Piaggio’s new four wheeler – ape truk

Sahel Invest in partnership with FIB & Elton have just launched a new scheme to get you moving fast. If you are a trader, business owner or technician you can now own your very own brand new Piaggio APE Cargo Truck.

Piaggio ape three wheeler is the market leader!

Piaggio’s ape truk is powered by 482cc, single cylinder, indirect injection diesel engine which generates maximum power of 11.26bhp at 4500rpm. This water cooled engine develops a maximum torque of 23Nm at 3200rpm. Piaggio is the one which offers fuel efficient three wheelers in this mileage conscious segment.

Ape truk looks bold with its sturdy bumper and bigger tyres. Don’t forget this ape truk is from an Italian manufacturer. No more boring round headlamps like in the ace, ape truk’s headlamps are stylish and ape features prominent grille. Ape truk is aerodynamically designed which according to Piaggio will give you better pick-up.

Piaggio ape truk features hydraulic brakes on all wheels and for parking it uses mechanical brakes on rear wheels. Steering is made by using rack and pinion similar to ace. We have to wait to see power steering in this segment. Suspension of ape truk is by McPherson at the front and twist beam cross arm at the rear. Both at the front hydraulic double acting telescopic shock absorbers are offered to control the vibration.

Accessories and Versatility Steering lock with ignition key, roof lamp with integrated rear view mirror, both side sun visors and integrated blinkers are special add-on accessories offered by piaggio for the ape truk. With three side openable panels ape truk can be easily loaded/ unloaded and ape truk’s off the road capability is enhanced by its higher ground clearance of 185mm along with bigger and wider(155 R13) tyres.

For more information contact 220-7792732

Build A Nation- Block by Block

Innovative tools to Build a Nation

With house prices coming in at an all time high it's easy to see why so many are struggling to find an affordable family home. In The kombo's, it is now almost impossible to find a house for under $100,000 - with many hitting the half-million mark.

Despite this, many families seem to be overlooking cheaper housing options, skeptical to sway from traditional brick-built designs. The reluctance of Gambian families to take advantage of alternative housing types and less expensive technologies could leave them out of the property ladder altogether.There is an increasing number of property developers in The Gambia which are beginning to explore non-traditional building technologies.Home-Squared Gambia Limited, agents for Roots Hydra form Blocks & Habitat Africa, claims to have a solution to Africa’s housing problems: interlocking stabilised soil blocks, otherwise known as Hydra form.

The high cost of materials is a major contributing factor to escalating house prices in The Gambia, according to Keba Njie at Sahel Invest, one of Gambia's leading consulting firms.

"Cement is an expensive building material, and has to be imported from Senegal,” he explained to African Business Weblog. “Things are getting better – the stabilization of the Dalais against the Dollar in the past few years means that prices are more fixed, and the entry of more Chinese developers onto the market is driving everyone to seek better value materials and to decrease their prices.”

But the use of more local materials could drive down prices much further. Alternative building forms, which have been employed elsewhere, should also be embraced as a means of providing more affordable housing in The Gambia.

The alternative material was first introduced in 1988 in South Africa and is now used widely around Africa, South America India and Asia. The compressed stabilised soil blocks, which are said to be “more solid than any conventional block,” can be interlocked and dry stacked, therefore saving both time and money.

Although Home-Square is a fairly new start-up in The Gambia, they are currently in talks with Government over the use of their technology in the ongoing affordable housing projects. They estimate that the savings they make on materials and labour from hydro houses and the increased speed to put up result in an overall saving of 20 percent on the cost of a building.

The blocks are cheaper and faster to produce than traditional bricks. As Mr Gibi explains: “We use the low cost alternative material as it is made up of 90 percent laterate soil and just 10 percent cement. It is the 100 percent cement used for brick built homes that explains the huge costs. One bag of cement costs 205 Dalais and you would need 200-300 bags for a standard 2 bedroom home.”

The use of laterate soil in the Hydra form blocks reduces transportation costs as it can usually be found within the vicinity of the building site and then used for the production of the Hydra form blocks.

“The material is much quicker to lay, as Hydra form does not require the water-based layers of conventional bricks, we can just dry stack the blocks one on top of the other,” says Mr Gibi. “Once the attractive foundation is complete it requires no plastering or painting, thus minimising labor costs and reducing maintenance costs in the long term.”

The Hydra form, said to be ideal for high quality housing and commercial buildings, has also been well used in earthquake regions such as Nigeria to build strong, cost effective alternatives. The blocks are made easily on the building site and its simplistic building techniques could potentially create many job opportunities for unskilled workers everywhere.

Other advantages of the technology include its superior thermal properties, which allow the blocks to absorb and hold heat better than brick houses. Use of local materials will also reduce the pollution effects of importation and transportation meaning Hydra form could provide the cheap alternative desperately required by many in their search for an affordable family home.

Its fast construction, like the Hydra form technology, results in competitive low costs and can boast superior energy performance with low maintenance costs.

Mr Njie sayes seeing is believing. You can visit their 3 bedroom viewing model located at the premises of The West African International School on the Bertil Highway behind the Independence Stadium. Even better they are currently working with First International Bank on a pilot finance scheme to help you own your own Home-Squared House.

Please contact Mr Gibi 220-9393995
Mr John 220-7796886

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.