SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Universo www.universo-magazine.com
MARCH 2013
Angola’s reviving coffee ISSUE 37 – MARCH 2013
SONANGOL TARGETS 2 MILLION BARRELS
NETHERLANDS PARTNERSHIP
CABINDA $1BILLION DEVELOPMENT
INSIDE:
oil and gas news
Glenn R. Specht-grs photo
Universo is the international magazine of Sonangol Board Members Francisco de Lemos José Maria (President), Mateus de Brito, Anabela Fonseca, Sebastião Gaspar Martins, Fernando Roberto, Baptista Sumbe, Raquel Vunge Sonangol Department for Communication & Image Director João Rosa Santos Corporate Communications Assistants Nadiejda Santos, Lúcio Santos, Sarissari Diniz, José Mota, Beatriz Silva, Paula Almeida, Sandra Teixeira, Marta Sousa, Hélder Sirgado, Kimesso Kissoka Publisher: Sheila O’Callaghan Editor: John Kolodziejski Managing Editor: Mauro Perillo Art Director: Tony Hill Sub Editor: Ron Gribble Proofreading: Gail Bonebrake Nelson Production Manager: Matthew Alexander Production Assistant: Sebnem Brown Project Consultant: Nathalie MacCarthy Group President: John Charles Gasser Universo is produced by Impact Media Custom Publishing. The views expressed in the publication are not necessarily those of Sonangol or the publishers. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior permission is prohibited. This magazine is distributed to a closed circulation. To receive a free copy: circulation@universo-magazine.com Circulation: 17,000
Davenport House 16 Pepper Street London E14 9RP United Kingdom Tel + 44 20 7510 9595 Fax +44 20 7510 9596 sonangol@impact-media.com www.universo-magazine.com Cover: Pavel Hlystov / Tony Hill
Welcome changes
G
oing on foot is one of the most direct ways of getting to know a city and its people. In Luanda’s case, it’s also one way to check the rate of the country’s economic development. Regular visitors exploring the city’s busy highways and byways over the last year or two are struck by the speedy multiplication of shops, restaurants and cafés. A parallel trend has been the increase in the quantity and quality of fresh produce available in these establishments and on the colourful displays of street-sellers. Both these welcome changes indicate two important recent advances in Angola: firstly, greater efficiency in logistics, permitting easier flows of goods from factories, farms and fisheries, and secondly, rising productivity in this vast land. Stacks of gorgeous golden pineapples and buckets of tasty lobsters symbolise much more than a bargain as prices fall – they signal Angola’s advancing economy! John Kolodziejski Editor
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Contents
ngola-Brazil cable project; TAAG numbers take A off; satellite launch by 2016; GDP data shows diversification; Cabinda industrial hub; AngolaNamibia rail connection
6
ANGOLA-NETHERLANDS RELATIONS
David Maska
ANGOLA NEWS BRIEFING
COASTING ALONG
The Dutch doing what they do best
14
ANGOLAN DESIGNS ON YOUR BODY
Three sisters on the trail of fashion success
22
CABINDA: QUAYS TO SUCCESS
6 Peter Moeller
4
Hefty investment in new infrastructure
VISITS ANGOLA
haak78
30 GOLDEN SHOES JOHNSON
22
Top athlete tracks local progress
32
STIRRING INITIATIVES ANGOLA’S COFFEE
32
41
SONANGOL NEWS BRIEFING
Eco race win; Petro Atlético win SuperCup; two
Desert Runner.com
Projects point to greater growth
more Suezmax tankers; Sonangol stake in Puma Energy; $1 billion debt deal; refinery foundation
41
stone laid; welcome to the bridge; Sonaci signs desert rally; Mamufeira project gets go-ahead; PSVM starts up; literary prize winner
Malocha
LNG trader partnership; Sonangol women in
46 SONANGOL PRESS CONFERENCE
Production and investment on the rise
50 SONANGOL LTD CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY
46 MARCH 2013 3
Angola news briefing
Anteromite
Angola-Brazil in cable link-up
TAAG numbers take off ■ Passenger numbers on Angola Airlines (TAAG) grew from 1.05 million
in 2011 to 1.2 million last year. Company chief executive Pimentel Araújo said the increase in traffic would enable TAAG to purchase new planes and consequently further increase passenger numbers. TAAG signed a contract with Boeing in March 2011 for three more planes, with the first expected in May 2014, the second in December 2015 and the third in March 2016. The company also has the option to buy another three planes for 20192020, but they may be delivered earlier if required.
■ Telecommunications company Angola Cables
launched an intercontinental fibre-optic link project on December 14. The South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) will run for 6,000 km and link Luanda to Fortaleza, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará. The cable will be used for the transmission of voice and data as part of a network connecting Africa to Latin America and Asia. The project will cost $278 million and should be completed by the end of 2014. The existing link between the three regions is currently carried out by undersea cables that travel via the United States and Europe. Angola Cables, established in 2009 by the five main Angolan telecommunications operators, aims to turn Angola into the main telecommunications platform in Africa and dramatically increase the availability of services. It is also expected to cut costs to users by 80 per cent.
Satellite launch by 2016 ■ Angola will launch its first telecommunications satellite,
Angosat, within three years, says Alcides Safeca, Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology. “Construction has already begun and is led by a Russian consortium with experience in the field,” he said. The $40 million project is financed by a group of Russian banks led by Ruseximbank and VTB. The satellite belongs to the Yamal class and will have a lifespan of 12 years.
GDP data shows diversification ■ Oil’s share in the Angolan economy’s gross domestic
product is expected to be around 39 per cent at the end of 2012 compared to 56 per cent in 2002, according to Álvaro Sobrinho, chairman of Angolan bank Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA). He said the figures are a sign that the economy is diversifying.
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Angola news briefing
Cabinda industrial hub
Angola-Namibia rail connection
Portuguese construction groups Edifer and Soares da Costa has been awarded the contract to build the infrastructure and seven buildings at the Fútila industrial hub in Angola’s Cabinda province. The $68 million project is to be completed in 12 months. The contract includes building roads and electricity, water and sewage systems at the industrial park, as well as administrative and support buildings. The Fútila hub was established in 1998 and is located on the Malembo plains, some 30 km north of the city of Cabinda. It is funded by the World Bank, Sonangol, the Angolan government, the Cabinda provincial government and other investors.
Kamene M Traça
■ A consortium made up of
■ Construction of a rail connection between Angola and Namibia as a branch of the
Moçâmedes Railway Company (CFM) may start in 2013. CFM board chairman Daniel Paxe said that the aim was to link the two countries and enable the flow of people and goods as part of the regional integration process. “The Angolan executive intends to extend its line over 300 km which will link Chamutete [Huíla] and Santa Clara [Cunene] on the border of Namibia,” he said. Angola’s railway authorities are also in talks with General Electric to import a large number of locomotives, which will benefit CFM. In the 1970s, CFM operated 72 GE locomotives, mostly to exploit iron ore traffic. The planned re-opening of mines at Jamba and Chamutete, together with the complete rebuilding of Angola’s two other east-west railways, means that the number of GE locomotives could double.
FIGURED OUT
Angola in numbers
200,000 jobs created in 2012
$8.8 billion
Sonangol oil investments planned in next ten years
4 million Angolans have gained access to water since 2008
1.2 million TAAG passengers in 2012
$40 million the cost of Angola’s first satellite
MARCH 2013 5
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ANGOLA-NETHERLANDS RELATIONS
COASTING
ALONG The Dutch are famous for their low-lying lands, windmills, canals, tulips and cheese, but their small country also punches way above its weight in economic terms. Universo looks at its contributions to rebuilding Angola By Lula Ahrens
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T.W. van Urk
MARCH 2013 7
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T
he Netherlands is inextricably linked to the sea. The country name means ‘low lands’, and indeed one-third of its territory is below sea level. Most of the rest would be under water if it were not for the protection of dykes, dunes and pumping stations. Large parts of the country were reclaimed from the North Sea, and its emblematic windmills, once considered new technology, were used to drain its now highly-productive farmland. The Dutch also have a long tradition as a seafaring nation. Explorers from its shores discovered Australia in 1606 and New Zealand in 1642. Dutch inventions include the microscope (1590), the stock exchange (1606), the submarine (1620) and the compact disc (1979). The country’s ingenuity and industry, supported by a proud tradition of democracy and openness to the world,
have made it a significant trading partner and thus well placed to support Angola’s rapid economic revival. Susanna Terstal, Netherlands Ambassador in Angola, points out that Holland is the third-largest exporter to Angola and one of the largest investors in the country. Dutch exports to Angola are worth around €e200-300 million a year, compared to €e450-700 million of Angolan exports, mostly oil, to the Netherlands. The figures illustrate the fact that the Netherlands’ emphasis in Angola lies in economic diplomacy. “Angola offers many opportunities for Dutch businesses, and also in the areas of water, transport and energy,” the ambassador told Universo. “On the other hand, Dutch investments create many jobs. The Angolan president himself has assured me that the relationship between our countries is very good indeed.”
