Emirates says it is investing over US$ 2 billion to enhance its inflight customer experience, including a massive programme to retrofit over 120 aircraft with the latest interiors, plus an array of other service im provements across all cabins start ing this year. Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said while others respond to industry pressures with cost cuts, Emirates is flying against the grain and investing to deliver ever better experiences to our customers. “Through the pandemic we’ve continued to launch new services and initiatives to ensure our cus tomers travel with the assurance and ease, including digital initia tives to improve customer expe riences on the ground. Now we’re rolling out a series of intensive programmes to take Emirates’ sig nature inflight experiences to the nextSomelevel.”of Emirates’ latest initia tives include: elevated meal choic es, a brand-new vegan menu, a ‘cinema in the sky’ experience, cab in interior upgrades, sustainable choices and a generous approach to the little touches that make trav el Startingmemorable.from August, Emirates’ passengers can look forward to new Inspirations, new Menus: An award-winning team of chefs, a world-class catering team and a wide variety of suppliers have been assembled to design and deliver the best fine dining experience in the sky. New menus will be served on select Emirates routes in First Class, featuring dishes such as pan-fried salmon trout with moqueca sauce and creole rice, roasted duck breast with orange thyme jus, steamed broccolini and fondant potatoes. New menus will also be introduced to Business and Economy on the 1st of September, the company said.
1D1F: President inspects Gh¢9.2m Yam/Cassava factory in Bimbilla GCB adjudged ofGhanaian-ownedPremiumBanktheYear2021 CWG, Clari5 reaffirm commitment to support banks, other institutions combat fraud STORY ON PAGE 3 STORY ON PAGE 3 STORY ON PAGE 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS .COM.GH
Emirates invests US$2bn to enhance customer experience
2 | THEBUSINESS24ONLINE.COM News/Editorial Your subscription along with the support of businesses that advertise in Business24 -- makes an investment in journalism that is essential to keep the business community in Ghana wellWeinformed.value your support and loyalty. +233AdvertisingNewsroom:editor@business24.com.ghContact:0302965315/Sales:242122742 Copyright @ 2019 Business24 Limited. All Rights Reserved. Limited
Horticulture fast becoming the new job-making machine
Now in is tenth year, the annual Garden and Flower Show challenges and motivates the youth and businesses in the sector to aspire to grow and reach their full potential, in order to improve their livelihoods and impact society.
Purposefully Vegan Choices Emirates’ new vegan menu is carefully curated to cater to the growing numbers of customers pursuing this thoughtful lifestyle. Vegans, or anyone interested in a delicious and healthy plant-based meal, will enjoy handcrafted gourmet dishes such as panroasted king oyster mushrooms, flavoursome jackfruit biryani and sliced kohlrabi garnished with burnt orange. Desserts are a decadent affair with choices of chocolate truffle cake with hazelnut, pistachio and gold leaf, or green grape tart adorned with candied rose petals, vanilla custard, and berry compote glistening with yuzu pearls. The Champagne and Caviar Experience Emirates’ First-Class experience, always a benchmark for service excellence, has been upped a notch in 2022. Customers can now savour unlimited portions of Persian caviar as part of the ‘dine on demand’ service, with an exquisite pairing of the worldrenowned Dom Perignon vintage champagne. Emirates is the only airline with an exclusive agreement to offer the luxury brand on-board. Cinema in the Sky First Class customers can create a memorable movie moment on-board by ordering cinema snacks as they enjoy the 5,000 channels on Emirates’ ice inflight entertainment system. The cinema snack menu includes moreish classics such as lobster rolls, juicy sliders, edamame, and salted popcorn, and can be ordered on demand. All Flight Catering. Emirates is continuing to invest in sustainable operations and supply chains, seeking local food suppliers and farms wherever possible to serve the freshest produce on board. Specialised Hospitality Training for Cabin Crew: Emirates has partnered with Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, one of the world’s top hospitality management schools, to craft the Emirates Hospitality strategy and encourage inspiring customer experiences. Emirates Cabin Crew have already begun engaging in intensive training programmes focused on delivering the four service pillars: Excellence, Attentiveness, Innovation and Upgraded Cabin Interiors in The most significant investment is an extensive and record-breaking refurbishment of the aircraft fleet interiors, where cabins will be retrofitted with new or reupholstered seats, new panelling, flooring and other cabin features. Benefitting all Emirates passengers, every cabin class will be refreshed and new Premium Economy cabins installed. After the retrofit, Emirates will have a total of 120 aircraft offering Premium Economy seats – the only airline in the region to offer this cabin class, and enhanced interiors and features across all other cabins. With its first aircraft scheduled to roll into the Emirates Engineering Centre for retrofitting in November, planning work and trials have begun in earnest. Additionally, Emirates confirms there will be more announcements about new products and services in the near future.
Emirates invests US$2bn to enhance customer experience
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“When the last tree dies, the last man dies” they say and truly so because flora and fauna preserve the environment and hence human life, and at a time that economies are grossly feeling the harsh outcomes of climate change, the need to preserve our environment and green resources have become even more critical. Aside the enviro-friendly outcomes, there is proven economic potential in the green economy, specifically the horticultural value chain. Recent statistics put proportions of the youth (15 to 35) that are unemployed and seeking work at 34.2percent. Unemployment is therefore considered by many to be the most critical issue affecting the country. It is trite to say that with the right national and individual orientation, policies, and drive, Ghana’s rich flora and fauna resources could provide millions of jobs to the country’s teeming youth. Stratcomm Africa is leading the charge to green Ghana for the varied purposes of beautification, wealth and job creation as well as a sustainable fight against climate change.
This year’s theme “Growth Unleashed” preps the mind of young Ghanaians to burst forth and to grow beyond the norms to achieve a blooming environment.Theglobal horticulture market is estimated to be valued at USD 20.77 Billion as of 2021 and is projected to reach US$40.24bn by 2026 at a compound annual growth of 10.2percent whilst global flower and ornamental plants market was valued at US$475.6m in 2020 and is expected to reach US$725.4m by the end of 2027, growing annually at 6.3percent during 2021-2027.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has visited Global Almas Processing Limited, a yam and cassava processing factory located in Bimbilla, in the Northern Region. Taking the President on a tour of the factory, the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry and Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, Michael Okyere Baafi, indicated to the President that the company has taken advantage of the available local raw materials in the Nanumba and surrounding areas to process yam and cassava flour for both domestic and foreign markets. According to the deputy minister, Global Almas has land bank of more than 2,000 acres at Bimbilla, and additional land would be acquired as the bagsline,processingtoday.10,000theFlour,Almasbrandday,Fufucartonsproducesthatproducts.demandincreaseanticipatedexpandoperationswithinofHenotedalsothefactory1,000ofYamFlourperunderthenameYamFufurequiringpurchasingofyamperWithrespectthecassavasome200cassava
flour is produced per day, with the company engaging some 20 farming groups, who have committed themselves to producing for the factory. Mr. Baafi indicated to the President that the total cost of the factory is pagged at GH¢9.2 million, with 60% equity contribution from the Promoter translating to about GH¢5.2 million. The Ghana Exim Bank has also provided a credit facility amounting to GH¢1 million (10.8% of the total project cost) which was disbursed in February 2021. Global Almas has, thus far, created more than 74 direct jobs including Management, Supervisors, Food Scientist, Laboratory Technician and Maintenance Technicians as well as women who are involved in the peeling, cleaning, bagging, stitching machine attendants and sorting of the yam/cassava. In addition, over 400 additional Indirect jobs have been created for out-growers, transporters, harvesting team, packaging & handling, sales outlets, etc. Already, the company has signed an agreement with Sinostone Ethanol Manufacturing Company located in Juapong to supply 1,000 tons of cassava chips every month. Another agreement has been concluded with Bofas Company Limited located in Wa for the supply of 40-foot container of yam fufu flour every month for export to the US market.
