Browsing: Ghana

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers new job opportunities for tech-savvy African graduates.
• African policymakers must, however, protect current employees from job losses in the new AI era.
• Gen AI has the potential to offer solutions for Africa’s medical, nutrition, and financial difficulties.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the new frontier, offering numerous possibilities for efficient productivity. However, what does it mean for Africa’s job sector?

AI means new job opportunities for tech experts. Yet, it also means lost jobs for less tech-savvy staff. For example, Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) can generate text, images, or other media using generative models. This implies that graphic designers, copywriters, artists, personal assistants, and others are no longer needed.

“Gen AI is being embedded in everyday tools like email, word processing applications, and meeting software, which means the technology is already positioned to radically transform how people work,” writes Sandra Durth, a researcher with consulting firm, …

• Chido Mpemba is the youngest senior official in the African Union and advocates for young Africans to have a prominent role on the global stage.
• Deniece Laurent-Mantey, a Special Advisor at the US State Department, cites African innovation, culture, talent, and creativity in addressing global challenges.
• Areej Noor aims to bridge the gap between African and diaspora women filmmakers and the international market.

At the just-ending United Nations General Assembly, the Unstoppable Africa Summit showcased a group of exceptional young African women who are reshaping the narrative of Africa’s global influence.

These three remarkable individuals represent the forefront of a transformative era, one marked by innovation, resilience, and the indomitable spirit of a continent on the cusp of a new era.

Chido Mpemba, the youngest senior official ever appointed in the African Union and the cabinet’s youngest diplomat epitomizes Africa’s boundless youth potential. She advocates for amplifying the voices …

• UK’s $18.86M investment  will support healthcare workers recruitment and retention efforts in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.
• Financing is seen as a boost to achieving universal health coverage while bolstering global pandemic preparedness.
• The three countries were selected for the financing due to their evident need for workforce support.

In a significant move to address pressing healthcare workers’ challenges in Africa, the UK government has allocated $18.86 million in funding to boost healthcare staffing levels in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.

This investment is geared towards supporting healthcare staff recruitment and retention efforts. Overall, the investment seeks to fortify these nations against global health crises.

UK Health Minister Will Quince, speaking on the importance of this funding, emphasized that it aims to enhance the performance of health systems in these countries. Quince added that the initiative will have a cascading effect on improving global pandemic preparedness and reducing health disparities.

Boosting global

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is now widely touted as the African Union’s (AU) most audacious project. The framework ties together the most significant number of member countries of any trade agreement since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995.

The AfCFTA had become topical even before its formal launch. Members of the business community eagerly awaited the full implementation of the AfCFTA. But two years since its formal launch, how far has the AfCFTA ushered in the ‘new era’ of African integration it promised?…

• Despite Ghana’s economic woes, Fitch Solutions maintains a 2.9 per cent GDP growth for 2023. The IMF and the World Bank project growth rates below 2.0 per cent.
• The IMF estimates that public debt will remain at 87.8 per cent of GDP in 2023 and 89.2 per cent of GDP in 2024
• Ghana can enhance downstream value-added activities, stabilise petroleum prices, create jobs in the refining industry.

Ghana, previously known as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, has encountered obstacles to its growth trajectory due to the economic downturn caused by falling oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic. This trend has continued to evolve, with economic growth slowing down to 3.6 per cent of GDP in 2022 amidst the global economic shock resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that GDP growth is expected to further decrease to 2.8 percent in 2023 before rebounding to 3.9 percent …

• Ghana and the UK have unveiled an investor group to help identify mutually beneficial investment opportunities.
• Target industries are pharmaceuticals, textiles, and agro-processing.
• The announcement at the 8^th UK-Ghana Business Council meeting in London, saw the two countries commit to strengthen trade and increase investment.

The UK and Ghana are looking to further strengthen boost their existing trade partnership with a new investor group. The two countries have launched a new investor group to help identify mutually beneficial investment opportunities boost existing economic partnership.

The announcement at the 8^th UK-Ghana Business Council meeting in London, co-chaired by the Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, the Minister for International Trade, Nigel Huddleston, and the Vice-President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, comes as the two countries committed to strengthen trade and increase investment.

Generate leads on viable projects

The business-led UK-Ghana Investor Group will include UK investors and key …

• Data centres are IT facilities that manage big organisations’ data. They house state-of-the-art computing infrastructure with very powerful machines. 
• The new facility will be built on a part of the former Trade Fair showgrounds site, one of the key central locations in the city. 
• This new facility is part of Africa Data Centres’ continental expansion plans spanning 10 of Africa’s major economic hubs. 

Africa Data Centres, the largest network of interconnected data centre facilities on the continent, is set to open West Africa’s largest facility in Ghana in the next 12 months. The firm announced it will shortly start construction on its newly acquired land in Accra, Ghana. 

The new facility has been designed for an initial 10MW, which can expand to 30MW depending on demand. It will be the largest facility in West Africa to date, outside of Nigeria.

“We continue to bring internationally recognised services and products through …

In the last 20 years, Africa’s external debt has grown fivefold to about $700 billion. According to Chatham House, a policy centre in London, Chinese lenders account for about 12 per cent of that amount. As of November 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank considered 22 low-income African countries to either be in debt distress or facing potential external debt distress.…

• According to UN estimates some 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste was generated around the world in 2019.
• The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimate that the annual generation of e-waste will reach 74.7 Mt by 2030.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy or principle that is designed to promote total life cycle of products.

Mobile phone manufacturers release new devices almost every other quarter. Ever wondered what happens to the old ones?

Actually, what happens to old (or not so old) electronics that are simply out-paced by newer technology? Well, just like used cars and clothing, they are exported to Africa and other developing nations.

The so called export of used consumer goods to Africa is nothing more than dumping of electronic waste from rich, developed countries to unsuspecting developing nations that in most cases are forced by loan and grant conditions to buy the environmentally harzadous goods.

Known as …

• Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris toured Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia. As the United States seeks to weaken China’s and Russia’s alliances with African countries
• In the past, the United States and Europe viewed Africa as a problem to be solved, whereas China concentrated on business, becoming the region’s biggest partner
• Its Part of a Strategic scramble for rare-earth minerals to power the world’s green revolution—cobalt, copper, and nickel, all of which are abundant in several African countries and are essential to electric cars and renewable technologies

Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris toured Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia. As the United States seeks to weaken China’s and Russia’s alliances with African countries, she is the 18th and most senior American official to tour the continent this year. 11 African nations have been visited by American representatives since January.

First wife Jill Biden and U.S. Treasury …