Business

Aliko Dangote at UN General Assembly in New York: “Africa will become the food basket of the world” ; "Five of the twelve million jobs needed in Africa soon must be created in Nigeria"; “We should pray that oil prices remain low”


NEW YORK, United States of America, September 20, 2017/ -- Nigerian business leader Aliko Dangote told investors "Agriculture, agriculture, agriculture. Africa will become the food basket of the world."

In a packed room at the headquarters of global law firm Shearman and Sterling LLC  high level business leaders and international diplomats invited by the Corporate Council for Africa to hear Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, and Rwandan president Paul Kagame openly converse on Africa's opportunities and challenges.

Both leaders underscored the ongoing movement to diversify African economies. In the case of  Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, Dangote stated "we should pray that oil prices remain low. This helps wean us off the dependency on revenues from petroleum. We must take oil to be the icing on the cake. We already have the cake," he added.

In addition to agriculture Dangote cited Nigeria's vast mineral resources and gas as well and the need to manufacture more goods locally for domestic consumption. Both he and President Kagame cited continued need for heavy investments in education and connected the need for young people to be well trained for the jobs of tomorrow.

Dangote predicted that "five of the twelve million jobs needed in Africa soon must be created in Nigeria."

Dangote's fortune which stems from cement, sugar, and other household commodities has expanded into fertilizer and other processed high-value goods. "Technology of course helps us a lot and our factories are state of the art with the use of robotics but we shouldn't be overly tech oriented to create wealth," he told investors.

Mr. Dangote who is often cited as one of the most inspiring business leaders in the world today and a model for young entrepreneurs offered advice to Americans who tend to rely on outdated news and wrong perceptions of Africa, "Don't be lazy. Go there and find the real story for yourself. Things have changed."

Dangote noted the Rwanda success story where he has business interests as an example of positive change, good governance and leadership, and where corruption has been cured. He cited a personal experience of offering a $100 US tip for services at the Kigali Airport to staff who refused to take money for work they were paid to do. President Kagame was praised for delivering the environment for growth he promised. "There is nothing African about corruption," the Rwandan president added.

The session was moderated by Rosa Whitaker, former US Trade Representative and author of the AGOA (African Growth Opportunity Act), whose business consultancy is credited for helping both African governments and US companies develop commerce.

Distributed by APO on behalf of APO Group - Africa Newsroom.

Details

Rita Akana

20.Sep.2017

Hits: 4713

Write comment (0 Comments)

Camair Co, the Cameroonian public airline, will resume, in the coming weeks, its flights to some African capital cities. These include Libreville in Gabon, Bangui in the Central African Republic, Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, and Dakar in Senegal, we learned from authorised sources. 

The announcement of this resumption of international activities by Camair Co was recently made in Yaoundé, the capital, during a meeting between the Cameroonian public airline, partners such as travel agencies, and potential clients for these destinations.

This decision from the top management of Camair Co would suggest that the airline is gradually finding back its balance, after several structural and financial issues which have affected its operations since the launch of its activities in 2011. A situation which led the company to temporarily give up on international flights, to focus only on domestic routes.  

Details

Rita Akana

15.Sep.2017

Hits: 3526

Write comment (0 Comments)

The United Bank for Africa(UBA)Plc was present at the roundtable Forum organized in Paris from September 6 – 8, 2017,  by the government of the Republic of Tchad, on the financing of the National Development Plan 2017- 2021. The Forum was opened and closed by the Chadian President, His Excellency, Idris Deby Itno. In attendance were the President of Mauritania, His Excellency Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, all the Tchadian cabinet ministers, representatives from various governments including the governments of Japan, Canada, the U.S.A, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and from the African Union, AfDB, EU, IMF, the IFC and many others.

 The Chairman of UBA GROUP, Mr Tony Elumelu was represented by the CEO, UBA Francophone Africa, Emeke E. Iweriebor.  Iweriebor who spoke at a session during the forum stated that UBA’s decision to invest in Tchad a decade ago turned out to be a very sound investment decision. ’UBA Tchad has contributed to the growth of the Tcahdian economy through financing infrastructure, a critical lever in sustainable development’.  He went further to explain that UBA Tchad is one of the Pan-African bank’s high performing subsidiaries in Africa and encouraged potential investors to look into Tchad as an investment destination.

