Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi points to a map of Somaliland while The Brenthurst Foundation director, Greg Mills, looks on during the presentation of an economic diversification plan in Hargeisa. Photo: Ray Hartley

You see, says President Muse Bihi Abdi, pointing to an area to the east on the giant map of Somaliland covering the one wall of the presidential briefing room in Hargeisa, in this area, clan members think I have a gun, I am the government, explaining why the area is spotted with Al-Shabaab fighters and his government continues to battle to establish governance.

This has echoes in the observation of the 19th century traveller Richard Burton of the Somali that every man his own sultan.

The restive east notwithstanding, a great deal has been achieved by the hitherto unrecognised Republic of Somaliland since its reproclamation of independence in 1991.

Re-proclamation as, three decades before, in June 1960, Somaliland gained its independence from its colonial master, Britain, before making an ill-fated decision to join former Italian Somaliland five days later. This union was then envisaged to incorporate French Somalia (now Djibouti), the Somali-dominated Ogaden region of Ethiopia, and a piece of northern Kenya. That never happened.

Instead, following a bitter civil war that saw the forces of Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre employ Rhodesian mercenaries (among others) to bomb and strip the capital of Hargeisa, the Somali National Movement booted out the occupiers, and set about creating the conditions for stability which have endured since.

A domestic peace process was constructed around five major internal meetings, starting with the Grand Conference of the Northern Peoples in Burao, held over six weeks and concluding with the declaration of Somalilands independence from Somalia on 18 May 1991.

Somalilanders concentrated on achieving peace, not on acquiring comforts and financial rents for delegates from the process. This feature has continually blighted Somalias overtures to the south, as conflict entrepreneurs in Somalia have fed off both the fighting and the talking in a top-down process financed by donors, and which have largely taken place outside the country. The bottom-up process was consolidated through the development of a democracy, again slowly but steadily.

In 2002, Somaliland made the transition from a clan-based system to multi-party democracy after a 2001 referendum, retaining an Upper House of Elders (guurti), which secures the support of traditional clan-based power structures. Regular elections and a regular turnover in power between the main political parties have characterised the local politics.

Its hyper-competitive too. The 2003 presidential election was won by Dahir Riyale Kahin by just 80 votes out of nearly 500,000 from Ahmed M Mahamoud Silanyo. The tables were turned between the two in 2010. President Bihi was elected in 2017, receiving 55% of the vote. He had served in the Somali Air Force flying Soviet Ilyushin Il-28 twin-engine bombers in the 1977 war that attempted unsuccessfully to wrest the Somali-dominated Ogaden from Ethiopia before changing his allegiance to the rebel Somali National Movement.

As the euphoria of self-government fades, his is an increasingly difficult job. The economy is straining. Infrastructure is poor. The unemployment rate among those under 30, who comprise 70% of the population, is 75%. The chewing of khat (a narcotic plant) is a widespread social blight among more than half the adult population, an effective tax on productivity and foreign exchange, soaking up as much as $700-million in annual imports.

This situation has been worsened by the paucity of skills, as a result of which there is a contrasting dependency on foreign talent. Literacy is under 45%, and just 20% for women. Female genital mutilation, at an estimated 99%, says something else about the state of power relations.

The Somaliland government budget is just $200-million, three-quarters of which is spent on salaries and operational expenses. Annual GDP is estimated at little more than $646 per capita. Electricity is five times more expensive than in neighbouring Ethiopia, at $1 per kw/h, reflecting the dominance of monopolies, which also define the banking and telecoms sectors

Productivity is poor, and growth opportunities few and far between. Outside of remittances, which provide 55% of the GDP of $2-billion, Somaliland depends on its sale of camels and goats, though this has suffered from a Saudi foot-and-mouth disease import ban except during the Hajj, halving the annual exports to 1.2 million. This challenge has been worsened by the related pressure on grazing areas and the current drought, especially in the Haud, a broad strip of rich pastureland that straddles the Ethiopian-Somaliland border.

The government prefers to highlight the absence of international diplomatic recognition as both the principal problem and solution to Somalilands challenges.

No foreign government recognises Somalilands sovereignty, even though it fulfils the requirements for statehood, including the hosting of regular free and fair elections, the capacity to defend itself, and the issuing of its own passports and currency.

Certainly, the absence of recognition adds a risk premium along with more prosaic management hurdles. Finance sector experts reckon the premium of non-recognition to be between 7-8% on the cost of money. The Central Bank of Somaliland has so far been unable to register a SWIFT code, which would enable direct and secure international funds transfers.

Non-recognition also means donor funding for Somalilands four million people is around just 15% of the $1-billion received by Somalia. Its a crazy, cruel and not so beautiful world. The donors have essentially incentivised insecurity, misgovernment and chaos. In Somalia, peace is a multibillion-dollar industry.

Except for the involvement of Dubai Ports World in a $450-million development of the Berbera facility on the Gulf of Aden, supplemented by the Ethiopian government for strategic access reasons, foreign investors are few and far between despite frequent expressions of interest and delegations.

But Mogadishu would have to agree to a divorce. And no government there is likely to do so and survive another 24 hours. Its about as likely as khat being banned. The hangover would overwhelm any government in Hargeisa, no matter how well-intentioned the measure.

The most immediate challenge Somaliland faces is the transformation of its economy from one based on pastoral livestock herding to one capable of generating employment to deal with the challenge of out-of-work youth, a potential threat to stability.

These reforms will require a sector-by-sector transition from the old way of doing things to a more modern approach, as outlined below.

Livestock: From nomadic pastoralism to modern farming

The Somaliland Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture estimated that livestock made up 60-65% of the national economy with a population of 10-million goats, five million sheep, five million camels and 2.5-million cattle. These numbers may be out of date, however, and it is difficult to obtain more contemporary figures. The major markets for livestock are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen and Oman.

The lack of reliable data notwithstanding, all those we interviewed agreed that livestock was the largest economic sector at 29,5% of GDP [1].

Export income from livestock derives almost entirely from the sale of live animals to countries on the Arabian peninsula and Saudi Arabia, in particular during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

The export of live animals for the Hajj involves a network of buying agents in Somaliland, but also in Ethiopia and elsewhere, who procure the animals and transport them to the port of Berbera where between one and two million of the live animals are boarded on vessels and shipped to Saudi Arabia during the 20 days of the Hadj.

This effectively means the biggest slice of Somalilands foreign exchange earnings occurs during an annual 20-day window.

At the centre of Somalilands economy stands the Blackhead Persian, a breed of sheep that is well adapted to the climate and which is the countrys single largest export.

Although Somaliland struggles to export its livestock because of its unrecognised status, this unique sheep is an exception. During the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, more than a million sheep and goats are exported for slaughter in keeping with religious tradition.

