AfricanBUSINESS UNITED KINGDOM IC PUBLICATIONS 7 Coldbath Square, London EC1R 4LQ Tel: +44 20 7841 3210 icpubs@icpublications.com www.african.business FOUNDER Afif Ben Yedder PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Omar Ben Yedder | o.benyedder@icpublications.com EDITOR David Thomas | d.thomas@icpublications.com DIGITAL EDITOR Shoshana Kedem | s.kedem@icpublications.com SUB EDITOR Charles Dietz | c.dietz@icpublications.com Mike Holderness | m.holderness@icpublications.com DESIGN J Ve n k a t a s a my | j.ven katasamy@icpublications.com HEAD OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Desné Masie | d.masie@icpublications.com VP DEVELOPMENT Saliba Manneh | s.manneh@icpublications.com PROJECTS DIRECTOR Zine Ben Yahmed | z.benyahmed@icpublications.com ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTORS Baytir Samba, Nick Rosefield ADVERTISING advertising@icpublications.com DISTRIBUTION distribution@icpublications.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Stuart West | s.west@icpublications.com TUNISIA Néjib Ben Yedder | n.benyedder@icpublications.com GHANA – SPECIAL PROJECTS AND ADVERTISING Silvia Salvetti Ollennu Top Reports Tel: +233 24 910 5995 top@topreports.org IC EVENTS info@ic-events.net SUBSCRIPTIONS IC Publications Webscribe Unit 4, College Business Park, College Road, North Aston Clinton HP22 5EZ UK Telephone + 44 (0) 1442 820580 contact@webscribe.co.uk https://african.business/subscribe PRINTERS Roularta Media Group Meensesteenweg 300 8800 Roeselare Belgium All pictures AFP unless indicated. Registered with the British Library. ISSN 0142-9345 ©2022 IC Publications Ltd CONTENTSContents Stats 4 Trends in African debt, trade and investment Opinion 8 Better policies needed to support Africa’s digital businesses 10 Could Just Energy Partnerships work for Africa? 12 China is not just a bilateral lender Davos 2023 14 Interview – Chido Munyati, Head of Regional Agenda for Africa, WEF Economic overview 18 Can the continent outrun global headwinds? Africa’s elections in 2023 24 What’s at stake in African elections this year Finance 26 Interview – Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman, Afreximbank Agriculture 40 Can Africa’s dreams of feeding China bear fruit? Development 56 We must redesign world financial architecture – Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados 58 Interview – Carlos Lopes, Professor, University of Cape Town, South Africa Finance 62 Interview – Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank Development 64 Interview – Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO, AUDA-NEPAD Climate change 68 Has Cop27 resurrected global carbon trading? Sanitation 72 Interview – Dominic O’Neill, Executive Director, Sanitation and Hygiene Fund Last word 74 The precious blue dot in space Climate change 48 Helping communities adapt to climate change 52 Interview – Patrick Verkooijen, CEO, Global Center on Adaptation The Davos Special was supported by Brand South Africa; the Global Center on Adaptation; Multichoice and the Standard Bank Group