The Primary
Platform for all Car Transactions in the African Used Car Market
Founded by Etop Ikpe, previously of Konga and DealDey,
Cars45 is trying to formalise the used automobile sector by providing an
end-to-end digitised customer journey for buying, selling and swapping cars in
Africa.
The startup has built a technology-enabled platform that makes it
easier to trade cars in Africa, and has expanded to provide access to finance,
insurance and other value-added services in the wake of raising US$5 million in
funding from the Berlin-based Frontier Car Group (FCG) in 2017.
Cars45 is now
expanding geographically, too, to ensure a larger slice of a market where nine
million used cars are traded annually. Its launch in Ghana and Kenya means
consumers in those two countries are now able to sell their cars directly
through Cars45 and get paid in 45 minutes.
SOURCE:
DISRUPT AFRICA
2 Luanda’s Progress in Diversifying its Portfolio
The IMF has approved a $247m loan to support Angola’s
reform plans after the country stuck to its economic diversification programme
and slimmed its deficit, “despite challenges,” the multi-lateral lender said.
The lifeline is part of a three-year credit facility of $3.7bn, agreed in
December 2018 to promote deep structural economic and governance reforms.
The
latest tranche brings the total IMF disbursements to Angola under the current
programme to about $1.48bn, and was approved by the executive board on December
5 following a health check of the country’s economy.
SOURCE:
AFRICAN BUSINESS MAGAZINE
3 Zimbabwe is Turning to Tourism to Rescue its
Economy
Even as it deals with 300 percent inflation, Zimbabwe
last year recorded its best-ever 12 months for tourism in Victoria Falls — the
marquee destination — and its western regions more broadly.
In 2018, visitors
spent a total of 250,000 nights at the 10 Victoria Falls hotels surveyed for
the Africa’s Living Soul report, up 30 percent from 2015.
Room stock in the
town has more than doubled in five years. After mining and agriculture, tourism
is the biggest contributor to the country’s economy.
And Lonely Planet gave
Zimbabwe its vote of confidence, listing it among the 10 countries to visit in
2019 — despite the domestic crisis.
The $150 million Victoria Falls
International Airport — financed by a loan from China and with a capacity of
1.5 million visitors per year — is the centerpiece of Zimbabwe’s strategy.
SOURCE:
OZY
4 Facebook’s Achievements Since Push into Africa
Facebook released its ‘2019 Year in Review’ infographic,
showcasing just some of its investments across Sub-Saharan in 2019.
Committed to giving people the power to build community and bring the
world closer together, throughout the year this translated into significant
support and investments into growing the ecosystem of developers,
entrepreneurs, creatives, and many other communities.
During 2019, Facebook
Africa: trained over 7,000 woman-owned businesses in digital skills across sub
Saharan Africa; celebrated 79 Community Leadership Circle meetups with over 2
,650 people attending; reached its 45th Developer Circle, with circles now in
17 African countries and representing more than 70,000 members.
5 The Driver of Rwanda’s Socio-economic
Transformation
The Rwanda Development Board is a one stop institution to
provide key services, and expedite decisions affecting investors as well as
reforms for a very conducive business environment.
The platform brings all the
agencies responsible for business registration, investment/export promotion,
privatization and specialist agencies which support the priority sectors of ICT
and tourism as well as SMEs and human capacity development in the private
sector all under one roof.
Today, Rwanda, at 38th rank, is the only Low-Income
Country in the top 50 of the 2020 World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report and
is the 2nd easiest place to do business in Africa after Mauritius.
Consequently, Rwanda has been recognized as the top global reformer by the
World Bank with the highest number of implemented reforms over the last ten
years.
6 A Turbulent Year for African Airlines
African airlines continue to suffer due to high costs and
are projected to show a loss of $200m next year, similar to the loss expected
for 2019, according to the International Air Transport Association.
The
industry body said this is largely due to government taxes and fees, as well as
low load factors.
Furthermore, aviation markets in Africa are seen as “very
fragmented and inefficiently served in the absence, so far, of a single African
air transport market”, according to data.
Data recently released by Iata showed
that African carriers posted the fastest cargo growth of any region in October
2019, with an increase in demand of 12.6% compared to the same period a year
earlier. Strong trade and investment links with Asia contributed to the
positive performance.
7 A Tough Quarter for South Africa
South Africa recorded smaller foreign direct investment
(FDI) inflows in the third quarter compared with the second quarter, but
portfolio investment inflows jumped after the government issued international
bonds.
Africa’s most industrialised economy had FDI inflows of $1.16 billion.
The portfolio investment inflows were at 40.2 billion rand from July to the end
of September from inflows of 10 billion rand in the prior quarter, mainly reflecting
the government’s issuance of international bonds of $5 billion.
8 Microlenders Come for Women in Sierra Leone
The world’s largest NGO has been forced to conduct an
internal review of a money-lending scheme it runs for the poor in Sierra Leone
after some borrowers amassed significant debts and were reported to police when
they couldn’t repay loans.
A Guardian investigation into a microfinance
programme run by Brac found that the NGO’s staff were failing to fully explain
the conditions of the loan to borrowers, or ensure they could afford the high
interest rates associated with such loans. Brac, an NGO that provides financial
services for people living in poverty, has 5.6 million borrowers globally,
almost 90% of whom are women.
9 More Bad News from Africa’s Leading e-Commerce
Jumia Technologies has revealed that it will suspend food
and drinks delivery services on its Jumia foods division in Rwanda.
According
to a statement from the company, “we have made the difficult decision to
suspend our on-demand services in Rwanda effective on December 9th, 2019.”
The
statement went on to explain that “while decisions like these are always
difficult, it is more important now than ever to put our focus and resources
where they can bring the best value and help us thrive.”
Although Jumia has
concluded that running its e-commerce business in Tanzania and Cameroon, together
with its food delivery service in Rwanda was unprofitable, it continues to
operate in Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, amongst
other African countries.
SOURCE:
THE NEW TIMES
10 A Growing Natural Hair Market across Africa
On the streets of Dakar, Abidjan or Lagos, you’ll be
hard-pressed to see the Afros now commonplace in Nairobi, Johannesburg and New
York.
South Africa alone has a natural hair market valued at more than $300
million. You might conclude that the natural hair movement has failed to take
root in West Africa. But you would be wrong.
A cluster of companies, hair
salons and communities emerging across
West Africa that’s sparking a shift in the
region’s approach to natural hair. If the number of people with natural hair is
growing, why is there minimal evidence of it when you roam West African
streets? The answer varies from city to city.
SOURCE:
OZY
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