Saturday, November 23African Digital Business Magazine

African News

African Business News

Are you a threat or an opportunity for biodiversity?
African News, Energy, Events, Rwanda News

Are you a threat or an opportunity for biodiversity?

By Josephine Wawira  Kigali, a city that rhythms with African charm, prides itself on biodiversity so well maintained, sprawling over green valleys and ridges, the capital of the land of a thousand hills, Rwanda. I am here for the annual World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF), and like millions of other people who have visited Kigali, I am in awe of the progressiveness of an African people who have chosen to rise from dust to glory. The streets are clean and flowers blossom along the roads; safe for your morning jog or an evening bicycle ride with provisions for both pedestrian and cycling lanes. On multiple corners sustainable buildings are coming up; some are already in existence. A city on the move towards the right direction. A direction of peaceful co-existence, a spirited art scene, an...
Experts say there are several factors in the workplace that could be causing staff to leave their jobs
African News

Experts say there are several factors in the workplace that could be causing staff to leave their jobs

There are many factors to consider when it comes to staff turnover – but while some may be inevitable, such as retirement, a change in career, or even moving away, others can be controlled. Employee wellbeing experts Loopin have highlighted six of the major factors in the workplace that could lead to a high staff turnover, from lack of opportunities to overworked staff. Little opportunity for growth  By not providing any opportunities for employees to progress, it can cause them to feel stuck in their role and feel as though their hard work and commitment isn’t recognised. A different company that can offer a role of higher authority will eventually become more appealing after plenty of time in the same role – not only for income, but to further demonstrate their...
Retailers Can Drive Commerce Experiences Via Mobile Messaging, New Clickatell Research Shows
African News

Retailers Can Drive Commerce Experiences Via Mobile Messaging, New Clickatell Research Shows

Clickatell (www.Clickatell.com), the Chat Commerce and business messaging leader, announced the results of its latest Chat Commerce Trends Report: Retail Edition, which reveals new findings about how today’s consumers prefer to communicate and make purchases with retail companies through mobile and chat messaging conversations. The report, which fielded responses from over 1,000 participants, found that 95% of customers now make retail purchases on their smartphones and 78% of consumers want to use mobile messaging with retail companies for convenience. To better understand how consumers communicate with retail brands, Clickatell’s new research found considerable interest in personalized and convenient commerce experiences through mobile messaging conversations. As global retailers head i...
Spring Impact Launches Programme to Help Empower Women in Southern Africa
African News, Events

Spring Impact Launches Programme to Help Empower Women in Southern Africa

The Scale Accelerator: Women’s Empowerment Programme is now open for applications from local NGOs in Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe addressing issues related to women’s empowerment. This is a fully-funded scaling consultancy program that will provide support to selected organizations as they work to increase their impact. The Scale Accelerator: Women’s Empowerment Programme provides support for ambitious, locally-led NGOs in Southern Africa who want to take their vital work to more people, in more places. The program will provide technical support and skills development to help participants implement their programs elsewhere in a financially sustainable way. The Scale Accelerator: Women’s Empowerment programme is aimed at local NGOs and coalitions of organizations who are wor...
The Africa-Europe Foundation launches its 2022 High-Level Group of Personalities’ annual report assessing the state of play of the commitments of the Africa-Europe partnership
African News

The Africa-Europe Foundation launches its 2022 High-Level Group of Personalities’ annual report assessing the state of play of the commitments of the Africa-Europe partnership

October 28, 2022, Brussels - The Africa-Europe Foundation (AEF) has launched its annual in-depth assessment of the state of relations between our two neighbouring continents. The Report’s launch comes eight months after February’s long-awaited summit between the African Union and European Union leaders, closely followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one week later.  The report has been backed by the AEF’s High-Level Group of personalities (HLG) who met together yesterday in Brussels to assess the state of Africa-Europe relations and progress since February’s Summit. The Report evidences a deterioration in relations stemming from fault lines that have emerged since 2020; among them, the inequitable responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and the failure to deliver on climate finance, which h...
Africa’s Untapped Export Potential Worth $31 Billion
African News, Events, South Africa News

Africa’s Untapped Export Potential Worth $31 Billion

United National Conference on Trade and Development says Africa’s untapped export of $31 billion[1] can be achieved if Africa implements partial tariff liberalisation under the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) Agreement over the next five years. Currently, trade between African countries comprises 61% of processed and semi-processed goods. Infrastructure and the harmonisation of logistics will make the AfCFTA fly, including simplicity of moving goods, automation, services across countries and cross-border clearance processes, among other challenges hampering trade. According to Jürgen Maier, Owner of Mobility Advisors in Switzerland and Partner and Adviser at the Transport Evolution Africa Forum and Expo 2022, automation is one of the key areas to increasing Africa’s transport...
Challenges Of Access To Finance For MSMEs In Somalia
African News, Business, Somalia News

Challenges Of Access To Finance For MSMEs In Somalia

Access to finance for MSMEs in Somalia has become an issue since the state lacked an effective government to cater for the financial services. Therefore, the willingness to offer such exceptional services became paramount, leading to the emergence of private financial institutions in Somalia. A decade ago, a group of Somali businesspeople started financial institutions in Somalia to provide commercial financial services to the Somali people for the first time after the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991, the experience of serving commercial loans was new and challenging. Investors had faced long heads with conservative communities with little understanding of Shari’s models regarding the financial sectors. Assuming the deals conflict with sharia’s principles, the community c...
African News, Medicine, South Africa News

World Trade Organization waives intellectual property rights to support vaccine production in Africa

By Virusha Subban, Partner and Head of Indirect Tax, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg The World Trade Organisation (WTO) announced in June an agreement to waive the intellectual property rights that usually apply in the manufacturing of vaccines, to assist the production of COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries. The measures were proposed to the WTO by the South African and Indian governments, with other developing countries supporting the move. The waiver agreement received unanimous support from WTO member countries. The agreement by multilateral parties indicates the level of global support and potential for partnerships to enable vaccine production in Africa. The agreement means that governments in developing countries will be able to authorize the production of much needed vaccines o...
African News, Kenya News

Kenya: Shared prosperity – the United States and Kenya sign Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership

By Virusha Subban, Partner specialising in Customs and Trade, Head of Tax, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg  The United States-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) was signed on 14 July 2022. The agreement outlines the enhanced engagement and high standard of commitment between the two countries, and focuses on increased investment and sustainable and inclusive growth that will be of benefit to both countries' citizens and businesses. The agreement also includes the intention to support regional economic integration in East Africa. A year ago, in July 2021, the United States (US) administration announced that it would renew its Prosper Africa initiative, to increase reciprocal trade and investment between the US and African countries. At that time, the US noted that the ini...
Smart minds look to smart solutions at Africa’s only dedicated Smart Cities Summit
African News, Business, Events, South Africa News

Smart minds look to smart solutions at Africa’s only dedicated Smart Cities Summit

Big industry players join forces to tackle urban decarbonization challenge   The world’s population is on a fast-track from rural to city living. With around 55% already residing in urban areas, this figure is expected to rise to 70% by mid-century. Cities may be the engines of growth and account for more than 80% of global GDP[1], but they also guzzle almost 80% of the world’s energy and emit around 60% of greenhouse gases. According to Tracy-Lee Behr, Portfolio Director at leading global events company dmg events, smarter cities can alleviate many of Africa’s urban challenges, by delivering a higher quality of life and enabling economic growth through Internet of Things, technology and creative thinking. With a focus on advancing Africa’s cities through expert collaboration, many of t...