Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Expansion of electricity generation and transmission infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa is on a very slow path compared to the demand and is by far lower than the potential demand. The projects needed to bridge the gap demand high capital input from the project sponsors. Securing finance to bring the generation expansion and new transmission line project into operation is difficult for utilities from small economies. The study contained in this document intends to investigate the difficulties faced by utilities to secure funding as they make efforts to meet the demand for electricity in their own countries and contribute to the regional electricity supply. Often projects are delayed because utilities have not fulfilled the strict requirements of the financial institutions. The research is limited to the two utilities and a sample of the development finance institutions that traditionally support these two countries with facilities for development. Data was collected from senior officials of the utilities and institutions involves using questionnaire and interview questions and analysed using statistical tools and inductive methods. The difficulties were divided into four major themes were found through the study. These are economic issues, financial issues, capacity issues and governance issues. The utilities need to be assisted in order to deal with these difficulties. The industry needs reforms are to truly liberalise it and allow other players in particular the private sector to participate in power generation. The impact of this would be the relaxation of the entry barriers for independent power producers and a better framework for public private partnerships.

Thesis M.M. Finance and Investment, Faculty of Commerce, Law And Management (WBS), 2016 / This study seeks to identify and deepen the understanding of the root causes of infrastructure deficit with emphasis on the West African region. Amongst its objectives, the study explores tailored-approaches to infrastructure financing. The study takes direction from literature and similar work in the recent past and employs both conceptual and empirical - trend as well as cross correlation analysis - techniques in addressing its objectives. Literature points to Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) as the most suitable model for infrastructure finance provisioning which this study adopts. The study tests the significance of PPP and in so doing makes recommendations to policy-makers on key factors or barriers such as political stability and the absence of violence, rule of law, regulatory quality, etc. that require attention to enable the efficient use of PPP to mitigate the infrastructure gap within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the resulting consequences. / XL2018

Thesis (MDF (Development Finance))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Infrastructure has been hailed as a fundamental link between markets and other development sectors of the economy. For over a long time the delivery of infrastructure in Africa has been the domain of the public sector. However, because of the continued budgetary constraints, most governments are seeking the support of the private sector in the delivery of infrastructure. Recent studies have, however, revealed that private participation in infrastructure delivery is very low in Africa. The research noted that certain obstacles at macro level of the economy are responsible for the low private participation in infrastructure delivery. It is, therefore, important that we assess the methodologies that have been used to attract private sector participation in infrastructure delivery in Africa. One method that is gaining popularity in the developing world is the use of project finance. The research study sought to achieve two objectives. The first was to discover whether governance played a significant role in attracting foreign lenders to use project finance in the delivery of infrastructure in Africa. The second objective was to find out, given that governance does matter, which of the governance indicators were important and what their relationship was with loan syndication. The study adopted a quantitative approach using six governance indicators as independent variables. The governance indicators are compiled by a team at the World Bank and these governance indicators are available on the World Bank database. Loan tranches were used as observations for the dependent variable with the data for the tranches originating from loans that were advanced under project finance across Africa covering the period between 1996 and 2006. The multiple regression model also incorporated certain control variables the data for which were collected from various sources. Findings from the research study revealed that governance does matter and is positively related to loan syndication in project finance structures. It was revealed that all six governance indicators exerted a positive influence on loan syndication. The results also revealed that political instability and violence, and control of corruption were statistically insignificant. In addition it was found that rule of law exerted the most positive influence on the composition of loan syndication in project finance structures. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Infrastruktuur is al aangeprys as ‘n fundamentele skakel tussen markte en ander ontwikkelingsektore in die ekonomie. Die voorsiening van infrastruktuur in Afrika figureer lank reeds in die openbare sektor, maar as gevolg van die volgehoue begrotingsbeperkinge soek die meeste owerhede die steun van die privaatsektor wat betref die voorsiening van infrastruktuur. Onlangse studies het egter bevind dat private deelname in die aflewering van infrastuktuur in Afrika baie laag is. Die navorsing het aan die lig gebring dat daar sekere struikelblokke op die makrovlak van die ekonomie is wat verantwoordelik is vir die geringe privaat deelname in die voorsiening van infrastruktuur. Derhalwe is dit belangrik om die metodologieë wat gebruik is om privaatsektordeelname ten opsigte van infrastruktuurvoorsiening in Afrika te beoordeel. Een metode wat gewild raak in die Derde Wêreld, is die gebruik van projekfinansiering. Hierdie navorsingstudie probeer om twee doelwitte te bereik. Die eerste doelwit is om uit te vind of staatsbestuur ‘n betekenisvolle rol speel om buitelandse kredietverskaffers te lok om projekfinansiering vir infrastruktuuraflewering in Afrika te gebruik. Die tweede doelwit is om, gegewe staatsbestuur se belangrikheid, te bepaal watter van die staatsbestuuraanwysers belangrik is en wat hul verband met leningsindikasie is. Die studie het ‘n kwantitatiewe benadering gevolg en het ses staatsbestuuraanwysers gebruik as onafhanklike veranderlikes. Die staatsbestuuraanwyser is deur ‘n span van die Wêreldbank opgestel en die staatsbestuuraanwyswers is beskikbaar op die Wêreldbank se databasis. Leningdeel is gebruik as waarnemings vir die afhanklike veranderlike, en die data vir die leningdeel is afkomstig van lenings wat toegestaan is onder projekfinansiering dwarsoor Afrika vir die periode 1996 tot 2006. Die meervoudigeregressiemodel het ook sekere kontroleveranderlikes behels, en die data daarvoor is vanuit verskeie bronne ingewin. Die navorsingstudiebevindinge het aan die lig gebring dat staatsbestuur ter sake is en positief aansluit by die leningsindikasie in projekfinansieringstrukture. Dit het aan die lig gekom dat al ses staatsregeringsaanwysers ‘n positiewe invloed op leningsindikasie uitoefen. Die bevindinge het ook daarop gedui dat politieke onstabiliteit en geweld, en korrupsiebeheer statisties onbeduidend is. Daar is ook bevind dat die oppergesag van die reg die mees positiewe invloed op die samestelling van leningsindikasie in projekfinansieringstruksture uitoefen.

