Connecting Africa’s Skilled Professionals
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A round-up of recent news from the UK, Africa and around the world.
Having a mentor is an incredibly powerful way to become more successful in your work, career and life. If you, or someone you know, is in a management position in a charity or not-for-profit organization or a social entrepreneur that seeks in some way to make a difference to women and girls, Aspire is offering—FREE—one hour of mentoring per month for six months with a senior woman leader from a corporation. In essence, it's a ripple effect of change - helping those who are already making a difference for women so that you can make an even bigger difference to yourself and others. If you or someone you know is interested in becoming an Aspire Foundation mentee, please fill out our application here or email Laura with any questions at lglover@theaspirefoundation.org. This is a pro bono opportunity and there are no costs involved for you. www.theaspirefoundation.org
Net Impact's 2010 Business as UNusual: The Student Guide to Graduate Programs provides the most comprehensive collection of graduate programs' efforts to prepare students to use their careers to improve the world. First created in 2006, the annual Business as UNusual guide is the only resource available to prospective business students that offers school profiles provided directly by students. Each profile includes student opinions on their program's social and environmental curriculum, student activities, career services, and more. The 2010 guide includes details on 95 programs, including 13 international schools, compiled from the opinions of 3,000 students within the Net Impact network. In response to their growing interest, business schools are offering impact-minded business students new courses, certificate programs, and experiential learning opportunities. For example, this year's guide reports on new classes such as "Sustainable Operations" and "Energy Audit Workshop," as well as new certificates in areas such as "Social Impact" and "Responsible Management." The guide also provides details on extracurricular activities such as career treks to nonprofits and sustainability-focused businesses. The 2010 Business as UNusual guide is available for download free-of-charge at www.netimpact.org/bizschoolguide
The PRECIOUS Awards was founded to celebrate the achievements of inspirational entrepreneurial Black and Asian women who are running businesses in the UK. The Awards are about recognising success and inspiring other women of colour to launch their own business. Do you know a woman of colour who deserves recognition? Then nominate them via the website at www.preciousawards.com
The Rushlight Awards are made to recognise and reward the leading public, private and voluntary sector organisations throughout the UK and Ireland which have furthered environmentally beneficial technological and innovative developments. Organised by Eventure Media with support from a number of environmentally-focused organisations, initiatives and government departments, the awards are entirely independent and are the only UK and Ireland-wide awards to recognise advancements in technology, innovation and commerce that have enhanced the capacity of society to live in a sustainable way. Application is open to organisations of all types and size, including public sector organisations, voluntary and community sector organisations, research institutions and private companies. The 24 categories for entry cover most areas of cleantech innovation, including Natural Energy, Clean Energy, Energy & Environment, Water Innovation, Waste Innovation and Environmental Management. Overall category winners will also be short-listed for the main Rushlight Award. The deadline for entries is 31 October. Application forms can be downloaded from the Rushlight Awards competition website.
The annual Queen's Awards for Enterprise are open for applications for 2010/11. The Awards recognise excellence in business performance in the fields of International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development. The awards, first established in 1966, are determined by an Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister to recognise and reward UK businesses that have demonstrated sustained outstanding business activity during 2010/11. The Awards are announced on the Queen’s birthday (21 April) and, in addition to international prestige and recognition, enable the winner to display the Queen's Award flag at their premises and on goods.UK Businesses of any size are eligible to enter the awards, providing they are based in the UK – including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, operate as a business unit, have at least two full-time employees or equivalent, and are able to demonstrate commercial success. There are three main categories for entry: Queen's Award for International Trade, Queen’s Awards for Innovation, and the Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development. The deadline for applications is 30 October. Further information and application guidance are available from the Business Link website.
Oil exploratory giant, Tullow Oil, has appointed investment banker, Tutu Agyare as a Non-Executive Director on the Group’s Board. He is currently the Managing Partner of London-based asset management firm, Nubuke Investments. Mr. Agyare had a successful 21-year career with investment banking giant UBS and has held a number of senior positions, most recently as the head of European Emerging Markets of the investment bank board. Tullow says Mr. Agyare brings a wealth of experience as the company continues to expand its business in Africa. By this appointment, Tutu Agyare becomes the first and only black African and Ghanaian to serve on the Group’s Board.
