Nigeria and South Africa Dominate Africa's Infrastructure Market - PwC

 Jonathan Cawood, PwC Head of Capital Projects and Infrastructure for Africa.
 
PRESS RELEASE

Infrastructure spending to more than double to $9 trillion annually by 2025

-       Nigeria and South Africa dominate the infrastructure market, but other countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania are also poised for growth

-       A substantial increase in spending in the basic manufacturing sector is expected in sub-Saharan Africa

-       Transportation investment is expected to grow rapidly in South Africa over the coming decade, in particular in the road and rail subsectors

-       Extraction spending in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to increase at 8% annually over the next decade

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, August 7, 2014/ -- Global capital project and infrastructure spending is expected to grow to more than $9 trillion annually by 2025, up from $4 trillion in 2012, according to a new report issued by PwC (http://www.pwc.com), ‘Capital project and infrastructure spending: Outlook to 2025’.

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/pwc.png

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1280 (Jonathan Cawood, PwC Head of Capital Projects and Infrastructure for Africa)

The report, for which Oxfords Economics provided research support, analyses infrastructure spending across 49 of the world’s largest economies which account for 90 percent of global economic output. It covers five industry sectors - extraction, utilities, manufacturing, transport and social – and forecasts their impact on seven major world economic regions ((Western Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe).  It estimates the scale of current infrastructure investment and assesses the prospects for future investment from now to 2025. Overall, close to $78 trillion is expected to be spent globally between now and 2025 on capital projects and infrastructure.

The report finds that during 2011-12, the global infrastructure market rebounded from the global financial crisis, and will continue to grow between 6-7% yearly to 2025.

The report shows that that the recovery will be geographically uneven, led mainly by Asia, as spending overall shifts from West to East. The Asia-Pacific market will represent nearly 60 percent of all global infrastructure spending by 2025, driven mainly by China’s growth. Western Europe’s share will shrink to less than 10 percent from twice as much just a few years ago.

Long term underlying trends in demographics, technology, natural resources, urbanisation and shifting economic power will continue to have an enormous effect on which areas of spending will grow. These paradigm shifts, together with a return to global growth are projected to drive significant spend for infrastructure worldwide for decades to come.

Jonathan Cawood, PwC Head of Capital Projects and Infrastructure for Africa, says: “Emerging markets, especially China and other countries in Asia, without the burden of recovering from a financial crisis, will see much faster growth in infrastructure spending.

The pace of urbanisation is also on the increase, with the biggest shift in urbanised populations likely in China, India, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Urbanisation drives the demand for water, power, transportation and technology infrastructure.

“Megacities in both emerging and developed markets- reflecting shifting economic and demographic trends – will create enormous need for new infrastructure. These shifts will leave a lasting, fundamental imprint on infrastructure development for decades to come.

“As economies develop, the types of infrastructure investment needed evolve, but not every country makes infrastructure spending a priority. If you don’t invest when your economy is growing, you may find yourself very quickly at a point where your runways and roads and ports and rail lines are choked.”

Overall infrastructure spending in the sub-Saharan region is projected to grow by 10% a year over the next decade – exceeding $180 billion by 2025 – while maintaining its 2% share of the global infrastructure market. Nigeria and South Africa dominate the infrastructure market, but other countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania are also poised for growth. Growth prospects in most of the region’s economies look promising as they were not affected as much by the global financial crisis of 2008.

A substantial increase in spending in the basic manufacturing sector is expected in sub-Saharan Africa. Annual spending in the chemical, metals and fuels sector is forecasted to increase across the seven major African economies to $16 billion, up from about $6 billion in 2012.

The financial crisis of 2008 has not had a major effect on South Africa’s infrastructure spending. From an estimated $7 billion in 2001, investment in infrastructure grew relatively consistently to reach $22 billion by 2012.

Transportation investment is also expected to grow rapidly in South Africa over the coming decade, in particular in the road and rail subsectors. Transportation investment will likely grow to just short of $9 billion by 2025.

Infrastructure spending overall is forecasted to reach around $60 billion by 2025 for South Africa, having grown by 10% on average a year. However, South Africa is likely to lose share of regional spending relative to Nigeria. Nigeria’s better fiscal position and oil revenues will likely enable it to outperform South Africa over the coming decade, says the report.

Overall infrastructure spending in Nigeria is expected to grow from $23 billion in 2013 to $77 billion in 2025. A more investor-friendly environment towards oil investment is also likely to boost this projection further.

