Connecting Africa’s Skilled Professionals
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Almost a fifth of UK employers expect their 2013 growth plans to be curtailed by a shortage of skills, research has found. The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) revealed that 38 per cent of UK firms are struggling to recruit the right talent, with nearly three quarters of them citing a lack of technical skills as the main problem. This dearth of skills is expected to hit expansion plans for 18 per cent of the businesses surveyed. The report showed that this shortage of technical skills is an EU-wide problem with 68 per cent of European employers stating it was a significant recruitment challenge, while globally slightly fewer recruiters (64 per cent) said it was an issue. Two fifths of UK employers reported that low numbers of applicants created another hiring headache, while recruiters also complained of a lack of work experience (55 per cent) and qualifications (40 per cent) among potential appointees. Further findings in the report showed that employee retention is also an increasing problem for UK businesses. According to the first quarter results of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and Grant Thornton Business Confidence Monitor for 2013, staff turnover is rising again after a period of stagnation in 2011. Staff attrition levels have risen from seven to 10 per cent from the quarter before. The IBR report also said that 19 per cent of organisations believe that staff retention issues have contributed to a loss of business or orders to competitors, increased operating costs (28 per cent) and an inflated workload for remaining staff (40 per cent). The report based its findings on interviews with 6,400 chief executives, managing directors, chairmen and senior executives from across section of UK industries between August and December 2012.
Over half (61%) of UK employees surveyed found that 2012 was more stressful than 2011, according to recent research from Canada Life Group. Although the outlook for 2013 is slightly more positive with 30% of the 1,613 people surveyed expecting it to be less stressful than the previous year, 22% of workers who experienced problems with stress in 2012 were too afraid or embarrassed to ask for help. Around half (48%) agreed that their worries and concerns impacted negatively on their working life, with ten per cent having to take time off work as a result, while nearly a third (31%) experienced lower concentration levels and productivity. Of those who found their anxieties impacted on their work life in 2012, one in five (20%) said that their employer was understanding and eight per cent received help through an Employee Assistance Programme. But, 17% received no support from their employer despite informing them about their concerns. Stress was the cause for one in ten of the UK employees surveyed taking time off work, while many saw a negative affect on their concentration levels and productivity.
A recent Report on Jobs has seen the sharpest rise in salaries for over a year, caused by continued growth in permanent vacancies paired with a reduction in candidate availability. The figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG reveal that people placed in permanent jobs has risen for the fourth consecutive month during January. Temporary billings increased for the sixth month in succession, with the pace of expansion quickening slightly in the latest survey period. Meanwhile, job vacancies have increased at their sharpest rate since April 2011. Average starting salaries for people placed in permanent jobs continued to increase in January. Although still moderate, the rate of inflation was at a 16-month high. Contributing to the rise in salaries was a reduction in the availability of permanent staff, albeit only slight. According to Tom Hadley, Director of Policy and Professional Services, REC, the war for talent has begun. The rise in starting salaries is caused by continued growth in permanent vacancies paired with a reduction in candidate availability. This is good news for workers but also highlights the need to address the current 'skills disconnect' which presents a major barrier to growth in key sectors of the economy. He cited skills shortages in sectors like engineering and IT and for particular roles like chefs, drivers and sales which are spurring competition for qualified staff.
Students and young professionals in the US and UK expect to live and work abroad at some point in their career. This is according to a study by international relocation specialist MOVE Guides, as part of a wider report into Gen Y and global mobility. The report highlights a growing recognition of international relocation as a rite of passage for Gen Y workers, for whom cross-cultural experience and career development are priorities. The vast majority (93%) of professionals surveyed in the UK and abroad expect to live and work overseas at some point in their career and 85% of those surveyed would consider moving to a new country for a job opportunity without having previously visited it. According to Brynne Herbert, MOVE Guides CEO and founder, the desire for overseas experience will become more pronounced as companies continue to expand into emerging markets. “Cross-border business opportunities are increasingly important for younger staff at multinational firms,” says Herbert. “Ambitious Gen Y employees want to experience these new markets; gaining global experience is becoming more important than financial reward. Those companies not meeting the needs of this generation will find themselves struggling to recruit the brightest and best that the global talent pool has to offer.” The report highlights the growing expectation to live and work overseas as part of a wider trend of employees progressively viewing themselves as ‘consumers’ who seek autonomy, transparency and choice in their career paths. Members of Gen Y, who are predicted to make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025, are the first to have grown up with international travel, mobile technology and internet connectivity as the norm, and increasingly expect employers to offer them the experiences and technologies that they are accustomed to in their personal lives.
Over half of City professionals in the permanent hiring market (57%) expect base salaries to remain the same during 2013. This is according to the latest Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor, which also suggests that 67% of professionals think that that temporary/contractor rates will remain the same in 2013. However, 33% of those professionals operating in permanent hiring expect pay rises, but only by up to ten per cent. Respondents in the contractor market again showed slightly less confidence with only 28% forecasting that rates might rise and again only up to ten per cent. Despite this, there was confidence in the contractor market that pay rates will not decrease at all over the course of 2013. Of those who expected compensation to increase this year, attracting and retaining the best talent in the market is predicted to be the key reason according to 48% of those in the permanent market and 33% of temporary/contracting professionals. In addition, another 33% working across temporary/contracting recruitment cited skills shortages as a reason for pay rates rising.
