Connect with us

Business

Africa Investment Forum welcomes Rugby Africa President to discuss the business of sport

Published

1 year ago

on

Mensah

Championed by the African Development Bank and seven other founding partners, the Africa Investment Forum is Africa’s investment marketplace to accelerate transactions to close Africa’s investment gaps

MARRAKECH, Morocco, November 6, 2023/APO Group/ — 

The newly elected President of Rugby Africa (RugbyAfrique.com), the continental governing body for rugby in Africa, Mr Herbert Mensah, will discuss the business of sport in a one-to-one fireside chat at the 2023 Africa Investment Forum (AIF) (AfricaInvestmentForum.com) on Thursday, November 9 in Marrakech, Morocco.  

Championed by the African Development Bank and seven other founding partners (Africa50, Africa Finance Corporation, Afreximbank, Development Bank of Southern Africa, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Trade and Development Bank), the Africa Investment Forum is Africa’s investment marketplace to accelerate transactions to close Africa’s investment gaps.

Founded in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum has mobilized nearly $143 billion in investment interest. The event brings together heads of state, business leaders, decision makers and investors to advance critical investment transactions to closure. Previous attendees include H.E Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, and H.E Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana. 

President Mensah has called for a change of mindset from African governments and international organizations to increase investment in rugby across Africa

The sports industry in Africa is experiencing rapid growth, with the potential to generate jobs, improve public health, foster social inclusion and drive economic growth. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the industry was valued at $7 billion in 2018 with an expected growth of $12 billion in 2027. Despite the potential, investment across Africa remains limited, with only 1% of startup financing directed towards the sport sector. 

Rugby Africa President, Herbert Mensah, continues to emphasize the business potential of rugby across Africa. Since his election, President Mensah has called for a change of mindset from African governments and international organizations to increase investment in rugby across Africa. In June, President Mensah delivered a keynote speech on treating rugby as a lucrative business venture at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa 2023 event in Marrakech, Morocco.

Watch the video on the Bloomberg Website: apo-opa.info/466rOcr  

The annual three-day Africa Investment Forum Market Days event will commence on Wednesday November 8 to Friday November 10 under the theme “Unlocking Africa’s Value Chain” in Marrakech, Morocco.

Read more information about the Africa Investment Forum: AfricaInvestmentForum.com/en

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Rugby Africa.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Business

Global advertising spend to surpass $1trn for first time this year

Published

7 hours ago

on

November 27, 2024

By

Projected 10.7% rise in global spend this year equivalent to an additional $104bn in advertiser investment, the second-highest absolute rise on record

One in five dollars (22.1%) spent on ads outside of China is paid to Google; DOJ ruling now threatens $32.9bn of potential growth over the next two years

Advertisers are due to spend $299bn this holiday season, with online platforms such as Amazon ($16.9bn in holiday-season ad revenue) set to be the biggest beneficiaries

