TMCnet News

BRIEFS [African Business]
[January 23, 2013]

BRIEFS [African Business]


(African Business Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Media Spread some warmth »A new spoof charity music video Africa forNorwayon YouTube is a parody of initiatives, such as Band Aid, which showcase top stars singing for poor, starving Africans. This time, it's a rich Scandinavian nation that needs a helping hand. "People don't ignore starving people, so why should we ignore cold people Frostbite kills too." That's what lead rapper Breezy V says before he and his team break into song, imploring Africans to support the RADI-AID campaign. Its mission: help freezing Norwegians by donating a radiator. The video is so realistic it has fooled some people into thinking that it's the real thing: it makes the point that there is development in Africa as well as images of poverty.



15% Africa has 15% of the world's population but shares only 1.5% of its total GDP of $78.95 trillion Apology The gremlins have struck again! In the January 2013 issue, ('Fastjet sends feathers flying'), we ran a photo of Brown Francis, general manager of Fly540, and wrongly captioned it as Ed Winter, the CEO of Fastjet. Apologies to both and all our readers.

Dr James Mwangi, CEO and MD of Equity Bank, has been named Forbes Africa 2012 Person of the Year MEDIA Leaders who tweet President Jakaya Kikwete is among eight African leaders interacting through Twitter. Kikwete joins presidents Paul Kagame in Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. At least eight African presidents have active accounts with regular updates. Newly appointed Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi has the most followers, while presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and Faure Gnassingbe of Togo currently lag far behind. Côte d'Ivoire President Alassane Outtara and Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki also tweet.


COMUNICATIONS First satellite for DRC The Democratic Republic of Congo's first satellite will be launched before the end of 2015. CongoSat 1 communications satellite will be developed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology for the National Network of Satellite Telecommunications. The design will be based on the DFH 4 satellite platform, capable of covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo and all the central and southern parts of the African continent. China will build ground control and training facilities and train satellite-control personnel.

HEALTH New aircon kills mosquitos West African countries are benefiting from a new anti-mosquito air-conditioning unit that repels mosquitoes using which ultrasonic wave technology. The air conditioner can knock down 64% of malaria-transmitting female Anopheles mosquitoes within 24 hours, and eliminated 82% of female Anopheles mosquitoes overall. The air-conditioner was made with the African market in mind. Made by LG, it is fitted with a Tropical Compressor designed EDUCATION »Sixty Commonwealth Jubilee Scholarships are being offered to Commonwealth students by St George's University on the Caribbean island of Grenada, representing one for each of Queen Elizabeth I's 60 years as Head of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Commonwealth SecretaryGeneral Kamalesh Sharma and Baroness Howells from Grenada are pictured above with students at the launch of the programme, held in the British parliament building, the House of Commons, with students from the Commonwealth studying at St George's University.

st George's University is an international centre of higher education and has drawn its students and faculty from 140 countries. It has a strong relationship with the Commonwealth. Currently 2,139 students from Commonwealth countries are studying at the University with 3,233 graduates so far.

Preference for the scholarships will be given to developing countries and small states of the Commonwealth, with the objective of helping to reverse the professional 'brain drain'. St George's expects African students to benefit significantly. Scholarship candidates will need to submit an essay detailing how the award will ultimately benefit the development of their country.

Queen Elizabeth I, through her Private Secretary, acknowledged the announcement of the scholarships and sent "her warm good wishes to all concerned for a most memorable and enjoyable event".

$73bn Africa's 40 richest people are worth a combined $73bn, up 12% from 2011 Africa's consumer industries are expected to grow by $400bn by 2020, which equates to 50% of the total profits all businesses are likely to gain in Africa by the end of the decade Commonwealth Jubilee Scholarships announced $2.5bn China Petrochemical Corp will buy a 20% stake in an offshore Nigerian field from French explorer Total for $2.5bn.

The OML 138 block includes the Usan field, which started output in February. The deal will give Sinopec Group, as the Beijing-based company is known, 36,000 barrels a day of oil production when the field reaches maximum output.

If Walmart were a country, its GDP - $443.9bn - would be greater than that of South Africa - $442bn If Africa were a country, its GDP - $1.184 trillion - would be around a 15th of the US - $15.776 trillion Aliko Dangote has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for West Africa, for creating wealth, value and employment in the region to operate in hotter climates and a Super Automatic Voltage Switcher (Super AVS) that protect against damage from current fluctuations. It also cleans the air of harmful substances and bacteria.

