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Global Economies Rely Aviation Connectivity for Sustainability-IATA

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International Air Transport Association (IATA) has hinted that global economies rely on connectivity provided by aviation to sustain business and leisure-related activities.

IATA announced on Thursday that global passenger traffic results for May showing demand growth of 6.2% compared to May 2013.

While this represented a deceleration compared to April year-over-year traffic growth of 7.6%, the performance is indicative of improving demand drivers.

May capacity rose 5.2% and load factor climbed 0.7 percentage points to 79.0%. All regions except Africa experienced positive traffic growth.

“We are seeing healthy demand for air traffic to support and help sustain the pick-up in global economic activity,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and ceo.

International Passenger Markets

May international passenger traffic rose 7.0% compared to the year-ago period. Capacity rose 6.0% and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 78.1%.

All regions recorded year-over-year increases in demand.

Asia Pacific carriers recorded an increase of 7.3% compared to May 2013, which was the largest increase among the three biggest regions. The strong performance suggests that downward pressure on demand from sluggishness in the Chinese economy is likely easing.

According to JP Morgan/Markit, the measure of manufacturing activity rebounded in May, supported by a strong rise in export order growth.

Capacity rose 7.5%, pushing down load factor 0.1 percentage points to 74.1%.

European carriers’ international traffic climbed 6.1% in May compared to the year-ago period. Capacity rose 5.3% and load factor rose 0.6 percentage points to 80.3%.

Economic activity in the Eurozone has been gaining momentum slowly and recent data suggest that solid increases in industrial production and trade should result in acceleration in Eurozone GDP in the second quarter.

North American airlines saw demand rise 4.4% in May over a year ago, implying positive underlying economic growth trends with easing pressure on employment levels.

Capacity rose 4.8%, pushing down load factor 0.3 percentage points to 83.0%, still the highest among all regions.

Middle East carriers had the strongest year-over-year traffic growth in May at 13.2% as airlines continue to benefit from the strength of regional economies, including non-oil production sectors, and solid growth in business-related premium travel. Capacity rose 6.9% and load factor climbed 4.4 percentage points to 78.0%.

Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 9.1%. Capacity rose 6.0% and load factor climbed 2.2 percentage points to 79.6%.

The outlook for Latin American carriers remains broadly positive, with continued robust performance of economies like Colombia, Peru and Chile contributing to the strong demand environment, although the Brazilian economy remains weak, with any benefits from the FIFA World Cup likely to be transitory.

African airlines experienced the slowest demand growth, up 1.9% compared to May 2013.

With capacity up 4.7%, load factor fell 1.8 percentage points to 64.4%, the lowest among the regions.

The weakness in international air travel for regional carriers could be in part reflecting adverse economic developments in some parts of the continent, with the slowdown of the major economy of South Africa.

Domestic Passenger Markets

Domestic air travel rose 4.6% in May year-on-year, with all markets showing growth with significant variation in performance continuing across markets.

Capacity rose 3.8% and load factor was 80.6%, up 0.6 percentage points. Growth was especially strong in the developing economies of China and Russia.

China and Russia domestic air travel rose 9.4% and 13.2% in May compared to a year ago with economic growth substantial enough in both countries to sustain strong expansion in domestic air travel.

Moreover, indicators from China suggest that the economic slowdown could be beginning to reverse itself.

Brazil’s domestic traffic climbed 4.9%, while capacity actually shrank 0.9%–the only market to show a decline in capacity growth.

Previous months showed growth in the range of twice the pace of May, potentially reflecting FIFA World Cup-related activity.


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Verra Certifies d.light’s Clean Cookstove Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa

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A series of pioneering projects by d.light, the global provider of transformational household products and affordable finance for low-income households, to distribute 600,000 energy-efficient clean cookstoves in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda have been officially certified by global verification body Verra.

This certification confirms the d.light projects as trusted, verified sources of high-quality carbon credits in the voluntary carbon markets (VCMs).

The d.light projects aim to simultaneously reduce carbon emissions, tackle indoor air pollution, and reduce deforestation through the sale of highly efficient biomass cookstoves subsidized by the revenues from the sale of carbon credits.

Since their launch in late 2022, the projects have positively impacted more than one million lives and are projected to transform more than three million lives by 2025.

