• UK Female Employment rose in 2011, shows CIPD Analysis
• Highest London City Job Competition since Recession Peak
• Gapyear.com Invites Readers to Share their Sabbatical Experience
• Applications Sought for Pearson Diversity Summer Internship Programme (Journalism) at the Financial Times
• Applications Sought for 2012 E Pluribus Unum Prizes Honouring Exceptional Immigrant Integration Initiatives
• Demand for UK Interim Managers Soars
• Business Services are Highest Recruitment Sector
• Facebook Voted Top Tech Company to Work For
• Record Unemployment Hits Europe
• Call for Papers-2nd Ghana SME Event (Business Sense 2012)
• South African Tourism Numbers Rise
• US Law Firm Expands in South Africa
• African Private Equity Deals hit $2.6bn
• ICBC Establishes Africa Rep Office
• Aureos Health Fund Closed at $105.4m
• Nigerian Central Banking Guru Voted Top by Forbes
• Tanzania launches 10-year agriculture plan based on CAADP
• Mauritian Economy Grew 4.1% in 2011
• IFC invests $5m in African Eagle
• West African NGO Seeking Returnees to Nigeria and Ghana for Research
• BlackRock & First Reserve Back Investment of $69m for SA's Umcebo
• African Petroleum Corporation Limited spuds the Narina Well in Liberia on Block LB-09
• Tunisia Joins EBRD
• Marsh Acquires SA Insurer Alexander Forbes
• Liberian Central Bank Launches Loans for Women and Rural Development
• India Extends $100 Million Loan to Mali
• Private Equity Deals in Africa Reached $3 Billion in 2011
• Kosmos Reportedly Signs Cameroon Deal

Women fared better than men in the UK labour market in 2011 despite the public-sector cutbacks, according to a CIPD analysis. By the third quarter of 2011 the number of women in work was 32,000 higher than the end of 2010, while the number of men in employment was 86,000 lower, found the institute's latest Work Audit. This was despite the fact that two-thirds of public-sector workers are female and many women work in part-time retail jobs– areas hit by government budget cuts and weak consumer demand respectively. Female unemployment has increased steadily from 6.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent since the end of the 2008/09 recession, but the male unemployment rate has also crept back up to 9 per cent in 2011, the research showed. The CIPD added that the rise in female unemployment could be attributed to more women entering the labour market, while a fall in the number of male jobseekers had actually prevented male unemployment from rising further.

The number of qualified staff for each City vacancy nearly trebled from the beginning to the end of 2011. This is according to the findings from Astbury Marsden, the financial services recruitment firm. At the start of 2011, there were 1.7 qualified candidates for each vacancy in the City, which had increased to five candidates per role by the end of the year – the highest it has been for two years.

Tim Fenton of Gapyear.com (www.gapyear.com) is looking for true-life sabbatical stories for the website. Tim took a mid-career gap year at the age of 45, spending 12 months sailing to and from the Caribbean with his wife and two children. “I really believe in the benefits of constructive time out and want to do more on gapyear.com to encourage the sort of people who are not traditionally associated with gap years to make the break. The best way to do that, I think, is to publish stories from people who've done it. Any ReConnect Africa readers who've spent time tracing family in Africa or more than a couple of months working and travelling in Africa and feel like telling their story would be very welcome on our pages. Just drop me a line at ditor@gapyear.com.”

When was the last time you came across an award-winning internship programme, which pays a salary, offers a training and development programme, and helps you to get a foot in the industry? The award-wining programme the Pearson Diversity Summer Internship Programme for graduates from visible ethnic minority backgrounds offers all this and more. If you are excited by the thought of writing for an international newspaper, Covering international business, finance and politics, learning new skills and having fun at the same time? Then the Pearson Diversity Summer Internship Programme (PDSIP) at the Financial Times could be for you. PDSIP is an award winning programme providing talented and ambitious UK aspiring journalists from visible ethnic minority backgrounds with the opportunity to work for the Financial Times - one of the world's leading publications. On the programme you spend twelve weeks on rotation on various desks in The Financial Times' Editorial department or other FT publications such as This is Africa. Interns will be expected to shadow journalists within the teams they are assigned with duties including research, writing and breaking new stories as well as general assistance to reporters and editors as required. Candidates on the programme receive £1,100 a month before tax, generous holiday allowance and extensive training and support throughout the programme. For details on how to apply for the internship visit: http://summerinternships.pearson.com.The closing date for applications is: 31st March 2012. The Pearson Diversity Summer Internship Programme operates under the Equality Act. Please note international students are not eligible for the internship programme.

The Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy has announced that the application period for the 2012 E Pluribus Unum Prizes is now open. The E Pluribus Unum Prizes national awards program provides $50,000 prizes annually to exceptionally successful immigrant integration initiatives. The program highlights and rewards outstanding efforts that help immigrants and their children join the mainstream of US society or that bring immigrants and the native born together to build stronger, more cohesive communities. The application is open to individuals, non-profit and community organizations, businesses, religious groups, and government entities, agencies, or officials operating in the United States. The deadline to apply is March 15, 2012 at 5 pm EST. Application rules and procedures can found at www.integrationawards.org.

Demand for interim managers has increased by 22% despite the wider senior management recruitment market remaining quiet. Research from Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Interim Management Association shows that demand for interims in Q3 2011 was 22% higher than the previous quarter. Interim Partners says that the number of new assignments given to interims is at its highest since the third quarter of 2009 and is driven by a weak economic outlook. Doug Baird, Managing Director, Interim Partners, says: “Businesses are already taking steps to respond to the Eurozone crisis by trying to become as lean as they can. That is creating demand for interims with experience of going into a businesses and taking out any non-core costs in a way that has the least possible impact on customers and staff morale.”

The business services sector is recruiting more than any other industry, a new study shows. Barclay Meade's Tracking UK Recruitment report suggests that more than half (56%) of businesses in the sector are recruiting at above pre-recession levels, which is an increase from 48% in the previous quarter. While recruitment freezes have fallen to 10%, the lowest of all industry sectors. Reed's Job Index shows that job vacancies were 17% higher in December 2011 than in the same month the previous year.

Mark Zuckerburg's social networking site is the top technology company to work for according to the Employees' Choice Awards. Glassdoor's fourth annual list of the top 50 places to work – according to employee survey responses – has declared Facebook as the third best company to work for, beating Google (5th) and Apple (10th). Facebook employees are provided with three meals daily, an annual game day, medial and retirement benefits, on-site lectures, laundry and even leather repair.

Unemployment in Europe has hit a record 16.4 million as the jobless rate reached an average of 10.3 per cent, according to the latest data from European Union's statistics office Eurostat. Figures for November 2011 showed that of the single currency Euro Area's 17 member countries, Spain had the highest levels of unemployment at 22.9 per cent, while debt-ravaged Greece was not far behind with 18.8 per cent. The lowest levels of joblessness were found in Austria, which had a rate of 4 per cent, while Luxembourg and the Netherlands both had rates of 4.9 per cent. This compares to a rate of 8.3 per cent unemployment in the UK, which is outside the EA. Figures for the wider group of 27 European Union countries showed a fractionally more positive picture, with average unemployment rates of 9.8 per cent or 23.7 million people out of work, which includes the 16.4 million jobless in the EA. Compared with November 2010, unemployment in the EU27 rose by 723,000 and in the EA by 587,000.Meanwhile outside Europe, joblessness was recorded at 8.6 per cent in the USA and 4.5 per cent in Japan - excluding the areas worst hit by March 2011 tsunami. Since 2010, the unemployment rate has fallen in 14 EU member states and increased in 13. The countries improving the most were Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, although all three still have double-digit unemployment rates. The countries where unemployment has worsened by the largest extent are Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Young Europeans have been particularly hard hit by the rise in unemployment, as more than five and half million people aged under 25 were unemployed. The UK rate for out-of-work young people, 22 per cent, is slightly below the EU27 average, but above the EA average. The lowest rates of youth unemployment were seen in Germany (8.1 per cent), Austria (8.3 per cent) and the Netherlands (8.6 per cent), and the highest in Spain (49.6 per cent), Greece (46.6 per cent in September 2011) and Slovakia (35.1 per cent).

Occupational Management Limited Africa (OML Africa) will be hosting the 2nd Ghana SME Expo (dubbed Business Sense 2012), scheduled to take place in Accra from 31st May-2nd June 2012. The 2nd Ghana SME Expo (Business Sense 2012), is designed to create a unique platform that will assist SMEs and entrepreneurs in a wide spectrum of industry to grow their businesses, learn from successful business people, take advantage of new opportunities in the oil and gas industry whiles applying modern technology and having access to vital finance, etc. This important event will consist of a 2 day conference and 3 day exhibition focused on SMEs and service providers of this large but neglected SME sector. OML Africa is accepting proposals for the Business Sense 2012 Conference. For consideration, please email Paul Asinor at paul@omlafrica.com with the following information: Proposed speaker name, title and company, contact information including phone and e-mail, proposed title of presentation, brief overview of the presentation (1 brief paragraph plus 3-4 bullets that illustrate the session take-aways).

