SOUTH AFRICA

How the world's top 500 brands stack up

The winners and losers in the global brand war have been announced in the Brand Finance Global 500 report dated February 2010 - Google is climbing, Microsoft slipping back and Coca-Cola extending its advantage over main rival Pepsi. Read more >>

AFRICA

MTN, FIFA launch 1GOAL

The MTN Group and FIFA, ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, are launching 1GOAL, the Education for All mobile campaign, that will see MTN and its partners collect names and support from the public, footballers and celebrities to petition worldwide governments to meet their “Education for All” target by 2015. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

New Design> magazine targets education

Design> Information has launched a new free subscription web-based publication last week entitled Design> Education (Ed>). It is targeted at high school learners, teachers, tertiary students, lecturers and parents with an interest in design. Read more >>

AFRICA

Google Maps for Uganda, sub-Saharan Africa

Google Maps launched its services in several Ugandan towns including Kampala and Entebbe this week. Google Maps users will be able to search online maps, look up businesses, advertise for free via Google Maps Local Business Centre, create maps and check locations while on the move. Read more >>

AFRICA

African media at greater risk

Local African journalists are increasingly at risk of being censored, imprisoned, attacked or forced to flee their countries because of their work, a global watchdog group has warned. Read more >>

AFRICA

Bharti founder hopes to be lucky with Africa bid

NEW DELHI: Indian telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal is hoping to make it third time lucky as he seeks to gain a presence in Africa, one of the world's least developed mobile phone markets. Read more >>

AFRICA

Safaricom's M-PESA receives award

[Carole Kimutai] Safaricom's money transfer service M-PESA has won the Best Mobile Money Service Award at the 15th Global Mobile Awards held during the GSM Association's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. M-PESA was launched in Kenya by Safaricom in partnership with Vodafone in March 2007. Read more >>

AFRICA

Zain Zap awarded at 2010 Global Mobile Awards

BARCELONA: Zain has won the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Service Award for Zap, its mobile commerce service, at the 2010 Global Mobile Awards. The awards took place at the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Read more >>

UGANDA

Uganda: Operators urged to cut mobile broadband charges

[Walter Wafula] The call for low cost mobile broadband connectivity was made by speakers at the inaugural meeting of Mobile Monday Kampala, held this week, 15 Feruary 2010. The meeting convened at least 85 participants to discuss the Future of Mobile Broadband in Uganda - the theme of the meeting. Read more >>

AFRICA

Finding alternative business models - WEF

The World Editors Forum, to be held in Beirut, Lebanon, 7 - 10 June 2010, is dedicating a session to finding alternative funding models for news companies. The conference, will run concurrently with the World Newspaper Congress and Info Services Expo. Read more >>

SOUTHERN AFRICA

Print Services Group acquires SystemX Swaziland

SystemX, distributor of Xerox products and solutions in Swaziland, has been bought by the Print Services Group and is now the exclusive distributor for Xerox in the country. The deal was finalised in December 2009. Read more >>

AFRICA

Arcay, African Consultancy of the Year - Holmes

JOHANNESBURG: Arcay Communications has been named "African Consultancy of the Year" by the Holmes Report Annual Scorecard, in recognition of its affiliate network and communications strategies in multiple markets. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Ethiopian farmers to directly trade coffee

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia on Wednesday, 17 February 2010, launched a direct bidding market for international coffee transactions to promote fair trade and boost the income of its impoverished farmers. Read more >>

CENTRAL AFRICA

Nedbank Malawi expands

[Gregory Gondwe] Nedbank Malawi announced on Monday, 15 February 2010 that it will be opening two additional branches in Blantyre and Lilongwe as part of the bank's expansion strategy. Read more >>

AFRICA

Hallmark to rebrand to Universal Channel

LONDON: Universal Networks International is re-organising its TV channels under five core brands. Hallmark Channel Africa, with a subscriber base approaching 3,7 million, will change its name to Universal Channel as of 24 March 2010. Africa is the first market to introduce the new look channel globally. Read more >>

AFRICA

New look for Nickelodeon

JOHANNESBURG: To mark its 30th anniversary, Nickelodeon will be introducing a new look and feel across all its properties including programming, online, mobile, consumer products and events. The rebranding aims to also unite Nickelodeon's multiple platforms under a single brand identity. Read more >>