Category: Africa

Source: APO – Report:

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With roughly 600 million Africans still lacking access to electricity and an annual sector financing gap reaching $95 billion, Africa cannot afford to let political friction disrupt its commercial energy agenda. Ahead of African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town, the African Energy Chamber (https://EnergyChamber.org/) is calling on continental leaders to safeguard cross-border investment, streamline visa-free travel while prioritizing economic sovereignty over diplomatic division.

AEW stands today as the largest and Africa’s most consequential platforms for investment, financing, and practical cooperation in energy. Taking place in Cape Town on October 12 to 16, 2026, the gathering is expected to bring together more than 10,000 delegates from over 100 countries. That scale alone makes clear this is not a narrow industry meeting; it is a continental convening with global reach.

We recognize the seriousness of the current diplomatic tensions between Nigeria and South Africa and we condemn any violence or mistreatment of African migrants. But this moment must not be allowed to shut the door on dialogue, investment and practical cooperation across the continent.

Energy is one of the few sectors capable of bringing Africans together around shared growth, jobs, industrial development and regional integration. It must not be treated as collateral damage in a broader political dispute. The commercial ties between Nigeria and South Africa are too important, and the broader network of African energy relationships is too valuable, to be weakened by the heat of the moment.

AEW is organized by the African Energy Chamber in partnership with Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers Organization, institutions that have worked with determination to advance African energy sovereignty and African-led solutions to African challenges. The African Energy Chamber is not merely hosting a conference; it is leading a movement for African ownership, African industry and African progress.

This movement is needed because the continent still faces a hard and unforgiving truth. According to the International Energy Agency, roughly 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity and about 900 million remain without access to clean cooking. This is not a statistic to be filed away and forgotten. It is a development emergency that affects children studying by candlelight, mothers cooking over dangerous fuels, hospitals struggling with power reliability and businesses forced to operate beneath the weight of inadequate infrastructure.

Africa also continues to face a major energy financing gap, with recent reporting placing the annual shortfall at between $67.5 billion and $95 billion. If Africa is to power its people, industrialize its economies and secure its future, then Africans must fight to fix it with capital, with policy discipline, and with the courage to back the projects that will deliver real value on African soil.

The question before the continent is plain enough: will we embrace innovation, growth, and prosperity, or will we slide backward into a posture that denies facts and delays demand? Africa does not need less energy. Africa needs more energy, more generation, more infrastructure, more refining, more gas and more investment to meet the needs of its people and economies. That is why the call for more investment in exploration remains so urgent. DRILL BABY DRILL.

African Energy Week exists to meet that urgency. It brings governments, operators, financiers and service companies into one room to unlock capital and move projects from paper to production. Previously, AEW has demonstrated that this platform is not about rhetoric; it is about results, partnerships and deal-making that move African energy forward.

The 2026 gathering reflects that growing confidence. Delegations and participation are expected from across Africa and beyond, including countries in every major region of the global energy market.  That breadth matters, because Africa’s energy future is not a local matter alone; it is a continental priority with global significance.

Africa must also do more to trade with itself. Intra-African trade remains far too low, representing only about 15 to 18 percent of the continent’s total trade in recent years, compared with far higher levels in Asia and Europe. The African Continental Free Trade Area offers a path toward stronger integration, and recent analysis suggests it could significantly expand trade if African states remove the barriers that still stand in the way. But trade cannot flourish in a continent where movement remains too difficult and markets remain too fragmented.

That is why African leaders must move with urgency to fix visa-free travel. If Africa is serious about integration, then Africans must be able to do business in Africa, study in Africa, work in Africa and build in Africa without being trapped by unnecessary border friction. Free movement is not a luxury. It is infrastructure for prosperity.

This moment should also be used to expand opportunity for young Africans, especially in energy, engineering, and STEM. Africa’s future will be written by engineers, geoscientists, technicians, coders, project managers, data analysts, and entrepreneurs who can turn natural resources into schools, roads, factories, industrial parks, and jobs. If the continent is serious about prosperity, then it must give African entrepreneurs the tools they need to succeed access to capital, fairer taxation, streamlined regulation, and an environment that rewards initiative rather than suffocates it.

Cape Town remains a safe and welcoming host city for AEW, and the conference should be embraced as a practical meeting ground for the continent’s energy leaders. The goal is simple: keep business moving, keep investment flowing and keep Africa focused on its own development agenda.

