Connecting Africa’s Skilled Professionals
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Most final-year students are optimistic about their long-term career prospects but are realistic about the problems they face making their first steps in the jobs market, research has shown. More than 80 per cent of students about to complete three-year degree courses feel they now have the skills that employers need, while two-thirds described themselves as optimistic about their careers. Over a third (36 per cent) said it would be 'easy' for them to find the job they wanted, although most were more realistic, with 41 per cent admitting that they did not feel confident about their immediate future. The figures come from a project called Futuretrack, a longitudinal study by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HESCU), which is tracking the destinations and attitudes of 50,000 students from the time they apply for university until two years after graduating. A sizeable minority felt dissatisfied with what they had gained from university, with 10 per cent saying the skills they had developed were not wanted in the job market. While three-quarters said the university experience had made them more employable, a quarter expressed some doubt that this was the case. Students who had developed high numeracy skills were significantly more confident about finding a job than history, philosophy, creative arts and communication students, while men were more confident than women about their skills and prospects.
Robert Half, a leading financial services recruitment firm, believes that immigration rules preventing international talent from coming to the country would be detrimental to the development of UK business. The comments were made by Andy Dallas, associate director at Robert Half, following a study by the Migration Advisory Committee (Mac) which indicates that one British job is lost for every four migrant workers who come to the country from outside the EU. The UK Government's immigration advisers suggest that an extra 160,000 jobs would have been created for British workers in the last five years. However, Dallas believes that an immigration cap would create difficulties in sourcing international talent as many organisations rely on international talent to access specialist skills and experience needed to grow their operations, particularly within the financial services sector. He said that their has shown that seven in 10 CFOs within the financial services arena are concerned about immigration regulations preventing them from hiring the talent they need, possibly resulting in a shortage of skilled migrant workers.
Candidates from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are not treated in an equal way to white job seekers, the race campaign arm of Business in the Community has claimed. In the past 12 months, 29 per cent of BAME candidates using recruitment consultancies were offered a job compared to 44 per cent of white candidates, according to new Race for Opportunity research. Furthermore, only 57 per cent of BAME candidates were invited for at least one interview, compared to 73 per cent of white applicants, said the report, Race and Recruitment: exposing the barriers. Sandra Kerr, director at Race for Opportunity, said: "Tough economic times and rising unemployment levels mean that the current job market is extremely competitive, with a high number of applications for every role. If BAME candidates are not being treated fairly by the recruiters at all stages of the job application process, then they are at a distinct disadvantage from the outset." The study of 2,500 job seekers was jointly commissioned with Diversity Works for London – an initiative from the London mayoral office which supports business efforts to become more diverse. The BAME applicants surveyed cited poor initial contact and responsiveness by recruitment consultancies, and being put forward for roles that did not match their skill sets. There was not the same disparity in the figures when candidates applied direct to employers, the study found. An equal proportion (29 per cent) of both BAME and white applicants had secured a job role through this channel in the past year.
UK employers face a hike in visa fees for skilled migrant workers, after the government announced substantial rises "to generate revenue and reduce the burden on the UK taxpayer". Fees for skilled workers, or Tier 2 migrants, will increase by 20 per cent to £480, while employer sponsorship licences will shoot up by 46 per cent to £1,500 for large companies, and by 61 per cent to £500 for small companies. At the same time, the UK Border Agency has limited the majority of visa increases to about 2 per cent. Business organisation the CBI criticised the hikes as a "bitter blow" for firms. Fee changes are expected to come into force in April 2012 but must be agreed by both Houses of Parliament first. The cost and complexity of the system is likely to prove a deterrent to companies, with smaller businesses hardest hit by the charge increases, particularly in a time of economic uncertainty.
