NIGERIA

Nigerian Marketnomics 2009: Part one
[Franklin Ozekhome] The economic and financial crisis, which started in the United States in September 2008, has rattled markets and economies around the globe. A global shift is taking place resulting in a rebalancing of economic power.

KENYA

Kenya should ride on brand Obama
[Carole Kimutai] Kenyan marketers should thank President Barack Obama for free publicity that is worth billions of US dollars. During his inauguration on Tuesday, 20 January 2009 and before the world, Obama saluted the “small village” where his (Kenyan) father was born.

AFRICA

Wolda ‘09 open for entries
The 2009 edition of Wolda is now open for entries. The Worldwide Logo Design Annual award scheme rewards the best logos and trademarks designed throughout the world.

AfricaNews.com launches mobile platform
Africa Interactive, the publisher of the pan-African news website AfricaNews.com, has announced the release of its mobile news website. This follows an unprecedented mobile phone revolution in Africa in the past years.


Broadcaster's bid to fire journalists fails
Zimbabwe's Retrenchment Board has ruled against the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings' (ZBH) bid to retrench six of its journalists who were suspended in June 2008 on allegations of "acting in a manner inconsistent with the fulfillment of the implied conditions" of their contracts.

AFRICA

The untapped power of the press release
[Chima Nwankwo] When your boss calls you up in the middle of the night and says he wants an official reaction in the papers the next morning to a controversial issue concerning him directly, what's a PR practitioner supposed to do? For one thing you must understand that a lot of the world's media are primed to spot the press release and shoot it down a mile off.

Song banned for allegedly criticising Zanu-PF
A song composed by Tongai Moyo, a popular Zimbabwean musician, has reportedly been denied air-play by the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), which has sole monopoly of the country's airwaves.

SWAZILAND: Radio powered by children
MBABANE: People are calling Swaziland's first children's radio programme "Ses'khona", which literally means, "we're here", but in the SiSwati language it implies the arrival of a group that intends to stay and be heard.

Zimbabwe: Corruption bedevils farming inputs
An audit of an agricultural inputs programme aimed at rewarding productive farmers has unearthed cases of corrupt reselling of the aid by senior government officials and parliamentarians.

Swedish Minister for Trade visits Egypt
CAIRO: Swedish Minister for Trade, Dr Ewa Björling arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo earlier this week together with a business delegation for a four-day visit, meeting Egyptian Minister of State for Environmental Affairs, Maged George and Minister of Health and Population, Hatem El Gabaly.

Old Mutual, NEPAD Business Foundation invest in Africa
Old Mutual has sponsored R1.5 million to the NEPAD Business Foundation (NBF) and is one of the NBF's main founding partners. Old Mutual operates in six countries in Africa including, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe and is headquartered and domiciled in London, UK.