Accenture, the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, has announced it has exceeded its original Skills to Succeed goal of equipping 250,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. As a result – and to increase its impact in communities worldwide – the company has set a higher goal: by 2015, it will equip 500,000 people globally with these workplace and entrepreneurial skills. The company surpassed its original goal, which it set in 2010, by working with global and local nonprofit partners that deliver measurable employment and entrepreneurship outcomes at scale. Accenture has already equipped more than 320,000 people with skills that enable them to participate in and contribute to the economy. Skills to Succeed draws on one of Accenture’s core competencies – training talent – to help address the need for skills that open doors to employment. The initiative harnesses the powerful combination of financial support and the pro bono contributions of time and Accenture employee skills. Accenture is collaborating with nonprofits on more than 200 Skills to Succeed initiatives, which focus on making a sustained impact around the world,
Business leaders are struggling with basic management skills as the reality of living with austerity takes hold, according to new research. Roffey Park’s annual Management Agenda report of 1,460 managers, finds leadership development is the number one strategy organisations are adopting for the future. But basic management skills such as dealing with underperforming staff and managing change are not up to scratch, according to the report. In addition, while the research finds the challenge of reacting to the economic downturn has eased for many organisations, living with austerity is proving more difficult for managers, who need to implement efficiency savings and change while maintaining staff morale. Two-fifths of managers (40%) report that underperformance is not tackled at all well in their organisation. A high percentage of managers say redundancies are still handled, at best, only adequately (55%). Almost half (45%) of managers report a low level of support in their organisations, yet managers also report an increased use of stretch assignments and enhanced responsibilities.
The RBS Inspiring Enterprise programme provides grants to non-profit organisations for projects which inspire women to start their own business. The next round of the Inspiring Women in Enterprise funding scheme will open on 3 June 2013. Non-profit organisations based and operating in the UK with a track record of providing enterprise support to women may apply for funding. In a previous round, funding was awarded to wide range of projects including a project aimed at inspiring young disadvantaged African women graduates into business, a women's business hub for women in rural areas, and the Positive Futures for Women initiative which helps ex-prisoners out of crime and into work. The initiative will use their grant to deliver two focused training programmes for up to 15 women ex-offenders who want to start their own businesses. The 'Positive Futures for Women' programme aims to cut crime by providing women with opportunities for a legitimate lifestyle. The Inspiring Women in Enterprise programme offers approximately £500,000 in grants each year. Three levels of grant funding are available: Small grants of up to £10,000; Medium grants of between £10,001 and £25,000; Large grants of between £25,001 and £50,000. The next deadline for applications is 17 June 2013 (midday). A further funding round will open on 30 September with a deadline of 14 October 2013 (midday). Further information is available from the RBS website (opens in a new window).
The push to appoint more women to non-executive director (NED) roles has widened the range of career routes into director posts, research has revealed. The Women on Boards study, from the Ashton Partnership, examined the career experience of all 183 women currently on FTSE 250 boards. The findings were then contrasted with a comparable sample of FTSE 250 male NED appointees. Results showed that the career backgrounds of the female appointees were much more diverse than those of the men. The men appointed to NED posts had predominantly traditional executive career routes including time in posts such as chief executive and chief finance officer. The study also found that women in NED posts were younger than their male counterparts when they gain their first NED role and were far less likely to have gained main board experience in a previous executive role. Only 16 per cent of women appointed to FTSE 250 boards came from the traditional group chief executive or chief financial officer background, compared to 60 per cent of the men. Meanwhile, more than two fifths of the women appointed had held sizeable (but non-board) leadership roles, they were also drawn from a variety of other backgrounds, including investment banking, the public sector, professional services, not-for-profit and senior functional roles such as HR director and marketing director. Nearly three quarters of women appointed as NEDs to FTSE 250 boards had no previous main board experience, compared to 37 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women gaining their first FTSE 100 NED role had never been on a public limited company board before. The study findings “counter the frequently expressed view that ‘you can’t get on a PLC board until you have been on a PLC board’,” the Ashton Partnership said. Nick Aitchison, the partner leading the Board Practice at Ashton Partnership, noted that the research rejects the traditional misconception that there is a limited talent pool of women for NED roles. Boards are spreading the net more widely and appointing from a broader range of career backgrounds, without any obvious loss of quality.
While some university leavers are struggling to find skilled jobs, those at the top of the talent pool have become a sought-after resource, according to new research. The FreshMinds Research Employer Brand Survey 2013 had asked 512 students and recent graduates from the top 13 universities (including Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial, and Durham) what they were looking for from their first job, and how their chosen companies measured up. As the war for talent surges among the major corporations, the research suggests that the brightest graduates know what they want from their first job, aren’t afraid to ask for it and most importantly think they can find it in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications sector. The survey displayed how the graduates of the future are looking beyond the traditional accountancy and consultancy sectors, well-known for their large graduate recruitment programmes and extensive campus presence, to the more innovative technology and media companies. Whilst banking and finance was where the largest proportion of the recent top graduates ended up (13%), technology and media companies were not far behind, snapping up 12% of this cohort, with consultancy and accountancy lagging with just eight per cent and four per cent respectively. Overall BBC, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Innocent have been named as the most attractive companies across banking and finance, consulting, retail, engineering technology and media sectors.
