Headlines
MarketingCENTRAL AFRICA Comair's Air Malawi take-over bid grounded[Gregory Gondwe] The Malawi government has scuppered South African Comair's bid to take over Air Malawi. KENYA No stranger to brinkmanship, Ramaphosa joins Kenyan mediation teamSouth African Cyril Ramaphosa has joined the mediation team led by Kofi Annan to deal with Kenya's post-election crisis, which has had a severe impact on business in that country. SOUTH AFRICA Oppose EU's economic agreements - Oxfam[Michael Appel] Addis Ababa – International humanitarian organisation Oxfam and Afro-flag Youth Vision have urged African governments to jointly oppose the European Union's (EU) proposed Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). AFRICA Kenya: Jobs another casualty in post-election violence George Kose, 30, a graduate of Moi University, Eldoret, lost his job at one of the leading firms in Nairobi just days after the election results were announced on 30 December 2007. AFRICA AU leaders should urge probe after election fraudHuman rights Watch says Kenyan authorities should ensure accountability for post-election violence. AFRICA Tom Peters views on Africa and business Tom Peters, one of the world's leading business strategists, is consistently voted one strategist many business people would love to see again. Here he expounds on a range of issues – including doing business in and with Africa, and corruption in the continent. AFRICA World Bank plans tailored support to MauritaniaWorld Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick signed two agreements with the Mauritanian Government during a two-day visit, underscoring the Bank's commitment to providing a more tailored level of support to the country's development priorities. AFRICA Malawi seals Beira-Malawi oil pipeline deal[Gregory Gondwe] Malawi has sealed a US$150 million deal with a Qatar firm, Venessia Petroleum, which is to construct a pipeline for refined oil from Beira in Mozambique to Nsanje in Malawi. The project will drastically reduce the cost of importing fuel; currently it is brought in by trucks, via Tanzania, and via Beira and Nacala in Mozambique. AFRICA Using e-mail as storage: A cautionary taleFor some people, losing an e-mail account is akin to losing family photographs in a flood or fire. Even if the service is free, the offending company had better be prepared to apologize gracefully and profusely, said Ben Chestnut, cofounder and partner of MailChimp.
BrandingAFRICA Uganda Finance Trust modifies corporate identity [Walter Wafula] Finance Trust has become the new corporate name of Uganda Finance Trust Ltd, one of the four licensed microfinance deposit-taking institutions in Uganda. The new identity has a blue logo and the words “Let's Grow” – the new catchphrase. SOUTH AFRICA Display Mania launches 0861DISPLAY - Display Mania Display Mania's 0861 DISPLAY national contact number is now live and it is also running a promo on its snap frames, pull/roll up banners and gazebos during February 2008.
DesignSOUTH AFRICA European logo competition goes globalDesigners, agencies, studios and students from all over the world are invited to enter Wolda, the Worldwide Logo Design Annual. Replacing the successful European Logo Design Annual (Eulda), Wolda is a graphic design awards scheme that rewards the best logos and trademarks designed throughout the world.
Education and TrainingAFRICA Leadership lectures to spark African youth's passion for prosperityDr. Cheick Modibo Diarra, the chairman for Microsoft's African operations, has introduced the first in a series of Microsoft Leadership Lectures, which aim to help promote debate amongst Africa's youth about the future prosperity of the continent. AFRICA Boost for education in Rwanda[Walter Wafula] Rwanda has been chosen as the first country to benefit from support by the Global Education Alliance, a creation of several stakeholders in The World Economic Forum. AFRICA New partners link up to improve training of government officialsMicrosoft and the Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which aims to deliver high-quality ICT policy training to government employees in West and Central Africa.
EventingEAST AFRICA Science with Africa conference to assess MDGs[HANA Reporter] The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and ISC-Intelligence in Science are organising a conference titled 'Science with Africa' that will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 3 - 7 March 2008. AFRICA AU summit must help Africa industrialise[Michael Appel] The African Union (AU) Summit taking place in Ethiopia later this week, must take substantive decisions to advance the industrialisation of Africa as envisioned in its theme.