Commenting on the news, Karl Skare, d.light’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, emphasized the projects’ positive impact, “With these projects, we’re not just addressing environmental concerns but also enhancing quality of life for millions.

“Each project underscores d.light’s commitment to practical, innovative solutions that address both environmental and social challenges, as part of our mission to transform the lives of one billion people by 2030.”

Each year, domestic cooking emissions contribute more than two percent of total global GHG emissions and up to 25 percent of anthropogenic black carbon emissions.

Highly energy-efficient cookstoves solve this problem by reducing biomass use by up to 70 percent compared to traditional cooking methods, cutting emissions of both carbon dioxide and black carbon.

The d.light projects are expected to reduce emissions by up to 12 million tons, contributing to climate change mitigation. These emissions reductions will be registered as carbon credits in the voluntary carbon market.

As well as reducing emissions, clean cookstoves are also a benefit to public health. According to the World Health Organisation, exposure to smoke from cooking fires causes an estimated 3.2 million premature deaths worldwide each year and is still one of the predominant causes of pollution-related illness and death in Africa.

In Uganda, for example, less than one percent of the population has access to clean cooking, household air pollution is the one of the largest risk factors for death and disability.

In addition, switching from traditional three-stone open fires to cleaner, energy-efficient cookstoves significantly reduces deforestation and reduces threats to wildlife and biodiversity caused by habitat loss.

Skare explained, “By subsidizing energy-efficient cookstove costs through carbon financing, d.light makes clean cooking accessible to more households, which in turn leads to healthier living conditions and conserves natural resources as well.

“Our projects in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda are models of how sustainable investments can yield multiple co-benefits, aligning with global efforts to combat climate change and also promoting socio-economic development.

Skare added, “d.light now has projects certified by both Gold Standard and Verra, the world’s two leading certifiers of carbon credits. Organizations looking for ways to offset their own emissions can be confident that when they purchase carbon credits in d.light’s clean cooking projects in sub-Saharan Africa, they are investing in transformative initiatives that reduce harmful emissions, improve people’s health and quality of life, and help conserve the environment as well.”

 


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Remedial Health Unveils New App with Digital POS to power operations for Africa’s Neighbourhood Pharmacies

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Remedial Health, a health tech startup that develops solutions to make Africa’s pharmaceutical value chain more efficient has unveiled an updated version of its customer-facing app, designed to function as an operating system for neighbourhood pharmacies and Proprietary Patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) across the continent.

The new app comes with a digital POS terminal to support payment collection, virtual business accounts to receive payments, an in-built barcode scanner feature for recording product sales and store-switch functionality to enable the seamless management of multiple stores, as well as inventory management solutions for restocking and easily identifying short-dated products.

The app also offers comprehensive financial reporting to manage profit and loss, and data analytics to inform decision making.

Despite accounting for 85 per cent of retail medicines sold in Africa’s pharmaceutical industry (projected to reach $70 billion market size by 2030), the absence of bespoke digital tools to manage their unique sales and inventory management needs means neighbourhood pharmacies and Proprietary patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) are unable to run their operations as effectively and profitably as possible.

At the same time, the reliance on paper-based inventory and sales management processes means manufacturers have limited empirical insights into customer behaviour to inform their decisions on production and distribution.

The new Remedial Health app has been designed specifically for healthcare businesses in Africa, with tailored features that have been designed to support effective decision making to drive business growth and profitability.

Starting in Nigeria, healthcare businesses can access vetted medicines, and manage their sales and inventory on one easy-to-use platform, freeing up time and capacity to effectively serve their customers and communities.

The app also enables Remedial Health to provide consolidated, real-time data on market behaviour to manufacturers for increased profitability and better decision-making across the value chain.

According to Samuel Okwuada, CEO, and co-founder of Remedial Health, “Neighbourhood pharmacies and PPMVs represent the frontline of healthcare delivery in Africa but they have historically been left to their own devices to figure out how to be efficient and profitable.

“Our mission is to empower these essential service providers with the tools they need to manage day-to-day operations and seamlessly run their practices effectively. We spent a lot of time interacting with our customers in the process of delivering this product and the feedback has been great.

“We are excited by the opportunity to get the app into the hands of pharmacies and PPMVs across the country to support their ongoing success, as well as the health and wellbeing of the nation”.

In 2023, Remedial Health sold more than 300 million individual packs of medicines to 7,500 hospitals, neighbourhood pharmacies and PPMVs across all 36 states of Nigeria.