In contrast to Asia-Pacific’s success, investment in western economies has been constrained by the legacy of banking crises, fiscal austerity and a shallow economic recovery. CP&I spend is shifting to the emerging economies, particularly Asia. Asia’s share of global CP&I spend is projected to increase from 28% in 2012 to 39% in 2018 and 47% by 2025.

The report also shows that spending on utility infrastructure is expected to be significantly stronger in countries that need to upgrade deficient energy, water, and sanitation services and in economies that are rapidly urbanising, such as China, Ghana and Nigeria. The greatest growth of spending for utilities is expected in sub-Saharan Africa where an annual rate of 10.4% between now and 2025 is forecasted. Spending for electricity production and distribution is expected to rise from $15 billion in 2012 to $55 billion, while expenditures for improvements in water and sanitation services are forecasted to increase from $3.3 billion in 2012 to about $10 billion by 2025.

According to the report the extraction sector, driven by both oil and gas as well as non-oil and gas industries, will grow at an annual rate of 5%. Oil and gas extraction activity and infrastructure spending are expected to vary across countries and regions. Extraction spending in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to increase at 8% annually over the next decade. The bulk of spending is likely to take place in South Africa and Tanzania.

Demographic shifts will play a major role in determining the type of social infrastructure a country requires. Aging populations, especially in Eastern Europe and Japan, will necessitate more healthcare facilities, while emerging markets are projected to increase investments in both healthcare, as well as education for their young people. The report shows that the annual growth rate for social infrastructure spending is expected to be particularly strong – about 12% in sub-Saharan African where both schools and healthcare facilities will be in high demand.

In addition, climate-related disasters are driving growth in preventative infrastructure spend and in post disaster recovery. Climate change is also spurring investments in water resources, renewable energy and clean technologies.

Cawood adds: “Resources and consumer market potential coupled with trade, economic and political reforms, increasing urbanisation and shifts in demographics will drive the majority of investment in Africa. It is crucial for policymakers, citizens and businesses to understand the factors that unlock infrastructure investment and development and to act responsibly and strategically within a long term vision to create the right conditions for success.”

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

Contacts

Jonathan Cawood: PwC Head of Capital Projects and Infrastructure for Africa

Office: + 27 11 797 5236

Email: jonathan.w.cawood@za.pwc.com

OR

Lindiwe Magana: Media Relations Manager, PwC

Office: + 27 11 797 5042

Email: lindiwe.magana@za.pwc.com

About PwC

PwC (http://www.pwc.com) firms help organisations and individuals create the value they’re looking for. We’re a network of firms in 157 countries with more than 184,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Tell us what matters to you and find out more by visiting us at http://www.pwc.com.

SOURCE 

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC)

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61 Garlands for A Czar

61 GARLANDS FOR A CZAR

—Eze Festus Odimegwu at the age of New Beginnings. 

~ By Ingram Osigwe

Many people go through life without attaining the purpose of their existence. Yet within the bounds of time and chance, limiting the ability of man to determine his own destiny, some people by mere dint of hard work, diligence integrity and depth of vision, manage to elevate the gift of natural intellectual endowment given to all men in varying measures, to the echelon of genius thus attaining a level of actualization and achievement that is almost superhuman. Festus Odimegwu is one such rare genius. As he celebrates his 61ST anniversary this year, one could not but marvel at the life of this super achiever.

Eze Festus Odimegwu was born on August 6, 1953, in Aba, currently in Abia State of Nigeria. He started his primary education in Christ the King School, CKS, in Aba, but it was interrupted by the Civil War, for three years. His parents had to relocate back to his village, Umuoka Ubirielem in Orsu Local Government Area in Imo State of Nigeria. After the war, his father was not sure that there would not be another civil insurgence, so they stayed back home and young Festus had to complete his primary education at St. Mary’s Primary School, Umuoka Ubirielem.  He earned his First school Leaving certificate, making  him the only Grade-I distinction at St.Mary’s then. 

He enrolled into Community Secondary School Awo Idemmili in Imo State. His stellar performances in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics earned him the title of “Prof”. from admiring teachers and students. He proceeded to University of Nigeria Nsukka from whence he graduated with a first class Honours in Chemistry and joined Nigeria Breweries PLC. 

