Emmanuel Abara Benson

A recently released insight on Sub Saharan Africa's energy sector by Fitch Solutions said investments are urgently needed in order to unlock the region's gas demand potentials.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/africa-has-failed-to-benefit-from-its-abundant-gas-reserves-and-could-be-running-out/63de5p9">African countries have failed to benefit from abundant gas reserves on the continent and could be running out of time to do so, IEA warns</a>

The research firm observed that in spite of the efforts made so far to fully develop the gas sectors of SSA countries, there is still an obvious absence of gas import and storage infrastructure. And this is preventing the bigger role that gas could play in the region's energy mix.

Unfortunately, even though gas consumption in Sub Saharan Africa is projected to grow by 4.2% year-on-year to average 54.7bcm by 2030, a lot of the proposed gas-to-power projects will struggle to receive enough funding during the projected time-frame. And what this means is that the full potentials that could be realised from the growing gas demand in Africa could not be realised. To forestall this, therefore, there is an urgent need for investments.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/africas-inability-to-refine-its-own-crude-oil-is-having-a-serious-impact-amid-soaring/6jcrzf3">Africa's inability to refine its own crude oil is having a serious impact amid soaring global fuel prices [Editor’s Opinion]</a>

"Despite a growing interest in developing a gas sector across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there remains a widespread absence of gas import and storage infrastructure and many integrated gas-to-power projects will struggle to gain sufficient funding over the decade.&nbsp;SSA’s gas consumption is expected to grow by an average of 4.2% y-o-y over the decade, to reach 54.7bcm in 2030, from an estimated 35.2bcm in 2020," said a part of the report.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/10-african-countries-with-the-highest-petrol-prices-as-of-march-2022/czc9s6r">10 African countries with the highest petrol prices </a>

Now, it is important to talk about why some investors are a bit hesitant to invest in Sub Saharan Africa's gas sector. According to Fitch Solutions, a lot of countries across the region suffer from inadequate domestic gas supply and lack of import infrastructure which are two necessary factors that can facilitate a gas economy. And so " without the guarantee of sufficient offtake, investors are cautious of committing to building large-scale import and transport infrastructure."

READ:<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/10-african-countries-with-the-largest-crude-oil-production-output-in-2021/qbj8bj3">&nbsp;Here are 10 African countries with the largest crude oil production output </a>

In the meantime, gas will continue to continue to play an increasing role towards meeting Sub Saharan Africa's energy needs, even though some of the factors highlighted above may continue to hamper demand potentials.

To unlock gas demand potentials in Sub Saharan Africa, this is what must be done

Imagine an African smart watch produced in the Republic of Benin! It has the very same basic functionalities as an Apple Watch or a Samsung Smartwatch. And besides being water-resistant and helping to monitor your heart rate, this smart watch can also help you to find your phone when it's lost/missing.

What is even most fantastical about this new smart watch is that it is more affordable than the afore-mentioned smart watch brands. And it's all thanks to Richard Odjardo, a Beninese tech entrepreneur whose company, AS World Tech, manufactures the product and more.

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/leaders/danny-manu-is-a-ghanaian-entrepreneur-who-built-earbuds-that-can-auto-translate/kr145g6">Meet the British-Ghanaian entrepreneur who built earbuds that can auto-translate 40 languages</a>

Richard Odjardo can rightly be described as one of the hottest entrepreneurs in the African tech space at the moment. The 32 year old entrepreneur is on a mission to simplify Africans' daily lives through efficient tech. And while he's not the first to do this, it's obvious that he is doing more efficiently and affordably, albeit in an Africa-centric manner.

Richard's products range from smart watch to laptops and smart glasses, and they are all said to be high quality and super affordable. With the smart sun glasses, you can answer your phone when it rings while you are on the steering. All you have to do is tap the glasses and you can effortlessly talk hands-free with whoever is calling. It can also be used to listen to music and can be connected to several operating systems (OS) all at once.

Shango 2, one of the laptop designs by AS World Tech

Now, let's talk about the laptops produced by AS World Tech. First, they have interesting local names such as Shango 2, Orisha, Shadey, Ogun, etc. And they are quite affordable. As you may well know, it can be quite expensive to buy brand new laptops in Africa. And often times, repairing any parts of these foreign laptops can be quite hectic and expensive.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/leaders/kaivan-sattars-asaak-raises-dollar30-million-to-facilitate-digital-lending-in-uganda/by8l8l9">This entrepreneur observed a serious lending gap when he visited Uganda, and then founded a startup that raised $30 million to facilitate digital lending in the country</a>

At this point, you are probably wondering how Richard Odjardo got the inspiration to start manufacturing his own tech gadgets. Well, on a few occasions after his phone was stolen, he couldn't trace it. So, he built a technology that can help anyone to trace and recover their lost or stolen phones. Also, after he almost had a fatal accident sometime ago when he tried to answer a phone call while driving, he decided to create a smart sun glasses primarily for the purpose of safety while on the wheels.

There is no gainsaying the fact that Richard Odjardo is building what is going to become a very profitable venture in the long run. Some global tech giants know this, which is why at least two of them have separately offered him $2 million and $3 million in a bid to buy him out. But of course he told them no.