Thesis (MComm (Logistics))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Although global changes like political security, depletion of natural resources, energy supply and global warming are affecting all continents; Africa struggle the most to cope with these changes. This is due to the many historical impediments that Africa still has to overcome. Examples of these impediments are the negative effects caused by civil wars, poverty, poor infrastructure and a lack of skills. Providing reliable, effective and efficient infrastructure underpins all attempts to facilitate trade, grow the economy and reduce poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA transportation related infrastructure is limited and generally in a poor condition. This poor state of transport infrastructure impedes SSA's development. However, it is not only the state of the infrastructure that challenges Africa - complicated customs and administrative procedures and inefficiencies when goods are handled at terminals and transferred from one transport mode to another also impede its potential for economic growth. In spite of these limitations, the SSA economy has been growing. As many as 28 countries (out of 48) in SSA recorded improvements in growth in 2006 and 2007. This growth was underpinned by improvement in macro-economic management in many countries, and a strong global demand for key African export commodities (sustaining high export prices, especially for crude oil, metals and minerals). Greater flows of capital to Africa, debt relief and increasing trade with the developing Asia have also helped increase resources and lift growth across SSA. The strong economic growth in the region also reflects the institutional improvements, structural reforms, and more rigorous economic policies that have started to bear fruit in many countries.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been touted in literature and by numerous studies on the topic as one of the main drivers of economic growth globally. Its benefits transcend from host to home countries, introducing related benefits that would not be realised without FDI. In sub-Saharan Africa, FDI is further regarded as one of the main avenues to alleviate resource deficits on the continent. Moreover, FDI is considered critical in mitigating socio-economic challenges experienced in many parts of the sub-continent. However, the continent lags behind the rest of the world in both outward FDI (OFDI) and inward FDI. Furthermore, intra-Africa FDI is also the lowest intra-regional FDI in the world. Various studies have been conducted on how MNCs strategise for their FDI initiatives and how the host country attributes render nations either attractive or otherwise to FDI. However, most of the studies have been premised on the developed world, mainly neglecting the unique characteristics of the continent. Africa has become a potentially attractive FDI destination for MNCs, as it has achieved consistently higher economic growth rates when compared to the rest of the world in the past few decades. However, the relatively few studies on the business environment, compounded by the often-negative media publication about the continent have rendered Africa a treacherous investment destination for MNCs. Democratic South Africa is a relatively new country in Africa. However, it is an important economic force on the continent due to superior resources and expertise formulated in the country over centuries. South African-originated MNCs currently form the bulk of MNC activity on the continent. However, SA MNCs have reported mixed fortunes in their OFDI endeavours in the rest of the sub-continent with many disinvestments, especially over the past two decades. These business closures continue up to the present day. This primary purpose of this study was to add to the existing literature on OFDI to ascertain scientific solutions to mitigate inappropriate business strategies being adopted by SA MNCs on the rest of the continent, especially those MNCs that invest in agribusiness. The study is unique in that it investigates the firm, host industry and overall host country attributes of OFDI in agribusiness. Furthermore, the study focused on the four regions of sub-Saharan Africa (East, West, Central and Southern Africa) to ensure that the regional dynamics of the continent are considered. The study also considered the effects of the different historical legal and business processes of the continent by factoring in anglophone, francophone and lusophone countries in the study. The formulation of this study and incorporation of these specifics therefore rendered this study different from existing studies. Furthermore, agribusiness is one of the most important industries in Africa, employing most of its populace, given the unique agrarian nature of the continent. However, there are negligible studies on FDI in agribusiness on the continent. To bridge this academic lacuna, the current study primarily focused on this sector that is critical to most African economies. The research, therefore, fills these gaps in the existing literature. The period under study was from 2000 to 2018. With the usage of annual data sourced from reliable sources in a robust panel regression approach, the findings of the study are as follows. Firm heterogeneity plays a critical role in the success of FDI initiatives. The study found that the asset base of an MNC was pertinent for the success of OFDI. Firms that relied on debt funding encountered challenges in OFDI processes. The research also found that profitability remained the main priority of MNCs, given that profitability and FDI share significant positive relationships. Interestingly, the findings established that MNCs that had a long history in their home countries struggled with OFDI, attributable to their limited ability to adapt their tried and tested home processes to new, unique markets on the rest of the continent. The findings on the agribusiness sector of host countries revealed that countries with progressive policies in agribusiness attracted additional and better FDI. For instance, investments in agri-infrastructure were beneficial to those host countries, showing that countries that prioritised agribusiness reaped the benefits, especially in the long term. Furthermore, there was clear evidence that FDI had a mutually beneficial relationship with crop and livestock production as well as value addition in agribusiness. There were mixed and useful findings regarding the impact of climate, food security and arable land as they relate to agribusiness FDI. Finally, the study supported the importance of institutional sturdiness on FDI. Although the study corroborated the direct relationship between FDI and economic growth, the findings revealed varied effects of the FDI relationship with unemployment, political stability and infrastructural development. The research findings inferred the importance of policy interventions to ensure that FDI initiatives are optimised to realise food security and growth in order to alleviate poverty and other social challenges experienced in the continent. / Business Management / D. Com. (Business Management)