Workers in the UK have suffered the biggest wage drop, in real terms, out of the top 10 developed economies, according to research by the TUC. The study, which examined the 'global race between economies', showed that British employees' salaries fell on average by 4.5 per cent between 2007 and 2011. This is a sharper drop in staff income than experienced by workers in the weakened economies of Italy, where real term wages fell 2.7 per cent, and Japan, where salaries dropped by 0.7 per cent. However, wage decline is not the global norm as employees in Australia saw pay rises of 6.9 per cent, while in Canada similar increases of 5.4 per cent were recorded. Employees in other developed countries also saw pay rises. In France workers picked up a 4 per cent increase, while in Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States wages rose 2.4 per cent, 1.2 per cent, and 0.1 per cent respectively. German workers experienced a slight drop of 0.1 per cent. TUC researchers said that the UK’s fall in income could be attributed to the coalition government’s first full year in office (2011), when salaries decreased by 3.5 per cent. In the same year, British workers’ earnings shrunk at twice the rate of comparable incomes in Spain, which was the next worst performing economy.
A new Business Loan Fund for Women is offered by the business support provider, Boost Capital. The scheme is designed to support the growth ambitions of female entrepreneurs in the UK, providing an affordable alternative to bank lending. Boost Capital believes that some female entrepreneurs may find it more difficult to access finance than their male counterparts. The funding provider’s targeted strategy will enable it to further develop its hands-on client relationships with the growing number of women entrepreneurs. The programme has a total budget of £10 million available. Individual loans of between £5,000 and £500,000 are available. The loans can be agreed within 24 hours and applicants can receive the funds within five to ten days. Female-owned and managed businesses who have been established for at least nine months qualify for a loan through this programme. The business must be located in the UK and may be operating in a variety of sectors, including hospitality, salon and spa, restaurant and pub, garage, dental and independent retail. Boost Capital enables businesses to use future sales to access the funding that they may need to invest in new equipment, stock, marketing, staff or expansion. There are no stated deadlines; therefore applications for support may be submitted at any time. Click here for more details.
With almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 in Africa today, the youth community represents more than 60 per cent of the continent’s total population and accounts for 45 per cent of its growing labour force. However, the imbalance between the demands of the labour market and the supply of appropriately skilled workers in Africa is reaching its breaking point. In light of this, Microsoft Corp. has announced its ongoing commitment to driving opportunities for African youth through its YouthSpark initiative. Microsoft YouthSpark is a global initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years. This companywide initiative includes Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and other company programs — both new and enhanced — empowering youth to imagine and realise their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship. Microsoft’s YouthSpark and other CSI activities have, in sub-Saharan Africa alone, reached over half a million young people and made $1.1 million worth of software donations to non-Government-organisations. In addition it has trained almost 30, 000 teachers through its Partners In Learning tools as well as equipping hundreds of small & medium businesses with relevant start up skills. Through 4Afrika, Microsoft will actively engage in Africa’s economic development to improve its global competitiveness. By 2016, the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative plans to help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth, bring 1 million African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) online, up-skill 100,000 members of Africa’s existing workforce, and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop skills for employability, 75 percent of which Microsoft will help place in jobs.Microsoft YouthSpark goes beyond philanthropy and brings together a range of global programs that empower young people with access to technology and a better education and inspire young people to imagine the opportunities they have to realise their potential, including Office 365 for education, free technology tools for all teachers and students to power learning and collaboration, and Skype in the classroom, a free global community for teachers to connect their students with others around the world.
A new venture to assist more women get into business has been launched in Birmingham. The Women's Enterprise Hub is a partnership between Birmingham City Council and South and City College, and will offer support and training for women that want to start up in business and to those already with an established business. The hub is focused on harnessing business development and addressing the shortage of women in business. Although assistance is available to all women, women from minority groups are particularly targeted. The first phase of the hub is based at South and City College’s Fusion Centre in Digbeth and will provide courses in fashion and clothing as well as business skills. Women will have the opportunity to attend workshops as well as receive advice and guidance. Women will have the opportunity to gain higher qualifications in Asian couture – gaining the skills required to design and create high-end Asian fashion pieces. Phase two of the Enterprise Hub is expected to commence in early 2014 in Sparkhill. For further information click here
Up to 15 per cent of women find they do not have a job to go back to after their maternity leave, according to new figures. A poll by law firm Slater & Gordon revealed that 11 per cent of women found they had been replaced by their maternity leave cover, while 4 per cent were made redundant. Four in ten of the 1,000 new mothers surveyed felt that the role they returned to had altered compared to the job they had left – with 45 per cent saying it had changed for the worse. However, more than half of those respondents did not raise concerns because they were either unsure of their rights (26 per cent), they did not know where to turn for advice (15 per cent), or they thought that seeking help would damage their future careers prospects (12 per cent). Only one in ten of those who saw changes to their position approached their HR department for advice, while 4 per cent sought legal advice regarding possible discriminatory practice by their employer. The survey also discovered that over a quarter of the respondents who had requested flexible working were refused, while two-fifths had a move to part-time hours blocked. Close to 20 per cent of the women canvassed said that their finances had suffered as a result of taking maternity leave, and one in ten reported physical or mental ill-health resulting from the changes made to their job.
