ADS -African Solutions to African Challenges

The Contribution of Africa Development Solutions (ADS) Group to Africa’s Real Estate and Local Industries

The Africa Development Solutions (ADS) Group has worked on some of the most important projects in key sectors in various African countries. This company focuses mainly on emerging sectors of the economy that have prospects of improving the country’s GDP and improve the quality of life of Africans. Some of the transformative projects that ADS has undertaken have been in the local industries sector, primarily real estate. 

How ADS Provides Expertise to Countries in Africa

ADS Group offers its support in two major ways;

It is a trusted partner to foreign companies that would like to invest in Africa. Given its experience in large projects in Africa, ADS understands the necessary process to follow when providing international expertise. 
 
One of the challenges that international companies face when they do not offer African solutions for African problems. This is where ADS comes handy because international foreign companies save time and money when they follow approaches that are unique to the country where they are setting up shop. 
 
ADS also works directly with African countries that are considering launching transformative projects in major sectors, such as infrastructure, industrial development, and technology. The support offered includes financing solutions and access to international partners who can execute the project flawlessly and within the stipulated period. 

Real Estate Projects in Africa

For years, the economies of the various African countries were primarily driven by Agriculture. However, in the recent past, Agriculture has taken a beating due to climate change. This has forced African countries to diversify their economies for sustainable growth.
Other than the effects of climate change on Agriculture, African countries lacked real estate market analysis and research to help governments see the connection between demand and supply. For example, standard indicators such as rental growth, yields, total returns, capital growth, and market stock that guide real estate in developed countries are currently available on very few countries in sub-Sahara Africa.
These indicators are important to investors because they help them determine areas most in need of real estate. Before investing in property, investors want to know the percentage of the population can afford to rent office and accommodation space. Construction is expensive, and no business is willing to spend money on a property that will have a negative return on investment. This is where ADS comes in.
Affordable Housing

According to a 2018 World Bank report, of the 28 poorest countries in the world, 27 are in sub-Sahara Africa. It is estimated that sub-Sahara Africa has a poverty rate of more than 30%. While poverty rates have continued to drop in developed countries, Africa has faced challenges fighting poverty. According to the report, 278million people lived below the poverty line in the 1990s. This number grew to 413 million in 2015. 

This has an impact on the ability of many Africans to have access to good housing, loans for business, and disposable income to spend in hotels and other commercial areas. This is one of the reasons why real estate is still a challenge in many African countries. 

ADS Group has partnered with Global Housing Solutions (GHS), a company based in Austria, but with offices in South Africa, to provide affordable housing. GHS has constructed residential properties in Johannesburg, Lusaka, Luanda, Chongwe, Lilongwe, Harare, and Maputo. The mobile house systems made of lightweight panels have been a popular choice because they are affordable and ideal for emergency accommodation, especially during catastrophes. GHS also constructed Dumami Lodge in South Africa. 

The Hospitality Industry

ADS Group partnered with the MANSA Hotel Group to construct luxury hotels in South Africa and Senegal. The target is to provide high-quality accommodation to middle-class Africans traveling across Africa for business or leisure. Appropriate accommodation facilities also encourage foreigners to visit African countries in search of investment opportunities.

MANSAM Hotel Group is also working with other global hotel brands in a pan-African tourism project to encourage intra-Africa mass tourism. Many Africans have hardly left their countries and those that do travel to Europe and other developed countries.

This project aims to encourage Africans to travel to other African countries and discover the cultures, traditions, and beauty of the various African countries. It will also be an opportunity to compare the different cultures of the various African communities.

Local Industrial Development

Africa is lagging when it comes to industrialization. This has been a campaign issue for the political class, but it is a dream that is yet to be fully realized in most African nations. With high unemployment rates, Africa could use more industries to employ a vast majority of educated youth who are unemployed. This is one of the reasons behind ADS Group’s focus on local industries.

The difficulties countries in Africa face when it comes to electricity made ADS undertake an ambitious investment of the largest hydraulic project in Africa, the Soupaiti dam in the Republic of Guinea. When complete, this dam is expected to generate 450 megawatts and store up to one billion cubic meters of water.

Solar Energy

In 2018, the ADS Group started working with Multi-Industries Group (MIG) to provide various services and products, including office automation, green mobility solutions, and lighting. Multi-Industries Group established a plant in Senegal to provide these solutions and become a hub serving the Western African Region. 

The company aims to provide street lights and candelabras for public utility, scooters, electric bicycles, tricycles, motorcycles, computers, and tablets. The production of these goods will provide employment opportunities, and eventually give way to a chain of production, including retail stores. The goods produced will be sold throughout Africa. 

MIG also aims to transform the energy industry with the introduction of affordable solar lighting solutions. Africa has great potential with solar lighting, given the inadequate supply of electricity, especially in rural areas. 

While Africa is still struggling to get more people on the grid, there is still the challenge of supply sustainability. Many businesses in urban centres that rely on electricity for production, including industries, are affected by frequent power outages and high cost, which ultimately raises the cost of goods.

ADS Group is focusing on solar energy because it is renewable and ultimately cost-effective. The Maxi Road is a solar lighting product that produces 50,000 hours of lighting in its lifetime. It comes with a solar panel that is expected to work efficiently for at least 25 years. ADS has worked with Solektra to provide solar energy to more than 1,775 rural communities across Africa. 

Digital Services

Digital connectivity in Africa has been quite successful, especially in major urban centres. Unfortunately, about 45% of Africa’s population lives more than 10km away from the fiber network infrastructure. This has made it impossible for Africa to realize the benefits of affordable internet access fully.
Even with connectivity challenges, agro-processing has improved greatly in the past two decades due to the adoption of digital services in the Agriculture sector. The medical sector is also using apps and other digital technologies to provide health checkups and treatment to people living far from clinics. ADS has partnered with Smart Africa to promote the digital economy and its potential to transform the continent.

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MARIO NIETO-hello@mmnieto.com