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Issue 86
SUSTAINABLE AND SMART Rubicon Group has a mission: to help every home, business and community in Africa become more sustainable and energy resilient
dhk ARCHITECTS Adapting and innovating during the COVID-19 pandemic
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME Inside South Africa’s largest self-administered medical scheme
Sujay Sarka, Regional CFO for West and Central Africa, on how Olam International plays a key role in building food security across the continent
North America Outlook magazine
New B2B publication launching December 2020 Building on the global success of our sister titles – APAC Outlook, Africa Outlook and EME Outlook – Outlook Publishing is proud to be launching a dedicated platform for businesses in the United States and Canada to tell their success stories. Published six times a year, North America Outlook brings you the positive developments driven by organisations across a wealth of industries and sectors. In a time dominated by health and economic crises created by the coronavirus pandemic, now more than ever is the time to showcase the innovation, adaptability and altruism being shown by commercial enterprise as they bid to keep their economies moving. To share in this unrivalled opportunity, contact one of our project managers today!
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WELCOME
Smart Development
EDITORIAL Editorial Director: Tom Wadlow tom.wadlow@outlookpublishing.com Editor: Dani Redd dani.redd@outlookpublishing.com Deputy Editor: Marcus Kaapa marcus.kappa@outlookpublishing.com PRODUCTION Art Director: Stephen Giles steve.giles@outlookpublishing.com
One thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught
Senior Designer: Devon Collins devon.collins@outlookpublishing.com
us is the value of working and living smart.
Junior Designer: Matt Loudwell matt.loudwell@outlookpublishing.com
From being able to conduct business remotely to staying connected with friends and family during
BUSINESS Managing Director: Ben Weaver ben.weaver@outlookpublishing.com
lockdowns where face to face interaction is not always possible, this year
Sales Director: Nick Norris nick.norris@outlookpublishing.com
has certainly heightened the need to make the most out of what we have.
Operations Director: James Mitchell james.mitchell@outlookpublishing.com
Technology can be a key enabler in this regard, and this is where the focus
PROJECT DIRECTOR Joshua Mann joshua.mann@outlookpublishing.com TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Eddie Clinton eddie.clinton@outlookpublishing.com HEADS OF PROJECTS Callam Waller callam.waller@outlookpublishing.com Joe Palliser joe.palliser@outlookpublishing.com Vivek Valmiki vivek.valmiki@outlookpublishing.com SALES MANAGERS Donovan Smith donovan.smith@outlookpublishing.com Josh Hyland josh.hyland@outlookpublishing.com Ryan Gray ryan.gray@outlookpublishing.com PROJECT MANAGERS David Knott david.knott@outlookpublishing.com Kyle Livingstone kyle.livingstone@outlookpublishing.com Lewis Bush lewis.bush@outlookpublishing.com Sam Love sam.love@outlookpublishing.com
ADMINISTRATION Finance Director: Suzanne Welsh suzanne.welsh@outlookpublishing.com Finance Manager: Sophia Curran sophia.curran@outlookpublishing.com Office Manager: Daniel George daniel.george@outlookpublishing.com CONTACT Africa Outlook East Wing, Ground Floor, 69-75 Thorpe Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 1UA, United Kingdom. Sales: +44 (0) 1603 959 652 Editorial: +44 (0) 1603 959 657 SUBSCRIPTIONS Tel: +44 (0) 1603 959 657 Email: tom.wadlow@outlookpublishing.com www.africaoutlookmag.com Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/africaoutlook Follow us on Twitter: @africa_outlook
of our cover story with Rubicon Group lies. The South African company provides the platform to deliver sustainable technology to every business, home and community in Africa, a transition it drives through furthering the adoption of transformative technologies such as renewable energy sources, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, building automation, analytics, monitoring and much more “When we talk about a smarter focus, we don’t mean if a building knows your coffee preference,” says CEO Rick Basson. “It is more about the resilience of being able to operate in an uncertain environment, whether it’s a lack of security, lack of water or the energy supply – that’s where we focus in the private sector and our group has a massive role to play. “In order to build this resilience you first need to make sure your resource usage is as low as possible and that’s where our energy analytics, intelligent lighting and building automation divisions play such a large role.” Rubicon Group is one of several articles in this issue exploring the energy theme, with Virunga Power also providing an exclusive interview alongside our topical focus which looks at hydropower across the continent. We also delve into economic activity in Ghana and Mauritius in our spotlight series, speaking with key associations about their vital work in stimulating activity in their respective economies. Other sectors explored in this edition include healthcare and an interview with SA’s Bestmed Medical Scheme, finance and a conversation with Old Mutual Botswana, and education through an insightful chat with Addis Ababa University about its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Enjoy the read! Tom Wadlow Editorial Director, Outlook Publishing Africa Outlook issue 86 | 3
CONTENTS
138
10
142 REGULARS
6 NEWS Around Africa in seven stories
16
8 EXPERT EYE The Need for Private Sector Investment into Renewable Energy
BUSINESS INSIGHT
10 Agriculture
Investing in a Continent A look at Singapore-based Olam International’s work in Central and Western Africa
20 Renewable energy The Power of Water
Exploring the future of hydropower in Africa
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS
26 Industry in Ghana Committed to Industrial Development
36 Mauritius Manufacturing Exploring an expanding and diversifying sector
16 Healthcare
44 Kenya Manufacturing
Niger’s First Last on addressing global health problems with equal attention
EVENTS
Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases
20
TOPICAL FOCUS
Examining a growing sector with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers
138 Digital African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa The largest power and water utilities exhibition, online
140 Market Access Africa A global forum for food and agriculture buyers and sellers
142 THE FINAL WORD
26 4 | Africa Outlook issue 86
36
What or who has been a source of inspiration for you during your career?
AFRICA OUTLOOK MAGAZINE
74 56 118
F E AT U R E S
54 SHOWCASING LEADING
EDUCATION
Tell us your story and we’ll tell the world
Standing Side by Side with Ethiopia
COMPANIES
ENERGY & UTILITIES
56 Rubicon Group
Electrifying a Continent Catalysing the rise of solar power
68 Virunga Power The Rural Energiser
Exploring innovation in African green energy generation and distribution
HEALTHCARE
74 Bestmed Medical Scheme Providing a Helping Hand Inside South Africa’s largest selfadministered medical scheme
100 Addis Ababa University Ethiopia’s link between academia and socioeconomic progress
SUPPLY CHAIN
108 Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria Nigeria’s Port of Call
Inside port-side operations at Port Harcourt
114 GMT Nigeria
“We Make it Happen!” Implementing new methods to overcome industry challenges
124 AGRICULTURE
118 Limagrain Zaad South Africa Organic Growth
Sowing the seeds of agricultural development
84 DAWA Limited
CONSTRUCTION
Delivering pharmaceuticals to those who need them
Constructing out of a Crisis
124 dhk Architects
Accessible Aid
Adapting and innovating during the COVID-19 pandemic
FINANCE
OIL & GAS
90 Old Mutual Botswana
Financial Education = Financial Security Opening access to insurance for all Botswana consumers and companies
114
132 EPCM Holdings
The All in One O&G Contractor Demonstrating the value of a turnkey service provider
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 5
NEWS Around Africa in seven stories… S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
Rwanda’s reforestation efforts on track
T R AV E L
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES REPURPOSES 45 AIRCRAFT TO CARRY CARGO O F ALL industries hit worst by the effects of COVID-19, travel remains notoriously impacted. But Ethiopian Airlines discovered a way to build back some profit following the financial losses of the industry. As Africa’s largest airline, the company was facing massive losses in excess of $1 billion in the wake of the virus. Ethiopian Airlines alone witnessed around a 90 percent fall in
international passengers. Facing a continued loss throughout the year, the company decided to take action with an innovative idea. It ceased its financial losses after answering the demand for air freight transport. Ethiopian Airlines set to work and repurposed 45 passenger planes to fledge out its new cargo fleet. Playing on this freight demand the first half of the year saw a profit of $44 million.
FINANCE
Africa continues to witness uneven economic growth
Downtown Nairobi
6 | Africa Outlook issue 86
P R ESSU R E F R OM a sluggish economy and recent droughts have resulted in South Africa and Angola taking the title of regional economic underperformers on the African continent. Following one of the world’s
RWA N DA LO O KS to be reversing a worrying trend of deforestation. 2019 and 2020 saw the planning for agroforestry on more than 30 hectares of land within the Karembo Sector, and more than 450 hectares of Rukumberi Sector, both in the Ngoma district. In total this amounts to the planting and cultivating of around 7,700 trees. 2020’s Tree Planting Day saw the beginning of this plan in action through the planting of 80 hectares in the Rukumberi Sector. Regions of Rwanda have faced extreme deforestation as a result of a growing population in need of an increased number of farms, grazing, and cultivation. The conversion of forest into farmland is suspected to have caused multiple droughts resulting in widespread food shortages. District officials of Rukumberi explained that the 2016-2017 drought was the worst in recent history.
strictest lockdowns, South Africa’s economy has been knocked in 2020’s second quarter. National GPD is not expected to rise back to the same level as 2019 until potentially 2025. On top of this, unemployment soars at a massive 23.3 percent. In comparison, East Africa’s economy is set to grow. It is prospected to rise by 3.3 percent in 2021, and in the lead the West African region is set to raise by an average of 4.4 percent.
TECHNOLOGY
ECONOMY
Nigerian broadband sees surge in subscriptions NIG ER IA HAS seen a huge increase in subscriptions to reliable broadband connectivity. As of August 2020, there has been a total of more than 82.5 million individual subscriptions to internet connectivity in the country. This covers individual and family packages, the rise partly due to the changing method of business practices, with more and more companies relying on digital interaction and individuals working remotely. A G R I C U LT U R E
Ivorian cocoa planters receive 21% pay rise
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTONALDO - OWN WORK, CC BY-SA 4.0
CO COA FA RMERS of the Ivory Coast have received a rise in pay from 825 to 1,000 francs (1.52 euros) per kilo. This 21 percent raise came at the beginning of the annual National Cocoa and Chocolate Days – an event
COFFEE TO CAUSE ECONOMIC UPSWING IN UGANDA
The digital sphere in Africa (and the rest of the world for that matter) has boomed as a result of the global pandemic. Digital interaction and reliance on online services has surged up more than ever before.
that celebrates the harvest season. Cocoa is an important element of the Ivory Coast economy, providing a livelihood to more than a fifth of the population, representing 10-15 percent of national GDP and a large potion of national exports (roughly 40 percent). The harvest is suspected to reach 2.1 million tonnes, meaning that Ivory Coast will harvest and produce 40 percent of the world’s cocoa.
U G A N DA N S A R E typical tea drinkers, but the country remains the second largest producer of coffee in Africa. Recently the country recorded its highest monthly export volume of coffee since 1991. Coffee has taken the stage in the social sphere of Uganda, especially within its capital of Kampala. This popularity is down to the younger generation who view coffee bars as a new and lasting trend in Ugandan urban life. This trend has continued despite the social barriers caused by COVID-19. The nation’s coffee export industry is massive, with half a million Ugandan farmers relying on coffee beans for their livelihood. H E A LT H C A R E
IMF COVID-19 AID TO REACH MORE AFRICAN COUNTRIES 2 2 A F R I C A N countries will receive aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as they seek to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic which is sweeping across the continent. The countries will receive financial aid in a potential total of $959 million by the latest April 2022. Furthermore, the aid is received as a grant as opposed to a loan, and it will largely be used to serve the most disadvantaged of African people spread throughout the 22 chosen countries. Within the majority of the chosen African nations, it will be the least wealthy that will be able to qualify for the IMF assistance. This is thought to be one of the many ways to beat the curve of the coronavirus pandemic.
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 7
EXPERT EYE
The Need for Private Sector Investment into Renewable Energy With the continent’s population forecast to double by 2050, energy demand will increase at an even faster rate. AIIM’s Vuyo Ntoi looks into the issue Written by: Vuyo Ntoi, Joint Managing Director, African Infrastructure Investment Managers
A
frica’s power infrastructure financing shortfall has been calculated at between $40 and 45 billion per annum by the United Nations, and this deficit is expected to grow alongside a rapidly urbanising and increasingly digitising young population. With the continent’s population forecast to double by 2050, energy demand will increase at an even faster rate – more than doubling by 2040, all the while over half of the continent still does not have access to electricity. Reducing this deficit is more than just a game of catch up – it will take a committed, concerted effort from a wide range of stakeholders. Public bodies, over the near term at least, will be restricted in their contribution. The fiscal capacities of many African states are being constrained by a COVIDinduced economic downturn, amidst many pre-existing debt crises and continent-wide recession – the first in a quarter century. Private sector investment is critical to kickstarting economic revival, particularly in the energy sector. Public institutions will need to shake the temptation to pick up where they left off, by re-engaging high carbon emitting power plants, to accelerate the recovery. We have been presented with an opportunity to arm ourselves against future shocks by remoulding 8 | Africa Outlook issue 86
energy generation activity in a manner that is considerate of current and future generations. Betting big on renewable energy is essential. Green power sources will drive over half of the continent’s additional grid capacity by 2040 and simultaneously nearly double its contribution to our energy mix, accounting for 40 percent of all electricity generated. With renewable
“ACROSS THE CONTINENT, EIGHT IN 10 INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS DO NOT GET OFF THE GROUND BECAUSE OF FAILURE AT THE PLANNING AND FEASIBILITY STAGE”
energy generation potential in the region of 1,475 GW, almost equal to 10 times total current electricity generation, it is clear in what direction our efforts should be channelled. With increasing pressure on public finances, many of the continent’s national utilities are facing liquidity challenges. This has softened governments’ attitudes to private
sector involvement and created an attractive opportunity for off-grid and distributed power generation, with the ability to deliver power to end users at lower costs without the associated costs of distribution and transmission infrastructure. Driving momentum within this space is contingent on an enabling environment, progress towards which we are seeing across many jurisdictions. A programmatic development approach is helping to undo some of the major sticking points across the market, which is awash with private capital looking for viable investment options. An anticipated $141 billion in private financing will enter the African energy market in the decade to 2028 and a pipeline of bankable projects will be critical to ensuring that capital is directed to renewable energy ventures. Across the continent, eight in 10 infrastructure projects do not get off the ground because of failure at the planning and feasibility stage. Despite the investor appetite, paradoxically, not enough money is being spent. Blueprints such as South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Procurement Programme (REIPPP), various scaling
solar initiatives and GET FiT offer an insight into what successful public private partnership (PPP) models can achieve. The REIPPP has overseen a reduction in solar and wind energy procurement costs of between 69 percent and 37 percent in solar and wind generation respectively, courtesy of technological advancements and competition supported by a continuous pipeline of opportunities and a transparent bidding process with a high degree of regulatory and execution certainty. In Zambia, the GET FiT project, backed by German development bank KfW, will generate electricity at nearly half the cost of grid parity from 120 MW solar projects across the country. While that case highlights the significant cost reduction potential, it also speaks to a wider theme. Such projects benefit from the backing of state power purchase agreements (PPA) and lend themselves to greater investor certainty, but also larger
“... FOR EVERY $1 SPENT THERE IS A $4 RETURN. THE TIME IS NOW TO TAKE ACTION ON THIS, AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS WELL POSITIONED TO LEAD THE CHARGE”
scale projects. This is the staple of development finance institutions (DFIs) and their dominance in the space has translated to an overreliance on them for power supply, resulting in stunted development in other areas of the sector. For instance, this has inhibited the development of local currency sources of funding and comes replete with foreign currency issues, as with those currently being experienced on some prominent Nigerian IPPs.
They can also fall victim to issues around oversupply because of the associated focus on large projects and, in worst case scenarios, be stranded with white elephant assets. The reluctance to concentrate efforts on decentralised power projects opens the market to smaller, more agile independent players. Such entities have exhibited a commitment to building a future-focussed energy market and achieving this in the quickest, cheapest way. The benefits of working towards a more sustainable future are evident. UNDP analysis estimates that for lowor middle-income countries spending on infrastructure that focuses on future-focused resiliency, for every $1 spent there is a $4 return. The time is now to take action on this, and the private sector is well positioned to lead the charge.
ABOUT THE EXPERT Vuyo Ntoi is the Investment Director for Southern and Central Africa, and is responsible for overseeing AIIM’s activities in this region. AIIM develops, advises and manages private equity infrastructure funds and Ntoi has been involved in the management and advice of AIIM’s funds since 2003. He is responsible for originating, analysing and implementing investments for these funds. Ntoi was initially involved in the build-up of the South Africa Infrastructure Fund’s (SAIF) holdings in South African toll roads, including additional stakes in Trans African Concessions, N3 Toll Concession and Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire. He is currently a director of Trans African Concessions, Umoya Energy and Cenpower Generation Company Limited. Ntoi holds a B.Com Honours degree from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from IESE Business School.
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 9
OLAM INTERNATIONAL
INVESTING IN A CONTINENT Singapore-based Olam International plays a key role in ensuring food security across six continents, its Regional CFO for West and Central Africa, Sujay Sarkar, tells us more Edited by: Tom Wadlow For most of history, the world has been focussed on driving productivity to meet the increasing food needs of a growing population. “In Africa, growing incomes combined with rapid population growth are fuelling food demand across the continent. Research shows that while food production has increased globally by 145 percent over the last 40 years, food production in 10 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Africa has fallen by 10 percent since 1960 despite the fact the continent still possesses 65 percent of uncultivated arable land. The continent’s capacity to become self-sufficient relies heavily on unlocking its agricultural potential.” These opening words spoken by Sujay Sarkar succinctly highlight the imperative need to unleash Africa’s potential to produce more food. As Senior Vice President and Regional CFO for West and Central
Africa at Olam International, he is supremely well-placed to comment on the subject, Olam being a multinational agribusiness giant headquartered in Singapore and present on six continents. It aims to reimagine global agricultural and food systems by focussing on three core areas – prosperous farmers and farming systems, regeneration of the living world and thriving communities. “We have a direct and vested interest in tackling anything that could impact the future of agriculture,” Sarkar says. “Our sustainable sourcing platform, AtSource, is a powerful tool in this fight as it crystalises our experience in
FOOD & DRINK managing social and environmental challenges, and gives us the data and insights to engage customers and partners to catalyse change together. “By revealing where the community needs lie and where efforts can be prioritised, this transparency brings global food companies closer to the thousands of farmers in Olam’s supply chain. “Long ago, we understood technology isn’t a panacea, but has huge potential to transform communities, and protect the environment for the better. For example, in Gabon we are using drones to map our plantations and survey thousands of hectares of high conservation value forest and buffer zones. “At the same time, the Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS) is helping cocoa farmers in Ghana and Nigeria make data driven decisions on when to plant, when to spray, how much water to use and the optimum time to harvest. The same data is allowing Olam to track the environmental and social footprint of agricultural produce.” Building relationships with smallholder farmers lies front and centre of Olam’s agenda. It is estimated that smallholder farmers own and/or work on 90 percent of the world’s farming areas, making them the backbone of global food security. Ensuring they receive the best price for their produce is therefore critical, and Olam strives to achieve this in several ways. First, it is facilitating reliable market access through decentralised buying models which eliminates the middlemen and delivers a greater value to farmers. Through its digital origination tool – Olam Direct – the company has been able to democratise price information and provide farmers with the insights they need to negotiate with intermediaries and buyers like Olam, and eventually decide when and to whom to sell their produce. “Through supporting smallholders
“RESEARCH SHOWS THAT WHILE FOOD PRODUCTION HAS INCREASED GLOBALLY BY 145 PERCENT OVER THE LAST 40 YEARS, FOOD PRODUCTION IN AFRICA HAS FALLEN BY 10 PERCENT SINCE 1960”
to establishing cooperatives, Olam improves their negotiation power with buyers as well as providing agricultural training through skills development, which helps farmers get the best quality and yield,” Sarkar adds. “Across many of our smallholder farmer sustainability programmes, we pay – often in partnerships with customers – additional value to the farmer in the form of certifications and quality premiums, incentivising good quality and sustainable practices.”
A LEAP OF FAITH Sarkar is a chartered accountant with around 20 years of experience in the
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 11
OLAM INTERNATIONAL
POWERFUL PURPOSE Q: How would you define Olam’s purpose as an organisation? Sujay Sarkar: “In November 2019, we celebrated Olam’s 30th anniversary. Over the course of these three decades we have become a leading company operating in the food and agri sector, with a unique portfolio, distinctive footprint and differentiated capabilities.
Sujay Sarkar
“OUR PURPOSE REQUIRES US TO FIGURE OUT WAYS OF HOW WE CAN HELP PRODUCE MORE FOOD, FEED AND FIBRE TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF A GROWING POPULATION USING SIGNIFICANTLY FEWER RESOURCES” field, his roles prior to joining Olam being based in India. He joined the firm at the height of the global financial crisis just over a decade ago, pointing towards the resilience shown at Olam and opportunities for growth in Africa as key to his decision to not only change jobs, but also continents. 12 | Africa Outlook issue 86
“We are proud to be known for sustainable agricultural production, origination and supply chain management of speciality, often niche agricommodities and ingredients, having significantly grown our own upstream and midstream assets, while our direct and indirect network of five million farmers has given us a global edge. “Over the past 30 years, Olam has built a valuable portfolio of businesses that have achieved. By simplifying our businesses across two distinct and coherent groups, each sharpens our focus and provides opportunities to capitalise on key market trends, while continuing to leverage the benefits of the Olam Group. “Today, we are a ‘purpose-led company’, focused on reimagining global agriculture and food systems. Our purpose requires us to figure out ways of how we can help produce more food, feed and fibre to meet the demands of a growing population using significantly fewer resources.”
“Coming to Africa was a leap of faith for me in many ways,” Sarkar says. “It was a different continent, a completely different industrial segment of agri commodities and I would be part of a matrix reporting structure for the first time in my life. I had a young family and felt the time was ripe to get some international exposure outside my comfort zone. “A decade later, I can confidently say it was probably one of the best decisions of my life. No matter what role, Olam teaches you to be a problem solver at heart and gives the operational freedom to grow, make mistakes and learn over time. “In the last 10 years, I have lived and worked in Gabon, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and travelled extensively across Africa in countries where we have our operations. The region continues to offer unmatched headroom for expansion.” As Regional CFO for West and Central Africa, Sarkar provides financial, legal and tax supervision over all Olam businesses within these parts of the continent. Together with these teams, they ensure the company observes all local and international compliance requirements and runs its business in a fair and ethical manner. This involves partnering with the business, logistics, and agronomy players to fully harness Olam’s digital capabilities to help bridge Africa’s infrastructural challenges, while delivering leading solutions for all stakeholders including local governments, suppliers, customers and service providers. “This has helped us build long standing relationships with communities across countries and enhanced our ability to serve the diverse and demanding needs of our global customer base,” Sarkar adds. “I, along with rest of the Olam team, am a custodian of this partnership built over the years and we hope to build on this platform to continue providing food, feed and fibre to the planet in the
FOOD & DRINK years ahead in a sustainable manner.” The company’s African roots stretch back to Nigeria in 1989, when it began helping farmers to export cashew nuts to India. Fast-forward to today, and Olam stands as one of the region’s most significant agri investors, operating in 22 African countries through procurement, exports, imports, farms, plantations, and processing activities, as well as packaged foods manufacturing and processing. This amounts to 2.7 million smallholder networks. Last year, in West and Central Africa, the firm supported more than 590,000 farmers in 10 countries. It is a huge operation, Africa being the only region where Olam produces direct-to-consumer brands with 39 major processing sites on the continent. “Our integrated rice farm and mill in Nigeria is helping to reduce the
country’s reliance on imported rice,” Sarkar elaborates. “Our supply chain expertise and broad distribution network across Africa, complemented by government initiatives and favourable trade policies in recent years, have helped it progress as a hub of increasing manufacturing excellence. “In our tomato and biscuit manufacturing in Ghana, we are focusing on nutrition and fortification which has also become key to feeding the African market. In 2018, Olam exceeded its goal of producing 40 billion servings of micronutrient fortified foods across Africa, manufacturing 44.5 billion servings.”
ANSWERING THE CALL This year, of course, has been dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. Not only are the health implications obvious and immediate, the socioeconomic fallout could spark
what the UN is calling a hunger pandemic – it could double the number of food insecure people in low and middle-income countries by the end of 2020, unless action is taken. The pandemic has created a shift towards consuming cheaper, less nutritious foods as households grapple with the multiple challenges of reduced income, supply chain disruptions and increased food prices. Moreover, according to the World Food Programme July 2020 Situation Report, food insecurity is spiking and affecting livelihoods in West and Central Africa, with an estimated 57.6 million people to be affected in 2020, a 135 percent increase from previous estimates. It is a big problem, especially as several countries are now also approaching their annual lean season when access to food is severely constrained and malnutrition rates peak.
OLAM INTERNATIONAL
CAST STUDY: IVORY COAST In rural Ivory Coast, the Sustainable Cashew Growers Programme (SCGP) links Olam directly with the farmers that supply the company. Sarkar explains: “We are the only company participating in the entire value chain and in doing so, can gain insight into and respond to the social challenges faced by farmers and their communities. “As part of Olam’s commitment through AtSource Plus, we carried out a comprehensive food security and nutrition study and surveyed 797 households in the SCGP to find out what kind of food they typically eat, how often they eat it, and where it comes from. The study found about 93 percent of households in the SCGP are food secure, meaning that, even during the lowresource months of the year, they can regularly access foods that give them adequate calories. “But while these households are accessing enough calories, their diets are not very diverse. When it comes to women’s and children’s nutrition, the results were less
promising. About 27 percent of women of childbearing age (15-49 years old) and only six percent of children aged six to 23 months are eating what they need to. Without adequate nutrients, women and children will not experience proper growth and development and are vulnerable to life-long consequences to health and productivity, which will affect future generations too. “Key risks that may cause the food security situation to change were also identified. For instance, farmers primarily rely on their cashew earnings to access and afford enough food which increases their vulnerability to fluctuations in the cashew market. Insufficient food production is linked to several issues, including small portions of land being used to produce food. Within the last five years, 76 percent of households have converted land where they once grew food into cashew farms. “Based on the study results, our cashew business is now working to reduce risks and improve the situation. In their AtSource Plus action plan, there are specific strategies, such as providing food crop support, livelihood diversification and nutrition education, to mitigate the food security risks and improve nutrition.”