According to Ambassador Terstal, the Netherlands can help the Angolan government diversify the economy. “The Dutch are experts in areas such as water, transport, logistics, smart grids for electricity, information and communications technology, the offshore industry, retail, agriculture, horticulture and poultry.” One of the areas in which the countries form a perfect match is in potato farming. “Angola’s goal is to be self-sufficient in its potato production within a year, and the Netherlands happens to be one of the world’s top potato-producing countries. We definitely can help Angola to reach selfsufficiency,” said the ambassador. While Angola is used to governmentto-government relationships, the Netherlands focuses on relationships between companies, she explained. The Netherlands has a Ministry of Development
Dutch inventions
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Baitong333
Mariusz Szczygiel
The submarine
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The world’s first stock exchange
The compact disc
michaeljung
The microscope
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and Trade, which up until now fell under separate ministries. “Particularly in Angola it is very interesting to see how one can combine those two,” she said. “An example is the Dutch government’s private sector investment programme (PSI), which aims to stimulate co-operation between Angolan, Dutch and other foreign companies. These companies started joint operations under the PSI programme in 2013.” However, independent Dutch consultant Peter-Jan van As believes there is “room for improvement” in Dutch economic relations with Angola. Van As has many years of experience in Angola as a local content co-ordinator and has organised various trade missions to Angola as the representative of the NetherlandsAfrican Business Council. “The Dutch government offers a matchmaking programme whereby Angolan entrepreneurs are invited to the Netherlands to visit a variety of companies and see what Holland has to offer. Dutch companies are strong in knowledge transfer and like working together as equal partners so that both bring something to the table: for example under the PSI programme.” Angola and the Netherlands have had diplomatic relations since 1976. Large Dutch companies operating in Angola include Damen Trading, NileDutch, Boskalis International, Philips, Heineken, DAF Trucks, Van Oord, Heerema and Van Vliet Trucks.
Sea of opportunities Given the Netherlands’ extensive engagement in all areas connected to the sea, the country unsurprisingly has developed similar projects in Angola. Dredging, land reclamation, dock engineering and shipping figure prominently in the country’s Angolan business portfolio. A recent dramatic example of Dutch water engineering and land reclamation was the preparation of the giant site for the $10 billion Soyo LNG plant located south of the Congo River, in Zaire province. A joint-venture led by Boskalis International, the dredging division of Dutch
Heerema has installed the majority of Angola’s large offshore facilities
Dredging, land reclamation, dock engineering and shipping figure prominently in the Netherlands Angolan business portfolio marine infrastructure and maritime services company Royal Boskalis Westminster and Belgium’s Jan De Nul, undertook the contract in a tight two-year schedule. The contractors required a high degree of flexibility as the scope of work changed over time. Extensive environmental mitigation measures presented a further challenge, as did the handling of unexploded wartime munitions found lying on the seabed in the area. Large-scale site preparation and related works included widening and deepening the existing 4.5 km shipping access channel in the Bay of Diogo Cão, dredging a turning basin for the LNG facility, shore protection works and
drainage, as well as improving the existing Kwanda Basin. The operation dredged a volume of 28 million cubic metres and raised the level of 125 hectares of existing land was raised on the north side if Kwanda Island. It also reclaimed a further 65 hectares of new land in the Congo River. In 2010 Boskalis won a further fouryear major dredging and maintenance contract for Angola LNG in partnership with Dredging International. Another major Dutch company active in the same area in Angola is Van Oord which has over a century of global experience. Some of Van Oord’s most prestigious and spectacular projects include Dubai’s artificial islands, the
MARCH 2013 9
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Dutch Delta Plan, the Port of Rotterdam Maasvlakte II expansion and Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport. Recognising Angola’s potential and swift progress in the reconstruction of its vital infrastructure, Van Oord opened an office in Luanda in October 2010. The company has undertaken a large number of marine construction works along Angola’s coast. Van Oord’s most important projects in the country to date include the dredging of the turning basin and access channel for the Port of Cabinda; maintenance dredging for Cabinda Gulf Oil at the docks in
Malongo, Cabinda; sand deliveries for the Lobito Mineral Terminal; and maintenance dredging for Angola LNG in Soyo. Continuing with the sea theme, Damen Trading sold Susanne, one of the first vessels supplied by a Dutch company, to Angola in the 1970s. Following this sale, Damen became well known around the world for its shipping expertise. More recently the company built three fishery inspection surveillance vessels (FISVs) for the Angolan Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, allowing Angola to strengthen its control over its rich fishing grounds.
Haider
One of Van Oord’s most spectacular achievements: Dubai’s artificial islands
Since the 1970s, Damen has supplied Angola with a great number and variety of vessels. “Our delivery of two ferries and recently three FISVs are the most important projects to date,” said Friso Visser, regional director for Africa at Damen Shipyards. There has been a lot of publicity lately on the deployment of Damen’s fishing surveillance vessel, Ngola Kiluange, in Angola. Two new similar vessels will operate in Angola’s Exclusive Economic Zone waters. Currently two of its vessels operate from the Port of Luanda. “Angola is certainly seen as a serious option to install a local base,” said Visser. “Damen will focus on ship maintenance in Angola in the near future.” Dutch shipping company NileDutch has had an office in Luanda since 1985. It was the first shipping company to run a regular schedule from the Netherlands to Angola, as part of a now wider itinerary between Europe, western and southern Africa and Brazil. Unlike many foreign shipping companies, NileDutch has never left Angola and, as a result, has built a solid reputation among importers and the
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Angolan government. NileDutch also runs one of Luanda’s port terminals. Another prominent Dutch company in Angola is Heerema Marine Contractors, which works in the offshore oil and gas industry. Present in Angola for over a decade, Heerema has installed the majority of the large offshore facilities. This includes traditional fixed platforms (Block 0), compliant towers (Block 14), tension leg platforms (Block 15) and offshore FPSO modules (Block 17). As a natural progression from facilities installation, Heerema has moved into the Angolan deepwater market in general, and specifically into the subsea installation of flow lines, umbilicals and risers. As a result, in 2008 Heerema was awarded its first subsea installation contract for Block 31 (PSVM). This contract included engineering, procurement, construction Netherlands and installation works.
0 0
50
100 50
Assen
S
NETHERLAND
Drenthe
Ijsselmeer
150 km
100 mi
North Sea
North Holland Lelystad
Zwolle
Flevoland
Haarlem
Waddenzee
The Hague
Friesland
Rotterdam
Assen
Drenthe
Ijsselmeer
Utrecht
South Holland
Groningen
Leeuwarden
Overijssel
Amsterdam Gelderland North Holland
North Sea
Arnheim
Lelystad
Zwolle
Flevoland
Haarlem
Overijssel
Amsterdam Hertogenbosch North Brabant
Middleburg
The Hague
Utrecht
Gelderland
South Holland
Arnheim
Rotterdam
National Capital Social commitments Arlon City
Zeeland
Limburg Hertogenbosch
Netherlands
North Brabant
Middleburg
National Capital Arlon
Zeeland
City International Boundary
Maastricht
Limburg
Netherlands
Drenthe
Province Name
Provinces have the same name as their capital unless otherwise noted. 40 km 0
40 Miles
Maastricht
Mark Clydesdale BZO
Province Boundary
Netherlands key facts Land area 41,543 sq km (Angola 1,246,700 sq km) GDP $709.5 billion (2012 estimate, source: CIA World Factbook) Exports $556.5 billion (2012 estimate, source: CIA World Factbook) Imports $490.1 billion (2012 estimate, source: CIA World Factbook) Population 16.7 million Europe’s fifth-largest economy in the eurozone
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Onshore, Heerema has developed a International Boundary Province Boundary partnership in an oil industry equipment Name Drenthein Province manufacturing yard Porto Amboim, Provinces have the same name as completed in 2010. That same year, their capital unless otherwise noted. km Heerema also incorporated40 a joint venture 0 Miles for offshore marine transportation 40services. “Within the next five years, Heerema intends to have a sustainable fabrication yard and logistics facility employing around 600 people,” said general manager Bob van der Meer. As part of its social commitments in Porto Amboim, Heerema recently built a small library in co-operation with the local municipality. Here children can do their homework and adults attend workshops in several subjects. Heerema is also expanding and improving Porto Amboim’s Remar orphanage for boys. Heerema currently employs 180 people, of whom 83 per cent are Angolan nationals. It has an Angolanisation plan in place which it has strictly followed since the beginning of its activities. According to Van der Meer, “Heerema’s roots are firmly in the soil of Angola. We have been developing our fabrication yard for almost a year, and also have plans to provide logistics support to the pre-salt developments.”
Friesland
ANGOLA
30x
Groningen
Leeuwarden
Waddenzee
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Jelle vd Wolf
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines began operating scheduled service between Amsterdam and Luanda in partnership with Angolan airline TAAG in the spring of 2012. To commemorate this inaugural flight, the Dutch government returned the fossilised bones of a mosasaur to Angola, where it had been unearthed and where this carnivorous sea reptile lived 65 million years ago.
Netherlands main international airport, Schiphol, is an astonishing 3.4 metres below sea level
KLM’s inaugural flight brought home bones of a 65-milion-year-old mosasaur
Netherlands-Angola trade Netherlands Export Import Balance (m mln) (m mln) (m mln) 2008
363.1 1,269.5 -906.4
2009
258.0 465.4 -207.4
2010
244.2 469.0 -224.8
2011
261.2 671.2 -410.0
2012 January – August
202.6
430.3
Source: Dutch CBS and Angolan Customs Office
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-227.7
On the map Another fast-expanding Dutch concern in Angola is Fugro Mauritius which opened an office in Luanda’s Sonils oil industry services port in 2002. Present in more than 60 countries, Fugro collects, processes and interprets data relating to the Earth’s surface and subsurface in the support of infrastructure developments on land, the coast and the seabed. The Netherlands lays legitimate claim to having founded modern mapping; in 1569 Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator invented his famous projection, the standard map format for nautical purposes. Fugro also provides services such as precise global positioning, weather forecasting, structural monitoring, subsea engineering and construction. Last year Fugro was subcontracted by Oceaneering for operations in the BP Block 18 and 31 project. The company is currently expanding its Sonils office, which also comprises a workshop, warehouse facilities, training rooms and a geotechnical laboratory. The laboratory will be the only one of its kind in Angola and will perform standards testing, advanced geotechnical testing and geochronological testing. Fugro Angola has 68 employees (58 of them Angolan) and has developed a detailed recruitment and training plan so that Angolans may occupy posts currently filled by expatriate staff. “Some of Fugro’s employees have lived or have family currently residing in Holland,” said Fugro spokesperson Sofia Oliveira. “As our Holland office also provides training for Angolan staff, some of our Angolan employees are able
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world’s most industrialised regions at the end of the 18th century and boasted some 600 windmills. Dutch influence in South Africa meant that settlers built in the Cape area, with the first, Oude Molen, beginning operations in 1718. The Dutch are not neglecting wind power in their modern economy. The country has some 2,000 megawatts of capacity from onshore wind farms and has plans to produce 6,000 megawatts by 2020.