Mobile phones to treat cancer In Tanzania, trained healthcare workers will use mobile technology to examine women living far from health centres. The nurses will photograph the patient's cervix with their phone and send it via SMS to a specialised clinic, where doctors can review it and text the diagnosis back, giving instructions about treatment. So far 38 African projects have been funded at $100,000 each and scale-up funding of up to $1m may be given to ideas that are proved to be successful.

Unrefrigerated vaccine breakthrough In a major breakthrough that could lower the meningitis vaccine's price in Africa, regulatory authorities have relaxed temperature controls, allowing it to be transported for up to four days at up to 40 degrees Celsius without refrigeration. It is the first such approval on the continent and Benin is the first country to take advantage.

Manufacturing and delivering Men AfriVac costs cents per dose, and storing it outside a cold supply chain could cut the price by 10 cents.

Cheap generic HIV/AIDS drug US healthcare group J&J says it will not enforce patents on its drug Prezista for sub-Saharan Africa, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug, known generically as darunavir.

S African firms win drugs contract A $667m contract to supply HIV drugs awarded by the South African government gave three local companies nearly 60% of the two-year contract. Aspen Pharmacare, Africa's largest generic drugs maker, won 20.6%, while Adcock Ingram was awarded 14%. Cipla Medpro was awarded 9% - its share rises to 24.5% when including Medpro Pharmaceutica, which won 15.5%. Medpro will import the drugs from India, while Cipla is a local manufacturer.

EMPLOYMENT Find jobs in Africa faster www.jobclickr.com is a new job search engine for Africa, which searches African jobsites, corporate websites, blogs or social networks on the World Wide Web for jobs. It is owned and operated by Neme Muoka, a Nigerian physics graduate from Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), based in New York. He launched his first business when he was 16, and has worked for American Software Resources, Google and other software companies.

RENEWABLE ENERGY Iceland signs on to Africa geothermal plan »Iceland and the World Bank are to start a $500m geothermal energy project targeting East Africa, along East Africa's 3,700-mile Great Rift Valley and covering 13 energy-poor nations. The first phase is test drilling in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Eritrea, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia and Somalia.

Their collaboration is the largest initiative so far for promoting the use of geothermal energy in developing countries. Iceland has long been the world's leader in the use of geothermal energy and heats more than 90% of its buildings this way. It's estimated 14,000 MW of geothermal potential exists along the Rift Valley, enough to deliver power to 150m people. It could deliver at least one-quarter of the energy the East African countries will need by 2030.

Kenya has already developed 190 MW of geothermal power through a 1980s World Bank-financed project at the Rift Valley site of Olkaria, and last year obtained financing to expand its capacity by an additional 280 MW. Kenya's 1,473-megawatt power mix now consists of 51% hydropower and 13% geothermal.

Tanzania plans to drill its first geothermal power plant next year and expand renewable energy to plug a power deficit. The African Development Bank will, with other agencies, co-fund $50m, $25m of which would be used on drilling of steam wells There is a potential of 650 MW geothermal.

$1.2bn $1.2bn - average yearly investment in power in Africa from public and private money since the mid-1990s $57bn Following increased demand for power in Africa, the continent's renewable energy sector is expected to rise to about $57bn by 2020, the Director, Governance and Public Administration Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Said Adejumobi, says. The sector recorded a staggering 1,583% increase between 2004 and 2011 to $3.6bn in 2011 from $750m in 2004.

Mauritius: Britain accounts for 19.8% of its exports, while India supplies 20.7% of its imports The number of African millionaires rose 3.9% last year, faster growth than any region except Latin America $20.9bn - amount needed to transform power infrastructure in Africa 56 - average days per year lost by manufacturers in Africa to power outages Tanzania finds first uranium in the south, results expected in the first quarter of this year EUCATION New pan-African business school for entrepreneurs Future African entrepreneurs will benefit from a new pan-African business school to be built this year outside Lusaka, Zambia, which aims to supply world-class education to the next generation of African leaders. The business school is being founded by the British company IDM. Partnerships between IDM, businesses and governments will provide the funding for 1,000 students. Costs will be kept low to ensure wider access. The emphasis will be on teaching tangible, core business skills that work in Africa, using a mix of virtual and face-to-face learning, and modular courses will be interspersed with coaching in the organisation where the student works. It will be run by an African management team. www.idm.ac S African companies buy rural school Curro Holdings, the JSE-listed education company, PIC, the sovereign wealth fund, and life assurer Old Mutual have acquired Polokwane's Northern Academy Independent Secondary School for $17m, one of the first of such deals in South Africa.

