If you live in a democratic society, voting for your leaders is one of your most important rights - if not the most important. Voting allows you the voice to choose how your country is run and to dismiss this right is a sincerely foolish thing to do. If you do not vote, you really have no right to complain. I applaud the youth culture channel, MTV, for launching its
"Choose or Lose" initiative in Nigeria, encouraging the youth of that country to vote in the upcoming elections.
I voted for the first time in South Africa's national elections in 2009 and while it takes only less than a minute to cast your vote, it must be one of the most gratifying social experiences in which you will ever partake - knowing that you, and those like-minded, can have an impact on your country's social, economic and political path. Knowing a media organisation as large as MTV supports a democratic culture through the youth of Africa is inspiring.
Here's to the future,
Sindy Peters, Africa editor
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online editor's column archive.
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Top stories
Trends
[Tracey Williams] 2010 was all about the FIFA World Cup, so 2011 will be about brands re-establishing themselves and promoting themselves by their own intrinsic qualities. In post-production, it is becoming less about the tools (as that outdates itself so quickly) and more about the talent, service and delivery.
Read more >> [Adene van der Walt] So what we can expect to see in 2011? The industry is always changing and new trends are constantly developing and therefore it is crucial to keep the following top of mind.
Read more >> [Gisele Wertheim Aymes] The recent global recession has changed our world forever. In a new digital age, characterised by oversupply and too many product types in almost every market, the challenge for companies will be to locate and capture pools of high-profit demand and be able to move with speed and flexibility to take advantage of them. Here are 11 trends for 2011.
Read more >> [Janice Spark] If 2010 could be summed up as soccer, vuvuzelas and national pride, 2011 will be all about the hard work of restoring the economy to sustainable growth, paying attention to environmental concerns and mastering the technologies that are changing the world. Here are a few trends to watch in 2011.
Read more >> Special focus on media freedom
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] While the Tunisian media now have their freedom, thousands of outspoken journalists in Africa still live and work in fear partly due to outdated draconian media laws still applied on the continent. South African media rights activist Raymond Louw has called for the scrapping of these laws, as the number of journalists incriminated by this legislation increases.
Read more >> [Issa Sikiti da Silva] The Tunisian people's revolution, which pushed President Ben Ali out of power after 23 years of bloody and corrupt rule, has also precipitated the release of some journalists and bloggers from jail and lifted media restrictions. Many African editors and journalists - already operating in a hostile environments - are now hoping that similar winds of change will spread to other parts of the continent.
Read more >> The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum have written to Rwandan President Paul Kagame to express their serious concern over the lengthy prison sentences requested by state prosecutors in a High Court hearing against two journalists.
Read more >>NEW YORK: Tunisia's transitional government should immediately release Fahem Boukadous, a television reporter imprisoned last year in reprisal for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said yesterday, 18 January 2011.
Read more >>NEW YORK: Gambian authorities on Thursday, 13 January 2011, shut down the only independent radio station in the nation that has continued to broadcast news, according to local journalists.
Read more >>Advertising
JOHANNESBURG: Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide announced this week the appointment of Nunu Ntshingila, CEO of Ogilvy South Africa, to the company board. She joins 30 other advertising and marketing executives as the representative from Africa.
Read more >>JOHANNESBURG: BuzzCity, last week, released the results of its Global Mobile Advertising Index for Q4 2010, along with some annual trending figures. The Q4 data, gathered between October and December 2010, reveals a quarter-on-quarter increase in mobile advertising of 12%. Overall 2010 proved to be a positive year for BuzzCity with 93% more ads delivered compared to 2009.
Read more >>Digital
WARSAW: Belarussians will use new technologies to follow the Tunisian example and oust Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko, anti-communist veteran Lech Walesa said Friday, 21 January 2011
Read more >>[Yoray Narainpersad] I have used Google Analytics (GA) for years now to accurately analyse the performance of my SEO efforts. And for those that don't know - GA is a free tool that tracks information about the way visitors to your site interact with it.