GCB YearownedPremiumadjudgedGhanaian-Bankofthe2021
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 | FEATURE 3
GCB Bank was adjudged the Premium Ghanaian-owned Bank of the year 2021 at the 6th Global Business Quality Awards ceremony held at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra. G-Money, the Bank’s subsidiary with over 2.4 million subscribers was also awarded the Most Promising Mobile Money Brand of the Year Award 2021. The awards, organized by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana, is geared towards harnessing the power of entrepreneurship, business synergies, and the creation of a sustainable environment for Ghanaian businesses. The well attended event was graced by Ministers of State, Captains of industry from the fields of construction, realtor, finance, and astute members of the Diplomatic Corps. GCB Bank was represented by Mr. George Fuachie, Head of Commercial Banking; Mr. Ebenezer Ampadu and Mr. Emmanuel Akwa from the G-Money team, and a select team from the Corporate Affairs Department made up of Benedicta Ahiable, Eugene Adu Ayeh, and Joseph Amo PresentingNti.the award to Executive Management, MD, Mr. Kofi Adomakoh commended the hardworking staff of the Bank for the hard work in making such a feat“Wepossible.mustremain resolute and consistent in our dominance agenda in order to realize the benefits of revenue growth and profitability we hope to achieve in the shortest possible time.” he reiterated.
1D1F: President inspects Gh¢9.2m Yam/ Cassava factory in Bimbilla
Because a centralized system is lacking, you have this problem for instance of an insider who will log into a high net worth account and check a customer’s balance through the core banking application, send the information to an outside accomplice who will log into the same high net worth account from the internet banking application and siphon funds, without the bank knowing that both seemingly independent actions are linked. We have developed what we call the centralized brain that can help organizations identify these illegal activities,” he said. He explained that Clari5 does not design products and dump it on banks but rather design tailormade products depending on the focus and aspiration of the bank and its “Everycustomers.humanbeing has a soul, and banks capture customers’ souls. In fighting banking fraud, some banks take a silo approach or what I call a piecemeal approach. You can prevent some basic frauds using a silo approach but when it comes to complex fraud, you need an integrated approach,” he added. Head of Project Management and Corporate Development at CWG Ghana, Oluwaseun Layade on his part reiterated CWG’s goal of continually contributing to the Information and Communication Technology sector by consistently delivering service excellence using global best practices. “Our business spans multiple markets, including telecommunications, oil and gas, financial services, and manufacturing, among others, and our long-term goal is to remain Africa’s benchmark for ICT excellence,” he said. He stated that the core of CWG’s philosophy is to use a customercentric approach to create the best experience for its customers. “We are a business solutions provider, not just an IT provider. We look at business problems and use IT to solve them so that these businesses can grow. It is mostly about our customers, not about us. Be it any kind of business, whether it is a bank, insurance company, hotel, manufacturing company, or any other organization; they are there to serve other people, and we are here to assist these organizations in serving their customers, so even as a pan-African company, we are a multidisciplinary organization,” heAfricasaid.
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 20224
Regional Head for Clari5, Rishin Roy Chowdhury, urged management executives to be mindful of the banking methods they use in carrying out activities, emphasizing that organizations should best observe their customers to find the best method needed to carry out activities, which would also help prevent internal fraudulent crimes.
“With over 200 million accounts at a single site, Clari5 has the world’s largest implementation of a centralized fraud management. In a bank, the credit card department has its own security solution and so has the internet banking department and so on, essentially all operating in silos.
CWG, Clari5 reaffirm commitment to support banks, other institutions combat fraud
CWG, a leading information technology company, and its key strategic partner, Clari5, a provider of enterprise financial crime risk management solutions, have reaffirmed their commitment to providing solutions that will aid in the fight against fraudulent activities in financial and other institutions.Thetwoinstitutions are leading the charge in the introduction of new technologies and procedures to help organizations identify fraudulent transactions while preventing employee fraud. Managing Director of CWG Ghana, Harriet Attram Yartey said it has become necessary for banks to maintain a high level of security in order to maintain their market positions, and for that purpose, the partnership with Clari5 has come in handy to help achieve the said objective. “Over the past few years, the fraud and money laundering landscape has grown alarmingly complex, and it is obvious that banks are looking for more effective ways to stop the plague but with Clari5, banks now have the power of a worldclass enterprise-wide real-time financial crime management solution that has been changing the way banks fight financial crime,” she said. She further urged banks to invest more in technology to generate more revenue and also keep up with emerging trends and connect with major global financial institutions. “I believe banks and financial institutions could innovate more than what they are currently doing in terms of deploying systems and, we also need to stop seeing technology deployment as cost. This is because technology is implemented to solve problems within the organization and whilst those problems are being solved, it creates opportunities for the various business departments to leverage to drive more revenue into the banks and the financial institutions,” she added. Chief Executive Officer for Clari5, Rivi Varghese said as part of measures taken to curbing the threat, a new customized product modeled after a centralized brain system has been created to help organizations monitor and track down fraudulent activities.
Mr Rajaram said currently, India was working on concessional lines of credit, one of them $150 million for agric mechanization and another $30 million for the Yendi water project within the next three months, the EPC contractor would be on the ground in the Yendi District. “We successfully implemented iconic projects such as the Jubilee House, India Ghana Kofi Annan ICT Centre, and a number of other things such as the Komenda Sugar Factory and the Elmina Fish Processing Plant. We have recently built the Foreign Service Training Institute for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he added.
Dr Edward Yeboah, the new Director of the Soil Research Institute (SRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has pledged to offer effective leadership in soil research, management and utilisation.Hesaid the CSIR-SRI had already achieved excellent from research focusing on soil nutrient management, varietal release, mapping of soil resources and addressing nutrient deficiencies in the soils for optimum yield, especially in rice Speakingproduction.ata ceremony to formally induct him as the Director of CSIR-SRI at Kwadaso near Kumasi, Dr Yeboah pledged to lead a team of researchers for Ghana to be selfsufficient in rice production. “With good training and soil management practices, of an acre of field, one can get at least six tonnes of rice”, he said adding that, the SRI was now focusing on improved yields and maintaining the soil for sustainable production.HesaidGhana was in the position to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production, and as a research institution, SRI needed to work towards that and reduce importation of rice into the country. The Director pointed out that the ‘One Village One Dam’ concept and other irrigation facilities that were currently being rolled out in the country, were opportunities needed to harness to improve rice yields. A good number of rice on the market were imported one, he observed, and suggested that, the amount of money used in importing could be explored to develop the infrastructure and facilities required to wean Ghana of rice import. Dr Yeboah said the Institute would continue to discharge its mandate to generate technologies and build capacity for effective planning, development and management of the soil resources of Ghana for increased and sustainable agriculture, environmental qualities, and improve livelihoods.
