Sectors

INM confirms it's sale of South African arm

2012-07-16T08:57:10Z

The Irish media group Independent News & Media (INM) has confirmed the potential sale of its South African publishing business.

INM, which has struggled with debts of €426m over the last few years, has appointed advisers Hawpoint and Investec to work towards a sale of its South African arm, which has been valued at €250m. The group, which publishes Pretoria News and The Cape Times, counts for a third of INM’s revenue and half its operating profit.

The group run a number of publications in Ireland, Northern Ireland and South Africa, and hold a significant stake in the publishing and advertising group APN News and Media Ltd, which is the largest regional publisher in Australia. It has a revenue of €558 million and employs approximately 2,900 people worldwide.

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It is believed that INM is making the sale in order to minimise its debt. Likely buyers of the business would include the South African conglomerates Shanduka Investment Holdings, and Sekunjalo investment holdings.

A spokesman for INM told The Financial Times: “INM continues to assess a range of strategic options to deleverage its balance sheet. These include cost reduction and productivity initiatives which are progressing well. No divestment decisions have been taken by the board.”

INM is expected to begin talks with bankers later this year to refinance its debt, which matures in 2012, 2013 and 2014: “INM has debt maturing over the next three years with a key tranche worth €350m maturing in May 2014 and it will have to refinance well in advance of that date,” Gavin Kelleher, analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers told the press.

Will Coal of Africa Heed Mpumalanga Warning or Is Business Up in Smoke?

2010-11-03T01:35:52Z

The Mooiplaats coal project in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa has come under criticism from authorities which has led to a demand that Coal of Africa Limited cleans up practices of “unauthorized” activities.

Coal of Africal Limited (CoAL) was sent a document last week from the Mpumalanga Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in an effort to get the company to stop activities that are proving to be environmentally harmful.

Some of these incidents include a lack of a pollution-control dam and the way different wastes are disposed of at the Mooiplaats facility.

Deputy director of enforcement, Pamela Ntuli, said she has been trying to get a hold of Coal of Africa Limited to assess whether or not they’ve changed, but with no success. The letter was sent, and that gave CoAL 24 hours to clean it up from the time the document was received.

Today, either one of two things will happen: either a compliance document will be issued or arrests will be made to company officials. Ntuli did ask CoAL to appoint an independent environmental practitioner within two weeks to create a new business plan for the colliery.

Mpumalanga accounts for 83% of South Africa’s coal production, which is a large portion of the country’s output. However, coal mining is not the most environmentally friendly industry in the world. That being said, it’s vital for companies involved to do whatever’s necessary in being as conscious as possible in what they’re doing.

Nokia releases Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria, next emerging market

2010-11-02T19:15:00Z

Mobile phone giant Nokia may not have the smartphone lineup of say an Apple or a Research in Motion, but what Nokia does have is a business plan that allows it to be the largest phone manufacturer in the world.

Nokia isn’t necessarily concerned with competing with the iPhone or BlackBerry. It instead makes a concerted effort in the emerging markets of the world, which ultimately holds true to the underlining Nokia theme to put a mobile phone in everyone’s pocket across the globe.

And just recently, Nokia announced what it called a ‘milestone’ when it released that it will bring its life information application called Ovi Life Tools to Nigeria, where there is currently a rapid subscriber growth. The Nigerian release follows successful releases in emerging markets Indonesia, India and China and it will allow Nokia a clear portal into the rest of Africa, which may be the one of the largest emerging markets of all.

Ovi Life Tools will let Nigerians users learn English, inform mothers of how to best take care of their children, and tells farmers what’s the best crop to grow and when and how much to sell the crop they’ve just harvested. There are many other services, including entertainment in the forms of jokes and daily horoscopes.

In Nigeria, Ovi Life Tools will be available on the Nokia 2690 and on the Nokia C1-01 through two of Nigeria’s largest operators Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile. It will be available in three languages across Nigeria: English, Hausa and Pidgin English.

For Nokia, the release in Nigeria will allow it to further expand its Ovi Life Tools application, which is an application that already has 6.3 million users. When Nokia charges about a dollar per month to run these applications, you can see one avenue where Nokia turns significant profits.

If you have 6.3 million people paying 12 dollars per year in application fees, then that’s close to 76 million dollars.

