The stadium has a 320metre long metal arch structure, the largest in Africa, built to represent the friendship that has been established between Gabon and China, whilst also representing the partnership that has been present between the two countries, since their diplomatic relations began in 1974.

With more than 600 Chinese workers to build this 40,000 seat stadium, it took 22 months to complete, and includes everything necessary to make it a place where young Gabonese people will be able to develop their sporting skills, including facilities for track events, long jump, triple jump, basketball, volleyball, handball and tennis.

In order for the stadium to host the final of African Cup of Nations in January 2012, two competition stadiums, six training stadiums, a sports complex, six residential complexes, two hotels for the press and three hotels for guests have been built or renovated in Libreville and the second Gabonese city, Franceville, with a total of 6,500 rooms and 2,400 rooms in private houses being built.

The African cup of Nations Organising Committee is finalising workflow plans, whilst construction work is ending. New turf is to be laid in the stadium to ensure it will be ready for the start of the competition, whilst interchanges for traffic flow improvements in Libreville are due to finish in December.

The organisation, Made In Africa Foundation, is dedicated to bringing innovative ideas and capital to Africa, whilst also focusing on the first stage of funding for infrastructure.

With little capital available in the past, the International Finance Corporation estimates that Africa’s infrastructural deficit amounts to US$93 billion annually right through 2020. The fact that a large amount of this money was available was irrelevant, as it could not be applied until business plans and feasibility studies were sufficiently developed; a void the Made In Africa Foundation will try to fill.

Atlantic Energy has committed to underwrite US$7 million for an independent power project feasibility studies across Africa, as well as the Ugandan urban renewal master plan for Kampala’s Naguru Nakawa redevelopment, and the Foundation’s running costs for the first three years.

Founder, Ozwald Boateng said, ‘It is a well known statistic that US$400 million of funding for feasibility studies and master plans across Sub-Saharan Africa would develop over US$100 billion of infrastructure projects, which in turn would create a value of a trillion dollars across Africa.’

With this in mind, the organisation believe infrastructure is the key to transforming the economy from a developing to emerging market status and propose to provide ‘first mile’ finance to people and businesses that are involved in contributing to the development of major infrastructural projects in the region.

Dayo Okusami, General Counsel and Executive Director of Atlantic Energy, a private upstream oil and gas group that operates in Nigeria, said, ‘Atlantic Energy is pleased to be a founding donor and supporter of this exceptional charity and we look forward to fostering a continent wide push for sustainable infrastructure development.’

With the first step of infrastructural projects often being the hardest, the foundation hopes that its work will now make that step easier for Africans.

The Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) is comprised of six countries located in Central Africa; Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo. These countries offer investment opportunities in strategic sectors of their economies, ranging from telecommunications to urban planning and construction.

The conference focused on presenting the positive potentials these countries offer, whilst also discussing the progress and advancements individuals governments have been able to achieve. These include promoting both economic and political development in line with the specific needs of their communities, as well as looking to bridge the current gap that exists with countries in the northern hemisphere.

Many European investors have recently turned to Africa, mainly Central Africa, to explore the possibility of investment. They have looked to support local economies whilst also benefiting from various petroleum operations. At present, Cameroon offers significant agricultural potential whilst countries such as Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Congo offer the possibility of natural gas explorations.

With the CEMAC region currently in the process of a political and economic renewal, better governance is being implemented, and the introduction of social developments are being explored, enabling continual progress and moving away from political instability and corruption.

With more countries across the African region becoming open to the prospect of tourism (CAN 2012), guest speaker Robert Tashima of the Oxford Business Group said, ‘the potential to stimulate revenue growth is enormous, particularly in light of the rich biodiversity of the region.’

However, the conference highlighted CMO London’s belief that the most important change is the need to listen to Africa’s diverse population and for Africans themselves to be proud of their ethnic background to enable continual growth within the region.

The strides currently undertaken by governments in the region, supported and publicised by CMO London, are bound to make business opportunities a reality and enable the CEMAC area to break free and become a destination for serious investors around the globe.

CMO London annual conference 2011 has been a success for the organisers and the special guests and in particular to the CEMAC region.

‘We are delighted to be introducing BlackBerry App World to customers in an additional nine African markets,’ says Waldi Wepener, Regional Director for East, West and Central Africa, for BlackBerry manufacturers Research In Motion. ‘A rich catalog of BlackBerry apps is waiting to help customers personalize their smartphone, while also making personal time more fun and work time more productive .’

It follows a growing consensus that Africa is the market most primed for mobile market growth. Alan Knott-Craig, CEO of South African instant messaging application MXit told Memeburn.com that “Everyday a thousand guys sign up in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, so we are doing quite well in Africa and we need to grow that.

