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Having recently announced agreements with the likes of Marlink, Talia, CETel and Avanti, SatADSL is a rapidly-growing company that is wholly committed to delivering cost-effective, high-quality connectivity across the globe. Ahead of AfricaCom 2018, SatADSL co-founder and chief operations officer Caroline de Vos provides insight into the market and the unique approach the company has brought to the satellite industry.

Q: As a satellite service provider, what are some of the challenges the company faces?
A: As a company that was founded in 2011, we are fortunate to be in a position today where we have overcome many of our challenges. We have done this by being flexible; solution-minded – and, as a result we are now growing quickly.

In fact, we have just announced a global service offering. This success has come because we interconnect hubs and offer our service upstream to operators, such as teleport operators and satellite operators, on a platform-as-a-service basis.

This is new, as we previously concentrated our business downstream the value-chain to internet service providers (ISPs) and end-user customers. Although SatADSL still tackles the end-user market, the change of focus to upstreaming our services means we can now work with operators, to allow us to have a bigger reach within the market.

What remains a constant consideration for us, however, is the price of equipment, especially for end users in emerging regions such as Africa and Latin America. This – along with connecting moving devices – remains a challenge, and we believe it is incredibly important for quality equipment to come down in price if we are to be successful in delivering ubiquitous connectivity.

Q: SatADSL recently announced agreements with Marlink and Talia, among others. What do these partnerships bring to your value proposition and to your customers?
A: To give a little bit of history, when we founded SatADSL, we operated as a service provider and bought capacity from satellite operators, which we then re-sold as a service with value-add features to end users through ISPs. Throughout this time, we remained very flexible in what we could provide in terms of new features and services via our cloud-based service-delivery platform (C-SDP), with functionalities such as voucher systems, hot spots, a full monitoring system and traffic enhancements, making it a very attractive offering for satellite and teleport operators.

When we reached this point, we did not want to sell the platform or sell licences to use it. Instead, we decided the most effective way we could share the benefits of the C-SDP was to enter into partnerships with operators – enabling them to use the C-SDP and offer the services it enables, while allowing us to connect to their teleport to widen our reach/bandwidth offering.

This is a completely new approach in the satellite industry and it opens up both parties’ markets without the need for upfront investment which is a huge advantage in today’s current economic climate.

An example is our agreement with Marlink, that lets us link directly to its teleports and installed technology to provide high-bandwidth C- and Ku-band VSAT services across its coverage footprint, giving us a global presence. Marlink will also use the C-SDP to extend voucher-based and congestion-based services to customers, expanding its technology-leading portfolio of business-critical solutions.

Q: How does SatADSL stay ahead of the game in the competitive satellite services sector?
A: In a word, ‘flexibility’. The unique way in which we are interconnecting hubs and teleports means there is increased competition in the market, and this means there is greater pressure for the price of services to be competitive, making broadband more affordable, even in emerging regions.

Being able to offer affordable services ourselves is also a key differentiator for SatADSL, as the fact that we can provide additional capacity without upfront investment – such as the purchasing of a hub – means we can offer services of the same quality at a lower cost.

Q: There has been a lot of talk about Africa and ending the digital divide. Are we getting closer to this?
A: Yes, definitely, especially with the offering of Ka-band services on Avanti, for example, to which SatADSL’s platform is connected.

We have 78 partners across Africa and they have been waiting for us to offer Ka-band services, which we can now do because we are also interconnecting with Avanti’s hubs on HYLAS 4 and HYLAS 2. In addition to this, our online payment features and voucher-based services help us to provide simpler, more flexible payment schemes for our customers.

Additionally, we are starting to talk to mobile network operators and telcos in Africa about how we can provide them with a solution to enable backhauling and last mile solutions using satellite applications without CAPEX.

This next step means that even mobile internet connectivity could be addressed by VSAT services from SatADSL and our partners in remote areas where terrestrial solutions are not available or fully reliable.

1505 Chaussée de Wavre,
Auderghem, Belgium, 1160
Tel: +32 2 880 82 70
[email protected]
www.satadsl.net

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Esoko is a pioneering technology company driving Africa’s digital revolution. The company achieves this through the development of simple yet powerful mobile and web-based tools and services that empower organisations seeking to provide critical services to the last mile. The company’s mission is to improve the revenues of the continent’s rural population and it hopes to encourage their economic empowerment through digital and financial inclusion.