As part of an ongoing commitment to early childhood reading with a specific focus on K–3, this fall, Target and The Heart of America Foundation® will renovate school libraries through the annual Target School Library Makeovers program. The program includes the unveiling of 32 extreme library makeovers for schools in-need in 30 cities, as well as $500 Book Awards to schools across the country. Through this program, Target is donating more than $7 million to school libraries nationwide and providing students with a new outlook on learning. Each makeover features light construction and new furniture, shelves, carpet and technology, as well as 2,000 new books for each school library. In addition, each student and their sibling/s will receive seven new books to take home. The Target School Library Makeovers program was launched in 2007 and features a combination of extreme school library makeovers, which include a complete renovation, and $500 Book Awards to schools across the country. Since the program's inception, Target has impacted more than 2,000 school libraries, distributed more than one million new books and donated tens of thousands of volunteer hours. Target School Library Makeovers utilize the world-class design and construction expertise of Target team members. One way Target incorporates its expertise is with eco-friendly designs and construction practices into each library makeover, including the use of green-certified furniture in partnership with Paragon and Smith Systems and the use of recycled materials and low VOC paint in all locations. Schools receiving a library makeover are chosen based on a number of factors, including the students' reading proficiency, the percentage of students from low-income families and the overall need for library improvement.
Up to 300 students in Scotland are expected to benefit from a new £2 million work experience programme in the third sector. The Third Sector Internship Programme is part of a Scottish Funding Council initiative to help students find paid work experience. It is being delivered by Queen Margaret University, the Open University in Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). The scheme will offer students the chance to develop their skills while also providing vital support to Scotland’s voluntary sector.
More than 20,000 people are killed prematurely by their jobs every year, according to a new report from the TUC.The report, Case for Health and Safety, said that at least 20,000 people die early as a result of conditions including occupational cancers and lung disorders, exposure to fumes and chemicals, or fatal traffic accidents.Around 1.2 million working people in the UK believe they are suffering from a work-related illness such as heart disease, stress, a musculoskeletal disorder (such as back, shoulder and neck pain), or mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, the report claims. It rejects calls from business for regulations or “red tape” to be reduced, and says it is a myth that Britain has one of the safest workplaces in the world. The TUC goes on to call on the government to refuse to reduce regulation and enforcement, and appoint a government “tsar” for health and safety. It also wants the government to promote health and safety issues more energetically. The Health and Safety Executive estimates that just over 8,000 deaths are caused each year by occupational cancers. However, the TUC said it believed that a figure of 15,000 would be more realistic. Its study estimated there could be a further 4,000 deaths from other lung disorders, while more than 1,000 people are killed while driving as part of their work and up to 7,500 people die as a result of health or circulatory problems caused by work.
A recent survey of 1001 people has revealed that more working age people are too busy to volunteer, compared to younger and older people. The poll, conducted by ComRes for BBC Radio 5 Live, suggested that 60% of 25 to 34-year olds were too busy to volunteer for the Big Society compared to the 71% of 18 to 24-year olds and 61% of over-65s who were not. The poll also revealed that respondents willing to volunteer favoured more traditional activities with 62% saying they would work in a soup kitchen and 51% willing to clean up parks. Only 29% would be willing to take on duties such as managing public transport services for free.
The UK will face a chronic shortage of vital engineering skills unless private-sector employers develop a “joined-up approach” with the government and education sector, according to Siemens. Fostering an interest in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) among school pupils and developing training facilities will be crucial to meet the growing demand for technical skills, and to tackle a declining number of entrants into the industry, said Mike Jones, Siemen’s HR director for the energy sector in the UK and north-west Europe. There is a need to develop an estimated 50,000 skilled engineers, project managers, construction supervisors and craft workers nationally over the next 10 years and a further 70,000 UK jobs will also be created in the offshore wind sector by 2020. But if the UK is going to meet the requirements of the new energy age and low carbon agenda, the private sector needs to find a more joined-up approach of working with the government and educational establishments. The international engineering and technology company, which employs 5,000 people in the UK and has businesses in both the renewable and fossil fuel fields, currently employs more than 100 apprentices in its energy sector on three or four-year courses, and is expecting to take on a further 35 this year. As well as developing a wind power training centre in Newcastle, Siemens has also partnered with the University of Lincoln to create a new School of Engineering – the first such purpose-built school to open in the UK for 20 years.
