specialised geographical location, which continues to meet the needs of almost any vessel. Furthermore, it works to aid in establishing vital links to the tourism industry via cruises and transport between Gorée, whilst also providing a safe and reliable docking station for vessels such as the Global Mercy ship to provide the people of Senegal with essential healthcare needs. Therefore, Port Autonome De Dakar plays such a vital role in Senegal’s development and is set to continue expanding its position in global maritime industries over the coming years as demand for goods is set to continue to increase. Therefore, in its mission to operate and maintain the seaport of Dakar, PAD is leading the way for its expansive services backed by years of rich maritime experience.

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Endeavour Magazine | 23

GLOBAL SHIPPING AND LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS Universal African Lines Alliance chevron-square-right https://ualalliance.com/

Universal African Lines Alliance

Operating a fleet of multi-purpose vessels, Universal African Lines Alliance (UAL) operates as a global shipping line which has serviced the Oil and Gas industry since 1973. Now 50 years on, UAL offers diverse logistics to a dedicated shipping service providing complete logistic management involving both breakbulk and containers from Europe and the US Gulf to West Africa. This vital shipping link provides essential movement of cargo between these areas to continually develop each of their respective regions.

AL is committed to providing fast, flexible, and professional services which are facilitated through its vessel fleet and supported by years of experience and technical expertise towards commercial awareness. A key focus for UAL is its commitment to hard work, as it is keenly concerned with establishing strong business relationships based on mutual trust between its global customers and its partners. UAL offers services between Europe often departing from Aberdeen or Antwerp, as well as in North America leaving from Houston, and from Mexico via Veracruz. Vessels from these ports then travel towards the West African coast with break-bulk and containers which are crucial for the oil and gas industry.

Through UAL’s Inter-African services, it has created a seamless lane for cargo flow between the African ports and Europe/the Americas. The vessels are geared, meaning they can load and discharge cargo using their own vehicles to speed up shipping and cargo unloading

26 | Endeavour Magazine

Global Shipping and Logistics Solutions

requirements. The tween-deck geared vessels have a deadweight tonnage of between 8,500 and 12,500. The variety of vessels within UAL’s fleet and its experience in delivering and operating in the most remote areas of the world allow it to deliver projects from start to finish safely and on time. This is what sets UAL apart from its competitors, as it continues to provide more sailing and better vessel capabilities to ports across Western Africa.

As part of this, UAL has Universal African Lines B.V. in which several agents under the UAL brand work to provide modern transportation options. It provides feeder vessels and landing crafts to aid in transporting goods across these shipping lines. Furthermore, as it strives towards the future, UAL, and its UAL B.V. division are constantly looking for ways to modernise the fleet focusing on a more sustainable way to proceed in the shipping industry. As part of this, UAL has added 5 fuel-efficient vessels to form into an EcoTrader series.

These boats have axe-shaped bows which innovatively reduce fuel consumption and are currently in operation across shipping lines to and from Africa, Bodewe, Houston, Texas, and Cologne. A key service for UAL outside of the shipping lines, is through its handling services at end ports. UAL services provide reliable and fast cargo handling by a highly specialised and experienced team. UAL guarantee its customers optimal service as well as safe and timely delivery of good and projects. Therefore, for the transportation and then delivery of handling services, UAL focuses on communication, administration, planning, coordination, management, and implementation as central commitments, which sees its customers’ cargo delivered securely from start to finish. UAL also provide a range of storage solutions, including its owned K5 Freeport and Oil Centre which offers its clients reliable and cost-effective logistics solutions within the Oil and Gas industry, specifically within Equatorial Guinea and along the coast of West Africa. The K5 Freeport and Oil Centre is an expert at managing and controlling the flow of

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Endeavour Magazine | 27

Universal African Lines Alliance

cargo through its Oil Centre. This is the dedicated oil and gas terminal that UAL uses, as it has all the required facilities to support loading, discharging, storage and inland transportation of specialised cargo.

Furthermore, UAL has a fleet of over 4000 containers, including 20-foot and 40-foot boxes, reefers, high cubes, open tops, and flat racks. This fleet provides a multitude of options including door-to-door service which seeks to ensure that the shipping lines are thoroughly maintained. In order to maximise time and resource efficiency, whilst reducing any risks associated with cargo handling, UAL’s K5 Freeport and Oil Centre is a pivotal component in UAL’s operations to deliver vital oil and gases to its customers. Additionally, UAL provides specialised carry and handling services which deal with specialised cargo. This specialised transport is used to move dangerous goods and heavy lifts, through its full license to manage and carry hazardous cargo. For

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UAL it prides itself on being able to move this cargo in the most efficient and safe way possible. Ultimately, UAL continues to provide essential servicing to the needs of the oil and gas industry through its specialised knowledge that makes shipping to logistically difficult areas possible. It seems through its operations, and as it develops towards a more sustainable future with its increasingly environmentally friendly fleets, UAL continues to lead the way as the shipping line agency that gets the job done. With UAL you can be sure that you are always receiving top-quality service as it continues to provide essential shipping, handling and storage across the Oil and Gas industry.

UNITING GHANA’S MINING INDUSTRY The Ghana Chamber of Mines chevron-square-right https://ghanachamberofmines.org/ phone-square -760350 envelope-square chamber@ghanachamberofmines.org

The Ghana Chamber of Mines

As one of the largest gold producers in Africa, mining is a core industry for Ghana which has seen vast expansion over the years. However, as mining operations expanded, a need for regulation and support for the various stakeholders within Ghana’s mineral industry became essential to help maintain the development of the country on a national and international level. Consequently, the Ghana Chamber of Mines was established as an industry-led ‘thinkdo-tank’ which works to foster shared prosperity across the mining industry for current and future generations of Ghanaians. We got a chance to catch up with Mr. Sulemanu Koney, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, to appreciate the crucial work the Chamber is doing to unite the industry and promote Ghana as a key mineral mining hub.

ounded in 1928, the Ghana Chamber of Mines has worked over the last 95 years to deepen the linkages between the mineral and nonmineral sectors, with a goal to unlock, internalize and equitably distribute the wealth of Ghana’s mining and minerals supply chain. Through its work to bring together its member companies, the Chamber facilitates cooperation between the government and non-state stakeholders to improve the governance of the minerals sector on a large scale whilst catalyzing the industry’s input demands towards a future of industrialization. Members of the Chamber include all companies which are involved in mineral exploration, production, processing and allied services, and so, the Chamber is made up of the majority of Ghana’s mineral output companies.

The Chamber has a clear mission to represent the mining industry across Ghana by using the resources and capabilities of its members to deliver services which benefit these businesses, government and communities in a manner that ensures sustainable development. On a global scale, the Chamber collaborates with peers across the West African sub-region and liaises with players in other jurisdictions to ideate on establishing and promoting the best practices in governance and regulation in the mining industry. The Chamber is committed to supporting its members, and by extension the country, as it promotes an information-driven, people-centred, and development-oriented industry where members and all key stakeholders’ interests are promoted. Outside of Africa, the Chamber leverages its membership of the International Council of Mining and Metals to spearhead the mining with principles agenda to make mining more beneficial to the global community. In speaking with Mr. Koney, he highlighted the Chamber’s current two research projects with the first looking at identifying and measuring the value of the mining sector’s supply chains and core mining activities. As part of this research, the Chamber is looking at linkage opportunities between mining and the non-mineral economy which have the potential to anchor national development policies and how to leverage this for Ghana-registered input manufacturers and service providers to make

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The Ghana Chamber of Mines

forays into West Africa. The Chamber has engaged the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) on these initiatives. UMaT is leading a research project to map the linkages between the mining sector and the non-minerals sector whilst ACEP is focusing its study on researching how to position Ghana as the hub of mining support services within Western Africa. These research projects will allow the Chamber to better integrate the mining sector into the larger economy and help build on the reputation of Ghana as a key mining hub in Africa. The second crucial research area is aimed at improving the mining and processing of minerals to yield overarching outcomes for the industry. Funded by the Ghana Chamber of Mines’ Tertiary Education Fund (TEF) and the Chamber’s Chair of Environmental Studies, the TEF is providing more than $2 million over a 5-year period to UMaT to support the development of infrastructure, research, teaching, and other ancillary educational services. Consequently, the Chamber continues to work with key research institutions to develop the mining industry, whilst looking at ways to establish Ghana as a Centre for mining and mining services globally.

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As the Chamber continues to position mining as a central catalyst for development, it focuses on providing advocacy and critical support to its members to move Ghana’s mining industry towards a more responsible and sustainable path. It believes strongly that collaborative decision-making is the way forward, along with a shared responsibility for the management of inherent social, environmental, and governance issues. The TEF plays a significant role in the development of the industry by developing a pipeline of human capital armed with the requisite knowledge, skills, and exposure to sustain the industry. Further, through the beneficiarydriven corporate social investments (CSI) of its producing member companies, the Chamber is committed to enhancing the outcomes of mining for local communities and the larger country. Mr. Koney highlighted in our discussion the collective CSI causes that the Chamber undertakes towards the betterment of both the mining industry and the Chamber. This includes the Tertiary

Uniting Ghana’s Mining Industry

Education Fund which was launched in 2019, and as previously mentioned, through which the allocation of more than $2 million over a period of 5 years, aims to advance teaching and learning of mining and related disciplines in tertiary institutions. The areas of support under TEF include infrastructural development, research, educational resources, and bursaries. Mr. Koney comments on this, “Personally, what excites me about the TEF is the opportunity we provide to faculty members and students to intern with the various mines. I recently visited one of our members’ mines where I had the chance to interact with a female employee who was a product of TEF”.

