01/12/2015

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:00:00. > :00:00.Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.

:00:00. > :00:00.Now for the latest financial news with

:00:00. > :00:21.The smart money says all eyes on Africa when it comes to investment.

:00:22. > :00:24.From Google to China and the US, all falling over themselves to lay

:00:25. > :00:27.And now African leaders are pitching their most bankable projects

:00:28. > :00:32.in London to bag a slice of some $7 billion up for grabs.

:00:33. > :00:34.The great Chinese slowdown: China's factory bosses remain gloomy with

:00:35. > :00:45.the latest numbers at their lowest level in more than three years.

:00:46. > :01:02.Welcome to World Business Report, I'm Aaron Heslehurst.

:01:03. > :01:07.Give me nine minutes and I will give you a fascinating snapshot of all

:01:08. > :01:08.the latest in the world of business and money.

:01:09. > :01:12.It seems like the smart money has its eyes firmly on Africa when it

:01:13. > :01:15.Google's ploughed millions into the continent and China

:01:16. > :01:18.and the US are falling over each other to lay their stake.

:01:19. > :01:21.Now the heads of state from 10 African countries are out to

:01:22. > :01:25.impress the money men when they present their countries

:01:26. > :01:28.most bankable projects to investors at the Global African Investment

:01:29. > :01:35.According to FDI Intelligence, Africa is the world's

:01:36. > :01:41.fastest-growing region for new foreign direct investment projects.

:01:42. > :01:43.Africa enjoyed a 65% increase in new capital investment in 2014,

:01:44. > :01:46.with foreign direct investment totalling an estimated $87 billion.

:01:47. > :01:52.Now a lot has been made of Chinese investment in the continent.

:01:53. > :01:57.But as you can see here, China in fact only just make it into the top

:01:58. > :02:02.Despite the recent instability in the country Egypt is still

:02:03. > :02:13.the number one destination for that money, with Angola

:02:14. > :02:26.As you might expect, a lot of that money is going

:02:27. > :02:28.into the oil and gas sectors, but investment in real estate

:02:29. > :02:35.and communication infrastructure and technology is also on the rise.

:02:36. > :02:43.Alan Cameron, Africa Economist at Exotix.

:02:44. > :02:50.Thank you for waking up and coming in so early. It is interesting that

:02:51. > :02:55.the leaders will be here, because you wouldn't think they would be

:02:56. > :02:59.getting down to this, maybe they are here for a party in London. $7

:03:00. > :03:07.billion isn't really a lot of money, is it? To put that in the context of

:03:08. > :03:15.the general African economies, if you include North Africa you are

:03:16. > :03:20.looking at $2.1 trillion, so the fact that the investment is going up

:03:21. > :03:26.to 84 billion, that is not an incredible amount of money. You

:03:27. > :03:37.would hope that 24% of GDP would be investment, around $400 billion. We

:03:38. > :03:41.keep hearing about Africa as the next frontier, the place to be, but

:03:42. > :03:45.from what you are saying, if it should be 200 billion and it is only

:03:46. > :03:57.87 billion, why aren't we seeing that? Won't be seeing more? We are

:03:58. > :04:06.coming from a low base, and there are a lot of obstacles to investing.

:04:07. > :04:10.I think we are at an early stage, and... Are investors worried about

:04:11. > :04:15.corruption? It is a word that comes up a lot in the African continent,

:04:16. > :04:20.it is very hard to have an interview in Africa and not discuss

:04:21. > :04:24.corruption, but it is an obstacle that people learn to do business

:04:25. > :04:29.with, and it is not the highest on the list. There are issues like

:04:30. > :04:37.finding local talent and finding capital, but it is hard not to

:04:38. > :04:48.discuss it. Typically you might ask the question what Africa needs in

:04:49. > :04:54.terms of investment. Africa need things to create jobs, doesn't it?

