Blog archive - August 2011

Mega Trends and Opportunities for Companies in Africa Mani James, Business Unit Leader, Chemicals, Materials & Food, Frost & Sullivan Tapping into the Untapped: Growing Consumer Demand Driving Mega Opportunities for Chemicals & Material Suppliers in Africa The recent global economic recession has had a significant impact on the chemicals & materials industry globally. Demand for core chemicals sectors collapsed and, as a result, global production decreased during the economic recession as companies cut back production, shutting or idling plants and conducting lay offs. However, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were considered attractive investment destinations for chemicals & material markets. Many African economies are witnessing a very robust GDP growth. As a result, there is growing consumer demand across key end-user sectors in Africa such as energy & power, water & sanitation infrastructure and infrastructure in key African countries. This is bound to drive a higher growth trajectory for the markets for chemicals & materials by 2020. The key to unlocking this potential in Africa is to understand the underlying Mega Trends that shape the business environment. Discussion points : - What are the key Mega Trends that would drive business for chemicals and materials companies in Africa? - When can you expect to see the impact of micro trends on the business environment? - Where are the key opportunities that would manifest in Africa by 2020? - Why is Africa the next big opportunity for chemicals and material suppliers? - How can you adopt your strategies to tap into this massive opportunity Africa presents? We will be presenting the key outcomes of our discussions during the GIL 2011 : Africa discussions on a regular basis.

The president of United States, Mr. Warren Buffett and the analyst on the wall street; many are blaming S&P for downgrading the US ratings. I have the highest respect for the world's greatest investor.. Eu to Buffett? In stead of congratulating S&P for doing a good job and being honest (even at the potential of getting this wrath from various angles) its a pity that we are blaming S&P. They say S&P is evaluating America politically and S&P is not a political judge. How can you evaluate a country without looking at its political stability? Not only has S&P judged it politically, they have got it perfectly right. With the democrats not willing to give up on healthcare expenditure and the republicans not willing to budge on taxes, the fact is US is a debt ridden economy and will remain so for the near foreseeable future! Some are even asking what was S&P doing four years ago when it gave the highest ratings to asset backed securities (that ended up nasty with the beginning of Lehman going belly up) and hence doubting their analysis. That's the point, S&P has learnt its mistake while a few others including the spendthrift US government has not. I haven't heard a more lame excuse than "we can print more money so we will not default". What about the eventual devaluation of the US dollar and its effect on buying power for Americans? What about the devaluation of billions of dollars of US securities held by other governments? Obama saying "US will always be a triple A country" is optimism misplaced at the highest. The spiralling US government debt is indeed worrisome. The US government's last week's decision to raise the debt ceiling is only expected to postpone the bad news and not put it off for good. The world did not see a concrete plan to put away the larger danger. The easiest way out is to say don't give too much importance to rating agencies. If the president of United States himself had not mentioned and made such a big deal of the US ratings downgrade, nobody else would have. Either believe in the S&P ratings and do something about it or don't believe it and don't talk about it!