But this annual export boon is precarious. The sheep are exported during the Hajj because of sheer necessity. There is simply no other country that can supply millions of sheep for slaughter over 20 days. Somalilands sheep are smaller than breeds from other countries and are therefore cheaper. They can also be transported live over a relatively short distance to Saudi Arabia. For the rest of the year, Saudi Arabia does not import Somalilands livestock because it says the animals do not conform to its health standards.

The sheep have a South African connection. In the 1940s, South Africa invented a new breed, the Dorper a cross between the Dorset and the Persian. Its ability to survive in arid conditions and to thrive where other sheep struggle has made it a big part of South African and Australian herds.[2]

There are several unique characteristics of sheep-rearing in Somaliland that should be noted. The sheep are largely raised by pastoral nomads who move the flock from place to place and from a traditional well to well in time-honoured fashion. Nomadic herding works if the ratio of animals to pasture allows for the regeneration of grasses, but herds have increased in size, and modern technology cellphones, for example cause the movement of herds into areas where it has rained but the grass had not yet revived.

The result has been catastrophic, with some 60% of herds decimated by the recent three-year drought.

This mobile, opportunistic pastoralism [3] is not the most efficient or productive way to raise sheep. Disease control and pasture management are much better on fenced lands where grazing can be rotated and the sheep can more easily be dosed and observed.

The containment of flocks to fenced fields would also allow for better management of pasture which improves its carrying capacity, and for selective breeding and the introduction of specialist rams to improve the gene pool.

Access to veterinary services that will reduce losses due to disease and make the sheep more desirable to importers is also improved with proper pasture management and enclosure.

Cattle, camels and goats are also raised and sold at livestock markets in the large cities.

Camel milk is locally consumed, but there is the possibility of an export market for this as it has become popular in Australia, for example, where its health benefits are touted.

There is an opportunity to extend the export market by selling slaughtered animals year-round, but this requires investment and the establishment of cold-chain logistics, allowing slaughtered meat to be chilled from the site of slaughter to the port.

A further diversification option would be the canning of meat, which could create employment and extend the shelf-life of meat products and allow them to be exported more widely.

Agriculture: From rain-fed to irrigated

Agriculture is the second largest productive sector of the economy after livestock rearing. Sorghum has been the traditional cereal crop, but wheat is being investigated as the future mainstay because it requires three months to grow to maturity compared with sorghums six months. [4]

The biggest obstacle to cultivation is the shortage of water. Around one-tenth of the land is suitable for cultivation and only half of this is used to grow crops. Government has allocated land for research into dry land crops where 720ha are used to grow sorghum and 76ha to grow wheat, proving that the latter is more suitable.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has supported projects to build canals for the irrigation of crops.

For irrigation to work, dams need to be built to preserve rainwater run-off. Smaller earth dams require less capital investment and may be constructed by local farmers with the assistance of earth-moving equipment.

The production of cash crops is increasing with the introduction of greenhouses and drip irrigation technology. The agriculture department has begun research into drip irrigation techniques for the growing of tomatoes on a small scale at the departments headquarters in Hargeisa. This type of cultivation is more suitable for an arid country such as Somaliland.

Cash crops include tomatoes, watermelons, cucumbers, eggplant and onion and there is an export market in Djibouti for some of these crops.

The traditional divide between animal farming and crop farming needs to be altered so that crops are grown as supplementary feed for animals. Farmers with one hand in livestock and the other hand in cultivation [5] are needed.

Fisheries: From small boats to commercial vessels

Despite possessing an 850km coastline, reputed to have large stocks of fish that could be sustainably harvested, Somaliland has a small fishing fleet consisting of vessels of between five and 12 metres and this economic activity underperforms when it comes to contribution to GDP.

Fishing output has increased from 10,000 tons in 2014 to 120,000 tons in 2017 [6], but this is reckoned to be below the industrys potential by some distance.

The reasons for this are many and complex. Somalilanders are traditionally nomadic livestock owners and the possession of animals is associated with status. Fishing obviously does not accomplish this and is looked down on as an activity for the desperate and poor.

The Minister for Finance Development, Suad Muse Duale, put it this way: Fishing is looked down on as far as our tradition is concerned you must have a flock. [7]

This is, in fact, the case at present. Fishing is conducted on a small scale and the sale of fish is limited to the coastal area due to the lack of a reliable cold-chain for transporting the fish to the interior. It is notable that the capital city of Hargeisa with its large population has no fish market despite its relatively close proximity to the coastline. Fish ought to be a readily available cheaper protein option throughout Somaliland and it ought to have an export market given the short distance to big fish-consuming markets in the Mediterranean which are readily accessible via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

In order to increase local consumption and exports, investment is needed in refrigeration facilities at the coast, for transport vehicles and in the cities to extend the shelf-life of the fish.

The development of the transport corridor between Ethiopia and the port of Berbera opens up the possibility of exports to that country, a large market which may be game-changing for the industry

In addition to this, there are high barriers to entry with small locally made boats costing $20,000 each [8]. Less expensive boats might be imported or the price might be brought down by increased competition.

An immediate problem is that the research which suggests fish stocks are vast and untapped is dated and may even be decades old. A fresh survey has been commissioned and ought to give greater insight into the variety of harvestable fish and how they might best be caught.

Oil: From exploration to production

The licence to explore two oil blocks was awarded to Genel Energy in 2012. Exploration in 2015 confirmed there is potential in SL-10B and SL-13 and the Odewayne block with estimated oil reserves of one billion barrels in each.

A further study of seismic data and analysis of the basin has, according to Genel, led to the maturation of prospects and leads inventory for the SL10B13 block (Genel 75% working interest and operator) which confirms the long-standing view that the block has significant hydrocarbon potential. A number of potentially high-impact exploration targets have been identified within play types directly analogous to the prolific Yemeni rift basins. [9]

The company says it will initiate farmout assigning blocks to developers once these prospects have been quantified in late 2019.

There appears to be a very real prospect that game-changing oil production might get underway in the near future.

In the words of Energy and Minerals Minister Jama Mahmoud Egal, Most people are looking at our ministry because they see it as the only sector where growth can occur. [10]

The optimism over the possibility of oil in Somaliland derives from the fact that it shares the same geology as the oilfields on the Arabian peninsula. The oil is there, it is just a matter of when we get it, says Egal.

Formal exploration drilling is set for 2020 when the country will finally know if the promising fields can deliver.

To prepare for this eventuality, the ministry has produced several pieces of legislation, including the Petroleum Bill and the Petroleum Revenue Sharing Bill, to create a legal and regulatory environment for the nascent oil industry. But the legislation has been stuck in Somalilands slow-moving parliament.

There is the danger that oil will visit the resource curse on Somaliland, creating a small extremely wealthy elite with profits moving offshore and creating few jobs for locals who do not possess the skills needed for the industry, which is not, in any event, labour intensive.

To mitigate this, discussions have begun about how to include communities.

The best way to ensure that governments oil revenues are used to the benefit of all would be to house these in a sovereign wealth fund and use it to address Somalilands chronic infrastructure shortages, from the improvement of city roads to the creation of a national electricity grid and a piped water network.