FOOD & DRINK
Smallholder farmers are expecting to suffer shortages in basic food and nutrition Sarkar points to an Olam survey conducted in July 2020 with around 2,400 smallholder farmers growing cocoa, coffee, sesame, cotton, and other crops in Africa and Indonesia. The results showed that more than half are expecting to suffer shortages in basic food and nutrition due to movement restrictions, food price increases and insufficient stocks at home. Seven in 10 said their incomes had been reduced. “The economic impact of COVID-19 has elevated the importance of food security and nutrition on our agenda,” Sarkar adds. “We must avoid triggering any vicious cycle of reduced incomes, reduced consumption of nutritious foods, increased malnutrition, increased susceptibility to illness, or the continued spread of COVID-19 and its consequences. Olam recognises the key role it must play, especially in food supply chains like rice and grains, ensuring these staples continue to efficiently reach intended markets.
“Olam’s global teams are on the frontline supporting farmers and those in the communities where we operate. We are working with our partners and government authorities to support the global fight against COVID-19 and have committed over US$5.7 million in financial and in-kind donations for relief and essential healthcare for farmers and rural communities.” Such funding has supported numerous programmes. These include national public awareness campaigns and distributing World Health Organization advice via digital channels. In the Republic of Gabon, Olam built a quarantine hospital, while it has also distributed medical equipment and PPE such as ventilators, masks, gloves, and hazmat suits for health authorities and hospitals across the region. It is distributing food packages to local authorities, frontline workers and rural communities, including 50 tonnes of grains in Gabon, six tonnes of rice to healthcare workers and their families in
Cameroon, 30 tonnes of rice in Burkina Faso and two months’ supply of essential food items for an orphanage and children’s hospital in Senegal. “We are also providing access to inputs and equipment such as seeds, fertiliser and tractors so that farmers’ liquidity challenges now do not jeopardise their ability to prepare and plant on time, helping to secure their livelihoods,” Sarkar says. And securing livelihoods is what Olam will strive to achieve across all of its markets as it looks ahead to 2021. It will be the second year of a newly structured Olam International, the company now operating as Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) and Olam Global Agri (OGA) in order to capitalise on key global consumer food trends and the growth in demand for food, feed and fibre in fast-growing emerging markets. The move should help it to more effectively serve its purpose – to global agriculture and food systems around the world. Africa Outlook issue 86 | 15
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
MALARIA AND NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES There are many neglected tropical diseases which are life-altering but preventable, and very little global attention is devoted to treating them Written by: Her Excellency AĂŻssata Issoufou Mahamadou, First Lady of the Republic of Niger
M
alaria and neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, are not always discussed in parallel. After all, one is well known – the global health community has worked to eliminate it for decades. The others are a group of diseases that have been overlooked on the international stage until the most recent decade. 16 | Africa Outlook issue 86
However, there are vast similarities between the challenges posed by malaria and many NTDs, which we should use to our advantage when combatting them. Perhaps the most apparent similarity of all: these are lifealtering diseases that are preventable and treatable.
UNDERFUNDED AND LACKING POLITICAL SUPPORT Despite the low cost of treatment for some NTDs, as little as half a dollar per person per year, the fight against this group of diverse diseases is consistently underfunded and does not attract the same attention as other prominent diseases. Over 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from an NTD, both directly and indirectly. This means that as well as the impact on their health, people affected by NTDs and their families can be victim to prejudice, loss of education or work. An even larger proportion of people are at risk of malaria; approximately
HEALTHCARE half the world’s population, which can also result in lifelong economic consequences for those affected. Furthermore, these diseases and their impact on society hinders global progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, universal health coverage and the overall economic development of nations. Like malaria, tackling NTDs involves a mix of distributing available treatments, improving healthcare access for the most remote and vulnerable populations, health system strengthening, increasing awareness and investing in research for innovative cures and tools. Working to diminish the number of people at risk and control and eliminate NTDs alongside malaria as part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is a cause that would save millions and revolutionize global health, yet requires more political support.
Malaria and NTDs are all diseases of inequity; they disproportionately affect women, children under five and people living in extreme poverty or remote communities. Both malaria and NTDs have a widespread impact on the economic and social development of countries in Africa and around the world. Over 90 percent of the global malaria burden, and 40 percent of all NTDs, are concentrated in Africa alone. Now, as African health systems become even more strained by COVID-19, there is a high risk the impact of these diseases will escalate if patients cannot seek medical care, or access to preventative tools and treatments is affected.
A CALL TO ACTION In Niger, malaria remains a major public health issue and is endemic throughout the country. In fact, malaria is the reason for 50 percent of all recorded deaths, with children under
CONTROLLABLE NTDS These six NTDs can be controlled, even eliminated, through mass administration of safe and effective medication: • Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease) • Lymphatic Filariasis • Onchocerciasis • Schistosomiasis • Soil-transmitted Helminths (STH) - e.g. Hookworm and Whipworm • Trachoma
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 17
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
five accounting for 62 percent of the national malaria burden. The fact that over one quarter of our people die from a preventable and treatable disease is unacceptable. That is why in October 2018 our country launched its own Zero Malaria Starts with Me campaign, designed
18 | Africa Outlook issue 86
to mobilise all sectors of our society against malaria. With Niger accounting for four percent of the global malaria burden and deaths, it is clear that we must continue to work hard if we wish to achieve our goal of eliminating malaria by 2030. NTDs are equally as widespread in Niger, with all our 42 health districts affected by this group of diseases. It is estimated that 17 million people are at risk of at least one NTD, which is about 71 percent of the population. It is clear that NTDs are another public health problem we must overcome as a nation, which is why last year we established the National Coalition on Neglected Tropical Diseases. Both of these initiatives show a clear similarity, they demonstrate the importance of working together to achieve common
‘OVER 1.5 BILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE SUFFER FROM AN NTD, BOTH DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY. THIS MEANS THAT AS WELL AS THE IMPACT ON THEIR HEALTH, PEOPLE AFFECTED BY NTDS AND THEIR FAMILIES CAN BE VICTIM TO PREJUDICE, LOSS OF EDUCATION OR WORK’ goals. By coming together, we can recognise the importance of strengthening health systems, mobilising communities, and spurring governments and the private sector to make meaningful commitments. This is why I urge governments and heads of states to increase funding for these diseases and sustain existing efforts to eliminate them throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Each year, there is still a US $2 billion gap in funding to reach all those at risk with
HEALTHCARE the life-saving malaria tools they need. Meanwhile, despite evidence that interventions to address NTDs are one of the best health investments, only 0.6 percent of development assistance for health is allocated to NTDs that yet affect 20 percent of the world’s population. This is clear evidence of inequity in global financing which must be corrected. This week, our continent celebrates its inaugural Africa Integration Day, following agreement during the 12th Extraordinary Summit of African Union Heads of States and Government in Niger last year. In the spirit of this day, which
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Her Excellency Madame Aïssata Issoufou, First Lady of Niger, was one of the first women in her country to turn to scientific education. In 1986, she obtained a master’s degree in chemistry at the only university in her country, followed by a Master’s in advanced studies in Exploitation and Development of Underground Resources. She then obtained an Expert Diploma in Mineral development at the Higher School of Geology of NANCY in France. Returning to Niger, she created a General Engineering Study Firm. Very active in the trade union movement, Aïssata Issoufou was also involved in politics,
commemorates the economic integration that has been achieved across the continent, we must work
notably within the Niger Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS TARRAYA), chaired by her husband, Issoufou Mahamadou. Now First Lady, Aïssata Issoufou is devoted to social and humanitarian action to accompany and support her husband’s
together to rid Africa of malaria and NTDs to secure a prosperous and healthy future for Africa. We can easily see the clear impact that NTDs and malaria have on global health, yet often these diseases get overlooked. Neglected tropical diseases were named as such to highlight the lack of global funding, however this does not have to continue. When we start neglecting some diseases, we begin to neglect the people and the societies they affect. When it comes to diseases like malaria, NTDs or even widespread viruses such as COVID-19, we have learnt that standing still is not an option. We must continue to move forward, or we risk being pushed back.
presidency and strengthen the visibility of his governance. As First Lady of Niger, she thus plays a very active role in several First Lady networks including, among others, the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) and the Organization of First Ladies of Africa for Peace. In order to fully and effectively achieve her objectives, the First Lady of Niger has created an instrument that meets her ambition, namely the Guri Vie Meilleure Foundation, which means “My ambition for a better life”. The overall objective of her Foundation is to contribute to improving health, promoting quality education, and combating environmental degradation.
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 19
TOPICAL FOCUS
THE POWER OF WATER
W
hile Africa is home to 17 percent of the world’s population, it uses just four percent of the world’s power. Africa’s access to electricity varies across the region – while North 20 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Can hydropower offer the solution to the African continent’s need for sustainable electrification? Writer: Dani Redd
Africa is almost entirely electrified, in some Sub-Saharan African countries electrification rates are below 30 percent. It is estimated that around 600 million people across the continent lack access to electricity,
RENEWABLE ENERGY HYDROPOWER: BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
many of whom live in remote rural areas. Demand will only rise with population increase and a drive towards industrialisation. However, Africa is in the exciting position of being able to develop its economy using renewable and efficient energy. One of the key renewable resources is hydropower, which accounts for over 15 percent of electricity produced in Africa.
In some countries, including Malawi and Zambia, hydropower accounts for more than 75 percent of installed capacity. However, according to a report by the International Hydropower Association (IHA) Africa has the world’s highest percentage of untapped hydropower potential, only utilising 11 percent. Can hydropower offer the solution to Africa’s need for sustainable electrification?
Hydropower relies on harnessing the kinetic energy of water and using it to generate electricity. A typical hydroelectric plant consists of a reservoir where water is stored, a dam which controls water flow (smaller projects rely on pumps or river flow to generate water movement), and a plant where electricity is produced. When the dam opens it releases water which flows through an intake and pushes the blades of a turbine, which in turn spins a generator. The amount of electricity generated depends on the amount of water and the speed with which it moves. African governments are becoming aware of the importance of hydropower in improving access to electricity and including it in ambitious energy plans. Ethiopia has a target of 100 percent electrification by 2025 (its current rate is 45 percent) – in early 2020 Ethiopian Electric Power announced the commissioning of the Genale Dawa III hydropower project, which will have a total installed capacity of 254.1 MW. Meanwhile, in Uganda, two storage hydropower projects were commissioned in 2019 – Isimba (183.2 MW) and Achwa II (42 MW) – while an extra 35.25 MW of additional capacity was added to existing projects through the Global Energy Transfer for Feed-in-Tariff (GET FiT) programme. This extra capacity may see customers paying a reduced tariff for electricity. Many other large-scale hydropower projects are under construction in Africa. There are many reasons to be optimistic about hydropower. For a start, water offers an abundant source of renewable power, allowing African countries to meet sustainable development goals through electrification. Second is that regional power pools on the continent – East
TOPICAL FOCUS
Katse Dam wall in Lesotho
African Power Pool (EAPP) – are playing an ever-increasing role in sharing power produced by large-scale hydropower plants. Neighbouring countries can therefore produce and sell electricity regionally, meaning governments are able to achieve greater connectivity while lowering production costs. But large-scale hydropower is not without its challenges. “Often the construction of large hydropower dams involves resettling communities due to the inundation of the dam basin,” explains Ashwin West, Investment Director of African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), in Power magazine. “This can result in communities being affected through disruption to livelihoods and community cohesion. Furthermore, the flooding of large dam basins can also result in significant disturbance to local fauna and flora, which is often pristine 22 | Africa Outlook issue 86
‘ACCORDING TO A REPORT BY THE INTERNATIONAL HYDROPOWER ASSOCIATION, AFRICA HAS THE WORLD’S HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF UNTAPPED HYDROPOWER POTENTIAL, ONLY UTILISING 11 PERCENT’ or endangered, given the remote locations chosen for large hydropower plants.” Large-scale hydropower plants require lengthy development and construction periods and necessitate planning for environmental impacts further downstream. Another fundamental challenge to hydropower is Africa’s climate of wet and dry seasons. According to a study conducted by researchers from the London School of Economics, many of Africa’s new hydropower projects are located in areas of high rainfall variability, which will be further intensified by climate change, leaving them vulnerable to drought. These
new dams could put the security of supply at risk. In 2017, when Malawi’s Shire River dropped to critical levels, it impacted hydropower supply and led to rolling blackouts across the country.
THE WAY FORWARD The LSE study finds that as rainfall patterns vary during regions, power sharing mechanisms – such as regional power pools – can ensure an increased security of power supply. Infrastructural and political issues, as well as weak cooperation and institutional capacity, will need to be resolved to ensure greater effectiveness. The study also emphasises the need for hydropower and infrastructure planning to incorpo-
RENEWABLE ENERGY rate climate risks, considering the location of dams and how potential rainfall patterns might affect power supply. Many public and private stakeholders believe that smaller-scale hydropower projects are the way forward for Africa. These smaller projects can be powered by the flow of a river, and do not necessitate large-scale building of dams. This mitigates environmental damage and social problems associated with resettlement. Having several geographically dispersed small hydro plants can also help protect against drought conditions. Another benefit of smaller projects is that they are less capital-intensive, meaning that finding funding to build them is much easier. One example of a successful small-scale project is Rubagabaga Hydropower Plant, a 445 KW run-of-the-river project in north Rwanda. This is East Africa’s first hydropower project implemented using a containerised turbine and generator and was built with very little mechanical intervention. This innovative project is a public-private collaboration and has created over
1,000 jobs to date, as well as enabling more locally initiated industries. “It is one thing to build a project that just hooks up the line and adds power capacity to the utility. As a company, we really focused in on what it would do for the community and its productive-use equipment, its industrial park, its community library, its agricultural centre of excellence – it wasn’t just power to line up the grid. This project was something that could bring the community together and make a difference. This is what we’re most excited about,” explained Dan Klinck, Managing Director of East African Power. The Rubagabaga Hydropower Plant recently won the Small-Scale Sustainable Energy Project category of the prestigious African Power, Energy & Water Industry Award. Meanwhile, even smaller projects (known as mini hydro) harness hydropower and connect to minigrids. This means that mini hydro projects can be established in remote, rural areas out of reach of the grid, and have the potential to be a valuable tool for development by stimulating economic enterprises. However, these
rural areas suffer from inadequate technical resources (including lack of technicians and spare parts), which makes it difficult to maintain and monitor grids. It is therefore fundamental that planning mini-hydro projects takes training, maintenance and knowledge transfer to local community members into account. However, despite its challenges, hydropower offers a vital way for Africa to provide clean energy to its inhabitants. To date, just under 90 percent of the continent’s hydropower potential is untapped. But across Africa, public and private stakeholders are working together to change this and raise awareness of hydropower’s role to play in sustainable development. “The role that energy, or Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, plays, is immense in the overall future sustainability of our planet. Particularly, hydropower has the lion’s share, especially in developing countries, due to its proven technical and technological ease and relatively low cost per MW investment,” writes Hon Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, in the 2018 Hydropower Status Report.
Loskop Dam spillway, South Africa
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 23
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS Welcome to our series of spotlights. These reports dive into specific segments of economies across the region, featuring exclusive insight from associations and organisations in the know.
Association of Ghana Industries Mauritius Manufacturing Kenya Manufacturing
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
INDUSTRY
IN GHANA Ghana’s government is committed to industrialisation and endeavour to provide a fertile business environment for local and international companies Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Joe Palliser
G
hana’s industrial sector has recently emerged as a significant driver for economic growth in the country. When President Nana Akufo-Addo was sworn into office in 2017, he made industrialisation a major priority, reflected in such programmes as the Ghana Beyond Aid. It aims to improve the competitiveness of trade and investment internationally, while mobilising local resources via industrialisation and value adding. The Ghanaian economy is poised to grow
26 | Africa Outlook issue 86
significantly over the next few years (COVID-19 notwithstanding), thanks to governmental policies that help enable manufacturing and exports. As a result, Ghana has a large and very active consumer and industrial products and services sector, which is dominated by subsidiaries of international companies such as Unilever and Toyota. However, Ghana also has a thriving SME culture – 90 percent of registered businesses in Ghana are SMEs, and they account for around 85 percent of employment in Ghana’s manufacturing sector.
ASSOCIATION OF GHANA INDUSTRIES
However, SMEs in Ghana do face some challenges. Many of them struggle with accessing credit or capital, with financial institutions declining loan requests due to SME’s positioning. Other SMEs struggle with finding a platform to sell their services – leveraging ecommerce is vital for them, especially in the wake of COVID-19. Businesses both small and large also find that a significant impediment to business is the high cost and unreliability of electricity in Ghana; frequent outages lead to a loss of productivity and increase cost of maintaining machinery. Some businesses can mitigate this through setting up their own microgrids (often using PV systems).
FACTS & FIGURES Major industries: Mining, light manufacturing, cement, food processing Top exports: Crude petroleum, gold, cocoa beans, cocoa butter Percentage of GDP: 24 GDP per capita: $2,202.116 (2019)
Why do business in Ghana? Overall, however, Ghana is considered an attractive place to do business. In 2019, the World Bank ranked it at the 114th best for ease of doing business, making it the highest-ranking West African nation on the list. One reason for this is that the multi-party government is stable and committed to improving business confidence by helping provide a sound macroeconomic climate and streamlining regulations. FDI is being encouraged through 100 percent foreign ownership being permitted. The country also offers export-free zones, a rapidly expanding stock market and increasing infrastructure development.
I NITNRTORDOUDCUTCITOIN ON
Sector challenges
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 27
amartex Timber and Plywood Co. Ltd is a wood processing company established in 1995 and located in Samreboi, Ghana’s Western Region. The company has over 2,000 direct employees and about 500 contract personnel (for outsourced services). Some of our products include: sliced veneer, plywood, rotary veneer, lumber, mouldings, carvings, honey and thaumatin. Aside fulfilling requirements of the Social Responsibility Agreement, as stipulated in the law(Act 547) to fringe communities, Samartex undertakes Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and projects such as: Healthcare: Samartex hospital’s medical care to surrounding communities; an average 3,500 private patients monthly, and free medical care for about 1,000 employees and their dependants monthly Education and Training: 1. Fee-free tuition at Samartex School Complex 2. Free Apprenticeship Vocational Training Programme for graduates of Junior and Senior High School 3. Management Trainee Programme for fresh graduates from tertiary institutions, all as part of building the human resource capacity in the country. Roads Construction and Maintenance: 500-kilometre-plus stretch of community and public roads maintained annually, across forest fringe communities. Provision of Potable Drinking Water: Free potable water supply through our water treatment filtration plants, also boreholes have been installed in communities which are not within close proximity to our filtration plants. Agro- forestry and Alternative Livelihood Schemes: Community sensitisation and education on sustainable agricultural practices and alternative livelihood schemes such as snail rearing, beekeeping and honey harvesting, as well as free seedlings distribution to farmers. Africa Outlook spoke to Richard Duah Nsenkyire, the Managing Director of Samartex, to find out more about this fascinating organisation and the forestry industry in Ghana. Africa Outlook (AfO): Give us a brief insight into the Ghanaian forestry and wood processing industry. Why is it an exciting space to be working in?
Caring for Ghana’s Forests Richard Nsenkyire (RN): The forestry and wood processing industry is regulated by the Ghana Forestry Commission, under the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources. The wood processing industry is driven by the private sector, which is categorized under: 1. Loggers 2. Secondary and Tertiary Processing Firms. Presently, most of the companies have either completely closed down or partially operating. These challenges could be attributed to high utility bills, government policies and over regulation, lack of suitable raw material, bureaucracies etc. However, the industry is very exciting and promising due to species and product diversity. Currently, there is more conscious effort (Private Public Partnership) geared towards plantations establishment and development, which was not the case in the past. Ghana’s climate and soil have an enormous potential which favour tree growing and natural regeneration.
AfO: How will such work support the national wood processing industry?
RN: Undoubtedly the forest as a renewable natural resource and its products have multiple benefits and provide direct employment for over 200,000 people in Ghana, not forgetting the environmental benefits like protection of water bodies, wildlife, non-timber forest products, shelter etc.
RN: Our plantation initiatives are in line with the general concept of “sustainability” and advocate for the need to increase resource base, since government policies, over the years, have laid more emphasis on regulation, rather than building a forest industry. Our initiative on off-reserve forest lands, is to promote sustainable agriculture, increase soil fertility and tree cover, as well as curbing shifting cultivation.
AfO: What work is Samaratex doing to build plantations and forests in the country?
AfO: Are you optimistic about the future of the industry and what lies ahead?
AfO: How important is it to manage forests sustainably in Ghana?
RN: Samartex is into private plantation of exotic and indigenous species of timber through the following: Dikoto Community Agroforestry Project (DICAP): 120 hectares of exotic and indigenous species have been established with the community. Tano Nimre Forest Reserve Plantation: Reforestation project of 1,152 hectares of degraded compartments allocated to Samartex by the Forestry Commission under Public Private Partnership (PPP). Tain II Forest Reserve Plantation: Reforestation of degraded forest reserve, totaling 2,048 hectares. Another PPP project with the Ghana Forestry Commission. Adeiso Plantation: private plantation located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, 165 hectares of teak plantation. Introduction of trees in various cocoa farms with over 500 farmers in our catchment area, as a tool in managing off-reserve forest lands.
RN: The industry will have a brighter future if government policies are directed towards increasing resource base on-reserve and off-reserve. There would also be the need for government to intensify the partnership with the private sector, with a conscious effort to establish large scale plantation and implement the tree tenureship policy for individual farmers to own trees that are cared for through natural regeneration, especially on farm and outside forest reserves.
Mr. Richard Duah Nsenkyire (Managing Director) Email: richard.nsenkyire@samartex.com Email: richard.nsenkyire@samartex.net Phone No: +233 277100144 www.samartex.com Africa Outlook issue 86 | 29
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Interview: Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) Associations play a vital role in representing the interests of their members at an industry and national level. Africa Outlook spoke to Seth Twum-Akwaboah, CEO of AGI, to find out more about this vital organisation. Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Joe Palliser
A S S O C I AT I O N
O
n Saturday June 28, 1958, a historic meeting of representatives and indigenous owners of small industries in Ghana convened to discuss the difficulties that confronted SMEs in the country. This meeting led to the inception of the Ghana Manufacturers Association. In 1984 it was decided to expand the Association’s remit to meet the needs of both the manufacturing sector and other sectors, including finance and hospitality. The association became known as Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). In its current incarnation it consists of around 2,000 members made up of SMEs and large-scale industries in fields ranging from construction to IT, advertising to construction. We spoke to Seth Twum-Akwaboah, CEO of AGI, for his take on the association and Ghana’s industry as a whole.
30 | Africa Outlook issue 86
The AGI represents around 2,000 members made up of SMEs and large-scale industries
Africa Outlook (AfO): Since inception, how has the AGI developed and progressed in terms of its key objectives and the messages it tries to get across? Seth Twum-Akwaboah (ST-A): As the leading voice of manufacturing industries in the country, AGI has committed its effort to: advocating policies that advance the growth and development of industries; facilitating international trade through exhibitions of member products in countries across the subregion; strengthening institutional collaboration through the sharing of knowledge, experience, and critical information and creating the platform for networking of contacts, both locally and internationally.
ASSOCIATION OF GHANA INDUSTRIES
ICASOR International Centre for Advocacy and Social Research
AIDEC GROUP OF COMPANIES:
Africa Integrated Development and Communications Consultancies (AIDEC) Group are made up of; AIDEC Holdings Ltd, AIDEC Supplies Ltd and AIDEC Consultancies International Ltd. Year of incorporation; 2004 in Ghana. A premier network group of companies. Provides General Management Consulting including leadership, skills, competency and entrepreneurship development. We also undertake simultaneous translation and interpretation for international conferences. We are also into Petroleum downstream retail, Haulage and transportation, Supermarket operations and importation and distribution of wine from South Africa. A 100% owned private limited liability with shares. We provide a one-stop shop for services. Open to foreign shareholders participation. Our vision; network and promote businesses across Africa through integrated processes and the effective use of ICT. A member of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GNCCI). We are very customer focused and we ensure a good return and maximize shareholders value.
We work with our Partners with a high sense of honesty and integrity. We are committed to exceeding shareholders expectation. We have a passion for excellence. We are highly ethical and a socially responsible corporate citizen. Our corporate social responsibility is undertaken by our NGO, International Centre for advocacy & Social Research (ICASOR). AIDEC Holdings Ltd is a two time winner of the prestigious Invest In Africa (IIA) Star for Excellence and Business Transformation awards in 2019 and 2020. Our slogan is; “Excellence; get it right the first time and always”. The AIDEC Group has as its vision to be one of the largest mobilizer of private investment capital in Ghana by 2025 and look forward to interested investors to partner. Our current Partners; Total Petroleum and La Ric Mal of South Africa. Our clients range from National to Multinational institutions, Government, NGO’s, Individuals and family owned businesses.
T: +233 540115656 /+233 0540116527 | E: info@aidecholdings.com | www.aidecholdings.com Mailing Box: P.O.Box CT583, Cantonments, Accra | Address: AIDEC Plaza, East Legon, Ogbojo, Accra Ghana
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Over time, AGI has succeeded in influencing government policies and regulations. These include: the reduction in corporate tax from 32.5 percent to 25 percent; the reduction of utility tariffs from 150 percent to 89 percent; and The Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663) to assist the local business community to supply to the public sector.
A S S O C I AT I O N
AfO: What do you find most exciting about conducting private business in Ghana? ST-A: The private sector is the fulcrum upon which all economic activities revolve. It provides innovation and employment, it contributes significantly to the tax basket and revenue generation, and it reduces poverty. Ghana has become an important destination for foreign direct investment within the West Africa subregion and Africa as a whole, in view of its conducive environment for businesses. There are various incentives such as free zone operations – which provide tax holidays for several years – a generally well educated labour force, good access to the entire West African market, growing demand due to an expanding middle class resulting from consistent GDP growth, and a stable political environment which guarantees private sector investment. As a private sector organisation, we constantly advocate for policy makers to provide a conducive environment for industries to thrive in, and we have largely succeeded in this as AGI is highly recognised by successive governments. This partnership with government enables us to push our advocacy agenda to support private sector businesses.