There was a two percent increase in the number of travellers moving in and out of South Africa in December compared to the same period last year, according to the South African Department of Home Affairs. The department recorded 3.7-million travellers on its computer system in December, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement. Of these, over 2.5-million were foreigners and 1.2-million were locals. These numbers include both arrivals and departures. The majority of visitors came from Southern African Development Community countries, but there was also steady inflow from the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Germany. Most of the movement into and out of the country was through OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, Cape Town International Airport, the Beit Bridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe, the Lebombo border post into Mozambique, Ficksburg and Maseru Bridge into Lesotho, Oshoek and Golela into Swaziland, and Kopfontein and Ramatlabama into Botswana. The Western Cape's Tourism Marketing Agency, meanwhile, said it has seen a rise in domestic tourism in the province. The province's tourism industry has flourished since the start of December. Tourist attractions such as Table Mountain, the V&A Waterfront and Langebaan continue to be some of the most popular areas.

US-based law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf has expanded its South African office with the addition of a dozen leading local lawyers as it gears up for an expansion of economic activity in the country and on the continent. Dewey has added eight partners and four associates from local law firm Werkmans Attorneys to its existing office in Johannesburg, a move that, according to US website The American Lawyer, marks its biggest African investment yet and makes its SA office one of the largest to be opened by an international law firm.

Investors sealed about $2.6billion worth of private equity in 2011 deals across Africa, according to Perqin data. Investments in 2011 were almost three times the total $0.89billion reported in 2010. The business sector attracted the most amount of money, weighted by Africa Capital Alliance's (ACA)-led $750m investment in Nigeria's Union Bank. ACA led a consortium of investors to win an auction for the recapitalisation of the bank in March 2011. The deal enabled the business services sector to win 33% of the deals in terms of value, while the consumer sector came in second with 22%. The industrials space was third with 19%, while the food & agriculture and materials segment each made up 8% of the deals. The telecoms, media and communications sector each attracted 7% while healthcare got 2%. The consumer sector ranked first in terms of number of deals, bringing in 19% of the business. Notable deals in the consumer sector included the $596m Pepkor deal in South Africa, closed by Brait. Pepkor now makes up about 51% of Brait's assets under management. The food & agriculture segment closed 16% of the deals, at par with industrials which attracted the same figure. Telecoms, media and communications recorded 13% while business services reported 10% of the transactions. Clean technology, information technology and materials each attracted 3%. The data covers reported deals between 1st January and December 1st 2011.

The Chinese bank ICBC, which bought a 20% stake in South Africa' s Standard Bank for $5.5bn, has established its first representative office in Africa, with the intention of boosting Africa's share of ICBCs international trade finance four-fold to about 20% in 10 years from the current 5%.

Aureos's Africa Health Fund (AHF) reached a final close at $105.4m, exceeding the $100million the manager set for the fund. AHF is a specialist pilot fund anchored by four cornerstone investors who collectively contributed $57million towards the first closing in 2009. The International Finance Corporation and the African Development Bank each committed $20 million, while $7 million came from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG) contributed $10 million. The fund additionally received commitments from a number of other investors including the Elma Foundation, the Maria Wrigley Trust, ASN Bank, and the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund). AHF also has access to an $8.4million technical assistance facility funded by grants from a number of the investors. These funds may be called upon as necessary to enhance the impact of the fund's investments, providing portfolio companies with funding for business development and governance initiatives. AHF is structured to make investments of $0.25million and $5million and will particularly target companies serving low income communities. All investments will be in the form of equity or quasi-equity and the fund manager will look for exit from each investment in five to seven years. Aureos is interested in backing primary care providers such as clinics, hospitals, diagnostic centers and laboratories. Risk pooling and financing companies are also on the fund's investment radar, including health management groups and insurance companies. The investor will also inject capital in distribution and retail companies such as eye clinics, pharmacies and logistics companies. Suitable pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing companies and medical schools should also expect to be considered for investment. Although the fund will look to invest across the whole sub-Saharan Africa region, particular focus will be on companies operating in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Aureos has executed four deals from the fund, three of which are in Kenya. The Kenya-based deals include a $2.8million investment in Revital Healthcare, an estimated $ 2.5million in Nairobi Women's Hospital, and another $2.5milllion in the Avenue Group. Aureos' has also injected $4.5million in Ghana-based C&J Medicare.

