Essential business magazine issue 11 2016

Africa

www.essentialbusinessmag.com|Issue 11

The internet of everything

Cisco CiscoSA SA Cisco South Africa general manager Cathy Smith on how her company is driving connectivity across the continent.

NEC South Africa p26 Golden Wings p30 IFS p34 IO Furniture p38

#AFTFW

Cape Town, South Africa | The Westin Cape Town March 2-4, 2016

Regarded as the market’s leading pan-African trade finance gathering, GTR Africa Trade Finance Week will return to Cape Town for its 10th year.

Throughout the last decade the event has provided the international trade finance community with an unrivalled forum for open discussion and debate on Africa’s trade potential and its priorities for the future.

“Without doubt the premier African conference covering the full spectrum of trade and ECA finance. Every year it strengthens, drawing an even wider group of key practitioners from across the globe. This is the conference to hear what is going on and observe trends for the future.”

SECTORS ATTENDED IN 2015

G Buck, Cole Commission on Exports

39%

CORPORATES & TRADERS

27%

BANKS & FINANCIERS

9%

INSURERS & RISK MANAGERS NON-BANK FINANCIERS

6%

ECAS & MULTILATERALS

6%

LAWYERS GOVT ORGS & PUBIC BODIES

4% 3%

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

2%

MEDIA

2%

CONSULTANTS

2%

COMPANIES REPRESENTED

DELEGATES ATTENDED

158 316

COUNTRIES REPRESENTED

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2015’s VITAL STATISTICS 2015’s STATISTICS For more information please contact Elisabeth Spry at espry@gtreview.com or visit www.gtreview.com

P R O D U C T I O N Scott Jameson

Publisher sjames@essentialbusinessmag.com

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Production Manager

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Associate Editor production@essentialbusinessmag.com

Magazine Design and Production:

Welcome to 2016’s first edition of Essential Business.

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To mark the New Year, we have an issue packed with exciting plans and new businesses for the year ahead.

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E X E C U T I V E

Our lead feature delves into what’s been happening at Cisco South Africa. We talk to their general manager, Cathy Smith, about their continued dedication to IT development and their involvement with building the world’s largest radio telescope.

We also profile NEC South Africa, a company set to undergo big changes under a significant new partnership with XON. We talk to their general manager about what’s in store.

Since it’s a new year we thought we’d also take a look at a new company with big ambitions. This brought us to Golden Wings, an aviation services company based in South Africa, with plans to expand across the continent.

We’re also very excited to be profiling IO Furniture and its charismatic CEO, Munira Shonibare as well as looking to the future we’ve also featured a look at the five most important infrastructure developments of 2015.

Welcome to the latest issue, and happy New Year!

D I R E C T O R S

Adil Nazer | Rahim Ali | Daniel Goha Essential Business Publishing 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PW, England www.essentialbusinessmag.com © Essential Business Publishing 2016

Sam Wright, Editor in Chief

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The Railway Industry’s Chosen Partner for Dispatching and Recording Siemens Convergence Creators Railway Communication Management Railway operators today manage a highly complex interplay of operations of staff and assets in real-time, including the recording of voice communications, data messages and location-based information for later review and to meet legal requirements.

a single system to interconnect to all different networks. All components are built around standard off-the-shelf hardware, reducing the hardware maintenance cost to IT maintenance levels.

Integrated Fixed Dispatching System for GSM-R is a comprehensive, feature-rich, highly reliable and scalable dispatching solution designed to smoothly interconnect multi-network technologies. It is fully compliant with EIRENE and MORANE standards, TĂœV certified and built specifically for a distributed controller position in the railway environment.

GSM-R Voice Recording is the industry standard for exact, secure and easily accessible communications documentation.

It ensures the permanent capture of real-time voice and data of the mobile to mobile and mobile to dispatcher and active Voice Group Call Services, operable in a fully redundant setup.

Siemens Convergence Creators Professional Mobile Radio / Command and Control for Communication solutions interact seamlessly with legacy network technologies such as MPT, VHF, UHF, TETRA and SIP. They enable railway operators to use

www.siemens.com/railway-operations

Contents Building the future

6

Last year saw a rise in foreign investment due to spending on infrastructure. We look back at the five most important developments of 2015.

Kenya’s power promise

8

We discuss Kenya’s nuclear potential with a senior Engineer from the Kenyan Nuclear Electricity Board.

News round-up

10

Our sector by sector round-up of this month’s biggest business stories, including the impact on Africa’s oil industry after the lifting of Iran’s market sanctions.

Golden Wings

32

We speak to Dirk Tromp, CEO of Golden Wings, about how the young aviation company looks to expand in the coming year.

IFS

38

IFS is a global leader in developing and delivering enterprise software.

We discuss their 2016 and their enthusiasm for the Internet of Things.

Cisco South Africa

14

In our main feature we talk to the general manager of Cisco SA about the company’s history and their involvement in South Africa’s SKA project.

NEC South Africa

28

NEC SA has recently formed a partnership with XON, which looks to make 2016 an important year. We talk to the managing director about what’s in store.

IO Furniture

42

We have a look at IO Furniture’s success in a flourishing industry and learn about its fascinating founder and CEO, Munira Shonibare.

AEL DRC

48

As one of the world’s leading suppliers of explosives and initiating systems, business in booming for AEL DRC.

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On

Building the future One of the biggest stories in African business during 2015 was the rise in foreign direct investment due to spending on major infrastructure projects.

Here, we take a look at five of the most important developments that made ground during the year.

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OnTopic

Lake Turkana’s wind farm

Kenya’s vision of producing an additional 5000MW of energy by 2017 is spurring new projects across the country, many of which are renewables. One project of particular interest is the 310MW wind farm project in the area of Lake Turkana. Once complete, the scheme – the largest of its type in Africa – will boost the country’s installed capacity by around 20%: enough to power two million households.