Organisations worldwide use Esoko technology to collect and disseminate data about people and markets via smart phone, tablet, web, SMS and voice SMS. Based in Accra, Ghana, the company has a geographical footprint that spans Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and South Africa.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Insyt
Insyt provides a mobile and web-based platform for data collection, paper-form digitisation, agent management and data analysis – helping agencies convert from paper, thus reducing cost, time and errors in targeting customers or gaining visibility and insights into their own operations. Via a simple mobile device, organisations can:

• Digitise all paper forms and customise work flows and then migrate into the digital space
• Capture any type of data from the field including socio-economic data, registration of people or assets, household data, farm-level data, images, signatures, fingerprints and GIS
• Track inventory, monitor last-mile distribution and manage field-level transactions and sales from multiple locations in real time
• Map land areas into GIS polygons or point maps without a separate GPS receiver
• Collect data in both online and offline mode.

The web management portal features real-time data monitoring and insights through analytics. Insyt has been the backbone technology of many government-led agricultural and social protection programmes including the Ghana National Household Registry, the Planting for Food and Jobs programme and Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty initiative in Ghana – a flagship social protection programme that helps government agencies profile more than 3.7 million individuals, map 42 087 ha and capture 695 000 biometric profiles for improved targeting.

For medium- to large-scale survey exercises Esoko offers field-agent recruitment, training and deployment and customised workflows including payment and verifications services. Learn more and sign up via insyt.esoko.com.

Digital Farmer Service
The Esoko Digital Farmer Service is an innovative agricultural value-chain digitisation service that leverages mobile and web technologies to develop a super-agent network across vulnerable farming communities.

Agents equipped with tablets running Esoko technologies are the conduits for providing critical services to thousands of smallholders. These critical services include credit to finance agricultural operations, insurance to increase farmer resilience to emerging threats and economic stressors, input subsidy programmes and access to input and output markets.

The service creates an ecosystem around the agents, comprising key value-chain actors such as input providers, mechanisation service providers, financial institutions (including insurance companies) and grain off-takers.

All transactions within the agricultural value chain are recorded and digitised using smart cards that are enabled by the Esoko mobile money wallet and global payment provider Visa, helping farmers build a history of transactions that can be used by third parties such as banks to assess and provide credit/loans.

The system also enables biometric verification for interventions such as subsidy programmes within the agricultural industry and making cash payments to the last mile.

Information services
Esoko provides a simple but powerful communication tool for businesses, projects, NGOs and governments to connect with farmers. The company offers a cloud-hosted web platform that allows any project or organisation to customise its network and areas of interest; profile recipients; then send information to them at a low cost via SMS, voice SMS and a call centre.

Esoko’s original content and e-extension offering includes:

• Market prices covering more than 52 agricultural commodities
• Climate-smart agricultural technologies and seasonal forecast delivered via SMS, voice SMS, interactive voice response and call centre
• Bids and offers, linking buyers to sellers
• Good agronomic practices
• A call centre staffed with agricultural experts who speak the local languages
• The facility for organisations to send their own content – promotions, announcements, reminders and so on – via the platform.

More than 1 million farmers have received 30 million SMSes via the Esoko platform, with 220 000 calls coming in through the call centre.

Knowledge Plus app
Knowledge Plus (K+) is a digital extension and training app that allows users to create any kind of content on the web and publish it to mobile devices for offline access in hard-to-reach areas. K+ is a direct response to the problem of low-extension worker-to-farmer ratios in Africa. K+ features include:

• A web portal to create and publish content, including text, video, photo and quizzes
• A mobile-based app, where published content is accessible offline after initial syncing
• Report and feedback functions.

The K+ app is being used by the Farm Africa-led Sesame project in Tanzania to provide rural communities with better agronomic practices.

42 Ring Rd, Central Accra, Ghana
Tel: +233 30 221 1611
[email protected]
www.esoko.com

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Since its launch in 2014, Grit Real Estate Income Group has managed to attract an impressive number of investors and partners, with a winning strategy. Following its introduction to the Stock Exchange of Mauritius and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Grit has reached new heights by becoming the first Mauritian-based company to be registered on the Main Board of the London Stock Exchange. The CEO and co-founder, Bronwyn Corbett, reveals the strengths that make Grit a trusted and indispensable partner in the real estate industry.

Q: You have recently been registered on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Tell us more about your business and what attracted you to the bourse.
A: Our listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange represents a step-change in the business that will position the company for significant growth and exposure. The capital raised from the LSE listing will enable our entry into new African territories and consolidate our presence in existing jurisdictions. It will also improve the depth and diversity of our shareholder base, and improve the liquidity of the stock, resulting in the inclusion in varied indexes – specifically the FTSE Frontier Index and MSCI Frontier Index. We are proud to bring our passion and vision for Africa to London.

Grit launched in July 2014 and is the largest pan-African listed real estate company offering investors direct exposure to attractive and sustainable hard currency income streams underpinned by prime real estate assets and long leases to blue-chip international and national tenants. Our focus is on selected African countries with solid fundamentals and high-growth opportunities. We currently operate in seven countries on the continent, including Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Zambia, Mauritius, Botswana and Ghana.

