Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 28 February 2024

Wed Feb 28 09:29:39 CAT 2024

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Major International Business Headlines Brief:::  28 February 2024 

ü  Africa: South Sudan's New Finance Minister Braving 'Ghosts' and
Crocodiles

ü  South Africa: Small-Scale Fishers Could Be Allowed to Catch New Species

ü  Nigeria: International Oil Companies Not Leaving Nigeria - Minister

ü  Ethiopia: Tigray Electric Service to Fully Restore in June

ü  Namibia: Nam Found Wanting By Finance Watchdog

ü  Namibia: City of Windhoek Crafts Recovery Plan...Aimed At Securing
Long-Term Financial Sustainability

ü  Botswana: Using Technology to Fight Food Insecurity in Botswana

ü  Nigeria: 4,000 Benefit From Sale of Seized Rice

ü  Country Garden: China property giant hit with winding-up petition

ü  Tata confirms Somerset will host £4bn battery factory

ü  Apple unplugs self-driving electric car project, reports say

ü  More music leaving TikTok over Universal Music row

ü  Why Google's 'woke' AI problem won't be an easy fix

 <https://www.cloverleaf.co.zw/> N Africa: South Sudan's New Finance
Minister Braving 'Ghosts' and Crocodiles

A South Sudan minister has set out to eliminate 'ghost workers' from public
payroll and vowed not to pay out a mountain of claims worth millions of
dollars until the invoices are verified.

But things do not work like that. Dr Barnaba Bak Chol's determination to
push ahead with the reforms and transformation of South Sudan's limping
economy is simmering discontent among some powerful individuals who benefit
from the schemes.

Yet coming as the country prepares for its first general elections in
December, there is a feeling that it could all be a ruse by the ruling Sudan
People's Liberation Movement party - whose leader President Salva Kiir says
he will be on the ballot in the long-delayed elections.

Appointed finance and planning minister last August, Bak immediately
declared it was the "right time" for economic transformation.

"If we unite and eliminate corruption, and equitably share our national
resources, we can be one of the strongest economies," he said.

It all sounded like a diaper dream in a nation Transparency International's
corruption perception index gave a measly 13 percent in 2022 - only better
than Somalia that scored 10.

Here is a restive nation where the gun is might and the youngest minister to
ever assume the powerful docket of Finance and Planning Minister was talking
of fighting ghosts, forensic audit and scrutiny of invoices.

But then Bak started walking the talk. He kicked out security organs that
were involved in collecting illicit fees at the border town of Nimule,
saying the levies were way too many and "much painful to importers and
consumers".

A typical South Sudan border post has customs, trade ministry, bureau of
standards, and state revenue authority picking what belongs to Caesar.

But there would also be police's CID and traffic - all licking their fingers
at the sight of goods in transit.

"There are so many collections at the border point, so I have taken the bold
decision... we will have only four institutions at the border collecting
taxes as authorised by the law," he said.

The minister's bold stance has been akin to testing the depth of the river
with both feet. In taking away mussels from the mouths of those who have
been munching the public turkey, Bak has picked up a quarrel with a
crocodile when his legs are still in the water.

"These people have been doing this for years, they have done this under
every other past minister and no one has dared touch them," said a source in
the South Sudan finance ministry.

But South Sudanese civil rights crusader and president of the East African
Civil Society Organisation's Forum, Edmund Yakani, believes it is all
rhetoric in action.

"It is going to be very hard for the finance minister to carry comprehensive
and concrete finance reforms in the ministry or the finance sector," Yakani
said.

He said the reforms cannot work out because the whole system of finance and
planning in South Sudan is not clean and low-level civil servants are deeply
embedded in the corruption.

In their 2023 report, the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, said
corruption in South Sudan is systemic across all levels of government and
pervades nearly every economic sector.

"Perpetrators enjoy widespread impunity," the report said.

But Bak has moved to address overstaffing at the finance ministry. He has
instituted screening and downsizing to enhance efficiency.

"Restructuring is essential for optimal functionality. The screening process
and subsequent capacity building are crucial steps in this direction," he
said.

Sickening turnover

As well the crocodiles in the murky waters he is trying to drain, Bak holds
a docket that has arguably the worst turnover in the history of public
office anywhere in the world.

Since independence in July 2011, President Kiir has appointed 11 finance
ministers.

There had been three more between 2005 - when the nation signed the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended decades of liberation war - and
independence.

Only two-time finance minister Salvatore Garang Mabiordit has served for two
years when he took over on March 12, 2018, until his sacking on March 12,
2020.

Gabriel Changson Chang suffered the ignominy of being dropped even before he
had completed his welcome party on July 2, 2007.

He had been appointed in March.

"Even as we speak now a former finance minister is lobbying to be
reappointed to finance," a source said.

In South Sudan, the finance ministry controls the economy, making it the
centre of power and wealth. To be a finance minister means having all the
resources at your disposal, with the revenue authority and the petroleum
corporation, as well as the central bank, all under the ministry.

That boon is its bane, too. It is like a dining table where you are invited,
you eat, wash your hands and leave. There is no hanging around to pick your
teeth because someone else will be washing their hands to eat.

Dr John Akech, vice chancellor of the University of Juba, was candid during
Bak's welcome at the ministry, telling the party to give the new minister
just one year and "if he achieves anything, that's when can celebrate".

Prof Akech has worked closely with Bak, who until his appointment was an
assistant professor at the School of Business and Management at the
University of Juba, for several years.

