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Archive for May, 2009

Internet surfing on mobile phone thriving in Kenya

30 May
Internet surfing on mobile phone thriving in Kenya

Internet surfing on mobile phone thriving in Kenya

Kenya is among the top five countries in Africa where Internet surfing on the mobile phone is thriving.

Among the 12 African countries where the technology called mobile Web is used, Kenya lies in fourth position, according to a new report by Opera, a software company with headquarters in Oslo.

South Africa leads the pack followed by Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Zambia, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana and Gabon.

Opera developed the cross-platform Web browser technology known as Opera, which is nown for performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer, and more dynamic online experience.

Unique users
The company has two mobile products, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile, the standard for mobile Web browsing on both feature phones and smartphones.

According to the report, from April 2008 to April 2009 overall page-views in the top 12 countries listed increased 422 per cent.

Overall unique users in the top 12 countries listed increased 169 per cent, and overall data transferred in the top 12 countries listed increased 348 per cent.

Since the report’s last highlight of the continent in 2008, Nigeria has jumped from fourth to second position and Zambia from ninth to sixth.
Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana and Gabon are, however, new on the list.

The report shows that growth rates continue to soar in Africa especially in Libya, with 4,155 per cent user growth since April 2008, and Nigeria, with 2,353 per cent user growth.

Kenya leads the top 12 countries in page views, with each user browsing 372 pages on average each month, it said.

More mobile subscribers can now access internet through their phones mainly due to the drive by all the telecommunication providers who are now offering bundled services that include data.

The other factor is availability of internet enabled handsets, with some manufactures coming up with handsets both at the top end and at the entry level phones.

Another study by Tariff Consultancy Ltd indicates that Kenya shows impressive growth rates.

By the end of 2008, Kenya had more than 15 million mobile subscribers, with a mobile penetration rate of 39 per cent and a subscriber base forecast of 29.28 million, or 66.7 per cent penetration, by end of 2013.

Zero-rate handsets
The forecasts unveiled that total revenue of Kenya’s telecom market will grow by 42 per cent, from $1.39 billion in 2008 to $1.98 billion by 2013.

Among these, 78 per cent of the total revenue will be generated by the mobile sector.

In Kenya, revenue from data forms less than five per cent for the two leading mobile operators, however, both have intensified their investment in the area.
Internet penetration is expected to increase due to the fact that majority of subscribers can now access it through their mobile phones.

To enable more people own handsets, two handset manufactures Nokia and LG are lobbying the government to zero rate taxes on handsets as is the case with computers.

Source:
BD Africa

 
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Posted in technology, trends

 

Global mobile commerce: How to distinguish between myths and reality

27 May

Here we go again. A new mania has taken hold in the technology space and more specifically in the mobile world.

In the near future, mobile commerce will mean something different to each country and to each mobile network operator.

Whether known as mobile commerce, mobile banking, MMT, mobile money, mobile wallets or virtual wallets, the concepts are murky, but the subject is hot.

Banks, financial institutions, credit card companies, remittance companies, technology companies and most importantly, the mobile network operators themselves, are all in the game in one form or another. Sitting among everyone are the regulators — financial and otherwise — promulgating new rules and regulations. The tension between the mobile operators, financial institutions and regulators will shape the evolution and defining characteristics of mobile commerce.

But as is always the case with manias, the reality is quite different than the hype and the myth. As the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world that handles text messages between carriers — a simple product that has seen unprecedented growth and adoption, globally — I stand witness to the complexity of the mobile world; the near impossibility of getting carriers to agree on a universal or standard approach to a product and the impact and intrusiveness of government regulations.

Lessons Learned Mobile commerce will mean something different to each country and to each mobile network operator. There will be no universal approach to the product, its deployment and its use even within a country. The uptake for mobile commerce solutions will be more aggressive in lesser developed economies.

Some markets will be dominated by the mobile operator, while others will be dominated by the banks. Still others will have a mix.