Tigo Tanzania has been named among the top global socially devoted brands on Facebook in a report issued by SocialBakers, and covering a study on the world’s top 10 socially devoted brands on Facebook in the last quarter of 2012. Tigo Tanzania is the only telecom company from central, eastern and southern Africa in the ranking among some of the world's biggest brands. Social networks, are becoming popular gateways for customers seeking help or updates in crisis situations and as a result of this, brands that are committed to their customers and have the capabilities are tapping into them. According to SocialBakers‘ Socially Devoted Study for October to December 2012, brands on Facebook are responding faster to questions from their fans. What previously took brands an average of 21 hours to respond to fans toward the end of June 2012, decreased to 19.5 hours during the end of 2012. Tanzania’s most innovative telecom operator, Tigo is ranked with an 87.30% response rate and 28 minutes response time.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has launched an ambitious program to significantly improve data management and dissemination in Africa. The ultimate goal of the program is to facilitate wider public access to official statistics and to support countries in their efforts to improve data quality and dissemination for better policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation. The program was launched in November 2012 as part of the Bank’s broader statistical capacity building program in Africa. Work has been going on concurrently in several African countries and institutions and has been completed in the following 13 countries and one Pan-African institution: Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the African Union Commission. The plan is to finalize the development and installation of data portals in all 54 African countries and 16 sub-regional and regional agencies by the end of July 2013. The program involves the development and installation of common IT platforms in all 54 countries and 16 sub-regional and regional organizations in Africa. The aim is to establish live data links between the Bank and National Statistical Agencies, Central Banks and Line Ministries in African countries, on one hand, and linking the countries with each other and with other external development partners, on the other. This will facilitate easy data exchange, validation, analysis and dissemination using common international standards and guidelines. This approach will not only ease access to statistical data and metadata in African countries, it will also help to improve the quality of the country data by making it more internationally comparable, harmonized, meaningful, and ultimately more usable. The Bank has also partnered with the European Union to provide easy access to agricultural data and to tools for simulating various agricultural policy alternatives. The data submission facility will position the AfDB as the key depository for development data in Africa and the hub for data-sharing with other international development partners. This will also significantly reduce the data reporting burden of African countries since data will now only need to be uploaded once into the AfDB system and then shared with various development partners. This AfDB initiative provides a unique opportunity for African countries to take the lead in implementing statistical standards at a regional level and make their data easily accessible through a common platform. It will also significantly revolutionize data management and dissemination in Africa, and reposition the continent for more effective participation in the global information economy.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the IFC Asset Management Company (IFC AMC) have participated in a $48 million investment into Tunisia’s Amen Bank. The IFC is understood to have invested $5.63million, while the rest came from third party funds managed by the IFC AMC. As part of the partnership, IFC will also provide Amen Bank with risk management and corporate governance advisory services. Amen Bank is listed on the Tunisian Stock Exchange. Amen Bank will use the financing to increase its lending to small businesses. The bank plans to lend about $800 million to businesses by 2018. According to the IFC, the investment will give smaller business access to capital, allowing them to unlock their potential and create much-needed jobs. Created in 1971, Amen Bank offers both retail and commercial banking services in Tunisia and Algeria. About 42% of the bank’s portfolio entails corporate financing, while 40% is made up of small business products. Amen Bank is understood to be the second largest private sector bank in Tunisia with a market share of loans of approximately 11%.
Investec Asset Management has launched a $350 million pan-African credit fund. Investec’s Africa Credit Opportunities Fund 1 has received $60 million dollars in cornerstone commitments from CDC Group and the Dutch development finance institution FMO. Each has committed $30 million to the closed-ended 8.5-year vehicle. The commitment is CDC’s first debt investment since the launch of its new strategy in 2012. CDC also aided Investec in structuring the fund, and will also assist in bringing in other institutional investors. The fund will provide long-term capital to businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa, except South Africa.
New research funded by the SWIFT Institute has revealed that mobile money can help to promote financial inclusion and boost savings rates amongst remote communities. The research, carried out by US-based Tufts University in rural communities in northern Ghana with little access to financial services, demonstrated that take-up of mobile money can be easily promoted and that use of mobile money services can help to encourage a savings culture. A month into the research project, 10% of participants had used the service solely for money transfer; two and half months later, usage increased to 26% of households, with 86% of users receiving money transfers and 70% of users saving on their mobile phone. In a release SWIFT, the financial messaging provider for more than 10,000 financial institutions and corporations in 212 countries and territories, said the results could provide a possible model for policy makers around the world to extend the reach of financial services. In the remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa, less than 20% of the population has access to any type of formal financial institution, defined as a bank, microfinance institution or cooperative. Yet access to financial services is a key aspect of development, as credit and savings allow households to invest, save and respond to shocks. In Ghana, this figure rises to about 29% of the population, according to the World Bank. Typically, households in rural areas save ‘informally’ at home or with local collectors (called “susu”, in Ghana), and often rely on remittances from migrants to urban areas. While these strategies are important risk-sharing mechanisms for such households, they are also vulnerable to risks, including theft, restricted access to funds, high fees, or high transaction costs. The research demonstrated that mobile money offers a new potential mechanism for increasing the financial inclusion of the world’s poor since it can reduce the cost and increase the security of money transfers.
The Bloomberg Media Group, a division Bloomberg L.P., announced a multi-year rolling partnership agreement with Nigeria-based content provider, Optima Media Group, strengthening Bloomberg’s position as a leading supplier of global business and financial news television across the African continent. This partnership will create a new entity – Bloomberg Television Africa. Launching in the second half of this year, Optima Media Group will produce three to four hours of business programming per day which will be available to African viewers across the continent via Bloomberg’s English-language EMEA feed. Optima Media Group will engage its existing content and distribution channels to supplement Bloomberg's English-language international news and analysis across Africa. Bloomberg Television Africa will provide a dynamic and relevant context for the coverage of financial news across the continent, said the company. Localised and international Bloomberg Television content will be packaged and distributed via satellite delivery and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) as well as traditional terrestrial formats. The partnership deal applies to all of Sub-Saharan Africa. Content will be produced in Lagos, Johannesburg, London and Nairobi with dedicated presenters, reporters and producers based in each market. An executive producer from Bloomberg will work alongside Optima Media Group to assist in the production of the channel’s economic and business coverage drawing on Bloomberg’s extensive financial and economic data from the Bloomberg Professional service and reporting from Bloomberg's 2,400 journalists in 146 news bureaux across 72 countries.