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He said he wants Africans to continue to have these quality tech gadgets at affordable prices, cheaper than the amount leading global tech giants could ever sell them. He also wants his products to be a constant reminder to Africans that they too can produce locally instead of depending on foreigners to manufacture the daily tech products they need.

In a September 2021 interview with France 24, he stressed that the best ways to tackle unemployment in Africa are through entrepreneurship, innovation and technology.

Meet Richard Odjardo, a tech entrepreneur from Benin Republic whose smart watch and laptops are poised to compete with Apple

Meet Richard Odjardo, a tech bro from Benin Republic whose smart watch and laptops are poised to compete with Apple

African airlines will need to recruit some 63,000 new professionals (including pilots, technicians and cabin crew members) over the next twenty years in order to ensure optimal service delivery.

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This is one of the key growth projections that were made about the continent's commercial aviation industry by American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, as contained in its recently released Commercial Market Outlook.

According to the forecast which was obtained by Business Insider Africa, Africa's commercial aviation market will be valued at a whopping $400 billion by 2040. And in line with this projected growth, airlines on the continent will acquire about 1, 030 new airplanes that will be valued at $160 billion.

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/african-airlines-lost-a-collective-dollar86-billion-in-2021-due-to-travel/mmdddd7">African airlines lost a collective $8.6 billion in 2021 due to travel restrictions caused by COVID-19</a>

“Africa has healthy opportunities to expand travel and tourism, coinciding with increasing urbanization and rising incomes. African carriers are well-positioned to support inter-regional traffic growth and capture market share by offering services that efficiently connect passengers and enable commerce within the continent,” said Boeing's Managing Director of Commercial Marketing for Middle East and Africa, Randy Heisey.

Some of other factors that are expected to help drive Africa's commercial aviation growth are the continent's projected 3% economic growth over the next two decades, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AcfTA) and Single African Air Transport Market which are all expected to encourage cross-border trade and travels.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/airfare-hike-imminent-in-nigeria-as-aviation-fuel-price-skyrockets/0p24sze">Airfare hikes imminent in Nigeria as aviation fuel price skyrockets</a>

Also note that Africa's middle class is expected to increase significantly during the forecast period, thereby driving up the need for air travel. As a matter of fact, annual passenger traffic is projected to grow by 5.4%, the third highest growth rate in the world according to Boeing.

In line with the foregoing therefore, African airlines will need to recruit 19,000 new pilots, 20,000 technicians and 24,000 cabin crew members between now and 2040. In the same vein, they will systematically increase their fleet size by 3.6% in order to accommodate the expected increase in air travelers.

African airlines will need to recruit about 63,000 new professionals over the next 20 years

African airlines will need to recruit about 63,000 new workers over the next 20 years

African airlines will need to recruit 63,000 new workers, as the continent's aviation industry is set to hit $400 billion valuation by 2040

In 2009, a young Stanford-educated tech professional decided to venture into entrepreneurship. He also chose Nigeria, of all places, to do this. That young tech professional is Tayo Oviosu, the Founder and CEO of Paga.

Although born and raised in Nigeria, Tayo had left the West African country when he was just 16 years old. So, he was basically returning to a totally different country from the one he once knew. But that didn't deter him. He had seen a huge opportunity in the Nigerian market and came up with an idea that would disrupt the country's financial services industry. That idea gave birth to Paga, one of Africa's earliest fintech players.

In this interview, he tells Business Insider Africa what the journey has been like so far and what to expect going forward. Enjoy the conversation.

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BI Africa: It’s nice to finally have this interview, Mr Tayo. For the benefit of some of our readers across Africa who may not know you, could you kindly introduce yourself&nbsp;

Tayo Oviosu: Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you. A little about my background; I am Tayo Oviosu, the Founder and CEO of Paga. I was born and raised here in Nigeria until I was 16 years old. And then I moved to the US to study for a degree in Electrical Engineering. I come from a single-parent family. My mum raised five boys all by herself. I am the last of the five boys and probably the most troublesome of them all.&nbsp;

So, yeah…I studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Afterwards, I worked for a couple of startups during the initial stages of the dot.com boom. I also worked for Deloitte Consulting at some point before going back to school to obtain an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business . Afterwards, I worked for about three more years in the US before I decided to come back to Nigeria to become a part of the country’s economic development process.&nbsp;

Upon getting to Nigeria, I joined a private equity firm called Travant Capital Partners. But I soon left that company to go do something entrepreneurial. I was very excited about what I had seen in Nigeria. This was around 2009 and the growth/opportunities of the private sector here was immense. So, I spent about three months looking at different ideas before really honing it on what is now Paga. Out of all the ideas I looked at, Paga was probably the one I spent the least amount of time considering before I was convinced.

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So, I got started. I only boot-strapped for the first six months. And really, what got me going was the fact that a lot of the transactions in Africa’s largest country and largest economy was still largely cash-dependent. How can everyone just be carrying large sums of money around? For both individuals and businesses, it was so inefficient and we had to be able to solve that. And that was the simple idea —there had to be a way to solve this problem and make it more efficient for everybody. And that’s what we’ve been doing till date.

More about me... I am now happily married. I have a 2-year old that keeps me excited alongside Paga and my wife. My wife likes to joke that Paga is my first baby but I disagree with that. Anyway, outside of work, I really enjoy running, swimming, reading and my Chelsea Football.

