Guangli revealed this during a courtesy call to Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State. He said the team had spent two days in the state exploring possible areas of investments and having found that there are great opportunities, it decided to start with the establishment of a truck plant.

The visit was as a result of collaboration between the state government and the zone to bring investments into the state, General Manager of the Calabar FTZ, Sadiq Kassim, said.

Kassim explained that Chang Chun City, which has a population of over seven million and wants to invest in Nigeria through its chambers of commerce.

Aside building a truck manufacturing company, the Deputy Mayor revealed that the trade mission also have the intention of investing in agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors, noting that China and Nigeria have an age long commerce relationship.

Explaining the rationale behind the investment, Guangli stated that from the study carried out by the manufacturing company, the state (Cross River) is conducive for investments couple with the airport, seaport and free trade zone.

He added that the company which already has eleven outlets across the world including Japan, Germany and the United States will produce trucks that will be of high technology and high class.

The Deputy Mayor however said that volume of production will be determined by the economic indices of demand.

Speaking on the proposed investment, the state Governor, Liyel Imoke, praised the Chinese Trade Mission adding that the move will strengthen and develop the state’s economy.

Cross Rivers state is on one of Nigeria’s oil producing states. The establishment of a manufacturing plant would help divest concentration on the oil production which is the mainstay of the country’s economy.

The post Chinese Firm To Open Truck Manufacturing Plant In Calabar appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

Stallion Group’s Business Development Manager, Sunil Dhermappa, who was received by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, during a courtesy visit at Government House, Benin City said the company is interested in replicating its vehicle assembling plants in Lagos and Kaduna, a solar energy system and agro-based activities in Edo State.

“We want to come here to invest and farm here, especially rice production. Our investments into local industries is to maximise manufacturing opportunities, utilisation of world class products in technologies and equipment, utilisation of abundant natural talents, alignment with government’s socio-economic objectives, self-sufficiency, employment, import substitution, community development and conservation of foreign exchange.”

“We have the largest capacity of rice mills in sub-Saharan Africa, with factories at strategic locations in Lagos and Kano to enhance prospects of processing local paddy and with capacity of 4 million bags per annum. With over 25 years of active presence in Nigeria, a thorough and well grounded knowledge of the Nigerian market is one of our comparative advantage”, he explained.

Responding, Edo State Government said investors who want to take advantage of the enhanced infrastructure in the state would receive needed support from the government.”

In response, Ihonvbere lauded the Stallion Group’s move as being worthwhile; adding that the company’s desire to invest in the state’s agricultural sector among others would enhance both the job creation efforts of the state government and the economic fortunes of the state.

The post Stallion Group To Invest In Rice Production In Edo appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The central parts—Kazanchis and Bole—of Addis Ababa resemble a construction site. New malls and hotels are being erected throughout these areas. These new constructions are mostly locally funded. Jupiter Hotels, as one of those locally funded constructions, has only been running for 5 years. In that time, the company has boosted occupancy rates above 80 percent to match international brands in the market.

Until recently, schmoozing with businessmen of all stripes and African diplomats involved sitting by the bar in the Hilton or lingering around the Sheraton lounge area. During the last African Union meeting, the lobby of the Jupiter Hotel in Kazanchis jammed softly with local Ethiopian jazz crowded out by Africa’s numerous local languages and the usual assortment of romance languages spoken on the continent.

This type of growth is usually the result of growing demand and stalled supply. But the supply of hotel beds in Addis has tripled in the last three years to around 6,000 hotel beds. Competition in this market could potentially push the number over 10,000 hotel beds in the next few years. Jupiter International Hotels will actively expand during this time to more than 1,000 hotel beds to capture approximately ten percent of the market, says Mr. Bisrat, who is also vice president of the Hotel Association of Ethiopia. International brands, including the Marriot, will also help the local hotel industry to reach that number.

Hotel groups are expanding in this capital because the amount of diplomats and corporate clients are growing. Yearly tourism, at approximately 500,000 tourists in Ethiopia, still has a ways to go before it matches other emerging African economies. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has stated its aspirations to make Ethiopia a top five tourist destination in Africa by 2020.

During this rapid growth phase, quality service-oriented business will win out at the end of the day, say Mr. Bisrat, or customers will walk out. He believes Jupiter International Hotels is positioned as top competitor in this space, especially as it plans to develop a value hotel chain. A hot shower, good mattress, and strong internet goes a long way to make a quality value hotel. But Jupiter International Hotels plans to also add a yoga studio, art gallery, and technological add-ons, including iPod docking stations and quality data and voice streaming capabilities in the rooms.

