editorial conTenTs By N Nicholas Norbrook
3 Editorial Balancing powers 4 PolitiCS Economics and the elections
T
he Africa CEO Forum, held in the Ivorian economic capital on 21-22 March, heralds a new chapter in Africa’s economic integration. The first official visit by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta to Côte d’Ivoire is an opportunity for African leaders to move beyond the stale linguistic confines that are so much a part of the post-colonial era on the continent. As President Alassane Outtara of Côte d’Ivoire told The Africa Report in 2012, the relationship across the language divide needs to improve. “There are lots of obstacles, of course. But also there was previously no willingness in Côte d’Ivoire to develop those relationships, no determination to say: ‘We must build up our relationship with [Anglophone Africa], not just for diplomatic but for economic reasons’. We believe there is a lot we can do to grow together. We believe more in external trade than in received aid. We believe in foreign investment.” That determination to work together is now here. The two countries have similarities. Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire are regional champions – renascent Abidjan is regaining its diplomatic heft in West Africa while Nairobi is the venue for much of the dealmaking in the East African Community. Both have growing electricity networks and strong agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Tested by security challenges and rocked by corruption scandals, Kenya’s economy recalls the motto
8 iNtErViEW Phyllis Jepkosgei Kandie, former tourism secretary 9 iNVEStmENt Connecting future generations 10 PEoPlE to WatCH Nairobi moneymakers, old and new 11 tElEComS A mobile-money obsession
cover credits: ePA/FAcUNdo ArriZABALAGA /MAxPPP
B Balancing p powers
12 ElECtriCity Bringing power to the people 13 oil aNd gaS The waiting game 14 raNKiNgS Top 20 companies and banks
of the city of Paris, fluctuat nec murgitur (‘She is tossed by the waves but does not sink’). The unsinkable and ever-optimistic Kenyan business class has been an exemplar of this ability to rise to the occasion and seize new opportunities – the latest being the discovery of sizeable oil deposits. They offer a way of balancing the country’s trade deficit, despite today’s lower oil prices. The country’s leadership is also showing the ruthlessness that characterises successful rising economies. Not impressed by Western threats of isolation before the 2013 presidential elections, the administration made overtures to Asian powers, with President Kenyatta embarking on an eight-day visit to Russia and China to discuss energy-sector investment immediately after his victory. China is building a new standard-gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi, with China’s Export-Import Bank providing 90% of the financing for the $3.8bn project. Not satisfied by this balancing of powers, Kenya has also balanced Asian powers amongst themselves. Japanese and Chinese investors are both keen to win the contract to build a second terminal at the Mombasa port. The final price may well turn out to be advantageous to Kenya as a result – evidence, if true, that African governments are finally playing hardball with global investors who want a slice of the ‘Africa rising’ story. Kenyan business folk and politicians at the Africa CEO Forum will no doubt trade stories and tactics with their Ivorian colleagues. Watch out, world. ●
A GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE PUBLICATION - 57-BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL – 75016 PARIS – FRANCE - TEL: (33) 1 44 30 19 60 – FAX: (33) 1 44 30 19 30 - www. ThEAFRICAREPoRT.Com ● CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER BÉChIR BEN YAhmED PUBLISHER DANIELLE BEN YAhmED EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER JÉRÔmE mILLAN PUBLIShER@ThEAFRICAREPoRT.Com MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT ALISoN KINGSLEY-hALL ● EDITOR IN CHIEF PATRICK SmITh MANAGING EDITOR NIChoLAS NoRBRooK EDIToRIAL@ThEAFRICAREPoRT.Com ASSISTANT EDITOR ChARLIE hAmILToN ASSOCIATE EDITOR mARShALL VAN VALEN EDITORIAL ASSISTANT ohENEBA AmA NTI oSEI SUB-EDITORS ALISoN CULLIFoRD, PERRY LEoPARD PROOFREADING KAThLEEN GRAY ● ART DIRECTOR mARC TRENSoN DESIGN VALÉRIE oLIVIER, SYDoNIE GhAYEB, ChRISToPhE ChAUVIN PRODUCTION PhILIPPE mARTIN, ChRISTIAN KASoNGo PHOTOGRAPHY PIERANGELIqUE SChoULER ● SALES SANDRA DRoUET TEL: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – FAX: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 SALES@ThEAFRICAREPoRT.Com ● ADVERTISING DIFCom INTERNATIoNAL ADVERTISING AND CommUNICATIoN AGENCY ADVERTISING@ThEAFRICAREPoRT.Com ● ADVERTISING DIRECTOR NATHALIE GUILLERY • PRINTER SIEP 77 – FRANCE s u p p l e m e n t to t h e a f r i c a r e p o r t
•
n ° 78
•
m a r c h 2 016
3