loyola llothta
☭☭☭
shyt crazy
Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
- Thread starter TommyHilltrigga
- Start date
shyt crazy
Red Shield
Global Domination
Fuuuuuuuck. Tanzania lost a real one, brehs.
fukk.. hope this was just some random death shyt and not outside powers pulling shyt..
Tanzania is the country I'm really rootin for
loyola llothta
☭☭☭
Last edited:
Red Shield
Global Domination
MTN of South Africa, the biggest operator in the continent, to focus entirely on pan-African market
By Martyn Warwick
Mar 22, 2021
via Flickr © Mohammed A. Fadil (CC BY-SA 2.0)
MTN Group's strong annual financial and operational results for Q4, 2020, announced last week, show the carrier withstood the Covid-19 onslaught with considerable resilience. Over the course of the years it added 29 million new customers to its subscriber base and doubled its cash-flow. As digital transformation continues and accelerates MTN will invest US$1.9 billion in its network, technologies and digital services platforms this year.
Beyond that the newly-announced and far-reaching strategic four-year plan, "Ambition 2025" is the blueprint for the operator to "maximise the value of its existing infrastructure and platforms." In practice it means the spinning-off of assets such as its fibre and fintech divisions into standalone businesses to help pay down debt and realise cash to help fund the carrier's stated ambition strategy henceforth to focus solely on the pan-African market. (MTN exited the Middle East last year). The company expects to raise $1.68 billion from the spin-offs. MTN Group's CEO Ralph Mupita said, "As part of this strategic repositioning, we are looking to structurally separate our infrastructure assets and platforms to reveal value and attract third-party capital and partnerships into these businesses, over the medium-term.
As far as fintech is concerned, MTN's popular Mobile Money service (MoMo), which bypasses banks to allows subscribers to send and receive money and make payments using electronic wallets on their mobile handsets now has 46.4 million users across 15 African countries, up from 34.6 million a year ago. More than 12,000 transactions are now processed every minute and more than $147 million went via the MoMo platform in 2020, (and that sum excludes transactions completed in Nigeria and South Africa itself). MTN expects the number of MoMo users to hit 100 million within four years.
Ralph Mupita commented, "If we were a bank, we would be a very big bank. We see a separation and carve out of our fintech business as something that we have to do. He added, "We expect the fintech business to rapidly increase in value over the coming years, as smartphone penetration increases throughout Africa''. At the moment the fintech division contributes just eight per cent of the MTN Group's revenue but the CEO expects this to rise to 20 per cent by 2025.
On the fibre front, MTN has a network spanning 85,000 kilometres across several African countries. Demand for broadband access is growing rapidly and the company knows it will have to invest heavily as well as attract independent capital and join "smart partnerships" to meet the burgeoning demand for digitalisation, hence the spin-offs. According to MTN's most recent financial filing, the Ambition 2025 programme is geared to speeding-up the Group’s policy of de-risking and growing into platforms that will provide digital solutions for the markets it serves. "At the heart of our ambition is to continue leading the drive for digital and financial inclusion in Africa",
Bigger, better and more data the key to development
Late last week TelecomTV also held a video interview with Nikos Angelopoulos, the Group CIO of MTN, the man responsible for the carrier's network and all its infrastructure, including IT architecture, design and delivery across the entire MTN Group, to drive transformation, foster innovation and maximise the development of beneficial customer experience.
His remit covers everything from the implementation of MTN's overarching digital transformation policy through to the nitty-gritty of IT and BSS systems and everything in between, He says his job is about "data, data, data and data and its use in every possible facet of the organisation", and that he is "laser-focused on value creation and providing the analysis and metrics tools' that prove and validate MTN's core vision that all its subscribers should reap the benefits of a digitised connected life."
He says that as far as the carrier is concerned, "2020 was not lost entirely to Covid-29" because MTN was able to continue to work on network transformation and on core technologies including the functional capabilities of BSS, service management and operational excellence, IoT and the adoption of AI and cloud technologies. Nikos Angelopoulos said "MTN is in the middle of assessing options for a move to the cloud. We are talking with all hyperscalers and will collaborate with someone in due course. Of course, the journey needs to be beneficial in practice and that means measuring results in terms of aspects such as the impact on business on one side [of the equation] and cost savings on the other."
