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Rwanda Focus Stepping out of the neighbours’ shadows

Ă‹ Nigeria: Can Buhari put out Delta blaze? Ă‹ Kenyatta/Ruto: End of the Bromance Ă‹ Power: Green energy is the real deal

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Growth

After the crash,

the fightback African leaders try economic nationalism to beat the commodity trap INTERNATIONAL EDITION

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Rwanda Focus Stepping out of the neighbours’ shadows

CONTENTS

• Nigeria: Can Buhari put out Delta blaze? • Kenyatta/Ruto: End of the Bromance • Power: Green energy is the real deal

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THE AFRICA REPORT # 79 - APRIL 2016

Growth

After the crash,

the fightback African leaders try economic nationalism to beat the commodity trap

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 40 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

BUSINESS

04 EDITORIAL Fearmongers in the frame

72 ERITREA Dig deep The Bisha mine is the first in what the government hopes is a renaissance in the mining sector, despite resistance from activists

06 LETTERS 08 THE QUESTION

BRIEFING 10 SIGNPOSTS

22

12 INTERNATIONAL 14 PEOPLE 20 CALENDAR

FRONTLINE

76 AVIATION Air Madagascar loses altitude 78 LEADERS Qalaa Holdings’ Karim Sadek

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22 THE CRASH AND THE FIGHTBACK Beating the commodity trap From Sierra Leone to South Africa, African countries are regularly tossed on the seas of natural resource prices. Is there any way to break the cycle?

82 Green is the real deal Solar power and other renewable energy sources are fast approaching cost parity with fossil fuels, leading to a blossoming of projects in Africa

30 NIGERIA Delta force again Pipeline bombs and political violence underlie a new threat to the nation’s unity

86 POWER AFRICA Obama’s signature policy fails to wow 88 INTERVIEW Tanzania’s Tanesco boss, Felchesmi Mramba

36 KENYA A broken Bromance

COVER CREDITS: BAUDOUIN MOUANDA FOR JA; AP PHOTO/SIPA; VINCENT FOURNIER/JA

42 INTERVIEW Egypt president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi 47 SOMALIA Drones and elections

ART & LIFE

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90 PHOTOGRAPHY Adorn - what lies beneath An Ivorian photographer explores Senegalese beauty 94 BRIEFS Johannesburg’s Market Theatre celebrates its 40th anniversary, plus new Addis art space

48 SUDAN The opposition after al-Turabi 48 CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. New man, new plan

96 TRAVEL Mole National park in northern Ghana

COUNTRY FOCUS 51 RWANDA Bet it all on the firm While the country has pushed hard in recent years to develop a vibrant private sector, skills and market size remain obstacles THE AFRICA REPORT

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81 HANNIBAL Pipeline politics DOSSIER: POWER

POLITICS

40 EGYPT Sisi versus the civil service

80 FINANCE The end of South Africa’s ‘Big Six’

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98 DAY IN THE LIFE Sheetal Kotak lifts trophies

This issue carries an insert between 34-35 for selected countries

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EDITORIAL

THE AFRICA REPORT A Groupe Jeune Afrique publication

BY PATRICK SMITH

57-BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL – 75016 PARIS – FRANCE TEL: (33) 1 44 30 19 60 – FAX: (33) 1 44 30 19 30 www.theafricareport.com

Fearmongers in the frame

A

menacingly authoritarian triumvirate think that it’s their turn. Canny, malign and experts in the politics of fear, the US’s Donald Trump, France’s Marine Le Pen and Russia’s Vladimir Putin believe history is on their side. Of the trio only Putin holds power today. But the other two are having an inordinate influence on politics in their own country and beyond. On the record, Trump, Le Pen and Putin hugely admire each other. Unsurprising. They read from the same script. They’re strong on posturing and salesmanship; weak on policies and substance. But no problem, they fill the gaps with demagoguery laden with ethnic and religious slurs. Building walls, picking on minorities and advocating torture and state-sponsored killings. Initially, liberals in the West treated the trio like drunks at a funeral: terribly embarrassing but eventually everyone goes home. Except they don’t. The populist trio and their followers plan to stick around. They thrive on being under-estimated: it plays to their sense of fighting an effete establishment and boosts their ratings. All this poisons the political climate, but does it matter specifically for Africa? Firstly, there are the direct effects of the ultranationalism being peddled by the trio and their imitators in Europe. Far-right parties are ramping up sentiment against refugees and migrants of any description. Racial and religious attacks are rising. As governments dodge their responsibilities for the conflicts in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, they are trying to appease the new populists with tough new immigration laws that flout international conventions. Given

C HA I R M A N A ND F O UND E R BÉCHIR BEN YAHMED P UB L I S HE R DANIELLE BEN YAHMED publisher@theafricareport.com E X E CUT I VE P UB L I S HE R JÉRÔME MILLAN

the multi-cultural and pluralist nature of most Western societies, attempts by ultra-nationalists to shut down international educational and commercial links will fail, but they will make life tougher and duller in the process. Just as important is the demonstration effect. As an agonised political scientist wrote in Foreign Policy at the beginning of the year, “Why does the West think it has the answers to others’ democratic shortcomings?” His conclusion that Africa there is a race into the political sewers is not is hard to counter. short of its That could have own tuba dangerous fallout in Africa, which is thumping not short of its own ethnotub-thumping ethnonationalist politicians nationalist capable of stirring politicians crowds to violent action. As the effects of the crash in commodity prices on state revenues and people’s livelihoods start to spread across Africa, the populist politicians – with a Trump-ism here and a Le Pen-ism there – will try to take advantage. But the bulwark against these alarming trends has to be political and organisational. The rhetoric and the rants have to be countered on the streets, on the internet and in the parliaments. Perhaps the most promising signs are demographic and generational, in the West and in Africa. Time and again, the toughest opponents of the populist-authoritarians are the youth. The current economic system is undermining their future, but they are not buying into the fearmongering and simplistic solutions proffered by thug politicians. ●

edit editorial@theafricareport.com THE AFRICA REPORT

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M A R K E T I NG & D E VE L O P M E NT ALISON KINGSLEY-HALL E D I T O R I N CHI E F PATRICK SMITH M A NA G I NG E D I T O R NICHOLAS NORBROOK editorial@theafricareport.com A S S I S TA NT E D I T O R CHARLIE HAMILTON A S S O CI AT E E D I T O R MARSHALL VAN VALEN BU S I NE S S E D I T O R MARK ANDERSON E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA NT OHENEBA AMA NTI OSEI R E G I O NA L E D I T O R S CRYSTAL ORDERSON (SOUTHERN AFRICA) BILLIE ADWOA MCTERNAN (GHANA) S UB - E D I T O R ALISON CULLIFORD P R O O F R E A D I NG KATHLEEN GRAY A RT DI R E CT O R MARC TRENSON DESIGN VALÉRIE OLIVIER (LEAD DESIGNER) SYDONIE GHAYEB CHRISTOPHE CHAUVIN (INFOGRAPHICS) P R O D UCT I O N PHILIPPE MARTIN CHRISTIAN KASONGO R E S E A R CH SYLVIE FOURNIER P HO T O G R A P HY PIERANGÉLIQUE SCHOULER O NL I NE PRINCE OFORI-ATTA SALES SANDRA DROUET Tel: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – Fax: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 sales@theafricareport.com CONTACT FOR SUBSCRIPTION: Webscribe Ltd Unit 8 The Old Silk Mill Brook Street, Tring Hertfordshire HP23 5EF United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 1442 820580 Fax: + 44 (0) 1442 827912 Email: subs@webscribe.co.uk 1 year subscription (10 issues): All destinations: €39 - $60 - £35 TO ORDER ONLINE: www.theafricareportstore.com D I F CO M INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATION AGENCY 57-BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL 75016 PARIS - FRANCE Tel: (33) 1 44 30 19-60 – Fax: (33) 1 44 30 18 34 advertising@theafricareport.com A D VE RT I S I NG D I R E CT O R NATHALIE GUILLERY WITH JEANNY CHABON R E G I O NA L M A NA G E R S ÉLODIE BOUSSONNIERE IBIJOKE FABORODE PASCALE LALLEMAND PRINTER: SIEP 77 - FRANCE N° DE COMMISSION PARITAIRE : 0720 I 86885 Dépôt légal à parution / ISSN 1950-4810 THE AFRICA REPORT is published by GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

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LETTERS For all your comments, suggestions and queries, please write to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil - Paris 75016 - France. or editorial@theafricareport.com

LAGOS: BIG DREAMS MUST INCLUDE HOUSING FOR ALL

F

Africans investing in Africa

• Ghana/Côte d’Ivoire Growth engines • Lagos Maximum City • African Union Candidate games

N ° 7 8 • M A R C H 2 016

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The CEOs

or a city whose population is approaching the 25 million mark [‘Lagos: Maximum city’, who bring it home TAR78 Mar 2016], it is surprising how little attention politicians or planners have paid to the question of mass housing. The city’s transportation infrastructure has historically been a problem for all Lagosians. The failures of our electricity infrastructure form a drain on all households and enterprises. Decent housing, by contrast, is a social good that Lagosians either enjoy or lack individually. This may go some way towards explaining the low status of the mass housing question in visions of the future city. Sustainable, efficient, modern housing is certainly a problem for the poor; but since the working poor actually form the vast majority of Lagosians, mass housing should be a priority for the city and it should be approached as an innovation opportunity for those who would lead and design future Lagos. Abosede George Associate Professor, Columbia University Think global, invest local: backing continental projects

From left to right: Gavin Dalgleish, MD of SA agribusiness ILLOVO Ismaïl Douiri, Co-CEO ATTIJARIWAFA Bank Ade Ayeyemi, Group CEO ECOBANK Tabitha Karanja, Kenyan CEO of Keroche Breweries

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 35 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

participation: predictable tariff regimes, simplified licensing procedures, standardised ‘technology-based’ power purchase agreements or realistic energy planning tools. Creditworthiness of the continent’s power utilities is a challenge. Ageing grid networks hold back the potential of newly installed capacity from in-country generation and regional interconnection power trade. The potential for renewable energy could be vast in Africa, but we need to address issues along the whole value chain to realise that ‘watt’. Antony Karembu Policy and PPP Advisor, AfDB’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA)

