global megatrends
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the fastest billion
The world's fastest-growing middle class
Investor and philanthropist George Soros has described it as 'one of the few bright spots on the gloomy global economic horizon'.
China’s latest GDP forecast? Growth from one of the Asian tiger economies, maybe?
No. Soros is talking about Africa. It's a continent wracked by poverty, where electricity is intermittent, where corruption soaks up development funding, where political instability and tyrannical governments undermine confidence, and where kidnapping of Westerners is rife. Or, at least that's been the stereotypical image of African countries till now among Western investors. The Chinese have invested in Africa's natural resource extraction for more than a decade, but it is only more recently that other international investors are waking up to the potential from Africa's imminent boom in consumer spending, which is set to rise from USD 860 billion in 2008 to USD 1.4 trillion in 2020, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
Growth in business technology across the continent is leading the way. The International Civil Aviation Organization expects Africans to fly 8.3% more miles in 2012, making the continent one of the fastest-growing markets for air travel behind Asia and the Middle East.
New five-star hotels are being constructed: currently 10 in Lagos, Nigeria, alone. Prices for apartments in fashionable districts of Lagos match those of Western cities. Growth in extraction of natural resources is shown by British Gas’ development along the coast of Tanzania, which is expected to be as large as its extraction along the coast of Qatar.
Analysts say the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other developing region. Over the last decade, six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the last 10 years, Africa’s lion states have grown faster than the Asian tigers. The fastest-growing economy in the world in 2011 (at 13%) was Ghana.
As a result, Africa now has the fastest-growing middle class in the world. Some 313 million people, 34% of Africa’s population, spend USD 2.20 a day, a 100% rise in less than 20 years, according to the African Development Bank.
The bank’s definition of middle class in Africa is people who spend the equivalent of USD 2 to USD 20 a day — an assessment based on the cost of living for Africa’s near one billion people. It is acknowledged that many living on USD 2 to USD 4 a day could easily slip back into poverty. But even when you take these people out of the equation, the bank puts the stable middle class at 123 million, 13% of the population. By 2060, says the bank, the number of middle-class Africans will grow to 1.1 billion (42% of the predicted population).
It is, as Soros points out, the world's fastest-growing middle class. By 2060, Africans living below the poverty line will be in the minority (33%). The bank describes the trajectory as 'unstoppable'. As an indicator of recent trends, The Economist magazine, which in 2000 ran a cover story headlined 'The hopeless continent' recently U-turned with an article headed 'The hopeful continent'.
Foreign direct investment projects grew by 27% in 2011, pushing Africa’s share of the world’s investment to almost a quarter. One of the most striking examples of growth is in Nigeria, hit by terrorist attacks but where GDP grew five-fold between 2000 and 2011, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A survey by global Initial Public Offering specialists Renaissance Capital reports that nearly half of Nigeria's middle class (defined as people with an average monthly income of USD 500–600) are planning to buy fridges, freezers and other white goods, 'suggesting a consumer boom is under way'.
Africa's fast-growing urban populations are benefitting from a commodities boom and a 10-fold rise in foreign investment in the past decade, notably from China. Over the same period, Africa's productivity has grown by nearly 3% a year, compared with 2.3% in the US. Governance is improving (the number of democracies in sub-Saharan Africa leapt from three in 1989 to 23 in 2008); dictatorships and wars are declining (major conflicts have declined from 12 in the mid-1990s to just four today); and mobile phone technology is fast becoming as much an African symbol as the baobab tree.
A 2011 poll found that mobile phones are owned by 71% of adults in Nigeria; 62% in Botswana and more than half the populations of Ghana and Kenya. The continent is the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone market, according to the industry group Groupe Speciale Mobile Association. Africa's 600 million users make the continent the second biggest user of mobile phones globally by continent, behind Asia. Subscriber levels have grown by almost 20% for each of the past five years; subscribers are expected to total 735 million by 2013.
Around one-tenth of Africa's land mass is covered by mobile-internet services — a higher proportion pro rata area than in India. Mobile development has enabled Africans to 'leapfrog' poor landline infrastructure, which has been a brake on progress. Many Africans get their first internet experience on a mobile rather than a desktop computer, using services that revolutionise commerce, farming and healthcare. Almost 18 million Kenyans use their mobiles as a bank account to deposit or transfer money and pay their accounts.