The sheer size and range of MTN's involvement across many African countries and its engineering skills give it the built-in ability to collaborate on technology systems and standards and converge them. Angelopoulos says that should mean that a fully converged network and IT infrastructure will become the norm. MTN is already working towards such a solution with 15 African countries and, thanks to the telco's size and market clout, unit costs of the technologies and infrastructure required should fall for every new purchase made.
MTN maintains close and long-lasting relationships with strategic partners, collaborators and vendors such as the Finnish software company Tecnotree which provides full-stack digital BSS solutions.
MTN's vision for the future is centred on five platforms one of which is Ayoba, described as a unique end-to-end encrypted peer-to-peer instant private messaging platform localised for the needs of consumers across Africa. It is available across 17 MTN markets and its USP is privacy and security. Messages in the app cannot be read by anyone other than the intended recipient, including MTN itself. Users can send and receive encrypted messages, share photos, videos, files, voice notes and even their location, and can also subscribe to live channels which include localised content "to entertain, educate and empower communities."
Other platforms are the MoMo mobile money service, and as befits MTNs reach and scale as the biggest telco on the continent, the provisions of "Network as a Service" Also offered is the Enterprise Customer Platform to foster economic development across wide swathes of Africa and "Chenosis", a pan-African API marketplace where developers and businesses can search and subscribe to what is planned to become the largest library of open APIs published on the continent. Developers will be able to tap into a broad spectrum of API products and services from across Africa, ranging from telcos, e-health, e-government, IoT, fintech, e-commerce, identity and authentication, payments and collections, location and more, from a single marketplace.
The Chenosis Marketplace allows businesses and developers to publish their APIs so that other developers can discover and consume them. The marketplace also provides the tools for publishers to monetise and promote their APIs, by creating subscription plans and product bundles that developers and businesses can purchase. The Chenosis Marketplace portal has dashboards for publishers and consumers to track revenue and credit balances, view consumption analytics and API performance and other metrics.
5G is available in South Africa but not yet widely so Nikos Angelopoulos, who has been MTN Group CIO since 2018 said, "We'll be concentrating on the 5G consumer market first but the enterprise space has great potential and the scope for private 5G networks is enormous given the size and range or primary industries such as mining and agriculture.
The CIO has worked in various developed and developing countries and economies and told TelecomTV, "Living and working in South Africa and travelling widely across the continent I have learned that this country and others in Africa not only can be but actually already are world-class players in telecoms and IT and as our data resources continue to grow in size and utility so will our value to this amazing continent."
MTN of South Africa, the biggest operator in the continent, to focus entirely on pan-African market
By Martyn Warwick
Mar 22, 2021
via Flickr © Mohammed A. Fadil (CC BY-SA 2.0)
- Operator already active in 21 countries across the continent
- Ambition 2025" blueprint will see fintech and fibre assets spun-off to raise cash for further growth
- Mobile money service "MoMo" a huge success
- Big Data and common infrastructure standards will provide motive power
MTN Group's strong annual financial and operational results for Q4, 2020, announced last week, show the carrier withstood the Covid-19 onslaught with considerable resilience. Over the course of the years it added 29 million new customers to its subscriber base and doubled its cash-flow. As digital transformation continues and accelerates MTN will invest US$1.9 billion in its network, technologies and digital services platforms this year.
Beyond that the newly-announced and far-reaching strategic four-year plan, "Ambition 2025" is the blueprint for the operator to "maximise the value of its existing infrastructure and platforms." In practice it means the spinning-off of assets such as its fibre and fintech divisions into standalone businesses to help pay down debt and realise cash to help fund the carrier's stated ambition strategy henceforth to focus solely on the pan-African market. (MTN exited the Middle East last year). The company expects to raise $1.68 billion from the spin-offs. MTN Group's CEO Ralph Mupita said, "As part of this strategic repositioning, we are looking to structurally separate our infrastructure assets and platforms to reveal value and attract third-party capital and partnerships into these businesses, over the medium-term.
As far as fintech is concerned, MTN's popular Mobile Money service (MoMo), which bypasses banks to allows subscribers to send and receive money and make payments using electronic wallets on their mobile handsets now has 46.4 million users across 15 African countries, up from 34.6 million a year ago. More than 12,000 transactions are now processed every minute and more than $147 million went via the MoMo platform in 2020, (and that sum excludes transactions completed in Nigeria and South Africa itself). MTN expects the number of MoMo users to hit 100 million within four years.