BI Africa: A lot of people regard you as a pioneer in the African financial technology (Fintech) space. Tell us what that feels like and what you are doing to maintain that status.

Tayo Oviosu: Well, it’s absolutely interesting when people say things like that to me because I didn’t set out thinking I want to become a pioneer. But the fact that my progress has inspired a lot of people is a good thing. And my hope is that those who are coming after me, in terms of starting companies in Africa, can have it easier because of the success that we’ve experienced. That said, I do have in my head now the idea that I am some sort of role model and that I have to think about my actions and how I operate our business at Paga because we are at a very interesting place in the world right now where there’s more and more interest on the African continent. And it’s only good examples that people know and can relate to that will continue to drive that interest.

BI Africa: Let’s talk about the digital payments revolution in Africa and the ongoing financial inclusion efforts. As you know, there have been lots of advancements made in these regards by companies such as yours. Yet, a wide gap still exists. What do you think needs to be done in order to accelerate the growth of fintech in Africa?

Tayo Oviosu: Let me begin by noting that there are multiple goals when it comes to accelerating fintech growth in Africa. Financial inclusion is just one of those goals. But I think that in general, anything that can make it easier for fintech ventures to thrive is welcome. Let’s start with the government; they should just continue making it very easy to do business in Nigeria and other African countries. Speaking of which, I would like to quickly shout out this current Nigerian administration for what they have done in terms of even having someone focus on “how do we make it easier to do business?”. They don’t get enough credit for that to be honest. I think that’s a big deal. I’ve seen it in the course of our business that that team has stepped in moments where they were things going on that shouldn’t have been the case. I really do think that’s the most important thing a government can do - just create an enabling environment and continue making it easier to do business because doing this will open up opportunities for more foreign investments in these fintech startups.&nbsp;

I will also recommend that the government should consider making it possible for Nigerian pension funds to invest in startups. Right now, these pension funds only invest in treasury bills and I believe they could make a lot more money by taking a little more risks of investing in startups. Figuring out how the government could make that possible would really go a long way in accelerating things.

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That said, I think that the Central Bank of Nigeria has done a fantastic job by creating the fintech categorisations and clarifying what each licence is allowed to do. They've done a really good job at setting the fintech industry up for success and I really want to commend them on that.

The last thing I would recommend has to do with improving the quality of our education system. This is very important towards ensuring the continuous growth of fintech in Africa. Now by education, I am speaking particularly about STEM, especially as it relates to the girl child because that's where we have the biggest gaps. So, the government should focus on that and make it easier for young boys and girls to learn how to code, learn engineering skills and Maths skills.

BI Africa: You stressed the importance of ease of doing business and we will like to focus on that a little bit. Last year, your company relocated its headquarters to the UK from Mauritius. Up until then, a lot of people didn’t even know that Paga wasn’t domiciled in Nigeria. Talk us through the peculiar challenges of doing business in Africa as an African and why a growing number of startups like yours are choosing to domicile abroad.

Tayo Oviosu: So, let me start by clarifying the misconception about our relocation and where our headquarters is domiciled. We do have a Nigerian company. And that company is the one that hires our team in Nigeria and it is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The company is fully operational and we invest heavily in it.

However, our holding company is domiciled abroad and there are several reasons for that. For first reason is because we have plans to be in more countries besides just Nigeria. We currently have people in Ethiopia other parts of the world. So, our initial idea is to have a holding company that would own the subsidiaries in different countries. The question then became 'where should the holding company be headquartered?'. And I guess you could ask the question 'why is the holding company not in Nigeria?'. That is a possibility.

But there is a good reason why we chose the UK as our headquarters. For the kind of international investment we are undertaking, we needed to be domiciled in a place where the rule of law is clear and very effective. In fact, I was recently interviewed on this topic of ease of doing business in Nigeria and here's what I said: the government really needs to work on the judicial system. We'd like the judicial system to move a lot faster than it does today because already, we have good laws but it just takes a long time for anything to get adjudicated. And that's not good for business.

If the rule of law would get adjudicated quickly and fairly in Nigeria, then you would see more businesses signing contracts with Nigeria as the governing law. When investors consider where to set up their holding companies, one of the things they are consider is the worst case scenario —can they trust that they would be fine if the worst should happen?

You typically want to be in a jurisdiction where you are comfortable with the rules, understand the the tax laws and have faith in the rules. We initially chose Mauritius because we thought that's one place in Africa where this could work. But we've now moved to the United Kingdom because like I said before, we now want to bring global investors into the picture and these global investors are more comfortable with the United Kingdom.

BI Africa: Do you think Africa's tech space is currently being over-regulated, particularly in countries like Nigeria?

Tayo Oviosu: I actually don't think we are over-regulated. However, I do think we are regulated and that the government should continue to ensure strict adherence to these regulations. I can mention a number of companies that are not abiding by the regulations and they are just sort of getting by with nobody doing anything to them. And sometimes that can be really frustrating. That said, I strongly believe we are properly regulated, especially here in Nigeria. I can't think of a single regulation that the Central Bank of Nigeria has come up with without fully consulting with all the necessary stakeholders to get their inputs. It doesn't mean that they always agree with the stakeholders' ideas. In fact, they hardly ever do. But at least, they always consider stakeholders' perspectives before implementing any policy. And whenever something is not clear to them, they ask questions. Unfortunately, because they are not so good at public relations, it often comes across like they are over-regulating us when that's not actually not the case.