NOT-SO-NEW WAVE

The article ‘Pushing out the comfort zone’, [TAR77 Feb 2016] oversimplifies the ‘new wave of North African due to a lack of cooperation between EAST AFRICA IS STALLING governments in the East African filmmakers’ against ‘Arab soap operas ITS OWN GROWTH Community, the region has not fully and films’. All over the world superficial, Your Top 500 companies report opened its borders to allow the free meaningless films prevail over deep, [TAR77 Feb 2016] should not blame movement of goods and people. individualistic films. Furthermore, Kokil K. Shah under the guise of bravery, this new the drop in commodity prices for undermining the ‘Africa Rising’ story. wave of filmmakers seems to choose Africa should first take into account their topics for the sake of provocation. the internal factors that stand in the way WATTS UP, AFRICA? Is real courage showing the of economic growth. Let’s take the East fundamental flaws of autocratic In your article ‘Electricity: Who’s African region, where many countries regimes ruling North Africa or the got watts?’ [TAR76 Dec/Jan 2016], there superficial flaws of their societies, albeit are due to hold elections this year. Local and foreign investors have halted is significant focus on the electricity through a well-written story? Also, the financing of projects until they know generation problem, but little mention let us not forget that Youssef Chahine, Nadia el Fani and to a lesser extent whether there will be a new government of sector-specific issues that prevent that ‘watt’ from entering the grid. The Hassan Benjelloun began addressing and whether the new administration continent requires the right enabling will provide a favourable business these deeper topics long ago. Salim Benjelloun environment to improve private-sector climate for investors. Furthermore, HOW TO GET YOUR COPY OF THE AFRICA REPORT On sale at your usual outlet. If you experience problems obtaining your copy, please contact your local distributor, as shown below. ETHIOPIA: SHAMA PLC, Aisha Mohammed, +251 11 554 5290, aisham@shamaethiopia.com – GHANA: TM HUDU ENTERPRISE, T. M. Hudu, +233 (0)209 007 620, +233 (0)247 584 290, tmhuduenterprise@gmail.com – KENYA: NATION MEDIA GROUP, Antony Mutunga, +254 (0)20 328 8000, amutunga@ke.nationmedia.com – NIGERIA: NEWSSTAND AGENCIES LTD, Solomon Otinwa, +234 (0)709 8123 459, newsstand2008@gmail.com – SIERRA LEONE: RAI GERB ENTERPRISES, Mohammad Gerber, +232 (0)336 72 469, raigerbenterprise@ gmail.com – SOUTHERN AFRICA: RNA DISTRIBUTION, Butch Courtney, +27 (0)11 602 9800, butchc@mad.co.za • SUBSCRIPTIONS: RAMSAY MEDIA, Karin Mulder, +27 860 100 204, subs@ramsaymedia.co.za – TANZANIA: MWANANCHI COMMUNICATIONS, Emmanuel J Lyimo, +255 716 500 500, elyimo@tz.nationmedia.com – UGANDA: MONITOR PUBLICATIONS LTD, Micheal Kazinda, +256 (0)702 178 198, mkazinda@ug.nationmedia.com – UNITED KINGDOM: COMAG, Mark Swan, +44 (0)1895 433791, Mark.Swan@comag. co.uk – UNITED STATES & CANADA: LMPI, Sylvain Fournier, +1 514 355 5610, lmpi@lmpi.com – ZAMBIA: BOOKWORLD LTD, Shivani Patel, +260 (0)211 230 606, bookworld@ For other regions go to www.theafricareport.com realtime.zm – ZIMBABWE: PRINT MEDIA DISTRIBUTION, Ian Munn, +263 778 075 147, ianmunn@mweb.co.zw

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX CONTOUR GLOBAL p 2; IE SINGAPORE p 5; LIQUID TELECOM p 7; ADEXEN p 9; SPENCER STUART NORSAD p 9; CNN p 13; ECOBANK RWANDA p 16; CHANNELS INC. p 21; TAR DIGITAL EDITION p 35; REP. OF TOGO p 38; REP. OF COTE D’IVOIRE p 43; RWANDAIR p 50; ESRI RWANDA p 56; SAHAM ASSUR. RWANDA p 59; CRYSTAL VENTURES p 61; TRACTAFRIC EQUIP. RWANDA p 67; HARLEY-DAVIDSON p 67; CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY p 69; BIOTHERM ENERGY p 85; AMSCO p 85; ENERGYNET SAEIS p 85; DDP OUTDOOR p 89; CWC GHANA SUMMIT p 89; CWC NOG p 99; STANDARD BANK p 100

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THE QUESTION To respond to this month’s Question, visit www.theafricareport.com. You can also find The Africa Report on Facebook and on Twitter @theafricareport. Comments, suggestions and queries can also be sent to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil, Paris 75016, France or editorial@theafricareport.com

YOUR VIEWS:

After condemning the violence in Burundi and voting to send in a peacekeeping force, in January the African Union caved in to Pierre Nkurunziza, whose third term as president is the cause of the country’s unrest

I think it’s essential to promote some good democratic values and prevent leaders from creating a family-owned state […] so let the AU get on with it! Sekiziyivu David

Should the AU give ‘cling-on’ presidents the red card?

Yes FRANK HABINEZA President, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda

The African Union (AU) should stop giving red carpets to cling-on presidents in Africa. Presidents who cling on to power after manipulating and changing their countries’ constitutions in order to become life presidents should be given a red card and should not be invited by the AU to its assemblies. Their continued involvement in the AU promotes the culture of impunity and encourages other presidents to do similar evils. The AU should consider these cling-on presidents, in the same way it considers coup d’état leaders. This will help to promote democracy, peace and good governance in Africa. We have seen that when presidents cling on to power they are always removed violently, either by mass demonstrations like in Burkina Faso, Egypt and Tunisia, or coup d’état attempts like in Burundi. All these scenarios lead to loss of life among innocent people, especially young people, and disturb peace and stability, both in the country and all neighbouring countries, and the region at large. If the AU would give a red card to these presidents and the United Nations did the same, the situation would change for the better. These presidents would find no hideout and would be forced to respect their countries’ constitutions and have peaceful transfers of power. ●

No JOSEPH RWAGATARE Rwandan writer

From a narrow perspective of form, the question of African leaders clinging on to power is a legitimate concern. But seen in a wider context, the issue of longevity only distracts from a meaningful discussion of governance and democracy in fundamental ways. First, framing it that way puts out of the equation the very object of good governance: citizens. It is as if they don’t exist or matter, or have no mind of their own. Yet citizens have a say and make choices about who governs them and how they are governed. Their choices matter and must be respected. Second, power is presented as an end in itself. The correct discussion should be about what power is used for. If it is taken to mean responsibility and used to transform societies, create prosperity and improve citizens’ well-being, it is power put to the service of the nation and is defensible. But if it is for the enrichment of an individual or his family, whether a leader stays for one or 10 years it is wrong and must be condemned. Third, focus on longevity diverts attention from the important question of leadership. The crucial point is the quality of leaders: whether they possess the vision and ability to effect socio-economic transformation, not how long they stay in power. Finally, people make choices of governance based on what works for them and addresses their specific circumstances. Ultimately they are the judges of what is best for their country. ●

They’ve allowed Mugabe to go on and on and on. First get rid of him and his destruction of the nation and then move to the new boys. Leon R. Johnson The AU is very toothless, to the extent that even its mandate is not enforced. Yona de Man Don’t be surprised to see Dlamini-Zuma seeking to change the AU Constitution to remain Chairperson. Africa and power? It boggles the mind. Value Machinjike Yes! The AU must find a way of tackling this directly or risk being irrelevant across the Nick A. continent. There is no way Nkurunziza will make a U-turn. Only heavy sanctions can make him come to terms. Atemangwatlewoh F. The AU can’t do either when the majority of African leaders, given the chance, will sit still in office. Shayera Dark If the AU could they would. HlombelamaHlubi

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Your HR Business Partner for Africa Expatriate Recruitment Recruitment of African Profiles & Local Content policies support HR Consulting & Staff assessment Executive Search Manpower supply Paris (France) Lagos (Nigeria) Accra (Ghana) Luanda (Angola) Abidjan (Ivory coast) Casablanca (Morocco) +33 1 71 19 47 32 contact@adexen.com www.adexen.com

PEOPLE

FU U TU U RE OFAFRICA

AAR RE TTHE HE Oil & Gas

Finance

Energy

Industry

Martime

Telecom

Construction Agro Business

BRIEFING

SIGNPOSTS

KENYA Soldiers in the Kenya Defence Forces fighting

in the Africa Union Force in Somali pay homage to their fallen comrades, killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab.

APPETITE AWAKENED BOTTOM OF THE MARKET

T

he 13 March attack on a beach resort in Côte d’Ivoire that killed 22 people widened the geographical reach of the Islamist rebels of Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Taking advantage of West Africa’s porous borders, the lack of coordination between governments and the dependence of countries like Mali on external support for security, AQIM and other Islamist groups have continued to attack soft targets such as popular tourist sites and large natural resource companies. As with the Nigerian government’s initial reactions to the Boko Haram rebel group, responses to the rise

bn

?

7%

HAITI Policewomen from Nepal, Madagascar and Colombia in the United Nations force celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March.

Soft targets, new strategy

In conjunction with GeoPoll, The Africa Report asked 100 Nigerians across the country the question: Will new FIFA boss Gianni Infantino be good for African football? Yes No Don’t know

Delegates dance at the ‘Next Einstein Forum’.

TERRORISM

As the commodity crunch and weakening currencies cause panic across African mining and oil companies, other firms are preparing to pounce. Private-equity outfits have put together a $4.3bn war chest for investing in cut-price companies. In 2015, merger and acquisitions hit their highest volume since 2015, say Control Risks. Could 2016 see even more?

3 . $4

SENEGAL

of Islamist organisations in West Africa have been at times slow to coalesce and counterproductive. About a week before the 13 March assault, officials from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger met to agree to set up rapid-reaction units to face the threat posed by Islamist terrorists. With militant groups from Al-Shabaab in Somalia to the Islamic State in Libya showing their ability to adapt their tactics – from controlling territory to targeted assassinations – West Africa’s security forces are now looking at how they can respond to the current problems and their possible future mutations.

55%

38%

GeoPoll is the world’s largest mobile surveying platform and sample provider in Africa, enabling companies and organisations to gather quick, accurate and in-depth insights. To conduct your own mobile survey using GeoPoll’s easy-to-use platform visit Research.GeoPoll.com.

ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP

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BRIEFING

BENIN A supporter of Pascal I. Koupaki in the 6 March polls.

KENYA The crowded fishing community of Migingo island

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NIGER Supporters of incumbent president Mahamadou Issoufou are hoping to put their candidate back into power, though the 20 March run-off could be a close race.

on Lake Victoria is claimed by the Ugandans, who even arrested Kenyan electoral commission agents.

THOMAS MUKOYA/REUTERS; SEYLLOU/AFP; HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP; PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP; CARL DE SOUZA/AFP; JOE PENNEY/REUTERS

“I took the decision… to end political life in 2018 ” myy p Angola’s President José Eduardo dos S Santos says he will not run again. He will have run the country 9 years. for 39

US MILITARY PRESENCE DRONES AND BOOTS ON THE GROUND

France

The US is ramping up drone strikes in Africa, and positioning a rapid response base across the Mediterranean in Southern Spain.

Botswana Côte d’Ivoire D.R.C. Gabon Ghana Kenya Namibia Nigeria Congo Senegal South Africa Uganda Zambia

SOURCE: MOODYS

VATICAN POOL/GETTY IMAGES

CASH IN THE PHONE AHEAD OF THE CURVE

Mobile Account (% age 15+) Sub-Saharan Africa Average Global Average

0

10

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Africa is leading the world in adoption of mobile phone banking - and East Africa leads the pack.

Portugal

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KILLER DROUGHT LITTLE RELIEF IN SIGHT

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Egypt

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SOURCE: THE INTERCEPT

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C CHAD N’Djamena N

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DJIBOUTII Lemonnier- Chabelleyy South Sudan

C.A.R.

Gabon

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SOMALIA S OM

ETHIOPIA A Arba Minch h

CAMEROON MEROO Equ. Guinea

Yemen

Eritrea

Sudan

wanda Rwanda Burundi Tanzania

KENYA Nairobi

Baledogle aledogle d INDIAN IN OCEAN (on ships) Kisma K Kismayo

Manda anda d Ba Bay

SEYCHELLES ELLES

The brutal drought that hit South Africa last year has left an estimated 16bn rands’ worth of damage. Some farmers lost up to 80% of their cattle in KwaZulu-Natal province, and an estimated 5% of the national breeding stock of both pigs and cows had to be slaughtered. The government has made 400m rand available in drought relief funds – a small fraction of what is needed to reboot the agriculture sector.