He said the world had become a global village, so friends and partner countries such as Ghana would be very key in India’s progress for future policies, adding that “we are looking forward to having very close kind of integrated relations with countries likeMrIndianGhana”.supportRajaramindicated that India had been one of Ghana’s largest trading and investment partners over the years, with bilateral trade standing at close to $5 billion before the pandemic although it had now reduced by half. “But post pandemic, we see almost 15 per cent growth in that now. It is close to $2.7 billion, and I think in the next few years, we will go back to our target of having $5 billion of trade soon.He described India as a country in the list of top five investors in Ghana and one of the largest development assistance partners of the country, and that it now extended more than $500 million concessional credit for projects in Ghana and more than $1 billion for infrastructure projects.
SRI will work for Ghana to achieve selfsufficiency in rice production
Source: GNA
He said CSIR-SRI was working towards becoming the centre of excellence in research, development and innovation in tropical soil resources.Onsoildigitization, he pledged to bring relevant stakeholders on board to harmonize soil mapping for Ghana which he believed would be pivotal in developmental agenda. “We have realised that there are a number of institutions, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Fertiliser Development Center and the Northern Development Authority that are also working towards soil maps for Ghana.” He said the SRI would further strengthen collaborations with CSIR agri-based Institutes to work towards sustainability and excellence.
Source: graphic.com.gh
The Indian High Commissioner to Ghana, Sugandh Rajaram, has stated that his country is prioritizing areas of mutual support with Ghana to ensure that the two nations recover quickly from the COVID-19 effects and stay on the path of growth. He said the areas would include health, education, agriculture, rural development, renewable energy, support for small-scale industries, as well as infrastructure development. Mr Rajaram stated that in an interview with the Daily Graphic ahead of India’s 75th Independence anniversary celebration on Monday, August 15, 2022. “We are looking to see how quickly we can recover our economic growth. And that is why I say that we should be working together and prioritizing our cooperation efforts in areas such as health, education, agriculture, rural development, renewable energy,” he added.
India prioritizes relations with Ghana –Commissioner
Celebration “We are celebrating with the world, but if there are two friends, Ghana comes at the top. Ghanaians have the natural right to celebrate this occasion,” Mr Rajaram stated. Events lined up for the celebration include a Bollywood cultural gala at the National Theatre tomorrow, and a national flag hoisting ceremony at India House on Monday. “Normally, we have our celebration of National Day on August 26 when we celebrate Republic Day, but the last two years, we could not celebrate because of the COVID-19; this is the opportunity, so on Monday August 15, in the evening at India House, we will have the national day reception,” Mr Rajaram said. On August 16, the embassy will wrap up a series of events with the spiritual evening involving the spiritual leaders, known as guru.
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 | NEWS 5
High
MTN set to bolster economic growththrough strategic partnerships
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022| NEWS6 As the race to Nigeria’s 2023 general elections intensifies, Nigerian Youths must shun ethnic and religious sentiments and vote people with competence into elective positions. The legitimate purpose of Government is to do for the people what they cannot otherwise do for themselves individually.Security, education, health care, Internet infrastructure, roads and freedom to pursue a meaningful life are basic rights which people everywhere are supposed to enjoy. These are rights that power a productive life and translate to a productive society. When these are lacking, lacking hardships are inevitable. The experience of Nigerians over the past seven years should be sufficient to guide the thinking of Nigerians on who to elect into positions in Government whether at the state or federal level. Inflation is at an all-time high. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria accelerated for a fifth straight month to 18.6% in June of 2022, increasing prices and lowering purchasing power. Tertiary institutions have been closed for over seven months, The Guardian reports that Nigeria loses N1.5 trillion per annum to overseas studies, but that’s just a tiny part of the cost of an ineffective and inefficient education system. All the businesses that serve the tertiary institutions are also shut down. Lectures are forced to stay unproductive all because of government irresponsibility. According to available records, Nigeria spends between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion annually on medical tourism for cases that can easily be treated in Nigeria. Nigeria has 4:10000 doctors as against 1:600 standard ratio. These are serious issues. Nigerian doctors are leaving the country in droves. Daily Trust reports that Nigeria lost over 9,000 doctors in 2 years. That’s alarming. These are issues those seeking elective positions should be talking about. Why are these things happening and what do they plan to do? It now costs as much as 100,000 naira for an hour journey by air. Nigerian families are going without food, insecurity is worsening yet most of the politicians cannot even make a strong case of what they can do to change the narrative. No matter how much we love our tribes and religion, it is imperative that those sentiments be set aside at this time. I call on Nigeria Youths to activate the End SARS energy once again and demonstrate once again that resilient spirit of the Giant of Africa.Remember that the only condition for evil to continue is for good men to keep quiet. It is time to ask the all-important question of what’s more important, to have someone devoted to your faith or someone from your ethnic group in office or to have someone who has the vision, the competence, the boldness and the willingness to put Nigeria on the path of purpose and prosperity. Nigeria was not the idea of the Hausas or Igbos or Yorubas tribes but their song was one, their voice was one. They sought a nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. It is sad that this dream 62 years on is yet to be realised. 2023 is another chance to activate that dream and make it a reality. Let not the dreams of our heroes’ past be not in vain. Let not those who fought in the Biafra war, who fought during the Isaac Adaka Boro led war and those who have died at the sambisa forest die in vain.
By Dr Brian Reuben CEO, Africa Economic Summit
Set sentiments aside now
MTN Ghana has reaffirmed its commitment to accelerating socio-economic development in Ghana through significant social investments and honoring its regulatory obligations. MTN Ghana In the first half of 2022 contributed 29.6% of its total revenue, amounting to approximately GHS1.4 billion in direct and indirect taxes, and payments to governmental Agencies. This figure was disclosed in MTN Ghana’s half year Financial Results for 2022. The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh said, “MTN Ghana is poised to bolster recovery and deliver on its ambition 2025 strategy boosting socio-economic growth through innovative digital technologies. Our collective socio-economic development remains of utmost priority to us as a business and we will continue to play our part in fostering sustainable growth by building strategic partnerships and creating shared value for all”. Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, characterized by rising inflation, increased fuel cost, pressure on the exchange rate as well as other external challenges, MTN Ghana demonstrated resilience, posting a pre-tax profit of GHS 2.7 billion. Mobile Voice subscription increased by 11.6% to 27.8 million while active data subscribers increased by 15.1% to 13.1 million. Active Mobile Money (MoMo) users improved by 11.0% to 11.7 million and service revenue grew by ¬ 28.9% to GHS4.7 billion. ¬ Key infrastructure developments carried out by MTN Ghana Foundation as part of its CSI activities in the first half of the year included the commissioning of a library for the people of Denkyira Buabenso, continuation of works on the STEM Robotics Lab for Mamfe Girls’ School and the 60bed neonatal centre for the Keta MunicipalAlthoughHospital.theoutlook for the economy remains uncertain and volatile, MTN remains committed to executing its Ambition 2025 Strategy to drive growth and efficiencies in doing business.