In places such as Rwanda's capital Kigali technology start-up companies are flourishing. Similar start-ups flourish in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. By comparison with mobile phones, internet communications are relatively low at 120 million users, but growth between 2000 and 2011 was 2,527%, compared with a world average of 480%. Twenty-seven per cent of Africa internet users have Facebook profiles, compared with 18% of users in Asia.
Shopping malls, with wireless-equipped coffee shops, show the rise of the African consumer: the Accra Mall in Accra, Ghana; The Palms in Lagos, Nigeria; Westgate in Nairobi, Kenya. Trade in cars and motorcycles are prolific (car ownership in Ghana, for example, has risen by 81% in the past five years).
Along with the rise of the middle classes are coming 'middle class values' more recognised outside the continent: families are smaller; they are owning their own homes; and heads of households have salaried jobs or run their own small businesses.
Thanks to debt relief in Africa, and a borrowing boom in Europe, many European countries are more indebted than African nations. Oil-rich Angola is lending cash to its former colonial master Portugal. New African multi-millionaires are being minted at such a rate that Forbes, the Bible of global business elite, has published its inaugural '40 richest Africans' list. At the top is Aliko Dangote, a sugar, flour and cement magnate based in Lagos, worth USD 13.8 billion.
As economies and middle classes grow, so does investment and so do businesses — some so much that they are buying up global rivals. South African Breweries has bought the US' Miller to become SAB Miller, the world's second-largest brewer. The US retail giant Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, has invested USD 2.4 billion acquiring a majority stake in South African grocery retailer Massmart so it can springboard across Africa, starting in Nigeria. From the UK, London-based Lonrho is investing USD 300 million in the continent, setting up a new regional airline and opening 50 mass market hotels. Live Aid co-founder Bob Geldof, who in the 1980s urged the world to donate to save Africa, has established his own fund to make investments in agri-businesses, financial services and telecommunications.
One way investors are taking a 'safety net' leap into Africa is through the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Multinational corporations, investment funds and other international investors — attracted by above average returns and high growth rates — are increasingly favouring the Mauritius Global Business Sector as a platform of choice to structure their investments into African countries.
Mauritius has signed Double Tax Treaties with 11 African countries (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tunisia) and treaties with four other countries (Malawi, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria) are awaiting ratification.
"By choosing the Mauritius route into Africa, investors can avail of the treaty benefits and achieve significant tax savings, mainly in the form of reduced withholding tax on dividend distributions and exemption from capital gains," says Nirmal Heeralall, of UHY’s member firm on Mauritius, UHY Heeralall.
Mauritius has also signed Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with 15 African countries which, typically, offer certain guarantees to investors, such as free repatriation of investment capital and returns, guarantee against expropriation and dispute settlement arrangements.
"Its proximity to Africa and membership of the African Union; Southern African Development Community; Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; and Indian Ocean Rim – Association Regional Cooperation are among the other reasons why investors choose Mauritius as their preferred investment route into Africa," says Heeralall.
"Oil exploration plans are also expected to stimulate foreign direct investment," says Ben Abdelkrim. "Tunisia and Malta are discussing the commercial exploitation of the continental shelf between their countries. Moreover, recently Tunisia has attracted unprecedented interest from the monarchies of the Gulf. Their investments in services, tourism and banking to date have more than doubled in recent years. Arab capital accounts for more than 20% of all foreign investment."
The government — with its official target of 6% economic growth per annum — is expected by economists to favor boosting investment in manufacturing; promoting high-value knowledge-based industries; modernising agriculture and infrastructure; strengthening the financial sector; and restructuring education. (Source - www.uhy.com/the-worlds-fastest-middle class/ )
China’s latest GDP forecast? Growth from one of the Asian tiger economies, maybe?
