Monday, June 29, 2009

Gambia Century 21 Real Estate Agency


Our clients are our No 1 priority and we provide you with a One Stop service.

Less Stress One-Stop means the transaction is less expensive and more manageable, gives you greater convenience, prevents issues from falling through the cracks, and with legal and technical providers working together ensures a smooth completion of the transaction.

Peace of Mind Do not worry about the condition of your new home, simply let our valuation experts carry out a survey to make sure your investment is secure.

Buy to Build We can find suitable land within your budget, get planning permission and draw up blueprints. We make it easy for you.

Century 21 Real Estate Agency provide:
Rental Agreements
Property Management
Leaseing Residential/Commercial
Surveys
Valuations
Sales/Purchases
Real Estate Development

For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Islamic banks join in the race for Africa

CHINA is not the only financial powerhouse with its hungry eye on Africa. Flush with oil wealth, the Gulf states, too, are spying profitable opportunities among the hundreds of millions of Muslims who live just a hop across the Red Sea. Africa’s economies are growing fast, thanks in large part to the commodities boom.

Although many people on the continent do not have a bank account, the banking systems in some countries are growing increasingly sophisticated. Bankers from the Gulf hope that the middle class, particularly in the Muslim north, will turn to Islamic finance, and that firms will raise money through Islamic bonds, known as sukuk. Moody’s, a credit-rating agency, reckons that although Islamic finance was worth a puny $18 billion at the end of last year, its potential is close to $235 billion—about half what it estimates as the GDP of Africa’s Muslim population.

So far, forays from the Gulf into Africa have been limited to a few countries. Sudan—where only sharia-compliant finance is allowed in the north—dominates, holding over half of Africa’s Islamic-banking assets. A number of Gulf banks, familiar with the country’s language and oil resources, have joined forces with Sudanese investors to open Islamic banks. Last year the first sukuk from Africa was issued by a Sudanese cement firm. Reportedly, the government also tapped the market in January—selling bonds to Gulf investors to sidestep American economic sanctions over the massacres in Darfur.

But Sudan’s banking industry remains embryonic and few African countries combine the strong desire to promote Islamic banking with heavy demand from Muslim customers. “Islamic banking is a luxury product,” admits Anouar Hassoune of Moody’s: it tends to do better in places with established banking systems, such as South Africa and Kenya. South Africa’s only Islamic bank, Albaraka, was set up in 1989. Last year the Kenyan authorities licensed two Islamic banks, Gulf African Bank and First Community Bank, both backed by Gulf investment.

Western banks are also dipping their toes in. In Kenya Barclays was the first to offer an Islamic bank account appropriately named La Riba, meaning “no interest”. South Africa’s ABSA opened an Islamic banking division in 2006. It offers phone, internet and branch banking. Its head, Ahmed Moola, says the division was profitable last year, though he declines to discuss numbers.
Some of the keenest African custom for Islamic products is in countries where Muslims are a small minority; it provides a way of affirming their cultural heritage. Hamza Farooqi, who heads South Africa’s CII Holdings, a diversified business group, has gradually been moving his own and his company’s finances from conventional banks to ABSA’s Islamic division. It has asked ABSA to help finance the first “dry” five-star hotel in Cape Town.


Islamic finance in Africa is a niche market, and probably will remain so. Islamic scholars are few and far between; few countries’ laws are suitable for Islamic banking; the margins tend to be thinner than in the conventional Western model. Some countries, such as Nigeria, with almost 70m Muslims and a booming banking sector, should be fertile ground. The authorities’ hands are full, however, sorting out its existing banks.

One of the most promising areas of growth may be in project finance and bonds. The continent’s vast need for infrastructure is matched only by the shortage of investment funds: Gulf investors could help bridge the gap. Project finance is well suited for Islamic financial instruments, which need to be backed by physical assets. Gulf Finance House, an Islamic investment bank based in Bahrain, signed a $1.4 billion deal in Morocco to fund two tourism projects in 2006. Senegal is said to be contemplating issuing a sovereign sukuk. It could be a 21st-century version of “the scramble for Africa”. But this time the Gulf is moving in alongside China.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Sa Hel Invest Mutual Fund (SIMF)

The Sa Hel Invest Mutual Fund (SIMF) is one of the few mutual funds in The Gambia, the fund is open to both individual and institutional investors.
SIMF is an opportunity for investors to participate in viable, low-risk investment opportunities in The Gambia. SIMF is one of the few avenues for participating in the local equity market.
For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Buy into Africa


Africa is booming. From Mauritius to Botswana, Ghana to Uganda, African economies are growing at a rate of 5-6% a year. Hedge funds, retail fund managers and private equity investors are swarming all over the continent, with the biggest potential seen in an area called SSA, or sub-Saharan Africa.

Naive investors would probably attribute this new-found fortune and enthusiasm to just one spectacularly successful industry – the resources business. And it's certainly true that SSA has more than its fair share of oil – both Angola and Nigeria are now huge producers of oil for western markets. Other important African export commodities include iron ore, timber, manganese, cobalt, copper and chromium.

But the resources sector is only half the story. Successful investors such as Jamie Allsop – a classic value investor – are scouring the continent using old-fashioned value ideas, looking for solid trading companies benefiting from the much bigger economic transformation under way.

Greater prosperity has created a growing middle class – the World Bank estimates that the sub-Saharan middle class will be 43m strong by 2030, up from 12.8m in 2000, with most in South Africa but other countries such as Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana featuring prominently. That means billions will be spent on consumer goods, telecoms, and infrastructure projects. And there are already many well run, solidly profitable companies in all these markets – they form the core of a vibrant and growing equity culture taking root in Africa.

