Bensizwe Group
Transformation and Inspiration Writer: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Donovan Smith Bensizwe Group has adapted, expanded and diversified at a rapid rate over a seven year period in order to capitalise on the most prominent tech and telecom trends manifesting in Africa, while realising a dream of the Company’s Group Chief Executive to enhance the provision of human capital to the sector on the continent.Mandla Msimang embarked on his journey in the DRC in 2008 after identifying a need for call centre solutions from his previous role while working for Vodacom. It was a business link which has proved to be pivotal in the following years as the global telecoms giant gave Bensizwe the platform to showcase its innovative approach to workforce management.“Outsourcing call centre solutions and human capital was quite a new concept back in 2008 but an opportunity presented itself and things quickly developed from then on,” Msimang recalls. “It was a simple concept of recruiting staff members for our clients, placing them on their premises, paying their salaries and taxes and then setting a fee based on a commission structure.“Eight years’ later and we have nearly 1,000 staff members for different clients on our books, working alongside massive companies like Africell, Tigo, British American Tobacco, Vodacom and Turkish Airlines.”While initially pioneering the service carried out to such comprehensive standards, there is now competition in attaining esteemed contracts such as these, but Bensizwe will always be the first to have conquered the market, having changed the landscape initially in the DRC, and subsequently in South Africa which…
Access Bank Zambia
Leading by ExampleWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Donovan Smith The Access Bank Group of Companies is notorious for its ambitious vision: to be the world’s most respected African bank. With financial services across west, central and east Africa and the United Kingdom, the Group has seen its assets increase by almost 50 percent since 2010, from US$6.58 billion to more than US$9.2 billion in 2015, and is continuing to expand at a rapid rate.With operations in Nigeria commencing 28 years ago, it is clear that Access Bank’s presence on the continent has been welcomed. The Bank has answered a call for financial inclusion in Africa by responding with approximately 366 branches across major cities and commercial centres in Nigeria, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, DRC and Zambia; and this number continues to rise along with the prospect of new countries to add to its portfolio.“Access Bank has built its strength and success in corporate banking and is now taking its expertise and applying it to the personal and business banking platform. We constantly invest in new technologies and examine ways to grow our business to take it to new heights and continue with our impressive growth rates,” explained the Company.As the youngest of its subsidiaries in Africa, Access Bank Zambia has now been in operation for six years and continues to lead by example in the country, setting the standard and challenging the status quo in order to create real value, in a sustainable and profitable manner, for its customers. “To ensure that this objective is kept in sight,…
Tigo Tanzania
Connecting Tanzania to the World Writer: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Donovan Smith Tigo is looking to build upon a significantly successful 2014 in Tanzania as the African telecoms giant continues to close the gap on the market-leading position across the full range of parameters.Offering services not only in the traditional voice domain, the Company has also made a reputation for itself via its additional offerings, including unparalleled data provision to as many areas of the country as possible and its Tigo Pesa mobile money product, as well as an ongoing commitment to unveil new, innovative services to an increasingly digital-savvy population.“Last year was very successful for Tigo; a year of progress and growth in our drive to promote a digital lifestyle transformation in the country,” the Company’s Managing Director (MD), Diego Gutierrez affirms. “We became leaders in the data field, becoming a natural choice for data services, while we continued to invest in our network expansion, upgrading our services to 3G in most of the country." A total of $100 million was spent over the course of 2014, emphasising the proactive approach Tigo has adopted since establishing a presence in the country.Integrated into the list of achievements and landmarks is an additional 700 sites introduced across both urban and rural regions, subsequently having a positive effect on subscriber numbers which rose from seven million to nine million; the fastest rise among the industry.“We’re following a long-term strategy, growing our subscriber base and building more sites each year, giving people more access to data and helping to create new socio-economic…
TransNamib