No. Soros is talking about Africa. It's a continent wracked by poverty, where electricity is intermittent, where corruption soaks up development funding, where political instability and tyrannical governments undermine confidence, and where kidnapping of Westerners is rife. Or, at least that's been the stereotypical image of African countries till now among Western investors. The Chinese have invested in Africa's natural resource extraction for more than a decade, but it is only more recently that other international investors are waking up to the potential from Africa's imminent boom in consumer spending, which is set to rise from USD 860 billion in 2008 to USD 1.4 trillion in 2020, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
Growth in business technology across the continent is leading the way. The International Civil Aviation Organization expects Africans to fly 8.3% more miles in 2012, making the continent one of the fastest-growing markets for air travel behind Asia and the Middle East.
New five-star hotels are being constructed: currently 10 in Lagos, Nigeria, alone. Prices for apartments in fashionable districts of Lagos match those of Western cities. Growth in extraction of natural resources is shown by British Gas’ development along the coast of Tanzania, which is expected to be as large as its extraction along the coast of Qatar.
Analysts say the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other developing region. Over the last decade, six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the last 10 years, Africa’s lion states have grown faster than the Asian tigers. The fastest-growing economy in the world in 2011 (at 13%) was Ghana.
As a result, Africa now has the fastest-growing middle class in the world. Some 313 million people, 34% of Africa’s population, spend USD 2.20 a day, a 100% rise in less than 20 years, according to the African Development Bank.
The bank’s definition of middle class in Africa is people who spend the equivalent of USD 2 to USD 20 a day — an assessment based on the cost of living for Africa’s near one billion people. It is acknowledged that many living on USD 2 to USD 4 a day could easily slip back into poverty. But even when you take these people out of the equation, the bank puts the stable middle class at 123 million, 13% of the population. By 2060, says the bank, the number of middle-class Africans will grow to 1.1 billion (42% of the predicted population).
It is, as Soros points out, the world's fastest-growing middle class. By 2060, Africans living below the poverty line will be in the minority (33%). The bank describes the trajectory as 'unstoppable'. As an indicator of recent trends, The Economist magazine, which in 2000 ran a cover story headlined 'The hopeless continent' recently U-turned with an article headed 'The hopeful continent'.
Foreign direct investment projects grew by 27% in 2011, pushing Africa’s share of the world’s investment to almost a quarter. One of the most striking examples of growth is in Nigeria, hit by terrorist attacks but where GDP grew five-fold between 2000 and 2011, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A survey by global Initial Public Offering specialists Renaissance Capital reports that nearly half of Nigeria's middle class (defined as people with an average monthly income of USD 500–600) are planning to buy fridges, freezers and other white goods, 'suggesting a consumer boom is under way'.
Africa's fast-growing urban populations are benefitting from a commodities boom and a 10-fold rise in foreign investment in the past decade, notably from China. Over the same period, Africa's productivity has grown by nearly 3% a year, compared with 2.3% in the US. Governance is improving (the number of democracies in sub-Saharan Africa leapt from three in 1989 to 23 in 2008); dictatorships and wars are declining (major conflicts have declined from 12 in the mid-1990s to just four today); and mobile phone technology is fast becoming as much an African symbol as the baobab tree.
A 2011 poll found that mobile phones are owned by 71% of adults in Nigeria; 62% in Botswana and more than half the populations of Ghana and Kenya. The continent is the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone market, according to the industry group Groupe Speciale Mobile Association. Africa's 600 million users make the continent the second biggest user of mobile phones globally by continent, behind Asia. Subscriber levels have grown by almost 20% for each of the past five years; subscribers are expected to total 735 million by 2013.
Around one-tenth of Africa's land mass is covered by mobile-internet services — a higher proportion pro rata area than in India. Mobile development has enabled Africans to 'leapfrog' poor landline infrastructure, which has been a brake on progress. Many Africans get their first internet experience on a mobile rather than a desktop computer, using services that revolutionise commerce, farming and healthcare. Almost 18 million Kenyans use their mobiles as a bank account to deposit or transfer money and pay their accounts.
In places such as Rwanda's capital Kigali technology start-up companies are flourishing. Similar start-ups flourish in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. By comparison with mobile phones, internet communications are relatively low at 120 million users, but growth between 2000 and 2011 was 2,527%, compared with a world average of 480%. Twenty-seven per cent of Africa internet users have Facebook profiles, compared with 18% of users in Asia.