H1
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 | NEWS 7
Underlying operating free cashflow growth was strong at 24.0%, and return on equity increased to 24.2%, reflecting the consistent delivery of earnings. We accelerated our portfolio transformation, delivering R9.2 billion in asset realisations in the first half and bringing the total realised since March 2020 to R15.8 billion, with proceeds supporting the group leverage and liquidity positions, which strengthened during the period. In line with our pan-Africa focus, we accepted a binding offer for 100% of MTN Afghanistan. Localisations remained important in the period, as we prioritised creating shared value, broadening local participation and deepening capital markets. In Ghana we increased local ownership to 23.7% through share sales to pension funds and strategic investors. Mupita said the headwinds facing customers and the business looked likely to persist in the second half. “The business is well positioned to navigate the prevailing market conditions. In South Africa, we are focused on improving the resilience and availability of the network, given the constrained on-grid power situation. Battery and generators solutions will be deployed to restore network availability to the world-class standards our customers have been used to. This resilience plan will be executed within the capital expenditure envelope of the business.“Ifweexperience the same level of loadshedding in H2 as we did in H1 in South Africa, service revenue will come in slightly under guidance, with margins at the lower end of the range communicated to investors. The structurally higher growth opportunities in our markets continue to support the investment case of a compelling Africa growth story that delivers digital and financial inclusion to Africans,” he concluded.
MTN Group reported a resilient performance in the first half of 2022, balancing an accelerated investment into its networks, reducing the cost to communicate and the delivery of solid financial results. We advanced the delivery of our strategy under challenging conditions, which included macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, global supply chain disruptions, constrained on-grid power supply in South Africa and greater regulatory requirements across many “Notwithstandingmarkets.the tough macro conditions, MTN remained focused on investing in our markets to increase broadband coverage and to reduce the cost to communicate,” said President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “We accelerated network investment to R17.1 billion and spent an additional R7 billion on securing 4G and 5G spectrum in the key markets of South Africa and Nigeria.”Theinvestment in networks increased access to broadband services to 85.5% of the population and led to an average 22.5% reduction in data tariffs. Our contribution to society and economies also included cash taxes of R7.3 billion paid to nation states in the period. In driving investment that grows gross capital formation, the contribution we made to jobs and the fiscal resources of nation states was underlined by good financial results in the first six months of 2022. In constant-currency terms, service revenue grew by 14.8% to R92.5 billion; earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 15.1% to R43.9 billion before once-off items; and the EBITDA margin expanded by 0.3 percentage points to 45.3%. This was supported by the focused execution of our expense efficiency programme. “Growth in data revenue was particularly strong, up 35.9%, driven by MTN Nigeria, MTN Ghana, MTN Cameroon and MTN South Africa,” said Mupita, adding that fintech revenue grew by 14.0%, with solid performances from Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana. “The introduction of fintech taxes in some markets slowed revenue growth in Q2, but we remain encouraged by the ecosystem growth as users, agents and merchants continued to grow healthily during the period under review, with transaction volumes growing by 31.5% during the period.”
MTN Group accelerates investment into broadband coverage in a challenging macro environment in 2022
As part of our Ambition 2025, we are building five scale platform businesses on top of a very strong connectivity network. The fintech platform is the most mature of these, and in the first half it had 60.7 million Mobile Money users (up 24% year-on-year), generating six billion transactions worth US$116.3 billion. The total number of MTN subscribers in the period was 281.6 million, up 5.6%.We made progress in our work to separate our fintech and fibre businesses from our GSM business and have started the process of engagement with select potential strategic investors into the Group Fintech structure, the outcome of which should be concluded by the end of the Chiefyear.Financial Officer Tsholo Molefe said the Group accelerated the deleveraging of the balance sheet in the six months to endJune 2022, boosted by the repatriation of R9.4 billion in cash from operating companies, including R4.5 billion from Nigeria: “We continue to explore opportunities for further liability management and remain focused on reducing the hard currency liabilities on our balance sheet.”
Kedibone Tsiloane, the founder of Ramtsilo Manufacturing and Construction – a proudly South African, 100% black female-owned sustainable manufacturing and construction company. Ramtsilo’s mission is to do everything possible to provide innovative and sustainable solutions to the global issue of plasticTheCircularpollution.greeneconomycompanyiscurrently leading efforts to establish a circular green economy in the plastic recycling and building material industry. They provide waste management and recycling services for plastic waste pollution, which is used in the manufacturing of strong, durable and fire-retardant bricks. Their plastic bricks have created direct and indirect employment for a number of young and old individuals throughout their Challenge Works’ first strand of the Afri-Plastics Challenge, themed “Accelerating Growth”. Ramtsilo was among the 15 finalists rewarded with a £100 000 grant for innovative solutions to managing plastic waste after it has been used and discarded (i.e. downstream solutions). Growing up in the township Tsiloane shares that she was inspired to begin Ramtsilo as a result of growing up in a construction household, where her dad frequently took her on site. Ramtsilo started in 2013 as a construction business; however, they soon realised they were spending too much on building materials, specifically bricks, and made the decision to manually manufacture their own bricks at home. “We are from the township and upon discussion with one of the waste collectors, we learnt that plastic waste collection in conjunction with the recycling of plastic has created a source of revenue for the unemployed. We began prototyping the use of plastic in brick making in 2016 and in 2017, and once we had a product that we were comfortable with, we took [it] for testing. The results were much better than we expected and we formally went into the market in 2019.”
Being a firm believer in good old persistence, Tsiloane says what separates her from other innovators is that she always sees things through, no matter how difficult they get. With sustainability being at the forefront of the Afri-Plastics Challenge, Tsiloane shared the importance of sustainability to her: “It should be a subject at school … without us thinking in a sustainable manner there will be no ‘future’ for us or the next generation.”Hopesfor change across the construction and manufacturing industryLooking to her future, Tsiloane shares that she aspires to create more innovative solutions that change how we live our lives on a daily basis. She goes on further to share her hopes for the manufacturing and construction industry. “I hope the industry will be more receptive to change and innovation. Whilst the traditional ways have worked, we need to get to a point where the industry is open to new ways of doing things.” She credits her parents for encouraging her to shun gender stereotypes and feel confident enough to venture into any business, given her competency. “One thing my parents made sure we knew growing up is that there isn’t a man’s and a woman’s role. So when we encounter challenges on the basis of gender, we face them head on and remind ourselves that they are not here by chance.” Tsiloane further urges other young women who dream of entering this industry to be bold in pursuit of their dreams. As the Rainbow Nation marks Women’s Month, we celebrate achieving women such as Tsiloane, who have demonstrated that with hard work and determination it is possible to achieve generation equality.
Author: Afri-Plastics Challenge Team
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 20228 | NEWS
When asked what motivates her as an innovator and drives her innovations, Tsiloane shared, “Wanting to make a lasting difference, creating lasting solutions to everyday problems.”
Kedibone Tsiloane drives the Innovative Difference Making South Africa sustainable – one brick at a time
Once again, the stage is set for the celebration of Women’s Month, marked every 9th of August in remembrance of the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women. This year’s Women’s Month will be celebrated under the theme: “Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights for an EqualGenerationFuture”.Equality is a global campaign and links South Africa to global efforts to achieve gender equality by 2030. Even before this deadline has been met, a number of women have stood up to be counted, blazing the trail and proving to the world that what is good for the goose is good for the isgander.32-year-old
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 | FEATURE 9
» Guillaume Paumier, Principal Program Manager, Wikimedia Foundation (moderator) » Dr. Nkem E. Osuigwe, Director of Human Capacity Development and Training for the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) » Olga Paredes, a Wikimedian in Bolivia working toward knowledge equity
• Cultural and entertainment activities, including a session with Annie Rauwerda who runs the Depths of Wikipedia social media accounts, musical and dance performances, cultural festivals, and more. Interested participants are welcome to review the full conference program and register for Wikimania.