32 | Africa Outlook issue 86
AfO: On the flip side, what are its biggest challenges? ST-A: The key challenges faced by businesses in Ghana as revealed by our AGI Business Barometer survey include poor access to medium to long term funding, high cost of capital, high cost of electricity for industrial operators and stiff competition from imported products. The recent banking reforms embarked upon by the central bank are, however, yielding good results as bank lending rates have been on a gradual decline. AfO: How has COVID-19 affected Ghana’s industries, and how are is AGI helping? ST-A: The COVID-19 impact cut across all sectors of the industry in Ghana, but the sectors most affected are hospitality and tourism, educational institutions, food and beverage industry, clothing and garments, building and construction, airlines and services. AGI has constantly engaged the government since the onset of COVID-19 and advocated for support for businesses. The government has subsequently listened to the industry’s concerns and has recently set up the COVID 19 Alleviation Programme (CAP) for SMEs, a two-billioncedi (or $340 million) guarantee scheme for industries including manufacturing, agriculture and construction, alongside the Mastercard COVID-Relief Fund to support industries. AGI is collaborating with relevant government entities
ASSOCIATION OF GHANA INDUSTRIES
to implement these programmes and support businesses in Ghana. In addition, AGI is collaborating with other development partners to provide training, mentorship and project support to our SME members throughout the country. AfO: Have you got any projects or partnerships in the pipeline you wish to highlight? ST-A: We have several important projects in the pipeline, including the Ghana Industrial Summit and Exhibition 2021 (GISE). It is the biggest industrial gathering in Ghana and will provide a platform for serious business linkages, international networking, exposure and knowledge transfer in addition to creating awareness of products and concepts. The event will bring together key sectors such as oil and gas, manufacturing, construction, energy and power and other supporting sectors including finance together on one big platform. It will help to set the agenda for value-added industrialisation and the advancement of local content development to support the process. Next year we will also produce the AGI Ghana Industry Handbook 2021, a one-stop industry informational resource and guide for policy makers,
A S S O C I AT I O N
The Independence Square of Accra, Ghana, inscribed with the words “Freedom and Justice, AD 1957�, commemorates the independence of Ghana, a first for Sub-Saharan Africa
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 33
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
A S S O C I AT I O N
Ghana is assembling vehicles and introducing several sophisticated industrial operations
industry players, researchers, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers. We are also forming several interesting partnerships. For example, we are partnering with GIZ to implement an energy service centre promoting renewable energy usage among the large industrial companies. A second partnership – with GIZ, Sight and Light, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – will lead to the implementation of a food fortification programme for the food and beverage and sector of Ghana. AfO: How do you see Ghana’s industry developing over the next five years? ST-A: With the advent of robust industrial policies – such as One District One Factory, Strategic Anchor Industrial Initiatives, Development of Industrial Parks – introduced by the government, we foresee a revolutionary upsurge of the private sector and industry driving growth. Today, Ghana is assembling vehicles and introducing several sophisticated industrial operations; it will undoubtedly move industrial development to higher levels over the next five years.
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AfO: Are you optimistic about the future of industry in Ghana? ST-A: We believe the private sector is the engine of growth, and that every economy derives its source of strength from industry. With our continuous advocacy and positive policies in place, we are very optimistic about the future of industry in Ghana, despite the challenges it faces. More so with the coming into being of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Area (AfCFTA); big market opportunities will be created within the African market which will in turn attract large industries to Ghana to target the African market.
42 Dr. Isert Street, North Ridge, Accra, Ghana Tel: +233 (0)302 779023 agi@agighana.org www.agighana.org
ASSOCIATION OF GHANA INDUSTRIES
Key Players Key Players
The companies shaping and disrupting the manufacturing industry in Kenya AIDEC HOLDINGS LTD Africa Integrated Development and Communications Consultancies – AIDEC – provides consulting in advocacy, business and management training. It functions as a onestop shop, providing innovative, quality and efficient services for its customers including, consulting, retail, haulage and distribution. AIDEC Holdings Ltd. is the parent company of AIDEC Consultancies International Ltd and AIDEC Supplies Ltd as 100 percent owned subsidiaries.
SAMARTEX Samartex Timber and Plywood Co. Ltd. is Ghana’s leading sustainable and socially responsible timber company in Ghana. All its products are sourced from sustainably managed natural products, as it has put in place a system of community education leading to advanced forest management. As well as advocating for sustainable forestry management, Samartex is also proud of its corporate social responsibility initiatives, which improve the livelihoods and wellbeing of staff and local communities. For example, it has built a hospital which provides medical care to employers, their dependents and local community members.
K E Y P L AY E R S
The companies shaping and disrupting the industrial sector in Ghana
SILVER STAR AUTO Ghana’s leading automobile firm, Silver Star Auto, is synonymous with luxury. It is the authorised distributor of Mercedes Benz, Citroën and Peugot. It also deals in spare parts and after-service sales support, including repairs.
Cocoa Processing Company Skyland Aluminium Works
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
MAURITIUS MANUFACTURING Mauritius is committed to transforming its manufacturing sector through attractive fiscal incentives and promoting local products Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Jordan Levey
T
he manufacturing sector is a key contributor to the Mauritian economy. The sector has traditionally been dominated by textiles and sugar production, with the former considered to be the catalyst of the Mauritian industrial revolution. Over the past 40 years, the textile industry has spurred economic growth by attracting FDI from overseas; these days, the expertise and agility of the sector position it as a textile hub of excellence within Africa.
A changing landscape The Mauritian manufacturing sector is becoming increasingly diverse. For example, production 36 | Africa Outlook issue 86
of jewellery, optical goods, furniture and electric components has increased. The manufacturing landscape is also increasingly being shaped by technological advances, changing consumer preferences and digitalisation. Part of the government’s Vision 2030 involves revamping the manufacturing industry through increasing diversification and the adoption of a value-added strategy. It also intends to help stimulate the production of high value-added products (such as jewellery) which have good export potential. Finally, the government has identified several priority sub-sectors to revitalise, including recycling, food processing, printing and packaging and technical textiles.
ASSOCIATION OF MAURITIAN MANUFACTURERS
FACTS & FIGURES Industry type: Secondary Main product(s): Clothing and textiles, fish, raw cane sugar Sub-sectors: Textiles, food processing, appliances Percentage of GDP: 14 Percentage of total exports: 71 Number employed: 150,000 (direct and indirect)
Mauritius offers an attractive financial package to domestic manufacturing companies – personal tax, corporate tax and VAT harmonised at 15 percent – while the sector has also been helped by the inception of Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Mauritius’ EPZs provide duty-free imports, subsidised utility rates, access to credit and institutional support, which has helped the manufacturing sector to grow and attracted foreign investment. Mauritius also provides a raft of benefits to international manufacturing businesses wanting to establish a production unit within the country. These range from an eight-year income holiday for companies manufacturing pharmaceutical products, medical devices and high-tech products to the removal of import duties on equipment and raw materials.
I NITNRTORDOUDCUTCITOIN ON
Attractiveness to investors
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 37
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Interview: Association of Mauritian Manufacturers (AMM) Associations play a vital role in representing the interests of their members at an industry and national level. Africa Outlook spoke to Yannis Fayd’herbe, President of AMM, to find out more about this vital organisation
Yannis Fayd’herbe
A S S O C I AT I O N
President of Association of Mauritian Manufacturers (AMM)
T
he Association of Mauritian Manufacturers was set up in 1995 to act as the collective voice of the Mauritian manufacturers. Our members are mainly Domestic Oriented Enterprises. The AMM supports and defends the interests of local manufacturers, alongside collaborating with the Mauritian Government to develop and adopt a national industrial strategy. Africa Outlook spoke to Yannis Fayd’herbe, President of AMM, to find out more about this vital organisation. Africa Outlook (AfO): How do you champion locally produced products? Yannis Fayd’herbe (YF): There is no better time than this year 2020 to shape the future of our local and regional economies. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Association of Mauritian Manufacturers is today a forceful voice in the economic environment and is a project-driven organisation fully committed to transforming the manufacturing sector.
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With 75 members, the association is particularly proud of the creation of its own label, the “Made in Moris” label (“made in Mauritius” in creole) which today gathers nearly 100 companies, 250 brands and 3000 products. The “Made in Moris” label promotes local brands and local entrepreneurs, be it a product locally manufactured or a service where the Mauritian identity is developed as a competitive advantage. Through a set of stringent quality criteria, the Made in Moris team works hand in hand with its strategic partner SGS (a global leader in certification) to award its certification to local brands. AfO: How do you go about helping Mauritian manufacturers pursue international opportunities? YF: The local manufacturing sector is a dynamic ecosystem made up of producers, distributors and suppliers of various products and services on our domestic market. Let’s not forget that this industry contributes to 11.5 percent of the GDP and represents more than 150,000 direct and indirect jobs. Including the export-oriented sectors, manufacturing in Mauritius comprises 14 percent of GDP. Our core mission is to ensure that the manufacturing industry as a whole is still recognised as a key pillar of our economy, with a bright future and with an increased focus on regional (Indian Ocean Countries and SubSaharan Africa) and international (Europe, Asia)
ASSOCIATION OF MAURITIAN MANUFACTURERS
“Our focus at the AMM is to develop an ecosystem that is conducive for our members to explore new opportunities and markets beyond Mauritius�
expansion strategies. Our focus at the AMM is to develop an ecosystem that is conducive for our members to explore new opportunities and markets beyond Mauritius. Our collective approach brings together companies from different sectors (logistics, financing, insurance, manufacturing, distribution) that will create the best platform for our members to be successful. We have chosen a targeted and tailormade approach which we developed in 2018 and 2019. Our export roadmap was built in various phases, which included two preparatory workshops with our members to test their export readiness and to identify specific target
markets. After this we organised two distinct missions in Kenya: the first mission to explore and discover opportunities in Kenya as a regional hub for East Africa, and a second mission exclusively dedicated to tailor-made B2B meetings. The exploration mission took place in February 2019 and the B2B mission in July 2019. There were 70 B2B meetings spread over seven different business sectors. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on our export endeavours to Africa for 2020 but we are eager to organise the 2021 programme as soon as possible. We will target new markets and new countries in the coming years. Africa Outlook issue 86 | 39
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
We are particularly proud that the AMM signed the first industrial partnership with its sister organisations from Madagascar and Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean Region, under the aegis of the Agence Française de DÊveloppement (AFD) at the end of 2019. We firmly believe that we need to look towards the Indian Ocean and Eastern Africa for growth. We are talking about the regionalisation of our businesses, our sourcing of raw materials, our production and our marketing as an alternative to Asia and the Far East. Besides facilitating mutualised actions such as training, export missions, warehouse facilities and other services, we must tackle some key issues: infrastructure, logistics, financing and trade agreements. We are undeniably stronger as a regional group. AfO: What do you find most exciting about the manufacturing industry in Mauritius? YF: Today, more than ever, all our stakeholders are increasingly convinced that local sourcing and therefore local manufacturers are becoming increasingly key players in food security, the supply of essential commodities and the sustainability of our economy at large. Our manufacturers are paving the way for our economic independence. For instance, since the end of the lockdown, we have been working on a public-private collaborative approach on the revival of certain agri-food value chains. 2020 has seen some interesting budgetary measures taken by the government, namely the Buy Mauritian Programme, which is a real boost to the local industry. The government recognises that local purchasing has an important role in the development of the Mauritian economy, either from its existing
sectors or the creation of future and emerging sectors. AfO: On the flip side, what are its biggest challenges? YF: We have been hit hard during the past few years with significant increases in our costs of production through the different social measures taken by the government, while the productivity has lagged behind. The gap is widening between our costs of production and productivity which impacts on our competitiveness. Moreover, we still observe that local producers are not sufficiently supported in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still waiting for stronger signals and stricter measures that will stimulate local manufacturing. The current difficult context calls for clearer and faster decision-making. AfO: How has COVID-19 affected the manufacturing industry in Mauritius? YF: 2020 will undoubtedly remain the year when the importance of the AMM and the relevance of its Made in Moris label have finally taken on its full meaning and are no longer questioned. The COVID19 pandemic and its sanitary crisis has brought back the urgency to ensure our food self-sufficiency – and AMM and Made in Moris have an essential role to play. Local producers were on the front line to provide the country with basic necessities during the lockdown. Not only did they ensure the production and delivery of food in supermarkets, but they also showed solidarity and supported poor families throughout the lockdown. Our local businesses have also been innovative with the production of sanitary gels, masks and visors. AfO: What trends are currently transforming the manufacturing industry? How are you responding to them? YF: In the last National Budget, recycling companies have been reclassified as falling within the manufacturing sector. Our aim through our network is to create a conducive ecosystem, associating recyclers with local producers or the agricultural/ farming community with the local manufacturers/ processors to find a common solution in the national interest. For example, within the AMM itself and the Made in Moris label, you will find a variety of activities ranging from agri-food production to FinTech.
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ASSOCIATION OF MAURITIAN MANUFACTURERS
Corson Tea Estate Co Ltd, pioneer of tea in Mauritius since 1886. A family business where the ambition of Joseph Marie Corson, who arrived in Mauritius from Saint Malo, France, in 1792, would win over the interest of his grandson, Joseph Jules, to cultivate and manufacture tea. Over the years, the family’s mission has been to delight its customers with the best quality teas. We firmly believe in providing all Corson Tea customers with high quality service and safe tea through our HACCP certificate. We are the only tea industry player to obtain the certificate since 2008. We are proud to be a 100% ‘Made in Moris’ product starting from the tea bushes/planters to the manufacturing and packing process before reaching our faithful customers throughout the island. Corson Tea is still managed by the 5th generation of the family: Mrs Ellen Deborah (Corson) Adam, managing director and Mrs Laura Giselle (Corson) Marrier d’Unienville, sales & marketing director
Corson Tea Estate Co Ltd Sir Lees Street, Curepipe, Mauritius T: +230 670 4921 | E: corson@intnet.mu www.1886corsontea.com
Since our establishment in 1992, we are committed to providing unparalleled service to our clients. Our dedication to thorough project management, quality control, direct sales, and on-time delivery has won the company unparalleled loyalty from our clients. Over 80 percent of our business is from repeat customers and direct referrals. Over the years, we have successfully achieved strategic partnerships both locally and internationally across the Indian Ocean and Africa Our main expertise: • Automation (PLC/SCADA) • Instrumentation (Industrial) • Electrical Engineering (Industrial) • Building Energy Management Systems
PO Box 20, 31 Nicolay Road, Port Louis, Mauritius Tel: +230 217 0480 | Email: ecs@ecs.mu
Port Luis, Mauritius
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
One fact stands out: 92 percent of Mauritians think it is important to buy products labelled ‘Made in Moris’
AfO: Have you got any projects in the pipeline you wish to highlight? YF: We are currently collaborating with the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives on an industrial policy and strategic plan for 2020-2025, and with the Ministry of Agroindustry & Food Security on the National Agrifood Development Programme. We are also developing a manufacturing directory together with the Economic Development Board in order to increase visibility for our local producers on international markets. Moreover, we are looking at developing the human capital for the manufacturing sector and have embarked on a bold study about the training needs for the sector, in order to reinforce its sustainability. At regional level, our industrial partnership with ADIR in Reunion island and SIM in Madagascar is being translated in a three-year programme on similar challenges. AfO: How do you see the Mauritian manufacturing industry developing over the next 5 years? YF: Let’s not forget that Mauritius imported in 2019 the equivalent of Rs 40 billion of food 42 | Africa Outlook issue 86
from more than 80 countries. The Made in Moris label conducted a study with more than 2,000 respondents. One fact stands out: 92 percent of Mauritians think it is important to buy products labelled ‘Made in Moris’ and the products on which their purchases focussed during the health crisis are largely made or manufactured locally. If there is a lesson to be learned from this period, it is the need to develop in our local and regional territory, more raw materials that will serve as inputs for our industry. This is the guarantee of increased local and regional added value.
Association of Mauritian Manufacturers (AMM) info@mauritianmanufacturers.mu Tel: +230 433 6762 www.mauritianmanufacturers.mu www.madeinmoris.mu
ASSOCIATION OF MAURITIAN MANUFACTURERS
Key Players Key Players ELECTRICAL & CONTROL SPECIALISTS (ECS)
ECS is an innovative and sustainable electrical and automation engineering solutions provider. It is positioned as a local leader in process control and instrumentation, with areas of expertise including electrical engineering and Building Management System (BMS).
CORSON TEA ESTATE Corson Tea has been in operation since 1866, when it began life as a 15-acre family plantation in the highlands of Curepipe. It is known for pioneering tea-drinking in Mauritius. Alongside its long and rich legacy it has modernised with the times, modernising production methods, diversifying its products and keeping up to date with international trends.
K E Y P L AY E R S
The companies shaping and disrupting the manufacturing industry in Mauritius
Terragri Ltd Tamak Indian Oil Mauritius
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
MANUFACTURING
IN KENYA
The Kenyan government and private stakeholders are working hard to create a manufacturing sector that drives economic development and wealth creation Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Joe Palliser
K
enya is considered the economic and financial hub of East Africa, with a robust and diverse economy based on tourism offerings, agriculture, forestry, mining and more. Historically, the manufacturing centre has stagnated at around 10 percent of GDP, dipping to 7.7 percent in 2018. However, the government and private organisations (large and small) are aware of the manufacturing sector’s role in making Kenya an industrialised and competitive economy. This renewed interest has resulted in plans and policies such as the Big Four Agenda, which seeks to increase the manufacturing sector’s percentage of overall GDP contribution to 15 percent by 2022.
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Subsectors Kenya’s manufacturing industry is diverse, comprising a variety of different sub-sectors such as automotive, metal and plastics. It also consists of both large businesses and SMEs, both of which have a part to play in economic development. Food and beverage is the largest manufacturing subsector, which includes businesses manufacturing cocoa and confectionary from beans; dairies producing butter and milk; and distilleries and breweries manufacturing alcoholic beverages. Kenyan beer production has an annual turnover of $280 million, making it a significant contributor to the economy.
MANUFACTURING IN KENYA
Other subsectors include apparel and textiles, including those that are handwoven and stitched. According to the CEO of the Export Promotion Council, Peter Biwott, there is an increased appetite for authentic Kenyan handicrafts. “If you look at the export strategy, we have identified these items as having a huge impact on the country’s GDP since that is what many of our tourists are looking for,” he says. This suggests that SMEs within the textiles industry and beyond have a key part to play in economic development.
FACTS & FIGURES Type of industry: Primary Sub-sectors: Automotive, metal, F&B, textiles, pharmaceutical Percentage of GDP: 7.7 percent (2018) Annual growth rate: 4.2 percent (2018) Number employed: 299,620 (2018)
Kenya’s Vision 2030 is to make Kenya a “middle income country providing high quality life for all its citizens by the year 2030”. It is shaped by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda – food security, manufacturing, affordable housing and healthcare. One aspect of this vision is the “Buy Kenya Build Kenya Policy” – to increase competitiveness and consumption of locally produced goods and services. However, although the government have taken steps to enforce it, KAM is calling for greater interventions. These include supporting SME development through the provision of affordable credit; increasing the resilience of the manufacturing sector by ensuring long-term policy stability; improving the ease of doing business and development of regional value chains to minimise exposure from external shocks and much more. In line with Vision 2030, KAM created its Manufacturing Priority Agenda 2020 – “Establishing a competitive manufacturing-led economy for job and wealth creation”. It consists of five pillars, such as ‘government-driven SMEs development’ – which aims to enhance market and financial access for SMEs – and ‘competitiveness and level playing field’, which promotes access to reliable, affordable longterm energy, reduces logistics costs and provides an enhanced cashflow to manufacturers through addressing fees and levies, alongside incentivising prompt payments.
I NITNRTORDOUDCUTCITOIN ON
Kenya’s Manufacturing Priority Agenda
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Interview: Kenya Association of Manufacturers
A S S O C I AT I O N
Associations play a vital role in representing the interests of their members at an industry and national level. We asked Mr Mucai Kunyiha of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers to find out more about the current state of the sector and what it is doing to advance its agendas
Mr Mucai Kunyiha Chairman, Kenya Association of Manufacturers
K
enya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) was established in 1959 as a representative of manufacturing and value-add industries in Kenya. Its mission: to promote competitive and sustainable local manufacturing. It uses fact-based advocacy to collaborate with governmental agencies in ensuring a flourishing manufacturing sector, with the goal of achieving a double-digit contribution to GDP. We spoke to Mr Mucai Kunyiha, Chairman of KAM, to find out more. Africa Outlook (AfO): Since inception, how has KAM developed and progressed in terms of its key objectives? Mucai Kunyiha (MK): Since its establishment in 1959, KAM has evolved into a dynamic, vibrant, credible and respected business association that unites industrialists and offers a common voice for businesses and SMEs. We have also built a sustainable organisation through membership growth, and our very own building opened in December 2014. We have expanded our regional presence. This
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has played a key role in enhancing our advocacy work at county level. Through our advocacy, we have seen business grow and expand. Some of our advocacy issues include: ‘Buy Kenya Build Kenya’; fighting against illicit trade; access to affordable and reliable energy; infrastructural development such as roads and water. This year, we have seen local manufacturers big and small step up to support the country in the fight against COVID-19 and to keep Kenya moving. They have produced essential items, such as hand sanitiser and personal protective equipment including full body suits, masks and gloves to be used by medical personnel. Our automotive sector, led by Mutsimoto Company Limited, also developed the first ever locally manufactured ventilator, which was recently certified by the government. AfO: What do you find most exciting about the manufacturing industry in Kenya? MK: The local manufacturing sector is diverse, with 14 sectors located all over the country. It is exciting to witness first-hand the impact manufacturers make on the societies in which they operate, and nationally it is mind-blowing. They are a key engine for job and wealth creation as well as the economic sustainability of the country. The technological advancements used to manufacture some products also makes the sector exciting; for example, a machine that produces a lot of goods in a very short time to meet market demand. Recently, we visited one of our members, who is the power behind most major brands in the hospitality
MANUFACTURING IN KENYA
sector. The manufacturer produces kitchen and laundry equipment, and is also a cold-room solution provider, offering innovative products and services from concept development, designing, sourcing, fabrication and installation to after-sales service. AfO: On the flip side, what are its biggest challenges? MK: We hope to contribute 15 percent to the GDP by 2022, as outlined in the Big Four Agenda. However, we are hindered by challenges such as the quality of power, difficulties in accessing finances, unpredictable policies and regulatory environment, shortage of an adequately skilled workforce, market access in the region, illicit trade which eats into local manufacturers’ market share, an influx of cheap goods, taxation and county licenses and fees which hinders trade in and among counties. We are consistently engaging government to resolve these challenges, in order to achieve our development goals as a country for job and wealth creation. AfO: Can you talk a little more about Kenya’s sustainable development goals and how KAM aims to work towards them? MK: SDGs are universally accepted, most importantly because they create opportunities for different industries to create shared value. In the manufacturing sector, for instance, we do see the coming together of market potential, societal demands and policy action. It is therefore critical for
all stakeholders, the private and public sector alike, to unite and fast-track the realisation of the SDGs before we run out of time. This has seen us rally our members and the wider private sector to embrace and integrate sustainability within their business strategies and operations. We at KAM resonate with the 14 sectors of manufacturing under our membership whose role is crucial in the implementation of the SDGs. While real progress has been made by the business community, action to meet the SDGs is not advancing at the speed or scale required. Furthermore, the current pandemic has impacted on the implementation of SDGs. For example, it has reversed gains made in SDG 3 on good health, achieving clean water and sanitation targets (SDG 6), weak economic growth and the absence of decent work (SDG 8), pervasive inequalities (SDG 10), and above all, entrenched poverty (SDG 1) and food insecurity (SDG 2). At the moment we need goodwill and commitment from all stakeholders – private sector and government – to achieve these goals. We must focus on addressing underlying factors through the SDGs, even as we seek to overcome COVID-19. Now is the time to embrace new innovative ideas to fast track our progress in realising SDGs. However, this must be hinged on robust institutional frameworks with distinct, yet complementary roles, responsibilities and accountability measures. At the beginning of the year, KAM, the Office of the Deputy President and Global Compact Network Kenya carried out a study to understand Kenya’s SDGs readiness from a policy, legislative and institutional perspective. The report provides a Africa Outlook issue 86 | 47
A S S O C I AT I O N
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
legislative review of Kenyan Laws to identify areas that need to be reformed to align with the SDG commitments. It has also identified gaps in the laws and policies across the 17 goals, with an emphasis on how the country can achieve green economic growth. The recommendations in the SDG Readiness Report seek to support enabling legislation targeting specific SDGs and sub-goals. They include consolidation and integration of institutional framework through creation of a multi-sectoral agency that coordinates all the institutions dealing with SDGs; integration of the SDGs within the constitutional, legislative and regulatory frameworks; and involvement of the counties in the implementation of the SDGs. AfO: How has COVID-19 affected the manufacturing industry? MK: Earlier this year, in partnership with KPMG, we launched a report on the impact of COVID-19 on the manufacturing sector in Kenya. The survey sought to highlight: challenges facing manufacturers in the midst of COVID-19, and how they are adapting to these changes; manufacturers’ perception on the economic measures put in place by the government in response to COVID-19’s effect on the economy; and proposals to address these challenges. The report revealed some upsetting statistics. For example, 91 percent of non-essential goods manufacturers have seen a significant fall in demand, compared to 74 percent of essential goods manufacturers. Manufacturers’ top priorities are reducing costs (78 percent), job retention (61 percent), and improving cashflows (53 percent). However, 40 percent of manufacturers have had to reduce their casual workforce, with 73 percent retaining their permanent employees. We were pleased to see that more than 90 percent of manufacturers have adhered to guidelines put in place to curb the spread of the virus such as sanitisation points, social distancing and providing PPE equipment. In terms of economic incentives, 71 percent of manufacturers indicated that zero tax on income less than Kshs 24,000 ($220 USD) was most helpful while reducing the VAT to 14 percent was least helpful. AfO: Have you got any projects in the pipeline you wish to highlight? MK: Our focus now is to build resilience in industries, which the pandemic pointed us to. Kenya can
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forge the resilience of local industries by enhancing our local value chain, from raw materials to finished products. By doing so, we can shelter the manufacturing sector from industrial and trade risks arising out of external shocks. This way, Kenya can source raw materials and intermediate products locally, before turning to international markets. We can also build resilient industries by supporting Kenyan-made products through public procurement, creating awareness on locally manufactured products and encouraging consumers to buy local. Predictable and stable policy initiatives are also critical. This entails succinct fiscal and regulatory policies and initiatives that encourage investments into the sector. Increased investments will see local industry thrive and in turn create jobs and wealth for many. AfO: Are you optimistic about the future of the manufacturing industry? MK: We have identified 76 opportunities for investment and value addition through our Manufacturing Resilience and Sustainability Strategy: A Sector Deep Dive Report. Among them, the manufacture and supply of medical equipment, investments in adopting new technology, increased attention to developing local value chains to reduce dependence on imports, circular value chain, agroprocessing, regional leather value chain integration and packaging materials. We are keen to see manufacturers take up these opportunities. As such, we shall continue engaging manufacturers to understand the bottlenecks hampering their uptake. Furthermore, we will continue to engage the government on the overarching interventions needed to aid in the recovery of the manufacturing sector and economy, as businesses try to navigate different challenges brought about by the pandemic.