Wind power
Dutch connection
The origins of windmills date back to the Ancient Greeks, but the Netherlands is the country most associated with them because of their great concentration and how they dominate the flat landscape. In the mid-19th century, the country had about 10,000 windmills, mostly for use in land drainage and flood protection but also for industrial tasks such as carpentry and grinding cereals. Today around 1,000 remain; many are ready as backups for modern pumping stations, while others are museum pieces run by volunteers. The Zaan district was one of the
The Dutch occupied the coastal area of Angola between 1641 and 1648 as part of a dispute over the sea lanes, slave trade, and its then long-running global war with Spain. The Spanish ruled the Portuguese from 1580 to 1640. Seizing Luanda and Benguela from the Portuguese in 1641, the Dutch made an alliance with Angola’s Queen Nzinga of the Ndongo kingdom and fought alongside her troops at the sieges of Ambaca, Massangano and Muxima. The Portuguese had then withdrawn to the interior and only returned to Luanda after Salvador Correia de Sá with
Oleandra
to visit the country, interact and better understand Dutch culture.” According to Oliveira, “The Dutch have a reputation for entrepreneurship, being down to earth and direct in their communications. That is a good fit with the offshore industry and it makes Fugro successful in its ventures. More importantly, the Dutch are used to interfacing with other nationalities and are open and interested in other cultures.”
a fleet of 15 ships from Brazil forced the Dutch out. Correia de Sá had already successfully fought the Dutch in northeast Brazil. Angola’s most famous author, Pepetela describes the years when the Dutch ruled Angola in his novel The Glorious Family. More specifically, it is about the fictional family of Baltasar Van Dum, a Flemish slave trader in Luanda. Pepetela carried out painstaking research on Angola’s Dutch colonial history using archives in Amsterdam, Antwerp and the Vatican. Fast-forward into the 20th century when Angola was one of the world’s main coffee producers, and the Netherlands was the second-largest European buyer of coffee after the Portuguese. Dutch trade with the repressive Portuguese Salazar regime led to the Dutch-Angola Committee successfully campaigning to stop major Dutch coffee roasters and distributors from importing and selling Angolan coffee. This was a textbook example of how a small group of civil activists can bring about great changes by influencing public opinion. p
The Kinderdijk array of historic windmills, open to visitors: see www.kinderdijk.com
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14 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Andgeosilgansn
on your body
Three Angolan sisters have developed a successful fashion label that is attracting clients across the globe. Universo looks at this homespun, imagination-catching enterprise
MARCH 2013 15
Gianluigi Guercia AFP
By Lula Ahrens
CULTURE
16 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Geraldo Fashions
Y
oung and strikingly welldressed, Beatrice and Delphinah Geraldo ooze an air of modest selfconfidence as they gaze across the gleaming, serene waters of Luanda Bay from their restaurant table. No wonder; Angolan women’s magazines Caras and Caju have already named the two Geraldo sisters along with a third, Lauretta, who make up Geraldo Fashions, one of Angola’s most influential brand names in 2011, and their star continues to rise steadily. A skirt Delphinah made and wore to university in 2001 was the first step along the catwalk of success. Her fellow students fell so in love with its cut and style that the sisters began making more clothes for them on a manual sewing machine at home. At the time, the sisters, who grew up in Botswana and Namibia, were not planning a fashion career. Delphinah, now aged 32, studied economics in Namibia while Beatrice, 29, studied interior design in Cape Town. Lauretta, 22, is currently studying computer game design in Florida. After their first official fashion show things took off. The sisters bought electric sewing machines and, together with a friend, launched GSquare, their first label. GSquare won the Young Entrepreneurs Prize worth 10,000 Namibian dollars at the Namibian Entrepreneurs Competition in 2001. Soon afterwards, their friend left the partnership. “That’s when Delphinah, Lauretta and I launched our own label, Geraldo Fashions. It’s named after our late father, who was an artist, painter and carpenter,” says Beatrice. The sisters buy most of their fabrics in South Africa, Namibia, Portugal and France. Silk and chiffon are among their favourite materials, as are feathers, fur and laces. Daring, detailed tailoring and a wide array of colour variations mark their designs.
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“Ourexbrclanusdivise, verymost of our and is based on workivate orders.” pr
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Geraldo Fashions
Geraldo sisters – Delphinah (right) and Beatrice
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Going global
Success did not take long to unfold. Apart from their mostly Angolan clientele, Geraldo Fashions now has American, German, South African and Namibian customers. In 2011, TV presenter and model Vânia Vilela, singer and Big Brother Africa reality TV star Tatiana Durão, Channel O presenter Weza da Silva and Angolan top model Karina Silva were all seen wearing Geraldo Fashions. Angolan celebrity Lígia Henriques has bought more than half of their Moda Luanda 2012 collection. “She wore the items to big events, and most of them ended up in magazines,” says Beatrice. In 2002 the sisters joined the Pan African Fashion Show. That same year they were elected Best Young Namibian Designers by an international judging panel at the Sense of Africa fashion show. Beatrice and Delphinah moved back to Angola in 2005. They participated in Angola Fashion Week 2009, 2010 and 2011 and in Africa’s
biggest fashion event, Fashion Business Angola, in October 2011. “I would say that Angolans are more fashion sensitive than most southern Africans,” says Beatrice. “They are label sensitive, and strikingly unique and creative in the way they dress.” According to Delphinah, Angola’s eye for fashion has greatly increased over the last few years. “We’re more exposed to fashion than ever before, partly thanks to Angolan magazines such as Super Fashion, Chocolate, Caras, and Angolan bloggers.”
New York success
The sisters’ career shifted up a gear in 2012 when Geraldo Fashions participated in Moda Luanda, Swahili Fashion Week, Cape Town Fashion Week and Mozambique Fashion Week. They were also admitted to the prestigious Africa Fashion Show New York. This was a great success and it brought them a lot of media coverage and an even larger number of international clients. “Various shops in New York now want our stock,” says Delphinah.
After the show, the Geraldo sisters were approached by organisers of various fashion events, including African Fashion Week Toronto and African Fashion Week Los Angeles. They received Angolan TV coverage from the TPA breakfast show, TV Zimbo’s Sexto Sentido and Zimbando. Features on the Geraldo sisters also appeared in Angolan magazines O País, Vida, Super Fashion and Chocolate. Internationally, they were featured in Forbes Africa, US-based LIVID Magazine, Zen Magazine, Crème Magazine and numerous fashion blogs from Africa to Asia and Europe. “I think we got all this attention because our collection was different from that of other designers,” says Beatrice. “We offer a new approach to African design, meant to suit a variety of international clients.” Delphinah adds: “We do have African touches in different pieces. In New York, for example, we had a piece made of nonAfrican cotton, but with pieces of wood.” Success has brought some dilemmas. The choice of upcoming fashion shows is currently overwhelming. “The question now is which shows to participate in
Inspired by Angolan woman Glossy fashion magazine Chocolate has been published in Angola since 2007 and mirrors the image of the new African woman; her desires and aspirations in the area of fashion, behaviour, work and study. Chocolate’s main inspiration is the Angolan woman. Chocolate is distributed throughout Angola and since 2012 in Mozambique and Brazil with the aim of taking the image of the ‘New Angolan Woman’ ever further afield. It also promotes Angolan women’s fashion brands and products abroad and keeps readers up to date on new trends.
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Gaining ground
The United States is currently Geraldo Fashions’ largest market outside Angola, but the domestic market still tops
the list. “Next, we plan to approach the European market. We have a few international shows lined up. An accessory line is part of the 2013 plan. Hopefully by the end of this year we’ll have the male line running,” says Beatrice. The Geraldo sisters still make their clothes at home themselves, but their label’s popularity surge is forcing them to think about ways to increase their production. “We’re trying to find manufacturers that can produce outfits at an affordable price outside Angola, which is quite a challenge. Our eyes are currently on Namibia and South Africa,” says Delphinah. Whatever route they take next, one thing is certain – Geraldo Fashions was born at the right time. “Our fashion has a modern African feel, for which there is an increasing demand,” says Beatrice. “We see more and more people wearing national designers at events, parties, clubs and restaurants, but also in African magazines like Chocolate and Caras. Five or six years ago, Angolan labels were almost nonexistent in people’s daily lives.”p www.facebook.com/GeraldoFashionsofficial
Geraldo Fashions
next, given our tight time schedule,” says Delphinah. “In any case, we’ll take part in shows in the US, Europe and in Africa. We want to spread our exposure over various continents.” Geraldo Fashions’ Angolan clients buy their fashion items online. “Our brand is very exclusive, and most of our work is based on private orders,” Beatrice explains. “We have our own website, Facebook page and Twitter account. Our online store should be up and running within a few months.” Renting a store in Luanda is expensive, and Geraldo Fashions is still a small business. “But agreements are under way in New York and other capitals to enlist various boutiques as regular buyers,” says Beatrice. Those who want to wear Geraldo Fashions’ exclusive designs and materials have to place a personal order. “A dress will cost you between $100 and $700,” she says.
