Power to the African peopleIs 2011 the year when Africa's citizens unite and with one voice let their leaders know enough is enough? Is 2011 the year when they decide they deserve better? Is it the year dictators step down from power and yield to the people. It sure does seem so. On 14 January the world watched as former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali stepped down from his post and fled the country (with 1.5 tons of gold mind you). Since 25 January the Egyptian people have resolutely taken to the streets calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. In both instances, social media was a key factor in rallying fellow protestors and spreading the message - it was the key coordination and mobilisation tool. Social media today plays an even larger role in Africa than I bet its creators had ever dreamt it would or could - and this is why leaders worldwide will fear it. Egypt is facing one of its most defining moments in its history and social media has played a vital role in the organised protests we witness today. Corrupt, inefficient governments worldwide should heed the warning - the people have the power that could very well see your downfall. That power comes not in the form of guns and bullets and brute force; but from words, words that spread like wildfire in the digital age. Here's to the future, Sindy Peters, Africa editor
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NEW YORK: Egyptian authorities have taken unprecedented measures to block media coverage of widespread protests against the government. CPJ has condemned Cairo's news blackout and calls for authorities to immediately restore internet and mobile phone services, end the targeting of the press, and allow media to conduct their work freely. Read more >>NEW YORK: Nilesat, the satellite transmission company owned by the Egyptian Radio and Television Union and other government agencies, has stopped transmitting the signal of Al-Jazeera's primary channel, the station and others reported yesterday, 30 January 2011. Read more >>NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the violence against journalists covering demonstrations in Egypt. Plainclothes and uniformed security personnel have beaten at least 10 journalists between Tuesday and Thursday this week and detained others. Read more >>In a sign of official unease about the unrest in Egypt and the fact that it could spark calls for reform at home, Chinese censors are apparently blocking online discussion and sanitising news reports on the subject. Read more >>[Gregory Gondwe] President Bingu wa Mutharika has assented to a media repressive bill, effectively making it a law that now empowers the minister of information to ban publications he deems contrary to public interest. Speaker of Malawi's national assembly Henry Chimunthu Banda confirmed that the head of state has indeed signed the bill. Read more >> NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned a three-year prison sentence handed to a newspaper editor in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland in connection with a story alleging public corruption. Read more >>Marketing
[Georgia Christian] CAN-Spam defines a transactional or 'relationship' message as any email that facilitates, completes or confirms a commercial transaction that a recipient agreed to enter into with the sender. It is said that no other message is as personal, relevant or anticipated and as a result, transactional emails generally see open rates of 47% click-through-rates (CTR's) of 20%. Read more >> [Georgia Christian] With viral marketing the principal objective is to increase awareness of a product, service or concept using word-of-mouth behaviours. To put it into context, where spam is based on massive distribution of unsolicited emails, viral emails use popular social networking aspects to achieve their goal of reaching the masses. Read more >> [Mongezi Mtati] The most commonly cited reason for lack of breakthrough, is fear of the unknown. Most companies, in their marketing strategies, stick to the known and mostly reach expected results. Sometimes, on the rare occasion, they exceed targets. Read more >> Advertising
[Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's growing media group Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) has joined hands with Meet the Challenge Conference to create a new advertising awards brand, AMH Ngoma Awards, an announcement from the organisers said. Read more >> [Catherine Murray] Facebook has this week announced a new ad format, already rolling out across the site from 25 January, which will turn some of your friends' shared activities into promotional content. Read more >> Digital
SAN FRANCISCO: An internet blockade in Egypt has inspired Google to provide an improved tool for tracking access to the firm's popular websites. Read more >>Twitter was inaccessible in Egypt on Tuesday in what was believed to be a move by the government to thwart protesters using the social network in a campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak. Read more >>[Cam McGrath] CAIRO: Twitter was an early casualty. Then Facebook access became spotty. But when the internet itself went down, Egyptian pro-democracy activists knew their protests were having an effect. This report was dictated on landline phone from Cairo to the IPS office in London. Read more >> At the Capacity Africa conference held in Kenya in September 2010, as well as the Capacity Europe conference held in the Netherlands in November 2010, the focus was on the international wholesale of bandwidth and network services. With more bandwidth becoming available, courtesy of the commissioning of the SEACOM and EASSy undersea cables as well as the WACS cable due for connection on the West Coast of Africa in 2011, there are some challenges. Read more >>Exhibitions