And when the No. 1 mobile manufacturer shipped out 110.4 million mobile units for the 3Q10 alone, it’s dizzying trying to think about the profits. Check out more coverage of third quarter mobile phone profits and shipments here: Mobile.

So, while it’s clear that Apple and RIM might be ‘cooler’ options, Nokia is still the top dog. And it certainly has the bite to back up its bark.

Large Solar Farm in South Africa Could Mean Brighter Future

2010-10-26T21:12:53Z

In a country where one in six people lack electricity, there comes a point where something has to be done to help the population.

Aid is on the way as South Africa has unveiled plans to build the world’s largest solar power plant. Not only is this a big step to get more people power, it’s a new greener way to produce energy – South Africa has been heavily coal-dependent.

Across the Northern Cape province of South Africa, giant mirrors and solar panels will be littered to collect sunlight from a region that is one of the sunniest in the world and has little cloud cover.

The project itself will cost up to £18.4 billion to build, and by the end of the first ten years, the country hopes to produce an annual output of five gigawatts of electricity – one tenth of South Africa’s energy needs.

Undeniable is the environmental impact. South Africa houses the continent’s largest economy and much of that economy relies on coal-powered fire stations which draws harsh criticisms – most recently World Bank in April after approving a loan to build one of the world’s biggest coal-fired power plants.

Later this week in Upington, about 200 foreign and domestic investors will meet with US engineering and construction group Fluor. The development comes after a study by the Clinton Climate Initiative called South Africa’s solar resources as one of the best in the world.

An introductory 9,000 hectares of land owned by the state has been set aside for the park. Hopefully, the new plant will help keep South Africa greener as the country already consumes 45-48 GW of power per year via coal energy.

Who will protect African business from the Internet?

2010-09-23T23:13:13Z

Symantec helps companies with internet security and management and a new partnership with Internet Solutions will bring increased security to African businesses.

Announced earlier this week and reported by IT News Africa, the partnership is a strategic partnership that brings Symantec’s security SaaS services to Internet Solutions, and more importantly it provides the security and management company a primary route into the South African network, with the potential to expand across the continent.

Using the points of presence Internet Solutions already has across the continent will allow Symantec to increase its presence in the region.

By leverage sales its sales force and channel strength to expand across the continent, Symantec believes it is capable of being the primary security and management provider in Africa.

Symantec’s hosted security solutions that will be made available to IS clients include Symantec’s MessageLabs Hosted Email AntiSpam and AntiVirus, MessageLabs Hosted Email Encryption, and MessageLabs Hosted Email Archiving.

“Increasingly, clients are looking to us to provide them with an integrated suite of IT solutions that are easy to implement and require little or no IT resources to manage. They want us to be their trusted advisor and supply the very best technology and performance available globally,” said Hayden Lamberti, Internet Solutions. “Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions present instant benefits to our clients and Symantec’s MessageLabs hosted security solutions offer a broad range of relevant services including email archiving, with rigorous service level agreements, to provide additional confidence and performance assurance.”

Email threats and spam volumes have skyrocketed in recent times, Symantec’s research found that the spam rate in South Africa in August was 91.3% of all email and 1 in every 62.5 emails in South Africa contained a virus.

“There seem to be two major factors affecting the email-borne virus activity in South Africa, firstly the roll out of high-speed internet connectivity over the course of last year; and secondly the recent Fifa World Cup that attracted the attention of scammers and malware authors around the world,” said Jesper Frederiksen, Vice President Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The Symantec portfolio of SaaS solutions will be made available to IS clients in early 2011, with the Messagelabs email filtering and archiving solutions, forming the foundation layer of the IS Hosted UC offerings.

Source: IT News Africa

Kenya innovator wins Sh80 million in Nokia competition

2010-09-21T00:21:57Z

A Kenyan innovator took home a cool Sh80 million after delivering the most innovative idea for an application at the international Nokia World and Developer Summit in London earlier this week.

John Waibochi, the Managing Director of Virtual City ltd, won the Nokia Calling All Innovators Award after holding off still competition from Pakistan, China, UK and India as well as other leading countries.

Waibochi won with his company’s submission, the Mobile Distributor Solution—an application that improves the distribution efficiencies for small and micro enterprises in the consumer goods market.

He receives the SH80 million in venture capital investment, and gets a commitment of support from Nokia to help his idea become a reality.

The Mobile Distributer System aims to boost the profitability of small and micro-businesses by increasing the number of transactions as well as improving inventory management, the accuracy of records and reporting from the field, according to a report.