Geraldo Fashions
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Geraldo Fashions
Angola fashion on the web In 2013, Portuguese fashion aficionado Soraia Mangi concluded her master’s degree in Milan, one of the big four fashion capitals of the world. She has been a fashion blogger since 2011 and visits Angola every three to four months. Fashion-trend spotter, blogger and regular visitor to Angola, Soraia Mangi says the country is one to watch carefully when it comes to global fashion. “Angola was ‘shut down’ for a few decades, but thanks to political and economic stability, Angolans have travelled and let themselves be inspired by other countries, cultures and international artists. Along with the creativity that is already part of the Angolan DNA, this has resulted in an explosion of art and innovation,” says Mangi who completed a master’s degree in Fashion, Experience and Design management in Italy this year and blogs on retropopvintage.com One of her main inspirations is the blog Estilo & Etiqueta: “First, because it truly reflects Angolan and African fashion in general, and secondly, because it is written mainly for men,” she says of the website*. “Angola can be seen as a powerful new source of information and creativity. Most markets and countries have been contributing to fashion for ages; their ideas are being recycled. They don’t really come up with anything new and revolutionary. Angola does,” says Mangi. “Angolan designers started from zero, and are full of ideas. They have often travelled, learned, and succeeded outside Angola. They are ready to tell the world that they’re Angolan, that they have potential, that they see things from a new and different perspective. They want to share the idea that Africa has changed, and ignite the world’s curiosity in their ‘new’ mother country. “Angolans in general are very fashion conscious. They aren’t afraid to take risks and to be bold, to try new trends, new brands.” The Geraldo sisters are Mangi’s favourite Angolan fashion designers. “They are a breath of fresh air in the Angolan and African fashion scene. This brand is young, dynamic, proactive, innovative, creative, sexy and fun. I love how they combine elegance, freshness and fashion in their garments. They are successful thanks to their unique fabrics, new style concepts, boldness and awareness of
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their target group. They know exactly who the ‘Geraldo Woman’ is,” she says. Other Angolan designers who have caught Mangi’s attention include Projecto Mental and Nadir Tati. “Projecto Mental are very bold, colourful and original. I love their concept of combining the classical suit with traditional patterns and non-traditional fabrics. “At the 2012 Fátima Lopes Collection show, Nadir Tati was the main guest. She stole the show. Her collection mixed modern, stylish and elegant cuts with what resembled traditional Angolan patterns and fabrics, combining African origins with modern style. Her ability to introduce what is happening in Paris, London, Milan and New York to African fashion is what made the collection so unique. “The Moda Luanda fashion show plays a major role in enhancing Angolan designers’ position,” says Mangi. “It also plays a fundamental cultural role in stimulating creativity and innovation, and in showing to Angola and the rest of Africa and the world what has recently been achieved in Angola.” www.facebook.com/ESTIETIQUE estietique.tumblr.com
Geraldo Fashions
Geraldo Fashions
Geraldo Fashions
CULTURE
“We do have African touches in different pieces. In New York, for example, we had a piece made of nonAfrican cotton, but with pieces of wood.” MARCH 2013 21
PROVINCE
CABINDA
QUAYS TO
SUCCESS
Cabinda, Angola’s most northerly province, is taking giant steps to upgrade its infrastructure and industrialise. Universo looks at the projects
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Igor Stevanovic
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Caio deepwater port Transport Minister Silva Tomás said the new quays were just the first step in a broader programme and that the government would also begin construction of a completely new deepwater port at Caio, 9 km north of Cabinda city. “We are doing our best so that the port
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Anneka
M
ore than $1 billion US dollars will be invested in the ports sector of Angola’s northern Cabinda province over the next five years, according to Minister of Transport Augusto da Silva Tomás. He made the announcement during the inauguration ceremony of new quays at the Port of Cabinda. The Nova Ponte Cais, as the new installations are known, allow medium and large-sized ships to dock, thus improving Cabinda’s links with the rest of Angola and ending dependence on transhipment at Pointe-Noire’s port in Congo Brazzaville. Previously, the only way to ship goods without a call at a foreign port was to unload them onto smaller vessels which sailed out to collect them at sea, an expensive and laborious method that pushed up the prices of basic consumer products in Cabinda. Goods can now be taken by sea from Luanda straight to Cabinda city on the same day. The new 319-metre-long metal and concrete quay was built by Chinese construction company China Gezhouba Group and adds capacity to an original 125-metre quay built 50 years ago. Manuel Nazareth Neto, board president of the Port of Cabinda, said he expected 2013 to represent an historic upturn in the company’s history with the full functioning of the new quays. Although Cabinda handled 418,192 containers last year, more than double had been expected, but long delays in building the new quays, along with poor weather, confounded the plan. “If we take into account the projects completed and the actions executed in 2012, we can expect for 2013 the same production plan as for last year of handling coastal imports and exports of 991,939 containers,” he said.
Cabinda aims to double container movements
gains an important role in the group of Angolan and neighbouring countries’ ports in the two Congos,” he said. All the investment was proof of the strong commitment of the Angolan government to growth, development and the better distribution of the wealth in Cabinda province, as well as the rest of the country, he added. President José Eduardo dos Santos laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Caio deepwater port complex in August 2012. Work will be in three phases and take three years to complete. In the first
phase, budgeted at $600 million, the Caio commercial port will have a 775-metrelong quay which will eventually extend to 1,550 metres in the final phase. The deepest quayside will be 12.5 metres. The port’s storage area will cover 1,640 hectares and the area for container cargo will stretch to 3,690 hectares. A public-private partnership is developing the Caio project with construction, operation and eventual transfer to the Angolan state assigned to Caio Porto SA. Caio Porto SA is a mixed capital company, employing 75 per cent Angolan
Peter Moeller
PROVINCE
Rig service facility Ship repair facility
Phase 1
Phase 3 Potential for oil jetty
Phase 2
Caio Porto deepwater port plans
employees and having significant private sector participation, particularly local business people from Cabinda province. Foreign investors will provide $60 million and Angolan investors $180 million. The port is expected to provide about 1,000 new direct jobs in the short term, rising to 1,500.
Malembo project The first phase of the 141-hectare Malembo Development Centre (MDC), reportedly the province’s largest private investment project, was officially completed in February 2013. MDC offers support services to the
oil and gas industry in Cabinda while promoting local community development. The site is just 3.5km from Chevron’s Malongo terminal compound but allows the free circulation of goods, services and, most importantly, access by the local population. Employees and residents will benefit from scheduled transport services to and from Cabinda city and the Malongo terminal. MSB OPS Angola, an Angolan company created from an existing joint venture between Operatec and OPI International, operates MDC. OPI general superintendent David
Smith told Universo: “We want Angolans to be represented heavily at MDC. Just for phase one operations, we’re already training 50 people. By the time phase four has been completed, close to 200 people will have been trained. Most of them come from the surrounding villages. That’s very good news for the Malembo area.” There are currently only two expatriates on site at MDC, including Smith. “While MDC is being built, it will stay like this. That’s unheard of, but it’s OPI’s goal. We do not want an expat face on the facility,” he said. “We’ll set up a core staff and train them very well, so
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Mark Clydesdale BZO
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Chevron History Denis Kuvaev / Shutterstock.com
that they take on subordinates and begin to train them themselves.” OPI finds candidates at the local university, or through village elders and leaders. “Village chiefs give us a list of people whom they deem competent, and we bring them in,” said Smith. “What’s so intriguing about MDC is that local entrepreneurs are ready to set up businesses here. The authorities will let them have the land for free. Our goal is to let Angolans take over. Then we go home. MDC is unique, well planned and has a great vision. It’s going to do well, and I hope its success will be duplicated,” he said. The development project includes 31 hectares of accommodation for up to 1,440 contractor personnel and a 110-hectare site for industrial development. It provides communications, logistical, laundry and catering services, as well as classrooms, a supermarket, a training workshop with over 5,000 square metres of equipped space, and various recreational facilities such as a swimming pool, and tennis and basketball courts. MDC’s internal power station, on-site water wells, holding tanks and a waterfiltration system are set to expand with the facility’s growth. The centre’s primary power supply, however, comes from the new Malembo power station. In 2012, global infrastructure company Isolux Corsán installed two new 35-megawatt gas turbines at Malembo, providing sufficient energy for the whole of Cabinda.
Any story on Cabinda would not be complete without mentioning the long-standing presence of Chevron, Angola’s largest individual oil-producing company. Chevron’s predecessor, Cabinda Gulf Oil (CABGOC), has a history dating back to the 1930s, when Texaco first started selling lubricants in Angola. In the 1950s, Gulf arrived in Angola to drill the first oil. Its oil production started in the 1960s in Block 0 after the discovery of the Malongo field. Texaco, too, entered Angola for oil exploration and production. After Chevron acquired Gulf, Gulf and Texaco merged. What was ChevronTexaco for a while eventually became Chevron. Today, the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company is a Chevron subsidiary. In the 1990s, CABGOC began operating in Block 14, in deeper waters offshore Cabinda. The company also has a stake in Block 2, near Soyo and the Angola LNG project.
“When Malongo was set up in the 1960s, Angola was a very different place from what it is now,” said Eunice de Carvalho, Chevron’s current Deputy Country Manager Brazil. “There were grave security concerns, so the camp was created in a fairly isolated fashion. It was, and still is, self-sufficient in everything from food supply to water and energy. After 13 years of peace, we no longer have the same concerns.” Chevron’s contractor workforce outnumbers its regular Chevron workforce two or three times, Carvalho explained.
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Malongo oil camp
In Cabinda the company has about 2,000 regular employees, but in the Malongo camp, on any given day, there might be 5,000 people. “Two to three years ago, we began letting some of those contractors set up their bases outside the Malongo camp. This contributes to Cabinda’s socio-economic development because as these contractors move out, they’ll either buy land to build a house, or they will rent a house.