Read more >> WASHINGTON: Facebook, in its latest privacy flap, on Tuesday, 18 January 2011, delayed a plan to share home addresses and mobile phone numbers of its members with outside developers of applications.
Read more >>Media
[Walter Wafula] East African Breweries Limited, a subsidiary of global beverage giant Diageo is set to unveil the 2011 edition of the Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards (DABRA) in Uganda this week.
Read more >> [Gregory Gondwe] Malawi Institute of Engineers (MIE) has joined hands with the Association for Business Journalists (ABJ) to try to encourage the media to write more stories that are linked to engineering in the country.
Read more >> [Gregory Gondwe] The University of Malawi's Associate Professor of Law Edge Kanyongoro has been appointed to head a task force to refine a draft Communication Policy before it is tabled for the Access to Information Bill in parliament.
Read more >> Mobile
[Sindy Peters: Africa editor] It's been only four months since the launch of Motribe and already the mobile social networking platform has reached a significant milestone. As of late last night, Thursday, 20 January 2011, the South African startup now has just over 500 000 registered users. Since launch, Motribe has had over 30 million page impressions per month, 60 000 blog posts and 58% active users (over 30 days).
Read more >> According to Opera's latest State of the Mobile Web Report, there was a clear increase in the number of visits to Amazon.com towards the end of the year, compared to earlier in 2010. The countries showing the clearest trend among the Opera Mini users were the US and Germany. Shoppers in these countries doubled their number of page views to Amazon.com towards the end of the year, as compared to the start of 2010.
Read more >>[Thabiso Mochiko] Eaton Towers expects mobile operators to share 25000 cellphone towers in Africa by 2013 as they increasingly realise the benefits of outsourcing such infrastructure, CEO Alan Harper said yesterday (18 January 2011).
Read more >> [Gregory Gondwe] Information and Civic Education Minister Vuwa Kaunda has claimed that Globally Advanced Integrated Networks Limited (G-Mobile), the company that was set to become the third mobile service provider in Malawi, tried to bribe him with K5m (over US$33,000) to extend the company's roll-out period.
Read more >> MOSCOW: Vimpelcom on Monday, 17 January 2011, said its board had approved a revised deal for Egyptian magnate Naguib Sawiris' telecom assets that will create the world's sixth-largest mobile phone carrier by number of subscribers.
Read more >>Production
The 2011 Encounters South African International Documentary Festival is open for entries to its 13th edition. The festival will take place in Cape Town and Johannesburg from 9-26 June.
Read more >>Research
[Dumisani Ndlela] Research Bureau International has won the tender to conduct the All Media and Products Survey (ZAMPS) over a two-year period from 2011 to 2012 after a unanimous decision by the Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation (ZARF) board on Monday, 17 January 2011.
Read more >> Balancing Act released a new report this month titled Data Centre Markets in Africa. With over seven months of research undertaken in the ICT sector, the report analyses the current environment, key trends, business issues, opportunities and future developments in the market.
Read more >>AFRICA
Standard Bank Africa Economists review African marketStandard Bank Africa Economists has released a research document looking at the African market. Topics include reforming public finance management, the current political outlook in countries like Cote d'Ivoire, looking at post elections in Nigeria, growth in diamond trading in Botswana and oil trading in Ghana.
Download the "Corporate and Investment Banking: African Markets Revealed" January 2011 report.
Retail
[Dumisani Ndlela] The Zimbabwe government has blocked the purchase of a 24% stake in TM Supermarkets by South Africa's retail group Pick n Pay due to an indigenisation law requiring foreign and white-owned firms to relinquish control to black Zimbabweans.
Read more >> The Mobile Remittance Summit West Africa will be held 25-26 January 2011 at Oceanview Eko Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria. Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba, postmaster general of NIPOST Nigeria will give the keynote address on the role of the National Postal Network as an agent network for the emerging ecosystem in Nigeria.
Read more >>PRETORIA: President Jacob Zuma is to host his Ugandan counterpart, President Yoweri Museveni, in a state visit scheduled for Friday, 21 January 2011. The visit is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen relations that exist between the two countries, said the Department of International Relation and Cooperation.
