Novartis Expands Partnership for New Anti-Malaria Solution

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17/06/2016

Novartis has announced it will further expand its long-standing partnership with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV). Novartis will lead the development of anti-malarial compound KAF156 with scientific and financial support from MMV in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This agreement sets out the terms and conditions for the development of KAF156 and its future availability to patients.

“With a child dying from malaria every two minutes and the threat of drug resistance growing year-on-year, there is a real urgency to step up global efforts to combat this disease,” said Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis. “Partnerships and collaborations like this one with MMV are essential for the development of next generation anti-malarials and accelerating efforts to eradicate this deadly disease.”

KAF156 belongs to a novel class of anti-malarial molecules and is one of the first anti-malarial drug candidates to enter Phase IIb clinical development in more than 20 years. It acts against the two parasites responsible for the majority of malaria deaths (Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax) and against both the blood and liver stages of the parasite’s lifecycle.

Further, it has the potential to provide a more convenient dosing regimen and to address the multidrug resistance that has emerged in five countries of the Great Mekong Sub-region (GMS). KAF156 builds on the heritage of Novartis in anti-malarial drug development and the launch in 1999 of Coartem®, the first fixed-dose Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT). ACT is the current standard of care in malaria treatment.

“We are delighted to extend our partnership with Novartis in the development of this exciting candidate anti-malarial medicine with the potential to tackle drug resistance and improve patient compliance,” said Dr. David Reddy, CEO of MMV. “As such, this agreement marks an important milestone, as MMV continues its mission to discover, develop and deliver new, effective and affordable anti-malarials to the patients who need them most.”

The Novartis Malaria Initiative is committed to drive research, development and access to novel drugs to eliminate malaria. It is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s largest access-to-medicine programs.

Since 2001, the initiative has delivered more than 750 million treatments without profit, including 300 million dispersible pediatric treatments, developed by Novartis in collaboration with MMV, mostly to the public sector of malaria-endemic countries.

Although preventable and treatable, malaria continues to kill a child every two minutes and threatens the lives of many more.(1) It is caused by parasites transmitted to people through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

A comprehensive range of interventions is required to eradicate the disease, from bed nets and spraying for prevention to diagnostics and medicines to treat the disease and block its transmission.

Facebook Joins CTO

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17/06/2016

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Facebook has joined the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) as an industry member.

“At Facebook, we look forward to working with other CTO members in promoting technology as a useful tool for greater economic and social inclusion,” said Simon Milner, Facebook’s Policy Director for EMEA. “We are also looking forward to further collaboration with the CTO on privacy and safety issues.”

In recent years, Facebook has participated in CTO events and high-level training seminars.

“The CTO is pleased to welcome Facebook as member, and we are confident that more regular engagement with the company will add value to the entire membership of the CTO,” said Lasantha De Alwis, ICT Development Director at the CTO.

The CTO offers practical support in the form of professional training, technical support and consultancy, research and advisory services as well as facilitating partnerships, through a four-tier membership structure.

About the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is the oldest and largest Commonwealth intergovernmental organisation in the field of information and communication technologies. Although our history can be traced back to 1901 with the establishment of the Pacific Cable Board, the organisation has only existed in its present form as an intergovernmental treaty organisation since 1967. With a diverse membership spanning developed and least developed countries, small island developing states, and more recently also the private sector and civil society, the CTO aims to become a trusted partner for sustainable development for all through ICTs.

4G/LTE Networks Passes 500 Milestone Says GSA

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17/06/2016

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GSA, the (Global mobile Suppliers Association) confirms that the number of commercially launched LTE networks has passed the 500 milestone, which was achieved during May 2016.

According to its latest research, 503 operators have commercially launched LTE networks in 167 countries.

LTE is the fastest developing mobile communications system technology ever. The historic milestone of 500 commercially launched LTE networks was reached in 77 months from first service launch, almost 5 years less than the time taken by 3G/WCDMA systems, and 6 months faster than HSPA systems.

GSA forecasts there will be at least 550 commercially launched LTE networks by end 2016.