“Their employees will use restaurants, banks and other services in town, which contributes to the city’s growth. More than 1,000 people have moved out already and we expect that effort to continue. Only those who are critical to operations will have to remain at the Malongo camp.” Carvalho told Universo: “We would eventually even like some of the contractors’ workspace to be outside the Malongo camp. This is part of our future
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plan. We’ve looked at the Fútila industrial hub as a possible destination, but obviously each contractor company is responsible for finding its own adequate space. “We’ve experienced an openness of the constraints around the camp, which has benefited the city of Cabinda. Eventually, that decentralisation will probably also benefit Cabinda’s industrial and provincial development.”
Industrial hub The Fútila industrial hub covers an area of 2,342 hectares on the Malembo plain, 30km north of Cabinda city. In addition to industrial plots it has streets, electricenergy plants, drinking-water plants and administrative support centres for local companies. It was created to answer the needs of investors eager to set up or expand their businesses in Cabinda province. The $68 million project is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the region and aims to prove that Cabinda is capable of producing a lot more than just oil and timber for export. That, in turn, fits into Angola’s nationwide economic diversification plans. A paint, zinc and ceramics factory
in the Fútila hub will focus primarily on the needs of the local population. Other industries planned are a brewery, a mineral-water bottling plant, steelworks and an industrial gases plant, as well as soap, palm and nut oil factories. The idea is to make the industrial hub as selfsufficient as possible by transforming its raw materials locally.
Fertiliser future Another major resource ripe for economic development is Cabinda’s huge deposit of phosphates, used in making fertilisers. The province has estimated reserves of 380 million tonnes. Ehud Levy, director of fertiliser company Vale Fértil, the Angolan subsidiary of Israeli group LR, says mining work could begin at the Cácata deposit, 80km from Cabinda city, as it was a region with the purest reserves, facilitating exports. Levy, a phosphates expert, believes Cabinda could initially produce 800,000 tonnes a year. “The next phase of the project’s development will include construction of an industry to process the phosphates, including production of phosphoric acid and fertiliser, which will
be followed by exploration of the remaining deposits,” he told the Angolan press. According to Levy, the first phase of this project will require investment of $182 million, $73 million of which will be used to build port facilities. While the main use of phosphates is farm fertiliser, they are also used in cleaning products, water treatment, the food industry and toothpaste. Cabinda’s phosphates are also likely to play an important role in nourishing Angola’s steadily improving agricultural sector, making this fertile land even more abundant in crops.
Mayombe Cabinda is also famous for its dense jungle, the Mayombe, a smaller but no less precious reflection of its cross-Atlantic cousin, the Amazon. Mayombe teems with wildlife such as gorillas, chimpanzees and rare butterflies. Like the Amazon jungle, the Mayombe’s southern extension stretches towards a giant river – in this case, the Congo. With its superb natural assets, including attractive beaches, Mayombe has great potential as a tourist destination. p
All about Cabinda Capital: Cabinda Area: 7,270 sq km Population: 100,000 Climate: equatorial Agriculture: coffee, cocoa, palm oil, manioc, maize Minerals: oil, gold, phosphates, potassium, uranium, diamonds Other products: high-value tropical hardwoods; mahogany, ebony 28 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Peter Moeller
Peter Moeller
Eric Isselee
PROVINCE
MARCH 2013 29
SPORT
GOLDEN SHOES
JOHNSON VISITS ANGOLA
America’s nine-time World Champion sprinter Michael Johnson paid a special visit to Angola and held exhibition races with Angola’s London Paralympics hero José Sayovo. Universo reports
Henrique Malungo
Michael Johnson experiments running ‘blind’
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SPORT
Michael Johnson – Profile
O
Who is Michael Johnson? Sprinter Michael Johnson is considered one of the world’s greatest athletes. He has won four Olympic gold medals and nine other gold medals in world athletics competitions. He represented the United States in three Olympics and until this year was world record-holder for the 400 metres. He also formerly held the 200 metres record until Usain Bolt beat it. In indoor athletics Johnson conquered the same titles. Johnson retired from racing in 2001 but did not leave the world of athletics. He created the Michael Johnson Performance project, which aims to help athletes of all ages and all sports reach their maximum potential, using the same philosophy and techniques he employed as an athlete. p
Born Dallas, Texas, September 1967
First man to win the 200 metres and 400 metres in the same Olympic Games
Height: 1.85m (6 feet 1 inch) Weight: 77 kg (170 pounds)
World’s fastest man in the 1990s, winning the 200 metres, 400 metres and 4x400 metres relay
Johnson was nicknamed Superman, the Duck and the Statue because of his elegant, straightbacked running style
His best 400 metres time was 43.18 seconds in 1999
Johnson won 54 consecutive victories in the 400 metres
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© PCN/Corbis
lympic legend Michael Johnson, a member of the athletics world’s royalty and with golden running shoes to match his four gold medals, arrived in Angola in December to explore the possibilities of co-operation between his sports-performance school and Angola’s Olympians and Paralympians. Johnson’s visit was sponsored by the Angolan Paralympics Committee and BP Angola. BP believes that Johnson’s high profile and his know-how, discipline, rigour and determination could add value to Angola’s athletic performance and benefit sport in the country. The visit could pave the way for training in preparation for future international competitions with the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and Paralympics foremost in mind. Johnson’s programme during his Angola visit included courtesy calls on sporting, political and social figures and also hands-on activities such as workshops with sporting entities and Olympic athletics associations. The US athlete had meetings with the Minister of Sport Gonçalves Manuel Muandumba as well as with Gustavo da Conceição and Leonel da Rocha Pinto, the presidents of Angola’s Olympics and Paralympics committees, respectively. During his stay Johnson travelled to the highland city of Huambo, where he met local sporting authorities and discussed the development of the future African Centre for High Performance Training. The high spots of Johnson’s visit were two exhibition races with blind Paralympian José Sayovo held in the Coqueiros stadium in downtown Luanda. Triple Paralympics record holder Sayovo and former Olympic champion Johnson ran two 100-metre races. Johnson ran one of the races blindfolded to experience the difficulties Sayovo faces.
INDUSTRY
STIRRING INITIATIVES: ANGOLA’S COFFEE Angola is currently breathing new life into its once highly-important coffee sector. Universo examines progress in projects aimed at reviving its fortunes
T
here are some modest signs of a reversal of Angola’s mass rural exodus, thanks to a number of new schemes aimed at resurrecting the fortunes of the world’s most valuable farm commodity, coffee. Angola was formerly the industry’s fourth-largest grower, but its coffee output plummeted in the 1980s and 1990s as farmers abandoned the land to seek the safety of the towns. The country produced a quarter of a million tonnes of coffee beans at its peak in 1973, but sank to a low point of just 3,000 tonnes in 1992.
A farming project in the Porto Amboim region of Kwanza Sul province is in the vanguard of efforts to reinstate Angola’s past coffee glories, but this time with the added incentive of ensuring better prices and conditions for the producers. Programa de Fomento da Cultura do Amboim was developed in tandem with similar initiatives in two other postconflict countries, Nicaragua and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The aim is to resettle people on the land, cut rural unemployment and restore neglected coffee plantations. The hope is that these
Iryna1
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pilot projects will provide examples and knowledge for replication elsewhere. The project has the financial support of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), the Angolan and US governments, as well as institutional, technical and sales assistance from US Aid, the Cooperative League of the United States of America (CLUSA), and CABI (formally known as the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International). Since the peak and decline of Angola’s coffee output, the world coffee market has changed markedly. Coffee now enjoys historically high prices thanks to a general commodity price boom stimulated by increasingly heavy global demand. This change has benefited small-scale producers and not just the large plantation owners. Consumers are nowadays also
proactively seeking coffee from small growers and consciously agreeing to pay premium prices for their efforts in producing coffee. Family holdings, especially those farming organically and in harmony with the environment, are now able to take advantage of this new situation. Angola scores highly in this regard as 90 per cent of its coffee now comes from family smallholdings instead of the huge colonial plantations which accounted for 70 per cent of production in the past.
Doing it for themselves The Porto Amboim project started in 2008 when the government and NGOs encouraged 4,917 families to farm 8,000 hectares of neglected plantations covering
three types of farming areas: low-lying savannah, cool forested highlands and an area of transition between the two. The lower areas could grow the more resilient yet less valuable coffee variety Robusta, while the highlands were suitable for the more sought-after and thus pricier Arabica variety. Arabica is milder tasting, while Robusta gives higher yields and is used more in instant coffee and in stronger roasts. Producing Arabica in its shady forest locations also helps efforts to protect the environment. Here, yields currently reach 610 kilograms per hectare compared to 409kg per hectare on the savannah, and 550kg per hectare in the area of transition. These yields have far exceeded the target originally laid down for the project
Brazuk Ltd
Porto Amboim farmers are responsible for their own coffee bush nurseries
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Justyna Kaminska
Social support The Porto Amboim project also addresses the wider development issues of education
Brazuk Ltd
area of 350kg per hectare. Each family was given $500 in credit, around two hectares of land and 2,000 coffee plants in plastic bags from a stock of 10 million. The families had to nurture these young plants in home-made nurseries and then replant the mature bushes on their plots. So that the families could survive during this process, they also received help to farm a mix of subsistence crops such as bananas and cassava. Replanting the coffee saplings had “an excellent success rate of 87 to 90 per cent,” José Mahinga, assistant administrative director at the National Coffee Institute (INCA), told Universo. Coffee production has steadily risen at the project (see table on P.39), thanks partly to local model farms which served as examples of best practice. Here growers have been taught the importance and benefits of pruning trees to raise output – a chore traditional farmers resisted but seeing much higher yields on the model farms within just two years won them over. In order to improve coffee flavour, farmers have also learned to use simple, raised drying tables to reduce the earthy taste of the coffee and thus gain higher prices. Organic fertiliser made from coffee husks has also aided yields not only in coffee but in all the smallholders’ farm crops. Angola’s farmers have been able to make a virtue of a necessity: the previously abandoned coffee plantations had not used mineral fertilisers nor industrial insecticides for 40 years, and this gives Angola’s coffee farms the right to claim in their marketing that they have been organic for longer than most! To maintain this organic ‘tradition’, the project uses botanical insecticides such as soap-based soups that have proved effective and doesn’t use any mineral fertilisers.
