AFRICA

How "sure" is your brand?
[Bayo Adekanmbi] Consistency of delivery is one of the critical differentiators that make for a reputable brand. It's a product's constancy of purpose to meet consumer expectations at all times, in all places and for all cadres of user-ship profiles. This comes across to the market as uniformity, reliability, dependability or standardised homogeneity.

NBC director-general dismissed
WINDHOEK: MISA has expressed concern on recent developments at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) resulting in the dismissal of the director-general, Bob Kandetu. The dismissal of Kandetu follows among other issues, the controversy over the appearance of an opposition party flag after the President's national address at the end of 2008.

AFRICA

Mobile Backstage at Mobile World Congress 2009
LONDON, UK: According to the GSMA, Black Eyed Peas front man, writer and producer, founder and chairman of Dipdive, will.i.am will be among the headline speakers at Mobile Backstage, a special one-day mobile entertainment-focused conference on Thursday, 19 February, as part of the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from 16-19 Fefruary 2009.

Zain Kenya contemplates legal action over Zap licence
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) was forced to buy advertising space in the local dailies to explain its position on the delay in licensing Zap, Zain's Kenya money transfer service.

AFRICA

Sports newspapers form global association
PARIS: Six of the world's sport-dedicated newspapers have formed the International Association of Sports Newspapers (IASN), aiming to defend and promote the interests and freedom of the sports press.

Swaziland: Government disqualifies radio licence applicants
MBABANE: The process to award four community radio licences approved by the Swazi government in October 2008, has plunged into uncertainty. This follows a statement issued on 5 February 2009 by the Swaziland Radio Regulator stating that the four applicants short-listed for the licences have been disqualified as opposed to having their applications suspended.

KENYA

Safaricom receives publicity worth millions
[Carole Kimutai] Mobile phone company, Safaricom received US$7 million worth of publicity in 2008 according to a Media Publicity Index (MPI), a standardised publicity measurement system. The MPI figure indicates the size, quality and extent of a company's publicity over time measured using editorial or news content and not advertising.

Cape Verde: More developed, more vulnerable
PRAIA: One year after shedding its UN rank as a least developed country, Cape Verde now faces the challenge of emerging onto the global market as a middle-income country - during a worldwide recession, according to the World Bank.

Super sorghum for Africa
[Wilma den Hartigh] For millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa sorghum is a staple food. It is popular because it is one of the few crops that grow well in arid regions, but it lacks essential nutrients and has poor protein digestibility.

Globacom sponsors Ghana football
Nigerian telecommunications company, Globacom, has signed an agreement with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as its national team's telecommunications sponsor.