IMF training in Mauritius The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to establish a Regional Training Centre (RTC) for subSaharan Africa in Mauritius to facilitate the training of government officials on the formulation and implementation of macroeconomic policies and related statistical and legal frameworks.

It will start this year with courses and seminars covering macroeconomic policymaking and financial programming, public finance, exchange rate and monetary policies, economic integration and financial sector issues, including banking supervision.

Training for Nigerian live wires General Electric (GE), the American electricity conglomerate, will establish a power plant and an energy-training institute for electrical engineering and general management, to complement GE's resources.

AP global internships open for 2013 Aspiring journalists, students and graduates, should apply to Associated Press by 2nd March for their 2013 Global News Internship Programme in eight US cities and 10 international locations including South Africa.

CONSERVATION Tusk Trust gets royal approval Prince William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, will support a new annual award scheme celebrating outstanding achievement in African TELECOMS Broadband in Nigeria »Two leading Nigerian telecommunications infrastructure companies, Main One Cable Company and Phase3 Telecom, have formed a pact to increase broadband internet penetration in Nigeria and West Africa.

Main One owns and operates West Africa's first privately owned undersea communication cable that runs from Europe to Africa with landing points along the West African coast including Nigeria and Ghana. Phase3 Telecom is a national long-distance operator with West Africa's first privately owned aerial fibre-optic cable deployed on high-voltage electricity power lines.

Under the partnership, the firms will offer Nigerians high-capacity broadband internet services at very affordable costs using Phase3 Telecom's extensive aerial fibre network and Main One's huge bandwidth deployed through its undersea cable. The partnership, which will offer joint provisioning of services, requires the integration of their networks and collaboration in provisioning and service delivery; it is expected to increase broadband internet penetration across Nigeria as customers will be able to obtain quality services at affordable prices.

Chief Executive Officer of Phase3 Telecom, Stanley Jegede (below, left), said, "We believe that a robust and reliable open access network will constitute a platform for efficient eGovernment, eVoting, eCommerce, ePayment, eBanking, eLearning and media applications." Chief Executive Officer of Main One Cable Company, Ms Funke Opeke (below), said, "It is necessary for excellent broadband internet services to be available to all businesses so we have sought to distribute more of our capacity inland, especially across business areas in Lagos and beyond." Main One is wholly Africanowned.

$34bn If the top six telecoms markets released new spectrum, it would create $34bn in economic growth between 2015-2020 There are over 4,800 Africans spread across 17 African countries who are individually worth $100m or more $2.4m A new commuter train has been launched in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. The train will take 15 minutes to run the 16.5 km between the city centre and the suburb of Syokimau, where Kenya has built its first railway station in more than 80 years. Six trains are scheduled for the five round trips a day, transporting approximately 20,000 passengers a day. The line and station cost $2.4m.

The average carbon footprint of a Ghanaian is 0.4 tonnes of CO 2 The average carbon footprint in the UK is 8.5 tonnes of CO 2 From June 2011 to June 2012, 28 of 46 governments in sub-Saharan Africa implemented at least one regulatory reform making doing business easier - a total of 44 reforms South Africa and Vietnam signed an MoU to increase cooperation on illicit rhino poaching. conservation. Tusk, the African conservation charity, will establish The Tusk Conservation Awards in partnership with Investec Asset Management, giving grants of £30,000 and £10,000.

RESEARCH New S African R&T facility Sasol Technology has launched a new state-of-the-art Research and Technology (R&T) facility at the Sasol One Site in Sasolburg, the world's first coal-to-liquids plant. It has world-class laboratories, sophisticated analytical equipment, pilot plants, offices and maintenance workshops and is home to Sasol's research and development, and fuels technology, which form part of Sasol's R&T campus. It houses 14 laboratories, piloting facilities, 150 PhD graduates, 100 engineers, over 200 scientists and over 100 chemists and technologists.

Research awards for women in agriculture Funders have renewed support for African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (AWARD), a programme that helps women in sub-Saharan countries to develop leadership and scientific skills. This second grant, spanning five years, comprises $14m from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $5m from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Only one in four agricultural researchers is female. Even fewer women, one in seven, hold leadership positions in African agricultural research institutions.

HOTELS Luxury launch for Nigeria Nigeria will become the latest location for Marriott hotels following an agreement between millionaire former MD of Zenith Bank Jim Ovia and Quantum Luxury Properties Limited (Quantum Capital), chaired by Ovia, and Marriott Hotels. The planned five-star 150-room hotel will be on the Ozumba Mbadiwe waterfront on Victoria Island, Lagos.