INDUSTRY
The Porto Amboim project had an 87% to 90% success rate in cultivating coffee bushes MARCH 2013 35
Peter Moeller
INDUSTRY
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and healthcare. Project workers and coffeegrowers in areas with difficult access have communally constructed 17 classrooms from local materials to serve 1,683 pupils. They have also developed community health centres and small-scale infrastructure such as bridges, with the government providing teachers and health workers. America’s CLUSA helped the project’s institution building. This involved encouraging the farmers to form associations and promote common objectives. Some 101 Porto Amboim farmers’ associations formed 13 cooperatives, which in turn have united under one umbrella organisation called Cesacopa. This central organisation’s office and warehouse act as a focal point of contact for marketing and trading the coffee. So far it has struck sales deals with Portugal and South Korea. In addition, Cesacopa supports farmers seeking credit and channels finance from banks while also providing a democratic forum for growers to articulate their demands. Cesacopa won the 2012 Incubator Award for business development in Africa, beating a field of 30 competitor presentations at Utrecht in the Netherlands. The award was granted by the Dutch Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) and partner organisation Venture Capital for Africa. The Dutch Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos) and partner organisation Venture Capital for Africa granted the award which recognises Cesacopa’s efforts in developing quality coffee exports, creating jobs, providing community support and protecting the environment. One successful outcome of the Porto Amboim project, according to INCA’s José Mahinga, has been that growers have, as intended, gained more income. In 2011 the families involved in the project received 73.4 per cent of the selling price. Looking ahead, Mahinga said the next step in adding value to Porto Amboim’s coffee was to process it locally. An organisation such as Cesacopa would have a key role in such a development. Coffee in its husk, known as mabuba in
Angola, fetches around $0.60 per kilogram, while when hulled it brings in between $1.30 and $1.50 per kg. However, roasted coffee sells at a hugely increased $12.50 per kg, explained Mahinga. “We want to reduce the gap between these values to favour the producer.” In the longer term Mahinga said he hopes to maintain the quality of the coffee and strengthen the power of coffee-growers, allowing them to do the business themselves. Over the next five years he also expected to see the Porto Amboim farmers produce 6,000 tonnes a year, double the low point for the whole country in 1992. “It’s very possible to achieve this,” he predicted. “Amboim coffee can be a reference point for all Angolan coffee.”
Flavour favourite Another factor favouring Angolan coffee sales is the high quality of Amboim’s Robusta variety. Mahinga recounted that Brazilian coffee-taste experts had great difficulty in distinguishing the region’s Robusta from the much higher-valued Arabica variety.
Coffee fair In July 2012, Angola held its first coffee fair in Gabela, at the heart of its leading coffee province, Kwanza Sul. The fair, promoted by INCA, attracted around 5,000 people. The aim was to exhibit the region’s productive potential and promote coffee production and consumption. Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Afonso Pedro Canga, speaking at the event, said the fair was “a space to identify opportunities and establish credible partnerships”. Trade Minister Idalina Valente, also attended along with 31 producers, coffee roasters, trading companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Kwanza Sul’s coffee production depends on 8,276 families, 7,495 linked to Robusta and 781 to Arabica. Robusta accounts for 90 per cent and Arabica 10 per cent. Gabela is home to an INCA research station which gathers data on coffee varieties. Here, more than 80 members of
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staff have been trained in good agricultural practices, while two went on to Brazil to train in coffee classification and grading. Coffee is also produced in other provinces such as Kwanza Norte, Uíge and Huíla. Angola-based oil companies including BP and Chevron have provided financial credit to small coffee growers.
Vietnam co-operation Angola’s coffee development policy is not restricted to small producers. In July 2012 the country signed an agreement with Vietnam’s Thai Hoa Group, the country’s top Arabica producer and trader, and Brazilian consultants, to help refurbish coffee plantations. The idea is to plant 100,000 hectares over the next decade. Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee producer after Brazil. The Vietnamese and the Brazilians will partner an Angolan coffee producer to grow 6,000 hectares of Robusta over the next three years. When signing the agreement in Hanoi, Angola’s ambassador to Vietnam,
João Manuel Bernardo, told the press: “Now we want to regain our position in the production of coffee, along with cotton and other agricultural products.” If the first stage is successful, a $250 million credit line from Brazil and other sources will extend the Angolan project to the full 100,000 hectares. Brazil could be the likely importer of the Robusta variety because of Angola’s higher production costs. Brazil produces Arabica mainly for export, but also Robusta chiefly for domestic consumption.
Market changes While Angola has been absent from world coffee markets, changes have taken place in the sector’s profile. Apart from much higher prices, the industry has seen a transformation in the structure of farming and sales. Small-scale planting operations, often a number of family farms organised in co-operatives, have grown in importance. Coffee drinkers have become more discerning in choosing their favourite
variety and are also keen on seeing farmers get better payment for their efforts. As a result, small growers, perhaps using organic growing methods, can ask premium prices for their coffee. Developed coffee markets also prefer and give added value for traceable products and identifiable small farmers. Today’s consumers of expensive coffee like to know where their drink originates and which particular farmers will benefit from their purchases, and they are inclined to pay more for this coffee experience. Over the past decade world commodity prices have risen dramatically, largely thanks to the emergence of new economic powerhouse countries where consumers with greater spending power are drinking more. Arabica coffee dropped to a 30-year low of $0.45 a pound in 2001 and rose to a 34year high of almost $3.09 in 2011. Robusta in the same period slumped to $0.17 before recovering to reach $1.20. Some NGOs have acted to reduce the impact of low prices on poor farmers through the fair trade movement.
Growing coffee
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World coffee output averaged 6 million tonnes per year in the 1990s and averaged 7.6 million tonnes from 2007 to 2011, thanks mainly to higher production in Brazil and Vietnam. Peak global production was 8.1 million tonnes in 2010. Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia are the largest producers and account for more than 60 per cent of world output. In 2011, the total output was 7.9 million tonnes worth $70.9 billion, of which 6.2 million tonnes was exported. Production is forecast to rise to 9.1 million tonnes in 2019. Coffee is the most valuable and widely traded tropical farm product, and consumers drink an estimated 1.6 billion cups every day.
Consumption has almost doubled in the past 40 years, led by producing countries Brazil and Vietnam, with Eastern Europe and Asia contributing 46 per cent. Angola with its favourable geology and extensive under-used fertile farmlands is well placed to meet some of this demand.
Valentyn Volkov
Coffee growing is labour intensive. Trees need to be planted, weeded and harvested. A bush needs four years to mature and its best yields come after five or six years. Its green fruits are known as ‘cherries’ and each one has two beans. These cherries take seven to eight months to ripen and turn red and are then ready for harvesting, which is mostly done by hand. Coffee bushes are most productive from the age of five to 15 years, but many of Angola’s coffee bushes are over 30 years old and therefore in need of replacement. Some 25 million smallholders produce 80 per cent of the world’s coffee and another 100 million people are employed in the sector in coffeeproducing countries.
INDUSTRY
Port Amboim coffee production table Year
Tonnes per year
2006 529 2007 439 2008 1,129 2009
1,150
2010 1,274 2011 1,610 2012 1,537
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Africa Studio
(fall due to drought)
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Fairtrade Foundation Founded in the UK in 1992, the Fairtrade Foundation endorses markets and buys coffee from producer organisations owned and governed democratically by their members. It offers a minimum price of $1.40 per pound for Arabica beans or market price if higher and a minimum $1.01 per pound for Robusta. Fairtrade gives an additional $0.20 per pound if farmers make investments in community, business and environment projects – education, healthcare and farm improvements – to increase yield and quality, and processing facilities to increase income.
Organic farmers get a $0.30 per pound premium. Fairtrade also pre-finances up to 60 per cent of purchase prices and thus helps cash flow. It is already active in Africa in Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania and has 294,000 members in 32 organisations. Fairtrade also gives help and support in the areas of marketing, branding, ethical assurance, sales, supply-chain and producer partnerships (bringing buyers closer to their suppliers), and changes trading practices to ensure growers are treated fairly and consumers drink with a clear conscience. p
Coffee history Coffee is traditionally believed to have originated in 9th-century Ethiopia and was recorded as a drink in Yemen in the 15th century. Muslim pilgrims and traders spread the stimulating drink across North Africa and the Middle East. Later expansion came in the 1600s thanks to Dutch colonists in Sri Lanka, India and Java, and then in South America, where it was an important product of the slave trade.
Coffee worldwide statistics Pie chart 1 –Largest producers of coffee as % of world production 2007-2011 Brazil 34.0% Vietnam 14.0% Colombia 7.0% Indonesia 7.0% Ethiopia 4.5% India 3.7% Mexico 3.4% Guatemala 3.1% Peru 2.9% Honduras 2.9% Uganda 2.3% Others 14.0% Source: International Coffee Organisation (ICO)
Largest producers of coffee as BRAZIL per cent of world production 2007-2011
p p p p p p p p p p p p
Brazil....................................... 34.0% VIETNAM Vietnam................................... 14.0% Colombia.................................. 7.0% COLOMBIA Indonesia.................................. 7.0% Ethiopia..................................... 4.5% India.......................................... 3.7% INDONESIA Mexico...................................... 3.4% Guatemala................................ 3.1% ETHIOPIA Peru.......................................... 2.9% Honduras.................................. 2.9% INDIA Uganda..................................... 2.3% Others..................................... 14.0%
USA
p Vietnam...................................... 17% 9% VIETNAM p Colombia..................................... JAPANIndonesia..................................... 6% p 4% p India............................................. COLOMBIA Guatemala................................... 4% ITALY p Peru............................................. 4% p Mexico......................................... 3% INDONESIA p FRANCE Ethiopia. . ...................................... 3% p Honduras..................................... 3% p ETHIOPIA CANADA Uganda........................................ 3% p Others........................................ 13% p SPAIN
GUATEMALA
UK
40 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
PERU
Largest exporters as per cent of world exports 2007-2011
BRAZIL 31% GERMANY p Brazil..........................................
