Industry’s finest to discuss practical realities of Africa’s transition to NetZero

“It’s about moving from theory to implementation, it’s time to get stuck in and become practical as the African continent transitions towards NetZero by 2050, and COP26 in November is a very important pitstop in that journey,” says Claire Volkwyn, programme director for Enlit Africa, the leading power and energy platform and discussion forum, returning from 26 to 28 October.

Formerly known around the continent as African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa, Enlit Africa has been connecting the utility industry on the continent for more than two decades and in the next edition will also bring back its popular water track. October’s digital edition is a precursor in the lead-up to the hybrid event in Cape Town in June next year.

Volkwyn adds: “There was such a great response to our theme of ‘The 5Ds* of the energy transition’ during our event in June, focusing on what the continent needs to concentrate on to decarbonise the power sector. In October we move into the practical implementation of solutions to prepare the continent for a NetZero reality, including looking at LNG as a transitional energy source, municipal energy independence, E-mobility, and what Africa is bringing to and expecting from the COP26 summit.”

*decarbonisation, decentralisation, democratisation, digitalisation and deregulation

“It takes strong leadership and innovative projects to take an idea from theory to implementation,” says Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, editor of ESI Africa and African Power & Energy Elites journals. She explains: “It is only through the resilience of successful leaders and projects that Africa can deliver on its net-zero ambitions. In tune with this year’s theme, ESI Africa will highlight the leaders and projects nominated to the African Power & Energy Elites annual publication. During the Enlit Africa digital event in October, we will announce the finalists who will appear in the 2022 edition of the Elites publication.”

Enlit Africa session highlights will include:

• Keynote session: How COP26 could provide the launchpad for Africa’s energy transition.
• To LNG or not: Is that the question?
• Municipal Energy Resilience in South Africa - assisting local government to take advantage of new energy regulations, including purchasing energy directly from IPPs.
• E-mobility: Creating a regulatory and policy environment to encourage EV uptake.
• Prepayment as a precursor to enhanced energy and financial efficiency.
• Digital equity: Ensuring that digital advances are equitable and just.
• Energy storage: Generation, transmission or distribution asset?
• Finance, investment and strategy: Is there an oversupply of funding and an undersupply of projects?
• EGovernment: Africa is in a prime position to utilise eGovernment services.
• ROUNDTABLE: Heading to COP26: Has the COVID-19 crises derailed the climate finance agenda?
• Waste not, want not: re-use, recycle and reclaim your wastewater.
• Water security 2.0: Looking Durban’s experience in addressing monumental water challenges.

Enlit Africa’s successful transition to digital |
The fast-growing attendee numbers and feedback from participants and partners fully support the remarkable and successful transition that the organisers of the event have made from live events to providing a digital forum for the industry to connect via live, online events on the Enlit Africa Connect platform.

The June edition of the event, the third in the last 18 months, attracted more than 5,000 registered attendees, representing more than 70 countries and featuring 50 speakers.

Some of the feedback includes:

“I would like to thank the Clarion Events team for the professional and creative execution of the Enlit Africa sessions. The technological advancement from the last digital event they hosted to this one is evident and it is comforting to witness the agile nature in which they worked with us.”
- Gugu Masina, Brand Manager, Conlog

“The African Utility Week has always been a direct way of reaching out to the entire African market for PRIME Alliance. With a single trip over 3 to 4 days, PRIME has been able to follow African priorities and interact with stakeholders in the African continent. With Enlit Africa’s new hybrid model, PRIME’s reach is further extended by joining more targeted sessions and intimate circles.”
- Pilar Julián Arrieta, Strategic Consulting, ianusGroup

“Thank you to the Enlit team for hosting us at the Enlit Africa Digital event for 2021. From the planning, guiding us and execution of our campaign, making sure that we are creating awareness of our brand, albeit in these trying times; we were thoroughly impressed. We can’t wait for the next one.”
- Nonkululeko Mdhalose, Marketing Manager, Vexila

All the previous Enlit Africa sessions remain available on demand on the event platform. For access, register on the Enlit Africa-Connect platform by clicking here.

Industry support
Eskom, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and the City of Cape Town have been official hosting partners of the event for many years and 2021 is no exception.

ESI Africa, the continent’s leading news provider for power and energy news, is the official host publication.

Enlit Africa is organised by Clarion Events Africa, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the infrastructure, energy and mining sectors. Other well-known events include Nigeria Mining Week, Africa Mining Forum and DRC Mining Week.

Enlit Africa dates and venues:
Digital Event: 26–28 October 2021
Next live, in-person conference and exhibition: 7–9 June 2022
Venue: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Website: www.enlit-africa.com

Media contact:
Annemarie Roodbol
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ethiopia’s former State Minister in the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Mr Wondimu Tekle Sigo, Ghana Grid Co, Lilongwe Water Board and several renewable energy generation projects were amongst the winners at the annual African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards that returned to Cape Town last week, honouring the leading utilities, projects and people in the energy and water industries on the continent.

Their achievements during 2018/2019 were celebrated during the prestigious gala dinner on Wednesday 15 May, and formed part of the African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa conference and exhibition in Cape Town. The winners and finalists in the respective categories for the African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards 2019 are: • Lifetime Achievement Award WINNER: Wondimu Tekle Sigo, Former State Minister, Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ethiopia Mr Sigo said he was “grateful for being chosen”.

According to the former minister he was fortunate to have been involved in many interesting projects in his career, in both water and energy: “especially the 6000MW hydropower Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction, on the Blue Nile. This project has already reached almost 60 percent, so this will help Ethiopia as well as the neighbouring countries through integration.

This was one of the big projects that I was leading when I was at the ministry. This award is not just for me, but also for all the colleagues who have worked on so many projects with me, from the time when I was a site manager until I became a minister, and the team work we achieved.” For seven years, Wondimu Tekle Sigo served as Ethiopia’s Minister of State for the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy.