In China, China Mobile will likely freeze the banks out of play while they attain a financial license to transact mobile commerce. In India, the Reserve Bank has already issued regulations prohibiting mobile operators from managing mobile commerce plat forms; it must be managed through banks. In the Philippines, lax government regulations have spawned two distinct models: Smart Money and G-Cash.

Domestic, rather than international deployments will proceed at a faster pace, with a very different success profile between the two (almost all of M-Pesa’s success is its domestic traffic).

Domestic government regulations will have a massive, and possibly even a controlling impact on not only the domestic deployment of mobile commerce, but the global or cross border applications such as mobile money transfer.

What could clearly become reality is the ability of one country’s regulations to materially affect the deployment and nature of mobile commerce in another country. As the world’s largest remitter, US. regulations will be a driving force in th global mobile money transfer market. It will be a case of comply or don’t play.

Terrorism, whether political or narcotics driven, will dictate the need for many countries to continue to monitor money-laundering activities.

As the mobile device morphs from a mere communication tool into a payment device, registration of the handset — even a prepaid phone — will become standard.

In some countries you may even see biometric registration. One thing to note is that technology will continue to play a critical role. Integrating mobile commerce, mobile wallets and cross border mobile money transfer, coupled with the need to seamlessly integrate traditional distribution channels (such as legacy Western Union and MoneyGram retail locations), with the mobile environment will present many distinct and unique technological challenges.

It is all upside for the mobile carrier — it’s their network, their subscribers and a fresh, new revenue line. But carriers must be careful not to give the business to the banks. The banks and financial institutions must engage. If they do not defend their existing customers, they lose. If they can capture a piece of the unbanked population, it’s a win. At worst, the mobile operators encroach on the banks’ traditional business. At best, banks maintain their customer base or add to it. From any perspective, it is a tough road ahead for the banks.

Technology companies with solutions to support the new mania will love it -new challenges, new business and all of it unique; first generation deployments will lead to continuous innovation and improvement.

True challenge Remittance companies beware — their strong suit is their distribution network, but they rely too heavily on too many pieces of the chain not under their control. (Mobile-to-mobile money transfer is already being conducted between Hong Kong and the Philippines.

A very slow start, with very tight margins.) We are looking at changing cultural and behavioral habits that are not decades or centuries old, but millennia old.

The future of mobile commerce is exciting, challenging and even daunting — but acceptance will not be either as quick or as pervasive as many currently believe. The true challenge is creating and sustaining a profitable business.

Source:
BD Africa
Article by Peter A. Rinfret is the CEO of IrisWireless

 
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Posted in technology

 

Warnings of foreign ‘land grabs’

27 May

African countries whose farmland is being bought by foreign investors must defend local people’s rights to avoid eviction, while investors should beware being tainted as human rights abusers or “land grabbers”.

International agencies’ first detailed report on the trend, published on Monday, estimated that nearly 2.5 million ha of farmland in five sub-Saharan African countries has been bought or leased since 2004 – an investment of almost $920m.

“Lands that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest are now being sought by international investors to the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares,” said the agencies, calling the huge deals reported so far “the tip of the iceberg”.

The tip of the iceberg

The report was co-authored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), both based in Rome, and the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

Fears about food security and rising returns in agriculture mean the trend will continue, bringing benefits in terms of infrastructure and jobs, the agencies said, but also meaning risks for recipient countries, local people and investors.

The report focuses on large-scale deals of more than 1 000 hectares in Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali and Sudan, as well as case studies carried out in Mozambique and Tanzania, while warning that data on land deals is “scarce and of limited reliability”.

The authors shy away from the term “land grab”, used by the media to denote the trend towards large-scale farmland purchases by China and oil-rich nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar in poor countries, which often struggle to feed themselves.

IFAD said the deals could “bring benefits for all parties and be a tool for development” if done the right way.

“Africa has been crying out for investment for decades, so let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot now,” Harold Liversage, a land rights expert for IFAD with about 20 years’ experience in Africa and elsewhere, told Reuters by phone from Tanzania.

