Mike Walsh in Kenya for mentorship programme
[Carole Kimutai] Globally-renowned integrated marketing communications expert, Mike Walsh is in Kenya for a week long mentorship visit. Walsh, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) Europe and chairman of Ogilvy United Kingdom is an Ogilvy worldwide ambassador.

President Mbeki recalled
Johannesburg: President Thabo Mbeki has been recalled by the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC). Making the announcement on Saturday, 20 September 2008, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the ANC had decided to recall the President before his term of office expires next year.

Kenya markets BPO services
[Carole Kimutai] Earlier in the week, the Kenya ICT Board, a delegation of Kenyan industry players and stakeholders launched the country's BPO value proposition to the European market at the Call Centre Expo in Birmingham.

AFRICA

Top 10 economic reasons to invest in Africa
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] For too long, Africa has been at the centre of negative publicity, partly promoted by foreign biased media reports and Afro-pessimists, scaring away potential investors and hampering its development. But, Riddle Markus, ABSA Capital strategist, said all that is in the past, citing top 10 economic reasons to explain why it is now good to invest in Africa.


South Africa: Constitutional Court may decide fate of safety camps
Johannesburg: An interim order by South Africa's Constitutional Court could keep temporary shelters open for the foreigners displaced by xenophobic violence earlier this year - or it could leave more than 4,000 camp residents out on the street.


Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai calls for urgent assistance
Morgan Tsvangirai, invested as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe as part of a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, called for international support to help raise the country off its economic haunches at the signing of the agreement in the capital, Harare.


BUSA welcomes Zimbabwe's MoU
Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) has welcomed the signing of the political deal in Zimbabwe yesterday morning, 15 September 2008, in Harare, Zimbabwe. It congratulated the three principal players in the deal, namely President Robert Mugabe, ZANU PF and the leaders of the two MDC formations, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara respectively.

Mbeki to lead high-level meeting on Africa's development
[Luyanda Makapela] Pretoria: President Thabo Mbeki is expected next week to lead a high-level meeting with African leaders to review the continent's developmental needs as well as the implementation of its development goals.

SA production house shoots Zain, Mitsubishi ads
Jeremy Goodall and feelgoodfilms have been at the helm of the re-branding of Celtel to the Middle Eastern and African service provider, Zain and have journeyed through South Africa to Mozambique to produce a playful yet daring Mitsubishi ad.

SOUTH AFRICA

Top global brands' valuation down by US$67 billion
LONDON & NEW YORK: Independent brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance yesterday, Thursday, 18 September 2008, revealed the impact of recession on the 100 leading global and US brands - between January and September, the brand value of these top brands has decreased by 4.2%, a drop of US$67 billion.

Five-day Cycle Challenge for IT education
Madagascar: Microsoft has donated professionally refurbished PC's to 15 schools in Madagascar. 15 professional field engineers from Microsoft will be cycling 420km across Madagascar to the various schools in order to raise funds to help with the maintenance and operations of the cyber labs.

African parliamentary staff to learn science communication skills
Representatives of parliaments from 13 countries across Africa will attend a workshop in Kampala, Uganda next week to develop the skills needed to inform parliamentarians about the scientific aspects of the issues they face in policy-making decisions.

US, European investors back East Africa International Business Forum
International investors from the US, Germany and France are backing the first East African International Business Forum being held in Kigali 29 - 30 October 2008. US-based Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), Germany's Afrika-Verein and the French Council of Investors in Africa (CIAN) have announced their support.

Africa: The global green field outsource location
The Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) along with the CyberMedia (India) group will present the first ever "African Outsourcing Summit" from 27 - 28 November 2008 in London. The summit will bring policy-makers and industry representatives from Africa together with decision-makers, outsource service buyers and other stakeholders from the European and global outsourcing industry.

UGANDA

New magazine to bridge sports gap in Uganda
[Walter Wafula] Sports Replay, a new home-grown glossy magazine has hit Kampala's streets, designed with diverse content for Ugandan sports fans. The publication was launched this September and is retailing at UGX2,000, ($1,2) in Uganda, the lowest price of a magazine of its quality on the market.

AFRICA

Challenges of broadcast media in Africa
[Carole Kimutai] Kenya will host the first Broadcast and Film Africa Conference and exhibition from 23 - 25 September 2008 in Nairobi. The theme of the event is broadcast and film convergence in the digital age. Bizcommunity.com spoke to Sean Moroney, AITEC Africa chairman and the organisers of the event.

CPJ to honour Ugandan journalist
[Walter Wafula] Andrew Mwenda, a founder and managing editor of The Independent magazine in Uganda, will be one of the five courageous journalists who will be honoured with awards by the Committee to Protect Journalists in November 2008.

Eastern African media institutions collaborate for journalistic freedoms
The Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA), in collaboration with the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), organised a regional conference on "Challenges and Obstacles of Practicing Journalism in Eastern Africa" in Djibouti last month.