He is well respected for the design and construction of various infrastructure projects, including the expansion of a rural electrification programme for more than 6000 towns and villages in the region. Furthermore, he tackled water shortages by increasing the water supply of the city around the Dire water reservoir dam from 240,000m³ to 400 000 m³ per day.

Amongst his many achievements, Sigo upgraded eight cities’ electric distribution systems including that of Addis Ababa. ESI Africa included Sigo in their 60 most influential figures in the power sector from East and West Africa. Now as a PhD candidate for Economics at the Peking University in China, Sigo has been conducting research since 2017 around achieving Ethiopia’s economic growth and development.

The other finalists were (in no particular order): - Abderrahim Jamrani, Technical Director, Masen - Wim Jonker Klunne, Programme Director, Energy and Environment Partnership, Southern and East Africa (EEP) - Dale Robertson, President, Enerscan Engineering • Outstanding Contribution Award: Power WINNER: Jasandra Nyker, Chief Executive Officer, BioTherm Energy, South Africa “I am very proud of this achievement” an elated Ms Nyker said on Wednesday evening, “it has been eight years since we started building biotherm energy into a renewable energy investment and development platform.

I dedicate this award to my team because it is very much a team effort. We’ve built an amazing business and we have expanded into the rest of Africa. For us this is just a great achievement.” Ms Nyker is the Chief Executive Officer of BioTherm Energy, who led the business to grow from 4 MW in PPAs to over 450 MWs of secured PPAs.

BioTherm has expanded its development activities to build a pan African business by winning projects in Zambia, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Iviore and Ghana, and has also won large scale projects with some of the leading global mining companies. She has previously managed the direct investment portfolio on behalf of the PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund as well as Booz Allen Hamilton in London.

Ms. Nyker holds an MBA from the London Business School, where she was a Merrill Lynch Scholar, and a Business Science degree in Finance from the University of Cape Town. She was nominated as a 2012 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and was part of the Inaugural Global Agenda Council on New Energy Architecture for the World Economic Forum. The other finalists were: - Ricardo Amansure, Community Operations Manager, Umoya - Jonathan Amoako-Baah, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) - Joel Nana Kontchou, Chief Executive Officer, Eneo Cameroon SA • Outstanding Contribution Award: Water WINNER: Prof. Andras Szöllösi-Nagy, President of the Governing Board of the Sustainable, Development Studies Institute National University of Public Service, Hungary Unable to be in Cape Town this week, a pre-recorded acceptance speech on video by Prof Szöllösi-Nagy was played to the hundreds of high-level power and water professionals who had gathered at the gala dinner to honour him. “Africa needs capacity in water resources,” he said, “although rich in water, it will have major problems to make water use sustainable for generations to come, particularly in the light of climate change. Perhaps there is no other continent that will be so deeply impacted by climate variability and change because as the hydrological cycle is accelerating the probability of having extreme flaws, either floods or drought, will likely increase. And it is now that we have to work together with politicians and policy makers to find out what the appropriate measures are to deal with this danger.” Andras was instrumental in implementing the establishment of several UNESCO Water Centers across Africa. These centers play a pivotal role in advancing sustainable water management in Africa as well as contributing to capacity development and training activities. They also play a pivotal role in implementing IHP.

There are six African UNESCO water centers established to date, including the Regional Center for Training and Water Studies of Arid and Semi-Arid Zones (RCTWS) in Egypt. The Regional Centre for Shared Aquifer Resources Management (RCSARM) in Libya. The Regional Centre on Groundwater Resources Education, Training and Research in East Africa (RCGRE)in Kenya.

The Regional Centre for Integrated River Basin Management (RC-IRBM) located in Nigeria. The Regional Centre on Capacity Development and Research in Water Harvesting (RCWH) in Sudan and the African Regional Centre for Eco hydrology in Ethiopia. Prof. Szöllösi-Nagy was appointed by the Director General of UNESCO to serve as Rector of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The Institute was an integral part of UNESCO Category 1 Institute. During his tenure he has reformed the Institute where approximately 40% of the graduate students were from Africa. In that period Africa was a priority of both the research and capacity development activities of the Institute.

The African alumni are in lead positions today all over Africa serving various water related organizations. The other finalists were: - Andre Kruger, Head Africa Investment and Integration Desk (AVID), Nepad Business Foundation - Alfonso Chikuni, Chief Executive Officer, Lilongwe Water Board Damas - Alfred Mashauri, Professor: Civil Engineering, University of Namibia: Engineering & IT • Outstanding Contribution Award: Young Leader WINNER: Astria Fataki, Energy Generation, Founder and President After receiving the award a very excited Astria said that: “about ten years ago I fell in love with the energy sector because I realised that energy was a very strong factor and tool for development. But as I was implementing projects I came across a lot of human resources challenges, so I started wondering how we can contribute to the electrification of the continent but with local resources, both technical and human resources. So that is how the idea came to first develop the human capital to provide solutions to the challenge of access to energy and also innovative technology that is tailored for Africa.”

Astria Fataki, who is originally from Togo, is an entrepreneur passionate about project development in Africa. Astria truly believes that energy is at the center of socio-economic development, and fully dedicates herself to tackle this challenge both at the micro and the macro level in Africa. At a macro level, she coordinated, from 2013 to 2015, the contractual and legal construction of two Public-Private Partnership projects for the construction and operation of photovoltaic solar power plants in Mali (40MW) and Chad (60MW).

At the micro level, in 2016, she founded the pan-African organisation Energy Generation, with the objective to develop young Africans’ entrepreneurial initiatives in the energy sector.