Around 25% of LTE operators have launched LTE-Advanced systems.

Alan Hadden, VP of Research, GSA said: “Several LTE operators are now introducing LTE-Advanced Pro technologies, sometimes referred to as 4.5G, which is established as a major industry trend in 2016.

LTE-Advanced Pro systems can support peak downlink speeds up to 1 Gbps and beyond.”

The number of LTE and LTE-Advanced subscriptions reached 1.068 billion worldwide by end 2015. LTE continues to grow faster than any other mobile communications system technology and is already responsible for 1 in 7 mobile subscriptions worldwide. Data for Q1 2016 LTE subscriptions will be published by GSA in the next few days.

Women Driving Mobile Internet Time

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17/06/2016

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Women are more likely than men to use the internet on their mobile phones according to a new report released by UKOM, the body responsible for online audience measurement, based on comScore cross platform online data.

Half (49%) of all women’s internet time in the UK is spent on smartphones – rising to 59% among women aged 18-24.

In comparison, just 39% of men’s online time is on smartphones. For men, PCs/laptops remain the dominant device for going online, accounting for 48% of their internet time, compared to only 35% among women.

Consequently, women account for the majority (52%) of all UK smartphone internet time but just 39% of PC/laptop internet time.

“The old cliché that women spend more time on the phone than men turns out to also ring true for internet usage,” says UKOM’s Director of Insight, Julie Forey. “Understanding how consumers’ online behaviour differs by platform can help agencies and advertisers plan campaigns more effectively, such as knowing men don’t dominate mobile time as they do on computers.

“This is exactly what BT did in the 1980s after identifying women were actually the heaviest users of its landline service, being more disposed to chat with friends and family. They used this insight to create their hugely successful ‘It’s good to talk’ campaign to encourage those who didn’t use the phone as much – namely men – to use it more to connect with people and improve relationships.”

Sectors where women’s smartphone time most outweighs men’s

The data, from comScore’s multi-platform measurement system*, also reveals that women’s smartphone time most outweighs men’s on social media, retail and games website/apps.

In April 2016, women in the UK spent 4.8 billion more social media minutes than men on their smartphones – the equivalent of nearly 5 ½ hours more per woman smartphone internet user. Women spent 1.5 billion more retail minutes on phones than men (1 hour 43 minutes more per person) and 1.4 billion more on games (1 hour 38 minutes more per person).

“Women, with their more natural desire to connect with friends and family, as well as their predilection for shopping, play a much bigger role in driving internet use on smartphones,” says Forey.

“Phone conversations as a method for sharing information and catching up are increasingly being usurped by smartphone apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and the like. Men still use these services on their phones, but just not to the same extent.”

Red Star CEO Commends FG on Naira-Yuan Swap

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15/06/2016

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Mr. Sule Bichi, Group Managing Director/CEO of Red Star, one of Nigeria’s logistics company, has commended the Federal Government of Nigeria for its currency swap policy of Naira to Yuan, pointing out that this will help boost the logistics industry, as well as other sectors of the economy. He stated this at the just concluded Institute of Directors’ 2016 ADC conference in Abuja.

Bichi, explained that the swap is a smart idea simply because a large chunk of Nigeria’s import comes from China and South East Asia.

“The swap is a smart idea simply because a large chunk of Nigeria’s import comes from China and South East Asia, so if we can eliminate changing our naira to dollars or pounds sterling and using the Yuan as a means of transaction with the Chinese, this will reduce our cost. What we want is the availability.

Nigerian banks can open letters of credit denominated in the Chinese currency, it cuts the third party currency exchange requirement and the cost of transaction will be lower.”

The CEO who recently emerged as one of the top 25 CEOs whose stock did exceptionally well on the stock market last year disclosed that the scarcity of foreign exchange at this period has even necessitated the deal because it will open up business between the two countries and stimulate movements from China easily while eliminating the third party currency that has made procurement of raw materials from different destinations a hard nut to crack.

“China remains the top import location for Nigeria in the past 10 years. Chinese companies can get their materials from Nigeria and we can easily get our materials from China. This will help the economy to come up. China is a major buyer of our crude oil and with that the exchange is even further facilitated. So the logistics side of it is that once there are things to move, then the logistics industry will receive a boost.

That is when the market will have an improvement”, he stated.

Bichi also noted that the courier and logistics industry in Nigeria use, to a large extent, products from China and other parts of South East Asia for its consumables and work materials.

“For example, most of the motor bikes that are used now in Nigeria, especially for courier business are coming from South East Asia, with most of them produced in China. Secondly, even the common materials used in the industry like flyers and bar-coded airway bills mostly come from China. So the availability of the Yuan will make it easy to bypass the dollar and we can purchase the materials directly.”

He insisted that the Forex situation has affected the logistics industry just like every other business in the country because it has become very intricate to source for dollars to make payments for foreign deliveries and facilitate import and export.

“We have to pay for our foreign deliveries in dollars. We have been looking for foreign exchange for the last six months from the Central Bank at the official rate but we could not get it. If we have to source for the foreign exchange through the autonomous market at more than N350 per dollar, this will almost double the cost of delivery of international packages”.

This, he said has doubled the cost of delivering international packages and also compounded the challenges faced by most companies as they grapple with the dilemma of making a decision whether to pass the seemingly additional costs to clients or continue to bear the sudden increase in operation cost.

“If you look at the import into Nigeria in the last six months and compare with the same period last year, you will see that it has dropped by almost 50%. So there are fewer things to move. Even the ports, both sea and air, are no longer as congested as they use to be. Our foreign exchange earnings have dropped, exchange rate has gone up and we now have imported inflation.”

“We were exporting oil at the rate of 2.2m barrels per day, and we were selling for about $110 per barrel. Suddenly, it crashed. As at today, we are exporting about 1.5m barrels per day and we sold at about $50 now. It was below $30 in January and February. So the amount of money in terms of foreign exchange and earnings that is coming to the Federal Government has drastically gone down, so there is no other way. If people that were used to eating well, full bread now get half bread, there will be hunger. This is what is manifesting. The government is trying so much to keep the critical sector of the economy moving”, he said.

About Red Star Express
Red Star Express Group is a premium logistics solution provider in Nigeria with an unrivalled local network coverage and a large market share in the domestic and international market.

It enjoys a domestic strength of over 240 offices in Nigeria, delivers to additional 1,800 communities, with over 2,400 highly trained personnel and over 600 delivery vehicles in its fleet.

The company has four business units including The Red Star Express which is a licensee of FedEx, the world’s largest express transportation company. There is the Red Star Freight, Red Star Logistics and Red Star Support Services.

Digital Solutions to Drive UN Development Goals by 2030

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15/06/2016

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The information and communication technologies (ICT) sector can play a vital role in helping achieve the objectives of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according to new analysis prepared for the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) by Accenture.

This would involve deploying innovative digital solutions to improve the quality of people’s lives, achieve equitable growth and protect the environment.

The GeSI report, #SystemTransformation: How digital solutions will drive progress towards the sustainable development goals, published in collaboration with Accenture Strategy, demonstrates the impact that digital technologies can have on shaping a more sustainable future, and highlights the opportunity for companies in the ICT sector to drive growth and competitiveness by investing in these initiatives.

The report also identifies roadblocks to realising the full potential of these digital solutions, including policy, regulatory and supply-side constraints, as well as barriers on the demand-side.

The report finds that every country has achievement gaps in more than half of the 17 SDGs, and many fall short on all. While the greatest strides are needed in the least developed countries and developing regions, the report demonstrates that action is equally needed in developed regions to decouple their economic growth from degrading the environment.

“GeSI is committed to leading the discussion about how the world should use digital solutions to address the challenge of meeting the SDGs,” said Luis Neves, chairman, GeSI. “By making the SDGs GeSI’s central framework for action, we have defined an implementation roadmap that we will continue to refine to guide our priorities up to 2030, and we commit to supporting our member organizations to make this exciting vision a reality.”

