Tuesday, December 10African Digital Business Magazine
African News

Can Africa Industrialise?

  by John Page Abstract Africa needs structural change to sustain growth. Industry with and without smoke stacks is key, but Africa has deindustrialised since the 1970s. Can Africa industrialise? Rising costs and domestic demand in Asia offer an opportunity. However, trade in tasks, firm capabilities and agglomeration will drive industrial location choices. Strategies to deal with these drivers of change are needed. Investment climate reforms should focus less on regulation and more on the gaps in infrastructure and skills. Policies to push exports, build firm capabilities and support agglomerations are also needed. Success will depend crucially on new donor attitudes and how policy is implemented. Please read here: http://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/suppl_2/ii86.short
African News

Evaluating enterprise policy interventions in Africa: a critical review of Ghanaian small business support services

Obeng, Bernard and Blundel, Richard (2012). Evaluating enterprise policy interventions in Africa: a critical review of Ghanaian small business support services. Journal of Small Business Management (in press). Abstract Enterprise policies play a central role in economic development across Africa, but more effective, evidence-based policy evaluation is required to inform future interventions. The paper aims to: (i) contribute to filling this gap; (ii) develop more rigorous and appropriate evaluation methodologies. It examines the issues through an empirical study into non-use of small business support services in Ghana. Survey evidence from 253 owner-managers was complemented by interviews with owner-managers and service providers. It concludes that policy evaluation in Sub-Saharan Africa...
African News, South Africa News

SA’s Top Restaurant Brands

Spur has been identified as SA’s leading restaurant brand, according to the results of a survey conducted by Acentric Marketing Research. The survey was conducted in the first quarter of 2012 and included 21 restaurant-chain brands. The survey was conducted amongst a scientifically selected sample of 364 online panelists, and has a margin of error of 5.2% (see technical note). In total, 21 restaurant brands were ranked according to the ABM (Acentric Brand Model) Index. The top five most powerful brands were identified as: Spur with the largest ABM index score of 15%, closely followed by KFC (14%), Mug & Bean (12%), McDonalds (9%) and Woolworths (8%). “The ABM Index is a proven index of brand equity, which strongly correlates with market share (0.9 correlation). The ABM Index in essence...
African News

Only 0.27% of the world’s top 1 million sites are hosted in Africa

Africa, with its over 1 billion people, has reached a 13.5% Internet penetration rate, and there are plenty of big websites about the continent. But where are those sites hosted? It would be safe to assume that there are big sites about Africa hosted outside the continent, but what would be the top 100 sites actually hosted in Africa? That’s the question we set out to answer in our latest study. Read on to find out what we discovered. 34 countries in Africa host sites in top 1 M When it comes to webhosting, arguably the US is the go-to place. The different reasons for selecting a particular hosting provider are many, including price, functionality, reliability, and, of course, geographic location. For example, it might be awkward for a local city council somewhere to host its website outs...
African News

New trends in insurance and opportunities in Africa

  The Africa Insurance & Reinsurance Conference Presentations New trends in insurance and opportunities in Africa by David K Ronoh Managing Director CIC Life Assurance Ltd Please download presentation: Presentation David K Ronoh (.pdf Acrobat Reader)
African News, Malawi News

African Short-term Insurance Industry Trends

  The Africa Insurance & Reinsurance Conference Presentations   African Short-term Insurance Industry Trends   by Brian Kapito, Projects Manager, NICO Holdings Limited Malawi Please download Presentation - Brian Kapito.pdf   AIRC 2012 again proved that it is the event of choice for regional insurance players as more that 70 delegates attended the first day. The conference continues tomorrow. Sessions like Bancassurance, Insurance Investment , Reinsurance and Technology in the insurance sector among others will be covered tomorrow 27th of June.
African News

The Africa Insurance & Reinsurance Conference Presentations: Fighting Insurance Fraud In Africa & What insurers can do to avoid leaving money on the table Subrogation and dispute resolution (Acrobat Reader)

The 2nd Annual Africa Insurance & Reinsurance Conference kick started today with a compelling opening speech on Charting new structures to ensure a stable and thriving regional insurance market by Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega, The CEO, Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda.  Photo number from left to right the moderator - Sam Ncheeri, MD, Eagle Africa Insurance Brokers and by Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega, The CEO, Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda. Photo number Brian Kapito, Projects Manager, NICO Holdings Limited Malawi, David Ronoh, Managing Director, CIC Life Assurance. The two gave insights into the regional insurance market . AIRC 2012 again proved that it is the event of choice for regional insurance players as more that 70 delegates attended the first day. The conf...
African News, Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

Clean Power Africa in Cape Town to focus on new opportunities in hydro and solar industries

South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters to welcome delegates The Clean Power Africa conference and exhibition in Cape Town in September will focus on new opportunities in the clean energy sectors such as retrofitting hydropower to current dams and helping the mining industry to use excess water to provide onsite power. South Africa’s Energy Minister Elizabeth Dipuo Peters will welcome delegates at the official networking reception at the event which will boast over 600 visitors from across the globe. Clean Power Africa incorporates the fifth edition of the hugely successful Hydropower Africa 2012 conference and exhibition and the second year of Solar Energy Africa. New opportunities Says the Clean Power Africa conference director Nicolaas Loretz: “we have found that most utilities, muni...