Jambo !
Or perhaps I should begin with Happy Anniversary. To us that is! February 2010 marked the launch of The African Business Journal and as we sink into 2013, we just wanted to say thank you for joining us on this exciting journey.
We’re thrilled to have been around for the past few years, sharing the continent’s success stories with you.
Our February issue looks at the topic of aviation and its growth across the continent. It has been forecast that passenger traffic in Africa will grow at an average rate of 5.7 per cent annually between 2010 and 2030 – this exceeds the 4.8 per cent world average growth rate.
Africa’s aviation industry has seen surge of new airlines and players in the past few years, including EasyJet’s founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou who launched Tanazania-based FastJet, a lowfare carrier that has a very disruptive potential in Africa’s aviation industry. There have also been new airlines launched by Gambia, Ivory Coast
and Senegal, not to mention a handful of other low-fare carriers who are offering Africa’s new spending class the now-accessible luxury of travelling across the continent via flight.
We also go further in-depth looking at Airports Company South Africa and its goal of upgrading Africa’s largest airport, O.R. Tambo International into the continent’s first Aerotropolis, an urban plan that Time Magazine called “One of the 10 Ideas that Will Change the World.”
And one of South Africa’s longest running aviation companies, Comair, talks about its airlines, British Airways and kulula.com, as well as how it has taken the concept of luxurious customer service to a whole new level with its SLOW Lounges.
In another example of looking at changemakers this issue, we got an exclusive interview with founder and managing director of Helvetic Solar Contractors, Patrick Ngowi, a young an ambitious Tanzanian who has taken his dream of harnessing the power of the sun to propel his nation forward.
We encourage you to engage with our conversations online on Twitter (@AfricanBJournal) or via email at anastasiat@georgemedia.com. If you know of an interesting initiative in Africa, a notable member of the business community we should highlight, or a company that deserves notice, please reach out. We want to tell your stories because knowledge shared is knowledge gained.
I hope you enjoy this issue,
Anastasia Tubanos
Editor