The scale of the development, which is largely funded by the Danish government, has attracted investors such as Google, which intends to take a 12.5% stake once the site is fully operational.

“These efforts not only make business sense,” said the Silicon Valley giant, “they can help accelerate the deployment of renewable energy globally – including in emerging markets like Kenya, where there is an opportunity to have a transformative impact on the energy grid.”

The West African rail network

As it stands, 14 African nations lack a rail network, with many more home to infrastructure that has suffered from years of underinvestment and neglect. One of the worst affected by this is Niger, a landlocked and mineral-rich country desperate to kick start its struggling economy.

Last year saw the signing of a concession agreement between the governments of Niger and neighbouring Benin for the construction of a rail link, with the latter’s Prime Minister, Lionel Zinsou, stating that “never has there been such an important investment in a West African country”. There

is much more to follow, as the project marks the latest stage in the ambitious “West African rail loop” development, a planned 2,700 kilometre line connecting Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin and Togo. Once completed, this will slash transport costs across the region, with a focus on moving minerals from mines to ports. This will not come cheap however, with the Niger-Benin section alone estimated to cost in the region of US$1.6 billion.

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The Olkaria Geothermal Power Plant

In February, Kenya saw another first as the Olkaria facility came online. The largest geothermal project in the world, Olkaria began operations in late 2014, but was fully inaugurated – amid much fanfare – after testing had been completed several weeks later.

Currently, geothermal accounts for one-third of the Kenya’s overall installed capacity, but provides more than half of total output due to its stability and high yield. This has prompted the country’s government to push forward with the resource, with Kenya Electricity Generation Company, known as KenGen, drilling 137 wells since 2007 – a significant increase on its way above the target of 100 wells.

Ethiopia’s light rail project

Following several months of testing, sub-Saharan Africa’s first light rail line began operations in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on September 20.

Capable of carrying of 60,000 passengers per hour at a top speed of 70 kilometres per hour, the much anticipated US$474 million transport system was built over three years by the China Railway Group Limited after the Ethiopian government secured 85% of funding from the Export-Import Bank of China.

With Ethiopia currently Africa’s second-fastest growing economy, the need to ease the country’s increasingly congested roads has grown starker in recent years. At the same time, other countries have looked at replicating the model of Chinese funding for light rail, with both Uganda and Nigeria now pressing forward with similar projects.

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Modderfontein’s “New City”

Of course, with China now Africa’s largest foreign investor, partnerships such as these are by no means confined to rail. Yet among the vast number of Chinese-led construction and infrastructure developments underway across the continent, one of the most striking is in the quiet village of Modderfontein, northeast of Johannesburg.

Back in 2013, Chinese developer Shanghai Zendai paid roughly R1 billion for a swathe of land covering the area, announcing its intent to spend R67 on turning Modderfontein into the “New York of Africa”. Unsurprisingly, there had been much cynicism over the proposal, with many doubting that ground would ever be broken.

However, days after Addis Ababa welcomed its new light rail service, Shanghai Zendai launched the first phase of its US$6.4 billion masterplan, which included luxury accommodation ahead of the forthcoming industrial parks, schools and entertainment centres.

Despite the challenges blighting China’s economy, Shanghai Zendai has said that it will not scale back its plans for Modderfontein, which is expected to take at least another 15 years to complete.

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Expert Kenya’s power

promise Nduma Joseph Ruwah, a senior engineer with the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB), gives us his thoughts on the country’s nuclear potential.

Are there any specific projects in the energy sector in East Africa that the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board Kenya is particularly excited about?

All energy projects in the region excite KNEB since an increased generation and transmission capacity makes nuclear electricity a more viable project. Just to name a few, the Olkaria geothermal projects commissioned by the president of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, the Lake Turkana Wind power project, the coal power plant project. Ethiopia has gotten a contractor for constructing the

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Ethiopian section of the KenyaEthiopia HVDC line.

What are the main challenges in implementing nuclear in the energy sector in this region?

KNEB has a very big battle to fight and one unique challenge the organisation faces is a small knowledge base to counter the ever-growing dissent towards nuclear power. KNEB needs to get a team that is intimately familiar with nuclear, for it to grow. The other challenge is the fear of nuclear power after the Fukushima Daiichi accident. A lot of public awareness programs need to be undertaken to enlighten the public.

Private-public projects seem to be having quite a bit success lately…

PPPs help tap more money for infrastructure, spur innovation; transfers supply and risk demand to the private sector and shorten the project delivery dates. This doesn’t mean that PPPs are without risks. There’s a lack of accountability from the private partners and some facilities may be too expensive when operated by the private sector.

What surprises you about this sector?

The most intriguing part of the energy sector is its possibilities.

Just when you think you are the end of the road, then something revolutionary comes up. For example, the Tesla Powerwall battery, it will revolutionize electricity generation in the whole world.

What is your message to would be investors in this sector?

Kenya plans to have an installed capacity of 5000MW by 2017. This is a big investment opportunity for investors who want to set up IPPs and those who’ll be consuming that power.

To all investors, Kenya is open for business.

email: production@essentialbusinessmag.com

CONSTRUCTION

T

he official end to the sanctioning of Iran brings further uncertainty to the future of Africa’s oil industry.

F

rans Pieenar, chair of Inyatsi Construction, has stirred controversy by claiming that the construction sector contains too much “transformational window dressing” and solutions that stand up to scrutiny but do not offer real change.

One project to which Pieenar’s comments don’t apply is the construction of Djibouti’s first solar power plant, which has now begun.

The development of the plant is the result of a partnership between the Republic of Djibouti and Green Enesys, a German company specialising in renewable energy.

The new plant will be an important part of the government’s plan to cut energy costs and supply all of Djibouti’s energy from renewable sources within the next decade.

