More positivity for 2010![](https://biz-file.com/b/0906/29210.jpg?1) While listening to the radio this morning, I was tickled to hear that the Egyptian football team, who are in South Africa for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, may have been robbed by thieving sex workers who were allegedly invited to the hotel for an impromptu victory party over Italy. The news that the team had been robbed of US$2400 from their hotel room in Johannesburg broke late last week and damning headlines popped up everywhere blaming the incident on South Africa's crime statistics; nay-sayers shook their heads and mumbled, "Only in South Africa..." The funny part about this whole incident certainly does not lie in the fact that they were robbed, as losing that much cash is always disheartening to say the least; the funny part is that those very nay-sayers may have to eat their words along with some delicious humble pie. Where there's smoke, there's fire, and while the rumours have yet to be proven true, it should serve as a lesson to those who find pleasure in spreading negativity that perhaps not all is as it seems on the surface and perhaps Africa isn't the dark continent it is portrayed to be after all. Hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup is a mammoth task that will require the positive energy of the entire African continent. It is the first time in its history that Africa has been handed the opportunity to host the occasion, so let's be happy and enthusiastic about it shall we, as we show ourselves off to the world! Cheers! Sindy Peters, Content manager Send all your Africa marketing news to africanews@bizcommunity.com. Top stories
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![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/31993.jpg) CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA: African businesses can become far more competitive, but African governments and their international partners will need to improve access to finance, resist pressure to erect trade barriers, upgrade infrastructure, improve healthcare and educational systems and strengthen institutions, according to the World Bank 2009 Africa Competitiveness Report released on Wednesday, 10 June 2009. Read more >>[Walter Wafula] For tourism in Africa to boom, there is a need for multiple stakeholders to aggressively exhibit the continents' beautiful natural sites and market the heritage of its people to the world, experts said at the 2009 Africa-Asia Business Forum in Kampala held from 15 - 17 June 2009. Read more >> CRM
The recession is inflicting damage on companies in numerous ways, but it is also creating new opportunities in some niches, according to various reports covering the information technology (IT) sector. Read more >>CSI
![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32234.jpg) The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT), in conjunction with the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) in Kenya have launched TechSoup Kenya, an online technology donation portal aimed at the Kenyan NGO sector. Read more >>Design
![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32056.jpg) The final deadline for entering the Pentawards 2009 has been extended to Wednesday, 24 June 2009, with no late fee. According to the organisers, due to the very large number of participants over the past few days, the company's server has encountered technical problems and registration has not been possible. Read more >>Digital
[Nicole Casal Moore] Residents of rural Kenya now have email accounts and Internet access thanks in part to the work of engineering students at the University of Michigan, USA who enabled satellite-based services at three locations in the country. Their work was supported by Google. Read more >> VC4Africa.com and Appfrica.org have announced a formal partnership aimed at mobilising and supporting the venture capital community of Africa, building the community of investors and entrepreneurs who build business on the continent. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32232.jpg) PARIS: Alcatel-Lucent and Kenya Data Networks (KDN), a communications carrier in Kenya, have signed a three-year frame agreement valued at €15 million. The agreement covers the supply, integration, installation and deployment for Alcatel-Lucent's optical networking and optical switching solutions for KDN's transport network across Kenya and neighbouring countries in East Africa. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32090.jpg) LONDON: Gateway Communications, a supplier of telecommunications services across Africa, on Tuesday, 16 June 2009 won the award for Wireless Network Infrastructure Innovation in partnership with vendor, Cambridge Broadband Networks at the 2009 GTB Innovation Awards held in London. Read more >>In Egypt, efforts to widen access to scientific material have been boosted by the launch of a US$60,000 digital library. The library, launched in June, boasts locally-produced research, and provides the Egyptian community with discounted journals by leading US scientific societies. Read more >> [Lesley Stones] Internet company iBurst has appointed Ian Halliday as its MD, replacing Alan Knott-Craig, who announced his resignation in April. Read more >>The long-awaited East African Marine System (TEAMS) fibre optic undersea cable, expected to cut telecommunications costs across the continent, has officially been launched in Kenya. Read more >>Education and Training
LONDON: africapractice is launching a one-day Africa Immersion programme, aimed at providing senior executives with an insightful overview of the continent. The workshop plans to look at socioeconomic statistics, facts and data as well as anecdotes and practical experiences on the continent. Read more >>Eventing
![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32141.jpg) JOHANNESBURG: Africa investor (Ai), an international investment research and communication group, yesterday, 18 June 2009 announced the call for nominations for the 2009 Africa investor Index Series Awards. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, on 21 September 2009 in New York, USA. Read more >>Advertisement:![](https://biz-file.com/b/0906/29051.gif) Africa's Economic Emancipation Conference will take place on 19 - 21 October 2009 in Chicago, Illinois at the Navy Pier Conference Facility. The three-day AFREECON conference seeks to demystify the African continent in regards to politics, geography, commerce and culture. Read more >>Media