Africa’s Rising Logistics Hub Writer: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Tom Cullum As the national surface carrier of Namibia, TransNamib Holdings Limited has been a vital part of the country’s transport industry since the independence of Namibia. Wholly owned by the government of Namibia, the Company provides a wide range of transportation services such as bulk freight, containerised services, TNX/OPX, special trains and passenger services. In conjunction with this, TransNamib also offer road connection services to transport goods to the railway.“We are committed to being the leader in the provision of transport solutions across both rail and road through a passion for excellence, striving for integration within southern Africa trade,” explained TransNamib in its annual report.Established in line with the National Transport Services Holding Company Act 28 of 1998, TransNamib’s railway lines stretch from the South African border to the Angolan border in the North; from the central part of the country to the coastal towns of Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Luderitz; and Gobabis in the east to Grootfontein in central Namibia. With a fully fledged distribution network scattered across the country, the Company is well positioned to provide cost-effective rail and road transport service solutions to Namibia and beyond.“This nationwide coverage provides intermodal transport to neighbouring countries via the Trans-Zambezi, Trans-Caprivi, Trans-Cunene and Trans-Kalahari highways. Even in tough economic times, TransNamib continues to remain unwavering in its pursuit of continuous improvement to deliver service excellence by streamlining its processes to become more cost-effective,” the Company said.However, the African continent as a whole retains its position as one of the…
Lonestar Cell MTN
A Bold New Digital World Writer: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Donovan Smith As a member of the MTN Group in Africa, Lonestar is successfully leveraging the prominent brand name in Liberia to enrich lives across the length and breadth of the country.Lonestar Cell began commercial operations in 2001 with Lonestar Cell MTN becoming the new brand name six years later following the acquisition of its mother company, Investcom LLC by MTN Group. The subsequent Lonestar Cell MTN Company became the first operator within Liberia offering GSM services; a pioneering position which the business has maintained over its 14 years of technological evolution.Entering the 2G domain before evolving further still into 3G, Lonestar has remained market leader throughout, enhancing and expanding its network infrastructure across the country in the process, as subscriber numbers surpassed one million people.Now, with 1.3 million subscribers, and more than half of the market share, the Company is as driven as ever to saturate the entire country with its unrivalled standard of services.“We don’t yet cover 100 percent of the country but we are getting close,” Lonestar’s Chief Executive Officer, Babatunde Osho says. “We have evolved over the years from GSM 2G and now into 3G, developing our network into all counties within the country.“We have also evolved our services from basic voice and SMS in the early days to a whole host of value-added services including music and a lot of other applications and advance data and IP services.”Investing large amounts into necessary IT infrastructures to support such developments in previously unexposed regions of…
Advance Seed
Selling with EducationWriter: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Josh Hyland Advance Seed is striving for international expansion and internal improvements as it continues to align itself with parent company, AGT Foods; a global leader in the pulse processing and staple foods industries.With a heritage dating back to 1966, it is Advance Seed’s prominence outside of South Africa that has proven most indicative of the Company’s success over the past five decades, shipping its vast range of produce to more than 50 countries around the world.“Advance Seed’s portfolio of products and services extends through the agricultural value chain and offers its customers access to quality offerings; including crop production, cleaning, grading and processing, marketing and sales, as well as export of specialty crops to customers around the globe,” explains Dean Miller, Group Marketing, Advance Seed.Buying industry-leading crops from producers within South Africa before exporting globally, Advance Seed supplies its customers with premium quality pulses, popcorn and grains, as well as pasture, forage and field crop seeds from South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Miller adds: “As Africa’s premier popcorn producer and processor, Advance Seed grows top quality American popcorn seed in the rich, fertile ground of Central-Southern Africa.“The unique geography of the region allows Advance Seed to harvest new crop popcorn in January of each year, earlier than anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere. Advance Seed’s state-of-the-art processing plant, packaging facilities and warehousing facilities enable the supply of butterfly and mushroom popcorn to the world year-round.”Collaborative progressAdvance Seed’s core activities are centred around six divisions: the production and sale of…
Rainmaker Energy
Cost-Competitive Renewable Solutions Writer: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Tom Cullum As a specialist in innovative renewable solutions, Rainmaker Energy is a privately owned company with broad expertise as an originator, developer and owner-operator of renewable energy assets in South Africa.With firm foundations as a 100 percent South African-owned independent power producer (IPP), Rainmaker Energy has ambitious goals that it hopes to achieve in the next few years, eyeing opportunities in the global photovoltaic (PV) industry, along with the continued interest and expansions of the onshore Dorper Wind Farm in line with REIPPP Programme goals.From its offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and a newly established base in London, UK, Rainmaker has strategically positioned itself in two of the world’s renewable hotspots, leaving it well positioned to access and mobilise project development and investment opportunities across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.The Company has developed an onshore wind project pipeline in excess of 450MW in South Africa since entering the market in 2009, prior to the official announcement of the REIPPP Programme in 2011; developing one of the first large scale grid connected wind projects – Dorper Wind Farm – with a further 330MW of wind and 290MW of solar PV projects also under development.“Our first project, the 100MW Dorper Wind Farm has been fully-operational since 9 August 2014 and was awarded ‘African Wind Deal of the Year 2012’ by Project Finance Magazine, in recognition of its unique and innovative financing structure,” says Gavin James, one of Rainmaker’s Directors. Given its full independence, Rainmaker benefits from flexibility on its debt and…