Shopping malls, with wireless-equipped coffee shops, show the rise of the African consumer: the Accra Mall in Accra, Ghana; The Palms in Lagos, Nigeria; Westgate in Nairobi, Kenya. Trade in cars and motorcycles are prolific (car ownership in Ghana, for example, has risen by 81% in the past five years).
Along with the rise of the middle classes are coming 'middle class values' more recognised outside the continent: families are smaller; they are owning their own homes; and heads of households have salaried jobs or run their own small businesses.
Thanks to debt relief in Africa, and a borrowing boom in Europe, many European countries are more indebted than African nations. Oil-rich Angola is lending cash to its former colonial master Portugal. New African multi-millionaires are being minted at such a rate that Forbes, the Bible of global business elite, has published its inaugural '40 richest Africans' list. At the top is Aliko Dangote, a sugar, flour and cement magnate based in Lagos, worth USD 13.8 billion.
As economies and middle classes grow, so does investment and so do businesses — some so much that they are buying up global rivals. South African Breweries has bought the US' Miller to become SAB Miller, the world's second-largest brewer. The US retail giant Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, has invested USD 2.4 billion acquiring a majority stake in South African grocery retailer Massmart so it can springboard across Africa, starting in Nigeria. From the UK, London-based Lonrho is investing USD 300 million in the continent, setting up a new regional airline and opening 50 mass market hotels. Live Aid co-founder Bob Geldof, who in the 1980s urged the world to donate to save Africa, has established his own fund to make investments in agri-businesses, financial services and telecommunications.
One way investors are taking a 'safety net' leap into Africa is through the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Multinational corporations, investment funds and other international investors — attracted by above average returns and high growth rates — are increasingly favouring the Mauritius Global Business Sector as a platform of choice to structure their investments into African countries.
Mauritius has signed Double Tax Treaties with 11 African countries (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tunisia) and treaties with four other countries (Malawi, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria) are awaiting ratification.
"By choosing the Mauritius route into Africa, investors can avail of the treaty benefits and achieve significant tax savings, mainly in the form of reduced withholding tax on dividend distributions and exemption from capital gains," says Nirmal Heeralall, of UHY’s member firm on Mauritius, UHY Heeralall.
Mauritius has also signed Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with 15 African countries which, typically, offer certain guarantees to investors, such as free repatriation of investment capital and returns, guarantee against expropriation and dispute settlement arrangements.
"Its proximity to Africa and membership of the African Union; Southern African Development Community; Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; and Indian Ocean Rim – Association Regional Cooperation are among the other reasons why investors choose Mauritius as their preferred investment route into Africa," says Heeralall.
"Oil exploration plans are also expected to stimulate foreign direct investment," says Ben Abdelkrim. "Tunisia and Malta are discussing the commercial exploitation of the continental shelf between their countries. Moreover, recently Tunisia has attracted unprecedented interest from the monarchies of the Gulf. Their investments in services, tourism and banking to date have more than doubled in recent years. Arab capital accounts for more than 20% of all foreign investment."
The government — with its official target of 6% economic growth per annum — is expected by economists to favor boosting investment in manufacturing; promoting high-value knowledge-based industries; modernising agriculture and infrastructure; strengthening the financial sector; and restructuring education. (Source - www.uhy.com/the-worlds-fastest-middle class/ )
bengaluru: inside india's silicon valley
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"make in india" global initiative
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Africa’s urban revolution
The future of Africa, as it is in other parts of the world, is urban. In fact Africa has already 52 cities with a population of more than 1m inhabitants; and over 10,000 medium-size cities and small towns, which together represent 60% of the urban population. In other words, most of the African urbanites live in cities with a population of less than 500,000 inhabitants.
Experts from the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN estimate that in 2035, half of the population of Africa (800m people) will live in cities, and in 2050, the proportion will rise to 60% (1,265m people). Already African cities contribute up to 60% of the continent’s GDP.
There are contradictory feelings about these figures. Some people are concerned about the capacity of Africa to cope with such a huge urban growth, which is rightly called urban revolution, given the already unbearable deficits in urban infrastructures and shelter, poor service delivery and lack of viable system of local governance.
