This is the third Integrated Report of Anglo African Investments Ltd (hereafter referred to as ‘Anglo African’ or ‘the Group’). We continue to benchmark ourselves against global best practices in the Corporate Reporting space. In preparing this report, we have been inspired by a number of standards such as the King Code IV for Corporate Governance, and Non-Financial reporting such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. There are also a number of innovation, including the SDGs in action and Capitals Mix, new additions in our Risk Management and Materiality Sections, for the purpose of completeness of our report. It is important to note that Anglo African has decided not to report on the Natural and Manufactured Capitals as we believe that our operations do not have a material impact on them but have introduced the “Technological Capital” which we believe is relevant to ourselves.
This integrated report is our primary report and serves to cater for the diverse range of stakeholders with varied information needs. We provide a range of communication aimed at addressing our stakeholders’ requirements. In assessing what is included in the integrated report, we applied the materiality principle. We have designed this report in three versions. In addition to this printed report, an online version with additional supplementary information is available on our website (www.angloafrican.com) and a concise version is available on GooglePlay and Apple AppStore.
It is to be noted that our corporate website is now fully dedicated to our Integrated Report. The rationale being that Anglo African is now an investment holding and no longer an operational one.
The 2017 annual integrated report covers the period 1st July 2016 to 30th June 2017. Any material events after this date and up to the Group’s Board of directors’ (Board) approval on 6th November 2017 have also been included. The integrated report discusses our operations in Mauritius, Africa and India, the geographic regions in which we operate. Our annual financial statements are prepared in accordance with IFRS.
While quantitative information relating to the group is prepared according to IFRS, this report discloses material information that may extend beyond the financial reporting boundary.
This integrated report chooses to focus on material developments and matters, and provides pertinent related financial and non-financial performance indicators that are relevant to a wide cross-section of stakeholders. We define a material development or matter as one that affects our ability to remain commercially viable and socially relevant to the communities in which we operate.
In preparing our report, we were mainly guided by the IIRC framework and its guiding principles which include: Strategic Focus and Future Orientation; Stakeholder Relationships; Materiality; Connectivity of Information; Conciseness; Reliability and Completeness; Consistency and Comparability. Our Integrated Thinking contained herein is “Forward Looking” — providing insights into the organisational strategy and how it relates to the organisation’s ability to create value in the short-, medium- and long-term and its use of and effects on the capitals and connectivity to the vision, business model, risk framework, strategy and governance.
It is to be noted that Anglo African has decided to engage in this Corporate Reporting exercise on a voluntary basis as it does not operate within regulated industries and is not listed. Although the report is designed for the different stakeholders at large, our focus is mainly on our customers, our people, regulators and business partners. As an important player in the Technology and Innovation space, we hope that we will be able to demonstrate the thought process and its application with this report. Our main challenge in preparing this report was to keep it “Readable & Understandable” despite additional Information and Innovations. Moreover, we have been able to keep the length of the report within 120 pages which is a benchmark inspired by global corporations.
The major challenge that we faced while applying the IIRC framework over the last 2 years in our “Integrated Thinking” was the “Connectivity”. We re-examined our business model, especially its use of financial, human, relationship, technological and intellectual capitals and how they interact with each other, how we generate revenue, what drives our profit and how much value we create.
We believe that we have been able to review and re-design our business model to be able to respond to market forces and disruptions; manage the key risks and opportunities; align with our strategic objectives and finally define the relevant KPIs to measure its critical elements. In this respect, last year we introduced “Capitals in Action” where we reported our KPIs through the Capitals and the concept of SDG [Sustainable Development Goals] of the United Nations. This year we have introduced innovations in both areas of Capitals & SDGs. Hereunder is how we structured our integrated thinking process:
Interconnectivity: In addition to the Capitals in Actions located in Chapter 4, we have worked on a “Capitals Mix” algorithm. The interaction between the capitals in the different subsidiaries is different and the algorithm attempts to demonstrate this difference.
The algorithm is based on a mix of ranking and weight. This year, the algorithm integrates only the ranking as we do not have enough data to calculate the weight, which will be done in the next Integrated Report. The Capitals Mix is presented in Chapter 3.
SDG in Action: While we give a summary of our action in the SDG space in Chapter 2, in Chapter 3 we give an overview of how each of our subsidiaries are contributing within the relevant SDG. We expect to embed this in our reporting in the next financial year.
This is an important aspect of this report as it shows how our Integrated thinking connects to sustainability reporting.
Innovations: We have introduced the materiality concept review which has led to a three-dimensional Risk Management chart for our readers to understand our whole risk management through a single chart.
Our Integrated Thinking is now closely linked with our yearly Strategic Review and Strategic Planning.
In each of our Integrated Reports, we dedicate a part of our thinking process to the long-term value-add, how our industry would look like, and our place therein. In our case, the next five years will be intensely disruptive. The Theme of this Integrated Report is “Embracing the 4th Industrial Revolution”, which we define as Artificial Intelligence empowered by Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT).
Just as electricity transformed industry after industry more than 100 years ago, we believe that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will do the same. Most leading consulting firms have recognised that the 4th industrial revolution is already here and is estimated to add US$15Tn to the global economy. It is estimated that US$6Tn will be in terms of improved labour productivity and some US$9Tn in terms of increased consumer demand.
While no sector or business is in any way immune from the impact of AI, there are four sectors which stand to reap the most out of adopting AI technology:
Within the Group, NanoBNK has taken the lead in developing capability within the Financial Services sector with RPA — Robotic Process Automation, which represents 65% of the journey to AI. In addition, we are ensuring that most of the Intellectual Capital developments include some elements of AI in their Solutions Architecture across all the industries where we are involved.