The Building and Social Housing Foundation is currently seeking entries for the World Habitat Awards 2010. Now in their 25th year, the World Habitat Awards seek to identify practical, innovative and sustainable solutions to current housing issues faced by countries of the Global South as well as the North, which are capable of being transferred or adapted for use elsewhere. The competition is open to all individuals and organisations, including central and local governments, NGOs, community-based groups, research organisations and the private sector. Each year a panel of international judges assesses the projects entered for the competition and selects two winners. An award of £10,000 is presented to the winners at the annual United Nations global celebration of World Habitat Day www.worldhabitatawards.org. Please note that Stage I entries must be received by 1st November 2010.
A new report by the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Thursday said global youth unemployment in 2009 soared to a record high and is expected to climb even higher as the year progresses. The report, entitled: 'ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth 2010', said that, 'of the world's 620 million economically-active youth, between the ages of 15 and 24, 81 million were out of work at the end of 2009, the highest number ever'.
The Board of Directors of the World Bank (WB) ap proved a loan of US$25.5 million for Mauritania for the additional financing of the programme of urban development (PDU), a source close to the bank announced. These funds will serve to support the efforts of the Mauritanian government to improve the access to basic infrastructures in urban areas, particularly for the disadvantaged zones.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) expects to bring down all trade tariffs under the Free Trade Area (FTA) by 2012, by which time all countries in the region are expected to have liberalised their trade regimes, SADC trade officials have said. The regional bloc says it has liberalised about 85 percent of trade and is now phasing down tariffs for trade in sensitive products, which are expected to be completely removed by 2012.
The Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) has announced it is supporting a project to modernise customs administration in the Port of Dar es Salaam that will be implemented by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). The project, which will be co-funded by ICF and TRA and responds to demand from the private sector, aims to significantly reduce the time and costs associated with releasing goods, bringing tangible benefits to the domestic and international business community. Currently Tanzania’s customs clearance involves complex procedures and expensive charges, which can be crippling for business owners and acts as a disincentive to investors. The project will introduce an integrated custom administration software to streamline procedures. Once the project is complete, it will take a maximum of eight days and 11 procedures to clear customs at the port, bringing important benefits to business. This project was designed in consultation with the private sector (Banks, Truck Owners, Custom Brokers) and the Tanzanian Bureau of Standard (TBS).
Hiring is beginning to pick up in Wall Street. The shift underscores the remarkable recovery of the biggest banks and brokerage firms and follows the huge rebound in profits for members of the New York Stock Exchange, which totaled $61.4 billion in 2009, the most ever. Since employment bottomed out in February, New York securities firms have added nearly 2,000 jobs, a trend that is also playing out nationwide at financial companies, commodity contract traders and investment firms. Though the figures are small in comparison to overall Wall Street employment, executives, economists and headhunters say they expect the growth to pick up steam in the coming months. The increase in hiring and cautious optimism stand in sharp contrast to the mood among workers in other fields, where jobs have been slow to return or are disappearing altogether. Since June 2008 the number of jobs has shrunk by nearly 14 percent in manufacturing and by 22 percent in construction, but only by 8.5 percent in the financial industry nationwide. It is also the opposite of what is going in other highly paid, white-collar professions like law, where employment nationwide in June was the lowest since late 2001, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The financial work force in New York has shrunk by more than 28,000 since its peak in January 2008, but is still slightly above its level in 2003 after the tech bubble burst, meaning it actually weathered this recession better than the previous one. Nationally, staffing is back to where it was in late 2005, while employment in the overall economy is near 2004 levels. Major investment banks are quietly rebuilding their global work forces. Goldman Sachs added 600 jobs worldwide in the first quarter, while JPMorgan’s investment bank has hired slightly more than 2,000 people globally since the beginning of the year. Closer to home, Credit Suisse’s investment bank, based in New York, filled 600 positions in the first quarter, with a significant portion in New York. Deutsche Bank has hired 414 people in New York, including 98 directors and managing directors since the start of the year. Hiring is also picking up at boutique firms and at smaller foreign banks seeking a beachhead in New York. Source: New York Times
South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation has approved 1.4 billion rand ($186 million) in loans to distressed companies during last year's recession. The IDC is a state-owned development finance institution that lends to the private sector at more favourable rates and terms than commercial banks, with the aim of increasing the number of medium-sized enterprises and creating jobs. The government asked the IDC to support struggling firms as South Africa experienced its first recession since 1992, especially in the manufacturing sector which was hit hard by the downturn. Total loan approvals for the financial year ended March 2010 fell to 9.4 billion rand compared with 10.8 billion rand the previous year. The IDC intensified its lending activities and continued its focus on economic expansion with 65 percent of new funding approved allocated to start-up companies or expansionary activities.