Nevertheless, the competitiveness of national economies is more and more dependent on the competitiveness and efficacy of the local and regional economies that are driven by cities of different natures and size.
A new paradigm of development gives a particular role to cities and local authorities as the transformation locus and agent of
African societies. From now on, cities of Africa should take the lead in shaping the future of the continent.
The Africa Urban Infrastructure Forum held in Cape Town last year was the first to attempt by the public and private sectors to seriously discuss urban development in Africa.
The second edition of the Forum, to be held in Luanda, Angola, on 19th and 20th January 2015 will offer the opportunity to learn from the experience of that country in tackling the challenge of rapid urbanisation.
Angola itself is undergoing a major urban renewal programme and is keen to bring some of the finest expertise in modern urban planning and financing in the world together to sketch out Africa’s urban future – which is also a way of saying Africa’s future, period.
The President Jose Eduardo dos Santos Mayor of the Year Award will also be presented to those African mayors that are most innovative in addressing the challenge of competitive, inclusive, and sustainable and well-governed cities in Africa. This award, instituted by the UCLGA Executive Committee, will be an annual event and is meant to stimulate African mayors to be forward looking and innovative in managing African cities.
The next Africa Urban Investment Forum in Luanda should be therefore seen as a rallying point for all those who are interested in getting Africa up to the challenge of rapid urbanisation and sustainable development.
Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi is Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA).
- See more at: http://africanbusinessmagazine.com/africa-within/development-assistance/africas-urban-revolution/#sthash.XB5iTnj1.dpuf
- Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi
- 8 December 2014
- no comments
The future of Africa, as it is in other parts of the world, is urban. In fact Africa has already 52 cities with a population of more than 1m inhabitants; and over 10,000 medium-size cities and small towns, which together represent 60% of the urban population. In other words, most of the African urbanites live in cities with a population of less than 500,000 inhabitants.
Experts from the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN estimate that in 2035, half of the population of Africa (800m people) will live in cities, and in 2050, the proportion will rise to 60% (1,265m people). Already African cities contribute up to 60% of the continent’s GDP.
There are contradictory feelings about these figures. Some people are concerned about the capacity of Africa to cope with such a huge urban growth, which is rightly called urban revolution, given the already unbearable deficits in urban infrastructures and shelter, poor service delivery and lack of viable system of local governance.
Nevertheless, the competitiveness of national economies is more and more dependent on the competitiveness and efficacy of the local and regional economies that are driven by cities of different natures and size.
A new paradigm of development gives a particular role to cities and local authorities as the transformation locus and agent of
African societies. From now on, cities of Africa should take the lead in shaping the future of the continent.
The Africa Urban Infrastructure Forum held in Cape Town last year was the first to attempt by the public and private sectors to seriously discuss urban development in Africa.
The second edition of the Forum, to be held in Luanda, Angola, on 19th and 20th January 2015 will offer the opportunity to learn from the experience of that country in tackling the challenge of rapid urbanisation.
Angola itself is undergoing a major urban renewal programme and is keen to bring some of the finest expertise in modern urban planning and financing in the world together to sketch out Africa’s urban future – which is also a way of saying Africa’s future, period.
The President Jose Eduardo dos Santos Mayor of the Year Award will also be presented to those African mayors that are most innovative in addressing the challenge of competitive, inclusive, and sustainable and well-governed cities in Africa. This award, instituted by the UCLGA Executive Committee, will be an annual event and is meant to stimulate African mayors to be forward looking and innovative in managing African cities.
The next Africa Urban Investment Forum in Luanda should be therefore seen as a rallying point for all those who are interested in getting Africa up to the challenge of rapid urbanisation and sustainable development.
Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi is Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA).
- See more at: http://africanbusinessmagazine.com/africa-within/development-assistance/africas-urban-revolution/#sthash.XB5iTnj1.dpuf
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nr narayana murthy - infosys
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[NAIROBI] The World Bank is launching a US$1 billion fund to map Africa’s minerals to promote their exploration, a conference has heard.