Oil by-products could support other manufacturing industries based on plastics.

Minerals: From small-scale mining to commercial production

Somaliland is believed to have large untapped mineral resources including the largest untapped deposit of gypsum in the world, gemstones, precious metals including gold, and industrial metals including copper and lead.

Mining is, to use the words of Omer Yussuf Omer, the director of minerals, very primitive and traditional. [11]

There is some interest from international players with Chinese and Indian firms taking the lead. Chinese firms mine jade while Indian firms are about to begin exploration.

Any mining deeper than 20m requires a mining permit and the state takes a royalty only off exported minerals.

The challenge of scaling up mining is daunting. Any large-scale commercial mining requires an input that is in short supply water. And Somaliland has no commercial mining tradition, know-how or skills. We have no mining culture, we are just starting to exploit resources, says Omer.

Nonetheless, the Somaliland government remains optimistic that it can attract foreign investment and expertise and that minerals could contribute a lot more to growing the economy and employment.

Legislation to regulate mining is also stuck in parliament.

Light manufacturing: From small-scale to processing

Light manufacturing on scale is limited to the bottling of soft drinks and water, with Somaliland in common with almost every nation on Earth having a Coca Cola bottling factory.

The plant, some 13km outside of Hargeisa down a winding dirt road through the dust, is evidence that with the right product, access to water via borehole, a local partner and the import of key ingredients, foreign investors can thrive in Somaliland.

Coke made the $17-million investment five years ago with the local Laas Group after a poignant pitch by our chairman Mr Ahmed Osman Guelleh in 2009. [12]

Production team leader at the pristine state-of the-art factory, Abdi Fattah Ibrahim started out as a line worker at the plant five years ago. A graduate of Gollis University in Hargeisa, Ibrahim is evidence of the difference that opportunities make.

I started as an ordinary worker on the machines, says Ibrahim during a tour of the plant, which also produces bottled water. [13] Down the road, another plant produces fruit juices, using fruit grown in an irrigated orchard again evidence of what can be achieved with the right investment.

Beyond that, there is the manufacture of materials such as cement bricks for the construction of homes and a small artisanal furniture industry which makes beds, cupboards, tables and chairs.

The manufacture of plastics and foam used in upholstery and for mattresses is also present.

There have been several initiatives to fire up small manufacturing businesses in Somaliland, most notably by the World Bank, which has made funding available for small businesses. Firms cite access to finance (49%) as the single biggest obstacle to growing their businesses, followed by access to land (25%), transportation (8%), tax rates (7%) and electricity (5%). [14]

Access to land in Hargeisa is restricted by high prices, which are driven by the absence of other investment opportunities. There may be somewhat of a property bubble in the capital city. Minister for Finance Development Suad Muse Duale told us an astonishing fact: Downtown Hargeisa is as expensive as downtown New York. [15]

Another reason cited for the lack of growth in manufacturing is that urban Somalilanders are traders evidenced by the vast number of small traders selling everything from ice cream to mattresses that crowd the side-streets of the city centre.

As a result of the small manufacturing sector, the importing of goods for sale occurs on a large scale relative to the size of the economy, leading to a trade deficit. The latest 2019 statistics suggest there is $202-million worth of exports against $1,205-million in imports. [16]

In addition, the lack of formalisation of businesses leads to weak data and weak revenue for a government which is under-resourced.

The lack of sufficient formal lending facilities and the fact that those who get credit have access to foreign credit markets and loans from families, points to the urgent need for improved financing for small enterprises.

The high cost of electricity and the piecemeal nature of land titling and registration which happens at a local level, are also key constraints.

A new one-stop-shop to allow for the quicker registration of new businesses and the formalisation of existing enterprises have been operating for six months, but it appears to have failed to adequately cut red tape and reduce the time it takes to register. [17]

The opportunity exists for Somaliland to leapfrog the traditional economic development step of creating light and heavy industry by growing an innovative ICT sector.

For an industry to thrive, Somalilands leaders need the political will to take on vested interests in energy and water supply, which need to be disrupted by cheaper, more efficient suppliers of solar energy and piped water.

There is also the potential for Somaliland to leapfrog the manufacturing phase by focusing on creating opportunities for the youth in the tech space. But efforts to do this are few and far between.

Down an almost unnavigable rocky dirt road in downtown Hargeisa, Bashir Ali Abdi runs Innovation Ventures, which seeks to provide an incubation space for Somaliland tech startups.

Link:

Somaliland: New ways of doing things in a rough neighbourhood - Daily Maverick

There has been valuable research measuring the size of the gym and fitness club markets but never a report of this scope and depth that benchmarks and analyzes the entire physical activity market and its submarkets.

MIAMI (PRWEB) September 18, 2019

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI), a nonprofit research and educational resource for the world wellness industry, today announced that its 2019 research report "Move to Be Well: The Global Economy of Physical Activity" will be released at the Global Wellness Summit being held at the Grand Hyatt Singapore from October 1517.

If in 2018 the GWI found that the fitness/mind-body market was worth $595 billion, this new study broadens the scope of that segment to the physical activity sector, which includes the fitness, sports and active recreation, and mindful movement segments as well as supporting markets, including equipment and supplies, apparel and footwear, and technology. The 150+ page report is packed with data on all these key segments across the physical activity market (at global, regional and national levels); insights on emerging trends and business opportunities across countries; and 5-year growth projections. The generous support of 18 industry sponsors will make this much-anticipated research free to the world.

There has been valuable research measuring the size of the gym and fitness club markets but never a report of this scope and depth that benchmarks and analyzes the entire physical activity market and its submarkets, noted Susie Ellis, GWI chairman and CEO. It should prove a powerful resource for anyone in this explosively growing industry and help spur the broader global health imperative to bring physical activity to all.

Our research sponsors make GWIs annual studies a reality, and theyre moving the entire wellness industry forward by making this critical data and insight accessible to all, said Michelle Gamble, VP, Business Development. They deserve much credit.

Research Sponsors (to date):

Titanium Sponsor:

OCTAVE Institute is a platform to help people find clarity, harmony and a new level of consciousness and freedom. It is comprised of SANGHA Retreat in Suzhou, China, an innovative, fully immersive health and wellness retreat, combining Eastern philosophies with Western science; the VILLAGE; AITIA; THE LIVING ROOM; and the annual AT ONE International Festival.

Platinum Sponsors:

Biologique Recherche is a leader in high-end, personalized beauty care, whose products are used in luxury hotel spas, medical spas and day spas in over 70 countries.

Cannuka combines the finest cannabis with the best Manuka honey to create a unique, medically inspired and unexpected beauty and skin-care line.

Technogym is a world-leading supplier of products, services and solutions in the fields of fitness and wellness. The company has over 2,000 employees; 14 branches in Europe, the U.S., Asia, the Middle East, Australia and South America; and was the official supplier for the last six Olympic Games.

Gold Sponsors:

Chsen Experience is a network of global innovators and next-generation leaders whothrough a range of lifestyle-optimization programsstrive to live courageously, confidently and healthily.

MINDBODY is the leading technologyand cloud-based business management softwareplatform for the wellness industry, serving 35 million consumers in over 130 countries and territories.

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, an award-winning pioneer in sustainable wellness travel, manages 18 hotels and resorts and 30 spas in 21 countries, with 19 further properties in the pipeline. Its now part of the IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) family.

The Hydrafacial Company has been revolutionizing skin health for over 20 years and is a leading aesthetic device manufacturer for aesthetic professionals in over 87 countries.

Silver Sponsors:

Accor Hotels is a leading global travel group spanning more than 4,500 hotels, resorts and residences in 100 countries.

Best Life Rewarded delivers innovative, science-based wellness programs that improve the wellbeing of a companys employees.

Delos is a wellness real estate and technology company dedicated to improving the wellbeing of people worldwide by improving their indoor environments.

Eterneva celebrates remarkable people and pets by turning their ashes into diamonds, through a grief-changing journey as special as the loved one and diamond itself.

Pure Global is a top global provider of healthy indoor spaces, whose technology purifies every surface and air particle to bring environmental wellness to all kinds of spacesfrom hotels to homes to schools.

Rancho La Puerta: Founded in 1940, The Ranch pioneered the concept of the true destination spa and remains a world-renowned wellness retreat in the mountains of Baja California.

Subz3ro, a fast-growing spa quickly expanding in Mexico, specializes in cryostimulation, a cold therapy that safely reduces the bodys inflammation and improves skin and overall wellness.

The BodyHoliday is a unique, award-winning wellness destination in Santa Lucia that combines a great beach vacation with personalized-to-each-guest health and wellbeing.

Universal Companies, for over 30 years, has been a leading single-source supplier of products to 30,000 spa professionals in 47 countries.

WWWeight Watchers Reimaginedis a global wellness company and the world's leading commercial weight management program.

For more information, contact Beth McGroarty: beth.mcgroarty@globalwellnessinstitute.org.

About the Global Wellness Institute: The Global Wellness Institute (GWI), a nonprofit 501(c)(3), is considered the leading global research and educational resource for the global wellness industry and is known for introducing major industry initiatives and regional events that bring together leaders to chart the future. GWI positively impacts global health and wellness by advocating for both public institutions and businesses that are working to help prevent disease, reduce stress, and enhance the overall quality of life. Its mission is to empower wellness worldwide.

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First-Ever Report on the Global Economy of Physical Activity To Be Released at Global Wellness Summit - PR Web

ASTANA Kazakhstan launched 258 projects worth 1.7 trillion tenge (US$5.1 billion) in the first two years of its second five-year industrialisation plan. The plan is meant to diversify the countrys economy and boost domestic production.

Photo credit: primeminister.kz

Kazakhstans First Vice Minister of Investments and Development Alik Aidarbayev reported on the countrys progress in its State Industrial and Innovative Development Programme for 2015-2019 during an Aug. 22 press conference.

In line with the industrialisation road map, we continue launching new ventures, creating and preserving jobs. We unveiled 258 projects worth 1.7 trillion tenge (US$5.1 billion) since the beginning of the second five-year plan in 2015. We created 21,000 jobs. Since the beginning of this year, 32 projects worth 489 billion tenge (US$1.47 billion) were commissioned, providing jobs to 3,900 people. Over the industrialisation years, [since 2010] 1,060 projects amounting to 5.1 trillion tenge (US$15.33 billion) were launched creating 100,000 jobs, said Aidarbayev.

One of the key goals of the programme, according to the vice minister, is the diversification of the predominantly resource-based Kazakh economy and the subsequent increase of the processing industrys share in the domestic market.

Our economy needs diversification and this programme has been working for several years now. The results are evident and every year we are witnessing the growth of the processing industry. It constitutes 12 percent of the current [gross domestic product] and 30 percent in the economy in general, added Aidarbayev.

A rapidly growing sector in the domestic economy, the processing industry also serves as a main driver of industrial growth, according to Aidarbayev.

Within seven months of 2017 the real growth in the processing industry was 6.3 percent, while production grew 5.3 percent. The volume of exports totalled $6.2 billion, which is 27.8 percent more than in the same period last year. This is due to the favourable conditions in international markets and expansion in new foreign markets. The amount of investments in the processing industry is estimated at 411 billion tenge (US$1.24 billion) in the first half of 2017, which shows a 2.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year, noted the vice minister.

The industrialisation programme allowed the country to produce 500 different commodities previously not produced domestically, including passenger and freight cars, electric locomotives, x-ray equipment and pharmaceutical products.

One hundred projects worth more than one trillion tenge (US$3 billion) are to be implemented by the end of this year.

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More than 250 projects worth $5.1 billion launched in first two years of industrialisation plan - Astana Times

A resource-based economy would make it possible to use technology to overcome scarce resources by applying renewable sources of energy, computerizing and automating manufacturing and inventory, designing safe energy-efficient cities and advanced transportation systems, providing universal health care and more relevant education, and most of all by generating a new incentive system based on human and environmental concern.

Many people believe that there is too much technology in the world today, and that technology is the major cause of our environmental pollution. This is not the case. It is the abuse and misuse of technology that should be our major concern. In a more humane civilization, instead of machines displacing people they would shorten the workday, increase the availability of goods and services, and lengthen vacation time. If we utilize new technology to raise the standard of living for all people, then the infusion of machine technology would no longer be a threat.

A resource-based world economy would also involve all-out efforts to develop new, clean, and renewable sources of energy: geothermal; controlled fusion; solar; photovoltaic; wind, wave and tidal power; and even fuel from the oceans. We would eventually be able to have energy in unlimited quantity that could propel civilization for thousands of years. A resource-based economy must also be committed to the redesign of our cities, transportation systems, and industrial plants, allowing them to be energy efficient, clean and conveniently serve the needs of all people.

What else would a resource-based economy mean? Technology intelligently and efficiently applied, conserves energy, reduces waste, and provides more leisure time. With automated inventory on a global scale, we can maintain a balance between production and distribution. Only nutritious and healthy food would be available and planned obsolescence would be unnecessary and non-existent in a resource-based economy. As we outgrow the need for professions based on the monetary system, for instance lawyers, bankers, insurance agents, marketing and advertising personnel, salespersons, and stockbrokers, a considerable amount of waste will be eliminated. Considerable amounts of energy would also be saved by eliminating the duplication of competitive products such as tools, eating utensils, pots, pans and vacuum cleaners. Choice is good. But instead of hundreds of different manufacturing plants and all the paperwork and personnel required to turn out similar products, only a few of the highest quality would be needed to serve the entire population. Our only shortage is the lack of creative thought and intelligence in ourselves and our elected leaders to solve these problems. The most valuable, untapped resource today is human ingenuity. With the elimination of debt, the fear of losing ones job will no longer be a threat. This assurance, combined with education on how to relate to one another in a much more meaningful way, could considerably reduce both mental and physical stress and leave us free to explore and develop our abilities.