IFS (International Facilities Services)
Unlocking Scalability with InvestmentWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Josh Hyland Since embarking on its first remote site project for Anglo South Africa in the early 2000s, International Facilities Services (IFS) has capitalised on the marked increase in investment and development on the African continent to unlock the true potential and scalability of its business.It was this first business opportunity that led IFS to identify the demand for its offering: the combination of its international expertise and local understanding to provide catering, housekeeping, laundry and related secondary services to a wide range of industries and public institutions, with a concerted focus on remote site solutions.“The success of our first foray both enhanced Anglo’s reputation and the demand for our offering in what was a relatively niche market. It was then our appetite for risk combined with our multitude of competencies that saw our services transcend across borders and into sub-Saharan Africa,” comments Peter Horne, Sales Manager for IFS South Africa.Investor interestEquipped with these industry-leading competencies, IFS has spent the past decade expanding its footprint into 16 African countries and igniting the interest of investors looking for growth opportunities on the continent; forging a lucrative deal with a consortium comprising of longstanding leaders of industry with significant African experience, including Nedbank Private Equity.“This partnership not only contributed a wealth of knowledge, networking opportunities and strategic thinking, but it also contributed towards a significant strengthening of the Group’s balance sheet and financial capabilities.Additionally, it helped guide us through a difficult economic period for service providers and come out the other side…
Umoya Energy (RF) (Pty) Ltd
IPPs Set a Good Example in South Africa Writer: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Tom Cullum Umoya Energy is an IPP (Independent Power Producer) created as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to develop and own Hopefield Wind Farm, South Africa’s first wind farm to reach commercial operation date (COD) on 1 February, 2014.Umoya is a recognised name in South Africa’s wind energy sector, having been on the renewable energy scene since the start of the REIPPP Programme this decade. During this time, the Company has been joined by a wide range of local and international IPPs also seeking to participate in the flourishing renewable energy industry in South Africa.“The shareholders of both of our wind farms have taken an active and supportive role throughout the development, construction and operational phases. Given that both projects were built in the first round of the REIPPP Programme, shareholder support was welcomed as we have navigated what was fairly uncharted territory in South Africa,” says Sam Cook, Technical Manager for Hopefield Wind Farm and Cookhouse Wind Farm.Since completing construction, Umoya has turned its attention to optimising the operation of its power plant as well as implementing and supporting community projects in the Hopefield area. “The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) is promoting coordination between its members, and some IPPs whose projects are in close proximity are already preparing to work together on economic development (ED) projects. Given that Hopefield Wind Farm (HWF) has been fully operational for more than 17 months now, our attention has turned to economic development (ED) initiatives, in addition to…
Garden City
The Perfect MixWriter: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Stuart Parker One of Nairobi’s most exciting retail and residential constructs is nearing completion as Garden City enters its final few months of development.Global private equity firm, Actis are the property developers and financiers behind the project, subsequently entrusting their local partners in Africa, MML Project Development Managers to carry out the build to never seen before standards in the country.A game-changer both in terms of size and functionality, the Garden City concept was one conjured up in 2011, and just four years later, both MML and Actis are excited to see the fruits of their labours and investments come to the fore.MML and one of Garden City’s Project Managers, Robert Gichohi has overseen large facets of the construction phase since joining the Company in 2013 and recalls the initial remit handed to the business: “Our core goals as part of the remit were to deliver the project within three project constraints,” he says. “The first being time and to complete the project within 24 months, the second regarding quality and carrying out international standards in Kenya, and the third was to keep the project within the budget of $250 million.”With a series of phases and stages branching across the retail mall, residential, and office strands of the overall project, Gichohi describes it as “gratifying to see things now opening and coming to life”, kick-started by the mall’s unveiling in late May, 2015.He sees this is as a testament not only to the hard work carried out by MML but the…
