Investors update: Morocco to invest up to $60bn in green hydrogen projects

Morocco to invest up to $60bn in green hydrogen projects

Highlights

• Morocco plans to pump billions of dollars into new green hydrogen and ammonia projects in the next few years as part of an investment drive in renewable energy and related sectors.
• Nearly 93% of the value of around $60 billion of the 454 planned projects will cover green hydrogen and ammonia, per a report by the Moroccan Economy and Finance Ministry.
• The report, published by the Moroccan Arabic language daily Hespress on Thursday, showed the government has already allocated 1.5 million hectares (3.7 billion square meters) for such projects in various parts of Morocco.

Source: Zawya

Our Takeaway

Green hydrogen is proving to be the latest energy commodity scramble among a few African countries. News of Morocco’s plans comes a few weeks after the announcement of $1 billion funds each set up by southern African neighbors, Namibia and South Africa, which seeks to raise capital from local and international investors to also finance green hydrogen projects in their respective countries. With its vast resources, Africa has the potential to become one of the main global renewable energy hubs. But it remains to be seen whether its nations can deliver a cost-competitive product in an emerging global hydrogen sector. 

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Tunisia’s Dabchy expands fashion e-commerce to Egypt

Highlights

• Tunis-based peer-to-peer (P2P) fashion marketplace Dabchy has launched operations in Egypt.
• Founded in 2016, Dabchy is an online platform that allows users to buy and sell pre-used and new clothes online. It raised a $300,000 seed round in 2019.
• The startup has a community of hundreds of thousands of users in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, and its Android app has been downloaded over 100,000 times.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Our Takeaway

Startups focused on African fashion are tapping into a growing demand for African designer goods, riding on a growing e-commerce trend. The sheer size of the African population, coupled with a growing diaspora base, means there’s a large potential market for cultural items within and outside the continent. In terms of general e-commerce activities on the continent, McKinsey estimates consumer spending to reach $2.1trn by 2025. That presents an opportunity for local retailers to boost African exports with the help of e-commerce platforms like Dabchy and for startups to promote African fashion globally.

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AWS opens first African Skills Center in South Africa

Highlights

• Amazon Web Services has opened its first international Skills Center in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring eight immersive exhibits where visitors can explore real-world cloud applications.
• AWS Skills Centers are Amazon’s dedicated, in-person cloud learning spaces designed for anyone who is curious about cloud computing, and career possibilities in the industry.
• Anyone in the local community can explore how cloud computing technology is powering everything from weather predictions to smart homes.

Source: ABC

Our Takeaway

Cape Town is the third AWS Skills Center to open, joining facilities in Seattle and Arlington, a development that signals the US tech giant’s growing ambitions on the continent. The company recently launched a fintech accelerator for African startups, selecting a total of 25 for the inaugural cohort in May. As part of its foray on the continent, it dabbled into e-commerce in Egypt and earlier this year launched local zones in Nigeria, the newest addition to its AWS infrastructure, which already includes local offices, Amazon CloudFront edge locations, and AWS Outposts.