Losing access

“Let’s make sure that Africans, particularly small-scale producers and poor rural women and men, are going to benefit from this,” said Liversage.

The report says farmland purchases are being driven by food security concerns, rising demand and changing dietary habits, expanded biofuel production and interest in what is, on paper at least, an improved investment climate in some African countries.

For recipient nations, on a macro level the investment can boost GDP and government tax revenues, while rural areas can see improvements in their livelihood, said the report.

But “large-scale land acquisition may result in local people losing access to the resources on which they depend for their food security – particularly as some key recipient countries are themselves faced with food security challenges”.

It recommended that recipient governments set minimum requirements for such investments in terms of job creation and community benefits as well as the environmental impact on soil and water and the risk of pests from monocultural production.

They should discourage speculative deals and use collective land registration to bolster rights that are often customary to “help local people avoid being arbitrarily dispossessed of their land, and obtain better deals from incoming investors”.

While pointing out that “land grabbers” in Africa are by no means only foreign, the agencies had advice for investors who risk their money in purchases or long leases in countries where land rights are unclear and corruption may be rife.

“Investors can be seen as dealing with or propping up corrupt regimes and human rights violators,” it said. “They may also be perceived as land grabbers in food-insecure countries.”

Source:
- Reuters (news24.com)

 
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Posted in agriculture

 

India vote rounds off improving BRICs outlook

26 May

LONDON (Reuters) – The prospect of a stable government in India able to push further economic reform is just what foreign investors needed to round off an improving outlook for the world’s four largest emerging economies.

The BRICs — Brazil, Russia, India and China — all now have wind behind their economic sails. It is blowing at variable strengths, to be sure, but it bodes well for the asset class and the world economy for which these countries are now critical.

Consider this, with an investor in mind:

– China is throwing $586 billion in stimulus at its economy and promises more if needed. It is insistent that it wants 8 percent growth this year.

– Brazil’s economy is driven primarily by global commodity prices, which have started rising. The commodity-tracking Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index .CRB has gained more than 7 percent so far this month.

– Russia is firmly tied to the price of oil and that has been recovering rapidly. Crude is up 30 percent this year and hit a six-month peak above $60 a barrel on Tuesday.

As for India, look no further than Morgan Stanley’s decision this week to move overweight for the first time following the clear cut political victory of the ruling Congress Party.

“Our economics team expects the decisive election victory by the Congress Party to lead to progress in areas including public finances, acceleration in infrastructure spending, augmentation of government resources through privatization and implementation of de-regulation for the pension funds, banking and retail sectors,” it said in a client note.

That the Congress victory was a pleasant surprise for investors can be seen from the 17 percent rise on Monday of the BSE Sensex stock index .BSESN and the 3 percent gain in the rupee, the largest one-day rise in more than a decade.

“It has been one of the most peaceful and arguably successful (Indian elections) of recent times. That should be good for investors’ confidence,” said John Cleary, chief investment officer of Focus Capital.

ALL IN ALL

The BRIC grouping was, of course, originally an investment marketing concept.

The four countries share a number of factors, including huge populations, relatively untapped potential and the likelihood that they will compete on global terms with the Group of Seven industrial nations within a few years.

But because they arguably have as many differences than similarities, investors over time have tended to allocate between them rather than treating all four as equal.

During the boom years, for example, it was not unusual to find investors favoring, say, commodities-producing Brazil over importer India, with its relatively closed market and large fiscal deficit.

India has had mixed success this year. The Sensex rose a solid but underperforming 26 percent between year-end and the election results. By contrast, Brazil’s stocks .BVSP were up more than 30 percent, China’s .SSEC 45 percent and Russia’s 48 percent.

In dollar terms as measured by MSCI, however, India has fared better.

What brakes there have been on India have been questions about the election and whether a period of political instability would follow the vote.

Those questions have now been answered.