DHL Express, the world’s leading international express services provider, has expanded its network of DHL Service Points in Sub-Saharan Africa from the initial 300 to over 1000, in just a few short months. The move is an aggressive expansion into the market which is aimed to further cement the company’s leading position in Africa but also to offer local consumers and small businesses an efficient, convenient way of shipping overseas. The logistics and express company, which is present in 52 Sub-Saharan Africa markets, has been looking to improve access for cash and account customers, creating enhanced accessibility for customers and increasing connectivity between African markets and the over 220 countries that DHL currently serves worldwide. The logistics operator identified the need for increased convenience for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), as a recent study by global information and analytics company, IHS, showed that accessibility to international markets was a driver of small business success. The drive to increase consumer access points has been as a result of a multi-pronged retail strategy which looks at retail offerings from a small spaza shop in South Africa to a telecommunications company in Angola or a post office in Mauritius.
Fortune's current Top 10 of most admired companies are: 1. Apple, 2. Google, 3. Amazon, 4. Coca-Cola, 5. Starbucks, 6. IBM, 7. Southwest, 8. Berkshire Hathaway, 9. Walt Disney, 10. FedEx
Mauritius Telecom, in collaboration with the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) proceeded to the launching of a new service, ‘Orange Money income tax payment’.The service allows a person to pay his taxes through SMS via his mobile phone on a 24 hour basis without the need to go an MRA office. The Orange Money service was launched in April last year. After the payments of electricity and telephone bills, the service has now been extended for the payment of tax. The service is being introduced at a time when usage of mobile phones is booming both at the local and international level. Director General of the MRA Sudhamo Lal pointed out that mobile tax payment is an important step for MRA in its endeavours to increase efficiency and make payment of tax easier and less time consuming.
South Africa’s economy posted moderate growth of 2.5% in 2012, down from 3.5% in 2011, according to Statistics SA, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth up from 1.2% in the third quarter to a stronger than expected 2.1% in the fourth quarter. The main contributors to the quarter-on-quarter increase were manufacturing (0.8%), finance, real estate and business services (0.6%) and general government services (0.4%). The growth in manufacturing was led by strong growth in the production of petroleum and basic iron and steel, while the growth in finance, real estate and business services was due to increased activity at the country’s commercial banks. Mining and quarrying recorded a negative contribution of 0.5% for the quarter, while the contributions made by the electricity, gas and water industry as well as the construction industry were insignificant. Nedbank expects much of the same in 2013, with strain on South Africa’s mining and manufacturing sectors most probably set to continue. In January, the Reserve Bank cut the forecast for economic growth this year from 2.9% to 2.6%. According to Nedbank, producers and exporters face another difficult year as the recession in the eurozone is forecast to continue, and local operating conditions are expected to remain challenging given high electricity costs, strained labour relations, fading productivity and inadequate economic infrastructure. The government has previously said that the economy needs to grow at a rate of at least 5% a year if the country is to make a serious dent in the fight against unemployment.
South Africa will spend more than R23-billion on beefing up school infrastructure and increasing the number of no-fee schools this year, with education once more receiving the biggest slice - R232.5-billion - of the country's R1.06-trillion 2013 National Budget. According to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, over the medium term, the Basic Education Department would be expected to use some of its budget to improve numeracy and literacy, expand enrolment in Grade R and reduce the school infrastructure backlog. R1-billion will go to the country's nine provinces to increase the number of teachers, while about R700-million will be channelled towards the technical secondary schools recapitalisation grant. The education infrastructure grant is critical to government's plans of eradicating unsafe and poor quality school structures, as it supplements the infrastructure programme in provinces to accelerate the construction, maintenance and upgrading of new and existing schools. Up to R8-billion has been allocated to the school infrastructure backlog grant, which was established in 2011. The grant aims to ensure that schools have basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity. The allocation to higher education institutions will increase from just over R20-billion in the previous financial year to R24.6-billion over the next three years. Government has also confirmed that construction of two new universities, in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, would finally commence this year, with the authorities expecting an increase in student enrolment at South Africa's higher education institutions from 910 000 to 990 000 by 2015. In recent years, government has also increased funding to help students from poor backgrounds obtain tertiary education and vocational training. The Student Financial Aid Scheme will provide loans and bursaries to 288 188 students from poor backgrounds in 2013/14, up from just over 118 000 in 2008/9. To increase access to basic education, the Budget notes the expansion of no-fee schools in South Africa to 20 688 by the end of 2012.
The privately ownedcommunications service provider SEACOM has selected Ciena Corporation’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and OneControl Unified Management System for the upgrade of its submarine network across the Southern and Eastern African coastlines. This falls in line with SEACOM’s focus on driving the development of the African internet and opening the broadband tap for African consumers. Ciena’s technology will allow SEACOM to meet the growing capacity demands of its customers and enable affordable Internet access to East Africa with a network that offers a better cost point and a smoother evolution path for the future. The upgrade includes key countries in SEACOM’s 17,000km undersea network, including India, Egypt, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Africa. The solution will allow SEACOM to deliver its capacity in very short timeframes and provide for future demands. The deployment will initially use Ciena’s 40G coherent transport technology, with ultra-long distance 100G wavelengths planned for future upgrades. Connectivity services in Africa are booming due to the growing needs of business IT users, the rise of ”cloud” based services, and growing requirements for the processing and storing of personal data, says the company, and Ciena’s technology will cost-effective scale of their our capacity to address this growing demand for connectivity throughout the continent.