"The ministry of finance is a machine that roll around bringing people
happily in and spitting them out there," Akech said.

Last year, the National Assembly had to suspend debate on the budget when
Finance minister Dier Tong Ngor was fired.

The attrition bleeds the economy. For many ministers, like Prof Akech
described, it becomes more about picking whatever you can lay your hands on
before you are kicked in the next morning.

A finance minister hardly gets past the first circle of planning, or
implementation of a project agreed upon with a development partner. The
defenestration is quick and unforgiving.

Presidential Decree

Bak said he would introduce an economic emergency intervention plan. He said
it was a policy intended to fix the foreign exchange market by providing
essential goods to lower inflation, and also to accelerate the
implementation of public management financial reforms.

"We must first have an efficient revenue mobilisation and an effective
financial management system," said the former controller of accounts and
director of finance in the Office of the President between 2008 and 2012.

Faced with crocodiles with himself in the swamp to drain, Bak secured a
golden seal of backing - at least on paper.

On January 25, Kiir issued a Presidential Decree to the Ministries of
Finance and Planning, and Public Service to implement a National Payment
System.

"The National Payment System shall include screening of pay sheets,
production of financial identification cards and other procedures deemed
necessary to ensure the salaries of civil servants and members of the SSPDF
and other organised forces are paid on time and that ghost names are removed
from the national payroll," he said.

Under the biometric system, electronic payroll ID will be used by every
public servant to draw salary.

Several efforts in the last decade to implement the system - backed by the
World Bank and donor agencies - have failed.

For instance, on March 2, 2022, the World Bank approved $34 million in
International Development Association grant to support a five-year Public
Financial Management and Institutional Strengthening Project in South Sudan.

Indication is that powerful persons live in the million-dollar industry of
ghost workers and frustrate any efforts geared at cleansing the public
payroll.

Yakani said the high level of misuse, misallocation and embezzlement of
public funds will make financing elections harder and likely raise
elections-related corruption.

In 2013, Al Jazeera reported that a probe into police had uncovered 11,000
fake names on the payroll.

"A further 16,000 names were being investigated, meaning half the force on
the payroll may be fictitious," then Interior Minister Aleu Ayeny Aleu told
reporters.

In 2022, then public service minister Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro revealed that
the government payroll system had been bleeding from irregularities for
years. He cited reports of non-existent workers appearing on payroll and
receiving monthly salaries via forged signatures.

In the biometric system, South Sudan hopes for public financial management
reforms, strengthening key oversight institutions, and improving budget
transparency.

"We have a lot of employees who are not registered... we are trying to go
biometric to make sure that the government pays the right people," said
Bakosoro, now the minister for the presidency.

President Kiir's Decree also supports Bak's war on corruption where he has
been faced with thousands of financial claims worth millions of dollars. Bak
insists on verifying every invoice.

"The Ministry of Finance and Planning shall establish an independent
committee to verify and investigate all the national claims and propose ways
in which these claims shall be paid," Kiir ordered in the decree that
directed all government institutions to comply.

Yakani feels there is posturing at play because the 'real' political
leadership is not supportive of the fight against corruption.

In a way, he could be right, because Juba indicate that Kiir is already
rubbing his hat uneasily over Bak's handling of the ministry.

With elections nine months away, the finance ministry will be a trump card
the ruling party will want to see working. Whether the working desired is
Bak's style is what remains to be seen.

- Nile Post.

South Africa: Small-Scale Fishers Could Be Allowed to Catch New Species

Small-scale fishers in the Western Cape could be allowed to catch new
species, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has said.

The Department is finalising policy for the small-scale sector in the
Western Cape.

Small-scale fishing cooperatives must be sustainable, Abongile Ngqongwa,
deputy director of small-scale fisheries management, told Parliament on
Tuesday. He said most resources had been declining and the department's
objective was to ensure the fishers were supported and the cooperatives were
"operational".

He said the department would examine what should still be allocated to the
small-scale sector. Some species would be shared with the commercial sector.
"That will need to be a fair process moving forward," he said.

So far, 62 small-scale fishing cooperatives in the Western Cape have been
registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).
Long-awaited 15-year fishing rights were given to about 3,850 small-scale
fishers in November 2023.

The finalisation of these rights had been delayed in the Western Cape for
several years, after the 2016-19 rights allocation was set aside and the
process restarted. Rights had already been allocated to fishers and
cooperatives in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.

Deputy director-general of fisheries management Sue Middleton told
Parliament that species allocated to small-scale fishing cooperatives
included squid, West Coast rock lobster, seaweed, hake handline, linefish,
oysters, and white mussels. She said there had been suggestions that the
basket of species should be enlarged. The department was "welcoming any
suggestions", she said.

Middleton also said the department is setting up a three-year programme of
mentors to support cooperatives with business and financial management.

MP Hannah Shameema Winkler (DA) asked what the department had learned from
the "botched process" of allocating fishing rights. She said it "doesn't
cast a favourable light on the department that we constantly have to endure
these massive challenges when it comes to fishing rights allocation" and
added that it "erodes the integrity" and "trust" of the fishers.

MP Nazier Paulsen (EFF) said that it is important that mentors assist the
cooperatives because running the cooperatives would be "complex".

- GroundUp.

Nigeria: International Oil Companies Not Leaving Nigeria - Minister

"I want to use this opportunity to assure everyone that no IOC is leaving
Nigeria. They are only going deep offshore," Mr Lokpobiri said.