The Chamber’s funding and support are not exclusive to TEF, as many developments and infrastructure projects are also funded by its members. These projects include investments in roads, education, and healthcare, as well as the establishment of skills training centres. These expenditures, in 2022, totaled $43 million, and contributed to enhancing livelihoods in host communities and making them resilient.

As can be seen, the Ghana Chamber of Mines is actively working to bring all the stakeholders across Ghana’s mining industry together in line with its vision to be the respected and unified voice of the industry that offers services to stakeholders in a manner that deepens sustainable development. Therefore, with the aim of establishing Ghana as a key mining hub, the Chamber aims for inclusive growth and development of the country’s development that pulls along other sectors of the economy to help diversify the economy. We look forward to catching up with Mr. Koney and the Ghana Chamber of Mines in the coming years to see how the Chamber’s critical role continues to broaden the socio-economic development of Ghana.

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LEADING TECHNICAL EXPERTS Liebherr-Africa Pty Limited chevron-square-right https://www.liebherr.com/en/gbr/about-liebherr/ liebherr-worldwide/south-africa/liebherr-in-south-africa.html

Liebherr-Africa Pty Limited

The Liebherr Group is one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers in the world, which, since 1949, has continued to offer its customers across the world high-quality and useroriented products and services. As the family-owned company has developed into a vast international network, it plays a critical role across many industries as a pioneer for technical development which is set to reshape the future. The company began its major global expansion in the late 1950s and now comprises over 140 companies across every continent. Therefore, divisions of the company such as Liebherr-Africa Pty Ltd. are working to bring German-engineered machinery, products, and services to the African continent as it continues to extend the overarching company’s reach across the world.

iebherr-Africa was founded in 1958 in South Africa, in the city of Springs as one of the first expansions of the Liebherr company outside of Germany. The first location in South Africa was established to bridge the expensive transport routes from Europe to Africa, as it allowed Liebherr machinery to be supplied on the continent to neighbouring countries rather than shipping them across from Europe. It began with responsibilities surrounding the manufacturing and sales of tower cranes, specialised cranes, and concrete mixers. However, today, Liebherr-Africa plays a vital role in selling and supporting the company’s construction equipment and working across mining and material handlining industries to provide them with equipment from the Liebherr Group.

Liebherr-Africa is headquartered in Springs, Gauteng, and has 5 branches across the country in Cape Town, Durban, Richards Bay, Brits, and Middleburg, as well as various agencies, depots, and mine sites across other regions of the country and its neighbouring states. Consequently, for the last 65 years, this division of Liebherr-Africa has been serving the needs of the local construction, civil engineering, and mining industries, and now the brand is fully equipped to provide local backup services and spare parts for Liebherr machinery and equipment across the country. Furthermore, this range of extended support is immediately available from the Springs head office. Liebherr-African provides high-quality Germanengineered products backed by the Liebherr Group to provide the best possible standard of equipment for South Africa. The division manufactures and supplies a range of earth-moving, construction and port equipment. It even developed its offerings further in 2015, by introducing domestic appliances to its South African division. This continued commitment to development exemplifies the global role that the Liebherr Group plays in developing global industries through innovation and an uncompromising commitment to quality. This commitment is carried out to ensure that its customers benefit from top-quality Liebherr products across all product areas.

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Leading Technical Experts

As an acknowledged supplier of products and services in numerous fields, Liebherr-Africa brings direct links with various operations overseas. Offering service and support for mining and earth moving equipment, mobile and crawler cranes, construction cranes, mixing technology and port equipment. However, a key role of Liebherr-Africa is through its service workshops which are structured to respond quickly and effectively through its fully qualified staff and trained technical specialists. Therefore, using Liebherr-Africa’s service, you can be sure you are receiving a wealth of experience, more reliability, and the maximum availability of machines, which means higher production, and reduced operation and maintenance costs. These services work to supply immediate spare parts, on-site repairs, and even major overhauls of machinery through its workshops to ensure that all Liebherr products can be maintained under the Liebherr Group. The African sub-division also uses its workshops to remanufacture parts and even has a painting plant to ensure that all products sold and purchased from Liebherr are kept running with

a longstanding commitment by Liebherr to keep their machinery operational through easy access to remanufacturing and maintenance of parts and services. Liebherr Africa’s Spare Parts Warehouse operates 24 hours a day providing a stand-by service to ensure there is immediate availability of spare parts. The round-the-clock service ensures that delivery of parts can be rapidly facilitated, whilst using modern storage and material handling techniques to keep its operations running smoothly. Consequently, Liebherr-African is able to ship spare parts efficiently, timely and reliably to both local and international markets. Furthermore, through its workshops, Liebherr-African provides a wide range of services and activities. The major workshop facilities of the division are located at its head office in Springs and provide Liebherr-Africa with the flexibility and capacity to undertake a range of inspections, servicing, rebuilds, repairs and pre-delivery activities. As part of the workshops it also provides welding facilities through the welding shops which seek to repair and

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Endeavour Magazine | 39

Liebherr-Africa Pty Limited

remanufacture buckets and other components to maintain the functionality of customers’ Liebherr products. The final major function of Liebherr-Africa is its Remanufacturing Centre. The centre provides highquality products which meet original equipment manufacturer (OEM) standards at a reduced cost. Consequently, these OEM products are available at a significantly reduced price to reduce waste and keep perfectly functional equipment working. The repair and rebuilding services under the Remanufacturing Centre include a washing bay, cylinder section, gearbox section, pumps, motor sections, and an engine section. These sections allow Liebherr-Africa to work on all ranges of its machinery across all industry activities, therefore along with its machine shop area, Liebherr-Africa continues to maintain the functionality of Liebherr products so you can be sure that when you are buying from Liebherr you are receiving a continual service of excellence to make every machine or piece of equipment have a much longer life span through the regular service or maintenance of parts under the Liebherr-Africa division.

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Ultimately, as we can see Liebherr-Africa has worked over the last 65 years to be a leading division under the global Liebherr Group that is providing crucial links between Europe and the African continent with its top-quality machinery and equipment. With development into domestic home goods and its continued commitment to servicing the company’s machinery, Liebherr-Africa has adopted the pioneering spirit of its overarching company. Liebherr Group has more than 50,00 employees globally who work together to play a decisive role in shaping the technological progress in numerous industries which are already shifting to meet the growing demands of customers as they face new struggles in their own industries. Consequently, it is this spirit that can be clearly seen in Liebherr-Africa which shows the company’s goal to continue to provide excellent service and continue the expansive and fundamental role that Liebherr products play across numerous industries on a global scale. Therefore, as Liebherr-African continues to expand we see the global group’s expansive network develop, to continue to lead the sector as one of the biggest construction equipment manufacturers on an international scale.

LEADING VANADIUM PRODUCERS Vanadium Resources Limited chevron-square-right vr8.global/ phone-square contact@vr8.global envelope-square 08 6158 9990

Vanadium Resources Limited

Mining is an incredibly rich industry in South Africa and as such has significant developments in gold and copper across the country. However, vanadium is a rare but hard element that is often found alongside minerals within crucial deposits in South Africa. The most common use of Vanadium is in the formation of alloys due to its corrosion-resistant nature. Therefore, mining this rare element has become a central exploration venture for the country, seeing key developments such as the Steelpoortdrift Mining Project (SMP), facilitated by Vanadium Resources Limited (VR8), expand across South Africa’s mining industry.

s a junior vanadium developer, VR8 currently owns 74% of the world-class, tier 1, Steelpoortdrift Vanadium project in the Limpopo province of South Africa. VR8 leads the way across the vanadium market with its Steelpoordrift Mining project (SMP) which is the world’s largest vanadium deposit, with an indicated and inferred Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve of 612Megatons (Mt) at 0.75% V2O5 in situ. The deposit is an openpit titaniferous magnetite deposit, located in the prolific Bushveld Geological Complex - a known mineral and vanadium-producing area. VR8’s project is within the reach of 7 processing plants, railway and road options, ports, and a range of utilities. A definitive feasibility study (DFS) of the project undertaken in 2022 confirmed the worldclass nature of the deposit which is expected to have robust economics over an initial 25-year mine of life.