:04:55. > :04:58.You can look at low commodity prices is an opportunity to drive

:04:59. > :05:02.investment in different areas, ultimately commodity investments

:05:03. > :05:12.tend to be capital intensive, they don't use much jobs, and they have a

:05:13. > :05:14.high import content. What Africa really need is investment into

:05:15. > :05:19.manufacturing, things that create jobs. We all talk about the great

:05:20. > :05:24.demographic vault, a new class of consumers, and we need jobs for

:05:25. > :05:30.people to buy things for this new consumer class to evolve. And also

:05:31. > :05:38.while we are seeing wage increases in the likes of China and Vietnam,

:05:39. > :05:41.we may see a big shift. I can't let you answer that because I have to

:05:42. > :05:45.wrap it up. Thank you very much.

:05:46. > :05:47.The continued slowdown in China: Manufacturing activity in the

:05:48. > :05:50.country slowed in November for the fourth month dropping to the lowest

:05:51. > :06:02.Rico Hizon is in Singapore with the details.

:06:03. > :06:08.What is interesting about this, and correct me if I'm wrong,

:06:09. > :06:10.manufacturing continues to be weak but the services

:06:11. > :06:18.I can only imagine the officials in Beijing will be happy about that.

:06:19. > :06:29.That's right, but overall the Chinese economy continues to

:06:30. > :06:33.struggle and this latest data highlights the economy shifting

:06:34. > :06:37.focus from manufacturing to services in a way that is proving to be quite

:06:38. > :06:46.rocky. You mentioned that this is being attributed to the

:06:47. > :06:55.rise, particularly being driven by the online sales on a single day,

:06:56. > :07:01.the 11th of November. It is like cyber Monday in the US or

:07:02. > :07:08.Thanksgiving in the UK. Alibaba .com made about 14 billion US dollars in

:07:09. > :07:15.online sales. Of course, there is still that the main economic engine,

:07:16. > :07:18.that is manufacturing, and it was at its weakest in more than three

:07:19. > :07:25.years, shrinking more than expect that a of November. The Purchasing

:07:26. > :07:30.Managers' Index now stands at 49.6, and anything below 50 indicates a

:07:31. > :07:34.correction, so there is still a lot to be desired despite all the

:07:35. > :07:40.interest, rate cuts and else that has been implemented by

:07:41. > :08:12.the government and the people's bank of China.

:08:13. > :08:16.BAT says it does not tolerate corruption.

:08:17. > :08:19.Japan's largest media group, Nikkei, has completed its purchase of The

:08:20. > :08:21.It's the biggest international acquisition

:08:22. > :08:25.Online subscriptions now account for around 70-per cent of the

:08:26. > :08:28.While questions have been raised about editorial independence,

:08:29. > :08:52.the FT's chief executive believes the acquisition is a good fit.

:08:53. > :08:55.As part of the BBC's series 100 Women we've been meeting young

:08:56. > :08:57.female entrepreneurs, profiling 30 businesswomen under 30

:08:58. > :09:02.We'll be going to the UAE in just a moment, but first to the US where

:09:03. > :09:05.It's a mobile app enabling children to create

:09:06. > :09:12.Sometimes there is a higher bar for a marathon, not a sprint.

:09:13. > :09:19.Sometimes there is a higher bar for someone to take me seriously because

:09:20. > :09:26.I am a female. This allows anyone to easily create their own programmes.

:09:27. > :09:29.Right now a lot of kids use it, they are fearless and Buddhist dive into

:09:30. > :09:35.something and start programming, because Nvidia told them they can't

:09:36. > :09:43.get. My name is Samantha Geimer, I'm 29, and my business is Hopscotch to

:09:44. > :09:49.technology. Don't forget you can get

:09:50. > :09:52.in touch with me and some of The schools inspectorate, Ofsted,

:09:53. > :10:02.has warned of a growing north-south divide in the standard of secondary

:10:03. > :10:06.education, and says the children of