Businesses throughout the European Union are invited to apply for the European Business Awards, with ten award categories on offer for companies to showcase their outstanding successes and achievements in the previous year. Sponsored by HSBC, the European Business Awards, now in their sixth year, recognise and promote excellence, best practice and innovation across the European business community. The annual Awards are judged by a prestigious panel of experts in line with the broad aims of the European Union, and aim to recognise the achievement of companies that have successfully developed and implemented winning growth strategies, exceptional ethical credentials, outstanding customer focus and forward-thinking innovations. Applications are invited in ten categories including The Employer of the Year Award, The Award for Customer Focus, The Award for Environment and Corporate Sustainability, The HSBC Import/Export Award, The RSM International Entrepreneur of the Year Award and The UKTI Award for Innovation. Winners can benefit from the recognition and success that the competition brings, generating high levels of exposure and acclaim and extensive networking, interaction and learning opportunities with some of Europe's most successful businesses, political leaders, academics and media. The deadline for applications is 1 May 2012. Visit the European Business Awards websitefor further information or to submit an application.
The Private Business Awards celebrate the most successful companies and individuals operating in the private sector in the UK. The nominees will receive exposure in regional and national PR campaigns, while the winners will profiled on the Private Business Awards website, as well as on the key sponsors' websites - PricewaterhouseCoopers and HSBC Private Bank. 2012 Award categories include: Private Business of the Year; Family Business of the Year; Technology Innovation of the Year; Social Enterprise of the Year; High Growth Business of the Year; Employer of the Year. Two new categories for 2012 include the Rising Star of the Year — which will champion vision and growth — and the Exporter of the Year — which will celebrate a growing presence in overseas markers. Small private sector businesses across all sectors and operating in the United Kingdom may enter these awards. The 2012 deadline for receipt of entries is 13 April 2012. Click here for further information.
Shareholders of Ecobank Nigeria Plc and Oceanic Bank International Limited have approved their proposed merger, with all the assets, liabilities and undertakings of Oceanic Bank, including real property and intellectual property rights, be transferred to Ecobank Nigeria. It was also approved that the 1,600,000,000 issued ordinary shares of 50 kobo each of Oceanic Bank be dissolved and that the bank be dissolved without being wound up. In consideration for the transfer of all assets, liabilities and undertakings of Oceanic Bank to Ecobank, the shareholders of Oceanic Bank will receive 16,111,111,111 billion new shares in Ecobank Nigeria, credited as fully paid-up; and N2,600,000,000 to be credited to Oceanic Bank shareholders as deposit for shares in Ecobank Nigeria issued to Oceanic Bank shareholders as equity at N2.34 per Ecobank Nigeria share at a date to be mutually agreed by the shareholder of both banks. The merger combines Oceanic Bank's strengths in the retail, commercial, public and microfinance sectors with Ecobank Nigeria's corporate banking expertise and the Ecobank Group's pan-African footprint. The enlarged group, to be known as Ecobank Nigeria, will rank as one of the top five banking groups in the country.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank have given Tanzania $255.2 million (Sh434 billion) to help support the health sector, private sector reforms and economic governance. The AfDB approved $155.2 million (Sh263.5 billion) while the WB approved $100 (Sh170 billion) according to statements by the organisations. The health project supported by the World Bank donation would see up to eight million Tanzanians access better health services each year from now until 2015. The project is designed to build on success in improving access to health services, which have helped to cut infant and child mortality rates by nearly half over the past decade. The AfDB loan to Tanzania was provided through the African Development Fund, which is the AfDB group's concessional or 'soft loan' arm. The programme is the AfDB Group's fourth general budget support operation in Tanzania. One of its distinctive features is that it widens the scope of the AfDB's intervention to target both soft and hard enablers of private sector development, while consolidating gains and deepening reforms in public financial management and mainstreaming anti-corruption reforms. The establishment of the AfDB's regional resource centre in Nairobi, as well as its field office in Dar es Salaam, will help deepen the group's policy dialogue and technical advice with the Tanzanian authorities and other development partners. The AfDB Group has 23 ongoing operations in Tanzania. They include 15 national projects, two private sector operations and six multinational operations, amounting to a total commitment of around $945 million. The World Bank project is expected to contribute about a fifth of the total Health Basket Fund (Tanzania's main vehicle for donor financing for health) will further support the Government's efforts to focus on quality and to bring in new financing mechanisms that strengthen management of health services at the local level.