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BRIEFING

OPINION

B Bassey Ikpi

Poet, writer, presenter and mental health advocate P

Lagos – a hard city to live in, and even harder to die in

I

heard the violently off-key choir of the church next door before I even considered opening my eyes. The static fuzz from the ancient PA system swirling through the apartment told me two things: I was awake and I was alive. Lagos was unbearably hot that morning. Lagos was always hot, but this particular morning I could feel the wet of my tank top clinging to my back and shoulders. My hair had managed to unwind itself from the Medusa mass of a top knot constructed at some point the night before. The distant taste of whisky clung to my tongue like an inappropriate suggestion. If it wasn’t for the empty receptacle still on the floor next to me, I wouldn’t have even remembered drinking it straight from the bottle. What I remembered was that I needed something to wash away the Ambien. The sleeping pills had begun only to encourage sleep. The whisky, I discovered one restless night, helped chase the anxiety that travelled the space between my chest and belly, encouraging an unbearable trembling. I have been on one medication or another for the past 10 years and a glass of wine a few hours before or after my night meds was okay. But using whisky to wash down those same pills wasn’t smart, and I knew it. The neglected bottle of water standing next to the empty whisky bottle knew it too. Both bottles were standing side by side, caps off, like a metaphor for making good choices. Knowing that it was too late, I reached for the water bottle and downed its full contents without taking a break. The water entered my body like a prayer answered.

I just wanted to sleep. That I did, but there was no satisfaction in the victory. I woke up on the floor and stayed there staring at the blank space between the window and the wardrobe. The church next door moved on from static singing to a barely audible sermon. I could never understand why Lagos churches opened their doors and pointed speakers out towards the street at any hour of the day. This religion, by force, was added to the long list of reasons I could no longer stay here.

Because there was no hangover to punish me for last night, it felt like an empty gesture – the small talk of self-destructive patterns. There was nothing about last night that was damaging really. I could ignore the empty whisky bottle and the half-open bottle of sleeping pills. Nobody knew. I was still here, but I couldn’t understand the feeling volleying around my head. It felt like I had been denied something I didn’t know I wanted. I was awake, and this awake was a disappointment. This time in Lagos had been difficult. It felt like everything I touched turned to lead and sank into the earth. Even the most promising prospects that gave me permission to hold hope in my palms would suddenly disappear into nothingness. This place was not easy to negotiate. Everyone told me to give it time. “You know Lagos is not easy nau. It will happen.” But a year had passed and nothing had happened. There was no home, no money, no

In a country that wouldn’t let me say ‘depression’ I felt isolated and strange promise – just the realisation that being here was a mistake and the strong head that led me here in the first place was the same strong head too ashamed to go home a failure. I was a failure. I’ve lived with depression most of my life but always held a sliver of hope between my teeth. But in a country that wouldn’t let me say the word ‘depression’ let alone have it, I felt isolated and strange. I tried to see a therapist, but he had spent more time talking about himself. And when he did find enough space to pause and allow me to speak, I could feel the judgment coating his every word: “But you’re a fine girl from America. If you were married, then you would have more to focus on than just yourself.” I walked out of that office into an awaiting car, knowing that I would have to rely on myself and the medication shipped in from the United States once a month. There was no way I would see a therapist in this country. THE AFRICA REPORT

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ZEBEDEE

19

So here I was, four months later in a flat not my own, contemplating what life would look like without me in it. I had done the research: people would mourn for a month or two, family and friends six months to a year but eventually everyone would get over it. They would remember me on birthdays and holidays, but they would live on. I didn’t know how much longer I could, not with this pain living in my bones. I stood up a bit too suddenly, and the room rushed towards me like an angry crowd. I headed to the bathroom to… I don’t know. Wash my face? Brush my teeth? Stare at myself. I am always being told that I look at least 10 years younger than my age. I always smile and thank people, attributing it to my water intake and good genes. But staring into the hollow of my face, I didn’t look young. I looked unfinished. It’s probably better that I didn’t die last night. Death deserved something more top shelf: a Johnnie Walker Black goodbye. Not a bottle of cheap, picked up from the dirty shop down the road. The bottle was so dusty that upon hearing my American accent, the shop boy’s face fell into a mask of shame and embarrassment. He apologised over and over for the state of the store as if I would carry this inTHE AFRICA REPORT

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formation back to America and disgrace his family. “Please, ma,” he said over and over, “make I find a clean bottle or maybe you get Andre?” gesturing towards the rows of sparkling wine behind me. “No worries,” I tried in my best slow, vaguely Naija pidgin. “Just take cloth, clean am. Make you no trouble yourself for N600.” I handed him a N1,000 note and told him to keep the change. His eyes lifted in gratitude, and he tripped over his small English to thank me: “God will bless you real good, ma.” I found a smile somewhere in the wreckage to offer him then turned and joined the street noise outside. After the disappointment of the appearing morning, I thought about what would have been written if I hadn’t woken up. They would say it was because I didn’t go to church or because I was unmarried or that I was under spiritual attack. Like the young Nigerian pharmacist who had leapt off a bridge in the States, the story they would tell here would be different. They would say that I had been ill: typhoid or malaria. I would be buried quietly and quickly and no one would speak of it. I stood at the mirror attempting to see what the world would see. I saw fatigue and a despair that had entered my soul and perched there awaiting instructions. “I’m tired, but it is rude to die in someone else’s house.” ●

AV I AT I O N

T TOGO

 The entrance hall of the new Gnassingbe Eyadéma International Airport terminal in Lomé which will enter into service in 2016.

GNASSINGBE EYADÉMA AIRPORT IN LOMÉ

An international hub airport for a regional capital Lomé International Airport’s new terminal is set to open for business in 2016. This new ultramodern addition to the airport endows Togo with the capacity to respond to increasing air cargo traffic and a growing number of travellers, drawn to the country’s expanding economy and revitalised tourism sector. It offers African airline Asky a first-rate base from which to develop its domestic, regional and international flights and connections. Asky Airlines has made Lomé its hub airport from whence it flies to 22 African destinations.

Lomé now home to Africa’s ultramodern hub Togo’s return to the international arena and the repositioning of its capital as a key financial centre in West Africa has enabled the country to resume business and conference tourism, one of the driving forces of its economic development. Proof the industry is picking up is the increase in traffic through the Lomé-Tokoin airport, which has doubled in ten years, going from 300,000 passengers in 2004 to 600,000 in 2013, according to figures from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). In anticipation of the development of this sector, as well as a boost in leisure tourism, the government of Togo embarked on the construction of a brand new airport terminal, due to open its doors in 2016. Financed

through a loan of $150 million from China Eximbank, construction work began in August 2012 and is being carried out on three levels near the current airport.

A SMOOTH, COMFORTABLE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE Covering an area of 21,000 m ², the new terminal at the Gnassingbe Eyadéma International Airport will boost passenger and air freight; from 600,000 to 2.5 million people for the former and 15,000 tons to 50,000 tons for the latter. Equipped with new stateof-the-art features such as 24 check-in counters, five boarding bridges and three baggage conveyors, passengers are guaranteed a comfortable, smooth airport experience unmatched anywhere else in the sub-region. With this in mind, several international airlines have already entered into discussions with local aviation authorities to serve the capital of Togo.

ADVERTORIAL

© PHOTONIKO



A “Smart City” near the airport Togo’s capital city, Lomé, already a destination of choice for many international financial institutions when setting up their African headquarters, has plans to build a new business centre. Located in the Lomé II district, near the Gnassingbe Eyadéma Airport, this African “Smart City” project is being designed by Togolese architect Dontou Dérou. The aim is to create a world-class centre, on a thousand hectares, that will host public administration departments, offices, conference centres, hotels, residential buildings and shops, as well as cultural and sports facilities.

Founded in Lomé in 2007 by a group of African entrepreneurs and with African capital, Asky Airlines has already made the Lomé-Tokoin airport its transit base. The upcoming opening of the new terminal at the Gnassingbe Eyadéma International Airport is an asset for the airline in terms of passenger volumes and transit facilities. In June 2015 the airline had already announced that, since the beginning of its operations in 2010, passenger numbers on its routes had reached the two million mark.

succeeded in overcoming the African aviation crisis that was sparked off by the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

DEVELOPING ITS ROUTE NETWORK Asky’s management is about to lengthen its list of destinations by adding Nouakchott in Mauritania, and Cape Verde, while increasing the number of flights on existing routes. It is also assessing destinations that are potentially desirable for its customers, such as Johannesburg, Paris, London and Beirut.

CONFIDENT IN THE VALUE OF PAN AFRICANISM Since its beginnings, Asky Airlines has relied on technical support from African star of the skies Ethiopian Airways, which has already transited its flight to Brazil through Lomé. It intends supporting Asky in the development of its route network and there is even a flight to the USA on the cards (see box). Confident in the virtues of sub-regional cooperation in the face of competition from non-African airlines, Asky Airlines recently cemented a commercial partnership with Air Burkina. ■

A YOUNG, STRONG AIRLINE

 In situ view of Lomé’s future Gnassingbe Eyadéma International terminal, which is set to increase airport capacity to 2.5 million passengers a year.

Asky Airlines currently operates 150 weekly flights and covers 22 destinations across 19 countries in West and Central Africa. It records an average of 10,000 passengers a week and has a punctuality rate of 85%, which can be compared to that of some of the best airlines in the world. Its long-term vision takes into account the strong growth prospects for air traffic in Africa over the next thirty years. Strong and solid, despite being a young airline, Asky

Open sky between Washington and Lomé

 The 5-star 2 Février Hotel, Lomé’s long-time flagship business hotel, will re-open its doors in 2016 under Radisson Blu management.

After three years of negotiations, Togo and the United States signed a bilateral “Open Skies” agreement in April. The agreement allows any Togolese airline and any US airline to fly between any point in Togo and any point in the United States. “This historic agreement represents an important step forward in the United States’ government’s goal to improve the investment climate and support economic development in Togo”, commented the US ambassador in Lomé. It could encourage US companies to make Lomé the hub airport for flying to other African capitals that are already served by Asky Airlines.

LIBERTÉ

PAT RIE

L VAI TRA

RT

CONTACTS Société aéroportuaire de Lomé-Tokoin (SALT) BP 10 112, Lomé, Togo Tel.: (+228) 22 23 60 60 http://aeroportdelome.com/tg Asky Immeuble BIDC-CEDEAO BP 2 988, Lomé, Togo Tel.: (+ 228) 22 20 88 18 www.flyasky.com

DIFCOM/DF - PHOTOS : DR SAUF MENTION.

