Latest news with #developingNations
Zawya
27-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Technology in the Agriculture sector in Africa is critical: DHL Express and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) release study on the future of African Agritech
Technological Advancement as a Catalyst: The impact of technology, especially AI and digital platforms, is shaping the future of agriculture on the continent. Emerging Business Models: The paper discusses the need for innovative models and management strategies in the industry. Case Studies of Success: The report features inspiring case studies from various African nations, showcasing innovative Agritech solutions DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) ( in collaboration with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Centre for African Management and Markets (CAMM), has unveiled a white paper that highlights the trends shaping the agricultural landscape in Africa. This research emphasises the critical role of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), in enhancing agricultural productivity and reducing poverty across the continent. The African Agritech: The State of Play and Potential for Prosperity report reveals that improvements in agricultural productivity have a disproportionately positive effect on poverty alleviation in developing nations. A 1% increase in agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) correlates with a 1% decline in the population living in extreme poverty, highlighting agriculture's potential as a powerful tool for economic development. As Africa's population continues to grow, the agricultural sector stands at a crossroads, facing both challenges and unprecedented opportunities. The industry is vital for sustainable development and economic growth in Africa. Agriculture has long been a cornerstone of the continent's economy, accounting for approximately 15% of output, which is significantly higher than the global average of 5% [1]. For Africa to thrive, its agricultural sector must be optimally used to drive growth, especially given the rapid population increase projected for the region. The paper highlights the need for the industry to consider innovative models and management strategies. Innovation and technology are crucial for enhancing agricultural output and efficiency, which can lead to improved economic conditions across the continent. 'This paper highlights our commitment to supporting sustainable growth and innovation in the agricultural sector, particularly on the African continent. DHL's purpose revolves around connecting people and improving lives – as the world's largest logistics company, it is our responsibility to lead the way and guide the logistics industry into a sustainable future and ultimately ensure that we make a positive difference in the communities in which we operate. Through this paper, we hope to provide a glimpse of what lies ahead for the industry and demonstrate our commitment to sustainable economic growth,' said Hennie Heymans, DHL Express SSA CEO. 'We knew agritech was a powerful driver of prosperity, but we were impressed with what we unearthed during the research. Tech is being used in amazing ways to improve everything from soil management and crop spraying to transportation and fire detection,' said Ian Macleod, a member of the CAMM research team. DHL Agri-Express – a solution for Agri SMEs in SSA DHL Express SSA recently launched a new DHL Agri-Express solution, a time-definite express packaging solution developed to support Agricultural SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa with the shipping of avocados. This innovative and sustainable solution eliminates the need for active cold chain shipping by employing cutting-edge alternative technology. Specifically designed for small sample shipments of 6 to 50 avocados, this packaging solution enables customers to leverage the DHL Express network to send samples to buyers in international markets with ease and speed. The research paper can be downloaded here ( [1] Suri, T.,&Udry, C. (2022). Agricultural technology in Africa. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36(1), 33-56. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of DHL Express. Contact: DHL Express SSA Media Relations Lerato Moeletsi-Banda ++27 71 352 3300 Follow us at: DHL Africa ( About DHL Group: DHL Group is the world's leading logistic company. The Group connects people and markets and is an enabler of global trade. It aspires to be the first choice for customers, employees, investors and green logistics worldwide. To this end, DHL Group is focusing on accelerating sustainable growth in its profitable core logistics businesses and Group growth initiatives. The Group contributes to the world through sustainable business practices, corporate citizenship, and environmental activities. By the year 2050, DHL Group aims to achieve net-zero emissions logistics. DHL Group is home to two strong brands: DHL offers a comprehensive range of parcel, express, freight transport, and supply chain management services as well as e-commerce logistics solutions. Deutsche Post is the largest postal service provider in Europe and the market leader in the German mail market. DHL Group employs approximately 602,000 people in over 220 countries and territories worldwide. The Group generated revenues of approximately 84.2 billion Euros in 2024. The logistics company for the world.