Having completed the DFS, VR8 is working towards Final Investment Decisions which would focus on building the project development and execution team to get the maximum value out of the project through a range of FEED, debt financing and partnerships with strategic groups. Consequently, VR8 is working towards attaining 86.49% ownership of the project, which, subject to completion, is set to be achieved by the end of this year. Vanadium is now listed as a critical mineral in many countries, for which VR8 is a leader across its development. Through its key ownership of the SMP, VR8 is a clear leader amongst its development peers and looks to provide a much-needed supply to global markets. Once in production, VR8 will explore the full range of vanadium products, particularly the vertical integration opportunities of vanadium into downstream markets. The SMP comprises the open-pit mining of titaniferous vanadium ore, primary treatment of the ore through an onsite concentrator (using magnetic separation) and secondary treatment of the concentrate through a Salt Roast Leach (SRL) plant to produce a >98% V2O5 flake. The project will have two phases; the first phase will be the initial pre-production capex of USD 211 million, which will provide the infrastructure and will operate for the first four years. This phase involves the mining of 1.6 44 | Endeavour Magazine

Vanadium Resources Limited

Mt of vanadium ore per year, which will be processed through the concentrator and SRL plants to produce 12ktpa of V2O5 flake. The second phase of the project will see VR8 take USD 188 million from the cash flow to expand the plant and allow for the quantity of flake produced to almost double to 21ktpa. The DFS identified a number of significant opportunities that would reduce costs and increase the potential Mineral Resources, Ore Reserves and the associated life of mine (LOM) to more than 180 years, whilst also decreasing the environmental impacts and increasing the total earning potential of the project. Therefore, having completed the DFS and upon completion of the Final Investment Decision set for Q4 CY2023, VR8 is committed to building its project development and execution team, beginning FEED studies, securing debt financing, and partnering with strategic groups to ensure that the maximum value of the project can be unlocked. Consequently, in February this year, Alex Oehmen joined the VR8 team as the General Manager of Operations bringing with him many years of experience as an industry veteran. The new General Manager will be set on driving the development and operations of VR8’s Steelpoordrift Vanadium Project towards a future of vanadium implementation across industries. 46 | Endeavour Magazine

However, the SMP project is not the only mining operation that VR8 undertakes, it also has the Quarts Bone Project located in the West Pilbara province in Western Australia. The project comprises a single granted exploration license and covers an area of approximately 15km2 which has identified key copper, zinc, and lead occurrences. Key developments in this project have been through the discovery of new volcanogenic massive sulphides. Exploration at the Quarts Bone Project to date has generated the Balla Balla, West Balla, and East Balla base of metal prospects which are located within a sequence of dacitic lava and volcanoclastic sediments and shales. At present, Balla Balla is the most advanced prospect with drilling intersecting widespread zones of zinc-lead-copper mineralisation along a 600-metre strike length and down drip to a depth of 250m below the surface. VR8 is set to explore the project further over the coming years with the aim of evaluating the advanced Balla Balla Prospect and the surrounding prospects. These prospects may determine the potential for mining operations and identify additional economic mineralisation. As the world moves towards a greener future, South Africa is expected to play a significant role in global battery value chains by 2030. This is because

Leading Vanadium Producers

the global battery value chain has the potential for 10-15GWH for domestic demand with battery energy storage. The country’s battery storage market could reach 9,700Mwh of demand and 10,400Mwh in the wider South African region by 2030 which is a significant increase from just a few hundred Mwh in 2020. Therefore, the growing demand for vanadium for use in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs) allows VR8 to play a significant role in assisting the world via battery supply chains towards a future of renewable energy. VR8 will explore the full range of Vanadium products that are possible including vanadium trioxide, ferrovanadium, titanium dioxide, and ilmenite. These explorations will allow VR8 to understand the potential of its Steelpoordrift deposit and move towards the vertical integration of vanadium into downstream markets through electrolyte, VRFB manufacturing and energy generation for a greener future. Overall, VR8 are a key player in the world of vanadium as it operates the world’s largest vanadium deposit positioning the company in a crucial position ready to tackle the vast array of

markets which vanadium is being adopted into. As such a vital element, its use across renewable battery options, sees the future of the company look very bright as the demand for vanadium is set to increase as the world moves evermore towards green energy. We look forward to seeing how VR8’s role in global supply chains continues to develop as its mine operation at the Steelpoordrift project continues to expand.

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GET TO KNOW US Hasman Technical Services Ltd. founded in July 2014, is a Ghanaian owned company aimed at providing technical services to the Power Generation, Oil and Gas Infrastructure Industries. Presently, our specialization ranges from the installation of new plants through routine maintenance right up to the execution of planned outages on gas turbine units. Being mindful of the importance of power, be it electrical, gas, or oil, to businesses and society as a whole, we strive to go beyond being simply a service provider and take the extra step to become a client’s business partner for life. We aim at crafting connections with our clients by fulfilling our vision and missions. Our capabilities and services span across Ghana and the West African Sub Region. The expertise and skills which we have obtained throughout the years allow us to focus on project planning, new unit construction and installation, operation and maintenance, commissioning, and outage execution. Our vision is to build local capabilities through the highest quality technical services and hiring the most qualified professionals in the power generation and oil and gas sectors.

“Our values are part of our DNA.They guide the way we work with our clients, business partners and employees with integrity, accountability, passion, humility, and confidence. We believe that our focus on these values have helped us build a unique company culture where ideas can blossom.” William A. Wood, Managing Director

Our values are part of our DNA. They guide the way we work with our Clients, Business Partners, and Employees with Integrity, Accountability, Passion, Humility, and Confidence. We believe that our focus on these Values has helped us build a unique company culture where ideas can blossom.

At Harman, Safety Is Paramount

OUR PORTFOLIOS

The Well-being and protection of our Staff is our first priority, and our utmost goal is to conduct business without any instances of harm or injury. HASMAN places a high priority on employee safety and wellbeing, delivering a secure working environment for clients, partners, and personnel. We put special emphasis on encouraging a culture of safety, upholding laws and regulations, embracing stakeholder engagement, proactively identifying and mitigating safety risks. HASMAN makes sure that its Health, Safety, Environment, and Security Policy is available to its staff, subcontractors, and other interested parties.

New Unit Installation With our experienced team of Technicians, We provide New Unit Installation Services for the Power Generation, Oil and Gas Industry. Technical Direction Of Planned Outages Clear and effective Technical Direction for planned outages to keep Units and Systems running smoothly.

Quality Development & Improvement Over the past years, we have demonstrated, exhibited and maintained the highest quality standards by ensuring that products and services are made to measure up customer’s specifications and demands. The company has employed a Quality Assurance / Control and Management technique to ensure activities and operations are made right in order to enhance workflow, product quality, waste minimizing and continuous improvement. The Company has achieved great milestones since its inception with regards to project executed and services provided such as Welding and Fabrication Activities, Plant Installation, among others. We have achieved the highest quality standards through strict adherence to international codes and standards governing all operations and activities with good workmanship by ensuring that products and services offered as well as the means used to provide them are consistent.

All our operating activities are ISO certified (Integrated Management System - IMS) ISO 45001:2018, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015

Operations, Maintenance & Commissioning Keep your Operations running smoothly and efficiently with our comprehensive Operations, Maintenance and Commissioning Services.

120 YEARS AS AFRICA’S BEST KNOWN HOSPITALITY VENUE The Victoria Falls Hotel chevron-square-right www.victoriafallshotel.com/ phone-square +263 83 2844751/9 envelope-square equiries@victoriafallshotel.com

The Victoria Falls Hotel

Standing just a few hundred meters from one of the world’s most stunning tourist attractions, the Victoria Falls Hotel is not just a place to stay but a stylish and graceful venue which offers a range of contemporary facilities and amenities whilst staying true to its charming historic feel. The hotel sits atop a gorge, which throughout your stay allows you to enjoy the relaxing sound of the waterfall crashing into the gorge below. The hotel’s location therefore lends itself to providing spectacular views of the surrounding historic road and rail bridge which links Zimbabwe and Zambia across the gorge.

he Victoria Falls Hotel was opened in June 1904, just before the planned Cape-to-Cairo railway reached the Zambezi River. Built by the railway authorities, Victoria Falls was the first real tourist hotel across the territory just north of the Limpopo River at the start of the 20th century. Within a year or so, the famed bridge across the Zambezi was completed, giving direct access to the hotel from surrounding regions as the railway linked what is now Zimbabwe and Zambia. The hotel has always been strongly linked to the railways, and now even has a private stairway to the railway station platform within the hotel.

Over the first 60 years of the hotel, it was the only one on the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi and offered something different to the hotels on the northern side in the town of Livingstone. It started off as a small establishment with a handful of bedrooms and public areas, with all the in-buildings being made of corrugated iron. For much of its early life, visitors came by rail, but with new road developments in the 1930s, and especially in the 1960s, access to the hotel via road was much quicker and easier. Today, most arrivals to Victoria Falls arrive by air through the modern Victoria Falls International Airport. However, the famed Rovos Rail service linking South Africa and Tanzania remains popular for bringing guests by rail to the hotel - a great nod back to how the hotel began. Since its modest beginnings, the hotel has continually expanded with the introduction of fine accommodation and service wings which brought further modernization and expansion to cope with its rising number of guests. The hotel has two major wings which reach out from its central base – known as ‘hammerheads’- a design which was based on the old crossed rail-tracks logo of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Additional wings reach out from the entrance area and between the front and back blocks. In the 1990s, the Stables Wing was constructed as a delightful addition which boosted bedroom and suite numbers to well over 150. The hotel’s flagship restaurant, The Livingstone, was built in 1917 and today is one of Zimbabwe’s longest-running dining venues. A further restaurant called Jungle Junction was built in the 1990s where the African spectacular dance show ran nightly from the 50s and 80s. The third dining area is Stanley’s

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Terrace which looks out across the manicured lawns to the bridge. Other facilities and amenities have developed over the last 120 years of operation which now include conference rooms, a comfortable lounge, a courtyard, a lounge area, a retail outlet, an art gallery, and service areas such as a hair salon, day spa and ground operator’s desk. The hotel also has a delightful swimming pool area which sits across the garden. Furthermore, recent developments saw the hotel’s re-creation of a cocktail bar just off the lounge, located exactly where the country’s first cocktail bar was opened in the early 1960s. Activities for guests range from river cruises to game drives throughout the surrounding national

parks, as well as a range of air and helicopter rides over the falls and even bungee jumps off the bridge. The hotel has its own unique and charming Anglican church, St. Mary Magdalene, which was first opened in 1932 and regularly hosts a range of services as well as special occasions including weddings and baptisms. The Victoria Falls Hotel is thought to be the only hotel in Zimbabwe with its own chapel, which has long been a cherished feature of the property to this day. In recent decades, an increasing number of hotels and accommodation facilities have been opened in and around the town of Victoria Falls, but none boasts the same history and scope that The Victoria Falls Hotel does. The legacy of the hotel is represented in its affectionately given nickname ‘the grand old lady of Victoria Falls’. We got the chance to speak with Farai Chima, General Manager at The Victoria Falls Hotel. Having worked for the hotel for a decade and a half, he took over as GM in 2021. At the helm of the hotel, he steered the hotel through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic which saw the closure and reduced operation of the hotel. Now, he oversees the current refurbishment programme which has been designed to develop the hotel ready to meet the needs of its guests ready for the hotel’s next century of operation.

