Connect with us
Anglostratits

Events

Future Hospitality Summit Africa (FHS Africa) Appoints APO Group Founder Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard to its Advisory Board

Published

on

FHS

Future Hospitality Summit Africa (FHS Africa) – formerly known as the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) – is the continent’s leading annual hospitality investment conference

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, October 20, 2025/APO Group/ –APO Group (www.APO-opa.com), the leading pan-African communications and news distribution consultancy, is delighted to announce that its Founder and Chairman, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com), has been appointed to the Advisory Board of Future Hospitality Summit Africa (FHS Africa) 2026 (www.FutureHospitality.com/africa).

 

Future Hospitality Summit Africa (FHS Africa) – formerly known as the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) – is the continent’s leading annual hospitality investment conference. It serves as a meeting place for senior hotel investors, developers, operators, and advisors from across Africa and around the world. The event connects business leaders from both international and local markets to enable deals that drive investment and development into tourism projects, infrastructure, and hotel assets across Africa.

Watch the Future Hospitality Summit  2024 video: https://apo-opa.co/43kqjY8

As a member of the Advisory Board, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard will play an instrumental role in shaping the strategic direction of FHS Africa by sharing valuable insights on the key themes and topics that will define the event’s agenda. His perspective will help ensure that FHS Africa continues to deliver impactful, relevant, and future-focused discussions for the continent’s hospitality and investment sectors.

Hotels are a cornerstone of Africa’s growth story

From 2019 to 2025, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard has served as a long-standing member of the Advisory Board of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) – the premier hotel investment conference in Africa – and has been an active speaker at both AHIF and the Forum de l’Investissement Hôtelier Africain (FIHA).

In July 2019, APO Group entered a long-term partnership with Bench Events, organisers of AHIF (now FHS Africa), to help drive hotel investment across the African continent (https://apo-opa.co/4nZJpLq).

Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard believes that the hospitality sector plays a pivotal role in advancing Africa’s economies:

“Hotels are a cornerstone of Africa’s growth story. They attract tourism, stimulate foreign investment, and generate foreign currency. More importantly, they provide a platform for vital business meetings and events that bring together multinational organisations across the continent.”

Through his continued involvement with FHS Africa, Nicolas aims to further support initiatives that strengthen Africa’s position as a leading destination for hospitality investment and development.

Named among the Top 100 Most Influential Africans of 2023 and 2024, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard serves in multiple senior advisory capacities across key sectors. He is a Senior Advisory Board Member at the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business; Strategic Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal African Society (United Kingdom) and to the European Union – Africa Chamber of Commerce (EUACC); and Special Advisor to the President of Rugby Africa. He is also an Advisory Board Member at the Africa Energy Chamber (AEC), the Critical Minerals Africa Group (CMAG), the World Football Summit (WFS), and the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) Africa. Additionally, he serves as a Member of the Africa Tech Festival / AfricaCom Leadership Council, a Member of the Pan-Africa Ubuntu Circle of The ONE Campaign, and an International Committee Member at the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA).

More information about Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard: http://apo-opa.co/47l521L

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of APO Group.

Home  Facebook

Events

Wuzhen Summit Puts Spotlight on Tongxiang’s Expanding AI Industry

Published

on

Wuzhen Summit

TONGXIANG, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 20 October 2026 – The 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit will open on Nov. 2, bringing technology leaders, researchers and companies to the historic water town as Tongxiang firms expand AI applications from commercial cleaning and autonomous delivery to industrial control and data-center cooling.

For Tongxiang, long associated with the annual internet conference, the summit is also a chance to demonstrate how local companies are commercializing AI technologies for customers at home and abroad.
 




 

Ahead of the event, reporters visited seven Tongxiang-based companies working in robotics, intelligent vehicles, synthetic data, industrial automation, logistics and computing infrastructure.

Singapore Changi Airport earlier this year placed a fourth order for commercial cleaning robots from CenoBots, a Tongxiang-based company whose machines are used in airports, supermarkets, hospitals, factories and warehouses.

CenoBots has sold products in more than 40 countries and regions. Its customers include Changi Airport, British retailer Tesco, the University of Minnesota and pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. This year, the company supplied about 600 autonomous cleaning robots for Tesco Express stores across the United Kingdom.

“Cleaning robots are appearing in more and more settings,” said Shen Jizhong, CenoBots’ co-founder and vice president. “It is much like electric vehicles becoming a familiar sight on the roads — a trend that is gathering pace.”

The company’s machines are adapted to different settings. Hospital robots must move through busy corridors without disrupting patient care, while those used in supermarkets navigate around shoppers and carts. Factory robots operate near forklifts, and airport models must handle both fine debris in carpeted areas and small obstacles on smooth floors.