Within a career that spanned 26 years and five months, he progressed from Trainee Brewer 1980-1982, Shift Assistant Brewer in Training April-July 1982, Shift Brewer I/c Bottling 1982-1984 Brewer I/c Brewing 1984-1985 Technological Controller 1985-1987 Production Manager 1987-1988. From 1988 till 1989, he proceeded to Heriot Watt University Edinburgh for his MSc  and coming back home, he resumed as Brewery/Senior Technical Manager 1989-1992,  Sales Director 1992-1993 Food Coordination AMEG Unilever London 1993-1995 Marketing Director Lever Brothers Ghana 1995-1997 MD/CEO Nigerian Breweries 1997-2006 .

He also attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Wharton Business School and Unilever Four Acres Training Centre. Apart from his basic background in Chemistry and the Natural sciences, he has amassed a panoply of knowledge and certifications in Business Strategy,  Business Planning,   Change Management ,Turn Around Management,  Leadership,  New Business Development  Strategy, Strategic Planning,  Team Building,  Entrepreneurship  Management, Negotiation and  Marketing Strategy.

In 2006, he left the management of Nigerian Breweries PLC. He was billed to proceed to a new appointment with the Heineken Company in Germany, but he elected to stay back in Nigeria to pursue other personal business interests. He then set up the Royal Lifestyle Services Group of Companies Ltd and other strategic business units of the group like Quintessentially Nigeria, Recherché signature Events and Gifts and Palatially sole marketers of Angel champagne, for which he now acts as a non Executive Director. 

On Tuesday 26^th June 2012, Eze Festus Odimegwu was appointed Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), by President Goodluck Jonathan. In appointing Odimegwu to the head of the NPC, the president went for a twin goal of diligence and integrity, both choices that characterize Eze Festus Odimegwu. He was the spirit behind the partnership that resulted in one of the world’s biggest breweries, and which made Nigerian Breweries PLC, the most capitalized company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. His modernization programme at NB PLC, lengthened the gap between Nigerian Breweries and its competitors. An uncompromising stickler for excellence and a goal getter, Odimegwu distinguished himself as a primus inter pares within the role call of Nigerian corporate czars, serving on the boards of other companies such as Dangote Cement PLC, Union Bank of Nigeria as well as Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, as a Director.

President Jonathan in entrusting the sensitive position of Nigeria’s Chief Population enumerator unto Odimegwu was undoubtedly guided by the brewer’s solid foot prints in the sands of corporate management.

The National Population Commission, NPC, was created to give life to the nation’s population policy, thereby assisting in the achievement of sustainable development and a higher quality of life for the people and to promote policies to meet the needs of the current generation, while not compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Upon the appointment of Eze Odimegwu as the new NPC chairman, President Jonathan also charged the Commission to spearhead efforts towards the issuance of a national identity card to every Nigerian by 2015. Thus immediately rising to the task, the new NPC chairman, proposed a new biometric data capturing process for the country’s next census. According to him, the new biometric capture process will save the country billions of Naira by unifying similar projects, being conducted by various agencies of government. Already approved by President Goodluck Jonathan, it will also help in better economic planning for national development.

The new NPC Chairman needed no clairvoyant to tell him that the task of conducting a country-wide acceptable census in a diverse and politically charged country like Nigeria was no mean one. The President who appointed him also knew this. The importance of a credible census to an emerging economy like Nigeria can’t be over emphasized; A population and housing census is the total process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing and dissemination of data on demographic, economic and social conditions of the people as well as the conditions under which they live at a specific period of time. Censuses are primary sources of basic benchmark statistics on the population and housing characteristics of the nation. They provide information on population size, age and sex composition, geographic distribution and housing characteristics and facilities that have bearing on the social aspects of the housing.

 The fundamental purpose of the census is to provide the facts essential to government for policy-making, planning and administration. The characteristics of the population drive the decision-making that facilitates the development of socio-economic policies that will enhance the welfare of the population. Additionally, the population census provides important data for the analysis and appraisal of the changing patterns of rural/urban movement and concentration, the development of urbanised areas, geographical distribution of the population according to such variables as occupation and education, as well as the socio-economic characteristics of the population and the labour force. These variables also provide the basis of questions of scientific interest that are of importance both to pure research and for solving practical problems of industrial and commercial growth and management.