Kenya Association of Manufacturers Tel: +254 (020) 232481 info[@]kam.co.ke www.africa-log-prop.co.za
MANUFACTURING IN KENYA
BUY KENYAN BUILD KENYA TEAM MAGIC DESIGN
www.robsmagic.com
www.facebook.com/robsmagic
www.instagram.com/teammagic_rm/
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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Current trends and innovations Kenyan manufacturers need to embrace robotics, AI and machine learning to remain competitive
Dani Redd Editor, Industry Spotlight, Africa Outlook
T R E NBUSINESS DS & INNOV INSIGHT AT I O N S
M
any of the current trends within Kenya’s manufacturing industry have arisen from the need to survive the effects of COVID-19. Local industries had to strategise and implement immediate actions to ensure business continuity and ensure the safety of their employees at the workplace, focusing on strategic initiatives to accelerate preparations for recovery and increasing their resilience. According to KAM, local manufacturers have had to tailor production and supply systems to meet the ever-changing needs of the consumer, resulting in an increased uptake of ecommerce, as more consumers shift to online shopping. There has also been an increase in the uptake of automation by industry, in order to ensure business continuity and increase output. This was to ensure compliance with measures put in place to
mitigate the spread of coronavirus, including social distancing, which required less employees to be present in the workplace. Kenya is considered the leading technology and innovation hub in Africa. In order for its manufacturing sector to remain competitive it needs to keep up to date with technological advances such as robotics, AI and machine learning. Globally, the AI in the manufacturing market is expected to be valued at $1.1 billion in 2020, and is likely to reach $16.7 billion by 2026, expanding at an annual rate of 57.2 percent during the forecast period. Machine learning’s ability to collect and handle big data and its applications in real-time speech translation, robotics, and facial analysis is fuelling its growth in the manufacturing market. Indeed, it is something which Kenyan manufacturers will be monitoring closely.
‘Local manufacturers have had to tailor production and supply systems to meet the everchanging needs of the consumer, resulting in an increased uptake of ecommerce’ Kenya is considered the leading technology and innovation hub in Africa
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ACO Industries was established in the early 1970’s as single-product manufacturer. From those modest beginnings, HACO is now one of the region’s leading FMCG manufacturers, supplying a wide range of products to the East African and COMESA Markets. Beginning with Stationery and Shaver Products, HACO diversified its operation into Personal and Home Care products in the mid 1990’s. Principal to this process were international partners such as Société BIC France, E.T. Browne Drug Company Inc. USA and Jeyes PLC UK. HACO Industries is now a leading FMCG Manufacturers with brands in the Personal, Home & Hair Care categories, supplying a wide range of products to the entire East African, COMESA, and ECOWAS Markets. MIADI marked the first specifically tailored product to be launched from HACO Laboratories, the company’s Research & Development division. The launch also came at the culmination of HACO’s 20 year plus involvement in the Hair Care Market with international brands. The year 2020 has seen HACO Industries rapidly scale up and launch 7 new brands across our markets of operation. The portfolio now includes Personal Care Products under the Amara Brand (Skin Lotions & Creams, Jellies & Oils, Hand Sanitizer, Handwash & Showergel) , Homecare in the Fabric Care Category with the So Soft Brand, Dishwashing Category with the Sparkle brand & Householding Cleaning under the ACE Brand (Liquid Toilet Cleaner & Blocks, Disinfectant, Multipurpose Cleaner & Bathroom Cleaner). Plastics under the HACO Brand (Pegs & Rulers). We also exclusively hold the East Africa distribution licenses for Mattel Toys (Barbie, Fisher Price, Hot Wheels, Scrabble & UNO) as well as for E.T. Browne Drug Company Inc. USA for their Palmers brand. Our mission is to create and provide quality personal care and home care products that meet the needs of consumers and enhances their everyday life. Our vision is to be the most preferred company with a commanding presence in every household by 2030. HACO Industries applies world-class standards and best practice in manufacturing, supply chain, marketing and sales distribution. Consumers are our business and we remain 100% focused on customers. We invest meaningfully in training, coaching and reward systems to motivate our teams. We pride ourselves on being ‘The Home of Quality’.
:
+254 020 864 2000
:
customercare@haco.co.ke
: www.haco.co.ke
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Key Players K E Y P L AY E R S
The companies shaping and disrupting the manufacturing industry in Kenya
BROADWAY GROUP Broadway Group is a milling and baking organisation that has been producing high-quality flour and bread products for decades. The enterprise is primarily formed of Broadway Bakery Limited and Bakex Millers Limited. The former started in 1958 and the latter in 1983, making it one of the oldest grain mills in Kenya.
HACO KENYA HACO Industries is now one of the region’s leading FMCG manufacturers, supplying products across East African and COMESA markets. Its portfolio includes personal care products (brands such as Miadi and Amara) and homecare (by brands such as So Soft and Sparkle).
CARMEL MOUNT LOGISTICS Carmel Mount Logistics is a shipping and logistics provider with decades of experience. It is renowned for its efficient freight forwarding and clearing, and offers a range of services including container liner, supply chain and transportation services.
Bamburi Cement BIDCO East Africa Breweries
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www.broadway.co.ke
Good for you. Good for the environment too.
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K E Y P L AY E R S
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 53
Tell us your story and we’ll tell the world. AFRICA OUTLOOK is a digital and print product aimed at boardroom and hands-on decision-makers across a wide range of industries on the continent. With content compiled by our experienced editorial team, complemented by an in-house design and production team ensuring delivery to the highest standards, we look to promote the latest in engaging news, industry trends and success stories from the length and breadth of Africa. We reach an audience of 185,000 people across the continent, bridging the full range of industrial sectors: agriculture, construction, energy & utilities, finance, food & drink, healthcare, manufacturing, mining & resources, oil & gas, retail, shipping & logistics, technology and travel & tourism. In joining the leading industry heavyweights already enjoying the exposure we can provide, you can benefit from FREE coverage across both digital and print platforms, a FREE marketing brochure, extensive social media saturation, enhanced B2B networking opportunities, and a readymade forum to attract new investment and to grow your business. To get involved, please contact Outlook Publishing’s Managing Director, Ben Weaver, who can provide further details on how to feature your company, for FREE, in one of our upcoming editions.
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ENERGY & UTILITIES
Marketi ng Oppo rtunity
ELECTRIFYING A CONTINENT
Issue 86
SUSTAINABLE AND SMART
Rubicon Group has a mission: to help every home, business and community in Africa become more sustainable and energy resilient Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: David Knott
Rubicon Group has a mission: to help every home, business and community in Africa become more sustainable and energy resilient
dhk ARCHITECTS Adapting and innovating during the COVID-19 pandemic
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME Inside South Africa’s largest self-administered medical scheme
Inside Rubicon Group’s Cape Town branch
It is less, ‘Alexa, turn on my lights’ and more, ‘can I please have some light when the grid fails?’.” I’m discussing smart technology and its application in an African context with Rick Basson, CEO of Rubicon Group. “Internationally, ‘smart’ is quite a broadly used term,” Basson continues. “It becomes a bit of a catch-all for quite a few technology trends. Generally, it is a focus on making sites more connected and resourceefficient, on enhancing the ease of navigating that site, improving employee wellness and employee safety. “There are some incredible smart buildings, particularly in the developed world. But we went to some of the international shows and while we thought the technology on offer was amazing, the application of it within Africa is somewhat niche. Our focus is a little lower on Maslow’s pyramid – we focus a lot on resilience and self-sufficiency.” One reason for this is that Africa has a notoriously unreliable energy supply. On the continent, 57 percent of the population lacks access to electricity,
Rick Basson serves as CEO of Rubicon Group having been influential in the company’s founding
often because grid infrastructure does not reach to its remotest corners. The power sector also suffers from a lack of investment, inefficiency and inadequate infrastructure, while those connected to the grid are subjected to power outages and tariff fluctuations. “When we talk about a smarter focus, we don’t mean if a building knows your coffee preference,” Basson says. “It is more about the resilience of being able to operate in an uncertain environment, whether it’s a lack of security, lack of water or the energy supply – that’s where we focus in the private sector and our group has a massive role to play.”
SUPERCHARGING SMART SOLUTIONS ACROSS AFRICA
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 3
Sujay Sarka, Regional CFO for West and Central Africa, on how Olam International plays a key role in building food security across the continent
www.africaoutlookmag.com/work-with-us
RUBICON GROUP
ENERGY & UTILITIES
ELECTRIFYING A CONTINENT Rubicon Group has a mission: to help every home, business and community in Africa become more sustainable and energy resilient Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: David Knott Photographer (Rubicon Group): Juliette Bisset, Sonder Content Photographer (Algoa FM): Eduan Adams, Studio d’Arc Architects
It is less, ‘Alexa, turn on my lights’ and more, ‘can I please have some light when the grid fails?’.” I’m discussing smart technology and its application in an African context with Rick Basson, CEO of Rubicon Group. “Internationally, ‘smart’ is quite a broadly used term,” Basson continues. “It becomes a bit of a catch-all for quite a few technology trends. Generally, it is a focus on making sites more connected and resourceefficient, on enhancing the ease of navigating that site, improving employee wellness and employee safety. “There are some incredible smart buildings, particularly in the developed world. But we went to some of the international shows and while we thought the technology on offer was amazing, the application of it within Africa is somewhat niche. Our focus is a little lower on Maslow’s pyramid – we focus a lot on resilience and self-sufficiency.” One reason for this is that Africa has a notoriously unreliable energy supply. On the continent, 57 percent of the population lacks access to electricity,
Rick Basson serves as CEO of Rubicon Group having been influential in the company’s founding
often because grid infrastructure does not reach to its remotest corners. The power sector also suffers from a lack of investment, inefficiency and inadequate infrastructure, while those connected to the grid are subjected to power outages and tariff fluctuations. “When we talk about a smarter focus, we don’t mean if a building knows your coffee preference,” Basson says. “It is more about the resilience of being able to operate in an uncertain environment, whether it’s a lack of security, lack of water or the energy supply – that’s where we focus in the private sector and our group has a massive role to play.” Africa Outlook issue 86 | 57
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RUBICON GROUP “In order to build this resilience you first need to make sure your resource usage is as low as possible and that’s where our energy analytics, intelligent lighting and building automation divisions play such a large role.” Because of the unreliability of the grid, the potential for renewables and the decentralisation of energy in Africa is vast – Basson refers to it as a “monster market”. Although it faces challenges, such as finding financial backers, it is also a very exciting space to be working in. “Africa skipped the landline; it skipped the traditional telephone network. It’s largely skipping the formal banking sector through mobile money, and it will almost certainly skip the electricity grid through microgrids, mini-grids and distributed solar selfgeneration. That’s cause for a lot of optimism,” the CEO comments.
SMART SOLUTIONS, ALTRUISTIC PRINCIPLES Rubicon Group provides the platform to deliver sustainable technology to every business, home and community in Africa, a transition it drives through furthering the adoption of transformative technologies such as renewable energy sources, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, building automation, analytics, monitoring and much more. It does so in places where the need for energy and optimisation is greatest.
60 | Africa Outlook issue 86
INSIDE RUBICON GROUP Rubicon Group consists of the following divisions and cross-divisional services: RUBICON ENERGY is a product and services hub focused on the decentralisation, digitalisation and decarbonisation of energy in emerging markets. It is the preferred local channel partner and brand champion for the world’s leading renewable technologies. RUBICON AUTOMATION is a leading industrial automation solutions supplier to the manufacturing sector and related system integrators in Africa. It imports and distributes the world’s latest technology components to fulfil a complete automation basket. RUBICON PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT assumes overall responsibility for Rubicon’s renewable and automation product portfolios, as well as internal product development. It develops unique products that fit its industries and emerging market client base. RUBICON ANALYTICS is the analytical centre of excellence within the Rubicon Group, responsible for enabling more effective business development and project execution. It provides insights and holistic energy interventions to its engineering clients and end customers. RUBICON PLUS provides customised and consolidated logistical, procurement, equipment supply and warehousing services to customers with complex requirements in the energy sector. PROVINCE LIGHTING is a leading supplier of specialised certified commercial, industrial and architectural lighting solutions. It offers addedvalue services such as lighting design capabilities, customised luminaires and high levels of technical support. PROVINCE AUTOMATION offers an automated building management system (BMS) and personalised associated hardware. It allows homes and commercial sites to maximise energy savings and work off a centralised platform. PROVINCE MANUFACTURING creates contemporary linear lighting solutions, in line with the latest technologies and lighting trends.
Powering Africa Together
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elta Power Solutions is a world leader when it comes to power management. One of its specialities is comprehensive UPS solutions for mission-critical applications, ensuring companies have access to high quality, reliable power systems, back-up power, and monitoring systems. “We are looking to expand globally by partnering with companies who have the competency, capabilities and footprint in that locality,” explains Ross Peringuey, Delta’s Regional Sales Manager for South Africa. “This will help us to achieve our goals and support our medium-to-long term relationships with our clients and partners. “We identified Rubicon as a leader in the field of power and industry.” For the past three years, Rubicon and Delta have been working together, supporting Rubicon’s key customers from a power perspective. “Rubicon is a technology solutions provider. We want to partner with companies that expose us to the technology, to allow us to understand it and present it in a way everyone understands. This drive has led us to join Delta, because they are world leaders in their field,” adds Eldred Sterling, Head of Rubicon Automation. The partnership is a mutually beneficial one: Rubicon benefits from Delta’s market-leading products and technology, while Delta can benefit from Rubicon’s local solutions capability. Rubicon always tries to focus on the holistic solution, and alongside its partnership with Delta is able to offer the competencies and expertise of its Automation division.
“As companies, we have very similar visions and goals, with regards to how we address the power problems of companies through high-quality products and a solutions mindset,” says Peringuey. Both companies feel the partnership enables them to provide a value-added offering to their customers and are optimistic about its future. “If we have to sum up our two businesses, Rubicon and Delta would like to make just a small dent in the universe, to prove we are here to stay and make a difference to people. We are both very peopleoriented businesses,” says Sterling. Meanwhile, Delta expresses admiration for the way in which Rubicon incorporates its products into its full-service offering. “The way that Rubicon is putting these offers together and the way they’re taking forward the total solutions capability means that they’ll be able to penetrate a huge share of the market. At the moment there is no other company in this region that offers a total harmonised solution from beginning to end from a power perspective,” adds Peringuey. This is but one example of a successful partnership that Delta has built to introduce its products and offerings around the world. It is always looking to help prospective partners increase their competitiveness and expand their offerings by supplying them with critical power solutions.
www.deltapowersolutions.com
RUBICON GROUP Basson played an instrumental role in conceptualising and forming Rubicon Group, as well as in shaping its strategic direction together with the founders of the three core divisions. He previously worked in private equity and corporate finance, but his passion was for the operational side of business, rather than the dealmaking side. “I just love long-term strategy, building teams, getting stuck in and helping companies achieve their potential by thinking about what makes them great,” he says. He decided to get out of his comfort zone; to leave the private equity firm he worked for and begin raising capital with a partner. At this point he was introduced to the founders of Rubicon Energy and Rubicon Automation, Dylan Schnetler and Greg Blandford, and was drawn in by their passion for their business and its potential. He joined the group with his team, whose skillset, he explains, was a perfect complement to the business at the time.
62 | Africa Outlook issue 86
“They were so client-focused, product-focused, and forward-thinking on the technology side but definitely needed a bit of help on how to position and scale the business, and evolve their systems and processes,” Basson says. “A lot of that was about supplementing the team and bringing in people with expertise in areas that they weren’t familiar with, and we had a bit more of a background in.” Subsequently, Province Lighting and Automation, founded by Jurgen Chemelli, was brought into the group, which provided a complimentary offering in the areas of intelligent lighting and building automation. Taking on the role of group CEO, he explains, is a lot about building trust. Basson has endeavoured to preserve the dynamic culture and intimate client relationships the Group has, while still ensuring that the goal of digitalising and scaling up is being achieved. I ask him what he thinks differentiates Rubicon Group from other companies operating within the same field. “There are a lot of people playing in this space, but we are trying to have the maximum impact we can by servicing the whole market,” he replies. “We go horizontal, not vertical. We work through our engineering partners, electricians and developers. We like to say: ‘you’re Batman, we’re Robin’.” The latter reference indicates Rubicon Group’s role as a “sidekick” and partner – using its resources to help serve the needs of its clients. For example, it does a lot of work for small businesses, helping them with training and logistical support, and ensuring they have their products at the right price point. It can also provide design proposal support, providing outsourced backing so smaller enterprises can take on larger projects. Meanwhile, it also provides logistical support to larger firms, helping with the consolidation of product lines, or
GoodWe GoodWe (Stock code: 688390) is a leading, strategically-thinking enterprise which focuses on research and manufacturing of PV inverters and energy storage solutions. With an accumulative installation of 16 GW installed in more than 80 countries, GoodWe solar inverters have been largely used in residential and commercial rooftops, industrial and utility scale systems, ranging from 0.7kW to 250kW. GoodWe inverters offer reliable operation and excellent performance and are well recognised by customers worldwide. GoodWe’s philosophy is to always create win-win partnerships with customers by identifying and integrating the most advanced components and techniques available, while offering an unparalleled aftersales service. Technological innovation is GoodWe’s main core competence. With an in-house R&D team of approx. 200 employees in two R&D centres, GoodWe can offer a comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions for residential, commercial and utility scale PV systems, ensuring that performance and quality go hand-inhand across the entire range. Our partnership with Rubicon in South Africa, starting in early 2019, has proven to be nothing less than a win-win situation. We treasure their commitment to our products and are very proud to be their supplier in South Africa. Our goal is not only to provide their customers with any inverter solution they need and to cooperate closely with Rubicon in all matters of aftersales needs and support, but also to carry on training and coaching their sales people and also installers on our products. We will extend this support to them anywhere they go and are looking forward to a mutually beneficial future with Rubicon SA.
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IDE Electric Over 30 years serving the electrical market IDE Electric is a major plastic boxes, metal enclosures and industrial plugs and sockets manufacturer for the low voltage and the telecom markets, selling in more than 80 countries, including South Africa. Constant innovation, quality and news developments are our main drivers, positioning IDE as one of the leading brands protection people and components in the automation, electrical distribution and telecommunications.
“WE’RE MORE THAN JUST A DISTRIBUTOR, WE’RE A BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PARTNER, A TRAINING AND SUPPORT PROVIDER AND WE REALLY TRY TO CURATE THOSE BRANDS IN OUR MARKET” in taking on a smaller project to avoid tying up key staff members. “We make their lives easier so they can focus on what they do best, which is business development and engineering,” Basson continues. “We help to make the market by arriving in a new African country and becoming a one-stop shop for the guys who’ve been struggling to get the right products, training and more. It’s a big passion of ours to service and uplift the entire market.” The Group is also passionate about helping companies become more energy efficient and resilient. The former can be achieved through building automation and intelligent lighting solutions, which can track and monitor spaces to optimise use. The latter can be achieved through providing backup power generators and installing renewable systems that both generate and store electricity, such as photovoltaic solar panels. Not only do these services help the 64 | Africa Outlook issue 86
individual company, they also feed into Rubicon Group’s larger mission: to help electrify Africa, while simultaneously decarbonising the economy. Something else that stands the Group apart is its partner and supplier relationships. As a procurement, product, technology and distribution enterprise, it is built off the back of such relationships, many of which extend back several decades. “What makes Rubicon Group a bit different is that in our market suppliers and customers rely on us a lot, because it’s far away and underserved,” Basson says. “We’re more than just a distributor, we’re a business development partner, a training and support provider and we really try to curate those brands in our market. We always say, ‘if you commit to us, we’ll commit to you, and treat your brand like it’s our own’. If this is purely a transactional relationship it is probably not for us, and unlikely to last.”
Our range of enclosures designed for being used in several applications and external conditions will allow you to make the best choice.
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CITEL Since 1937, CITEL has been protecting installations around the world from transient overvoltages of atmospheric origins including lightning stokes. CITEL designs, produces and sells millions of SPD yearly, with a thorough understanding of local norms, standards and regulations and a continuous investment in R&D. CITEL also conceives in-house their own components. Our teams all over the world are proud to help the SPD sector develop with a comprehensive SPD product range and unique client-focused service quality. Unique, as each of our client. Unique, as our strategic vision that places financial independence, international technical collaboration and strong individual commitment, at the forefront.
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 65
RUBICON GROUP
CASE STUDY
ALGOA FM Architects: Studio d’Arc EPC: Dorman Projects In January 2020, Algoa FM moved into its new, purposebuilt building in Port Elizabeth’s Baakens Valley. In doing so the South African radio station faced a 50–80 percent increase in its electricity bills. It wanted to become more self-sufficient and reduce costs by generating some of its own power. Rubicon was bought onboard to assist with the planning and technology to integrate renewables into the building.
metal awnings on the north-facing side of the building. These unique awnings serve a dual purpose. They contribute 11kW of power – more than a quarter of the building’s total solar generating capacity – whilst shading the building. Surprisingly, these striking solar awnings proved more cost effective than traditional solutions. This is the first time in South Africa that these translucent solar panels have been used as awnings. Now, for approximately six hours each day, the building utilises mostly solar energy. In the six months since both the roof panels and the solar awnings were installed, they have covered 27 percent of the building’s total energy use. Rubicon also provided four off-grid solar lights for Algoa FM’s parking lot. These intelligent, energy-efficient lights dim automatically at quiet times of the night and revert to full brightness when their built-in motion sensors detect movement. Bluetooth capability allows the lights to communicate with each other and to be controlled and programmed using a mobile device. An electric vehicle charger, powered indirectly by the building’s solar panels, was also installed in the car park.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels totalling 29kW were installed across the entire double pitch roof in east and west-facing orientations. In Port Elizabeth, solar panels are most effective when north-facing and at a 31° tilt. The building design meant this wasn’t possible, so Rubicon used SolarEdge technology to select panels to optimise power generation at less-than-ideal tilts and orientations. This means every watt generated is used, even when parts of one or more panels are in shade. In traditional solar panel arrangements, the power generating capacity of all panels decrease even when only one panel is shaded. The SolarEdge portal allows AlgoaFM to monitor and manage the performance of the panels. Rubicon suggested another way to generate extra power for the building. Translucent, frameless mono PERC solar panels were used in place of traditional,
66 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Midway through construction, Province Lighting – another division of Rubicon group – got involved to provide decorative lighting for the building, which enhanced and filled gaps left by natural light and standard fittings. It installed an oval suspended Centaurus light in the boardroom, with one row of LEDs illuminating the ceiling and another the table. Circular lights were suspended from the ceiling in the open-plan office, used by the architects to symbolise champagne bubbles and celebration. The entertainment area draws in the eye with a long, wave-like light, designed to look like a soundwave that increases in volume as one walks further into the room. Algoa FM’s Technical Manager, Chris Wright, said that the lights had a “massive wow factor”.
ENERGY & UTILITIES
The Group is also investing considerable time into developing its electric vehicle charging offering. With many contacts within the automotive industry, it wants to ensure it can help support the charging infrastructure for its clients. Meanwhile, it will also continue to focus on the lighting and automation side of its business. “We love off-grid solar lighting on a large scale, such as street-lighting and area lighting,” Basson enthuses. “It allows for safer environments, it’s more energy efficient and cheaper than doing all the infrastructure for streetlighting. It just makes so much sense, and is a really cool area for us going forward.” With a growing enterprise, one of his personal focuses, he explains, is the acquisition and training of new members of staff.
LOOKING AHEAD The Group has several key priorities for the upcoming year. One of these is building out its B2B e-commerce platform, which involves developing an end-to-end online platform that incorporates everything from an lead generation tool to an online store, incorporating design tools and a training database. The offering is largely intended for smaller contractors to be able to build their businesses, as larger organisations tend to have the human resources and capital to develop such offerings themselves. The CEO outlines a phased approach to development, which began with the recent soft launch of the ecommerce platform to key clients. Rubicon Group is aiming for the entire platform to be operational within the next 12 months. “That digital journey for a lot of businesses is becoming nonnegotiable. But we are particularly putting a lot of effort into it now because we see the massive opportunity there, and the value-add for our customers,” Basson explains.
“WE LOVE OFF-GRID SOLAR LIGHTING ON A LARGE SCALE, SUCH AS STREETLIGHTING AND AREA LIGHTING... IT ALLOWS FOR SAFER ENVIRONMENTS, IT’S MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT AND CHEAPER”
Initially, Rubicon Group drew upon its industry knowledge and relationships to find staff by reputation, skillsets and contacts. Having begun to outgrow this pool, Basson is developing a more processdriven approach to HR, which involves identifying new staff who both have the relevant skillset but also a similar value-system to Rubicon Group. This will be necessary if the Group is going to continue to expand into other emerging markets – an opportunity it is looking into, although some of these opportunities may need to be deferred because of the current need in Africa. “In many ways we are doing enough already, because at the moment we are struggling to keep up with the demand we’re facing right now. A big focus is in scaling our systems and operations in order to keep up,” Basson concludes. It is clear that Rubicon Group has a fundamental role to play in providing sustainable, energy-efficient solutions to businesses and communities in Africa – a role that looks set to continue growing in the future.
www.rubiconsa.com www.provincelighting.com
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 67
VIRUNGA POWER
Rural Electrification at Utility Scale Virunga Power Founder and CEO Brian Kelly talks to us about designing for scale and innovation in the African energy sector Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: David Knott
T
he economic growth of much of the African continent hinges on reliable access to affordable power. Large swaths of Africa, especially its rural areas, are woefully underserved by the basic utilities required for sustained economic growth and development. Electricity is one of these. Recent decades have witnessed an ongoing campaign by African leaders, international development banks, and the donor community to improve electrification rates. Their efforts, coupled with a more recent push by new ventures deploying solar home systems and other micro utility solutions, have resulted in progress. However, the cost and inefficiency of extending national utilities to rural communities paired with the relative unaffordability of subscale solutions leave serious gaps for alternative longterm solutions. Enter Virunga Power. Named after the impressive range of volcanic mountains that stretches across the border regions of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of 68 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Congo, Virunga Power’s vision is to become Africa’s first rural utility that operates at scale. Over the last 10 years, Virunga Power has been developing megawatt-scale run of river hydropower projects and rural distribution grids across East and Southern Africa. “There remains a significant need for energy in rural areas. Affordable and reliable energy is essential for sustained economic growth, improvements in health and education, and greater rural industrialisation,” Brian Kelly, Founder and CEO, tells us. Prior to starting Virunga Power, Kelly worked to finance the rapidly growing power generation sectors across Asia. This experience showed him how important infrastructure is to improving lives and livelihoods in emerging economies and informed his vision for Virunga. “I spent much of my 20s as an investment banker advising large Chinese and Indian utilities on acquisitions of infrastructure assets and utilities in Asia and beyond. That
work gave me an understanding of how important scale and proper financing are to the viability of infrastructure projects,” he says. After several years in this role, Kelly felt it was time to apply his experience in another part of the world. “I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. My banking work gave me exposure to the tail end of the electrification push in Asia and an up-close view of the impact infrastructure can have in improving lives. With Africa looking to move towards universal electrification, I saw an opportunity to try to meet the needs of African communities,” he continues. “Providing reliable energy to a rural area at a reasonable price will stimulate development and productivity. Producers will produce more and consumers will consume more. Markets and entrepreneurial opportunities will expand. That is how it played out in Europe, America, Asia, and elsewhere over the past 100 years, and there is no reason that cannot be the case in Africa as well.”
