Wednesday 20 June 2012

AGAMA Biogas seeks investors at Viridis Africa Event


On the 16th & 17th October 2012 the second Clean Technology business and investment matchmaking conference for the African continent is to be held at the Killarney Country Club in Lower Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa. Called “Viridis Africa”, the event is dedicated to entrepreneurs and corporates who are seeking funding to introduce clean technology solutions and services.

Principals who present their business opportunities at this event would have the audience of numerous local and foreign investors, stratified according to their interest and investment criteria. Investors would include venture capital, private equity, project and corporate finance outfits and others dedicated to the clean tech sector. They would also include funding agencies, major industrial conglomerates, technology specific investment funds and major companies who seek strategic alliance and acquisitions.

The company Agama Biogas (Pty) Ltd, runner up in the 2011 South African CleanTech Competition will be presenting a business case for investment at the event. It is the manufacturer of the BiogasPro range of prefabricated biogas digesters. 

The BiogasPro is a unique, patented system that is engineered, designed and manufactured in South Africa for African conditions. It is also the first small digester to achieve certification, in this instance by the South African Pipeline Gas Association.

In addition, BiogasPro is one of the contributors to The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design's, Green Good Design Award 2011 where it has been selected as an award winner for making a positive contribution in the area of more sustainable design and the environment.

BiogasPro’s offerings range from biogas digesters for schools that face inadequate and undignified sanitation for children and staff, to digesters handling animal manure and generating gas that removes the need for expensive and unreliable wood fuel and/or bottled gas for cooking. In a survey conducted in 2008 for the Dutch Government, AGAMA Biogas identified 300 000 energy poor households nationally that could immediately have access to clean energy through biogas.

AGAMA Biogas, together with People’s Power Africa supplied and installed two BiogasPro digesters within an integrated sanitation, waste, energy and food production system at the Three Crown Junior Secondary school, which was one of four schools just in that area that benefited from the BiogasPro technology. The integrated system won the school and People’s Power Africa 9 national and international awards recognising the project’s value.

In addition, AGAMA Biogas also extended further into the hospitality industry, where the company seeks to recycle the waste water from kitchens and hand wash basins, combining it in the digester with food waste from food preparation and plate scrapings. The gas is then used in the kitchens for cooking and the nutrient rich waste water from the digester is then ideal for irrigation of gardens. Prime examples of such sites are the student residence, Leo Marquard at the University of Cape Town and the digesters that have recently been installed at three upmarket bush camps in Botswana.

Viridis Africa invites clean tech company owners to submit a business plan or executive summary for evaluation, and to be included in the line-up of the event.

The following are some of the clean tech sub-sectors in which principals may consider their company, initiative being presented:

·         Wind, solar, hydro, biofuels, geothermal, clean coal technologies
·         Fuel cells, advanced batteries, hybrid systems
·         Building efficiency, smart grids, waste heat recovery
·         Water treatment, water conservation, waste water treatment, desalination
·         Recycling, waste treatment, organic matter, plastics.

Please note that the deadline for business proposal submission is 30th of August 2012. 
Presenters will have the opportunity to introduce their investment case to interested parties throughout the lifecycle of their business, i.e. from conceptual, early stage / start-up through to established business.


Visit www.viridisafrica.com for more information

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Viridis Africa - clean technology investment summit

On the 16th & 17th October 2012 the first Clean Technology business and investment matchmaking conference for the African continent is to be held in Johannesburg South Africa.

Called Viridis Africa, the event is dedicated to entrepreneurs and corporates who are seeking funding to introduce clean technology solutions and services.

According to conference organiser, Suza Adam, managing member of Spindle Communications, “principals who would present their business opportunities at this event would have the audience of numerous local and foreign investors. Investors would include venture capital, private equity, project and corporate finance outfits and others dedicated to the clean tech sector. They would also include major companies who seek strategic alliance and acquisitions.”

Among the projects being presented is a bioethanol and a biomass production project in Mozambique and a biogas project in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Other projects would be in solar energy-consentrating solar power, photovoltaic farms, as well as geothermal in other African countries.

In as far as waste management and water treatment projects, innovative solutions will be presented and the funding needed to execute them will be presented.

Proposals are invited from clean tech sub-sectors including clean energy generation (wind, solar, hydro, biofuels, geothermal, clean coal technologies), storage (fuel cells, advanced batteries, hybrid systems), efficiency (smart grids, waste heat recovery), water & waste water (water treatment, water conservation, waste water treatment, desalination) and recycling and waste (recycling, waste treatment, organic matter, plastics) etc.

The event will also introduce parties with complimentary technologies and business models to one another to explore mutually beneficial opportunities. Research and development projects in the above sectors where such are being conducted within academic and research institutions in South Africa, will also be presented.

“In the main the conference and its exhibition will endeavour to bring about a vibrant market trading place for entrepreneurs and corporates to propose and conclude investment deals with funders”, concludes Adam.

Although the event is to be held once a year, it is designed to give the participants long term continuity vis a vis  the provision of web-based interaction platforms, inducing social networks, virtual market place and other interactive features.