Ralph Mupita commented, "If we were a bank, we would be a very big bank. We see a separation and carve out of our fintech business as something that we have to do. He added, "We expect the fintech business to rapidly increase in value over the coming years, as smartphone penetration increases throughout Africa''. At the moment the fintech division contributes just eight per cent of the MTN Group's revenue but the CEO expects this to rise to 20 per cent by 2025.
On the fibre front, MTN has a network spanning 85,000 kilometres across several African countries. Demand for broadband access is growing rapidly and the company knows it will have to invest heavily as well as attract independent capital and join "smart partnerships" to meet the burgeoning demand for digitalisation, hence the spin-offs. According to MTN's most recent financial filing, the Ambition 2025 programme is geared to speeding-up the Group’s policy of de-risking and growing into platforms that will provide digital solutions for the markets it serves. "At the heart of our ambition is to continue leading the drive for digital and financial inclusion in Africa",
Bigger, better and more data the key to development
Late last week TelecomTV also held a video interview with Nikos Angelopoulos, the Group CIO of MTN, the man responsible for the carrier's network and all its infrastructure, including IT architecture, design and delivery across the entire MTN Group, to drive transformation, foster innovation and maximise the development of beneficial customer experience.
His remit covers everything from the implementation of MTN's overarching digital transformation policy through to the nitty-gritty of IT and BSS systems and everything in between, He says his job is about "data, data, data and data and its use in every possible facet of the organisation", and that he is "laser-focused on value creation and providing the analysis and metrics tools' that prove and validate MTN's core vision that all its subscribers should reap the benefits of a digitised connected life."
He says that as far as the carrier is concerned, "2020 was not lost entirely to Covid-29" because MTN was able to continue to work on network transformation and on core technologies including the functional capabilities of BSS, service management and operational excellence, IoT and the adoption of AI and cloud technologies. Nikos Angelopoulos said "MTN is in the middle of assessing options for a move to the cloud. We are talking with all hyperscalers and will collaborate with someone in due course. Of course, the journey needs to be beneficial in practice and that means measuring results in terms of aspects such as the impact on business on one side [of the equation] and cost savings on the other."
The sheer size and range of MTN's involvement across many African countries and its engineering skills give it the built-in ability to collaborate on technology systems and standards and converge them. Angelopoulos says that should mean that a fully converged network and IT infrastructure will become the norm. MTN is already working towards such a solution with 15 African countries and, thanks to the telco's size and market clout, unit costs of the technologies and infrastructure required should fall for every new purchase made.
MTN maintains close and long-lasting relationships with strategic partners, collaborators and vendors such as the Finnish software company Tecnotree which provides full-stack digital BSS solutions.
MTN's vision for the future is centred on five platforms one of which is Ayoba, described as a unique end-to-end encrypted peer-to-peer instant private messaging platform localised for the needs of consumers across Africa. It is available across 17 MTN markets and its USP is privacy and security. Messages in the app cannot be read by anyone other than the intended recipient, including MTN itself. Users can send and receive encrypted messages, share photos, videos, files, voice notes and even their location, and can also subscribe to live channels which include localised content "to entertain, educate and empower communities."
Other platforms are the MoMo mobile money service, and as befits MTNs reach and scale as the biggest telco on the continent, the provisions of "Network as a Service" Also offered is the Enterprise Customer Platform to foster economic development across wide swathes of Africa and "Chenosis", a pan-African API marketplace where developers and businesses can search and subscribe to what is planned to become the largest library of open APIs published on the continent. Developers will be able to tap into a broad spectrum of API products and services from across Africa, ranging from telcos, e-health, e-government, IoT, fintech, e-commerce, identity and authentication, payments and collections, location and more, from a single marketplace.
The Chenosis Marketplace allows businesses and developers to publish their APIs so that other developers can discover and consume them. The marketplace also provides the tools for publishers to monetise and promote their APIs, by creating subscription plans and product bundles that developers and businesses can purchase. The Chenosis Marketplace portal has dashboards for publishers and consumers to track revenue and credit balances, view consumption analytics and API performance and other metrics.
5G is available in South Africa but not yet widely so Nikos Angelopoulos, who has been MTN Group CIO since 2018 said, "We'll be concentrating on the 5G consumer market first but the enterprise space has great potential and the scope for private 5G networks is enormous given the size and range or primary industries such as mining and agriculture.
