African Energy

Founded in 1998, African Energy started as a printed newsletter conceived by Cross-border Information (CbI) under contract with the Financial Times Energy group, and later with Platts, to provide an independent source of news and analysis on Africa’s energy industries. In 2003, CbI acquired African Energy through a management buy-out.

Growth and Development After gaining independence from Platts, African Energy’s editorial team made significant investments in the newsletter, further developing country-by-country listings for power, oil, and gas projects and producing color maps to illustrate feature articles.

Realizing the potential of their growing library of maps, African Energy’s management worked with experienced cartographer-journalist David Burles to create the first African Energy Atlas in 2007. Since then, this atlas, with its maps, graphics, and articles covering all aspects of the energy sector, has become an essential reference book for all energy professionals working in Africa, with a new edition published every 18 months.

Listening to the Market Listening to the needs of its core subscribers, African Energy’s editorial team oversaw the transition of the newsletter into electronic formats and the development of an extensive network of in-country researchers and associates in over 40 African countries. With its online presence came an increasing demand for bespoke information and reports. In response to the market, African Energy evolved into a provider of consultancy services designed to support decision-making throughout the entire project development and investment cycle.

Since 2010, African Energy has worked with a wide range of public and private sector clients, including investors, financiers, project developers, and multinational organizations such as the African Development Bank’s Infrastructure Consortium for Africa and the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP).

At the Heart of the Debate In late 2013, African Energy partnered with experienced conference producer Bruno Coburn to channel their joint expertise into a new affiliate company, CbI Meetings. From its early days, African Energy’s editorial team, led by founder Jon Marks, has been in high demand by media outlets and conference companies for their expertise and insights on key issues. In the early 2000s, African Energy launched AfricaHardball, a series of Africa-focused political risk roundtables held under the Chatham House Rule.

Since 2014, the current focus has been on the Africa Investment Exchange, a series of content-rich expert dialogues for leading investors in Africa’s high-growth industries, with flagship annual events such as AIX: Gas and AIX: Power & Renewables.

Delivering Data for a Challenging Environment Data collection and analysis have been central to African Energy’s work since its inception. Close monitoring of project developments, particularly in the power sector, contributed to African Energy’s work with the AEEP Secretariat from 2012 to create a database and monitoring tool to track progress toward Africa-EU energy access, energy security, renewable energy, and energy efficiency targets.

In September 2017, African Energy Live Data was launched—an innovative and interactive data platform featuring continuously updated and verified data and profiles on over 7,000 power plants and projects across Africa, as well as the organizations behind them.