‘Africa has the chance to leapfrog the rest of the world… the problem is that although Africa has more mobile innovators than America, we just don’t have the same media coverage. Africa gets drowned out by Americans punting tech developments that have been in Africa for years’ he continued.

By expanding their reach to more African states, BlackBerry, who are the Smartphone front runners on the continent, will hopefully pave the way for future mobile innovation.

Whilst this is expected to profoundly affect technology use worldwide, Ericsson believe it has particular implications in Africa where the telecommunications industry is widely viewed as the biggest growth market. Many, mainly rural, areas on the continent still have little to no network coverage and mobile use is low or non-existent Opportunities for growth in the region are very much for the taking, and likely to exert a significant impact on those who benefit from this development.

In its new Traffic and Market Data report, which provides insights into current trends, Ericsson forecasts a 10-fold increase in mobile data traffic by 2016. The report is based on measurements the company recorded over several years in live networks covering all regions of the world. Ericsson says that mobile broadband subscriptions grew by 60 percent in a single year and are expected to grow from 900 million in 2011 to almost 5 billion in 2016.

Johan Wibergh, Head of Ericsson Business Unit Networks, says: “Ericsson performs a broad range of measurements in order to monitor the pulse of the Networked Society – measurements that we use to efficiently design our products and plan networks. This report offers snapshots that, together, show how a growing number of people and businesses benefit from mobility, broadband and the cloud.”

And it seems the company have grand plans to be the driving force behind this technological development, with the announcement they are to offer new opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa; having launched a new competition in partnership with Sony Ericsson for app developers on the Android platform.

The competition titled ‘Apps for Africa’ is to run under the aegis of the 2012 Ericsson Application Awards (EAA 2012) – an ongoing annual competition for application developers worldwide organized by Ericsson Research. The competition will invite local developers to submit innovative ideas and mobile applications, which will be automatically registered for the global competition with a chance to win a €15,000 cash prize.

Lars Linden, Head of Ericsson, Region sub-Saharan Africa told StarAfrica.com, ‘We are delighted to be leading this initiative and feel it is an ideal way to showcase local African talent from across the continent. As the usage of mobile phones has a direct impact on the way of life in Africa this is a prime example of how technology and innovation are elevating us to new levels of sophistication. We are anxious to see all of the creative submissions and would like to wish everyone good luck as they take on this challenge’.

Members of the winning teams in each region will each receive a Sony Ericsson Xperia phone, while teams in second place will receive Business Experience Packs (incl. Sony Ericsson MW600, office pro, McAfee, and a micro USB cable).

For more information please visit: http://www.ericssonapplicationawards.com/overview

The 2011 ITU Summit, held in Geneva, from the 24 to 27 October 2011, brought together notable industry leaders and representatives from both public and private sectors at its annual meeting, and opened with an address by Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

In his speech the President invited investors specialising in the field of Information Technology and Communication to consider the numerous opportunities available  in the country through projects like ‘Digital Gabon’.

‘Digital Gabon’ is a special three year plan falling under the broader Emerging Gabon development strategy. Significant investment is planned for the development of a digital economy in Gabon, and in particular broadband infrastructure, including the development of high-speed services such as e-learning, distance medical services, video-conferencing and e-Government services.

Currently connected to the SAT3 submarine fiber optic cable connecting Africa to Europe, Gabon is looking to increase the availability of bandwidth availability and make broadband increasingly accessible. To this end, a second international landing point will be operational from 2012 in Libreville on the new high-speed ACE submarine cable.

To support the development of the digital economy, the President emphasised that Gabon is currently training and recruiting computer and telecom engineers and that the state is working to strengthen the legal, institutional and regulatory framework in order to be increasingly competitive at an international level.

‘The Digital Economy and ICT have become powerful vehicles for growth, improvement of lives of decentralized states’ said President Ali Bongo.

Since taking office in October 2009, Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba has begun implementing a range of political and economic reforms to improve the business climate and attract the level of investment that will turn Gabon into a newly developed country by 2025, strengthening and diversifying the economy through industrial development, expansion of the services sector and so called ‘green growth’.

This new quarterly economic forecast is well placed to offer insight on macroeconomic trends across 25 RGMs which have been selected based on the size of the economy and population, strategic importance for business and proven strong growth and future potential. Included among the 25 RGMs are four African economies, namely South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt.

Michael Lalor, Leader of the Africa Business Center at Ernst & Young comments, ‘We are particularly delighted that African economies are being included on an equal footing with other RGMs. This reflects Africa’s sustainable growth story and the increasing attractiveness of the continent for foreign investors.’