The CIO has worked in various developed and developing countries and economies and told TelecomTV, "Living and working in South Africa and travelling widely across the continent I have learned that this country and others in Africa not only can be but actually already are world-class players in telecoms and IT and as our data resources continue to grow in size and utility so will our value to this amazing continent."
MTN of South Africa, the biggest operator in the continent, to focus entirely on pan-African market
Didn't want to make a thread for this video, but it's pretty dope
It's interesting how the rise of islam affected the powers in Africa around that time(Axum/Nubia)
The same way the rise of the Christian Empires in Africa put a stop to Africa's native conquerors in the 17-19th centuries
Nigerians escape nightmare Lagos traffic with new Chinese-built train
- Copyright © africanews PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP or licensors
By Africanews and AFP
Last updated: 24/03 - 19:43
A Nigerian train is making transport easier for travellers exhausted by chaotic Lagos traffic.
The Chinese-built link between Nigeria's economic hub Lagos and the city of Ibadan is also safer and cheaper.
The route began partial operations in December 2020 and provides a faster and cheaper way to travel between the two cities.
It counts Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka among its fans.
"We all grew up with the railway and it's just a shame that it ever sort of disappeared as a natural way of travelling," Soyinka said.
"It's not cheap right now but I hope by the time they are running properly it will be more affordable for most people."
Although some say it is a little expensive at the moment it is also on the slow side.
The train travels at a stately speed, taking more than two and a half hours to traverse little more than 150 kilometres (90 miles) of countryside in southern Nigeria.
But many praise it for being safer than travelling by bus.
"Unfortunately the current issue that is going on is the kidnapping and all that," said security guard Sunday Akenfademi.
"But when you're coming from Lagos to Ibadan trip through bus, aside the safety of the road itself, we are also talking safety in terms of the drivers, because some of them are under the influence of alcohol.
"We are also talking in terms of safety of the motor, some of them are not roadworthy and they have not been tested."
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of 200 million people, is pushing ahead with reviving its railways, despite years of frustrating delays.
"Apart from the passenger train that we are doing, we also have the track that goes into the port and we also have the addendum to Tin Can Port, so it's a whole thing," said Jerry Oche, Lagos district manager of the Nigeria Railway Corporation.
"So imagine the railways doing passengers from Lagos to Ibadan, also doing fret from Lagos to Ibadan. And don't forget this project is actually Lagos-Kano. What you have is just the first phase."
The train is still operating skeletal services because of ongoing construction works at the tracks and stations.
When fully operational, it is estimated the train's frequency will increase and its speed will increase to 160 kph.
Nigerians escape nightmare Lagos traffic with new Chinese-built train
- Copyright © africanews PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP or licensors
By Africanews and AFP
Last updated: 24/03 - 19:43
A Nigerian train is making transport easier for travellers exhausted by chaotic Lagos traffic.
The Chinese-built link between Nigeria's economic hub Lagos and the city of Ibadan is also safer and cheaper.
The route began partial operations in December 2020 and provides a faster and cheaper way to travel between the two cities.
It counts Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka among its fans.
"We all grew up with the railway and it's just a shame that it ever sort of disappeared as a natural way of travelling," Soyinka said.
"It's not cheap right now but I hope by the time they are running properly it will be more affordable for most people."
Although some say it is a little expensive at the moment it is also on the slow side.
The train travels at a stately speed, taking more than two and a half hours to traverse little more than 150 kilometres (90 miles) of countryside in southern Nigeria.
But many praise it for being safer than travelling by bus.
"Unfortunately the current issue that is going on is the kidnapping and all that," said security guard Sunday Akenfademi.
"But when you're coming from Lagos to Ibadan trip through bus, aside the safety of the road itself, we are also talking safety in terms of the drivers, because some of them are under the influence of alcohol.
"We are also talking in terms of safety of the motor, some of them are not roadworthy and they have not been tested."
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of 200 million people, is pushing ahead with reviving its railways, despite years of frustrating delays.
"Apart from the passenger train that we are doing, we also have the track that goes into the port and we also have the addendum to Tin Can Port, so it's a whole thing," said Jerry Oche, Lagos district manager of the Nigeria Railway Corporation.
