Congrats to Johan-Allan Namu Congratulations are in order for Kenya's Johan-Allan Namu who won the title of CNN Multichoice African Journalist 2009 over the weekend. Namu also made history by scooping both the Television News Award and Television Features Award for his work on Kenya Television News (KTN). He is now not only an inspiration to aspiring journalists in his home country but to those across the African continent as well. Africa has the brains but it also has the beauty. Face of Africa 2009 will also run its course and concludes the 14-episode series in early 2010 in Nigeria. There are plenty of other innovations added to the competition, one of them being that participants are able to apply online, so let the search begin. There's nothing to cheer about though for wine and spirit consumers in Zimbabwe as finance minister Tendai Biti announced an increased customs duty on these products. But then perhaps it is not the best option to be spending cash on wine and spirits during an economic downturn. This is not the only upset on the continent this week as a joint venture between Russian energy giant Gazprom and the Nigerian state oil company encounter one of the "worst branding disasters of all time" by naming the project NIGAZ. Investment in Africa is always welcome but perhaps a brand surgeon should be on hand at all times. Cheers! Sindy Peters, Content manager Send all your Africa marketing news to africanews@bizcommunity.com. Top stories
Marketing & Media
[Lansana Fofana] FREETOWN: Two Sierra Leonean radio stations have been stripped of their licences. The national regulatory body, the Independent Media Commission (IMC), says the stations failed to comply with the country's media code. Read more >> [Issa Sikiti da Silva] Despite the shadow of conflict and poverty that still lingers and the global economic downturn, sub-Saharan Africa - home to 41% of destitute people living on less than US$1 a day, down from 47% in 1990 - is at a turning point. Read more >> Branding
[Darren Olivier] Thinking of taking your business international? Take a moment to consider the latest brand blunder caused by the name the new joint venture between Russian energy giant Gazprom and the Nigerian state oil company - to be called NIGAZ, and then contact your branding advisors. Read more >> Cinema
 The 30th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) plans to feature 77 African films (including South African), comprising nine feature films, 28 documentaries and 49 short films. DIFF 2009 will take place 23 July - 2 August 2009 at various venues across the Durban vicinity. Read more >>CSI
Project "Radio Horizon" is for learners at Athlone School for the Blind, to give them opportunities for work in a radio station for the sight impaired, but funding is urgently required. “Platinum” and “Diamond” donors are urgently sought, the school announced recently. Read more >>Design
 The annual Makhulu Polane t-shirt design competition is open for entries from Thursday, 16 July 2009. This local initiative was started by Big Blue in 2006 in a quest to discover and support fresh home-grown talent. Read more >>Digital
[Titus Kaloki] According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), July/August 2008 issue, acceleration in market competition among industries in the US economy was due to the internet and enterprise IT, not because more products were becoming digitalised but because more processes are. Read more >>  SYDNEY: The use of electronic paper, also known as 'e-paper', is increasing as a result of its ultra low power consumption, a similar user experience to real paper and 'green' benefits, according to a new report from Gartner. Read more >> Ignite Consulting, in conjunction with AITEC East Africa, is hosting a summit focusing on local content innovation, in order to engage participants in dialogue and action planning. The Developing Local Internet Content Summit 2009 will take place at the Windsor Golf Hotel, Nairobi from 7 - 8 August 2009. Read more >>Education and Training
Education ministers across the world this week pledged greater support for higher education in Africa. Read more >>Eventing
 African Fashion International (AFI) has secured a five-year partnership for Cape Town Fashion Week with ARISE magazine, following the inaugural ARISE Africa Fashion Week in June 2009. ARISE Cape Town Fashion Week will take place from 20 - 22 August 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Read more >>Media
 Dual category winner, Johan-Allan Namu, from Kenya, scooped the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the year 2009 award in Durban at the weekend in an event that was transmitted live to the continent. Read more >> The NEPAD Business Foundation for Africa (NBF) recently established a new sector in the organisation for media and communications. It is headed up by Sharon Penhallrick, MD of Telmar SPC. The Media and Communications sector was set up in order to communicate the NBF's activities more successfully. Read more >>Highway Africa, the largest annual gathering of African journalists interested in journalism and new media, will take place 6 - 8 September 2009 at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. The theme for this year's event is 'Reporting Africa - 2010, Development and Democracy'. Read more >>The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is starting to accept entries for the 2010 Daniel Pearl Awards competition. The Daniel Pearl Awards honours the globe's top cross-border investigative reporting. Read more >>[Janine Erasmus] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the African Union (AU) Commission have signed a special agreement to strengthen journalism in Africa, particularly in science and technology. Read more >> Mobile