The plant is being built in six stages with 50 megawatts of power being added each time for a final power output of 300 megawatts.

In Namibia the United Africa group have started the process of building a luxury hotel in Windhoek. The construction will cost approximately N$324m and is set to be completed by early 2018.

Less positive news is that Tanzania have decided to put construction of East Africa’s largest port on hold. The Bagamoyo port project was priced at $10bn and would have been the largest in East Africa. The priority has been shifted towards upgrading existing facilities.

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E N E R G Y / M I N I N G

A more than 50% reduction in oil prices has already had a devastating effect on Africa’s oil exporters.

With Iran’s supply potentially rising to 500,000 barrels per day there is now also the possibility that Iranian exports may take over some of Africa’s share of major markets.

Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria, is under a lot of pressure as 6570% of its government budget and 95% of its foreign currency relies on oil. A dollar shortage there is putting pressure on the naira, and affecting its ability to pay for imports.

Nigeria has also shut crude oil pipelines in the volatile Niger Delta. This occurred after several bomb attacks late last week, echoing the militant attacks in the early 2000s.

A more positive result from the reduction in oil prices sees India exploring the potential of acquiring oil and gas assets in Africa. As assets become more affordable further partnerships between Africa and India may come into fruition.

Meanwhile the largest discovery of offshore natural gas ever in Africa could result in Mozambique joining its largest economies. A recent report from the IMF suggested Mozambique’s economy could grow by an annual increase of 24 per cent between 2021 and 2025, should the gas discovery reach its full production capacity.

News M

ore good news for the Republic of Djbouti as it signs a series of trade agreements with China.

S

outh Africa’s worst drought since records began in 1904 is making things difficult for its largest food producers.

The shares of producers such as Pioneer Food Group Ltd. and RCL Foods Ltd. have fallen to record lows as a result of the rising prices of essential crops.

The price of staple crops has F O O D risen as a result of the drought, with A N D white corn rising 50% and wheat D R I N K rising 25%.

Lullu Krugel, an economist at KPMG LLP in Johannesburg is quoted as saying food inflation will probably exceed 10 per cent by the middle of this year.

Meanwhile South Africa also faces a 17% Eskom tariff hike, with the potential to hit the agricultural industry hard. Agri Western Cape CEO Carl Opperman told the Nesra newsroom “We cannot accept the amount that is on the table, we cannot absorb it!”

Opperman also said that food security in South Africa could be in serious jeopardy should the tarrif be granted.

In other news Olam International limited has acquired Nigeria’s Amber Foods Limited. The deal will result in Olam doubling its wheat milling capacity in the country and make it a leading player in the manufacture of pasta.

Djbouti lies at the entrance of the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, giving it the potential to be an important hub for global shipping and defence.

The agreements include banking deals and a 48 square kilometre free trade zone, and come at a time of increased cooperation between Africa and its largest trading partner.

A trade row involved the United States and South Africa has resolved recently.

T R A D E After negotiations described by the US at “intense” meat imports from the US into South Africa are now back on track.

A deal was reached after South Africa decided to relax restrictions on imports of poultry from the US. Restrictions were in place due to fears surrounded diseases such as avian influenza and salmonella.

The row had been going on for some time, with President Obama originally setting 2015 as the final deadline for the dispute to be resolved.

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Cisco Systems w w w . c i s c o . c o m

The internet of

Everything

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Technology

Cisco South Africa is laying the global foundations for the next stage of the Internet – the Internet of Everything. spoke to Cathy Smith, general manager, about the promise of connectivity and the company’s plans for the future.

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C

isco Systems, Inc. was founded by the husband and wife team Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner.

While they were both employed

by America’s Stanford University in the 1980s they wanted to email each other from different buildings, but found that they couldn’t using the technology available to them.

They pooled their knowledge and created a multi-protocol router that quickly became commercially successful, largely due to the flexibility of its operating system that allowed for easy upgrades as the IT boom took hold. Today Cisco’s employee count sits at over 70,000 and its revenue reached $12.68 billion during first quarter of the fiscal year 2016.

Cisco is focused on becoming the number one technology company globally Cathy Smith, General Manager of Cisco South Africa, says that “over the last 30 years, Cisco has been the world leader in connecting people, things and technologies - to each other and to the Internet with our products, services and integrated solutions.

In today’s increasingly digital world, we help customers in every industry use technology -

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and specifically the network - to grow their businesses, drive efficiencies and gain competitive advantage.”

Cisco System, Inc. develop and sell a large range of solutions in order to achieve this aim. With over 300 product families they have a wide range of technology targeted at a spectrum of customers with vastly different expectations.

We understand that our innovation is the core of why our customers are confident in our ability to help address their challenges Smith elaborates. “Most Cisco products use a configure-to-order production model. Products are built based on confirmed customer orders. A large percentage of Cisco growth comes through acquisitions, and they bring their own supply chain requirements and processes that need to be integrated into Cisco core operations.”

In other words since the inception of its very first product the idea of customer-centric solutions has been essential to Cisco’s philosophy.

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Innovation has also always been at the heart of what Cisco do. According to Smith Cisco’s “unique selling point is our focus on innovation” and “we understand that our innovation is the core of why our customers are confident in our ability to help address their challenges.”

This focus on innovation has allowed Cisco not only to constantly develop new technologies in order to meet its customer’s demands, but also pioneer new strategies in the way they sell their products.

A well-known example of this was their decision to launch a campaign to introduce a new router solely on social media advertising. The launch ended up being one of the top five in the company’s history and over $100,000 were saved on normal launch expenses.

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Helping Africa Connect We spoke to Cathy Smith about some of the ways Cisco has been helping to develop Africa’s IT infrastructure. She told us about Cisco’s involvement in the Square Kilometre Array project, an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area. The Square Kilometre Array project will represent a huge leap forward for astronomy and promises to be one of the most exciting developments for the scientific community in the coming years.

