All things considered, Carlsberg’s investment in Malawi would not have given the Danish a lot of joy over the years. In fact, it must have been a near-disaster because it remained Carlsberg’s sole investment in Africa. Today, it is listed under the group’s Asian businesses.

Resilience is the word

While over in the US craft brewers are eying the impending merger of AB-InBev and SABMiller warily, craft brewers in South Africa are genuinely worried. Although SABMiller controls nearly 90 percent of the local market, it has proved a friendly competitor, essentially refraining from throwing its weight around. How craft brewers will fare once the Brazilians take over is a much debated topic these days. Will they come in and start buying up breweries as they have in the US, or will they try to nip the local craft beer industry in the bud to ensure it never poses a threat to their business?

Perhaps it was a mistake to club Africa, the Middle East and eastern Europe into one unit. All these markets appear to be in trouble. Heineken reported on 1 August 2016 that second-quarter beer volumes dipped 5.9 percent on an organic basis across Africa, the Middle East and eastern Europe, hurt by a weakening environment in Russia and Nigeria, where low oil prices and falling currencies are denting growth.

Low-end brands such as Senator beer helped East African Breweries Ltd. (EABL), Kenya’s largest brewer and spirits producer, post a 7 percent increase in full-year profit to 10.3 billion shillings (USD 101.6 million) in the 12 months through June 2016.

Is it plain northern hemisphere ignorance or something altogether more sinister why news coming out of Africa gets ignored unless it fits the cliché of Africa as a place of misery and warfare? Or how could it be that the business magazine Forbes in November 2015 published an infographic on the global craft beer boom which left South Africa a white spot – as if no craft breweries could be found there?

The country’s major brewer, Namibia Breweries (NBL), has invested NAD 53 million (USD 3.3 million) in a biomass boiler at its Windhoek plant.

The Competition Commission believes it is on track to meet the extended deadline (until 5 April 2016) for the completion of its inquiry into AB-InBev’s proposed acquisition of SABMiller, South African media reported on 22 March 2016.

They may not like this. AB-InBev’s takeover of SABMiller could well take up to 18 months to be cleared as South African unions gear up to fight deal, The Wall Street Journal speculated on 25 February 2016.

Officially at least, AB-InBev’s takeover of SABMiller is all about breaking into the African market, where SABMiller is the dominant player. But Africa’s days of buoyant economic growth seem to be over, for the time being. “Low oil prices in oil-producing countries are affecting us very obviously, like in Nigeria,” Heineken’s CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer told CNBC Europe’s "Squawk Box" on 10 February 2016.

AB-InBev is moving swiftly towards its merger with SABMiller. Two days after selling USD 46 billion in bonds to fund the SABMiller deal, on 15 January 2016 the Belgian company completed a secondary listing in South Africa.