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Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
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Not giving up: South Africa’s Pick n Pay to enter Nigeria, weeks after Truworths threw in the towel
26 APR 2016 11:37 | BLOOMBERG NEWS
South African retailers are facing domestic headwinds including weak domestic consumer confidence, rising interest rates and a weak rand.
Pick n Pay will partner with a Nigerian company to take a crack at the West African market. (Photo/Delwyn Verasami/M&G)
PICK n Pay Stores Ltd. announced plans to enter Nigeria as it posted a 26% increase in full-year profit after opening 175 new stores.
The company, based in Cape Town, said it agreed to partner with Lagos-based AG Leventis & Co. to enter Africa’s largest economy.
“A key part of the group’s strategy is to establish a second engine of growth in markets in the rest of Africa,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Pick n Pay will hold 51% of the operation in Nigeria, “which will roll out a combination of large and smaller formats to meet consumer needs.”
South African retailers are facing headwinds including weak domestic consumer confidence, rising interest rates and a weak rand, which has declined 16% against the dollar over the past 12 months.
The central bank forecasts economic growth for South Africa this year of 0.8%, which would be the slowest pace since a 2009 recession.
Earnings per share excluding one-time items rose to 2.24 rand in the year through February, Pick n Pay said.
The company restricted selling-price inflation to 3.1% over the year amid “an increasingly challenging economic environment” facing South African consumers, it said. Sales advanced 8.2 percent to 72.4 billion rand ($5 billion) and the trading-profit margin improved to 2.1 percent, from 1.9 percent in 2015.
The Nigerian market is not guaranteed. In January, South African clothing retailer Truworths International closed its last two stores, citing stringent regulation of stock imports and rising costs.
Another South African retailer, Woolworths, closed its three Nigerian stores in 2013 because of high rental costs, duties and difficulties getting stock into stores..
Not giving up: South Africa’s Pick n Pay to enter Nigeria, weeks after Truworths threw in the towel
26 APR 2016 11:37 | BLOOMBERG NEWS
South African retailers are facing domestic headwinds including weak domestic consumer confidence, rising interest rates and a weak rand.
Pick n Pay will partner with a Nigerian company to take a crack at the West African market. (Photo/Delwyn Verasami/M&G)
PICK n Pay Stores Ltd. announced plans to enter Nigeria as it posted a 26% increase in full-year profit after opening 175 new stores.
The company, based in Cape Town, said it agreed to partner with Lagos-based AG Leventis & Co. to enter Africa’s largest economy.
“A key part of the group’s strategy is to establish a second engine of growth in markets in the rest of Africa,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Pick n Pay will hold 51% of the operation in Nigeria, “which will roll out a combination of large and smaller formats to meet consumer needs.”
South African retailers are facing headwinds including weak domestic consumer confidence, rising interest rates and a weak rand, which has declined 16% against the dollar over the past 12 months.
The central bank forecasts economic growth for South Africa this year of 0.8%, which would be the slowest pace since a 2009 recession.
Earnings per share excluding one-time items rose to 2.24 rand in the year through February, Pick n Pay said.
The company restricted selling-price inflation to 3.1% over the year amid “an increasingly challenging economic environment” facing South African consumers, it said. Sales advanced 8.2 percent to 72.4 billion rand ($5 billion) and the trading-profit margin improved to 2.1 percent, from 1.9 percent in 2015.
The Nigerian market is not guaranteed. In January, South African clothing retailer Truworths International closed its last two stores, citing stringent regulation of stock imports and rising costs.
Another South African retailer, Woolworths, closed its three Nigerian stores in 2013 because of high rental costs, duties and difficulties getting stock into stores..
Not giving up: South Africa’s Pick n Pay to enter Nigeria, weeks after Truworths threw in the towel
for my 9ja brehs.....
Tiwa Savage Addresses Tee Billz’s Accusations In Exclusive Video | Pulse TV
Tiwa Savage Addresses Tee Billz’s Accusations In Exclusive Video | Pulse TV
Kenya lights world's biggest ivory bonfire, demands tusk trade ban. The pile was of about 6,700 elephants
30 APR 2016 | 16:40 AFP
On the black market, the quantity of ivory torched could sell for over $100 million, and the rhino horn could raise as much as $80 million
A ranger stands in front of burning ivory stacks at the Nairobi National Park on April 30, 2016. (Photo/AFP).
KENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to the world’s biggest ivory bonfire Saturday, after demanding a total ban on trade in tusks and horns to end “murderous” trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
“The height of the pile of ivory before us marks the strength of our resolve,” Kenyatta said, before setting fire to the pyres.
