Agriculture and agribusiness are projected to become a trillion-dollar industry in Africa by 2030. Dr. Martin Fregene, Director of Agriculture and Agro-Industry at the African Development Bank, outlines the opportunities this presents for Africa’s youth.

At 23 years old, Aboubacar Karim is CEO and founder of INVESTIV, an Ivorian startup established in 2017 specialized in precision agriculture.

INVESTIV uses drones to provide farmers with information on soil quality, plant health conditions, spraying crops with pesticides and fertiliser, and measurement and monitoring of crop development through an online platform.

The company has mapped and monitored over 8,000 hectares of land and created more than 20 jobs.

Bright young Africans like Karim are the reason why the African Development Bank is investing millions of dollars in Africa’s agriculture sector – with a focus on youth.

Karim won the Bank’s 2018 African Youth Agripreneur Forum and AgriPitch Competition – an annual event instilling a culture of innovation and nurturing technology-led agribusiness innovations to create jobs and improve livelihoods among youth.

In addition, the Bank is working with its member countries and other development partners through implementation of the Enable Youth Program, one of the Bank’s flagship initiatives addressing Africa’s youth employment challenges.

Enable Youth empowers young men and women at each stage of the agribusiness value chain as agripreneurs. To date, the Bank has committed over $350m to Enable Youth investments in 12 countries on the continent.

The goal of the Bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy is to create 25m jobs by 2025.

Of the various economic sectors that can engage youth, the agribusiness sector is best placed to provide significant employment and economic opportunities.

Despite rural urban migration, about 70% of youth in Africa still reside in rural areas and most work in the agriculture sector where they account for 65% of the workforce.

In addition, the agriculture and agribusiness sectors are projected to become a one trillion-dollar industry in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

According to the FAO, the food import bill for sub-Saharan Africa in 2017 was $47bn – a clear market opportunity. There is phenomenal growth in global and regional agri-food markets and agro-based industries in Africa – responding to this demand can provide jobs and income to youth.

Africa’s youth must be ready to take advantage of these fast-growing agricultural markets. The Bank is committed to empowering a new generation of young commercial farmers who will make African agriculture more productive, more efficient and more competitive.

Kenyan agripreneur Yvonne Otieno is part of this new generation. The CEO and co-founder of Miyonga Fresh Greens, which focuses on improving small holder fruit and vegetable farmer access to global markets, participated in a Bank-organised SME training in Korea that exposed her to new innovative technologies. Miyonga Fresh Greens started as a 1.5 acre family farm growing French beans and baby corn, and has since grown to 10 acres, exporting directly to Europe. It has expanded from two product lines to six product lines and from trading just in raw agricultural products like fresh vegetables and fruits to value addition products including dried fruits and fruit powder for export.

The company now works with a network of 5,000 small-holder farmers who have over 200 hectares of land and has created employment for 100 women and youth. It is currently in discussions with a distributor who has over 1,000 retail outlets across Europe as well as a strong online presence.

There are clear opportunities for drawing youth to the agriculture sector as agripreneurs. With the right entrepreneurship ecosystem, skills, technologies and improved access to finance, young African men and women will approach agriculture as a business and can become the proud owners of viable and profitable agribusiness enterprises.

The result of investing in youth will be more jobs created, increased food production for a growing population, less reliance on food imports and a healthier trade balance for African countries.

The Bank is committed to working with Africa’s private and public sector actors to enable Africa’s youth to lead and succeed in agricultural sectors not just across the continent, but also around the world.

The African Development Bank is hosting the third edition of the African Youth Agripreneur Forum and AgriPitch Competition from 24-28 June in Cape Town.

Source: African Business Magazine

Ethiopia will host the 2021 World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), as approved by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU, at the request of the African nation.
The event takes place in 2021 and will be the first time an African country is hosting it.

The International Telecommunication Union Council meeting in Geneva (2019) approved the choice of Ethiopia unanimously according to Getahun Mekuria, Minister of Innovation and Technology, who was in Geneva.