If the thought of eliminating money troubles you, consider this: if a group of people with gold, diamonds and money were stranded on an island that had no resources such as food, clean air, and water, their wealth would be irrelevant to their survival. It is only when resources are scarce that money can be used to control their distribution. One could not, for example, sell the air we breathe or water abundantly flowing down from a mountain stream. Although air and water are valuable, in abundance they cannot be sold. Money is only important in a society when certain resources for survival must be rationed and the people accept money as an exchange medium for the scarce resources. Money is a social convention, an agreement if you will. It is neither a natural resource, nor does it represent one. It is not necessary for survival unless we have been conditioned to accept it as such.

Are we ready to start up a resource based economy?

Can we convince everyone to start a resource based economy?

We believe that a resource based economy can be an amazing change for humanity, but can we convince everyone that we can have a society without the want to become rich or motivated?

We guess as with other systems we talk about its not for everyone. You have to be a highly aware human in order to live in a resource based economy as it is created for you to be your very best and to live a life of full human expression.

A resource based economy sees what is best for humanity and takes that direction. It is very opposite to todays system where corporate interest and profit chooses the road that humanity takes together.

Will a resource based economy have to be implemented with force? NO!! You have to start in the small and what we believe is that every idea has to elevate people its way. So lets start a resourced based economy and then let those who want to live in it do so! A real revolution gives people options, that is why we propose as many solutions as possible as people are different and should be able to choose their destiny without socially engineering them towards your solution!

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To learn more go to this website!

Do you like the resource based economy? Well its time to meet and connect with others that love this great economic concept: http://thevenusproject.com/ and http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/

Learn more on the Venus project YouTube Channel:

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Resource Based Economy | The Economic Truth

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is working to ensure that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector increases its 12.6 per cent contributions to the nations Gross Dometic Product (GDP) this year.

NITDA, through its Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), is already grooming some technology startups that would aid the countrys match towards the enthronement of a knowledge economy.

According to the Director-General, NITDA, Dr. Isa Pantami, at the weekend, in Lagos, NITDA is unleashing digital economy potential to deepen GDP contribution by making ICT play a key role in all aspects of the economy.Pantami said NITDA is organising the StartUP Nigeria programme, the sixth edition, where a number of startups pitched their ideas and IT solutions to angel investors.

The tech Startups that pitched included Acounteer, TheFarmyard, BeatDrone, Six, Nicademia, Livekampus, Comestibles Nigeria, Novael, TapPay, SwiftCheckup and Middleman.com.ng, which is an ecommerce platform connecting buyers and sellers while providing other auxiliary services.

Pantami said, ICT is not only indispensable for developing new products and services but also for ensuring the survival of any business in the competitive world by providing ample opportunities for growth and profitability.

According to him, the Nigerian startup ecosystem, with proper regulations and support, has capacity to become the strong catalytic force for sustainable economic growth across nations.He said that NITDA has since commenced processes for proper regulation and development, crucial for supporting the startup and entrepreneurs ecosystem in the country.

The NITDAs interwoven roles are relevant for the country to achieve its purpose of creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into new products, processes, or services meeting market needs, which culminates in successful enterprises, Pantami said.

He stated that the competitiveness of any economy in the long term depends on innovation potential of the economy gained through entrepreneurship and effective technology transfer, especially now that revenue from the oil and gas industry is on downward trend.Pantami warned that Nigeria cannot remain an oil and gas-based resource based economy, as every projections show other countries are making a turn away from oil.

The NITDA DG said, StartUPNigeria held in Lagos is a prelude to GITEX 2017, as NITDA tends to select the best startups to represent the country. This is critical in helping even the regulatory aspects of the IT sector. We identify with startups that need our technical, financial supports to push their solutions forward.

We believe Lagos is home to innovative startups; thus, we intend to assist them improve on their works. The truth is this: our country relies solely on oil and gas sector; in UK for instance by 2040 they intend to ban diesel or petrol cars, so our reliance on oil is disturbing.

We have to move from oil resource to knowledge-based economy. ICT has the answer to this. The contribution of 12.6 per cent of ICT to GDP is second to oil at the moment, but will soon takeover. India depends on ICT as $143 billion annual comes from ICT; Nigeria accounts for 180 million with 60 per cent young people who are addicted to ICT.

The DG explained that the winners from StartUp Nigeria programme, being held across the country, would later represent Nigeria at this years Gulf Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai to pitch their innovative ideas to global investment community.

Earlier, Acting National Coordinator of OIIE, Dr. Amina Sambo Magaji, thanked the exemplary leadership of the NITDA DG and the management for giving OIIE platform to meet with startups and solve needs in the ecosystem.

She said that OIIEs vision to drive ICT innovation and entrepreneurship through policies, initiatives, partnership and programs implementation by focusing on socio- economic impact, competitiveness, and sustainable & inclusive growth, was carefully crafted to ensure the startups are impacted positively.

She said the Office is not relenting on its focus, amongst others, on innovation and entrepreneurship by fostering a more innovative digital economy through turning new ideas and inventions into products and technologies that spur job growth and competitiveness while promoting economic development.

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NITDA targets increase in ICT contribution to GDP - Guardian (blog)

As yet, only around 14 per cent of the raw materials used in German industry are derived from recycling processes. But how can this proportion be increased and waste disposed of in a way that is safer and more environmentally friendly? A study by the German Federal Environment Ministry takes the position that the circular economy would especially benefit from digitalisation whilst at the same time revealing that the subject is not really being systematically addressed yet. Dr Henning Wilts, Head of the Research Unit Circular Economy, and Dr Holger Berg, Project Co-ordinator for the Research Unit Circular Economy at the Wuppertal Institute, are therefore focusing their attention on this issue. They are working on a Circular Economy Literacy framework, which is intended to pave the way for the digital and resource-efficient circular economy. The authors describing in detail this issue in the recently published in brief.

Germanys waste management system is one of the worlds most advanced. Its chief objective is to dispose of waste in a way that is safe for both people and the environment yet, more than 85 per cent of the raw materials for industrial use are still sourced from primary materials. Although the potential for optimisation is great, the reality is still far removed from so-called closed-loop systems. Secondary raw materials recovered from waste referred to as recyclates have previously been fed back into production and usage processes at volumes that are far below what is possible. This means loss of value, creates dependency on volatile commodity markets, lowers resource productivity and increases environmental pollution. The study The Digitisation of Environmental Technology, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), indicates that no other lead market in the environmental sector stands to benefit from digitalisation more than the circular economy, whilst also suggesting that no sector has ever been so poorly positioned.