 The findings of the census are also critical in the decision-making processes of the private sector. Population size and characteristics influence the location of businesses and services that satisfy the needs of the target population. Population censuses also constitute the principal source of records for use as a sampling frame for the household surveys during the years between censuses.  Population Census is an important exercise because it provides the most comprehensive picture of the social and living conditions of the people. The appointment of Eze Festus Odimegwu as the nation’s chief enumerator is a perfect fixation of round peg in a round hole as his versatility as a strategist and his excellent qualifications and experience will ensure a state of the art census and demographic information management for the country.However,Odimegwu, principled and a believer in thoroughness had his tenure as the NPC boss abbreviated by his insistence on bringing to bear on the 2016 census, certain far-reaching re-inventing of the process.His principled stand on the issue ruffled political feathers in a part of the country, threatening age-long vested ethno-religious and demographic interest. Rather than stay on as the boss of the NPC and pander to the above interest, Odimegwu in October last year chose the honourable part of resigning his appointment.He thus left the NPC with his head unbowed. 

On Saturday 27th of July 2013, Eze Festus Odimegwu CON, was honoured with a Professional Leadership Award at the 2013, Leadership Awards, which took place at the Civic centre, in Ozumba Mbadiwe Road, Victoria Island Lagos. The Prestigious award, named the ‘Zik Prize in Leadership Awards’ after the legacies of one Africa’s greatest and foremost post-colonial leaders, journalists, publisher, and independence crusader, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Owelle of Onistha, second and last Governor-General of Nigeria, first President of Nigeria as well as a foremost Nigerian Nationalist, Pan-Africanist  and publisher of the West African Pilot Newspaper, was an inimitable platform, for the acknowledgement of leadership merit to deserving Nigerians. 

The Award to Eze Festus Odimegwu, was not only perfectly deserved, but also perfectly timed. It offers tremendous hope to millions of Nigerians whenever it is brought to light, the fact that the country still has a crop of superlative achievers, sitting quietly in strategic positions within the country’s socio-economic machinery, ensuring that all ramifying advancement is wrought in the country’s civilization system, despite every appearance to the negative. 

Some notable past recipients of the awards include former Ghanaian President J.J. Rawlings (1995); President Nwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania (1997); former Secretary General, Organisation of Africa Unity, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim (1998); Zambia President Sam Nujoma (1999); former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa (2000); President Yoweri Museveni (2003); the late Ghanaian President John Kuffour (2008); President Seretse Lan Khama (2009); Senator David Mark, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed and Otunba Subomi Balogun (2010); President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia (2011).

History is made by the passage of time and events, but certain men hold the wheels and steer its course. They champion the events that mark the epochs, they define the defining moments. The list is endless: from Tutankhamen and Moses, to Achilles; from King David to Julius Caesar; from Oliver Cromwell to George Washington; from Winston Churchhill to Mahatma Gandhi; from chairman Mao Tse-Tung to Ben Gurion; from Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela to Barack Obama. These are men who by their genius and destiny, were depended upon by the rest of humanity to foster form and direction in a formless directionless situation; Odimegwu is a man within this cadre of history makers. 

As he marks his 61 birthday, the world attests to the brilliancy,sagacity and shrewdness of this first class brewer and illustrious son of Imo state as he continues to avail the nation his energy and experience in the spheres of social,economic and political development of his fatherland     

***********

Ingram Osigwe Consults for Quintessentially Nigeria.

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A Channel for Street Movies Coming Soon on iPost Nigeria

The greatest dramas of life are not those written in millions of stories by both known and unknown writers.
They are the daily encounters of the struggle for survival and success and victory by humans on the streets of different cities, towns and villages in the world.

No matter how much photographers, reporters and writers have succeeded in recording their eye witness accounts of numerous events and incidents in various locations on earth, most of them have passed by unrecorded in history and their memories soon forgotten. But now with mobile phones and tablets almost nothing can escape unnoticed in the passage of time as we capture both the ordinary and extraordinary moments of daily life and shared instantly with millions of others on the internet around the clock. Now everyone can tell his or her experiences of daily activities from every location on earth, from the street to the internet.

There has never been such a time as this era in the history of human civilization and nobody wants to be left out of the drama of life or be left behind in the kaleidoscope of time.

iPost Nigeria is coming with a special channel for the momentous dramas of daily life from the street to the internet to be called Street Movies as never seen before on the screen; produced by everyone who knows how to use digital video cameras in mobile phones and tablets.
Yes, we are creating a special channel for this genre of movies on lives on the streets of our turbulent world.
Producers of the Street Movies can show them free or monetize them on our Pay-Per-View Channel on iPost Nigeria where millions of people can view them on their mobile phones, tablets and PCs wherever they are in the world.