Astria holds a Master’s degree in International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris. The other finalists were: - Lois Gicheru, Solafrique, Founder and CEO - Boitumelo Sehlake, Sehlake Energy Solutions, Founder - Pule Segale, Rina Consulting Ltd, Civil Engineer (Site Manager) • Power Service Provider of the Year WINNER: Ghana Grid Company Ltd, Ghana Daniel Mathe is a Divisional Director at GRIDCo and accepted the award on behalf of the organisation: “the award means a lot and means that the good work we are doing has been seen and recognised in Africa and we are working very hard to support other countries within Africa. This year we have been able to supply power to Burkina Faso, our neighbours, so it means that the efforts that we are putting in, are being seen in the industry. We want to do even better. We also supply power to Togo and Benin and are doing a lot as far as the West Africa Power Pool is concerned.”

GRIDCo operates the Ghana Wholesale Electricity Market and provides electricity transmission services and in Ghana and West African. Since its inception GRIDCo has continuously ensured reliable supply of affordable electricity to households by continuously upgrading and extending the grid and the introduction of modern systems in compliance with IEC 61850. As a result, access to electricity in Ghana has increased from 66.7% (2009) to 82.5% (2016).The increase in electricity access has resulted in increased income, improve trade balance, provided local solutions, contributed to industrial development and creation of new job opportunities. In West Africa GRIDCo has established inter and intra connections with other West African countries to the North, East and West of its boundaries, as part of the West African Power Pool System and has positioned Ghana as a Net-Exporter within the Sub-region. For instance, GRIDCo currently supplies about a third of the Electricity required for Burkina through its Transmission System.

These power exports have brought socio-economic benefits and continues to enhanced energy supply security. Additionally, over the last four (4) years GRIDCo has commercialized its telecommunication assets and now provides the most reliable form of fiber communication for telecommunication services and IT support systems nationwide.

The other finalists were: - Umeme Limited - Abuja Electricity Distribution Company - Energy Utility Corporation Limited – EUCL • Water Service Provider of the Year WINNER: Lilongwe Water Board, Malawi The company’s Corporate Planning Manager, Gustav Sikasima, responded as follows after the announcement: “this award means a lot, it means we have been making strides towards the social impact of the people of Lilongwe City and the efforts we have been making to make sure that the City has potable water.” Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) is a statutory organization created in 1947 by the government of Malawi and mandated by the Water Works Act (Cap 72) to supply water to the residents of Lilongwe.

There are about 83,000 metered customers and more than 1000 water Kiosks (communal water selling points) within the City. The total pipe network for LWB is estimated at 1,900 Km.The Board abstracts raw water from Lilongwe River which originates from Dzalanyama Ranges. The Kamuzu Dam I and Kamuzu Dam II upstream of the intake works act as storage for the dry season during which the flow from Lilongwe River cannot sustain production. These two dams collectively were designed to provide a total storage volume of 24.3 million cubic meters. However, due to sedimentation and the continuous severe drought faced by the country for a decade, this capacity is reducing on an annual basis at a rate of approximately 66,760m3 per year for the past five years. The company has two main Treatment Plants, TW I and TW II which are situated within the Water Works Campus.

The combined capacity of the two plants is 125,000 cubic meters per day. The other finalists were: - Hessequa Municipality - Umgeni Water - Ontec Systems (Pty) Ltd • Grid-Tied Renewable Energy Project (10MW +) WINNER: Kathu Solar Thermal Power Plant, South Africa “What is very unique about this type of project is firstly the clean technology" Siyabonga Mbanjwa, Regional Managing Director Southern Africa for SENER, one of the construction partners in Kathu said on Wednesday evening, "and also that it offers production during peak periods: so we are using molten salts as a storage mechanism and that allows us to continue to produce electricity, even when the sun has set. But what is also very exciting about Kathu Solar Park is the manner in which we have worked with the community, we have kept very, very close ties with the community.”

Kathu Solar Park is a 100MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Construction on the project commenced in May 2016. The solar power park achieved commercial operation in January 2019 and has an operational life of 30 years. Kathu solar project is part of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Program (IRP) 2010, which aims to increase the country’s power generation capacity to 86.8GW by 2030. It is a parabolic trough plant consisting of a number of solar collector assemblies, including parabolic reflectors (curved mirror), a tracking system, a support structure, and a receiver tube.

The storage system reduces the effects of irregular sunlight and enables the plant to produce electricity even during low levels of sunlight. It is also installed with 57 three-phase, cast resin-type transformers rated at 1,500kVA. It will also create 500 jobs during the construction phase and 81 permanent jobs during the operational phase.

The project is expected to drive the economic revival of the Northern Cape Province and was constructed as an EPC project by SENER and ACCIONA. The other finalists were: - Greenmillenia - Jinko Solar • Small-Scale Sustainable Energy Project (under 5MW) WINNER: Rubagabaga Hydropower Limited, Rwanda Dan Klinck, MD of East Africa Power/Rubagabaga Hydro Power Limited said after receiving the award: “We’re very pleased with the award, this is very prestigious, and we are thrilled that Rubagabaga came to fruition. It’s been a lot of hard work, we’ve had 1500 workers on this project, so this award is really for everybody who participated.” He added: “what’s unique about this project is that it is a public-private-community partnership. It is one thing to build a project that just hooks up the line and adds it to the utility.

For us we really focused in on what it would do to the community and its productive use equipment, its industrial park, its community library, its agricultural centre of excellence – it wasn’t just power to line up the grid, it was something that really could bring the community together and make a difference and we’re very happy about that.” Rubagabaga Hydropower Project is a 445 kW grid-connected, run-of-the-river project located in the Northern Province of Rwanda.