“No-one, and I repeat no-one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage.”
Eleven giant pyres of tusks, and another of rhino horns, are arranged in a semi-circle now expected to burn for days in Nairobi’s national park.
Huge white clouds of smoke spiralled high into the sky, with thousands of litres of diesel and kerosene injected though steel pipes buried in the ground leading into the heart of the pyramids to fuel the blaze.
President Ali Bongo from Gabon, who lit one of the pyres, spoke of the “massacre” of forest elephants in central Africa, and said he backed moves to close all sale of ivory.
“Unless we take action now we risk losing this magnificent animal,” Bongo said at the ceremony, telling poachers he was “going to put you out of business, so the best thing you can do is to go into retirement now.”
Africa is home to between 450,000 and 500,000 elephants, but more than 30,000 are killed every year on the continent to satisfy demand for ivory in Asia, where raw tusks sell for around $1,000 (800 euros) a kilo (2.2 pounds).
The pyres contain some 16,000 tusks and pieces of ivory. The ivory represents nearly the entire stock confiscated by Kenya, amounting to the tusks of about 6,700 elephants.
Kenya has a long history of ivory burnings, spearheading a wider movement of public demonstrations across the world, but nothing on this scale before.
On the black market, such a quantity of ivory could sell for over $100 million, and the rhino horn could raise as much as $80 million.
Rhino horn can fetch as much as $60,000 per kilo—more than gold or cocaine.
But Kenyatta dismissed those who put cash value on the ivory
“For us, ivory is worthless unless it is on our elephants,” Kenyatta said.
Those PETA cats will bust a nut reading this. :thisdude:
don't know why they just didn't sell it and put the money in their treasury for schools and infrastructure. must be some international laws in place that prevented a sale, but i don't feel like looking up.
In it to win: The game-changing projects in Africa completed in last year—and those to watch
28 APR 2016 11:40 | M&G AFRICA WRITER
Transport costs are 100% higher in Africa and other things are tough, but these countries are going beyond the talk to their fortunes
Ethiopia's light rail system had much of the continent talking. (Photo/File/AFP)
SAMPLE these numbers. Transport costs are 100% higher in Africa. Only a third of the population have access to electricity—in rich countries this rises to between 70-90%. Just 6% have access to the internet, compared to 40% in other developing nations. Despite its rich water resources food security is a constant thorn in the flesh, but only 5% of agriculture is under irrigation.
Such infrastructure gaps continue to weigh down the continent, reducing the dividend from its brisk growth of the last two decades. But some countries—and mega investors too—are making huge progress in reducing the size of the deficit.
In 2014 we chronicled some projects completed that year. Here, we continue to monitor the progress on actual delivery of projects that help transform the continent over the last year.
Ethiopia light-rail system
Ethiopia’s New Year arrived with a bang, as the Addis Metro chugged to life, making it the country’s, and sub-Sahara Africa’s first light rail system. With a price tag of close to $500 million the 32-kilometre electrified line has helped ease their daily commutes, Addis Ababa residents invariably tell you.
The transport system was built over three years by the China Railway Group Limited after the Ethiopian government secured 85% of funding from the Export-Import Bank of China.
Africa’s only other light rail systems are found in North Africa—including in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Morocco’s solar plant
Early this year Morocco switched on the first phase of its concentrated solar-power complex, which when completed in 2020 will become the world’s largest solar power plant—with its mirrors covering the same area as the capital Rabat.
The NOOR solar thermal plant cost $894 million, with a final price tag of about $2.4 billion for the whole project, and an anticipated production of 2 Gigawatts. Among its financiers are the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Egypt’s ‘new’ Suez Canal
Completed in a span of only one year, Egypt president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in August inaugurated the ‘new Suez Canal’—a 72-km section that speeds up traffic along the key international shipping route.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi looks on proudly at the new waterway. File
Officials called the $9 billion project Egypt’s ‘”gift to the world”, cutting waiting time for vessels from 18 to 11 hours, and doubling revenue for the country to $13.2 billion by 2023.
Guinea’s hydropower dam
In September, Guinea president Alpha Conde roped in his counterparts from Congo-Brazzaville and Niger to inaugurate the $526 million Kaleta hydroelectric plant.
“Without electricity, Africa cannot develop,” he said, struggling to control his delight. “With electricity, we will industrialise and we will no longer see our children dying in the waters of the Mediterranean because they despair of Africa.”
With an output of 240 MW, the dam, 75% funded by China, came in 12 months ahead of schedule, having been built over three years. It has already tripled electricity supply, helping end endemic blackouts especially in the capital Conakry.
