Headlines: Africa's Amazing Rise and What it Can Teach the World

The Atlantic -  The poverty mafia once controlled the development debate in Africa. No longer.

The old approach was about how to prevent Africa from getting poorer. All development goals were essentially negative, as experts wallowed in risk-aversion and promoted various doomsday scenarios of an Africa with a rapidly growing population.

The new thinking on development is to share Africa's wealth more equitably. That's right: Africa's wealth.

In 2000, when I first visited Sub-Saharan Africa, to report on the civil war in Burundi, the international community was preparing itself for a new round of development failures. Wealth was a dirty word. The influential economist Paul Collier even suggested that African countries were better off poor because wealth -- especially resources that could be sold on international markets -- inevitably fueled civil wars.

Yet at that same moment when leading development thinkers saw the most modest of futures for the sub-Saharan as a region, a diverse group of determined African technocrats -- from Ghana to Uganda, Zambia to Kenya, South Africa to Rwanda -- joined forces with technologically savvy, globally oriented capitalists to launch a quiet revolution in development thinking. In time, their changes helped lead to Africa's dramatically improved economic performance, and greater confidence in their ideas.

The economic evidence that they were right, building since the start of the new century, now seems incontrovertible. In the ten years from 2000 to 2010, six of the world's ten fastest-growing countries were in sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique, and Rwanda. In eight of the past ten years, sub-Saharan Africa has grown faster than Asia, according to The Economist. In 2012, the International Monetary Fund expects Africa to grow at a rate of 6%, about the same as Asia. Read More...

Headlines: South Africa’s Retailers Eye Bigger Chunk of Nigerian Market

This Day Live - South African retailers are defying the recent not-so-encouraging economic performance indicators from Nigeria to increase their stake in the country. The National Bureau of Statistics had last week put the inflation rate at 12.6 per cent for January, and warned over the rising level of poverty in Nigeria.

However, South African retailer Massmart said at the weekend that it plans to expand its business in Nigeria in what economic watchers attributed to the population advantage offered by the country and the ongoing innovation by the financial authorities to promote the use of payment cards for transactions.

The company, Africa's second-biggest retailer and 21 per cent owned by the US group, Walmart, which currently has two stores in Nigeria with a third under construction, says it is planning to raise the number of its stores to 20.

According to its chief executive, Grant Pattison, Massmart is ready to explore the potential in some cities. “We have identified five or six cities in Nigeria and we see the potential of between 10 and 20 Game stores.

“By all simple metrics, Nigeria has the potential to be larger than South Africa, but it has some way to go in terms of infrastructure and political stability,” Pattison was quoted by Reuters as saying, at the weekend...Read More

Headlines: Piracy increases in W Africa

News24 - Lagos -The waters off West Africa's coast, the Gulf of Guinea, are a growing source of oil and have recently seen a spike in piracy for theft of its riches, a development seen to be fuelled partly by rising crude prices.

Attacks on vessels have grown in number and scope, spreading across a broader region in what is becoming a new piracy hotspot. Vessels carrying petroleum products have been the most targeted.

As oil prices hit nine-month highs this week, the leader of the small West Africa country of Togo called on the UN Security Council to create an international group to combat piracy.

The group could be styled along the lines of one battling pirates off Somalia on the eastern side of the continent.

Governments and investors in the region are concerned...Read More

Headlines: Murray and Roberts awarded to build R1,6 billion Portside Project

SA Commercial Prop News - The principal building contract for what will be Cape Town’s tallest CBD building, the Portside co-development by FirstRand Bank and Old Mutual, has been awarded to Murray and Roberts.

Representatives of FirstRand and Old Mutual Property signed the agreement appointing Murray and Roberts for the R1,6 billion project in Cape Town o­n 13 February 2012.
FirstRand CEO, Sizwe Nxasana, says Portside is an extension of the group’s commitment to investing in the development of Cape Town and the region, providing sustainable economic stimulus and creating much-needed jobs.

In terms of a co-development and ownership agreement concluded last year, half the landmark tower, with 32 floors, will house the provincial headquarters for the three divisions of FirstRand Bank - FNB, RMB and Wesbank. The remaining 25 000m² of AAA premium grade office space will be available for leasing through Old Mutual Property from the first quarter of 2014...Read More

Headlines: China rail company inks $1.4 billion contracts in Africa

Reuters - A subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corp Ltd has signed two projects in Africa with a total contract value of 9.1 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The value of the projects, located in Nigeria and Djibouti, equates to just under 2 percent of China Railway's 2010 operating income, the company said.

China Railway has actively pursued overseas investments this year. In late November, a consortium involving China Railway and Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) announced a deal to develop an iron ore mine in Guinea.

The company is also part of a consortium of Chinese firms in talks with the Ecuadorian government on a gold mining project ...Read More

Hot Job: HR/IR Manager (Industrial Relations/Labour) - Mozambique

CA Global: Engineering has a client looking for an HR/IR Manager from a mining background with good experience in recruitment management and industrial relations. This position will be based in Mozambique.

Duties and Responsibilities include among others:
Recruitment and hiring of staff
Managing of Industrial Relations
Responsible for the fair and transparent treatment of local employees

Requirements:
Degree or equivalent qualification in Human Resources/Industrial Relations
Fluent Communication Skills in English and Portuguese is a must.
At least 8 - 10 Years experience in a human resources environment
At least 5 Years experience in a Managerial Role
Previous Experience within a mining environment
Experience in dispute resolution
Computer literacy in MS Office

If you meet these requirements and you feel that you are suitable for this position, then please send through a copy of your updated CV to Stephen Oakes: stephen@caglobalint.com

If you do not hear anything within 2 weeks after you have submitted your application, consider it to be unsuccessful.

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Headlines: Africa is an infrastructure hot spot says report

Business Live - Africa is emerging as an infrastructure hot spot with countries like SA, Nigeria, Kenya and others preparing for significant infrastructure investments.

This is according to the 2015 Infrastructure Report to be released at a gathering of the Top 100 Global Infrastructure Projects at the 5th Annual Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum later this month in London.

"Investors see Africa where Latin America was 20 years ago," authors of the report CG/LA Infrastructure said on Friday as it called on governments from developed and emerging markets - especially including countries in Latin America and Africa, and the countries of the Arab Spring - to increase infrastructure investment in order to create jobs, as well as to support the construction and engineering industries and other sectors of the global economy.

Key findings of the report included that infrastructure clusters were emerging in countries and regions including China, Brazil, Canada and Australia. Among the BRICS, India and Russia were falling behind... Read More

Headlines: As China enters Africa, new challenges emerge (Part I)

My Joy Online - China has taken its relationship with Africa to a new level by snuggling to the continental body, the African Union. It has given a concrete evidence to authenticate that relationship and provided a new $200m (£127m) AU headquarters, funded and built by it. The building was officially opened on Saturday for use by the African leaders gathered for the AU’s 18th ordinary session.

A statue of Ghana’s first President and foremost Pan-Africanist, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was also unveiled and prizes in his name awarded to two African scientists for their accomplishments. Beyond its material significance, this gift symbolizes China’s determination to make friends with Africa and opens a new chapter in the China-Africa relationship.

As observed by the BBC, the 100 meter-tall building dominates the Addis Ababa skyline and is a “testimony” to the growing relationship between China and Africa, according to project co-ordinator, Fantalum Michael...Read More