BI Africa: There are some people that believe the African fintech ecosystem is becoming too saturated/competitive. Do you think that's the case?

Tayo Oviosu: Well, there's now a lot more players. But there are also more and more opportunities in the fintech space. And that's because companies like ours have built the infrastructure. Take for instance, today Paga is connected to all the banks through multiple routes. We've also built a really deep infrastructure in card processing; whether it's physical card processing or POS machines. We have now integrated into Visa for online card processing and we are directly connected to eight of the top banks. So, we've created really deep rails both for online and offline we do believe that in today's Africa, you need a hybrid approach to scale. So, we've solidified on our online and offline payment infrastructure needs, while the competitors are trying to recreate the wheel to leverage that infrastructure.

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Earlier this year, we announced the launch of our platform as a service. I think we launched it around May and now we have over about 140 startups using that infrastructure. They are doing many things such as hosting wallets, leveraging it for payment requests, they accessing billers, some of the banks are using it as well. Now to further answer your question, these developments are really showing me that people are like 'okay! you know what, fintech or the core infrastructure of fintech is already built. Let's now innovate on solving other problems for companies and individuals and we can leverage and embed those capabilities'. And I think that's really exciting for the next phase of innovation and the next set of companies that will be focusing on things like asset management, helping people to save, helping businesses to digitise, etc.

BI Africa: Now, tell us a bit more about Paga's next big moves seeing as you have basically conquered payments.

Tayo Oviosu: There are a number of things that we are focused on at the moment. Fundamentally, Paga is solving payments for consumers as well as for sellers. The Paga brand is actually our consumer brand and then Doroki is our seller brand. We actually just launched Doroki just a few months ago in partnership with Visa. We are really excited about that. So, for us, these are the two core things that we are focused on. We also recently got a regulatory approval for banking licence which we will now use to offer lending to consumers and SMEs.

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Underneath all of these, we now have the platform as a service which I mentioned earlier. Basically, it is an infrastructure that we are using for ourselves but also opened up for other people to use. So, we will be executing more deeply on that vision. And what's exciting to me about it, Emmanuel, is that if you look at the total process value on Paga, it is exponentially growing faster. As of end of October, we have processed N3.5 trillion ($7.2 billion) since 2012. That is really exciting. And it's coming across the board - it's coming from the consumer side scaling really fast, it's also coming from the platform-as-a-service side. And then on top of all these as you should know, we also have over 60, 000 retail agents across the country where people can get services. In fact, we are so widely popular such that the agency banking business in Nigeria is now known as the Paga business. Even agents that are not working for Paga are calling themselves Paga. We're happy with that. It's all good. Right now, it's all about accelerating all of those activities and deepening into the markets. Those are our real focus for now.

BI Africa: Speaking of markets, where next are you hoping to expand to besides Mexico and Ethiopia?

Tayo Oviosu: So, just to clarify that, we are not in Mexico at the moment. We had plans to launch in Mexico but those plans have been completely put on hold. I think we actually just publicly mentioned that recently. So yeah, we've put that on hold. But we are in Ethiopia and we are also actively looking at other African countries. In the near term, we will only focus on African countries. But we're not ready to announce where yet.

BI Africa: Is the Ethiopian conflict affecting your business in any way?

Tayo Oviosu: We are paying attention to what's going on there because we have about 40 staff in Ethiopia. We are very much conscious of their welfare. And so, we are making sure that everybody is fine. The conflict is not yet affecting our operations on a day to day basis and we do hope it doesn't. But at this point, the most important thing is the welfare of our team and we are paying attention to that. Of course we have our business continuity plan put together. But really, what's most important is the welfare of our Ethiopian team.

BI Africa: Last question, you've talked some of the expansion plans we have and the new products you're launching. And all of that will require money to execute. And I know that so far, you've raised about $40 million according to available records. Do, you have plans to raise more money?

Tayo Oviosu: Oh definitely we do. But there's nothing to announce at the moment. Just watch out. We will definitely announce something when the time is right. Our business is clearly the type that requires capital and we are excited that investors are are seeing the depths of what we have built and are interested in partnering with us. We are open to these opportunities, but also being very thoughtful about it because we don't believe that all money is equal. We are looking out for investors who genuinely believe in the purpose we are going after and share the same values with us. That's what we are looking for.

CEO of Paga Tayo Oviosu discusses the next phase of innovation for African fintechs

EXCLUSIVE: Paga CEO Tayo Oviosu discusses the next phase of innovation for African fintechs

Back in October 2021, many people across the African startup ecosystem were surprised when Kepple Africa Ventures announced that it was severing all ties with Kenyan startup Wapi Pay. The Japanese VC firm had a good reason for that surprising decision. A few days prior, Business Insider Africa had reported about a disturbing incident involving the co-founders of the Kenyan fintech startup —Paul and Edward Ndichu were caught on camera physically assaulting two young women.

This is a statement that was issued by a representative of the Japanese VC firm following the incident.