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Lowy report finds Pacific nations 'grappling with a tidal wave of debt repayments' to China
New research shows that China has emerged as the world's largest debtor for developing nations, which are due to pay back at least $54 billion to Beijing this year. Australian foreign policy think tank the Lowy Institute has crunched data from the World Bank and found some of the world's poorest countries are now facing "record high debt payments" to China. China rapidly boosted investments in infrastructure last decade, funding railways, ports and roads across the developing world under its sprawling Belt and Road Initiative — projects which have often been welcomed by governments across Latin America, Africa, Central Asia and South-East Asia. But the lending has also placed pressure on government balance sheets around the world. Beijing has sharply pulled back lending in the last five to 10 years, but the Lowy Institute's Riley Duke says bills from earlier loans are now starting to land. "Because China's Belt and Road lending spree peaked in the mid-2010s, those grace periods began expiring in the early 2020s." "It was always likely to be a crunch period for developing country repayments to China." The problem has been exacerbated by China's move to defer debt repayments during the COVID-19 pandemic, a move which was "helpful at the time" but is now "heightening … the current repayment spike". The picture painted by the report is incomplete, because China typically does not provide data for its loans, and information isn't available for many developed nations. But Mr Duke said it was obvious that developing countries — including in the Pacific — were now "grappling with a tidal wave of debt repayments and interest costs." "The high debt burden facing developing countries will hamper poverty reduction and slow development progress while stoking economic and political instability risks." Pacific nations like Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu are already grappling with high levels of Chinese debt, and have been pushing Beijing for extensions on their loans. For example, Tonga borrowed heavily from China to rebuild in the wake of the devastating 2006 riots in Nuku'alofa. It has now started gradually repaying loans worth around $190 million – a sum which Lowy says is roughly equivalent to a quarter of its GDP. But those repayments — along with recent natural disasters — have placed significant strain on Tonga's budget, as well as stoking political controversy in the Pacific Island nation. Australia has stepped in with significant financial support to help Tonga balance its books, including an $85 million budget support package unveiled earlier this year. The report says that while Chinese institutions are at times willing to push back repayment demands, they've typically been unwilling to forgive debts — which means Beijing often faces a difficult diplomatic balancing act. "At the same time, China's lending arms, particularly its quasi-commercial institutions, face mounting pressure to recover outstanding debts." The report says Beijing's preference to kick the can down the road could create new financial dynamics in a host of developing countries. "As a result, China's approach to debt distress increasingly echoes the 'extend and pretend' practices of Western lenders during the 1980s Lost Decade — a period that left many low-income countries deeply indebted and ultimately required sweeping restructurings and write-downs in the 1990s."
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Poorest 750 nations face ‘tidal wave' of debt repayments to China in 2025, study warns
The most vulnerable nations on Earth are facing a 'tidal wave' of debt repayments as a Chinese lending boom starts to be called in, a new report has warned. The analysis, published on Tuesday by Australian foreign policy thinktank the Lowy Institute, said that in 2025 the poorest 75 countries were on the hook for record high debt repayments US$22bn to China. The 75 nations' debt formed the bulk of the total $35bn calculated by Lowy for 2025. 'Now, and for the rest of this decade, China will be more debt collector than banker to the developing world,' the report said. The pressure to repay was putting strain on local funding for health and education as well as climate change mitigation. 'China's lending has collapsed exactly when it is needed most, instead creating large net financial outflows when countries are already under intense economic pressure,' it said. The loans were largely issued under President Xi Jinping's signature belt and road initiative (BRI), a state-backed global infrastructure investment programme which has underwritten national projects from schools, bridges and hospitals to major roads and shipping and air ports. The lending spree turned China into the largest supplier of bilateral loans, peaking with a total of more than $50bn in 2016 – more than all western creditors combined. The BRI focused primarily in developing nations, where governments struggled to access private or other state-backed investment. But the practice has raised concerns about Chinese influence and control and drawn accusations that Beijing was seeking to entrap recipient nations with unserviceable debt. Last month another analysis by the Lowy Institute found that Laos was now trapped in a severe debt crisis, in part because of over-investment in the domestic energy sector, mostly financed by China. China's government denies accusations it deliberately creates debt traps, and recipient nations have also pushed back, saying China was a more reliable partner and offered crucial loans when others refused. But the Lowy report said the record high debt now due to China could be used for 'political leverage', noting that it comes amid huge cuts to foreign aid by the Trump administration. The report also highlighted new large-scale loans given to Honduras, Nicaragua, Solomon Islands, Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic, all within 18 months of those countries switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing. China also continues to finance some strategic partners, including Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Laos and Mongolia, as well as countries that produce critical minerals and metals, such as Argentina, Brazil and Indonesia. But the situation also put China in a bind, pulled between diplomatic pressure to restructure unsustainable debt in vulnerable nations and domestic pressure to recall loans amid China's own economic downturn. China publishes little data on its BRI scheme, and the Lowy Institute said its estimates – based on World Bank data – likely underestimated the full scale of China's lending. In 2021 AidData estimated China was owed a 'hidden debt' of about $385bn.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What does Paul Singer's fresh stake mean for Equinix?
