Priyal Singh, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, joined us this week on Business Africa to talk about the importance of the arrival of two new African members to the BRICS group.
Esther Kariuki, head of agribusiness at the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, has just won the prestigious African Banker of the Year award. This advocate for the cause of farmers and supporter of women's autonomy in the sector also brings to the bank her expertise in converting farms into profitable businesses.
In the village of Madenkene, Cameroon, small-scale extraction and sale of sand are the inhabitants' primary income sources. It's one of the cogs in a very active construction sector propelled by galloping urbanisation. Men, women and children take part in this arduous work, which they see as essential to the development of their community.
Soil-less agriculture, or hydroponics, involves growing food plants on agricultural, agro-industrial and even landfill waste substrates. It is mainly developed in greenhouses or closed, controlled environments. This type of agriculture responds to the constraints of land scarcity and soil erosion, can be adapted to all essential crops and helps to combat deforestation. In Grand-Bassam in Côte d'Ivoire, a group of enthusiasts have taken up the subject of soil-less planting and adapted it to the production of Big Sun, the famous "good-smelling pepper ".
Lancinet Kémoko Sidibé is a Guinean entrepreneur and CEO who set up his shea butter and black soap industry in Morocco in 2012. He now sells his products in 15 countries around the world. This cosmetics processing unit in Casablanca has enabled him to make an active social commitment to help Africans struggling as immigrants. Since its creation, around a hundred young people have been able to find employment. In the late 2000s, Morocco became one of the continent's top destinations for foreign direct investment and, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Index, is ranked third in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Gagan Gupta is the founder and CEO of Arise IIP, an Africa-based investment fund that develops and operates industrial ecosystems in Gabon, Togo and Benin. Industrial zones are currently under construction in Côte d'Ivoire, the Republic of Congo, Chad, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. This Indian entrepreneur is behind the Nkok special economic zone in Gabon, the GSEZ. He aims to change the development model in Africa to reduce unemployment and income inequality while helping preserve the environment. To do this, he recommends creating value within the country by eliminating intermediaries and obtaining fair prices, creating jobs on the continent and reducing the carbon footprint by relocating the processing of raw materials to produce finished products.
In the North Kivu province, ravaged by the war between the Congolese armed forces and the M23 rebels, the agricultural sector is now severely affected. Bernard Bahati is a Congolese entrepreneur from eastern DRC who is convinced that food self-sufficiency is a prerequisite for economic development and even the return of peace. With his maize processing factory, Okapi-Agrobusiness, which employs 50 people and which he financed himself, he has decided to contribute to food security in the region.
Cashew nut production in West Africa increased by 5.4% last year to a total volume of 2.6 million tonnes. Cashew cultivation is prevalent in the region, which includes producing countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, which accounts for 44% of West African production, but also Nigeria and Guinea Bissau. In Guinea, farmers are starting to grow cashew nuts, more profitable than bauxite mining. Cashew remains one of the most lucrative commodities on the international market.
Tenkir Teni started as a shoeshine boy over thirty years ago and now owns TOTOT, one of the few multi-million dollar, top traditional food restaurants in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