The Victoria Falls Hotel

The hotel’s refurbishment is being undertaken in phases following budgetary, administrative, and logistical requirements. The first phase has already been completed and has seen bedrooms and suites reopened in the east ‘hammerhead’, as well as the south upstairs floor reaching east from the reception, and the upstairs floor overlooking the hotel’s lawns reaching to the gorge below the falls. Development activity is expected to continue across both bedroom blocks and public areas well into 2024. The refurbishment aims to bring its guests the same facilities and services as other modern technologically supported hotels while maintaining the hotel’s historic Edwardian-style exterior. Speaking with Farai Chimba, he said “The imprint of this refurbishment will lie over the hotel for several decades to come, so it is being undertaken with care and flair so that we respect its past and still meet present-day expectations”. Refurbishment work has seen floors lifted and ceilings removed. It has also seen the crucial replacement of cabling, wiring and plumbing pipes, along with stripping brick walls and ensuring that the hotel’s very foundations are fit to serve another 54 | Endeavour Magazine

century of service. As part of this, some bedrooms have been expanded in size, whilst others have had new privacy walls installed to separate beds from sitting areas. The further refurbishment has seen the removal of baths in place of large shower stalls which are increasingly in demand by most travellers today. So far almost 50 rooms and suites have been refurbished including classic bedrooms, premium bedrooms, classic suites, and super suites. Even the hotel’s flagship suite has been significantly redeveloped and now hosts two bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, lounge and a massive bathroom and shower room – as well as a private hallway to the suite away far away from the

120 years as Africa’s Best Known Hospitality Venue

hotel’s public areas. The Batoka Suite sits on the upstairs levels with two bedrooms, a lounge and service areas with an equally as spectacular view as the flagship suite, which has also been expanded through the refurbishment to modernize its amenities which is hoped to be especially popular for families travelling together. The design of the refurbishment features new fabrics, stylish new floor tiling, new carpeting and wallpaper pictures showing the Victoria Falls scenery and greenery. Every aspect of the refurbishment is aimed to optimise space and ensure that its guests receive top-quality service and can rest easy with The Victoria Falls Hotel knowing every effort has been made to make their stay as perfect as possible. The Victoria Falls Hotel has played host to some of the best-known names in the world of politics, business, show business, sport, arts, culture, and many other areas. Notable visits include Goerge Darwin, who opened the Victoria Falls Bridge in 1905 and is Charles Darwin’s son. Many royals have visited The Victoria Falls Hotel and perhaps the most famous royal visit was that of the British Royal Family in 1947

when King George VI undertook his tour of southern Africa to thank the people of the region for helping defeat the Axis Powers’ threat in World War 2. Queen Elizabeth, later known as the Queen Mother, and their daughters Princess Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret accompanied the king on their two-month tour and stayed at the hotel for a short break over Easter, enjoying a service at the Chapel. Over the years, celebrities and tourists alike have descended on The Victoria Falls Hotel from across the globe to take in its Edwardian features and luxury experiences at the site of a beautiful natural wonder. Now, as the hotel enters its next century of operation with major refurbishment and developments well underway, it is set to be ready to serve its guests for the future under the careful guidance of GM Farai Chimba. Ultimately, at The Victoria Falls Hotel, style and grace meet high-tech and convenience, and it is through these qualities that the hotel will continue to thrive for another century.

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FUELLING TANZANIA’S PETROLEUM INDUSTRY World Oil Tanzania Ltd. chevron-square-right www.worldoil.co.tz phone-square 225 736 502 844/845 envelope-square info@worldoi.co.tz

World Oil Tanzania Ltd.

With a key focus on providing innovative solutions to its customers across the logistics and customs clearing services of petroleum products, World Oil Tanzania Ltd (WOTL) is a leading transporter of petroleum and its related products across Tanzania and towards international markets in Central and Eastern Africa. Backed by over 20 years of experience, WOTL remains committed to providing professional transportation services for petroleum products to a whole range of high-profile customers whilst ensuring that safety is always a central priority.

stablished in 1999, WOTL is a limited liability company which is incorporated and domiciled in Tanzania, with its headquarters in Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam. As a leading importer, distributor, and marketer of petroleum products. WOTL takes pride in its dedication to ensuring high levels of efficiency, reliability, clean deliveries, timely reporting, and loss free service to help maintain its reputation as a leading petroleum logistics and hospitality service. Today, WOTL is a household name that has undertaken over 100 projects within the petroleum industry to develop the accessibility of petroleum. Its role in developing the accessibility of petroleum critically bridges the gaps in the fuel transportation market, which previously saw unreliable and unorganised petroleum services. Therefore, WOTL continues to provide the people of Tanzania with reliable, professional, and profitable petroleum transport services. It is this careful dedication to the region and filling any previous gaps, which has allowed WOTL to be the company of choice for the transportation, importation, and marketing of petroleum products across Tanzania.

Offering a range of hospitality and transporting services to various suppliers in both local and transit businesses. The company has 2 fuel terminals in Kigamboni with a total fuel capacity of 89 million litres for both AGO and PMS fuel. WOTL also has an additional 2 fuel terminals in Lubumbashi in Congo. These facilities allow WOTL to carry out its services and connect fuel across local and international markets. Its expansive role across Tanzania highlights WOTL’s longterm cooperation with clients on a national level who value WOTL’s commitment, reliability, and responsiveness to their needs. By establishing itself as a crucial player in the petroleum industry of Tanzania, WOTL continues to serve the industry, it looks to expand the scope of its offered services and technological capabilities. Transport facilities under WOTL include overnight secure parking, security and protection of equipment and pre-loaded vehicles which are parked across its site. The facilities have 2 wash bay facilities with the necessary effluent provisions to absorb any fuel substances during the process of external washing and internal 58 | Endeavour Magazine

cleansing. Furthermore, WORL also provides office and storage facilities which cater for operational technical requirements. However, one of the most central values of WOTL is its commitment to developing sustainable business services through strategic partnerships within the Central, Southern and Eastern African markets. WOTL upholds this crucial level of sustainable development through its innovative logistics and hospitality services which use a behaviour-based system called the Loss Prevention System (LPS) which it utilised to prevent and reduce losses throughout its company by positively influencing the behaviour of all persons involved. By keeping its 400+ strong workforce happy, cared for and focused on providing the best possible experience for its customers, WOTL continues to attain market leadership thanks to the quality of its service, which

ultimately creates and maximises the sustainability of the company’s value. Overall, WOTL takes pride in its leading professional transportation services for petroleum products, which through its facilities, assets and personnel has allowed it to optimize its operations to serve the industry in Tanzania with flexible and reliable solutions. With core values of loyalty, accountability, responsibility, ownership, and excellent service according to its customer’s requirements; WOTL has become a standard for excellence across the industry. We look forward to seeing how WOTL continues to expand across Tanzania over the coming years, and as it takes its standard of excellence and sustainability towards venturing further into international markets

A NEW FUTURE for VODAFONE GHANA Vodafone Ghana chevron-square-right https://vodafone.com.gh/home/ phone-square 100/ 050 555 5111 envelope-square info.gh@vodafone.com

Vodafone Ghana

Vodafone is a brand that needs no introduction, known to most of us as a leading telecommunication company, it is a crucial member of the worldwide telecommunications industry, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and the United States. Globally Vodafone has over 330 million mobile customers, more than 28 million fixed broadband customers, and 21 million TV customers through its operations across 21 countries. In Ghana, Vodafone is the telecommunications provider of choice for most Ghanaians. Following their acquisition of Ghana Telecoms in 2008, Vodafone Ghana leads the way in providing communication solutions across Ghana.