“Sometimes leadership requires us not to run from discomfort, but to walk through it with our heads held high and our purpose intact. There is value in staying the course, even when the road is rough. We must move through this pain honestly, soberly, and together, then regroup with clearer minds and steadier hands. What we must avoid now are rushed choices, emotional overcorrections, and decisions we may regret long after tempers have cooled,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber

This is a call for unity, discipline and restraint. It is also a reminder that African leadership must be measured not by how quickly it retreats from difficulty, but by how faithfully it walks through it. The African Energy Chamber welcomes this new opportunity to continue pushing to unify the continent through trade, investment, energy cooperation, and shared purpose.

Africa does not build prosperity by closing doors. It builds prosperity by keeping them open to capital, commerce, and collaboration. Energy is business. Energy is development. Energy is sovereignty. And it should never be allowed to become the casualty of political division.

– on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

Source: APO – Report:

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Bokang D. Thitoyamore, CEO of Naledi Mining Services Company, has been confirmed as a speaker at the upcoming African Mining Week (AMW) 2026 conference, taking place from October 14-16 in Cape Town. 

Thitoyamore will feature in the Strengthening Local Content in Africa’s Mining Supply Chain panel, exploring how mining companies can build strong partnerships with local businesses and integrate local content into operations. For Naledi Mining Services, AMW 2026 provides an ideal platform to highlight the company’s efforts to advance Botswana’s national agenda of expanding local participation, enhancing technical capacity and diversifying the economy beyond diamonds.  

His participation comes as Botswana advances policy that aims to accelerate mining development and local content integration. Incoming Mines and Minerals Regulations are at the forefront of this effort, mandating robust local participation and in-country beneficiation. With exploration expanding across approximately 70% of the country’s unexplored territory, new mine developments will demand extensive engineering capacity, mine development expertise, equipment management and project delivery capabilities. 

To meet this demand, Naledi Mining Services is scaling its training initiatives through the Naledi Mining Talent Bank, designed to equip Botswana’s next-generation of mining workers and entrepreneurs. The company is also positioning itself to export skilled labor regionally. In July 2026, Naledi signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Botswana’s Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs, facilitating skills transfer across the mining sector.  

Beyond capacity building, Naledi is expanding its service capabilities as an EPC provider for large-scale mining operations across Southern Africa. A wholly owned subsidiary of Debswana Diamond Company, Naledi’s flagship asset is the Jwaneng Cut 9 Project – Botswana’s largest mining contract – spanning mine development, production, engineering, and equipment maintenance.  

At AMW 2026, Thitoyamore is expected to share insights into how the company plans to expand both its operations and technical capabilities. Convening stakeholders from across the entire mining value chain, the event is held under the theme Mining the Future: Unearthing Africa’s Full Mineral Value. 

Visit www.African-MiningWeek.com for more information.

– on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

Source: APO – Report:

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Payroll and HR solutions are natural extensions of selling business and IT services. You might not be a payroll or HR specialist, but all your clients rely on those disciplines to keep their organisational wheels greased. Many of them are interested in reliable software services that improve their payroll and HR experience. 

Evaluate partners beyond technology  

How do you meet such specific needs? The obvious answer is to partner with a reputable payroll/HR software vendor, reselling their services to your customers.  

Doing so is easy, thanks to cloud-native platforms that can scale based on user numbers and desired features. The software vendor’s central platform control gives them massive oversight over security, storage, and performance improvements. At the same time, you can label their service with your branding or even your customers. 

“The shift to cloud-native platforms has fundamentally improved payroll and HR software services,” says Shireen Barnett-Harris, Partner Manager at Deel Local Payroll and a veteran in the payroll and HR software market. “These platforms create interoperable environments where the vendor takes care of technical and critical system elements. They look after things like development, infrastructure, and features such as tax calculations or legislation updates, while the partner can focus on their customers’ experiences and requirements.” 

But there is an important dynamic to this type of relationship, she adds: 

“You aren’t selling a product. You’re providing an ongoing solution that supports your relationship with that customer. If the vendor doesn’t extend into that with what they provide, they’ll inevitably undermine you, even if it’s not intentional.” 

7 questions for your payroll/HR software partner 

When business service providers vet a software platform partner, they should look beyond the software’s features. 

The best options leverage modern cloud technologies, platform economics, and expected features such as security and integration. But none of those aspects reveal if they are good partners. They say what a vendor does, but not what they will do for you.  