“Foreign investors were worried,” said Bob Parker, vice chairman at Credit Suisse’s asset management arm. The election “has removed uncertainty.”

TRIAL

None of this is to say, however, that the BRICs have a free run ahead of them.

Russia, for example, has yet to clean up its banking sector problems and there is no guarantee that the Chinese stimulus will let Beijing meet its goals.

But the biggest short-term issue facing the BRICs may simply be that they have rebounded so far so quickly.

“The markets have moved a very long way,” said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments. “There is a large amount of good news in the price.”

Credit Suisse, meanwhile, pared back some of its exposure to China and Brazil in March, using profits from around three months of gains to diversify into other countries in the respective regions.

It likes Korea as a proxy for global economic revival because of its emphasis on industrial production such as ship building and on consumer electronics.

Parker said he expected the BRIC stock markets to give back some of their gains in the short term because they have risen so much this year. But the longer term outlook is good.

“The downside is limited and by September and October the markets will have recovered to higher levels than what we have now,” he said.

India is now part of that mix.

Source:
Reuters

 
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Brazil and China forge closer trade links

19 May
Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Hu Jintao

Presidents Lula and Hu’s relationship should bolster trade between Brazil and China.

The meeting between the Presidents of Brazil and China in Beijing on Tuesday brings together two powerful forces among the world’s developing nations.

Against the background of the economic crisis, and strengthening bonds between the two countries, Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Hu Jintao will have much to discuss.

China has been a “strategic partner” of Brazil for some years, but the high expectations surrounding this relationship have not always been fulfilled.

At a difficult time for economies everywhere, however, the last few months have brought some encouraging news for South America’s biggest economy.

Despite fears about the impact of the crisis, Brazilian exports to China have grown 64.7% in the first four months of 2009 when compared with the same period last year.

During March and April, for the first time, China became Brazil’s biggest trading partner, displacing the United States.

Strong trade

Amid the gloom of the crisis at the start of the year, there had been a prediction that trade with China would suffer a major reverse, specifically when it came to exports of iron, soya and oil. There was even talk of losses being incurred, in the region of $1.5bn (£970m).

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the opening of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, on April 17, 2009
They are building very strong economic and political connections with a lot of these leaders. I don’t think that is in our interests
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton

In the end, this pessimistic assessment turned out to be unfounded.

In the first four months in 2009, the volume of sales of soya and grain to China increased 70.1%, while iron went up by 51.3%, compared with the same period in 2008.

Even more striking was growth in oil and derivatives, which increased 251%.

“We were badly wrong in this projection,” says Rodrigo Maciel, executive secretary of the Brazil-China Business Council, speaking in an interview with BBC Brasil.

“The trade in those three products is increasing very strongly, but the factors responsible for this are very varied,” he says.

Chinese investment

A large part of the increased trade, in iron in particular, came about thanks to a stimulus package launched by the Chinese government to deal with the economic crisis.

In the case of soya exports, analysts say that China has been boosting the volume of its strategic stocks, which has boosted Brazilian sales to 4.2 million tonnes during the first four months of this year, compared with 2.5 million tonnes in the same period last year.

Brazil’s newly discovered oil fields also offer significant potential to satisfy the enormous Chinese appetite for resources.

As part of an agreement which is on the agenda for this trip, Brazil would supply 100,000 to 160,000 barrels of oil per day at market prices, in exchange for a $10bn loan from the China Development Bank to help develop its major oil reserves.

The oil and gas discovered off Brazil’s southern coast lies deep beneath water, rock and salt (the pre-salt area).

It will be extremely expensive to extract, so Chinese investment could prove extremely valuable.

Strengthening relationship

President Lula arrived in China from Saudi Arabia, as Brazil works on its objective to join the top tier of oil producing nations.

Allesandra Ribeiro
The United States just didn’t care so much for Latin America in recent years, and China is really looking to Latin America
Economist Alessandra Ribeiro, Tendencias Consultancy

There have been reports in recent days in the Brazilian media that the visit to Beijing had been scaled back, with fewer ministers accompanying President Lula than when he first went to China in 2004.

Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, was obliged to deny a claim that this happened because he was not received by President Hu in advance of the trip.

Overall, however, it seems the visit is a sign of a strengthening relationship, and certainly China’s role across Latin America is attracting interest elsewhere.

‘Disturbing gains’

In Washington, it appears to have generated a level of concern as well.

The region was not widely regarded as being a priority for the United States during the Bush years, but within the new administration there are some signs that attitudes are beginning to change.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that that Iran and China had made what she called “quite disturbing gains” in Latin America.

“They are building very strong economic and political connections with a lot of these leaders. I don’t think that is in our interests,” she said.

“I have to say that I don’t think, in today’s World, where it’s a multi-polar world, where we are competing for attention and relationships with the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, that it’s in our interest to turn our backs on countries in our own hemisphere.”

Some analysts in the United States were puzzled that the secretary of state grouped her concerns about these countries together, given that the worries about Iran have more of a security focus, while with China the concern is economic.

Changing times

Whatever the motivation, it seems to have stirred the US into action.

There are reports that Hillary Clinton may visit Brazil at the end of May, a trip that, if it goes ahead, would perhaps signal renewed US efforts to beef up relations.

There has been a contrast between the two approaches, says economist Alessandra Ribeiro of Tendencias Consultancy in Sao Paulo.

“The United States just didn’t care so much for Latin America in recent years, and China is really looking to Latin America,” she says.

“Not just to Brazil, but also to Chile, to Argentina, because these countries have a lot to offer to China.”

Ms Ribeiro says there is “great potential for the relationship to grow”, as China could assist Brazil by investing in exploration projects in the pre-salt area, as well as in other areas of the economy. At the same time, China needs what Brazil has to offer.

“Brazil has a lot of commodities, especially iron [and] aluminium, that China uses for infrastructure projects like railroads, so Brazil is really important for China,” she says.

It seems that potential is being given renewed recognition in Beijing, where Presidents Lula and Hu will dine together for the second time in two days on Tuesday, as they celebrate the increasingly close ties between the two countries.

The Brazilian leader has even suggested the two countries should consider trading in their own currencies – instead of in the US dollar – a sign, perhaps, of changing times.

Source:
BBC

 
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Tata Housing eyes Rs 700 cr from low-cost projects

16 May

Tata Housing Development Company, a unit of Tata Sons, expects to earn Rs 700 crore in revenue from low-cost housing in the next four years, a top company official has said.

Tata Housing is launching over 1,000 low-cost houses under the brand “Shubh Griha” priced between Rs 3.9 lakh and Rs 6.7 lakh in Bhoisar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, and plans to launch around 4,000 such houses across other cities in the next four years, mainly targeting industrial workers and other low-wage earners.

The company is targeting Rs 15,000 crore revenue by FY13 from its projects, covering an area of 20 million square feet. It plans to build 10,000-13,000 homes by then. The company aims to earn 5 per cent of its revenue from low-cost houses.

“Low-cost projects have more velocity and can be completed in two years. We see huge opportunity in this space, especially in industrial belts,” said Brotin Banerjee, managing director and chief executive of Tata Housing.

The company is launching two-three such projects in Bangalore and the national capital region in this fiscal and plans joint development with land owners, wherein it will share a percentage of revenues with the owners of the land, and outright of purchase of land in other cases, according to Banerjee.

A host of companies such as Omaxe and Ansal API have launched low-cost apartments to target the low-wage earners and generate cash in the downturn. While New Delhi-based Omaxe has launched 5,000 apartments in Rs 5.99-8.99 lakh range at Mayakhedi in Indore, Ansal API has launched 4,000 low-cost apartments in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Agra and Meerut.

“Our revenues are doubling every year and we hope to continue by being present in different categories and launching innovative products,” said Banerjee. Currently, the company has more than 10 million square feet under development.

