Saturday, November 23African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: African

African News, South Africa News

New Fair Trade Shop Empowers South African Artisans

  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Paradigm Shift, a Colorado-based non-profit, recently launched an online shop. The Paradigm Shift Shop sells Fair Trade South African crafts handmade by microentrepreneurs who have participated in Paradigm Shift's holistic entrepreneurship training program. Around the globe millions work in sweatshop-like conditions, earning barely enough to feed their families. Unfortunately, many consumers are unaware of the exploitation that is often involved in the process of making their goods. Former U.S. president Benjamin Harrison once said, "I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process." To counter the exploitation of workers around the world, a social movement has e...
African News

Business in Africa is booming. But are the commercial laws strong enough to sustain long-term growth ?

  An authoritative introduction to the commercial laws being instituted in West and Central Africa through the OHADA harmonization process is published in London this week. Source: IEDP Unified Business Laws for Africa: Common Law Perspectives on OHADA is now available from IEDP. (PRWEB UK) 20 July 2012 The World Bank has just approved an International Development Association (IDA)* US$15 million technical assistance grant to strengthen OHADA's institutional capacity to support, in its member countries, selected aspects of investment climate reforms, including improved corporate financial reporting. President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo has just signed the instruments of ratification of the OHADA treaty and OHADA will become the applicable law in DRC on Sept ...
African News, South Africa News, Zambia News

Regionalism

  by Chikomborero Dengu (chikodengu @ gmail.com) Regionalism (Microsoft Word) Introduction There is an increasing recognition for the need to improve the political and economic environment of a country or region via collective action . This recognition is borne out of the realisation that countries or indeed regions are competing with themselves for scarce resources . This essay intends to dissect the concept of new regionalism and whilst briefly looking at how it has evolved .  With reference to the last point this paper will attempt to link the concept of new regionalism to the recent surge in Regional Trade Agreements (RTA).[1] The crux of this essay however lay in establishing the reasons for increases in RTA’s , that is to say both economic and political positives of jo...
Science, South Africa News

Life Technologies and SATuRN Collaborate to Increase Access to HIV Testing in Africa

  CARLSBAD, Calif., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE ) today announced a collaboration with the Southern African Treatment and Resistance Network (SATuRN – http://www.bioafrica.net/saturn) on sequencing-based diagnostics for HIV-infected individuals in Africa. Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are becoming increasingly available in the developing world, due to facilitation by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as reductions in price and international trade restrictions by pharmaceutical companies. Resistance to these drugs develops in many HIV-infected individuals, however, and resistance is therefore coming to the forefront of the global health agenda. Resistance can be monitored by genetic sequencing of two viral gen...
African News

CNBC AFRICA LAUNCHES ITS NEW BUREAU IN ZAMBIA

CNBC AFRICA, opened its eighth African bureau in Zambia as it continues to widen its African reporting footprint. The bureau, a joint venture with Zambia's national broadcaster, ZNBC, will be based in the Zambian capital, Lusaka and opened for business on the 25th of July 2012. It's the channel's second bureau this year following Mozambique where, the company also teamed up with the local national broadcaster, TVM. The other bureaus are in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Gabon. "The new bureau is continuing testimony to our vision to provide comprehensive coverage of Africa's growing markets. Zambia is one of the new groups of African economies expanding at more than 7% per anum whose story remains largely untold outside its borders," said Godfrey Mutizwa, CNBC Africa Chief Editor. ...
African News

IBM To Boost Technical Skills In Mauritius

  New programs to help develop technical talent in the Indian Ocean Island Region PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced a collaboration agreement with the University of Mauritius to help meet the demand for Computer Science skills in the Indian Ocean island region. The joint academic initiative will provide technology and training resources while boosting support for computer science professionals at the University. In tandem, IBM also launched a Mauritian technical skills training pilot initiative for IT specialists, which will be rolled out to nine other African countries. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO) As part of the agreement with the University of Mauritius, IBM will provide access to the latest open...
African News, Togo News

Togo / Tourism: bar restaurant “Manchester United” opened

The tourism landscape Togo recorded a newborn. This is the bar-restaurant "Manchester United" opened on July 15 in Lome in an environment well maintained by comedians and actors Togo renowned. Various personalities first and foremost the Togolese Minister of Social Action and National Solidarity Mémounatou Ibrahima, responded overwhelmingly to the invitation of the management of this jewel where the initiative comes from members of the Association of Young Farmers Modern (AJAM). By investing in this way in the tourism sector of Togo, the initiators of the bar restaurant 'Manchester United' agree to join forces and bring their stones in the development process in which Togo is firmly committed under the leadership of the Head of State of Togo Faure Gnassingbe Essozimna. '' This is also f...
African News, Nigeria News

Kola Aluko Hails $4.5 Billion Deal for New Refineries

  LONDON, July 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Nigerian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with US firm Vulcan Petroleum Resources and Nigeria's Petroleum Refining and Strategic Reserve to build six new oil refineries in a deal worth $4.5 billion. Two of the plants, each of which will have a capacity of 30,000 barrels per day, are set to be operational within a year. Nigeria - Africa's top oil producer - has been held back by its lack of refining capacity, which has made it a net importer of processed crude and subject to global price fluctuations. Until recently, a generous fuel subsidy protected consumers from high import prices. Though not yet lifted entirely, six months ago President Goodluck Jonathan announced that this support was no longer affordable. Fund...
African News, Algeria News, Egypt News, Ethiopia News, Mauritius News, Nigeria News, South Africa News, Zambia News

Africa to gear up for more meaningful engagement with China

  The partnership with China should aim to boost Africa's overall capacity, competitiveness and trade in a way that supports African development. African nations must use the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to complement the continent's regional institutions and policy agenda. This is according to a report by Standard Bank Group economists Jeremy Stevens and Simon Freemantle ahead of the fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, China, that starts on 19 July 2012. Jeremy Stevens, Standard Bank Group's Beijing-based economist, says that the summit comes at a time when China is distracted by domestic economic challenges and political matters. Meanwhile Africa is now even more reliant on China, in particular Chinese demand for African commodity exports, but even ...
Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

World Cocoa Foundation and First Lady of Cote d’Ivoire Partner to Improve Cocoa Communities

  Agreement Provides for Social and Economic Support [19-July-2012] WASHINGTON, July 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the office of Dominique Ouattara, first lady of Cote d’Ivoire, announced today an agreement to develop and implement educational and vocational training programs to benefit cocoa farmers and their families in Cote d’Ivoire. The three-year agreement is valued at $3.6 million and will benefit more than 12,000 Ivorians through successful WCF educational programs that are active in the country and in other West African countries. The agreement was signed in a ceremony today in Washington by First Lady Dominique Ouattara and Bill Guyton, president of the World Cocoa Foundation. The collaboration expands access to quality universal basic e...