Developers in the competition were required to submit their best idea for a new mobile product or solution designed to improve the lives of people in the developing world.

Judges looked for one idea that was ultimately better than the rest. They wanted an idea that either changes the way people use Nokia mobile devices, demonstrates how mobility can radically improve the lives of people who reside in areas where the average income is under US$5 per day, or recognises a good business opportunity that also contributes to “doing good” in the world.

Nokia’s global developer programme, Forum Nokia, connects developers to tools, technical information, support and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe.

From offices in the US, Europe, India, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical business development to support developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises.

Source: ITNewsAfrica

African Progress Panel releases progress report to UN

2010-09-19T23:59:50Z

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called world leaders to a summit today in New York City to monitor the progress of achieving the Millennium Development Goals set by the UN in 2000.

With a 2015 deadline looming on the horizon, Ki-moon knows the importance of finding out what the kind of support—and to what extent—is needed if the UN is to realistically meet the goals set ten years ago.

Goals range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education. It forms a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.

The African Progress Panel is doing everything it can to inform the UN.

A few days ago on September 17, the African Progress Panel published a resource guide highlighting the critical necessity of achieving the full participation and empowerment of women and girls in all aspects of political, economic and social life in order to achieve goals, according to a press release.

The guide, “Women and the MDGs in Africa”, is a new resource for policy-makers, presenting key statistics and insights alongside the most important reports and best practice examples. Bringing important information into one place, the guide aims to mobilise action and contribute to better informed decision-making, according to the release.

Speaking shortly ahead of the Summit, Kofi Annan, the Chair of the Africa Progress Panel, said: “The Millennium Development Goals have already improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people, but we are still far from achieving what we set out to do in 2000. Much more can be done to mobilise private and public sector resources for public goods and services, and to put investment in jobs and people at the heart of growth and development strategies. Several important donors have already scaled back on their commitments or relaxed their development efforts. The Goals do not need fair-weather friends, but serious investors in for the long haul.”

The guide shows that:

MDG 1: End Poverty and Hunger

“Poverty alleviation strategies that fail to target girls and women have little to no chance of success in Africa.”

• Eight out of ten women workers are in vulnerable employment in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The eradication of gender discrimination is one of the key ways to increase the supply of food in Africa.”

• African women produce more 20% more than men. However women own 1% of the land and receive only 1% of all agricultural credit

MDG 2: Universal Education

“Providing girls with access to education at both primary and secondary levels support progress on all the Goals.”

Educating a girl means that:

• She will be three times less likely to get HIV/AIDS
• She will earn up to 25% more in income, out of which she will invest up to 90% in her family
• She will have a smaller, healthier family with children who are 40% more likely to live past the age of five

MDG 3: Gender Equality

“Empowering women has a multiplying effect on all development aspects and should be a priority at all levels and sectors.”

• Educated women are less likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth and more likely to send their children to school (UNICEF)

MDG 4: Child Health

“Most of under-five child deaths are preventable if women had better knowledge of when to seek for help combined with a better access to basic healthcare.”

• Africa’s under-five child deaths account for 51% of the total number of child deaths in the world

MDG 5: Maternal Health

“Maternal health is a rights and a public health issue. But it is more than that. Women are important economic drivers and their health is critical to long-term sustainable economic development in Africa.”

• Almost 75% of women in Africa who die in childbirth would be alive if they had access to the interventions for preventing pregnancy and birth complications

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria

“Globally, the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 15 to 44 years is HIV/AIDS.”

• Directly and indirectly, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria severely affect the health of women and children: Together, HIV, TB and malaria directly cause 1.1 million deaths a year among women aged 15 to 59 and 1.2 million deaths among children aged 0 to 4

MDG 7: Environmental Sustainability

“Climate change has numerous impacts on women such as increased household work burden and time spent on gathering water, food and fuel, exposure to contaminated water sources, loss of traditional land tenure and forced migration.”