The Nigerian government on Tuesday said international oil companies (IOCs)
are not leaving the country but only shifting their portfolio and further
investments to deep offshore.

Nigeria's Minister for State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri,
disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the 7th edition of the Nigeria
International Energy Summit (NIES 2024) held at the presidential banquet
hall in Abuja on Tuesday.

"I want to use this opportunity to assure everyone that no IOC is leaving
Nigeria. They are only going deep offshore," Mr Lokpobiri said.

The minister noted that the divestments by some international oil companies
are a win-win situation as the IOCs are making further investments in the
deep offshore thereby making room for indigenous companies to develop
capacity within the onshore and shallow waters space.

"It is imperative to note that we are strategically managing the divestment
processes. Our commitment to enhancing our crude oil reserves and production
is unwavering, and we are actively exploring innovative solutions to attract
investment, optimize operations, and foster sustainable growth. We are open
for business and ready to welcome your investments," he said.

Mr Lokpobiri added that the transition to cleaner and more sustainable
energy sources is inevitable.

"We are actively pursuing initiatives to position Nigeria as a leader in
this energy transition. As we navigate this change, Nigeria recognizes the
need to strike a balance between meeting our growing energy demand and
reducing our carbon footprint.

"The diversification of our energy mix, investments in renewable energy, and
the adoption of cleaner technologies are all integral components of our
strategy," he said.

He explained that in comparison to the global decline of investments in the
oil and gas industry between 2017 and 2022, investments in Nigeria declined
by 69 per cent when compared to the 28 per cent global average decline.

"To further buttress the above, the capital investment to reserve ratio
shows the amount of capital deployed to a country's available reserves.
Nigeria has an abysmal capital investment-to-reserve ratio of 5 per cent
compared to Angola (46 per cent), Brazil (115 per cent), Mozambique (92 per
cent) and Guyana (617 per cent).

"The window for attracting new investments and exploring our vast reserves
is fast narrowing. If the global energy transition accelerates,
approximately 60 per cent of Nigeria's reserves could be uncompetitive to
produce.

"Against this backdrop, we have identified that there are so many licenses
with proven reserves that are not being optimized in the hands of IOCs, NOC,
and others. In line with Mr. President's Renewed Hope agenda, we are working
on changing this narrative," he said.

He said one of the easiest ways to solve the current foreign exchange
challenges faced in the country is to aggressively increase production which
will in turn bring in additional revenue for the government.

"The additional crude produced will serve as a feedstock to our state-owned,
private, and modular refineries. Thereby changing the narrative of Nigeria
being a major refined petroleum products importer to an export hub. The time
to act is now. We need to take bold and decisive actions to harness the vast
hydrocarbon resources," he said.

The minister noted that no country is slowing down fossil fuel exploration
and production.

"Recall that only recently, the UK government awarded over 100 licenses for
exploration in the North Sea; furthermore, the United States of America
being the highest producer of oil today is also ramping up production. No
country is reducing production.

"As a government, ours is to provide a business-friendly and enabling
environment for potential investors. This is what we are doing, and we are
resolute in removing all bottlenecks, disincentives, and impediments
preventing inflows of such investment. This is the whole essence of the PIA
2021," the minister said.

Also speaking, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Mele Kyari, explained that the role of
the company in the divestment of international oil companies from onshore
and shallow water assets in the country is that of a facilitator and not an
obstacle.

He further explained that by virtue of its statutory mandate as the enabler
of national energy security, NNPC Ltd's role is to ensure that there is
optimal and sustainable production from the divested assets to guarantee
energy security for the benefit of Nigerians.

He assured stakeholders of the company's commitment to work with them to
close the energy deficit gap and create prosperity for Nigerians, adding
that from all indications, all issues of energy scarcity in the country
would be over in the next 10 years.

- Premium Times.

Ethiopia: Tigray Electric Service to Fully Restore in June

ADDIS ABABA - The Tigray State Electric Utility said the restoration of
war-damaged power lines and other electric infrastructure is set to be
completed in the coming June.

The Utility's CEO Mesfin Geberemedhin told the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA)
that the Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) has allocated 1.7 billion Birr to
repair Tigray's electric infrastructure that was severely damaged by the
past war in the state. The war has damaged the electric infrastructure built
across Tigray but efforts have been made to overcome the problems and ensure
the service provision.

While the replacement of wooden electric poles with concrete ones is well
underway, the utility has formed a close partnership with the EEU to
complete the rehabilitation of the damaged power lines and to restore the
disconnected system.

The CEO also stated that the utility has managed to erect 11, 000 concrete
poles out of the 16,000 in plan and to install a significant length of power
lines and make the infrastructure ready to transfer electricity.

Along with this, the utility has been building electrical infrastructure in
33 districts of Tigray and has carried out consolidated activities to fill
the state's electric service provision gaps.

According Mesfin, a total of 38 electrical sites have been damaged due to
the war including big projects in Axum, Shire, Adigrat, Edaga Hamus, Wukero
Tsgereda, Mayechew, Adi Shuhu, and others.

Moreover, the limited availability of concrete poles remains a serious
problem that is hindering to expediting of the restoration activities. "To
address such challenges, we have formed a strong collaboration with the
EEU," he remarked.

Due to the prevalence of relative peace in Tigray, consolidated efforts have
been made to restore essential infrastructure including electric lines that
were damaged by war.

