Africa’s new trade zone needs insurance backing

Sun City, South Africa - The recently launched African free trade area can succeed only if it is backed by good credit insurance that covers payment risk as well as political and country risk. This is according to Gregory Nosworthy, managing director of Euler Hermes, the credit trade insurer and subsidiary of German insurer Allianz that opened its South African office in May this year. The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) was launched in...

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African skills initiative receives USD 60 mln investment

IBM has invested a sum of USD 60 million over three years to develop the next generation of technical talent in Africa. As part of the initiative, IBM is expanding the Africa Technical Academy and the company’s Africa University Programme to over 20 African countries. IBM said IT professionals across the continent are set to benefit with advanced skills in analytics, cloud and big data technologies which are crucial to the next phase of Africa’s...

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Barclays Africa Hastens Talks to Buy Banks in Egypt, Zimbabwe

Barclays Africa Group Ltd. said talks to buy its parent company’s operations in Egypt and Zimbabwe have been accelerated following management changes at Barclays Plc. “Our ambition is to do the acquisition of both, and the management changes have confirmed that that ambition will be realized,” Maria Ramos, chief executive officer of the Johannesburg-based lender, said Wednesday on a conference call. Barclays Executive Chairman John McFarlane...

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Outrage over Cecil the lion's death in Africa: Trophy hunters are chiefly Americans

A beloved lion who usually roamed within the confines of an African conservation park is dead. An American hunter has been named by Zimbabwean officials as the killer of the animal. Many people are outraged. The death of Cecil the lion also has some asking questions about the sizable role U.S. citizens play in the controversial sport of slaying wildlife for trophies. “Americans are among the most bloodthirsty among citizens of the world when...

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1000 African Entrepreneurs Gather In Nigeria for Tony Elumelu Foundation Boot Camp

1000 entrepreneurs from across Africa gathered in Ota, Southwest Nigeria, between Friday and Saturday for an intensive two-day boot camp hosted by the Tony Elumelu Foundation. The 1000 entrepreneurs were all part of the inaugural class of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP), a multi-year program of training, funding, and mentoring, designed to empower the next generation of African entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs traveled from...

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Ethiopia & the Czechs Taking Bilateral Ties to a New High

Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos, State Minister for foreign affairs, held on Monday (July 13) talks with Martin Tlapa, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic on the sidelines of the Third International Conference on Finance for Development in Addis Ababa. Ambassador Berhane, who noted that Ethiopia and the Czech Republic enjoy historic and excellent bilateral relations, upgrading these excellent ties will put both countries...

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Africa sets deadline for free-trade area as regional blocs come together

For years African leaders have been touting the dream of greater continental integration, with a vision of people and goods criss-crossing borders, boosting job creation and driving development. For all the talk there has been little action, and trade between Africa’s 54 nations has remained stubbornly low. The continent still predominantly relies on the export of raw materials and the import of finished products, primarily from China. Often African...

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ArcelorMittal asks S.Africa for steel tariff protection

Africa's largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal South Africa ACLJ.J, has asked the government to impose a 10 percent import duty on steel and in return it may offer shares to black empowerment partners, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Shares in the unit of the world's largest producer of steel are trading around their lowest levels in more than a decade and the company has said South Africa's high labour costs, poor rail infrastructure and slowing...

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South Africa Raises About $2 Billion for Eskom from Vodacom

South Africa sold its entire stake in Vodafone Group Plc’s African unit for about 25 billion rand ($2 billion), raising funds for state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. amid a countrywide electricity shortage. The 13.91 percent holding in Vodacom Group Ltd. was sold to the state-owned Public Investment Corp., Africa’s largest money manager, at a 10 percent discount to the 30-day average price, the National Treasury...

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Nigerian Philanthropist Tony Elumelu Calls For an End to Africa’s Energy Poverty

Nigerian businessman and philanthropist Tony Elumelu has called for an end to energy poverty in Africa. Elumelu, who is the Chairman of African proprietary investment firm Heirs Holdings and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, made the call on Tuesday at a gathering in Abidjan, Cote D’ Ivoire where he joined Africa’s leading business and political leaders for the African Energy Leaders Group (AELG) summit. “Providing access to electricity...

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PwC admits Gatome as partner

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Rwanda has announced Florence Gatome as partner, effective July 1. Gatome has been a director in charge of PwC Rwanda’s assurance practice. She joins Bernice Kimacia, who is the Rwanda senior partner. Gatome has over 13 years’ experience in providing assurance and advisory services to public sector clients, and has been with PwC for 11 years. She has gained experience over the years working in Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia,...

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Kagame commends citizens' ownership of development

President Paul Kagame yesterday thanked citizens of Kicukiro for their involvement in moving their neighborhood and country forward adding that the partnership between citizens and government has been key to developing Rwanda.The Head of State made the remarks after joining residents of Niboye Sector, Kicukiro District as they worked to revamp a feeder road network in the neighborhood as part of the monthly community service, Umuganda. “Without...

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RPF cadres retain provincial leadership in new elections

The chairpersons of Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) in all four provinces and the City of Kigali were retained by delegates in the party election that took place across the country yesterday.In City of Kigali, delegates retained mayor Fidele Ndayisaba as party chairperson, while Zulfat Mukarubega was elected as the new party’s vice chairperson, with Claudine Mukakagaba getting the delegates nod as secretary-general. In Southern Province, Alphonse...

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