Banerjee says more land is now available for developers and land prices have come down to realistic levels. “Earlier, land prices used to escalate within a month. Prices have hit their bottom and I expect them to remain sluggish for the next eight-nine months,” he said.

Source:
Business-Standard India

 
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The best way to alleviate poverty is to create wealth

15 May

Inveneo, a not-for-profit San Francisco-based group, has developed an ultra low powered, very tough computer that runs off a 12 volt electrical supply and can probably resist being stood on by an elephant.

It has also developed wireless networks and local area networks suitable for use in rural Africa.

Now it is seeking to find, train and certify local partners to service its products – giving them the opportunity to build up a profitable business while spreading digital know-how through the community.

There are many ways to encourage economic growth in the developing world, none of which involve the conventional notion of financial aid. One is the Grameen Bank, which provides microfinance to poverty-stricken entrepreneurs in Asia; another is super low-cost computers to spread computer literacy among the children of developing nations.

There are persuasive reasons why pouring money into developing countries such as the 53 states which make up the continent of Africa is getting a bad press: it just doesn’t work in the way donors think it should, for all their good intentions.

It does not alleviate poverty and it does not help development except in very limited ways.

Indeed, World Bank data show that between 1970 and 2000, as financial aid to Africa increased, growth slowed because of a combination of poor spending decisions, dubious economics and corruption.

Increasingly, targeted investment in trade and industry is recognised as the key to development, rather than the crude instrument of financial aid.

But where and how to invest remains the question.

Where, for example, can Inveneo seek to establish franchises at least risk. And until computers and networks are generally available, the “digital divide” – the gap in mastery of information technology between rich nations and the poorest – will continue to widen.

…………………

The entrepreneurship element is present in Africa and the key is harnessing the potential and that is whey we advocate for trade not aid.

Sources:
FT

Inveneo

 
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Rwanda’s president says trade rather than aid needed

11 May

Rwanda can beat poverty by exporting more and boosting tourism, and poor nations should not rely on aid to improve their economies, President Paul Kagame wrote in an article in the Financial Times on Friday.

Entrepreneurship and trade were the ways to achieve greater prosperity, he wrote.

Aid has often failed to meet its objectives, he said, rarely dealing with the underlying issues of poverty and weak societies.

“Often aid has left recipient populations unstable, distracted and more dependent,” Kagame wrote.

“Do not get me wrong. We appreciate support from the outside, but it should be support for what we intend to achieve ourselves.

“Unfortunately, it seems that many still believe they can solve the problems of the poor with sentimentality and promises of massive infusions of aid, which often do not materialise,” he wrote.

“We who live in, and lead, the world’s poorest nations are convinced that the leaders of the rich world and multilateral institutions have a heart for the poor. But they also need to have a mind for the poor.”

Entrepreneurship will best help Rwanda attempt to increase its gross domestic product by seven times over a generation, he added.

He said Rwanda had grounds to be optimistic despite its geography, recent conflict, lack of natural resources, little specialised infrastructure and low historical investment in education.

“We have a clear strategy to export based on sustainable competitive advantages,” he wrote.

“We sell coffee now for high prices to the world’s most demanding purchasers; our tourism experience attracts the best customers in the world and market research reveals that perceptions of Rwandan tea are improving.”

As a result wages in key sectors are rising at more than 20 percent on an annual basis, and aid as a percentage of total GDP has been by cut by half during the past decade, he wrote. Last year, Rwanda’s economy grew by more than 11 percent.

Source:
Reuters

 
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Posted in aid & development, trends

 

Nigeria bank gets 80% stake in Uganda’s Orient

01 May

ORIENT Bank on Monday announced a merger with a Nigerian bank, Bank PHB, in a move aimed at strengthening its market share and ability to meet customers’ needs.

The bank’s name will not change for now even if Bank PHB took a 80% stake in the deal. The deal was sealed at a “completion board meeting” held at Orient Bank’s headquarters in Kampala. Bank PHB has a paid-up capital of $2b (about sh4.4 trillion) with more than three million customers.