It has made a very large impact on the local and regional communities by bringing renewable energy, jobs, and improved livelihood to thousands of households. The project is the first hydropower project to implement a containerised turbine and generator in East Africa. Built almost entirely using simple man-power with little mechanical intervention, this project gives credit to the innovative and resourceful nature of the Rwandan people In addition to the 455 kW delivered to the national grid, this project has created more than 1000 jobs over the span of its life thus far.

The ongoing introduction of energy linked directly to innovative, locally-initiated industries creates a dynamic and diverse economy and a sustainably healthy community with the power to impact Rwanda on a national scale. It is the developer’s policy to establish such community-serving projects wherever a successful hydropower plant has been developed. The other finalists were: - BBOX - Ecomandate Foundation - African Sustainable Energies - Eaton Electric South Africa Industry support The sponsors of the African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards 2019 were Eaton, Aberdare Cables, SBS Tanks, Mazars, Standard Bank, ESI Africa, Smart Energy International and Clarion Energy.

African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa is the flagship energy event organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the energy, infrastructure, mining, real estate and agriculture sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include Future Energy East Africa, Future Energy Nigeria, the Utility CEO Forums, Agritech Expo Zambia, Nigeria Mining Week and DRC Mining Week. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group and African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa form part of Clarion Energy, which runs over 40 events that cover the oil, gas, power and energy sectors, making it one of Clarion Events’ largest portfolios.

Website: http://www.african-utility-week.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities #AUW2019 #PGAF2019 Linkedin: African Utility Week

Contact:
Senior communications manager: Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone: +27 21 700 3558
Mobile: +27 82 562 7844
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ESI Africa premium media partner at African Utility Week & POWERGEN Africa

"Whether you want to call it load-shedding, a blackout, load-shifting or load sharing, remember that this affects everyone. We are in this together so join your neighbourhood Whatsapp or Facebook group to stay informed.” So says Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, editor ESI Africa, a leading energy industry journal.

Off the grid
“It is not really viable at this stage for the average suburban household to go completely off the grid to avoid the effects of load-shedding” says Mrs Pombo-van Zyl, adding “but, it is possible to develop a back-up plan for when the grid goes down. The ideal option is solar PV but this requires an investment, which will eventually pay off in the long run. One could just invest in a solar water heater system or take the route of rooftop solar with a battery storage unit.”

“Back-up generators are also an option, especially for businesses although they can be noisy and cumbersome to set up and prove dangerous for people not familiar with this type of equipment. Another off-grid option is to change to gas for cooking and lighting.” She continues: “some people may think that they are experiencing load-shedding when in actual fact their main has tripped. Invest in battery-operated torches and lighting and regularly check the batteries. Ensure that your mobile phones are charged. Also be more vigilant when driving as a lot of traffic lights are affected.”

ESI Africa at African Utility Week
The potential of renewable energy sources such as solar, storage solutions and mini-grid generation projects are some of the exciting focus areas at African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa taking place from 14-16 May in Cape Town. The South African Minister of Energy, Honourable Jeff Radebe, is heading up a stellar line up of expert speakers and will once again deliver the opening ministerial address on 14 May. The 19th edition of this flagship conference and exhibition is expected to attract more than 10 000 energy and water professionals this year.

ESI Africa is the longstanding host publication of the event and also has an onsite studio on the expo floor to interview dozens of experts for its online portal. Says ESI Africa’s editor Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl:  “this annual event is marked in my diary as a ‘must-attend’ to meet with industry stalwarts and the up-and-coming young leaders. I’m keenly looking forward to three intense days of on-point conversations around what’s happening in the industry, what to expect in the coming year, and the solutions driving development. Also, as a moderator for one of the conference sessions, I’m excited by the prospect of debating risks and opportunities in a way that could very well deliver a primed solution to the attending delegates who have travelled from far and wide.”

She continues: “it’s going to be another superb year for the ESI Africa team as our bumper issue of the journal is being distributed in the delegate bags and VIP areas. As the official host publication, ESI Africa is the only media house with an onsite studio where on-camera interviews will be conducted over the three days of African Utility Week & POWERGEN Africa. Another activity is our sought-after roving camera team who will be visiting expo booths that have pre-booked an interview with us.”

The ESI Africa television studio is strategically positioned on the exhibition floor for easy access, says Nicolette: “this is where our team of editors will conduct professional on-camera interviews with conference speakers, VIP guests, and profiled attendees to reap their industry knowledge for our readers’ benefit.

“You can also rely on the editorial team to keep you posted on what’s happening as they will be reporting live from the conference sessions using the ESI Africa social media channels and website. We’re interested in connecting with as many people as possible, so look out for the team at the networking sessions, awards gala, and knowledge hubs.”

African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa is the flagship energy event organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the energy, infrastructure, mining and agriculture sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include Future Energy East Africa, Future Energy Nigeria, the Utility CEO Forums, Agritech Expo Zambia, Nigeria Mining Week and DRC Mining Week. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group and African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa forms part of Clarion Energy, which runs over 40 events that cover the oil, gas, power and energy sectors, making it one of Clarion Events’ largest portfolios.

Dates for African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa:
Conference and expo: 14-16 May 2019
Site visits: 17 May 2019
Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Website: http://www.african-utility-week.com  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities    #AUW2019   
Linkedin: African Utility Week

Contact:
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Cape Town, August 8, 2018:  Africa’s customer experience leaders gathered in Cape Town last week for the 2 day Customer experience Management Africa Summit. The delegation of over 600 customer experience professionals discussed pressing issues such as generating a return on investment in cx, practical application of data and driving emotion to create exceptional experiences.  

South Africa’s customer experience professionals are slowly emerging as some of the best in the world, and the data is there to back this up.  

Sarina de Beer, Managing Director of Ask Afrika stated in her keynote “As mentioned right up-front it is a celebration year. Service levels are at its best ever…with satisfaction ratings of 91%, delight ratings of 54% and very low dissatisfaction scores of 5%. This is largely driven by technological advances and progress, with systems, and technological solutions, self help channels and chat bots in place to deliver bigger, better, faster.”  