MEXICO
Pie chart 2 – Largest exporters as % of world exports 2007-2011 Brazil 31% Vietnam 17% Colombia 9% Indonesia 6% Ethiopia 3% India 4% Mexico 3% Guatemala 4% Peru 4% Honduras 3% Uganda 3% Others 13% Source: ICO
INDIA
Pie chart 3 – L 2006-2010 USA 23.0 Germany 9. Japan 7.8 Italy 6.3 France 6.0 Canada 3.6 Spain 3.5 UK 3.3% Others 36.5 Source: ICO
Largest importers of coffee as per cent of world total 2006-2010
USAUSA......................................... BRAZIL 23.0%
p p Germany................................... 9.8% 7.8% GERMANY p Japan........................................ VIETNAM Italy........................................... 6.3% p France. . ..................................... 6.0% p JAPAN COLOMBIA Canada..................................... 3.6% p Spain. . ....................................... 3.5% p UK............................................. 3.3% ITALY p INDONESIA Others..................................... 36.5% p
USA
FRANCE ETHIOPIA
FRANCE
CANADA INDIA
CANADA
GERMANY JAPAN ITALY
Source: International Coffee Organization (ICO)
MEXICO
SPAIN
MEXICO
SPAIN
GUATEMALA
UK
GUATEMALA
UK
INDUSTRY Sonangol news briefing
Sonangol Africa Eco Race winner
■ Former Formula 1 driver Jean-Louis Schlesser of Team Schlesser Sonangol won
the fifth Sonangol Africa Eco Race on January 14 in his Renault-engined ‘buggy’. It was remarkably Schlesser’s fifth consecutive win in the 11-stage, 6,500km-long race. Sonangol Africa Eco Race 2013 (Top 10) 1 Schlesser-Esquirol (Buggy): ................................................. 37h 09 ´45˝ 2 Fromont-Fromont (Tuareg): .................................................. 42h 59 ´28˝ 3 Van Cauwenberge-Castelen (Toyota): ................................. 43h 08 ´38˝ 4 Grigorov-Mishin (OSC): ........................................................ 44h 07 ´13˝ 5 Jorda-Lormand (Buggy): ...................................................... 46h 46 ´54˝ 6 Martin-Metz (Volkswagen): .................................................. 48h 11 ´02˝ 7 Shagirov-Morov (Toyota): .................................................... 56h 16 ´03˝ 8 Saukans-Ducens (OSC): ...................................................... 57h 56 ´48˝ 9 Van Putten-Zoetaert (Toyota): .............................................. 58h 43 ´33˝ 10 Aivazian-Luans (Toyota): .................................................... 60h 41 ´29˝
MARCH 2013 41
Sonangol news briefing
Petro Atlético win Angola’s SuperCup Sonangol board president Francisco de Lemos José Maria (left) is presented with the 2013 Angolan SuperCup trophy by the president of Petro Atlético de Luanda, Mateus de Brito, in February. Sonangol is the official sponsor of the team. Petro disputed the final over two legs with CRD Libolo of Kwanza Sul province and emerged 2-1 winners on aggregate. The SuperCup is played between the Girabola champions and the Angolan Cup winners.
Two more Suezmax tankers ■ The Stena Sonangol Suezmax Pool took delivery of its 25th and
26th vessels in January. AST Sunshine was named at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje shipyard in South Korea. The vessel will be employed on the spot market via the Stena Sonangol Suezmax Pool, although it is owned by Asahi Stena Tankers, a joint venture between Stena Bulk and Japanese Asahi Tankers. Its first cargo was gas oil from South Korea to Europe. “We are very satisfied with the vessels delivered so far and the quality and precision of the Samsung shipyard. With this tanker we now have yet another addition to the successful pool collaboration with Sonangol,” said Erik Hånell, president and chief executive of Stena Bulk. Sonangol Cabinda, the tenth and final Suezmax tanker in the series ordered by Sonangol, was named at the Daewoo
42 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering shipyard in Okpo, South Korea, and its maiden voyage was a cargo of gas oil bound for West Africa. Mark Heater, president of Sonangol Marine Services, said: “The delivery of the Sonangol Cabinda marks the achievement of a long-term objective of Sonangol Shipping and offers direct proof of Sonangol’s ability to actively and effectively compete in one of the world’s most challenging markets.” The Stena Sonangol Suezmax Pool is controlled by Stena Bulk and Sonangol. It currently consists of 26 fuel-efficient Suezmax tankers and the average age of the fleet is about three years. The pool has a presence in Houston, Gothenburg, Rio de Janeiro and Singapore from where the operations and chartering of these vessels are managed.
Sonangol news briefing
Sonangol stake in Puma Energy ■ Sonangol has bought a 20 per
Angop
Puma Energy
cent equity stake in Puma Energy, an international oil company focusing on the midstream and downstream sectors. Sonangol board president Francisco Maria said: “This strategic participation brings together the strengths and expertise of both companies. We look forward to more opportunities for collaboration between the two companies in Angola, in Africa and elsewhere in the world.” Puma Energy is a subsidiary of Trafigura Beheer, a Dutch multinational commodity-trading company established in 1997. It has grown rapidly and is now one of the biggest independent operators in the world. The company has a presence in 34 countries and has more than 5,000 staff. Pierri Eladari, its executive director, said that after many years of successful collaboration in the downstream sector and in Angola, the company was pleased to reinforce its partnership with Sonangol as one of its main shareholders.
Sonangol signs $1 billion debt deal ■ Sonangol EP has completed a loan
arrangement via its wholly-owned subsidiary Sonangol Finance Ltd to the tune of $1 billion. The contract with the China Development Bank is repayable over a period of ten years at a cost of 3.5 per cent above the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). The bank has given Sonangol Finance a corporate guarantee based on the quality of Sonangol EP’s operational, commercial and financial performance indicators. The loan also demonstrates the solidity of Sonangol’s long-term investment finance, which over the past seven years has allowed the company to borrow $18 billion, half of which it has already repaid.
New Lobito refinery foundation stone laid
■ Sonangol board president Francisco de Lemos José Maria announced the formal start of work on
the 200 barrels per day (bpd) Lobito oil refinery on December 10. Angola’s Vice-President Manuel Vicente laid the foundation stone. The refinery had been planned since 2000 and its completion should take five years. Once in operation, it will reduce imports of fuel and lubricants with a view to making Angola self-sufficient in these products. The project will create 10,000 jobs directly and indirectly during the construction phase on the coastal site 10km north of Lobito. The refinery will be well placed to serve Angola and neighbouring countries. It will also be connected to the Benguela Railway, which traverses southern Africa.
MARCH 2013 43
Sonangol news briefing
Welcome to the bridge
Sonaci in new LNG partnership Sonaci, the trading arm of Sonangol, and the DT Group, a joint venture between Trafigura Pte Ltd and Cochan Ltd, are to create a new company to trade liquefied natural gas (LNG) globally. Subject to regulatory clearance, Sonaci DT Pte Ltd will have offices in Geneva and Singapore where it will combine trading expertise, clients, risk evaluation, management and middle-market experience. “We have an excellent opportunity to build a world-class LNG-focused trading business by combining the strengths of our two companies,” said Rute David, president of Sonaci. “We intend to source products on the international market as well as trade volumes gained in Angola LNG market tenders.” Mariano Marcondes Ferraz, chief executive of the DT Group, said: “Our objective is to apply our expertise and capabilities to become a leading independent LNG trading company. We will also evaluate the acquisition of vessels and other assets to support the business.”
■ Nembamba Camilo Miezi Vita has become the first Angolan trained by Sonangol
to be promoted to ship’s captain. Vita, aged 36, took charge of the 73,400-tonne oil tanker Loengo, a vessel contracted by Sonangol Shipping, after a promotion ceremony presided over by Sonangol board member Anabela Fonseca. Vita, who was trained in Angola, India and the United Kingdom, said his success was the result of working in a team and that to reach the heights in one’s career, “We have to always believe that it is possible.”
Sonangol’s desert rally women ■ Winne Cadete and Zola Diavita,
working respectively in the office for quality, health, safety and environment and the directorate for technology and information at Sonangol EP, have been selected to take part in the women-only Aïcha des Gazelles Rally in Morocco. In preparation for the Total-sponsored rally, the two received practical training in desert navigation and driving in Morocco. During the race, which takes place March 17 to 28, all the competitors will be tracked in real time by satellite.
44 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Oleksandr Kalinichenko
Thor Jorgen Udvang
■
Sonangol news briefing
Mafumeira Sul project gets go-ahead
James Jones Jr
■ Sonangol and the Cabinda Gulf Oil
Company (CABGOC) are to invest $5.6 billion in the Mafumeira Sul project in Block 0. Mafumeira is located 24km off the coast of Cabinda province in waters just 60 metres deep. This is the second phase of the project, which includes 50 wells, two wellhead platforms, processing and interpreting installations, and approximately 121km of undersea pipelines. Production is expected to start in 2015 and should reach a maximum daily output of 110,000 bpd of oil and 10,000 bpd of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The natural gas will be processed at the Angola LNG plant at Soyo. CABGOC is the operator of Block 0 with a 39.2 per cent stake. It shares the rest with partners Sonangol EP (41%), Total Petroleum Angola Ltd (10%) and ENI Angola (9.8%).
