The Portfolio Committee for Economic Development approved further amendments to the SA Competition Amendment Bill this week. Our Competition and Regulatory Economics practice has participated closely in the debates over the Bill. The Bill will now be placed before the National Assembly for a vote before heading to the National Council of Provinces.

In the next 20 years, the number of people aged 15-24 in sub-Saharan Africa will increase by a 100 million. Genesis works in many of the critical areas in which the prospects for this generation of young people will be determined, including health, agriculture, communications, financial services and youth economic empowerment. This newsletter presents some of our current work. 

MERL Tech, which has been successful in London and DC, came to Jozi for the first time. Its purpose was to bring together development practitioners at the intersection of M&E and technology to share and learn how we can, together, tackle the fourth industrial revolution and use technology to do our jobs better.

Richard Ketley asks whether in all the hype about fintech we have lost track of the importance of finding ways to support mobile network operators to establish the infrastructure required for mobile money and to encourage regulators to balance the reward for investment in mobile money while preventing excessive pricing. 

Genesis has proposed a number of changes to the economic provisions in the SA Competition Amendment Bill to avoid the potentially large negative unintended consequences of the current Bill, while still achieving the objective of assisting SMEs and firms owned/controlled by historically disadvantaged persons to participate in the economy. 

Much has been written about the growth of the cashless economy, but new product innovations are giving South African consumers fewer and fewer reasons to open or maintain a bank account. Cash, it seems, is making a comeback.

Rapid urbanisation and industrial growth are exacerbating demand for water but also generating increased volumes of wastewater/effluent that can be re-used by industry. 

Digital technology is transforming economies and the world of work in profound ways. Traditional jobs are being transformed while new forms of work are being created. But is South Africa preparing young people to find employment in the fourth industrial revolution?

Genesis Analytics has developed climate-smart agriculture handbooks for frontline agricultural extension staff in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as part of its 18-month Climate Smart Agriculture Education and Policy Project funded by the UK’s Department for International Department (DFID).

Genesis Analytics has developed climate-smart agriculture handbooks for frontline agricultural extension staff in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as part of its 18-month Climate Smart Agriculture Education and Policy Project funded by the UK’s Department for International Department (DFID).

Our Evaluation for Development practice provides African governments, companies, international donors, foundations and non-profits with the information and insight they need to improve their interventions and produce better results, ultimately achieving greater impact on economies and people’s lives.

Applications for our annual recruitment drive are open. We are looking for newly qualified talent to join either one of the following streams: Policy and Development, Banking Strategy and Behavioural Economics, Microeconomics.

Genesis manager Noel Verrinder presented the findings from Genesis's impact study on an innovative housing microfinance loan in Kenya at the European Microfinance Week 2018 on behalf of Habitat for Humanity International. See page 60 of the report …

Our Evaluation for Development practice conducted a review of the Jobs Fund's enterprise development (ED) portfolio to capture lessons around which models work best and why. We broke down the programmes into five core elements, and identified four key success drivers in SA. Check out this learning brief for more:

The research into the impact measurement and management landscape in SA conducted by Genesis Analytics and Impact Amplifier, presents key findings in an interactive format, accompanied by a supplementary guide to support your IMM efforts. 

Data – it’s the buzzword of the 21st century and it’s getting bigger and bigger, but for investors, more data does not necessarily mean better investment decisions. Genesis partner Neil Lightfoot questions our ability to use this data in making better investment decisions.