Connecting Africa’s Skilled Professionals
ReConnect Africa is a unique website and online magazine for the African professional in the Diaspora. Packed with
essential information about careers, business and jobs, ReConnect Africa keeps you connected to the best of Africa.
Masterclass: Africa is the UK’s only Careers, Enterprise & Investment event focused on helping you to make the move to Africa. Whether your plan is to enter the African job market, set up or expand your business into the continent, or identify investment opportunities, there are some key issues you need to consider. Masterclass: Africa is a unique event which will take place at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London and which will bring together three Masterclasses by experienced professionals with proven expertise in careers, enterprise and investment. Attendees will benefit from three Masterclasses: ‘Your Career in Africa’, ‘Planning your Business in Africa’ and ‘Making the Move to Africa’. From planning the move to Africa to positioning one’s business and career, Masterclass: Africa will give participants the practical information and advice that they need to know. The event will also include insights from guest speakers including Eric-Vincent Guichard, CEO of Diaspora investment platform, Homestrings, who will share his views on the latest trends‚ challenges and opportunities when investing in Africa. For details and to register: http://reconnectmasterclassafrica.eventbrite.com/#
Humanity Strong is a daily human-edited news-aggregation website focusing on NGOs and the United Nations. Humanity Strong is an independent one-stop news shop covering human rights, nature conservation and humanitarian aid. It helps NGO and UN supporters to stay informed with a list of headlines from the most trusted international organizations, displayed on a simple website homepage. It is a new unifying media tool that brings together leading international organizations and highly socially responsible corporations. Humanity Strong works only with sustainability leaders with proven records, corporations that are supported by most NGOs and UN agencies. Humanity Strong creates synergy amongst NGOs, the United Nations and corporate networks. Statistically, NGOs and the United Nations systems reach a combined total of over 100 million individuals worldwide. Humanity Strong works to unify these networks in a single place. The site audience is the NGO and United Nations supporters who care about human rights, the environment, wildlife, health, humanitarian crises, international justice, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. There are over 1,500 NGOs registered at the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI). The United Nations has 15 agencies, 11 global programs, four institutes and six other entities, making it difficult to see the big global picture.
The UK government has announced changes to employment legislation which include reducing the consultation period for large-scale redundancies from 90 to 45 days. Halving the minimum consultation time for organisations making 100 or more redundancies would enhance “certainty and flexibility” for both workers and employers, said ministers. Other reforms include legislation to ensure fixed-term contracts are excluded from collective redundancy consultations, and the introduction of new Acas guidance on the subject. The announcement from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills follows a government consultation on collective redundancies launched in June. The changes are expected to take affect from April 2013.
The gap between women’s and men’s pay has declined over the crisis years in most countries, but not always for the right reasons, according to the ILO's Global Wage Report 2012/13. In some cases, this is because men’s situation in the labour market has deteriorated while women’s situation has improved or stayed the same. In Estonia, for example, changes in the gender pay gap are usually cyclical, increasing in times of growth and decreasing during recessions. Men worked in sectors that were hardest hit by the crisis and also worked fewer hours, which helped to narrow the pay gap. In some Middle Eastern countries few women are employed and those who do earn more than men. In Syria, for example, only about 13 per cent of women were economically active in 2010 before the civil war, but 74 per cent of them worked in the public sector, where wages were about 1.5 times higher than in the private sector. There are major differences across the globe when it comes to how much men and women are paid. Statistics sometimes vary depending on whether all full-time, or part-time employees are considered. The gender pay gap is even higher when all employees are taken into account, because a larger proportion of women work part-time, where hourly pay is lower than for full-time work.