Introduction Network-dense data center provider Equinix stands to gain from growing cloud adoption as well as advancements like the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Cloud service providers compete with it, though, and power outages in important markets might make it more difficult to take on new tenants and lower returns on new construction. Notwithstanding these obstacles, Equinix is well-positioned to benefit from rising data usage in both developed and developing nations. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with EQIX. Competition Equinix has to deal with rivalry from two major areas: direct competitors in the colocation and data center sector, and indirect competitors from the cloud services area. Digital Realty, Rackspace Technology, and CyrusOne are some of the direct rivals that provide alternating services such as colocation and connectivity. As a case in point, Digital Realty, a robust competitor to this company, has the advantage of a wide data center network and a specifically aimed business at hyperscale facilities which are concentrated on big-hitting customers. Not to mention, the cloud power players, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, which partially threaten the industry by supplying fully managed cloud services thereby decreasing the dependency on traditional data centers. This paradigm shift toward cloud usage has made it even more urgent that Equinix find other ways to distinguish its products. On top of that, there are also new entrants, like Vapor IO, which are a direct challenge to Equinix in edge computing by delivering special solutions for low-latency, localized data processing. Long-standing telecom companies, including NTT and Verizon, go into play by combining network infrastructure with data center services. This pool of diverse competition presents a multifaceted atmosphere for Equinix which has to address different challenges, such as rising pressures over prices, changing customer preferences, and also newer technologies to sustain its market position. In a bid to stay ahead of the pack, Equinix has a plan which revolves around interconnection, global expansion, and innovation. One of its most important products, Platform Equinix, is what that makes it unique, as it allows customers to connect directly to partners and cloud providers at its data centers. This interconnection ecosystem is like a network effect, as the platform's value increases with each new participant, thereby setting Equinix apart from other wholesalers that promote only their colocation services. Equinix is keen on growing its global supremacy, and for that reason, it is actively penetrating high-growth markets. It has undergone a series of acquisitions recently, with India and Africa being the newest additions, thus bringing it to areas that offer the most excellent opportunities. Furthermore, the partnerships with cloud providers including AWS and Google Cloud are the key factors in the extension of the company's services. The Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric is the gateway for clients to utilize the low-latency paths connecting these clouds, hence, the organization is not merely a competitor but rather a strategic facilitator of hybrid cloud pathways. Equinix has also placed innovation in the center of everything. The power company is introducing new sustainable technology, such as fuel cells and liquid cooling, to not only lower costs but also meet environmental goals. Besides, the company's Co-Innovation Facility in Washington, D.C. has set the trend for advanced solutions like high-density cooling and software-defined power management, which are being tested out, thus proving that the liquor company is among the lead players in efficiency and performance. Who owns Equinix Paul Singer (Trades, Portfolio) has recently added Equinix to its portfolio with 150,000 shares worth $122.30 million. This helps to understand that Equinix has untapped value opportunity that could be unlocked by managerial and operational changes and Paul Singer (Trades, Portfolio)'s Elliott is renowned for such a job by ramping up pressure on the board. Growth Drivers Due to the data center industry's rapid capital investment in expanding data center capacity due to increased data consumption, Equinix has been generating an average return on invested capital of 7.5% over the last ten years. Over the next ten years, the company's ROICs are expected to rise to an average of 8.6%, which is significantly higher than its cost of capital of 6.7%. The value of Equinix comes from providing dense and highly connected data center ecosystems to a large number of customers, including cloud and network providers as well as smaller businesses that appreciate the close proximity to these cloud and network providers. Since choosing a new location for data storage and connectivity is an extremely expensive endeavor, switching costs are the most common moat source for third-party data centers. By the end of 2023, Equinix's average monthly recurring revenue per cabinet was close