ENERGY & UTILITIES
In 2011, Kelly founded Virunga Power with the intention of putting his idea to the test. “From the beginning we committed to building a solution to provide reliable, clean, and affordable energy. We did not want to be charging people $1/kWh or more. You can’t drive local growth in a globalised world with electricity costs that high. It took a long time to understand the different technologies, markets, regulatory environments, and industry players, but we are confident our diligence and persistence will pay dividends for Virunga and its customers,” Kelly says.
THE “GOLDILOCKS” SCALE FOR RURAL POWER DISTRIBUTION
AN ANSWER TO MANY CHALLENGES
• Megawatt scale projects are large enough to attract infrastructure investors to provide loans for project construction at long tenors and relatively low interest rates, allowing for affordable end-user tariffs.
Virunga’s technology of choice is run of river hydropower, a renewable and environmentally friendly source of electricity. Used throughout the world for over 100 years, it relies on the energy contained in the small to medium sized rivers and streams that are abundant in the rural areas of East and Southern Africa. Because bringing a
According to Kelly, extending centralised power grids into rural areas entails huge upfront costs, and network redundancies, presenting challenging economics for national utilities. On the other hand, household level power generation (i.e. solar home systems), while rapid to deploy, ignores potential economies of scale and is expensive for the consumer. For much of rural Africa, the “just right” solution is megawatt-scale utilities of one to 20 MW capacity, serving tens or hundreds of thousands of customers. Here’s why: • Distributed mini-utilities avoid the wait for expensive, governmentfunded transmission projects to bring the grid closer to rural communities. By generating and distributing power on a local basis, rural households can have access to energy sooner and more reliably.
• Most of the energy can be distributed and fully consumed with lower voltage networks that connect rural farming communities and towns. • Fully renewable, baseload generation from hydropower can be counted on at all hours of the day, making commercial and industrial use more viable, and can be supplemented by intermittent sources and storage
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 69
VIRUNGA POWER
LOOKING AHEAD “We are excited about the future. Years of hard work by the team have produced a pipeline of high-quality projects at various stages of planning and development. Recent successes validate the model. Zengamina Power, our subsidiary which provides power to approximately 5,000 people in northwest Zambia, is performing well. At an average usage of 100kWh per month, our customers use 30 to 50 times more power than their rural African peers. They can afford to use that much power due to our low rates and have built their lives around doing so.” – Josiah Brand, Chief Operations Officer Eng. Dido Lumanyika, Virunga’s Head of Utility Operations, is no stranger to megawatt scale generation and distribution projects. Having worked as an Asset Manager and T&D Planner for Duke Energy and FirstEnergy, large US-based utilities, he knows the benefits of scale. He also knows how to translate that knowledge and experience into productivity in the rural African context. Prior to joining Virunga, Eng. Lumanyika was the General Manager of the West Nile Rural Electrification Company, a vertically integrated utility that provides electricity to approximately 20,000 people in Northwestern Uganda. “I am excited to be part of the Virunga team. I have a passion for hydropower and electrification, and we are combining the two to add value, enable economic productivity, and make a positive impact on the lives of our customers.” – Eng. Dido Lumanyika
70 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Zengamina Weir
project online requires significant development time, capital, and engineering expertise, most other private developers focus on technologies like solar and wind. “For Virunga, run of river hydropower provides rural communities a very cost-effective source of electricity. Intermittent power sources (e.g. solar or wind) must rely on oversized battery or diesel backup to reliably serve communities,” Kelly says. “While battery storage costs are coming down and can be useful and costcompetitive solutions in developed markets over short periods of time, storing power for days at a time, which can be necessary for rural, off-grid applications can be extremely expensive on a per kilowatt hour basis (US$1 and up) and typically supports only low intensity uses such as lighting, cell phone charging, and domestic appliances.
ENERGY & UTILITIES
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“Zengamina Power, our subsidiary which provides power to approximately 5,000 people in northwest Zambia, is performing well” Africa Outlook issue 86 | 71
VIRUNGA POWER
“Providing reliable energy to a rural area at a reasonable price will stimulate development and productivity”
“At the right scale, Virunga can deliver power to customers for between US$0.20 and US$0.30 / kWh and for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If we are successful, rural African communities will have electricity at a price and quality comparable to cities and on par with costs in many developed markets. “Regional governments embrace the goal of providing electricity and other basic utilities to rural areas. Electrification can be transformative, improving the quality of life, creating economic opportunities and stemming rural-to-urban migration.” Currently, Virunga Power is working on multiple projects across East and Southern African countries. “Virunga partners with local developers and operators to improve their facilities and grow the customer base. The data we collect enables us to refine our model. Five years from now, we hope to be working with governments across the region on larger rural utility concessions that will supplement the national utilities in areas that are hard to reach and reliably supply,” Kelly says. “As the company strives to serve an additional 40,000 people in northwest Zambia and tens of thousands more elsewhere in its initial growth phase, continued success will require input from all. Strong and durable partnerships are incredibly important for us. “Because the types of projects we are building and operating have analogues throughout the world, Virunga taps engineering firms, consulting professionals, and equipment suppliers with global knowledge and experience. Blending the latest improvements in technology around smart grids and metering, mobile payment systems, solar hybridisation potential, and flexible energy storage options with centuriesold hydropower principles can bring the lowest cost and most efficient power supply to rural communities.
ENERGY & UTILITIES
Q: WHAT DOES YOUR PROJECT PIPELINE LOOK LIKE? Josiah Brand: “Over the years we have focused on building diversity and resiliency into our pipeline by developing different style projects across multiple countries. This reduces the risk that a short-sighted political or policy change in one country damages our long-term prospects as a company. “More specifically, over the next 12 to 18 months we have plans to add several thousand customers to our operation in northwest Zambia and also aim to reach financial close and start construction on approximately 20MW of generation projects in Kenya and Burundi. “Beyond that is tough to predict, but we have a stable of projects in those countries as well as Zambia and Tanzania that we will push forward when the market dynamics are right.”
Our best partners and suppliers help us design solutions with the consumer’s interests in mind.” Looking ahead, Virunga will continue to demonstrate that localised energy generation is a necessary and beneficial complement to the traditional centralised model. The company also seeks to take advantage of the fresh opportunity rural African areas provide – that of simpler integration and implementation of innovative green energy production techniques inherently available in the rural environment. “Some believe that solar and battery alone can solve Africa’s power needs, much as other markets are shifting away from their reliance on fossil fuels, but the reality is that there must be a reliable grid to serve as a base for that transition,” Kelly says. “In Africa there is a way to adopt the best of both worlds, incorporating solar into localized distribution grids and captive industrial supply while utilising other renewable sources such as small hydro as a baseload supply. If planned from the beginning, it can help reduce costs and optimise yearround output. We are confident that a
healthy mix of distributed generation sources at megawatt scale will enable the best outcomes for hundreds of thousands of our customers.” The CEO ends with the reinforcement of Virunga’s company mission, an aim that encompasses each of its past and current projects. “We must envision the ultimate goal, which is a fully integrated and reliable series of grids powered by a variety of localised, sustainable energy sources. The continent’s long-term growth will not be driven solely by centralized fossil fuel power stations with transmission systems stretched over vast distances. Virunga is attempting to model in Africa what the developed world is only starting to realise about power supply: the most sustainable solutions are often local.”
VIRUNGA POWER info@virungapower.com www.virungapower.com
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 73
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME
HEALTHCARE
Providing a Helping Hand
How South African medical scheme Bestmed is fulfilling its pledge to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its beneficiaries, employees and partners Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Callam Waller
L
et’s face it: it’s easier to be happy when you’re healthy. And when people are healthy, they work harder, live longer and enjoy their lives. As a result, they generate prosperity, thereby creating healthy societies and strong, healthy economies. This understanding is what makes healthcare an exciting space to work in for Leo Dlamini, CEO and Principal Officer of Bestmed – the largest self-administered medical scheme in South Africa. Fulfilling members’ needs and improving their wellbeing, and the impact that can make on the country as a whole, are powerful motivators. Dlamini acknowledges, however, that the sector is also decidedly challenging. “Organisations in the healthcare industry have the responsibility to help people live full and productive lives. It’s a big task,” he says. “It’s essential to be on the alert for opportunities to improve our service and to keep finding ways of making it easier for our members to access our huge network of healthcare providers. And, of course, interaction with our members requires
Leo Dlamini, CEO and Principal Officer of Bestmed
sensitivity. People are often vulnerable when they contact their medical scheme, and we want their experience with us in those circumstances to be positive.” Another challenge is the regulatory framework within South Africa’s healthcare industry, which is very strict – understandably so. Bestmed’s approach is to be vigilant in reviewing its processes and procedures to ensure unwavering compliance. However, Dlamini points out that the downside of this is that innovation and adoption of relevant global trends are near impossible in this country. Related to this is the ever-increasing cost of providing healthcare, a problem that is exacerbated by the prevalence of fraud, waste and abuse in the industry. The monitoring and prevention of the latter has now been designated as a strategic risk requiring regular scrutiny by Bestmed’s top management. Africa Outlook issue 86 | 75
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME
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A PIONEERING MEDICAL SCHEME So, when was Bestmed founded and what does it look like today? The organisation has been providing quality healthcare to South African residents since 1964. In those days it was a relatively small and closed medical scheme called SOMS. It was not until 1990, when it was registered as an open scheme and renamed Bestmed, that it gained 15,000 principal members. Over the years the scheme grew both organically and through several amalgamations, bringing it to today’s 76 | Africa Outlook issue 86
95,000-plus principal members and in total more than 200,000 beneficiaries. As mentioned earlier, it is also the largest self-administered medical scheme in the country, providing what would previously have been an unthinkably broad range of expert services to its diverse and constantly growing pool of beneficiaries. Dlamini explains that today the scheme designs its benefit options to suit every life stage and pocket. Beneficiaries can also access complementary products, such as immunisations and female contraceptives,
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 77
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME
LEADERSHIP FOCUS
LEO DLAMINI Q: Why did you decide to join Bestmed after a long tenure in the energy sector? A: “Well, to start with I had a vested interest in Bestmed as one of its members! And when the opportunity to stand for an appointment to the Bestmed Board came my way in 2015, I decided to take it. I had already served on a number of other boards, and the role of a trustee within a closely regulated environment was a familiar one. By July 2019, when I was appointed as Principal Officer and CEO of the organisation, I was already versed in Bestmed’s strategic and operational mandate. In addition, having had more than 20 years of operating at senior management and executive level, the leadership role in itself was not a novelty. “The transition from the energy sector to the health insurance industry was both stimulating and challenging. It was also useful, in the sense that I was able to bring a different perspective to the fundamentals of Bestmed’s growth strategy. “My background and life experience enable me to relate to the national agenda and upcoming changes in the medical insurance space. Within that space, we at Bestmed are poised to grow our footprint throughout South Africa. We are deeply committed to keeping the organisation steady and to delivering on our strategic drivers.”
that add flexibility to the options. For people who are battling with conditions such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS or cancer, there are also nine managed healthcare programmes. In addition, preventative care products and wellness programmes have been gradually introduced and consistently emphasised over many years of research and development. These have now become part of the scheme’s mainstream offerings. Bestmed also has one of South Africa’s most extensive service networks, with over 15,000 healthcare providers and ancillaries across the nation to whom its members have access. The organisation itself also employs 462 professionals (known to staff and members as Heartbeats because of the essential services they provide). Turning back to the scheme’s pioneering spirit, Dlamini remarks that “a fundamental principle that has, from the beginning, been ingrained in everyone at Bestmed is that we must make it easy for members to make contact with us”. “Today there are walk-in centres at the Pretoria head office and the regional offices, where members can deal with a range of administrative tasks and enquiries,” he continues. “Various digital channels are also available: the Bestmed app, a web chat facility and a contact centre. For members who prefer to deal with a personal advisor, there is also an extensive network of independent medical aid advisors with whom they can connect.”
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT BESTMED? Dlamini says he’s tempted to say “everything”! He does, however, identify a number of key factors that distinguish Bestmed from other medical scheme providers. The first of these is the unique benefits that make the scheme good value for money. For example, members whose
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 79
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME children are pursuing post-school studies can continue to register them as beneficiaries at child dependent rates, up to the age of 26. There is a hidden and incalculable value here, says Dlamini: that of assisting and encouraging parents to give their kids the best education they can afford Keeping annual price hikes as low as possible is a target most businesses aim to achieve. In this domain, Dlamini and his team have hit the bull’s eye for four years in a row, with yearly contribution increases kept within a single digit percentage since 2017. Dlamini points out that another distinguishing factor is the wide variety of
BESTMED BENEFITS Beneficiaries of Bestmed receive the following benefits: • Access to the Bestmed Tempo Wellness Programme at no extra cost. Corporate groups can also access Virtual Bestmed Tempo wellness initiatives such as COVID-19 information sessions, holistic wellness workshops and virtual Pilates classes • Preventative care benefits, including pneumonia and flu vaccines, paediatric immunizations and a backand-neck preventative care programme • Women’s health benefits such as female contraceptives, maternity benefits, HPV vaccinations for those aged 9 to 26, and mammograms for members over 40 • Managed healthcare support programmes for diabetes, oncology and HIV/Aids
80 | Africa Outlook issue 86
preventative care and wellness benefits that the scheme has included in the various benefit options. He emphasises that not only do these benefits minimise the risk of future illness and impairment, they also save members the associated treatment costs. “So, it is a mutually beneficial approach,” Dlamini says. “All our beneficiaries have access to the Bestmed Tempo Wellness Programme at no additional cost. This programme guides members to follow a healthier lifestyle through health assessments (including checking of blood pressure and glucose levels), free personalised consultations with dieticians and biokineticists, a range of group fitness classes and much more.” Bestmed has a long tradition of participating in country-wide assessments of its organisational profile, and in 2020 it took part in the medical scheme category of the South African Customer Service Index (an independent national benchmark of customer
satisfaction concerning service and product quality). The scheme performed best in the industry regarding perceived quality, perceived value, overall customer service index, and customer loyalty.
COMBATTING COVID-19 Asked about COVID-19, Dlamini says wryly that “the past six months have most definitely not been ‘business as usual’, especially during the national lockdown to combat the pandemic. And I’m proud to say that during this time, we’ve fulfilled the scheme’s most crucial role by ensuring that our members have had the peace of mind of knowing that Bestmed was there for them in their time of need. All the way.” The Scheme remained fully operational during every phase of the lockdown. Services were monitored throughout the period and communication with members was on-going to ensure that their interaction with Bestmed remained optimal. Most of
HEALTHCARE
“I’M PROUD TO SAY THAT DURING THIS TIME, WE’VE FULFILLED THE SCHEME’S MOST CRUCIAL ROLE BY ENSURING THAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE HAD THE PEACE OF MIND OF KNOWING THAT BESTMED WAS THERE FOR THEM IN THEIR TIME OF NEED” its employees were able to work at full capacity from home with minimal disruption to operations. Bestmed also applied to the Council for Medical Schemes for payment exemptions to alleviate difficulties for those in financial distress. This meant that downgrades to cheaper membership options could be offered, debit order deduction relief was made available for members relying on state pensions, and in some instances members were allowed to use their vested savings with the scheme to fund their contributions. Dlamini comments that Bestmed’s membership remained stable during
this period. “In fact,” he says, “with the new members who have joined, we’ve experienced a net growth in principal members for 2020. Clearly, people understood the importance of having and maintaining adequate healthcare cover during this pandemic, despite the calamitous economic climate.” Bestmed’s response to the impact of COVID-19 has not been confined to concern for only its beneficiaries; its employees, partners and suppliers have all been considered. In terms of employees, the scheme partnered with research unit Afriforte, which conducted a study to assess the wellbeing of its employees during
lockdown as part of an initiative dubbed the Wellbeing of Heartbeats. Dlamini explains: “The initiative aimed to encourage and motivate employees by allaying fear of the unknown and confronting insecurities that are coupled with ultra-challenging circumstances. Departmental debriefing sessions focused on promoting hope and normalising fears through best- and worst-case scenarios.” The company also partnered with ICAS to provide individual debriefing sessions for staff members with high stress levels. Meanwhile, an organisation-wide webinar ensured that employees were consistently updated on Bestmed’s performance. The continuous high levels of engagement with and investment in its employees allowed Bestmed to fare well during the lockdown period. The feedback from the webinar was very positive, and similar initiatives are likely to be undertaken in the future. Africa Outlook issue 86 | 81
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME advisors (brokers) and members have access to the relevant Bestmed teams. Even as we continued to work from home, our teams have been available over the phone, email, WeChat and Teams Outlook since the start of the lockdown,” the CEO comments. He emphasises, however, that this commitment to building strong relationships, with suppliers and partners as well as with members, had been embedded in Bestmed’s DNA long before the pandemic. “For example,” he continues, “to ensure mutually beneficial relationships and brand visibility with our healthcare providers, we visited 758 practices during 2019 to assist with any queries that they might have had. This approach ensures that we build and maintain strong, long-term relationships, and give the healthcare providers direct access to our consultants as and when they need it.” IN FOCUS
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Bestmed recently participated in several CSR initiatives, including:
CONTINUING TO CONNECT Positive experiences and needs remain central to the enrolment and retention of members. Although 2020’s planned member engagement events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 restrictions on social distancing, engaging with members, advisors and corporate representatives is still a key element of Bestmed’s “Personally Yours” brand promise. A series of advisor webinars has ensured that Bestmed has remained in contact with its extensive advisor network. “We have ensured that providers, 82 | Africa Outlook issue 86
PARTNERS FOR POSSIBILITY (PFP): This is a flagship programme run by Symphonia for South Africa (SSA), which focuses on making a difference one school at a time. Bestmed partnered with Mamelodi East Prevocational School through this programme. The scheme transferred skills in planning, leadership and budgeting to make a positive longterm impact, while Bestmed itself gained exposure to the education community and the challenges it faces. Bestmed also organised a wellness day, which included health tips and free eye screenings for the learners. OPERATION HUNGER: Bestmed donated funds to this vital monthly feeding scheme, which provides meals for around 5,000 vulnerable families every month. The funds from Bestmed were used to distribute 1,200 emergency food parcels following the COVID-19 outbreak. PALESA PADS: These washable sanitary pads are made by South African women. Bestmed delivered 1,000 sanitary pad kits – which consist of three pads, a bucket, cleaning materials and drying clip – to eight clinics, together with 15 300 branded Bestmed masks. Bestmed’s employees also pulled together and contributed more than R600,000 to COVID-19 related projects in vulnerable communities.
HEALTHCARE Outlook draws to a close, Dlamini re-emphasises some of the challenges that the South African healthcare industry is experiencing alongside the pandemic: intense competition, economic difficulties faced by members, and the massive undertaking of rolling out a vast NHI programme. However, he feels optimistic about Bestmed’s ability to chart a course through these somewhat turbulent waters, and believes the scheme is well-positioned to excel in this environment.
Bestmed’s employees have pulled together and contributed more than R600,000 to COVID-19 related projects in vulnerable communities to date Over the upcoming months, Bestmed will continue to connect with its wide range of stakeholders through increasing its efforts towards digitisation. Dlamini mentions that Bestmed “is the first medical scheme to partner with Intermedix, a digital healthcare innovator, to bring GPs, specialists and healthcare providers an exciting selection of functionalities to maximise service efficiency and boost patients’ medical outcomes.” He explains that this unique partnership enables Bestmed’s network of GPs to access the digital platform iCanRefer to make easy referrals,
rather than trawling directories and programmes to find scheme-approved specialists. Doctors can also access iCanScript, an e-scripting web application that allows both GPs and specialists to generate digital prescriptions that can be sent directly to a pharmacy, thereby ensuring medical compliance. Bestmed’s doctors have recently been given access to CLICKDOC Video Consulting, which means they can ensure that members can get access to the healthcare they need by giving them virtual appointments where necessary. As the conversation with Africa
“The Bestmed team is committed to our brand promise of being ‘Personally Yours’. We are focused on what the scheme needs to achieve, including product development, maintaining a strong service provider network, remaining a preferred choice for members and advisors, retaining existing members and ultimately growing the principal membership,” he concludes.
BESTMED MEDICAL SCHEME Tel: +27 (0)86 000 2378 newbusiness@bestmed.co.za www.bestmed.co.za
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 83
DAWA LIMITED
Accessible Aid DAWA Limited is on a mission to bring more affordable and accessible pharmaceutical products to those who need them across Africa Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: Callum Waller
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A
frica’s healthcare industry is growing in importance and size. For instance, the value of the region’s pharmaceuticals sector has increased from $5.5 billion in 2007 to $28.5 billion in 2017, and the rapid pace of growth is expected to see the market hit $70 billion by 2030. Alongside this, as the continent has experienced a substantial rise in population, and a shift from rural to urban living for large numbers of African people. Urbanisation has seen the major development of infrastructure in cities, and the growth of healthcare facility capacities. On top of this, the way African business is conducted
has shifted to encourage domestic pharmaceutical production by, for example, importation restrictions and pricing controls. And within the healthcare industry, pharmaceutical companies have become more important than ever. Developing areas require pharmaceutical products to aid the health of rapidly growing populations. Those that move from rural to urban, while able to access pharmaceutical products more easily, are more likely to be exposed to illnesses due to the nature of a highly concentrated populace. This urbanisation has created a massive (and continually expanding) demand for pharmaceuticals.
HEALTHCARE
PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
Despite this, many countries within the continent are home to developing areas and regions that, often due to their remote locations, are disconnected from the most advanced and modern methods or resources that are staple aspects of healthcare in other areas of the globe. Geographic barriers also mean the transport of these products can be limited.
IMPROVING ACCESS DAWA Limited is one company seeking to boost the accessibility of pharmaceuticals. It stands as one of the leading and most progressive pharmaceutical companies in Kenya and East Africa, and provides accessible human
healthcare products to 10 different countries in the continent. The business has decades of experience behind it in the manufacture of its products, and aims to becoming one of the leading global pharmaceutical companies as to enhance the quality of life for people all over Africa and beyond. In order to reach as many people in need as it can, DAWA has focused on pursuing an aggressive growth strategy which has seen it expand its range of products and even set up a state-of-the-art penicillin manufacturing facility to advance its goal of bringing healthcare products to more people.
Dawa Limited has a state-of-theart manufacturing facility for oral dosage forms and injectables which has been developed meeting the requirements of WHO cGMP. The plant is designed for segregation of raw materials, proper management of in-process materials and storage of finished products under controlled conditions. An overview of DAWA manufacturing: • 220 products registered with the company • 150 products in the company pipeline to arrive and become accessible in the near future • Products covering 10 therapeutic areas of the healthcare industry • Covering the pharmaceutical market in 10 different countries
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 85
DAWA LIMITED
IMCD Kenya Limited IMCD Kenya partners with worldleading suppliers such as BASF, DFE pharma, Lubrizol, and DuPont We support our customers at every stage of their product development from active pharmaceutical ingredients through formulation by providing the highest quality functional excipients to deliver the final dosage form. Our portfolio includes agrochemical active ingredients, natural extracts for active nutraceutical ingredients, peptides, biosimilars, and cultures.
ABOUT DAWA In 2004, Medisel (Kenya) Limited acquired DAWA Limited as a strategy to grow and enhance the company’s position in East Africa’s pharmaceutical industry. This also enabled DAWA Limited to leverage on the expansive network of its new parent company to widen its market reach. Today it has commercial operations in more than 10 countries in Eastern, Central and Western Africa. It has the requisite capacity to achieve its ambitious growth strategy with an advanced laboratory and equipment in the region. It also employs the best pharmacy graduates from local universities and colleges – its excellent induction programme matches the graduates with experienced professionals to ensure that the graduates grow into highly resourceful individuals. It places the most promising personnel in strategic positions to propel the company further into market leadership. With this, nothing stands in the way to its success and sustainability as a company.
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With our dedicated technical team, local network and market intelligence, we ensure convenience, reliability, and timely delivery.
It has been 14 years since DAWA’s inception in 2006, and the company has never felt such a positive impact from its growing presence. Pedro Filipe is the company’s Chief Executive Officer. He has been a key part of the firm’s expansion and has had the pleasure of watching it provide financially viable and accessible pharmaceutical products to countless individuals throughout the countries in which it serves. Filipe started his career in pharmaceuticals after he left university. Having gained a degree in naval engineering in 1996, his intended career was quite far from the healthcare industry. He gained employment at a shipyard but, wishing to work closer to home, he took the opportunity to work for a small multinational pharmaceutical firm. He joined the team and healthcare industry for the first time, and took the role of Validation Manager for the company. “From there I had worked hard from 1997 till 2004, which is when I joined a company in Portugal called Generis Pharmaceuticals SA (Generis Farmacêutica S.A.),” Filipe tells us. “I worked on a project with a few others and we were the three leading parties of that particular company. Simply put, I was designing
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a manufacturing facility, and after the facility was complete, I became in charge of the business-to-business relations of the company, as well as all the industrial operations associated.”