WARC Global Ad Spend Outlook 2024/25 – November 2024 update
27 November 2024 – A new study from WARC, the experts in marketing effectiveness, has found that global advertising spend is on course to grow 10.7% this year to a total of $1.08trn – the strongest growth rate in six years and the largest absolute rise on record if the post-Covid recovery of 2021 (+27.9% year-on-year) is disregarded. The new forecast, published today, represents a 0.2 percentage point (pp) upgrade on WARC’s last global forecast in August.  
 Ad spend growth is also anticipated next year (+7.6%) and in 2026 (+7.0%), culminating in a global advertising market worth $1.24trn. Global ad investment has more than doubled over the last decade and has grown 2.8x faster than global economic output since 2014.WARC’s latest global projections are based on data aggregated from 100 markets worldwide. New for this edition, WARC is leveraging a proprietary neural network which projects advertising investment patterns based on over two million data points, spanning macroeconomic data, media owner revenue, marketing expenses from the world’s largest advertisers, media consumption trends and media cost inflation. It is believed to be one of the most comprehensive advertising market models available to the industry today.While the headline growth rate is mostly being driven by online media, a good year for TV has also made a notable contribution. Linear TV spend is expected to end the year 1.9% higher, at $153.6bn, following two years of decline. TV has been boosted by political advertising – particularly in the US – during the fourth quarter and both the Paris Olympics and the Euro 2024 football tournament in the third. Linear TV now accounts for just 14.3% of global advertising spend, however, down from a peak of 41.3% in 2013.Building upon a solid performance for legacy media, pure play internet, which encompasses advertising revenue among online-only businesses such as Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, is poised to grow by 14.1% to a total of $741.4bn – over two thirds (68.8%) of all ad spend.Social media is the largest individual sector within pure play internet – and the largest advertising medium of all by extension – with a total of $252.7bn this year equivalent to 23.5% of the global ad market. Prospects for the social market have been revised upwards this year to +19.3%, owing mostly to stronger-than expected results for Facebook, Instagram and TikTok over the first nine months of the year.James McDonald, Director of Data, Intelligence and Forecasting, WARC, and author of the research says: “Our latest forecast anticipates $104bn in incremental advertising spend worldwide this year, the largest rise in history if the post-pandemic recovery year of 2021 were discounted.“Whether this boom will sustain remains unclear, however, as 2025 presents a sliding doors moment due to heightened regulatory pressures on Google and TikTok – together a quarter of the ad market outside of China. This, alongside an increasingly challenging geopolitical climate, may spell uncertain times ahead for the businesses that rely on advertising trade.“By leveraging WARC’s proprietary neural network, which delivers timely and precise insights based on over two million datapoints, practitioners can navigate these dynamic conditions and plan ahead for a rapidly evolving advertising landscape.”Key themes outlined in WARC’s Global Ad Spend Outlook 2024/25 Q4 update are:GOOGLE’S 90% SHARE OF SEARCH MARKET IS A MONOPOLY, DOJ RULESOne in five dollars (22.1%) spent on advertising outside of China is paid to Google for its search services. Further, at an expected $197.7bn in 2024 (+13.0% year-on-year), Google alone accounts for 90.1% of all search advertising (excluding China). These commanding shares are similar in the US, leading the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rule last week that Google has an effective monopoly on the search market.The court believes that Google also uses its search dominance to inflate the cost per click (up by approximately 7.5% this year) and maintain superior targeting, effectively blocking competitors from offering viable alternatives.Outcomes from the ruling range from Google ceasing payments to handset manufactures and others for default preference – at a cost of approximately $30bn per annum – to the selling off of its Chrome business to a third party.One potential suitor – Bing – still struggles with adoption and advertiser investment despite Microsoft’s $100bn investment, accounting for just 5.9% of search spend outside of China. Bing’s ad revenues are expected to be up just 5.1% this year – compared to a rise of 11.9% for total search and 13.0% for Google – to a total of $12.9bn.Apple already makes $5.1bn from search ads, mostly via its app store, per Omdia Advertising Intelligence estimates, and could create its own search engine given its financial and distribution resources. The device manufacturer may hesitate to proceed, however, due to the high costs associated with maintaining a search business aside a general strategic misalignment. A leftfield entrant – perhaps Elon Musk’s X on the lookout for new revenue streams after losing $5.9bn in ad revenue since its 2022 takeover – may materialise, but on the whole natural successors to Google remain unclear.With the ongoing uncertainty around the practicalities of the DOJ ruling, and the probability that Google will appeal it vigorously in the coming months, WARC is maintaining its growth forecast of +9.0% next year and +7.0% in 2026 for the company while the situation develops, leaving a potential $231bn ad business and $32.9bn of growth in the balance over the next two years.HOLIDAYS ARE COMINGAdvertisers the world over are expected to spend $299.2bn during the final quarter of the year, well over half of which will be spent during the holiday season. This represents a 10.2% rise from the previous year, up marginally (+0.2pp) from our August forecast.The fourth quarter is crucial for retailers, typically accounting for over 30% of annual ad spend within the sector which represents the intense battle for consumer salience and share of wallet each year. Retailers will spend $45.6bn on advertising during Q4 2024, up 5.0% compared to last year. TV is set to attract 15.9% of this spend, at $6.8bn, with nearing a quarter (23.3%) of this – $1.6bn – spent on ads delivered via connected TVs (CTV) so as to leverage the additional targeting capabilities these devices can afford advertisers.Advertising on retail media platforms is also set to peak during the fourth quarter as brands vie to reach consumers close to the point of purchase. Globally, retail media spend is forecast to rise 16.4% in Q4 2024 to a total of $46.2bn – a new high. Amazon alone is expected to net $16.9bn from advertisers at this time, up 18.0% from the previous year.The technology and electronics sector is expected to spend most in online retail media environments during the fourth quarter, with an anticipated total of $7.2bn up 18.7% from last year. For context, this is over three times more than the sector spends on TV.It’s also a big time of year for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, with the alcoholic drinks (+13.5% to $3.9bn), cosmetics (+13.8% to $5.2bn), food (+19.4% to $5.4bn) and soft drinks (+22.0% to $4.5bn) sectors all increasing retail media spend and allocating an increasing share of their ad budgets to online retail platforms this year.Overall, retail media ad spend is forecast to reach $154.8bn this year, with a further rise of 14.8% expected next year and 13.5% in 2026, by when the market would be worth $201.6bn.CANADA CALLS TIME ON TIKTOKThis month, the Canadian government ordered TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. to wind up its Canadian operations under the Investment Canada Act, citing national security concerns. This move forces TikTok to halt sales operations in Canada but does not block Canadians’ access to the app or its content creation capabilities. TikTok has vowed to challenge the order in court.There are few signs that advertisers are reining in their TikTok budgets; WARC believes TikTok’s ad billings grew by 27.1% to $17.8bn over the first nine months of 2024, even as the prospect of tighter regulation comes into sharper focus.Globally, TikTok’s audience is now almost at parity with Instagram, but users spend twice as long with TikTok. A ban is most likely to be to the benefit of Instagram, Snap and, to a lesser extent, YouTube thanks to its analogous Shorts format, mostly due to the migration of content creators.Brian Wieser of Madison & Wall estimates that some C$500m annually will be up for grabs if TikTok were to exit Canada. This scenario has not yet been factored into WARC’s forecasts pending the appeal process; indeed, WARC now expects TikTok to generate $24.6bn in advertising revenue (excl. China) this year, a rise of 25.9% from 2023 but equivalent to just 9.1% of all social advertising spend.A complimentary executive summary by WARC’s James McDonald, author of the report, is available to read here. WARC subscribers can read the article and access additional data here.

