year Archives - Page 4 of 6 - AfricaBusiness.com

11Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Investors Applaud Hershey’s Vow To Source 100% Certified Cocoa By 2020

Move to certify entire product line seen as significant step to eradicate trafficking and forced child labor on cocoa farms and plantations NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a shareholder coalition that engages companies on labor and human rights standards in global supply chains, commends the Hershey Company for its commitment to certify all its cocoa by a third party by 2020. With a 43% share of the U.S. chocolate market, the investors view Hershey's decision as an important advancement that is certain to influence the industry and result in more sustainable cocoa farming and production. Said Chris Meyer of Praxis Mutual Funds and co-convener of the Hershey dialogue, "Seventy percent of the worl...

10Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

eMarketing Egypt Releases Its Third Annual Report About Facebook in Egypt: E-Marketing Insights

"Facebook evolved to be of extreme importance for any digital marketing efforts, and understanding all about Facebook users becomes an essential step to start any Facebook marketing activity," said Ahmad Nagy; eMarketing Egypt Managing Director. Cairo, Egypt, October, 2012 --(PR.com)-- www.emarketing-egypt.comeMarketing Egypt announced the third report in its annual series of reports about Facebook in Egypt: Facebook in Egypt... e-Marketing Insights. "Facebook evolved to be of extreme importance for any digital marketing efforts, and understanding all about Facebook users becomes an essential step to start any Facebook marketing activity," said Ahmad Nagy; eMarketing Egypt Managing Director. “For the third year in row we try to provide marketers with a crystal view of Facebook in...

10Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

South Africa: John Thompson flying higher

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Here is a company that knows how to make it big in the international business arena. The South African group, John Thompson is continuing its strong international performance with multiple export orders into the East African tea industry, brewing industry and the highly competitive Far East market, research reveals. According to JT, the tea industry, mostly concentrated in the East African region, has placed orders for a total of five wood-fired boiler units during the year to date. This industry also has vast tracks of land available for planting of blue gum trees making this the cheapest and most sustainable fuel. And the John Thompson Simpac boiler has been custom designed for wood log firing. It complies with latest design code yet is robustly built ...

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...

8Oct

By The African Press OrganizationNo Comments

African News

Officials to deliberate a business plan to implement the African Mining Vision

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, October 8, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – The joint partnership of the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank has hailed today’s meeting of the Bureau of the Second Conference of AU Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development as “an important milestone in implementing the Africa Mining Vision.” Convened by the Ethiopian Minister of Mines, Sinkinesh Ejigu, in her capacity as Chair of the Bureau of Ministers responsible for Mines, the 8-9 meeting aims to discuss a Business Plan aimed at establishing the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), according to Stephen Karingi, Director, Regional Integration and Trade Division, ECA. “We are all only too aware that despite Africa’s rich ...

8Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

World Bank Launches New Fund to Help African Countries Negotiate Best-Possible Deals for their Oil, Gas, and Minerals

PARIS, October, 2012―With new discoveries of oil, gas, and other minerals generating a wave of significant mineral wealth in African countries, the World Bank today launched a new fund to help countries on the continent level the playing field and ensure equitable deals in their natural resource contracts with international companies. With Africa holding 15% of the world’s oil reserves, 40% of its gold, and about 80% of the platinum group of metals, natural resources represent important development opportunities for the continent. For example, oil production has been growing steadily in Africa, and is expected to continue to rise at an average rate of six percent per year for the foreseeable future. At the 40th Anniversary Meeting of the Zone Franc Monetary Union in Paris today, attended b...

8Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Despite Global Slowdown, African Economies Growing Strongly― New Oil, Gas, and Mineral Wealth an Opportunity for Inclusive Development

WASHINGTON, October, 2012 – Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at 4.8 percent in 2012, broadly unchanged from the 4.9 percent growth rate in 2011 and largely on track despite setbacks in the global economy, according to the World Bank’s new Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects. Excluding South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to rise to 6 percent. African exports rebounded notably in the first quarter of 2012, growing at an annual pace of 32 percent, up from the -11 percent pace recorded in the last quarter of 2011. African countries have not been immune to the recent bout of market volatility stemming from the Euro Area crisis, as well as the growth slowdown that is occurring in some ...

22Aug

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

South African Fashion eCommerce Retailer Expands Into Africa

Millbug.com, the leading women's fashion ecommerce retailer in South Africa today announced it would be expanding into the rest of Africa. The company, which prides itself on providing elegant and edgy fashion for millennials, has confirmed that its number one priority will be proliferating the African ecommerce environment. “We are very fortunate to have unique insights into the African youth consumer market”, says Managing Director of Millbug (Pty) Ltd, Sabelo Sibanda. “Our site delivers the same user experience whether it's being viewed on a desktop, tablet or mobile device. This, coupled with our live chat, multiple payment gateways and free worldwide shipping, puts millbug.com in a perfect position to spread the love to the rest of the continent”. Millbug.com has built a s...

22Aug

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Kenya News

Tom Juma, Head of Service Delivery and ICT of Old Mutual Kenya is to attend and speak at the Cloud East Africa Summit

Tom Juma, Head of Service Delivery and ICT of Old Mutual Kenya (Microsoft Word) The Cloud Summit East Africa Summit, proudly supported by the Kenya ICT Board and KITOS, will be held in Nairobi on 7 September 2012. The strategic industry event is hosted by international business-to-business conferencing company, Kinetic Events. The summit is proudly endorsed by the Eastern Africa Chambers of Commerce (EAECC). Kinetic Events has announced that international guest speaker, Tom Juma, Head of Service Delivery and ICT of Old Mutual Kenya is to attend and speak at the Cloud East Africa Summit. Tom Juma is a seasoned IT professional who has worked in various banking in Kenya and currently is the Head of Service Delivery and ICT at Old Mutual Kenya. A Holder of Master and Bachelor’...

26Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

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...