“A flagship project which Cisco, in collaboration with the South African Department of Science and Technology, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has invested in, is the Square Kilometre Array project. The SKA is a natural extension of the Internet of Everything in that it will bring together people, processes, data and things to change outcomes and pioneer research in optical transport and big data – and South Africa will be at the forefront of these exciting developments.”

Smith told EBA that Cisco’s support towards SKA comprises of four main areas.

“Firstly there’s the Cisco Net Academy and Knowledge Centre in the remote town of

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Carnavon, Northern Cape, where the SKA is hosted. The purpose of the Academy is to help local community members develop basic and intermediate ICT and networking skills.

Then there’s the Optical Transport Research, also in partnership with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in support of the SKA in South Africa, which involved a donation of Cisco equipment, as well as a fully-fledged, multimillion dollar, state of art lab facility donation, and direct access to key expert resources in the Cisco optical engineering business unit.

Thirdly we managed to organise the donation of state of the art, next generation data centre fabric lab equipment to the SKA South Africa project office, to enable testing and validation

of the central signal processing architectural and technical specification requirements.

Finally there was the donation of a Cisco Telepresence system to SKA South Africa and its key partner sites, providing high definition immersive video capabilities to enable and facilitate collaboration both locally and internationally.”

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The SKA is a natural extension of the IoE in that it will bring together people, processes, data and things Cisco is also investing a lot into the continued development of South Africa as a world player in science and technology.

They are doing this partly because they recognise the workforce requirements are shifting as increasing technological infrastructure continues to influence how businesses operate. They are dedicated to addressing the challenge of educating a workforce that will be faced with exponential digitization in the coming decades. Smith says that “it is essential to work towards solving this problem now, by investing not only in the technology required to be competitive with the rest of the world, but also in the skill sets needed to implement this technology.”

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It’s exciting to see a large company investing in their potential future employees, as well the employees in other areas of the industry that will be needed as the world becomes more and more connected. As well as some of the projects Smith describes above Cisco are also investing at a more fundamental level.

Smith tells EBA that “Cisco has developed the Networking Academy programme and formed several partnerships with businesses, governments and educational institutions across Africa in line with this way of thinking. There are more than 870 academies throughout the continent linked to NGOs, schools and universities, with 60 000 active students taking part in the programmes offered.

From computer clubs for young children and courses teaching

basic knowledge of how to use a computer, to A+ computer technician courses on understanding hardware and software, Linux Essentials courses, CCNA accreditation and even networking courses in Sign Language for the deaf community, the aim is to equip students with practical skills to succeed in the working world.”

It’s clear then that Cisco South Africa is deeply involved at all levels in progressing IT in South Africa and the continent.

With companies acting so generously it’s easy to be hopeful about Africa’s place in the world’s continuing digitization and connection.

This brings us to another focus of Cisco, and one of the hottest buzz words of the moment – the Internet of Everything.

AIT Consulting

The Internet of Everything

Note that this is not just the Internet of Things. The Internet of Everything takes that concept and brings it to another level.

As a company whose essential product and expertise is connection, Cisco have placed themselves at the forefront of this exciting global phenomenon.

While the Internet of Things involves objects being able to communicate digitally and cooperate without human intervention, the Internet of Everything brings humans, systems, companies and well… everything also into the mix. The Internet of Everything is the idea that, in the not too distant future, in some way everything will be connected to everything else. Cathy Smith and Cisco are very excited by this idea and it’s at the very core of Cisco’s business strategy.

The Internet of Everything is already becoming a big thing in the developed world. Part of Cisco’s strategy of investment is

their desire to get Africa more involved. Smith suggests that “the world’s developing and emerging economies should embrace the potential of ICT to drive social and economic transformation and catch up with other nations.”

This presents governments and companies with some huge tasks. Smith summarises what needs to be done.

“In order for African cities, countries and economic systems to embrace the Internet of Everything, each institution must become fully digitised. And if you want to become a digital business you’ll need an agile IT model and the ability to rethink core processes for the digital era.

Embracing new security, cloud, mobile, social and analytics technologies required to become fully digitized takes imagination, investment and expertise.”

Judging by what Smith has been telling us, Cisco South Africa can’t be accused of lacking those three essential qualities.

AIT Consulting have been providing advanced consulting services since 2010, mostly in the datacenter and security field.

AIT Consulting primarily provides consulting services through Cisco and Gold partners. This ability to engage CCIE skills on a per project basis relieves pressure on internal resources and results in quicker project implementation for clients. AIT Consulting have been especially busy for the last five years with many Cisco ISE projects, firewall projects and four large datacenter projects, all from design through to implementation, at some of the large corporates in Southern Africa. AIT Consulting also assists partners in the pre-sales and solution architecture process.

New Problems, New Solutions

Implementing the Internet of Everything will bring untold benefit to people’s lives and is a key aspect to the growth of the developing world. However, as with anything else, new systems bring new problems and it takes the three qualities Smith describes above to provide solutions to them.

Smith identifies the biggest problem facing a more connected world as cyber security. While businesses grow and embrace new information technologies security has sometimes been an afterthought,

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and this is a problem that needs addressing. Smith explained to us that “in the past there was a disconnect between business and IT. CEOs never paid sufficient attention to cyber security, and mobile defence was regarded as an afterthought. However, as cyber-attacks increase in frequency, CEOs and employees are now forced to take cyber security seriously.”

Security is a huge part of Cisco’s operations as they recognise that the process of connecting must also involve the process of securing. Smith says that “Cisco has been securing organisations of all sizes for decades, and we understand the rapidly changing security landscape. Our customers need to maintain a secure end-to-end environment to protect critical infrastructure, data and intellectual property.”