Although Africa is rich in mineral resources, it remains one of the most under-explored landmasses on earth, creating a huge skills gap and thus justifying the need to commission a massive geo-exploration of its mineral potential, says Paulo de Sa, the manager of the gas, oil and mining unit of the World Bank’s Sustainable Energy Department.
According to De Sa, who made the five-year initiative — dubbed the Billion Dollar Map — known at the 20th Investing in African Mining Indaba in South Africa last month (3-6 February), the bank is committing US$200 million to the fund and hopes that African governments, donor agencies and mining companies will provide the remaining US$800 million. “The lack of geological data poses a barrier for companies to select a specific country as a mining destination.”
Paulo de Sa, The World Bank "The lack of geological data poses a barrier for companies to select a specific country as a mining destination,” says De Sa, citing Africa’s lack of application of technologies as contributing to the lack of such data. He adds that satellite and “airborne technologies” including geographical information systems (GIS) will be widely deployed in the continent's first-ever comprehensive technology-driven exploration mission. A substantial amount of the funding will be used for the acquisition and application of the technologies.
“We do expect an important part of the investment to go towards information systems and data management hardware such as servers and IT [information technology] platforms, cloud storage, and different types of remote sensing data,” De Sa tells SciDev.Net. De Sa explains that the mapping process will include the integration of a number of datasets that will help identify likely mineral deposits.
Erick Khamala, the managing director of LocateIT, a Kenya-based company specialising in remote sensing technologies welcomes the move to undertake the project.
“Technology in the area of mineral mapping is advancing quite fast and is becoming more precise and cost-effective,” says Khamala.
But Khamala faults failure by African governments to budget for technology despite the many advantages it offers such as its potential in helping to locate transport networks, settlements, drainage and land cover.
Khamala cites some technologies that can be used in such a venture, including aerial photography and videography, satellite remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, crowd-sourcing using mobile phone and GIS for data capture. De Sa concurs, adding that besides helping locate minerals, technologies could also help in water management, land use planning, infrastructure and biodiversity planning.
This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's Sub-Saharan Africa desk.
Although Africa is rich in mineral resources, it remains one of the most under-explored landmasses on earth, creating a huge skills gap and thus justifying the need to commission a massive geo-exploration of its mineral potential, says Paulo de Sa, the manager of the gas, oil and mining unit of the World Bank’s Sustainable Energy Department.
According to De Sa, who made the five-year initiative — dubbed the Billion Dollar Map — known at the 20th Investing in African Mining Indaba in South Africa last month (3-6 February), the bank is committing US$200 million to the fund and hopes that African governments, donor agencies and mining companies will provide the remaining US$800 million. “The lack of geological data poses a barrier for companies to select a specific country as a mining destination.”
Paulo de Sa, The World Bank "The lack of geological data poses a barrier for companies to select a specific country as a mining destination,” says De Sa, citing Africa’s lack of application of technologies as contributing to the lack of such data. He adds that satellite and “airborne technologies” including geographical information systems (GIS) will be widely deployed in the continent's first-ever comprehensive technology-driven exploration mission. A substantial amount of the funding will be used for the acquisition and application of the technologies.
“We do expect an important part of the investment to go towards information systems and data management hardware such as servers and IT [information technology] platforms, cloud storage, and different types of remote sensing data,” De Sa tells SciDev.Net. De Sa explains that the mapping process will include the integration of a number of datasets that will help identify likely mineral deposits.
Erick Khamala, the managing director of LocateIT, a Kenya-based company specialising in remote sensing technologies welcomes the move to undertake the project.
“Technology in the area of mineral mapping is advancing quite fast and is becoming more precise and cost-effective,” says Khamala.
But Khamala faults failure by African governments to budget for technology despite the many advantages it offers such as its potential in helping to locate transport networks, settlements, drainage and land cover.
Khamala cites some technologies that can be used in such a venture, including aerial photography and videography, satellite remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, crowd-sourcing using mobile phone and GIS for data capture. De Sa concurs, adding that besides helping locate minerals, technologies could also help in water management, land use planning, infrastructure and biodiversity planning.
This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's Sub-Saharan Africa desk.
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azuri solar power
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