As Africa is a economy in transition resulting in growing consumer class which add up to the healthcare system. This further takes it on the track of fastest growing pharmaceutical market. The market is still under explored owing to the global attention it has gained over the years it still poses a great opportunity for business.  It is worth noting that more than 70% of the medicines in Africa are imported Apart from a few countries (like Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and South Africa), the rest of Africa is unable to produce enough drugs and medicines to satisfy local demand.

Apart from opening the market for the International investors Government is extensively procuring pharmaceutical products. Government has been inviting for pharmaceutical tenders for medicines, beds, Laboratory Apparatus and Laboratory Equipments, sanitary supplies and many others. In a bid to improve its healthcare provisions Government has been inviting request for proposals and quotations for procuring establishment of medical laboratories and plants especially in areas where there is no access to the medicines. Government initiatives are also supported innovations in the delivery model that might help increasing capacity a further more.  With over increasing dependence on the imports of the generic drugs the Government has been largely initiating Pharmaceutical projects in terms of local manufacturing and research centres.

Moreover, African diseases are been attracting huge attentions from the International pharmaceutical companies to venture the market. international pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi have already established their footprints in the African market. Apart from entering into public contracts for pharmaceuticals in Africa one can consider partnering with the local producer to enter into the market. For instance Cipla has entered into partnership with Emanuel Kantongole a drug manufacturer in Uganda, the company today produces 600 million tablets antiretroviral drugs every year and has become one of the largest manufactures in East Africa.

Similarly Johnson& Johnson partnered with South African government and has been imparting knowledge on maternal care and new born baby care. global pharmaceuticals companies need local business partners, manufacturers, packaging companies, and distributors—to help them navigate the continent’s many markets, with their widely varying consumer preferences, price points, manufacturing, and distribution infrastructures.

Africans have to be involved in the pharmaceutical sector in a much more extensive way than they are now, along with continuing partnerships with international companies and a renewed focus on education and building the skills necessary to nurture the next generation of African researchers and pharma leaders

Africa will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Now is the time for drug companies to decide whether they want to be part of that growth and, more important, play an active role in improving public health.

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With global economies shifting their focus towards renewable energy Africa still depends on Fossil fuels as a primary source for power generation. Africa’s current installed capacity is 147Gw which is equivalent to the total install capacity that china adds every one or two years. The continent’s power infrastructure is significantly underdeveloped whether we look at the installed capacity or the consumption levels.

According to the International Energy Agency Africa will require a potential investment of 30bn$ to attain 100% electricity access by 2030. The government has started taking progressive steps towards electrifying Africa; one of the initiatives worth mentioning is Power Africa. In 2013 Power Africa was launched by the former US president Mr Barack Obama with an aim to develop new power generation capacity and connect millions of households and businesses to on-grid and offgrid power across sub-Saharan Africa.

After three years of operations Power Africa has supported private companies and utilities in connecting 10.6mn households and facilitated the financial closure of 80 private sector transactions that generate more than 7,200 MW of power. Power Africa is now among the largest public-private partnerships for development in history, having mobilized more than $54 billion in commitments towards achieving Power Africa’s goals from its more than 140 public and private sector partners.

Along with undertaking developmental initiatives government has been shifting its focus towards making its power sector a lucrative investment hub for the international energy contractors in Africa.  Renewable energy contracts have been awarded to international EPC contractors to participate in the African power market. For instance,  A consortium featuring MAN Diesel & Turbo and Danish EPC-Specialist, BWSC, has won the contract to build the new 127 MW Maria Gleta power plant near the city of Cotonou, Benin. Similarly, ibvogt, German developer and EPC have won a contract to construct 166.5 MW solar farms in Egypt. Indian solar EPC firm Sterling and Wilson has won a contract to build 54.3 MW solar PV plant in Zambia.

The French renewable company Neoen will serve as Independent Power Producer (IPP) of the plant when it will be commissioned.  Andritz Hydro of Austria and Mota Engil of Portugal are currently completing their final designs and initiating procurement and manufacturing for the rehabilitation, upgrade, and modernization of the Nkula A hydropower plant that will increase the plant’s generation capacity from 24 MW to up to 36 MW, and provide a new station control system, a new 66 kV switchyard, and new transformers.