Looking into how these results have been achieved, much of it can be contributed to the work customer experience professionals are doing in designing deliberate customer journeys. Diane Magers, CEO of the world’s largest and foremost association for CX professionals, the CXPA, elaborated; “Designing these deliberate customer experience is like building a bridge. Just like any team sport, it takes coordination and a clear understanding of the goals and it requires collaboration and contribution by all team members to ensure the bridge across the support structures is solid and consistent.  Building in silos or vacuums creates an inconsistent experience for our customers. Inconsistent experiences are one of the key factors commonly identified as a factor of dissatisfaction by many other organizations, particularly B2B, as a key opportunity to improve CX.” 

“The results presented by Ask Afrika were for me a great reward and justification for what we do, but great customer experience is a double-edged sword. The better you get, the higher the customers’ expectation and that baseline sets a new bar. You have to keep improving, keep evolving and stay moving when it comes to delivering exceptional customer experience. Finding and nurturing talent in the CX profession will be the next great challenge businesses face within in this industry” Juan Mouton, Portfolio Director for the Customer Experience Management Africa Summit.  

Grace Sikapokoo, the Chief Customer Office for AIG, South Africa spoke on this topic in both her keynote and as part of a panel discussion on customer centricity. The AIG CCO shared five steps to remain relevant and continually skilled; understand your organisation, understand you customers, understand customer experience management, understand technology and most importantly understand your purpose.  

The future for Customer Experience in South Africa is bright and there is much to be positive about, but the challenge will continue to grow harder, and the search for CX talent will be a driving competitive advantage for businesses serious about customer experience through 2018 and beyond.  

Follow @CEMAfricaSummit on Twitter and join the conversation using the #CEMSummit18 hash tag.

ABOUT CEM AFRICA CEM Africa is a meeting place for CX professionals and innovative CX solution providers. The show took place on the 1-2 August 2018 at the CTICC in Cape Town, where like-minded customer experience experts and the top CX solution providers gathered for an informative and educational summit with the common goal of improving customer experience across Africa. The event provides a platform for like-minded CX professionals to showcase their industry knowledge as well as solutions to better the customer’s perception of the brand.

ABOUT KINETIC Kinetic is an international business-to-business conference and exhibitions producer based in Cape Town. Our mission is to equip senior management executives with knowledge, market intelligence and viable commercial opportunities. Kinetic are leaders in providing business facilitation platforms throughout Africa.

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Released by:  KINETIC SA
Juan Mouton:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Africa’s top customer experience experts are gathering Cape Town for the 7th annual Customer Experience Management Africa Summit, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on the 1st and 2nd of August. The African leaders from companies such as AIG, MTN, Naspers, Old Mutual and Comair, will be joined by global customer experience experts such as Diane Magers the CEO of the CXPA (Customer Experience Professionals Association).

The Summit will be addressing three of the most pressing customer experience issues facing corporations in Africa; driving customer emotions, establishing a return on investment from customer experience and putting insights from data to practical use.

Diane Magers will open the Summit with a keynote on guiding executives who are looking for a financial return on investment. Magers, CEO of the world’s largest CX association will show how value creation requires CX professionals to change their language and their value story.

Mike Joubert, a South African marketing rainmaker and Sean Drummond, screenwriter for the acclaimed Five Fingers for Marseilles will deliver a one hour workshop on the art of storytelling and how brands can use it to create emotional relevance within their customer journeys.

Clint Payne from Multichoice will be delivering a case study on how the right data and measurement tools can inform service design. This Multichoice experience team has won multiple CX awards around the world, including three of the five awards at last year’s African Customer Experience Awards.

“This Summit will showcase a powerful combination of customer experience leaders sharing best practice and debating on the future of the African customer experience. Whilst this is an African gathering, customer experience has no boarders and expectations are set on a global level. The content we have lined up is most certainly at the level of what is happening in Europe and the United States. What is discussed this week will resonate across the African consumer landscape over the next 12 months. It is a very exciting event to be a part of, the change initiated from the summit is lightning fast and a testament to how seriously these companies take customer experience” states Juan Mouton, Portfolio Director for the summit.

Follow @CEMAfricaSummit on Twitter and join the conversation using the #CEMSummit18 hash tag.

ABOUT CEM AFRICA
CEM Africa is a meeting place for CX professionals and innovative CX solution providers. The show takes place on the 1-2 August 2018 at the CTICC in Cape Town, where like-minded customer experience experts and the top CX solution providers gather for an informative and educational summit with the common goal of improving customer experience across Africa. The event will provide a platform for like-minded CX professionals to showcase their industry knowledge as well as solutions to better the customer’s perception of the brand. 

ABOUT KINETIC
Kinetic is an international business-to-business conference and exhibitions producer based in Cape Town. Our mission is to equip senior management executives with knowledge, market intelligence and viable commercial opportunities. Kinetic are leaders in providing business facilitation platforms throughout Africa. 

“Extracting value from data – the key to network management” 

African Utility Week has announced that Lucy Electric, a longstanding partner of the event, will be the exclusive diamond sponsor at this year’s exhibition and conference in Cape Town from 15-17 May. Lucy Electric is a highly respected industry leader in secondary distribution solutions with more than 100 years’ experience in the electrical industry.

“African Utility Week is a key conference which evolved over the years from an electrical measurement, generation, and transmission conference to a conference now dealing in energy generation, transmission, distribution and measurement, showcasing the latest technologies available to the African market” says Rick St John, Business Development Director Africa for Lucy Electric, “with the addition of renewables some years back, AUW is now the best energy conference on the African continent, giving exhibitors and delegates alike excellent value.”    