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<h2>It's a no brainer that they are always watching</h2>

The Wapi Pay incident is a clear example of how equity investors are constantly and keenly observing African founders' every move. It's probably a no brainer that they are watching. Why shouldn't they? After all, they were watching you before they decided to invest in your startup. Now that they have a stake in your startup, it only makes sense that they will intensify their scrutiny of you for obvious reasons - they now have a stake in you!

Your investors will monitor your products, your growth rate and your financials. They do this not because they don't have anything important to do, no. Instead, they do it because they need to protect their vested interests in your startup. They need to ensure that you are growing at the expected rate that will eventually guarantee they can recoup their investments.

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It's most important to point out that investors' scrutiny is often on the startup founders themselves. Recently when we spoke to Noor Sweid, the General Partner at VC firm Global Ventures, on what investors look out for when deciding to invest, she emphasised that focus is usually on the founders.

"We look out for founders who are driven by scale, who really want to build something meaningful and who have created companies that are valuable... We are interested in founders that are on a mission. They must really be purpose-driven founders that are on missions to change the world a little bit than we know it," Noor said.

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/leaders/exclusive-noor-sweid-and-sacha-haider-from-global-ventures-discuss-investment/fzw23c2">Noor Sweid and Sacha Haider from Global Ventures discuss investment opportunities in Africa</a>

You can see how she kept emphasising on founders, right? That's because founders are the main reason investors invest. And in most cases, they invest in founders whose innovation are capable of changing the world. So, you can only imagine the disappointment investors must feel when they founders they have invested in are caught on camera behaving in ways that are questionable.

Now, inasmuch as the Wapi Pay case is the latest example, the truth remains that a lot of startup founders in Africa are known to behave in questionable ways after their seed funding rounds and Series As. They have been reports of some of them living extravagantly off of investors’ funds, acting like demi-gods and basically doing a lot of questionable things they shouldn't be doing. So, while we are talking about Wapi Pay co-founders today, we might be talking about somebody else tomorrow if care is not taken.

Business Insider Africa Editor's Opinion is the viewpoint of an Editor at Business Insider Africa. It does not represent the opinion of the organisation, Business Insider Africa.

Dear African tech founders, your investors are keenly watching your every move

Dear African tech founders, your investors are keenly watching your every move [Editor's Opinion]

Like every child does, Ralph Mupita dreamt of what he wanted to become when he grew up. His was quite a lofty dream —to become an astronaut and fly off to the moon! However, for a young African boy growing up in an average Zimbabwean home, the chances of him fulfilling this dream were too slim. His family knew this and they didn't hesitate to tell him the truth.

"My dream career was to go to the moon. I wanted to be an astronaut. But sometime when I was about ten or eleven years old, someone told me 'No, Africans don't go to the moon'. It was hard to listen to that person but I did and here I am today," he told Dr Nik Eberl during a YouTube interview some years ago.

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Although he could not go to the moon, Ralph never stopped dreaming big. According to him, his parents inspired him to be successful. They instilled values in him, encouraged him to always be ambitious and aspire for greatness. They also made him aware of all the incredible things he could accomplish in life if he had the right education. Consequently, he put a lot of energy into his studies and excelled at school.

Academic background and early career as an engineer

Available public records show that Ralph attended the University of Cape Town where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering. He had relocated to neighbouring South Africa in his late teens in pursuit of education, and chose to continue living there upon graduation. So, after he graduated, he worked at Haw &amp; Inglis Civil Engineering for three years between 1996 and 1999.

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By the year 2000, then 28 year-old Ralph was ready for a career shift. He needed to transition to financial services. And to prepare himself for the next career phase, he went back to the University of Cape Town to obtain a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. Afterwards, he landed a job at Old Mutual South Africa in 2001, and would stay with the insurance firm until January 2012. During those years, he was promoted to different positions, including Strategy Director and Managing Director.

Ralph Mupita, Group President and CEO of MTN Group Ltd

Now, the thing about Old Mutual is that it is a large pan-African insurance and banking group with operations in 19 other countries besides South Africa. For Ralph Mupita, the company's large size meant that there was ample opportunities for career growth. So, he leveraged that and was in February 2012 appointed Chief Executive Officer to oversee Old Mutual's operations in emerging markets. He held that position for five years until 2017.

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/leaders/kaivan-sattars-asaak-raises-dollar30-million-to-facilitate-digital-lending-in-uganda/by8l8l9">This entrepreneur observed a serious lending gap when he visited Uganda, and then founded a startup that raised $30 million to facilitate digital lending in the country</a>

Joining MTN Group Ltd

In April 2017, Ralph left the financial services sector and joined telecom. But his new job description wasn't quite different from what he had been doing 16 years prior —he joined MTN Group Ltd as the new Chief Financial Officer. This was the starting point for what has become a very fulfilling career with one of Africa's most valuable companies. As you may well know, MTN Group Ltd is large telecom services provider which operates in about 20 different countries across Africa and the Middle East. Being the CFO of such a large corporation is a dream most people working in finance can only have, but never accomplish. But Ralph did it. And that was not all.

In August 2020, he was announced as the incoming Group President and Chief Executive Officer of MTN Group. He took over from former Group President and CEO, Rob Shuter.

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Ralph, who is now aged 49, is married to Makole Mupita, a chartered accountant and corporate finance professional who worked also worked at Old Mutual before establishing her own company (Mahlako A Phahla Investments (Pty) Ltd) in 2009. Ralph has attributed most of his career accomplishments to his wife, saying "Makole is a real partner for me. I probably won't be where I am today without her."