Wikimania 2022 highlights: • The Wikimedian of the Year awards, led by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. The award recognizes exceptional volunteers in the movement across seven categories.
• Sneak-peeks and new technology improvements like the forthcoming changes to the desktop version of Wikipedia, improvements to Wikipedia’s mobile interfaces, and Wikifunctions, the newest Wikimedia project.
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 202210 | FEATURE
• Sessions evaluating the impact of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects on the wider world, including in relation to human rights, climate issues, and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Every year, hundreds of Wikimedians - the volunteers who make Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects possible - come together to celebrate free knowledge at the annual Wikimania global conference.Nowinits 17th edition, the conference looks different this year than it has in the past. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shape global convenings, Wikimania 2022 is, for the first time, a hybrid event with opportunities for participants to come together virtually and in person through more than 40 events around the world. Taking place from 11-14 August, this year’s conference is co-organized by Wikimedia volunteers and the Wikimedia Foundation, the global nonprofit that supports Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. The conference program includes over 120 sessions on a wide range of global topics, including the annual Wikimedian of the Year awards, presented by Wikipedia Founder, Jimmy Wales. The awards highlight volunteers who have gone above and beyond in their contributions to Wikimedia projects and the wider free knowledge movement. The conference was designed with global inclusion at the forefront, including a time-zone friendly program, simultaneous live translation of sessions into 13 languages, and thousands of attendees expected to join from around the world, with a majority expected to be newcomers to Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects.“This year’s Wikimania will be a celebration of the depth and diversity of our global communities,” said Maryana Iskander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Wikimedia projects offer access to reliable information across more languages than any other platform or movement in the world. Wikimania is an opportunity to recognize this work and to continue building - not only imagining - a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.”Thetheme of this year’s conference is the “festival edition.” After more than two years of isolation and uncertainty amidst the global pandemic, this year’s Wikimania is meant to spark levity, fun, and joy. The theme encourages Wikimedians to foster closer connections with one another and celebrate what the free knowledge movement can achieve next. Saturday, 13 August, is the day of the conference which will highlight programming from across the African continent at a time zone suitable for those in the region. Key highlights of the programming include a South African traditional dance festival, a celebration of Africa through the cultural heritage of the Igbo tribe of Nigeria, a session highlighting youth participation, including African youth, in the Wikimedia movement, a discussion on the strides Nigerian volunteers have taken to address climate issues through Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects, and a look back at African Libraries’ Week. Alongside the virtual program, there will be over 40 in-person events taking place all over the world, organized by local Wikimedia affiliate groups. These events include watch parties of the virtual conference, meetups, a Wiki World’s Fair, hackathons, edit-a-thons, and cultural celebrations.
• Evaluations and lessons learned from collaborations between Wikimedians and cultural institutions like the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative and the African Libraries Week, produced with the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA)
Wikimania 2022: The festival edition brings together Wikipedia volunteers around the world for virtual and in person celebrations of free knowledge
Venus Lui, Wikipedia volunteer and a member of the 2022 Wikimania Core Organizing Team said, “I look forward to four days that strengthen and celebrate our growing scope of content and community of volunteer editors. It will also be an opportunity to dig into the many projects the community is working on to make free knowledge more accessible and available than ever before - including the latest ways that we are evolving our technology and our programs to bridge knowledge gaps.”
• A panel session discussing examples of knowledge as a service and knowledge equity, the two pillars of the strategic direction to guide the future of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. Panelists include: » Maryana Iskander, CEO, Wikimedia Foundation (moderator)
• Discussions centered on knowledge gaps in Wikimedia projects, led by volunteer groups like Wiki Vibrance, Women in Red, and Arabic Wikimedia communities.
» Lydia Pintscher, Product Manager, Wikidata
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 11| FEATURE
How India can sustain rapid economic growth
One country stands out from the gloomy overall tone of the International Monetary Fund’s recent update of its World Economic Outlook. Against the backdrop of tepid 3.2% global growth in 2022, the IMF expects India’s GDP to expand by 7.4%. This is the fastest growth of any large economy except Saudi Arabia, which is the incidental beneficiary of upward pressure on global oil prices from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. India may be buying Russian crude at a discount, but, as the world’s third largest oil importer, it is still burdened by high oil prices. One might quibble that India had an exceptionally difficult pandemic, so it now has exceptional scope for bouncing back. But other countries hit hard by COVID-19, such as Mexico, are not doing nearly as well. One might also note that, with India’s still-rapid rate of population growth, per capita incomes are rising more slowly than the aggregate GDP figures. But a population growth rate of 1% doesn’t fundamentally change theIndia’sstory. annual GDP growth in excess of 7% is in fact the continuation of an ongoing acceleration, from roughly 5.7% in the 1990s, to 6.2% from the turn of the century to the 2008 global financial crisis, and then to 6.9% from the crisis to the eve of the pandemic. The country has benefited from a buoyant tech sector, surprisingly robust agricultural productivity gains, and decent manufacturing growth. With the worst of the pandemic now behind it, the economy is firing on all cylinders. The question is whether this can last. Unfortunately, there are good reasons to believe that, given current policies, the answer is no.To maintain its growth momentum, India needs to export more. The country has never been an export powerhouse, to put it mildly. Exports of services help, but the outsourcing of back-office and customer-facing services is now poised to slow, as firms “friend-shore” more of their operations. The current government’s commitment to investing in logistics seems promising, but only time will tell how investment projects pan out. Rupee depreciation can make merchandise exports more competitive and limit consumption of imports. But the Reserve Bank of India, treating exchange rate stability as an important totem, has been reluctant to let the rupee fall. In the future, Indian exporters will face a less favorable external environment. China’s economy has slowed. The United States may not be able to avoid recession, and Europe is already in one. So it is not clear whence demand for India’s exports will come. Every Asian economy that has successfully expanded its manufacturing sector has scaled up by exporting, but this avenue may no longer be available to India.The country can of course borrow abroad to finance its current-account deficit and domestic investment. But India continues to underperform as a destination for foreign direct investment, which is deterred by bureaucratic obstacles to doing business. Having discarded suggestions that it issue dollar bonds, the government now seeks to encourage foreign investors to purchase local currency bonds. But this revised strategy is no less risky. Foreign investors in local currency bonds tend to cut and run at the first sign of trouble, since they otherwise will be hit by the double whammy of falling bond prices and a falling exchange rate. Nor does the government have space to borrow from residents to finance additional spending on the infrastructure, health care, and education needed to sustain long-term economic growth. General government debt is already 90% of GDP. The primary budget deficit, which excludes interest payments, is 3% of GDP. The government pays an average of 8% interest on its debt. But the authorities are able to keep interest rates at that level, and maintain a veneer of debt sustainability, only by requiring banks and other institutional investors to hold government bonds. This in turn limits the banks’ ability to provide essential investment finance to the private sector. Meanwhile, much of what the government takes in as revenue goes to entitlements and interest payments. Additional capital spending will therefore have to come from the private sector. And private savings are low by international standards. Most fundamentally, the government seems to have found it hard to implement structural reforms. Having experienced pushback from vested interests, it has basically taken significant reforms of labor and product markets off the table. Given its favorable demography, democratic polity, and large and diversified economy, India can in principle grow at 7% or higher for years to come. But the only route to such growth that remains open runs through structural reforms that relax all of the aforementioned constraints at a stroke.