WTDC happens every 4 years and since its establishment in 1994, it will see for the first time an African country as host in 2021.

Ethiopia has in the past few months been beneficiary to major international meetings increasing the diplomatic and hospitality profile of its capital Addis Ababa, which is seat of the African Union and other United Nations offices.

In May, Addis Ababa hosted the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event which brought together major stakeholders over a three-day period.

Before May, the Prime Minister had announced that Ethiopia had been awarded hosting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, on Africa meeting for 2020. Abiy attended his first WEF meeting in Davos early this year.

Addis Ababa was earlier this month chosen to host the next gathering of world football governing body’s supreme legislative body, the FIFA Congress.

The announcement of the 70th FIFA Congress taking place in Addis Ababa was made at the end of the 69th Congress which took place in the French capital, Paris.

According to Chief of Staff of the AU Chairperson, Congress will take place at the Union’s headquarters in May 2020.

Credits to Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

Jumia Technologies AG,  the leading pan-African e-commerce platform is experiencing a successful rise after it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), seeing the price of its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs, representing shares) more than double and then crash back.

The ADR price had climbed as high as $46.99 on 1 May, up by a massive 224% since its initial public offering (IPO) at $14.50 each, and up by 180% since they started trading two weeks earlier on 12 April at $18.95. The ADRs had started to slip back and when the report came out there were two days of heavy trading and the price crashed nearly 25% to $24.50 on 10 May before sliding back to $19.92 by 17 May.

Jumia countered by releasing its first quarter results early on 13 May, showing 58% growth in gross merchandise value (GMV), representing the total value of merchandise sold before deducting fees, and a 102% increase in revenue.

Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-CEOs of Jumia, said there was “year-on-year improvement of 356 basis points of operating loss as a percentage of GMV and further development of JumiaPay, highlighted by the investment by and partnership with Mastercard. We believe that Jumia is increasingly relevant for consumers and sellers in Africa.”

The listing raised $196m for the e-commerce firm, which issued 13.5m ADRs, representing shares accounting for 17.6% of the company. It is the first African start-up IPO on a major global exchange.

The company was launched at Africa Internet Group in 2012, backed by Germany’s Rocket Internet, an incubator and venture capital fund based in Berlin which still owns 20.6% of the shares.

In 2016 it was valued at $1bn – earning the title “tech unicorn” – in a funding round involving South Africa’s MTN, which owns 29.7% of the shares, investment bank Goldman Sachs, French insurer AXA and French telco Orange. Mastercard Europe snapped up $50m in Jumia ordinary shares before the New York IPO.

Jumia operates in 14 African countries, offering goods and services including online takeaway food, travel bookings, and classified advertisements.

In Nigeria it operates the JumiaPay payment platform and a delivery service of leased warehouses, trucks and motorcycles, and allows African traders to sell online with more than 81,000 active sellers (defined as a retailer who received an order on Jumia in the last 12 months). The prospectus said there were 4m active shoppers, up from 2.7m a year before.

Hodara and Poignonnec are French, both former employees of consultancy firm McKinsey, and the company is incorporated in Berlin. However it has corporate presence and pays taxes in Africa, has its headquarters in Lagos, and employs more than 5,000 people in Africa.

Juliet Anammah, the Nigerian CEO of the main country operation rang the NYSE ceremonial trading bell. Two Nigerian tech entrepreneurs, Tunde Kehinde, and Raphael Afaedor, were co-founders but both left in 2015 to create other companies.

A McKinsey report suggests African consumers will spend $2.1trn by 2025, and e-commerce could be 10% of that. Many tech firms take years to reach profitability and Jumia’s track record greatly encouraged New York buyers.

Visit the official website of Jumia Technologies AG: https://investor.jumia.com/CorporateProfile

The African Chamber of Commerce (AFCHAM) is an aspiring leading international business association whose aim is to promote a healthy environment in China. They encourage beneficial connections and enable a platform to help building opportunities between African and Chinese businesses.