MediaAFRICA Nation Media Group scribes scoop awards[Walter Wafula] Five journalists attached to the Nation Media Group, East Africa's media giant, recently bagged an award each to beat several others at the first David Astor Journalism Awards in London. KENYA Kenya's media fights back in face of ban, death threatsJournalists, media houses subject to death threats; government threatens to investigate media; media organisations file lawsuit over government's broadcasting ban. AFRICA Africa's editors call on Kibaki, Odinga, to end mayhem – or stand downIn an open letter to President Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga and the AU chairperson of commission Professor Alpha Oumar Konaré and chairperson of the AU, President John Kufuor, The African Editors' Forum has called upon Kenya's leaders to step aside if they cannot bring the violence to an end.
MobileUGANDA The BlackBerry comes to Uganda[David Muwanga] MTN Uganda and Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless technology have launched the easy to use BlackBerry Curve 8300 smartphone in Uganda. AFRICA Celtel group eyes top 10 by 2011[Remmy Nweke] The Zain Group, owners of Celtel International with operations in about 15 African countries has said that it is restrategising to make the top 10 global mobile company in the next three years. AFRICA Apologies flood market as communication networks fail[Dumisani Ndlela] A flurry of advertisements, with headlines like “Our telephone lines are down”, has recently developed into a common feature on Zimbabwe's newspaper pages. SOUTH AFRICA Ghana 2008 Mobile Football Trivia game ignites fans - Starfish MobileStarfish Mobile Ghana has teamed up with Tigo Ghana, an international mobile network operator to launch the latest Mobile Football Trivia Game which runs concurrently with the Cup of Nations Tournament. The trivia game was initiated to ignite African football fans to support their favourite teams and to expand their knowledge of the beautiful game.
NewspapersZIMBABWE Zimbabwe: Between the lines The Zimbabwean government's move to ask two independent newspapers it has banned to re-register is being viewed with much scepticism in local media circles. AFRICA Can healthy web site traffic save newspapers?Raw numbers don't really tell whether newspapers are profiting from the uptick in visits to their sites, said Mike McGuire, vice president of research for the media industry at Gartner. "The challenge is how papers can effectively monetize that. There is a concern that a lot of people expect ad-supported content to be free."
Online MediaGHANA Putting African football in the pictureAfrica Interactive works together with local media talent in Ghana to put the Nike5showdown tournament in the picture. AFRICA Africa's blogging revolutionariesThe world's poorest continent is, not surprisingly, also its least wired. However, web use in Africa has exploded almost ninefold since 2000, experts say. By prying open the stranglehold that repressive regimes once held on the news, it has become, in the hands of ingenious Africans, a powerful tool for democratisation and even disaster relief.
ProductionUGANDA Cheers! Ugandan Eagle flies high[Walter Wafula] Nile Breweries' beer business project finds its way into the books of America's most prestigious university as a case-study in doing business in a developing country, according to a new publication entitled “Business Linkages: Lessons, Opportunities and Challenges.” KENYA Insecurity leaves crops rottingTeresia Chebet and hundreds of other small-scale farmers in the western Kenyan district of Nandi North have not been directly affected by the violence that has ravaged the country in the past month, yet their livelihoods are threatened because markets have become inaccessible.
ResearchAFRICA Economic impacts of software piracyA new study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has made a strong economic case to tackle software piracy in Africa.
RetailKENYA Kenya: Violence paralyses western towns as political crisis deepens Increasing violence and tension in several towns in western Kenya continue to hinder the provision of basic services such as health, education and transport, in addition to causing untold suffering to thousands of people displaced since the unrest began in late December.
TVKENYA OATS heads east Oracle Airtime Sales (OATS) has confirmed their agreement with media management agency Corporate Talk to further develop its African network. | 