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 202212 | FEATURE
The Bank of England after Boris
Likewise, Australia’s new Labor government recently launched an external review of the Reserve Bank’s mandate. The two most important Western central banks – the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank – suffered nothing so undignified as an external assessment, and both have been allowed to mark their own homework. The Fed’s review in 2020, when US inflation was persistently low, took its mandate as given, but concluded that “following periods when inflation has been running persistently below 2%, appropriate monetary policy will likely aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2% for some time.” The Fed has certainly achieved that over the past year, though I doubt that 9.1% annual inflation was exactly what it had in mind. I suspect that the term “inflation averaging,” like “forward guidance,” will now be put out to pasture. The ECB’s review, also undertaken against the background of stubbornly low inflation, reached a similar conclusion. The bank made its 2% inflation target symmetrical, which it always should have been, added some words about taking account of asset prices (especially housing prices), further downgraded the role of monetary aggregates, and looked forward to “a transitory period in which inflation is moderately above target.” On that final metric, the ECB also has in a sense outperformed, but the cure has proved even worse than the deflationary disease. So, there is little in these other reviews that could provide a useful model for the BOE in the current circumstances. But there is one idea that could be worth considering, though it also was conceived at a different time and for different problems. When he was chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard argued that a 2% inflation target was too low because there could be long periods when interest rates were at the zero lower bound, meaning that any further monetary loosening would entail quantitative easing, with uncertain results. With a 4% inflation target, those periods would be far shorter, and the monetary authorities could retain the ability to manipulate interest rates.One can argue that such a change would be more suited to a time when inflation was too low. But it could nonetheless have some relevance today. Squeezing double-digit inflation out of the system will almost certainly be costly in terms of lost output and jobs. Some of the froth may disappear as energy prices stabilize, even at a high level. But getting inflation back down to 2% will be tough, given the way inflationary expectations are becoming embedded in wages andWeprices.may need something approaching former Fed Chair Paul Volcker’s double-digit interest-rate onslaught, which brought down US inflation sharply in the early 1980s. Yet, even Volcker declared victory when he had reduced annual price growth to 4%. The risk of raising the inflation target when price increases are out of control is obvious. But doing so might give central banks a bit more flexibility, and bring about a more stable monetarypolicy regime in the longer term, for the reasons Blanchard set out. Such an outcome would certainly be better than putting interest rates back under political control.
By Howard Davies
The performance and mandate of the Bank of England have become central issues in the contest to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party, and therefore as the United Kingdom’s prime minister. But with recent reviews of other leading central banks offering little guidance amid today’s surging inflation, it might make sense to revive an old idea for reforming the prevailing anchor for monetary policy. It is not surprising that the BOE’s performance is in question, given the central bank’s 2% annual inflation target. With UK inflation currently running at 9.4% and expected to exceed 13% later this year, something has clearly gone wrong. But some of the Conservative leadership candidates, and notably the frontrunner, Liz Truss, have gone beyond merely criticizing BOE Governor Andrew Bailey for taking his eye off the ball. They talk about changing the BOE’s objectives, or even its very status. Truss has pledged to alter its mandate to toughen its focus on inflation, and one of her lieutenants has asked whether the BOE is “fit for purpose in terms of its entire exclusionary independence over interest rates.”No, I don’t know what that means, either, but it sounds threatening. Others have talked about being “more directive in setting [the BOE’s] mandate” and suggested that some of today’s inflation has been caused by growth in the money supply. That hints at a possible reintroduction of money-supply targets, which were in vogue under Margaret Thatcher’s government in the early 1980s. As it happens, I had the grandsounding job title of “Principal, Monetary Policy” in the Treasury in those far-off days when the government set interest rates to meet money-supply growth targets. It didn’t go so well. We tried several different measures, but none were reliable. This proved the validity of (Charles) Goodhart’s law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a goodWhilemeasure.there is no clear alternative to the BOE’s inflationtargeting regime, which has been in operation since 1997, some kind of review seems likely. In fact, the BOE is a little unusual among leading Western central banks in not having been “reviewed” in recent years. The Bank of Canada, for example, is subject to such an exercise every five years. The most recent review, at the end of 2021, left in place the bank’s 2% inflation target, though with some new language about the emphasis policymakers should place on unemployment. In New Zealand, on the other hand, the central bank’s governance was changed significantly last year. A committee, rather than the governor acting alone, will make monetary-policy decisions, and the bank will pay more attention to house prices.
AfCFTAHub
The AfCFTA has established the world’s largest trading bloc. However, it is essential to prevent SMEs and startups, which constitute the vast majority of economic actors on the African continent, from getting lost among the technical complexities and infrastructural bottlenecks of doing business in the Single Market.TheAfCFTA Hub is designed to grow into a single, trusted directory of the services needed to navigate the AfCFTA for small players, thereby making the AfCFTA the most inclusive Free Trade Area in the world. The AfCFTA Hub also powers the “AfCFTA Number”, a trusted identity and social score for all SMEs, startups and other AfCFTA players.Mr.Wamkele Mene, in his keynote remarks emphasised the “importance of ensuring the centrality of SMEs, startups and female entrepreneurs as we strive to build the world’s most inclusive, most innovative and most integrated Single Market.”
The #AfCFTA Hub digital platform was officially launched on July 8th, 2022 at the Boma of Africa (www.bomaofafrica.com) event convened to mark Africa Integration Day. The AfCFTA Hub platform was launched on behalf of AfCFTA Secretariat by the African Union AfCFTA Champion, H.E. Mahamadou Issifou, former President of the Republic of Niger and 2020 Ibrahim Prize Laureate. The Boma of Africa was jointly convened by the African Union (AU), the AfCFTA Secretariat, AfroChampions and the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). It was supported by the AfCFTA Hub Network, with support from Afreximbank, MTN, Ecobank, the Village Foundation, IC Publications, Dominion Television and APO. The launch of the AfCFTA Hub also coincided with the 3rd Anniversary of the entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The lineup of corporate supporters included major logistics companies such as RwandAir Ltd, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and ASKY Airlines. Also represented were continental retail and distribution companies like MaxMart, Melcom Group of Companies, Walmart Africa and Naivas Supermarket. On the digital, financial services, and fintech fronts, companies that participated in the launch of the AfCFTA Hub included Safaricom PLC #mPesa, Pan-African Payment & Settlement SystemPAPSS, Vodacom, Orange, Webb Fontaine, SCANNING SYSTEMS, and Standard Bank Group. Input into the development finance prospects came from the BADEA - Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (#BADEA) and the African Development Bank Group (#AfDB). The AfCFTA Hub (www.afcfta.app) is an interconnected clearinghouse or nexus for national government, intergovernmental, private, and public digital and partnership platforms to link together in ways that simplifies and smooth the way for #SMEs and startups to drive the success of the AfCFTA (the African Continental Free Trade Area ).