South African companies, including foreign companies based in South Africa, stand to benefit from relaxed cross-border financial regulations and tax requirements, according to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Delivering his 2013 National Budget speech in Parliament, Gordhan said that outward investment reforms that applied as part of a new set of "gateway to Africa" reforms would also apply to companies seeking to invest in countries outside of Africa, including in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. These reforms include the relaxation of cross-border financial regulations and tax requirements on companies in South Africa, as well as reforms making it easier for banks and other financial institutions in South Africa to invest and operate in other countries. Gordhan said Africa now accounts for 18 percent of South Africa's exports, including nearly a quarter of its manufactured exports, and that the SA Reserve Bank had approved over 1 000 large investments into 36 African countries over the last five years. South Africa is also helping to fund several development projects in the wider southern African region, with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) accelerating investment into neighbouring countries, particularly in the field of electricity generation and transmission and road transport. Added to this, South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) last year funded 41 projects in 17 countries to the tune of R6.2-billion. Most of these projects were in industrial infrastructure, agro-processing and tourism. State company Eskom was also now considering investing in several regional generation and transmission projects outside South Africa. Gordhan said there was a proposal to pool the foreign exchange reserves of the five BRICS member countries, with the idea of using this to support one another in times of balance of payments or currency crisis. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa collectively hold reserves of US$4.5-trillion. He said work was under way to create a trade and development insurance risk pool, with the aim of setting up a sustainable and alternative insurance and reinsurance network for BRICS members.
Women farmers in the East and Horn of Africa region are poised to benefit from practical information-sharing tools via Airtel’s mobile networks. This follows a memorandum of understanding signed between the UN Women (The United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women) and Airtel Africa. As per the MoU, UN Women will identify the farmers to be covered under this initiative, whilst Airtel will package and deliver the appropriate mobile solutions to support their livelihoods and enhance their efficiency. Under the agreement, Airtel Africa will establish a Farmer's Information System, which will enable women farmers to access real time information related to weather, changes to the policy environment (such as taxation and regulation), available support services; as well as other areas. In addition, Airtel will also offer Internet protocol messaging services and closed user groups. Mobile connectivity gives rural communities access to education, banking facilities and opportunities to increase trade. By connecting rural communities through its mobile networks, Airtel aims to create positive community impact, greater social interaction and opportunities for economic development. The two-year partnership between Airtel and UN WOMEN aims at building the skills, capabilities and resources of women entrepreneurs. Women provide approximately 70 percent of agricultural labour and produce 90 percent of all food, yet do not always share equally in the economic benefits of the industry. Airtel and UN Women are dedicated to helping women farmers enhance their productive capacity and international competitiveness in the countries where they jointly operate. Under this agreement, Airtel will also co-finance initiatives and projects promoting the empowerment of women and the girl child.
Global soft-drinks giant PepsiCo re-entered into the Kenyan market after a four-decade absence in East Africa’s largest economy. PepsiCo officially launched its manufacturing plant located in Kenya’s capital Nairobi in February, and immediately stoked a price war with Coca Cola. The company left Kenya in the 1970s amid a fierce battle for market share with its American rival, the world’s biggest soft drinks maker. Softa Bottling Company, a Kenyan firm, has been Coke’s only competitor in the soda market but its limited resources mean it has barely challenged the global giant’s market dominance. PepsiCo re-entered Kenya’s supermarket shelves in 2011 supplying the market through imported plastic bottled sodas and cans. Since then the company had concluded that there was a viable case for setting up a processing plant, underlining its faith in the growth potential of Kenya’s soft drinks market. A manufacturing presence is expected to help Pepsi cut its operational costs. Pepsi maintained a presence in East Africa’s second and third biggest economies Tanzania and Uganda respectively, even as it existed in Kenya. Total annual production of sodas in the Kenyan market hit the highest mark of 371.4 million litres in 2011, but declined 3.2 per cent to 359.5 million litres last year. Kenya’s non-alcoholic drinks consumers are also increasingly opting for healthier fruit-based drinks, posing a new challenge to soda processors. However, sales volumes of fruit juices have been held down by the relatively more expensive pricing which makes them a favourite for the relatively small middle-income earners, meaning that soda remains the main field of competition. Coke has six bottling companies located in different regions of the country and a juice processing plant in Nairobi. Pepsi has remained guarded on its expansion plans, only revealing that it has about 200 employees in its Nairobi plant with plans to grow this to 300 in the next twelve months. Coke also feels that the Kenyan market can only grow bigger to accommodate the new competitor.
The East Africa Venture Capital Association (EAVCA) has won the endorsement of a number of development finance institutions and investment banks, ahead of its official launch in the second half of 2013. The trade body has already set up a board made up of seven founding fund managers – Abraaj, Actis, Afrinvest, Catalyst Principal Partners, Centum, Fanisi Capital and TBL Mirror Fund. EAVCA has recently been set up to represent the private equity and venture industry in East Africa and provide a voice for industry players to raise awareness and engage on regional policy matters.The association will also offer training with localised content, networking opportunities and aggregate industry data. The need to lobby governments to improve regulations that impact private equity investment is considered key to the development of the industry. The advocacy would enable fund managers to raise more capital from local investors.This is particularly the case for smaller managers whose lack of track record and poor brand recognition makes it difficult to attract capital from large global limited partner investors. According to some, outside South Africa, there has been very little evidence of direct government lobbying on regulations.
EAVCA aims to provide expert insight, to educate and proactively consult regional regulators and in turn enable them to better understand the industry and enable regulators to make more informed decisions.