Steady economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean continues reducing unemployment rates, according to an ILO report. But about half the region’s workers are trapped in informal sector jobs. The urban unemployment rate in Latin America and the Caribbean fell to 6.4 per cent in 2012 and is expected to continue its downward trend to drop to 6.2 per cent in 2013, according to the International Labour Organization’s Panorama Laboral. The level is the lowest since the annual statistics were first compiled in the early 1990s.The unemployment rate in the region, which was at 11 per cent in 2002, has kept dropping for a decade, except at the height of the global crisis in 2009. The drop in unemployment rates came amid continued economic growth, which averaged 3.1 per cent, with 3.8 per cent forecast in 2013 in Latin America and the Caribbean. About half the workers in the region are in the informal sector, which generally means low wages, minimal job security , little social security coverage and non-respect of labour rights, she said.
An agreement between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the ILO was signed in December 2012. The Youth Employment Network (YEN) is an inter-agency partnership of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Bank and the United Nations set up in 2001 to provide new solutions to the youth employment challenge. The German contribution will fund a round of the Youth to Youth Fund (Y2Y Fund) in Togo for the period of 2013-2014. The Y2Y Fund is one of YEN’s key products. It is a competitive grant and capacity building scheme that enables youth-led non-profit organizations to pilot and replicate innovative projects that create employment for young people by helping them set up micro-enterprises in niche markets. The Y2Y Fund is a laboratory of ideas that come from youth – from start to finish – and promote sustainable local economic development. The objective is to find a way to meaningfully engage youth in finding solutions to the youth employment challenge. The Y2Y Fund has created over 1000 jobs in four post-conflict countries at a comparatively low cost. BMZ has funded part of this success, and through the partnership in Togo YEN will be able to further expand on and replicate this success. The Fund will be launched early in 2013 and will feature 2 funding windows: Innovation: Proposals for creating youth owned enterprises in innovative areas and niche markets covering a range of sectors including agriculture, food processing and green technologies and water and sanitation; and Replication: proposals on replicating a successful entrepreneurship idea in Togo.
Do you know a Christian woman who is a great leader of a Christian ministry/church or charity? If so why not nominate her for a Wise Women Award, an event which recognises the contributions of Christian women in the church and society. http://www.wisewomenawards.org/nominations/wwa-nominations-categories-2013/ Nominations are now being accepted for the Wise Women Awards which recognises the achievements of Christian women from African and African-Caribbean communities, (but not exclusively), in the church and wider society.
The public are invited to nominate Christian women who they feel are worthy of an award. A total of nine awards are open to public nomination in the following categories, business, overseas mission, music, media, leadership, youth, community, over 60s and life transformation. Nominations close on February 4, 2012 and the winners in each category will be decided by a panel of judges comprised of women from a wide range backgrounds and Christian traditions. The Wise Women Awards, is jointly organised by women's ministry Wisdom for Women International (W4WI) and Keep The Faith magazine, the UK's most widely read publication about the black faith community. The Wise Women Awards were founded in 2005 to pay tribute to the major yet unrecognised role women often play within the church, as well as in the wider society.
There were 1,127,000 apprenticeship applications submitted online last year for 106,510 vacancies, new figures from the National Apprenticeship Service have revealed. Business and administration apprenticeships received the greatest number of applications (311,190) for the largest number of advertised places (26,480). The second most popular category by application number was childcare, with 76,410 submissions for the fourth highest number of vacancies (5,490). Other apprenticeship areas to feature in the application top 10 included IT, manufacturing, healthcare and hairdressing. July was found to be the most popular month in which to make an expression of interest in an apprenticeship, but 16 August 2012 – A-Level results day – generated the most applications in a 24-hour period. Regionally, London employers posted the most vacancies online with 13,810 places, which attracted 220,000 submissions. Overall, more males than females applied for apprenticeships last year – 56 per cent versus 43 per cent. The UK government has also announced that graduate and post-graduate level apprenticeships will soon be available in subjects including law, accountancy and advanced engineering. The development of level six and seven apprenticeships – equivalent to bachelors and masters degree level – is already well underway in some professions.