Asky has great ambitions for Lomé’s airport

COUNTRY FOCUS Rwanda

JUAN HERRERO

At B2R Training Center in Kigali a student jumps for joy on winning a scholarship

Bet it all on the firm In a country where poverty and illiteracy are still high, a growing tech hub is supporting a new generation of quick thinkers keen to rewrite Rwanda’s story through start-ups. The government has recognised its potential for the economy with an innovation fund and public-private partnerships By Abigail Higgins in Kigali

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R

wandans gathered around TV sets across the country last October as they watched dozens of young East Africans compete for start-up capital from top investors. Face the Gorillas, a local take on the popular Japanese reality show Dragons’ Den – where entrepreneurs try to convince judges that their ideas are ripe for funding – is the just the latest iteration of East Africa’s entrepreneurship fever. From a mobile-money platform for Rwandans in the diaspora to send remittances home, to on-demand ● ● ●

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COUNTRY FOCUS | RWANDA

services for Kiswahili television shows in Tanzania and grocery delivery e-commerce sites, the business ideas of young East Africans had angel investors from across the continent lining up in the hope of funding their ideas. Despite being small, landlocked and lacking in natural resources, Rwanda has averaged economic growth of more than 7% per year over the past decade, making it the twelfth-fastest-growing economy in the world. As terrorist attacks hit Kenya, political chaos spirals in Burundi and corruption slows the wheels of progress in Uganda, Rwanda is emerging as an attractive place for investors and entrepreneurs to set up shop in East Africa. For ease of doing business, the World Bank ranks Rwanda 62nd out of 189 countries, a dramatic improvement from its 2006 ranking when it came in 139th place. This is significantly higher than neighboring Kenya, which ranks at 108, and Tanzania, which came in at 139. In fact, Rwanda ranks third in Africa. The government is trying to meet an ambitious goal to become a middleincome country by 2020, and Rwanda has implemented the most business regulatory reforms in sub-Saharan Africa since 2005, according to the World Bank. These reforms include removing the need for new companies to open a bank account, making electronic filing of taxes simpler, reducing the cost of electricity and allowing startups to register online for free. ●●●

UGANDA

Lake Kivu

DEM. REP. OF CONGO

TANZANIA

KIGALI

R WANDA

BURUNDI

50 km

RWANDA IN NUMBERS POPULATION URBAN POPULATION (% of total)

28%1

LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

64.52

INFANT MORTALITY (per 1,000 births)

47.12

FDI, INFLOWS (current US$)

$267.7m3

GDP (current US$)

$7.89bn1

GDP GROWTH (annual %)

7%1

INDUSTRY, VALUE ADDED (% of GDP) INFLATION, CONSUMER PRICES (annual %) INTERNET USERS (per 100 people)

14.4%1 1.3%1 10.61

SOURCES: WORLD BANK 20141, AFDB 20142, UNCTAD 20143

11.34 million1

ELECTRICIT Y Total production of electricity (kWh)

476,142,374 413,141,377 392,984,907 345,496,093

276,079,191

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

TOURISM Evolution in tourist arrivals

1,219,529

1,122,150 1,061,308 908,009

666,001 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

scale just isn’t there,” says Aly-Khan Satchu, a Kenyan investment expert. The alarm has been sounded about Rwanda’s serious skill shortage to support the growing economy. Rwanda ranks 108th out of 124 countries on the World Economic Forum’s human capital report – behind Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Education “remains an area Rwanda policy-makers really need to pay attention to as they are behind their continental peers,” says Augustine Chipungu, a research analyst at the Legatum Institute, a public policy think tank in London. The average African spends one year in secondary school, but in Rwanda the average is only 0.1 years, according to Chipungu. However, most analysts agree that the East African Community (EAC) – which comprises Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – is among the most successful trading blocs on the continent, meaning that Rwanda’s small and landlocked economy does not have to be a huge barrier for businesses looking to access other East African markets. Governments in the region are working on the central

SKILL SHORTAGE

SOURCE: RWANDA STATISTICAL YEARBOOK 2015

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But the challenges faced by Rwanda are grave. Today, 44.9% of the population lives below the poverty line and only 65.9% are literate. And for all the government’s success, tight political control raises questions about stability down the road. In December, Rwandans voted to amend the constitution to allow President Paul Kagame, who has been in power since 2000, to run for the presidency again. The country also faces fundamental challenges in competing with neighboring economies, namely in education, investment and governance. Rwanda’s gross domestic product of $7.9bn pales in comparison to Kenya’s $60.9bn and Tanzania’s $48.1bn. Rwanda also lags very far behind in foreign direct investment, at $291.7m in 2014, with Tanzania at $2bn and Kenya at $944.3m. “It’s a matter of scale and at the moment the THE AFRICA REPORT

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and northern corridor projects to improve regional infrastructure and better link landlocked countries to ports on East Africa’s coasts. East African affairs minister Valentine Rugwabiza told reporters in 2015 that since Rwanda joined the EAC in 2009 Kenyan businesses had invested more than $450m in the Rwandan economy, making Kenya the country’s top foreign investor. For the most part, the investors have been banks and retailers seeking to meet local demand rather than using Rwanda as a base of operations in the EAC. Rwandan companies are expanding more slowly than their counterparts in the region, but the EAC governments are working on how to reduce non-tariff barriers and facilitate intra-regional business ties. READY AND WILLING

Aphrodice Mutangana is the general manager of kLab, a bright and airy tech innovation hub in Kigali. Started in 2012, kLab already has 200 members and 45 companies. Along with the city’s tidy sidewalks and proliferating skyscrapers, it is a symbol of the remarkable progress Rwanda has made in its short history of

stability since the 1994 genorelationship is the Rwanda cide. He says that the number Development Board (RDB), of new businesses continues to which has worked to streamrise rapidly: “Rwandan entreline government services preneurs are really, really willthat are related to investing to start their own business.” ment. “[The RDB] is really Mutangana, who is an enbecoming a one-stop centre, cutting out as much burtrepreneur himself, founded Rwanda’s eaucracy as possible,” says the Incike initiative, a crowdlabour costs sourcing website that supports Ashish Thakkar, founder are 10% survivors of the genocide, as and chief executive of Mara higher than well as Foyo M-Health, an apGroup, a pan-African investin neighbouring Ethiopia plication that provides basic ment company that works in SOURCE: FT 22 African countries. health information, such as “The government has dosage and side effects for medication and dieting information for really functioned […] like a private chronic diseases, over mobile phones. enterprise, like a company with measurables and matrices in place to see “That story of the 1994 genocide how they can constantly keep improvagainst the Tutsi makes everyone want ing,” says Thakkar. “It’s a fantastic place to build this country and to make proto attract talent. It’s very receptive in gress,” says Mutangana. Rwanda has announced plans to start terms of policy. It was just quicker and an innovation fund this year that will easier to get things done [here] than target small and medium-sized enteranywhere else.” In 2014, the company RwandaOnline prises, mostly run by young people. Platform Limited entered into a 25The fund has a $100m target, a third of year public-private partnership with which will come from the government the government to “digitise all governand the rest from the private sector. Rwanda’s government and its private ment-to-citizen and government-tosector are closely linked. Central to this business services,” says Alistair Muhire, a spokesman for the company. And members of the private sector often see their goals as closely linked to those of the government. “RwandaOnline’s vision is to be the catalyst for the transformation of Rwanda through technology,” Muhire says.

JUAN HERRERO

A DREAM OF CHANGE

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Tech innovation hub kLab was started by Aphrodice Mutangana, who says the history of genocide motivates young people to build and make progress

Nadia Uwamahoro, one of the entrepreneurs at kLab, has been involved in the country’s entrepreneurship network for a long time. “It started actually when I was in primary school, when I was 11,” she says. “It’s like you look at things and you dream about changing them.” Today, Uwamahoro is the managing director of Data Systems Limited, a software development company. Rwanda has been an ideal place to start and grow her business, says Uwamahoro, who has also worked in Burundi and Uganda. “I would say that in Rwanda the entrepreneurship is very much more supported than in the neighbouring countries,” she points out. “In Burundi, it’s much more difficult because everything seems to be slower and there is a mindset about software that isn’t [the same]. And then also for Uganda, transparency is difficult. There’s a lot of corruption.” ●

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INTERVIEW

John Rwangombwa

Governor, Central Bank of Rwanda

Services will remain key The Rwandan economy is growing strongly thanks to tourism and construction. The banking industry is healthy and attracting new investors TAR: What will drive growth in 2016? JOHN RWANGOMBWA : In 2016, I think services will remain key. We expect to do better in tourism because of the big meetings that we are having, on top of the normal tourism we have every year, and we expect to see trade continuing to perform well. Construction will drive growth, too. Despite the challenges we had this year, we still think that agriculture will do well. And the ministry of agriculture has plans to really support agriculture during the course of the year. We were targeting our growth at 6.3%, but depending on how it unfolds we might do much better. We still have that cloud of instability or gloomy global economy. We expect our commodity prices to stay low, but the good thing is that we expect to continue benefiting from reduced petroleum-product prices. How has the Rwandan franc’s depreciation hit the economy? [The impact] is not yet that big because normally the concern with depreciation is when it filters into inflation. Because our trading

partners were hit more than we were hit, overall our real exchange rate in fact appreciated, so we did not see this spilling into inflation. How do you plan to minimise foreign-exchange risk? I think part of it is the adjusted growth rate at 6.3% instead of 7%. The other option is to limit slightly foreign-exchange demand. For instance, the private sector grew at 24% last year. This year, we are targeting it to grow at around 16%. We see this measure reducing the demand on foreign exchange. We are talking with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). We want to put in place a precautionary facility just in case we need to draw or borrow from them. What measures are you planning to put in place to restore and preserve foreign-exchange reserves? We have still about four months of import cover […]. We had 6.8 months in 2012. When we had problems, it dropped to 4.5. It has gone down to around 4.1 now. While it has been reducing, we do not see it as a big issue today that is going to cause a crisis. That

A CAREER IN NUMBERS

is why I said we are engaging the IMF for precautionary purposes.

FEB 2013 Appointed Central Bank Governor of Rwanda

How would you assess the profitability of the banking sector in 2015? This was one of the best years for the banking sector overall. We have had profitability of the sector improving every year. Last year, we had all banks making profit at some point. [Before that] we had the new banks – Kenya Commercial Bank Rwanda and Equity Bank Rwanda – still incurring losses from 2014, then we had Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) that had challenges. Overall, the net profit after tax for the banking industry rose by 27.5%, from Rfr33.75bn ($44m) at the end of December 2014 to Rfr43.04bn at the end of December 2015. Return on assets and return on equity increased to 2.1% and 11.2%, respectively, from 1.9% and 10.5% in 2014. Having new entrants also helps. We now have one microfinance bank turned into a commercial bank and another big investor coming into BPR and merging with BRD Commercial Bank, so we already have a strong base and

2009 Becomes Minister of Finance and Economic Planning 2005 Made permanent secretary to the ministry of finance 2005 Accountant General at the ministry of finance

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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this will just help to increase or improve the performance of it. To what extent are you expecting to see consolidation in the banking market? The new banks that were still struggling to cover their costs have now covered their costs. Most of the banks are now profitable, and all the banks have been growing their assets and their portfolios healthier than we have had in the past years, at around 6.6%. The merger of BPR and BRD Commercial is good, but I do not think it is a big deal. The big deal is that we have a big investor that is coming to BPR, one of our big banks. We expect it to yield results going forward. We have high hopes that the investor is going to consolidate BPR as the biggest retail bank in the country and therefore have a good impact on financial inclusion. The stability is really good, and we do not expect to see mergers as such because there are no banks that are having challenges that need to be taken over. Rather, some banks may grow to the extent where they need some capital and then bring in foreign investors THE AFRICA REPORT

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to bring in capital. But generally speaking, we see a stable and growing banking industry. Looking ahead, in the face of increasing competition, what direction do you see lending rates taking in 2016? The competition [in the banking sector] today is healthy, and it will have more results when the borrowers themselves take advantage of this competition. Today, because the banks were

“The big deal is that we have a big investor coming to BPR. We expect it to yield results” still facing more or less the same structural issues, they are all happy to price higher. No bank wants to cut costs for purposes of attracting more customers because they have issues to deal with so they need to cover their costs. As the operational environment of the banks improves, then that is when we are going to benefit on the pricing side. Already there are banks that give loans at 13-14% […]. Maybe two to five years down the road, we will see

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the competition start to impact on the pricing of these products. What can be done to help push banking penetration further, particularly in rural areas? I think it is already happening. We are happy that information and communication technology has helped banks to leapfrog in the penetration agenda. We see banks now going to rural areas using banking agents, and this is helping to bring the unbanked into the banking industry. We have started seeing banks linked with telecom companies developing products where customers of mobile money that did not have bank accounts can be attracted to open up bank accounts. Technology is an avenue that we see is going to help us bring many more people into the banking industry than we had before. There are products that banks are developing with the telecom companies, including micro-savings that will lead to micro-loans, and therefore this brings many people into the net of the banking industry. ● Interview by Honoré Banda in Kigali

ADVERTORIAL

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The Rwanda Natural Resources Authority uses GIS in a national land use planning portal – allowing the public, researchers, NGOs and government officials to easily access land-use plans and other spatial data on the web. «Transparency and making data accessible for the public are important aspects of democracy,» according the Land Project of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which also printed maps from the portal and trained more than 2000 local leaders to use and interpret the maps.

