Tag Archive for: COVID

Navigating COVID

It’s been a privilege to be challenged with leadership these past 2 years, both at Relocation Africa, as well as personally coaching our kids through their final school years to face the world which has such an unpredictable future.

Many companies who have successfully navigated this period will have more streamlined and efficient processes. The fact that they’re still going is testament to their resilience and their leadership team – and probably their agility too.

Public Holidays

In South Africa we have 12 public holidays and we don’t shift them to a Monday as is the norm in the developed world. This year Good Friday & Easter Monday created the first of many consecutive four day weeks. The 27th April (Freedom Day – celebrating our first democratic election in 1994) is on a Wednesday and Workers Day (1st May – however, as it lands on a Sunday, Unions have ensured that their members don’t miss out on another day off work, so South Africa moves the public holiday to the next Monday) is on the 2nd May, giving us our 4th four day week in a row.

There is a double edged impact to these interruptions. Many businesses struggle to hit their momentum until we are through this unsettled period – did I mention there’s also a holiday on the 21st March – Human Rights Day. There is, however, a real vigour and energy released after the 2nd May as there is a visible and unobstructed runway that is attacked with the pent up energy.

Payroll Services

During the stuttering first quarter of 2022, our Remuneration Division has been building on our African Payroll solution. As COVID wanes we believe that businesses who’ve successfully navigated the pandemic and now are expanding into African markets, will be needing payroll solutions. We have been providing these payroll and payment services since 2002 in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana & Angola, and now our payroll solution covers over 40 African countries.

Recent reporting describes an imminent or current recession in Europe, however the outlook in Africa is much more positive, with aspirational quotes such as “Africa’s economies are leading as a region of resilience with vast potential” which comes from the most recent AVCA report fuelling our excitement for what Africa has in store.

Exciting future

Although Relocation Africa’s forecast horizon is shorter than it has been during the 2010’s due to COVID, Africa’s emergence as an investment opportunity due to government interventions, the very important role NGO’s play across the continent as well as instability across Europe, we see a bright future for Africa.

We look forward to playing our part in stewarding Africa to its rightful place in the global economy.

Senegal has joined the list of African countries to secure the patent right to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccines in 2022. The country has signed a deal with Belgian biotech group, Univercells to produce these vaccines in the next year. Senegal joins the likes of Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa in the list of African countries that have successfully secured the rights to produce the jabs.

In April, Univercells announced the signing of a letter of intent for collaboration with the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal. Under the Univercells agreement, the Institut Pasteur supplies Covid-19 vaccines to countries across West Africa using vaccine production technology developed by Univercells. The initial packaging and distribution of these vaccines would begin early next year.

This is good news for Africa. As we reported in our last article, Africa is currently undergoing its third wave. Out of a continent of 1.3 billion people, only 7 million people have been fully vaccinated. Institut Pasteur director Amadou Sall says that the facility is at work with donors to secure financial backing for this huge project. Furthermore, Sall adds that there is a lot of political will for this project to create a real opportunity in Africa.

In other good news, the European Union (EU) said last month that it is willing to invest at least 1bn to build manufacturing hubs in Africa, with Senegal, SA, Rwanda, Morocco, and Egypt among the leading candidates. South Africa’s Biovac Institute has been in contact with the German and French governments and their respective pharmaceutical companies to produce 30m Covid-19 vaccines annually. Further, South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare is already in the process of Janssen vaccine shots locally.

Senegal will be a great destination for investment, and we are proud to offer services for Immigration and Relocation services into Dakar, Senegal. Please contact us for further information.

Have a look at the brief overview, housing, school and immigration information about Senegal on our locations website: https://www.relocationafrica.com/locations/senegal/

 

 

 

The world has come to a complete standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many industries, companies and businesses have been affected by this, compelling them to restructure the way business is conducted. The global mobility and relocation industries are some of the industries that have been severely impacted by the global pandemic. This in turn has affected the mobility industry, ultimately affecting the relocation industry. Relocation Africa, mobility, relocation, and immigration business has been largely affected by this pandemic.

In efforts to combat the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of their citizens, states have enforced bolder border entry restrictions, travel bans, and quarantine adherences. This has made managing the expatriate and international assignee workforce complex and challenging. Relocation Africa, situated in a continent that has been administered severe travel restrictions from third world countries while undergoing a slow vaccine rollout. Relocation Africa provides a variety of Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration and Expatriate Tax services across the continent of Africa, assisting individuals and corporate clients settle into new environments as efficiently as possible.

The mobility, immigration and relocation industry has had to change the way they conduct business, to resort to flexible and remote ways in engaging their mobile expatriates and international assignees. At Relocation Africa has had to change their normal procedure/ operations of mobility and relocation to accommodate the travel restrictions and their clients.

Relocation Africa has flexed all its programs. Adding new services such as remote packing up for clients, remotely or virtually selling products for countries who are not in the country, conducts virtual and adjusted services such as opening bank accounts to allow expatriates to do this more remotely. Relocation Africa has also extended its online platforms to include more information that is readily available to its clients. Relocation Africa has also had to ensure that all training and expectation management has considered COVID-19 protocols and to ensure each assignee safe and prioritised. We have also attempted to communicate more extensively to all our clients as we cover a large geography with very different regulations, border closing and re-opening, as well as immigration regulations that are adjusting as the pandemic changes.  We would like you to connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter to ensure you are getting our updates on service offerings as well as travel updates and border regulations.

 

 

 

 

 

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Ghana has been selected as the manufacturing hub for COVID-19 vaccines in Africa and has also been excluded from the European Union’s list of money laundering nations.

A statement was issued by the Jubilee House, Ghana’s presidential palace following a recent meeting in Belgium with Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis. According to the European Commission, the Government of Ghana has taken remarkable initiatives towards the domestic manufacturing of vaccines.

Ghana was the first country in the world to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility and began its first phase of mass vaccination earlier this year. Ghana has administered over 900 000 doses, projecting to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the year. Taskforce teams elected from the European Union (EU) and Ghana will convene to discuss the approach in the realisation of this initiative that the European Investment Bank (EIB) could be supporting.

The European Commission has also announced the decision to remove Ghana from the AntiMoney Laundering and Terrorism Financing deficiency list. “The European Union acknowledged the efforts Ghana has made in implementing the action plan of the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) in record time. The Commission, thus, congratulated Ghana for the reforms embarked on, as well as the sustainable, robust systems deployed towards being taken off the list” the release added.

Ghana will be a great destination for investment and we are proud to offer services for Immigration and Relocation services into Accra, Ghana. Please contact us for further information.