AFCHAM also takes very seriously its role in assisting Chinese and African companies to expand their businesses across both continents by providing guidelines, updating with the last businesses and opportunities trends, but also with our strong team of consultants ready to provide you advice and walk with you through all the expansion of your business.

Since its creation, AFCHAM has been focusing on partnering and collaborating with institutions, organizations and individuals who have a deep understanding of African societies and cultures and that are committed to bring positives changes together with Africans. Recently on the 24th of May 2019, AFCHAM has celebrated the second edition of the Annual Gala Dinner for the Africa Day. The theme this year was “Empowering the Youths” to award all the companies, organizations and individuals that have contributed to the development of Africa.

During the event, the African Chamber of Commerce has particularly thanked Alibaba Global Initiatives for their commitment to the development of African societies and for their projects aimed for African youths and entrepreneurs. During AFCHAM Gala Dinner, Alibaba Global Initiative received “Youth Empowerment Award” who was delivered to Vice President Mr. Brian Wong.

Alibaba Global Initiative has launched in February the Alibaba Netpreneur Training program whose goal is to bring Africans entrepreneurs and business leaders together to explore digital innovations that have the power to positively transform their local economies. This program is a valuable opportunity for Africans entrepreneurs who will have a unique chance to learn from one of the best e-commerce leaders in the world.

Partnering with the AFCHAM, Alibaba gives the opportunity to Africans traders and entrepreneurs to access directly to Alibaba Platform and benefit from the digital market showcasing their products and selling them to the Chinese market even without living in China.

AFCHAM through Alibaba Global Initiative will provide African youths the chance to take part of e-commerce training programs and participate to Alibaba Fellowship program enriching their knowledge in fintech, logistics and e-commerce.

This partnership between AFCHAM and Alibaba Global Initiatives is only the beginning of a long and durable history.

Written by Maëla Bough – Edited by Khaoula Houssini

The African Chamber of Commerce today celebrates the World Environment Day with one of its partners that it is taking meaningful action towards the environment and wildlife protection: African Parks.

Being aware that the protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue, which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world, the United Nations have designed the 5th of June as World Environment Day. The celebration of this day is aimed to create awareness towards the environment protection and to bring the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises, and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment.

The African Chamber of Commerce believes that the development of Africa can be successful only if it is inclusive for society and if it is sustainable towards the environment.

We were pleased to award during our Annual Gala Dinner for the Africa Day 2019, that took place on the 24th of May, African Parks for their impactful work for the protection of the wildlife and environment.

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization that takes on direct responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities.

African Parks Annual Report ” Unlocking The Value Of Protected Areas” is available now. Click here to access it.

China and Kenya avocado deal.

The Chinese and the Kenyan government have signed recently a deal that will make the Chinese market absorb over 40 percent of Kenya’s avocado produce, thus being one of the largest importers of the fruit.

Kenyan farmers will now export their popular avocados to China following a trade deal signed when President Uhuru Kenyatta met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing during a visit in April 2019. The signing of the agreement which makes Kenya the first African nation to export avocados to the Asian nation with a market of over 1.4 billion consumers comes after a long and comprehensive approval process that included Chinese experts visiting Kenyan farmers.

It is estimated that when the agreement is fully implemented, the Chinese market will absorb over 40 percent of Kenya’s avocado produce, making it one of the largest importers of the fruit. Other famous destinations of Kenyan avocado include Europe and the US. The signing of the protocol on sanitary and phytosanitary (an agreement relating to the health of plants, especially with respect to the rules of international trade) requirements for the export of frozen avocado was the last major hurdle for the Kenyan crop to be accepted in the highly regulated but lucrative Chinese market.

The meeting between Presidents Kenyatta and Xi Jinping and their delegations focused on promoting economic and trade exchange in 8 key initiatives identified during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting held in Beijing last year. These initiatives include industrial promotion, trade facilitation, infrastructure connectivity, green development and people-to-people exchange. Others are capacity building, healthcare, and peace and security.