AIn an effort to ensure that African youth learn about their common heritage, the UN, historians, education specialists and governments are now developing a history syllabus for schools across the continent. The new syllabus is to be based on the book entitled "General History of Africa", an eight-volume series written from the African perspective and published by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). It will be the first such programme designed for an entire continent.
The Export-Import Bank of China has agreed to loan Angola $500 million to rebuild roads to help the African nation recover from a three-decade long civil war that ended in 2002, said Angola's finance minister. Angola emerged from the war to rival Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer and has used its soaring crude production to repay China, which imports more oil from Angola than from anywhere else in the world. "Angola is at a stage of national reconstruction and that means we need to enter into partnerships with its allies," Angolan Finance Minister Carlos Alberto Lopes said in comments broadcast on Radio Nacional de Angola.
The Uganda Investment Authority has named China as the leading country investing in Uganda's economy, displacing the United Kingdom that topped previous Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) record for at least a decade. China's investment quest in the financial year 2009/2010 saw UIA licence 31 projects worth Shs553.3 billion ($246 million). UIA's Executive Director Maggie Kigozi said while releasing the annual investment report for the year 2009/2010, for the first time, China is Uganda's biggest foreign direct investor.
The government has made available GH¢5 million to support cotton farmers in northern Ghana to revamp the ailing cotton industry. The package includes GH¢3.5 million direct support, which covers land preparation and provision of seeds and fertilisers, and GH¢1.5 million to be used as general subsidy. The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, said the intervention would increase cotton yield to about 10,000 metric tonnes, with about 4,500 metric tonnes of lint. By the end of this year, the industry is expected to generate more than $8 million in income. Mr Mahama said the programme would cover a significant number of the 60,000 cotton farmers in the three northern regions, indicating that in the next four years all the beneficiary farmers would be covered. The Vice-President said support would be extended to private cotton companies and other stakeholders, adding that “the success of the current support will determine how the government will progress”. Mr Mahama said the vision of the government was to ensure that Ghana became a net exporting country in all sub-sectors of agriculture, adding that it had made significant strides in that direction and was likely to achieve 100,000 metric tonnes of maize surplus this year. Mr Mahama said, rice importation had reduced considerably from 500,000 metric tonnes to 400,000 metric tonnes this year and expressed the hope that more local rice production would drastically reduce the importation.
Aim-listed iron-ore and base-metals-miner African Minerals said on Tuesday that it had entered into a $1,5-billion strategic investment understanding with Chinese steel company Shandong Iron & Steel Group (SISG) to fund its flagship iron-ore Tonkolili project in Sierra Leone.African Minerals executive chairperson Frank Timis said it would use the funds for the construction of infrastructure and mine operations at the project, including a shift from a combined haul-road and rail system to an all-rail transport and logistics system.
The African Union has said that Africa must turn ever more to China for its development because conditions and checks often stalled the flow of funds from Western nations and the World Bank. Maxwell Mkwezalamba, the AU's economic chief, said Africa must end its reliance on Western money. "For Africa's development and integration we have depended on the Western world - we cannot continue to proceed like this," Mkwezalamba told reporters.
Mining giant Rio Tinto has completed a deal with Chinese firm Chalco to enter a joint venture in West Africa. The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding between Rio and Chalco's parent company Chinalco in March. The venture will develop Rio's Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
An estimated 7,000 jobs will be created in Nigeria's southern Bayelsa State when a refinery is built there in a joint project with China, state oil officials said. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said in a statement that the Bayelsa refinery is one of three to be built across the country with a total installed capacity of 750,000 barrels per day. The three 'Greenfield Refineries' will be located in Bayelsa, the commercial capital Lagos and central Kogi state, the statement said.
Gold Fields has announced three black economic empowerment deals that will see an employee share scheme and a broad-based BEE consortium buying discounted shares in the South African gold miner, thereby enabling it to meet its 2014 empowerment targets. The company announced the empowerment deals after disclosing that the Department of Mineral Resources had executed the new order mining rights for its South Deep gold mine. The cumulative effect of the execution, together with the previous conversions for Driefontein, Kloof and Beatrix granted in 2006, is that all of Gold Fields' South African operations have now been granted their new order mining right. The first transaction will see the establishment of an employee share option scheme, to be housed and administered through the Thusano Share Trust, which will hold an effective 10.75% stake in GFIMSA, the holding company which controls Gold Fields' South African assets. The Thusano Trust, which will benefit over 47 000 employees, will exercise full voting rights on behalf of the employees. The share allocation to employees will be based on an employee's length of service with Gold Fields, ranging from 100 shares for one year service to 480 shares for 20 years service.