Moreover, government is extensively procuring energy equipments in order to meet its expanding demand for power. It has been calling for expression of interest in Renewable energy tenders for large projects. Government is extensively procuring services like transmission lines, photovoltaic rooftops, construction of water pumping system, Supply of Batteries for Solar Panels etc.

Potential Buyers  in power Sector in Africa  like Eskom Holdings, Energy Fund, Ministry Of Energy And Petroleum, The Tanzania Electric Supply etc are seeking EPC contracts for large renewable energy projects. In a bid to meet is goal of 100% access to electricity by 2030 PPA are inked with the international firms making their access to African market easy.

The Nigerian Bulk Trader signed power purchasing agreements (PPA) on 14 solar independent power projects (IPP) in July 2016. These solar IPPs, totaling 1,125 MW of generation capacity, are expected to attract more than $1.5 billion of combined domestic and foreign direct investment. Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) has inked a Shillings 24.2bn ($US 239m) deal with China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company (CET) to electrify the Mombasa – Nairobi section of Kenya Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

Though the continent faces power challenges these initiatives bring the momentum in change. Government has demonstrated the will to prioritize efforts and keep an eye on long –term improvisation of capabilities to create a thriving power industry and achieve its goal of universal access to electricity.

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macroeconomic Profile

Nominal GDP 43.02 bn$

GDP per-Capita 4265.40 USD

Inflation 4.8 %

FDI stock 678.20 million$

Ease of Doing Business 77/190

Credit Ratings B

The economic growth rate of the region has stabilized over the past years with the government making greater strides to advance its political transformation. The Prosperity has been largely driven by growth accelerated investments along with large projects outlining national development plans along with speeding up of structural reforms. Over the years, Tunisia has demonstrated all the distinctive characteristics of the dual economy with a well-developed modern industrial base.

Tunisia has an economics concentrated largely into service sector followed by Tourism, Agriculture, Manufacturing of machinery and cables, textiles production, and the IT industry and IT-related outsourcing.

Tunisia’s agriculture is rich in olive production, Europe, and Saudi Arabia are amongst the largest importers of olives from Tunisia. In a bid to enhance the sector growth and attract large investments. The regional commission on agriculture development has been encouraging the local entrepreneur to acquire olive plants to enhance its export potential. The Regional commission on Agriculture development has floated agriculture tender inviting domestic bids for acquisition of olive plants, Olive Seedlings, olive Nurseries, transport of herbaceous olive cuttings etc as a part of development of agriculture season programme. Moreover, AFDB has been funding major sector policy reforms to garner the sector with profits.

Equally important the country has been experiencing export competitiveness into the service sectors like banking and tourism. Major banking reforms have helped Tunisia demonstrate a stable performance. Moreover, Tourism is strongly forming a main stay in the economy contributing 15% to economic GDP.

Telecom is yet another promising sectors that have managed to sustain the growth, 5 million$ have been invested into Tunisian Telecom infrastructure development to help sector drive further drive the economic growth. major telecom operators like Tunisie Telecom, Orange Tunisia, SYSTEC etc have providing telecommunication services to Tunisian citizens. Systec has won government telecommunication contract worth 4,155bn $ for the provision of cameras for the project financed by the European Union. Its open investment regime allows a foreign investor to hold 100% capital of the project without any authorization has helped it attract huge international attention. Tunisian has a flexible cross border trade regime that allows the foreign firms to hold 100% capital in the projects. opportunities for competitive bidding from Tunisia are largely into Consulting, Civil engineering works, Project monitoring etc. Tunisia has gained praises for its well-developed infrastructure across the world that has today made it one of attractive business destinations. According to the procurement statistics for Tunisia, billion$ of government procurement has been into infrastructure and construction sector. The government has also sought financial assistance from the multilateral institution. EIB or UNDP 0r AFDB funded road construction projects, modernization projects, motorway projects, market place rehabilitation projects are under pipeline and some of them on the verge of completion by 2018

The government has been wisely utilizing the procurement vehicle to drive the economics of the major industries in Tunisia. Be it telecommunication, IT or Manufacturing, the government has been participating actively by procuring state of art technologies from outside that would enhance her home industries. Moreover, with the international presence of countries like Europe and Italy, France, Germany etc. have helped Tunisia maintain stable growth profile.