He adds: “last year we had great engagement with new and existing customers and identified more opportunities where we can truly add value across distribution networks in Africa. Our diamond sponsorship includes a conference presentation on how actionable information from network data can maximise the capacity of assets and increase the use of renewable energy.”  

Rick St John explains: “particularly this year, we will be focusing on the opportunities available from the collection and analysis of network data and the enhanced user interface for our Gridkey monitoring system will provide easily accessible and actionable information. Access to electricity is an enabler of economic growth and key to achieving this is to maximise the use of renewables. Lucy Electric will be presenting on this at African Utility Week and exploring how new technologies that enable greater renewables, flexibility and demand response are extracting added value for Africa’s networks.”  

African Utility Week event director Evan Schiff says: “Lucy Electric is without a doubt considered an industry pioneer and we are thrilled that such a longstanding partner of the event has this year taken such a prestigious, exclusive diamond sponsorship. As always, we look forward to their continued, valued contribution to the industry.” 

The full interview with Mr St John can be read here: http://www.african-utility-week.com/LucyElectricAUWinterview

Award-winning energy platform
The 18th annual, multi-award winning African Utility Week will gather over 7000 decision makers from more than 80 countries to discuss the challenges, solutions and successes in the power, energy and water sectors on the continent. Along with multiple side events and numerous networking functions the event also boasts a six track conference with over 300 expert speakers.

The African Utility Week expo offers an extensive technical workshop programme that is CPD accredited, free to attend, and offers hands-on presentations that take place in defined spaces on the exhibition floor. They discuss practical, day-to-day technical topics, best practices and product solutions that businesses, large power users and utilities can implement in their daily operations.

African Utility Week is the flagship energy event organised by the multi-award winning Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and part of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK. Other well-known energy events by Spintelligent are Future Energy Nigeria and Future Energy East Africa. More events include Agritech Expo Zambia, Property Buyer Show, DRC Mining Week, Eduweek, Farm-Tech Expo Kenya, Nigeria Mining Week and the Mining Baraza in Kenya.

Dates for African Utility Week:
Conference and expo: 15-17 May 2018
Awards gala dinner:  16 May 2018
Site visits: 18 May 2018
Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Website: http://www.african-utility-week.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities  #AUW2018  
Linkedin: African Utility Week

Contact:
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

African Utility Week industry survey yields interesting results

Solar PV is overwhelmingly seen as the most promising generation source for Africa while corruption, skills gaps and access to finance are some of the biggest challenges that power and water professionals face in their industries. This is according to a survey by the organisers of African Utility Week among attendees of the annual event in Cape Town last year. Other questions in the survey included what respondents think will have the biggest impact on the energy and water sectors, what future technology excites them and what the biggest challenges are that they face in their industry.

Of the 834 people surveyed, 696 are South African (71%), 199 are from 24 other African countries (63 Kenyan, 85 Nigerian) and 40 from the rest of the world, including Europe, USA, China, India and Canada.

Most promising generation source
Asked what the most promising source of generation is for Africa, Solar PV scored more than 54% amongst the respondents while nuclear was second with 11%. “The reason could be that rooftop PV, when measured against the other technologies, is easy to execute as a project and photovoltaic modules are becoming very affordable,” says Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, editor of the energy trade journal, ESI Africa.

She adds: “it is also the most obvious technology to use in mini- and off-grid projects as well as for use in hybrid models. However, what is interesting but not surprising is that 11% of respondents feel that nuclear energy is the most promising generation source. Nuclear has its merits. What is disappointing is how few are in favour of biomass as a promising source of generation capacity, considering that this technology offers a distributed model and a measure of reducing the mounds of waste that Africa’s cities are confronted with. Another concern is the lack of interest in wind energy – only 8% of respondents felt this technology a worthy source; however, it does rank slightly higher than hydro where the continent’s impressive potential capacity is recorded. Wind energy is likely to make tentative steps towards market growth now that South African, Kenyan and Moroccan wind farms are making good headwinds.”

Nuclear scored the lowest amongst power and water professionals when asked what they think will have the biggest positive impact on the energy and water sectors in Africa within the next 5-10 years:  (Respondents were allowed to select more than one of the 12 options provided.)

1. Technology innovation 59%
2. Government commitment and transparency 55%
3. Uptake of renewables 47%
4. Expansion of mini grids 28%
5. Distributed generation 25%
6. Cross border partnerships 24%
7. Investment in capacity building 21%
8. Local investment 21%
9. Direct foreign investment 20%
10. Roll out of ICT systems 9%
11. Nuclear 7%

“Even though nuclear made a spectacular appearance in the previous question, here it ranks lowest, with technology innovation taking the prime spot” says ESI Africa’s editor, adding that “Tech R&D in all spheres of energy, power and water are already advancing with enthusiasm. And sometimes the simplest of solutions can be developed for the specific needs of a local community making the most impact. This is made possible by various organisations that are investing in entrepreneurship programmes and providing support to local innovators.”

She continues: “the other key area that respondents are hopeful will make a positive impact is around government’s commitment and transparency. Now that there has been an increase in public and industry association monitoring groups, such as OUTA and SAWEA, along with the ongoing Eskom Inquiry and South Africa’s leadership changes – this area is set on the right path to make a noteworthy impact.” 

Future technology 

Asked which future technologies most excite the respondents, the results were as follows:

1. Smart Grids 54%
2. Energy storage 49%
3. Energy trading 49%
4. Connected/smart cities 37%
5. Electric vehicles 36%
6. Energy trading 14%
7. Blockchain 14%

“These results show an interesting grouping around smart grids, energy storage and energy efficiency, which are intrinsically connected,” says Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl. “It’s disappointing that energy trading and blockchain are perceived as too futuristic to be the technology that respondents are most excited about. The African continent was able to leapfrog landline telephony straight to mobile; countries can do this again by becoming the leaders in energy trading and the use of crypto currency to fund projects and transact in the utility, energy and water space.” 