CRITICAL MASS Filipe parted ways with Generis in 2010, his focus now being to take DAWA to the next level. So, what makes DAWA a leading manufacturer of healthcare products in East Africa? Put simply, it largely comes down to the company’s values and overall aims. DAWA’s management and leadership differs from that of its competitors in the industry. Where the overwhelming majority of other manufacturers house a management system stemming from a single (or a few) key figures, DAWA’s decision making process concerns a multitude of individuals. Filipe explains further: “90-100 percent of pharmaceutical companies
HEALTHCARE
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are family owned businesses and still hold to a very traditional family run structure. These company’s decisions are all made through the owner(s), and these decision-makers need to understand that the future success of their businesses require professionals (those of medical, marketing, and business) to be in a position of control.” DAWA’s company structure places
professionalism above ownership decision-making and so caters to the needs of their customer base, and those areas most in need of pharmaceutical products. Yet it is also through the direct necessity of its products that such a business is set above its competition. “The open-mindedness and transparency of a business is a big advantage. But it is the critical mass
that sets us apart. We are talking about a company that supplies around the 20 percent of all the pharmaceuticals in Kenya, so the country of the Kenya cannot live without DAWA the same way as that DAWA can live without Kenya. Simply put, no other healthcare company holds this kind of critical mass, and so we are set apart by necessity,” Filipe says. The firm reinforces this mindset through its continual collective and shared views on the functioning of companies, and also the functioning of African life in general. Filipe notes that DAWA aims to shift the culture of Africa from the “me” to the “we”. In this way the African people can understand that collectively they can all reach the same progressive goals together. For clarity he gives us an example of this addressed issue in real urban African life. “The example I usually give in town hall meetings, cultural surveys (and the like) is this: there is a situation with Africa Outlook issue 86 | 87
DAWA LIMITED
DAWA’S ONGOING PROJECTS REFURBISHMENT: DAWA has invested in a $15 million refurbishment of a production facility to bring it in line with European standards. The facility, that is 20 years old, aims to adopt more automation and allow a 50 percent increase in production so that DAWA can accommodate more people in need. GROWTH IN ETHIOPIA: With a huge population of 100 million, Ethiopia remains less advanced with regards to pharmaceuticals. There are only around eight manufacturers and they produce at a local level, and DAWA is developing and investing itself in the nation to better reach its people. Collaborating with an investor, the business is setting up a manufacturing facility with access to an industrial park, aiming to have it completed and live by the start of 2024. MERCK PROJECT IN KENYA: With help from the German government, DAWA is setting up a biotech facility in Kenya (connected to another Germanaided facility in Ghana). This facility will work with producing vaccines for a variety of diseases and viruses. The German-DAWA investment into the country is estimated to end up as €30 million in total by the project’s end.
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traffic in Africa. During rush hours everybody wishes to reach home first. The roads are clogged with cars and everybody is vying for spaces to jump ahead of one another, and speed through the lights to get ahead with their journey. “In the end, one or two people might get home faster by jumping ahead of the others, but the confusion and trouble caused by all those pushing ahead means almost everyone reaches home later. Should the traffic work together, and if drivers had a respect for one another, the entire system would collectively flow better, and everybody would reach home on time to see their families,” he explains. This is a simple but effective concept that represents the way DAWA believes companies (and culture) should operate. A secondary idea linked to this is the prospect of communicating problems. Filipe notes that people in Africa could work together much more effectively if it shifted from a ‘punishment culture’ to an ‘accountability culture’. In this way it is the discussion of issues, not the punishment of them, that could fuel better cultural operation – a lesson
that can be adopted into the way businesses work and grow. DAWA keeps to a company mindset geared towards progression and the needs of its workforce and customers. These form its core values, and the firm strives to apply this notion of togetherness in every aspect of business it can.
“OUR SUPPLIERS ARE PEOPLE THAT WE HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH FOR A LONG TIME. THERE ARE THOSE THAT ARE NEW AND ARE COMING INTO THE PICTURE. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT NEED FOR DAWA IS THE GUARANTEE QUALITY, ON-TIME DELIVERIES SO THAT EVERYBODY THRIVES”
HEALTHCARE For any pharmaceutical manufacturer the relationship between company and supplier is of paramount importance. According to Filipe, aspects of the industry such as the transportation of pharmaceuticals across Africa is no easy process, and to that end the company needs to be sure that they are working with reliable businesses to reach mutual and beneficial ends. “Our suppliers are people that we have been working with for a long time,” he says. “There are those that are new and are coming into the picture. But the most important need for DAWA is the guarantee quality, on-time deliveries so that everybody thrives. “We work with English and Chinese companies in the chain, and we even have an India-based liaison office that consists of seven people looking to bring partners into our supply chain, that has thus far worked very well. Our commitment to our partners remains 100 percent, and their support is very important.” The end of 2020 is on its way and the rest of the decade lays ahead. For DAWA, priorities surround a set
“WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A COMPANY THAT SUPPLIES AROUND THE 20 PERCENT OF ALL THE PHARMACEUTICALS IN KENYA, SO THE COUNTRY OF THE KENYA CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT DAWA THE SAME WAY AS THAT DAWA CAN LIVE WITHOUT KENYA”
mixture of goals in keeping with the company’s values and aims. 2021 will see the firm looking to maintain a stable period of planned projects and restructuring. Beyond that, there are a few other plans in the works. With the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak disrupting business globally, the healthcare industry has been being pushed like never before. To deal with
heightening demand for products, DAWA reshaped its manufacturing by growing the automation of its pharmaceutical production. On top of this, reinvestment in brand awareness is a large part of the plan for next year and beyond. This will include the rebranding of the company logo among other aspects. Investment in marketing campaigns are also on the table, as DAWA aims to stand out beyond its competitors and reach a larger customer base with five new products coming next year. The future development and growth of DAWA’s products is increasing. Filipe assures us that through the company’s dedication to providing a higher quality of life for African people, and its coming plans in the next year, it will reach its aim of being one of the leading pharmaceutical companies not only in Africa, but the world.
DAWA LIMITED Tel: +254 733 764 747 info@dawalimited.com www. dawalimited.com
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 89
OLD MUTUAL BOTSWANA
FINANCE Old Mutual Botswana is on a mission to improve financial inclusion in the country, the well-established and respected firm embarking on education, diversification and digitisation to empower more people Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Sam Love
B
otswana, despite being home to a mature insurance sector with healthy competition, has a low insurance penetration rate. Estimated to stand at around 2.8 percent, it falls well below the global average, the vast majority of the 400,000 or so formally employed Botswana adults not currently taking out a life or non-life insurance policy. While the statistics may appear as cause for alarm, for companies such as Old Mutual Botswana, there is a huge opportunity to grow and provide crucial financial peace of mind to a great many more customers across the Southern African country. “This is a significant opportunity for underwriters,” comments Gerald Randall, CEO of Old Mutual Botswana. “In many cases insurance education is not well embedded, and this is a key focus for our business. By customers understanding the advantages of insurance, they are more likely to implement solutions for themselves and their assets.” Old Mutual, established in Cape Town in 1845, has been in Botswana since 1994 and offers a wide range of short-term and group life insurance products with branches in Gaborone and Francistown – its products provide insurance services to personal, commercial and corporate clients. Randall had been with the company in South Africa for several years before making the switch to head up the Botswana division at the start of 2019. “I always planned to be involved in financial services,” he says. “My first interest was in investment and fund management and I worked in that line for several years. However, I never wanted to be a specialist and as such moved to various lines of business in financial services. “Managing the risk of our customers is the business I run now. I have been a Director of some of the Old Mutual Botswana companies for some time and was always eager to become more involved in the strategic execution in the business. Africa Outlook issue 86 | 91
FMRe Property & Casualty is the most noticeable regional reinsurer in Southern Africa. Besides the traditional segments of reinsurance, the company has a clear orientation towards underwriting of specialty lines of reinsurance in its selected markets. As part of its market development, the company consistently leverages its expert knowledge and partnership with leading international underwriters to provide insights in risk management and technical training across Africa. The company’s growth in Botswana and the region is linked to the development of customer focused insurance products for emerging risks like cyber, liabilities and agricultural risks.
Key Financial Highlights Gross Written Premium (“GWP”) P160 million
Underwriting Margin 11% (Average for past 5 Years)
Total Assets - P170 million (≈50% Cash & Near Cash)
Domestic Botswana business contribution at 60% of GWP
Our target is to acheive P300 million by 2023. This year’s projection is P200 million
The most profitable, most consistent reinsurer in earnings performance in southern africa
Fastest domestic market share development…
7th Floor, The Fairscape Precinct, Fairgounds P.O Box 47202, Gaborone, Botswana
T: +267 3934287/93/94 | E: fmre@fmre.co.bw
www.fmrepropertyandcasualty.co.bw
Current Markets 2020 Future Expansion Markets
OLD MUTUAL BOTSWANA
“When the opportunity became available to do so, I was eager to take it up. Old Mutual in Botswana is a wellknown brand and also well respected – I believe the business has great traction here already, but it still has tremendous prospect for growth.” The education message is absolutely critical to realising this potential. “Key to our values is to uplift the communities in which we operate,”
Randall continues. “As a business we firmly believe that financial education is the key to financial security. Old Mutual provides extensive financial education, free of charge, through media and online portals. In addition, we have a partnership with Botswana Saving Bank to deliver financial education to their customers. “In fact, Old Mutual delivers financial education across all the territories in which we operate. As part of our
HOW IMPORTANT ARE PARTNER AND SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS TO THE SUCCESS OF YOUR BUSINESS? GERALD RANDALL: “Old Mutual predominantly focuses on companies as our customers. Many of these are intermediated through brokers or other entities such as banks. Having strong relationships with our brokers and other business partners is key to our success.”
94 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Gerald Randall (right) shaking hands on an agreement with Botswana Savings Bank
Responsible Business agenda, Old Mutual will launch ‘Africa’s biggest classroom’ across the continent. The objective is to provide financial education to every community to drive financial security and inclusion.” Of course, such endeavours would be futile if Old Mutual Botswana did not have an uncompromising approach to the quality of its own service delivery.
FM REINSURANCE PROPERTY & CASUALTY BOTSWANA SPECIALTY REINSURANCE PRACTICE INTRODUCTION
F
MRE Property & Casualty is a Gaborone based reinsurance company and one of the biggest regional reinsurers in Southern Africa. The reinsurer was established in Botswana in 2010 with a clear mandate to develop local reinsurance market and grow a significant African portfolio. Besides the traditional segments of reinsurance, the business has a clear orientation towards underwriting of specialty lines of reinsurance in its selected markets.
SPECIALTY AREAS • Reinsurance Structuring • Specialised Liabilities • Risk Management • Agriculture • Actuarial • Pricing
CUSTOMER & SHAREHOLDER VALUE DELIVERY • Supporting product development & pricing • Consistent approach to underwriting • Evolving risk modelling capabilities • Supporting of new business opportunities and markets • Earnings protection in all lines of business
As part of its market development, the company consistently leverages its expert knowledge and partnerships with leading international underwriters to provide insights in risk management and technical training across Africa. The company’s growth in Botswana and the region is linked to the development of customer focused insurance products for emerging risks like cyber, liabilities and agricultural risks.
MAJOR MILESTONES • Average Y-o-Y Growth past 7 years at 30% CAGR making it the fastest growing reinsurance company in Africa • Average underwriting margin past 7 years 11.5% delivering one of the most profitable margins in the market as compared to peers across Africa. • Proprietary Catastrophe Model for Botswana & Mozambique • One of the 1st African reinsurer to deliver a Cat & Pricing Model • Biggest claim settled US$3 million in 2019
T +267 3934287/93/94 | E fmre@fmre.co.bw | www.fmrepropertyandcasualty.co.bw
OLD MUTUAL BOTSWANA This is another differentiator, and a significant one according to the CEO, who realises the imperative to put the customer first as it is their risks that the company is managing.
MOVING WITH THE TIMES An unforeseen risk which has dominated the narrative in 2020 has been the coronavirus pandemic, a situation which Old Mutual was well prepared for and has responded to effectively to date. For instance, in 2019 it started to enable more of its employees to work remotely, a move which has paid dividends given the events which have unfolded this year – and for Randall, the priority has very much been to keep staff and customers safe. “We did not envisage the pandemic, but we realised that internationally the ways of working were changing and it was important to prepare for the ways staff and customers will want to work in the future,” he adds.
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“When the pandemic was declared, we had already been running a Crisis Management Committee for some weeks. Fortunately, this is not the first pandemic Old Mutual has had to deal with, and we were able to garner insights across the group from countries in West Africa who had been dealing with the likes of Ebola. “As a priority we set the safety of our staff, broker partners and customers. We instituted health protocols early followed by business contingency processes – none of our staff have contracted COVID-19 and all staff have been enabled to work remotely. “To our customers, we keep imploring them to remain vigilant and safe. We always have their best interest in mind. I can, however, give them comfort that their affairs remain in good hands with us. Our company has a very high solvency position and we will continue to manage their insurance prudently.”
Alexander Forbes Over the years, Alexander Forbes has built a sustainable and professional business relationship with Old Mutual. As we know, a strong business relationship starts off with a good foundation. That is, people! We have had the opportunity and pleasure to state that the teams involved from both Alexander Forbes and Old Mutual have built such a strong connection that they are on a first name basis. Business relations are connections between stakeholders and we at Alexander Forbes are proud to say that we have built a strong network between Old Mutual, ourselves and our clients. In addition, they have established a rapport with timely claim payments, ensuring that our mutual clients’ interests are always protected.
FINANCE
The Alexander Forbes preservation fund Introducing the Alexander Forbes Preservation Fund Why preserve? To build sufficient wealth to sustain you once you retire. If you fail to preserve, you not only forgo your savings (that you will lose due to tax), but also the returns these savings would have generated. Investment returns compound over time, turning even modest savings into sizeable amounts.
Tax benefit ■ A transfer to a preservation fund is tax exempt if you move your benefits from either a pension fund or a preservation fund. ■ Tax free investment growth.
Accessing your preservation fund You’re allowed one withdrawal up to 25% from your fund credit prior to age 50, after a waiting period of 12 months subsequent to your transfer into the fund, and the balance at retirement. Contact us to learn more about this product. Other terms and conditions will apply.
Alexander Forbes Financial Services Plot 203, Independence Avenue Independence Place Gaborone, Botswana Email: enquiries.botswana@aforbes.com Tel: +267 365 1948 or 365 1975 or 365 1983
■ At retirement you will be eligible to a 1/3 lump sum withdrawal.
Alexander Forbes Financial Services (Pty) Ltd is a licensed financial services provider (FSP 1177 and registration number 1969/018487/07).
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2020/10/12 10:43
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 97
OLD MUTUAL BOTSWANA
The pandemic has also highlighted the value of digitising services and processes wherever possible. Randall details several examples of this in action at Old Mutual Botswana, including a project to create a Facebook ‘bot’ to communicate with its followers. On WhatsApp, the company has created a service whereby customers can access various services, including insurance claims. A more comprehensive programme involves automation of numerous internal processes, formulated in a digital strategy and execution plan which is being rolled out across the organisation over the next three years and beyond. “Our vision is to be the leading digitised insurer in Botswana,” Randall says. “This will change the way we engage with our broker partners and also how we engage with our customers. In most developed markets, underwriters have largely 98 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Kushatha Moswela, Managing Director, Short-Term Insurance. Kushatha joined Old Mutual South Africa in 2010 as an Actuarial Specialist on a Solvency II programme and was then seconded to London as an ORSA Subject Matter Expert. She returned to work closely with the Old Mutual leadership in South Africa as an Executive Assistant to the then OM South Africa CEO. Prior to joining Old Mutual, she was with KPMG Botswana and SA as an Actuarial Consultant
digitised, more from necessity as customers are demanding digitally enabled options. Eventually the trend will come to Botswana, and we will already be prepared when it does.” And moving with the times also entails expanding product ranges in order to remain relevant. Indeed, Old Mutual has always been a pioneer in providing specialised insurance in Botswana, its focus being on tourism, large industry and all forms of mining taking place in the country. Now the company has expanded into the line of export credit insurance. This allows its customers not only to cover the products they export and import against physical loss or damage, but also secure payment for such products should they not be forthcoming. Such developments leave Randall optimistic about what lies ahead for Botswana and the next chapter for Old Mutual in Botswana. Its ongoing
FINANCE
mission being to bring greater financial security and inclusion to the nation’s citizens and businesses. For now, however, the priority is on navigating the current waves created by the pandemic. Randall concludes: “We will focus on our customers and broker partners. COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the economy and in turn all participants. It is essential that we work closely with them to weather the storm and make sure they walk away from this pandemic in the best position possible.”
Old Mutual Offices, Gaborone Branch
OLD MUTUAL BOTSWANA Tel: +267 399 5700 www.oldmutual.co.bw
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 99
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
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EDUCATION
Standing Side by Side with Ethiopia Addis Ababa University President Tassew Woldehanna explains how the institution is intertwined with Ethiopian society, no better shown than by its response to the COVID-19 pandemic Writer: Marcus Kaapa | Project Manager: James Mitchell
A
ddis Ababa University (AAU) is a major hub for research and development within Ethiopia and the whole of East Africa. From humble beginnings and only 33 students at the time of its founding in 1950, AAU has risen to be the most prominent research university in the country, with sights set on the top 10 within the entire African continent. “AAU takes learning and research conducting to a higher level and increases community engagement in order to record and attempt to answer the problems of wider society,” says Professor Tassew Woldehanna, introducing the remit of the organisation, of which he is President. The university stands out as an exceptional academic institution and promotes its mission of producing competent and learned graduates, need-based community services and problem solving through innovative education, as well as a research focus to foster socioeconomic development within the country.
Woldehanna has spent his working life growing the capability of industry and academic institutions. With his beginnings as an agronomist, he intended to work for the Ministry of Agriculture for many years. However, autonomy had always been an aspect of work that Woldehanna deemed very important, and it had not been necessarily available in his earlier career. “I began working for higher education so that I could research and teach subjects that are deemed important for the country,” he says. To Woldehanna, a role that dealt with the development of an industry or the wider society required autonomy. He believed that the freedom of working methods and lack of time restrictions provided the opportunity to work harder and convey proper ideas and research. He knew that the freedom to work as he wished would lead to greater industry accomplishments through uninterrupted study. With that in mind Africa Outlook issue 86 | 101
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
AAU AT A GLANCE Beginning with the enrolment capacity of 33 students in 1950, AAU now has around 47,000 students (roughly 28,000 undergraduate, 17,000 Master’s and 2,000 PhD students) and 8,700 staff made up of academics, admin support and more than 1,200 health professionals. In its 14 campuses, the university runs 70 undergraduate and 293 graduate programmes (72 PhD and 221 masters), and various specialisations in health sciences. Over 222,000 students have graduated from AAU since its establishment.
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he left the ministry of agriculture and joined a university where he achieved many personal accolades and graduated in agricultural economics in 1994. However, he was not finished with institutions of higher education. An MA and PhD later, Woldehanna branched into a career path that represented the values and potential for societal change he had always strived for. He went from working as a visiting professor and research assistant to a fully-fledged professor of economics. To this day Woldehanna works under the AAU’s research influence representing the university’s aims of developing wider society through the education system. “There is no development without the input of education,” he adds. “Universities are able to change the lives of people in developing countries through research-backed governmental policies. Innovative new ideas, technology and general societal
Mallory International Ltd. Mallory International has been the main partner of the University Library, supplying books and equipment, for more than a decade. The Chairman, Julian Hardinge, remarks: “The Kennedy Library is one of our most important relationships in Africa. The professionalism and quality of their staff and is outstanding, and we are proud to help in developing their vision for the collection, both physical and electronic resources.” Tafesse Solomon, who has represented Mallory in Ethiopia for more than 10 years, comments: “It is always a pleasure to work with AAU, building the future of Ethiopia.”
Sancha Rees, Director 01395 238 188 ext. 202 sancha@malloryint.co.uk
EDUCATION
Mallory International is delighted to partner with Addis Ababa University and Africa Outlook in promoting the work we have done together. Mallory has been active across Africa since 1984. We are represented in more than 25 African countries, and are probably the leading supplier of books and educational resources to both the public and private sectors in many African markets. Addis Ababa University is one of our most important relationships. Mallory has been Addis Ababa University’s main supplier for books for the main Campus Kennedy library since 2009. We have successfully retendered twice during this period. Mallory was the main contractor supplying furniture and equipment to the new B+4 story building Library in the University Main Campus. We are a leading supplier of ebooks and electronic resources in Africa.
For any enquiries for books, ebooks, journals, educational resources or furniture, please contact; Sancha Rees, Director, Mallory International Ltd., Aylesbeare Common Business Park, Exmouth Road, Aylesbeare, Devon EX5 2DG, United Kingdom 01395238188 ext 202 sancha@malloryint.co.uk
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Email: obonvc@gmail.com Office: 011-896-1648
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 103
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
AAU – CORE VALUES EXCELLENCE: The University commits itself to the attainment of the highest standards in academic performance by delivering high-quality programs, promoting excellence in research and scholarly community engagement, and engaging the community in all university functions. INNOVATION: The University promotes the development of innovative ideas that are marketable and that address societal needs. ACADEMIC FREEDOM: The University upholds high academic freedom as its core value; where all members of the university community exercise full right for free expression of thought, scholarly dialogue, and fact-based ideas. RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY: The University ensures academic and non-academic responsibility and accountability through responsible decision making and prudent management of resources entrusted to it. INTEGRITY AND HONESTY: The University fosters honesty, integrity, fairness and ethical and professional codes of conduct in its teachinglearning, research, and managing of its resources. NATIONAL UNITY AND INCLUSIVENESS: The University embraces inclusiveness to facilitate the success of all stakeholders through working for a common good and promotes multicultural awareness, tolerance, unity and participation in decision making. CUSTOMER FOCUSED: The University strives to provide high quality services and benefits for its customers effectively and efficiently.
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development arise from the effects of education.” AAU provides a major support to other important societal bodies. The university has formed asymbiotic relationship with other government agencies that rely on AAU’s research capacity, and that provide the university the opportunities and authority to develop aspects of Ethiopian society and inform government policy. “It adds a lot to the social, economic and political development of the country,” Woldehanna continues. “Any government policies, or technological developments, utilise the involvement of the university. These include manufacturing, agricultural, and the healthcare industry.” In this way, AAU is ingrained into Ethiopian society as an institution that binds the many important government agencies together through the vision of academic achievement and planning. The university is tied to these industries, agencies, and governing bodies through a progressive and developmental attitude that stems from the influence of higher education.
EDUCATION
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American delegates visit Addis Ababa University in 2019
“More than 70 percent of ministers, the majority of business leaders, and all of the bank CEOs are graduates of the university,” Woldehanna says. Because of this, many different and important industries can improve and innovate in conjunction with academic research, ending in well thought out
and educated plans. “The university is one of the key factors towards the development of Ethiopia and its wider society, and so gains a lot of respect from the Ethiopian people,” Woldehanna continues. “It is a pioneering university and
contributes towards multiple spheres of development. It also supplies many individuals to the HR sector all over various institutions, including all government ministries, manufacturing industry, the private sector, and named government organisations.”
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 105
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY RESPONDING TO A CRISIS Ethiopian society has, as with almost every country around the world, had to face numerous health and socioeconomic challenges in 2020 brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has affected a multitude of industries and systems negatively, and the education system is without a doubt one of those hit the hardest. Universities across the globe have had to shift from tightly packed lecture halls and close-knit team seminars to distanced digital learning, hindering the social and academic learning of students. Like other universities, AAU had to adjust to virtual tuition and introduce lockdown measures across its multiple campuses. “The virus caused shock and disruption to the efficient system of the university and highly affected the way the university worked,” Woldehanna says. “It has been very challenging to limit the spread on the campuses, so our undergraduate students were sent home and the university was closed.” For AAU and the associated agencies, the virus has slowed everything in the works. The intertwined innovative research and culminating projects were brought to a near-pause causing a slower period of development, with research
resources being channelled into COVID-19 research. Meanwhile, both undergraduates and postgraduates faced their own problems away from campus. “Students began living in the city, where they had access to tools that allowed us to switch from face-toface teaching to virtual teaching,” Woldehanna says. “It compromises quality, but it was important to remain teaching because otherwise the damage to learning would be very high. This has not occurred without frequent challenges though – there has often been failure of electricity, and internet speed or accessibility problems.” AAU took multiple precautions to deal with the potential spread of the virus throughout its university network. “During the onset, we prevented all face-to-face interactions, made use of email over alternative options, and provided handouts to undergraduates and post-graduates further limit the spread of COVID-19,” Woldehanna continues. “On top of this, we doubled our internet speed at the university and prioritised internet speed and access to academic staff from home. We made various other improvements, like giving our staff the training required to provide digital teaching. For example, via Google and Zoom, so that they could reach out to students and focus
on major aspects of their courses.” When it came down to the end of the academic year, despite the obstacles yet holding true to the university’s values, AAU maintained a culture of teamwork and mutual support. “We were able to complete the yearly academic calendar of the post-graduate programme, including a virtual graduation in which the Ethiopian president gave a personal message. In total we managed to graduate 7,000 students this year,” Woldehanna says. “Usually we would graduate 10,000, but the undergraduate programme was utterly disrupted due to the students having to move off campus. Many of them live in rural areas that do not have access or the financial ability for the internet or mobile data. “To continue in this way would break into an inequality whereby students in the city could access the internet yet rural based students could not.” Additionally, on the other side of this challenge, the necessity to adapt has provided its own opportunities within the education system. “In the face of this challenge, we have been presented with an opportunity to open up new ways of conducting lessons and learning,” the President continues. “On top of this, there has been major funding and developments in the Ethiopian healthcare industry to which the university plays a part.” Thankfully, with methods of combatting COVID-19 currently a global effort, AAU has been able to adapt to the change and maintain its previous teaching capabilities. On top of this, with its continued partnerships with multiple entities the university is able to continue its important academic research towards Ethiopian development. “We have international partners that work with academic staff and studentbased exchange, as well as joint research and community exchange with foreign universities and institutes. Together we publish a large amount of
EDUCATION
academic and research articles and international journals,” Woldehanna says. “We also work alongside local organisations, either public or private, who work with us on university research and public engagement. On top of this we work with government organisations such as ministries, bureaus, and international organisations.” The university’s partners are profoundly important to the interconnectivity and collaborative work of research backed Ethiopian development. These partners help with practical, social, financial, and digital aspects of AAU’s functionality. “There are university partners that provide us services on a contracted and financial basis, and companies providing various software services such as those which help identify plagiarism. Additionally, there are companies that provide construction, sanitary and security services. “Because of this collaborative work
Addis Ababa University has welcomed delegations from all over the world
we are one of the top universities in Africa,” Woldehanna says. As for the future, AAU’s plans are understandably bold. “Our priority for the next five to 10 years is to enhance the status of our university among the top 10 research universities in Africa. We are currently the second best in East Africa at the moment, and we want to be the leading university, as well as among the top research universities in the world,” Woldehanna says, bringing the conversation to a close. “We want to provide more high
impact output in our science publications that are highly respected in the academic community and contribute more to the development of innovative technologies in our local sphere of industry. “Lastly, we want to increase the quality of our education, employability of our students, and increase the quality of our undergraduate and post-graduate courses. These will improve prospects for students and the university within the institution echelon.”