The Street Movies channel is one of the seven different categories on iPost Nigeria as already shown in the demo on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-jjMBCgthM.

See the Big Picture!

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Can Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan and Company Save Kodak and 35 mm Cinema?

Kodak's new chief executive, Jeff Clarke, said the pact will allow his company to forestall the closure of its Rochester, N.Y., film manufacturing plant, a move that had been under serious consideration. Kodak's motion-picture film sales have plummeted 96% since 2006, from 12.4 billion linear feet to an estimated 449 million this year. With the exit of competitor Fujifilm Corp. last year, Kodak is the only major company left producing motion-picture film.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/kodak-movie-film-at-deaths-door-gets-a-reprieve-1406674752#

The trajectory of Digital cinema is going to bring the glorious history of 35 mm projection to an end and this is the worst nightmare of Quentin Tarantino. 

Yeah as far as I’m concerned, digital projection and DCPs is the death of cinema as I know it. It’s not even about shooting your film on film  or shooting your film on digital, the fact that most films now are not presented in 35 mm means that the war is lost and digital projections — that’s just television in public. Apparently the whole world is okay with television in public but what I knew as cinema is dead.

http://youtu.be/K32kOkXsnqM

The Simple Solution To Save Kodak and 35 mm Cinema 

We can still save 35 mm cinema as a popular art form and public entertainment by allowing traditional cinema to co-exist with digital cinema instead of phasing out celluloid totally as the expensive conversion to digital cinema has cost each movie theater about $100,000. And I am among those who donated to save the 89 years old Blue Mouse Theater in Proctor District, Tacoma from closure.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1355844229/help-save-the-blue-mouse-theatre. 

Let movie lovers have the choice to see movies in either of the two formats and let Quentin Tarantino and company continue to make fantastic films for millions of their fans and they can still make digital cinema copies of their films for digital projection. And save Kodak from closure.

Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Judd Apatow, and J.J. Abrams can insist on making their films for 35 mm cinemas alone and the exhibitors cannot ignore them, because they have millions of fans who must see their films.

All that matters most to movie lovers is to see a great movie on the silver screen at the movie theater and whatever projection you are using for the screening of the movie is your business.

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor of Nigerians Report Online, theNOLLYWOOD MIRROR® SERIES, Nollywood Digital, and other publications online and offline.

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Nigeria - Standard Bank: Africa Offers US Firms A Compelling Trade and Investment Opportunity

 Mr. Sim Tshabalala, Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets and market valuation.

PRESS RELEASE

Africa offers US firms a compelling trade and investment opportunity - Standard Bank

-       In Nigeria the middle class has swelled by 600% since 2000

-       Today, Nigeria is home to 4.1 million middle-class households, containing 11% of the total population

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, August 4, 2014/ -- Africa offers US multinationals a compelling trade and investment opportunity thanks to the rapid economic growth rates being experienced across the continent along with burgeoning population growth and increasing urbanisation, according to Standard Bank (http://www.standardbank.com).

Download the infographic: http://www.apo-mail.org/140804.pdf

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1275 (Mr Sim Tshabalala, Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group)

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/standardbank.png

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa has exceeded 5% a year for more than a decade now giving the continent a 4.1% share of global gross domestic product (GDP), up from 3.4% in 2000. By 2050 one in four of the world’s population will reside in Africa with at least 60% of the continent’s people living in urban centres.

“Trade with African economies and investment in Africa offer big rewards but it requires sound local knowledge, strong local partnerships, and a long term view,” said Mr Sim Tshabalala, Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets and market valuation. “In that sense the US plan to revitalise its commercial and trade links with Africa couldn’t come at a more opportune time.”

The renewed US interest in Africa is embodied by President Barack Obama’s Power Africa Initiative which was launched last year and aims to double access to power in six partner countries in sub Saharan Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania. The US government has committed more than $7 billion in financial support and loan guarantees to the project over the next five years. That commitment has been doubled by the almost 30 private sector partners who have pledged $14.7 billion in project finance through direct loans, guarantee facilities, and equity investments for Power Africa.

Nevertheless, the US still has some catching up to do. While the US is a major investor in Africa - particularly in information technology, manufacturing, resources, power, and financial services - trade flows have advanced on a much gentler trajectory.