That the market has a healthy appetite for the futuristic technology was confirmed in a separate question whether the market is ready for the digital utility with a focus on smart meters, grids, Internet of Things and ICT – the overwhelming reply was a yes from 84% of the respondents.

Biggest challenge = corruption
At 49%, corruption was indicated as the biggest challenge that power and water professionals face in their industries but issues such as skills gap, access to finance, regulation and policy clarity, red tape and  economic slowdown were also perceived as important hindrances, scoring from 36% to 28%. 

Says the ESI Africa editor: “corruption is still perceived as a major obstacle and this goes along with respondents’ strong call for government commitment and transparency. It will take concerted leadership from all levels of government to rid the continent of this deeply entrenched challenge. The skills gap is also pinned as a high concern, putting development at risk – the loss of engineers, technicians and managers who are now retired or close to retirement age is a real factor; perhaps reviving apprenticeships along with attractive offers would make inroads to solving this risk.” 

The future lies in…
When asked the question: “The future lies in:” and given four choices only, namely distributed generation, mini grids, utility scale grids and storage, distributed generation was a clear winner at 40% with storage second at 27%, then mini grids with 22% and utility scale grids scoring the lowest with 11%. 

According to Pombo-van Zyl, distributed energy resources (DER) are top of mind as an imminent risk to the traditional utility and municipality business model – and not just in Africa. She explains: “it is being discussed at all levels of the utility business from its executive boards to internal auditors as it poses a threat to traditional revenue streams. However, the good news is that utilities have acknowledged a future that includes distributed generation – the challenge is in how to manage the technicalities around accommodating this on the national grid and its impact on revenue.” 

She adds: “it must have been a tough choice for survey respondents to choose between distributed energy, mini grids, utility-scale grids and storage. This is evident in the close percentages, with the obvious outlier being utility-scale grids; probably due to grid connected generation having made little inroads on increasing electrification rates across the continent.”  

Skills deficit in power and water sectors
Skills in finance, engineering/technical, people management and leadership all scored high (29%-33%) in a question on what power and water professionals perceived to present the biggest skills deficit in their companies. The ESI Africa editor’s take on these results: “it is a concern that there is a joint winner from this question: finance and engineering/technical skills. Without these two significantly important skills being resident within the utility market it is no wonder that companies’ cash flow is untenable and technical losses along the value chain are present due to maintenance challenges. A potential solution lies in leadership and people management, which also scored very high in this question.”  

Award-winning energy platform
The 18th annual, multi-award winning African Utility Week will gather over 7000 decision makers from more than 80 countries to discuss the challenges, solutions and successes in the power, energy and water sectors on the continent. Along with multiple side events and numerous networking functions the event also boasts a seven track conference with over 300 expert speakers.

The African Utility Week expo offers an extensive technical workshop programme that is CPD accredited, free to attend, and offers hands-on presentations that take place in defined spaces on the exhibition floor. They discuss practical, day-to-day technical topics, best practices and product solutions that businesses, large power users and utilities can implement in their daily operations.

Industry support
African Utility Week has already secured important industry support including Eskom Rotek Industries, Hexing and Landis+Gyr as platinum sponsors and Aberdare, Africa Utility Solutions, SAP and Sensus as gold sponsors.

Dates for African Utility Week:
Conference and expo: 15-17 May 2018
Awards gala dinner:  16 May 2018
Site visits: 18 May 2018
Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Website: http://www.african-utility-week.com  & www.african-real-estate-summit.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities    #AUW2018  
Linkedin: African Utility Week

Contact:
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

African Utility Week to focus strongly on water solutions for continent"

Nature or Water, exploring how we can use nature to overcome the water challenges of the 21st century“ is the theme of this year‘s World Water Day which is on 22 March. The scientific discipline of biomimicry employs the same approach.

Biomimicry = nature’s genius
"Every so often an idea comes around that is a game changer. After we hear it and understand it, we never see the world quite the same ever again. Biomimicry is such an idea,“ says Claire Janisch, the founder of BiomimicrySA. She adds: "it shows us that genius solutions to our challenges already exist. Right outside, in nature. Tested over eons.“

Claire is a keynote speaker at African Utility Week, taking place from 15-17 May in Cape Town, with a presentation entitled: Biomimicry: Learn from and emulate nature’s genius to create more sustainable designs. She explains: "when you realise that the simple act of learning from and emulating nature’s time tested genius is so profoundly impactful, it’s one of the most inspiring approaches to Africa's big challenges. I will share case studies and core principles to illustrate this.“

"Our vision is that the designers of our world - and particularly the designers of our infrastructure - look to natural systems as model, measure and mentor to design abundant and resilient cities that function like natural ecosystems.“

Cape Town not unique
African Utility Week will also focus strongly on water challenges on the continent, including investment needed in water solutions by the public and private sectors to enable universal access, water security and resilient societies. The water conference will furthermore showcase how partnerships, financial models and latest technological advances can make the greatest impact in meeting Africa's water demand.

“What is happening in Cape Town could happen anywhere,” says water expert Paul Yillia about the current water shortage in the Mother City. A guest research scholar (Water Programme) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria and formerly part of the Global Facilitation Team at Sustainable Energy for ALL (SEforALL) focusing on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, Paul returns as chairman of the water conference track at African Utility Week.

He explains: “as populations in cities grow and economic activities increase, the demand for water will continue to increase. If we now factor in climate change and extreme weather events such as prolonged heat waves and droughts, all of this will put additional pressure on water availability both on the supply and demand side. This is not unique to Cape Town. Utilities worldwide should take the threats posed by climate change much more seriously and focus additional resources on adaptation measures to cope with water security challenges that will be exacerbated by climate change.”

