With a growing economy, a population of over 680 million people, and the potential for significant long-term growth, the African continent has become a priority market for many international corporations.

Timothy Linward Our newest full time staff writer, Tim Linward is a Warhammer 40k and Horus Heresy fanatic who dabbles in TTRPGs, board games and MTG. You'll often find him delving through Games Workshop's financial reports for gaming news, combing the indie wargaming scene for cool new titles, or listening to yet more Warhammer 40k books for deep 40k lore. He's also written for PCGamesN, and 'Grimdark', his book of essays about Warhammer 40k and Games Workshop, will be published by Strange Attractor Press when it finally emerges from the warp. His controversial gaming opinion is that the Age of Sigmar double turn is objectively bad - it gives a single die roll too much influence over the game state. (He/Him)

Plastics production machinery (PME) and plastic material resins (PMR) are two of the areas identified as opportunities for international companies. The growing demand for plastic goods throughout Africa is also a conversation that needs to be addressed.

In recent years, Ethiopia has emerged as a major importer of plastic goods and machinery. Ethiopian traders and wholesalers have been importing a wide range of plastic goods and machinery, including moulds for plastics, GI Pipes, Dies & Moulds for Plastic Films, Plastic Packaging material, Kitchen Plastic Products, Pipes & Fittings, to name a few. The sheer size of the market makes Ethiopia an attractive market in Africa for the plastics industry: Ethiopia is Africa’s tenth largest country with a population of approximately 80 million people.

GW spent a further $2.3 million (£1.8 million) on “tooling, milling, injection moulding and paint machines”. We know from GW’s 2020-21 financial report that it consolidated all its paint-making machines into a new, 10,800 square foot (1000 square metre) factory – giving us an upper estimate for how much space that machinery might fill.

Though it’s tempting to assume that those new molds correspond to all the Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, and other minis GW released in April 2022 to June 2023, the firm casts miniatures months in advance of when they go up for pre-order. Much of this expenditure will be for future releases.

Games Workshop spent $8.6 million (£6.7 million) on molds for Warhammer miniatures last year, according to the firm’s financial report for 2022-23. It says the “majority” are for “new plastic miniatures”, though doesn’t detail which Warhammer 40k factions or Age of Sigmar army were reinforced by this investment into injection molding tools.

The “majority” of the molds are for “new plastic" Warhammer miniatures, according to the British firm’s annual financial report for 2023

Across the continent, there is barely any plastic treatment infrastructure in place. The indiscriminate disposal of plastic will likely reduce the porosity of soil to the point of breaking the regeneration cycle of water resources and reducing the quality of soils for agricultural practice. Therefore, plastic pollution also has huge environmental and socio-economic consequences, including the degradation of ecosystems. This can have indirect health impacts as it disrupts the balance of ecosystems that provide essential services, such as water purification, carbon sequestration, and disease regulation, and can undermine local economies and livelihoods through food insecurity.

It has been a platform for raising awareness on such environmental issues as marine pollution, overpopulation, global warming, sustainable development, and wildlife crime.

In many African cities and villages, improper disposal of plastic waste can create breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes. In addition, the burning of plastic waste, a common practice in some regions of Africa, releases harmful pollutants into the air, including toxic gases and particulate matter. Inhaling these pollutants can cause respiratory problems, exacerbate existing respiratory conditions, and contribute to air pollution-related diseases.

The steps governments and businesses are taking to tackle plastic pollution are the consequence of this action. It is time to accelerate this action and transition to a circular economy.

Unquestionably, when it comes to the plastics and packaging industry, South Africa is one of the continent’s major players. High demand for conversion technologies like thermoforming, extrusion, injection, blow, and blow moulding. Products such as film, sheets, packaging supplies, kitchenware, furniture, pipes, footwear, and industrial parts are in high demand. South Africa’s plastics industry is thought to benefit from recycled plastics and environmentally friendly plastics due to the developed nature of the nation.

In Kenya, demand for consumer plastic products has been growing at an average rate of 10-20% annually. Kenya’s consumer spending has been spurred largely due to sweeping economic reforms that have led to overall economic development in many sectors and subsequently improved the disposable incomes of the rising middle class in Kenya. As a result, imports of plastic materials and resins into Kenya have been registering steady growth in the last two years.

GW’s pre-tax profits for financial year 2022-23 were $220 million. Wargamer discovered lots of juicy titbits in GW’s half-year report: like the fact that the Warhammer 40k film deal with Amazon wouldn’t be signed that financial year, or the surprisingly low numbers of Warhammer+ subscribers. The full year report for 2022-23 makes for rather more prosaic reading.

The report does mention that Warhammer: The Old World is “soon to be released”. Given that this is a management report to investors – in which claims about the past are audited, but claims about the future are mere predictions – we’ll be cautious, and take this as a sign that GW is targeting financial year 2023-24 to launch the revamped fantasy wargame.

If you’re interested in learning about the injection molding practise, check out this video by hobby YouTuber Goobertown Hobbies.

The World Environment Day theme for 2023 is “Solution to Plastic Pollution, and the event was hosted by Côte d’Ivoire. It is a reminder that people’s actions on plastic pollution matter.

Most of Africa’s rural towns and burgeoning cities, rivers, and coastlines are increasingly becoming environmentally hazardous due to plastic pollution, as the demand for plastic products and expertise has made Africa a significant player in the global packaging and plastics market.

Africa’s overall economy is currently expanding. Many African countries have experienced several years of strong economic growth (ranging from 8-12% in 2020), and the continent is now one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for plastic goods and machinery.

World Environment Day is a global platform for public outreach and participation involving over 143 countries annually. Each year, the programme has provided a theme and forum for businesses, non-government organisations, communities, governments, and celebrities to advocate for environmental causes.

Addressing the impacts of plastic pollution on health in Africa and the world at large, the United Nations created World Environment Day in 1972 as a result of discussions about fusing human interactions with the environment at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (5–16 June 1972). The first WED was held with the theme “Only One Earth” a year later, in 1973.

Uganda, as a landlocked country, imports the majority of its plastic and packaging requirements from regional and international suppliers and has emerged as a major importer of plastics in the East African region.  Plastic moulded furniture, plastic housewares, woven sacks, bags, ropes, plastic shoes, PVC pipes/fittings/electrical fittings, plumbing and drainage systems, plastic building materials, toothbrushes, and plastic household products are among the major imports.