Movemeback Pulse

Exporting culture and identity

Somali film makes global headlines. Somali film, “The Gravedigger's Wife” by Finish-Somali writer-director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, has won this year’s prize for best film at the Pan-African film festival, in Burkina Faso. Founded in 1969, the festival is the Continent’s biggest film event, and provides a bi-annual opportunity for African creators to showcase their work, and for big international players to scout for new films, talent and ideas. Despite drafting the script 10 years ago, Ahmed struggled to fund his film, being asked to make it in French and Somali, and to cast famous non-Somali actors. Having made the film with a 100% Somali cast and 100% in Somali language, it has become the first film from Somalia to be put forward for the Oscars. It represents both the struggles of creatives to keep their work authentic, and acclamation that can be achieved through such resilience.

Access to financial services and products

Nigeria rolls out digital currency. Nigeria leads the Continent in becoming the first country outside of the Caribbean to launch a digital currency. Previously banned from facilitating crypto transactions, Nigeria’s banks can now use the eNaira to enter the booming industry where the country is second in the world for P2P trading. President Buhari expects the eNaira to boost Nigeria’s GDP by $29bn over a decade, by reducing transaction costs and delays, and bolstering financial inclusion, cross-border trade and remittances. Since its launch, the eNaira platform has received >2.5mn daily visits and integrated 33 banks. However, did Nigeria launch too soon? Creases need to be ironed out, after the eNaira app was removed from Google Play Store after a series of complaints. Mass education will also be required as on the day of launch, Nigeria’s central bank had to warn the public against a Twitter handle suggesting that it is disbursing 50bn eNaira.

Home-grown digital infrastructure & platforms 

Kenya targets rogue online lenders. Kenya has passed an amendment to empower its banking regulator to revoke the licenses of digital lenders that share personal data of loan defaulters with third parties. The amendment offers better protection for Kenyans against lenders who weaponise personal data for humiliating strategies to recover debt - e.g. using mobile numbers to call friends and family of defaulters to shame them into paying. By allowing the central bank to cap interest rates, the amendment also guards borrowers against exploitation. Kenya has ~100 online lending apps that give quick collateral-free loans at annual interest rates as high as 876% vs. ~20% for banks. Whilst digital loans make up <1% of Kenya’s banking sector credit, > 60% of Kenyans prefer them to other credit sources such as banks due to convenience and speed of debt processing. (ReelAnalytics, 2021)

End-to-end value chain capture

Egypt seeks regional pharma dominance. Egypt's recently-launched ‘medicine city', Gypto Pharma, aims to transform the country into a regional hub for pharmaceuticals. Built on 180,000 square meters north of Cairo, Gypto Pharma is one of the largest pharmaceutical clusters in Africa and the Middle East. Concentration of facilities contributes to productivity gains as firms in the cluster share technology, transportation systems, production techniques, labour, utility infrastructure, and raw materials. With the value of Africa’s pharma industry having quintupled between 2007 and 2017, and projected to reach $70bn by 2030 (Goldstein Market Intelligence, 2020), analysts note that the Continent “is the only market where genuinely high growth is still achievable” – providing a ready market for Egypt’s output.

Intra-continental connectivity, collaboration & trade

Africa’s $400bn airline opportunity. Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, forecasts that Africa’s commercial airlines industry will grow by ~1,030 planes (worth $160bn) and $235bn in the value of aftersales services by 2040. Boeing’s positive outlook could help tap financing for addressing the challenges of limited and dated fleet, costly intra-Continental flights, and inadequate routes that besets Africa’s travel industry. The aircraft maker also expects African airlines to seek additional 19,000 pilots, 20,000 technicians, and 24,000 cabin crew in that period - signifying employment opportunities in aviation. But as the projections are based on a 3% GDP growth forecast, implementation of the AU’s continental free-trade area and the single market for air transport, pandemic recovery as well as a doubling of the middle-class, the future of the Continent’s airlines market depends on performance across these indicators.

Essential infrastructure, personal living-space & utilities

Ghana challenges East Africa’s petroleum upstream dominance. East Africa has dominated upstream activity for oil and gas in recent decades, but Ghana has emerged as formidable competition. As upstream activity has nearly ground to a halt in East Africa, Ghana has discovered >1.5bn barrels in additional oil in offshore fields in the last two years. In 2017, the UK-based Natural Resource Institute named Ghana as best-governed oil and gas sector in SSA - having excelled across all components of resource governance (value realisation, revenue management and enabling environment). Against the backdrop of good governance, Ghana now presents a strong alternative destination for oil majors - e.g. Tullow Oil announced a >$4bn investment over the next decade to construct >50 wells in Ghana vs. selling off its entire stake in Uganda.

Effective internal and regional security, and foreign policy

Backlash against Sudan coup. In Sudan, street protests continue, the AU has suspended the country, the US has frozen $700mn in aid, the World Bank has suspended $2bn in funding, and pilots, bank and workers, and doctors have gone on strike, following the military coup on 25th October. The coup has halted Sudan’s transition to democracy after the 2019 overthrow of dictator Omar al-Bashir, and billions of dollars in aid and debt relief. The 2019 power-sharing agreement between the military and the civilian government has been laying the ground for elections and full civilian rule in 2023. With recent news suggesting that pro-coup forces have opened fire on peaceful protestors, calls for the African Union and the international community to actively defend democracy in Sudan are rising.