Generation Y workers value job fulfilment over financial reward, according to the findings of a new survey. Levels of satisfaction were more likely than pay rates to inspire employer loyalty and peer recommendation among staff born after the early 1980s, said the report from the iOpener Institute for People and Performance. The survey of 18,000 professionals found that belief in a firm’s economic or social purpose, and pride in the organisation and its work, had a strong correlation with the likelihood of a ‘digital generation’ employee remaining at the company. There was also a strong link between a worker’s job fulfilment and their likelihood of recommending the company to a friend. This was an important reputational factor to consider, said the report, as Generation Y were widely networked and more likely to use digital platforms to share opinion. Conversely, the study found virtually no correlation between increased levels of pay and a respondent’s likelihood of staying in the job. The iOpener Institute said that leaders needed to pay attention to employee feelings of engagement, empowerment, purpose and future development if they were to retain and foster young talent in their company. The iOpener Institute, based in Oxford, canvassed 18,000 employees in the UK, Europe, the US, Australia, India, China and Africa for its report.
Job vacancies at London financial- services companies fell by more than a third last year as banks cut staff in response to tighter regulation and weaker securities markets, recruitment firm Astbury Marsden said. New vacancies in the British capital’s City and Canary Wharf financial districts dipped 35 percent to 35,115 in 2012, down from 54,025 in 2011, the London-based recruiter said in a statement today. There were about 800 new City jobs available in December, compared with about 1,490 in the same month in 2011, the recruiter said. Senior management in banks took very decisive action and implemented major structural changes, including winding down entire units. Securities firms have been shedding staff to reduce costs as the debt crisis curbed trading and stock and bond offerings slumped. Citigroup Inc., whose European investment-banking headquarters is based in London, has said it will cut about 11,000 jobs globally, while UBS announced that it is eliminating 10,000 jobs, about 15 percent of the workforce, over three years as it dismantles parts of its investment bank.
The Western Union Company, a global leader in financial services, has announced the appointment of Patrick Gaston as President of The Western Union Foundation.
Gaston will lead Western Union’s global philanthropic strategy, including employee engagement, grant making and strategic initiatives that support education as a pathway to economic opportunity. Gaston most recently served as president and CEO of Gastal Networks LLC, a management consulting firm assisting organizations in building results driven Corporate Social Responsibility and philanthropic strategies. Prior to this, he served as a senior advisor to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Gaston previously served as president of the Verizon Foundation, one of the 15 largest corporate foundations in America. In 2009, Gaston was named one of the top 100 most influential African-Americans in corporate America by Savoy Professional magazine. He was also named Corporate Responsibility Magazine Foundation CEO of the year in 2010.
Lloyds TSB International’s Global Mobility Banking has introduced a new guidance service for employees working abroad. The bank will provide free educational and professional development seminars for HR professionals, multinationals and relocation agents. The seminars will provide advice on issues such as taxation, immigration, education, banking and cultural awareness. Recent research carried out by the firm reveals that 61% of international workers surveyed were happier working abroad. However, 22% of respondents said they did not get any support from their employer when moving overseas. According to the bank, while expats are happy living abroad, many would have benefited from more support from their employer.
Charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises in the UK will this year have the chance to attend practical workshops to help them capitalise on opportunities to work for government. The UK Government has devised the masterclass programme aimed at managers and trustees responsible for tendering to help the voluntary sector strengthen its commercial skills, and bid successfully for public service contracts. Workshops will be held regionally across England, to maximise impact and make sure everyone benefits to have a much greater involvement in the running of public services. The classes will include writing winning bids, adjusting to changes in the tender process, developing consortia, and financial skills, such as how to profile and manage risks. This commitment is outlined in a new 'Making it Easier for Civil Society to Work with the State' paper. The Government recognises this is still an early stage of a challenging journey, and is working closely with the sector on how best to create more space for civil society in the public services market.