Mallam Lamido Sanusi has been voted Africa's Person of the Year 2011 by Forbes Africa, beating two Nobel laureates, a former president and Africa's richest man. Nigeria's Central Bank governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, has been voted Africa's Person of the Year 2011 by Forbes Africa, beating two Nobel laureates, a former president and the richest man in Africa. Sanusi masterminded the recovery of Nigeria's financial sector by introducing radical reforms when he started his tenure as governor of the country's central bank in 2009. After taking up his appointment on 1 June 2009, Sanusi facilitated the 400-billion naira (US$2.6-billion or R21-billion) bailout of Nigeria's Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank, and then dismissed most of those institutions' chief executives. Sanusi bagged the most votes in an online poll by Forbes Africa, to find the individual who "for better or worse, has had the most influence on events of the year gone by". He was pitted against Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel laureate and Africa's first female head of state; Pedro Veron Pires, former president of Cape Verde and winner of the 2011 Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership; Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote; and the recently deceased Kenyan environmental and political activist and Nobel laureate, Wangari Mathaai.

The government of Tanzania has unveiled an Agricultural and Food Security Investment Plan (TAFSIP) to address the core national problems of poverty and food shortages in rural areas and promote agricultural growth and nutrition security. The 10-year plan was launched in Dar es Salaam at a Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact business meeting in late 2010. TAFSIP will coordinate the resources needed to promote implementation of the existing and new development initiatives in agriculture and food security to be implemented from 2011-12 to 2020-21 under the CAADP framework. The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Prof. Jumanne Maghembe said the programme seeks to achieve at least a minimum of 6% growth in the agriculture sector, for which the government needed to allocate a minimum of 10% of its budget. The minister pointed out that the primary beneficiaries will be the smallholder farmers, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists and fishing households, who will be helped to adopt improved agricultural practices.

The economy of Mauritius grew 4.1 percent in 2011 and will expand at a fractionally slower pace of 4 percent in the new year, according to the country's statistics office. The Indian Ocean island's tourism sector, a key driver of economic growth and source of hard currency, saw revenue increase to 42.5 billion rupees this year from 39.45 billion rupees in 2010, official data showed. Mauritius' textiles industry, a one-time cornerstone of the roughly $10 billion economy, grew by 8.3 percent, sharply up from its 0.7 percent growth in 2010. The statistics office also said the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent in 2011 from 7.8 percent in 2010, with a total of 45,900 unemployed this year. Statistics Mauritius said the unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in the third quarter, compared with 7.6 percent a year earlier. While tourism and textiles performed well during 2011, the global economic downturn still reduced demand for leisure on the Indian Ocean island and exports such as textiles.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has invested approximately $5million in African Eagle Resources to fund its exploration activities in Tanzania. The deal sees the IFC take a 10% stake in the company. The financing is specifically meant fund African Eagle's exploration activities in the Dutwa Nickel Project in Tanzania. The funds are expected to be released by the IFC in January this year, once the company's has satisfied the investor's set conditions, which have not been disclosed. African Eagle's feasibility study of the Dutwa prospect is already underway and is set to be completed by 2012 year-end.

Human Development Initiatives (HDI), a reputable NGO has a project on migration-return migration and Development- in West Africa and are conducting scientific research interviews. They are seeking returned migrants to Nigeria, Ghana and other West African Countries to contact them with their views on returned migration and development in West Africa. They can be reached on hudev2001@yahoo.com and yakanle@yahoo.com

US-based BlackRock and First Reserve have backed the $69.4 million (R900million) private equity investment in South Africa-based coal miner Umcebo Mining. The duo invested alongside Glencore International and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. The deal saw Glencore pick up a 43.66% equity stake in Umcebo. First Reserve is understood to have structured the deal through a fund it co-manages with American Metals & Coal International (AMCI), called AMCI Capital Fund 1. The funding will finance production at South Africa's principal coal field in Mpumalanga, which has established infrastructure to transport thermal coal. The transaction also secures access to an eventual 1.5 million metric tonnes of export allocation in Phase V of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal. Based in Leraatsfontein, Umcebo is a mining company with coal mining interests in Witbank, in the province of Mpumalanga. Umcebo and its subsidiaries currently operate eight collieries in the Witbank coalfield, servicing both the local and export markets.