China has fulfilled its pledge to provide the aid for Africa it promised four years ago, the Ministry of Commerce said. The aid aims to improve the livelihoods of people across the continent, rather than take advantage of the region's natural resources, the ministry said. In November 2006, President Hu Jintao put forward "Eight Measures on Aiding Africa" at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which included cumulative preferential loans worth $3.3 billion over three years for the construction of 67 projects in sectors such as aviation, telecommunications, electricity and product processing. The measures include doubling the amount of aid to Africa compared with that in 2006, cancelling debts owed by Africa's 33 poorest and least-developed nations which expired at the end of 2005, and enhancing cooperation with African nations in human resources, agriculture, medical treatment, social development and education.
Merck has announced The Merck Company Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are committing an additional $60 million to support Botswana's African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP). Merck is known as MSD outside the US and Canada. A unique program developed with and led by the Government of Botswana, ACHAP is one of sub-Saharan Africa's oldest, most successful public-private partnerships. With today's pledge, the Merck Foundation and the Gates Foundation's total cash contributions now amount to $166.5 million. Merck will also continue the donation of its HIV medicines. Building on the successes created by its initial investment of $56.5 million nine years ago, Merck will contribute an additional $30 million over the next five years. The new funding will continue the program's original efforts in treatment and care but also will support the second phase initiatives to meet the current treatment needs of the 137,000 Batswana (people from Botswana) living with HIV and new patients enrolled in the second phase. The second phase initiatives include: the prevention of HIV, the critical need to treat people living with HIV for tuberculosis (TB) and the sustainability of the program to allow Botswana to successfully address HIV/AIDS within its own borders. These new commitments come as the World Health Organization's (WHO) newly revised guidelines now recommend starting HIV treatment earlier, effectively doubling the number of people worldwide in need of treatment and not receiving it to 10 million. At the same time, global funding is on the decline. In addition to the funding necessary to meet WHO's new guidelines, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which pays for one-fourth of the ARV treatment needs in developing countries, faces a deficit of at least $20 billion over the next three years in meeting the current treatment need. Today, through ACHAP's help, 32 ARV treatment sites and more than 170 clinics throughout the country provide treatment and care to Batswana in need. As a result, about 90 percent of Batswana living with HIV receive treatment, which is among the highest treatment rates in all of sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, more than 90 percent of pregnant women living with HIV receive treatment for the prevention of mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV, bringing down MTCT rates from more than 20 percent to less than 4 percent.
Standard Bank will provide $100 million to farmers in four African countries in the next three years to help boost agricultural production and economic growth, CEO for Africa Clive Tasker said. Tasker said the bank would offer credit to farmers in Uganda, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania, under a pilot scheme agreed with some institutions to enable some African farmers to grow export crops. The scheme will disburse loans to small-holders of up to $100 million over the next three years and will potentially benefit up to 750,000 small-scale farmers, Tasker said. Africa, with vast water resources and arable land, faces constant food shortages, which analysts partly blame on mismanagement of funds, poor government policies and lack of support infrastructure for farmers. Tasker said the bank was also planning a broader financing scheme for other farmers in Africa and would consider projects that aimed at raising production of cash crops. Tasker said the bank would also finance trade through farmers' co-operatives and agro-businesses under the scheme. He said increased production of crops in Africa would help the economies of the world's most impoverished continent to grow and lift millions of people out of poverty. Tasker said projects for growing crops such as cocoa in Ghana and cashew nuts in Mozambique would be given priority. Standard Bank said there was increasing global demand for African produced cocoa, coffee, tea and horticultural crops, and that a number of equity funds were as a result looking to invest in land deals on the continent. South African farmers have been active in investing in other countries on the continent, where they are growing cash crops.
