CCA Daily News Clips
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
CCA IN THE NEWS
INFRASTRUCTURE
AGRICULTURE
BANKING & FINANCE
ECONOMY
EBCAM
Hinks:
Travel Warnings Don't Deter Me from Visiting Nigeria
This Day Live
Paul Hinks
is the chairman of the Board of Directors of Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) -
an organization at the forefront of strengthening and facilitating the
commercial relationship between the United States and the African continent. In
this interview with Nduka Nwosu, Tokunbo Adedoja and Sunday Aghaeze, Hinks
speaks on the activities of CCA in Africa, the Nigerian business climate, his
views on the numerous travel warnings issued by US on Nigeria, the activities of
his company, Symbion Power LCC, in
the Nigerian power sector, and how Nigerian companies operating in the power
sector could access the $1.5 billion Exim Bank guarantee Read more>>
Ethiopia
Plans to Power East Africa with Hydropower
AlertNet
Ethiopia
is gearing up to export large amounts of clean power across East Africa in the
coming years, starting with neighboring countries Djibouti and Sudan. But the
ambitious plans have ignited controversy on several fronts. Ethiopia wants to
increase its electricity exports - mainly generated from hydropower - as a
reliable source of precious hard currency. Read more>>
African
Infrastructure: Mobilizing Domestic Capital
Making Finance Work for
Africa
Investing
in and building out much needed infrastructure is one of the key challenges
facing Africa. The task is vast and complex. Meeting this challenge will need
African governments to think innovatively, to push forward boundaries on the
development of their financial markets and to ensure they have ambitious and
well thought out plans for infrastructure. Read more>>
SunEdison
Breaks Ground on First South Africa Project, Eyes Yet
More
Engineering News
Global
solar power plant developer SunEdison has broken ground at the site of its first
project in South Africa – a solar-resource-rich country where it is hoping to
develop a sizeable operating base and create the platform for further expansions
into Africa. Read more>>
Go With
the Flow: Altech Offloads East African Business to Liquid
Telecom
TeleGeography
Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed technology group Altech is poised
to offload its troubled East African businesses to Mauritius-based Liquid
Telecom, which claims to preside over the ‘largest fiber network in southern
Africa’. TechCentral reports that the ‘complex’ deal will see Altech take an
8.6% stake in Liquid, which is majority owned by the Econet Wireless Group, the
company founded by Zimbabwean telecoms tycoon Strive Masiyiwa. Read more>>
Request
for Quotations: Provision and Installation of a Network cabling Solution for the
Gbarnga Regional Hub, Liberia
United Nations Development
Program
The
Procurement Unit of UNDP-Liberia seeks a reputable IT company to submit
quotations for the provision, installation and commissioning of a network
cabling solution for the Gbarnga Regional Hub located in Bong County, Liberia.
The deadline for submission is on February 8, 2013. Please click here for more
information.
Request
for Expression of Interest: Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project,
Liberia
Monrovia City
Corporation
Please
click here to view the request for expression
of interest for consultancy services of the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation
Project. The deadline for submission is on February 8, 2013.
Bayer
CropScience Boosting Agriculture with Smallholders
Africa Agriculture
News
Bayer
CropScience is committed to helping raise agricultural productivity in Africa,
says Christian Asboth, the company’s Senior Vice President for Africa, Middle
East and CIS. During a high-level business panel on “Making Business Work and
Fit for Africa”, Asboth emphasized the urgent need for a sustainable
introduction of modern technologies, with a strong focus on smallholder farmers
in Africa to boost productivity. Read more>>
Kenyan's
Aim to Get More Out of a Cuppa
African Business
Review
The future
is looking rosy for a Kenyan cup of tea with forecasts that exports are expected
to grow by four percent to Shilling 116 billion in 2013. The industry’s
regulator, the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) said production will grow marginally by
one percent to the end of the year as good growing weather is predicted. The TBK
has initiated a strategy to help find other uses for tea in order to diversify
its customer base. The Kenya Tea Industry Promotion Strategy was established for
this purpose. Read more>>
Ugandan
Group Building $52 Million Sugar Plant
Engineering News
Uganda's
privately-owned Alam Group is investing $52 million on a sugar factory and cane
estate which it expects to be operational in April with a 60 000 t/y capacity, a
senior company executive said on Tuesday. Read more>>
Tanzania:
New Tractor Models May Improve Farming Methods
Africa Agriculture
News
In
attempts to back up government-led ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ initiative, a Dar es
Salaam-based company, dubbed “Noble Motors Limited,” recently launched two newly
low-fuel consumption and affordable farm machinery. Read more>>
Request
for Proposal: Liberia Food and Enterprise Development
Program
Please
click here to view the request for proposal
for value chain capacity building consultancy for Liberia’s Food and Enterprise
Development Program. The deadline for submission of the proposal is on February
8, 2013.
