Tshwane Rapid Transit : Modernising Mobility
Tshwane Rapid Transit is transforming the public transport scene in Pretoria and the surrounding municipality as it expands its efficient, modern BRT system.
Superfoam : Kenya’s Retail Dream
Testament to its innovative, competitive products, Superfoam is helping to energise a nation by simplifying good sleep.
Starzs Marine & Engineering
Nigeria’s Port of Call Starzs Marine & Engineering has become a go-to shipyard operator for vessel owners calling in and out of Rivers State, the company embarking on an ambitious project to expand capacity Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Josh Mann Nigeria has taken significant strides to protect its indigenous shipping industry. In 2003, the country’s government passed the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act, which put into law several conditions relating to participation in shipping activities, chiefly that vessels must be built and registered in Nigeria and owned and manned by Nigerian citizens. This has served to benefit local industry operators such as Starzs Marine & Engineering, with Founder and Managing Director/CEO Greg Ogbeifun having witnessed the development of the sector during his long and illustrious career to date. “The requirement that vessels must be built in Nigeria presents a huge opportunity for shipbuilding activities in Nigeria which is presently at a low,” he says. “However, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has made plans to invest $3.5 billion in vessel acquisition for local shipowners. “And with the ExxonMobil’s Ibot, Total’s Ikike and the NLNG Train 7 projects due to have final investment decisions signed off before the end of the year, the Nigerian shipping industry is set to get a boost.” Despite these promising signs, Ogbeifun is the first to admit that more work needs to be done if Nigeria is to fully realise the potential of its shipping industry, not least when it comes to expanding port infrastructure and training up locals…
SPAR Namibia
A Brand Built on Trust SPAR Namibia has established a reputation for quality and affordability in the country thanks to its adherence to values of family, passion and entrepreneurship Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Josh Hyland Few countries rely on the fortunes of South Africa’s economy as much as Namibia. Lying northwest of its more developed and densely populated neighbour, the nation’s little over 2.5 million population has borne the brunt of a recent economic downturn. However, the green shoots of recovery are tentatively emerging, and the long-term prospects for the country’s role in the development of western Sub-Saharan Africa is cause for optimism among business leaders. “We joke here that whenever South Africa sneezes, Nambia gets the flu,” quips Eugene van Wyngaard, Regional Manager for Nambia at international FMCG retail brand SPAR. “However, I am of the view that our economy is at the edge of a very significant turning point. It will take a little time to get out of the current situation, not helped by recent droughts, but there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel.” A SPAR veteran of 19 years, van Wyngaard started out in Cape Town as a store manager, working his way up the ranks to manage 18 local outlets before moving to Namibia in 2010 to head up operations which have been in the country since 2004. “The journey has been fantastic,” he says. “It was a bigger position than perhaps I initially thought it would be, but there are many facets that come with the territory…
Pan African Towers
Prepped for Progress Working with telecommunications providers across Ghana and Nigeria, Pan African Towers is effectively, efficiently and technologically helping to ready Africa for a new-era Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Vivek Valmiki In many ways, Africa is best known as a continent poised for prosperity. Home to four of the 10 fastest expanding economies in the world, the entire region’s GDP growth rate is projected to accelerate to four percent this year according to the African Development Bank, while forecasts are estimating that it will be home to an additional 1.3 billion people by 2050. Faced with magnification on a multitude of fronts, sustainability in the form of economic development will be crucial to Africa’s success over the coming decades, from critical construction projects to the modernisation of telecommunications. The latter has been deemed to be of particular importance, with 4G and even 5G technologies anticipated to power the expansion of progressive spaces such as mobile banking and ecommerce. This in mind, Analysys Mason has predicted that the telecoms service market in Sub-Saharan Africa will be worth $53.3 billion by 2023 – up from the $46.3 billion recorded last year. Confronted with this rapidly-changing landscape, Pan African Towers is one firm helping to facilitate these major transformations. “Undoubtedly, we are positioned for change and I’d even say we are leading it to an extent,” explains Wole Abu, the organisation’s CEO. “Simply, we’re enabling more companies to achieve their potential using our unique and innovative business model.” An indigenous, licensed telecommunications infrastructure company, Pan African Towers is…
Metrobus : Transport Transformed
Powered by the City of Johannesburg, Metrobus is allowing the municipality’s economy to thrive through the provision of unrivalled public transport networks.