African Utility Week’s water conference programme topics and highlights include:

-  World Bank Report on latest status on water infrastructure projects
-  What is the impact of conflict and governance towards meeting Africa’s water demand?
-  Exploring the impact of climate change on Africa’s water demand
-  Panel discussion: How is the City of Cape Town working towards shifting cultural behaviour of water consumption?
-  Roundtable with country spotlight sessions, sharing investment opportunities and projects that are making the greatest difference to Africa’s water sector. Countries in focus will be Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Egypt, Botswana, Namibia, Ghana, Singapore, Dubai, Denmark, Singapore and Israel.
-  A debate on the pricing methods for the continent’s water
-  Panel discussion: What does a bankable project look like in the water sector?

The full interviews with Claire Janisch, Paul Yillia and more expert speakers can be read here: http://www.african-utility-week.com/expertinterviews 

Event going ahead as planned Meanwhile, the organisers of African Utility Week have assured all stakeholders in this long running conference and exhibition that the event will go ahead as planned despite the current water restrictions in Cape Town. “As a major event in the City, African Utility Week plays a crucial role in contributing towards the in-ward bound travel market,” says event director Evan Schiff, “by holding the event as planned, African Utility Week will continue to support the Cape Town economy as we cannot allow for there to be massive job losses on top of a water constrained situation.”

Award-winning energy platform
The 18th annual, multi-award winning African Utility Week will gather over 7000 decision makers from more than 80 countries to discuss the challenges, solutions and successes in the power, energy and water sectors on the continent. Along with multiple side events and numerous networking functions the event also boasts a seven track conference with over 300 expert speakers.

The African Utility Week expo offers an extensive technical workshop programme that are CPD accredited, free to attend, hands-on presentations that take place in defined spaces on the exhibition floor. They discuss practical, day-to-day technical topics, best practices and product solutions that businesses, large power users and utilities can implement in their daily operations.

Industry support
African Utility Week has already secured important industry support including Landis+Gyr, Hexing and Eskom Rotek Industries as platinum sponsors and SAP, Sensus, Utility Systems and Aberdare as gold sponsors.

Dates for African Utility Week:
Conference and expo: 15-17 May 2018
Awards gala dinner:  16 May 2018
Site visits: 18 May 2018

Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa
Website: http://www.african-utility-week.com  & www.african-real-estate-summit.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities    #AUW2018  
Linkedin: African Utility Week

Contact:
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Cape Town Summit to gather developers, investors and planners “

The Voortrekker Road Corridor offers a unique opportunity to invest in the urban core of Cape Town in one of its most important transit-oriented development corridors, taking advantage of the central location and extensive public transport infrastructure” – this is according to Councillor Johan van der Merwe, the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Environmental and Spatial Planning. The City of Cape Town will present its Voortrekker Road Corridor: Strategy and Investment Plan at the upcoming African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit at the Mother City’s CTICC from 2-3 November.

The presentation, which is open to industry professionals, forms part of an exciting line-up of high-level representatives from leading African cities, including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Lusaka and Kampala, who will showcase the investment and development opportunities offered by their cities’ Urban Development Plans or specific major infrastructure projects. “

The City has spent in excess of R300-million on infrastructure investments” says Councillor van der Merwe, “which are directly serving the corridor and significantly more on bulk infrastructure that contributes towards the corridor. One of the key infrastructure investments that we are making is providing financing to PRASA to undertake a study to develop a plan of improvements/upgrades to this important rail corridor.”

He foresees the main challenges to be “urban management, which includes crime, grime and maintenance, which is a key issue within the corridor. Solving this challenge is key to attracting investors to the area. We see the solution to this challenge emanating from the continuation and further development of partnerships between the City, the Greater Tygerberg Partnership, city improvement districts, land owners, business operators, civic organisations and residents. In addition to this partnership approach, we are working with the City improvement districts and the Greater Tygerberg Partnership to provide additional services in key locations”.  

African city of the future
More headline speakers at the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit that will also focus on key case studies of visionary city planning, investment opportunities in the commercial and residential real estate sector, the African city of the future and the challenges of urbanisation are:

- Tim Harris, CEO, WESGRO
- Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General, UCLG-A*
- Lord Mayor, Hon. Isaya Mwita Charles, Dar es Salaam
- Lekwalo Mosienyane, Director, Business Botswana 
- Mokena Makeka, Founder & Principal, Makeka Design Lab, South Africa 
- Kecia Rust, Director & Founder, Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa / Secretariat to the African Union for Housing Finance, UN-Habitat, South Africa
- Amine Turki, Secretary General, Africa Union of Architects, Tunisia
- Professor Vanessa Watson, School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape  

*UCLG-A: United Cities and Local Governments of Africa

The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit will gather the full spectrum of the continent’s real estate sector and will assist African cities and governments to secure international investment for commercial real estate development and infrastructure projects that will contribute to Urban Development Plans (UDPs).

The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit is organised by Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and the African office of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK. Spintelligent is well known for organising exhibitions and conferences across the continent in the infrastructure, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Longstanding flagship events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, East African Power Industry Convention (EAPIC), West African Power Industry Convention (WAPIC), Agritech Expo, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek.

UCLG Africa

The UCLG Africa is the patron of the upcoming African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit in Cape Town. The UCLG AFRICA is the umbrella organisation and the united voice and representative of local government in Africa. It is an institution that gathers 40 national associations of local governments from all regions of Africa as well as the 2000 cities that have more than 100.000 inhabitants. Therefore UCLG AFRICA represents nearly 350 million Africans citizens.

Dates for African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit 2016:
Showcase and conference: 2-3 November 2016
Opening session: 09h00, 2 November, 2016
Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Website: http://www.african-real-estate-summit.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARES_Summit
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8518271

Media contact: Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558 Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.