CAPE TOWN, South Africa, February 25 /PRNewswire/ --

The Energy Power Systems Group at Frost Sullivan is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a free online analyst briefing on the impact of the global economic slowdown on Africa's electricity sector on Wednesday 11 March 2009 at 2:00 pm GMT/ 4:00pm CAT.

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Despite the global economic downturn, the sub-Saharan African electricity industry is still expected to grow. This is due to strong fundamentals that include an improved investment climate, a high demand for electricity, robust economies, the pursuit of the reform of the power sector and feedstock availability.

The sub-Saharan African electricity sector will be largely unexposed to shifts in global economic conditions, says Frost Sullivan Industry Analyst Jeannot Boussougouth. In times of depressed economic conditions, investors will need to direct their investments to sectors with strong fundamentals, and the region's electricity sector certainly offers robust growth prospects.

Highlights of this briefing will include a succinct presentation of sub-Saharan Africa's current business environment, an outline of major challenges and drivers inherent to its electricity market, a comparison of the installed generation capacity and demand in selected countries, an overview of planned projects as well as an analysis of the potential mitigating strategies that can be adopted in the current environment.

As vertical sectors across the world start to feel the effects of the global recession, investors and project developers willing to invest in the sub-Saharan African electricity industry will need to be aware of the challenges that they could face and the subsequent mitigating strategies they could employ, says Frost Sullivan Industry Analyst Jeannot Boussougouth. In addition, project developers will need to be aware of the planned projects that Frost Sullivan has identified across the sub-Saharan African region. This should help current and future participants cope with a dramatically altered economic landscape.

The discussion will benefit decision-makers at various financial institutions, government bodies, project developers and investment institutions.

To participate, please email Patrick Cairns at patrick.cairns@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail, address, city and country. Upon receipt of the above information, a registration link will be e-mailed to you. You may also register to receive a recorded version of the briefing at anytime by submitting the aforementioned contact details.

Frost Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.

Contact: Patrick Cairns Corporate Communications T: +27-18-468-2315 E: patrick.cairns@frost.com http://www.frost.com

Patrick Cairns, Corporate Communications, Frost Sullivan, +27-18-468-2315, patrick.cairns@frost.com/ Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO