Browsing: South Korea

Mozambique defies debt to become Africa's South Korea

Mozambique, until the Covid pandemic happened, was just 7 years shy of matching or exceeding the record set by South Korea.

The pandemic undermined the southern African country’s economic progress by slowing down critical sectors of economic activity namely tourism, construction, transport, as well as a general decline in the demand for commodity exports. The economy of Mozambique was further undermined by the conflict in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Statistics on how many people have been displaced by the conflict vary but they range from 250,000 to 1 million people. At least 850,000 people are estimated to have been dragged below the international poverty line because of the conflict.…

South Korea's economic miracle

South Korean industry began with the production of textiles and footwear and then moved into heavy industries like steel, heavy equipment, ships, petrochemicals, electronics, and automobiles by the 1980s.

Africa needs to follow the economic lead of countries like South Korea that developed into advanced states through export-led economic growth and the development of strong domestic economies. South Korea committed to rapid industrialization. This is what caused the economy to take off. However, it is important to note that economic development was also set in motion by leaders who implemented land reform and educational development.

Oxford Research notes, “Industrialization was characterized by a close pattern of cooperation between the state and large family-owned conglomerates known as chaebǒls. This close relationship continued after the transition to democracy in the late 1980s and 1990s but after 1987, labour emerged as a major political force, and rising wages gave further impetus to the …

Safaricom holds the technology that stopped Coronavirus in South Korea

As the initial cases of Coronavirus were bubbling under in China, a special event was happening in a Nairobi hotel. Safaricom, the biggest telco is the East African region was signing a deal that would allow South Korean telco Korean Telcom (KT) to introduce an epidemiological tracing technology in Kenya.

The two entities joined together with the Ministry of Health to launch disease surveillance and awareness project that will enhance the country’s epidemic preparedness and control.  Safiri Smart is part of Korea Telecom’s Global Epidemic Prevention Project and is aimed at helping the Ministry of Health prevent the transmission of infectious diseases such as Ebola from entering Kenya.

“This solution will see Safaricom subscribers who opt into the service receive important information about any epidemics that have broken out at their travel destination including prevention, measures, and symptoms. Such partnerships that help keep our communities safe are crucial in our …

innovation

South Korea has managed to maintain its first position on 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index for the fifth consecutive year.

The 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index results published on January 22, 2019 which compiles the index based on data from sources including the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), credits South Korea`s top ranking to Samsung. The electronics giant is South Korea`s most valuable company and has received more US patents than any company other than IBM since the start of the millennium.

This innovation trickles down the supply chain throughout South Korea`s economy. It was divided into seven assessment categories namely, research and development (R&D), manufacturing, Hi-tech density showing the number of domestic high-tech companies, tertiary efficiency showing the total enrollment in tertiary education, research personnel and activity showing resident patent filings, total patent grants and patents in force per million population.…