was Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

26Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

A company that knows how to make things look easy

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Alcatel-Lucent has a success story to tell. Its stories, references and activities in Africa in 2012 is a lesson for many other organizations who what to make it big on the continent. In a recently published document Alcatel-Lucent shares references, successes, achievement and activities in Africa; as well as vision of African Market and broadband according to Daniel Jaeger, Vice-President of Alcatel-Lucent in Africa. News from Algiers, Algeria reveal that broadband for Africa, realize the potential of a connected world and tackle rural inclusion. I – Alcatel-Lucent presence, activities and foot print in Africa. II- Broadband in Africa, vision and view according to Daniel Jaeger Vice-President of Alcatel-Lucent Africa. III - Alcatel-Lucent’s pres...

20Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

A ten-year strategy to support the development of social protection systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Social protection, which comprises both social assistance and social insurance programs, is a powerful tool to reduce poverty and vulnerability The World Bank has a new 10-year strategy for social protection in Africa (2012-2022) The vision is to help governments build country-owned national social protection systems Social protection, once thought of as exclusive to rich and middle-income countries, is being increasingly employed in low-income countries in Africa, where policymakers are recognizing its potential as a powerful tool to reduce poverty, vulnerability, and social inequality. The food, fuel and financial crises of 2008 have shown the vital role that social protection can play in cushioning poor and vulnerable households from shocks. Acro...

20Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

AE-AMD Renewable Energy And Tenesol/SunPower Begin Work On Two Solar Projects In South Africa

Projects are Part of Government's IPP Procurement Program JOHANNESBURG and SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AE-AMD Renewable Energy, a joint venture between the Spanish AMDA energia and the South African Alt-E Technologies, and Tenesol, a SunPower company (NASDAQ: SPWR), today announced two South African ground-mounted solar power projects totaling 33 megawatts (MW). Both projects, which Tenesol will construct, are located near Douglas, South Africa in the Northern Cape Province. Herbert, a 22-MW project, has begun construction, and groundbreaking for the 11-MW Greefspan project will begin in the coming weeks. They are both part of the South African government's Independent Power Producers Procurement Program and completion for both projects i...

14Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

DHL Global Connectedness Index shows signs of progress for Africa and others

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa The latest reports on African Connectedness are showing great things for the future. And African countries are showing the largest increases in their global connectedness, according to DHL. While recent announcements from Cape Town, South Africa reveal: • The countries with the largest increases are Mozambique, Togo, Ghana, Guinea and Zambia • Global connectedness has yet to recover from its steep drop at the onset of the financial crisis • The world’s shifting economic center of gravity is reshaping industry connectedness DHL recently released the second edition of the DHL Global Connectedness Index (GCI), a comprehensive analysis of the state of globalization around the world. The report, drawing on over one million data points fr...

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...

3Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Airtel and Ericsson making history in African network transformation

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Airtel has completed the largest network transformation in African Telecoms history - and is partnering with Ericsson for the comprehensive upgrade of a network to deliver superior service. Otherwise known as Bharti Airtel, the leading telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, recently said that it has undertaken an end-to-end network transformation program across its mobile operations in 16 African countries. The program, which is the largest of its kind on the African continent, in partnership with Ericsson involved a comprehensive upgrade and expansion of network elements on all of Airtel’s African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging, and consumer-services platforms and sys...

21Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

Africa’s Energy Stakeholders Embrace “Global Technology for Local Solutions”

The timing of the first POWER-GEN Africa and Renewable Energy World Africa, which took place from 6-8 November 2012 in Johannesburg could not have been more favourable as the first contracts between the South African government and independent power producers (IPPs) to add 1400 megawatts of renewable energy to the national grid was signed during the week of the event. Explains Nigel Blackaby, Event Director and Director of International Conferences at event organisers, PennWell Corporation, “this underscores the importance and significance of hosting a globally representative power generation exhibition and conference such as POWER-GEN Africa and Renewable Energy World Africa, which is aimed at linking professionals in the energy generation industry of Africa with lead...

20Nov

By Chancy NamadzundaNo Comments

African News

Airtel Malawi launches new promotion, Timaitha Fiesta

By Chancy Nanadzunda Airtel Malawi on Tuesday launched a new promotion called Timaitha Fiesta with an aim of enriching its customers’ day to day lives. Speaking at the launch, Airtel Malawi Deputy Managing Director Maurice Newa the promotion will see 32 people from every district winning a scholarship valued at K100 000 every week . The promotion will run for 13 weeks which translates to 416 beneficiaries. “In addition, 10 winners from each district will get a ZTE handset each week while another ten customers will also get K1000 worth of airtime weekly,” said Newa He added, “We are launching this promotion because we appreciate that during this time of the year, our customers have many financial commitments such as farming, Christmas as well as taking care of other b...

20Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Kenya News

Airtel introduces new service in Africa

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Bharti Airtel says its customers in Africa will now get Free incoming calls while roaming on its South Asia Network. This is the worlds’ first intercontinental roaming facility offering free incoming calls leverages Airtel’s network reach in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh To benefit African businessmen, tourists and students traveling to the Indian sub-continent, The announcement was made last week in Nairobi, Kenya. Airtel, a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, introduces the world’s first free intercontinental incoming roaming service by including India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to its current bouquet of "ONE NETWORK" services for its African customers. Also, Airtel c...

20Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, Zimbabwe News

Air quality deteriorates in Zimbabwe’s main cities

by Wallace Mawire A report produced by the Institute of Environmental Studies (IES) on the proposed National Climate Change Response Strategy in Zimbabwe has revealed that there is increasing evidence of deteriorating air quality in the country's main cities. The IES, a department of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) was contracted by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management to come up with a national climate change response strategy for Zimbabwe. The strategy report says that studies conducted by the Air Pollution Information Network for Africa show that carbon monoxide constituted 74% of Zimbabwe's total emissions using 2000 as the base year and was mostly from savanna and vegetation burning including forest fires. "The other pollutants such as nitrogen oxide c...