ZIMBABWE

Cry, the beloved company
[Dumisani Ndlela] Below is a glimpse into the weeping from the firms operating in Zimbabwe in 2007 and whose December reporting period has just ended.

Marketing to the uninterested
[Steve Smith] The other day, and for the tenth time in the last year, I showed my mother how to answer her cellphone.

AFRICA

APEX 2008 winners
South Africa's Association for Communication and Advertising's (ACA) APEX Awards once again displayed the wealth of talent in the advertising and communications industry of South Africa. But the good news is that from next year, entries will be invited from the rest of Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA

World adspend strength in developing countries
In its first advertising expenditure forecasts of 2008, ZenithOptimedia downgraded its combined growth forecasts for North America and Western Europe this year from 4.4% to 3.8%, as consumer and business confidence is negatively impacted by current economic conditions.

AMEP is coming soon...
The 3rd Maputo International Advertising Festival will take place from 26 - 29 May 2008. Pieces that were created and can be proved to have been displayed between 1 April 2007 and 30 April 2008 shall be accepted. Works may be submitted to the competition, on payment of the respective fee, between 1 April and 15 May 2008. For further details, go to AMEP.

Tanzania's Exim Bank boasts profit growth
The MD of Exim, Sabetha Mwambenja has said that during its 10 years of existence, Exim has enjoyed year-to-year growth in profits, assets and deposits.

Car dealer bags award
[Carole Kimutai] Award targets dealers of Mercedes in Africa and is measured against sales, service delivery and overall customer satisfaction.

Nampak plant in Angola can save SABMiller $6m
[Nicola Mawson, Consumer Industries Correspondent] SABMiller aims to save about $6m a year when a new can manufacturing plant being built by Nampak was up and running in Angola in the middle of next year.

EGYPT

The tangled web we weave
By most accounts, 2007 marked a worldwide decline in information freedoms — and Egypt was no exception. Do two recent court decisions upholding freedom of expression signal change is in the air? Or will they be remembered as little more than ghostly blips a year from now?

AFRICA

Tunisia leads Africa in technology rankings
[Walter Wafula] Tunisia is Africa's most networked economy, a new IT report has revealed.

Adobe grabs a slice of video 2.0 pie
[Katherine Noyes] Adobe on Wednesday announced that its Media Player 1.0 is now available as a free download; giving the company a toehold in the online video space. Additionally, say analysts, Adobe gains a leg up in competing with Microsoft's Silverlight platform, which is a competitor to Flash. That the player supports high-definition video standards helps as well.

The whole world is watching: Google shines light on refugee camps
[Keith Regan] Google and the UN High Commission for Refugees - the United Nations agency responsible for tracking and caring for refugees from the world's conflicts - unveiled a Web-based mapping tool on Tuesday, 8 April, meant to help raise awareness of displaced populations.

India-Africa Summit to forge strategic economic relations
The first India-Africa summit is currently underway in the India capital, New Delhi, with the aim of forging a strategic economic partnership between the two regions.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

African writers urge for protection of languages
[Nthambeleni Gabara] Aspiring African writers, authors and academics in the Western Cape have urged government to enforce policies that will protect indigenous languages.

Times reporter released on bail, trial set for this week
A New York Times reporter and a British national were released on bail from Zimbabwe's Harare Central Prison on 7 April 2008 after spending five days in detention on charges of reporting without accreditation.

Celtel Tanzania has new MD
[Remmy Nweke] The former Chief Commercial Officer, Celtel Nigeria, Michael Foley, has been named the new Managing Director of Celtel Tanzania.

EAST AFRICA

Ugandan, Kenyan organisations win in global competition
[David Muwanga] Kenya's Centre for Training and Integrated Research for Development (CETRAD) and NETWAS Uganda are among the four winners in the inaugural nGomobile competition. The winning projects were selected from a pool of over 70 entries that came from Kenya, Uganda, Mexico and Azerbaijan.

Safaricom taps Equity Bank for staff share loans
[Walter Wafula] Safaricom, one of Kenya's leading mobile telephone service providers, has made a deal with Equity Bank to allow its staff to access loans for the acquisition of its IPO shares through the bank at a subsidised interest rate of 10%.