The Mozambique government plans on boosting their revenue by $6-$8bn per year by taking advantage of the newly discovered gas reserves to develop domestic industries and export liquefied natural gas. Italian energy giant ENI discovered around 150 trillion cubic feet of gas off Mozambique’s eastern coast, which is enough to supply Germany, Britain, France and Italy for 15 years. The production deals are expected to be signed this year. This large volume of natural gas will help facilitate considerable development in the country’s gas industry and will lead to large-scale exports locally and internationally. The new gas reserves could also stop the increasing inflation rates, which have been due to the rising fuel prices. The gas reserves will uplift the economy where more than half of the population live below the national poverty line and 60 per cent unemployed. Already an importer of fuel, Mozambique will use gas to manufacture liquid fuels and produce cheap electricity that will help supply four-fifths of its 23m people who have no access to power.
Africa’s second largest oil producer Angola is looking forward to an increased oil output in 2013 due to three oil exploration projects that are due to start soon. However, the government has warned that Angola may not reach its target of 2m barrels per day (bpd). The country’s 5.2m tonnes per annum Angola LNG project will start exporting liquefied natural gas in the first quarter of 2013, which is much later than expected. The plant built in Soyo, northern Angola at an estimated cost of $10bn was supposed to start exporting the first quarter of 2012. The Angola LNG project is led by Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonagol (22.8 per cent stake), Chevron (36.4 per cent stake), Eni Total and BP (13.6 per cent stake each). Angola LNG will be shifting its focus from US buyers and will be focusing on the Asian and European market instead. This is because of the rapid increase in US shale gas production that has been brought about by new drilling and extraction technologies. Angola had briefly rivalled Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and fellow OPEC member, in oil exports three years ago. However, its shipments have fallen due to the natural decline of some oilfields and maintenance work. According to a Reuters survey Angola produced 1.70m bpd of crude oil in November.
In a boost for South Africa’s steel industry, the South Africa’s state corporation – Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is leading a consortium of South African and Chinese companies in a R5.3bn (approximately $610m) bid for a 74.5 per cent stake in Palabora Mining. Palabora Mining is SA’s biggest copper miner and generates most of its earnings from exporting magnetite – a key ingredient for Chinese steel mills and producing vermiculite, which is used by the aluminium smelting industry. The 74.5 per cent stake is currently held by London based Rio Tinto and Anglo American. Anglo American will generate R893m (approximately $102m) from this sale and London-based Rio Tinto will generate around R4.4bn (approximately $506m). Companies participating in the consortium are: Hebei Iron & Steel Group, China’s largest steel producer acquiring 35 per cent; Tewoo Group acquiring 20 per cent; General Nice Development acquiring 25 per cent and the IDC, which will hold 20 per cent.
Angola has set up a sovereign wealth fund, the Fundo Soberano de Angola (FSEDA) with an initial USD5bn from its oil revenues. Chairman Armando Manuel was quoted saying that the fund would invest both in national infrastructure and in international assets, and would aim for both financial and social returns. José Filomeno de Sousa dos Santos, the son of Angola’s president, is one of the fund’s three directors.
iROKO Partners, the world’s largest online distributor of Nigerian movies and music, starts 2013 with news of further expansion, with the opening of a new office in Johannesburg, South Africa. The office will house a team of up to 5 and will be a regional hub for iROKO Partners with specific focus on the development of new business partnerships, working closer with key South African media agencies and the sourcing of new content for its popular movie and music platforms, iROKOtv and iROKING. The VC-backed tech and entertainment company, launched in Nigeria in 2010, has offices in Lagos, London and New York and is now looking to increase its presence in Africa, starting with Johannesburg. In just two years, the company has built a global audience of over six million unique users from 178 different countries across its movie and music platforms. The company delivers, on average, 207,000,000 minutes of content every month across all of the iROKO Partners platforms.
