SA is Africa’s third most attractive investment destination – report

This article was first published on IOL on 21 September 2021.

South Africa was ranked as Africa’s third most attractive investment destination, according to the Where to Invest in Africa 2021 report from RMB.

The report showed that Egypt is Africa’s top investment destination with Morocco following in second place. Rounding up the top five are Rwanda and Botswana in fourth and fifth positions respectively.

The positive global sentiment that saw the year 2020 in was short-lived when Covid-19 and lockdown legislation demanded a new sociological construct that changes the work-life balance.

The pandemic brought into sharp focus the vast disparities in access to basic health and wellbeing services across countries. It was also a catalyst for the adoption and utilisation of technology as a means of communication.

“We created a new set of rankings that incorporated some of the unavoidable Covid-19-induced challenges, of which the operating environment score was one”.

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Inspiring great leaders: Tsheto Leadership & Coaching Academy

Tsheto Leadership & Coaching Academy is an organisation whose existence is inspired by the passion for people development, and the belief that “in every human being there is a potential waiting for trust, respect and integrity to be unearthed”. These words were first spoken by the founder, Queen Ramotsehoa, in 2001. The growth and evolution of this organisation continue to draw strength from this powerful truth. What we know for sure is that conversations allow as many voices as possible to contribute to insights that will enable advancement by all. We invite conversations. The areas of interest are focusing especially on the following Coaching Programmes:

• Leadership Development for Leadership Teams.

• Women Leadership for women whose ambition is to advance and make their mark in leadership across different sectors of society.

• Diversity and Inclusion that appreciate the depth of diversity beyond visible and obvious features of people.

• Team Alignment that is grounded by embracing diversity and commitment to “make the circle bigger.

• Courageous Conversations that foster the creation of psychologically safe environments for everyone to participate and co-create irrespective of differences.

• Youth Development Programmes with a strong focus on equipping young people with self-leadership skills.

Tsheto uses Seminars, Webinars, Conferences, Boot Camps, and Coaching to allow conversations for mutual growth and benefit.

The tools that they use to facilitate and sustain these conversations include the following publications authored by Queen Ramotsehoa:

• The Self-coaching Leadership Diary

• Turning The Corner Self-Leadership Journal

• Self-leadership Cards

• Leadership Anchored in Consciousness is a Big Deal (Hot off the press!)

To learn more about Queen Ramotsehoa, watch her TEDx Talk below.

The benefits of the AfCFTA for the African economy

This article was first published on The Borgen Project website on 01 March 2021.

Trading within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) finally took effect on January 1, 2021. The AfCFTA is the world’s largest trading area since the establishment of the World Trade Organization with 54 of the 55 countries of the African Union (AU).

The AfCFTA was established by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement signed in March 2018 by 44 AU countries. Over time, other AU countries signed on as the official start of trading under the provisions of the agreement approached.

The AfCTFA is projected to create opportunities and boost the African economy. By facilitating this intra-African trade area, the international community expects sustainable growth and increased economic development. Opening up a market of over 1.3 billion people is expected to spur more intra-African trade while increasing the appeal of direct investment in Africa for the rest of the world.

The Implementation and Benefits of the AfCFTA

• Creating a Single Market. The main objective is to create a single market for goods and services to increase trading among African nations. The AfCFTA is tasked to implement protocols to eliminate trade barriers and cooperate with member states on investment and competition policies, intellectual property rights, settlement of disputes and other trade-liberating strategies.

• Expected Economic Boost and Trade Diversity. UNECA estimates that AfCFTA will boost intra-African trade by 52.3% once import duties and non-tariff barriers are eliminated. The AfCFTA will cover a GDP of $2.5 trillion of the market. The trade initiative will also diversify intra-African trade as it would encourage more industrial goods as opposed to extractive goods and natural resources. Historically, more than 75% of African exports outside of the continent consisted of extractive commodities whereas only 40% of intra-African trade were extractive.

• Collaborative Structure and Enforcement. All decisions of the AfCFTA institutions are reached by a simple majority vote. There are several key AfCFTA institutions. The AU Assembly provides oversight, guidance and interpretations of the Agreement. The Council of Ministers is designated by state parties and report to the Assembly. The Council makes the decisions that pertain to the Agreement. The Committee of Senior Trade Officials implements the decisions of the Council and monitors the development of the provisions of the AfCFTA. The Secretariat is established as an autonomous institution whose roles and responsibilities are determined by the Council.

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