Lucara Botswana
A Diamond Legacy Lucara Botswana is mining for the nation at its Karowe resource, its large premium diamonds being extracted and sold using leading-edge technology operated by upskilled local experts Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Donovan Smith Botswana’s affinity with diamonds stretches back many decades. Serious exploration began in the 1950s in the Tuli Block along the Limpopo River, and in the years since the West African nation has become renowned for its diamond production capabilities. Such ventures have also proven to be a vital economic contributor to Botswana, providing employment to thousands of citizens and generating enormous revenue which has funded important infrastructure projects. “The market is stable and will not drop off,” observes Naseem Lahri, Managing Director of Lucara’s Botswana division, the first wholly private entity to be mining diamonds in the country. “Diamonds are so unique – there will always be a demand.” Lahri is the first Botswanan woman to be promoted to the position of Managing Director in a national mining company, initially joining the organisation in 2013 following a long and fruitful journey with Debswana, the joint venture between the government and De Beers. “I worked in auditing for a couple of different companies over several years when an opportunity to work with a colliery arose,” she recalls. “I enjoy working in challenging environments and mining certainly fits into this category, so I decided to give it a chance and stayed there for two years. “The experience opened up my mind to the world of mining – the challenges, the opportunities, the…
Klomac Engineering
Furthering Resource Efficiency Klomac Engineering has risen to the fore of African utilities, enabling the implementation of effective water treatment and chemical processes Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Krisha Canlas Africa faces the daunting challenge of feeding 1.5 billion people by 2030 and two billion by 2050, but it’s one that the continent intends to meet having already made numerous strides. “As most West African countries are net food importers, food security became a concern and the region went through a period of agricultural transformation around 2011/12,” reveals Siviwe Ngubentombi, highlighting the region’s evident awareness and the proactive measures being taken. Drawn into this transformation, Ngubentombi himself began to parlay relationships to supply mechanical agricultural equipment and enable agricultural modernisation, procuring licenses and partnering with international engineering firms to deliver decentralised flour mills, abattoirs and the like. “I quickly sparked an interest in general infrastructure and supply chains, particularly regarding what interventions could be made to address the asymmetric transformative value of food and harness the socioeconomic multiplier dividend inherent in mechanised decentralised agricultural processing activities,” he adds. “I also began to look at the water purification space as another catalyst for poverty alleviation. The best western water purification technologies that I found were very expensive, mainly geared towards the oil and gas industry, and required a high level of re-engineering. “This coincided with the onset of severe drought in South Africa, and I felt a calling to return home and get involved in an industry that would deliver practical and tangible socioeconomic and health benefits to…
FVC International
Growing as One FVC International is helping to safeguard South Africa’s fruit and veg industry by balancing risk and developing long-term, sustainable partnerships with growers around the country Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Lewis Bush In an ever-connected, globalised world, consumers have more choice than ever over what food and drink they decide to buy. Seasonality is no longer an issue as fresh produce is grown all over the world and transported en masse all year round. This is particularly true of fruit and vegetables – products which are subject to intense aesthetic scrutiny by retailers eager to present perfectly-formed options to their customers. Competition among growers and their exporting partners is therefore intense, and South Africa is just one of many prolific fruit and veg producing countries that is having to compete on a global stage. Enter Fruit & Veg (FVC) International. Established in 2004 by Jaco van Tubbergh, the company is wholly owned by retailer Food Lover’s Market and handles all imports and exports within the group, its major export product lines including apples, pears, citrus, grapes and plums. Exporting to the likes of North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as other African nations, FVC is a hands-on one-stop shop priding itself on quality processes, from growing and picking to packing and distribution. “In order to navigate industry challenges, we have had to work smarter and with more energy,” says Ryno Palm, FVC International’s Head of Marketing. “This is vital given the level of competition around the world, and we must…
Electricidade de MoÇambique (EDM)
Lighting the Transformation of Mozambique Electricidade de Moçambique has been connecting communities to the national grid for more than four decades, aiming for universal access to power by 2030 Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Krisha Canlas Access to electricity is fundamental to the socioeconomic development of any country. From simple domestic freedoms such as cooking, heating and lighting to powering industrial applications and being connected to the internet, energy is the key enabler. Mozambique’s story of electrification is an evolving one. In 1995 little more than one in a hundred citizens had access to power, a figure which has risen markedly over the ensuing decades to around 25 percent today. For electricity services provider Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), however, this is not enough. Mandated to open up access to energy for all by 2030, the company has been operating under the slogan of lighting the transformation for more than four decades and has made some steady progress. For example, 151 of the existing 154 district headquarters in the country are interconnected to the national power grid and the remaining three are in the process of their completion, while the company has on its books more than 1,640,000 clients. “We will continue with increasing determination for the attainment of the objectives set to us under different guiding instruments of the fight against poverty that we have today in Mozambique,” the company states. “We are aware that the services that we are providing need increasing improvement. We have been doing a lot in this sense, ranging from huge investments…