• In West Africa, the proportion of urban population living in slums has decreased from 80% in 2001 to 64% in 2005

MDGs 8: Global Partnerships

“It would be both deeply counterproductive and a breach of faith if countries relax their commitment to the Goals”

• As a result of debt relief, between 2001 and 2008 and (post-decision HIPCs) poverty-reducing expenditure has increased from 6.5 billion to 26.7 billion

IBM and Bharti Airtel announce partnership in Africa

2010-09-19T23:09:31Z

IBM and Bharti Airtel recently announced a joint operation that will transform the emerging African mobile communications market, effectively bringing support to 2G and 3G mobile services in the 16 African countries that Bharti Airtel currently operates, according to an IBM press release. It is a 10-year agreement that will help Bharti Airtel offer cutting-edge IT technology to enhance the efficiency of its customers, employers and business partners in Africa. The support will facilitate Bharti Airtel’s goal of bringing affordable and innovative mobile services to remote locations in Africa. Under the planned agreement, IBM will consolidate 16 different IT environments across Bharti Airtel's African operations into an integrated IT system and will oversee the management of all of the applications, data center operations, servers, storage and desktop services, according to the release. In addition, IBM will “deploy advanced technologies created by IBM Research, including the Spoken Web—a voice-enabled Internet technology that allows users to access and share information simply by talking over an existing telephone,” the release said. This new technology is particularly compelling for populations with little or no literacy, visual impairments, or which lack access to PCs. Bharti Airtel hopes to impact the speed of economic development in the surfacing African market by joining forces with IBM. The deal comes after Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading business groups, used IBM in its home country and saw the number of subscribers spike from 6 million users to nearly 25 million users today. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said in the press release: "There are huge opportunities throughout Africa to transform how people communicate and how communities interact. Delivering on that opportunity through affordable mobile communications for everyone is our focus. "We are delighted to extend our successful relationship with IBM in South Asia to Africa. This transformational business delivery model, which will be a first in Africa's telecom industry, will bring enhanced efficiencies to our operations and help us deliver world-class mobile services to our customers,” Mittal also said in the release. The move also helps fortify IBM’s mantra of ‘building a smarter planet’. Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM, said in the release: “We have achieved great success together in India, and now we are bringing that model to Africa. By building a 21st century telecommunications infrastructure for the continent – in effect, treating all of Africa as a system of systems – we expect to help spark transformation not just in communications but across all sectors of society – empowering businesses, governments and individual citizens to connect, innovate and achieve economic growth."

G-Mobile puts up cash for cell contract in Malawi

2010-09-07T19:49:58Z

G-Mobile will become the third cellular operator in Malawi after agreeing to invest $150 million into its network operations over the next three years. The contract was signed earlier this week and includes plans for the construction of 22 network sites that are predicted to be fully functional by the end of the year.

G-Mobile, which is owned by Beryl Telecom, will focus its efforts on bringing cell service to rural areas and a more dependable network for urban neighborhoods.
G-Mobile was awarded the contract in 2009 after the government delivered a call-to-action for a third cellular provider to step forward.

“Since (2009), we’ve been securing finance and identifying strategic partners,” said Tatenda Makawa, an executive at Beryl Telecom, in a report on ITnewsAfrica.com. “We have now partnered with Telkom Managed Services, a division of Telkom South Africa to manage the network, ZTE as manufacturers of telecoms equipment and Weiss and Appetito to supply the environmental infrastructure.”

AfricaCom

The next stage of growth for the entire state of African telecommunications will be the main topic of discussion at the 13th annual AfricaCom in Cape Town, South Africa.

Set for November 10 and 11, AfricaCom promises to include “strategic keynote addresses” and the latest telecom solutions and technologies. More than 350 telecom companies will be in attendance and there will be a host of specific forums for attendees.

The conference programme includes 8 special focus sessions, 4 strategic keynotes, a separate 2-day conference dedicated to Capacity & Wholesale, a pre-event seminar and breakfast briefing. Attendees will hear from over 40 operators and 25 at the Cx0 level.

“It’s big on content, interactivity and networking opportunities and most of all it’s big on decision-making attendees,” asserts AfricaCom on its official website.

The London School's plan for South Africa

2010-09-06T23:24:52Z

The triple-accredited London School of Business and Finance is expanding into South Africa as reports of a new campus opening in Johannesburg were made on Monday.

One of the top business-centered institutions in the world, the London School of Business and Finance announced its plan to partner with the South African-based WOW Group in an attempt to recruit elite talent for the school.

The London School of Business and Finance is recognised by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the Association of MBAs and the European Quality Improvement System, and its Masters of Business Administration degree was 19th in this year’s Financial Times Online MBA listings.

