Africa Business, Author at AfricaBusiness.com

Deal making slows across Africa but post-pandemic opportunities look interesting

6Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Deal making slows across Africa but post-pandemic opportunities look interesting

Deal making activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) dropped in the second half of 2020 (H2 2020), when compared to the second half of 2019 (H2 2019) and year-on-year, deals were also down in both volume and value compared to 2019. As the continent gears up for post-pandemic recovery in 2021, the opportunities presented by free trade across the continent, foreign investment opportunities due to new partnerships and trade relationships, as well as the post-pandemic focus on technology, healthcare and renewable energy, will be key factors in attracting valuable mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity to the region. Further, South Africa’s deal volume and value both dropped in 2020, with the industrials and healthcare sector attracting the biggest investments. Ghana stood out as a country that...

3Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Agriculture, South Africa News

South Africa’s Pork Industry is Set for a Revolution

Pork producers in South Africa are forging ahead with innovation and optimism in uncertain times. The industry has changed drastically over the last few decades – with dietary concerns, disease outbreaks, climate change and other factors all playing a role. Brent Fairlie, CEO at one of South Africa’s largest pork producers, Lynca Meats, lets us in on why, in a country where chicken has always been a firm favourite, pork is poised to make a strong comeback. 1South Africa’s pork industry is relatively large, contributing around 2.15% to the local agricultural sector as a whole but accounting for only 7% of the country’s total meat consumption. However, recent trends indicate that there is plenty of room for expansion, and South African producers are leading the way. “The pork industry has ha...

Cape Town and Stockholm: Two of the World’s Leading Tech Hubs Connect to Support Startups

3Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Startups

Cape Town and Stockholm: Two of the World’s Leading Tech Hubs Connect to Support Startups

On Wednesday, 10 February 2021, Stockholm - the birthplace of fast-growing tech companies like Skype, Spotify and Klarna - will be joining forces with Cape Town, Africa’s Tech Capital and home to startups such as Aerobotics, SweepSouth and Sea Monster, to launch Cape Town / Stockholm Connect (CSC). This is a platform that will bring together companies, developers, customers, investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions from across Cape Town and Stockholm via a series of activities. It will also serve as a meeting point and provide participants with well-organised matchmaking opportunities and company visits while also supporting individual requests. The launch event will feature a diverse group of speakers sharing their insights about the startup landscape in both South Africa and Sweden. T...

Making The Smart Home Experience Accessible To All

3Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Making The Smart Home Experience Accessible To All

LG Addresses Growing Demand for Intuitive Experiences via Evolving ThinQ App Being immersed in technology from an early age, Millennials and Gen Z are driving changes in smart home technology, ranging from greater convenience, to personalization and monitoring consumption habits. Leading the smart home agenda, LG, via its ThinQ technology, is deploying machine learning and algorithms to optimize the user experience based on habits, interests and needs. Central to enabling this is the LG ThinQ app – an innovative tool which empowers users to operate their devices remotely from the convenience of their smartphones. While Millennials and Gen Z are keen to embrace new technologies, the choice can often be overwhelming. Ultimately, younger demographics are interested in how a device or solution...

29Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Startups

Workshop 17 Wins Global Startup Award – Competition expands across Africa

On the 27th of January 2021, the winners of the 2019 season of the Global Startup Awards (GSA) were announced at the Global Grand Finale Day. Bringing home an Award to Africa was Workshop17, which scooped Best Coworking Space in the world’s largest independent startup ecosystem competition. On outshining the other finalists from around the world, Paul Keursten, Co-Founder and CEO of Workshop17 says: “We are thrilled to be a winner of such an established, global competition. It is a recognition for our vision to be a platform for entrepreneurship and innovation, and a tribute to the whole South African ecosystem of start-ups and innovator.” Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde shares: "I am very proud of Workshop17's win in the Global Startup Awards. Over the past year, we have seen tradition...

29Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Egypt News, Ghana News, Kenya News, Main, Mauritius News, Nigeria News, South Africa News

African dealmaking decreases, the Africa’s Free Trade Agreement expected to boost recovery

Dealmaking activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) dropped in the second half of 2020 (H2 2020), when compared to the second half of 2019 (H2 2019) and year-on-year, deals were also down in both volume and value when compared to 2019. According to Baker McKenzie’s analysis of Refinitiv data, M&A transactions dropped in SSA in H2 2020, down 4% compared to H2 2019 with 329 deals in the period. Deal value fell by 17% to USD8.9 billion in the second half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. For the full year 2020, transactions dropped by 8%, with 625 deals in 2020, and deal value dropped by 33%, with deals valued at USD17.4 billion in total for 2020. However, as Africa gears up for its post-pandemic recovery, it appears that the opportunities presented by the recent launch of fr...

The Four Hijabs (in Arabic and English). Feminist Interpretations of Qur’anic Verses

29Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Science

The Four Hijabs (in Arabic and English). Feminist Interpretations of Qur’anic Verses

Written by Jamil Khoury and Dr. Manal Hamzeh Translated from English to Arabic by Dr. Manal Hamzeh Original English-Language Version Directed by Liz Wuerffel Animated by Anna Hayden-Roy Chicago, IL – (Arab Newswire) -- Silk Road Rising (Co-Executive Artistic Directors Malik Gillani and Jamil Khoury) is proud to announce that the original English-language version of their animated short film “The Four Hijabs” was dubbed into Arabic in Amman, Jordan and Damascus, Syria. The company has also released two companion video interviews, one in English and one in Arabic, featuring the film’s co-writer Dr. Manal Hamzeh. Synopsis of The Four Hijabs Released in 2016, The Four Hijabs (12min 6sec) is an animated short film that explores the multiple meanings of four hijabs mentioned in 16 Qur’anic vers...

Inclusive design is transforming the customer journey as digital accelerates and expectations skyrocket

29Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

Inclusive design is transforming the customer journey as digital accelerates and expectations skyrocket

Embracing inclusive design is a pathway to innovation that organisations ignore at their peril says Reynhardt Uys, Chief Experience Officer, Immersion Group. “Before now, it was common for the industry to see accessibility and inclusion as a box to tick somewhere within the design or process, but as Covid-19 has accelerated the digital world, inclusive design has now moved up the list of priorities for many organisations. We’re still seeing a huge emphasis on USSD functionality for customers with feature phones or phones that don’t have an active internet connection. Whilst services are made available on other channels like an app or a website, the functionality also exists on USSD to create an omni-channel experience to different user types. Something as simple as changing the font size a...

29Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

AVEVA Joins United Nations Global Compact Network

AVEVA Underscores Commitment to Build a Sustainable Future as a Member of the UN Global Compact Network AVEVA, a global leader in engineering and industrial software, has joined the United Nations Global Compact and the UN Global Compact Network UK — a voluntary leadership platform for the development, implementation, and disclosure of responsible business practices. With this announcement, AVEVA joins thousands of other companies around the globe committed to taking responsible business action to create a more sustainable world. Launched in 2000, the UN Global Compact is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, with more than 12,000 companies and 3,500 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 local networks. Its aim is to mobilize a global movemen...

27Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Medicine, South Africa News

There is a third way to minimise COVID exposure –Let’s start using it

by FAR UVC AFRICA There is nothing normal about what some people are calling the “new normal“. Humans are gregarious. For millions of years, we have eaten together, celebrated together, and played together. It’s time to get back to that “old normal“. And there are certainly safe ways to go back there. The main way SARS-Co-2 spreads, in fact the way most coronaviruses spread, is through the air. An infected person coughs or sneezes and aerosolised droplets are inhaled by an otherwise healthy person. There are two primary methods for minimising exposure to the virus recommended by the various Centres for Disease Control: wearing a mask or face covering over your mouth and nose, and social distancing. In addition to these two widely publicised methods is a third, fairly new, yet rarely mentio...