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY Tel: +251 (0) 111239752 poffice@aau.edu.et www.aau.edu.et
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 107
PORTS AND TERMINAL OPERATORS NIGERIA
NIGERIA’S
Port of Call With ever growing demands for its services, PTOL is rising to the challenge of delivering industry-leading services to its network of customers Writer: Marcus Kaapa | Project Manager: Lewis Bush
R
ivers State is one of the most industrious regions of Nigeria. Its capital and most populace city, Port Harcourt, is home to two major seaports that provide import and export shipping worldwide. The first of these seaports sits in Onne. The second is based in the heart of the city – Port Harcourt Port – where Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria (PTOL) is responsible for overseeing operations at berths 1-4 in Terminal A. From here, the city is connected to the many eastern regions of the country, a vital gateway into major domestic and regional markets.
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Furthermore, the eastern regions are home to the Nigerian oil and gas industry, the country’s major export earner and a vital commodity which is transported all over the world. “This is the key and indeed the heartbeat of Nigerian resources and wealth,” says Glenn Nilsson, PTOL’s Managing Director. Indeed, these factors have helped to transform PTOL into a nationally critical trading station. “PTOL has quickened the pulse of the city, attracting a growing number of business clientele and facilitating
the growth of regional industries,” Nilsson adds. The Managing Director has always enjoyed working in the supply chain industry. From his career beginnings at Kalmar, Sweden, he and his wife moved to Africa in 2002. Here he
SUPPLY CHAIN began working with the Danish container shipment company Maersk Line and the Dutch firm APM Terminals, in the form of multiple brown and greenfield start-up investments. These projects covered several years across many countries, including Kenya, Senegal, Angola, and Liberia. However, in 2015 they were forced to leave the latter due to the Ebola outbreak. Nilsson decided that the next best step was to move back to Sweden, yet he always intended to return to the African continent. “I decided to move from Sweden to Nigeria because I have always loved working in Africa,” he says. “Since my first time in Nigeria 18 years ago, I have seen a tremendous development in skills and knowledge among staff in this industry.”
TAKING UP THE MANTLE PTOL was originally established to answer the concession of the port, in the form of a bid, by Nigeria’s Federal Government in 2004. The company bid against multiple competitors and won. PTOL picked up the gauntlet of operating an inner-city private port in June 2006 in what proved to be a turning point for Nigerian shipping in the Rivers State. “It established Port Harcourt as the preferred maritime interface of eastern Nigeria,” Nilsson adds. Due to the huge and differing demands, as well as being the primary hub of its kind in the region, PTOL provides a large amount of services to the industry network.
PTOL’s multi-purpose terminal covers multiple forms cargo requirements, from general, containerised and bulk, to liquid and roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) vessel cargo. As far as services are concerned, the company offers vessel berthing, stevedoring, and positioning for examinations, as well as various cargo services such as documentation, discharge and loading, delivery and storage. “Our company has gained a competitive edge, which makes us one of the leading terminals in Port Harcourt,” Nilsson comments. Indeed, PTOL provides multiple industry advantages in Nigeria’s Rivers State region. Its base in Port Harcourt represents a strategic industrial location – from the city, the operation has access to a comprehensive road network as well as many waterways.
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 109
PORTS AND TERMINAL OPERATORS NIGERIA
“OUR COMPANY HAS GAINED A COMPETITIVE EDGE, WHICH MAKES US ONE OF THE LEADING TERMINALS IN PORT HARCOURT”
PTOL’S FACILITIES IN BRIEF BERTHS AND QUAYS DIMENSIONS: PTOL’s berth is a total length of 650 metres straight. The berth is modern and safe for vessels, with the channel draft averaging a depth of 9.5 metres. TERMINAL STORAGE CAPACITY: PTOL has six warehouses and transit sheds for the storage of cargoes. Its stacking areas measure over 150,000 square metres for the stacking of containerised and general cargoes. EQUIPMENT: Reach stackers, empty handlers, forklifts, pay loaders, trucks, cranes, and tippers.
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This location and network combination allows PTOL to reach the major markets situated in the eastern regions, such as the markets of Aba, Nnewi, Onitsha, Obosi, Enugu, Owerri, as well as the northeast and north central parts of the country. Port Harcourt Port also functions, as expected, like a well-oiled machine. PTOL communicates berthing logistics to attendants in advance which grants it a competitive edge in turn-aroundtime, reducing the logistical cost and increasing cargo delivery efficiency. In addition to this, the company owns fleets of Kalmar container handling equipment that offers fast and efficient cargo handling. PTOL’s tariff system is also a point of difference. With free periods of three days for general cargo storage, seven days for import container vessels, and 10 days for export containers, PTOL works tirelessly to provide friendly and beneficial services. The terminals are ISPS compliant
and the company also ensures the protection of cargos and port users through relevant security agencies, keeping both port and people safe. Further, PTOL operates on a 24-seven basis in order to better serve its customers. Working around the clock allows terminal customers to be free and flexible with their planning, and in turn this makes operational planning for cargo much more efficient. The final minor, but no less important, addition, is the complete digitisation of all services. Bills can be raised and received by email, reducing confusion, effort, and hassle.
AN EXPANSIVE FUTURE Capability and service expansion is at the forefront of PTOL’s future. Here, the company is investing in infrastructure to better serve its customers, paving the way for a more ergonomic system. “We want to consolidate on our gains and increase our capacity,” Nilsson continues.
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 111
PORTS AND TERMINAL OPERATORS NIGERIA
LEADERSHIP FOCUS
GLENN NILSSON Q: What or who has been a source of inspiration for you during your career? Glenn Nilsson: “There are so many good leaders I have looked up to during my career, everything from teachers and family members to military commanders’ supervisors and business leaders. “Back in 2005 I reported to a terminal manager Steven Jansen from South Africa. He showed me the true meaning of taking responsibility, and how to really own a task, assignment or position. I am indebted to him and I have let him know as well. It developed and diversified my leadership in a big way. “I have always liked adventure and to broaden my horizons, I guess curiosity in people and processes are an inspirational factor. “Another definite driver for me is to develop people and build strong teams that have the confidence to develop their own culture and to take decisions independently.”
112 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria has world-class weighbridge facilties “As well as acquisition of more cargo handling equipment (CHEs), we are expecting delivery of mobile harbour cranes, reach stackers, forklifts, and trucks for vessel operations. “We are looking at the installation of an additional weighbridge for gate-out operations for bulk cargoes especially. This would ensure the actual tonnage of cargo captured while also improving traffic across the terminal.” On top of this, PTOL has plans for the modification of a shed warehouse structure designed to expand its stacking areas, while one of the most important investment projects being undertaking involves quayside
renovations. “This work is to ensure that the quays remain available and reliable for the many port services we provide,” Nilsson says. “This includes maintenance or replacement of berth fenders, and reinforcement of facilities to support offloading cargo handling cranes. We intend to put in service mobile harbor cranes for speedier operations and handling larger cargo.” Amongst the busy improvements PTOL has planned, there is much on the table with regards to workforce and customer investment. “We are engaging in more training
SUPPLY CHAIN
POWERED BY PARTNERSHIPS Asked about the importance of PTOL’s network of partners and suppliers, Nilsson is quick to acknowledge the impact such relations have in its everyday operations. “PTOL serves as the meeting point for importers, exporters, consignees and producers,” he explains. “Our major supply chain operation is to serve as a vital link for suppliers to producers, unto end users.” “PTOL works with the best of business partners to facilitate our success story. Shipping lines, logistics companies, industries, oil services and related companies, freight forwarders and government agencies, to name but a few.
for our staff and enhancing our digital functionality for easier business and customer interaction,” the Managing Director adds. PTOL is also collaborating with the Nigerian Port Authority with plans to dredge terminal berths to accommodate larger vessels, increasing the capacity it can offer customers. With all this in the works, Nilsson is rightly confident about a bright future for Port Harcourt and the impact this can have on Nigeria’s development moving forwards.
“Our excellent relationships with our customers and government has been built over time and is the underpinning of our growth strategy.” PTOL also boasts a robust working relationship with the maritime labour union, who are critical stakeholders in the company’s port operations. The company collaborates with the union to create an environment in which operations can function in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
PORTS AND TERMINAL OPERATORS NIGERIA Tel: 08090475606, 08162955029 info@ptolnigeria.com www.ptolnigeria.com
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 113
GMT NIGERIA
“WE MAKE IT
HAPPEN!� From the coast to waterways, Karim Said talks about the greatest challenges and newest innovations that have formed within the Nigerian logistics industry, and how GMT Nigeria is leading the way Writer: Marcus Kaapa | Project Manager: Lewis Bush
SUPPLY CHAIN
E
stablished over 25 years ago, it is fair to say that GMT Nigeria has evolved. It has grown from its past sole objective, that of assisting the overcoming of the logistic challenges faced by clients, to one of the top and most prominent imports and exports industry leaders in the country. “With almost 1,000 employees, 400 trucks, and a large fleet of barges, tug boats, cranes, reachstackers, and heavy equipment spread over four terminals and locations across Lagos, GMT has been able to provide a variety of services to cater for every need of our 350-plus client base,” says CEO Karim Said. “Logistics services include barging, haulage, distribution, warehousing, door-to-door, and of course our most sought after haggle free service, where we guarantee cost and delivery timelines.” Prior to his career with GMT, during the mid-90s Said decided to move to West Africa where he lived in the bustling city of Lagos for several years before moving to the US. Cut to almost a decade later when, with family ties and fond memories of Nigeria, he jumped at the chance to return and work for GMT when the opportunity arose in 2008.
Karim Said, CEO, GMT Nigeria Africa Outlook issue 86 | 115
GMT NIGERIA “Nigeria has a special place in my heart with beautiful memories,” he continues. “It is the reason that I decided to come back when I was offered a job.” Since his start, Said has watched the company grow and broaden its services. Even through the current global pandemic, the logistics industry in Nigeria remains an engaging sphere. “It is quite challenging at the moment to say the least,” he says, “but a very exciting field to be in indeed. The action is 24-seven and the energy it creates is like no other.”
STANDING APART GMT is not alone in an industry which houses a number of competitors facing similar challenges, and Said explains which aspects of the company place it apart and above. “The company vision and agility have been the major factor in differentiating GMT from the pack,” he says. “Our experienced team members have always been our strongest feature, and with the support of our shareholders, we were able to bring our vision to life, creating one of the largest logistics hubs in the country.” The company prides itself on self-improvement as well as providing specific aspects of its service, such as Import financing. This optimises the 116 | Africa Outlook issue 86
import processes for clients, resulting in fluidity and ease of cash flow management. On top of this, the logistics services provided are customised to suit the various clients’ specific requirements. “We have been investing heavily in our infrastructure to ensure that we control our destiny and achieve our future objectives,” adds Said. “In a nutshell, we make it happen!” Indeed, the company is constantly utilising innovative new ideas and methods in its logistical practices. The recent launch of the Barge Manage Solution is a prime example. “GMT was the first to realise that using the waterways is the only way to move forward,” Said continues.
“Considering the current infrastructure around the ports, the need to find an alternative solution for cargo movement was necessary.” The use of barges and waterways is a revolutionary practice in Nigerian logistics, Said going on to explain GMT’s barge plan and its success to date. “We embarked on a mission to acquire lands suitable for our purpose and developed it into terminals to handle the volume of cargo we are handling for our clients,” he says. “It has been a great addition to our operation and has given us an edge over everyone in the market. “Less than a year after we made the decision, we became the largest barge operator in Lagos, moving over 5,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per month through the waterways and delivering the cargo to our clients just-in-time.”
LOOKING AHEAD Over the years GMT has expanded both its services and methods. Regarding growth, company hubs such as that of the river-based city of Port Harcourt remain places of importance – however, Harcourt has its limits, as Said explains. “GMT is already operational in Port Harcourt, but we do not offer our full range of services there. We are always willing to expand in the East if we have
SUPPLY CHAIN
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requirements for the same, but the East has always been focused on the oil and gas industry and that is not part of our focus at the moment.” Rather, the focus for GMT is internal. “Continued investment is very important as we are still in the beginning of our journey,” Said adds. “We will have to keep investing heavily as we have been doing, and we hope to complete phase two of our project in the next three to six years.” Much of GMT’s business revolves around a dedicated workforce, strong partnerships with alternative businesses, and its customer base, each of which are equally important within the logistics industry. Worker, partner, and supplier relationships are key to the success of the company. “In addition to our team members, who are our main assets, we could not have gotten where we are now without the support of our partners, service providers, and customers,” expresses Said. “Our partners, like the shipping
lines and terminals, understand the importance of the services that GMT provides. They play a critical role in our ability to deliver as promised. “After all, our clients are their clients, and they need to make sure that their customers are happy. This makes our bond with our partners very strong and always mutually beneficial, making it a win-win for everyone.” Looking ahead, planning, and discovering opportunities in the industry will be key, as it has been with GMT’s growth thus far. According to Said, the company holds grand plans for the next few years. “We have two main targets to achieve in the coming 12 months,” he says. “The first target is to complete our 15-hectare logistics hub which is currently in phase two. The second target is to start executing our terminal project in Apapa which will last for three years until completion.” Despite the current industry
Need transport? We’ll make it a special project! obstacles caused by COVID-19, GMT is one company that has managed to make the most of an unfortunate situation. Through this opportunity, it has implemented innovative methods of practice that have given it an edge in the industry.
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 117
LIMAGRAIN ZAAD SOUTH AFRICA
Organic
Growth Limagrain Zaad South Africa is a collaborative new venture aiming to provide high quality seed to farmers across the country Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: Donovan Smith
W
ith many African countries reliant on imported food, governments, NGOs and private organisations are seeking to increase agricultural production within the country. Although the sector has vast potential – SubSaharan Africa has the highest area of uncultivated land in the world, for example – this has not yet been capitalised on. According to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, around 220 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are suffering from chronic undernourishment and hunger. Much of the sector is still mired in
118 | Africa Outlook issue 86
subsistence production, with farmers in Africa facing many challenges, including desertification and a lack of transport infrastructure. Poor quality seed is another. According to research conducted by Wageningen University, farmers in Africa lose up to half their anticipated yield due to poor quality seed. There is even ‘fake seed’ on the market, where seeds are mixed with grain and stored in packets which copy the logos of reputable companies. But one company wants to change all that and help increase food security on the African continent.
FOOD & DRINK
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 119
LIMAGRAIN ZAAD SOUTH AFRICA Limagrain Zaad South Africa was created in July 2020, a joint venture between three of South Africa’s leading agricultural seed companies: Link Seed (Group Limagrain), Klein Karoo Seed Marketing or K2 (Zaad Group), and Seed Co South Africa, part of the largest seed company on the continent. Eugene Muller was asked to lead the merger and become Managing Director of the new venture. “We have created one company providing a competitive multi-crop alternative for farmers in southern Africa – with a specific focus on South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia and Lesotho. This joint venture will constitute a major player in South
COMBINING FORCES Limagrain Zaad South Africa is the amalgamation of three companies: LIMAGRAIN: The controlling shareholder, an agricultural cooperative owned by French farmers and an international seed group. Its purpose is to cooperate to improve agriculture across the world through breeding, producing and distributing field seeds, vegetable seeds and cereal products K2 (ZAAD): Owns, develops, imports and distributes a broad range of agronomy, forage and vegetable seeds into Africa, Europe and other emerging international markets SEED CO SOUTH AFRICA: Develops and markets certified crop seed, predominantly hybrid maize seed, but also soya bean, barley, sorghum and groundnut seeds
120 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Africa, proposing a specific multi-crop approach and benefiting from critical mass in an already highly consolidated field seed market,” he says.
CREATING BENEFITS FOR FARMERS Limagrain Zaad South Africa is headquartered in Greytown and operates processing plants here and in Bethal. It has research stations in Potchefstroom and Bapsfontein and a solid network of distribution depots across the country, including many of South Africa’s cooperatives. It has around 300 staff spread across its sites, and sells to around 2,000 customers, the vast majority of whom are farmers. It focuses on breeding seeds from a limited range of crops, including maize and soybeans. It also sources, produces, processes and distributes a portfolio that includes all agronomic and pasture seeds commonly used in the region. The MD believes that Limagrain’s values and vision help differentiate it from other South African seed suppliers. “Most importantly, our controlling shareholder Limagrain is a French Cooperative. This means the group ultimately gets its direction from farmers and has intimate knowledge and understanding of what farmers really need. In a sense you could say the business is owned and directed by farmers and is not a typical corporate agri-business,” he explains. Limagrain is both an agricultural cooperative and international seed company, rooted in three core values: progress, perseverance, and cooperation. It provides farmers worldwide with innovative seed solutions based on plant genetics – helping create crops which are more resistant to pests and droughts, for example – which in turn improves the performance of agricultural systems. But Muller is also keen to emphasise that the other companies involved in
GMA Logistics An international network of agents, partners and associate operations ensures that GMA Logistics is globally positioned to offer customers personalised hands on service and support during all phases of the project, no matter where in the world a consignment is destined. It is an international network that not only ensures the facilitation of the most advanced freight and forwarding technology, but is positioned to call upon specialist skills when required, as well as taking into account the need to work within cultural and trading boundaries.
www.gmalogistics.co.za
the merger – Zaad’s K2 and Seed Co – also bring their own expertise to the merger. “By embracing the brands’ individual benefits and positioning them strategically, we create customer choice and a unique marketing opportunity for Limagrain Zaad South Africa,” the MD says. A second distinguishing characteristic of the company is that while most multinationals focus only on selected crops, Limagrain Zaad South Africa intends to carve out a niche as a supplier with a multi-crop offering to farmers while heavily investing in research and development (R&D). “Our local R&D activities will be managed as part of Limagrain’s global R&D programmes. This should benefit our farmers and our business significantly in the medium to long term, as we are now part of a seed business that invests around 15 percent of total turnover from seed sales back into R&D,” Muller says.
FOOD & DRINK
Proud of to Proud to to be be of service service toZaad. Yamaha Limagrain
Durban:
Durban: Arcache House,
22 Bay Terrace, Arcache House Durban 22 Bay Terrace, Tel: +27 31 337 5506 Durban Fax: +273131337 3375506 5474 Tel: +27 Fax: +27 31 337 5474
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Johannesburg: GMA House 102 Loper Avenue, GMA House Aeroport, 102 LoperSpartan Avenue Tel: +27 11 974 8914 Aeroport, Spartan Fax:+27 +2711 11974 9748914 6813 Tel: Fax: +27 11 974 6813
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DealBurman Party, Road 134 Port Elizabeth Deal Party Tel: +27 41 486 1404 Port Elizabeth Fax:+27 +27 41 41 486 486 1404 1403 Tel: Fax: +27 41 486 1403
www.gmalogistics.co.za www.gmalogistics.co.za A4 Ad draft4.pdf
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Limagrain Zaad South Africa
a new force in the seed industry
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One team ● Three brands ● Multicrop options
Lorem ipsum Link Seed (Group Limagrain), Klein Karoo Seed Marketing (Zaad Group), and Seed Co have created one new company to provide a competitive multi-crop alternative for farmers in Southern Africa.
Limagrain Zaad South Africa
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Greytown facility
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 121
LIMAGRAIN ZAAD SOUTH AFRICA
LEADERSHIP FOCUS
EUGENE MULLER Eugene Muller, a family man and man of faith at heart, is a chemical engineer by training and completed his MBA – he has operated as a Managing Director within various companies in the agricultural sector since 2010. He began his career as a metallurgist with Assmang Chrome and joined Omnia Fertiliser as a Senior Process Engineer in 2002, as the chemical processing plants it operated allowed him to make better use of his training. “At Omnia I have had a rich career filled with many stimulating challenges and opportunities, fulfilled several operational roles and was fortunate enough to be part of a total business re-engineering project before heading up their main manufacturing site in Sasolburg as Factory Manager,” he says. In 2012, Muller joined Kynoch (an innovative plant nutrition supplier), where he was soon appointed Managing Director. Towards the end of 2017 he joined Zaad as Managing Director, where he was responsible for its South African seed businesses K2 and Nuvance and the investment champion for Hygrotech. “I am privileged to have been asked as part of the merger to jointly lead Limagrain Zaad South Africa as the Managing Director,” he comments.
“The R&D conducted in South Africa will be almost double that which was done historically and will be much more effective and focused in the long run. We are therefore looking forward to improved genetics that we will have available as part of our offering to farmers, as this makes a significant difference on the farm.”
COMPASSION AND COLLABORATION Limagrain is also accustomed to building and maintaining long-term partnerships, expertise which Muller and his team intend to capitalise on. 122 | Africa Outlook issue 86
The Managing Director believes that relationships with partners and suppliers are critical to the success of the business. “We have long-standing relationships with suppliers of seed into crops where we do not do our own breeding,” he explains. “These relationships ensure that we can continue to provide a full portfolio of products to our clients. Some of these suppliers have also stood by us (as companies forming part of the JV) and supported us with payment terms and more at times when things were tough. We therefore cherish these
FOOD & DRINK
relationships and only intend to grow with our partners.” The company also has relationships with agricultural cooperatives across South Africa, which makes up an important aspect of its overall distribution network and ensures seed can be provided to its clients on time. This distribution network extends beyond South Africa’s borders, enabling it to provide its critical services to farmers in other countries. Collaboration is an ethos that extends beyond establishing a distribution network to compassionately supporting local farming communities,
something the company feels passionately about. “We support various players that are focused on mentoring emerging farmers and at times also make the produce from trials available as food support to the communities in which we operate, rather than delivering that as grain and earning an income from it,” Muller says. The conversation concludes optimistically, with Muller outlining ambitious targets to service around 10 percent of the maize seed market, 20 percent of the soybean and sunflower seed market and 25 percent of the forage seed market. This, he believes,
is best achieved through a continued collaborative approach. “Our goal for this year is to ensure we operate as one team, allowing everyone to be able to contribute – we believe we will be stronger together and we need to focus on what our clients really need from us,” he concludes.
The problem with including the “taglines” is that it makes the three logos imbalanced.
Tel: +27 (0)33 4171494/6 lgzsainfo@limagrain.com www.lgseeds.co.za
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 123
dhk ARCHITECTS
35 Lower Long The new 35 Lower Long is an elegant and dynamic tower building that will invigorate Cape Town’s Foreshore precinct
CONSTRUCTION
CONSTRUCTING OUT OF A CRISIS A year since our last interview, we caught up with Derick Henstra and his leading architectural firm based in South Africa. Henstra gives us an insight into the past year’s challenges, current developments, and future plans Writer: Marcus Kaapa | Project Manager: Eddie Clinton
We remain ceaselessly optimistic,” says Derick Henstra, Executive Chairman, dhk Architects. After last year’s interview, and despite clear challenges that have arisen since, optimism remains within the South African construction industry. “Although many architectural firms have reduced in size or shut their doors completely, dhk has been incredibly fortunate to have kept our heads above water.” Having held an interest in the architecture from his youth, Henstra has retained this energy in the industry today as the Executive Chairman of one of South Africa’s most distinguished architectural design firms. He was the founding figure of derick henstra architects (dha) in 1983, and after its merger with KCvR in 1998 (under the new name dhk), Henstra gained the title he has today, making him a leading figure within architecture firms for over 35 years. However, the past year has thrown Henstra and the company a challenging reality.
Derick Henstra Derick studied his architectural degree at the University of Cape Town and also completed a course in building studies at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He founded Derick Henstra Architects in 1983 after which dhk was established in 1998 to form a multi-disciplinary design studio Problems caused by both the technical recession and COVID-19 have set things back for almost every industry, and it is no different for construction.
As of March 26, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa announced a nationwide lockdown to which dhk had to temporarily close its offices in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. “While we were not in our studios, our staff members took to their desks and began working from home in an attempt to flatten the curve through social distancing and self-isolation,” Henstra continues. “Under Alert Level 3, our team gradually returned to the office in Africa Outlook issue 86 | 125
dhk ARCHITECTS shifts. Currently, under Alert Level 1, our Cape Town and Johannesburg offices are open five days a week with teams rotating, spending three days in-office while maintaining our distance.” The shift from workplace to the home has been challenging, and a test of endurance for dhk. “Not without its difficulties,” Henstra says – however, he continues in a positive light. “The past 12 months have been busy. Late last year, we completed commercial heritage building 32 on Kloof, as well as Parklands College Secondary School’s Innovation and Learning Centre.” Both previous completed achievements and planned future constructions show promise for the company. March 2020 saw dhk’s completion of the 21,500 metresquared headquarters for Capitec Bank in Stellenbosch, considered a landmark project in South Africa, with more planned and on the way.