Longer term projections also reveal that RGM nations have grown on average by 5.8% per year over the last decade, more than three times as fast as the advanced economies combined. This fast pace of expansion is set to continue with growth in RGMs outpacing the advanced economies by more than 3.5% per annum over the next decade.

However, this future growth is all on condition that nations are able to deal with inflationary pressures and have adequate infrastructure in place to secure long term growth.

But with Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda recently raising interest rates in order to curb inflation, it seems, where possible, African governments are taking steps in order to continue this upward trend.

The inclusion of South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt in the RGMs reflects the measures many African countries have taken to open up their economies and improve trade. As we reported last week, a new joint report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank (Doing Business in a More Transparent World 2012), recorded a significant improvement to the ‘ease of doing business’ on the continent, with many countries implementing – and, crucially, adhering to – policy and regulatory processes.

An additional factor which may support continuing growth is that the RGMs bounced back from the global recession, with their GDP rising on average by 7.3% in 2010 – back to the buoyant rates that preceded the financial crisis. Although the forecast predicts a future marginal decline, this is more likely to affect South Africa and Egypt as, according to Lalor, they are most closely integrated into the global economy so are most directly impacted by the slowdown in mature market. With average GDP growth just under 6% in 2012, both Ghana and Nigeria together with a number of other economies in sub-Saharan Africa continue to grow at rates in excess of 7%. With exports accounting for around 50% of GDP in the RGMs as a whole, compared with 13% in the US or 41% in the Eurozone, it seems African markets are positioned to be virtually indispensible to the global economy.

Rain Newton-Smith, Senior Economic Adviser to Ernst & Young’s Rapid Growth Markets Forecast comments, ‘The RGMs are becoming increasingly more important in terms of both their overall weight in the world economy and their global influence. While the advanced economies struggle with weak growth the RGMs are well-placed to weather the economic storm.’

While the chaotic Eurozone crisis will inevitably continue to weigh on growth in the RGMs in 2012, the report indicates western companies are pursuing growth in the RGMs as a result of weak home markets. Ernst & Young’s Africa Attractiveness Survey, also illustrated the increasingly important role that investors from BRIC markets like China, India and also South Africa are playing on the continent. RGMF expects countries such as China and India to be more modestly affected, partly reflecting the large size of their domestic markets and the beneficial effects of lower oil and commodity prices, meaning that their investment is likely to continue – a good sign as foreign direct investment inflows to all RGMs have risen from US$205b in 2000 to US$444b in 2010, and they now receive around 50% of global foreign direct investment inflows.

Lalor says that in the African context, particular attention will need to continue to be given to ongoing institutional and regulatory reform, economic diversification, and the development of financial markets, all of which would help sustain and accelerate growth and development.

www.ey.com/rapidgrowth

Concern is primarily derived from the fact that DRC’s National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) has not yet publicised information that will be central to delivering a credible election. International development charity Christian Aid report that so far, 62,000 polling boxes have not yet arrived in the country from China, meaning locations too have not been revealed; and the electoral lists, comprising a staggering 19,000 candidates for just 500 political posts, have not yet been published in full either. This dragging of feet is doing nothing to quell rising suspicions of election fraud, and leaders of the opposition are indignant that polls might go ahead despite such poor democratic preparation.

Incumbent President Joseph Kabila told Voice of America; ‘If the electoral commission tell us they are ready, then we also have to be ready. I am sure that up to now they are ready and we will go for elections.’

Jonas Tshiombela Kabiena, founder of a national network of 200 associations called “The New Civil Society on the Congo” told Inter Press Service there are fears that if the elections go ahead with current inadequate measures in place, the nation could be plunged back into civil war.

“We are very, very afraid to go back to a cycle of violence; if the election goes ahead there will be cries of illegitimacy and we don’t want to go back to that kind of thing,” he said.

DRC’s devastating five year civil conflict ended formally in 2003, but fighting still persists to the east of the country. It is therefore crucial that election issues do not reignite civil hostilities. Congolese journalist and communications manager at Christian Aid (Kinshasa) Alain Djate, confirmed that ‘tension has gone up a few notches already because of the elections’.

Another factor likely to compound tensions is that, unlike in previous elections, DRC’s constitution was amended in January and no longer demands a candidate secure more than 50 percent of the votes. With no chance of going to second round, as recently occurred in Liberia, the outcome will be determined solely by the initial number of votes cast.

Kabila’s biggest contender in the run-off will be enduring opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.  Tshisekedi told Belgian paper Le Soir that he had met in The Hague with Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), and Thomas Lubanga, the leader of the Union of Congolese People (UPC), suggesting that an alliance between opposition parties could be tabled to unseat Kabila.