A new online learning platform has been launched to upskill and empower African entrepreneurs to start and run successful businesses in extremely challenging contexts. The initiative - launched by the UCT Graduate School of Business - has the potential to train hundreds of thousands of men and women across the continent within the next few years. The “free-for-all” platform, dubbed GSB Hluma, is the result of more than 15 years of research and development and will be rolled out early this year. The development team has created a novel, low- bandwidth delivery system to give learners, wherever they find themselves, the keys to their own empowerment. GSB Hluma runs on Moodle – an open source learning platform - and has a powerful natural language engine to help learners navigate through the system by suggesting links and related content. At the core of the system is a database of more than 300 traditional business concepts, everything from Return on Investment to market segmentation. These come with an explanation of what they mean and case studies to illustrate how they have been successfully applied. Learners are then invited to take these concepts and apply them in whatever context they are working in, to learn by doing, while reflecting on the process. In a first step to disseminate this new learning tool, the GSB has teamed up with the African Management Initiative (AMI) to roll out the system across Africa. AMI is building a Virtual Campus for African managers (www.africanmanagers.org) which features a free repository of tools and resources to help managers from across Africa improve their skills. The GSB platform is one of the first significant chunks of content making up this virtual campus. Entrepreneurs wanting to access GSB Hluma must first sign up to AMI, which is free and can be accessed at www.africanmanagers.org/join-ami . In the coming months the GSB will be investigating additional partners to help roll out the initiative. AMI is also looking for additional content partners to expand its library of free resources for African managers.
Four in ten businesses globally say the eurozone crisis has had a negative impact on their business, according to the latest Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR). This is estimated to have wiped US$2 trillion off revenues globally. Businesses in South Africa estimate that revenues have declined by US$15bn as a result of the eurozone crisis. With the crisis still rumbling on, the research also highlights the long-term damage to the prospects of the EU as businesses consider doing less trade in the region in the future. According to the IBR, the impact of the eurozone crisis on business revenues has been severe: more than half of those negatively affected (54%) say their revenues have dropped by more than 3% as a result of the crisis, and one in three (32%) say they have taken at least a 6% hit. In the United States, the world’s largest economy, 11% of businesses say the crisis has caused their revenue to fall by 10% or more.
Germany has become the 10th member of the organisation that will participate in the detailed design of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, joining existing members Australia, Canada, China, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. India is an associate member. Construction on what will be the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope is due to begin in South Africa and Australia in 2016. Germany will contribute €1-million to the SKA Organisation, financed 50% each by the BMBF and the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG). In May 2012, the members of the SKA Organisation agreed on a dual site for the SKA to maximise on investments already made at the candidate sites in Australia and South Africa. As a member of the SKA Organisation, Germany has voting rights and is eligible to appoint two representatives to the board of directors, which has the authority to appoint senior staff, decide budgets, admit new project partners to the organisation, and direct the work of the global work package consortia in the SKA pre-construction phase. The Square Kilometre Array will have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre, giving it 50 times the sensitivity and 10 000 times the survey speed of the best current-day telescopes. It will have thousands of receptors extending to distances of 3 000 kilometres from its core regions. The telescope is expected to address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe, including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, how dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the Universe, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth.
South Africa concluded its second term as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 31 December. South Africa's permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Baso Sangqu, said the country had used its tenure effectively to promote a multilateral, rules-based system worldwide. Despite constraints, South Africa influenced a large number of Security Council outcomes, actively engaged on all issues on the council's agenda in line with its mandate. Sangqu said South Africa's leadership role and significant contribution to the work of the Council on African issues, particularly on Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, the DRC, Mali and Libya, as well as its principled position on the Middle East and Western Sahara, was well recognised. South Africa also championed landmark Security Council decisions on strengthening strategic cooperation between the UNSC and the African Union Peace and Security Council, as well as the promotion of the rule of law in conflict and post-conflict situations. The country also co-led a Security Council mission to Africa, and led a successful visit of the council to Timor-Leste in 2012.
Keep yourself updated with our FREE newsletters now!