Rwanda’s Minister of Natural Resources (right) and the Mayor of Huye District (left) at the Launch of the Maps

With urbanization, energy and mining planned and mapped, GIS helps to preserve our cultural and natural heritage, by allowing organizations such as the Tanzania National Parks, to manage and regulate protected areas, including the fauna and flora, wildlife habitats, natural processes, wilderness quality, and scenery.

Olkaria Geothermal Energy

DIFCOM/AQ - PHOTOS : DR

In South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex – an area contributing nearly 80% of today’s global platinum production – Lonmin platinum mines rely on GIS. It is with GIS that data from the company’s many systems and data bases – from mine planning, surveying, scheduling, and resource management – are fused together to provide management with the full picture of mining operations and output.

Wildebeest migration in the Serengeti

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www.esri.com Copyright © 2016 Esri. All rights reserved.

COUNTRY FOCUS | RWANDA

Foster + Partners’ domed design for a droneport

FOSTER + PARTNERS, AND THE NORMAN FOSTER FOUNDATION

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TRANSPORT

isation that has been helping with the overall design of the drone network, to build a larger droneport that will allow larger drones to ferry medical supplies around the country. “Redline aims at The country is going ahead with an initial test setting up in Rwanda a centre of excelof drone technology that could transform the delivery lence in drone technology, which will include a training component and a of goods in Rwanda and beyond research and development componwanda could bolster its role as for health supplies and a Blueline for ent,” Nsengimana adds. If the first project bears fruit, 40 more a transportation hub now that commercial transportation services. droneports could spring up across plans for a drone airport and The Kigali government says that deRwanda. The government is involved delivery services are under way. The ploying the drones to transport blood in parallel negotiations with the Redgovernment struck a deal in February does not require a huge financial inthat will lead the country to host Africa’s line Foundation’s partners led by Afrovestment. Zipline has not disclosed first airport for cargo drones. As part of the cost of the project, and the governtech, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de the agreement, Zipline International, a ment says that while it does not have Lausanne, the Norman Foster FoundaUnited States-based robotics company, tion and Foster + Partners architects. The to provide for any of the upfront costs will supply unmanned aerial vehicles partners say profits from the it has, however, provided 3ha in Southern Province’s Blueline could be used to and build three airports in Rwanda’s Muhanga District in Southern Province. Ruhango District as an inmake up any shortfalls in The drones will carry bags of blood the financing of the Redline. vestment incentive. In the meantime, the government Rwanda’s policies have for use in blood transfusions, which has updated regulations on helped to foster innovawould be the first time such a project unmanned aerial vehicles. tions in ICT, according to has ever been attempted. the Global Information Work on the project will begin this When it launches FINANCIAL MODEL Technology Report 2015 year and the airports are aimed for in 2020 the Redline drone project will Information and compublished by the World completion in 2020. The government be able to carry says that the first materials for the conEconomic Forum. It ranked munication technology blood supplies to struction of the drone airports – known Rwanda first globally in (ICT) minister Jean Phil44% of the country. as droneports – will be shipped by May government success in ICT bert Nsengimana tells The Africa Report that financing promotion to drive social of this year. The first tests of the system SOURCE: ZIPLINE could take place in August. the drone project has been and economic transformAt first, drones with a wingspan of 3m a pressing concern: “We have a full fination. Although drones do not appear that can carry a payload of 10kg will be ancial model well mapped out, and we in the government’s SMART Rwanda thought it provided a very clear business dispatched. By 2025, there should be Master Plan 2020, a blueprint for the sense. It was very important that we do drones with a 6m wingspan capable of country’s growth in the coming years, not start with a loss-making case […]. it does set out promises to “use informcarrying 100kg. Upon completion of ation and technology to deliver better It is almost at break even.” the Zipline development, drones will The government has also announced services, create jobs and transform be able to send supplies to 44% of the a partnership with the Redline Foundthe Rwandan society and economy”. ● country’s territory. The government’s Honoré Banda in Kigali ation, a Swiss-based charitable organdrone programme envisages a Redline

Drones for development

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INTERVIEW

Tongai Maramba Chief executive, Tigo Rwanda

We have a dynamic environment The Tigo Rwanda boss says handsets need to be much more affordable to encourage the adoption of 4G services, but the market is opening up

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vider licence. For example, you have supermarkets that are offering 4G. So it makes for an interesting, dynamic environment.” The government says opening up the market will drive mobile internet prices down as it seeks to get more of its 4.2 million unique mobile subscribers online. At the end of 2014, just 9% of these people were using 3G and 4G mobile phones to access the internet, according to the telecoms trade group the GSM Association (GSMA). This is expected to increase to 24% by 2021, the GSMA says. Maramba, however, estimates that between 500,000 and 700,000 Rwandans own smart-

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wanda is expected to nearly triple the percentage of mobile internet users in the next five years as the government rolls out state-ofthe-art 4G infrastructure in a bid to unlock the economic benefits of mobile-money services and increased connectivity. Kigali unveiled an e-government portal in 2013 that allows citizens to apply for birth certificates, driver’s licences and ID cards online, making internet access a key means for citizens to access governmentservices.Thegovernment has also financed fourth-generation (4G) infrastructure, which is currently the fastest commercial mobile internet network. The economic benefits of boosting access to mobile internet are clear. It can raise business productivity, get people into the formal banking sector and help to improve the quality of education. The continent’slargesttelecoms companies have started to get in on the action, offering super-fast internet to their customers. Butitisnotjustthebig players that are touting 4G. Tongai Maramba, the chief executive of TigoRwanda,explains: “You don’t just have telecom operators offering retail data access, you also have anyone who has an internet service pro-

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phones and about two million are using their phones to get online. Part of the reason for Rwanda’s low mobile internet penetration rate is that the handsets needed for internet access are expensive. “That’s been the main challenge so far with smartphones and 4G. We just haven’t been able to get the device down to the level where we can really drive it to the mass market,” Maramba says. “As long as the prices remain beyond $50, I think we will struggle.” He says that while Tigo is waiting for 4G to hit the mainstream, it is targeting corporate users and individuals who might be looking for home data plans. “We get only 10%ofourbusinessfromcorporate clients, but of course we have ambitions to grow that,” he adds. “We see4Gasaninterestingproposition to bundle into corporate offers.” MOVIES AND MORE

The popularity of video-ondemand services has buoyed hopes that more consumers will flock to 4G. Maramba says many customers use 4G mobile internet to access social media websites and apps like Facebook and Twitter. He adds that more studies are needed to understand demand for telecoms services: “The truth is I don’t think we have the answer yet. I don’t think we really know what people are using 4G for,” he says. “In terms of individuals and personal use, I think there’s an exciting potential for home use. So you can bundle mobile products with homedataandsomecontent,” says Maramba. “I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunity there because fixed lines are priced so high. 4G is the affordable alternative to a fixed line for a number of users.” In February, Tigo Rwanda said it would help to increase the number of women using mobile financial servicesfrom39%ofthepopulation to 45% by 2020. “Women direct up to 90% of their income to their families and communities. Increasing women’saccesstomobilefinancial services will in turn allow them to improve their quality of life, that of their families and that of their communities,” says Maramba. ● Mark Anderson

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Crystal Ventures Ltd How

Is Creating Wealth & Improving Lives in Rwanda

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rystal Ventures Ltd (CVL) is an investment company established in Rwanda in 1995 and rebranded to its current name in 2009.

The company was founded to meet challenges of economic recovery and take advantage of growth opportunities in a virgin environment. The founders were among the pioneers of Rwanda’s private sector and took on the task of jump-starting the heavily dilapidated private enterprise. Having made a few good investments, especially in telecoms, the company earned decent returns that were reinvested to create what is now the biggest investment company in the country.

14th Floor, Grand Pension Building, Kigali, Rwanda info@cvl.co.rw www.cvl.co.rw CVLRwanda

Our main investments are NPD, Real Contractors, CVLD, East African Granite Industries (EAGI), Ruliba Clays, Inyange Industries, ISCO Intersec Security, Bourbon Coffee, Mutara Enterprises , Capital Brokers, Nexus & BCI Groupe. CVL thrives on application of modern & appropriate technologies whilst also attracting the best management talent to stay ahead of competitors in all its businesses. CVL invests both on a profitability (unexplored high risk sectors) and quasi social basis by pursuing opportunities that have attractive returns but also with a significant socioeconomic profile. Typical preferred projects are those that can deliver a minimum return on investment of 15-20% with an investment horizon from 5 to 15 years or until the sector matures with a clear and profitable exit option.

Your Goals Your Future Your Home

ADVERTORIAL

Work at the largest investment company in Rwanda. careers@cvl.co.rw www.cvl.co.rw

Civil Works

Fleet Services

Kigali Street Lighting Project

NPD is among the leading providers of civil engineering services, construction products and construction equipment leasing in Rwanda. Their services include: • Road works • Bridge construction • Dams • Stadiums • Street lights • Walkways & Drainage The company has also expanded to Kenya providing its core services in civil engineering works. www.npd.co.rw

Real Estate Development

Kagarama Apartments

Kiyovu Villas

CVLD manages CVL’s real estate development activities. The Crystal Ventures Group has been a leading player in real estate development over the past decade through its subsidiaries Real Contractors and NPD Ltd. The company also has a sizeable portfolio of land of just over 45 hectares that is strategically located in and around Kigali. Services that CVLD offers include: • Real estate development • Property management • Built sizeable consultancy www.cvld.rw

Construction

School of Finance & Banking

Ngoma Hotel

Real Contractors Ltd is a company that deals in construction, mechanical, electrical engineering and infrastructure services. Real Contractors also offers both mechanical and electrical engineering services through installation and maintenance services. Some of the specific offerings include plumbing, air conditioning, fire detection and fire fighting, lifts (elevators), mechanical ventilation, lightening protection, electrical installation, street lighting, and LAN installation.

www.realcontractorsltd.com

Building Materials

EAGI granite was used to floor the new Kigali International Airport check-in & departures zones

EAGI granite was used to floor the new Kigali City Council offices

EAGI is owned by Building Materials Investments Limited (BMI Ltd) – a joint venture between Crystal Ventures Limited and Rwanda Social Security Board. EAGI granite quality and unique range of tone, which comes in 7 distinct colours, has created demand from high end developers from the regional markets. As a result, EAGI has expanded operations to Kenya & Uganda. EAGI’s products include: • Floor and cladding tiles • Kitchen, vanity and counter tops • Garden benches, tombstones and cobblestones www.eastafricangranite.com

Clay Works

Masaka Hospital

Kira Hospital in Burundi

Ruliba Clays is the leading clay works company in Rwanda with its head office & factory located in Kigali. Ruliba has undertaken iconic projects in Rwanda & neighbouring countries including: • Gacuriro Vision 2020 Estate (Roofing, walling, flooring, partitions) • Masaka Hospital (Roofing, walling, flooring, partitions) • Nyakinama Military Academy (Roofing, walling, flooring, partitions) • The Marriot Hotel (walling & partitions) • Kira Hospital in Burundi (Roofing, walling, flooring, partitions) www.ruliba.com

Food Manufacturing & Processing

Inyange Industries

Inyange Industries Products

Inyange Industries is among the leading food manufacturing and food processing companies in Rwanda with a wide range of products from juice, water and milk products. Its rapid growth resulted in the construction of a USD 60 million production plant in Masaka in 2012 which has seen the company’s capacity increase tenfold and the brand become a household name in Rwanda. The company also participates in the poverty alleviation program – HIMO – by providing milk to help counter malnutrition challenges. Inyange products are ISO Certified. www.inyangeindustries.com

Security and related services

Hospitality

We engage eco-friendly farmers from the top 5 coffee growing regions in Rwanda.