Although US-Africa trade doubled from about $50bn in the early 2000s to $110bn in 2013 it still lags China whose trade with Africa exceeded $200 billion last year. Yet it is precisely China’s emergence as Africa’s largest trading partner which underscores the potential value on the continent for US firms.

Foreign direct investment into Africa has increased dramatically in the last decade and a half, and continues to grow. In 2013, FDI to Africa increased by 9.6% to an estimated $56.6 billion, representing 5.7% of global FDI.  FDI is forecast to exceed $60 billion in 2014.  Total foreign inflows to the continent reached $186 billion in 2013, and are expected to top $200 billion in 2014.

Emerging economies - and the BRICS in particular – are seizing the African opportunity. In 1992 China, India and Brazil accounted for just 3% of Africa’s global trade compared to 25% today. A wide range of firms from India, Brazil and South Africa are also expanding quickly in Africa, often with strong support from their governments. 

Yet, while the US may be arriving late to this party, the world’s biggest economy still offers unrivalled commercial and industrial excellence in many key fields. The vibrancy of US multinationals, with their proven track records, industrial processes, established retail networks and brands, are of immense attraction to the ongoing consumer revolution taking place across Africa.

US firms are also increasingly interested in the commercial opportunities in Africa. Major private equity firms, including the Carlyle Group, have launched Africa-focused funds valued in the hundreds of millions. Leading US technology companies are investing in new ventures and start-ups across the continent.  IBM has invested at least $100 million, with new Innovation Centres in Lagos and Casablanca.  Microsoft and Intel Capital are embarking on partnerships with African tech companies, and Google is working on delivering broadband to remote communities.

“Africa has come a very long way from its era of aid-dependence,” said Mr Tshabalala. “The rapidly emerging middle class in Africa is driving large-scale diversification of Africa’s economies which offers immense opportunities for companies willing to invest.”

In Nigeria the middle class has swelled by 600% since 2000.  Today, Nigeria is home to 4.1 million middle-class households, containing 11% of the total population.  Other economies doing particularly well on this measure include Angola, where 21% of households are considered middle class followed by Sudan (14%) and Zambia (10%).

The number of mobile phone users in Africa has multiplied 33 times since 2000 and in the next five years it is likely that almost every adult African will have a mobile phone. Over 50% of urban Africans are already online, a figure that is likely to grow rapidly over the next decade.

“While there is still a lot to be done the overall direction that Africa is moving in is overwhelmingly positive,” said Mr Tshabalala. “US companies can do very well in Africa provided they put in the effort to understand the continent’s markets in detail, rather than looking at the continent as a single, homogenous entity.”

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Standard Bank.

Media contact

Kate Johns

Group Communications | Africa Media Relations  

Tel: +27 11 721 8406 | Mobile: +27 82 805 0210

kate.johns@standardbank.co.za | http://www.standardbank.co.za http://www.standardbank.com

Standard Bank (http://www.standardbank.com), trading as Stanbic Group, is the largest African bank by assets and earnings. Our strategy is to build the leading African-focused financial services organisation using all our competitive advantages to the full. We will focus on delivering superior sustainable shareholder value by serving the needs of our customers through first-class, on-the-ground operations in chosen countries in Africa. We will also connect other selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other, applying our sector expertise, particularly in natural resources, globally. We operate in 20 countries on the African continent, including South Africa.

Standard Bank has a 151-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s. In recent years, Standard Bank has concluded key acquisitions on the African continent in Kenya and Nigeria. Africa is at our core and we will continue to build first-class on-the-ground banks.

The group’s nearly 49 000 employees in all regions deliver a complete range of services across personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking and wealth management.  Standard Bank's Corporate & Investment Banking division offers its clients banking, trading, investment, risk management and advisory services to connect selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other. It has strong offerings in mining and metals; oil, gas and renewables; power and infrastructure; agribusiness; telecommunications and media; and financial institutions.

Normalised headline earnings for 2013 were R17.2 billion (about USD 1.8 billion) and total assets were R1 694 billion (about USD 162 billion). Standard Bank’s market capitalisation at 31 December 2013 was R209.4 billion (about USD20 billion).

The group’s largest shareholder is Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, with a 20,1% shareholding. In addition, Standard Bank Group and ICBC share a strategic partnership that facilitates trade and deal flow between Africa, China and select emerging markets.

For further information go to http://www.standardbank.com

Or if related to CIB deals:

For further information go to http://www.standardbank.com/cib

SOURCE 

Standard Bank

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