Africa

The Bujagali Hydropower Project in Uganda will not just provide a reliable source of clean energy for the Uganda grid, but will also spur employment opportunities in the future.

BAT Nigeria continues to work with government to clamp down on illegal trade and benefit local communities. Bassem Bekdache talks to Gay Sutton about spreading the benefits nationwide.

BAT Congo has been operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo for 72 years. Steve Lusinde talks to Gay Sutton about the company’s efforts to tackle sickle cell anaemia, and how the business is being transformed through its people.

Logistics companies have had to rethink their business models over the last few years, as customer trends have moved away from the traditional long haul service to a one-stop solution. Abdool Tayob, chief executive of Bakers Transport, talks to Andrew Pelis about how the changes have benefited this family-run success story.

Angola has officially announced the selection of Statoil as an operator and partner in several offshore pre-salt blocks.

Angola’s national oil company Sonangol organised a restricted public bid round for access to pre-salt acreage in the Kwanza Basin in Angola. Pre-salt blocks are blocks where the main prospective interval was deposited prior to underwater salt accumulation millions of years ago.

Petra Diamonds has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Finsch diamond mine in South Africa from De Beers.

Finsch is one of the world’s major diamond mines and South Africa’s second largest diamond mine by production. Petra said its acquisition marked a continuation of the company’s strategy to build a world-class diamond mining group.

Finsch will become Petra’s second major mine producing over one million carats per annum (mctpa), and will become its eighth producing diamond mine.

Walmart’s expansion into Africa has taken a step forward with the news that shareholders in South African wholesale firm Massmart have voted to accept the retail giant's bid for a 51 percent stake in the company.

The $2.5 billion dollar (€1.87 billion euro) offer was approved by over 97 percent of the South African company's shareholders, Massmart said in a statement.

Algeria’s state-run energy company, Sonatrach, plans to invest around $60 billion in boosting the country’s hydrocarbon production, according to the news agency APS.

The money will be invested over the next five years, APS said, citing the country’s energy minister Youcef Yousfi.

Around 57 per cent of the allocated funding will be spent on exploration and production activities, designed to increase the country's reserves and optimize its exploitation of its hydrocarbon deposits.

As South African business rides out the economic downturn, its consumer industries need to be responsive to customer preferences. Craig Leathwhite, CEO of General Mills South Africa, tells Andrew Pelis about the improvements being made.