Webber Wentzel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with leading West African law firm Bile-Aka, Brizoua-Bi & Associés, based in Côte d’Ivoire.

The deal is designed to offer a more complete solution to their respective clients’ needs in the OHADA region and further develop their regional law practices. 

OHADA – the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa – is an international organisation created in 1993 and currently comprising 16 member states.

Both firms have collaborated on projects and transactions in West Africa for a number of years.

Roddy McKean head of Webber Wentzel’s Africa Practice said that Webber Wentzel’s work in Africa now represents a significant and growing part of the firm’s practice. 

“Being able to draw on the recognised expertise and know-how of one of Africa’s leading law firms is a boon for us. Webber Wentzel gains access to Bile-Aka, Brizoua-Bi & Associés’ capability, knowledge and expertise under OHADA business law and its on-the-ground experience throughout West-Africa
 
“By combining our expertise with the insight of local partners, we provide our clients with a competitive advantage when operating in Africa. “

The firms will also share business and legal intelligence and set in place a secondment programme amongst other strategies to service clients.

Michel Brizoua-Bi, Head of the International Department at Bile-Aka, Brizoua-Bi & Associés commented: “Webber Wentzel has strong industry experience in key sectors in Africa.  The association of the two firms’ strengths and knowledge of African business environment reinforces our ability to provide legal advice of an international standard. 

“We have worked extensively with Webber Wentzel and have found that we share a similar vision about the need for more collaboration and integration between leading African firms”.

In a move to service better its clients in Francophone Africa, Webber Wentzel also recently appointed Steven De Backer as a director in the Africa Practice. Steven, who grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was previously with Freshfields in Brussels and Mkono & Co in Burundi and Dar-es-Salaam, has brought extensive on-the-ground experience of leading transactions in Francophone Africa. 

Steven is backed by a team of French speaking and civil law qualified lawyers who are able to assist clients in relation to their transactions and operations in Francophone Africa.

Webber Wentzel is currently acting for Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore producer, in relation to its investment in Guinea and its implementation of the multi-billion dollar Zogota project. 

The firm is also currently advising clients on a variety of matters in Francophone countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi and Senegal.

Broad international investor participation in the Imara Group’s second annual Zimbabwe investment conference confirms the growing pull of Africa’s ‘frontier markets’, say the upbeat organisers.

Leading international fund managers have confirmed their attendance at the event in Harare on June 7 and 8, says Sean Gammon, MD of Harare-based Imara Capital Zimbabwe.

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Mines in remote locations are usually cut off from infrastructure and services, making mission-critical communications extremely challenging. Even if mobile services are available, the ability to send data is often limited, which means email and internet access is slow and unreliable, potentially delaying project timelines.

MAXI-SAT, a joint venture between Maxwell and Barnstone, is an innovative solution enabling organisations to establish communications in the remotest parts of the world.

The unit is supported with clean power, UPS capability, air conditioning, a lightning arrestor and is dustproof, making it ideal for any construction site or remote area that has limited or no access to infrastructure.

According to Marius von Wielligh, director at Maxwell, MAXI-SAT has been used by construction companies developing new mines, as well as by NGOs operating in inaccessible parts of Africa. It has been deployed in South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Somalia, Tanzania, DRC, Central Africa Republic and Chad. There has been significant interest from South America and opportunities exist in Saudi Arabia.

“These days construction companies working on new mine sites are heavily reliant on communication technology,” he says. “They often need to send large engineering drawings and require sufficient bandwidth to do this. If communication infrastructure does exist, bandwidth is usually limited.”

Thanks to satellite technology, the MAXI-SAT unit offers an abundance of bandwidth meaning fast connections and uptime usually in excess of 99.7%. Services include telephony, fax, email, internet and networking. The solution is scalable and can support up to 200 users. Technical support is offered remotely via Barnstone’s call centre in South Africa, and when needed, technicians travel to the site to resolve problems.

A MAXI-SAT container can be transported by standard methods and is easily deployable. A unit can be freighted within two weeks of an order, and once it arrives on site, it only takes up to four days to be operational. While most transport happens via road and freight, MAXI-SAT is also suited to helicopter drop if required.

According to Pierre Tredoux, director of Barnstone, this is one of the most promising products in its investment portfolio. And Tredoux is wired to spot a good opportunity when he sees it. “There are also strong synergies with Barnstone’s other operations, so a joint venture for this product makes sound business sense,” he says. Barnstone also provides enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to companies in the mining sector.

“We are extremely optimistic about MAXI-SAT’s potential,” says Tredoux. “The product is innovative and robust, and the right team is in place within Maxwell to make it happen.”