MESERET BEHAILU

THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2024

- Ethiopian Herald.

Namibia: Nam Found Wanting By Finance Watchdog

Ineffective implementation of compliance with international anti-money
laundering (AML), combatting the financing of terrorism (CFT), and combating
proliferation financing (CPF) standards have led to Namibia being greylisted
by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Namibia is now placed under increased monitoring. This was confirmed by
central bank (BoN) governor Johannes !Gawaxab last week."Despite Namibia's
substantial progress, the FATF found Namibia wanting in AML/CFT/CPF
effectiveness in six of the 11 immediate outcomes, assessed around
effectiveness. Effectiveness compliance focus on a country's ability to
demonstrate an effective framework for protecting the financial system from
AML/CTF/CPF abuse, considering the specific risks it faces," said !Gawaxab
in a statement last week. A country that is greylisted is an indication that
FATF, an international financial watchdog, has identified strategic
deficiencies in applicable systems to counter financial crimes. Greylisting
means a country is under increased monitoring due to a lack of policies and
procedures to deal with AML, CFT and CPF. !Gawaxab further stated that
Namibia made significant strides in addressing all the technical compliance
shortcomings through the amendment of existing laws and introduction of new
legislation. Notably, nine existing laws were amended, two laws were
repealed and replaced, and two new laws were introduced that were previously
absent from the Namibian legislative framework.

Out of 72 recommended actions, Namibia made progress by addressing 59 action
items. However, 13 action items within the domain of six national
AML/CFT/CPF combatting stakeholders remain outstanding, requiring urgent
attention. To ensure Namibia and the identified risk combatting stakeholders
timeously address remaining identified shortcomings, the FATF prescribed an
agreed-upon action plan, outlining specific measures to be implemented.
Recognising the urgency of the situation, the national focal committee,
comprising representatives from public and private sector stakeholders, will
enable an execution plan and ensure timeous address of the outstanding
action items.

!Gawaxab did not hesitate to highlight that the greylisting has various
ramifications for Namibia, including potential negative effects on foreign
direct investment, trade, and financial activities. According to IMF
guidelines, an FATF greylisting has a negative impact on the GDP of a listed
country by up to 6%. Entities doing business with Namibia may also be forced
to do additional due diligence, which could result in higher expenses and
scrutiny. "Despite the greylisting, Namibia's financial system remains
sound, stable, and well capitalised. With robust due diligence measures in
place, transactions between Namibia and the global community will continue
to be safeguarded. Businesses and citizens can proceed with confidence in
conducting transactions internationally," !Gawaxab added. According to the
financial stability report for 2022 released by the Bank of Namibia (BoN)
and the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa), the
financial system in Namibia remains sound and profitable overall.

- New Era.

Namibia: City of Windhoek Crafts Recovery Plan...Aimed At Securing Long-Term
Financial Sustainability

City of Windhoek CEO Moses Matyayi has assured the City's stakeholders,
partners, and the residents that for now and in the foreseeable future, the
capital city is "a going concern". This is an accounting term describing a
business that is expected to operate for the foreseeable future, typically
at least for the next 12 months. The term assumes that entity in question
can generate sufficient income to meet its obligations and is financially
stable to continue its operations indefinitely until evidence suggests
otherwise.

"We are actively crafting a financial recovery plan aimed at securing
long-term financial sustainability. Our focus is not only on developing a
robust strategy but also on ensuring its effective execution to achieve our
goals in line with the strategic plan 2022- 2027," the CEO stated.

Matyayi was responding to the Auditor General (AG) Junias Kandjeke's
conclusion of a qualified audit opinion for the 2020/2021 financial audit
report that was recently tabled in Parliament. In the report, Kandjeke
cautioned that the City does not have a solid plan on how it is going to
turn around commercial insolvency and its current deficit-making position in
the foreseeable future. The report was compiled in September 2023.

"The financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the
financial position of the Municipality of Windhoek as at 30 June 2021, and
its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended,"
Kandjeke stated in the City's audit report, justifying the qualified audit
opinion.

A qualified audit opinion is expressed when the auditor either obtains
sufficient appropriate audit evidence, and concludes that misstatements,
individually or in the aggregate, are material but not pervasive to the
financial statements.

The City of Windhoek municipality accumulated a cumulative loss of N$3.2
billion between 2012 and 2022, a N$300 million wage bill, a N$100 million
annual employee vehicle scheme, N$70 million losses on bus services, and a
lifelong post-retirement medical aid scheme for which it spends N$27 million
a year. The latter amount has been described as a growing liability, as it
depends on the number of employees who go on retirement.

Meanwhile, the CEO continued that this is the first time in 12 years that
the City received a qualified audit opinion. Therefore, he added, moving
from a disclaimer audit opinion to a qualified audit opinion represents
significant progress in financial reporting.

"These results are an indication that the organisation has been occupied
with addressing previous operational uncertainties and financial
deficiencies, which has now resulted in improved transparency and
reliability of the financial statements to date," Matyayi explained.

According to him, the City has made significant strides over the last two
financial years, which include effectively containing expenditure. He placed
specific emphasis on employment cost and that no salary increases were
granted in the last four years since 2020, despite the economic hardship
experienced over this period.

As a result of these efforts, Matyayi noted that current liquidity has
improved further when excluding government loans.

- New Era.

