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Financing

26 July 2013, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Local and international financial market products and services update. NIGERIA: Nigeria’s neighbour Ghana, plans…

BG earnings slip

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26 July 2013 – BG Group saw earnings dip during the second quarter of the year as revenue fell on…

AfDB approves $45m grant for creation of Pan African University

Financing

TUNIS, Tunisia, July 26, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) (http://www.afdb.org) Board of Executive Directors approved on Wednesday, July 24 an African Development Fund (ADF) grant of US $ 45 million to support the creation of a Pan African University (PAU). The new university consisting of five Pan African Institutes will focus mainly on science, technology and innovation.

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The new university would be a groundbreaking step in strengthening higher education and building human capital in Africa. Africa has been slow to develop its science and technology sectors and commercialize its innovations. Currently the best African university ranks just 113th globally. Of the 400 top universities worldwide, only four are in Africa, all of which are in the Republic of South Africa. Also, while Africa accounts for 13.4 per cent of the world’s people, it produces only 1.1 per cent of world scientific knowledge

The PAU will establish an academic network of already existing post-graduate and research institutions intended to serve all African countries. Consisting of five thematic institutes based in East, West, Central, North and Southern Africa the PAU will deliver programs in:

1. Basic sciences, technology and innovation (East Africa)

2. Earth and life sciences including health and agriculture (West Africa)

3. Governance, humanities and social sciences (Central Africa)

4. Water and energy sciences including climate change (North Africa)

5. Space sciences (Southern Africa)

“Thousands of students all over Africa will benefit from this project. This is truly an amazing regional effort to help African universities achieve world-class status. It will increase the pool of African scientists and researchers not only to serve the needs of the continent but to help youth become competitive in international labour markets,” said Agnes Soucat, Director of the Human Development Department, AfDB.

The project will contribute to the skills needed by African countries to add value to their natural resources and enhance competitiveness and youth employment contributing to the AfDB’s overall objectives of inclusive and green growth. The PAU is also major step towards establishing the African Higher Education and Research Space by contributing to: (i) Efficient regional higher education governance system; (ii) Improved quality of higher education at the regional level creating strong links with the labour market; (iii) equitable access to quality higher education in science, technology and engineering fields; and (iv) increased number of institutions achieving world-class status.

This project will also help set up the governance structure of the PAU at central and country levels as well as academic and research capacity. The first three three PAU thematic institutes will be based in Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon:

1. PAU Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (Kenya)

2. PAU Institute for Life and Earth Sciences (Nigeria)

3. PAU Institute for Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (Cameroon).

This important operation is a response to a request from the African Union for technical assistance and financial resources for the design and operation of a network of hubs of excellence in higher education to help meet the need for education, training and research in five key areas of African development.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

For more information:

Michel Guedegbe, Task Manager: [email protected]

Background

Africa has only 35 scientists and engineers per million inhabitants, compared with 168 for Brazil, 2,457 for Europe and 4,103 for the United States. Shortage of skills has been a major constraint to Africa’s progress in science, technology and innovation. Due to low investment in research and development, Africa ranks low in global competitiveness and productivity. African students tend to opt for economics, business, law and social sciences rather than science, engineering and technology, hampering the continent’s competitiveness and growth. The result is a mismatch between skills produced and private sector jobs.

This project is in line with the Bank’s newly approved Ten Year Strategy for 2013-2022 and responds to the Regional Integration and Skills and Technology Core Operational Priorities of the Bank’s 2013-2022 Strategy. It also addresses the strategy’s areas of special emphasis such as Gender and Food Security. It is also fully in line with the Bank’s draft Human Capital Strategy and New Education Model in Africa (NEMA).

About the ADF:

Established in 1972, the African Development Fund (ADF) is the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group. ADF contributes to economic and social development in 40 low-income African countries by providing concessional loans and grants for projects and programs, as well as technical assistance for analytical work and capacity-building activities. ADF loans are interest-free; however, the loans carry a service charge of 0.75 per cent per annum on outstanding balances, and a commitment fee of 0.50 per cent per annum on undisbursed commitments. Project loans have a 50-year repayment period, including a 10-year grace period.

Development: 5 African Presidents, business leaders advocate increased private-sector participation

Financing

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of the Congo, July 25, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — At the second annual Forbes Afrique Economic summit, Presidents Denis Sassou N’Guesso of Congo, Macky Sall of Senegal, John Mahama of Ghana, Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso and Jacob Zuma of South Africa all highlighted the importance of private-sector participation in Africa’s development.

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Picture: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/dsc_0788.jpg

The summit, which focused on infrastructure and the emergence of an African middle class, was attended by global leaders from the private, public and philanthropic sectors including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former prime minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt, former US Ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, President of the leading opposition party in France, the UMP’s Jean-Francois Copé, as well as African business leaders Tony Elumelu, Patrice Motsepe and Louis Ebata.

The tone was set by President Denis Sassou N’Guesso, who highlighted the need for African countries to create more policies to support what he called ‘a powerful emergence of Africa’s middle class’ who would create a better future for Africa. Macky Sall, President of Senegal, expanded on the four critical pillars that would drive this ‘better future’, citing education and training of human capital, modernised and mechanized agriculture, affordable energy and an adequate network of infrastructure as key drivers.

Advocating for increased private-sector participation in driving the development agenda, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana warned against an overreliance on government when he said, “Government cannot leverage the sort of finance that is needed to create enough power in Africa.”

In his speech, President Campaoré of Burkina Faso acknowledged business leader and philanthropist Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of pan-African proprietary investment company Heirs Holdings (http://www.heirsholdings.com), for his efforts to drive Africa’s development by investing across the continent.

During the panel session on “Supporting growth through investment”, which featured the two most high-profile private-sector leaders in attendance, Elumelu and South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, Elumelu commended the five African leaders for their strong belief in the power of the private sector as a catalyst and driver of development – the essence of his Africapitalist philosophy which other leaders, including President Obama, appear to have embraced.

Elumelu outlined the terms under which the private sector’s involvement would yield the greatest impact, highlighting long-term investments and infrastructure development as key focus areas.”Short-term investments in Africa simply don’t make an impact. It took close to two decades to get United Bank for Africa to where it is today – employing 25,000 people in 19 African countries. African leaders need to ensure the right physical and policy infrastructure is in place to support the growth of more successful pan-African businesses.” said Elumelu.

Capital such as the USD40 trillion dollars ex-US Ambassador Andrew Young called ‘scared money’, currently sitting in tax havens around the world and which could be put to better use in developing Africa.

Kofi Annan described Africa as a continent going through “momentous times”, highlighting ‘energy’ and ‘infrastructure’ as the two biggest impediments to development. He listed the three pillars of peace and security, economic development, and the rule of law and respect for human rights, as the solution for Africa’s economic success.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of Heirs Holdings.

For more information:

Moky Makura

Heirs Holdings

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +234-1-277-4641

About Heirs Holdings

Heirs Holdings is a pan-African proprietary investment company driving Africa’s development. We are active long-term investors who specialise in building businesses and corporate turnaround. We aim to transform the companies in which we invest and grow them into businesses that last. We invest in Africa to create value for our shareholders and partners, and to create economic prosperity and social wealth for the continent. Our investments in power, financial services, oil and gas, real estate and hospitality, agri-business and healthcare are helping to build economies, create jobs, drive prosperity and ultimately transform the lives of ordinary Africans in Africa.

www.heirsholdings.com

Financial market update

Financing

24 July 2013, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Local and international financial market products and services update. NIGERIA: Nigeria’s central bank slapped…