Women Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

Breaking the boys’ club: If investing in women yields good returns, then why are we still fighting for their inclusion?

5Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Breaking the boys’ club: If investing in women yields good returns, then why are we still fighting for their inclusion?

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs According to research by Statistics South Africa, nearly half (47%) of South African women are unemployedi. This comes as would-be female employees have a tougher time finding work than men, thanks to the inequalities they face, including unequal pay and fewer leadership positions among others, while at the same time struggling to maintain a matriarchal role in society and family. It is for reasons like these that African women often turn to self-employment by starting their own businesses. According to the World Economic Forum, women make up 58% of Africa's self-employed population and contribute around 13% of the continent's Gross domestic product GDP, with Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, having the world’s highest rate of women involve...

31May

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Main, Nigeria News, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Women Can Add $14.57 Billion to E-Commerce in Africa: IFC Research

Africa’s e-commerce market could grow by more than $14.5 billion between 2025-2030 according to an IFC report published today. The report finds this can be achieved by increasing the number of women selling on online platforms and by providing them with better training and financial support to help them match sales made by men. The report, Women and e-commerce in Africa, found that COVID-19 has accelerated the growth of e-commerce and digital entrepreneurship in Africa and that more women have embraced digital business. However, it also noted that more can be done to promote women’s entrepreneurship and help women overcome e-commerce challenges. For example, e-commerce marketplace platforms are well-positioned to target women-owned businesses with training, and to encourage women’s partici...

AMAKA Studio: A Publisher Dedicated To Celebrating Pan-African Womanhood Launches

14Mar

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Nigeria News

AMAKA Studio: A Publisher Dedicated To Celebrating Pan-African Womanhood Launches

AMAKA Studio (AMAKA) launched on 11 March. Founded by 25-year-old Nigerian-American CEO Adaora Oramah, the online platform will spotlight nuanced stories for women from Africa and across the diaspora. Intentionally launching the week of International Women’s Day, AMAKA kicks off by celebrating its reason for existence - Pan-African womanhood - for the entire month of March. The celebrations have begun with several high-profile interviews, including conversations with Kenyan-American singer-songwriter and actress Victoria Kimani and Nigerian superstar Teni. With a mission to produce inclusive and culturally relevant content that represents the perspective of Pan-African women, AMAKA’s Editorial team will create content that unites women across geographical and language boundaries. One mis...

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...

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 Hussaini UmarNo Comments

African News, Nigeria News

Nigeria’s Constitution Review: Nigerians reject rotating the presidency between North and South

By Hussaini Umar Nigerians yesterday rejected single term presidency, which is being canvassed by President Goodluck Jonathan, during the House of Representatives Public Hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution at the 360 Federal Constituencies in the country. Also, in most states, the call for the creation of additional states and the recognition of the six geopolitical zones in the constitution were rejected. So, also, the people rejected the idea of rotating the presidency between North and South, as most of them voted for leadership by merit. At the various venues of the public hearing, delegates were asked to tick ‘yes’ or ‘no’ against each of the 43 aspects of the 1999 Constitution which is being amended by the National Assembly. However, delegates overwhelmingly voted aga...

6Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Ethiopia News

The 5th African Private Sector Forum gets underway under the theme “The Role of Private Sector in Promoting Investment and Agro-Industry in Africa”

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, November 6, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – The 3 day 5th African Private Sector Forum was launched today in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire with strategic aims to promote investment and trade through partnerships and joint ventures between the African Union Commission’s (AUC) Member States, the Middle East and the world at large in key sectors such as infrastructure development, transportation, telecommunication amongst others. Held under the theme “The Role of Private Sector in Promoting Investment and Agro-Industry in Africa”, the annual Forum will bring the African and Arab business communities on one platform to explore business opportunities, focusing primarily on how the private sector actors from both regions can forge sustainable partnerships with a v...

31Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia News, Kenya News, Rwanda News

Kagame opens African Economic Conference, calls for models that respond to local needs

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, October 31, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Rwandese leader, President Paul Kagame today in Kigali opened the 7th African Economic Conference, calling it an opportunity for leading African economists to look beyond purely economic factors for solutions to Africa’s developmental problems. Convened by the Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA), the African Development Bank, (AFDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the three-day conference is focusing on the theme Inclusive and Sustainable Development in an Age of Economic Uncertainty, according to ECA’s Information and Communication Service. He said that analysts might point to issues of governance and lack of sufficient transformational leaders but “the real problem is that our...

8Oct

By The African Press OrganizationNo Comments

African News

Middle East and North Africa: Boosting support for women’s entrepreneurship will pay off in jobs and growth, says OECD

PARIS, France, October 8, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) should create urgently needed jobs for the 2.5 million people entering the labour market each year and improve their policies to encourage women’s entrepreneurship in order to reduce structural unemployment, says a new OECD report. Women in Business: Policies to Support Women’s Entrepreneurship Development in the MENA Region notes that while MENA governments have made progress over the past decade in closing the gender gap in education, more needs to be done to tackle gender inequality in business. Today, only 27% of women in the region join the labour force, compared to 51% in other low, middle and high-income economies, and only 11% are self-employed, against...

26Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Malawi News, Science, Tanzania News

New CDC studies point to better practices in timing, testing, and retention of patients in HIV anti-retroviral drug treatment (ART) in Africa

ATLANTA, July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New collaborative studies being presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the XIX International AIDS Conference confirm early treatment of HIV patients results in better outcomes, suggest use of viral load testing to detect treatment failure, and highlight factors associated with low rate of ART enrollment. CDC plays an essential role in implementing the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through its scientific and technical expertise, and long-standing partnerships with Ministries of Health and other key global partners such as the World Health Organization. Presentations at the conference reflect CDC's commitment to fighting global HIV/AIDS and to achieving President Obama and Sec...