The vast increase in mobile connection also brings the problem of security to the average consumer. Rather worryingly for those of us who don’t necessarily think about these sort of things Smith comments that “an example of a key driver in mobile security breaches is the reality that most apps developed are not secure by design as many developers use open source components, which result in vulnerabilities.”

Let’s hope that Cisco have got our backs when it comes to our day to day app usage too.

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What Next?

Smith doesn’t mince her words when it comes to describing the aim of Cisco Systems, Inc. “Cisco is focused on becoming the number one technology company globally”, she says.

Cisco are currently embarking on a campaign to help companies realise how much value will be gained by implementing the Internet of Everything in the coming decade. According to Smith “the Internet of Everything will deliver $19T of value to individuals, businesses and countries globally. Our goal is to be a strategic partner to our customers as they move from traditional to digital businesses.”

Smith also told EBA about its plans for operations in South Africa. As well as investing in education and

the SKA project they are looking at several fundamental long term strategies.

These including increasing the service providers that bring high bandwidth access and IP services to Africa, and healthcare in order to improve the citizen’s quality of life. In order to sustain South Africa’s natural

resources Smith also suggests that South Africa’s Critical National Infrastructure must be improved. Smith describes security as “a key enabler to the digital economy” and their dedication to this problem is one of the most visible aspects to their presence online, and the enormous increase in wearable devices will also be important to Cisco’s future.

All of these strategies are related to Cisco’s dedication to the Internet of Everything, and their core belief that a world with better connections will be a better one in which to live.

It’s clear that Cisco’s passion for developing IT in Africa is genuine, and we look forward to witnessing how their influence helps Africa to grow.

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NEC Africa w w w . z a . n e c . c o m

The p power ower of

communi NEC Africa is a driving force behind Africa’s continuing IT development. We spoke to Eugene le Roux, president and managing director, about some of NEC Africa’s recent operations and their plans for 2016.

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ITC

c at i o n T he NEC Corporation, a Japanese multinational provider of information technology and one the world’s pioneers in mobile phone technology, started trading in Africa in 1962. There were a few branch and liaison offices dotted about the continent but it wasn’t until 2011 that NEC Africa was born. Now based in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya NEC Africa is making large gains in Africa’s IT industry, providing solutions in networking infrastructure, data storage and cloud, safety and security, cyber security and alternative energy.

New partnerships

The biggest recent development for NEC Africa is its new partnership with XON, a company that designs, builds, operates, and manages information and communication technology solutions in subSaharan Africa.

NEC Africa’s deal with XON is effective from the first of July, and promises to be quite the meeting of minds, as Eugene le Roux explains. “It’s a little bit more than just a strategic agreement. We actually took an equity share in each other, so that NEC Europe took a 25% equity share in XON… and in turn XON took a 49% share in NEC Africa, with a view to

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help us with BBBEE compliancy and also to help accelerate the synergies that we saw in our solutions and what they take into the market.”

Le Roux makes it clear that not only do NEC Africa and XON see eye to eye when it comes to their business strategies, but also important are the ways in which the products they sell and develop complement each other in the market place.

“So with this synergetic approach what we clearly saw is that we have various pieces of alignment with XON. We jointly have 7 business unit focusses that we offer the market and found synergies with NEC products and solutions in each of those”.

New ventures and branching out

NEC Africa has enjoyed impressive growth in recent years. When we asked about the company’s plans for 2016 le Roux explained that “since its inception NEC Africa has been growing in excess of 30-40% year on year until now and we want to continue that level of growth.”

The synergies that NEC Africa is developing with XON promise exciting new ventures and diversifi cation in the coming year. Le

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Roux identifi ed cyber security as one of NEC Africa’s focusses, which is no surprise considering how much we’ve been hearing about this aspect of communication technology.

It’s in the discussion of cyber security that we get some suggestion of how NEC Africa is influencing the whole continent.

Le Roux explains that he sees “a big potential in what we’ll do around the Security Operations Centre. We’re going to be investing in creating an SOC in South Africa, which will provide security solutions to enterprises and governments across Africa.

This is off the back of our deal which we’ve recently closed with Rwanda for cyber security, in which we provided the interlink for Rwanda into Interpol cyber security systems.”

NEC Africa’s operations then are not just allowing them to increase their share of the market. In fact they’re helping the infrastructure of Africa and the continent’s

level of IT connection, within itself and with the rest of the world.

Le Roux also suggests another example of NEC’s investment in infrastructure, saying that “from an infrastructure development side we’ll look into… power requirements, and we expect that our package solutions now should find a lot of traction within the next year.” Domestic safety and security systems are another area hinted at by le Roux, which goes to show NEC Africa’s increasing reach into various markets.

2016 is a particularly important year for NEC Africa, as it marks the beginning of another three year budget planning cycle and a chance for the company to diversify the solutions they offer the market in comparison with previous years.

Continuing to involve themselves in Africa’s development by sponsoring events like AfricaCom, as well as their investment in the actual infrastructure that will shape Africa’s future, will help with the workforce that NEC Africa must recruit from as well as the company’s visibility. This strategy, as well as making the most of the exciting synergetic relationship started with XON, means that NEC Africa are very likely to achieve their aims for the new year.

What we clearly saw is that we have various pieces of alignment with XON

email: production@essentialbusinessmag.com

Golden Wings w w w . g o l d e n w i n g s . c o . z a

Start A ying

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Aviation

G South Africa’s Golden Wings Aviation may be newly formed, but they come from a long history of success and have exciting plans for their future within Africa’s aviation industry.

olden Wings is a young company that provides a wide range of aviation services, including VVIP corporate flight options, scheduled and unscheduled passenger flights and cargo flights. In addition, the firm also runs an aircraft handling and management service operating from OR Tambo International Airport.

Despite Golden Wings being a new company it has emerged from a rich history of aviation and business success. “Golden Wings South Africa specifically is only a few months old,” says Dirk Tromp, Acting CEO of Golden Wings South Africa. “It was a previous

We’re currently exploring opportunities in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda amongst various other African countries company operating in South Africa known as SKA SA Aircraft Leasing, which was part of the SKA international group based out of Dubai.”