Virunga

KIGALI Muhazi

Akagera

Kivu

Grade A cherries are selected and prepared exclusively for Bourbon Coffee Outlets.

Roasted in our very own outlets, Bourbon coffee reaches you at its freshest state.

Kizi Rift

From crop Take a journey through the regions.

to cup

Available to take home

ADVERTORIAL

ISCO Intersec Security fleets

ISCO Intersec Security fleets

Established in 1995, ISCO Intersec Security is the leading provider of security services in Rwanda. ISCO Intersec Security provides forward thinking solutions that have been streamlined and digitized to allow for efficient and timely operational standards. Services include: • Guarding services • Alarms & Access Control • Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting Equipment • Cash-in-Transit & Cash Processing Services • Courier & Logistics Management • 4G CCTV Solutions ISCO Intersec Security is ISO certified. www.isco.co.rw

Bourbon buys its coffee directly from farmers

Bourbon Coffee is an international brand of specialty coffee and the first retail brand to originate from Africa. It was established to present the finest Arabica coffees from Rwanda. The name, “Bourbon Coffee,” originates from the Bourbon variety of Arabica coffee beans, which has grown wild in Rwanda for over a century. Bourbon coffee beans are known for their deep, buttery chocolate flavors, as well as their sweetness and very light fruit overtones. www.bourboncoffee.rw

Trading

Conference Tables

Executive Desks

Mutara Enterprises Ltd was registered as a private trading company in 1995. Spurred by the need to reconstruct, rehabilitate and refurbish public and private structures, the company, in 1996, refocused its core offering to furniture sales introducing quality modular furniture that was easy to import for local assembly. Their products include: • • • •

Office furniture & partitioning Vertical blinds Air conditioning Covered carports

Mutara Enterprises is ISO certified. www.mutaraenterprises.com

Aviation Services

Flight Dispatch Services

Trip Planning Services

NEXUS is an independent Flight Operations Services provider. It’s headquarters are based in Saudi Arabia with a back-up Flight Operations Centre located in Bahrain as well as a new Africa base in Rwanda. NEXUS aviation experience spans almost 25 years and during this period, they have served some of the most elite clients in the Middle East and Africa. Since inception, NEXUS has established numerous vendor relationships and partnered with highly respected international companies including leading aviation training company FlightSafety International, international security services company FAM International and the largest Middle East aviation consultancy firm MAZ Aviation Consultants. www.nexus.aero

Financial Services

Capital Brokers manages insurance for the Hydrodam projects.

Capital Brokers is the insurance broker for the Rwanda Airforce

Capital Brokers is a brokerage firm that provides a broad array of insurance brokerage, consulting as well as risk management services. It caters for a wide spectrum of customers ranging from individuals, commercial and industrial sectors. Some of the insurance brokerage services offered include: • Motor vehicles • Industrial all risk • Cash in transit and safe • Third party liabilities or public liability • Medical cover www.capitalbrokers.rw

Investment

Energy & Infrastructure projects are part of the investment plans

BCI Groupe is an investment company based in Congo Brazzaville with a focus on civil engineering, energy and trading. CVL owns 60% with the remainder being shares of Telsa Sarl who are Congolese shareholders as part of its strategy to include local shareholders in our expansion program. BCIG aims to be one of the most reputable investment companies in Congo-Brazzaville with a significant impact on the social economic development of the country.

RWANDA | COUNTRY FOCUS

MANUFACTURING

Stitching together the industrial fabric A Chinese textile company is an early supporter of the government’s drive to diversify export revenue and create jobs for low-skilled workers

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wanda is counting on C&H Garments, a Chinese-owned company that launched operations in the country last year, to boost local textile production, help diversify the country’s exports and serve as an example to other manufacturers in the landlocked East African country. The C&H Garments is training textile government sees the textile and apworkers and plans to increase parel industry as a quick win in terms its workforce to 1,000 this year of creating jobs, thanks to its ability to absorb entry-level labour. a Chinese group has expressed interest C&H is due to invest up to $10m in in working with the government to dethe next five years at its textile plant in velop the Bugesera Industrial Park and the Kigali Special Economic Zone. The company, which is now making T-shirts attract Chinese enterprises to set up in Rwanda and supplies United Statesshop in Rwanda. The park is located based retail stores Walmart and Target, in the district south of Kigali, and the government issued a tender for the dehas invested in equipment including velopment of its first 100ha in late 2014. computerised sewing machines, and currently employs about 300 local work“Wehopethatinthenextcoupleofyears ers. It plans to hire more people as it we will see more Chinese groups coming to Rwanda. The Chinese diversifies its operations relocation is mainly in the and increases its capacity to supply both regional and area of labour-intensive international markets. manufacturing facilities,” C&H’s goal is to employ Kanimba explains. 1,000 Rwandans by the end Chinese of 2016. In the medium BEYOND THE BEAN investment This investor interest term, the number could in Rwanda comes at a time when the rise to at least 3,000, as the between 2010 company signed an agreecountry is under pressure and 2015 ment with the government to diversify its sources of SOURCE: RWANDA DEVELOPMENT BOARD to increase its training proforeign exchange in the gramme. While C&H imface of declining levels of foreign aid, which accounts for approxports most of its raw materials and is imately 40% of government expenditure. focusing on training, in the long term, the plan is to build a local supply chain. Rwanda’s traditional exports – includPan Hejun, China’s ambassador to ing tea, coffee, pyrethrum, minerals as Rwanda, tells The Africa Report that well as hides and skins – continued to dominate the economy in 2015, represother firms are exploring similar projects: “[C&H] is a very good investment. enting 47.5% of total export earnings, We expect more of such investments to compared to 55.2% in 2014. come to Rwanda. We are very keen to This dependence on a few primary help with industrial cooperation.” commodities remains one of the main challengesforacountryseekingtoreduce According to François Kanimba, a high trade deficit and build resilience to Rwanda’s trade and industry minister, THE AFRICA REPORT

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external shocks. For instance, last year a combination of lower prices for its major exports, a depreciating currency and a high import bill drastically impacted the country’s international reserves. In 2015, total exports recorded a poor performance, decreasing by 6.8% in value to $558.8m from $599.8m in 2014. Yet under the government’s Second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, the target is for exports to reach 28% annual growth in order to reduce the balance-of-payment deficit. Alun Thomas, the International Monetary Fund resident representative for Rwanda, underscores that one of the constraints that is likely to undermine Rwanda’s growth prospects this year is the lack of foreign exchange. “If you look at the global economy, there are challenges in terms of commodity demand and prices, and export diversification takes time. The challenge therefore is to maintain reserve cover at three to four months of imports,” he says, pointing out that the government has to help rein in some import demand through expenditure restraint, since the public sector is a big part of the economy and demands a lot of imports. Indeed, in recent months, the government has also been aggressively promoting a ‘Made in Rwanda’ strategy, which includes raising awareness, enhancing quality and improving the branding and packaging of locally made products. ● Honoré Banda in Kigali

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INTERVIEW ranging fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the internet of things, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage and quantumcomputing, to name a few.” So should African countries be encouraged to ‘leapfrog’ into a new path of industrial development or should they be concerned that manufacturing may never be the same again?

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Elsie Kanza Head of Africa, World Economic Forum

We are already living this new reality Ahead of the WEF Africa conference in May, Elsie Kanza talks to The Africa Report about the challenges and opportunities that the fourth industrial revolution brings

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wanda has worked hard to put itself on the conference circuit. It played host to the African Development Bank meetings and World Export Development Forum in 2014, and this year it welcomes the 26th edition of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Africa conference on 11-13 May. This year’s conference will build on the ideas discussed at the WEF in Davos in January, in particular that of the ‘fourth

industrial revolution’, which predicts that much of the growth of the coming decades will be based on technology strengthening industrial processes. “Consider the unlimited possibilities of having billions of people connected by mobile devices, giving rise to unprecedented processing power, storage capabilities and knowledge access,” writes WEF founder Klaus Schwab. “Or think about the staggering confluence of emerging technology breakthroughs, covering wide-

TAR: The theme of the forum is connecting Africa’s resources through digital transformation. What does that mean? ELSIE KANZA: The starting point is picking up from the conversations that we had in Davos [and] raising awareness with respect to the fourth industrial revolution. [It] is all about new technology and how that’s disrupting societies, economies, business – and therefore [about] helping all stakeholders get their heads around this new reality. And then helping them to think through what it means given the current context – the opportunities and challenges. I go to great lengths to let people know we are not shifting away from the basic needs of the continent as it grapples with respect to growth and development. It’s just that we are applying a new lens so that people appreciate that it’s not an either/ or proposition. We are already living this new reality. What does it mean in terms of prioritising investments? What does it mean in terms of the potential to leapfrog in a number of areas? What does it mean in terms of where we need to build resilience to be able to manage the downside of this revolution? What areas do you think Africa could leapfrog in? I feel that there are real opportunities right across the board in every respect. If we look at agriculture, for example, and if you think about research ● ● ●

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COUNTRY FOCUS | RWANDA

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● ● ● that’s gone into producing drought-resistant crops. For instance, having better information that can help with planning, looking at the full value chain in terms of processing. I think many people forget that technology is a number of things: it’s not just products, it’s also processes and services. We have new opportunities with regard to logistics and shipping that are also being driven with better information and technology. We have in the healthcare system new technologies that allow for diagnosis to take place without being in a highly equipped medical centre. And with medicine, prevention is better than a cure. So if we’re able to detect issues earlier, especially epidemics, then you can take measures to control them earlier. You can now do that using handheld devices. That’s incredibly valuable. The challenge is how do we

share it? And how do we scale up what is working? [...] I’m particularly excited about e-commerce, where we are seeing a lot of Africa’s creative talent actually being monetised. But it’s not just limited to that. You are seeing it in advertising. Just the other day somebody created an app for downloading music. So there’s an incredible amount of new, emerging technologies in this space, which offers a real opportunity to address unemployment amongst youth in the continent now. That said, there is still quite a bit of work to be done in terms of the infrastructure, right? Like connecting the unconnected: the energy gap is enormous but at least now you can see there’s light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. And given these large challenges about where the jobs are going to come from, here’s a real opportunity to have a breakthrough.