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s an operating company under the Vodafone Group Plc, Vodafone Ghana provides mobile, fixed lines, internet, voice, and data communications across Ghana, and is currently ranked 2nd in terms of market share for a telecommunication company in the country. As of June 2022, Vodafone Ghana had 7.3 million subscribers across the country. As a brand, Vodafone Ghana provides Vodafone Business Solutions (VBS) which aims to serve a variety of businesses and government agencies in Ghana by providing network-based IT and communication solutions. The aim of VBS is to empower businesses to grow, cut down on costs, increase their efficiency and improve their profits to continue developing the Ghanaian economy. Therefore, as a brand Vodafone Ghana has positioned itself as a leader in Ghana for telecommunication services both in domestic, business, and governmental settings. Under Vodafone Ghana, there is the subsidiary division of Vodafone Wholesale, which is incorporated as the National Communications Backbone Company (NCBC).

A New Future for Vodafone Ghana

The Vodafone Wholesale services provide and sell fibre-optic products and related services across Ghana and the West Sub-Region. They are the only network in Ghana to provide mobile network operators and internet service providers with highquality and reasonably priced services with crossborder connectivity to the landlocked countries in West Africa.

Vodafone Ghana goes beyond their role as a telecommunication provider and has become the most awarded telecoms company, winning close to 70 local and international awards in the past 4 years for its work in the local community. As part of Vodafone Ghana’s commitment to supporting their local communities, they launched the Vodafone Ghana Foundation in 2009, aiming to support sustainable initiatives that drive social change to improve people’s lives and to help to solve pressing social needs.

Vodafone Ghana believes that mobile communications can help to address humanitarian needs to improve living conditions across Ghana. Their vision is to be regarded as the most caring telecommunications brand in Ghana, by empowering and giving access to tools and facilities that support sustainable social change. The focus of the Vodafone Ghana Foundation is to combine charity work and technology to deliver projects that will improve and enhance the living conditions of Ghanaians through health, education, and charitable donations. A key part of this work is in their initiative of Instant Schools. The initiative aims to provide millions of young people across Africa with access to free online learning materials. The learning content is aimed to target primary and secondary school children and will be free to access through the Vodafone network. This plan comes as part of a continuing effort to provide children with quality teaching material, which is provided by the Khan Academy. Furthermore, as a global company, Vodafone is committed to reducing its environmental impact

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Vodafone Ghana

towards a goal of net zero emissions throughout its value chain by 2024. They are also helping their customers to reduce their carbon emissions by 350 million tonnes by 2030, as they are driving action to reduce device waste. However, as of February 2023, Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has given approval for Telecel to buy a 70% stake in Vodafone Ghana. Telecel has said they plan to develop their presence in Ghana by extending the coverage of 4G across the country, to allow more people to enjoy high-speed internet. These plans come with a proposed $700 million investment over 5 years into developing communication and commerce across Africa. The Telecel Group is an Africanfocused telecommunications provider that operates across Africa, including South Africa, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya, and Senegal. The acquisition however is ensured to have no effect on the employment at Vodafone Ghana, as they are committed to keeping all the current staff to ensure the social and economic effect of the acquisition does not negatively affect the employees or the local community.

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Therefore, the future of Vodafone Ghana looks to continue its development across the country as part of Telecel’s ongoing African telecommunication projects. However, for Vodafone their stake in their Ghana division has been greatly reduced, as part of their effort to streamline their portfolio. Therefore, the new phase of Vodafone Ghana is set to evolve over the coming year, but one thing we are sure will remain: Ghanaian development, support and improving telecommunication services will continue to bring together and help Ghana as a country. Overall, Vodafone Ghana leads the way in telecommunication services to provide Ghana with the best services of phone and internet communication to continue the development of the country. With Telecel’s acquisition of 70% of Vodafone Ghana, the company looks to continue to expand its telecommunications services across the continent. As a brand, Vodafone Ghana maintains the innovation and responsiveness that the Vodafone Group is recognised for worldwide, and brings these innovations for community support into Ghana to establish health, education and economic development through their services.

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Transforming KENYAN BANKING

Kenya Bankers Association chevron-square-right https://www.kba.co.ke/ phone-square +254 20 2221704 envelope-square info@kba.co.ke

Kenya Bankers Association

Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) leads the way in its advocacy for developing and championing the banking industry in Kenya through its support across local and international financial sectors. KBA aims to help the banking industry and financial sector through innovative technological advancements and strong ethics. As the umbrella body working on behalf of its banks and microfinance banks, KBA now represents a total asset of USD 60 billion across Kenya. Therefore, it is no wonder why KBA strives ahead with its operations to constantly improve and regulate the financial sector to ensure that the hardearned money and resources of Kenyans are protected securely by the association member banks.

ounded in July 1962 by the Registrar of Trade Unions, KBA was established to help its member banks to negotiate terms and conditions of the service of its unionized employees, whilst attempting to input standardized management practices for consistency and regulation throughout the industry. Over time the role of the KBA has evolved and broadened, now to include its role in developing the industry towards economic growth. The KBA facilitates their expanding role by working with the government and developing sector regulations set by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Now the KBA has a new ambition statement which summarises its role in the financial and banking industry: ‘One Industry. Transforming Kenya’.

The KBA currently represents 47 members across the country, all of which are held to a high and professional standard of banking, so that Kenyans know that the banks under the KBA governing body are ones to trust. KBA continues to ensure the safety of its customers by running various campaigns to ensure financial safety awareness is always a priority. One prominent campaign is their ATM safety awareness campaign ‘Kaa Chonjo!’. The campaign seeks to empower its consumers with the secure use of online, mobile and card transactions. Therefore, as an overarching company KBA are ensuring that the customer’s security and faith in the KBA members is a key priority. The campaign hopes to contribute towards alleviating fraud throughout the financial sector. Furthermore, they ensure the safety of transactions for their banks by enhancing the security of transaction channels to reduce the risk of them being subjected to fraud. KBA continues to innovate the transaction channels of its customers in a recent upgrade of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system to the ISO 20022 Standard. The upgraded system will provide opportunities for banks and other financial sector players by facilitating the efficient transfer of payments. It will provide a platform for global interoperability of payments, which will innovate services and reduce time on cheque clearing considerably. This upgrade comes as part of KBA’s strategic plan between 2019 and 2023 to facilitate more efficient and affordable financial services through advancing its technological innovations.

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KBA’s adoption of this will not only enhance the payment insights for its members, but it will support the banks’ risk management initiatives, which in turn will inform the policy decisions in the future towards a more responsive financial sector.

KBA aims to be the voice of banking across Kenya by being a leader in innovation throughout the financial sector. They plan to do this by reinforcing the industry’s ability to be a primary driver of economic development as they innovate their operations towards economic success through research and analysis. The KBA has established The Center for Research on Financial Markets and Policy which aims to research and providing key commentary on critical policy matters that impact the financial markets in Kenya. The research centre communicates with key financial market experts, the banking sector, and the policymakers in Kenya towards a future of success.

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Overall, KBA leads the way in its innovation towards facilitating highly secure and reliable banking services throughout its association members. The regulation of these members places the Kenyan financial sector in line with global leaders, whilst ensuring technological advancements allow them to manage funds both locally and internationally in a much more efficient way. Therefore, KBA’s operations ensure that the financial sector of Kenya is flourishing, all the while their customers feel safe using a bank under their association due to its reputation of leadership, innovation, knowledge, and strong ethics.

Beyond Profits: Equity Group’s Visionary Plan for Continental Progress and Sustainable Transformation Written by: Caroline Summers EQUITY GROUP, in March 2022, embarked on a transformative mission to proactively contribute to global progress through a private sector-led initiative in East and Central Africa. This ground-breaking endeavor, known as the ‘Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan,’ goes beyond profit-focused thinking and instead leverages the private sector’s resources and capabilities to tackle pressing global challenges. The plan recognizes the need to rebuild regional strength and capacity following the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the Russia/Ukraine conflict. By prioritizing the financing of in-country manufacturing and regional supply chains, Equity Group aims to mend the fractures caused by these crises. The plan also aims to drive economic recovery and growth while creating employment opportunities for the youth and facilitating market access for local producers. Equity Group plans to allocate up to 2% of the combined GDP of the six economies it operates in to finance the private sector. This financial support is being provided through a combination of short-term overdrafts, medium-term loans, and credit facilities requiring long-term project and development financing. The goal is to empower 5 million borrowing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and 25 million individual borrowers over the next five years. During the launch of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, Dr. James Mwangi, the Group’s Managing Director and CEO, highlighted the immense potential of this initiative. He envisioned the 5 million

borrowing businesses, mainly MSMEs, creating 50 million jobs—25 million directly and an equal number indirectly—leading to cohesive business ecosystems that foster synergistic growth. Equity Group’s Plan goes beyond profit and commits to catalyzing socio-economic transformation in the region. Inclusivity is a central consideration, ensuring that no one is left behind. The plan also prioritizes sustainability and governance to protect the environment while advancing social and economic development. To implement the Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan effectively, six strategic pillars have been identified. These pillars form an interconnected framework focused on empowering MSMEs and expanding opportunities in Food and Agriculture, Manufacturing and Logistics, Trade and Investment. The Plan supports MSME integration into value chains, harnesses knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, encourages social impact investments, and considers environmental factors. By fostering a coordinated and productive natural resource ecosystem in agriculture and extractives, the Plan aims to drive higher productivity and throughput. It recognizes the potential for Africa to leverage its natural endowments to expand productive capacities and manufacturing capabilities. By creating cohesive primary sectors integrated with Pan-African productive capacities, the Plan aims to foster demand complementarities across regional blocs.