"So imagine the railways doing passengers from Lagos to Ibadan, also doing fret from Lagos to Ibadan. And don't forget this project is actually Lagos-Kano. What you have is just the first phase."
The train is still operating skeletal services because of ongoing construction works at the tracks and stations.
When fully operational, it is estimated the train's frequency will increase and its speed will increase to 160 kph.
Nigerians escape nightmare Lagos traffic with new Chinese-built train
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
loyola llothta
☭☭☭
Some typical headlines:
Red Shield
Global Domination
Shouldn't be surprised.. the west's mo is obvious as fukk at this point
Some typical headlines:
Dubai, the business capital of Africa
Growing numbers of Africa-focused companies are basing themselves in the emirate
Aviation networks, infrastructure and laissez-faire policies have helped Dubai become the business hub of the Middle East and Africa (Karim Sahib/AFP)
By Paul Cochrane
Published date: 28 March 2021 08:42 UTC | Last update: 1 day 4 hours ago
For hundreds of years, the business capitals of Africa were in Europe - in London, Paris, Berlin and Lisbon.
Despite decolonisation, money still flows from Africa to European financial hubs, but over the past decade business headquarters have geographically shifted. Not back to Africa, but to another former British colony: Dubai.
There are now more than 21,000 African companies in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It's a number that has increased by over a quarter since 2017, according to Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry figures.
The emirate has also attracted 45 Middle East and Africa headquarters of multinational companies - compared to just 26 in Africa, according to a 2018 report by Infomineo, a data and research outsourcing provider specialising in Africa and the Middle East.
The amount of capital and number of businesses dealing with Africa started to rise around the same time as the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago.
“There were big inflows of Africans to Dubai from 2011 onwards. The Arab Spring actually helped open Dubai and the UAE to greater interest from African countries,” Theodore Karasik, a senior adviser to Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based consultancy, told MEE.
The number of tourists from Africa has increased from just 6,954 in 1984 to 600,000 in 2016, reaching 810,000 in 2019, equivalent to 6% of all visitors, according to Dubai Tourism figures.
Overall trade with Africa also surged, from 3% of Dubai’s total trade at the turn of the century to 10% in 2018.
The African continent has become the third-largest trade region for Dubai after Asia and Europe, according to Dubai Customs.
“Years ago it was the Russians coming in, then the Chinese, and as that tapered off we were seeing Africans, with an explosion of wealth in this direction,” Scott Cairns, managing director of Creation Business Consultants in Dubai, told MEE. “It has slowed a little bit [over the past year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic] but once travel is allowed again we will see Africa re-emerge, as it is so close for building up business, and to commute [from Dubai] for projects.”
A ‘counterintuitive’ boom
The Gulf city, which sits on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, did not intentionally become a hub for African business.
“It was not the Dubai government, but people in power in Africa that chose to do business in Dubai,” Martin Tronquit, managing partner at Infomineo, told MEE.
But capitalising on its geographical position, the Gulf city has transformed into the business hub of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) through laissez-faire policies, infrastructure and aviation networks.
The boom in MEA firms setting up shop in Dubai has contributed, in part, to the emirate successfully weaning itself off reliance on oil revenues. Non-oil trade with Africa has grown by 700 percent over the past 15 years, surging from $33bn in 2015 to $50bn in 2019, according to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
While six regional HQs are in the energy sector, eight are involved in financial services, seven in motor vehicles and parts, and five in technology, followed by wholesalers, aerospace and defence companies, healthcare, and transportation, according to Infomineo.
“When we looked at where Fortune 500 decision-makers were based, almost half of total headquarters covering MEA were in Dubai, more than triple the number of Johannesburg [South Africa], which was ranked second, followed by Nairobi [Kenya], Casablanca [Morocco] and Lagos [Nigeria],” said Tronquit, citing data from Infomineo.
“It did feel counterintuitive as Dubai is not technically located in Africa.”
Johannesburg, pictured here, is far behind Dubai as a destination for Middle East and Africa-focused companies (Marco Longari/AFP)
Dubai’s aviation links, tourism infrastructure and ease of access have also been a big driver in making the emirate such a hub for African business, said Cairns.
For a lot of them, said Isaac Kwaku Fokuo Jr, founder of Botho Emerging Markets Group, an investment advisory firm based in Dubai, “it is easier to go from Dubai to Africa than fly within Africa. And the ability to let people travel here freely is a big deal, compared to say London or New York, where there are multiple unnecessary barriers like the provision of bank statements to procure a visa just to attend a business meeting.