As a result, Grit is unbiased as far as real estate asset classes are concerned. We evaluate risk based on tenant strength, in addition to country and property fundamentals, such as the economic growth rate, location and nodal development.
This means we will acquire and hold assets across the spectrum, including commercial offices, retail centres, corporate accommodation, hospitality, light industrial warehousing and logistics centres, provided that it ticks the boxes from a fundamental perspective (right node, right quality, right price and so on), and that a long lease with a reputable international tenant is in place.

Q: Why expand into the rest of Africa when most of your listed, South African counterparts have tapped into Eastern Europe? What attracts you to these markets and how do you identify targeted jurisdictions?
A: We originally considered various options but something we kept coming back to was our passion for the continent. It’s no coincidence that the company is named Grit because unless you have infinite passion, perseverance and believe in what you are doing, the challenges will very quickly wear you down. We knew that our knowledge, networks and belief in the African growth story is our biggest differentiator and something competitors will not easily replicate.
Collectively, the four senior members of our executive team have more than 65 years of property experience on the continent.

Although each country presents a different investment thesis, we apply several considerations as standard practice when looking at expansion opportunities. These margins of safety include the ability to earn and repatriate hard currency; political and macroeconomic stability; land tenure; and the ability to raise debt.
In addition to this, the strength of the tenant plays a critical role as some of our leases are underwritten by the international parent company.

Q: Tell us more about your recent acquisitions and pipeline transactions.
A: Ghana was, some time ago, earmarked as an expansion country, based on its strong fundamentals. We have been monitoring Ghana’s economic reform with interest since 2014. The real estate market repriced sufficiently for us to expand our portfolio with the acquisition of 5th Avenue Corporate Offices, a three-storey, fully let 5 070 m2 GLA A-grade office complex in the upmarket Cantonments quarter of the capital, Accra.

There is a strong political will to implement REIT legislation in Ghana, which will allow further tax-efficient structuring as well as access to local capital looking for a unique investment offering.

Post the London Stock Exchange listing, we will conclude a number of agreements that have been signed or are in advanced discussions for an additional three commercial buildings in Accra as well as a corporate accommodation asset in Mozambique under-pinned by us.

Q: What potential do you see in sub-Saharan Africa for future growth for the company?
A: A fairly recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that institutional investors now regard the emergence of Africa’s middle class and its growing consumerism – rather than its commodities –as the most attractive aspect of investing in the continent.

Using the theory of purchasing power parity (an economic concept used to determine the relative value of different currencies) and considering the relative prices of non-tradable goods in different countries, Africa is estimated to grow by 30% over the next five years, compared to 10% in other more developed regions.

PwC, in a 2015 report titled Real Estate: Building the Future of Africa, noted that Africa’s retail market is fast developing. This is supported by the continent’s buying strength, which is expected to increase from US$860 million in 2008 to US$1.4 trillion by 2020. Our real estate strategy will be defined by the needs of the African people and the required presence for international corporates on the continent.

Q: What will shape real estate on the African continent over the next 30 years?
A: The largest opportunity also poses the largest threat: rapid population growth will require infrastructure and nodal development apace, necessitating collaboration – not only through public-private-partnerships but also between developers, landlords, tenants and especially, providers of capital. This means real estate opportunities will vary from country to country, and node to node.

In Nairobi, for example, logistics and warehousing assets are outperforming other asset classes by some margin.

Our experience in Zambia has demonstrated that large convenience retail centres in rural areas outperform urban regional shopping centres that have a more traditional mix of luxury and entertainment.

From Grit’s perspective, we will continue to partner with our tenants to provide appropriate accommodation that’s the right fit for them, regardless of asset class.

Q: What potential is there for future retail developments in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa? Is the market largely untapped, or do you think enough headway has already been made to make the market open and responsive?
A: Significant construction activities in respect of shopping malls are under way in Africa. In Lagos, 10 were under construction at the time PwC released its aforementioned report.

More than 60% of sub-Saharan Africa’s bullish economic growth is attributable to the region’s consumer spending, and most of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies are already operating in Africa. An analysis of major South African retailers expanding into Africa showed that growth in turnover of their African operations were often three times more than in South Africa.

As mentioned earlier, real estate on the continent is still in its infancy. Developers have also learnt that Africa is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ destination, and what works from a retail perspective in one country won’t necessarily work in another.

Looking ahead, we expect to see rapid growth in both depth and sophistication, especially as regulatory changes and the introduction of REIT status stimulate investments into the asset class.

3rd floor, La Croisette Shopping Mall,
Grand Baie, Mauritius
Tel: +230 269 7090
Email: [email protected]

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