 

With presence in 19 African countries and in London, Paris and New York, UBA has supported several projects in Tchad including a 60 Mega Watt Central Electricity power plant in Farcha. UBA contributed $18.5million and led the syndication that raised $80 million for the project resulting in an improvement in the access to electricity in Tchad by 3.9%.  The bank continues to support the government of Tchad in its development initiatives in the areas of infrastructure, Oil and Gas and other key sectors of the economy. The Forum on the National Development plan saw many organisations and countries pledge support to Tchad with about $20 billion having been raised.

 

Ending the forum, President Itno thanked all the people and organisations present who had come to support Tchad, promising that the administration was going to put in the maximum effort to ensure that the development plan is successful. ‘This administration is a transparent one that is working with partners to ensure successful implementation of all the projects. It is the responsibility of the government to lead the country to sustainable development’ he said.

Details

Rita Akana

14.Sep.2017

Hits: 2351

Write comment (0 Comments)

Looking for any meaningful employment is time consuming, frustrating and emotionally draining. Finding that job to suit your interests, capabilities, aims and desires requires a lot of commitment. As a humans, it is obligatory for us to find the work of our hands so as to be productive and impact the environment in which we find ourselves positively.

Due to this fact, employers in our world today, in Africa to be precise, have grown to become high and mighty. This is because, since time immemorial, job seekers and employees have contorted to, bent over and stretched themselves thin to get a job and sustain jobs respectively.

 

Details

Adjei Ernest Atta

09.Sep.2017

Hits: 2579

Write comment (0 Comments)

The Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has announced its audited half year financial results ended June 30, 2017, showing remarkable performance across major metrics.

UBA grew its gross earnings for the period by 34.5 percent to N222.7 billion, as against N165.6 billion reported in June 2016. This impressive performance, which reflects the strong momentum of UBA’s business and its increasing share of customers’ wallet, was driven by the 44.3 per cent and 16.0 per cent growth in interest income and non-funded income respectively. The Group’s operating income stood at N161.8 billion, compared to N116.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2016, representing a 39.2 percent growth. 

Notwithstanding the impact of Naira devaluation and double digit inflation in Nigeria and a number of other African countries where UBA operates, the Group managed through its cost lines to deliver a sterling Profit Before tax (PBT) of N57.5 billion, representing a significant growth of 65.5 percent over N34.8 billion recorded in the corresponding period of June 2016.

In same vein, the Group recorded an unprecedented Profit After Tax (PAT) of N42.3 billion, translating to a 56.2 percent growth over the N27.1 billion recorded in the half-year of 2016. This profitability further reflects the earnings capacity of the Group and its capability to progressively deliver superior returns to shareholders. 

While the Group closed the half year with Total Assets of N3.69 trillion, a growth of 5.3 percent, it prudently grew gross loans to N1.6 trillion, a 4 percent growth when compared to the Group loan book as at 31 December 2016.

Reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation, the Group’s Shareholders’ Fund grew by 8 percent to N483.1 billion, whilst it delivered an annualized 18.2% return on average equity (RoAE) and an Interim Dividend of N0.20 per Share.

Commenting on the result, Kennedy Uzoka, the Group Managing Director/CEO, said that “the results again demonstrate the strong momentum of the Bank, as we deliver continuous improvement across our businesses and key performance metrics.” 

He further stated that the Bank’s “unwavering focus on customer service excellence is translating to strong operational and financial efficiency gains.  We have achieved better pricing on assets and liabilities, leading to continued improvement in the net interest margin to 7.3%. Leveraging our service-focused strategy and treasury management, we grew non-interest income by 17% year-on-year, reinforcing our transaction-banking-led approach towards deepening financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

According to him, UBA has made considerable progress in its retail banking penetration, gaining market share in deposits, at a time when a sizeable percentage of households are challenged due to inflationary pressures on disposable income. The Bank grew its retail savings and current account deposits by 23% and 5% YTD respectively.

