SOUTHERN AFRICA

South Africa: Rethinking asylum
Johannesburg: South Africa should consider temporarily declaring asylum seekers from certain Southern African countries as refugees, to keep up with the burgeoning numbers of migrants, particularly from Zimbabwe, according to a senior government official.


Delta sets up shop in Nairobi
Delta Airlines has set up offices in the country in preparations to begin direct flight operations between Kenya and the US mid next year.


CMO Council convenes first Africa board meeting - CMO Council
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, a global network of more than 3500 senior marketing executives in 57 countries, held the inaugural meeting of its new Africa Advisory Board at Dimension Data offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday, Tuesday, 12 August 2008.

AFRICA

Mobile boom in Africa a boon to ad agencies
Paris: Drive around Nairobi these days, jokes Michael Joseph, chief executive of Safaricom, a Kenyan mobile phone operator, and every building is painted in his company's colour, green, or that of one of its rivals.

Ugandan products achieve Superbrand status
Eight of Uganda's leading brands have achieved Superbrand status giving their products a chance to break through global markets. Leading the group is MTN Uganda, followed by Bell Larger, Uganda Waragi, Kinyara Sugar, Splash, The New Vision, Mukwano and Nomi.


Telkom Kenya rebrands with new look
[Carole Kimutai] Two weeks after Celtel rebranded to Zain, another telecommunication company, Telkom Kenya, has joined the band wagon and unveiled its new look. According to Telkom Kenya, the rebranding symbolises the company's changes internally in terms of strategy, operation and organisation.

AFRICA

Call for natural history film entries
Enter your wildlife, travel and/or cultural productions, and stand a chance of walking away with a ROSCAR (Rhino sculpture) Award.

ZAMTEL rolling out fibre-optic backbone
[Gregory Gondwe] The Zambia Telecommunications Company Limited (ZAMTEL) has announced that it has started its plans of rolling out a metropolitan optical fibre network which will provide new broadband services to Capital Lusaka's corporate customers.

Capital Markets Authority urged to strengthen media relations
[Walter Wafula] The Capital Markets Authority, CMA, has been advised to strengthen its relation with the media in a bid to increase awareness and people's knowledge on the role and benefits of investing in capital markets. The CMA is the organisation in charge of licensing and regulating players in the capital markets and protecting participating investors.

USB named SA's top business school - USB-ED
The University of Stellenbosch Business School has been named the number one business school in South Africa by the Professional Management Review. The USB achieved the highest overall score of 4.11 out of a possible 5 points in the annual national survey of MBA accredited schools.

AFRICA

Zimfest '08 - Party for a cause
Music lovers, musicians and revelers need to head for the Tafelberg Tavern in Gardens, Cape Town, for Zimfest '08 on 6 September 2008. The festival is based on a simple concept - plenty of excellent music by South African bands will entertain party-goers and the proceeds will go toward humanitarian efforts on behalf on the people of Zimbabwe, living in South Africa.


The Africa Convention 2008
The Africa Convention endeavors to bring together Africans from all corners of the Diasporas - engaging sisters and brothers from all communities, denominations and social strata, in celebration and honour of the African continent. The convention will be held from 28-31 August 2008 at the Hilton Universal City Hotel in Hollywood - California.


Africa investor Index Series Awards shortlist announced
Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment research and communication group, has announced the shortlist for its prestigious Ai Index Series Awards, to be held at the New York Stock Exchange on 15 September 2008.


National Energy Association recognises Engen's GM at awards
The 2008 South African National Energy Association (SANEA) held their annual awards dinner last week in recognition of companies, individuals and projects that have directly or indirectly promoted sustainable energy use and the benefits of sustainability to all.


CAF Southern Africa 2008 Conference
The CAF Southern Africa 2008 Conference themed, "Innovating for sustainability - Africans investing in Africa," is set for 17-18 September 2008 at The Wanderers' Club in Illovo, Johannesburg. The conference will explore how innovative financial models involving local investment, private equity and social enterprise can enhance the region's sustainability. Participants will discover the relationships between social investment, good corporate governance and visionary leadership. For more info, view the event listing here.

AFRICA

SAMRO signs MOU with Kenyan Copyright Society
The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), launched its newly designed "African Collective Administration Development Strategy" extending its reach further across Africa. SAMRO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) last week to enhance the growth of copyright development on the continent.


Black journalists offer different view of Africa
Chicago: Western media coverage of Africa focuses primarily on disease, starvation and war and African leaders making strides to advance their countries with ambitious economic initiatives, medical advancements and technological projects are often ignored, said officials from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

Court orders reinstatement of journalists suspended for not reporting positively on President Mugabe
The Labour Court has ordered the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to reinstate immediately, without loss of salary or benefits, six journalists who were suspended in June 2008.