Two decades ago, there were just five stock exchanges in SSA. Today, there are 18 with 1,500 separate listings. It has been reported in Fortune magazine that, excluding South African shares, African stocks have climbed an annualised 43 per cent since the end of 2006. In particular, since 2001 the Mauritian, Botswanan, South African and Namibian stock exchanges have outperformed the Dow Jones index by 483 per cent, 375 per cent, 202 per cent and 188 per cent respectively.

London-based research and broking firm Exotix, which specialises in frontier markets, also boasts its own large-cap index of SSA companies – its top 30 increased their market capitalisation by 126 per cent or $40bn in the period between 2006 and 2008, outperforming South Africa and the MSCI indexes for Eastern Europe and the Far East. It also noted that volatility was lower.
For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Project Finance


Project finance already existed during the ancient days of Greece and Rome. The construction of the Panama Canal had the first records of using project financing in the area of infrastructure. It was with the development of the North Sea oil fields in the 70s and 80s where project finance was used in a high-risk infrastructure project.

In developing countries, project financing attained its maximum height around the time of Asian financial crisis. There is a continuing upward trend on the demand for project financing throughout the world. This is because there is also a growing number of countries that need more supplies of public utilities and infrastructure.

Project finance involves the financing of long-standing infrastructure and industrial projects backed by a well-established project plan and supported by debt and equity of usually two parties. Project finance is usually resorted to by companies who don’t have enough liquidity to generate internal capital for the project. The terms and conditions of the financing are made clear to both parties.

The continuing emergence of the need for public utilities will surely put project finance in the forefront of providing assistance not only in infrastructure but also in other fields.
For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Senegambia Maritime Company (SMC)

SIMI is a well-established and diversified company that provides a variety of services through its various Corporate Divisions:

SMC, a subsidiary of SIMI, was incorporated on February 2, 2001, as a successor to Sahel River Transport Agency (SARTA), to gradually revitalise public confidence in sea and river passenger transport services, by improving standards of service and comfort to induce the travelling public to return to that mode of travelling and movement of goods.

River transportation is critical to the sustainable development of the Gambia’s economy, hence, increased utilisation of the river should considerably enhance the movement of passengers and cargo, thus providing market access for agricultural produce and contribute to poverty alleviation.

For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Gambia Real Estate


Real estate is one of the many legal terms the covers land and everything that is in it, such as buildings and other improvements that may have been built in it. Used in another sense, it refers to property that is fixed or one that does not change position. Most of the time, real estate and real property are considered to mean the same. Common law would usually use these terms synonymously. However, civil law would call use immovable property to refer to it.

The term “realty” is also used sparingly to mean real estate. Today, it is a viable business area, whether in buying or selling. More and more people take interest in its different distinct fields of real estate and are doing well.
For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Monday, June 22, 2009

Sa Hel Quality Management Institute (SQMI)


SIMI is a well-established and diversified company that provides a variety of services through its various Corporate Divisions:

SQMI is a leading quality training and development institute in The Gambia.
We provide cutting edge training for quality management which is utilised by both the public and private sectors.
For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Moukhtara Holding Co. Ltd. (MHC)

http://www.moukhtara.gm/

SIMI work with a variety of clients and have a proven track record of satisfying customers in the private and public sector, as well as international development partners and financial institutions.

Moukhtara Holding Co. Ltd. (MHC) is a leading Gambian based organisation. The company was established in 1986 and currently has over 600 employees within 15 divisions.

MHC's constant and stable growth is due to the company's strategic involvement in local resource based products and diversification. Quality, reliability, and sound marketing strategies have led MHC to its current high profile. MHC is involved in the following sectors:
Construction
Cosmetics
Food
Forestry
Packaging
Printing & Stationery
Services
Transport


For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Saturday, June 20, 2009

African Project Development Facility


The Africa Project Development Facility (APDF) is a donor-funded facility established in 1986 by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa.

SIMI is the local antenna office for APDF, and has teamed-up with them to provide project financing and capacity building to Gambian companies and public agencies.
APDF's advisory work is organized into five business lines:

Finance Providing advisory services to government bodies, its investment clients, and other private and public sector enterprises to create a broader, deeper, and more inclusive financial system for the underserved in emerging economies.
Business Helping client countries improve their investment climate so that firms can grow and create jobs. We advise on the design and implementation of business-friendly reforms at the national and subnational level.

Enviromental & Social Sustainability Developing and testing innovative environmental and social business models in biodiversity, carbon finance, cleaner technologies, corporate social responsibility, sustainable energy and sustainable investing.
Infrastructure Advisory Advising national and municipal government on how to structure private sector participation in basic infrastructure projects.

Corporate Helping large companies include local small and medium enterprises in their supply chain; advising companies, countries and sectors on their corporate governance.
For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/

Friday, June 19, 2009

Sa Hel Investment and Management Consulting (SIMC)


SIMI is a well-established and diversified company that provides a variety of services through its various Corporate Divisions:
As SIMI’s consulting arm, SIMC provides investment and management consultancy services to the private sector, public agencies and enterprises, as well as international development agencies.

SIMC consultancy services are in areas as diverse as market and commodity research, export market surveys, and private sector development strategies. In project development and management, SIMC conducts feasibility studies, prepares operational manuals (including procurement manuals), and conducts evaluations and impact assessment studies.

For further information on how SIMI help your project become a reality contact us
+220-497 856/951
sahel@qnet.gm
www.sahelgroup.gm/