CenoBots continues to refine its robots through real-world testing, focusing on reliable operation and consistent cleaning performance across diverse environments. The company has expanded its research, development and production facilities in Tongxiang from approximately 3,000 square meters in its early years to more than 20,000 square meters. Local malls, hospitals and sports venues have also served as long-term testing sites.

While CenoBots focuses on service robots, TEEMO is developing the vehicle platforms that support autonomous mobility. The company makes drive-by-wire skateboard chassis and core components for autonomous vehicles used in last-mile delivery, patrols and logistics.

Its standardized chassis can be equipped with different vehicle bodies and hardware for specific uses. One of TEEMO’s strategic customers, autonomous delivery-vehicle maker Zelos, was selected for all lots in China Post’s centralized procurement program for 7,000 autonomous delivery vehicles.

TEEMO’s customers already span the United States, the Middle East, India and Russia, said Zhang Yongjian, the company’s director of operations.

“In some overseas markets, distances are long, populations are dispersed and last-mile delivery is difficult to staff,” Zhang said. “Autonomous delivery vehicles have strong potential there, and overseas business will become an important growth driver for us.”

Other Tongxiang companies are concentrating on the data and perception systems that allow machines to function in physical environments.

Dayan Technology, founded in Tongxiang in May 2025, provides synthetic-data and toolchain services for autonomous-driving and humanoid-robotics companies. It combines real-world data collection, digital twins and simulated training environments to help developers train robots before they are deployed.

Its wearable devices record human movement and interactions with objects. A haptic glove uses liquid-metal and pressure sensors to capture hand gestures, finger movements and contact force. A multi-camera headset records a user’s visual field, body posture, hand movements and the position of nearby objects.

Dayan said its tactile-perception model can process touch signals in milliseconds. The technology is intended to help robots do more than identify objects visually: They can learn how firmly to grip an item, recognize when it is slipping and apply force without causing damage.

Freetech is applying related sensing and decision-making capabilities to intelligent driving. The company develops intelligent-driving systems and 4D imaging radar for passenger and commercial vehicles, and said its technology has been selected for hundreds of vehicle programs.

Its ODIN AI platform supports products at different levels of driving automation. The radar is designed to complement cameras in heavy rain, fog, darkness and abrupt changes in light, including when vehicles enter or leave tunnels.

At its intelligent-manufacturing base in Wuzhen, Freetech is also using AI in production. An in-house system reads customer orders and calculates the components and materials needed for each production line before manufacturing begins. The company said the system has increased overall efficiency by more than 20%.

“Transportation combined with a specialized function will be an important direction for the future,” said Dr. Zhang Lin, Freetech’s founder and CEO.

Freetech sees potential applications beyond passenger vehicles, including robots, elder-care vehicles, mining equipment and agricultural machinery.

Beyond mobility, Tongxiang firms are using AI to address the complexity of industrial operations. Founded in 2019, Shuhan Technologies provides on-premises industrial AI for chemical plants, energy facilities and wastewater-treatment systems. Its AI-driven control layer continuously ingests data from central control systems and field sensors, identifies dynamic conditions and autonomously adjusts operating parameters in real time.

“Fundamentally, all industrial process challenges can be framed as control and optimization problems,” said Zhai Zhengjun, Shuhan’s Chief Technology Officer.

At a coal chemical plant with annual capacity of 1.2 million metric tons, Shuhan said its system reduced raw-material consumption by 6%. The company estimated that the deployment generated more than 176 million yuan, or about $26 million, in annualized economic benefits and reduced carbon emissions by more than 500,000 metric tons.

SENAD is targeting bottlenecks in logistics operations, including loading, unloading, sorting and pallet handling. It develops autonomous loading and unloading robots, as well as a multimodal logistics model called Robot Insight, for sectors including beverages, tobacco, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and logistics.

Tongxiang’s AI sector also includes companies addressing the infrastructure needed to run increasingly powerful computing systems. SynthCool is tackling a basic constraint of the AI boom: heat.

SynthCool develops two-phase liquid-cooling systems to address the heat generated by increasingly powerful processors. Inadequate cooling can trigger thermal throttling, reducing performance and energy efficiency.

“Heat dissipation is infrastructure,” said Zhu Zhijiang, SynthCool’s general manager.

SynthCool’s two-phase cooling technology uses the latent heat of vaporization to remove heat from processors. The cooling fluid absorbs heat and boils into vapor, which is then condensed back into liquid and recirculated.

Depending on ambient conditions and system design, two-phase cooling can also support free cooling and reduce reliance on compressor-based refrigeration. Waste heat may be recovered where temperatures and local demand make reuse practical.