Standard Chartered is relocating its African business to South Africa from the United Arab Emirates, according to reports. The bank’s Africa-focused private equity, transaction banking and project finance teams covering Africa have already moved to Johannesburg. Standard Chartered has reportedly revealed plans to invest $100 million up to 2015 across the African continent according to a Bloomberg report. The bank’s income from Africa touched $1.59 billion in 2012, a 15% year-on-year rise. This was boosted 34% growth from Kenya, and 28% from South Africa.
South African employers are expecting a stagnant labour market during the April- June time frame, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. South Africa’s Net Employment Outlook of 0% indicates the percentage of employers who intend to add to their payrolls will be similar to the percentage of those who intend to reduce their workforces in the months ahead. The Outlook is relatively stable in comparison to the first-quarter forecast and improves by a slight margin of two percentage points when compared to last year at this time. Despite the cautious nature of the overall forecast, job seekers can expect to find some opportunities in the Wholesale & Retail Trade sector, the Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sector, and the Transport, Storage & Communications sectors. Employers in the Restaurants & Hotels sector, the Manufacturing sector and the Construction sector report the weakest second-quarter forecasts. According to the research, raw data showed that 7 percent of employers planned on increasing staffing levels, 5 percent planned on reducing staffing levels and 87 percent foresaw no change in their staffing levels during the second quarter of 2013. Payroll gains are forecast in six of the 10 industry sectors during Quarter 1 2013. Employers in the Wholesale & Retail trade sector report the most optimistic hiring plans with a Net Employment Outlook of +7%. Job gains are also anticipated in the Electricity, Gas & Water Supply, the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Business Services, the Mining & Quarrying, the Public & Social and the Transport, Storage & Communication sectors. Sectors with negative expectations include Restaurants & Hotels, Manufacturing and Construction. Outlooks improve quarter-over-quarter in the Wholesale & Retail Trade sector by 6 percentage points and in the Construction sector by 7 percentage points. Year-over-year results indicate that the 8 percentage point drop reported by employers in the Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry & Fishing sector was the steepest decline, followed by a 6 percentage point drop in the Mining & Quarrying sector. In direct opposite, the Construction sector Outlook improved 8 percentage points while Outlooks in the Electricity, Gas & Water Supply and Transport, Storage & Communication sectors both improved 6 percentage points.
Workers in South Africa can expect to see higher wage increases than their global counterparts in 2013, according to the latest Grant Thornton survey on international business trends. Grant Thornton’s International Business Report, based on interviews of 3 450 chief executive officers in November and December 2012, indicates that 68% of South African businesses will increase salaries in line with inflation this year. More than a quarter of South African businesses - 26% - will increase wages by more than the rate of inflation, while less than 5% will not increase pay at all, the report shows. Only 15% of BRIC (Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese) businesses, and 14% of global businesses overall, will offer increases higher than inflation in the year ahead, while approximately half the businesses in each of these geographical areas will offer increases in line with inflation. The report also showed, however, that 43% of the country’s businesses hired more people and that Gauteng province saw the highest employment increases - 48%. This was in line with BRICS countries, which averaged a 45% increase. Staff retention was also an area South Africa did well in. When questioned about staff retention, more than a third of SA businesses (37%) experienced no staff retention problems, while only 7% of BRIC businesses claimed the same, the report said. Grant Thornton’s International Business Report surveys listed and privately held organisations and provides insight into the views of over 12 500 companies annually across 44 countries.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has signed a $50-million oil deal with Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd. (COPL) and ExxonMobil, granting them access to Liberia’s offshore oil field development project, known as Block 13. The deal will transfer the rights to Block 13 from Peppercoast Petroleum PLC to COPL and ExxonMobil, with Exxon owning 80 per cent of the interests. Block 13 has been surrounded by controversy since Peppercoast signed the deal, when it was revealed the company lacked the resources to take full ownership of a project at the scale of Block 13. This most recent deal marks the third and final instalment of the overall development plan of Liberia’s 2,400-square kilometre offshore oil reserve. Unlike the original $45-million deal signed in 2007, this deal will ensure that Liberia benefits, even if the actual oil reserves are lower than originally speculated. The contract for the final phase stipulates that $21.25 million of the overall $50-million fee must be paid upfront. Additionally, included in the contract is a comprehensive funding scheme to ensure this project contributes to the development of local human capital. Exxon and COPL will pay $850,000 for local training programmes and $800,000 for social welfare programmes.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) is to invest more than R1.6-billion in a new manufacturing plant in South Africa as the global consumer goods group moves to make the country its manufacturing hub for southern and eastern Africa. According to the company, South Africa is the most advanced economy in Africa and represents an attractive investment destination with good infrastructure. The new manufacturing plant will operate according to the highest sustainability standards and become one of the largest P&G facilities in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, producing a range of products for export to southern and eastern Africa. The company aims to make South Africa P&G's manufacturing hub for the markets of southern and eastern Africa, with the new investment expected to create over 500 additional jobs at P&G. Construction is expected to begin in 2014 on a greenfield site which P&G will acquire in the near future, with production expected to commence in 2016 or early 2017. In 2009, P&G built a R500-million manufacturing plant for Pampers nappies in Johannesburg, creating hundreds of jobs and attracting a further R6.6-million in investments from suppliers.