To answer the latter, ask the following questions: 

1. Are they focused on enablement? 

The right vendor partner doesn’t sell software. They sell everything around that software, including the aspects mentioned below. They shouldn’t just talk about features but also how they help you bring those features to your customers.  

2. Do they respect your relationship with your customers? 

Some vendors have few qualms about poaching your customers, using you to access them. Reputable vendors know you are their customer, support you, and engage with your customers as if the vendor’s staff are ‌part of your organisation. 

3. How good are their training services? 

Good training resources will help both you and your customers reach the desired levels of control and confidence in the software. That training should cover different formats, from online self-training to webinars and workshops tailored to your requirements.  

4. Do you have a dedicated account manager? 

Some vendors can leave partners orphaned with no reliable human contact when they have nuanced and specific issues to resolve or features they want to request. Good vendors dedicate people to partner accounts, no matter how big or small the partner is.  

5. Will they support you with co-marketing? 

You are great at your job, and your customers love working with you. But you are not necessarily a payroll or HR expert, and you need support in selling the software’s deeper features or grasping technical customer problems. The vendor should step up, providing marketing support such as standing in for demos.  

6. Do they provide integration support with other software? 

Very few companies start with a clean slate; most use other software products for areas such as time-keeping or accounting. The payroll/HR software vendor should be willing and able to integrate with other software types where technically workable.  

7. Are you learning about their new features? 

Software platforms have the amazing capacity to innovate and add new features, from self-service portals and WhatsApp channels to artificial intelligence. Reliable vendors will keep you informed and might even invite you to test new features early.  

The right partner goes the distance 

There was a time when technology features were the most arcane part of selecting partner vendors. But as businesses digitise and cloud services make technology more scrutable, it’s much easier to spot whether software is actually worthwhile in terms of features and costs.  

The actual difference is instead in how the vendor behaves, says Barnett-Harris.  

“What do they bring to the table? How do they support you? Are they trying to sell licenses or support experiences? The difference will grow your business and your customer relationships. Ask the hard questions. If the vendor is worthwhile, they’ll find those easy to answer.” 

– on behalf of Deel Local Payroll, powered by PaySpace.

About Deel Local Payroll:
Deel Local Payroll, powered by PaySpace, revolutionises payroll management. It offers online, multi-country payroll and HR management for businesses from start-ups through to enterprise in over 40 African countries, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Brazil.

Cloud-native, Deel Local Payroll, is scalable, configurable, highly secure, and easy-to-use—delivering anytime, anywhere access. It features payroll automation, self-service features, automatic legislation and feature updates, customised reporting, and more.

Since 2024, Deel Local Payroll has been part of Deel, operating as an independent subsidiary, serving its customers through the PaySpace platform.  

Source: APO – Report:

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When Nigeria first joined the World Energy Council in April 1960, the country was months away from independence, and its modern energy industry was still taking shape. More than six decades later, Nigeria has returned to the organisation as a Member Committee at a moment when both the country’s energy sector and the global conversation it is rejoining look markedly different.

The governing board of the World Energy Council’s Nigerian Member Committee was inaugurated in Abuja on 7 August, formally restoring Nigeria’s participation in the global body. The committee is chaired by Abdulrazaq Isa, co-founder of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, while Bala Wunti, formerly Chief HSE Officer at NNPC Limited, serves as Chief Executive Officer. Its board brings together figures from policy, academia, energy institutions and private enterprise, including Professor Wumi Iledare, Dr Mustapha Abdullahi, Mrs Aisha Farida Katagum, Dr Emmanuel Okon, Dr Victor Ekpenyong, Dr Imamuddeen Talba and Dr Ainojie Alex Irune, Managing Director of Oando Energy Resources and Executive Director of Oando PLC.

The Nigeria returning to the Council is substantially different from the country that first joined it. Over the intervening decades, Nigeria has developed into one of Africa’s largest oil and gas producers, built a significant domestic energy industry and seen indigenous companies move from relatively limited participation in the upstream sector to acquiring and operating substantial portfolios previously controlled by international oil companies.

That evolution has accelerated over the last decade as international majors have reshaped their Nigerian portfolios and local companies have assumed greater responsibility for producing assets. The composition of the new WEC Nigeria board reflects some of that history.

Isa has spent nearly three decades building Waltersmith, while other members bring experience across government, petroleum economics, engineering, renewables and energy operations. Irune, 45, represents another part of the indigenous energy story, having built much of his career during the period when Nigerian companies significantly expanded their upstream ambitions.