Botswana: Using Technology to Fight Food Insecurity in Botswana

Tumo Kgabeng's agritech solution uses drones to track pests, diseases and
soil quality and recommends treatments.

Mr. Kgabeng, 24, is co-founder of Anton Tech - an AI research company that
seeks to transform the agriculture industry. He spoke to Nathan
Hastings-Spaine for Africa Renewal about his start-up:

Many brilliant ideas never come to pass because someone was afraid to go out
and offer their solution to the world. Lose your fear of failure because it
is part of the process.Tumo KgabengChief Technical Officer at Anton Tech in
Botswana Could you please share some insights about yourself, such as your
background, experiences , and interests?

My name is Tumo Kgabeng. I come from Gaborone, Botswana, and I am the
founder and chief technical officer of Anton Tech - an AI research company
aimed at transforming the agriculture industry to address the looming threat
of food security in Botswana.

My journey in computer programming started at 14 years when I began teaching
myself the basics of Python in junior school. By 17, I was pursuing my BSc
in Computer Systems Engineering at Botswana Accountancy College, then I
joined the developer communities at iCode Hub.

During my time in college, I interacted with industry professionals, became
a part of the broader developer community, and led a Google Developer
Student Club (DSC).

In my second year, I started working in the industry as a React Engineering
Developer for a company in Gaborone.

When and how did you start this initiative?

The idea to create Anton Tech came up during the Botho Hacks 2021 hackathon.
The theme for that year's hackathon was 'Developing Technology to improve
Life in Africa.'

In Botswana, as in most African countries, we rely heavily on agriculture
and mining. My team aspired to use technology to address some of the
agricultural industry's challenges and contribute to the country's economic
growth.

After winning the hackathon and recognizing the project's potential, my
co-founder Kesego Mokgosi and I continued working on Project Anton Tech and
eventually launched it. We later partnered with Tlamelo Makati, our research
lead, to further develop and scale our solution.

Anton Tech has since grown to become an AI research start-up. We have
agreements with different corporates and parastatals to conduct research and
help fill the data gaps in the agriculture value chain.

How does it work, and what problem does it solve?

Despite advancing technologies, the methods of tracking transboundary pests,
diseases, and soil organic carbon (SOC) levels have lagged. Today, the
turnaround time for applying expert advice can take months. Several
time-intensive steps occur before a farmer can respond to an outbreak,
including field scouting, detecting pests and diseases, and determining
appropriate interventions.

Additionally, manual and paper-based reporting of farm visits by agronomists
means data is captured in an unusable format for aggregation and analytics.
Consequently, it is difficult to identify patterns and trends across the
value chain. All these factors reduce yield, productivity, and profitability
for farmers.

Project Anton Tech is a deep-learning Agritech solution that uses image data
from drones, satellites, or other devices with a camera to detect pests and
diseases, predict soil organic carbon levels, and give recommendations on
the treatments or appropriate interventions to apply.

How the technology works:

Realtime crop and animal disease detection:

Users take a picture of the plant and send it to Anton Tech via WhatsApp,
Facebook Messenger, Twitter, or MMS.

The neural networks analyze the image using data from verified sources about
diseases

We then respond with the disease name and treatment recommendation.

We decided to integrate Project Anton Tech with some existing platforms like
WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Twitter before rolling out our standalone
mobile phone App to make access as frictionless as possible.

Precision farming:

We use drones to collect data at scale and help farmers with precision
farming.

Through drones, we help farmers identify which specific area of their farm
needs treatment. Established farmers with 500 or more hectares of crops tend
to spray herbicides and pesticides across the whole farm instead of
targeting the portion that has the disease.

Centralized data analytics:

We built an analytics dashboard allowing parastatals to digitize and
aggregate their data. Government parastatals have long worked with the
farmers and collected data on them, but it was unusable.

Our reporting dashboard lets them visualize Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs) and identify patterns and trends across the value chain.

What are the challenges and successes you have faced so far? What should be
done to solve this?

Our major challenge is getting the relevant stakeholders in the value chain
to adopt the technology. Even though Project Anton Tech can bring
productivity to the value chain, getting people to migrate there takes time
and effort.

Our approach to building trust within the industry is conducting demos
demonstrating how Project Anton works.

What is your message to the young people in Africa?

Don't be afraid to fail. We learn more from our losses than our wins.

Many brilliant ideas never come to pass because someone was afraid to go out
and offer their solution to the world. Lose your fear of failure because it
is part of the process.

Whatever solution you have, put it out there and continue to iterate on it
based on the feedback you get from users. That is how we improve as
innovators and drive toward a better Africa.

- Africa Renewal.

Nigeria: 4,000 Benefit From Sale of Seized Rice

Over 4,000 persons in Lagos, on Friday, benefited from the sale of rice
seized by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

Leadership reports that Comptroller-General of the NCS, Bashir Adewale
Adeniyi, had on Thursday directed that the seized rice be sold to members of
the public at a subsidised rate of N10,000 per 25kg bag.

He directed that beneficiaries must produce their National Identification
Number to benefit.

Addressing pressure groups, religious leaders and other beneficiaries of the
gesture, Adeniyi pleaded with them not to divert the rice to markets.

He assured that more Nigerians would benefit from the gesture as the rice
would be sold at subsidised rate at all Customs commands in the country.

He said the federal government instructed that the less-privileged be given
priority in the sale of the rice.

Some of the beneficiaries commended the federal government and the NCS for
the kind gesture.

