Namgola: Development of Southern Angola and Northern Namibia into a Significant Economic Region
A new trade route and ‘Namgola’… I was sitting on the stoep of a home on the outskirts of Windhoek enjoying a few sundowners with a Namibian consulting engineer. Although informal, it was an important meeting. His company had recently completed a feasibility study on a south-north trade corridor that would extend from Walvis Bay, […]
Zimbabwe: The Critical Role of Non-Governmental Organisations in Providing Relief to Much of the Population
Elections have just been held in Zimbabwe with President Mnangagwa announced as head of state for a second term. Whatever the debate surrounding the elections and future prospects for the country, the NGO community operating there will continue to play a vital role in assisting communities and alleviating poverty. An unusual mission… Some years ago, […]
Ghana: Major Expansion of Takoradi Port Awaits Oil and Gas Developments
A flurry of port developments in sub-Saharan Africa Recent decades have seen major new port developments and port expansions in sub-Saharan Africa. Long-standing ports developed during colonial times are in the main, too shallow for today’s large heavy-lift vessels. Most are also heavily congested. There has consequently been a strong drive for the development of […]
Guinea: Home of the Last–Known Biggest and Richest Unrealised Iron Ore Deposit in the World
An exciting invitation for a mission to a country blessed with resource wealth… It was late 2012 when a long-standing client invited me to assist him with a mission to Guinea investigating a proposed major rail line in that West African country. I gladly accepted, because I had never been to Guinea but had learned […]
Mozambique: A New Bridge & A New Road Brings Limited Vitalisation of the Far South
The unlocking of a unique tourism area and a new cross-border trade route… It was 2017 when my colleague, Roelof and I visited Maputaland. This area encompasses the far north of the KwaZulu-Natal coast, spreading all the way up to Katembe town just south of Maputo City in Mozambique. This coastal strip is sandwiched between […]
Morocco: A Significant Investor in Sub-Saharan Africa
My initial experiences of Moroccan activity in sub-Saharan African countries… It was the mid-1980’s, and I had just landed at Malabo Airport in Equatorial Guinea. I was pretty nervous because I had two pockets full of CFA bank notes. My mission was to hand the money to the manager of the farm we were operating […]
Zambia: The Strategically Located But Largely Unexploited Luapula Province
A road connection to the rich Copperbelt… The first time I went to Luapula Province in north-eastern Zambia was in 2014. I had heard that it was the ‘province of the future’, with much economic potential. I duly decided to prepare a visit, and later led a business mission there to investigate possible business opportunities […]
Tanzania’s Natural Gas Resources A Major New Project to Re-ignite Investment
The strategic importance of natural gas… Natural gas is viewed by many analysts as an important ‘transition fuel’ for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions as countries wrestle with diminishing fossil fuel use. However, it is so much ‘cleaner’ than coal and fuel that it could also be considered an energy source for long-term usage. […]
Kenya: The African ICT Hub Aspires to Global Status While Its Dynamic ICT Start-Ups Proliferate
So many ICT projects and initiatives… Here I am sitting at my desk, preparing a blog on Kenya’s remarkable information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. And I’m sitting with a flood of recent developments. The Kenyan mobile network operator is planning a new smartphone factory in the country. The government announces that the national fibre […]
Zimbabwe: Can the Government Succeed in Beneficiating its Vast Lithium Resource?
An important announcement… In December 2022, the Zimbabwean Minister of Mines and Mining Development issued the following government notice: “No lithium-bearing ores, or un-beneficiated lithium whatsoever, shall be exported from Zimbabwe to another country.” The notice went on to state that the ban did not extend to any lithium concentrates which mining houses operating in […]