BETWEEN AFRICA AND THE WORLD 1997 Began working for Tanzania’s finance ministry 2006 Named President Jakaya Kikwete’s assistant for economic affairs 2008 Chosen for an Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship 2011 Started at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2014 Became head of Africa for the WEF

Rwanda has pioneered the use of laptops in classrooms, helping to prepare the connected workforce of tomorrow

Is it the WEF’s position that digital services can provide the kind of mass employment that previously was offered by things like manufacturing? Potentially. I think manufacturing remains important, so even with digital marketplaces you have to think about what products are being sold, ultimately. But it does make it easier to connect producers to buyers. And with new technologies such as 3D manufacturing, you also transform the face of manufacturing and production. The key challenge [is] that if you produce locally, you are in many respects limited to your local environments. Now, with digital marketplaces, your market becomes national, regional and even global – and that’s the real opportunity. Do you have any advice for policy-makers about how to ride out this commodity crunch? It’s a tale of two Africas, so to speak. Commodity-dependant economies are absolutely suffering, just like their counterparts around the world – be it governments, be it companies. For commodity-poor countries, it’s boom time, particularly if you are able to purchase oil at lower prices. We’ve seen that reflected in continued higher growth rates, particularly for countries in Eastern Africa. But this is a real opportunity for commodity-rich countries to get their acts together. When you have greater oil revenues coming in, it’s very hard to say to people: “Hey, we should be collecting taxes on property. We should be collecting taxes on customs. We should be tightening belts and minimising wastage.” Those are very difficult conversations to have when people see that, well, there’s a lot of money. Why should we have to be lean in our operations? And so, they [should] see this as a real opportunity to drive through reforms for better financial management before prices pick up again. ● Interview by Nicholas Norbrook

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FINANCE

Loans out of reach The latest FinScope survey shows 89% of Rwandans now have access to financial services, but the high interest rates keep loans out of the reach of many. Competition between banks, banking efficiency and consumer education could change this

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the meeting. While bankers and polifter Idephonse Twagirayezu cy-makers maintain that interest rates borrowed $2,600 from a comin Rwanda are much lower compared mercial bank in Kigali, he with countries in the region such as thought he was set. He used the new Kenya and Uganda, where commerfunds to buy spare parts for his fourcial banks charge as much as 27%, leseat taxi, which is his primary source of income, as well as launching a small gislators argue that it is important to shop to sell basic household items such bring down the cost of borrowing to as salt, sugar and soap. stimulate economic activity. While the central bank quotes the ofData from the Rwandan central bank ficial average lending rate at 17%, most show that industry lending rates deordinary Rwandans pay clined marginally from more. Twagirayezu, who 17.6% in December 2014 has a wife and six children, to 17% in December 2015, says he is struggling to redespite the central bank maintaining its policy rate pay his loan because the interest on his repayments of 6.5% unchanged since has eaten up all his profits. June 2014 to increase li“The loan was too exquidity and create room pensive,” Twagirayezu for banks to lend to the private sector. On the other tells The Africa Report. hand, deposit rates offered “The bank charged me Percentage of by Rwanda’s commercial 20% interest, and I had Rwandans aged to deposit my land title to banks dropped significover 15 with a bank account secure the loan. I knew it antly from an average of SOURCE: WORLD BANK 11.3% in January in 2013 to was very expensive, but I didn’t have a choice. Most 7.5% in December last year. banks have lengthy procedures which make it almost impossible to get a loan.” CUSTOMERS SHOULD NEGOTIATE Rwanda’s parliament held a special Aimable Nkuranga, the country mansession on 23 February to ask the centager for TransUnion Rwanda, the first ral bank to bring down lending rates. company to offer credit-rating informThis follows public outcry over the high ation and management in the country, cost of borrowing. “The central bank explains that consumers have a role to should help in finding a sustainable play in getting better deals: “Not everyway to solve the issue of high interest one knows that they can use a good credit rates on acquiring loans,” said member history to negotiate for better terms […]. of parliament Pierre Claver Rwaka at There is a need for public education and

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Borrowing at 20% means loan repayments eat up all the profits of small businesses

awareness by different stakeholders, including the central bank.” He adds: “The culture here is people think getting credit is a favour they are getting from banks […]. When they see that their project is accepted, they do not think twice. They just sign quickly, thinking the bank can refuse at some point.” Rwanda is trying to attract big regional and international banks in a bid to support infrastructure projects that local financiers are unable to fund. The government also aspires to transform the economy into a financial hub for East and Central Africa. Foreign lenders, such as Britain-based financial services group Atlas Mara, which bought a stake in Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) and the BRD Commercial Bank, have recently moved in. Atlas Mara says it has invested around $21m in BPR and has plans for expansion (see page 71). Bank of Africa, the Mali-based multinational pan-African banking group, acquired a licence in October last year after it bought a 90% stake in Agaseke Bank, a microfinance institution. It is expected to rebrand and launch full operations in the course of 2016. These two entries into the market mean Rwanda’s banking sector is now home to 12 commercial banks, three microfinance banks, one development bank and one cooperative bank. THE AFRICA REPORT

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RWANDA | COUNTRY FOCUS

The central bank sees opportunities for growth if banks introduce branchless or agency banking, as key players in the sector look to rope in millions of households without access to formal banking channels. According to data from the FinScope survey released on 3 March by not-for-profit company Access to Finance Rwanda, 89% of the adult Rwandan population is already using financial products and services, up from 72% in 2012’s survey. The country has exceeded its targets: Rwanda’s flagship development strategy, Vision 2020, aimed to reach 80% financial inclusion by 2017 and 90% in 2020. ECONOMIES OF SCALE

While the entry of new banks and the extension of the banking network have increased competition and innovation, this has yet to benefit borrowers. The World Bank says in a recent report that commercial banks are still among the most important sources of financing for the country, but their investments are constrained by the maturity of their liabilities, which consist mainly of local short-term deposits. Central bank governor John Rwangombwa agrees with that analysis, saying banks “do not have long-term savings that will act as financing channels for the businesses.” But the World Bank has also offered advice on how to bolster financial inclusion and reduce the cost of financial services. “With economies of scale, banks could be more efficient, as the required fixed costs are spread over a wider operation. Thus, it is crucially important for banks to extend their reach across Rwanda’s borders, and include the currently unbanked into the banking system, to ultimately realise the benefits of economies of scale,” the World Bank’s report says. According to the World Bank’s economic update on Rwanda released at the end of February, credit to the private sector as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 16.6% at the end of 2014, compared to 11.6% in 2009. While the trend over the past few years is positive, private-sector credit relative to GDP remains low compared to other low-income countries. Rwanda’s bankers still have a lot more work to do to make sure that companies and individuals can access the finance they need to keep the economy growing. ● Honoré Banda in Kigali THE AFRICA REPORT

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INTERVIEW

Sanjeev Anand Chief executive, Banque Populaire du Rwanda

A great customer base

A

tlas Mara, a sub-Saharan Africa-focused financial services group based in Britain and founded by Bob Diamond and Ashish Thakkar, has grand designs for the Rwandan banking sector. It completed its purchase of a majority stake in Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) in January and has merged it with its stake in recently acquired BRD Commercial Bank. BPR now has the most branches in the country and the second-largest total assets. Sanjeev Anand is BPR’s new chief executive, and he plans to take his experience at I&M Bank Rwanda and Citibank in Nigeria and India to expand the bank’s operations into sectors that it has previously ignored, like trade finance and corporate banking.

As you take over as chief executive, what is your strategy? The strategy is very simple. BPR has a network of 193 branches. It has approximately 600,000 customers, of which about 450,000 are active and then 150,000 are inactive customers. We have about 300,000 customers on mobile banking. That is a great customer base to work with. The first objective would be to give new products to retail customers, the 450,000 active customers. The next objective would be to activate as many as we can of the 150,000 inactive customers, and that is a huge thing. 600,000 customers is probably more than all the other banks put together, which is a very big customer base. We are virtually zero in corporate banking – we have a very small market share, not even 3-4% market share. Similarly, in small and medium-sized enterprise banking and business banking, our market share is only about 4% or 5%. We want to grow that with new products.

TAR: What is your strategy to reduce the cost of borrowing? Our goal is to reduce costs. BPR has many positives, but it also has many negative points. One of the negatives is that it has a very With a capital base of Rfr45bn, high cost of operation. that gives us a lot of ability Our cost-to-revenue ratio is something like to grow our loan book 90%, which is extremely high. And if your costs We have a very good capital base are high, it prevents you from being of Rfr45bn ($58.7m), which is the second-highest capital base in the able to offer competitively priced products to the customers. country. That gives us a lot of ability to grow our loan book. We have a virtually negligible share What does Atlas Mara’s purchase of the treasury sector. So from zero, of the bank mean to the your growth can only be positive. approximately 600,000 individual We are putting a lot of focus on the shareholders? treasury market. When they approved the We are doing nothing on the trade transaction, they have obviously finance side – on import financing, placed trust in the new investor export financing, letters of credit, – being Atlas Mara – and the collections. There is a huge governance and the management opportunity there because Rwanda team that Atlas Mara will put into is a trading economy and we are the bank to reap the full potential not doing anything there. I want of BPR. It is a trust that they have to develop that business as well. ● placed, and I hope that we are Interview by H.B. in Kigali able to live up to their expectations.

71

day in the life Extraordinary storiEs of ordinary pEoplE

All rIghts reserved

98

Be Strong

Sheetal Kotak, 35, took her battles with anorexia, a broken marriage and alcoholism to the gym and emerged a pioneering sportswoman and body-building champion

I

was born and raised in Kenya. I am the first Asian woman to compete in local and regional body-building competitions. I am the reigning Miss Nairobi and Miss Kenya 2015 Figure Champ and have held the MuscleMania Africa Figure title since 2013. Growing up I wasn’t interested in any sporting activity. I never even swam. In 2006, I had my second son and obviously put on weight. At a New Year’s party I saw pictures of myself and thought: that’s not me! I was 56 kilograms. I decided to join a gym close to my home. My then husband wasn’t very encouraging. He said that even if I had 10 dogs running behind me I couldn’t do it. I started skipping rope and even though I didn’t know much about dieting, my weight started dropping. However, I was in a bad emotional state. I was married for 10 years but my husband only stayed over on Saturdays. I was living alone and raising my two boys. I began to over-train. I was also obsessed with fitness magazines. At home I’d watch fashion shows and want to be like those girls. By 2008, I weighed 32 kilograms. I was getting thinner and thinner but I’d still look in the mirror and see myself as fat. I was depressed and anorexic. I felt like losing weight was where I finally had control of my life. Soon after that I started abusing alcohol and overworking.

My family intervened and I was put on medication and went to rehab but nothing really worked until I lost my brother. Our last conversation kept haunting me. He’d brought me a burger and urged me to “eat [it] and be strong”. Those words kept ringing in my head. I ended my marriage, changed gyms and, with a doctor who finally understood my issues, I worked on getting stronger. That first week I lifted every weight the trainer gave me regardless of my physical capabilities. I was training with my feelings. Within a year I stopped taking medication, was eating well and could talk to people. I’d even met a supporting and understanding partner. I was ready for my first competition. But backstage in Uganda, I was nervous. I’d basically taught myself off the internet, but I kept encouraging myself to stay positive. I won. Every competition I’ve entered since I’ve brought the top trophy home. My sons love it. They always stay up to hear my results. It’s hard work though. I’m up by 3am every morning to prepare for the gym. Even when I’m off-season I have a session between 5am and 7am then return home to take the kids to school. I go to work at an engineering firm then have a second gym session between 6.30pm and 8pm with seven meal and shake combos consumed in-between. I’m now more responsible at the gym. I’ve had a bit of a sprained ankle and have issues with my sciatic nerves but I always keep clear form. I can lift 180kgs, bench press 240kgs and dead lift 120kgs. My journey is documented through 10 tattoos on my body. The first one I got was on my right arm. It says: “I am self-love.” All that blood, sweat and tears has tamed my spirit. And that’s the great thing about weight-lifting, the steel moulds you. ● Interview by Wanjeri Gakuru the africa report

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n ° 79

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a p r i l 2 016

Côte d’Ivoire

ADVERTORIAL

T

hanks to its political stability and the recent reforms it has implemented, Côte d’Ivoire !as "#sto"#d inv#sto" confid#nc#. T!# co%nt"& is ma'in( "apid p"o("#ss to "#ac! t!# am)itio%s ta"(#t s#t )& P"#sid#nt A*assan# O%atta"a: ma'in( Côt# d’Ivoi"# an #m#"(in( co%nt"& )& 2020 and t!# (at#wa& to W#st Af"ica, a ma"'#t wit! a pop%*ation of ov#" 300 mi**ion. To ac!i#v# t!is, t!# 2016-2020 Nationa* D#v#*opm#nt P*an (NDP) wi** "ais# 30 t"i**ion CFA f"ancs wo"t! of inv#stm#nts, t"ip*# t!# amo%nt of t!# p"#vio%s p*an (2012-2015 NDP), and #na)*# Côt# d’Ivoi"# to )#com# a committ#d m#m)#" of t!# int#"nationa* comm%nit& of d#moc"atic, d#v#*op#d co%nt"i#s.

