AfricanBUSINESS CONTENTSContents 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 SUB-EDITOR Mike Holderness | m.holderness@icpublications.com DESIGN J V e n k a t a s a m y | j.venkatasamy@icpublications.com COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Roman Zincenko | r.zincenko@icpublications.com CONSULTING HEAD OF DELIVERY Brian Scudder | b.scudder@icpublications.com ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTORS Baytir Samba, Nick Rosefield, Saliba Manneh ADVERTISING advertising@icpublications.com MARKETING Emily Allen | e.allen@icpublications.com DISTRIBUTION distribution@icpublications.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Stuart West | s.west@icpublications.com TUNISIA Néjib Ben Yedder | n.benyedder@icpublications.com GHANA Silv ia Salvetti, Top Reports | 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 Librar y. ISSN 0141-3929 ©2024 IC Publications Ltd C o v e r s t o r y : Nigeria’s oil firms take over Business Intelligence 4 News and deals around Africa Cover story: Nigeria 12 New dichotomy in Nigeria’s oil 112 How Africa’s creative economy is driving transformation Special report: Madagascar 68 Madagascar regains momentum industry as majors go offshore 15 Nigeria emerging reluctantly as an oil-refining powerhouse 18 Tinubu’s windfall tax roils banks 22 Nigeria relies on diaspora for economic recover y 27 Top 100 Banks 2024 28 Africa’s biggest banks go global 38 The Top 100 in full 40 North African banks stay on top 42 Nigeria tops West & Central Africa 43 East Africa has a fifth of Top 100 44 South Africa’s big beasts rule Features 48 AFC’s Chief Economist, Dr Rita Babihuga-Nsanze: AFC report provides sober view of African infrastructure 62 Wasoko and MaxAB turn to fintech to boost profits 64 Interview: founder of GovChat Eldrid Jordaan: the South African entrepreneur who took on Meta 90 Battery storage: the tech revolutionising African renewables 92 Deep sea mining: Will Africa join the scramble on the high seas? 96 Race for East Africa’s insurance market heats up 108 Paris Olympics signal a bright future for basketball in Africa 110 When will Africa host Olympics? after global headwinds 72 Inter view: Minister of Economy and Finance Rindra Rabarinirinarison on steering a path to economic growth 76 Government eyes renewable energy opportunities 80 Madagascar is still not making the most of its land 82 Madagascar: on course for a million tourists? 84 Madagascar’s new plant to highlight Africa50’s ambition 86 Axian Group spreads wings with continent-wide acquisitions Special report: Botswana 100 Diamonds aren’t forever: Botswana looks beyond mining as it seeks to diversify 106 Monetising biodiversity: can Botswana go beyond tourism? Arts & Culture 126 African chefs take on the world with a continent of flavours Review 128 How the European Union deceives itself about Africa Editor’s View 130 Mpox: the globe must learn the lessons of Covid-19