Widespread deployment of digital solutions will substantially contribute to all three dimensions of development covered by the SDGs. For example:

· Improving people’s lives: 1.6 billion people could benefit from more accessible, affordable and better quality medical services through e-healthcare, while connected road vehicle solutions could save up to 720,000 lives annually and prevent up to 30 million traffic injuries (SDG#3)

· Boosting equitable growth: Digital solutions like the Internet of Things and robotics can help bring almost USD 1 trillion in economic benefits to industries from smart manufacturing and smart logistics (SDG#9)

· Protecting the environment: Digital solutions could enable greenhouse gas emissions reduction and drive market transformation for renewables, cutting carbon emissions by around 20 per cent in 2030 (SDG#13)

“At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corp. “Through initiatives like GeSI, we believe digital technology can be applied to help solve society’s most pressing challenges spanning education, health care, environmental sustainability and urban planning.”

Timotheus Höttges, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Telekom AG, said, “It is time to understand that the digital revolution can be the answer to our global problems, therefore it is our #digital duty at Deutsche Telekom to shape this revolution for the benefit of future generations.”

The report shows that by 2030, ICT sector companies could realize USD 2.1 trillion in additional annual revenue by 2030 from services that directly contribute to SDG achievement. This includes USD 400 billion per year from connecting an additional 2.5 billion people to communication services by 2030.

Additionally, USD 1.7 trillion can be realized from digital solutions contributing towards SDG achievement, including e-Commerce (USD 580 billion), e-Work (USD 537 billion), smart buildings (USD 200 billion), e-Government (USD 86 billion), and online learning (USD 75 billion).

“Through strategic deployment of digital solutions, the ICT sector can act as the catalyst for helping the world’s nations solve critical social, economic and environmental challenges,” said Peter Lacy, managing director, Accenture Strategy. “The speed and reach of digital solutions allows them to spread quickly to reach people irrespective of location or income bracket, and they are designed to complement their use, so their uptake is rapid. Digital solutions also make good business sense, as they contribute to new business models, create markets and help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems in innovative ways.”

“Despite the promise and potential of global connectivity, we cannot lose sight of the fact that more than four billion people have yet to be brought online,” said Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General of ITU, the UN’s specialised agency for ICT.

“Connecting the unconnected and bridging the digital divide must be addressed as an urgent policy priority requiring more innovative public-private partnerships and finance and investment models.”

To fully utilise the power of digital solutions and realise these benefits for society, economy and the environment, three roadblocks to large-scale ICT digital deployments need to be removed.

The report calls on policymakers, multilateral and donor organisations, NGOs and the private sector to take steps to address the following hurdles:

· Political and regulatory constraints, particularly related to market entry and data security.

Differences in regulatory requirements slow the deployment of sensors and smart technologies, as they increase the complexity associated with their development and use, thereby also adding to their cost.

· Supply-side constraints, resulting from inadequate capital for infrastructure projects or for testing innovative digital solutions. Efforts to find capital for large infrastructure projects in developing and least-developed regions are undermined by a lack of investment security and lack of interoperable standards across technologies.

· Demand-side barriers, such as low affordability and a lack of digital skills needed to use the new technological solutions. Underpinning this are gender-specific barriers, such as lower purchasing power of women, their lower literacy rates and a mismatch with cultural role expectations. The use of technologies is also impeded because they are often not translated into local languages.

Lufthansa Cargo to Off-load 800 Staff

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15/06/2016

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German-based Lufthansa Cargo is planning to cut around 700-800 employees in order to reduce its costs and be able to compete more efficiently with cargo carriers from the Middle East.

Currently, Lufthansa Cargo employs around 4,600 workers around the world. It’s representative stated that the company plans to cut 450-500 jobs in Germany, mainly through retirement, while another 250-300 positions will be reduced in foreign countries in the coming years.

The company spokesperson stated: “These job cuts will be as socially acceptable as possible. Working with our co-determination partners, we will prepare the implementation of these cost measures over the coming months and provide our company with a new, leaner organisational structure which is based on our customers’ needs.”