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 13| NEWS
Secretariat
AfCFTA launches
FBNBank is delivering on its promise of focusing on the youth this year by organising a Students Fair in collaboration with the University of Ghana on the Legon campus to deliver career guidance, entrepreneurship, mentorship, financial inclusion and placement opportunities to the students and youth generally. The FBNBank and University of Ghana Students Fair was aimed at building a better future for the youth of Ghana who form the largest demographic group in the country. The event, which run from the morning till late afternoon was structured on an edutainment platform and was in two segments. The first part was the information session held in the Cedi Conference Centre which featured speeches, a presentation by two young entrepreneurs and a question-and-answer session. The second part was a fair setting on the lawn of the Cedi Conference Centre with booths which covered the various career paths in the Bank and offered opportunities for personal engagement and mentoring in addition to exhibitions by selected youth entrepreneurs with games as side attractions. The event, which was attended by over a thousand students was opened by Rev. Dr. Mrs. Bridget Ben-Naimah, Director, University of Ghana Careers and Counselling Centre. Delivering her address, she said “the University of Ghana Careers and Counselling Centre exists to assist the students in formulating and achieving positive, personal, educational and career goals. This includes equipping them with general employability skills to help them transition from the university into entry level positions. It also includes helping students to develop an entrepreneurial spirit and a creative flair that deepens their breadth of knowledge and propels them into entrepreneurial endeavours if they so wish. Ultimately, our vision is to ensure a high-quality professional delivery of all services to students, the university community and the general public through our five strategic goals.”
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 202214 | FEATURE
FBNBank delivers on promise to focus on youth
FBNBank is set to continue the roll-out of their youth engagement activities to other parts of the country and also to different youth groups considering the varying segments it holds.
The Students Fair, which was organised under the theme, “Youth First; Explore the Possibilities” aimed to link students to industry in direct response to one of the strategic goals of the University’s Careers and Counselling Centre. Welcoming the students to the event, Head, Human Capital Management and Development Administration at FBNBank Ghana, Mrs. Eldora Tetteh said, “as you may all be aware, it is a very competitive world out there. Relatively fewer jobs for very many graduates and for those who have the intention and temperament to create their own jobs, there are endless opportunities but limited resources. Whichever way you look at it, you need to strengthen your capacity and mentality in order to be competitive. The question is, what is your agenda or vision for your future? If you know this already then great; you will find today very useful. However, if you do not know, then today is the day to make up your mind and start charting your course. The FBNBank and University of Ghana Students Fair is our interactive platform to engage students and assist them to acquire the relevant information to be able to chart a course for their future. It is great to see all of you here and we promise you that it is truly, Youth First, so explore the possibilities.” At the beginning of this year, FBNBank declared that the Bank’s focus will be on the youth with the aim of supporting the development of Ghana’s largest demographic group with a view to securing the future of the country. Addressing the students, Mr. Victor Yaw Asante, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FBNBank said “ FBNBank declared 2022 as the year of the youth. This is because we appreciate the contribution a focused and well-prepared youth cohort can make for a country within a generation. We are not only appreciative of the situation but also very well placed to support the youth in their preparation for the future. This event gives credence to our commitment. For us, the youth of Ghana have the capabilities to compete with their peers across the globe and it must be a national imperative to make this possible in all spheres. The deciding factor is however, how you, young persons, take advantage of the opportunities available regardless of the situation you find yourselves in. This is the essence of what we are doing. FBNBank has a committed focus on you, the youth, with our Xplore Students Account, as well as with our Graduate Entry Programme and Talent Management Programme. Even so, you must be willing to think and act outside what has become the norm in order to increase your chances of success.”
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 15| FEATURE
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The Financial Secretary of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of AngloGold Ashanti School (AGA School), Daniel Asare, has appealed to parents especially those in the public schools not to leave the burden of promoting quality education solely on the government. Interacting with the media after he led the PTA of AGA School to handover over two projects to the school, Mr Asare said to ensure quality education, parents must play a supportive role to ensure government achieves that target. The PTA in their quest to contribute to the enhancement of the standard of education in the school, funded the construction of a pre-school play centre project and a mechanised borehole with a 20,000-litre water reservoir, costing GH 110,000.00. Mr Asare said key pillars to promoting quality education included but were not limited to providing quality teachers, ensuring the use of quality learning equipment and professional development as well as creating secured and conductive quality learning environments for the students. Out of the pillars, he said, parents have a role to play mostly at home in shaping and complementing the efforts of Contributingteachers.tothe ongoing debate for parents to support the sustainability of the government’s flagship programme, the Free Senior High School policy, Mr Asare said it ought to be a shared responsibility between government and parents. He said by so doing, parents will help break the cycle of poverty and improve the socio-economic development of the nation.
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 17| NEWS
Citing the contribution of parents to the AGA school, he said parents over the years have contributed massively towards the quality education of their wards – the recent amongst was a resolution by parents to contribute GH 400 cedis per child per term as facility maintenance fee for the Junior High School, which is a private/ public partnership of government and AGA. Mr Asare appealed to the school authorities to take good care of the facility and make good use of it for the betterment of the students.TheExecutive Director of the school, Mr Simon Peter Atta Cato, lauded the PTA for its cooperation and contribution over the years to quality education. He underscored the strategic nature of the two projects saying “this modern playground has come at the right time; at a time where children will need a safe and sound environment to play. The borehole will also ensure a constant supply of water to the school.”
PTA, key to building strong educational system
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 202218 | MARKET REVIEW WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW FOR WEEK ENDING - AUGUST 5, 2022 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS STOCK MARKET REVIEW THE CURRENCY MARKET Q3, 2021 GDP Growth 3.3% Average GDP Growth for 2021 3.3% 2022 Projected GDP Growth 3.7% BoG Policy Rate 19.0% Weekly Interbank Interest Rate 21.88% Inflation for February, 2022 29.8% End Period Inflation Target – 2022 28.5% Budget Deficit (% GDP) – Dec, 2021 5.0% 2022 Budget Deficit Target (%GDP) 6.6% Public Debt (billion GH¢) – Dec, 2021 393.4% Debt to GDP Ratio – Dec, 2021 78.3%
The Ghana Stock Exchange weakened for the week on the back of price declines by 4 counters. The GSE Composite Index (GSE CI) lost 122.33 points (-4.86%) to close at 2,396.52 points, reflecting year-to-date (YTD) loss of 14.08%. The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE FI) also lost 10.68 points (-0.51%) to close at 2,092.90 points, reflecting YTD loss of 2.74%. Market capitalization declined by 2.42% to close the week at GH¢62,827.57 million, from GH¢64,383.34 million at the close of the previous week. This reflects YTD decrease of 2.59%. Trading activity recorded a total of 66,164,780 shares valued at GH¢50,649,299.41 changing hands, compared with 314,961 shares, valued at GH¢3,231,680.95 in the preceding week. MTN dominated both volume and value of trades for the week, accounting for 99.29% and 97.66% of total volume and value of shares traded respectively. The market ended the week with 3 advancers and 4 decliners as indicated on the table below. The Cedi plummeted against the USD for the week. It traded at GH¢8.0001/$, compared with GH¢7.6120/$ at week open, reflecting w/w and YTD depreciations of 4.85% and 24.92% respectively. This compares with YTD depreciation of 1.03% a year ago.