For more info, visit www.viridisafrica.com

Saturday 17 March 2012

Madini Africa brings about investment in African mineral beneficiation


Johannesburg – Madini Africa (www.madiniafrica.com)  is the pre-eminent Pan African investment conference dedicated to mineral processing & beneficiation projects throughout the continent.
With the leading roll Africa is playing in answering the world needs for resources, there is also greater awareness of the opportunities to be had in as far as establishing value add processing and manufacturing operations near or by resource site.
According to conference organiser, Suza Adam of Spindle Communications, “aside of the commercial benefits that beneficiation brings the mine, there will be a significant socio-economic benefits to communities and their countries as a whole.”

New drive by African governments to achieve more equitable sharing of their natural resources is already evidenced by intended actions to be taken by SA government
looking to introduce new legislation motivating and or compelling mining companies to invest in mineral beneficiation – other African countries are sure to follow.

Madini Africa is designed to bring about the participation and interaction of mining houses, industrial manufactures, technology partners, mining consultants, environmental engineering companies, institutional investors, corporate and project financiers, government and municipal representatives etc. to explore the establishment of mineral processing initiatives as suitable to a particular geography i.e. its available set of resources, commercial validity, business prospects, amongst other
aspects.

Ultimately the first and foremost intention of the event is to introduce well qualified investment opportunities to a well defined set of investors.

“This will result in a better "match-up" rate of success, as proposed projects are not ‘one size fits all’,  says Adam.

Much of the Madini Africa's effort would concentrate and culminate during the 2 days event, showcasing the most promising of business & investment opportunities.

Before and after the event there will be a strong effort to collate and evaluate many opportunities which may not qualify to be participating in the main event. These projects or initiatives will not be cast aside but rather be offered to utilise alternative methods of engagement by the Madini Africa platform, and then be re- evaluated for participation in subsequent events.

The Madini Africa website, blog and related social networks will offer participants the opportunity to have a measure of continuity in their efforts to seek the capital they need for their projects and for investors to interact with other like-mined investors seeking to participate or share in similar type of opportunities.

Thursday 4 August 2011

Funding clean tech projects in Africa


On the 17th and 18th of October 2011 the Viridis Africa conference is to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa.  The event is dedicated to the introduction of clean technologies and associated business/investment opportunities.

The intention of Viridis Africa is to bring together investors and entrepreneurs from Africa and rest of the world, to jointly explore commercial initiatives in green technologies.

The program includes presentation of specific projects or business initiatives, ranging in size and scope and encompassing most of the priority areas such as bioenergy, hydro, wind power, green chemistry, recycling, water treatment, desalination, amongst others.

According to conference organiser, Suza Adam, managing member of Spindle Communications, “principals who would present their business opportunities at this event would have the audience of numerous local and foreign investors. Investors would include venture capital, private equity, project and corporate finance outfits and others dedicated to the clean tech sector. Also included are major companies who seek strategic alliance and acquisitions.”

Among the projects being presented is a bioethanol and a biomass production project in Mozambique, a biogas project in Kwa-Zulu Natal, 15 MW hydro projects in Kenya, a biofuel project in Malawi and RD Congo, and a plastic recycling operation in Nigeria.

Other projects to be confirmed in the program line-up include solar, energy projects, waste management and water treatment innovative solutions.

New technologies currently being developed by academic and research institutions will also have their opportunity so as to introduce potential business opportunities through the commercialization of the above.

The event will have amongst its presenters leading financial institutions including the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, Investec Limited, Nedbank, Threelawscapital, Lereko Metier, Inspired Evolution, as well as leading utilities in energy (Eskom) and water.

“Additional business proposals are invited from clean tech sub-sectors including clean energy generation (wind, solar, hydro, biofuels, geothermal, clean coal technologies), storage (fuel cells, advanced batteries, hybrid systems), efficiency (smart grids, waste heat recovery), water & waste water (water treatment, water conservation, waste water treatment, desalination) and recycling and waste (recycling, waste treatment, organic matter, plastics) etc.” says Adam.

The event will also introduce parties with complimentary technologies and business models to one another in order to explore mutually beneficial opportunities.

“In the main the conference and its exhibition will endeavour to bring about a vibrant market trading place for entrepreneurs and corporates to propose and conclude investment deals with funders”, concludes Adam.

Although the event is to be held once a year, it is designed to give the participants long term continuity vis a vis  the provision of web-based interaction platforms, inducing social networks.

For more information about the conference: please visit us at www.viridisafrica.com.

Saturday 12 December 2009

Investment Analysts in Africa

The Investment Analysts in Africa blog is the official mouthpiece of the Investment Analysts in Africa forum, the premier online community for investment analysts in the region.

Disciplines include investment analysis, corporate finance and project finance as well as company secretariat and other senior executive roles.

We aim to support and develop Investment Analysts in Africa through the provision of development programmes, web conferences and topical on-line networking events.

We represent our members, drawn from listed African companies and consultancies, investment houses and stockbrokers through our work with exchange regulators, policymakers, the media and involvement in consultation processes.