Standard Bank brings you this six-part series that delves deeper into key topics affecting the continent. Take a listen to how Africa can better prepare for the fight against climate change, leverage our agricultural potential, take advantage of deepening digitisation and protect the human rights of her people.
70% of Africans make a living through agriculture, and technology could transform their world. Rural areas are chronically underserved by financial service providers, which is a limiting factor for economic development. Even where financial services are accessible, evidence shows that social concerns are often not fully incorporated in funding decisions and the delivery of services.
Africa’s situation deserves extraordinary attention: the continent contributes just 4 percent of global total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the lowest of any region, yet its socio-economic development is threatened by the climate crisis. In other words, Africa contributes the least emissions but suffers the brunt of the consequences.
Investing in impact businesses can increase access to basic services such as finance, healthcare, education, clean water, and energy. Several prominent examples in Africa demonstrate that impact businesses can be both profitable and beneficial for a wide range of stakeholders and while offering tangible social and economic benefits.
Blockchain is, for many people, still synonymous with cryptocurrencies and financial applications. Yet the features that make blockchain technologies so appealing for asset management and monetary transactions — transparency, tamper-resistance, efficiency, and smart contracts — are also useful in areas that have little to do with finance.
Many mining and minerals businesses are already taking active steps on their ESG agenda; identifying their priorities and measuring their performance. But the real benefits come when you move beyond measurement and take action to improve.
Many African companies have realised that life will never be the same again post Covid-19. Business survival will, to a large extent, depend on how organisations embrace the future, use technology, invest in skilling and re-skilling employees, develop tailor-made employee benefits, incorporate mental well-being into HR models, develop sustainable working models, and embed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices in business models