Continue Reading

Business

African Sub-Sovereign government leaders and businesses meet in Kisumu City, Kenya to discuss inclusive growth, trade decentralization and investment opportunities

Published

15 hours ago

on

November 27, 2024

By

Africa’s Sub-Sovereign governments, comprising states, counties, provinces, municipalities and regional authorities, play a critical role in economic development of African countries

KISUMU, Kenya, November 26, 2024/APO Group/ — 

Over 250 Sub-Sovereign government leaders from across Africa are today meeting in Kisumu, Kenya, for the the fourth edition of the African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET) Conference. Taking place between the 25th and 27th of November, the event provides a platform for Sub-Sovereign leaders and businesses to discuss how their local governments can attract investments in the region in order foster and accelerate inclusive growth and development.

Organised by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the County Government of Kisumu and the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), the conference’s overarching theme is ‘Leveraging the AfCFTA for Sustainable Trade and Investment: A Development Pathway for African Sub-Sovereigns’. The event’s main objectives include strengthening the role of Africa’s Sub-Sovereign governments in driving intra-African trade and investment, and the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Africa’s Sub-Sovereign governments, comprising states, counties, provinces, municipalities and regional authorities, play a critical role in economic development of African countries. According to the African Union, Africa’s economic outlook is projected at 3.7% GDP growth in 2024, slightly higher than the global average of 3.2%. This growth elevates the integral role of Sub Sovereign governments for African economies and its people.

Understanding this, Afreximbank has committed USD $2 billion for these critical actors, to support these governments and businesses in African countries.

In alignment with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), we are passionately implementing the AfSNET initiative to promote intra-regional trade and investment

While delivering his keynote address at the AfSNET conference in Kisumu, Kenya, H. E. Dr. William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya acknowledged the Bank’s support for African governments including Kenya:

“I want to thank Professor Benedict Oramah for making time to join us for this conference. Your presence here is yet another example of the unique approaches that the Bank, under your leadership, employs in order to deepen its footprint by engaging with shareholders throughout the continent, including sub-national entities like Africities, and devolved governments like Kisumu. Afreximbank has consistently demonstrated innovative approaches in advancing credit to African governments and the public sector while facilitating deeper collaboration among sub-Saharan nations and Kenya is an example. This spirit of innovation aligns seamlessly with the aspirations of the African Continental Free Trade Area, creating a dynamic network of ambitious, future ready institutions and governments. Such collaborations will drive transformative engagements at the grassroots level, enabling Africa to achieve an unparalleled position in the global value chains and make substantial contributions to their bottom-up transformation.”

Speaking on the importance of the conference, President Ruto noted: “By promoting peer to peer learning, this forum strengthens cooperation among Sub-Sovereign governments. And devolution, a tremendous innovation established under Kenya’s 2010 constitution, has evolved into an exemplary success story that Kenyans are very proud of, as it has brought services closer to the people, empowered grassroot participation in government, safeguarded minority rights and enhanced equity in resource mobilization and allocation.”

Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, commented:

“The African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET) initiative thrives due to the concerted efforts and unwavering commitment of partners who recognise the tremendous potential of sub-sovereign governments as the engines for broad-based economic development that extends to the grassroots of our societies. At Afreximbank, we strongly believe that for developmental initiatives to succeed in our economies, they must, of necessity, be decentralized; development needs must originate and flow from the periphery towards the centre. In alignment with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), we are passionately implementing the AfSNET initiative to promote intra-regional trade and investment. We collectively recognize that cities, states, and provinces within a nation exhibit remarkable diversity—differing in population sizes, resource endowments, skill sets, and sectoral specializations.”