Apart from strong oil industries, Sudan’s industrial set up consists of light manufacturing industries, petroleum industries, agriculture and food processing industries etc. These sectors have predominantly contributed 30-40% to the current GDP growth rate. Sudan has a well-developed infrastructure compared to other sub-Saharan countries in Africa. Sudan’s medical industry has a potential to become a Medical hub for the African Economy. Medicines exports account for almost 70% of the Sudan exports and government is also concentrating in the procurement of services that will enhance its capacity to achieve its dream. Tenders are invited for Procurement of Medicines for The Federal Ministry of Health and the National Medical Supplies Fund in Sudan. The ministry of health has been inviting tenders for Provision of Lab Consumables in Sudan. Many of the pharmaceuticals government tenders are being funded by the world bank and other financial institutions in order to bridge the funding gap. Government procurement is enhancing the country’s potential to achieve its dream.

Sudan has a great potential for hydropower development, currently, the economy has 180mw of installed hydropower capacity. Moreover, large hydropower projects are underway in Sudan. Recently, China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd has signed a contract worth nearly US$1.4 billion or RMB 8.87 billion to build a hydropower station in South Sudan by 31 Dec 2019. The Sudan’s Ministry of Electricity and Dams (MED) plans to build 540 MW hydro power plant in Bedden, Juba. The Project is in the execution phase and is expected to be completed by 31 Dec 2019. These are some of the major hydropower projects undergoing in Sudan.

Agro-processing being another essential industry, government procurement from agriculture in Sudan has increased over the year. Tender notices for procurement of Buckets & Funnels with Filter, Water Pumping System, electric water pumps etc are published regularly on government tender portals. Moreover, additional financing is a norm in Africa, therefore funded projects in Sudan for food security, livestock and crops protection, up gradation of irrigation system etc are being actively undertaken to bring development to the sector. Sudan is known as world’s potential bread basket as it has one of the dynamic agricultural industry.

Government procurement in telecommunications is huge in Sudan. The government is actively undertaking measures to upgrade its telecommunication infrastructure. Recently, Sudatel Telecommunication Group has floated an expression of interest for Contracting of the Procurement, Construction, and Commissioning of New Telecom Stations. UNDP has floated a tender notice requesting for quotations to a potential bidder for procurement of ICT equipment for DDRC Offices. Anglo Petro for Integrated Solution CO has won government telecommunication contract for procurement of internet services in Sudan. Zain Telephone CO. LTD has won a telecommunication contract in Sudan for Local and long-distance telephone communications.

The economy is diversifying from oil based economy to a more industrialized economy that is promising Sudan long term growth prospects.

The Transportation Minister of Egypt Hesham Arafat has announced that the EIB funds will help them develop the first Cairo Metro line on the Helwan-Marg corridor.

                                          Cairo Metro line Projet, Egypt

As part of this project, establishment signs along the tracks and development of stations and infrastructure to convert the line from its existing mechanical system to a communications-based train control system have been envisioned.

The bank is also ready to help Egypt in its development of the first and second lines of Cairo Metro, apart from other supports, according to Arafat. The Minister has revealed that he has met a delegation of the EIB on 29th March 2017  and during this meeting, the European lender’s representatives have uttered their willingness to play a part in the development of the first and second lines, as well as to collaborate in the logistic spaces in 10th of Ramadan and 6th of October cities, support the Robeiky cargo line and help the investment division of the Transportation Ministry of Egypt.

Arafat has further said that their robust collaborative relation with the EIB is expected to support the phase three of the third line worth 600 million in total. The Minister has also stated that the bank is prepared to help for the establishment of the al-Raml tramway in Alexandria following its extension to Manshiya Square.

Arafat has uttered his delight over their productive ties with the EIB and stressed that they have now prioritised on boosting the capacity of the first line in a two-phase manner. The banks funding will cater to the half of the overall outlay of the project. ]]> https://www.africagateway.info/Blog/2017/04/eib-provides-500mn-fund-for-egypts-cairo-metro-project/feed/ 0