Food, climate and a just energy transition: Round-up from the 2022 African Development Bank Annual Meetings
Release Date: 06/09/2022
Carbon markets initiative
The African Business Podcast
In this episode we speak to Dr Sherif Ayoub, Head of the African Carbon Markets Initiative about his work scaling up the market for carbon credits in Africa to create jobs and prosperity. We also hear from project developers KOKO Networks, about how these projects actually take place on the ground in Africa.
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Profile of Elizabeth Maruma Mrema of the TNFD and UNEP
The African Business Podcast
In this episode we speak to Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, about her role at the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures. We discuss how to advocate for capital to support biodiversity protection and climate action.
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Can Charter Cities unlock African Economies?
The African Business Podcast
In this episode we speak to Kurtis Lockhart about chartered cities and whether they can deliver broad based prosperity in Africa and further afield. Credits Host and executive producer: Dr Desné Masie Co-producer: Peter Doerrie Research: Angus Chapman Digital Editor: Charles Dietz Design: Jason Venkatasamy Music: Corporate Uplifting Chill by MusicLFiles: Licence:
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The Journey of a Carbon Credit
The African Business Podcast
In this episode we track the journey of a carbon credit. Taking us from Kenya to Geneva, Washington DC, London and finally, Yorkshire, we unpack what's going on under the hood of the carbon trading industry and explore the implications for Africa.
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Davos Debrief and 2023 Forecast
The African Business Podcast
In this episode we speak to the publisher of African Business magazine, Omar Ben Yedder, who has just come back from Davos 2023 in Klosters, Switzerland. The first in-person gathering in three years, the famous international forum as always, provided invaluable insights and networking opportunities to those who attended. Omar chats to us about his main reflections from WEF including the global macroeconomic forecast, the trade, demographic and industrialisation opportunities for Africa. China meanwhile signalled at the World Economic Forum that it is for business once more...
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Driving growth across African e-commerce
The African Business Podcast
In this episode we speak to Daniel Yu, a 32-year-old Californian entrepreneur now based in Zanzibar. He is the founder and CEO of , a supply chain and distribution company established in 2015 to respond to the challenges faced by small and micro-business across Africa in managing stock levels. Having just raised $125 million in Series B venture capital funding from Tiger and Avenir, Wasoko is now valued at $625 million, and has its sights set on eliminating the inefficiencies plaguing Africa’s enormous, dynamic, so-called ‘informal’ retail economy. A humble innovator, Daniel has...
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How the UK is investing in African development
The African Business Podcast
British International Investments (BII), the UK’s official development finance agency, was the first organisation of its kind when it was founded in 1948. It remains at the forefront of international development finance, particularly for Africa, where it deploys 70% of its $2-$4 billion of new capital every year. CEO is a pioneer of impact investing, coming to BII following stints in investment banking and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and having co-founded Big Society Capital, the world’s first social investment bank. He explains how BII fits into the UK’s foreign policy in...
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General Electric on Africa's energy transition
The African Business Podcast
Since was founded by Thomas Edison almost a century and a half ago, the power business has changed a lot. Vuyelwa Mahanyele, regional sales director for GE’s gas business in Southern and East Africa, has seen this change up close. She tells us how decarbonisation became the overarching theme for both the company and the region, and steps through the financial, technical and policy aspects of making it a reality. Achieving the trilemma of affordable, reliable and sustainable power in Africa remains a serious challenge. Mahanyele suggests that a combination of gas and renewables can do much...
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Pascal Lamy: Africa's position at COP27
The African Business Podcast
Few people understand issues of international trade, development and environment as well as . Following eight years as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal now serves on the board of the ; one of Africa’s most influential civil society organisations. He joins us following the release of the Foundation’s 2022 Governance Forum report, which aims to make Africa’s case in the global climate change debate ahead of COP27 in Egypt in November. Framing it as a race between demography and economy, Pascal wants to see Africa’s development needs prioritised in the global...
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Kenya's crucial election: the podcast
The African Business Podcast
Charlie Mitchell, Kenya correspondent for African Business Magazine, previews the upcoming contest between Raila Odinga and William Ruto, which will be a crucial test for the East African nation On Tuesday August 9 Kenyans will go to the polls for a crucial election to decide the direction of travel of East Africa's economic giant for the next five years. Veteran challenger Raila Odinga - who has received the vital endorsement of incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta - will go up against current deputy-president William Ruto, who is attempting to portray himself as the natural pick of Kenya's...
info_outlineOmar Ben Yedder, Group Publisher and Managing Director at IC Publications, kicks off with his take on the Annual Meetings. He relays the challenges of attracting more development finance to the continent amidst myriad economic and financial pressures, gives us his highlights from the African Banker Awards and reflects on the upbeat, defiant tone of this year’s meetings [2:12-14:48).
Solomon Quaynor, African Development Bank Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, highlights Africa’s huge infrastructure gap, laying out a strategic vision for a series of linked, transcontinental projects to help compress value chains and drive industrialisation. He also speaks about the so-called ‘African risk premium’, claiming that the maturation of the continent’s financial architecture alongside the strong performance of existing investments may mean this premium is finally eroding [14:48-41:02].
Professor Kevin Urama, the Bank’s Chief Economist, rounds out the episode with a wide-ranging overview of economic and environmental developments on the continent. He is frank about the existence of a ‘triangle of disaster’, but is positive that Africa’s financial institutions and mechanisms, as well as its robust productive base, makes it more economically resilient than many suppose. He speaks passionately and urgently about the threat of climate change, and outlines a framework for the decoupling of economic progress from environmental degradation. He concludes with a challenge; for Africa to chart its own economic course [41:03-1:25:04].
Read more:
Dr Hippolyte Fofack on IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
Africa's infrastructure paradox
The African 'perception premium'
The 2022 African Economic Outlook
Our World in Data: Decoupling emissions and economic growth
Credits
Host Angus Chapman
Co-producers: Peter Doerrie, Dr Desné Masie
Digital Editor: Charles Dietz
Design: Jason Venkatasamy
Music: Corporate Uplifting Chill by MusicLFiles
Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/