According to SynthCool, its technology supports heat dissipation of more than 3,000 watts per chip and heat flux above 250 watts per square centimeter. Under comparable cooling requirements, the system requires approximately one-third of the flow needed by conventional single-phase water-cooled cold plates, helping reduce piping requirements and pumping demand.

SynthCool’s portfolio includes two-phase direct-to-chip and immersion cooling solutions, along with distribution units and control systems for AI data centers.
 




 

Continue Reading

Energy

Algeria’s Hydrocarbons Minister Joins MSGBC 2026 as Sonatrach Eyes Senegal Partnerships

Published

on

Etu Energias

Algiers and Dakar are preparing an energy agreement as Sonatrach pursues partnerships across the MSGBC basin

DAKAR, Senegal, October 19, 2026/APO Group/ –Mohamed Arkab, Algeria’s Minister of State and Minister of Hydrocarbons, will join the speaker lineup at MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2026 in Dakar this December, bringing one of the continent’s most senior energy ministers to a forum focused on investment and regional cooperation. His confirmation serves as a bridge between one of Africa’s longest-standing oil and gas producers and one of its newest, paving the way for greater collaboration across upstream exploration, infrastructure and power.

 




  

Algerian cooperation with MSGBC nations has already gained momentum. Minister Arkab hosted Senegal’s Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Dr. El Hadji Abdourahmane Diouf, in Algiers on October 4. The two-day visit produced a cooperation agreement between Senegalese utility Senelec and Algeria’s Sonelgaz, while Petrosen and Sonatrach held discussions on a potential partnership spanning upstream exploration and infrastructure.

Senegal’s government has said the visit sets the stage for an intergovernmental agreement to be signed in Dakar during MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2026. The two national oil companies first signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022, and Minister Arkab discussed putting it into effect with Senegal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheikh Niang in July.

The potential partnership comes as MSGBC countries look toward the next phase of upstream development following the start of production at Senegal’s Sangomar oil field and the cross-border Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG project. Regional priorities are now shifting toward advancing the next generation of projects, including Senegal’s Yakaar-Teranga gas development and Mauritania’s BirAllah discovery, while attracting fresh exploration investment across the wider basin. Moving these opportunities toward development will require capital, technical expertise and partnerships with established producers – creating scope for deeper cooperation with countries such as Algeria and companies such as Sonatrach.

Minister Arkab’s participation at the upcoming conference also arrives as Algeria advances its own exploration strategy. The event convenes shortly after bidding closes for the Algeria Bid Round 2026, which the National Agency for the Valorization of Hydrocarbon Resources launched in April with seven exploration blocks on offer. Submissions are due November 26, and Sonatrach expects to finalize contracts with successful bidders by the end of January 2027. Exploration and production will absorb three-quarters of the $60 billion Sonatrach intends to spend between 2026 and 2030, as the company works toward lifting annual gas output to 200 billion cubic meters within five years.

With a bilateral agreement potentially headed for signature on the conference sidelines, Minister Arkab’s participation promises to be one of the defining moments of the 2026 edition and reinforces MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power’s standing as the region’s leading meeting point for governments and investors.

Organized by Energy Capital & Power and held under the High Patronage of Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2026 takes place December 1–3 in Dakar and will convene heads of state, ministers, investors, operators and development partners from Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry. Explore opportunities and secure your participation at www.MSGBCOilGasandPower.com.

 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

 




 

Continue Reading

Business

Afreximbank and partners advance Africa’s automotive investment agenda at Alamein Africa Forum

Published

on

Afreximbank

The two-day Forum brought together high-level African automotive industry policymakers, private sector original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Africa-based component manufacturers

CAIRO, Egypt, October 19, 2026/APO Group/ –African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com), in partnership with the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, the Ministry of Trade and Investment of Egypt, and the Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa, hosted the Africa Automotive Investment Forum on the sidelines of the Alamein Africa Forum held in El Alamein, Egypt recently.

 




  

The two-day Forum brought together high-level African automotive industry policymakers, private sector original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Africa-based component manufacturers.

The Forum sought to sensitise policymakers on the policy changes and reforms needed to develop the automotive sector, enable investors to engage directly with both policymakers and manufacturers, and facilitate potential joint ventures and supply agreements or engagements leading to future deals.

Afreximbank noted that the Forum prioritised joint ventures and technology transfer agreements between global auto giants and African enterprises with the expectation of creating highly skilled engineering, manufacturing and technical jobs for Africa’s growing youth demographic while significantly boosting local small and medium enterprises within the secondary supply tier.

It described the automotive sector as a strategic priority because it serves as a powerful catalyst for Africa’s industrialisation, intra-African trade and economic resilience, noting that several African countries were already making important strides in the development of a manufacturing sector that had attracted increasing investment into the emerging auto industry, including new energy vehicles.