Trade and investment are crucial components of the Plan, offering expanded market access and facilitating factor mobility. By providing broader markets, capital, technology, and skills, the Plan aims to enhance the global competitiveness of African products and services. Empowering MSMEs through integration into value chains will drive inclusive domestic value chains and demand complementarities. The Plan also emphasizes the transformative power of technology, envisioning a techenabled economy. By facilitating online presence for businesses, the Plan aims to accelerate connectivity, foster innovation, and drive economic growth. Furthermore, it also focuses on youth and women as primary drivers of opportunities in the real economy. Through strategic partnerships, such as the Young Africa Works Initiative with the Mastercard Foundation, the Plan aims to equip young people with financial literacy, entrepreneurship training, and digital skills. Credit guarantee facilities will complement lending to ensure equal access to credit and mitigate default risks. Equity Group’s Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan presents a bold step towards harnessing the private sector’s potential to address global challenges. With a long-term perspective that goes beyond individual profit-making, the Group aims to create a sustainable and prosperous future for East and Central Africa. Through inclusive economic growth, environmental stewardship, and social transformation, the Plan seeks to redefine the private sector’s role and make a lasting positive impact on the region and the world.

Dr. James Mwangi, Equity Group MD & CEO (left) officially hands over a copy of the Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan to Dr. Peter Mathuki, East African Community Secretary General (right). Equity has set aside USD 7 Billion to support productivity enhancement of key economic sectors of agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and trade.

STRATEGIC INVESTMENT in RWANDA Rwandan Development Board chevron-square-right https://rdb.rw/ phone-square +250 727775170 envelope-square info@rdb.rw

Rwandan Development Board

The landlocked country of Rwanda is home to a variety of services and exports that position it as a leader in the global markets for both business and travel. Bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda is home to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a government institution, which plans to accelerate the country’s economic development by aiding in private sector growth. The RDB, established in 2008, provides support through several services to ensure that Rwanda remains one of the most competitive places to do business in both Africa and the world.

DB’s mission is to transform Rwanda into a global hub for business, investment, and innovation, which they plan on achieving by fast-tracking the county’s economic development through the continual support of private sector growth. The development board began as a merger of 8 government institutions, which came together to become a One Stop Shop for business and investments. Since then, they have expanded their global expertise and shown on an international level the quality practices which position Rwanda as a leading economy open for international business. As a result, the value of investments registered has tripled from USD 400 million in 2010, to US 2.006 billion in 2018. Services offered by RDB under their One-Stop Center include business and investment registration, visa facilitation, environmental impact assessment (EIA), tax incentives management, investment promotion, investment deals negotiation, export and special economic zones (SEZ) development, tourism and conservation, and private sector skills development.

RDB also offers a variety of exports that continue to play a crucial role in the economic expansion of the country by contributing greatly to gross domestic product (GDP) figures. One of the key products produced and exported in Rwanda under RBD is coffee. Coffee plays a significant role in the economy of the country, as 20,00-22,00 metric tons of coffee is produced every year. Supplying major markets in the US, Europe and Asia, Rwandan coffee has grown to be a massive online export for Rwanda, particularly through its partnership with the e-commerce giant Alibaba. This partnership has seen the sales volumes of Rwandan coffee grow 700% on Tmall, Alibaba’s crossborder B2B platform. Furthermore, the country is also a key exporter of tea. Since 1952, Rwanda has been growing tea and has now come to be a major contributor towards the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Producing 30,00 metric tons annually, tea growing has allowed Rwanda to claim a major stake in the African Tea Trade Association with its record prices, whilst accessing international markets in the Middle East, Pakistan, United Kingdom, and Kazakhstan. The RDB also oversee the mining, horticulture and handcraft goods and services going out of the 76 | Endeavour Magazine

Strategic Investment in Rwanda

country which all play key roles in the development of Rwanda. However, it is the manufacturing and agriculture processing that play some of the most crucial roles in the country’s development. Agriculture processing contributes up to a third of Rwanda’s GDP and is a major source of employment and income in Rwanda. Rwanda’s location makes it a great climate for agriculture, so can produce a diverse range of agricultural commodities suitable for processing both within and outside of the country. Within Rwanda, agriculture processing provides food and other necessities to its people through their advancing technologies which reinforce the high-quality standard of their products. Outside of Rwanda, pyrethrum is exported worldwide as its flowers are used as a natural insecticide for pests and plant diseases. Manufacturing is also a growing industry in Rwanda, and as of 2019, accounted for 17% of the country’s GDP. Through their gradual diversification from basic manufacturing, RDB has helped develop the manufacturing sector towards the growing production of fast-moving consumer goods,

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Rwandan Development Board

construction materials, furniture laboratory equipment, electronic goods, and automotive manufactured goods. The economy of Rwanda depends heavily on this sector and therefore is a crucial pillar of RDB’s focus on its exports due to the big markets that can be accessed in the East African Community (EAC). Therefore, the importing and exporting of manufactured goods has placed Rwanda in a key strategic position for the development of the country’s economy due to its high-quality processing and production of goods. To continue to develop the Rwandan economy, the Government of Rwanda announced the launch of the Manufacture and Build to Recover Program aimed to attract more private sector investments to the country. The project was first introduced in 2020, to boost economic recovery efforts by attracting private sector investments with specific incentives for the manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and real estate development sectors. Since the programme began it has brought in over USD 1.7 billion and created over 36,000 jobs. Therefore, in line with the announcement of the extension of the project in March 2023, the RDB has ensured that members of the private sector

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continue to benefit from the specialised incentives that the program offers, and shows its continuing commitment to the economic development of Rwanda. There is clear evidence that the RDB has had a significant impact on the economy of Rwanda, as it has grown expansively since its establishment with a current annual GDP average rate of 8% for the past decade. Furthermore, the GDP per capita grew to USD 787 in 2018, from USD 774 in 2017. The target per capita set by the RDB is USD 1,382, which they aim to achieve by 2024. As a country, Rwanda consistently emerges as the top global reformer in the annual World Bank Doing Business Reports, and so with the data to support them, RDB continues to strive for greatness to put Rwanda’s economy in first position. Rwanda is a growing force in global markets for a variety of services and exports, and with the help of the RDB, it is smashing GDP targets. Consequently, Rwanda remains among the most competitive African countries to do business in due to the efficient goods and labour markets in which they facilitate, which when combined with the country’s stable political situation, sees Rwanda as a hub for steady and reliable economic growth.

UNITING THE African SEED INDUSTRY African Seed Trade Association chevron-square-right https://afsta.org/ phone-square +254 20 242 9017 envelope-square afsta@afsta.org

African Seed Trade Association

The landscape of the African seed trade is shifting; the industry is moving away from publicly funded seed systems towards a more diversified market which is led by private seed companies and associations. The private seed sector is becoming more and more well-established each year, which has forced governments across Africa to acknowledge the role private seed companies play in the availability and delivery of high-quality seed to farmers across the continent. The private seed sector plays a key role in the growth of the agricultural sector and its development across the continent. Consequently, the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) was established in 2000 to be a uniting voice throughout the private seed sector, and to aid in the development of the seed industry both within the continent and across the globe.

ith over 20 years of experience, AFSTA is a not-for-profit membership association formed to champion the interests of private seed companies across the continent. It is registered in Kenya as an international organisation which is providing crucial support, networking, and advocacy for its 150+ members. The members include a variety of private seed companies as well as several national seed trade associations, which have built up a network of companies and organisations across the globe. All the members are working together under AFSTA to bring huge development and security for the seed trade and subsequent agriculture industry in Africa.

AFSTA’s main objective is to promote the trade of high-quality seed across the continent and towards global seed markets. To do this AFSTA believes in providing its members with key knowledge of the seed industry, which it has gained from its development of a statistical database that looks into the seed production and trade on the continent. Ultimately, AFSTA aims to bring a united voice to the African seed industry by effectively working with governments and NGOs to promote the crucial role

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African Seed Trade Association

that private seed companies play in the African seed industry. Therefore, as an overarching governing body, AFSTA is actively working to establish a level of regulation to bring harmonization throughout the industry in Africa to ensure the efficient delivery of seed. As part of this, they are actively working with seed companies across the continent to set up national seed trade associations. Working with national seed trade associations, AFSTA can ensure consistency throughout the industry due to the personalised perspective of land, economy, and climate that the national associations provide. Therefore, by encouraging countries to establish their own regulatory boards, AFSTA encourages more efficient distribution of seed in the industry, by ensuring that the development of seed business is developing on both a regional and national level.

AFSTA’s mission is to create the best environment for trade and innovation possible to produce quality seeds for the benefit of its members and farmers in Africa. The Association wants all farmers to have access to top-quality seed which reinforces the stability and security of the food industry.

Their work is essential as the African seed industry has faced some crucial challenges; whether that be due to outdated seed laws and regulations (which has had an adverse effect on the ability or desire for private-sector investment in the seed industry), or due to the limited government support for the seed business, which has had knock-on effects through the industries infrastructure, credit, training and implementation of regional policies. Therefore, through AFSTA’s work throughout the private seed industry, they are establishing themselves as an effective partner to the seed policy makers and shareholders to provide advocacy for their members, whilst helping to find solutions to the industry’s constraints. Consequently, AFSTA is working to provide the support framework necessary to foster an environment of success across Africa’s seed trade industry. To champion the interests of the private seed companies of Africa, AFSTA is working to provide visibility for their members. As part of this, they include all their members in the directory listing in their African Seed Magazine which is provided yearly to encourage networking and sharing of knowledge and experience towards the betterment of the industry.