Operatives of the police, the Department of State Services, the Nigerian
Army and those of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority provided
security at the sales venue.

Beneficiaries included artisans, teachers, religious bodies,
physically-challenged persons and street sweepers.

A physically-challenged beneficiary, Taiwo Lawal, broke down in tears while
appreciating the federal government for the gesture.

"This has never happened in the history of Nigeria where the majority of
Nigerians will benefit from relief items genuinely and without
discrimination.

"If the government engages in more of this gesture, prices of goods will
reduce and common people will be able to afford them," Lawal said.

Another vulnerable person, Amdalat Balogun, who lost her sight at birth,
said she got the news on radio and quickly borrowed N10,000 from her
neighbour to enable her to benefit from the gesture.

Balogun said she bought the rice preparatory to the forthcoming month of
fasting by Muslims and expressed appreciation of the NCS and the federal
government.

She pleaded with the government to sell more subsidised food items to
sustain the lives and livelihood of ordinary Nigerians.

In his remarks, Chief Imam of Magodo Phase 2, Central Mosque, Lagos, Imam
Abdul-Semiu Kelani, thanked the government and prayed for the success of the
present administration.

He noted that the government's gesture would go a long way to ease the
hardship of Nigerians.

A cleric, Emmanuel Omoroke of St. Louis Catholic Church, bought rice on
behalf of indigent members of the church and also commended the government
for the gesture.

A street sweeper engaged by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, Mrs
Morufat Bello, also appreciated the government's gesture after she bought
the rice.

A nonagenarian, Mrs Adeke Lateef, whose grandchild took to the sales point
prayed for successes for the government and urged it to do more.

- Leadership.

Country Garden: China property giant hit with winding-up petition

China's biggest private property developer Country Garden is facing a
winding-up petition, which has been filed in Hong Kong by a creditor.

A firm called Ever Credit Ltd filed the case for non-payment of a loan worth
HK$1.6bn ($204.5m; £161.2m).

Country Garden, which defaulted on its overseas debt in October, says it
will "resolutely oppose" the petition.

Last month, rival real estate giant China Evergrande was ordered to
liquidate by a Hong Kong court.

The court has set the first hearing date for the petition on 17 May, Country
Garden said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Ever Credit is a unit of Kingboard Holdings, a laminates maker and property
investor.

Shares in Country Garden fell more than 10% in early Hong Kong trade
following the announcement.

Country Garden did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

"The filing of winding-up petition against Country Garden is not surprising
for us," Jason Sze from personal finance firm iFAST Financial told the BBC.

It comes a month after Evergrande, the world's most indebted property
developer, was ordered to be liquidated by a Hong Kong court.

The firm has been the poster child of China's real estate crisis with more
than $300bn (£236bn) of debt.

Liquidators have been appointed to look at Evergrande's overall financial
position and identify potential restructuring strategies.

That could include seizing and selling off assets, so that the proceeds can
be used to repay outstanding debts.

However, the Chinese government may be reluctant to see work halt on
property developments in China, where many ordinary would-be homeowners are
waiting for apartments they have already paid for.

Mr Sze does not expect Country Garden to face a forced liquidation order
like Evergrande.

"We believe that the company will launch an offshore debt restructuring plan
as soon as possible to fend off the winding-up petition and settle the
defaulted debts," he said.

Problems in China's property market are having a major impact as the sector
accounts for a third of the economy.

The industry has been facing a major financial squeeze since 2021, when
authorities introduced measures to curb the amount big real estate companies
could borrow.

Since then several large property developers have defaulted on their debts
in the last few years.-bbc

Tata confirms Somerset will host £4bn battery factory

The future site of the the UK's biggest electric vehicle battery
manufacturing facility has been confirmed.

Jaguar Land Rover-owner Tata says it will invest £4bn in a brownfield site
near Bridgwater in Somerset.

The government previously announced the flagship battery factory would be
built in the UK, but this is the first official confirmation of the site.

The new plant is expected to create 4,000 jobs and thousands more in the
supply chain.

Tata says battery production is set to begin there in 2026.

Agratas - Tata Group's global battery business - has confirmed it will build
the factory, its first outside India, at the Gravity Smart Campus in
Puriton.

The site was a Royal Ordnance Factory from World War Two until it was
decommissioned in 2008.

Agratas will be the first occupier on the site, taking around 50% of the
land.

It said by the early 2030s it will contribute almost half of the projected
battery manufacturing capacity required for the UK automotive sector.

The factory will produce 40GWh of battery cells annually, enough to supply
approximately 500,000 passenger vehicles.

Emma Rawlings, chief executive of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, said the
development will bring opportunities for the area.

"As the county chamber of commerce, we're really pleased that this will
bring opportunities for our businesses across Somerset and the region," she
said.

"It's really pertinent that we are leading in terms of the supply chain.

"Our supply chain are already geared up for what we've done with Hinkley and
we can upscale that."

The new gigafactory will be located 15.3 miles (24km) from the Hinkley Point
C nuclear power station.

The gigafactory will be one of the largest in Europe and will initially make
batteries for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles like Range Rover, the Defender and
the Jaguar brands.

But the plan is to also supply other car manufacturers as well as producing
commercial energy storage.

Tom Flack, CEO, Agratas, said: "We care deeply about the communities we
operate in, so it's imperative to us that we work with, and listen to, our
new neighbours as we build our factory in Somerset."

The company has set up a Whatsapp channel for local people and thousands of
residents are due to receive a leaflet in the post from the company this
week.