Makerere University has partnered with government to launch a programme that will see farmers across the country access training for better farming methods. This follows the launch of the African Institute for Strategic Animal Resources and Development (AFRISA) at the Faculty of Veterinary and Medicine. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine dean, Prof John David Kabasa said the institute has received Shs1b from government towards the start of the institute. "We are going to admit at least 500 students in a month's time at the beginning and we will be awarding qualifications ranging from certificates, diplomas and degrees," Prof Kabasa said.He said the students training will revolve around fieldwork in imparting practical skills to the farmers. Vice chancellor Prof Venansius Baryamureeba said the training is centered towards imparting practical skills to the students ready for self employment.
Gabon is set to host the first African High-Level Conference on Biodiversity from in September. The conference under the theme: 'Biodiversity and the fight against poverty; Opportunities for Africa' will be attended by Environment Ministers from across Africa and other stakeholders who will discuss and formulate a common African position ahead of the UN High level Conference on Biodiversity in New York (22-23 September) and the 10th Conference of Parties (COP 10) of the Convention of Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan in October.The meeting is being organized by the Government of Gabon in partnership with the United Nations Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with support from the African Union Commission (AU), African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
President Ali Bongo has vowed to modernise the west African state's economy Gabon has signed deals to diversify its economy in an attempt to be less reliable on its dwindling oil reserves. The government has announced contracts with Asian companies worth $4.5bn billion dollars. President Ali Bongo signed the agreements on the eve of the country's 50th anniversary of its independence from France. The projects will revamp infrastructure and create about 50,000 jobs. Gabon's oil output has been declining for years and the new deals are presented as the first steps towards diversification. The largest deal is the with OLAM, a Singapore-based company which plans to develop a huge palm oil plantation in the south east. The government wants to become the leading palm oil producer in Africa. In terms of infrastructure, the OLAM deal involves the construction of a refinery, and there are plans for a possible port. Another agreement was signed with the Indian company M3M, to build 5,000 low-cost housing units over the next two years. Ramky Infrastructure, another Indian construction company, will build 1,000 kilometres of tarred road over the next three years in a $1.5bn project that will be jointly financed by the Gabonese government. Gabon has already attracted a number of Asian investors, notably Malaysian and Chinese companies, but most of them were interested in the mining and timber sectors.
Gabon plans to leave behind an era of "exclusive" ties with former colonial power France and focus on closer relations with other countries, President Ali Bongo has said. For decades during Bongo's father's rule, the central African country maintained strong ties with France. Gabon hosts one of France's two military bases in Africa as well as several French companies, including oil major Total. But in recent weeks, it has announced a host of deals with foreign firms, including from Singapore and India. Exclusive relations between Gabon and France are a thing of the past, Bongo told journalists. "France has partners, African countries have partners too, and these are not exclusive relationships," he said, days after Gabon marked the 50th anniversary of independence from France. Ali Bongo succeeded his father Omar as president of Gabon last year, and has vowed to modernise and diversify the economy as reserves of oil, which still account for nearly half the government's receipts, start maturing. He has also looked to broaden the tiny central African nation's strategic partnerships, which under his father were centred on a cosy relationship with France."
Mail and Guardian Book of South African Women is now in its sixth edition and has become the premier guide of all the top women in South Africa. It is an easy-to-read guide to the women’s network across the private, public and non-profit sectors. This year’s glossy book entails a new design and includes several in-depth profiles, quality portraits. It is the perfect networking tool for each sector as background information as well as contact details of the various women can be found in the book. The book comprises of extraordinary women in various sectors such as Arts and Culture, Business and Law, Civil Society, Environment, Health, Media, Politics and Government, Science and Education, Sport, Technology, and Tools and Resources.Shirley Zinn, of the Nedbank Group (Group Executive: Human Resources), has written the foreword for the book. The book showcases the likes of Lira (Singer), Sylvaine Strike-Nakar (Artistic Director and Founder of Fortune Cookie Theatre), Precious Moloi-Motsepe (Chairperson, African Fashion International) and many other remarkable women. The Mail and Guardian Book of South Africa Women offers invaluable information on some of South Africa’s top women and is available at R220-00. For additional copies contact Madeline Zekkari on 011 250 7300. Now in its 25th year of publishing, the Mail and Guardian(M&G),formerly Weekly Mail, has often been hailed as the most informative and daring chronicle of the dying years of apartheid and thus became South Africa's premier source of news and liberating perspectives. This ethos of providing an objective, in-depth investigation into the stories behind the stories has never wavered, and in turn, has transformed M&G into an essential read for those who want to be in the know. M&G are the market-leaders in investigations, politics, business, health, education, science and the arts.