Co-organised and co-produced by Mali's Ministry of Culture and l'Institut français, the Bamako Encounters Biennial has been held every two years since 1994, focusing on issues in contemporary photography and video in Africa. This year's event runs from 5 November - 5 December 2011. The organisers have opened the event for applications from artists. Read more >>Media
[Carole Kimutai] Diageo has launched the annual Africa Business Reporting Awards in Nairobi, Kenya. The six year old awards is an initiative of Diageo - a premium drinks business with majority shareholding in East Africa Breweries Ltd (EABL). In 2010, 700 entries from more than 25 countries were received. Read more >> Mobile
[Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's telecommunications regulator has ordered mobile phone network operators to penalise subscribers who have not yet complied with a directive to register their personal details ahead of a 28 February 2011 deadline. Read more >> [Gregory Gondwe] Airtel Communications has taken Airtel Malawi, previously Zain Malawi, to court over a dispute regarding the trademark name 'Airtel'. Airtel Communications was incorporated in 2006 and has 'Airtel' on its trademark; the same appears on the trademark of Airtel Malawi. Read more >> LAGOS: Airtel Nigeria rewarded 10 of its employees for exceptional performance at its Employee Communications Forum held in Lagos with the presentation of the Airtel Nigeria Functional and Service Excellence Awards. Five employees were presented with Airtel Functional Excellence Awards while another five received the Airtel Service Excellence Awards. Read more >>AltX-listed telecoms equipment manufacturer Africa Cellular Towers on Thursday (27 January 2011) announced changes to its board of directors, including Chris Kruger, founder and previous executive chairman, who has stepped down as executive chairman of the company. Read more >>[Dumisani Ndlela] The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) has begun a process to roll out telecommunication services to rural areas through the Universal Service Fund (USF), which has been idle for years. Read more >> JOHANNESBURG: A combined mobile connectivity product by Gateway Communications and Altobridge has been shortlisted in the 'Best Mobile Technology for Emerging Markets' category in the 2011 GSMA Global Mobile Awards. Gateway Communications, a supplier of African telecommunications services and Altobridge, a provider of GSM products for remote communities, launched the joint product in 2010. Read more >>LAGOS: Airtel recently launched its new recharge service, Airtel Easy Recharge, in Nigeria. The new recharge service is expected to offer ease in loading phone credit. The new system will shortly see an extensive roll out in 15 other markets in Africa. Read more >>PR & Communications
The African Press Organisation announced on Wednesday, 26 January 2011, the appointment of Eloïne Barry as executive director. Barry was chosen following a recruitment process and comes after serving five years as PR Newswire EMEA media relations team leader. Read more >>Retail
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Consumer confidence in Nigeria and Kenya - two of Africa's leading economies - has significantly increased in the past six months, while Morocco experienced a slight decline and Egypt's index recorded a level below 50, a MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence released last week in Johannesburg has revealed. Read more >> [Zeenat Moorad] SA's second-largest grocer, Pick n Pay, said on Tuesday (25 January 2011) that it had not received any notification from the Zimbabwean government of its intention to halt its bid to acquire 24% of Zimbabwean retailer TM Supermarkets. Read more >> Golden Sugar Company on Wednesday, 26 January 2011, signed a US$143.3 million, five-year syndicated multi-currency contract to finance the construction of a new sugar refinery complex in Lagos State, Nigeria. Read more >>[Michael Bleby] Country Bird Holdings had lost sales of 600 tons of chickens a month to Zimbabwe as a result of the reworked chicken controversy that broke out last month, financial director Robbie Taylor said Wednesday, 26 January 2011. Read more >> ABIDJAN, CÔTE D'IVOIRE: Ivory Coast's internationally recognised leader Alassane Ouattara on Monday, 24 January 2011, ordered a one-month halt to exports of cocoa and coffee, a statement said. Read more >>LONDON, UK: Cocoa futures soared to one-year highs on Monday, 24 January 2011, as the recognised winner of presidential elections in Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer, ordered a halt to exports of the commodity. Read more >>TV