The official confirmation of the site and the jobs it will bring has been
welcomed in Somerset.

Martin Bellamy, Chairman of Gravity said: "It's impossible to overstate how
important this is for the UK. It is the catalyst to kick-start the electric
vehicle revolution in the UK.

Andy Berry, Principal of Bridgwater and Taunton College, said he was
"delighted" with the news.

He said: "We've got a great deal of experience in workforce development -
big infrastructure projects like Hinkley Point C.

"We can draw on that experience. We've been here and we've done this and
Agratas can be tremendously confident in our community and in our
workforce."

Councillor Bill Revans, Leader of Somerset Council, said: "This is momentous
for the county, its economy and for future generations.

"It's about seizing an incredible opportunity to be at the heart of the UK's
green energy industry that will create thousands of highly-skilled,
well-paid, green jobs."-bbc

Apple unplugs self-driving electric car project, reports say

Apple has reportedly cancelled its plans to build electric vehicles (EV) a
decade after the iPhone maker was rumoured to be working on the project.

The firm has never publicly acknowledged the project, which involves around
two thousand people.

Many employees from the project will be moved to the iPhone maker's
artificial intelligence (AI) division, according to Bloomberg News.

Apple did not immediately respond to a BBC request for a comment.

The Apple car team was reportedly known as the Special Projects Group as
part of its chief executive Tim Cook's Project Titan.

As it spent billions of dollars on research and development, the company was
initially rumoured to be working on a fully autonomous vehicle without a
steering wheel and pedals.

The team was understood to still be years away from producing a vehicle.

"This is a smart and long awaited decision," Ray Wang, founder and chief
executive of Silicon Valley-based consultancy Constellation Research told
the BBC.

"The market demand for EVs is not there and AI is where all the action is,"
he added.

Apple has been exploring other opportunities beyond the iPhone and
computers, including its recently launched Vision Pro virtual reality
headset.

Research firm Counterpoint highlighted that the decision came as the market
for AI in consumer electronics is growing sharply.

"Preliminary data suggests shipments of generative AI smartphones will
exceed 100 million units in 2024," said its senior analyst, Ivan Lam.

Counterpoint predicts that number could hit more than 500 million by 2027.

Demand for EVs has slowed in recent month as borrowing costs remain high,
which has made the market increasingly competitive as major players try to
win over customers.

In recent months, US motor industry giants Ford and General Motors have
postponed plans to expand EV production.

Last week, electric truck maker Rivian announced it would cut its workforce
by 10% and said it did not expect any growth in its production this year.

In January, Tesla warned that its sales growth would be weaker this year
than in 2023.

The company, which is led by multi-billionaire Elon Musk, has been cutting
prices in key markets around the world, including Europe and China, as it
faces tough competition from Chinese rivals such as BYD.

Mr Musk responded on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter,
to a report that the Apple project was being wound down with emojis of a
salute and a cigarette.-bbc

More music leaving TikTok over Universal Music row

TikTok says it has started removing more music from its platform as part of
a continuing row over royalties with Universal Music Group (UMG).

The app has already silenced songs by artists signed to the label, but is
now having to do the same with writers too.

This means that videos featuring songs by artists such as Harry Styles and
Adele, who have written with Universal-signed artists, could soon be muted.

TikTok says up to 30% of what it calls "popular songs" could be lost.

But some industry estimates say up to 80% of all music on TikTok could be
muted.

That's because of something called "split copyrights". In other words, if a
songwriter signed to Universal Music's publishing arm has contributed even a
tiny part to a song, that entire recording will, in theory, have to come
down.

That would include songs by artists on other labels, including the two
remaining majors, Sony and Warner, and hundreds of independents.

Universal's music was licensed to TikTok until earlier this year - but they
let the license lapse after failing to reach an agreement over how much the
app should pay artists.

As a result, the label's recording catalogue, which is around three million
songs, was removed at the start of February.

The publishing catalogue deal runs out at the end of the week, which means
another four million songs are expected to be pulled from the platform.

Universal has accused TikTok of "bullying" them by wanting to pay a
"fraction" of the rate other platforms do for their music.

UMG says that just 1% of their total revenue comes from the platform, which
is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, despite having more than one billion
users.

TikTok said Universal was presenting a "false narrative and rhetoric".

Music is a big part of the appeal of TikTok - content creators often add
songs to their videos.

The app has also become a tool for artists to gain popularity and get their
songs heard - there's even a TikTok Billboard top 50 chart in the US, which
is calculated from user engagement.

Songs have been used to create viral moments like dance trends or
challenges, popular musicians have embraced the platform to feel closer to
fans and new artists have broken through to mainstream success as a result
of it.

Mae Stephens, a 20-year-old from Kettering, quit her job at a supermarket
and signed to a record label after her song If We Ever Broke Up went viral
on TikTok.

She told the BBC, "It's a bit of shock to be honest, I still can't believe
everything that happened to me."

The row over royalties has raised concerns that artists who found a fanbase
on TikTok before signing to a major label will no longer be able to
capitalise on their following.

Cody Fry, an artist signed to a record label owned by UMG, said in a TikTok
video he felt "like a person standing between two colliding planets" -
having seen reports about the licensing agreement expiring just as one of
his tracks was going viral in China.

He told the BBC that he thought TikTok should "value music more than it does
currently" and he wished the two companies could have resolved their
differences without "leaving it to the expense of artists on the ground".