As part of their role in facilitating a global network, they rotate the annual conference venue to highlight and learn from the diverse cultures across the continent. Their annual conference provides a platform to showcase and integrate new members into the association, giving new members the opportunity to speak on the role they play in the continent’s network of seed suppliers.

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Overall, AFSTA provides a variety of services and advocacy initiatives to help promote the private seed industry across Africa. Working with all its members, crucial stakeholders, and governmental figures, AFSTA has successfully promoted the development of the seed sector towards a more stable future that supports both the seed enterprises and the farmers whom they supply. By acknowledging the constraints throughout the industry, they are well-equipped with the knowledge and expertise to handle and resolve many of these issues throughout the network. Therefore, AFSTA is leading the way as a governing body that strives to provide a unified voice across the seed industry and promote the African seed industry towards the global expansion of the seed trade across the world.

SUCCESS ACROSS

the Seed Trade INDUSTRY

Zambian Seed Trade Association chevron-square-right http://www.zasta.net/ phone-square +260211258646 envelope-square zasta@zasta.net

Zambian Seed Trade Association

Zambia is endowed with ideal climatic conditions and fertile soil which supports the vibrant and rapidly growing farming industry to produce a range of quality crops. To grow these crops, farmers across the country use high-quality certified seeds which are produced and supplied by many seed companies. The Zambia Seed Trade Association (ZASTA), to which most seed companies in the country belong, was established to promote the interest of its member seed companies and the seed industry in Zambia.

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ASTA provides a platform for the exchange of information among the key players of the seed industry in Zambia, whilst contributing to the effective and efficient delivery of seeds across the country. We got the opportunity to interact with the President of ZASTA, Mr Marx Mbunji, and Mr Godfrey Mwila, ZASTA’s Executive Secretary, who provided some insights into the great work that ZASTA has been doing in Zambia and its vision going into the future. Established in 1999, ZASTA is a not-for-profit non-governmental organisation, registered under the Societies Act in Zambia. With 26 members, the Association is at the helm of Zambia’s seed industry, which is a major player in the regional and international seed trade, focused on promoting profitable seed enterprises involving the production, distribution, and marketing of highquality seed for a wide range of crops. Over the last 20 years, ZASTA has grown exponentially in line with the growing seed industry across Zambia, which has resulted in the increase of seed companies from 4 when the Association began, to now 30 companies

Success Across the Seed Trade Industry

operating across the entire country. Consequently, the seed industry across Zambia is much more wellestablished compared to other countries on the continent with its vast network of seed growers, distributors, and a firm regulatory system.

ZASTA supports its members in running their commercial seed enterprises, which are responsible for supplying the vast majority of certified and high-quality seed to all categories of farmers across the country. In Zambia, the seed market is dominated largely by hybrid maize seed; however, the country is also producing a variety of other crops including beans, groundnuts, sunflowers, soybeans, Irish potatoes and a wide range of vegetables and fruits. Although the Zambian seed industry is well developed and continues to grow, there has been a big increase in incidences of fake seeds being offered for sale on the open market. To mitigate and keep this at a minimum level, ZASTA, in collaboration with seed companies, is actively working to put measures in place to tackle this issue and ensure that illegal seed dealers are detoured from serving farmers. In addition, ZASTA fosters good ethical business practices among seed companies and other players along the country’s seed supply chains. These business practices ensure that its member seed companies and the subsequent farmer’s interests are protected through the delivery of certified and high-quality seeds. The Association’s members include commercial seed companies which are operating in global, regional, and national seed markets. Together with Associate and Honorary members, the 21 private seed companies, who are full members of ZASTA, continue to work hard to promote and grow the seed industry in Zambia, to the extent that the seed industry in Zambia is regionally and internationally recognised as a good model for seed trade development. Additionally, the Associate and Honorary members provide valuable research and development towards the future of seed industry technologies and in the provision of seed regulatory services. Furthermore, most of the private seed companies are fully-fledged seed enterprises which have established research and development facilities to enable the production of early-generation seed, the production of certified Endeavour Magazine | 89

Zambian Seed Trade Association

seed, and the distribution and marketing of seed among the farming communities across Zambia. Markets for the Zambian-produced seed include export markets to countries in Africa and beyond.

The three Associate members are Amiran and Hygrotech who are involved in vegetable and horticultural crops seedling production and distribution, and Harvest Plus, who are involved in supporting research for the development of biofortified crop varieties in maize, beans, sweet potato, and cassava. The Honorary members who support the seed industry by conducting agricultural research and development are the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI), a public agricultural research organisation, and the School of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Zambia. Additionally, the Seed Control and Certification Institute (SCCI) is an honorary member providing regulatory services to the seed industry. Furthermore, as an affiliate of the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), ZASTA actively participates in their programmes

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to improve its own services, whilst providing its member companies with the global expertise to help develop and expand their business operations in the local, national, and international markets. The Association is run by an Executive Board comprising of five elected members including Mr Marx Mbunji the President, the Vice President, the Treasurer, two committee members and the immediate past President. The role of the committee is to oversee the running of the Association, which meets once per quarter to review updates from the three subcommittees. The first sub-committee looks at projects, the second looks at ZASTA’s strategic plans and advocacy work, and the third focuses on its memberships, financials, and ethics. When we spoke to ZASTA, they focused on how crucial leadership was for the effective operation of the Association. For Mr Mwila, who is the Executive Secretary of ZASTA, he believes that as one of the key strategies, the Association should increase stakeholder engagement which will facilitate the continued sharing of experiences and learning. Through this exchange of experience and learning, he believes ZASTA can continue to understand

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Success Across the Seed Trade Industry

the key issues affecting the industry and identify approaches needed to address these challenges, whilst leveraging on the available opportunities. As part of their corporate social responsibility (CRS) initiatives, member seed companies are collaborating in a ZASTA-led Waste Management Project. The project is working to prevent and reduce the contamination of the environment by promoting the safe disposal of chemical waste which is produced from seed treatment and packaging processes. The Waste Management Project aims to ensure that a consistent level of environmentalism is upheld throughout the supply chain, as a crucial part of ZASTA’s work is to protect and support the environments in which its members and subsequent farming communities operate in.

ZASTA is also encouraging seed companies, and the public research institutes it works closely with, to develop and make available more crop varieties which are nutrientrich, efficient in their use of nutrients and tolerant to climate change effects. It is hoped that producing more of these crop varieties will contribute towards enhancing food and nutrition security, whilst helping to reduce the amount of fertiliser needed for growing high-quality crops.

Looking towards the future, we learnt that the Executive Committee of ZASTA had embarked on a transformative agenda, which plans to grow and expand the mandate of the Association whilst increasing stakeholder engagement. Part of this agenda is to improve the visibility of the Association across the seed industry by highlighting the role ZASTA plays in driving and coordinating activities in this sector. Consequently, ZASTA aims to carry out some statutory functions to oversee seed certification, seed distribution and the provision of technical information pertaining to seed matters. A key aspect of this transformation is to broaden ZASTA’s revenue base to provide functional and financial stability across the Association. In line with this, ZASTA aims to increase the capacity of the secretariat to be able to implement more programmes and activities to benefit its members, as well as the seed industry at large. Overall, ZASTA is working to improve the seed industry in Zambia by providing stability and expertise to benefit its member companies, which in turn highlights ZASTA as a key player in the seed trade sector. By safeguarding the future of the seed trade in Zambia through the support of seed companies, its environmentalism work, the monitoring of illegal activity and efforts to protect farmers, ZASTA leads the way as the only commercial seed trade Association providing continued support to the seed industry in Zambia.

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SOUTH AFRICAN steel SUCCESS Macsteel South Africa chevron-square-right https://macsteel.co.za/ phone-square (11)871 0000 envelope-square info@macsteel.co.za

Macsteel South Africa

For over 116 years, Macsteel has been leading the steel industry across South Africa providing manufacturing, merchandising and distribution of steel and value-added steel products. Through its strategic network of service centres, branches and warehouses, Macsteel is leading the industry across the continent by providing its customers with exceptional levels of personal services and products across a whole range of industries. Therefore, through its robust infrastructure, technical development and striving to continually improve, the company has solidified its reputation as the preeminent supplier of steel across the African continent.

s a leading manufacturer, merchandiser and distributor of steel, the company is leading the way in providing products such as general steel, coil processing, tube and pipe, roofing, special steels, stainless steel, VRN, fluid control pipes, fittings, and flanges, as well as a range of Harvey Roofing products. These products are available across a whole range of industries from construction, mining and manufacturing to food and beverage or consumer/retail industries. The company’s operations are vast and with this, the services that Macsteel provides are equally as expansive, to process, cut, treat, and deliver highquality and reliable steel solutions for its customers’ every need.

