Africa

The Bank expects that higher commodities, increasing investment and a general pick-up in the world economy should all boost the continent's growth to more than 5 percent. This comes at a time when global GDP is forecast to grow by an average of 2.4 percent this year.

Foreign direct investment is forecast to reach record levels in the coming years, hitting $54 billion a year by 2015, the Bank said.

Distell has signed a binding agreement with Burn Stewart owners CL World Brands Ltd and Angostura Ltd that will see it take over its three distilleries that are responsible for producing the Tobermory and Black Bottle brands, bottling hall in East Kilbride and its blending and warehousing facilities in Airdrie. It also operates a sales and marketing branch in Taiwan and holds a majority stake in a spirits distribution arm in the USA.

“Over all,” explains Mohammed Akoojee, executive responsible for investor relations and corporate strategy, “our performance over the last 12-to-18 months has been good, with the majority of our core business segments showing strong growth. We just released a report that shows that our earnings during the last six months were up 15 percent, even in the face of some challenging market conditions that we were exposed to during that time period.”

It was in 1994 that the Telecommunications Act gave rise to what was at the time dubbed the Communications Authority of Zambia. While it was mandated to regulate and monitor almost every aspect of the country’s telecommunication sector, the Authority was somewhat hampered by the restrictiveness of the Telecommunications Act, which did not give it the power to regulate competition amongst telecoms operators, provide cyber security regulations or even regulate the postal sector.

Located on the southeast coast of Africa, Mozambique is the world’s 35 largest country and has become recognised as a favourite hot spot for countless mining companies, particularly those interested in coal. With coal found in the country having garnered a reputation for its purity, Mozambique has earned the moniker of being the “natatorium of coal mines”. 

Franchising itself in South Africa continues to prove to be very resilient,” states the Chairman of the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA), Derek Smith. “Analysis conducted by Bendita Gordon of Franchise Directors showed that between 2008 and 2010 in the aftermath of the global recession hitting the country showed that, while the rest of the economy lost well over one million jobs, franchising actually created 25,000 new opportunities for people.”

It was in 1993 that, with the passing of the Communications Act, the government of Tanzania began to plot a course to liberalise the communications sector within the country. In the years since competition has gradually increased in the fields of mobile cellular services, radio paging, internet and data communication services, helping to affirm the communications sector as one of pillars of Tanzania’s social and economic development.

Durban based Grafton Everest was formed in 1953 when two South African furniture brands – Grafton Art Furnishers and Everest Upholsterers merged. That means that Grafton Everest is celebrating its diamond jubilee this year, and it is definitely not failing to make the most of its opportunity.

Chief executive officer, Andy van der Velde, discusses how, over the course of two decades, a small, family-run business has been able to transform itself into a leading international logistics provider