[Gregory Gondwe] With a new parliament poised to meet for the first time today, 22 June 2009, new tough media conditions have been set up and the Media Council of Malawi has since given the new set of rules its seal of approval. Read more >> ![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32159.jpg) The International Policy Network (IPN) announced Wednesday, 17 June 2009, that entries are open for its annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism, but that the deadline for entries is 30 June 2009. Read more >>NEW YORK: A magistrate in the Gambian capital, Banjul, on Thursday, 18 June 2009 charged seven journalists with sedition for criticising President Yahya Jammeh's televised comments about the unsolved 2004 murder of editor Deyda Hydara, their defense lawyer said. Read more >>NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Tuesday, 16 June 2009, for Gambia's national security agency to release seven journalists it arrested on Monday, 15 June. The detainees include leaders of the country's press union and editors of newspapers that published a union press release criticising President Yahya Jammeh's recent comments about the unsolved 2004 murder of editor Deyda Hydara. Read more >>Mobile
[Lesley Stones] Telecoms analysts at well-respected research house AfricaNext say they are “mildly surprised” by news that the mobile operator Zain may be selling its African operations, but it would be understandable if the speculated fee of US$12bn proved to be correct. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32166.jpg) The Global Humanitarian Forum and its president, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, together with Ericsson, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), mobile telecommunications company Zain, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, yesterday, 18 June 2009, announced a major initiative, dubbed "Weather Info for All". Its aim is to improve Africa's weather monitoring network. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32078.jpg) Econet Wireless Group (EWG) has started moves to block Zain's sale of its interests in Zain Nigeria until ruling on a dispute over ownership of the company is passed. Read more >>[Kea' Modimoeng] The telecoms market in Africa is on the rise and continues to show positive growth despite the global financial crisis. This is according to a study conducted by consultancy Detecon International in Europe and Africa. Read more >> Online Media
[Titus Kaloki] In yet another move to affirm Swahili as a lingua franca, Facebook launched its own version in the language. The event took place at one of Kenya' premiere schools, the Starehe Boys Centre. It is among the top high school institutions for boys and has produced a large majority of the present day political and business leaders in Kenya. Read more >>Retail
[Gregory Gondwe] In a move to add value to Malawi's green gold, the tobacco crop, a local investor has said a cigarette manufacturing company is to go full throttle into manufacturing business in two months time. Read more >> KAMPALA: Food shortages in parts of Uganda are approaching crisis-level after subsistence farmers sold their produce for cash, officials said on 18 June 2009. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32224.jpg) ADDIS ABABA: An increasing number of Africans living in urban areas are finding it harder to put enough food on the table, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has warned. Read more >>SOUTH AFRICA Morocco begins massive port project - I-Net Bridge - AFPTANGIERS: Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Wednesday, 17 June 2009, attended a ceremony to mark the start of a project to create one of the biggest ports in Africa and the Mediterranean. The €825-million Tangier Med 2 port, in the north of the country, has financial support from a host of countries, including France and Italy. The country's economy minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, said the first phase of the project should be finished by 2014 and will be around the size of 80 football pitches. [Dumisani Ndlela] A local motor vehicle firm claims it has saved the Land Rover brand in Zimbabwe from collapse, despite being ditched by the British firm over the country's political crisis. Read more >> [Neo Semono] CAPE TOWN: The hosting of the 19th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, which attracted over 800 participants from 50 countries, has been described as a success by the South African Cabinet. Read more >> ![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32076.jpg) JOHANNESBURG: It will take at least ten years to develop a variety of staple grain that will survive in the climates caused by global warming in most parts of Africa, and the continent has less than two decades in which to do it, warn the authors of a new study. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/31973.jpg) ASMARA: Doran Ali Osman, administrator of Rahaita, one of the most southerly villages on Eritrea's Red Sea coast, zips up his jacket as the wind tugs at his clothes. He has water on his mind. The villagers, who depend on fish, crops and livestock farming to earn a living, have to cope with less and less rainfall. Read more >>TV
![](https://biz-file.com/c/0906/32002.jpg) Tun Van Rijswijck, chief operating officer of Broadcasting Centre Europe (BCE) will be attending the Africa Future TV Conference 2009. The event is scheduled for 3 - 4 August 2009 at the Sandton Sun in Johannesburg, South Africa. Read more >>Mobile
With the kick-off of the much anticipated FIFA 2009 Confederations Cup, Starfish Mobile has teamed up with MTN Swaziland in launching the “Send Me To The Soccer Competition” promotion to test the local fans' general knowledge soccer skills. Read more >> "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." - George Bernard Shaw"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison
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