Companies are still relying too much on primary materials instead of recycled raw materials although the latter may actually be less expensive. A key reason for this lies in the lack of information: when and where waste is produced that can be used as recyclates is much less clear than is the case for primary materials from mining, for example. In addition, the value of waste materials is heavily dependent on their composition and what is known about them: which are the waste materials that are hazardous and expensive to dispose of, and what waste is practical to recycle? For this reason, Dr Henning Wilts, Head of the Research Unit Circular Economy at the Wuppertal Institute, stresses that: ,There is an urgent need for better coordination of flows of materials and information, if we are to advance the transition to the circular economy.

Information about the quantity and especially the quality of products and the raw materials they contain must be gathered, analysed and retained, adds Dr Holger Berg. For example, there would be significantly higher incentives for the materials-based recycling of plastic waste if the precise material composition (including all additives) of all products contained in the waste were known, or if this information could be obtained at a reasonable cost.

Until now, it has not been possible to overcome much of this information deficit. However, the researchers Wilts and Berg anticipate that the digital transformation could provide the solution, because it is, for a number of reasons, an information revolution and can thus serve as the link to enable the implementation of the circular economy.

Solutions will need to go much further than simple waste disposal concepts, come into effect much earlier in the production process and also include consumption-related decisions to a greater extent than before. The ultimate objective is to prevent waste as far as possible and to enable a resource-efficient circular economy. To that end, the Wuppertal Institute is working to develop circular economy literacy. In the recently established Circular Economy research unit, Dr Henning Wilts and Dr Holger Berg are evaluating how such comprehensive change processes can be made possible and set on the right tracks. Their projects aim to bring together the various stakeholders and provide a strategic vision for a digital circular economy in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and Europe. Everyone wants digitalisation, everyone wants a circular economy but what is the shared vision, and how do we achieve it? The following four points will be of particular importance:

Wilts adds: In order to establish a resource-efficient and digital circular economy, industry, the waste management sector and companies will need to be networked so that a functioning value creation network can be built.

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The circular economy resource-efficient and digital - Chemie.de (press release)

Nobody has officially declared that they're running for the leadership of the B.C. Liberal party.

But privately, party members are telling me that four MLAs and one MP are preparing campaigns to replace Christy Clark, who stepped down earlier this month.

There's no obvious frontrunner, which will make this contest more fun to watch from the sidelines.And there's no indication yet that the interim leader, Rich Coleman, or the former finance minister, Mike de Jong, are going to seek the top job.

Here are the possible contenders in alphabetical order, along with their strengths and weaknesses:

The former education minister is best known in Vancouver for firing the local school board and for trying to force the district to sell the Kingsgate Mall. It's not going to serve him well in B.C.'s largest city, but it might win him some support in other areas of the province.

First elected in 2013, Bernier was previously a two-term mayor of Dawson Creek and a one-term city councillor. According to his biography, he worked for 20 years in the natural gas industry.

Strengths: A folksy public speaker, Bernier would be popular in the 250 area code of mainland B.C. where there's a large number of party members. He might come across to them as the most likable leadership candidate.

Weaknesses: The B.C. Liberal government's record of funding education was pretty dismal in comparison to other provinces. Bernier's government was also blown out of the Supreme Court of Canada for its approach to negotiating with teachers.As a former education minister, he will have to wear this if he leads his party into a general election.

Plus, he's a huge supporter of the natural gas industry just as forest-fire-weary voters are becoming increasingly conscious about climate change. Many won't buy claims anymore that natural gas is a bridge to a cleaner future, particularly if Andrew Weaver remains leader of the B.C. Greens.

The Straight was the first to mention in print the possibility of the former corporate lawyer and rookie MLA becoming the next B.C. Liberal leader. A long-time party member, Lee worked for former justice minister and prime minister Kim Campbell many years ago.

Lee is the antithesis of Clark with his low-key demeanour. He's served on a bunch of nonprofit boards and chaired Peter Ladner's first campaign for Vancouver city council. This makes him remarkably well-connected.

Strengths: He will appeal to centrist B.C. Liberals hoping for the party to perform better in Metro Vancouver. Lee is also not stained by the B.C. Liberal record and he would probably hold his own discussing various public policies during leadership debates.

Weaknesses: Lee doesn't set the house on fire with his speeches. Party members might feel he's too boring to defeat a happy warrior like Premier John Horgan.

Plus, his inexperience as an elected politician might lead the media to treat his candidacy less seriously than the others. And one of his biggest problems is that most party members live outside of the Lower Mainland.

The former high-tech executive was appointed transportation and infrastructure minister immediately after being elected as an MLA.And transportation policies in the Lower Mainland led directly to the downfall of the B.C. Liberal government.

But Stone still represents a new generation. He's from a mid-size B.C. city that's making a transition from a resource-based economy to one more reliant on other goods and services. Given the number of party members residing outside of the Lower Mainland, he'll probably be among the frontrunners.

Strengths:Stone was born in 1972, which means he'll likely be the youngest candidate in the race. He could be the preferred candidate of libertarian young tech workers, which are growing in number. He's also articulate and he'll look the best on TV, which counts for a lot in politics these days.

Weaknesses:Stone was the frontman on the George Massey Tunnel Replacement Project, the plebiscite defeating much-needed transit and transportation improvements, and even the politically suicidal move to bring ride-sharing to the Lower Mainland by the end of this year.

While these policies might have all made sense to a guy who regularly drives the Coquihalla and is comfortable programming his smartphone, they alienated local mayors. Ride-sharing also ticks off South Asian voters in constituencies that swing back and forth between the NDP and B.C. Liberals. This record as transportation minister raises questions whether he has sufficient political intuition to become premier.

Watts is the former mayor of Surrey and likely has the highest name recognition of any of the potential candidates listed here. Since sidling up to Stephen Harper and becoming a Conservative MP, she's fallen off the radar somewhat.

Her tenure as mayor was marked by massive public investments to turn Surrey City Centre into the region's second major downtown. So far, the results have been mixed, though the growth of the SFU campus, the creation of a new KPU campus and new library, and the promotion of a high-tech zone called Innovation Boulevard will probably pay decent dividends over the long term.

Watts has a certain magnetism when she enters a room full of supporters. But it's an open question whether she has sufficient public-policy depth or an understanding of the nuances of the province to defeat a politician as intelligent as Horgan. Watts's campaign flyer about terrorism during the last federal election campaign might make some B.C. Liberals question her intellect.

Strengths: Watts will have a fully formed political machine geared up from day one of the campaign. She'll be seen as a new face on the provincial scene. And she may be able to mobilize the politically influential South Asian community to come on-side with her because she wasn't associated with the disastrous ride-sharing idea promoted so eagerly by Stone and former cabinet minister Peter Fassbender.

Weaknesses: Watts is a federal Conservative, which will alienate federal Liberals within the party, of which there are many. She's not going to win over former B.C. Liberal voters who switched allegiance to the B.C. Greens because of Clark's environmental record. And she's not likely to help the party make a breakthrough on Vancouver Island, where the B.C. Liberals were nearly shut out this year.