African Petroleum Corporate Limited has commenced drilling the Narina-1 well on Block LB-09 where the Company has a 100% interest. African Petroleum drilled the first well in this previously untested frontier basin in 2011 with encouraging results and provides the hydrocarbon potential of the region. The Narina-1 well will primarily target a Turonian prospect similar to discoveries like Jubilee in Ghana and Mercury/Venus in Sierra Leone. The Company estimates the targeted prospect has potential recoverable oil resources of 500 mmbbls (Mean) to 1200 mmbbls (Upside) for the Turonian reservoir plus additional potential resources in both shallower and deeper reservoirs. The Narina-1 well will be drilled with the Maersk Deliverer semi-submersible deep water drilling rig, which drilled the Apalis-1 well in 2011 on Block LB-09 without any technical problems and materially under budget. Karl Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, said that Apalis-1, the first well in deep water offshore Liberia proved a working hydrocarbon system in the basin and the second well will target Turonian sands similar to the oil bearing reservoirs in Ghana and Sierra Leone. The Narina-1 prospect has potential for very large reserves in this new emerging and successful Upper Cretaceous exploration play along West African transform margin.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD) has announced that Tunisia has been afforded membership to the Bank. EBRD asserted that Tunisia is developing into a target country for the Bank's investors.

Marsh, a wholly-owned local unit of US-based insurance and risk management group Marsh & McLennan, has completed its acquisition of the brokerage business of South African insurer Alexander Forbes, significantly expanding its presence in sub-Saharan Africa. Marsh has also agreed to acquire other Alexander Forbes risk operations across sub-Saharan Africa – in Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia subject to regulatory and other approvals.

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has launched L$200,000,000 Extension Loans which will be provided to Microfinance Institutions, Credit Unions and Village Savings and Loans Associations that will be used by women groups, village savings and loan associations in the country.

India has extended a $100million loan to Mali for a power project. The line of credit is meant to finance a power transmission project connecting Bamako to the southern city of Sikasso.

Private equity investors closed $3billion worth of deals in 2011, with South Africa and Nigeria attracting the most capital, according to Preqin data. Deal making was bolstered by a number of last minute closures in December, including the $70million investment in South Africa's Umcebo Mining led by US-based investors Black Rock and First Reserve Corporation. China-based Hanhong Private Equity also closed a $16.9 million transaction in the month, backing Stonewall Mining. Part of the financing went into the bolt-on acquisition of Transvaal Gold Mining Estates in South Africa. South Africa continued to account for the bulk of the deal making in 2011, with investors closing $1.86billion worth of transactions in the country. Nigeria came in second with about $1billion, lifted by the $750 million investment in Union Bank by a consortium led by Africa Capital Alliance (ACA). The deal is the largest private equity transaction across Africa in 2011. The year saw deal making from US-based private equity houses that are traditionally not focused on Africa. In addition to Black Rock and First Reserve closing the Umcebo transaction, Bayside Capital sealed a number of deals including an undisclosed investment in GDP and GDP Tech Tunisia, alongside fellow US player HIG Capital. Bayside additionally seized opportunity to close a restaurant deal in October, backing Hooters of South Africa. ACA's Union Bank deal also drew in a number of US-based investors, including The Keffi Group, which invested through Keffi Group VIII, a vehicle backed by global private equity giant JC Flowers. Discovery Group, a US-based hedge fund manager, also backed the Union Bank deal. Compass Capital was also in the market, backing Egypt's 10th of Ramadan for Pharmaceutical & Diagnostic Reagents Company in January. Africa also saw deals from China-based private equity players including the China Investment Corporation which bought Shanduka from Investec et al. Hony Capital was also active in the market, reportedly agreeing to commit up to $100 million to Madagascar-based iron ore mining company Wisco Guangxin Kam Wah Resources in February.

Blackstone Group and Warburg Pincus portfolio company Kosmos Energy has reportedly signed a $17.56million (CAF9 billion) deal to explore for oil in Cameroon. Kosmos is said to have sealed the deal with Societé National des Hydrocarbures (SNH), the country's state-owned oil resources management company. The agreement will enable Kosmos to explore within the country's offshore Fako block, which covers 1,289-square metres. The agreement is valid for six years. Kosmos discovered the Jubilee Field in Ghana's deep waters in 2007 and has made a number of additional oil discoveries across the country. The Jubilee Field delivered the first oil production at the end of 2010, and is targeting to produce 120,000 barrels oil per day.