Africa

With its expanding financial, service, communications and entertainment sectors, Nigeria without question possesses all the vital components necessary to be recognised as one of Africa’s most important emerging markets. In fact, as of 2012, the country was ranked 30th in the world in terms of gross domestic product and the second largest in Africa. This places it on track to become one the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 according to a number of experts and analysts.

Signed by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on his first visit to China, the deals are for the building of a railway line, an energy project and to improve wildlife protection.

In a statement, his office said the deals with China were a "massive boost" to his government. "The rail link, particularly, is important in the context of East Africa's shared goal of ensuring quicker movement of peoples, goods and services," it quoted Mr Kenyatta as saying.

It will link the Kenyan border town of Malaba with the port of Mombasa, one of the busiest in Africa.

The agreement with state-run Ethio Telecom will help to double the number of mobile phone subscribers in the country to more than 50 million, while at the same time increasing 3G Internet access nationwide.

Ethio Telecom’s deal with ZTE, China's second-biggest telecoms equipment maker, is part of a telecommunications expansion project worth $1.6 billion.

Having had an established presence in the country since 1968, Total Namibia first opened its doors in 1977. Today the subsidiary of the continent’s leading petroleum marketer has a total of 28 service stations across Namibia, 77 commercial sites, five sites located within its national parks and four depots, which are found in Windhoek, Otavi, Gobabis and Walvis Bay.

Until as recently as 2010 it appeared that all southern African countries had to offer in terms of oil and gas were scattered pockets of natural gas off the coasts of South Africa and Mozambique. The event that changed this perception was the discovery of a potential 500 trillion cubic feet of gas across South Africa and Mozambique, in addition to an estimated eleven billion barrels of oil in Namibia.

Perseus Mining Limited is a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and based in Perth; however despite its Australian accent it is an African specialist, specifically focused on the gold producing countries of West Africa. Over the years it has forged a reputation as one of the world's most successful gold explorers, with a quarter of a century of involvement in Ghana and its neighbours coming into fruition very recently, starting commercial production on 1 January 2012.

Career wise, how do you come to be a part of First Quantum Minerals?

Based in Perth, Western Australia, and listed on the Australian Securities exchange (ASX), Continental Coal is a mining company with an Australian accent – which means it understands coal production and, even more importantly, the market that is blotting up most of the world’s coal and promises to do so for a long time. This is of course Asia, and notably China and India.

I was in 1902 that a mining engineer by the name of Georges Bia first opened up a sales office in Brussels. It is here that the routes of the BIA Group can be traced back to. Today, 113 years later, BIA exists as a leading international company in the field of machine distribution for the civil engineering and construction industries, with its head offices remaining in Belgium.

It was in 1929 that O. T. H. Beier, a young pioneer living in Germany, made a life-changing decision, going against the wishes of his family by leaving his home and travelling to Durban to establish himself as a wool merchant. Little could Beier and his family have realised that with this decision he would be sowing the seeds for what would become a business legacy that continues in 2013.