Read more >>Global brewing giant SABMiller plc said Tuesday (18 January 2011) for the quarter ended December 2010, on an organic basis, lager volumes were 3% higher than the prior year and 2% higher than last year for the first nine months of the financial year.
Read more >>TV
LAGOS: MTV has launched a pro-democracy campaign in Africa ahead of the upcoming Nigerian elections. Starting January 2011, the network's global "Choose or Lose" voter mobilisation campaign aims to encourage and empower young Nigerians to exercise their right to vote.
Read more >>NIGERIA
DStv Ad Sales to host mini expo in NigeriaDStv Ad Sales plans to host an exclusive mini expo for their clients in Nigeria on 1 February 2011 at the Sheraton Hotel in Lagos to showcase the various DStv channels, plus the commercial TV offerings available across the bouquet. DStv Ad Sales sells airtime on 30 Pay TV commercial channels across the African continent and Nigeria is one of its biggest territories. According to DStv Ad Sales general manager Cheryl van Rensburg, the objective of the mini expo is to introduce the DStv bouquet to clients in an educational, but fun and entertaining way.
NEW YORK, US: The Art Directors Club (
www.adcglobal.org) has announced the full Advertising jury of leading creatives and educators for the ADC 90th Annual Awards, which is open for entries at
www.adcawards.org. The jury includes Ivan Johnson, executive creative director, Network BBDO, Cape Town.
Read more >>SAN FRANCISCO, US: The Bees Awards, claimed to be the first international social media marketing awards for communication professionals, has announced today, 24 January, their 2011 jury panel members, which include Rob Hill, group head of strategy, Ogilvy Cape Town. The event will once again award winners in more than 23 specialised categories, including eight new categories in the fast paced social media marketing world.
Read more >> More International news...
SOUTH AFRICA
Audi A1 launch MoreSOUTH AFRICA
Africa Fashion International 2011 Calendar Launch MoreBMW South Africa has become aware of a scam claiming to sell shares to previously disadvantaged people and recommends that anyone approached with an offer to buy the company's shares should contact the SAPS immediately.
Read more >>[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] My apologies to the residents of the quiet road in Hout Bay where I live for making all your dogs bark furiously early in the morning and I also beg forgiveness from those elderly retirees of Fish Hoek who spluttered and spilt their early morning tea when I drove through your suburb a short while later.
Read more >> More Motoring news...
The first edition of the TBCSA FNB
Tourism Business Index (
TBI) has been presented to media and tourism industry leaders, at a special briefing session held at the City Lodge hotel in Johannesburg.
TBI is an initiative of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and compiled by Grant Thornton Strategic Services (GTSS).
Read more >> More Travel news...
LONDON, UK: A new free-to-air social media music chart, just launched, is designed to provide a unique aggregated measure of popularity across multiple social networks and music services.
Read more >>[John Cooper] My sometime theatre-going cat Thomas Marmalade (well he did
review Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats on this website - and liked it) occasionally catches a shrew in our shared garden in Rondebosch. They seem to be inoffensive enough little animals, so perhaps the European shrew that Shakespeare would have known has a somewhat different manner.
Read more >> RAMfest 2011 will this year be held in Cape Town, Durban and Joburg, and will be held over a five-day period. There will be a total of six stages and two international bands: Alkaline Trio (US) and Funeral for a Friend (UK) will feature, as well as top local acts.
Read more >>[Malu Lambert] Andy Fenner is, as expected, nursing a redhead when I go to meet him. Not the leggy kind, but the ice-cold kind served in a tall glass, with a dreamy, mousse-y head. We're at &Union, that Bree Street haunt for beer drinkers with fussy palates and the smell of wood smoke and pork wafts lazily in the early-evening air.
Read more >> More BizLounge news...
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- Brand positioning workshop Knowledge Resources - Johannesburg, 23 February
- Selling solutions MB Sales Solutions - Cape Town, 25 February
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