Since the school relies on online teaching modules, the program is ever-changing, flexible, and most importantly, cost-effective. It also has an immense international exchange programme with over 30 partner schools.

It is the London School’s partnership with the WOW Group, though, that is a sure sign that the school wants to tap into the future business leaders of Africa and those wishing to attain higher education. The curriculum is also guaranteed to be geared specifically towards the business issues pertaining to Africa.

“Very few try to understand the fabric of doing business in Africa. There are huge cultural differences across the nations … (you) need local expertise,” School CEO Aaron Etingen said, as it was reported on AllAfrica.com.

The Wow Group is focused primarily on transforming the state of South African business education. Its Corporate Learning & Development division recognises the importance of building business and providing integrated learning solutions in South Africa.

The WOW Group is also a certified member of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment program and believes it is a vehicle for change.

“We change the world because we are crazy enough to believe we can,” the WOW Group website says.

Sudan Power Going Nuclear in 2020

2010-09-06T23:16:57Z

The Sudanese government recently announced its plan to build the country’s first nuclear reactor and a forthcoming nuclear power plant in 2020, the state news agency SUNA reported.

The plans will bring a secure and peaceful power option to a country where large divisions lack basic infrastructure, including electricity. Sudan currently ranks 116th in the world in electricity production, which is par for the course against neighboring countries Kenya (113th) and Ethiopia (121st).

The bulk of Sudan’s power currently comes from dams built along the Blue and White Niles. But the energy strategy has turned nuclear and a four-reactor power plant is now on the horizon.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa and the sixth most populous with over 41 million people. The power-generation puzzle has long beset the region, but there is now a solution that reflects long-term industry growth.

Director-general of the Sudanese Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed Ahmed Hassen el-Tayeb was quoted by SUNA.

“The Ministry of Electricity and Dams has already started preparing for the project to produce power from nuclear energy in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and is expected to build the first nuclear power plant in year 2020,” he said in the release.

The IAEA works with countries all over the world to help support nuclear power and it recently estimated that there will be 10 to 25 new nuclear power plants online around the globe by 2030.

Nuclear power is an extremely viable option for Africa. In particular, the renewed energy strategy in Sudan can be directly linked to the oil-driven economy boom.
Oil production—Sudan pumps out nearly 490,000 barrels per day—and high prices have lifted the once war-torn economy. The GDP growth in Sudan between 2007 and 2009 reflected an 11.1 percent increase.

Sudan has planned for many other industry overhauls in conjunction with its power ones, including in the agricultural industry where 80 percent of the Sudanese labor force is.

Vodacom Releases M-PESA (Cell phone banking) in SA

2010-09-03T00:02:49Z

Cell phones today can do just about everything.

And thanks to a new cell phone service, South Africans can now add debit card/banking account to the list.

Vodacom and Nedbank recently unveiled their M-PESA service, a revolutionary cell phone service that allows people to store money on their cell phones and transfer it across the country with the touch of a button.

Developed by the Vodafone Group, M-PESA makes it easy to transfer money from person-to-person using only their cell phones. It is widely considered the best answer to combat the nearly 13 million South Africans that do not have active bank accounts to store funds.

Experts predict success for the M-PESA service, as almost 10 million people have already adopted it in Kenya.

“There are other cell phone banking products and money transfer services out there, but there quite simply is nothing like M-PESA,” said Vodacom Group CEO, Pieter Uys in a press release. “The beauty of this service is the ease and speed with which people can send money to each other anywhere in the country.”
It is designed to also include those who do not have access to bank accounts.

How Does It Work?
Funds can be transferred onto any Vodacom cell phone at M-PESA outlets so it’s like having instant cash or a debit card in your hand. At outlets, customers register for the service and deposit money into their M-PESA account. Once customers have money in their account, they can send it to any other cell phone in South Africa. The recipient can then redeem the cash at any of the M-PESA outlets or at a Nedbank ATM. The service is available to anyone, however, as you do not have to be a Vodacom or Nedbank member to receive M-PESA. It has the power to reach all cell phone users in the country.

And you can bet it sure beats stashing money underneath your mattress.

Tullow Oil Has an Elephant Named ‘Jubilee' in Ghana

2010-09-02T23:44:04Z

Lions may rule the jungle, but in the oil and gas industry, the elephant is king.

That’s because oil fields that are believed to hold a billion barrels or more of recoverable reserves are called “elephants”. When explorers come across one of these giant fields, it’s a big deal...pretty much like the first time you saw Titanic.