Sudan agribusiness project
Sudan president Omar al-Bashir in January inaugurated the first 20,000-acre phase of a joint billion-dollar agricultural project with a United Arab Emirates company.
Located in the northern state, the crop and animal-feed production project uses rain irrigation technology and is estimated to span 130,000 acres when complete. Sudan is already home to the renowned Gezira irrigation project.
Puntland airport
The Bosaso international airport sits in the third largest city in Somalia, and is a vital economic lifeline for the semi-autonomous Puntland.
In January, it was inaugurated by president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who termed it one of the territory’s “big achievements” in decades.
The refurbishment now allows for large aircraft to land, as a dirt runway became a gleaming 2.6-km tarmac one, the work done by a Chinese contractor. It is seen significantly boosting the northern economy.
Zimbabwe dual-carriageway
In the scheme of mega projects the inauguration of a road in Zimbabwe by president Robert Mugabe might not have registered on the scale. But for its wider value, it should. Now a dual-carriageway, it leads to the country’s main airport. But in an understanding of how the economy is struggling, it took five years to upgrade the 12-km stretch and was completed just a week ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s historic visit last year. China has become the country’s major benefactor, and is upgrading two of Zimbabwe’s biggest power plants.
Various countries, Dangote Cement plants
Though not strictly public projects, the commissioning last year of multi-million dollar cement plants in each of Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania by African transnational investor Aliko Dangote was attended by all their presidents.
It is an appreciation of the scale of the investment and the jobs it creates, but also with cement as a major input in construction, helping to keep scarce funds inside the continent.
And those to watch…..
Ethiopia-Djibouti railway
On November 21, the first freight train to operate on the new standard gauge railway reached Merebe Mermesa, some 112 km south of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, its inaugural journey pushed up by the current drought the country is facing. Contractors are now pushing the finishing touches on the 756-kilometre line by a June deadline, with current estimates being that work is 90% complete. The electrified $4 billion railway connects Addis Ababa to its main port of use, Djibouti. Built in three phases, it is largely financed and constructed by Chinese firms.
Standard Gauge Railway, Kenya
Another transnational railway line is being constructed out of Kenya, with plans to connect on to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan.
The 609-km standard gauge $3.4 billion line will is scheduled to be completed in December 2017, but earlier for the Kenya portion, which is a key legacy of the current administration ahead of elections in August 2017. Like with the Ethiopia line, it runs parallel to an older meter (narrower) gauge.
Lake Turkana Wind Project
Located in Kenya, it involves the construction of a 300MW wind farm—making it the largest wind farm project in Africa when completed. It has a total bill of $680 million.
N2 Gateway Housing project, SA
Projected to be completed in 2017, the multi-billion rand housing project outside Cape Town opened bypresident Jacob Zuma in October has already delivered 14,000 units, with a target of 22,000. It targets informal dwellers.
Ethiopia airport expansion
Ethiopia is currently expanding its main airport, as it seeks to become a regional aviation mega hub in the mould of Dubai. The Horn of Africa country seeks to take advantage of its plum geographic location between African and Asia with the phased project estimated to cost $350 million but which is the precursor of a planned second $4 billion airport.
In it to win: The game-changing projects in Africa completed in last year—and those to watch
28 APR 2016 11:40 | M&G AFRICA WRITER
Transport costs are 100% higher in Africa and other things are tough, but these countries are going beyond the talk to their fortunes
Ethiopia's light rail system had much of the continent talking. (Photo/File/AFP)
SAMPLE these numbers. Transport costs are 100% higher in Africa. Only a third of the population have access to electricity—in rich countries this rises to between 70-90%. Just 6% have access to the internet, compared to 40% in other developing nations. Despite its rich water resources food security is a constant thorn in the flesh, but only 5% of agriculture is under irrigation.
Such infrastructure gaps continue to weigh down the continent, reducing the dividend from its brisk growth of the last two decades. But some countries—and mega investors too—are making huge progress in reducing the size of the deficit.
In 2014 we chronicled some projects completed that year. Here, we continue to monitor the progress on actual delivery of projects that help transform the continent over the last year.
Ethiopia light-rail system
Ethiopia’s New Year arrived with a bang, as the Addis Metro chugged to life, making it the country’s, and sub-Sahara Africa’s first light rail system. With a price tag of close to $500 million the 32-kilometre electrified line has helped ease their daily commutes, Addis Ababa residents invariably tell you.
The transport system was built over three years by the China Railway Group Limited after the Ethiopian government secured 85% of funding from the Export-Import Bank of China.