The Cedi also weakened against the GBP for the week. It traded at GH¢9.6341/£, compared with GH¢9.2642/£ at week open, reflecting w/w and YTD loss of 3.84% and 15.64% respectively. This compares with YTD depreciation of 2.41% a year ago. The Cedi also lost against the Euro for the week. It traded at GH¢8.1243/€, compared with GH¢7.7658/€ at week open, reflecting w/w and YTD depreciations of 4.41% and 15.95% respectively. This compares with YTD appreciation of 3.22% a year ago.
The Cedi again weakened against the Canadian Dollar for the week. It opened at GH¢5.9388/C$ but closed at GH¢6.1811/C$, reflecting w/w and YTD depreciations of 3.92% and 23.29% respectively. This compares with YTD depreciation of 2.18% a year ago.
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022 19| MARKET REVIEW GOVERNMENT SECURITIES MARKET COMMODITY MARKET BUSINESS TERM OF THE WEEK
Cyclical Stock: Cyclical Stocks are publicly traded securities characterized by share prices that fluctuate along with the prevailing macroeconomic conditions and business cycles. Source: knowledge/cyclical-stocks/https://www.wallstreetprep.com/ ABOUT CORPORATERESEARCHCIDANTEAMINFORMATION CIDAN Investments Limited is an investment and fund management company licensed by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA). Name: Ernest Email:etannor@cidaninvestments.comTannor Tel:+233 (0) 20 881 8957 Name: Audrey Asiedua Wiafe Email:aaudrey@cidaninvestments.com Tel:+233 (0) 57 840 2700 Name: Moses Nana Osei-Yeboah Tel:+233Email:moyeboah@cidaninvestments.com(0)244990069 CIDAN Investments Limited CIDAN House Plot No. 169 Block 6 Haatso, North Legon – Accra Tel: +233 (0) 26171 7001/ 26 300 3917 Fax: +233 (0)30 254 4351 Email: info@cidaninvestmens.com Website: www.cidaninvestments.com Disclaimer The contents of this report have been prepared to provide you with general information only. Information provided on and available from this report does not constitute any investment recommendation. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources that we believe to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. Your subscription along with the support of businesses that advertise in Business24 -- makes an investment in journalism that is essential to keep the business community in Ghana wellWeinformed.value your support and loyalty. +233AdvertisingNewsroom:editor@business24.com.ghContact:0302965315/Sales:242122742 Copyright @ 2019 Business24 Limited. All Rights Reserved. Limited
INTERNTIONAL COMMODITIES PRICES
Government raised a sum of GH¢1,301.71 million for the week across the 91-Day, 182-Day and 364-Day Treasury Bills. This compared with GH¢1,083.55 million raised in the previous week. The 91-Day Bill settled at 27.04% p.a from 26.71% p.a. last week whilst the 182-Day Bill settled at 28.51% p.a from 28.26% p.a. last week. The 364-Day Bill settled at 28.40% from 27.85% at last issue.The table and graph below highlight primary market yields at close of the week. Crude oil prices retreated for the week after a July U.S. jobs report raised expectations of continued aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve, potentially weighing on growth in the world’s largest consumer of crude. Brent futures traded at US$94.92 a barrel on Friday, compared to US$110.01 at week open. This reflects a w/w loss and YTD gain of 13.72% and 22.04% respectively.Goldprices edged higher for the week, after a rally in the U.S. dollar appeared to have paused. Gold settled at US$1,791.20, from US$1,781.80 last week, reflecting w/w gain and YTD loss of 0.53% and 2.05% respectively. Prices of Cocoa declined for the week. The commodity traded at US$2,305.00 per tonne on Friday, from US$2,323.00 last week, reflecting w/w gain and YTD loss of 1.35% and 7.82% respectively.
Non-profit Foundation supports Ejisu Roman Catholic 2nd International Coconut Festival launched in Ellembelle
PUBLISHED
2nd International Coconut Festival launched in Ellembelle, Western Region Ghana Export Promotion Authority has partnered the African Coconut Group to launch the 2nd International Coconut Festival at the Atuabo Gas Complex, Ellembelle, Western Region.
Delivering her opening remarks via virtual means, Dr Asabea Asare intimated that with the right support from partner institutions, the coconut industry should be able to achieve an expected annual revenue of Usd2.8 billion in Otherexports.key personalities in the coconut value chain, including Kobina Okyere-Darko, Western Regional Minister, who chaired the event, pledged their institutional support to grow value addition in the coconut industry. The 2nd International Coconut Festival is themed: “Repositioning Ghana’s Coconut sector for accelerated industrialization agenda” and will take place from Sep 20-24, 2022 at the Accra International Conference Centre. BY BUSINESS24 LTD. TEL: 030 296 5297, 030 296 5315.
EDITOR: BENSON AFFUL editor@business24.com.gh | +233 545 516 133. By Sampson Manu
In the quest to eliminate random and frequent departures by students from the school grounds to use washroom facilities in neighboring houses and unsanitary locations, the Antwi Mensah and Family Foundation has cut sod to build two (2) modern washroom facilities to serve the Kindergarten, Primary and Junior High School pupils of the Ejisu Roman Catholic school in the Ashanti Region. The two facilities contain a total of 16 (sixteen) Water Closet (WC) stalls – 5 (five) stalls in the kindergarten building and 11 (eleven) stalls in the Primary and JHS building. The stalls are subdivided into female students, male students, and staff. The kindergarten building has a common shower for the male and female students, and the female section of the Primary and JHS building has a changing room for the older female students. Situated in the heart of Ejisu, this will be the first time the school with a population of 1,200 will have access to a Water Closet (WC) toilet facility since its establishment more than 80 years ago. Dr. Kofi Antwi Mensah, the CoChairperson of the Foundation and an old student of the school, at the ceremony said they realised that the school was in dire need of a reliable and clean toilet facility on the school grounds to enhance teaching and learning. He said though the school has played a major role in shaping the lives of a lot of people who passed through the school, it faces infrastructural challenges, as many of its buildings are in deplorable state. “It is unfortunate that the school has not received any major renovations in a very long time. This doesn’t bode well for a school which has produced a lot of influential people in the society”.According to the CoChairperson, the facility was going to improve the hygienic condition of the school and the environment as a whole. He also added that washroom facilities are the first of projects lined up by the foundation to build for the school. He said after touring the entire school, and listening to the school authorities, they have resolved to give a facelift to the other structures of the school and possibly put up a computer lab and improve the existing science laboratories. The Municipal Chief Executive for Ejisu, Samuel Oduro Frimpong lauded the Foundation for coming to the aid of the school. He mentioned that the NPP Government remains committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning in basic schools, and, as a result has opened the doors for individuals or organisations who share in the vision of the Government to work together to improve education in Ghana.Referencing the President’s inaugural speech in 2017, the MCE said the “ Let’s be Citizens and not Spectators “ mantra of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was a call to energize Ghanaians to play active role by supporting Government to develop the country. The Ejisu Municipal Director of Education Kwabena Owusu also praised the Antwi Mensah and Family Foundation for the initiative.Hesaid, “I think this gesture could not have come at a better time. We are all witnesses to the sanitation challenges of the school which has really affected teaching and learning. I cannot hide my joy anymore “ He said the over GH500,000 facility will serve the over 1200 pupils of the school and will ensure that it is properly maintained when it is completed.
WWW.BUSINESS24.COM.GH | NO. B24/317 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022