ZIMBABWE

MISA appeals for transformation of ZBC into independent PSB
MISA-Zimbabwe believes the media and most critically radio and television, because of their wider reach, play a critical role in creating the required platform for national dialogue that will input into the envisaged era of national healing, stability, harmony, reconciliation and economic development.

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe: Abnormal phone usage stunts cellular network growth
[Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's largest cellular network operator, Econet Wireless says its network expansion had been stunted by abnormal phone usage on its network, with the subscriber base growing by a mere 3% during the 2008 financial year.

Telkom Kenya to shake up mobile industry
Telkom Kenya is finalising preparations for the rollout of its GSM network later this week. Kenya's mobile market is the largest in East Africa and has experienced exponential growth in recent years with the number of mobile phone subscribers growing from 900,000 in June 2002 to 11,5 million in May 2008.

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe: Cash crisis ruins newspaper sales
[Dumisani Ndlela] The Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers) group has revealed that its newspaper titles have suffered significant sales losses due to an arduous cash crisis, devastating the country's newspaper publishing industry.

ZAMBIA

Zambia media welcome online Watchdog
[Gregory Gondwe] The newly launched Zambian online newspaper, The Watchdog is expected to change the media terrain in the country, according to the paper's editor Lloyd Himaambo.

8 Image & Brand Consultancy signs with MBP
8 Image & Brand Consultancy, a strategic brand and design agency in Africa, has appointed Marcus Brewster Publicity (MBP) as its PR agency. The profile-driven public relations strategy will be handled out of MBP's Johannesburg office. 8 Image & Brand specialises in brand marketing, strategy and design from offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nairobi, Lagos and representation in Dubai and London.

KENYA

Climate change can create job opportunities in Africa
Utilising the many sources of energy in Africa is the best safeguard against the negative effects of climate change. This was a key message from the international conference on climate change and employment in Nairobi, staged by the Africa Commission.

"Double-ups" not packing for home
Johannesburg: Zimbabwe's political agreement is yet to reverse the flow of migrants looking for a better life in South Africa; smuggling people in and food out remains a thriving business, with long-distance drivers competing for a slice of the action.

WEST AFRICA

Creating a fashion industry in Sierra Leone
[Emily Geminder] Adama Kai calls it the diaspora dress. Whether they see it hanging in her shop window or happen to witness Kai herself marching its proud neckline down the street, everyone has a single question: Where can I get one?


SA, Kenya seek to address import, export deficit
[Michael Appel] Johannesburg: Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mphalwa told business leaders from South Africa and Kenya that strengthening bilateral relations will focus on reducing the import-export deficit that currently exists.

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe: Raising a moribund economy
Harare: Financial aid is vital to the recovery of Zimbabwe's once vibrant agricultural and industrial sectors, but will only come if the new inclusive government speedily adopts "comprehensive and workable frameworks" to address the dire economic straits prevailing, analysts told IRIN.

Rwanda: Carbon offset firm to help reverse deforestation
Kigali: A Canadian carbon offset development company plans to invest US$17m on reforestation projects in Rwanda over the next 20 years, one of its senior officials said.


BANKSERV confirms FIN-X acquisition
Johannesburg: Automated clearing house, BANKSERV has confirmed the acquisition of FIN-X, a company providing SWIFT bureau services and OFAC security filtering to commercial banks and financial institutions throughout Africa and the Middle East.

SOUTH AFRICA

Capacity constraints hinder Africa's export performance
[Michael Appel] Capacity constraints are the main obstacle in improving Africa's export performance.

Solutions for a new energy future in Africa
An Energy Solutions for Africa Conference and Exhibition will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg, South Africa from 28 - 29 January 2009. The conference aims to provide a unique platform for ambassadors from Africa in both public and private sectors to debate, develop solutions and collaborate in order to share best practices for Africa.

ForgeAhead and USAASA give away computers
ForgeAhead and USAASA will be implementing a tele-container at the Ramogabudi Secondary School in Polokwane Limpopo. ForgeAhead and USAASA have adopted this school as one of the African ICT Achievers CSI projects and will be presenting the tele-container made up of computers to the school on 26 September 2008.

Ernest Morolong the winner of the Top African ICT Achievers Educator Award identified the Ramogabudi Secondary School as a worthy recipient and is his opportunity to contribute to the upliftment of South Africa's underprivileged learner's computer literacy.

The adoption of this school by ForgeAhead means that the company will continuously seek sponsorships that can further help the school manage the computers effectively i.e. server connection, maintenance etc.

CENTRAL AFRICA

Malawi Television in crisis
[Gregory Gondwe] Malawi Television (TVM) is in a crisis after having operated for two years without any financial assistance. TVM deputy director general, Chimwemwe Banda said they are failing to replace equipment while its TV crew operate at the mercy of news sources.

AFRICA

Become a video star with the MAMAs
Budding music video creators and music fans across Africa are being given an opportunity to shine at the first ever MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain (MAMAs), with the My Video Award contest. In an award category dedicated to the ‘MeTV' digital generation, MTV's My Video Award salutes music videos created for and by MTV viewers.