The holding company of Golden Wings as it is today is Asteri Capital, a global multi-activity company offering a wide range of services that span from crude oil and mining to meat export and ration packs.

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In conjunction with Asteri, Golden Wings has 200 years of experience in the aviation industry, and a track record of success in ventures that other companies have been hesitant to take on.

Gaining ground

Golden Wings Aviation’s fleet has grown rapidly and now consists of 12 aircraft, including a Fokker F70, a 75-seater regional jet liner powered by two Rolls-Royce TAY 620-15 engines, two Beechcraft 1900Ds, regional turboprop airliners powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6A67Ds and two de Havilland Dash 8 Q300s. A C208 Caravan was recently added to their fleet, and Golden Wings also manage a Boeing 727 Freighter

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for SKA International and will soon add a 100-seater VVIP aircraft, due to become online within the next month or two.

Golden Wings continues connecting destinations that can’t be reached on commercial scheduled routes, with the company stating its ability to fly “to any major international airport, into the wild grasslands, to remote mountain villages and across the seas to exotic islands”.

This attitude, combined with the range of services offered

by Golden Wings hints at the depth of knowledge they have when it comes to the sometimes challenging nature of aviation services in Africa.

The company states its ability to fly “to any major international airport, into the wild grasslands, to remote mountain villages and across the seas to exotic islands

Aviation

Adapting to challenges

Golden Wings’ dynamic approach comes across when discussing the recent challenges of operating in South Sudan. Tromp explains that despite recent changes they are continuing to take on the opportunity to operate in and be part of the change in the newest country of the world, but some of their focus has shifted: “Essentially we’re expanding our operations, and while we originally focussed on South Sudan we’ve started to rethink our scope and we’re currently exploring opportunities in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda amongst various other African countries.”

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So while things are perhaps more difficult since the recent economic downturn there are certainly still opportunities in South Sudan for Golden Wings to capitalise on, and they will be maintaining their presence there while looking to expand into other areas of Africa.

Tromp explains Golden Wings’ enthusiasm for expanding into Ghana and Nigeria. “Ghana is one of the developing countries that are doing well” and Nigeria is “forever growing and exploring, and many others are also showing an upward trend.” Tromp also explained that Ghana does not currently have a national carrier, which means there are unique opportunities there when it comes to developments in its aviation infrastructure.

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Tromp also says that Golden Wings are looking at the charter market in South Africa, and the Congo is another country that they intend to look into. Tromp is enthusiastic about Golden Wings’ potential to grow across Africa.

“We’ve got a wide open field we can play with”, he says.

Continuing growth

The company has also made significant strides elsewhere. In July, Golden Wings announced that it has been named as the official franchise holder for Million Air, an awardwinning fixed base organisation in the United States. Talks are now underway that could see the firm utilise the Million Air name and brand for various projects at various airports in South Africa and across the continent as a whole.

Aviation

Another exciting addition to Golden Wings will be the opening of their own fully operational AMO unit based in their hanger at OR Tambo International Airport. This will result in a fully certified technical team able to perform full services to Boeing 727 series, Fokker 70 series, and in the near future Boeing 737 (300/400 & 500) series, adding yet more strings to their bow of aviation services. Tromp tells EBA that certification for this will be completed within the next two weeks and he hopes for it to be fully launched by February 1st.

It looks like 2016 is set to be an impressive year for Golden Wings, despite its relative youth.

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IFS World w w w . i f s w o r l d . c o m / z a

Connec D R I V I N G

W

ith their largest product, IFS Applications™ currently having over a million users, IFS’s software is known for being user friendly, modular in its design and flexible enough to support customers in their way of working according to their established processes. Its applications enable companies to respond quickly to market changes and use resources in a more agile way to achieve

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better business performance and competitive advantages. Their tools are easy to implement, run, and upgrade, providing powerful service management and mobile functionality.

IFS operates in six global areas: Europe North; Europe West; Europe Central; Europe East; Americas; and Africa, Asia, and Pacific. Thabo Ndlela, director at IFS Africa, explains how IFS is targeting the continent as a key growth market.

“I have been with IFS Africa now for 2 years. As a company we have been operating in South Africa for the past 12 years, where our offering is strong in asset management, but there are also a lot more investments taking place in the rest of Africa, creating a market for many of our software products.

In the past year we have been tailor-making the company for the South African market in a bid to drive more African business in general.”

Technology

ctivity As well as implementing simple work orders and maintenance inventories, IFS has a full suite of functionality designed to support cradle-to-grave asset lifecycle management (ALM) for asset intensive-companies, such as

those in oil and gas and also mining, utilities, metal foundries and paper and pulp companies.

Ndlela says, “Outside of South Africa we are primarily targeting Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana and

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a key concept within the IFS group and is beginning to take hold in Africa too.

Founded in 1983, IFS™ is a globally recognized leader in developing and delivering enterprise software for enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and enterprise service management (ESM). It currently has over 2,700 employees and supports more than 2,400 customers worldwide.

to a lesser extent we have supplemented some projects in Gambia and Uganda.

The investment cycle is attractive in these countries and obviously now in Nigeria, the space, which has slow benefits due to the price of oil. The majority of our oil sector clients are in South Africa but we now have some in Nigeria in the contracting phase.”

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EAM needs to be more than a glorified computerized maintenance management system. It needs to accommodate ALM and that is what IFS delivers. IFS got its start as an EAM vendor, so all of the functionality that comprises IFS Applications - including document management, risk management, finance, inventory, contract management and more - can be part of your EAM environment.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a key concept within the IFS group, particularly in Canada & North America, and one which is beginning to take hold in Africa too. In short, it is the networking of computerized devices, vehicles and buildings etc., which enables them to collect and exchange data.

