Cellulant
Leading Payment Ecosystem for the Increasingly Mobile AfricaWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Donovan Smith After 13 years of connecting consumers in Africa to digital mobile payment services, Cellulant has been able to unlock unprecedented growth and continues to shape the business in pursuit of its goal to connect more than 100 million consumers in Africa, while building a $1 billion Pan-African Company.Formed as a result of blue-sky thinking between two likeminded individuals, Ken Njoroge and Bolaji Akinboro, Cellulant has a history full of award-winning industry firsts, known for its intuitive mobile content applications and services across Africa since the launch of its first platform in 2004.“Cellulant’s original business model was drawn up on a table napkin. Right from the beginning, we knew that we wanted to build a Company that provides services at the intersection of government, financial services, consumers, mobile telephone companies and content providers, creating real technological solutions for African consumers and businesses,” recalls Njoroge, the Company’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).After testing mobile banking platforms in focus regions across Africa, in 2009, Cellulant deployed the first mobile banking solution using US currency for one of the first multinational banks; becoming the third Company globally to deploy this solution. From here, the Company’s success began to manifest itself in mobile payment and financial inclusion solutions to create a seamless experience for operators and the consumer across mobile commerce.“Cellulant’s digital payment solutions have been the catalyst for the penetration of mobile commerce across the countries in which we operate our mobile banking and mobile payment solutions. By digitising…
Carlson Rezidor
At the Upper Scale of Hospitable Recognition Writer: Matthew StaffProject Manager: Stuart Parker One of the world’s largest and most dynamic hotel Companies has strengthened its already extensive African portfolio in 2015 via the opening of numerous new establishments.Targeting both new and existing countries of operation, the latest additions represent 15 years of expansion on the continent, having initially introduced its internationally-recognised brands - Quorvus Collection, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites by CarlsonSM, Radisson Blu, Radisson Red and Park Inn by Radisson - to Africa at the turn of the century, in South Africa.Nearly 70 hotels and 26 countries later and the Group can be truly recognised as one of the sector’s most successful international businesses on the continent. However, Carslon Rezidor views its development as far from complete, as indicated by its recent opening of the Radisson Blu M’Bamou Palace Hotel in Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo; its first foray into the country.“We are delighted to arrive in the Republic of Congo; the 26th African country we are present in,” enthused Rezidor President and CEO, Wolfgang M. Neumann. “Africa is our most important growth market, and we want to further expand our network together with existing and new partners.“As Africa continues to grow and thrive economically, we are delighted to be part of this momentum by welcoming the first internationally-branded hotel to the area,” added Marc Descrozaille, Vice President for sub-Saharan Africa.“Brazzaville is a key port and host to many corporations, government organisations, NGOs and Africa’s regional office for the World Health Organisation.”The upscale…
Collins Property Group
An Opportunistic Approach to PropertyWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Stuart Parker With a history spanning four generations over a period of more than 100 years of operation, Collins Property Group is leveraging its reputation for commercial property development to reach new strategic milestones across a wider African market. Since entering a Memorandum of Understanding with Tradehold (TDH) for the bulk of its African property interests outside South Africa last year, Collins Property has adopted an opportunistic outlook for the future growth of the business in sub-Saharan Africa.“Although the majority of our business over the past 10 years has been in the development of distribution and retail centres throughout Southern Africa, the Group has recently moved into residential development projects, as well as increasing its activities across the continent; in a bid to make sure we can provide an end-to-end service for our clients,” says Murray Collins, Managing Director of Collins Property Group.Led by a dynamic and hands-on approach, the Company’s total property solution approach was identified as a way to become more competitive, making decisions much faster to ultimately deliver a high quality product within an improved time frame.“We have built up a significant project portfolio that demonstrates our core competencies and ability to handle a project from the planning phase right through to asset management. Moreover, the absence of hierarchy within our management structure means we’re able to make decisions and deliver on our promises much faster than ever before,” he adds.Strategic partnershipsAs one of the first property developers to move into Africa’s retail and distribution sectors during the…