PSVM starts up ■ Sonangol and BP Exploration (Angola)
Ltd announced the start of production at Angola’s offshore Pluto, Saturn, Venus and Mars (PSVM) project in Block 31 in January. Initially the team will tap three wells in the Pluto field, which are expected to produce 70,000 bpd. The PSVM development will reach a maximum output of 150,000 bpd when the Saturn and Venus fields start up in 2013 and are followed by the Mars field in 2014. PSVM is centred on a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, with a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of crude oil. This is the first facility of its kind to operate in Angola’s ultra deep waters.
Literary Prize winner chose Victor Amorim Guerra as the winner in December 2012. Amorim was the third writer to be awarded the prize worth $10,000 and have his book Tales from Heaven and Earth published. The competition attracted 49 entries and was judged by an organisation formed from representatives of the Angolan Writers’ Union and Sonangol. President of the jury – Irene Guerra Marques – said they chose the book because it brought together several fictional registers through an excellent combination of aesthetic and socio-cultural dimensions. Benguela-born Guerra said his book was a collection of stories which touched upon witchcraft and diamond prospecting in
eastern Angola, as well as Angolan habits and customs. The author said he was seeking to portray some aspects of the armed conflict the country lived through, describing the huge displacement of people from one region to another. João Rosa Santos, Sonangol’s head of communications and its representative for the literary prize, said the book judging was increasingly rigorous and would help future candidates to improve the quality of their writing. “Attention must be given to the quality of the texts in competition and they must be written with competence”, he said.
Brazuk Ltd
■ The jury for the Sonangol Literary Prize
MARCH 2013 45
Sonangol news briefing
SONANGOL TARGETS 2 MILLION BARRELS BY 2017 Francisco de Lemos José Maria addressed his second press conference as Sonangol’s board president in February, announcing higher profits for 2012 and a future objective of 2 million barrels of oil a day
46 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Malocha
Don Johnston
Sonangol news briefing
W
ithin four years Angola will be producing 2 million barrels of oil per day, pledged Sonangol board president Francisco de Lemos José Maria during the press conference to celebrate the company’s 37th anniversary. To reach and sustain this level of output, Francisco Maira said Sonangol would invest $8.8 billion over the next decade in prospecting and research. He reminded the audience of Sonangol officials and international journalists that the Angolan government had approved a rate of 7 per cent growth in oil production in 2013. “This target will be reached. That’s why we are going to continue to bring in talent to the company and follow, through the introduction of other rules, the projects that are under way,” he said. In 2012 Angola posted average oil production of 1.73 million barrels per day. In order to ensure that the planned benchmarks are achieved, Francisco Maria guaranteed that Sonangol would speed up the identification of additional oil projects while at the same time exercising influence and applying pressure on all of Angola’s oil installations and construction yards to increase production. Looking back on 2012, the Sonangol board president said that Angola’s oil output rose by 4.5 per cent. “This increase will have an impact on the real rate of growth of our gross domestic product,” he said. However, he did not feel satisfied with this growth as it was below the company’s expected increase of 6 per cent. During the press conference, Francisco Maria announced the company’s preliminary results for 2012. Sonangol registered a net profit of $3.22 billion, 2.35 per cent higher than the $3.15 billion achieved in 2011. He said that last year Sonangol’s liquid assets stood at a massive $30 billion and that sales reached $42.17 billion, up from $40.56 billion in 2011, an increase of $1.61 billion. Sonangol’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation declined to $5.21 billion in 2012 from $5.96 billion the previous year. “Over the last three years we have added $14.39 billion to our income; 80 per cent of
MARCH 2013 47
Sonangol news briefing this came from crude oil production and 10 per cent from distribution as a result of fuel price rises in 2010,” he explained. The board president revealed that although average oil prices rose 2.7 per cent to $111.86 a barrel in 2012, the company made a profit of only $34.86 a barrel. During the press conference, Mateus de Brito, Sonangol administrative executive, explained that if the government decided to cut all fuel subsidies, then petrol in Angola would rise to the level of international market prices of 150 kwanzas per litre ($1.56) and diesel to Kz 130 ($1.35). Petrol at the pumps in Luanda currently costs Kz 60 and diesel Kz 40, about half a dollar a litre. Francisco Maria went on to say that Sonangol collected revenues of $20.63 billion in 2012, down from $22.42 billion in 2011. “The fall was a result of the regulatory framework and mainly due to a reduction of 10 per cent in oil production,” he said. Sonangol board member Sebastião Gaspar Martins said the fall in output was due to a delay in the start of production in Block 31 and operational problems in
Block 14. “At this moment, production is back on track to its expected level,” he said. Despite these problems, Angola’s oil production grew 4.5 per cent as it added 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) to output. However, this was below expectations of a 13.3 per cent rise.
LNG update Sonangol board member Baptista Sumbe reported that there were continuing technical obstacles to start-up at the Angola LNG liquefied natural gas plant at Soyo. Sonangol would have a clearer picture of how to overcome these problems within four to five weeks, he said. As far as Angola’s Luanda refinery was concerned, in 2012 production was stable at 41,600 bpd, the same as in 2011.
Finance Francisco Maria reported that Sonangol EP had debts of $10.98 billion made up of $7.23 billion long term (that is between three and seven years), and $3.75 billion with repayment due by the end of December 2013.
Last year Sonangol contracted new loans: $1 billion repayable in ten years; $1.5 billion repayable in five years; and one of 600 billion kwanzas ($6.2 billion) due within three years. The board president also revealed that Sonangol paid 86 per cent of crude oil sales directly to the Angolan treasury in the form of tax and royalties. This percentage had grown from 77 per cent in 2005.
Refined products Sonangol sold 5.85 million tonnes of refined products in 2012, an increase of 19 per cent on 2011. With the liberalisation of the fuel market, Sonangol sold 1 million tonnes of petrol and diesel wholesale to other distributors. Imports of refined products experienced a significant increase in 2012, rising 23 per cent to 4.45 million tonnes.
Shipping Sonangol’s shipping operations transported 7 million tonnes of crude in 2012 and added $205 million to Sonangol EP’s revenues.
Sonangol board (left to right) Baptista Sumbe, Sebastião Gaspar Martins, Anabela de Brito Fonseca, Francisco de Lemos José Maria, Raquel Vunge, Fernando Roberto, Mateus de Brito
48 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Sonangol news briefing
Arnalda Van-Dúnem, administrator of Sonangol’s property arm, Sonangol Imobiliária e Propriedades (Sonip), told the press conference that it had sold 72 per cent of the 18,089 homes it had for sale in various housing schemes in just 15 working days. She said Sonip built 29,962 homes in 2012 compared to just 3,726 the previous year. During 2012 Sonip sold homes worth $734 million. Francisco Maria said all homes in three major schemes, Zango, Capari and Km 44, had been sold but there were still homes available at the new developments at Kilamba Kiaxi and Cacuaco.
Industrial development Sonangol’s industrial development arm, Sonangol Investimentos Industriais (SIIND), installed 17 industrial units in the Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone (ZEE), a huge industrial condominium near Viana in 2012. The factories there produce mattresses, foam, electrical equipment, cables, PVC and plastic tubes and metal roofs among other goods. The previous year eight units were built.
In 2013 SIIND aims to have 26 more units operational. The planned final tally is to have 70 factories by 2016. Sonangol’s air services company SonAir, flew a total of 456,000 hours in 2012, an increase of 2 per cent on 2011. Francisco Maria said that Sonangol had no plans to increase its shares in Portuguese oil company Galp Energia. Sonangol is not a direct shareholder but has shares in it through another company. “The investment in Galp is good and it’s stable. We feel well in Galp as shareholders, although indirectly. We will remain in Galp,” he said.
Sonangol bank Sonangol is to open a savings and home loans bank in the second quarter of 2013, according to Francisco Maria. Sonangol will wholly provide the investment capital for Banco de Poupança e Promoção Habitacional (BPPH). “At this moment, the bank has been formally established and is undertaking organisational diligence and recruiting staff,” he said. The board president also announced
that a planned investment bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), would no longer go ahead. “The Sonangol-CGD bank is formally extinct. It was extinct on the date that the BNA [Banco Nacional de Angola – Angola’s central bank] issued the licence for BPPH,” he explained. Looking abroad, Francisco Maria said Sonangol would continue to hold a stake of around 20 per cent in the Portuguese bank Millennium BCP, despite losses owing to the European debt crisis. “Our investment in BCP is long term, so we are going to maintain our stake,” he said, adding that partnerships should survive the good and the bad times.
More jobs Sonangol created 1,244 new jobs in 2012: nearly half of these, 615, in Sonangol EP; 222 in Sonangol P&P, its exploration arm; and 129 in its healthcare operations in the Girassol Clinic. Looking ahead, the board president announced that Sonangol would auction 15 onshore exporation blocks this year, ten in the Kwanza Basin and five in the Congo Basin. p
Malocha
Property sales
MARCH 2013 49
Sonangol news briefing
SONANGOL LONDON
CELEBRATES London’s Natural History Museum
Sonangol Ltd held its 30th anniversary party at London’s Natural History Museum, where guests were entertained by Angolan singers Yola Semedo and Nya Lou. During the evening, board member Anabela Fonseca paid tribute to former long-serving Sonangol Ltd managing director José Carlos Paiva. Rute David, head of Sonaci, also thanked current and former Sonangol staff who had worked at the London office for more than 20 years.
50 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Luis Neves (right), Sonangol Ltd trading & marketing manager, enjoys the night
Sonangol news briefing Sonangol EP board member Anabela Fonseca
José Carlos Paiva
Sonaci head Rute David and Sonangol Ltd’s supply and logistics manager Ceri Evans
Nya Lou
Sonangol Ltd President and CEO Sandra Júlio
Yola Semedo
MARCH 2013 51