Square Kilometre Array South Africa is joining IBM and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (Astron) in a four-year collaboration to research extremely fast but low-power "exascale" computer systems aimed at developing advanced technologies for handling the massive amount of data that will be produced by the SKA. As part of this collaboration, South African scientists will be involved in exploring new computer architectures, developing advanced algorithms for radio astronomy imaging, and developing rugged microservers capable of handling harsh desert conditions. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an international effort to build the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope, which will be co-hosted by South Africa and Australia. The project, which aims at a better understanding of the history of the universe, also constitutes the ultimate "big data" challenge, and scientists will have to produce major advances in computing to deal with it. When the SKA is completed, it will collect data from deep space containing information dating back to the Big Bang more than 13-billion years ago.
South Africa's olive industry has enjoyed a recent growth spurt and has the potential to expand even further following a 50% slowdown in Spanish production, says Pam Golding Properties manager in the Karoo region, Wayne Rubidge. Demand from foreign markets is causing an upward swing in production due to low European production and the quality of South African olive oil;import tariffs are also expected to boost local olive oil production. About 68% of South Africa's olive consumption comes from mostly inferior European products, and with the general world shortage, the olive index is up by a massive 50%. The country generally has small olive oil consumption patterns, despite its long tradition of olive growing. According to Rubidge, the country's first olives were produced by Jan van Riebeeck at Boschheuwel in 1661, with the first commercial olives seen about 200 years later. The primary olive producing areas in South Africa are in the Karoo region of the Western Cape, which boasts favourable conditions and climate for olive growing with winter rainfall and a dry summer. Considering the statistics, this farming sector offers significant potential for growth.
Kenya, traditionally a leader in African agriculture, is on the verge of broadening its mineral sector, with a titanium mining project in Kwale County, located along the country’s south coast. The project, which began in 2011, is 60-per cent completed, according to Joe Shwarz, spokesman for Base Titanium, the company heading the project. It represents an effort by the Kenyan government to develop the country’s mining sector. By 2030, the Kenyan government hopes to increase the mining sector’s share of GDP to 10 per cent. In 2011, mining only accounted for .7 per cent of Kenya’s GDP, according to government statistics. When completed, the Kwale project – Kenya’s first large-scale mine – will have the capacity to produce 80,000 tonnes of rutile a year, or 14 per cent of the world’s supply. Rutile, which is composed of titanium dioxide, is a white pigment and a key ingredient for a broad range of products, including paints, plastics and paper. Kwale County is a rural region of Kenya, known more for its bucolic landscape along the Kenyan coast. The project will bring a much needed economic stimulus to the region, providing over a thousand jobs to locals at the mine.
Airtel Kenya will invest Sh8.5 billion to improve its services and grow its Airtel Money platform as it seeks new frontiers for revenue growth and an even bigger footprint in the lucrative money transfer business in the next two years. The company has already embarked on an ambitious plan to increase the number of Airtel Money agents from the current 6,000 to 8,000 by the end of the year. The firm has also eliminated all fees charged on Airtel Money. This means Airtel Money customers can now send money free of charge to any network in Kenya. Airtel’s new ambition follows a report from the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) that showed that the total number of subscribers using mobile money services declined to 19.3 million in the third quarter of last year, compared to 19.5 million who were using the service in June last year. But the decline in customers did not reflect in the transactions on mobile money. The amount of money deposited in mobile money accounts grew 6.7 per cent in the quarter to September, growing from Sh192 billion to Sh205 billion during the quarter. According to the mobile provider, regular money transfer users send up to Sh10,000 per month. It expects to bring in more customers as they will be making savings of up to Sh400 sending fees per month, which translates to four per cent savings on money sent. The company is also expected to invest heavily on the education of its customers on the benefits of using Airtel Money mobile commerce solutions. It has already announced a linkup with Postal Corporation in a countrywide partnership that will see Airtel Money Customers access services in all 465 Posta outlets countrywide.
The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have agreed to establish a BRICS development bank to help finance infrastructure programmes and sustainable development in the BRICS and other developing countries, South Africa President Jacob Zuma said at the conclusion of the 5th BRICS summit in Durban. While certain issues still needed to be ironed out, such as the bank's location, initial start-up funds and voting rights, Zuma said that following the report from their finance ministers, the bloc was satisfied that the establishment of the bank - the grouping's first formal institution - was feasible and viable. Ahead of the summit, officials had said the BRICS countries were considering injecting an initial US$50-billion into the bank, with each nation contributing $10-billion. The idea of a BRICS Development Bank was first proposed at the 4th BRICS summit in New Delhi, India last year. While Russia was cautiously optimistic about the idea this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signalled his country's support for the institution. Putin further proposed the establishment of a permanent secretariat to lead the group's day-to-day operations. The BRICS leaders have also endorsed the idea of creating a financial safety net in the form of a contingent reserve arrangement (CRA) among BRICS countries.
Standard Bank has signed a R20 billion Funding Support Agreement for Renewable Energy Projects in South Africa with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). ICBC is Standard Bank’s single largest shareholder with which it has a 20% shareholding. The deal is innovatively structured to provide the funding out of rand money accruing to ICBC by virtue of that shareholding. ICBC's aim is to promote the use of renewable energy in South Africa in support of the South African government’s Renewable Energy Programme, and through this partnership, to help save the environment. In addition, the deal facilitates the entry of investors into South Africa, and ICBC will co-lend into renewable energy with Standard Bank, ICBC's South African strategic partner, through to 2025. Standard Bank chose to take the lead in unlocking alternative sources of funding for renewable energy projects as it has been one of the leading players in the bidding process for renewable energy projects in both rounds of the bidding process so far. In the first round of renewable IPPs that were finalised last year, Standard Bank financed over R9 billion of debt funding, and in the second round it expects to fund R6 billion.
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