British oil firm Afren has found oil at one of its wells in offshore south east Nigeria, and said it planned to drill another well in offshore Ghana. Afren, whose main producing fields are in Nigeria but owns assets across Africa, said it found 549 feet of net oil pay the zone of a reservoir that contains economically producible oil and 41 feet of net gas pay at the Okoro East exploration well. The company said the well reached a total measured depth of 8,751 feet. Afren, which shares the well with Amni International Petroleum Development Co Ltd, said logging operations had been completed at the site and the well was being prepared for testing. Last month, First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN), which is part-owned by Afren, said it had bought a 45 percent stake in Nigerian oil block OML 26 for $147.5 million from Shell, Total and Eni.
A Kenyan port project linking three countries will start this year, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said. The Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor, which aims to construct another port in Lamu and build roads, will open up the Coast, Eastern and northern Kenya regions. Mr Odinga said the project would also enable the country exploit its vast resources and catapult Kenya to a medium-income economy by 2030. The transport corridor, through Isiolo, Moyale and Turkana, will open up development prospects in northern Kenya, linking it to Southern Sudan and Ethiopia.
Africa saw good economic results in 2011 with average growth of between 5.5% and 6.0%, African Union (AU) commission chairperson Jean Ping said on a recent visit to Libya. "Africa progressed on average between five and a half and 6%. We are nearly at 6%, and seven countries are between seven and 11%," he said. "The news is good, not to say excellent, at a time when the world is going through difficult times," Ping said. "Hope is returning, to the extent that some are calling Africa the continent of the future."
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal making across Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, plummeted 53% to reach $21.3 billion in 2011, according to Reuters's data. The drop was significantly higher than the overall emerging markets region which saw a 13.6% year-on-year decline to $667.4 billion. On the other hand, global M&A showed slight growth, rising 7% over the year, to $2.6 trillion. The global growth figures were dragged down by a slowdown in activity in the second half of the year, in which the year-on-year M&A closures plummeted 24%. Africa's M&A figures include Anglo American's $5.1 billion acquisition of a 40% stake in diamond giant De Beers, from E Oppenheimer & Son. The deal was the regions largest M&A transaction and raised Anglo American's interest in Luxembourg-based De Beers from 45% to 85%. The financial sector was lifted by a $621.1 million convertible bond offering from South Africa-based Steinhoff Finance Holding. The deal solidified South Africa's leading position as the top equity issuer, with the country making up 71% of equity transactions. Mauritius was the second largest equity issuer with 13%, while Nigeria closed 5%, making it third in line. South Africa was the most targeted M&A country, closing $12.2 billion worth of deals, 57% of the overall activity in SSA. Uganda was second with $3.1 billion, 14% of overall activity. Most of the equity deals across Africa were placed by Deutsche Bank , followed by BNP Paribas and Citi.
South Africa-based investor Quantum Capital Fund (QCF) has launched a $200million early-stage technology fund. The private equity fund will be based in the US and will focus on global investment opportunities, offering multi-staged venture capital. QCF is expected to mainly back companies developing software, especially in the quantitative trading and online media space. The investor recently invested $30 million in US-based The Jetstream, a newly created social media platform located in Santa Clara. QCF has made a number of investments in Africa, including Skye Media Productions, a digital production company and Script Seven, a technology business that develops e-commerce, content management and audio-visual software. Both companies are based in South Africa. QCF was founded in South Africa by its current chairman Julian Pencilliah in 2004.
Internet giant Google has teamed up with the Department of Industry and other partners to launch Woza Online, an initiative that aims to transform tens of thousands of South African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by giving them an online presence. Other partners to the initiative include the Human Resources Development Council (HDRC), Vodacom and Lead SA, a Primedia Broadcasting and Independent Group initiative that aims to mobilise change among South Africans for the benefit of the country. Businesses participating in the initiative will get a free, easy-to-build professional website; a matching mobile site; a free sub-domain name and hosting; an automatic listing on Google Places, which shows on Google Maps; access to training material and workshops; and free online support via Google Chat and e-mail. The first 10 000 applicants will also get top-level .co.za domain name for free for one year. Google has launched similar initiatives in 23 other countries around the world, from the UK, Canada, and Australia to Brazil, Indonesia, France, and Poland, bringing 400,000 businesses online over two years. In Africa, the programme was launched in Kenya and Nigeria last year, with these countries seeing over 20,000 businesses going online within the first two months.