Professor Oramah continued that this conference is a key prelude to the upcoming Intra Africa Trade Fair (IATF2025) scheduled to take place from 4 to 10 September 2025 in Algiers, Algeria, and delegates are welcomed to contribute to the discourse that can be elevated at the IATF2025.

AfSNET was established by Afreximbank as a platform for promoting intra-African trade and investment, educational and cultural exchanges and the fostering of effective engagement among sub-sovereigns in Africa’s development and prosperity in the context of the AfCFTA.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

Continue Reading

Business

Rwanda welcomes the visionaries shaping global healthcare to the inaugural International Health Ministerial Summit

Published

1 day ago

on

November 26, 2024

By

The Summit will bring together global leaders in healthcare to address critical health issues and advance medical systems

KIGALI, Rwanda, November 26, 2024/APO Group/ — 

Informa Markets (www.InformaMarkets.com), organisers of the inaugural edition of the International Health Ministerial Summit, are pleased to announce that the landmark event will take place in Kigali from 4 to 5 December 2024. The Summit will bring together global leaders in healthcare to address critical health issues and advance medical systems.

Themed ‘Strengthening Health Systems for a Better Tomorrow’, the two-day event will see delegates engage with VIPs, government officials, and industry influencers as they delve into the challenges facing the global healthcare system. Aligning closely to key global focus areas, agenda topics range from pharma and manufacturing to access to medicines, R&D, diagnostics, HIV/AIDS, health equity, and women’s health. Africa-specific initiatives enhancing healthcare delivery, digital health and innovation, and financing and investment opportunities will also take centre stage.

Engaging, interactive sessions

The Summit includes keynote sessions by expert speakers addressing healthcare challenges and opportunities, and panel discussions offering insightful and interactive platforms for debate and actionable solutions. A networking event will enable delegates to gain further insights from speakers and fellow attendees.  

The International Ministerial Summit represents a milestone achievement for the African continent, uniting global healthcare leaders to discuss and debate issues

Rwanda’s focus on community-based universal healthcare, its established immunisation and prevention programme, and a defined framework for future healthcare improvements make it ideally placed to host the Summit and play a role in building and facilitating partnerships that will accelerate progress, spur investment and advance healthcare initiatives.

High-level global attendees

Global health leaders and dignitaries attending the 2024 International Ministerial Summit include: 

  • Hon. Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, Minister of Health, Rwanda
  • H.E. Dr. Ahmed El-Sobky, Chairman, Egypt Health Authority, Cairo, Egypt
  • Hon. Benjamin Hounkpatin, Minister of Health, Benin
  • Hon. Dr. Charles Senessie, Deputy Minister of Health, Sierra Leone
  • Hon. Dr. Deborah M. Barasa, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health, Kenya
  • Hon. Dr. Douglas Mombeshora, Minister of Health, Zimbabwe
  • Hon. Dr. Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, Deputy Minister of Health, Namibia
  • Hon. Prof. Dr. Ibrahima Sy, Minister of Health, Senegal
  • Hon. Malayah Tamba Chieyoe, Deputy Minister for Planning & Policy, Liberia
  • Hon. Pedro Tipote, Minister of Health, Guinea-Bissau
  • Hon. Pierre N’gou DIMBA, Minister of Health, Côte d’Ivoire
  • Dr. Robert Lucien Kargougou, Minister of Health, Burkina Faso
  • Hon. Selibe Mochoboroane, Minister of Health, Lesotho
  • Hon. Yolanda Awel Deng, Minister of Health, South Sudan
  • Dr. Allan Pamba, Vice President Africa, Roche Diagnostics, Nairobi, Kenya 
  • Dr. Ahmed Ogwell, Vice President of Global Health Strategy, UN Foundation, Washington, USA 
  • Dr. Mazyanga Lucy Mazaba, Regional Director, Africa CDC, Nairobi, Kenya 
  • Mr. Peter Hall, President, India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Informa Markets, Dubai, UAE 

“The International Ministerial Summit represents a milestone achievement for the African continent, uniting global healthcare leaders to discuss and debate issues that will have a lasting impact not only on healthcare systems on the continent but globally. We can’t wait to welcome key stakeholders in the industry and are excited to see actionable solutions that will positively impact the healthcare landscape,” said Peter Hall, President, India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Informa Markets. 

For more details on the International Health Ministerial Summit, visit the event website: https://apo-opa.co/4g4ZIT6

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Informa Markets: Healthcare.

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version