“At the IFS world conference we had in Barcelona, clients gave testimonials about the implementation of IoT.” Ndlela explains.

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“One of which was an interface between a train operator and our software, focused on the maintenance of the train. For example, where a door doesn’t close properly, then the train will actually auto-generate a service request within our software for someone to attend and fix the problem.”

We have just been awarded the app for AAB, which will be a big venture for 2016

Ndlela continues, “The long term opportunities for the IoT approach in South Africa are beginning to be seen in the high demand for smart metering. In Africa I don’t think it will be big in the consumer space for some time, but in the enterprise space there is a lot more capacity for IoT. In our business there are clients that have demands for systems to be monitored electronically in terms of

Technology

resource capacity. For example, if a manufacturing company needs flour for making bread you can set an order notification at different levels of that tank so that you don’t disrupt the production process.”

IFS’s ERP solution is ideal for demanding discrete and process manufacturing environments including those with heavy traceability requirements like food and beverage and aerospace and defence as well as project-centric settings like engineer-to-order manufacturing and engineer, procure, construct contracting.

Outside of South Africa we are primarily targeting Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.

All three of IFS’s applications around asset management, resource management and service management are a big focus in emerging markets where companies require a lot of development. The highly confi gured design of the applications enables quick

development, which is what these businesses want - the ability to see results quickly and to build in components in a cost effective way.

In terms of future projects, Ndlela says, “We have just been awarded the app for AAB, which will be a big venture for 2016 and in Kenya and Nigeria we have some energy generator projects that will keep us occupied.

Development of the IoT process will also play a key role going forward as there are a lot of business processes, engineering and application confi gurations to develop.”

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IO Furniture w w w . i o f u r n i t u r e l t d . c o m

Interior wellbeing

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Manufacturing

I

O furniture was founded in 1987, as Interior Options Ltd. It began its life as an interior design consultancy service and was one of the few companies of its kind.

IO Furniture is the leading furniture manufacturing and interior design company in Nigeria, and lead players in an industry worth $17 billion. We take a look at the company and some of the reasons behind its success, including the strengths of their CEO, Munira Shonibare.

As IO grew it discovered a lack of well-established local furniture manufacturing companies that could guarantee the necessary quality standards and the demands of its customers.

The logical step was to start making its own, and so in 1992 the manufacturing arm of IO Furniture was born.

IO Furniture’s initial clientele were in the oil industry. In 1997 they expanded to the financial sector, office accommodation and large-scale residential properties. The company underwent another restructuring in 2008 when it became truly international, with a world-class manufacturing operation and showroom and a technical management agreement with a successful Italian furniture manufacture company.

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IO’s roster of high profile clients now include leading multinationals such as Mobil, Agip and Saipem and hotels such as Transcorp Hilton, Four Points by Sheraton, Ibis and Wheatbaker.

Strong leadership

IO furniture was founded and is continued to be led by Munira Shonibare. Shonibare started out as an interior designer, graduating in industrial design (textile design) from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Kaduna State, Nigeria in 1980. She went on to obtain a post graduate degree in interior designs at the Instituto per Arte E 11 Restauro, Florence, Italy in 1984 before founding Interior Options in 1987.

Shonibare has led her company to become industry leaders for high-end luxury furniture and accessories across all market segments. She employees 150 staff and runs a world-class showroom in Lagos, from where she serves her wide range of clients. She has also forged strong links with the design industries in Italy, the UK, Asia and across Africa.

Such success is made all the more remarkable considering Shonibare didn’t plan on the life of an entrepreneur.

Speaking to Nigeria’s The Guardian newspaper she says that “truthfully speaking, I never envisaged a career as an entrepreneur because I have always imagined a career as an interior designer as this has always been my primary passion.” Often creative individuals don’t have the other skills that are needed to run a successful business, but Shonibare appears to buck that trend.

Shonibare also has strong opinions on the potentially difficult subject on what it means to be a successful businesswomen in Nigeria. Her interview with The Guardian is prefaced by this striking quote: “As a female business owner, you would encounter all forms and manner of harassment, but you must ensure you rise above it. The odds are stacked against

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women naturally from a sexist society, why increase it? In my opinion, it is foolish for women to think they are equal to men; we are actually superior to men.”

Speaking of a lack of education in Nigeria when it comes to its strong leaders, Shonibare goes on to say that “If you ask the average 15 or 16 year old who Obafemi Awolowo or Ajayi Crowther was, they have no idea.

As a female entrepreneur, you have to work twice as hard as the next man just to prove yourself and to be taken seriously.”

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As a female business owner, you would encounter all forms and manner of harassment, but you must ensure you rise above it

Investing in Nigeria’s youth

Shonibare’s strength of mind has led her to become seriously involved in projects that help the youth of Nigeria gain a sense of purpose. Manpower is a great problem in Nigeria, she says, elaborating that “we have to invest in our people.

Even with all the infrastructure and technology in the world, if you do not possess skilled, informed, educated, focused and purposeful people to drive the machines and processes, it is all useless. The right set of people is very important as they can make or break your vision. Truthfully, we have failed as a nation because we have refused to invest in our youths.

Driving home daily, I see hordes of young people and I can tell from their body language that they have no sense of direction or purpose.”

Manufacturing

Shonibare’s passion for helping with this problem has resulted in her volunteering at SOS Charity, becoming a mentor, lecturer and facilitator at the Fate Foundation and a speaker at Junior Achievers.

IO Furniture have set up a youth empowerment program and Shonibare also serves as an Advisory Board member and Mentor of a structured mentoring programme for ambitious young women called WISCAR (Women in Successful Careers).

Wellbeing

Shonibare’s philosophy of life also comes into play when it comes to the philosophy of her business.