Guardian
Nigeria is building a multi-billion dollar free trade zone with Chinese investors on the edge of its commercial capital Lagos to try to develop a local manufacturing base and help reduce its import dependence.The $5 billion first phase of the Lekki Free Zone, a 3,000 hectare site on the eastern fringe of the city, is 60 percent held by Chinese investors and 40 percent by the Lagos state government, the deputy head of the project told Reuters.The consortium will provide basic infrastructure including roads, power plants and water plants before manufacturing firms are invited to set up business, Lekki Free Zone Development Co (LFZDC) deputy managing director Adeyemo Thompson said. The Chinese shareholders in the project include China Railway Construction Corp. (601186.SS), the China-Africa Development Fund Ltd and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd.A total of 16,500 hectares of land bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Lagos and Lekki lagoons has been earmarked for the whole free zone, which will include a deepwater sea port and a new international airport in close proximity.The aim of the free zone is to make it easier for foreign investors, particularly manufacturers, to build a foothold in sub-Saharan Africa's most populous nation and second-biggest economy while still owning 100 percent of their firms.It is modelled on free zones around China which have helped the Asian giant to develop its manufacturing base and economy over the past three decades. Nigeria imports everything from toothpicks to cement, with a growing proportion of the goods coming from China. The Lekki Free Zone will enable Chinese and other manufacturers to test their products on Africa's largest potential consumer market.
South Africa has signed a memorandum of understanding with China to improve the African nation’s railway services, the Department of Transport said. The Department of Transport and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa plan to spend 95 billion rand ($13 billion) on buying new stock over the next 18 years, Director-General George Mahlalela told reporters in Johannesburg. From October, South Africa will investigate whether there is enough demand to justify the construction of a high-speed railway link between Johannesburg, the commercial hub, and the eastern port city of Durban, according to Mahlalela. Similar connections from Johannesburg to Cape Town and the Zimbabwean border as well as networks facilitating travel around cities will also be planned, he said. The details and the amount of China’s possible investment haven’t been determined. Mahlalela said he and his Chinese counterpart would draw up partnership guidelines by November.China has invested in African railways, hydroelectric power, mining and oil to feed its expanding economy. It increased commitments for infrastructure in Africa to about $7 billion in 2007 from less than $1 billion per year before 2003, according to the World Bank.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has developed a mechanism that would facilitate access to financing for small-holder farmers, agro-processors, agri-businesses, and input suppliers in the agricultural value chain. The mechanism called Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) will be operated in collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and other agricultural operators in the country. AGRA is an Africa-based organisation working in partnership with governments, agricultural research organisations, farmers, private sector, civil society, and other rural development operators to improve the productivity and incomes of resource poor farmers in Africa. The aim is to provide farmers with affordable financial products; reduce the risk farmers face in securing loans under other financing programmes offered by financial institutions; help build capacities of banks to expand lending to agriculture; deploy risk-sharing instruments to lower risks of lending, and develop a bank rating scheme to rate banks based on their lending to the agricultural sector.
A new and historic partnership between the global chocolate and cocoa industry, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and U.S. Representative Eliot Engel and the governments of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire reaffirms the industry's continued commitment to promoting responsible cocoa farming in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. The new "Framework of Action in support of the Harkin-Engel Protocol" launched today in a press conference at the U.S. Department of Labor underlines all parties shared responsibility in achieving a significant reduction of the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa growing areas.As part of the new partnership, the global chocolate and cocoa industry has made an immediate pledge to commit $7 million to further the goals of the Harkin-Engel Protocol and the Framework of Action, of which $2 million will support a new public private partnership led by the International Labor Organisation's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC), and $5 million includes the expansion of significant current industry work on cocoa which has demonstrated the value of partnerships of this nature. In addition, industry is making a further pledge to explore the possibility of committing an additional $3 million for remediation activities that further these goals.The Framework of Action places an emphasis on actions that foster safe, healthy, and productive environments for children and families through addressing hazardous labor practices, improving the livelihoods of farming families and access to quality education for children. New and expanded initiatives will build upon the experience gained through the multi-million dollar investments made by industry since 2001 in such programs. Innovative industry-supported programs and projects, such as those implemented by the International Cocoa Initiative and the World Cocoa Foundation, have already positively touched the lives of adults and children in cocoa communities across West Africa.
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