Africa’s only other light rail systems are found in North Africa—including in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Morocco’s solar plant
Early this year Morocco switched on the first phase of its concentrated solar-power complex, which when completed in 2020 will become the world’s largest solar power plant—with its mirrors covering the same area as the capital Rabat.
The NOOR solar thermal plant cost $894 million, with a final price tag of about $2.4 billion for the whole project, and an anticipated production of 2 Gigawatts. Among its financiers are the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Egypt’s ‘new’ Suez Canal
Completed in a span of only one year, Egypt president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in August inaugurated the ‘new Suez Canal’—a 72-km section that speeds up traffic along the key international shipping route.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi looks on proudly at the new waterway. File
Officials called the $9 billion project Egypt’s ‘”gift to the world”, cutting waiting time for vessels from 18 to 11 hours, and doubling revenue for the country to $13.2 billion by 2023.
Guinea’s hydropower dam
In September, Guinea president Alpha Conde roped in his counterparts from Congo-Brazzaville and Niger to inaugurate the $526 million Kaleta hydroelectric plant.
“Without electricity, Africa cannot develop,” he said, struggling to control his delight. “With electricity, we will industrialise and we will no longer see our children dying in the waters of the Mediterranean because they despair of Africa.”
With an output of 240 MW, the dam, 75% funded by China, came in 12 months ahead of schedule, having been built over three years. It has already tripled electricity supply, helping end endemic blackouts especially in the capital Conakry.
Sudan agribusiness project
Sudan president Omar al-Bashir in January inaugurated the first 20,000-acre phase of a joint billion-dollar agricultural project with a United Arab Emirates company.
Located in the northern state, the crop and animal-feed production project uses rain irrigation technology and is estimated to span 130,000 acres when complete. Sudan is already home to the renowned Gezira irrigation project.
Puntland airport
The Bosaso international airport sits in the third largest city in Somalia, and is a vital economic lifeline for the semi-autonomous Puntland.
In January, it was inaugurated by president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who termed it one of the territory’s “big achievements” in decades.
The refurbishment now allows for large aircraft to land, as a dirt runway became a gleaming 2.6-km tarmac one, the work done by a Chinese contractor. It is seen significantly boosting the northern economy.
Zimbabwe dual-carriageway
In the scheme of mega projects the inauguration of a road in Zimbabwe by president Robert Mugabe might not have registered on the scale. But for its wider value, it should. Now a dual-carriageway, it leads to the country’s main airport. But in an understanding of how the economy is struggling, it took five years to upgrade the 12-km stretch and was completed just a week ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s historic visit last year. China has become the country’s major benefactor, and is upgrading two of Zimbabwe’s biggest power plants.
Various countries, Dangote Cement plants
Though not strictly public projects, the commissioning last year of multi-million dollar cement plants in each of Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania by African transnational investor Aliko Dangote was attended by all their presidents.
It is an appreciation of the scale of the investment and the jobs it creates, but also with cement as a major input in construction, helping to keep scarce funds inside the continent.
And those to watch…..
Ethiopia-Djibouti railway
On November 21, the first freight train to operate on the new standard gauge railway reached Merebe Mermesa, some 112 km south of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, its inaugural journey pushed up by the current drought the country is facing. Contractors are now pushing the finishing touches on the 756-kilometre line by a June deadline, with current estimates being that work is 90% complete. The electrified $4 billion railway connects Addis Ababa to its main port of use, Djibouti. Built in three phases, it is largely financed and constructed by Chinese firms.
Standard Gauge Railway, Kenya
Another transnational railway line is being constructed out of Kenya, with plans to connect on to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan.
The 609-km standard gauge $3.4 billion line will is scheduled to be completed in December 2017, but earlier for the Kenya portion, which is a key legacy of the current administration ahead of elections in August 2017. Like with the Ethiopia line, it runs parallel to an older meter (narrower) gauge.
Lake Turkana Wind Project
Located in Kenya, it involves the construction of a 300MW wind farm—making it the largest wind farm project in Africa when completed. It has a total bill of $680 million.
N2 Gateway Housing project, SA
Projected to be completed in 2017, the multi-billion rand housing project outside Cape Town opened bypresident Jacob Zuma in October has already delivered 14,000 units, with a target of 22,000. It targets informal dwellers.
Ethiopia airport expansion
Ethiopia is currently expanding its main airport, as it seeks to become a regional aviation mega hub in the mould of Dubai. The Horn of Africa country seeks to take advantage of its plum geographic location between African and Asia with the phased project estimated to cost $350 million but which is the precursor of a planned second $4 billion airport.