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/leaders/5-habits-of-richest-african-billionaires-you-should-emulate/zrm9z0s">5 habits of Africa's richest billionaires you should emulate in 2022</a>

Ralph Mupita went from dreaming of going to the moon to becoming CEO of MTN Group Ltd

Household spending in Ghana is projected to grow by 4.7% in 2022, in line with an expected increase in GDP to 4.9%. This presents a positive outlook for mass grocery retail in the West African country, according to Fitch Solutions.

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/african-countries-with-the-highest-inflation-rates-in-2022/brenryj">8 most expensive African countries to live in due to high inflation rates</a>

Basically, the projected increase in household spending means that more Ghanaian households will have more disposable incomes to purchase food, drinks and other consumables. And a lot of these items will most likely be purchased at formal grocery shops, as Ghanaians look out for shopping incentives.

In the meantime, the report pointed out that the projected increase in household spending will be threatened by Ghana's 'stubbornly high' inflation rate. Seeing as the country's inflation rate is forecast at 8.7% per annum over the medium term, households might still need to prioritise their spending.

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"Looking ahead, we forecast disposable income growth to remain positive over the medium term, expanding by an annual average of 8.3% a year, reaching GHS44,697 (USD6,695) in 2025. However, we do note that the inflation rate in the country is stubbornly high, impacting the real gains in disposable incomes. At a forecasted average annual inflation rate at 8.7% over the medium term, match nominal income growth, households in Ghana will remain price sensitive and will continue to prioritise essential spending categories over this period. With food and non-alcoholic drinks being the largest portion of household budgets, we believe there is potential for the consumer to shift into formal MGR, looking for deals and the lower prices that supermarkets will offer to lure in consumers," said a part of the report by Fitch Solutions.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/10-african-currencies-with-the-highest-exchange-rates-against-the-dollar-in-q1-2022/d7gshll">10 African currencies with the highest exchange rates against the dollar in Q1 2022</a>

As it is the case in many countries in Sub Saharan Africa, large portions of household spending in Ghana go towards the purchase of food and drinks. And in line with the country's growing urban population, there has been increasing patronage of mass grocery retail outlets in the country. Fitch Solutions expects this trend to continue over the coming years. And this will present a positive outlook for malls and supermarkets in the West African country.

There's a positive outlook for mass grocery retail in Ghana as household spending increases

In recent times, Ethiopia has been in the news a lot, albeit for all the wrong reasons. At the point in 2021, the Horn of Africa country was reportedly at risk of being completely destablised due to armed conflict. Unfortunately, the conflict has yet to abate. And the country isn't the only one in Africa facing similar crises.

Across the continent, there are many conflict hotspots. Whether it be an insurgency, agitations for resource control, militancy, outright terrorism or full-blown wars, the truth is that many groups have taken to arms to antagonise different African states. And these African states have responded to the antagonism with brute force, thereby leading to conflicts that are steadily spiraling out of control.

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/5-hard-facts-and-forecasts-about-poverty-in-africa-that-will-either-sadden-or/qtp35cb">5 hard facts and forecasts about poverty in Africa that will either sadden or fascinate you</a>

In this article, we shall be looking at the to five conflict hotspots in Africa, focusing on how the economies in these regions have been affected by said conflicts.

1. The Ethiopian Conflict

Since 2017, there has quite a number of active conflicts and secluded killings across Ethiopia. At this point, it's almost difficult to keep count of all the deaths. The conflicts seemed to have heightened in 2021, following a military offensive against the Tigray Region by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government.

As you may already know, the conflict between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces began after the ruling party requested that the country's election board should cancel an already scheduled 2020 general election, in view of the health risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The request was vehemently opposed by the Tigrayans, who went ahead to organised elections for their region. Apparently, the Ethiopian government perceived this as some sort of secessionist had chosen to exercise absolute powers to maintain the territorial integrity of the country.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/economic-growth-in-africa-will-drop-to-34-this-year-due-to-macroeconomic-shocks-world/r3n062e">Economic growth in Africa will drop to 3.4% this year due to macroeconomic shocks —World Bank</a>

Since November 2020 till date, both the military and Tigrayan forces have fought actively. And just last month, there were invasion threats on the capital city of Addis Ababa. In response, many Western countries advised their citizens to leave the country, even as some companies also flew out some of their workers. In the meantime, businesses and diplomatic missions have continued to be affected by the ongoing conflict.

Note that Ethiopia is a very important country in Africa. It is considered the only African country that was never colonised. It is also Africa's second most populous country besides Nigeria. More so, the headquarters of the Africa Union is located there. So, it is very important to resolve the conflict before it gets out of hands.

The Ethiopian conflict has reportedly displaced more than two million people according to the United Nations

2. Civil War in Cameroon

Unlike the media spotlight on the Ethiopian conflict, the ongoing civil war in Cameroon doesn't really get a lot of media reportage. And that is mainly due to the government's alleged efforts to hide the carnage from the rest of the world. This notwithstanding, the truth remains that Southern Cameroon has been in turmoil for many months now. There have been allegations of genocide, rape and other atrocities as the government forces continue to battle separatists in Anglophone territories of Ambazonia.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/nigeria-ghana-other-countries-in-sub-saharan-africa-could-experience-worsened-food/xvs0v58">Nigeria, Ghana, other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa could experience worsened food insecurity as food inflation soars -IMF</a>

3. Terrorism, banditry and secessionist agitations in Nigeria

For years, Boko Haram terrorists have been terrorising Northern Nigeria. They went from burning places of worship to kidnapping school children and then amassing territories and displacing many people in the process. And then they were incidents of armed herdsmen who often clashed with farmers over destruction of farmlands by cows.