© DR © NAbIl zOrkOT

© OlIVIer POur JA

© gPArIgOT - FOTOlIA

© reNAuD VANDerMeereN

© NAbIl zOrkOT

© reNAuD VAN Der MeereN

Modernisation, Industrialisation and Consolidation

Côte d’Ivoire > Modernisation, Industrialisation and Consolidation

Looking into the future Côt! d’Ivoi"! is movin# into its n!xt p$as!, contin%in# t$! wo"& don! '!tw!!n 2011 and 2015. T$! past fiv! )!a"s $av! $!*p!d to ma&! %p fo" *ost tim!, '! it in t"anspo"tation, !d%cation, $!a*t$ o" p"ovidin# !*!ct"icit) and pota'*! wat!" to t$! "%"a* pop%*ation. Mo"! t$an 2 mi**ion jo's have since been created and income for the %nd!"p"ivi*!#!d $as imp"ov!d. Wit$ t$! n!w mandate received from Ivorians in October 2015, P"!sid!nt A*assan! O%atta"a $as s$own a commitm!nt to acc!*!"at! t$! co%nt")‘s mod!"nisation.

Renewed vitality for rapid growth Toda), Côt! d’Ivoi"! is "!apin# t$! '!n!fits of t$! fi"st Nationa* D!v!*opm!nt P*an (2012-2015 NDP). T$! co%nt") "ais!d 10t"n CFA f"ancs wo"t$ of inv!stm!nts fo" t$! const"%ction of n!w inf"ast"%ct%"!, t$! imp*!m!ntation of s!v!"a* vi#o"o%s "!fo"ms and an imp"ov!d '%sin!ss c*imat!; a** of w$ic$ $av! st"!n#t$!n!d t$! p"ivat! s!cto". T$!s! m!as%"!s $av! "!viv!d t$! !conom) and '"o%#$t 'ac& inv!sto"s.

 President Alassane Ouattara during his inaugural speech, in November 2015.

© CyrIlle bAh / ANADOlu AgeNCy/AFP

S!v!"a* fla#s$ip p"oj!cts of t$! 2016-2020 NDP $av! a*"!ad) '!!n %nv!i*!d (s!! 'ox). T$! d!tai*s of t$! P*an a"! '!in# fina*is!d, '%t w! a*"!ad) &now t$at it int!nds to "ais! 30t"n CFA f"ancs in inv!stm!nts, an amo%nt consid!"!d !xc!ssiv! ') som!. T$!s! a"! t$! sam! individ%a*s w$o didn’t '!*i!v! t$at t$! 10t"n anno%nc!d in t$! 20122015 NDP in 2012 was attaina'*!, '%t w! mad! it. It is at t$is « cost » t$at Côt! d’Ivoi"!’s ann%a* #"owt$ $as "!main!d in t$! 8-10% "an#! ann%a**) fo" fo%" cons!c%tiv! )!a"s.

 The aim is to convert all agricultural products. © OlIVIer POur JA

ADVERTORIAL

MAINTAIN STRONG ECONOMIC GROWTH T$! n!xt fiv! )!a"s wi** '! c"%cia* to p"o#"!ss and to ma&in# Côt! d’Ivoi"! an !m!"#in# co%nt") ') 2020. Fo" !conomists, ‘!m!"#in#‘ "!f!"s to a d!v!*opin# co%nt") wit$ a $i#$ #"owt$ "at!, a $i#$ *!v!* of ind%st"ia*isation and ind%st"ia* p"od%cts, op!n to t$! o%tsid! wo"*d and t$at $as a #"owin# *oca* ma"&!t. T$is is t$! "oadmap fo" t$! comin# )!a"s.

30trn CFA francs in investments

Processing products before export

© reNAuD VANDerMeereN

 Abidjan by night. Electricity production increased by 50% between 2012 and 2015.

As t'! wo"#d’s top !xpo"t!" of cocoa, Côt! d’Ivoi"! aims to (!com! t'! #a"%!st p"oc!sso" of cocoa (!ans, ov!"ta)in% t'! N!t'!"#ands. Its %oa# is to t"ansfo"m t'! !nti"! cocoa (!an p"od&ction (#!ss t'an 'a#f is p"oc!ss!d toda$), and do t'! sam! fo" pa#m oi#, nat&"a# "&((!" and fo" s&(sist!nc! c"ops s&c' as "ic!, mai*! and cassava. It is o(vio&s t'at to !ff!ctiv!#$ ca""$ o&t t'!s! c'an%!s, s&ffici!nt !#!ct"icit$ %!n!"ation is "!q&i"!d. b!tw!!n 2012 and 2015, p"od&ction capacit$ inc"!as!d ($ n!a"#$ 50%, f"om 1,100 M!%awatts (MW) to 1,600 MW. b$ 2020, 4,000 MW 'as to (! %!n!"at!d, t'! !q&iva#!nt of Ni%!"ia’s c&""!nt p"od&ction (a pop&#ation of 175 mi##ion).

EXPAND THE INDUSTRY AND ADD VALUE TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS Focus on industrialisation  The port of Abidjan, gateway into West Africa.

© NAbIl zOrkOT

D!spit! Côt! d’Ivoi"!’s "!#ativ!#$ st"on% ind&st"ia# s!cto" – t'! s!cond in W!st Af"ica –, #!ss t'an 'a#f of its !xpo"ts a"! #oca##$-t"ansfo"m!d p"od&cts. D!v!#opin% t'! ind&st"$ wi## t'!"!fo"! '!#p to inc"!as! t'! va#&! of !xpo"ts, c"!at! mo"! jo( oppo"t&niti!s and %!n!"at! mo"! incom! fo" t'! pop&#ation. T'! ind&st"ia# !ffo"ts wi## a#so p"io"itis! a%"ic&#t&"!, w'ic' s&ppo"ts two-t'i"ds of t'! pop&#ation and cont"i(&t!s to a#most 30% of nationa# w!a#t' c"!ation (gDP).

2016-2020 NDP: 10 key investment projects

F

rom 21st to 22nd March, Abidjan will host the AFRICA CEO FORUM, hosted important international gathering of CEOs from the largest African companies. Launched in Geneva in 2012, the forum took place on the African continent for the first time. On this occasion, Côte d’Ivoire will unveil 10 key investment projects that represent a total amount of more than $1bn. The purpose of these projects is to boost energy investments, port activities, industry and transports, all

of which are key sectors that will secure the country’s industrial development. This concerns, in particular:  the energy sector: the construction and operation of two biomass plants to optimise the potential of the country’s renewable energies and to meet its demand for electricity supply  the industrial sector: development of the country’s two main shipping ports (Abidjan and San Pedro) to encourage the setting up of industrial and logistics units

the transport sector: the construction and operation of the motorway extension linking Abidjan to GrandBassam, to facilitate traffic flows towards the east of the country (particularly towards Nigeria) and to boost tourism development in the seaside resort of Assinie  finally, the creation of a new 940-hectare industrial area in Abidjan accommodating companies or industrial groups which can develop high value-adding activities.



Côte d’Ivoire > Modernisation, Industrialisation and Consolidation

ESSENTIAL DATA & KEY INDICATORS POPULATION1 LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH3 LAND AREA (sq. km)1 GDP (current $US)1 GDP PER CAPITA (current prices)1 IMPORTS IN $BILLIONS4 EXPORTS IN $BILLIONS4 FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT2 INFLATION5

22.16 million 51.5 318 000 $34.25 billion $1,545.9 $12.5 billion (2013) $12 billion (2013) $462 million 1.6%

GDP GROWTH (%)5  gDP grOWTh (%) 7.9

8.2

7.6

ADVERTORIAL

8.7  gDP ($bn)

31.1

33.7

31.3

34.3

2013

2014

2015*

2016*

Sources: 1World Bank 2014 & 2015 statistics; 2United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2014, inflows); 3Human Development Index (2015); 4 UN Comtrade 2014; 5IMF World Economic Outlook Database, 2015 estimate.

and Mon!ta"* union (WAeMu), t#! F"ancop#on! s%'-"!&ion. Its !conomic d*namism #as a st"on& "ipp$! !ff!ct on t#! !nti"! "!&ion and !v!n Ni&!"ia. As pow!"f%$ d"iv!"s of d!v!$opm!nt, t#! two co%nt"i!s #av! com'in!d t#!i" !ffo"ts to d"iv! fo"wa"d t#! const"%ction of t#! A'idjan-la&os moto"wa*, a pivota$ asp!ct of t#! "!&ion’s f%t%"!.

PROVIDE THE POPULATION WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR A BETTER TOMORROW Modern day men in a modern country T#! fina$ o'j!ctiv! of t#! 2016-2020 NDP, w#ic# is a$so its p"ima"* foc%s, is to off!" Ivo"ians oppo"t%niti!s fo" a '!tt!" tomo""ow. T#! 'att$!s wi$$ '! wa&!d on s!v!"a$ f"onts. T#! pov!"t* "at! w#ic# wo"s!n!d d%"in& t#! d!cad! of c"isis #as d!c$in!d sinc! 2011. un!mp$o*m!nt "!mains #i&# #ow!v!", !sp!cia$$* amon& t#! *o%t#. T#! conso$idation of fa"min& activiti!s and t#! d!v!$opm!nt of n!w !xcitin& ind%st"ia$ activiti!s a"! n!c!ssa"* to c"!at! mo"! jo's and to increase income for all social classes in 'ot# %"'an and "%"a$ a"!as. T#! NDP wi$$ a$so ta(! t#! n!c!ssa"* st!ps to t"ain t#! *o%t# and p"!pa"! t#!m fo" t#! '%sin!ss wo"$d. It wi$$ a$so &iv! wom!n a stat%s wo"t#* of a mod!"n co%nt"*, w#!"! t#!* can p$a* a "o$! in its !conomic d!v!$opm!nt. A$$ t#!s! conditions com'in!d wi$$ !na'$! Côt! d’Ivoi"! to %nd!"&o si&nificant t"ansfo"mation in t#! n!xt fiv! *!a"s.

DIFCOM/DF - PhOTOS: © All rIghTS reDerVeD AND leSS NOTeD.

und!" t#! $!ad!"s#ip of P"ésid!nt O%atta"a, Côt! d’Ivoi"! #as onc! a&ain '!com! a "!$!vant nation on the African and international scene, both on t#! po$itica$ and and !conomic f"ont. T#! "!t%"n of t#! Af"ican D!v!$opm!nt ban( (AfDb) to its "!&ist!"!d #!ad offic! in A'idjan in S!pt!m'!" 2014, aft!" 11 *!a"s in !xi$! in T%nis, is a cas! in point. Ot#!" !xamp$!s a"! t#! financia$ s%ppo"t "!c!iv!d f"om t#! int!"nationa$ comm%nit* in 2011 to "!viv! t#! !conom* and t#! s!v!"a$ op!"ations mad! in "!&iona$ o"&anisations (WAeMu, eCOWAS, Af"ican union,...). T#an(s to t#!s!, t#! co%nt"* #as '!com! a t"%! m!$tin& point of p"of!ssions and c%$t%"!s as mo"! and mo"! !xpat"iat!s a""iv!. In t#! $on& t!"m, t#! stim%$%s p"o&"am fo" t#! to%"ism s!cto" wi$$ !na'$! Côt! d’Ivoi"! to w!$com! an inc"!asin& n%m'!" of visito"s, d"awn to t#! wid! "an&! of "!ma"(a'$! sit!s t#! co%nt"* #as to off!". Conv!ni!nt$* $ocat!d at t#! &at!wa* to W!st Africa, Côte d’Ivoire already maintains close links wit# its n!i&#'o%"s in t#! W!st Af"ican economic

 The 78-member states flags fly over the African Development Bank building in Abidjan.

© ISSOuF SANOgO /AFP

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