Uganda Telecom, 3G network takes off
[Walter Wafula] Uganda Telecom launched its multi-million euro wireless network based on 3G technology. The network was launched at the company's headquarters in Kampala in March, raising the bar in the delivery of telecommunication voice and data services.

i2 Mobile gears up for growth
i2, the diversified mobile phones and IT products provider based in the Middle East and Africa, has opened corporate regional headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

AFRICA

The Guardian International Development Journalism Competition
The competition invites new voices in journalism who are writing about issues facing the developing world today - issues that are often overlooked or under-represented by the media.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

South Africa's top newspaper journalists, photographers, designers honoured
At an awards ceremony in Johannesburg this week, Mondi Shanduka Newsprint and the Newspaper Association honoured the South African newspaper journalism industry at the seventh annual Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards.


Liberian newspaper threatened with lawsuit over alleged defamation
The National Chronicle, one of Liberia's daily newspapers, is being threatened with a lawsuit by a member of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's inner circle.

Don't kill the blogger
[Mick Brady] If blogging is tough on one's equanimity and consequently one's overall health, then posting comments in response to published articles must be risky too. Imagine the elevated blood pressure some of those irate critics must experience as they furiously type away. They could be headed for aneurysms, strokes or lengthy sessions of beating their heads against walls.

Hoodzpeaks now available in paper - Right Stuff
Hoodzpeaks are specially-designed patented visor attachments for peak caps, which provide extra protection from the sun by extending over the ears and sides of the face. Now Hoodzpeaks are available in plastic as well as laminated paper, giving you the option to choose what suits your needs and budget.

Malawi's Central Bank has to compensate girls for photographs
[Gregory Gondwe] The Reserve Bank of Malawi has been ordered by the Malawi's office of the Ombudsman to compensate three girls for using their photographs on a K10 banknote in 1997 without seeking their consent.

Nigeria: Cadbury sees strong rise in sales
Cadbury Schweppes has reported 7% growth in confectionery sales for the three months to March.

Intelligent approach needed to reduce retail crime
Technology must be harnessed to effectively tackle shrinkage and rising crime in South Africa's retail sector. This was the key message coming out of the Retail Risk 2008 conference held in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in March.

AFRICA

Creating fearful shoppers
[Carole Kimutai] High cost of basics worries consumers.

Sub-Saharan Africa to grow, but…
According to the International Monetary Fund's sub-Saharan Africa spring 2008 regional economic outlook, growth is expected to remain robust but global developments cloud prospects.

Jet Community Awards 2008 call for entry
The Jet Community Awards, southern Africa's popular grassroots community awards programme, is open for entries once again to those extraordinary organisations and individuals who dedicate their time and energy to the upliftment of their local communities. Now in its sixth year, there's R1 million in prize money on offer and entries are being accepted from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Can bread subsidies continue in their present form?
Some 500 political activists and textile workers were arrested and dozens of others injured during clashes with police in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla Al-Kobra on 6 April in protests over high bread prices, said eyewitnesses.

It's the economy stupid!
[Lance Mambondiani] The recent Zimbabwean elections have generated unprecedented excitement for many stakeholders as a defining moment for the future of Zimbabwe.

India offers trade privileges to African countries
[P. Vijian] Recognising the importance of market access to ensure the development of international trade, India is engaging the African states and offering trade privileges to the continent which has more than 900 million people.

SOUTH AFRICA

The latest and greatest in branded entertainment
[Stanley Edwards] Stanley Edwards, director of Platypus Productions, is once again at MIPTV 2008 in Cannes, running 7 – 11 April 2008, and is reporting daily for Bizcommunity from the conference programme "Audiences on the Move", which has more than 40 sessions featuring over 150 entertainment innovators. This is the freshest global perspective on television programming, advertising and media, telco-media convergence, online video, mobile media and social networking.


Battle gets down and dirty over TV white spaces
US - Ten months before the nation flips to digital television, US technology companies and TV broadcasters are fighting over the virtual remote, with different ideas of what to do with the unused airwaves. In South Africa last year, Cabinet announced that the digital signal for SA viewers will be switched on from 1 November 2008; and though the migration will take three years to complete, will the country see a similar vie for TV "white space"?