In it to win: The game-changing projects in Africa completed in last year—and those to watch
Botswana gets $76.2m AfDB support to help economic diversification
By: Emma Rumney | 29 Apr 16
The African Development Bank is to loan Botswana $76.2m to support the country’s economic diversification plan.
The AfDB said it would open a line of credit for the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) to be invested in spheres outside of mining and the public sector, which currently dominate the country’s economy.
The bank’s board of directors said the country sits at a critical juncture, with its reliance on mining currently leaving the economy highly vulnerable to external shocks.
They agreed Botswana needs to accelerate the economic development of other sectors, with agri-business, clean energy, services, infrastructure and manufacturing looking set to benefit from the funds.
It added that Botswana’s government will provide a sovereign guarantee to the investments, which will also be complemented by a grant to enhance the BDC’s implementation capacity and effectiveness.
Economic growth in Botswana has slowed from highs of 6.6% over 2010-14 to 1.2% last year as a result in falling demand for diamonds.
Their discovery nearly half a century ago had been transformative for the nation, leading to rapid development and putting Botswana on track to become one of Africa’s wealthiest societies.
Now stagnating demand looks set to transform Botswana again, uprooting its reliance on a commodity that has driven the country’s progress for decades.
However this will rely on the availability of significant and appropriate forms of long-term financing, which are currently in short supply in the market.
The bank said the line of credit will provide greater funding options for the BDC, enabling it to broaden its funding mix away from a dependency on shareholder and short-term credit.
This in turn will enable some of Botswana’s other key industries to make use of scarce longer term finance instruments.
The bank said it is hoped the line of credit will also support entrepreneurship and enable jobs and wealth creation.
Botswana gets $76.2m AfDB support to help economic diversification | Public Finance
By: Emma Rumney | 29 Apr 16
The African Development Bank is to loan Botswana $76.2m to support the country’s economic diversification plan.
The AfDB said it would open a line of credit for the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) to be invested in spheres outside of mining and the public sector, which currently dominate the country’s economy.
The bank’s board of directors said the country sits at a critical juncture, with its reliance on mining currently leaving the economy highly vulnerable to external shocks.
They agreed Botswana needs to accelerate the economic development of other sectors, with agri-business, clean energy, services, infrastructure and manufacturing looking set to benefit from the funds.
It added that Botswana’s government will provide a sovereign guarantee to the investments, which will also be complemented by a grant to enhance the BDC’s implementation capacity and effectiveness.
Economic growth in Botswana has slowed from highs of 6.6% over 2010-14 to 1.2% last year as a result in falling demand for diamonds.
Their discovery nearly half a century ago had been transformative for the nation, leading to rapid development and putting Botswana on track to become one of Africa’s wealthiest societies.
Now stagnating demand looks set to transform Botswana again, uprooting its reliance on a commodity that has driven the country’s progress for decades.
However this will rely on the availability of significant and appropriate forms of long-term financing, which are currently in short supply in the market.
The bank said the line of credit will provide greater funding options for the BDC, enabling it to broaden its funding mix away from a dependency on shareholder and short-term credit.
This in turn will enable some of Botswana’s other key industries to make use of scarce longer term finance instruments.
The bank said it is hoped the line of credit will also support entrepreneurship and enable jobs and wealth creation.
Botswana gets $76.2m AfDB support to help economic diversification | Public Finance
NOLLYWOOD MONEY
If you’d bet on the ‘Netflix of Africa’ five years ago, you’d have made a 3,000% return
Nollywood money is big money. (Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye)
3 hours ago Quartz Africa
As Nigeria’s tech space has matured over the last few years, it has drawn the attention—and money—of curious investors. But there have been questions with the still-maturing tech industry if any investors are making significant profitable exits.
Well, maybe some of them have. Jason Njoku, founder of iROKOtv, the online streaming service often dubbed the ‘Netflix of Africa’, says his early investors made a whopping 3,000% profit on their early investment.
Less than a year old at the time, Njoku says the investors paid $80,000 for 10% of the iROKOtv but sold the entire stake earlier this year to other existing investors, for $2.4 million. It doesn’t necessarily imply iRokoTV was valued at $24 million because as early investors it is likely their stakeholding was reduced with subsequent rounds of funding.
In a typically frank blog post Njoku explained his journey with investors:
$80k for 10% of iROKO. That’s an $800k valuation. At the time it was crazy for a less than one year old company, which had generated $200, $1k and $6k in the previous 3 months. I was a terrible negotiator then, so was pretty desperate. I actually offered an old university friend of mine 35% for about $50k. Thank God Bastian [iRoko co-founder] did the negotiation and was a less generous than I. In the end? He passed.