So many foreigners are coming now and more and more are not Ethiopian Diaspora, says Dawit, a local Ethiopian tourist operator. A sense of change has descended upon the country. Gone are filmmakers for aid videos on famine. Rather conference facilities and lobbies bustle with the growing presence of investors and government officials. Hotel groups, says Mr. Bisrat, still have a long way to go to meet the needs of a growing business and diplomatic hub. As Ethiopian Airlines expands its routes to meet the geographically diversifying clientele of the Ethiopia, expect the hotel industry to do the same.

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According to Safs Narker, an equity analyst at the Cape Town-based Metropolitan Asset Management, going into South Sudan is a risk that South African banks are not prepared to take at the moment.

“They are looking at the bigger economies like Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana among others. But they are not prepared for those cross border activities. They are not prepared to carry that risk of going into South Sudan at this early stage,” Narker said.

But the world’s banking trailblazers have begun to see banking opportunities in South Sudan, where others see only risk.

Earlier this week, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has had to fight an avalanche of lurid claims in his private life, was part of a team that assisted South Sudan open a new bank.

He reportedly said he is happy to see South Sudan, which broke away from Sudan a little more than two years ago, move forward.

Strauss-Kahn told delegates in South Sudan that the institution will help in enabling investors to get into the country with ease. The bank – called the National Credit Bank (NCB) – will also take part in credit lending for investment.

The post South African Banks Prepared To Overlook South Sudan? appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The plant will be situated in Egypt’s Kom Abu Radi Industrial Zone, Al Wasta City, Beni Suef and is likely to be functional sometime this year.

The new factory, which will be spread over 366.000 square meters of land, is poised to grow the diversity of Samsung’s creative products that will be accessible to clients across the region.

The plant is likely to put more emphasis on making TV sets and monitors and other state-of-the-art tools.

Products made in Beni Suef will be supplied and made accessible all over Egypt and in 10 other MEA countries by the close of 2016.

“As technology is constantly becoming an integral component of everyday life, we welcome the first Samsung factory in MEA,” said Dr. Hesham Kandil, the Prime Minister of Egypt.

“As a market, we recognize that there are diverse business opportunities across a broad range of industry sectors which is why we always welcome and encourage foreign investment, such as Samsung’s.”

In the next five years, the plant’s yearly manufacturing output is set to be over 2 million units.

The post Samsung To Build Factory In Egypt, Enter MEA Region appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The report stated: “Total non-oil export earnings by Nigerian exporters stood at $1.136 billion at the end of the review period. This indicated an increase of 15.1 and 9.3 percent above the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2012, respectively.

“The development was attributed, largely, to the 66.9 and 70.3 percent rise in receipts from the industrial sector and manufactured products, respectively.”

It added, “A breakdown of the proceeds in the review quarter showed that industrial, manufactured, agricultural, minerals and food products earned $634.2 million, $322.6 million, $89.9 million, $67.9 million and $21.7 million, respectively.

“The shares of industrial, manufactured, agricultural and food products as well as mineral and transport in non-oil export proceeds were 55.8, 28.4, 7.9, 6.0 and 1.9 percent, respectively.”

Commenting on the CBN report on Monday, the National President, Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists, Chief Chuku Wachuku, said: “The report underscores the importance of manufacturing as the major driver of job creation and wealth generation globally.”

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment recently kicked off the implementation of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan, based on areas where the country currently has comparative and competitive advantage.

This, according to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, is part of efforts aimed at diversifying the nation’s economy by increasing non-oil earnings and contributions to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

The post Nigeria Generated $1.136 Billion From Non-Oil Sectors In Q1: CBN appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

This underscores the ever-mounting interest in Kenya’s stock market by foreign investors.

The value of shares acquired by foreign investors in Nairobi’s equity markets surged to Sh23.3 billion ($278 million) in the first quarter of this year, according to Kenya’s Business Daily. This was a 95.6 percent gain compared to Sh11.9 billion ($142 million) in the same period last year.

“The sustained foreign investor interest mostly on counters that constitute value indicators is expected to retain the momentum,” analysts at Afrika Investment Bank told Business Daily.

The general market reaped Sh214 billion ($2.5 billion) during the quarter, thrusting the market value to Sh1.6 trillion ($19 billion).

Some of the winners on the NSE included Kenya Commercial Bank, KenolKobil, Safaricom, Mumias Sugar Company and Equity Bank.

