boost Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

12Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, Startups

Failing To Win

A new book from Burnet Media, Cape Town will inspire and guide the next generation of African entrepreneurs. Failing To Win by Mike Quinn is the authentic story of a uniquely African startup at the forefront of the continent’s fintech revolution. Inspired to become the “M-Pesa of southern Africa” after Kenya’s pioneering mobile money innovation, Zoona secured tens of millions of dollars in international investment and grew to serve two-million customers in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique while processing $2.5-billion in transactions. This is an ideal read for anyone doing business or investing in Africa, and in particular for purpose-driven entrepreneurs and impact or venture capital investors. ABOUT THE BOOK In 2009, Canadian entrepreneur Mike Quinn packed his backpack and moved to Lu...

13Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

Higher Data Penetration Creates New Opportunities in South Africa

BOSTON, Dec., 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloud services, mobile advertising and mobile apps will be some of the highest growth segments in the South African market, contributing half a billion dollars in new revenue from 2012-2017, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com). South Africa Telecom Market Forecast analyzes the South African telecom market in some detail, highlighting several key areas of growth now that traditional voice services revenue is flattening. The report focuses on three main areas of growth – mobile apps, enterprise cloud services and mobile advertising – and their influence on the South African market. Download an excerpt or purchase the report here. "South Africa is a key market in the AME region not only because of its size, level ...

13Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

African Medical Device Market: Facts and Figures 2012

NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: African Medical Device Market: Facts and Figures 2012 Why look at Africa? With a population of over a billion people, Africa represents a vast potential market. The political and economic picture is improving in many areas, as conflicts are brought under control, and governments show a new willingness to use export revenues to boost healthcare. Levels of external aid remain strong. While this can be a double-edged sword for the economy of the country in question, a large number of development projects are ongoing. Virtually the entire continent is wholly reliant on imports, which rose by an average of 7.5% per year in the 2006-10 period. The least-develop...

17Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Senegal News

IBM Helps Senegalese City of Thies Plan for Economic Growth

THIES, Senegal, Nov., 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of experts from IBM (NYSE: IBM) presented recommendations to the City of Thies to grow the economic sector through measures to bolster entrepreneurialism, agricultural exports, and education. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO ) The 14-member IBM team of experts, with members hailing from ten countries, are completing a month-long engagement as part of IBM's pro bono Corporate Service Corps program, which provides problem-solving assistance to educational institutions, small businesses, non governmental organizations (NGOs), and governmental agencies in emerging markets. Since the launch of the Corporate Service Corps in 2008, over 2,000 IBM employees based in 50 countries have been dispatched on mor...

13Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Telecoms journal highlights challenges in the sector

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Johan van Huyssteen, PwC Communications Leader for Southern Africa reports that with billions of dollars of international investment flowing in and subscriber numbers rising across the continent, Africa’s communications market is at the inflection point where high potential starts to turn into high growth. And more reports showing that strong growth in the telecommunications sector is being driven by increasing investment, rapid progress in technological and communications services and some deregulation across the African continent. But for many reasons these achievements to date are only just the beginning as Africa’s future potential dwarfs the growth seen so far. These are some of the highlights from PwC’s publication: Communications Revie...

10Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Morocco News

IBM Develops Plan to Help Moroccan Farmers Boost Skills, Production

RABAT, Morocco, Nov., 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) experts participating in the company's pro bono Corporate Service Corps program have recommended a strategy to lift the productivity of Moroccan farmers. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO) The plan focuses on improving coordination between the country's Ministry of Agriculture and the farming community, as well as improve internal coordination within the ministry. Closer ties with farmers will enable the ministry to provide more timely advisories, training, and research results -- enabling farmers to modernize work techniques and improve their production quality and quantity. The nine-member IBM team, comprising members who hail from five countries, presented recommendations on a varie...

8Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

Ireland’s Minister for Trade and Development Leads Enterprise Ireland Trade Mission to South Africa

On Sunday 10 November 2012, Ireland’s Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello TD, will lead an Enterprise Ireland trade mission with 37 companies to South Africa. The trade mission is being organised by Irish trade and technology agency, Enterprise Ireland in close cooperation with Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Embassy of Ireland in Johannesburg. It is aimed at cementing the growing trade relations between the two countries and is part of a broad, long term strategy to further develop Irish trade links and partnerships not just in the South African market, but in the wider Sub-Saharan region. Last year Irish exports to South Africa increased to €944m and exports for 2012 are expected to continue this momentum. South Africa exports ...

8Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

Leading IT summit to boost ICT sector in South Africa through improved broadband and infrastructure

The 4th annual IT Leaders Africa Summit will be held in South Africa's city of gold, Johannesburg from 13 to 14 March 2013. The summit is hosted and produced by international business-to-business conferencing company, Kinetic Events. The IT Leaders Summit series is hosted in strategic locations all over the world including Johannesburg, Dubai, Ghana, Cape Town and Nairobi. The series hosts over 150 CIOs and senior IT executives representing leading companies from the respective regions. South Africa, Republic of, Nov, 2012 - Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing sectors within South Africa's economy, driven by rapid growth in mobile and broadband connectivity within recent years. South Africa boasts a network that is reportedly 99.9% digital and includes the latest advancemen...

7Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo: ICT4Gov Project Uses Participatory Budgeting and Telecommunications to Build Transparency and Accountability

Synopsis Project feedback mechanisms driven by participatory budgeting and new innovations in information communication technology are working to successfully build transparency, increase accountability and overcome a long history of mistrust in the Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu Province. Challenge Following decades of colonial rule, conflict upon conflict, mismanagement, and internal corruption, the Democratic Republic of Congo's national government was left with limited institutional capacity to provide effective services at the local level. This limited capacity has often prompted citizens' groups to view the central government as illegitimate, rent-seeking authorities uninterested in ensuring that resources filter down from the capital to far flung pr...

3Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Rwanda News

Africa: Regional integration can boost FDI, experts at AEC say

KIGALI, Rwanda, November, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Experts at the ongoing African Economic Conference in Kigali today agreed that Africa would need to strengthen regional integration in order to boost increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the continent, because it creates larger domestic markets and stimulates trade, two elements that can attract FDI. “At a time when China, India, Brazil and other large emerging markets are taking on such a prominence in the global economy, we must surely focus the minds of African policymakers, particularly from smaller, landlocked countries, on the importance of pushing forward the regional integration agenda”, said Andrew Mold, a senior Economic Affairs Officer of ECA. Mold said that attracting FDI in Africa c...