The former minister of advanced education managed to avoid controversy even as the former finance minister, de Jong, was treating postsecondary institutions and students with a great deal of disdain. Wilkinson is a former corporate litigator with a medical degree, which makes him far more educated than his former party leader.

But will his upper-crust, downtown Vancouver sensibility be political poison in the 250 area code?

Strengths: If Wilkinson can keep his chippy side in check, he can be a strong debater. As leader, he has potential to raise lots of money. And he's not tied to the federal Conservatives, unlike Watts. He's also brighter than some of the others named above.

Weaknesses:It's hard to see how Wilkinson, a Rhodes scholar, is going to appeal to blue-collar workers, who've become a key part of the B.C. Liberal base under Clark's leadership. We've had boring premiers before and one of them, Bill Bennett, won three terms in office.

But in this modern age of social media and 24-hour news cycles, it's hard to imagine someone with Wilkinson's charisma deficit ever igniting passion among the masses. Plus, he hurt himself with environmentally inclined free enterprisers by thrashing the City of Vancouver's efforts to make the city 100 percent reliant on renewable energy by 2050. It's not smart if you want to appeal to younger urban voters.

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5 candidates to watch in the as-yet undeclared BC Liberal leadership race - Straight.com

Mark Ansermino, left, and Guy Dumont were working on a device in 2005 to aid people monitoring patients during surgery. Ward Perrin / Vancouver Sun

A deceptively simple device invented at the University of B.C. is saving lives in the worlds most impoverished places.

Called the Phone Oximeter, it clips onto a persons fingertip and is connected by wire to a smartphones audio port. By measuring blood-oxygen levels and heart and breathing rates with unprecedented simplicity, portability and affordability, its enabling easier diagnosis of illness in Mozambique, Pakistan and Uganda.

How it came to be at UBC reveals the magic of universities.

Fifteen years ago, electrical engineer Guy Dumont, an expert in creating intelligent automated systems, met Mark Ansermino, an anesthesiologist who wanted to improve measurement of vital signs during surgery. From that first encounter between two complementary faculty members, a string of inventions followed.

The Phone Oximeters genesis at a university was no accident. UBC, like so many of its peer institutions, attracts experts in diverse fields. Brought together into a larger community, they sometimes share ideas and wind up doing things they could never achieve or even dream of achieving on their own.

But when that lightning does strike, its often by accident or the result of occasional get-togethers. If only we could make such interactions a regular feature on our campuses, imagine the ingenuity that would spring forth.

Now we are now doing just that, with UBCs latest creation: a school of biomedical engineering.

This new cluster of faculty and students, a joint venture of the faculties of medicine and applied science, will break down antiquated academic boundaries. We want to replicate many times over the genius of the Phone Oximeter applying an engineering mindset to disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

That could mean medical devices like the Phone Oximeter. But it also means extending engineering into realms that most people have a hard time grasping: the splicing of genes, the rearrangement of proteins and the cultivation of stem cells, which can be coaxed into repairing or even replacing damaged tissues or organs.

This is a squishier world than many engineers are used to. But its governed by the same physical principles that all engineering students must master. And its just as yielding to their quantitative approach and creative design skills, which offer new solutions to societys major health challenges, including cancer, neurological disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

UBC is the first university in Western Canada to recognize the importance of this burgeoning field with a school of its own. And we are doing it at a propitious time, as B.C. diversifies its resource-based economy by cultivating a vibrant tech sector, and as the province joins the University of Washington in creating the Cascadia Urban Analytics Cooperative, emulating the success of such regional tech hubs as Silicon Valley, North Carolinas Research Triangle and Bostons Route 128 Corridor.

To fulfil even part of that tech-based vision, higher education must position itself several steps ahead by preparing students to readily enter that economy from the moment they graduate, and to play leading roles in both established companies and new ventures. Playing catch-up isnt an option we need to cultivate the talent now or risk having that vision wither for lack of local talent.

The Phone Oximeter, invented at the University of B.C., clips onto a persons fingertip and is connected by wire to a smartphones audio port. By measuring blood-oxygen levels and heart and breathing rates with unprecedented simplicity, portability and affordability, its enabling easier diagnosis of illness in Mozambique, Pakistan and Uganda. Handout / PNG

Clearly, there is a demand for such training. The faculty of applied science started offering masters degrees and doctorates in biomedical engineering a mere seven years ago, and applications have increased steadily to almost 200 in 2016.

The new school will provide those students expected to number about 90 this year with a distinct, high-profile home, signalling to future students our commitment to be a leader in this field. In the years ahead we hope to extend the talent pipeline even further by offering bachelors degrees in biomedical engineering as well.

That higher profile will also help attract the most promising or sought-after biomedical engineering faculty. In fact, it already has: Peter Zandstra, most recently of the University of Toronto, has joined UBC to become the schools first director.

Zandstra wont need much help finding his way around he spent five years at UBC earning his doctorate in biotechnology and chemical engineering. But we recruited him for his ingenuity in growing stem cells, his mathematical modelling to predict how stem cells behave and how they can be controlled, and his success in generating human tissue for drug testing or treatment. On top of all that, he has proven leadership skills, honed from his experience steering large academic research groups and startup companies.

Joining him in the months and years ahead will be seven other new faculty members, along with 20 current faculty members jointly appointed from their current departments, including electrical engineer Tim Salcudean, who has proudly ignored the obsolete divisions that once separated him from his medical colleagues.

Salcudean is advancing two innovations that have already transformed patient care: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound. He is making those technologies more revealing by bringing digital analysis to images that are now mostly eyeballed. He is also making them more useful by superimposing MRI and ultrasound images onto magnified images of a surgical field, so surgeons can see underneath the tissue on which theyre operating, and thus spot patches of cancer that would normally be hidden.

These arent an academics theoretical musings. Thanks to UBCs partnerships with the provinces health system, Salcudean has been able to team up with UBC urologist Peter Black to successfully test ultrasound and MRI image-guided techniques on 27 patients with prostate cancer. Based on those results, there are plans for more.

We cant simply leave those kinds of advances to the random happenstance of the occasional symposium or accidental meeting. The stakes in terms of lives saved or quality of life are too high.

Our new school of biomedical engineering will bring health scientists, clinicians and engineers together on a daily basis and provide them with the space and the tools to collaborate. Just as important, it will bring graduate students and medical students into that collaboration to learn from it, emulate it and, we hope, take it in directions that we havent yet imagined.

Dermot Kelleher is dean of the faculty of medicine and James Olson is interim dean of the faculty of applied science at the University of B.C.

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Opinion: UBC erases boundaries between engineering and health - Vancouver Sun

BEIJING Sometimes, when considering the orgy of spending that is Chinas start-up scene, its fun to imagine the pitch meetings.

Its like Uber, but for beds.

Bed sharing?

I know it sounds funny but

Take my cash.