Highlighting the significance of the Forum for Afreximbank, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development, said:

“The automotive sector is a critical pillar for advancing Africa’s industrialisation and achieving the structural transformation championed by Afreximbank. By driving regional value chain integration, the automotive industry directly aligns with our mandate to foster intra-African trade under the AfCFTA framework. Supporting this sector allows Afreximbank to catalyse high-impact investments, stimulate manufacturing capabilities, create skilled employment, and significantly reduce the continent’s heavy reliance on vehicle imports. Investing in the African automotive ecosystem is not merely a financing opportunity, but a strategic imperative that accelerates economic diversification and establishes Africa as a competitive player in the global industrial economy.”

Mrs. Awani said that significant investment opportunities existed in Africa’s automotive manufacturing sector, including component manufacturing, leveraging the continent’s growing skills base and raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, copper, iron and steel. She added that Afreximbank was championing the development of a pan-African automotive manufacturing sector comprising an interrelated component and vehicle manufacturing ecosystem, supported by intra-African supply chains and trade.

The automotive sector is a critical pillar for advancing Africa’s industrialisation and achieving the structural transformation championed by Afreximbank

Mrs. Awani noted that Afreximbank had committed US$1 billion towards financing Africa’s automotive sector as part of its strategy to promote manufacturing, trade and industrial development across Africa.

The Forum witnessed the signing of a joint venture agreement between Malben Engineering from South Africa and Egypt-based industrial conglomerate El Araby Group to establish a joint platform for manufacturing components serving Egyptian, South African and broader African markets. The undertaking combines El Araby Group’s industrial, engineering, and technological capabilities with Malben Engineering’s experience spanning over 50 years in manufacturing and forming metal automotive components.  The joint venture illustrates the type of commercial partnership that will spur development of intra-African automotive supply chains and trade.

Mr. Tarek Mosaad, President of the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) said: “with the AfCFTA Rules of Origin now agreed, the foundation for a more integrated automotive industry is in place. Our focus must shift to turning ambition into action by creating factories, strengthening supplier ecosystems, generating jobs, and increasing intra-African trade.” He noted that “AAAM remains focused on three key priorities:

  • Growing local content through regional value chains
  • Making it easier to move automotive products across borders
  • Ensuring Africa plays a meaningful role in shaping the future of mobility|

In his call to action, he cautioned that “investors are not looking at 54 separate African markets. They are looking at one integrated opportunity.”

H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, echoed the sentiments expressed by Afreximbank and AAAM and outlined three priorities for advancing the Strategy for the African Automotive Sector under the AfCFTA framework, namely: “developing investment-ready projects and competitive production locations; strengthening regional supplier networks and deepening localisation; and establishing commercially viable regional production.”

In a further step towards advancing these priorities, the AfCFTA Secretariat and the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in developing Africa’s automotive industry.

The MoU provides a framework for cooperation in implementing the Strategy for the African Automotive Sector under the AfCFTA, covering automotive Rules of Origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, automotive policy and standards, capacity building, regional supplier and value-chain development, mineral beneficiation, investment mobilisation and emerging automotive technologies.

The partnership will also support ongoing efforts by the AfCFTA Secretariat and Afreximbank to advance the AfCFTA Automotive Investment Plan, with a focus on mobilising investment and strengthening competitive regional automotive production networks.

The Forum also witnessed the establishment of a joint Egypt-South Africa Business Council designed to develop bilateral trade and investment projects across various priority sectors that include automotive, mining and mineral resources, renewable energy, agriculture and food production, pharmaceuticals, transport and logistics infrastructure – leveraging the Suez Canal and national ports in both countries to facilitate increased trade between northern and southern Africa.

For a more practical experience, delegates moved from policy discussion to industry exposure through curated site visits to OEMs Nissan Motor Corporation, General Motors Egypt, Al Mansour Automotive and components manufacturer Mobica in 6th of October City. The visits offered a first-hand view of Egypt’s automotive industrial base, showcasing the progression from vehicle assembly and localisation to supplier development, manufacturing capabilities and regional market reach, while illustrating the tangible opportunities for investment, technology transfer and cross-border value-chain integration that can help position Africa as a competitive automotive manufacturing hub.

With African vehicle demand expected to reach 5 million by 2035 as well as rising interest in new energy vehicles globally, industry stakeholders and policymakers are seeing opportunities to drive domestic industrialisation through the automotive sector and renewables, leveraging African raw materials. Forum participants emphasised that the policy incentives must be right and that the provision of affordable financing will help drive demand and capital investments.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

 

 




 

Continue Reading

Trending