She also tells The Guardian that “I had always thought security was my priority, because I felt I should be financially independent and secure but my priorities turned out to be wellbeing, love of family and the importance of relationships and then security was last. With that, our philosophy at IO Furniture is making sure that we hone our interior design skills to ensure that people experience the maximum

wellbeing which will in turn create equilibrium in the home as well as the work environment.”

IO Furniture is now a leading player in an industry worth $17bn and earmarked by Nigeria’s Bank of Industry as an important potential source of employment and revenue as demand increases.

It would seem that Shonibare’s unusual take on things has much to do with IO Furniture’s success.

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AEL DRC w w w . a e l m i n i n g s e r v i c e s . c o m

Business is

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Mining

Our success is based on our ability to adapt to challenging operating environments and be flexible to our customers’ needs

Established in South Africa back in 1896, AEL Mining Services has grown to be one of the world’s leading suppliers of explosives and initiating systems, with 58 plants and 34 sites in more than 20 countries – and more on the way.

F

or over a century, AEL Mining Services — a member of the JSElisted AECI Group in South Africa — has been developing, producing and supplying commercial explosives and initiating systems for use in mining, quarrying and construction markets across Africa and Indonesia.

AECI comprises of 16 businesses, which are complemented by production facilities and offices across Africa, South East Asia, South America and Europe.

Other companies in the group include Chemfit, Crest Chemicals, Acacia, and Akulu Marchon.

“AEL has established itself as a significant international supplier of explosives products and services on multiple continents,” says Francis Kasongo, Managing Director of AEL DRC.

“In our quest to remain relevant to our customers, AEL continually invests nearly 1.5% of its annual global revenues into cutting-edge research and development. Each year we deliver ground-breaking innovations that help us ensure mining safety, environmentally friendly solutions, and production efficiencies that result in numerous downstream benefits for our mining partners.”

Kasongo has been working with AEL DRC since 2002. Over that time, he has seen the company broaden its focus to markets outside of Africa.

“In terms of quality, environment and services, we aim to be an international leader in the mining solutions sector,” he tells us.

Putting money into research and development has paid

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off. AEL has, for some time, been the African leader in the development and introduction of electronics detonators for use in the blasting process.

“Our partnership with the worldrenowned electronic blasting systems technology developer, Detnet, brings new technological advantages to the market on regular basis,” explains Kasongo.

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In terms of quality, environment and services, we aim to be an international leader in the mining solutions sector

“We put high emphasis on sustainable development and the environment, which is demonstrated by our environmentally friendly ecoformulation explosives.”

AEL’s on-going research and testing has also led the company to develop an innovative way of using refined black oil instead of pure oil in its products.

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“This will play a significant role in assisting us to conserve the oil reserves we currently have, as well as helping our customers reduce their carbon footprint by disposing of their used oil in a responsible manner,” he explains.

In the mining industry, used oil has become an integral ingredient in the production of bulk emulsions, which are utilised in the large-scale mining of minerals such as copper, cobalt and gold. While copper price is down by almost 50%

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We see ourselves not as a commodity supplier, but as a value-added services provider since the beginning of the year — the lowest it’s been since the financial crisis — and with cobalt and gold also on the downtrend, the situation is putting AEL’s mining partners under considerable pressure.

“It is very difficult to say where the market is going, however we are conscious that the current

situation is serious.

At AEL, we partner with mining companies and the aim is accompanying them through this difficult time. We have taken and are taking serious initiatives to assist our partners to navigate this difficult path.”

This approach is driven by the company’s core values, known

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In our quest to remain relevant to our customers, AEL continually invests nearly 1.5% of its annual global revenues into cuttingedge research and development as BIGGER (Bold, Innovative, Going Green, Engaged, and Responsible).

“We see ourselves not as a commodity supplier, but as a value-added services provider,” says Kasongo.

“We have implemented AEL sites with dedicated staff within our mining partner’s sites.”

This allows AEL to permanently interact with its partners on the ground, making it easy for them to stay informed and understand their needs and requirements.

“AEL Mining Services has established and maintained a fully-fledged local entity, compliant notably to civil explosives, customs, environmental, mining and tax regulations,” he says.

“Our success is based on our ability to adapt to challenging operating environments and be flexible to our customers’ needs.

We achieve this by developing fitfor-purpose solutions in partnership with our customers. Our key aim is to seamlessly integrate into our customers’ operations,” he says.

Most of AEL’s operations in the DRC are located in Katanga, the copper cobalt segment. Here AEL has developed a breadth of experience and a wealth of knowledge where geology and logistics are concerned, as well as having forged strong relationships with local authorities and business bodies.

Plans for a new plant in the DRC are in progress. AEL’s DRC entity was incorporated back in 2005, and the company had acquired all necessary permits to import, store, manufacture, transport and perform services throughout the DRC by 2006.

AEL’s operations in the DRC have been growing steadily over the last two decades, and today the country comprises a significant component of its business.

As such, Kasongo tells us, the company is deeply committed to the DRC and its mining industry.

“We are the largest explosive organization in the DRC. Our local capability is unsurpassed, and is led by our 113 local permanent employees, including mining engineers, explosives engineers and licensed blasting operators,” he explains.

By partnering with some of the major international mining houses in the DRC, and by providing fit-for-purpose solutions to supply services in different segment commodities including copper, cobalt and gold, AEL is confident in its position here,

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Mining

despite the current commodity prices. However, the cyclical nature of these markets means that things are bound to pick up at some point. AEL’s rational and organised response to the current downturn is evidence of its experience in the sector.

“We are confident of the future of the DRC, and we see the political environment as stable. We have opened an office in Kinshasa with the aim of developing our footprint out of the former Katanga province,” he explains.

“We are busy establishing a bulk distribution site in the centre-East of the DRC. We will establish a new plant in the DRC, and will be looking more at the economic environment than political events in order to do so.“

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