That exact exchange did not happen. But it may not be far off. Chinese authorities recently shuttered a service that let people pay to sleep in windowless pods. There were questions about hygiene, according to local reports.

Perhaps there should be more questions. Flush with cash and buoyed by a billion-dollar boom in bike sharing, Chinas venture capitalists have gone sharing mad, funding companies that allow users to share items including washing machines, basketballs and umbrellas.

In some ways, the enthusiasm makes sense. Chinas vibrant but tightly regulated tech sector has been booming, with sharing leading the way. Chinese ride-hailing (and -sharing) giant Didi bought out Uber China. Airbnb is fighting Chinese rivals to win a piece of the home-share market.

The countrys top leaders know they must shift from manufacturing and resource extraction to a service-based economy powered, in part, by the Web.

To help things along, the state has thrown money into the start-up scene and nurtured homegrown tech companies, in part by keeping others out. (Sorry, Google.) It has also used its vast propaganda apparatus to cheerlead for local start-ups, waxing poetic about umbrella sharing, for example.

In April, a commentary in the Peoples Daily, a Communist Party-controlled newspaper, calleda Chinese umbrella sharing start-up a sign of progress in public service and a show of human care, releasing the warmth of the city. The company later made headlines when nearly all of its 300,000 umbrellas went missing.

At a 2016 tech conference, Robin Li, chief executive of the search engine Baidu, suggestedthat the sharing economy is in tune with Chinas socialist ethos. Both, he said, focus on distribution according to need.

The new, government-run Sharing Economy Research Centerestimates that the sector grew 103 percent in 2016, with deals close to $500 billion. The researchers predicted an annual growth rate of 40 percent in the years ahead. By 2020, the sharing economy will account for 10 percent of the countrys gross domestic product, the center said.

And yet, nobody seems sure what sharing economy means.

Gao Shen, a partner at Phoenix Tree Capital Partners, said there are two things going on.

Companies such as Didi and Tujia, a Chinese house-sharing firm, took existing resources cars, homes and made them available to others for a fee. Many of the new, self-described sharing start-ups do not useidle resources, he said.

If a company orders a bunch of new bikes or umbrellas and lets people rent them with their phone, is that sharing? Or is it renting with your phone?

A Chinese government newswire recently covered the launch of a shared washing machine service. Theres also a shared drying service. Anywhere else, they would be called laundromats. Or, perhaps, laundromats where you pay with your phone.

Along the same lines, is a phone-activated, two-person karaoke booth in a mall a karaoke share, or just a smaller and louder version of the status quo, plus phone?

Whats more, not everyone seems to understand the meaning of rent.

Like the umbrella company, Chinese bike-sharing start-ups have struggled to keep up with theft and vandalism, with one company, Wukong, reportedly losing 90 percent of its bikes in about six months.

In some cases, companies are launching products that seem like less convenient versions of things that already exist a fact that does not seem to stop the funding.

Andy Xie, an independent economist in Shanghai, said the rush of investment feels a lot like a bubble. In the past four, five years, every year there is something different to speculate on, he said.

Beijing, a city with free workout machines in public parks, now has shared gyms, a.k.a, outhouse-size workout pods activated by your phone. Investors are betting that people will pay for the chance to sweat and jiggle in a small glass box on the street.

A recent Peoples Daily write-up described the opening of the worlds first shared bookstore. Again, you can imagine the pitch.

Shared bookstore? ... That sounds a lot like a library.

Better, its a library where you pay with

Sold.

Yang Liu and Shirley Feng reported from Beijing.

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A Chinese umbrella-sharing start-up just lost nearly all of its 300,000 umbrellas

Apple, Amazon help China curb the use of anti-censorship tools

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Nyarai Kampilipili and Kizito SikukaCorrespondents The event had nothing to do with the annual Womens Month that is celebrated here in South Africa every August to remember the sacrifices and contribution of women to the struggle for social equality.

Rather, the sight of Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax addressing the media ahead of the 37th SADC Summit in South Africa was a clear affirmation that women continue to make a positive contribution towards deepening regional integration and sustainable development in southern Africa.

Nkoana-Mashabane is the incoming chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers, while Dr Tax is the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

In fact, Dr Tax is the first woman to assume the top post at the SADC Secretariat, and since her appointment at a summit in August 2013 in Lilongwe, Malawi has exhibited that performance is key and not gender in holding key decision-making positions.

Based in Gaborone, Botswana, the SADC Secretariat is the principal executive institution of SADC, responsible for strategic planning, facilitation and coordination and management of all SADC programmes, activities and projects. The SADC Council of Ministers oversees the functioning and development of SADC by ensuring that regional policies are properly implemented.

In this regard, both Nkoana-Mashabane, who is the South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister and Dr Tax carry the responsibility of making sure the benefits of belonging to a shared community in southern Africa continue to be enjoyed and impact on the lives of SADC citizens.

During her one-year tenure as Council of Ministers chair, Nkoana-Mashabane is expected to provide guidance to the SADC Secretariat on the implementation of regional programmes, while Dr Tax will ensure that the decisions of the 37th SADC Summit are implemented over the next 12 months.

This will include making sure that the momentum built since 2014 in terms of the implementation of the industrialisation agenda is maintained as part of regional efforts to transform from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one that is able to add value to its own natural resources and compete strongly on global markets.

SADC has over the years made significant progress towards promoting gender equality and equity in the region.

In fact, gender equality is firmly rooted in the Declaration and Treaty that established the shared community of SADC, and member states fully realise that equality and empowerment of both women and men is crucial for the attainment of sustainable development.

This is clearly reflected in the constitutions of most SADC countries that provide for the creation of legal frameworks that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and other differences.

Some countries have also legislated affirmative action and quota systems that guarantee the participation and representation of women in political and other decision-making positions.

According to the SADC Gender and Development Monitor 2016, four member states are among the top 20 countries in the world with the highest number of women in parliament and other key decision-making positions.

These are Seychelles, South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique, followed closely by Angola, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

In the education sector, gender gaps in literacy levels continue to close, with Botswana, Lesotho, Seychelles and Swaziland having higher literacy rates for women compared to men.

The Revised SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which was approved at the 36th SADC Summit held in the Kingdom of Swaziland in August 2016, aims to align the protocol with provisions of other instruments such as those relating to the Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063, and the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap.

The revised protocol provides for the empowerment of women, elimination of discrimination and attainment of gender equality and equity through enactment of gender-responsive legislation and implementation of policies, programmes and projects.

The 37th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit is scheduled for 19-20 August, and will deliberate on a wide range of issues, including exploring ways of harnessing the potential of the private sector to contribute to the industrialisation agenda and sustainable economic development in the region.

The theme for the summit is Partnering with the private sector in developing industry and regional value-chains.

At the summit, South African President Jacob Zuma will assume the rotating SADC chair from King Mswati III of Swaziland.

Prior to the SADC Summit, there will be a Double Troika meeting on August 18 to discuss the general political situation in the region. sardc.net

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