In Ghana, Tullow Oil plc stumbled across one of these so-called elephants about three years ago and it proved to be the discovery of the second largest field in the world with over 1.8 billion barrels of crude oil in the underwater reserve, according to a press release
.
Named Jubilee (It even sounds like an elephant’s name), the projected pump date for the field is either November or December and Tullow Oil predicts that it will pump 120,000 barrels per day in the months immediately following production start-up.

It is outstanding news for a company that already turned out stellar first-half results in 2010, according to reports.

Tullow Oil reported an 11 percent sales revenue increase in the first half—$486 million versus $439 million at this time last year— and things are looking up with Jubilee’s production date looming just over the horizon.

And while production decreased six percent this year compared to the first-half numbers from 2009, the production will surely spike when Jubilee begins pumping.]

Tullow Oil also aligned interests to accelerate the development of the Lake Albert Rift basin in Uganda, where it hopes to turn out 200,000 barrels per day by 2014-2015. Tullow and Ugandan officials, however, have recently disputed certain contract negotiations and agreements so it remains to be seen what will happen.

But for now Tullow Oil is delivering just one message: Open those floodgates, baby.

“Our exploration and development programs are delivering excellent results with significant new oil discoveries being made in both Ghana and Uganda and first oil from Jubilee expected before year-end. With the balance sheet strengthened...and the expected proceedings from the Uganda farm-down, we will be very well funded to pursue our exploration-led growth strategy,” said Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive of Tullow Oil in a press release.

Sept 2-4: African Green Revolution Forum in Accra

2010-09-02T02:23:11Z

Welcome drums were a-thumping and agricultural giants were a-rising. And just like that, the tone was set for the inaugural African Green Revolution Forum at the Accra International Conference Centre in Ghana.

It‘s “not a conference, not a seminar, but a call to action,” boasted a sponsored Twitter account Thursday during the opening proceedings of the sold-out forum.
The ‘call to action’ brought together nearly 800 delegates including African heads of state, ministers, farmers, private agribusiness, financial institutions, civil society and scientist to discuss the possibility of a green revolution in Africa’s agricultural productivity.

The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) piggybacks off of a similar conference in Oslo, Norway where officials met to discuss the future of agriculture, particularly the necessary investments and the support it would take from policy makers to achieve green sustainability.

Day One (September 2) at the AGRF saw Kofi Annan, Chairman of the AGRF Board and former Secretary General of the United Nations deliver the opening address and Mizengo Pinda, Prime Minister of Tanzania and noted ‘agricultural giant’, also deliver opening remarks.

Day Two and Three will be highlighted by discussions concerning agricultural growth corridors and the measures for an expansive green revolution in Africa.

Click here to follow the AGRF on Twitter.

New Kenyan Booze Law: Last Orders for EABL?

2010-09-02T00:45:25Z

Kenyan-based brewing power East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) was given about a week to relish in its reported 10 percent profit hike from the latest fiscal year before the attention turned to President Kibaki and his promise to reform Kenya’s beverage industry. East African Breweries, which is owned by UK’s Diageo plc, saw net profits soar to Sh8.8 billion this year—up from 8.2 billion. EABL currently dominates Kenya’s prominent liquor market, which reportedly rakes in Sh42 billion, according to a press release. The Alcohol Control Bill signed into law on September 1, however, is a significant step by the Kenyan government to regulate the industry and open the markets. The new law lifts the ban on the production, sale and consumption of all traditional brews in Kenya. That means that the low-income markets, the same ones that in the past rejected pricey, mainstream drinks for unregulated and sometimes deadly ones, will have governmentally-regulated options. The law also bans billboards and other media campaigns for alcoholic beverages as well as a vending ban within a 300 meter radius of learning institutions. The result will likely change the landscape of Kenya’s economy, forcing the closure of thousands of bars and spirits and wine shops in the area. But EABL should take the news with a grain of salt. They reported a 14 percent increase in the consumption of its low-price Senator Beer last year and recently completed a fully operational Senator keg line that pumps out 480 barrels per hour, according to a press release. For EABL, Senator Beer targets the “[L]ower end of the market that has fallen prey to illicit beers,” according to the release. There is steady consumption in Kenya, where EABL reported 70 percent of its revenue is generated. Net sales in the country also rose from Sh34.4 billion to 37.9 billion.