It is true to say a number of recent African elections have been marked by some level of hostility, and with no one monitoring the electoral commission it seems delivering a democratic vote could be a challenge. However recent successes such as President Rupiah Banda’s smooth surrender of rule to opposition leader Michael Sata in Zambia shows that despite a heated run-up power transfers and elections are not as doomed as some might have us believe. If needs be organisations and external agencies must interject to monitor the situation in order to allow the country to progress with elections in an open, transparent way.

It is a problem which encompasses a number of financial arenas, including the acceptance of bribes, exploitation of tax payer’s funds, tax leakage, inflation of the value of public contracts, and faket transactions.

A 2004 report by the African Union, a coalition of 54 African states, estimated that the country loses $148billion each year to corruption. This figure accounts for roughly a quarter of the entire continent’s GDP, but the ‘collateral damage’ in terms of hindered growth and poverty alleviation is likely to be equally momentous- and proportional to the duration of the tenure of corrupt officials. However the example of General Sani Abacha, who ruled Nigeria for five years from 1993 to 1998, illustrates that even with a short period in power despots can unlawfully siphon large funds. Anti-corruption body Transparency International estimate he looted from $3 billion to $5 billion of state funds during his time in power, through a complex web of banks and front companies in countries including the UK, Switzerland, Jersey, and the Bahamas.

The Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative, launched jointly by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank, was established exactly to counter this crisis, which they describe as warranting ‘urgent’ attention.

According to the initiative’s new study, released October 24, most large-scale corruption cases involve using legal entities to conceal ownership and control of corrupt proceeds. The Puppet Masters: How the Corrupt Use Legal Structures to Hide Stolen Assets and What to Do About It, observes how bribes, embezzled state assets and other criminal proceeds are being hidden via legal structures shell companies, foundations, trusts and others.

The study advises policymakers on how to intensify ongoing international efforts to uncover flows of criminal funds, and prevents criminals from misusing shell companies and other legal entities; essentially steps to improve transparency so as to reduce the very opportunities for wrongdoing.

‘We need to put corporate transparency back on the national and international agenda,’ said Emile van der Does de Willebois, World Bank Senior Financial Sector Specialist who led the StAR research team. ‘It is important for governments to increase the transparency of their legal entities and arrangements and at the same time improve the capacity of law enforcement.’

The loss of such vast funds has drastic implications on countries that could hugely benefit from additional resources. The true cost of corruption far exceeds the value of assets stolen by the leaders of countries. According StAR, the knock on effects include undermined trust and confidence in government officials and agencies, companies, and banks; the degradation of public institutions, especially those involved in public financial management and financial sector governance; the weakening if not destruction of the private investment climate, and the corruption of social service delivery mechanisms for basic health and education programs, with a particularly adverse impact on the poor.

The outlook is not entirely bleak, however. Returning to the case of General Sani Abacha, following his death much was done to restore the assets stolen by him and his associates concealed both within and (principally) outside the country. A total of $505.5 million was restored to Nigeria, and the World Bank review found that these funds had generally been used to increase budget spending in support of the Millennium Development Goal areas, as pledged.

Even if stolen assets can be sited and repatriated, the problem will be in maintaining an inward flow.

Differences in legal systems across regions where theft occurs and money is laundered and stored present a challenging impediment to asset recovery. Thus far, countries have largely pursued their cases on a bilateral basis  with enormous difficulty so regulatory and monitoring bodies are fundamental in ensuring transparency and accountability takes place; but  they themselves can exert strain on already stretched resources, such as law courts. Therefore the StAR initiative’s emphasis on corporate transparency is important in buoying government efforts in asset recovery.

Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative

In the global rankings Morocco triumphed for most improved economy. According to Nadine Ghannam of the IFC, Morocco achieved top ranking by ‘simplifying the construction permitting process, easing the administrative burden of tax compliance, and providing greater protections to minority shareholders.’ She also confirmed that since 2005, Morocco had implemented 15 business regulatory reforms, suggesting that the policy changes and business regulation in the country are being well adhered to.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a record 36 out of 46 economies improved business regulations this year. Despite not recording particularly high rankings, Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Príncipe emerged as much improved regions, an indication that many African regions are consolidating efforts towards improving their global business standing.

Mauritius is the top nation in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of ‘ease of doing business’, scoring an overall worldwide ranking of 23. South Africa, given the global commodities boom, was an unsurprising second place. Rwanda scooped (perhaps unexpectedly) the third spot; it is a solid indication that the country’s domestic tourist industry is thriving, a particularly impressive feat when considered alongside a mediocre regional score of 31 for ‘trading across borders’. This is a particularly significant coup given the negative economic impact the 1994 genocide had on the country; and confirms that economic progress is not only a possibility in Africa, but is happening.