The scale and pace of investment by Chinese companies across the African continent is picking up, with South African financial services group Standard Bank alone responsible for advising Chinese companies on recent deals worth more than R10-billion. Two large deals were concluded in 2011, namely the US$1.3-billion sale of mining company Metorex to Jinchuan and the sale of a 25% stake in black economic empowerment (BEE) investment holding company Shanduka to China Investment Corporation for R2-billion. Standard Bank was also recently worked with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to provide funding to the value of $835-million for the Morupule B Power Project in Botswana. Standard Bank's close relationship with ICBC stems from the Chinese bank having purchased a 20% stake in Standard Bank in 2007 for about $5.5-billion. Other China-Africa transactions where Standard Bank was involved includes a $400-million debt refinance with Equinox, an Australian-listed mining company with African operations; a $470-million export finance facility to the Ethiopian Hydro Power plant; and a $5.5-billion financial advisory mandate to the Ghanaian Railway. The Meteorex sale was the largest China-Africa deal in 2011, and involved Chinese mining group Jinchuan acquiring 100% in the issued share capital of JSE-listed Metorex for $1.3-billion.
The Hershey Company has announced its plan to reinforce cocoa sustainability efforts by accelerating farmer and family development in West Africa, where 70 percent of the world's cocoa is grown. Over the next five years, Hershey will expand and accelerate programs to improve cocoa communities by investing $10 million in West Africa and continuing to work with experts in agriculture, community development and government to achieve progress with cocoa farmers and their families. By 2017, Hershey's public and private partnerships will directly benefit 750,000 African cocoa farmers and over two million people in cocoa communities across the region. Because cocoa farms are family farms, improving farming increases family income. Today, West African farmers can increase their cocoa output by 50 percent through modern methods. Doing so will increase school attendance and improve community health. This builds on the company's cocoa expertise and partnerships and will focus on increasing the income of the region's two million cocoa farmers and ensuring long-term cocoa sustainability for the region and for Hershey's global product line. Hershey is a founding member of a public-private partnership involving the global cocoa and chocolate industry and the U.S. Department of Labour. The partnership has created a new Framework of Action to significantly reduce the worst forms of child labour in Ghana and the Ivory Coast by 2020.
Cherilyn Ireton, a South African editor and successful senior manager at some of the country's top newspapers, has been appointed executive director of the World Editors Forum, the global organisation for editors within the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). Ireton is the first woman to head the World Editors Forum, which was created in 1994 as a unique global network for exchanging ideas on newsroom management, editorial quality, online strategies and press freedom issues. Ireton is a seasoned newspaper professional with more than 20 years' experience on South Africa's top newspapers, including the Sunday Times and Business Day, where she worked as a journalist, editorial manager and chief operations officer. The Forum runs the Editors Weblog and organises several conferences and study tours, including an annual Newsroom Summit and its flagship event: the World Editors Forum Conference, intended for chief editors and other senior executives, a unique annual occasion for dialogue, debate and idea-exchange on the changing business of editing newspapers.
Miners African Barrick Gold posted a 30% increase in core profit for 2011, as a rising gold price pushed margins to record levels, offsetting the impact of soaring costs across the industry and helping the company treble its dividend. The Tanzania-focused company said last month its full-year production dipped in 2011, after power outages at its Buzwagi mine held back output in the final quarter. ABG, a unit of the world's largest gold producer Barrick Gold Corp, stated that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $544 million in 2011, broadly within the range of analyst estimates, on the back of a 25 percent rise in revenues. ABG, which operates four gold mines in Tanzania, said its cash margin increased by a third to $895 per ounce, helping it to boost its total dividend 208 percent to 16.3 cents per share.
Barclays Bank of Kenya posted an 11 percent rise in underlying pretax profit to 12.01 billion shillings in 2011 and said it was raising the total dividend per share by 10 percent. Majority owned by Barclays Plc, the bank said conditions were tough last year, after inflation surged to almost 20 percent as the currency lurched from one low to another. Managing Director Adan Mohamed told an investor briefing that gross pretax profit slid by 11 percent, due to a one-off item, the sale of its custody business in the previous year. Barclays had reduced its cost-to-income ratio to 52 percent from 54 percent and increased the dividend for the year to 1.5 shillings per share, he said.
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