In 2021 however, the biggest challenge has been that of kidnappings. Interestingly, both the terrorists and bandits have been fingered as responsible for this trend. Unfortunately, no one has been spared; from innocent secondary school children in their boarding schools to universities and of course travelers on the dangerous highways crisscrossing the country.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern part of the country, secessionists have burnt police stations and election offices as part of their agitation. It has really been a difficult year of conflicts for Nigeria. And this has resulted in serious economic woes, especially for the average Nigerians who have been impacted directly.

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4. The Democratic Republic of Congo&nbsp;(DRC)

For many years, the DRC has hardly experienced any peace of peace. It's been one conflict or the other since the first and second civil wars were fought between 1996 and 2003. The conflicts have been fueled by agitations for political control and natural resources.

5. Terrorism in Mozambique

This country in Southern Africa has had a pretty rough year. So many factors, including terrorism natural disaster, have combined to kill hundreds and displaced nearly one million people, even as millions more have been at risk of famine. Earlier in the year, the United Nations said Mozambique is facing a humanitarian catastrophe “beyond epic proportions.”

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/5-priorities-for-africa-in-2022-according-to-the-world-economic-forum/g28jg1y">5 urgent priorities for African countries, according to the World Economic Forum</a>

5 conflict hotspots in Africa and how their economies have been affected in 2021

5 conflict hotspots in Africa and how their economies have been affected

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently published a report detailing food inflation trends in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to findings by the multilateral lender, food prices are increasingly driving inflation across the region and the situation is proving to be 'hopeless'.

As you may well know, food items make up around 40% of the consumption basket in sub-Saharan Africa. This explains why high food prices directly impact inflation rates in the region.

READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/ghana-tanzania-ethiopia-and-30-others-are-on-the-world-banks-heavily-indebted-poor/b4x34le#:~:text=Among%20these%20heavily%20indebted%20poor,Congo%20and%20Republic%20of%20Congo.">Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia and 30 others are on the World Bank's heavily indebted poor countries' list</a>

Using available data obtained from some countries in SSA, the IMF found that between 2019 and late 2021, there was a significant increase in inflation linked directly to higher food prices.

"Food inflation increased throughout 2019, on average, across 20 countries in the region where monthly food price data are available. After remaining stable around 9 percent (year over year) since the beginning of the pandemic, food inflation started to rise again from April this year to some 11 percent in October. The chart below shows how food inflation is outpacing and contributing to the pick-up in overall consumer price inflation in sub-Saharan Africa, which rose to about 9 percent in October, up from around 6 percent in 2019," said a part of the report which was seen by Business Insider Africa.

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/these-20-african-countries-are-on-the-world-banks-low-income-list-due-to-low-gni-per/n03hbdc">These 20 African countries are on the World Bank's low income list, due to low GNI per capita</a>

The IMF also identified some of the factors driving food inflation to include the following:

<ul><li>Rising oil prices which raise fertiliser and transportation costs.</li><li>Weather conditions such as drought which is a serious problem in some African countries.</li><li>Export restrictions imposed by some major food exporters; stockpiling.</li><li>Disruption of seed production and labour shortages which was caused by the pandemic.</li><li>The report also found that certain domestic factors such as exchange rates contribute to food inflation in the region.</li></ul>

READ: <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/8-african-countries-with-the-highest-inflation-rates-in-2021/jwn88vs">8 African countries with the highest inflation rates </a>

In terms of outlook, the IMF expressed uncertainty. Apparently, there is a possibility that food inflation could moderate if the pandemic-induced global supply chain disruptions are resolved and commodity prices ease up. Otherwise, food inflation could continue to rise, especially if 'inflation expectations become de-anchored'.

The report concluded by noting that high food inflation could potentially worsen the food insecurity already being faced by most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. And as always, this will disproportionately affect the poorest of the poor in these countries. The IMF also recommended a number of solutions towards addressing the problem, including social assistance, access to finance for farmers, dismantling trade barriers, provision of improved seeds, insecticides and fertilisers, etc.

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Editor's Note: Do note that as at the time the IMF published the report, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict had yet to escalate to its current level. This is why it was not included as a major causative factor.

Nigeria, Ghana, other countries in SSA are most likely to experience worsened food insecurity as food inflation soars -IMF

Nigeria, Ghana, other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa could experience worsened food insecurity as food inflation soars -IMF

According to California-based mobile marketing analytics firm, AppsFlyer, eCommerce in Sub-Saharan Africa witnessed considerable growth in 2021. There was a 55% increase in online retail spending, even as the volume of downloads and installation of eCommerce apps on Android and iOS also grew, standing at 55% and 32%, respectively.

