Newsletters

A roadmap for Zambia’s capital markets development
Zambia’s first-ever Capital Markets Master Plan sets out a roadmap for the country’s regulators, government and market stakeholders in ensuring that Zambia’s capital markets play a full and meaningful role in the country’s journey to middle-income status.

Six steps to pave the way for ESG regulations
We feel for the financial regulators in Africa, trying to define their approach to Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) risk management. They face many challenges: low understanding and awareness of ESG; limited capacity and resources; and a confusion of global working groups, frameworks, metrics, and guidelines - most which are not flexible enough to adapt to the local, developing context.

Ethiopia looks to unlocking its potential
As Ethiopia looks forward and strives to unlock its potential, Genesis Analytics is eager and committed to take the journey alongside the country. Our colleagues in the Financial Services Strategy - Richard Ketley, Ndodzo Mawela, Christian Tesfaye GebreMariam and Nahom Shiferaw - highlight four developments that point to a more stable and improved business environment for the country.

Supporting the mindset of young entrepreneurs
Africa is currently home to more than 1 billion people, approximately half of whom will be under 25 years old by 2050. There is potential for this ‘youth bulge’ to become a demographic dividend, but if Africa’s persistent youth unemployment is not addressed, the youth bulge may lead to a demographic bomb.

Making markets work for everyone
The World Bank estimates that about 2.4 billion women of working age are not afforded equal opportunities in markets, with 178 countries maintaining legal barriers that prevent women from fully engaging in economic opportunities. Statistics such as this indicate that it is not enough to focus on macro objectives; we must understand how growth, trade and investment relate to broader development outcomes.

Yesterday's solution: A domestic card scheme in Nigeria?
The payment news article that caught our eye this month was the announcement that Nigeria – through its Central Bank, the National Interbank Settlement System and the Bankers Committee – intends to launch a domestic card scheme in 2023. Nigeria already has a private domestic card in Verve by Interswitch, which is partly owned by Visa Inc. Several others have been attempted by ValuCard, eTranzact and 3Line.

Farewell to 2022 | Message from our CEO Stephan Malherbe
2022 seems to have divided the world into East and West once more. But, argues Genesis CEO Stephan Malherbe, a different division is much more important to our future. This is the Young World, some four billion people in total, that has youth on its side, but also an impressive runway for future productivit

Devil in the details of raising capital requirement
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) issued a directive in April 2021 that required the country’s commercial banks to increase their minimum paid-up capital. The Ethiopian banking sector comprises more than 20 banks, which collectively boast ETB 199 billion in capital. The devil is in the details as two public banks dominate the market, while half of the country’s banks have yet to meet the requirement.

How green is your trolley?
Mastercard recently commissioned a study in 24 countries that revealed that consumers are becoming more concerned about the environment and are changing their views on consumption and CO2 impact. In particular, 85% of adults are willing to do something on their own to help solve environmental problems.

The other COP: Biggest biodiversity conference in a decade
While many people are aware of the recently completed COP27, another important global conference will take place in Montreal from 7 to 19 December 2022. This is the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity or COP15 where nations are expected to commit to targets on biodiversity for the next decade that will reverse biodiversity loss and secure a nature-positive world by 2030.