Browsing: Africa

Four critical universities best practices for fostering graduate employability are of interest: Industry partnerships, Aligning university education with a country’s development plans, Regular university curriculum reviews, and Strengthening quality assurance systems.

However, while Universities work to better prepare graduates for the workforce, it is imperative for the government and the private sector to step in and increase the employability of graduates who are already in the workforce.…

Egypt-China ongoing cooperation hits $1.8 billion according to Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation.

According to a press statement from the ministry, the cooperation is directed towards the execution of several development projects across various sectors such as education, electricity, technical education, health and agriculture.

Egypt has carried out over 1,100 training programs with China over a period of four years which has benefited over 4,000 government officials. This is in addition to 25 training programs in high priority fields which benefited government units in the fields of health, water resources, population and agriculture.

Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat said that the ministry is keen on enhancing the exchange of knowledge, technical assistance and expertise within the framework of its international partnerships with multilateral and bilateral development partners while supporting the country’s vision in building human capacity.

The ministry is working towards advancing economic cooperation with bilateral and multilateral …

Foreign oil majors have taken a recent interest in Mozambique, but the new facilities are facing challenges beyond the usual social and environmental risks associated with such projects. An Islamic State-aligned insurgency group has attacked Total’s record-breaking investment in the area, raising questions about energy and personal security in the country.

In recent years, Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province has shot to the forefront of the global oil and gas sector. Discoveries made by US energy firm Anadarko and Italian company ENIhas revealed that more than 2.4 trillion cubic metres of gas off the country’s eastern coast, have attracted the attention of some of the world’s largest oil companies, with Shell, BP, and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) all making moves in the area.

However, the discovery has come at a cost, with local people displaced by the sudden influx of large-scale industrial operations and the usual concerns over environmental …

It is indeed good news to the Petroleum and other Industry players after Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President finally appended his signature into law the Petroleum Industry Bill after twenty years of deliberation and revision.

The signing of this historic Petroleum Bill comes barely a month after the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) 2021 was voted by both chambers of the National Assembly.

After so many questions surrounded the bill after it was passed by the two houses, major one being whether the PIB was going to be the game changer for the industry, pending the President’s signature, it is now the proverbial saying of only time will tell after the President gave the bill a green light.

The new legislation which aims to Overhauling and transforming the Nigerian Oil and Gas is anticipated to drive investment in the sector by providing a framework for almost all aspects of oil and gas …

South Africa has a market-oriented agricultural economy that is highly diversified and includes the production of all the major grains (except rice), The agricultural sector contributed around 10 percent to South Africa’s total export earnings in FY 2019 at a value of $10.7 billion. The grain industry (barley, maize, oats, sorghum and wheat) is one of the largest agricultural industries in South Africa, contributing more than 30% to the total gross value of agricultural production. The industry is comprised of a number of key stakeholders including input suppliers, farmers, silo owners, traders, millers, bakers, research organizations, financiers, etc but with increasingly severe weather, growing political volatility, cyber concerns and other threats, farmers need to continue to invest in their risk preparedness.

As the farming industry is disrupted by digital, insurers and intermediaries must anticipate emerging risks to remain relevant and be the partner that farmers need. Now’s the time for …

Historically overlooked by independent oil companies (IOCs) and considered something of an oil and gas frontier state, Namibia is establishing itself more prominently on the international oil and gas map.

Namibia has until recently been largely overlooked by the oil majors. A spate of farm-in agreements over the last six months suggests that this is changing. International oil companies are keen to secure a stake in the southern African country’s oil boom, should one materialize.

Austria’s OMV and Murphy Oil Corporation from Arkansas are the latest companies to make their first foray into the Namibian oil and gas sector, buying 25 and 40 per cent, respectively, of Cowan Petroleum’s licence to explore two blocks off the Namibian coast.

The Wingat-1 discovery by HRT in 2013, which encountered rich oil-bearing source rocks in the Walvis Basin, was the start of this change and, in the years since, the country has become …

Even though East Africa’s two economic giants Kenya and Tanzania are seen as business rivals, the two conduct enormous trade between each other and least of all not been the trade of the staple, corn.

According to the UN COMTRADE database on international trade, Kenya exports to Tanzania clocked USD 294.94 last year (2020). In fact, Tanzania has now bypassed Uganda to become Kenya’s largest export market in East Africa.

Reports show that the US imported goods from Kenya worth $41.8 million in June this year and guess which country comes next, Tanzania recording an amazing $31.6 million of Kenyan imports followed by Uganda at  US$28.3 million.

Reciprocating the deal, Kenya is now accepting Tanzania’s maize into the country after a long period standoff where Kenya had banned the import of Tanzanian corn. Kenya placed a ban on Tanzanian maize for alleged contamination of  Mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins are poisonous compounds produced …

On the bright side, even with the credit growth slowdown, it remained positive, growth still maintained and upward trajectory. This is also for both domestic credit extended to the private sector as well as the central government too.

Growth is expected to improve as the global economy normalizes over time but meanwhile, the government, through the central bank is instituting measures to increase liquidity and reduce lending rates, which in turn is expected to allow the private sector to have increased access to credit.

As part of these fiscal measures, the BoT has already issued TShs1 trillion to commercial lenders to help beef up their lending capacity and to do so at lower interest rates. This in turn is meant to encourage the private sector to borrow and increase production.…

Africa is at the heart of tomorrow, it is an important region in the world, it is definitely a growing region and a clear focus market for us. In the big picture, Africa is among Alcatel-Lucent’s most promising markets with ultra-broadband access and IP networking being very important for the development of the continent.

Many Countries across the world have felt the ravaging effects of Covid-19, ever since the first case was reported in Wuhan, China and spread all across other Continents that prompted to measures and directions imposed aimed to curb the spread of the lethal virus that has since claimed millions of people across the globe.

Historically, sectors like education and healthcare have been points of issue for many African countries, as governments strive to improve access to, and experiences in, these sectors.

The fight with COVID-19 has put a spotlight on the way these industries are operating …

As the world observes International Youth Day, Africa is producing a growing number of young entrepreneurs who are adopting new ideas to bring more affordable, quality food from farm to fork.

This year’s theme is “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health”, putting the spotlight on the role of young people in achieving the success of such a global effort.

“Africa’s youth play a key role in scaling up the continent’s agricultural production that can transform Africa’s food systems. On International Youth Day, we celebrate Africa’s next generation ‘agripreneurs,’ whose innovations in agribusiness are helping to feed Africa,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, at the African Development Bank.

Ikenna Nzewi is one of those agripreneurs. The Nigerian-American is CEO of Releaf, a Nigeria-based smallholder farmer food procurement company focusing on industrializing food processing in Africa. In keeping with this year’s …