to $2,300, or $27,000 annually. However, because tenant leases are typically only two to five years long, it is unlikely that tenants would routinely search for new third-party data storage options because doing so would significantly raise the cost of their data center. Moving data centers also carries a number of other non-financial risks, including security threats, outages, increased latency, and disruptions to the company's core functions. Equinix's most potent moat source is the network effect, which is enabled by its portfolio of extremely dense and interconnected data centers. Equinix has more interconnections than any other data center company, with over 462,000 across its 264 data centers as of 2023. Tenants can connect directly within a site or across Equinix's global portfolio of data centers thanks to these interconnections. Enterprise decision-making about data center selection is heavily influenced by connectivity, which Equinix can profit from. In 2023, its interconnection business will account for 17% of its total revenue, compared to 8% for peer Digital Realty. Since its inception, cloud computing has been seen as a serious threat to third-party data centers; however, cloud providers still spend more at Equinix. Networks, cloud providers, and businesses all gain from Equinix's highly interconnected ecosystem. Network providers gain from greater access and flexibility in managing their IT infrastructure, while cloud and network providers gain from more customers and are willing to pay more. Equinix's monthly revenue per cabinet increased at a 4% CAGR from 2019 to 24 due to its pricing power and capacity to raise prices as the ecosystem's value increases. Rapid technological advancement and significant capital investment, however, are the two primary risks preventing Equinix from classifying it as having a wide moat. Data centers have benefited from the cloud, but the quick development of data center hardware has raised computing efficiency per square foot. In order to support power densities of up to 150 kW per rack, rival Digital Realty is investing in new technologies. This could eventually reduce the need for data center space, resulting in lower utilization of Equinix's data center portfolio and economics that do not support a moat. Financial Metrics The market has fairly valued Equinix's shares. Over the next ten years, Equinix's top-line growth is anticipated to average 8%, propelled by its managed infrastructure and interconnection businesses. With over 16,000 net additions through 2034, the company is anticipated to drive new capacity through cabinets, resulting in low- to mid-single-digit capacity growth. With unit pricing on a per cabinet and interconnect basis increasing by more than 3% yearly, pricing growth in colocation and interconnection businesses is anticipated to be a major source of revenue. To encourage healthy price growth, Equinix is also growing the range of services it offers, such as Equinix Fabrix. Equinix's adjusted EBITDA margin is predicted to increase from 45.2% in 2023 to 50.3% by 2034, indicating improved performance. As the company grows, improvements in SG&A and rental and leasing costs will be the main drivers of cost savings. Due to power limitations in some of its biggest markets, power costs will remain a challenge in the near future. With an average capital expenditure of 30% between 2025 and 2029 and cooling to 16% between 2030 and 2034, capital investment is predicted to stay high in the near future. The demand for data center capacity is anticipated to stay strong but decline from its current levels. Key Risks Tenant leases that last two to ten years shield Equinix from declines in the market. The demand for its data centers is anticipated to continue to be driven by long-term secular tailwinds. With large capital investments in artificial intelligence, the data center sector is undergoing rapid change. Finding the ideal balance between capital investment to meet future demand and avoiding overbuilding and leaving excess capacity is Equinix's biggest risk. Although the demand for data centers is predicted to increase, customers may be able to scale their computing efficiency requirements with less space and power thanks to advancements in semiconductor and hardware technology. Recommendation In more than 72 cities worldwide, Equinix, a pioneer in the colocation data center industry, provides the most network-dense and cloud-dense ecosystem. It has a competitive edge due to its close proximity to networks, cloud providers, and businesses. In order to increase its reach and offer greater value, Equinix has kept up its investments in its connectivity division by purchasing several data center companies in strategic markets. Additionally, it makes investments in the fastest-growing end markets, like its xScale division, which aims to attract major AI investors and well-known cloud providers. When it comes to the biggest secular trends impacting the data center industry, Equinix continues to lead the way. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