AFRICA Multichoice, Sony launch Sony Max in AfricaSony Pictures Television and MultiChoice on Tuesday, 25 January 2011, announced the launch of a new channel, Sony Max, available in more than 40 African countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania. The 24-hour action and reality channel, available from 1 February, is aimed mostly at a male audience. ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: Nimbuzz, claimed to be the only Over-The-Top (OTT) communications app for the connected generation, has announced the launch of Nimbuzz Ping. It is a push notification feature designed to allow feature phone users to appear online to their friends and receive a free SMS alert when someone in their Nimbuzz community wants to get in touch, even when the service is closed. Read more >>[Ed Hughes] LONDON, UK: Brands and retailers are benefiting from added value promotions, but for marketers looking for a longer-term gain and less of a tactical quick win, there has been a resurgence of the more traditional promotional methods. Read more >> TORONTO, CANADA: comScore, Inc. has released findings from comScore ARS indicating the importance of a strong upfront strategy and creative execution in driving campaign effectiveness for TV and digital advertising campaigns in Canada. Read more >>TOKYO, JAPAN: Lenovo and NEC Corporation (NEC) have announced a strategic relationship that creates a joint venture between the two companies and forms the largest PC group in Japan. Both companies are also exploring strategic cooperation in other areas. Read more >>PARIS, FRANCE: Due to a necessary date change the annual FIPP Research Forum and Awards will now take place in France on 14-15 April 2011 at the Prisma Presse offices in Paris. Read more >>NEW YORK, US: Consumer confidence fell in 25 out of 52 countries in Q4 2010 as hope for a global economic recovery evaporated at the end of last year, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, which tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among online consumers. Read more >>RESTON, US: comScore Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its monthly analysis of US web activity at the top online properties for December 2010 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Read more >> More International news...
SOUTH AFRICA Balkan Beat Box More[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] With one glaring exception in the shape of the re-born Beetle, Volkswagen as a brand builds the kind of vehicles that South Africans love and respect - and it's precisely this brand loyalty that will drive the sales of the Amarok, VW's long-awaited entry into the fiercely contested local bakkie market. Read more >> More Motoring news...
[Brian Berkman: contributing editor, travel] There's a posh girl's school in St Andrews, Bedfordview. There's also a smart boutique hotel, St. Andrews Hotel, that makes me immediately think of properties such as The Peech, Fairlawns and 10 Bompas. The standout here is the first-rate service, which impressed me. The location too is lovely, overlooking Gillooly's lake. Read more >> Business Tourism's growing importance to South Africa's tourism industry will be in the spotlight when the annual Meetings Africa is held at Johannesburg's Sandton Convention Centre from 21-23 February 2011. Read more >>Comair has bid farewell to its fleet of Boeing 737-200 aircraft that was instrumental in the company launching into the mainstream airline business 15 years ago. The Boeing 737-200 fleet, which flew across the kulula.com and British Airways liveries, were gradually phased out of operation with the last planes taking their final flights in December 2010. Read more >>One of the world's leading travel guide resources, Lonely Planet, has announced their choice of the World's 10 Best Beach Cities and Cape Town was voted second amongst the likes of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Sydney, Australia and Miami in the USA. Read more >> More Travel news...
The full line-up for the Up The Creek Festival, which will be held on a campsite close to Swellendam, Western Cape, from 3 to 6 February, 2011, has been announced. Read more >>The Infecting the City Festival 2011, a project of the Africa Centre, will be held between Monday, 21 to Saturday, 26 February 2011, in Cape Town. The festival schedule will be available on the website from 1 February, 2011. Read more >>[Sindy Peters: Africa editor] South Africa has been attracting a Liquorice Allsorts bag of international talent since we hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup: U2, Roxette, Kings of Leon, Rammstein, Faithless, Andre Rieu, Imogen Heap, Neil Diamond, The Parlotones... Cape Town and Jozi had some Balkan flavour thrown into the party mix last weekend with the eight-piece New York-based Balkan Beat Box (BBB) dropping by to break the monotony. Read more >> [Ruth Cooper] Multi-instrumentalist and electronica wiz kid Mr Sakitumi, aka Sean Ou Tim, is a freaking nice guy. If he could have any super power it would be the ability to make people feel good about themselves. It seems like he already possesses such powers, with such an obvious talent and enthusiasm for creating and performing, anyone witnessing a gig of his will be feeling those feel-good vibes for sure. Read more >> More BizLounge news...
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