Bank PHB did not disclose the price they paid for the bank but analysts say a price of three times the bank’s book value of sh23b would be fair, which would value the 80% stake at about sh56b judging by similar valuations of banks listed on the Uganda Securites Exchange.

Maxwell Ibeanusi, who has worked in various Nigerian banks, was appointed as the new managing director of Orient Bank of Uganda.

Michael Cook, the Orient Bank chairman, said Bank PHB’s decision to start with Uganda in its foray into East Africa was a vote of confidence in the Ugandan economy.

He was optimistic the deal would give Ugandans more value-added retail products tailored to meet their increasing needs and translate into more employment opportunities.

Francis Atuche, the Bank PHB group chief executive officer, revealed that the merger reflects its strategic intent to expand into the East African region after establishing presence in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia.

“We are architects of value. We pursue commercial excellence in ways that create superior value for our customers through a wide range of products and services,” he said.

“This is the strategic advantage Orient Bank stands to benefit from this marriage with Bank PHB.” Atuche said when they started operations in 2000, they were ranked 81st out of the 91 banks that existed in Nigeria, adding that the position improved to 17th and is fifth today.

“We want to be among the top five banks in Uganda in five years. With determination and commitment, we will do it,” Atuche said. The merger coincides with Orient Bank’s plan to restructure its shareholding to comply with Bank of Uganda’s regulatory requirement before the 2011 deadline.

Since 2004, the bank has been holding discussions with investors and no deal had been concluded yet. Orient Bank Ltd started its operations in March 1993.

Since then, the bank has had strong profitability due to professional management and the prudent lending and investments policies. In its last audited financial report for the year ended December, 2008, Orient Bank posted a pre-tax profit of $5.6m (sh10.2b). It also has a deposit base of $95m (sh182.2b) and assets worth $123m (sh236b).

In November, 2002, Orient Bank outcompeted other banks in taking over a local bank, Trans Africa Bank Ltd, a positive landmark for that bank that propelled its fast growth.

The bank currently has nine branches in Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja, Gulu and Mbale and plans to open three other branches this year in Kampala, Arua and Lira.

Bank PHB closed its 2008 financial year with gross earnings at $837m from $305m in 2007. It registered $220m as pre-tax profit from $8.4m the previous financial year.

It has a closing deposit base of $6b, ranking among the top five in deposits in the Nigerian banking industry.

Source:
NewsVision

 
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Leading expert in Nation Branding brings lessons to an African delegation

01 May

Simon Anholt, the leading expert on managing and measuring national identity and reputation, will lead a masterclass on nation branding for an African delegation in Cairo on 21 May 2009. The current worldview of many African nations is bound up in the image of Africa itself – a reputation often tainted by crisis and upheaval. The reality for many successful and dynamic African countries is very different and the opportunity is clear – the Simon Anholt Masterclass on Nation Branding will provide a clear understanding of the strategies required to change a nation’s brand image and deliver a globally competitive advantage to build investment, trade and prosperity.

Mr Anholt will be joined by eminent speakers from the region with practical experience of building strong nation brands in Africa. Themba Khumalo, a Director with africapractice, formerly global Chief Marketing Officer of Africa Tourism will discuss the future for the “rainbow” nation. Rosette Rugamba, Deputy CEO of the Rwanda Development Board and head of ORTPN will share her experience of building a premium tourism product for Rwanda and using this as a launchpad for the wider rebranding of the country.

The Nation Branding Masterclass audience will include government policy-makers, city and regional authorities, investment professionals, trade bodies, tourist authorities, export promoters, NGOs and marketing specialists. The Cairo Masterclass is the first in a global series of events, which will take place throughout 2009 in New Delhi, Singapore, Dubai and London. The series is sponsored by BBC World News. The Cairo event is supported by specialist communications consultancy africapractice, and by research, communications and publishing group Africa Investor.

Source:
Africa Investor

 
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