renewable energy generated in Africa

Slide of the month (SOTM) May. Renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa

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renewable energy generated in Africa

The African continent offers an ideal environment for electricity generation from renewable sources. Therefore, it is not surprising that sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) already ranks third worldwide in terms of percentage of electricity generated through renewable sources. Roughly 27% of electricity generated in 2015 was generated through renewable sources. Lesotho, Ethiopia, D.R. Congo, Central African Republic, Namibia, Zambia, Uganda and Malawi rank best, as they generate more than 90% of their total electricity output from renewable sources.

However, as of 2015, 91% of the renewable energy generated in SSA was generated from hydropower. The continent’s abundant solar, wind, biomass and geothermal resources are yet to be exploited more efficiently.

The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), established in 2015 and operating under the mandate of the African Union, aims to add 310 gigawatt of additional renewable energy generation capacity to the continent until 2030. This brings also other sources of renewable energy than water into focus and creates high opportunities for international technology and service providers in the renewable energy sector.

Slide of the month (SOTM) April. Motorcycles in operation in Egypt

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Let us look at the automotive markets in the areas of assembly machinery, engine filters, ignition products and general spare parts in countries like Nigeria in the West, Kenya and Tanazania in the East, Egypt in the North and South Africa in the South. Insights gathered cover areas such as vehicles in operation, spare parts markets, local vehicle assembly projects and key distribution firms. They also include companies ranging from major automotive OEMs such as Toyota, Isuzu, Hyundai and VW, to aftermarket players like BOSCH, Denso, NGK, Hengst, MANN-FILTER, Mahle and others.

The Manifestation of Interest. Kenyan-German TVET Intiative

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africon GmbH signs the Manifestation of Interest along with many other multinational organisations such as Siemens, VW Group, Robert Bosch and Toyota.

The manifestation of interest is a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kenya, German Financial and Technical Cooperation and the Private sector Companies and Associations.  The agreement is originated during the bilateral government negotiations in September 2016 in Berlin, the Kenyan and the German delegation agreed to establish “Sustainable, Economic, Development – promotion of Youth Employment and TVET” as a new priority area of cooperation. The objective of the Kenyan-German initiative is to boost youth employment in Kenya by offering industry oriented technical and vocational training in close cooperation with the private sector.

The private sector companies agree to contribute by defining training contents and participating actively in the development of industry specific vocational standards. Furthermore, the private sector will assist with further training of vocational teachers from the network and provide opportunities for practical training of students through a combination of industrial attachments, work-based learning and prospectively apprenticeships.

africon is very happy and proud to be part of this initiative and is looking forward to participating the next steps with contributions to the training guidelines as well as with potential workshops and seminars and, of course, own inhouse training within the company.

Plastic in Nigeria

Slide of the month (SOTM) March. Plastic ban in sub-Saharan Africa

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Plastic in Nigeria

 

The results concluded from the analysis of all interviews and market data is very clear: The plastic (packaging) sector in Nigeria is very vivid and growing at a high pace. Nevertheless, the Nigerian market is highly cost conscious. Competition is set on pricing strategy: The cheaper the product, the more sales a company makes. Most manufacturers still shy away from cost increases even marginally. The majority of consumers do not care much about quality as they do have an open eye for the cost.
At the same time the future is certain to come with changes. The upper middle class is expanding and there is a growing awareness on quality products among Nigerian consumers generally.
Any high quality/ high price level company entering the Nigerian market will need a targeted product awareness campaign to help realize the market potential for their products. Both end users and converters need some form of education on the use of the products.

Slide of the month (SOTM) February. Steel industry growth in Africa.

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 The heightened interest in the African steel markets can partly be explained by this chart. It shows the rapidly increasing demand for steel in Africa, as well as key countries for steel in Africa. As part of the projects, africon personally conducted meetings with over 100 decision takers of local steel producers and stakeholders across the SSA region. Visited companies included local groups such as Safal, Comcraft and Aarti. Insights were also gathered about machinery suppliers such as HITEC, HITACHI, Danieli, SMS and Sinosteel.