“Also, within the African continent, some countries such as South Africa, another business hub, have strict visa regulations,” he told MEE. “That means that visiting can be an onerous experience. In contrast, the hospitality on display in Dubai signals that Africans from across the continent are welcome.”
Capital by default?
Dubai has been helped, said Tronquit of Infomineo, by the fact that while “African business environments have massively improved in the last 20 years, [they] are not yet on par with the expectations of global companies - especially when it comes to international trade, like double taxation agreements, work visas for expats, corporate laws and tariffs.”
Lagos should logically be Africa’s business capital, he added. Nigeria has the continent’s largest economy. South Africa’s is second. However, “Lagos has been ranked as one of the world’s worst cities to live in, and personal safety is a massive issue, as it is in Johannesburg.
“It is also difficult to attract top executives and their families to countries where, for most of them, education, healthcare and safety are not up to global standards,” said Tronquit, based on criteria in an Infomineo report.
“Dubai is the business capital of Africa by default.”
While “Dubai locals have considered the emirate the business capital of Africa for over a decade,” said Karasik of Gulf State Analytics, to Africans the moniker does not always sit well.
“Dubai is a hub that plays a critical role for business into Africa, but it would be unfair to say that it is the business capital for an entire continent,” said Fokuo. “Cities such as Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cairo and Accra also play critical roles as hubs for business.”
He moved to Dubai from Nairobi four years ago, and has since seen an upswing in business, partnering with firms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt to help them expand into Africa. “I jokingly say there are now more African companies trying to work with us in Dubai than when we had a presence only in Kenya.”
A two-way street
Africa-UAE trade and business is set to increase as the Emirates look to expand ties with emerging markets. The UAE is the second-largest country investor in Africa after China, according to UNCTAD, investing $25.3bn between 2014 and 2018, while the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the emirate’s foreign aid agency, has been the biggest investor, at $16.6bn, in 28 African countries, according to the Financial Times’ fDI Intelligence.
Other countries in the region are also eyeing up the opportunities. “Africa is a central focus of the Gulf states due to Covid-19 and the need for economic recovery, with a focus on mining and green energy projects,” said Karasik. “They are competing on the continent.”
Israelis, too, are seeking business in Africa through Dubai, with consultancy firms in the emirate noting an uptick in contact from Israel since the recently signed Abraham Accords, normalisation deals between Israel and several Arab states.
This renewed interest in Africa is being bolstered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect in January. It brings together 1.3 billion people in a $3.4tn economic bloc of 54 African countries.
The UAE has been a strong proponent of the scheme.
“As African markets are very fragmented, consolidated projects [like the AfCFTA] make it easier to engage. Dubai is identifying opportunities,” said Fokuo.
Downsides
One disadvantage of being located in Dubai, however, is that firms are far-removed from their target markets.
“There are lots of ‘Africa’ HQs in Dubai, but that doesn’t allow you to get a sense of what is happening on the ground, as you’re not in Nairobi or Ghana,” said Fokuo.
With this in mind, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry has established four international offices in Africa over the past seven years – in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya.
“It would also be great if more Dubai-Africa events took place in Africa instead of in Dubai," added Fuoko.
Another concern is that Dubai’s growing role as a tax haven is hurting African nations. According to UK-based advocacy group the Tax Justice Network, “Dubai is unquestionably one of the world’s best-known secrecy jurisdictions, built on an increasingly complex array of offshore facilities that include free-trade zones, a low-tax environment, multiple secrecy facilities and lax enforcement.” Such policies enable the illicit flows of capital out of Africa to Dubai.
Lakshmi Kumar, Policy Director at Global Financial Integrity in Washington DC, told MEE: “The African continent is losing valuable revenues it needs through companies avoiding paying taxable income. It is definitely a problem.”
Kumar noted that Dubai plays a key role as a tax haven, with the Dubai International Financial Centre having the largest cluster of financial institutions anywhere in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
Dubai has also been criticised for its role in the illicit gold trade, with “blood gold” smuggled from Africa to the emirate.
Analysts said that Dubai has become an increasingly important hub over the past year for gold exports from Africa, while the Emirate’s low taxation rate continues to make it attractive to set up businesses, for African as well as European firms avoiding higher tax rates.
