South, West Africa dominate ‘More Than a Mother Africa’ media awards
Winners of ‘More Than a Mother’ Africa media awards for 2020 have been announced. The awards, intended to recognise African journalists for excellence in reporting on health, culture and humanitarian issues were announced on in Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on Monday. The awards were announced by Merck Foundation chief executive Rasha...
Egyptian bank hires tech firm Temenos to drive digital, financial growth
Egypt’s Arab Investment Bank has picked technology company Temenos Infinity to provide a range of digital customer experience and grow digital customer base. Temenos, a banking software company, confirmed entering the contract with AIB in the first week of 2021 with a promise “to power its digital customer experience” for...
Universal Music Group picks new team to oversee its business in Africa
World leading record company Universal Music Group (UMG) has strengthened further its position in the industry as a force in Africa by appointing an expansion team to oversee its business Sub-Saharan Africa. These appointments underscore UMG’s ongoing support for Africa’s domestic music ecosystems, while also creating new opportunities for African...
Ethiopia ready to build a 100mw wind power plant
Siemens Gamesa has signed its first wind power project in Ethiopia with state-owned electricity company Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) and in the process strengthened its leadership in Africa as the East African nation embarks on expansion of its green energy capacity to meet ambitious renewable targets. The 100mw Assela wind...
CIA bribed, hired Chinese moles; China hit back with mega data theft
In a classic case of the hunter becoming the hunted, Chinese secret service in Africa and Europe turned the tables on United States’ Central Intelligence Agency with the help of stolen data. This was after Chinese spy agency discovered how much Communist country had been infiltrated since 2013, a new...
Equity Bank hits $9.3 billion capital base – the biggest in eastern Africa
Kenya’s Equity Bank has crossed the Ksh1,000,000,000,000 ($9,259,259,260) rubicon, becoming the first bank in East and Central Africa to cross this psychological barrier. Equity, Kenya’s largest bank by customer base, announced that it had reached the milestone following successful migration of Banque Commercial Du Congo (BCDC) to Equity’s Finacle core...
South Africa’s minerals council seals partnership with ‘Mining Indaba’
Minerals Council of South Africa has announced a strategic investment partnership with African Mining Indaba. The partnership comes into effect in February next year. The minerals council has long been a supporter, partner and participant in the annual in-person Mining Indaba. Mining Indaba in local language refers to annual mining...
Billions poured into Covid vaccine facilitated multiple tests at the same time
The slowest part of vaccine development isn’t finding candidate treatments, but testing them. This often takes years, with companies running efficacy and safety tests on animals and then in humans. Human testing requires three phases that involve increasing numbers of people and proportionately escalating costs. The Covid-19 vaccines went through...
Fast quest for coronavirus vaccines and what it means for other diseases
When scientists began seeking a vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in early 2020, they were careful not to promise quick success. The fastest any vaccine had previously been developed, from viral sampling to approval, was four years, for mumps in the 1960s. To hope for one even by the summer...
Former Portuguese colonies to get $490 million for economic stimulus
Portuguese-speaking African countries will receive $490.2 million for the Lusophone Compact Guarantee Programme (LCGP or the Compact) to boost business development initiatives in African Development Bank’s non-sovereign portfolio. The programme, which consists of former Portuguese colonies in Africa is designed for new non-sovereign operations (NSOs) in Lusophone countries of Africa....