Its customers also improved their profits by 30 per cent on average, with access to more than 8,000 vetted products at the same, or better than, open-air medicine market prices.

They can also access same-day delivery and leverage inventory financing to minimise cash-flow friction for routine orders and maximise sales opportunities.


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EnterpriseNGR Expands Financial Centres to Three African Countries

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EnterpriseNGR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up the Africa Roundtable of Financial Centres – a chapter of the World Alliance of International Financial Centres, in Mauritius, Morocco and Rwanda.

The MoU, signed recently in Mauritius, brought together EnterpriseNGR, the Economic Development Board of Mauritius, Casablanca Finance City Authority, and Rwanda Finance Limited to foster collaboration, promote investment opportunities, and drive sustainable development within the financial centres of its member countries and Africa at large.ort the exchange of best practices between members, enhance visibility regionally

A statement from EnterpriseNGR said that it was joining forces with the three countries to specifically pursue five key objectives.

These objectives include “Jointly strengthen the competitiveness of financial centres in Africa. Collaborate through projects, research papers, communiques, and events to position the African Continent, demonstrate the myriad of investment opportunities, and showcase the role that financial centres play within the African Continent.

“Conduct joint initiatives to supp and internationally, and provide African financial centres with a unified voice regionally and internationally.

“Facilitate the development of dialogue with major financial centres outside the African Continent and build communication channels with African institutions, including regulators and policymakers, as well as African financial services industry associations, and advocate for regulatory coordination amongst members of the Africa Roundtable to promote cross-border investments and financial services.”

Commenting on this collaboration, the Chairperson of the Africa Roundtable, Mr Ken Poonoosamy, said, “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC represents a pivotal stride in fostering synergy among financial hubs within the African sphere, with the shared objective of catalysing economic advancement across the continent.”

Ms Obi Ibekwe, the Chief Executive Officer of EnterpriseNGR, represented by the Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Mr Lami Adekola, expressed her excitement over the development.

She said, “It is a historic achievement, and EnterpriseNGR fully endorses the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC and is excited for the immense opportunities it represents for Nigeria and the African continent. Our collaboration with the four African countries promises to bolster financial competitiveness on the Continent and amplify Africa’s global presence.

We will leverage this Roundtable to unlock the full potential of African financial centres to drive prosperity and development for our nations and beyond.”

EnterpriseNGR became a member of WAIFC in 2023 during the WAIFC board meeting hosted by TheCityUK in London.

The MoU, which was signed recently in Mauritius, brought together EnterpriseNGR, the Economic Development Board of Mauritius, Casablanca Finance City Authority, and Rwanda Finance Limited, to foster collaboration, promote investment opportunities, and drive sustainable development within the financial centres of its member countries.

A statement from EnterpriseNGR said that it was joining forces with the three countries to pursue five key objectives.

According to the group, these objectives include “jointly strengthen the competitiveness of financial centres in Africa. Collaborate through projects, research papers, communiques, and events to position the African continent, demonstrate the myriad of investment opportunities, and showcase the role that financial centres play within the African continent”.

It added that it would enable it to “Conduct joint initiatives to support the exchange of best practices between members, enhance visibility regionally and internationally, and to provide African financial centres with a unified voice regionally and internationally.

Facilitate the development of dialogue with major financial centres outside the African Continent and build communication channels with African institutions, including regulators and policymakers, as well as African financial services industry associations, and advocate for regulatory coordination amongst members of the Africa Roundtable to promote cross-border investments and financial services”.

Commenting on the collaboration, the Chairperson of the Africa Roundtable, Mr Ken Poonoosamy, asserted, “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC represents a pivotal stride in fostering synergy among financial hubs within the African sphere, with the shared objective of catalysing economic advancement across the continent.”

Ms Obi Ibekwe, the Chief Executive Officer of EnterpriseNGR, represented by the Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Mr Lami Adekola, expressed her excitement over the development.

She stated, “It is a historic achievement, and EnterpriseNGR fully endorses the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC and is excited for the immense opportunities it represents for Nigeria and the African continent.

“Our collaboration with the four African countries promises to bolster financial competitiveness on the Continent and amplify Africa’s global presence. We will leverage this Roundtable to unlock the full potential of African financial centres to drive prosperity and development for our nations and beyond.”


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