The city’s property market has also been fingered as an ideal outlet for ill-gotten gains, such as for Nigeria’s elite.
“Dubai is a key centre for almost every crime, which makes it a bit unique,” said Kumar.
Dubai, the business capital of Africa
Growing numbers of Africa-focused companies are basing themselves in the emirate
Aviation networks, infrastructure and laissez-faire policies have helped Dubai become the business hub of the Middle East and Africa (Karim Sahib/AFP)
By Paul Cochrane
Published date: 28 March 2021 08:42 UTC | Last update: 1 day 4 hours ago
For hundreds of years, the business capitals of Africa were in Europe - in London, Paris, Berlin and Lisbon.
Despite decolonisation, money still flows from Africa to European financial hubs, but over the past decade business headquarters have geographically shifted. Not back to Africa, but to another former British colony: Dubai.
There are now more than 21,000 African companies in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It's a number that has increased by over a quarter since 2017, according to Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry figures.
The emirate has also attracted 45 Middle East and Africa headquarters of multinational companies - compared to just 26 in Africa, according to a 2018 report by Infomineo, a data and research outsourcing provider specialising in Africa and the Middle East.
The amount of capital and number of businesses dealing with Africa started to rise around the same time as the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago.
“There were big inflows of Africans to Dubai from 2011 onwards. The Arab Spring actually helped open Dubai and the UAE to greater interest from African countries,” Theodore Karasik, a senior adviser to Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based consultancy, told MEE.
The number of tourists from Africa has increased from just 6,954 in 1984 to 600,000 in 2016, reaching 810,000 in 2019, equivalent to 6% of all visitors, according to Dubai Tourism figures.
Overall trade with Africa also surged, from 3% of Dubai’s total trade at the turn of the century to 10% in 2018.
The African continent has become the third-largest trade region for Dubai after Asia and Europe, according to Dubai Customs.
“Years ago it was the Russians coming in, then the Chinese, and as that tapered off we were seeing Africans, with an explosion of wealth in this direction,” Scott Cairns, managing director of Creation Business Consultants in Dubai, told MEE. “It has slowed a little bit [over the past year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic] but once travel is allowed again we will see Africa re-emerge, as it is so close for building up business, and to commute [from Dubai] for projects.”
A ‘counterintuitive’ boom
The Gulf city, which sits on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, did not intentionally become a hub for African business.
“It was not the Dubai government, but people in power in Africa that chose to do business in Dubai,” Martin Tronquit, managing partner at Infomineo, told MEE.
But capitalising on its geographical position, the Gulf city has transformed into the business hub of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) through laissez-faire policies, infrastructure and aviation networks.
The boom in MEA firms setting up shop in Dubai has contributed, in part, to the emirate successfully weaning itself off reliance on oil revenues. Non-oil trade with Africa has grown by 700 percent over the past 15 years, surging from $33bn in 2015 to $50bn in 2019, according to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
While six regional HQs are in the energy sector, eight are involved in financial services, seven in motor vehicles and parts, and five in technology, followed by wholesalers, aerospace and defence companies, healthcare, and transportation, according to Infomineo.
“When we looked at where Fortune 500 decision-makers were based, almost half of total headquarters covering MEA were in Dubai, more than triple the number of Johannesburg [South Africa], which was ranked second, followed by Nairobi [Kenya], Casablanca [Morocco] and Lagos [Nigeria],” said Tronquit, citing data from Infomineo.
“It did feel counterintuitive as Dubai is not technically located in Africa.”
Johannesburg, pictured here, is far behind Dubai as a destination for Middle East and Africa-focused companies (Marco Longari/AFP)
Dubai’s aviation links, tourism infrastructure and ease of access have also been a big driver in making the emirate such a hub for African business, said Cairns.
For a lot of them, said Isaac Kwaku Fokuo Jr, founder of Botho Emerging Markets Group, an investment advisory firm based in Dubai, “it is easier to go from Dubai to Africa than fly within Africa. And the ability to let people travel here freely is a big deal, compared to say London or New York, where there are multiple unnecessary barriers like the provision of bank statements to procure a visa just to attend a business meeting.
“Also, within the African continent, some countries such as South Africa, another business hub, have strict visa regulations,” he told MEE. “That means that visiting can be an onerous experience. In contrast, the hospitality on display in Dubai signals that Africans from across the continent are welcome.”