Earlier this year, after 5.2 years, the same investors sold their entire stake for which they paid $80k for in 2011. For $2.4m.$2,400,000.00. With Naira at N300, that’s N720m. Thats a x30 ROI. 3,000%. It took 5 years.
Five years after launch, iROKOtv remains a leading player in the video-on demand space. In January, only weeks after Netflix announced its Africa launch, iROKOtv raised $19 million from French cable service Canal+ and the Swedish-based media company Kinnevik AB. The money, the company said, will be invested in producing 300 hours of original content this year and double that by 2018. iROKOtv has grown popular, particularly outside the continent where 55% of its subscribersare located. Offering a range of titles, the online service allows Africans in the diaspora watch flicks on subscription based packages of around$5 per month.
Njoku, who was named a Quartz Africa Innovator 2015, is himself an active investor and mentor to startups in Nigeria. Now one of the biggest destinations for venture capital on the continent, Nigeria ranked only behind South Africa for investment raised in 2015.
If you’d bet on the ‘Netflix of Africa’ five years ago, you’d have made a 3,000% return
If you’d bet on the ‘Netflix of Africa’ five years ago, you’d have made a 3,000% return
Nollywood money is big money. (Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye)
3 hours ago Quartz Africa
As Nigeria’s tech space has matured over the last few years, it has drawn the attention—and money—of curious investors. But there have been questions with the still-maturing tech industry if any investors are making significant profitable exits.
Well, maybe some of them have. Jason Njoku, founder of iROKOtv, the online streaming service often dubbed the ‘Netflix of Africa’, says his early investors made a whopping 3,000% profit on their early investment.
Less than a year old at the time, Njoku says the investors paid $80,000 for 10% of the iROKOtv but sold the entire stake earlier this year to other existing investors, for $2.4 million. It doesn’t necessarily imply iRokoTV was valued at $24 million because as early investors it is likely their stakeholding was reduced with subsequent rounds of funding.
In a typically frank blog post Njoku explained his journey with investors:
$80k for 10% of iROKO. That’s an $800k valuation. At the time it was crazy for a less than one year old company, which had generated $200, $1k and $6k in the previous 3 months. I was a terrible negotiator then, so was pretty desperate. I actually offered an old university friend of mine 35% for about $50k. Thank God Bastian [iRoko co-founder] did the negotiation and was a less generous than I. In the end? He passed.
Earlier this year, after 5.2 years, the same investors sold their entire stake for which they paid $80k for in 2011. For $2.4m.$2,400,000.00. With Naira at N300, that’s N720m. Thats a x30 ROI. 3,000%. It took 5 years.
Five years after launch, iROKOtv remains a leading player in the video-on demand space. In January, only weeks after Netflix announced its Africa launch, iROKOtv raised $19 million from French cable service Canal+ and the Swedish-based media company Kinnevik AB. The money, the company said, will be invested in producing 300 hours of original content this year and double that by 2018. iROKOtv has grown popular, particularly outside the continent where 55% of its subscribersare located. Offering a range of titles, the online service allows Africans in the diaspora watch flicks on subscription based packages of around$5 per month.
Njoku, who was named a Quartz Africa Innovator 2015, is himself an active investor and mentor to startups in Nigeria. Now one of the biggest destinations for venture capital on the continent, Nigeria ranked only behind South Africa for investment raised in 2015.
If you’d bet on the ‘Netflix of Africa’ five years ago, you’d have made a 3,000% return
Misreeya
Pro
Not to sound like a bytch, but i hope so. Because there are thousands of Ethiopian maids and janitors all over Khartoum, Sudanese associate them with domestic labor. At the same time we treat them more brotherly, in comparison to our Southern neighbor who are now treated as immigrants, and big family refuse to hire them. Unless they have a skill that is needed.
Without knowing much about Sudan, I'm 99% sure Ethiopia will eclipse y'all economically with little problem
Nigeria Property Boom Follows Boko Haram Retreat
2 MAY 2016
Property investors in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri are benefiting from a rise in real-estate prices following the retreat of Boko Haram fighters.
Maiduguri is the largest city in Borno state, once a stronghold of the fighters and a frequent target for its suicide bombers.
The group claims to be fighting against Western influence and is thought to have killed about 15,000 people and driven more than two million from their homes during its six-year insurgency.
Since the Nigerian military began a wide-ranging military operation against Boko Haram, many of Maiduguri's residents that had fled are on their way back home.
They had sold land and property to escape the armed group's advance but their return is forcing prices to go up.
The influx has also led to a rise in property building, and under-construction developments are visible across the city.
Bumper profit
Many of those cashing in now had bought land and property from fleeing residents cheaply when Boko Haram's violence was at a peak.