Capitec Bank stands as a recent and progressive achievement for dhk
126 | Africa Outlook issue 86
“We have several projects which will be completed before the yearend,” Henstra says. “Furthermore, we are proud to announce that we have a handful of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2021.” Capitec Bank stands as a recent and progressive achievement for dhk. ‘iKhaya’ (‘home’ in Xhosa) sits as the headquarters of the bank. Its modern design is developed with both aesthetics and practicality in mind, showing off various architectural aspects absent in the area since its construction. “The three-storey curvilinear building is defined by its dynamic interior architecture, which embodies the company’s progressive outlook and embraces the concept of agile working,” Henstra continues. “dhk’s holistic architectural approach considers both the exterior and interior to optimise corporate expenditure, internal flow, and sustainability. The design demonstrates that commercial
Frost International Frost International has been in the industry since 1970 – and in this time has formed a strong working relationship with DHK. Frost International provides a range of Entrance and Security solutions through BOON EDAM revolving doors, security doors and pedestrian speedlanes as well as FROST AUTOMATIC sliding doors, swing door operators and Hufcor Acoustic operable partitions. Over the years this has led to many successful projects with DHK, including; • • • • • • •
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CONSTRUCTION
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Africa Outlook issue 86 | 127
dhk ARCHITECTS offices can be innovative and costeffective while driving operational efficiencies.” Capitec Bank’s design shows recognition for the importance of ecological constructions coupled with positive pragmatism. Intentional design inter-connects various departments to achieve this. The interior design of hallways, offices, dramatic bridges and staircases, focuses the internal flow of the building, and communication is maximised. This provides workers with a shared hub of creative thinking. “Throughout the building’s ‘social spine’ there are a variety of breakaway areas, designed to fuel creativity and innovation by allowing employees to slip away from their resident desks,” Henstra explains. “Not only do these breakout areas increase job satisfaction, but they boost staff productivity and efficiency as well. Furthermore, Capitec championed environmental sustainability and employee wellbeing throughout the building.” PROJECT SNAPSHOT
ELLIPSE WATERFALL (PHASE 1) The first high-rise luxury apartment development in Waterfall City, Gauteng. Featuring 620 brand-new apartments, the elegant form of the Ellipse Waterfall towers will deliver a distinctive and highly recognisable landmark in the heart of the suburb. The architecture is both bold and discreet, featuring a striking facade of glass and solid panels that allow the buildings to be presented as a singular, legible architectural form.
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CONSTRUCTION
On top of this, and rather fittingly, the new innovative design of the head office works effectively alongside the recent coronavirus workplace rules. Social distancing and limited interaction couple neatly with the vast space and multiple walkways; the latter of which give workers the space required to maintain a safe distance while navigating the building. “It is one of the largest and most progressive banks in Africa,” Henstra says. But the work is never complete for dhk. After being interviewed about other projects, Henstra mentions 35 Lower Long – a recently completed tower based in Cape Town. “This is a 27-storey tower that will invigorate Cape Town’s Foreshore
Ellipse Waterfall (phase 1) The first high-rise luxury apartment development in Waterfall City, Gauteng. precinct. Characterised by a singular sculpted massing, the dynamic glazed facades extend seamlessly over the office floors and parking levels,” he explains further. “The two main corners of the
building are chamfered towards the roof line, breaking its solidity. The glazing on these corners soar upwards past the roofline, further articulating the façade and extending past the building’s chamfered corners – giving the effect of a crystalline screen rather than a solid building mass. For me, it is elegant and dynamic”. The work of dhk not only covers the construction of practical and aesthetic buildings. Henstra explains how the designs of architecture firms must look toward communities in South Africa and facilitate beyond the ordinary. These have been influenced by the emergence of COVID-19 highlighting some important aspects of new thinking in construction. Africa Outlook issue 86 | 129
dhk ARCHITECTS For instance, public space is now more important than ever. With the current restrictions on human interaction, the South African mindset has shifted from traditional space efficiency to focus on outdoor elements. “There will be a much bigger focus on movement and exercise,” Henstra says. “For example, Europe is claiming back its streets where the movement of streets is now being shared with people, cyclists and cars.” The re-purposing of buildings has become an opportunity for architectural innovation. Constructions such as office blocks and shopping centres have become disused, empty, and unable to be occupied by commercial or retail clients. “In South Africa, we have a massive housing shortage – thus, these large buildings can be converted into housing opportunities and facilities,” Henstra continues. “We, as architects, should be extremely aware of re-purposing buildings.”
PROJECT SNAPSHOT
CONRADIE PARK (PHASE 1) This is a 22.1-hectare mixed-use development, primarily focused on an integrated housing scheme. A Western Cape Government BLMEP (Better Living Model Exemplar Project), it is one of the five ‘gamechanger projects’ within the Western Cape Province. Once complete, the development will have guaranteed delivery of over 3,000 housing units for a mix of income groups.
CONSTRUCTION This leads the conversation into the topic of sustainability, a continuing and prevalent global issue which has always been an extremely important aspect of architectural design. Green buildings are in demand more than ever and the need for sustainability to be widespread is an increasingly shared view.
“Less emphasis should be placed on achieving a Green-Star building and more emphasis should be placed on making sustainability the norm,” Henstra says, pointing to the aforementioned Capitec project to explain. “Capitec’s new headquarters is a prime example of this, which
PROJECT SNAPSHOT
OXFORD PARKS Oxford Parks extends the vibrant, pedestrian environment of Rosebank along the Oxford Road corridor, linking it to the emerging retail and office node of Illovo. Situated between Cradock Avenue and Oxford Road, it will create a major mixed-use town centre in the emerging multipolar structure that characterises Johannesburg. In addition to the urban design framework, dhk designed commercial buildings 203 Oxford and 6 Parks Boulevard which are currently under construction.
includes sustainability practices which were integral from the outset. With three floors and very few confined lifts, the building boasts plenty of natural light and ventilation with beautiful compartment space for the departments.” Lastly, space within the workplace requires greater attention. With the gradual shift back to the office from home underway, there is a need for office complexes to be re-designed or rearranged. COVID does not seem to be leaving us any time soon and safe adaptation is the focus. “We cannot ignore that we will still require defined office spaces,” Henstra says. “One certainty is that we will have to place a great emphasis on HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) – natural ventilation will be key.” As for the future, the South African construction industry remains in gradual recovery and is aiming for a return to offices (within strict COVID19 boundaries) in the coming year. Despite the hurdles faced, optimism remains and with new challenges comes greater innovation. “While the architectural industry was one of the first to be affected by COVID-19 (bear in mind that we were in a technical recession beforehand), our business development team needs to get out there and pursue new work to ensure business continuity and drive the economy,” Henstra goes on to say. “We must remember that COVID19 is not the end of the world – we simply must soldier on to stimulate our economy and ultimately prevail stronger as a country.”
dhk ARCHITECTS Tel: +27 21 421 6803 hello@dhk.co.za www.dhk.co.za
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EPCM HOLDINGS After gaining the necessary experience, I convinced my boss at the time that we should start our own business. That’s how EPCM was born. We started out as two people in a section of the office building we now use for our bar. From there the company grew to the 700 people we employ today.” Tom Cowan could easily have been an automotive engineer instead of running his own oil and gas engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracting firm. Upon graduation, he was in the enviable position of weighing up four job offers from different industries, a conundrum which his father helped solve through what has proven to be some incredibly sage, long-term advice. “The offer I had in the oil and gas sector had the lowest salary of all the offers,” Cowan continues. “Luckily, at that stage, my dad encouraged me to move into the industry and not look at starting salaries. If it wasn’t for that advice, I would be designing gearboxes now. “After gaining solid oil and gas pipeline expertise, I moved to a large multinational company to acquire international large project experience.” The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Today, EPCM Holdings stands as a global engineering project and product development house. Headquartered in Centurion, South Africa, the company operates with a global reach – it offers various design and construction services in the oil and gas, pipelines and transportation, storage, aviation fuel, hydrocarbon processing, retail fuel stations, offshore, industrial, technology, mining and pharmaceutical sectors. Such services span from concept development through engineering design, procurement, EPC and turnkey, construction and commissioning to operations and maintenance, EPCM’s client base consisting of leading government and private-sector companies. 132 | Africa Outlook issue 86
The All in One O&G Contractor EPCM Holdings continues to provide turnkey solutions to its clients across the world despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, its ability to cover every stage of a project proving a key differentiator Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Josh Hyland
OIL & GAS
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EPCM HOLDINGS And it is this catch all approach and offering which, for Cowan, explains the company’s success to date. “Our industry is definitely one of the industries that battles with change,” he says. “It’s a very old school type of thinking and companies like to do things the way they have done it in the past. This works perfectly into our favour and opens a lot of exciting opportunities to do things differently. “EPCM has disrupted the oil and gas industry in Africa by changing the way we contract. The traditional contracting method was set up for consultants to engineer and manage the projects and contractors to build the projects. “We follow a complete turnkey model where we engineer, procure, construct and commission the projects. This is all done in-house and saves the clients both time and money.” Indeed, the turnkey approach has paid dividends through what has been a challenging year.
COVID-19 has disrupted almost every industry around the world, and oil and gas projects across Africa have been put on hold as a result of lockdown measures. However, Cowan explains that EPCM has been able to continue making progress in the engineering and procurement phases of projects, the adoption of remote working technologies and methods enabling it to continue serving clients. “It has obviously a difficult time for the whole world, and we also had some of our sites closed during this period,” the CEO says. “But, as with everything, you can choose to have the glass half full and that’s exactly what EPCM did. “We developed a ventilator that could help the masses in Africa for a very affordable price. Our teams commissioned projects remotely with video streams and smart hard hat technology. We opened up our products division that will provide
“OUR ENGINEERING AND PROCUREMENT PHASES FOR ALL PROJECTS CONTINUED AND THIS LEFT US IN A VERY STRONG SPACE COMPARED TO COMPETITORS THAT DID NOT OFFER THE FULL TURNKEY PACKAGE” – TOM COWAN
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Rare Plastics Rare Plastics achieves certification for manufacture of HDPE gas pipe RARE Plastics, HDPE pipe manufacturer and distributor, achieved its SANS ISO 4437.2 certification to manufacture HDPE gas pipe. “Rare Plastics believes in setting the benchmark for quality in our industry, so achieving this certification ensures that we continue to strive for perfection. It enables us to give our clients the assurance that they are purchasing a certified quality product,” said Ashin Tasdhary, RARE Plastics, MD. Rare’s first gas pipe supply project, for client EPCM, includes the supply of over 60km of gas pipes, in diameters ranging from 90mm to 355mm, for the largest natural gas project in SA.
www.rare.co.za
OIL & GAS
EPCM Holdings’ Management Team
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 135
EPCM HOLDINGS
EPCM Holdings conquering the highest point in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro
OIL & GAS “As each project is unique, we have a procurement strategy for each project we enter into,” Cowan adds. “We have suppliers all across the world and having a strong relationship with them makes our business stronger and more flexible to provide the best solution to our customers.” These relationships will be critical in EPCM’s bid to expand not only its African presence, but also its client base across the world over the next year. Despite the obvious challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cowan is determined to carry on the company’s growth journey. Indeed, the CEO is looking ahead to the future
Tema LNG Project - Water Bath Heater Fabrication
engineered products and skids globally to reduce onsite construction services. “Our engineering and procurement phases for all projects continued and this left us in a very strong space compared to competitors that did not offer the full turnkey package.”
WORK IN ACTION From Zimbabwe and Botswana to Tanzania and South Africa, EPCM’s project portfolio spans much of the African continent (and further afield). Among its most significant ongoing contracts is its work at Ghana’s Tema port, one of West Africa’s most important trading hubs and gateway to global trade. Here, the company is appointed as the EPC contractor for LNG imports, which sees gas delivered via tanker and re-gassed to feed a 500 MW power station, a site which was originally powered by diesel fuel. “The project is one of the first LNG import projects in Africa and opens the market for a new way of moving energy in Africa,” Cowan says. “By converting the diesel power station to run on gas, it reduces emissions and contributes to a cleaner environment.” In South Africa, EPCM is currently busy executing the EPC phase of a
project for Renergen, the only licenced onshore gas operator in the country. Holding an exploration license covering 187,000 hectares, TETRA4 (Pty) Ltd (a Renergen subsidiary) is developing the Virginia Gas Field located, approximately 320 kilometres south of Johannesburg in the Free State province. EPCM has been involved ever since the asset was acquired six years ago, initially assisting with the feasibility stage. “The project consists of 14 gas wells, 50 kilometres of gas gathering network, gas processing and liquefaction plant and also a helium liquefaction plant,” Cowan describes. “This field is the second largest helium find in the world and will have a major impact on the global helium market. EPCM is very proud to be part of this project and currently busy looking at the second phase that would involve more than 100 wells.” A key part of this and many EPCM projects is the procurement work conducted both directly and on behalf of clients. This relies on a network of partners and suppliers who the company must work with closely and effectively in order to deliver unmatched services.
in confident fashion, concluding the conversation on an optimistic note. “Our main aim for the next year is to continue to expand our African, North American and European operations,” he says, “offering the same products and services to a wider client base. We also have a few innovations up our sleeves that we are excited to launch through the course of 2021.”
EPCM HOLDINGS Tel: +27 (0)12 665 1085 info@epcmholdings.com www.epcmholdings.com
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EVENTS
Digital Energy Festival October 20 – November 26 | Online | www.clarion-energy.com/digital-energy-festival
The largest power and water utilities exhibition, online DIG ITAL EN ERGY Festival for Africa kicks off on October 20 when four of Clarion Events’ leading energy brands join forces with an unprecedented six-week tour de force of quality content and engagement from one point of entry, making it the largest ever energy event for the African continent. Three market-leading energy events, Africa Energy Forum, African Utility Week & POWERGEN Africa and the Oil & Gas Council’s Africa Assembly, alongside the leading 138 | Africa Outlook issue 86
energy journal ESI Africa, will bring you the Digital Energy Festival until 26 November 2020. Several other Clarion Events’ market-leading trade publications are also partners in the digital offering, including Smart Energy International, Power Engineering International, Renewable Energy World, Hydro Review and Mining Review Africa. Over 5,000 attendees are expected to register for the festival, which will employ AI technology to match attendees with relevant content
and networking opportunities for a personalised event experience over the six-week period. Experts representing upstream oil and gas, power, energy, manufacturing, trade and mining will deliver critical business updates and information for Africa’s energy professionals, helping you stay at the forefront of innovation as Africa looks ahead to the fifth industrial revolution. Access a world of content and AI-powered networking through intimate board rooms, fireside chats, digital dialogues, coffee mornings, online awards, country spotlights, masterclasses, digital-education, certified learning, online sales and lead generation via the digital marketplace.
20 October – 26 November 2020
Yo u r d i g i ta l g at e way t o e n e r gy i n A f r i c a
H o s t p u b l i c at i o n
S i x w e e k s . F o u r e v e n t s . O n e p l at f o r m . w w w.c l a r i o n - e n e r gy.c o m / d i g i ta l- e n e r gy- f e s t i va l
EVENTS
Market Access Africa November 23-26 | Durban, South Africa | www.access-africa.com
A global forum for food and agriculture buyers and sellers M ARKET ACCESS Africa (MAA) is the global meeting place for food and agriculture buyers and sellers – promoting African food and agriculture commodities, scaling up processing, development of robust supply chains as well as tailor-made financial schemes – while providing opportunities to access new and existing markets to impact companies bottom line. Organised by the African Agri Council (AAC) in partnership with African governments and leading agribusinesses, MAA will provide a global platform for stakeholders to identify the latest technologies that will raise the continent’s food and agricultural productivity, link to trading services and discuss policy reforms in order to curb Africa’s annual import bill. MAA connects the entire food and agriculture value chain with a focus on market access. We need to harness the latest technologies, apply the right 140 | Africa Outlook issue 86
policies and raise the continent’s food and agricultural productivity to curb its annual import bill. • Connect agri producers with exporters and buyers to expand into new markets to impact company bottom line • Connect food producers and processors with trade financiers, banks and impact investors to increase their turnover and get the right financial partners • Connect exporters and buyers to reliable commodity suppliers therefore creating an actual market place • Maximize profit across the agri-food value chain by connecting demand to suppliers • Value Chain Connect – plug and integrate African agribusinesses to regional and international value chains
WHAT TO EXPECT Pre-event workshops – tailor made breakout sessions designed to guide a large number of people through a specified topic in a structured way, encouraging communication and participation with structured, formal output. Thinktanks – smaller break-out sessions (sector led) covering specific topics, opportunities and challenges. Discussions to feature in the business intelligence report. Agritech and services expo – a dedicated space to enable key stakeholders to showcase their products or services to a broad audience of participants. B2B matchmaking – designed to match business interests, the matchmaking service provides all attendees with the opportunity to make their time at the event more productive and will have the functionality to pre-schedule meetings.
23-26 November 2020 I ICC, Durban, South Africa CONNECTING THE ENTIRE AGRI-FOOD BUSINESS VALUE CHAIN Market Access Africa (MAA) is the global meeting place for buyers and sellers across the entire agri-food business value chain Participate as a SPONSOR or EXHIBITOR and expand your food and agri business network! Get in touch to customise an ideal package for your company – www.access-africa.com/get-in-touch
600+ Delegates
35+
Countries represented
60+
Speakers
Participate as a DELEGATE! Register online before 31 July and save R3000! Quote MAA20AOM www.access-africa.com/register Our Hosts
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THE FINAL WORD To round off each issue, we ask our contributing business leaders for their views on the same question
WHAT OR WHO HAS BEEN A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR YOU DURING YOUR CAREER?
Derick Henstra, Executive Chairman, dhk Architects “My source of inspiration is not drawn from one architect or designer but a collective of inspired and talented architects and designers from across the world who are intent on pursuing design excellence. “This formidable group is characterized as having a steadfast commitment to achieving good, relevant architecture and who are intent on elevating the standard of excellence within the industry. I strive to be part of this collective who will continue to lead by example and inspire the next generation of future architects.”
Glenn Nilsson Managing Director, Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria “Everything from teachers and family members to military commanders’ supervisors, and business leaders. “Back in 2005 I reported to a terminal manager Steven Jansen from South Africa. He showed me the true meaning of taking responsibility, and how to really own a task, assignment, or position. It developed and diversified my leadership in a big way. “I have always liked adventure and to broaden my horizons, I guess curiosity in people and processes are an inspirational factor. 142 | Africa Outlook issue 86
Former US President Obama’s address at the Nelson Mandela 100 years Centenary Lecture
“Another definite driver for me is to develop people and building strong teams that has the confidence to develop their own culture and to take decisions independently.”
Eugene Muller Managing Director, Limagrain Zaad South Africa “If I had to name individuals it would be: Rudi Kriese, who appointed me initially at Omnia and had an incredible skill of always stretching me beyond what I thought I was able to cope with at the time. “Noël Fitz-Gibbon, who was my leader during the ERP replacement programme at Omnia, but was also a true mentor and life coach. “Gordon Hesom, my CEO at Kynoch, who I’ve had the privilege of working with in a time when I was literally doing my “on-the-job MBA” and significantly impacted my understanding and knowledge of business. “My wife and kids are a great support in my life and, as a follower of Christ, the Bible itself is my source of life with God ultimately being my CEO wherever I go.”
Leo Dlamini CEO & Principal Officer, Bestmed Medical Scheme “The question of who or what has been one’s inspiration during one’s career suggests that the inspiration is static. This could not be further from the truth. Inspiration in one’s career changes over time depending on what drives them and the prevailing context at a point in time. “If I had to highlight a few of the significant sources of my inspirations the former president of South Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki stands out. “His attention to detail, global perspective, ability to see how things integrated into a system, ability to inspire with his ideas and choice of words, while still being a poet was astounding. “Another source of my inspiration are words from former US President Obama’s address at the Nelson Mandela 100 years Centenary Lecture. “He states that ambition is not the aspiration to accumulate personal wealth, but instead the ability to direct one’s position, influence and wealth towards making a positive difference to someone else that needs help.”
Supercharging smart solutions across Africa... RUBICON GROUP
ENERGY & UTILITIES
See page
56 36
ELECTRIFYING A CONTINENT Rubicon Group has a mission: to help every home, business and community in Africa become more sustainable and energy resilient Writer: Dani Redd | Project Manager: David Knott
It is less, ‘Alexa, turn on my lights’ and more, ‘can I please have some light when the grid fails?’.” I’m discussing smart technology and its application in an African context with Rick Basson, CEO of Rubicon Group. “Internationally, ‘smart’ is quite a broadly used term,” Basson continues. “It becomes a bit of a catch-all for quite a few technology trends. Generally, it is a focus on making sites more connected and resourceefficient, on enhancing the ease of navigating that site, improving employee wellness and employee safety. “There are some incredible smart buildings, particularly in the developed world. But we went to some of the international shows and while we thought the technology on offer was amazing, the application of it within Africa is somewhat niche. Our focus is a little lower on Maslow’s pyramid – we focus a lot on resilience and self-sufficiency.” One reason for this is that Africa has a notoriously unreliable energy supply. On the continent, 57 percent of the population lacks access to electricity,
Inside Rubicon Group’s Cape Town branch
SUPERCHARGING SMART SOLUTIONS ACROSS AFRICA
RUBICON GROUP
ENERGY & UTILITIES
The Group is also investing considerable time into developing its electric vehicle charging offering. With many contacts within the automotive industry, it wants to ensure it can help support the charging infrastructure for its clients. Meanwhile, it will also continue to focus on the lighting and automation side of its business. “We love off-grid solar lighting on a large scale, such as street-lighting and area lighting,” Basson enthuses. “It allows for safer environments, it’s more energy efficient and cheaper than doing all the infrastructure for streetlighting. It just makes so much sense, and is a really cool area for us going forward.” With a growing enterprise, one of his personal focuses, he explains, is the acquisition and training of new members of staff.
CASE STUDY
ALGOA FM In January 2020, Algoa FM moved into its new, purposebuilt building in Port Elizabeth’s Baakens Valley. In doing so the South African radio station faced a 50–80 percent increase in its electricity bills. It wanted to become more self-sufficient and reduce costs by generating some of its own power. Rubicon was bought onboard to assist with the planning and technology to integrate renewables into the building.
metal awnings on the north-facing side of the building. These unique awnings serve a dual purpose. They contribute 11kW of power – more than a quarter of the building’s total solar generating capacity – whilst shading the building. Surprisingly, these striking solar awnings proved more cost effective than traditional solutions. This is the first time in South Africa that these translucent solar panels have been used as awnings. Now, for approximately six hours each day, the building utilises mostly solar energy. In the six months since both the roof panels and the solar awnings were installed, they have covered 27 percent of the building’s total energy use.
often because grid infrastructure does not reach to its remotest corners. Rubicon also provided four off-grid solar The power sector also suffers a parking lot. These lights forfrom Algoa FM’s intelligent, energy-efficient lights dim lack of investment, inefficiency and automatically at quiet times of the night and revert tothose full brightness when their inadequate infrastructure, while built-in motion sensors detect movement. Bluetooth connected to the grid arecapability subjected to allows the lights to communicate with each and to be controlled and programmed using a power outages and tariff other fluctuations. mobile device. An electric vehicle charger, powered “When we talk about a smarter focus, indirectly by the building’s solar panels, was also installed in the car park. we don’t mean if a building knows your Midway through construction, Province Lighting – coffee preference,” Basson says. another division of Rubicon group – got involved to Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels totalling 29kW were provide decorative lighting for the building, which “It is more installed across the entire double pitchabout roof in eastthe and resilience of enhanced and filled gaps left by natural light and west-facing orientations. Port Elizabeth, solar panelsin an uncertain beingInable to operate standard fittings. It installed an oval suspended are most effective when north-facing and at a 31° tilt. environment, whether it’sCentaurus a lacklight ofin the boardroom, with one row of LEDs The building design meant this wasn’t possible, so illuminating the ceiling and another the table. Circular Rubicon used SolarEdge technology to select panels to lights energy were suspended from the ceiling in the open-plan security, lack of water or the optimise power generation at less-than-ideal tilts and office, used by the architects to symbolise champagne orientations. Thissupply means every generated is used,we focus in the –watt that’s where bubbles and celebration. The entertainment area draws even when parts of one or more panels are in shade. in the eye witha a long, wave-like light, designed to look private sectortheand our group has In traditional solar panel arrangements, power like a soundwave that increases in volume as one walks generating capacity of all panels decrease even when massive role to play.” further into the room. Algoa FM’s Technical Manager,
Rick Basson serves as CEO of Rubicon Group having been influential in the company’s founding
only one panel is shaded. The SolarEdge portal allows AlgoaFM to monitor and manage the performance of the panels.
Chris Wright, said that the lights had a “massive wow factor”.
Africa Rubicon suggested another way to generate extraOutlook power for the building. Translucent, frameless mono PERC solar panels were used in place of traditional,
issue 86 | 3
LOOKING AHEAD The Group has several key priorities for the upcoming year. One of these is building out its B2B e-commerce platform, which involves developing an end-to-end online platform that incorporates everything from an lead generation tool to an online store, incorporating design tools and a training database. The offering is largely intended for smaller contractors to be able to build their businesses, as larger organisations tend to have the human resources and capital to develop such offerings themselves. The CEO outlines a phased approach to development, which began with the recent soft launch of the ecommerce platform to key clients. Rubicon Group is aiming for the entire platform to be operational within the next 12 months. “That digital journey for a lot of businesses is becoming nonnegotiable. But we are particularly putting a lot of effort into it now because we see the massive opportunity there, and the value-add for our customers,” Basson explains.
12 | Africa Outlook issue 86
“WE LOVE OFF-GRID SOLAR LIGHTING ON A LARGE SCALE, SUCH AS STREETLIGHTING AND AREA LIGHTING... IT ALLOWS FOR SAFER ENVIRONMENTS, IT’S MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT AND CHEAPER”
Initially, Rubicon Group drew upon its industry knowledge and relationships to find staff by reputation, skillsets and contacts. Having begun to outgrow this pool, Basson is developing a more processdriven approach to HR, which involves identifying new staff who both have the relevant skillset but also a similar value-system to Rubicon Group. This will be necessary if the Group is going to continue to expand into other emerging markets – an opportunity it is looking into although some of these opportunities may need to be deferred because of the current need in Africa. “In many ways we are doing enough already, because at the moment we are struggling to keep up with the demand we’re facing right now. A big focus is in scaling our systems and operations in order to keep up,” Basson concludes. It is clear that Rubicon Group has a fundamental role to play in providing sustainable, energy-efficient solutions to businesses and communities in Africa – a role that looks set to continue growing in the future.
www.rubicongroup.co www.rubiconsa.com www.provincelighting.com
Africa Outlook issue 86 | 13
The Rubicon Group has told its story. Now, why not tell yours? Our monthly magazine Africa Outlook is essential reading for business executives wanting to keep up with the latest in global news and trends affecting African businesses across all industries. With a monthly coverage of over 185,000 readers, your company can take advantage of exposure in Africa Outlook with a FREE article and FREE digital brochure, as well as access to further digital and print-based marketing tools that could transform your business. To share in this unrivalled opportunity, contact one of our project managers today!
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www.africaoutlookmag.com/work-with-us SUSTAINABLE AND SMART Rubicon Group has a mission: to help every home, business and community in Africa become more sustainable and energy resilient
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