Other gainers were Kenya Power, CIC Insurance, Barclays Bank of Kenya, KenGen, British-American Investment Co., Cooperative Bank and EABL

“A return into the market by investors who have realized capital gains through quarter one price rally is bound to improve market demand over select counters and in turn fuel price rallies,” AIB analysts told Business Daily.

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According to CEO Marc Elias: “Raising capital is currently a Seed Engine priority following the positive response and interest in the demo day presentations. We are following up the investor attendees, as well as a list of those who were unable to attend.”

“Our tech entrepreneurs will continue to work on their businesses at Seed Engine’s offices while we focus on raising additional capital for their ventures in which we are shareholders.”

The Seed Engine start-ups and the model drew praise from the attending investors.

“I was very impressed with the quality of the investment pitches made by the Seed Engine ventures, said Christo Fourie, head of the Industrial Development Corporation venture capital business unit .

“Each one of the ventures has the potential to be a huge success,” he furthered.

The eight ventures which presented seven minute pitches included onQsystems.com - A cloud-based, point-of-sale software product used in conjunction with a smartphone or a tablet, which increases ordering, delivery and stock management efficiencies in the wholesale, retail and hospitality industries; an online verification management product called IntelliCred, which helps companies protect their brand equity and prevent counterfeiting, fraudulent associations and other forms of online brand abuse and infringements.

The post Investors Commend Seed Engine’s Tech Startups appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

Currently opened on Heerengracht Street, close to the Civic Centre down in Cape Town; the company expects to create 5 000 jobs in the first five years.

JSE-listed Grand Parade Investments led by Hassen Adams brought Burger King to South Africa.

Six stores are expected to open before the end of the year, including places like Tyger Valley and Cavendish, GrandWest Casino and Johannesburg.

“By the end of the year we should have about six up and running, more or less. We want to try and get at least two drive-throughs done still in this year but those are the big ones where you start to have to do a lot of construction work and so on. There are two, one in Tyger Valley that’s opening about a month after this one or six weeks after this one and one in Cavendish that will also open about the same time, more or less. We’re looking at one in GrandWest Casino, which will also open up very soon, when I say very soon, within the next two to three-month period,” Hassen said in an interview with Money web.

However, while some customers have seen the arrival of Burger King as a welcome development, others have expressed their displeasure as the store is halaal-certified and thus does not serve bacon.

Burger King South Africa chief executive Jaye Sinclair says that introducing the bacon Whopper would mean telling Muslim and Jewish patrons that they’re not welcome and that they are discriminated against.

Burger King said the decision to be 100% halaal was to ensure that no South African is excluded from having the chance to experience a Burger King product in any of their stores.

“As such we have decided not to serve bacon. We stand by our decision.”

Although the brand impact of Burger King is yet to be seen, the franchise is expected to shake up competition in the South Africa franchise industry, especially for McDonalds, which has been in the country for nearly 20 years.

Franchise Association of South Africa executive director, Vera Valasis, said: “The extra competition will further develop growth opportunities for existing and future quick service brands looking to compete in the market.”

Burger King South Africa boss is however, confident that the brand will take off. Sinclair says this is the right time to break into the local market.

“We have a big enough middle class to support a brand like Burger King. We believe there is a lot of growth in the market and that our offering will find a lot of traction.”

The post Burger King Opens In South Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

According to Layfeild, Standard Chartered has already applied for a banking license in Angola with the intention of submitting a license application to concerned regulatory agencies in Mozambique.

While the bank hopes to explore oil and gas financing in energy-producing Angola; gas exploration boom in Mozambique played a major role in influencing the application of a banking license in the country.

The British bank, which operates in 15 African countries, had early this year signed a joint-venture agreement with government-owned insurer ENSA in Angola and said it had applied for a banking license, which needs to be approved by the Bank of Angola.

Standard Bank would have a 60 percent share of the joint venture with ENSA.

The bank is hoping to increase its revenue in its offshore banking operations in the region by tapping into the advantage of Africa’s growing population as well as oil and gas financing.

Standard Chartered is not left alone in the race of tapping into the booming business potential presented by the continent. Other financial institutions and private-equity firms, including the likes of JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Carlyle Group LP (CG) are also on the same course to increase their presence in Africa.

Speaking at the sideline of the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, Layfeild said: “We’ve been thinking about this for a number of years. There’s a huge amount of infrastructure and human capital development that needs to happen.”

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