Macsteel has adapted its operations since it was established in 1904, now it is an expansive operation across South Africa and has become a household name due to its powerful brand and great reputation. It continues to promote success throughout the company by operating as a wider nationally run business, which instils matching strategies throughout all its 40 service centres, branches, and warehouses. By adopting an overhead structure, Macsteel can ensure that its operations remain customer focused. Macsteel is committed to adapting and innovating in line with its customer’s needs and demands, and as the world moves towards a more sustainable future, we can see throughout the company’s services and operations they are implementing and creating new solutions to meet these demands. One of the noticeable qualities of Macsteel is its desire to constantly be evolving to meet the growing steel needs of the customers and their respective industries, whilst paying close attention to developments towards a more sustainable future. A key way Macsteel have been doing this is through its divisional business, Harvey Roofing Products, which under the Macsteel Group name has recently announced the development of a new roofing title which will provide more sustainable and reliable roofing lightweight steel roofing products. The subdivision is known for using only the best materials available in its manufacturing to deliver products that are consistently high quality and

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Macsteel South Africa

suitable for a wide range of roofing applications including commercial, domestic, and industrial settings. The Harvey EcoTile™ was announced in July and has been developed to be a lightweight yet superior in strength roof title, which is easily installed and boasts top quality weatherproofing, whilst being lower in cost for roof structure and transportation. The tile reimagines roofing, which conventionally uses titles made of clay, cement, and steel profiles.

The conventional tiles are known for their excessive weight, fragility, and high price point, whilst requiring continual maintenance. The conventional tiles are also not great for the environment either, whereas the EcoTIle™ is made of 98% recyclable waste material, provides excellent weatherproofing, and is virtually unbreakable with a significantly longer lifespan compared to other options. Mike Benfield, CEO of Macsteel, said in the press release on the Harvey EcoTile™ that “It is a very exciting product, not only for the market that is waiting in anticipation for it to drop in full force but also for Harvey Roofing products diversifying their well-known band. It de-risks us from the volatility of the steel price and moves our business to sustainability with the promise of new ground-

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breaking product”. Although the tiles are still being developed by Harvey Roofing Products under Macsteel, the EcoTile™ provides great potential for the future of sustainable roofing as the company works to revolutionize the market towards more efficient, cost-effective, and durable steel roofing solutions. Macsteel has a long history of supporting its local communities through sports development, donations to community organisations and NGOs, as well as a range of contributions towards other corporate sponsorships. The company is working to connect, nurture relationships, collaborate and impact the surrounding communities positively. Its central focus has been to develop the economies of its communities through education, building, health, wellness, engagement, and welfare projects to ensure that throughout every aspect of its operations, Macsteel is leaving a positive legacy of developmental success. We can see that throughout Macsteel’s operations, and even sub-divisions, the corporate social responsibility of the company is always at the forefront. CEO of Macsteel Mike Benfield outlined this focus as “Our new positioning statement is ‘Pursuing Reinvention’, this is very appropriate to both the steel industry and South Africa. We at Macsteel are very proud to be part of the transformation journey in South Africa and being

South African Steel Success

a good corporate citizen”. He continues, “Our investments in our corporate social responsibility program is part of this journey of reinvention and transformation”. Benfield’s comments show how committed Macsteel are to promoting a future of sustainability whilst invigorating the regions that it operates within, to ensure they are playing an active role as a good corporate citizen. Overall, Macsteel is a massive company which is leading the way across the South African steel landscape to provide its customers with highquality, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions suitable for a wide range of industries and vast uses. We can see their development across industries, and through their sub-divisions, that sustainability and working towards a wider community-supportive goal is paramount. The company’s long terms goals are looking to grow its market share and diversify its product portfolio, whilst bringing improved shareholder returns to establish itself as a singular constant supplier of steel. It plans to do this by establishing rich and beneficial relationships across the industry in Africa and towards its everincreasing global network.

Unica Iron and Steel is a fully integrated mini steel plant, manufacturing light and medium structural steel from iron scrap. Established in Babelegi 2006, the company manufactures quality light structural sections (window sections, square bar and angle iron) commercially. The company boasts a state of the art straight line rolling mill which allows it to produce bigger sections.

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ENSURING A REPUTATION OF luxury Cotton Egypt Association chevron-square-right www.cottonegyptassociation.com phone-square +202-37498037 envelope-square info@cottonegyptassociation.com

Cotton Egypt Association

If you’ve ever stayed at a luxury hotel you’ve likely experienced the joys of beautifully soft bed linen that you can’t wait to jump into at the end of the day, get all cosy and have a nice comfortable sleep in. You’ve maybe even looked at the sheets and tried to figure out what makes them so soft, and then went on your own search for hotel quality sheets for your own home. It is likely that in all of your searches, you have included the words ‘Egyptian Cotton’, in the hopes of finding bedding of the same beautifully soft quality.

n today’s retail field, those words are seemingly overused for any material and the true quality which the trademarked Egyptian Cotton represents has been lost. This is where Cotton Egypt Association (CEA) comes in, they are working to reestablish the Egyptian Cotton name and ensure that whenever the logo is used, you can be sure you are buying authentic Egyptian cotton products.

The CEA was established in 2005 as a nonprofit association to exclusively manage and promote the registered Egyptian Cotton logo trademarks, and to protect the value-add of the Egyptian Cotton identity in supply chains end-to-end. The association aims to do this by globally authenticating the legacy of Egyptian cotton, to ensure that when customers are buying products with the registered Egyptian Cotton trademark, they are sure that the cotton is 100% pure and legitimate. The goal of the association is to rid the supply chain of falsely labelled goods through traceability programs and DNA testing processes to recognize the genomic fingerprint of Egyptian Cotton. Therefore, the purpose of CEA is to restore the reputation of Egyptian Cotton to its former glory, as a respected, trusted, and luxurious quality that can be traced back to Egypt. Egyptian cotton is the highest quality cotton available anywhere in the world, which is made to last you a lifetime whilst delivering its luxuriously soft feel. The climate in Egypt is perfect for growing cotton, as during the summer months there is a stable warm temperature. The river Nile provides the land with rich fertile soil which receives a constant supply of nutrients. These ideal conditions allow the cotton fibres to grow longer and so with longer fibres, there are fewer ends in the fabric leaving every Egyptian Cotton item with a signature super soft luxurious feel. Additionally, Egyptian Cotton is handpicked to ensure both its purity, but also its structural integrity. Much of the world’s cotton is machine harvested, especially in the USA, which runs the risk of damaging the cotton and leaves getting caught in it. Machine harvesting of cotton consequently requires further cleaning stages to remove leaves which causes the fibres to be damaged leaving them with a less soft feel and

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Cotton Egypt Association

the products with a shorter lifespan. Therefore, with CEA’s cotton, they can proudly promote that it is amongst the purest material in the world, cared for throughout its journey from harvesting to end markets to bring you top quality and reliable cotton goods. To ensure that the market only has authentic Egyptian cotton goods, CEA has been working to authenticate Egyptian cotton products through its partnership with the Bureau Ventas, which provides testing and auditing services to verify the authenticity of Egyptian cotton at any stage of the supply chain.

The testing is revolutionary for CEA as it conducts laboratory tests to ensure that every good in the market which is labelled as ‘Egyptian Cotton’ can be traced back to the specific genomic fingerprint of the authentic materials. This is conducted to ensure that when products use or are given the Egyptian Cotton certification, they are authentically made from Egyptian Cotton quality.

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Once confirmed, CEA conducts audits of businesses every quarter to ensure that all manufacturers which have been graded the trademark are maintaining the authentic quality and standards that Egyptian cotton demands. This is all to help consumers to feel comfortable in purchasing products which have the Egyptian Cotton trademark, as they should have been tested and regulated by the overarching association to ensure the quality of the products. However, the need for this process began as many people were selling goods with the claims that the materials were 100% Egyptian cotton, therefore for CEA the move to establish regulation and build consumer confidence is a large task and one that the association is constantly having to battle. Fake Egyptian cotton products are so easily dispersed in the market; therefore, CEA is taking positive steps to reverse the damage caused by the fake products and bring back the high-quality and trusted trademark of Egyptian Cotton across all consumer markets. Therefore, as Egyptian cotton is such a vast exporter for Egypt, the government are working with the association to ramp up efforts

Ensuring a Reputation of Luxury

to develop the country’s textile industry. This development saw the government’s investment of 1.2 billion USD into the industry and promote the added value of Egyptian Cotton, towards the future of Egypt’s cotton manufacturing, agriculture and exporting industries.

Overall, CEA works to reinstate the legacy and reputation of Egyptian Cotton by tackling fake materials, protecting the materials throughout their manufacturing process, and taking part in audits to ensure that the products under the Egyptian Cotton trademark are authentic and high in quality. The industry is such a crucial one for Egypt for its exporting potential, as the only place in the world to buy 100% pure and authentic Egyptian Cotton materials. Therefore, as an association, they are working tirelessly and with innovation to test and uphold the Egyptian Cotton name as one with a reputation for soft, durable, and reliable cotton goods.

ACL Impex, with a know how dating back 1922, is one of the largest importers of Egyptian CottonTM for home textiles. We are one of the few Portuguese bed linen manufacturers recognized with the 100% Egyptian CottonTM (Gold Seal), and we are honored to be one of the Cotton Egypt Association’s first ten Gold Seal companies.

Your B2B ally for home textiles Our business and manufacturing platform supports high-end retailers for brands and private labels in every continent. From duvet covers to fitted sheets, from bedspreads to throws, all of our home textiles are made according to our partners’ needs and requests. Exclusive fabrics and materials can be developed to achieve unique pieces and concepts.

https://aclimpex.com

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