In some cases, property owners are now making as much 500 percent profit.
"I made 300 too 500 percent profit on some of the houses I bought, but others didn't yield as much ... This area in particular is hot; prices will improve or remain steady," said Modu Mala, who bought dozens of homes from desperate owners.
Modu and others are now re-investing their money in low-cost houses for the estimated 1.5 million returnees, many of whom are struggling to house themselves.
Abdullah Kyari is one such example, having fled the city two years ago with his family to escape the fighters.
"At first, we thought the whole city will fall to the fighters, that's why I sold my house and left," he said.
"I now want my house back but the current owner is refusing to sell it even at twice the price I sold it to him."
Nigeria
Invest in 'Army of Midwives' to Cut Stillbirths, Maternal Deaths
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This story from Al Jazeera was supplied to AllAfrica under an agreement with the African Media Agency.
Nigeria Property Boom Follows Boko Haram Retreat
2 MAY 2016
Property investors in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri are benefiting from a rise in real-estate prices following the retreat of Boko Haram fighters.
Maiduguri is the largest city in Borno state, once a stronghold of the fighters and a frequent target for its suicide bombers.
The group claims to be fighting against Western influence and is thought to have killed about 15,000 people and driven more than two million from their homes during its six-year insurgency.
Since the Nigerian military began a wide-ranging military operation against Boko Haram, many of Maiduguri's residents that had fled are on their way back home.
They had sold land and property to escape the armed group's advance but their return is forcing prices to go up.
The influx has also led to a rise in property building, and under-construction developments are visible across the city.
Bumper profit
Many of those cashing in now had bought land and property from fleeing residents cheaply when Boko Haram's violence was at a peak.
In some cases, property owners are now making as much 500 percent profit.
"I made 300 too 500 percent profit on some of the houses I bought, but others didn't yield as much ... This area in particular is hot; prices will improve or remain steady," said Modu Mala, who bought dozens of homes from desperate owners.
Modu and others are now re-investing their money in low-cost houses for the estimated 1.5 million returnees, many of whom are struggling to house themselves.
Abdullah Kyari is one such example, having fled the city two years ago with his family to escape the fighters.
"At first, we thought the whole city will fall to the fighters, that's why I sold my house and left," he said.
"I now want my house back but the current owner is refusing to sell it even at twice the price I sold it to him."
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This story from Al Jazeera was supplied to AllAfrica under an agreement with the African Media Agency.
Nigeria Property Boom Follows Boko Haram Retreat
Misreeya
Pro
Without knowing much about Sudan, I'm 99% sure Ethiopia will eclipse y'all economically with little problem
It really depends, but i seriously doubt it. Only thing that really stopping us is mainly politics. Although we were outcast by the west economically before the South became their own country, we were moving forward. They are finding other ways to speed up growth, also for better for worse there are starting to be regionally collaboration with Egypt, who is by default has the strongest economy and infrastructure in the region, unfortunately.
Misreeya
Pro
Sudan, Saudi Arabia expect to earn $ 20 billion from Atlantis II project
May 1, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan on Sunday expressed hopes to attract more Saudi investments in mineral sector, and expected that the revenue of the two countries from Atlantis II mining project in the Red Sea reach 20 billion.
Saudi Arabia Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, will pay a one-day visit to Khartoum on Wednesday to discuss joint collaboration in a project to extract metals from hydro-thermal basins some 2,000 meters deep in the Red Sea known as Atlantis II project.
Sudan Authority for Geological Research Director, Mohamed Abu Fatma, revealed that Red Sea bed is rich in minerals. Estimates for minerals in the common area between Sudan and Saudi Arabia show that there are over 47 tons of gold, 2 million tons of zinc, 500,000 tons of copper, 3,000 tons of sliver and huge amounts of other valuable minerals.
“Sudan, Saudi Arabia are expected to earn $ 20 billion from Atlantis II project. The two parties will discuss utilization of these minerals in their imminent meeting in Khartoum,” Abu Fatma told the official news agency (SUNA), calling for creating smart partnership in minerals exploitation.
Sudanese Minister of Minerals, Mohamed Sadiq al-Karori, on his part, said that Sudan has allocated 100 mining blocks for both local and international investors.
Al-Karori discussed with the Saudi Ambassador to Sudan, Fisal al-Mala, the final arrangements for al-Naimi visit to Khartoum to attend the meeting of Sudanese-Saudi Standing Committee on Joint Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Red Sea.
“Sudan is interested to attract more Saudi investments in minerals sector” said al-Karori, while Saudi Arabia aims to diversify income resources and to end oil dependency,.