Also speaking on UBA’s financial performance and position, the Group CFO, Ugo Nwaghodoh said that the Bank had “a strong start in the year, despite protracted recession in Nigeria, our largest market. Our profit after tax of N42 billion translates to 18.2% return on average equity, broadly in line with our 2017FY guidance."

He further said that the Bank’s African subsidiaries (ex-Nigeria) contributed 32% of the Group’s earnings, leveraging on digital offerings to gain market share across the different markets.  “We maintain our discipline of banking only quality and profitable assets, a conservative stance which reflects on our asset quality.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading pan-African financial services group, with presence in 19 African countries, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and France. 

Details

Prince Mundi Tanda

29.Aug.2017

Hits: 1624

Write comment (0 Comments)

The Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has announced its audited half year financial results ended June 30, 2017, showing remarkable performance across major metrics.

UBA grew its gross earnings for the period by 34.5 percent to N222.7 billion, as against N165.6 billion reported in June 2016. This impressive performance, which reflects the strong momentum of UBA’s business and its increasing share of customers’ wallet, was driven by the 44.3 per cent and 16.0 per cent growth in interest income and non-funded income respectively. The Group’s operating income stood at N161.8 billion, compared to N116.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2016, representing a 39.2 percent growth. 

Notwithstanding the impact of Naira devaluation and double digit inflation in Nigeria and a number of other African countries where UBA operates, the Group managed through its cost lines to deliver a sterling Profit Before tax (PBT) of N57.5 billion, representing a significant growth of 65.5 percent over N34.8 billion recorded in the corresponding period of June 2016.

In same vein, the Group recorded an unprecedented Profit After Tax (PAT) of N42.3 billion, translating to a 56.2 percent growth over the N27.1 billion recorded in the half-year of 2016. This profitability further reflects the earnings capacity of the Group and its capability to progressively deliver superior returns to shareholders.

While the Group closed the half year with Total Assets of N3.69 trillion, a growth of 5.3 percent, it prudently grew gross loans to N1.6 trillion, a 4 percent growth when compared to the Group loan book as at 31 December 2016.

Reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation, the Group’s Shareholders’ Fund grew by 8 percent to N483.1 billion, whilst it delivered an annualized 18.2% return on average equity (RoAE) and an Interim Dividend of N0.20 per Share.

Commenting on the result, Kennedy Uzoka, the Group Managing Director/CEO, said that “the results again demonstrate the strong momentum of the Bank, as we deliver continuous improvement across our businesses and key performance metrics.” 

He further stated that the Bank’s “unwavering focus on customer service excellence is translating to strong operational and financial efficiency gains.  We have achieved better pricing on assets and liabilities, leading to continued improvement in the net interest margin to 7.3%. Leveraging our service-focused strategy and treasury management, we grew non-interest income by 17% year-on-year, reinforcing our transaction-banking-led approach towards deepening financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

According to him, UBA has made considerable progress in its retail banking penetration, gaining market share in deposits, at a time when a sizeable percentage of households are challenged due to inflationary pressures on disposable income. The Bank grew its retail savings and current account deposits by 23% and 5% YTD respectively.

Also speaking on UBA’s financial performance and position, the Group CFO, Ugo Nwaghodoh said that the Bank had “a strong start in the year, despite protracted recession in Nigeria, our largest market. Our profit after tax of N42 billion translates to 18.2% return on average equity, broadly in line with our 2017FY guidance."

He further said that the Bank’s African subsidiaries (ex-Nigeria) contributed 32% of the Group’s earnings, leveraging on digital offerings to gain market share across the different markets.  “We maintain our discipline of banking only quality and profitable assets, a conservative stance which reflects on our asset quality.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading pan-African financial services group, with presence in 19 African countries, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and France.

 

Details

Rita Akana

28.Aug.2017

Hits: 3038

Write comment (0 Comments)