His career has unfolded alongside that transformation. A computer scientist with a doctorate from the University of Nottingham, Irune began in technology and automotive research in the United Kingdom before returning to Nigeria. At Oando, his career moved through corporate communications, strategy and upstream operations as the company itself evolved into a significant indigenous upstream player.

He was involved in the organisational transition following Oando’s $1.5 billion acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ Nigerian upstream business in 2014 and subsequently served as Group Chief Strategy and Corporate Services Officer during a period of restructuring. A decade later, as Managing Director of Oando Energy Resources, he led the completion of Oando’s $783 million acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company from Eni.

In many respects, Irune’s career has become a microcosm of what has happened to the Nigerian energy industry over the last decade-plus: greater indigenous participation gave way to greater ownership, and ownership has increasingly brought responsibility for operatorship, investment and institution-building.

Nigeria’s return to the World Energy Council is taking place against an equally significant change in the global energy conversation. Energy security and affordability now sit alongside the challenge of reducing emissions, while emerging economies continue to argue that transition pathways must account for different levels of development and energy access.

For Nigeria, those tensions are immediate. The country possesses substantial hydrocarbon resources while facing significant domestic energy and infrastructure needs. It is seeking greater investment in its energy sector while also navigating the implications of a global transition towards lower-carbon energy systems. Nigeria’s renewed participation in the Council will therefore depend on the experience and perspective it brings to that debate.

Irune has increasingly argued that Africa’s energy transition must be grounded in the continent’s economic realities, with greater energy access and industrialisation central to its approach. He has also made the case for gas as an important development fuel and for indigenous companies to retain more of the value created from African resources. Those arguments will now sit within a broader Nigerian contribution.

More than six decades after first joining the World Energy Council, Nigeria returns with considerably more operating experience of its own, a larger indigenous energy industry, and a different set of questions about what its resources should deliver for its economy.

– on behalf of Oando PLC.

Source: APO – Report:

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Punch (https://apo-opa.co/4xV7KqX), Nigeria’s most widely read newspaper, Former FIFA Secretary General and ACG Advisory Board member Fatma Samoura makes the case that Nigeria has everything it takes to become Africa’s sport and entertainment hub, calls for a fundamental shift away from the standalone stadium model, and argues that the continent’s sporting talent and the economic value it generates must stay on African soil.

Ms Samoura, who served as FIFA Secretary General from 2016 to 2023, the first woman and first African to hold the position, addresses the infrastructure gap holding back Africa’s sport economy, explains her decision to join the Advisory Board of African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com), and outlines why integrated sport and entertainment districts represent the future of sport infrastructure on the continent.

Key excerpts from the interview:

On ACG’s model:

“What I find interesting about ACG is that it looks beyond the traditional stadium model, towards sport and entertainment districts that work all year round, combining sport with hospitality, entertainment, retail, training and community facilities.”

On Nigeria’s potential:

“Nigeria could become a regional hub for major competitions, entertainment productions and talent development.”

On Africa’s talent drain:

“Africa’s sporting talent is world class, but the infrastructure to develop, retain and fully benefit from that talent is still largely absent.”

On the role of the private sector:

“The real question is how to turn that potential into bankable projects, quality jobs and long-term value for Nigerians.”

Ms Samoura’s appointment to the ACG Advisory Board was announced earlier this month (https://apo-opa.co/4Ah7PH8). African Collaborations Group (ACG) is a strategic project origination platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa. ACG originates bankable sport and entertainment districts by convening governments, development finance institutions, investors, and sport stakeholders around integrated, financially self-sustaining projects designed to operate 365 days a year. ACG’s model originated within the FIFA Task Force for Infrastructure Development in Africa, an initiative Ms Samoura established during her tenure as Secretary General.

The full interview is available on The Punch’s platforms:

Website (60 million monthly page views): https://apo-opa.co/4cL3gdP

Facebook (5 million followers): https://apo-opa.co/4xyr9wY

X (6.9 million followers): https://apo-opa.co/4cHZ9ze

LinkedIn (212,000 followers): https://apo-opa.co/4hpBbeL

– on behalf of African Collaborations Group (ACG).

Media contact:
marie@apo-opa.com

About African Collaborations Group (ACG):
African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com) is the leading strategic project origination and collaboration platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa through the origination of bankable sport and entertainment district ecosystems. By convening governments, private sector partners, development finance institutions, sport and entertainment stakeholders, and academic institutions, ACG creates structured pathways that transform concepts into investable, deliverable district projects across the continent.