Capital by default?
Dubai has been helped, said Tronquit of Infomineo, by the fact that while “African business environments have massively improved in the last 20 years, [they] are not yet on par with the expectations of global companies - especially when it comes to international trade, like double taxation agreements, work visas for expats, corporate laws and tariffs.”
Lagos should logically be Africa’s business capital, he added. Nigeria has the continent’s largest economy. South Africa’s is second. However, “Lagos has been ranked as one of the world’s worst cities to live in, and personal safety is a massive issue, as it is in Johannesburg.
“It is also difficult to attract top executives and their families to countries where, for most of them, education, healthcare and safety are not up to global standards,” said Tronquit, based on criteria in an Infomineo report.
“Dubai is the business capital of Africa by default.”
While “Dubai locals have considered the emirate the business capital of Africa for over a decade,” said Karasik of Gulf State Analytics, to Africans the moniker does not always sit well.
“Dubai is a hub that plays a critical role for business into Africa, but it would be unfair to say that it is the business capital for an entire continent,” said Fokuo. “Cities such as Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cairo and Accra also play critical roles as hubs for business.”
He moved to Dubai from Nairobi four years ago, and has since seen an upswing in business, partnering with firms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt to help them expand into Africa. “I jokingly say there are now more African companies trying to work with us in Dubai than when we had a presence only in Kenya.”
A two-way street
Africa-UAE trade and business is set to increase as the Emirates look to expand ties with emerging markets. The UAE is the second-largest country investor in Africa after China, according to UNCTAD, investing $25.3bn between 2014 and 2018, while the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the emirate’s foreign aid agency, has been the biggest investor, at $16.6bn, in 28 African countries, according to the Financial Times’ fDI Intelligence.
Other countries in the region are also eyeing up the opportunities. “Africa is a central focus of the Gulf states due to Covid-19 and the need for economic recovery, with a focus on mining and green energy projects,” said Karasik. “They are competing on the continent.”
Israelis, too, are seeking business in Africa through Dubai, with consultancy firms in the emirate noting an uptick in contact from Israel since the recently signed Abraham Accords, normalisation deals between Israel and several Arab states.
This renewed interest in Africa is being bolstered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect in January. It brings together 1.3 billion people in a $3.4tn economic bloc of 54 African countries.
The UAE has been a strong proponent of the scheme.
“As African markets are very fragmented, consolidated projects [like the AfCFTA] make it easier to engage. Dubai is identifying opportunities,” said Fokuo.
Downsides
One disadvantage of being located in Dubai, however, is that firms are far-removed from their target markets.
“There are lots of ‘Africa’ HQs in Dubai, but that doesn’t allow you to get a sense of what is happening on the ground, as you’re not in Nairobi or Ghana,” said Fokuo.
With this in mind, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry has established four international offices in Africa over the past seven years – in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya.
“It would also be great if more Dubai-Africa events took place in Africa instead of in Dubai," added Fuoko.
Another concern is that Dubai’s growing role as a tax haven is hurting African nations. According to UK-based advocacy group the Tax Justice Network, “Dubai is unquestionably one of the world’s best-known secrecy jurisdictions, built on an increasingly complex array of offshore facilities that include free-trade zones, a low-tax environment, multiple secrecy facilities and lax enforcement.” Such policies enable the illicit flows of capital out of Africa to Dubai.
Lakshmi Kumar, Policy Director at Global Financial Integrity in Washington DC, told MEE: “The African continent is losing valuable revenues it needs through companies avoiding paying taxable income. It is definitely a problem.”
Kumar noted that Dubai plays a key role as a tax haven, with the Dubai International Financial Centre having the largest cluster of financial institutions anywhere in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
Dubai has also been criticised for its role in the illicit gold trade, with “blood gold” smuggled from Africa to the emirate.
Analysts said that Dubai has become an increasingly important hub over the past year for gold exports from Africa, while the Emirate’s low taxation rate continues to make it attractive to set up businesses, for African as well as European firms avoiding higher tax rates.
The city’s property market has also been fingered as an ideal outlet for ill-gotten gains, such as for Nigeria’s elite.
“Dubai is a key centre for almost every crime, which makes it a bit unique,” said Kumar.
Dubai, the business capital of Africa