May 2019

21May

Beyond mobile payments: Going up the value chain of fintech in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa has become the global leader in mobile money adoption, usage, and innovation. The challenge now is to go beyond the success in payments to meet the unmet demand in the region for other, underdeveloped financial services that can facilitate the digitalization of other segments of the economy. In a new report, my colleagues and I take a closer look at the policy challenges that need to be addressed to go up the value chain of financial technology (fintech)...

May 21, 2019
News, Slider
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10May

Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recommendations for Furthering Research (English Edition)

By por National Research Council, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Population, Panel on Policy Research and Data Needs to Meet the Challenge of Aging in Africa In sub-Saharan Africa, older people make up a relatively small fraction of the total population and are supported primarily by family and other kinship networks. They have traditionally been viewed as repositories of information and wisdom, and are critical pillars of the community but as the HIV/AIDS pandemic...

May 10, 2019
Aging, Books, Labor Market, ,
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April 2019

19Apr

Africa’s Biggest Fund Manager Is Said to Court Banker as CEO

Africa’s largest fund manager is said to be considering financial services executive Kennedy Bungane to head the institution, according to people familiar with the matter. Responsible for most South African government workers’ pension funds, the Public Investment Corp. is being probed over allegations of wrongdoing that are currently a subject of a judicial commission of inquiry and resulted in a host of senior departures, including that of Chief Executive Officer Dan Matjila. The PIC, which manages more than 2 trillion rand...

April 19, 2019
News, Slider
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18Apr

Civil society group urge inclusion of older people in Africa

A stakeholder grouping on ageing in Africa has urged governments to reverse the persistent exclusion of older people in public, social, economic, cultural and political spheres.The Stakeholder Group on Ageing in Africa (SGA) noted that African governments and development partners continue to adopt approaches that perpetuate exclusion of older people in Africa’s development, four years after the adoption of the sustainable development goals and 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development’s Program of Action Beyond 2014. This...

April 18, 2019
News
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September 2018

12Sep

Sukuk – a new avenue for funding African infrastructure

African governments need to embrace private sector infrastructure investment to alleviate the burden on the public purse. Fully convertible exchange rates and allowance for capital to easily move in and out of African countries should be deemed precedent conditions. Sukuk – the Islamic equivalent of bonds – give investors a share of an asset together with the attendant cash flows and risk. It can only be extended to productive activities, trade, and real assets. Globally Sukuk issuance in 2017 increased by 45.3%,...

September 12, 2018
News, Slider,
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April 2017

18Apr

Can Pension Funds Help Solve Africa’s Infrastructure Deficit?

Despite the global focus on growth trends in Africa, one trend has flown mostly below the radar: the increase in the number and size of pension funds. In addition to evidencing increased income security, the continent’s growing number of pension funds could potentially be a new source of funding to address Africa’s infrastructure deficit, estimated by Ernst & Young to be $90 billion annually. African pension funds, which are currently estimated to hold USD 334 billion in assets, are now...

April 18, 2017
News, OP Ed
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11Apr

In Africa, the opportunism of private-equity investors aligns nicely with improving social welfare

Arguably, the turning point in the 2012 US presidential elections between incumbent president Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was the leaking of a recording of the former Utah governor’s infamous “47%” comment. The comment was a reference to a certain segment of US society being freeloaders while everyone else paid their way. It was leapt on by the Obama campaign to build on Romney’s characterization as the evil private-equity man who became a billionaire by stripping businesses of assets and...

April 11, 2017
News
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March 2017

28Mar

Invest Africa’s Pension Funds In Infrastructure, NEPAD Advocates in Nigeria

Mr Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, has tasked African governments to commit to a roadmap that will allow pension funds to invest in infrastructure. A statement in Abuja by the communications section of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) disclosed this on Monday at the venue of the ongoing African Development Week which began on Thursday in Dakar, Senegal. The meeting was organized by ECA and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the statement...

March 28, 2017
News,
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