The global recession is having some effect on mobile advertisers, but mobile advertising continues its strong overall growth, said the results of BuzzCity's quarterly Global Mobile Advertising Index, yesterday, Tuesday, 14 July 2009. The company is a global provider of wireless communities and consumer services. Read more >>Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe's largest telecoms operator, has reported a strong improvement in performance due to its accelerated drive to sign on new subscribers. Read more >>[Sean Pashley] At the end of June 2009 Google announced the launch of Google SMS in partnership with MTN Uganda. The Google SMS offering is a suite of mobile applications, which provide access (via SMS) to information on a variety of topics such as weather, news, agricultural tips etc. In addition, the product includes Google Trader, which is effectively a marketplace where people can, in their own words, sell a variety of products such as cars, crops, jobs and much more. Ultimately, Google will expand the offering into a variety of African territories. Read more >> [Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's telecommunication operators have been told to start reducing tariffs to avoid “milking” customers. Read more >>  There are now more than 14 million registered international MXit users, but the mobile social networking and instant messaging company plans to “become one of the biggest mobile social network and IMs” it stated earlier this week. Read more >>Research
According to a report from Balancing Act, the top mobile markets in East Africa and the Indian Ocean islands are amongst the most liberalised on the continent. The top three markets are Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and they all have approximately 10 million subscribers. Read more >>Retail
Uganda has launched a coffee roasting and packaging company, described as the first of its kind in Africa. President Yoweri Museveni launched the Good African Coffee factory on Friday, 17 July 2009. Read more >>[Gregory Gondwe] Malawi's scale of trading on its Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE), the Malawi All Share Index (MASI) has not shown any activity for the last four weeks raising more fears on its performance; the local shares market has not registered significant share price gains since the beginning of this year. Read more >>  [Dumisani Ndlela] It's no longer cheers for local wine and spirit lovers. Come August, they will pay more for wines and spirits, after finance minister Tendai Biti increased customs duty on these products. Read more >>A survey carried out by africapractice found that of 103 African businesses, 97% plan to increase their investments to address sustainable development challenges over the next five years, and many viewed new business opportunities would emerge from creating a ‘green' economy. Read more >>Johannesburg: Large-scale food assistance to Zimbabweans could start in the next few weeks, according to a USAID situation report released on 16 July 2009. Read more >>NIAMEY: Low rainfall has disrupted the planting season throughout Niger as farmers who sowed seeds in May are forced to replant when their first crops died, according to the national association of farmers. Read more >> [Gregory Gondwe] The financially struggling Air Malawi has struck a deal with South Africa's City of Johannesburg to allow interested Malawians to benefit from the 2009 Jo'burg Shopping Festival scheduled for 1 - 30 September 2009. Read more >>[Terna Gyuse and Francis Kokutse] CAPE TOWN and ACCRA: "We must start from the simple premise that Africa's future is up to Africans," US president Barrack Obama told Ghana's parliament. And the keys to that future, as outlined in his speech, include democratic elections, accountability, good governance and strong institutions. Read more >> Sponsorship
 Amarula announced on Thursday, 16 July 2009, that it plans to continue sponsorship for the third year in a row of the Channel O Music Video Awards which will be staged at Carnival City, Johannesburg, South Africa on 29 October 2009. The awards aims to identify both performers and copyright owners in Africa that have made a substantial contribution to African music. Read more >>TV
M-Net has announced that Face of Africa 2009 will air as a 14-episode television series, rather than a four-part special as done in previous years. Entrants can enter online and the finale will be held in Nigeria, in February 2010. Read more >>[Gregory Gondwe] Multichoice Malawi has launched a new digital satellite television bouquet called DStv Access which its marketing manager Titania Katenga-Kaunda says was in response to the needs of the broader television viewing market. Read more >> [Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's ZBC TV has overhauled its programming as it battles to lure viewers dejected by pathetic programming and a blackout on foreign content. Read more >> Youth Marketing
 Mahmoud Bouneb, executive general manager of the Pan-Arab, Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC), will give the MIPJUNIOR closing keynote on Sunday 4 October. The 17th edition of MIPJUNIOR, the world's showcase for children's and youth programming screenings, will be held on the 3-4 October at the Intercontinental Carlton Hotel, Cannes. Read more >>Media Law Institute for the Advancement of Journalism - Johannesburg, 28 July "You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give." - Winston Churchill "Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." - Charles Mingus "You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need." - Vernon Howard Print - Print any item in this newsletter. Email - Email any item in this newsletter. Comment - Comment on any item in this newsletter. | | Advertisement:
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