MINING Zambia smelter goes ahead The Zambia Environmental Management Agency has approved the First Quantum Minerals' $640m copper project. The smelter at Kansanshi, about 20 km south of the border with the DR Congo, has a potential lifespan of 20 years and will have capacity to produce 300,000 metric tons annually. It forms part of First Quantum's plans to triple its copper production capacity to 900,000 tons a year by 2016, making it one of the top 10 producers.

Cameroon Mbalam to go ahead The Cameroon government has signed off on the development of the Mbalam $4.7m iron-ore project, finalising the Mbalam Convention with ASX-listed Sundance Resources. Stage one of the Mbalam project would focus on a direct shipping ore project with a minimum project life of 10 years producing 35m tons a year of ore, while stage two would extend the project life by an additional 15 years, and would produce high-grade itabirite haematite concentrate.

Fraud barometer set to fair »KPMG's second Africa Fraud Barometer measures fraud on the African continent and exposes the risk of fraud for companies in their day-to-day operations. Reported cases of fraud decreased from 520 in the second half of 2011 to 503 cases in the first half of 2012. In the same period, the value of fraud decreased from $3.3bn to $2bn. Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa make up 74% of all fraud cases reported in Africa. While fewer cases are reported in South Africa, the overall value of these cases is far greater in Nigeria.

"This is only the second barometer, but we have noticed a decline both in terms of reported fraud cases and their monetary value. We see this as a positive trend," said KPMG. "There is an increasing interest in Africa as an investment destination, but the continent struggles with a rather negative image. We are providing an analysis of fraud profiles in individual African countries to foreign investors. Investors need to assess the prevailing environment in each country." Fraud and misrepresentation had the highest reported cases at 37%, a decrease of 10% from the previous six months. Most fraud is committed by government officials (18%), followed by business people (15%) and employees (14%). Government, at 38%, is still hardest hit by fraud and corruption, an increase of 1%. "It would seem government is under attack from its own people. Elsewhere in the world similar surveys show that companies are under attack from management more than employees," KPMG said.

$32bn In 2011, the telecoms industry accounted for 4.5% of sub-Saharan African GDP and contributed $32bn to its economies Africa has more than 120,000 dollar millionaires, more than Russia with 95,000 $140m Aim- and TSX-listed Aureus Mining has raised $80m for the development and construction of its New Liberty gold project in Liberia. Debt-financing institutions are expected to provide the balance of the funding for the $140m mine. The operation could produce 120,000 oz for the first five years of its eight-year life.

Airlines: New routes and partnerships British Airways will partner with Nigeria to develop the aviation industry. Qatar Airways is the first airline to link Maputo to the Middle East in a new thrice-weekly route. New Tanzania-based budget airline fastjet is in pan-African partnership talks with Emirates The United Bank for Africa (UBA) was named as Africa's Bank of the Year in The Banker magazine awards. It was also named the best bank in Senegal and Cameroon RETAIL Topshop opens first African store British fashion retailer Topshop has opened its first African store in Johannesburg's up-market Sandton City mall. The new, vast 9,500 sqm Johannesburg store houses both women and men's merchandise from its signature departments, and a second store will open soon. Local firms Edcon and House of Busby obtained exclusive South African franchise rights for Topshop and Topman, which operate in over 750 stores globally, with South Africa being the 37th country to welcome the brand.

REAL ESTATE Walvis Bay marina development A major Namibian $40m private business development of a 32,000 sqm marina will boost Walvis Bay's tourism industry and create business and job opportunities. The marina will comprise 100 SME trading stalls, 60 residential developments, 30 waterfront business developments and tour operator areas, and create at least 300 jobs for the hospitality industry. It is expected to complete in 2014.

TELECOMS Broadband comes to South Sudan South Sudan will provide wide reaching, high-performance, satellite broadband internet to unserved and underserved locations and communities when Yahsat, the Abu Dhabi-based satellite operator, launches its innovative YahClick "broadband everyone" satellite service in South Sudan. Yahsat selected local-based Internet Service Provider RCS-Communication as its Service Partner.

Niger connects villages More than 50 off-grid village communities have been connected across Niger, allowing an average of 1,200 people in each location to benefit from mobile telecoms services for the first time, after completion by Altobridge, a technology supplier to Orange Niger. Connection to the Orange network is provided via solar-powered radio base stations, each with advanced satellite backhaul optimisation technology built in, combining advanced communications technology with green energy.

            (c) 2012 IC Publications Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]