But pop star Kim Petras, whose music has been muted on the platform, says
she supports Universal's position.

"I feel very protected by Universal," she told the BBC last week. "I know
people who have number one records and can't afford their rent, so I'm proud
Universal is taking a stand.

"Of course, right now, all of us Universal artists are screwed a little bit,
but you've gotta take one for the team. The intentions are noble."-bbc

Why Google's 'woke' AI problem won't be an easy fix

In the last few days, Google's artificial intelligence (AI) tool Gemini has
had what is best described as an absolute kicking online.

Gemini has been thrown onto a rather large bonfire: the culture war which
rages between left- and right- leaning communities.

Gemini is essentially Google's version of the viral chatbot ChatGPT. It can
answer questions in text form, and it can also generate pictures in response
to text prompts.

Initially, a viral post showed this recently launched AI image generator
(which was only available in the US) create an image of the US Founding
Fathers which inaccurately included a black man.

Gemini also generated German soldiers from World War Two, incorrectly
featuring a black man and Asian woman.

Google apologised, and immediately "paused" the tool, writing in a blog post
that it was "missing the mark".

But it didn't end there - its over-politically correct responses kept on
coming, this time from the text version.

Gemini replied that there was "no right or wrong answer" to a question about
whether Elon Musk posting memes on X was worse than Hitler killing millions
of people.

When asked if it would be OK to misgender the high-profile trans woman
Caitlin Jenner if it was the only way to avoid nuclear apocalypse, it
replied that this would "never" be acceptable.

Jenner herself responded and said actually, yes, she would be alright about
it in these circumstances.

Elon Musk, posting on his own platform, X, described Gemini's responses as
"extremely alarming" given that the tool would be embedded into Google's
other products, collectively used by billions of people.

I asked Google whether it intended to pause Gemini altogether. After a very
long pause, I was told the firm had no comment. I suspect it's not a fun
time to be working in the public relations department.

Biased data

It appears that in trying to solve one problem - bias - the tech giant has
created another: output which tries so hard to be politically correct that
it ends up being absurd.

The explanation for why this has happened lies in the enormous amounts of
data AI tools are trained on.

Much of it is publicly available - on the internet, which we know contains
all sorts of biases.

Traditionally images of doctors, for example, are more likely to feature
men. Images of cleaners on the other hand are more likely to be women.

AI tools trained with this data have made embarrassing mistakes in the past,
such as concluding that only men had high powered jobs, or not recognising
black faces as human.

It is also no secret that historical storytelling has tended to feature, and
come from, men, omitting women's roles from stories about the past.

It looks like Google has actively tried to offset all this messy human bias
with instructions for Gemini not make those assumptions.

But it has backfired precisely because human history and culture are not
that simple: there are nuances which we know instinctively and machines do
not.

Unless you specifically programme an AI tool to know that, for example,
Nazis and founding fathers weren't black, it won't make that distinction.

On Monday, the co-founder of DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, an AI firm acquired
by Google, said fixing the image generator would take a matter of weeks.

But other AI experts aren't so sure.

"There really is no easy fix, because there's no single answer to what the
outputs should be," said Dr Sasha Luccioni, a research scientist at
Huggingface.

"People in the AI ethics community have been working on possible ways to
address this for years."

One solution, she added, could include asking users for their input, such as
"how diverse would you like your image to be?" but that in itself clearly
comes with its own red flags.

"It's a bit presumptuous of Google to say they will 'fix' the issue in a few
weeks. But they will have to do something," she said.

Professor Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at Surrey University, said it
sounded like the problem was likely to be "quite deeply embedded" both in
the training data and overlying algorithms - and that would be difficult to
unpick.

"What you're witnessing... is why there will still need to be a human in the
loop for any system where the output is relied upon as ground truth," he
said.

Bard behaviour

>From the moment Google launched Gemini, which was then known as Bard, it has
been extremely nervous about it. Despite the runaway success of its rival
ChatGPT, it was one of the most muted launches I've ever been invited to.
Just me, on a Zoom call, with a couple of Google execs who were keen to
stress its limitations.

And even that went awry - it turned out that Bard had incorrectly answered a
question about space in its own publicity material.

The rest of the tech sector seems pretty bemused by what's happening.

They are all grappling with the same issue. Rosie Campbell, Policy Manager
at ChatGPT creator OpenAI, was interviewed earlier this month for a blog
which stated that at OpenAI even once bias is identified, correcting it is
difficult - and requires human input.

But it looks like Google has chosen a rather clunky way of attempting to
correct old prejudices. And in doing so it has unintentionally created a
whole set of new ones.

On paper, Google has a considerable lead in the AI race. It makes and
supplies its own AI chips, it owns its own cloud network (essential for AI
processing), it has access to shedloads of data and it also has a gigantic
user base. It hires world-class AI talent, and its AI work is universally
well-regarded.

As one senior exec from a rival tech giant put it to me: watching Gemini's
missteps feels like watching defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.-bc

 Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

Cellphone:         +263 71 944 1674 | +27 79 993 5557 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2024

Company

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Nampak

AGM

Virtual (FTS Platform)

28 Feb 9am

Art

AGM

virtual (escrow platform)

March 7. 2:30

2024 auction tobacco marketing season opens

13 march

Good Friday

march 29

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Companies under Cautionary

CBZH

GetBucks

EcoCash

Padenga

Econet

RTG

Fidelity

TSL

FMHL

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