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These are very interesting indicators for Africa's rather nascent eCommerce ecosystem. Even more interesting is the fact that the growth trajectory is expected to continue, due to certain factors. According to Statista, some of these factors are:

<ul><li>Africa's tech-savvy young population</li><li>Africa's rapidly growing internet penetration and</li><li>The availability of widespread digital payment startups that are enabling eCommerce on the continent.</li></ul>

It is, perhaps, not very surprisingly that majority of the leading eCommerce companies in Africa are located in some of the continent's major economies –South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. Daniel Junowicz, the Regional VP for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Appsflyer, said this during an interview:

"Basically, we have seen the growth come in from three main countries in Africa. We've seen South Africa growing really nice, Nigeria and Kenya. These three countries are leading the way."

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Here are the top 5 biggest eCommerce in Africa according to Statista

Let us now take a closer look at the top five biggest eCommerce companies across Africa. Note that the main metrics used for selecting these top five eCommerce platforms are mainly their website traffic and engagement, as reported by Statista. The report is dated 2021.

<ol><li>Jumia: According to Statista, Jumia received the largest web traffic in 2021 compared to all the other eCommerce platform in Africa. The company's monthly visits during the period under review was reported at 23.3 million.</li><li>Takealot.com: This South African e-commerce platform is the second most visited eCommerce platform in Africa, with an average monthly visit of 10.5 million.</li><li>Konga: This Lagos-based e-commerce platform is the next one on the list. Data tracked by Statista put the number of monthly website visits to the Konga website at 2.3 million.</li><li>Bidorbuy.co.za: This is another South African eCommerce company. The platform recorded an average of 1.9 million unique visitors per month during the period under review.</li><li>Zando.co.za: Lastly on this list is yet another South African eCommerce platform whose monthly traffic stood at 570, 000, as of 2021.</li></ol>

Top 5 biggest eCommerce startups in Sub-Saharan Africa

Although investments into Africa’s burgeoning tech ecosystem have been on the rise recently, startups owned by female founders have only been able to get a fraction of all the funds. This is according to a report by Briter Bridges titled “In Search of Equity: Exploring Africa’s Gender Gap in Startup Financing”.

The report, which was prepared in collaboration with the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL), found major disparities between male and female owned startups in Africa. Let’s bring you all the details.

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Disproportionate funding of female-led African tech startups

After analysing the funding deals that have taken place between 2013 and 2021, the report found that only 3% of all the billions that were invested into African startups went to female-owned startups. On the flip side, 76% of the total funding during the 8-year period went to startups led by all-male teams. The report noted that this is disproportionately small.

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3 Factors responsible for the disparities

The report observed that female tech startup founders are noticeably fewer in certain subsectors like the fintech space, which is known to attract the most investments. There are more male founders competing with fewer female founders.

As a matter of fact, the few available female tech founders typically prefer to operate in sub-sectors like edtech and healthtech which do not receive a lot of attention from investors. But then again, even when female founders operate in sub-sectors that are under the investment radar of venture capital firms and other angel investors, they are still less likely to attract any funding compared to their male counterparts.

Image showing the data sample methodology used by Briter Bridges for the report

Image showing the data sample methodology used by Briter Bridges for the report. Image credit: Briter Bridges

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Another factor responsible for the disparity in funding is that male and female founders typically choose different financing routes. For instance, the report found that female founders are likely to pitch for equity investments, unlike their male counterparts. Instead, female founders are more inclined to seek bank loans. Unfortunately, they hardly get any loans from the banks. Meanwhile, startups with all-male teams are most likely to attract both equity and debt financing.

The report also revealed that female startup founders are less confident in both their ability to pitch to investors and in their startups’ ability to grow. According to the report, this confidence gap exists even though a lot of the female founders are more educated than their male counterparts and even have better professional experiences.

“The ecosystem has been dominated by men for many years. The number of women involved in the tech startup ecosystem is small, and that is even possible because there has recently been a lot of push towards educating more African women in STEM courses. We decided to really try and put out the numbers because the idea of this report is to try to inform more policy-making, more public and private enterprise engagement and more funding for female tech entrepreneurs,” said the Founder of Briter Bridges, Dario Guiliani, while explaining the report during an interview.

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&nbsp;Some important points that were raised by the report

<ul><li>Why are female founders less likely to seek equity? Is it because they prefer to grow organically or because equity investors do not serve their needs adequately?</li><li>What role does gender bias play in fundraising in the African context? Some of the female founders that were surveyed for the report said gender bias is at play.</li><li>The report concluded by noting that while it’s important to encourage the establishment of more female-led tech startups, it’s also equally as important to support female-led tech ventures which already exist.</li></ul>

H1 2021 Private equity investments in Africa exceeded analysts' expectations

A lady presents investment figures at a boardroom (Credit: Freepik)

3 reasons why female-led African tech startups are still underfunded by investors -report

Ever wondered how much it would cost you to live comfortably in another city different from yours? The cost of living index could help you with the answer, as it compares the expected average costs of basic necessities such as food, clothing, entertainment and healthcare, etc., across cities.

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"The cost of living is the amount of money needed to cover basic expenses such as housing, food, taxes, and healthcare in a certain place and time period. The cost of living is often used to compare how expensive it is to live in one city versus another. The cost of living is tied to wages. If expenses are higher in a city, such as New York, for example, salary levels must be higher so that people can afford to live in that city," explains Investopedia.