The Saudi ambassador said his country is keen to invest in all sectors in Sudan including minerals. Al-Mala further said that he hopes Sudan and Saudi Arabia to focus on accelerating efforts to utilize Red Sea bed minerals.
Since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011 and the loss of two thirds of its oil reserves, Sudan has developed mining industry to increase its national revenue.
In February 2012, Khartoum and Riyadh signed an agreement on exploring minerals in the joint territorial water in the Red Sea. Atlantis II goes back to 1970s, when Sudanese government had plans to exploit the Red Sea bed with Preussag AG, a German mining company. But the project was abandoned due to the lack of suitable exploration technologies at the time.
In 2010, the Canadian Diamond Fields International and Saudi Manafa International Ltd. were licensed by the Saudi Sudanese Committee to conduct exploration activities in Red Sea rift valley.
In a feasibility study conducted in 2012, Diamond Fields International expected that Saudi Arabia and Sudan will make big profits from the extraction of copper, silver and zinc from Red Sea bed. At the time, it expected to start production in 2014 once technical studies are terminated.
Sudan and Saudi Arabia relations have recently improved after years of tension caused by Sudan-Iran connections. The development of bilateral relation was crowned by Sudan’s participation in the Saudi-led coalition against Houthi militants in Yemen and in the military exercises “Thunder of the North” in Saudi Arabia.
(ST)
May 1, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan on Sunday expressed hopes to attract more Saudi investments in mineral sector, and expected that the revenue of the two countries from Atlantis II mining project in the Red Sea reach 20 billion.
Saudi Arabia Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, will pay a one-day visit to Khartoum on Wednesday to discuss joint collaboration in a project to extract metals from hydro-thermal basins some 2,000 meters deep in the Red Sea known as Atlantis II project.
Sudan Authority for Geological Research Director, Mohamed Abu Fatma, revealed that Red Sea bed is rich in minerals. Estimates for minerals in the common area between Sudan and Saudi Arabia show that there are over 47 tons of gold, 2 million tons of zinc, 500,000 tons of copper, 3,000 tons of sliver and huge amounts of other valuable minerals.
“Sudan, Saudi Arabia are expected to earn $ 20 billion from Atlantis II project. The two parties will discuss utilization of these minerals in their imminent meeting in Khartoum,” Abu Fatma told the official news agency (SUNA), calling for creating smart partnership in minerals exploitation.
Sudanese Minister of Minerals, Mohamed Sadiq al-Karori, on his part, said that Sudan has allocated 100 mining blocks for both local and international investors.
Al-Karori discussed with the Saudi Ambassador to Sudan, Fisal al-Mala, the final arrangements for al-Naimi visit to Khartoum to attend the meeting of Sudanese-Saudi Standing Committee on Joint Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Red Sea.
“Sudan is interested to attract more Saudi investments in minerals sector” said al-Karori, while Saudi Arabia aims to diversify income resources and to end oil dependency,.
The Saudi ambassador said his country is keen to invest in all sectors in Sudan including minerals. Al-Mala further said that he hopes Sudan and Saudi Arabia to focus on accelerating efforts to utilize Red Sea bed minerals.
Since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011 and the loss of two thirds of its oil reserves, Sudan has developed mining industry to increase its national revenue.
In February 2012, Khartoum and Riyadh signed an agreement on exploring minerals in the joint territorial water in the Red Sea. Atlantis II goes back to 1970s, when Sudanese government had plans to exploit the Red Sea bed with Preussag AG, a German mining company. But the project was abandoned due to the lack of suitable exploration technologies at the time.
In 2010, the Canadian Diamond Fields International and Saudi Manafa International Ltd. were licensed by the Saudi Sudanese Committee to conduct exploration activities in Red Sea rift valley.
In a feasibility study conducted in 2012, Diamond Fields International expected that Saudi Arabia and Sudan will make big profits from the extraction of copper, silver and zinc from Red Sea bed. At the time, it expected to start production in 2014 once technical studies are terminated.
Sudan and Saudi Arabia relations have recently improved after years of tension caused by Sudan-Iran connections. The development of bilateral relation was crowned by Sudan’s participation in the Saudi-led coalition against Houthi militants in Yemen and in the military exercises “Thunder of the North” in Saudi Arabia.
(ST)
I will post Peace Hyde's first interview with the former Governor of the Nigeria Central Bank (Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi) when it becomes available. He is now a monarch in the northern part of the country.
My worst day with Peace Hyde debuts Wednesday 4 May
Forbes Africa
My worst day with Peace Hyde debuts Wednesday 4 May
Forbes Africa