AfricanBUSINESS
CONTENTSContents
UNITED KINGDOM IC PUBLICATIONS 7 Coldbath Square, London EC1R 4LQ Tel: +44 20 7841 3210 icpubs@icpublications.com www.african.business FOUNDER Afif Ben Yedder PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Omar Ben Yedder | o.benyedder@icpublications.com EDITOR David Thomas | d.thomas@icpublications.com DIGITAL EDITOR Shoshana Kedem | s.kedem@icpublications.com SUB-EDITOR Mike Holderness | m.holderness@icpublications.com DESIGN J V e n k a t a s a m y | j.venkatasamy@icpublications.com COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Roman Zincenko | r.zincenko@icpublications.com CONSULTING HEAD OF DELIVERY Brian Scudder | b.scudder@icpublications.com ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTORS Baytir Samba, Nick Rosefield, Saliba Manneh ADVERTISING advertising@icpublications.com MARKETING Emily Allen | e.allen@icpublications.com DISTRIBUTION distribution@icpublications.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Stuart West | s.west@icpublications.com TUNISIA Néjib Ben Yedder | n.benyedder@icpublications.com GHANA Silv ia Salvetti, Top Reports | top@topreports.org IC EVENTS info@ic-events.net SUBSCRIPTIONS IC Publications Webscribe Unit 4, College Business Park, College Road, North Aston Clinton HP22 5EZ UK Telephone + 44 (0) 1442 820580 contact@webscribe.co.uk https://african.business/subscribe PRINTERS Roularta Media Group Meensesteenweg 300 8800 Roeselare Belgium
All pictures AFP unless indicated. . Registered with the British Librar y.
ISSN 0141-3929
©2024 IC Publications Ltd
Cover stor y: Kenya investment drive
Business Intelligence 4 News and deals around Africa
Opinion 12 Could an African credit ratings
agency shift the dial?
Cover story: Kenya’s investment drive 16 Confident Ruto wins back
investors but taxing times ahead 20 Why the US is courting Ruto
Special report: Africa’s brands 28 African consumers remain loyal
to non-African brands 36 Africa’s top 100 brands
Features 14 Development institutions win at
the African Banker Awards 2024 40 Inter view: diversified markets
our strength, says Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group50 48 Inter view: Mamadou Biteye –
executive secretary, African Capacity Building Foundation 50 Inter view: ‘Where you fall you
have to pick yourself up properly’ says Ronnie Ntuli, founder, Thelo 54 Navigating geopolitical tides:
Africa’s path to trade resilience 56 Afreximbank’s first quarter
results impress amid push into the Caribbean 58 The Bahamas looks toward
diversification 60 French banks’ retreat from Africa
opens space for locals 64 Nigeria clamps down on crypto 67 Africa’s forestry sector seeks to
overcome growing pains
71 ‘Financialisation’ of Africa’s
forests drives inequality: report 74 Can clean cooking recover from
the carbon credit slump? 116 How digitalisation can close
Africa’s gender financing gap 126 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
bring warmth to Nigeria
Special report: Djibouti 78 Djibouti at the crossroads 80 Inter view: President Ismaïl Omar
Guelleh on leveraging advantages 86 Ports as springboard for
ambitious diversification 88 O Capital helping create new-look Djibouti cit y 90 IFC committed to supporting
Djibouti’s development journey 94 Inter view with Dileita Mohamed
Dileita, president of the National Assembly 96 Inter view: Ilyas Moussa
Dawaleh, minister of economy and finance 98 Inter view with the driving
force for digital transformation, minister Amina Abdi Aden
Countryfiles 122 Sudanese fleeing war find their feet in Egypt 124 Côte d’Ivoire strikes gold again
in timely boost for Ouattara
Review 128 Dag Hammarskjöld: the world’s civil servant
Editor’s View 130 A seismic shift in South Africa