Vodafone completes purchase of Ghana Telecom stake
London: Mobile phone giant Vodafone annonuced today, it had completed the purchase of a 70% stake in state-run Ghana Telecommunications.


Ugandan minister: Africa needs to harness mobile tech
Africa needs to devise ways to harness mobile technology, considering the explosive growth the technology and services have had on the continent, Uganda's minister of ICT has said.

UGANDA

Advertising companies battle for Entebbe Airport space
[Walter Wafula] Alliance Media Uganda and Messrs Clear Channel Independent are at war. The two advertising agencies are fighting for the rights to manage advertising space at Entebbe International Airport causing confusion that could lead to major losses by key advertisers.

ZIMBABWE

Zim hotels lure locals to make up for low international traffic
[Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's hotel groups have embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign to woo locals into their hotels and lodges, as international concern on the country's crisis remains a major threat to international tourist arrivals.

Malawi: Radio station rekindles annual awards
[Gregory Gondwe] The state controlled radio station, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) has started preparations to rekindle the annual awards bestowed on the country's best entertainers, which slumped into hibernation after the company tasked to run it failed to conduct the event for three years.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

Free Trade Area officially launched for SADC region
[Bathandwa Mbola] Johannesburg: The Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states officially launched a Free Trade Area (FTA) for the region at the weekend, ushering in a new era of economic integration.

NIGERIA

Group seeks probe of ‘smoking' parties
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) yesterday, 14 August 2008, urged the federal government to investigate on-going ‘Experience Freshness' secret parties being organised by the British American Tobacco Nigeria to promote its Pall Mall cigarette brand.

Bodyform pledges to support women in Zimbabwe
Bodyform announced yesterday, 14 August 2008, a pledge of fundraising and marketing support to help provide vital sanitary supplies to the women of Zimbabwe, in partnership with ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) and its 'Dignity! Period.' campaign.


Zambia's new mining fiscal regime boosts revenue
[Gregory Gondwe] Zambia's new mining fiscal regime, which came into effect on April 1 this year, is said to have bolstered the country's revenue.

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe: New forms of "money"
Zimbabweans are turning to fuel coupons as a new form of "currency" after struggling to find local money, which continues to lose its value steeply.


Air Malawi sale flops
[Gregory Gondwe] Malawi's finance minister, Goodall Gondwe has conceded that the sale of Air Malawi has flopped after the prospective buyers found the airline unviable.

Zimbabwe: Dashed hopes all round
Harare: Abigail Mukurazhizha, 35, a stockbroker in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, was among the scores of people jostling each other to buy a copy of The Herald, the official newspaper, with the headline proclaiming "Deal Sealed" above a story on the crucial talks to resolve the political crisis.

CENTRAL AFRICA

Malawi: Hoarding affects food supply
Despite government assurances of a food surplus, Malawi's traders are betting that maize prices will rise later in the year and are holding on to stocks, artificially pushing up the price at the tills for consumers.


Illovo Malawi invests K1,5bn in sugar production
[Gregory Gondwe] Illovo Sugar Malawi board chair, Graham Clark announced last week that his company has this year injected K1,5bn to increase production before adding a further K2bn next year.


NEPAD - alive and working
Building on the NEPAD Projects Conference hosted in October 2007, the NEPAD SADC Regional Infrastructure Projects Conference held at the Sandton Sun, Johannesburg, on 8 August 2008, demonstrated the interest and desire from the private sector to participate in infrastructure projects across the continent.


Zambia hikes fuel prices
[Gregory Gondwe] Zambia's Energy Regulation Board (ERB) announced in a statement released in Lusaka lats week that it has increased prices of all petroleum products.

MTV Africa Music Awards 2008
The first, star-studded MTV Africa Music Awards will take place at the Velodrome, Abuja, Nigeria on Saturday, 22 November 2008, in front of thousands of musicians, celebrities, media and music fans in a two-hour TV spectacular, combining performances from top African and international stars with award presentations and an international superstar host.


Malawi: GTV partners with a local bank
[Gregory Gondwe] The pan-African pay-TV satellite service GTV has partnered with National Bank of Malawi (NBM) to run a finance facility that will allow prospective clients acquiring GTV equipment and services.

AFRICA

Face of Africa 2008
A new season of Face of Africa hits the runway this month as M-Net relaunches its cross-continental model talent search. The new season will mark the seventh time that the project has run, having already delivered fresh new stars to the world's biggest catwalks.