Ethiopia
Enters Partnership with an ICT Company to Improve Financial
Inclusion
Making Finance Work for
Africa
Kifiya, a
leading ICT company in Ethiopia, has entered a partnership with the Ethiopian
Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to implement a new strategy
designed to improve access to financial services in the country. More than 50
financial services centers will be set up in Addis-Ababa and several other
cities across the country to provide a single window service for Ethiopians.
Read more>>
Private
Equity Firm Jacana Plans Africa Expansion with New
Fund
Businessweek
Jacana
Partners, a private-equity company with $43 million under management, agreed to
merge with Kenya-based InReturn Capital and raise a new fund to invest in small
and mid-sized businesses in Africa. Jacana, based in London, is hoping to raise
as much as $75 million for the fund from mostly development finance institutions
and invest about $1 million to $5 million in each target company, Simon
Merchant, chief executive officer of Jacana, said in an interview today in
Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Read more>>
Cameroon's
Government Grants More than 30 million Euros for the Creation of an Agricultural
and SME Bank
Making Finance Work for
Africa
A sum of
CFA Franc 20 billion (€30.5 million) has been released by Cameroon's government
to form the capital of two new financial institutions. The Banque Camerounaise
des Pme - which will be dedicated to SME financing - and the Cameroon Rural
Financial Corporation will be operational this year. With a capital of CFA
Franc10 billion each, the two new entities will aim to strengthen the financing
of rural activities and stimulate job creation across the country. Read more>>
Ghana: ATM
Cards to be Used for Purchases
Making Finance Work for
Africa
The Ghana
Interbank Payment and Settlement System said the new move is part of an effort
to ensure people use less cash in transacting businesses in the country, The
Chronicle reports. By the end of March 2013, customers will be able to make
payments with their ATM cards through point-of-sale devices deployed across
Ghana. Read more>>
High
Remittance Costs in Africa: Is Building Regulatory Capacity for Microfinance
Institutions the Answer?
Making Finance Work for
Africa
This brief
discusses evidence of consistently high remittances costs in Africa as well as
levels of participation of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in the remittances
African markets and related challenges. It also explores ways to mainstreaming
MFIs to graduate into remittance services delivery. Finally, it discusses policy
considerations and suggests a capacity development agenda for MFIs. Read more>>
Interactive: Best and Worst Countries to do Business in
Africa
GlobalPost
Getting
down to business in Africa has its challenges. GlobalPost used data from
the World Bank's 2011 survey on the easiest and most difficult countries to do
business, to show the successes and challenges for entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan
Africa. The small Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius ranked No. 1 in Africa
for the best place to do business, ahead of South Africa, where the biggest
problem for entrepreneurs is getting electricity. Read
more>>
Bid
Request: Provision of Auditing Services of National Implementing Partners under
UNDP-Liberia
United Nations Development
Program
The
Procurement Unit of UNDP-Liberia seeks reputable auditing firms to submit
proposals for the auditing projects undertaken by National Implementing Partners
under the UNDP-Liberia Country Office. Please click here for more information.
Click here for English and French news
articles on: Sunbird Energy Increases Coal Bed Methane Footprint in South
Africa, Nigeria More Than Doubles Oil Savings, China making Economic Mark in
Africa and more.
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