The announcement comes after the Lufthansa Cargo reported a loss of €19 million in the first quarter of 2016. By reducing is workforce, the company expects to cut its costs by €80 million.

Digital Content Spend to Top $180bn in 2017

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15/06/2016

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A new study from Juniper Research has found that consumer spend on digital content will reach $180 billion next year, up by nearly 30% on last year’s figure of just under $140 billion.

The research said that revenue growth would primarily be driven by continued migration to streamed video services, with broadcasters and telco operators increasingly deploying their own on-demand and IPTV offerings to compete with OTT (Over the Top) players.

According to the report, telcos had also recognised the pressing need to invest in attractive, original content to compete with the award-winning shows developed by Netflix and Amazon. It cited the example of Spain’s Telefonica, which is to produce 8 to 10 TV series per year from 2017, while both BT and AT&T have indicated that they might commission original drama or entertainment in the near future.

Meanwhile, several telcos have partnered with leading OTTs to offer consumers bundled ‘zero-rated’ content that does not impact on monthly data allowances.

The research said that more operators might consider enhancing the relationship through the acquisition of a strategic stake in content providers, as with TeliaSonera’s investment in Spotify. The research also highlighted Twitter’s recent acquisition of the online rights for NFL as the first move by an OTT player into the sporting arena, arguing that other players could follow suit.

Although, according to research author, Dr Windsor Holden, “the spiralling cost of most premium sporting rights means that bidders for exclusive live rights for must now pay several hundred million dollars per season. With most streamed audiences well under a million, this is likely to deter online-only players in the short and medium term.”

Union Bank Charging Customers N50 for Teller

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14/06/2016

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Union Bank of Nigeria Plc is alleged to be charging customers N50 for withdrawal slip before they could withdraw money from their account. The desperate measure by Union Bank could be a reflection of the hard times hitting operators in the banking sector.

A customer of the bank complained to Business Journal that she was shocked by the insistence of Union Bank staff at Ikotun branch in Lagos that she must pay N50 before collecting a withdrawal slip for a transaction at the bank. She said many customers got angry, protested and threatened to close their account with Union Bank rather than pay for withdrawal slip.

The said customer, who identified herself as a former banker, wondered why Union Bank should descend to such level to make money from customers.

However, Mr. Olufemi Adekola, Lead, Media and External Affairs at Union Bank of Nigeria Plc denied that the bank charges customers for withdrawal slips or tellers, insisting that the said customer could have misunderstood what the staff of the bank told her.

He said the bank staff could have demanded for the N50 for stamp duty on funds transfer from the said customer and not for withdrawal slip. He added that even the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] will not allow any bank to do that.

But a prominent market analyst stated that the dwindling fortunes of banks could force them to adopt unconventional measures to rake in more revenue to survive and remain in business, such as introducing new charges here and there.

He noted however that some bank customers waste the tellers by using as many as four or five per transaction due to errors, thus making banks to incur more expense in producing the tellers.

Nigeria, Country Example, at Paris Corruption Conference

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14/06/2016

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This week, 200 leading anti-corruption leaders are meeting in France at an International Anticorruption Practitioner Conference hosted by the French Ministry of Justice with support from the World Bank Group, the OECD and the United Kingdom.
· Conference theme and sessions build on the commitments made at the UK Anti-corruption Summit held in May 2016 while aiming to drive attention and boost momentum in addressing some of the key risks to development impact.
· Corruption is a symptom of governance weaknesses and the World Bank’s efforts are designed to address both symptoms and root causes impacting its projects while promoting global and regional initiatives to strengthen and promote collective action, information exchange, transparency and public accountability.

This week, the World Bank Group is participating in the International Anti-Corruption Practitioner Conference.

With a focus on strengthening international cooperation and action against corruption, conference sessions cover a range of priority themes including risk prevention and compliance tools as well as mechanisms of collective action and multilateral cooperation to strengthen governance practices while enhancing the rule of law.

Drawing on the experience of members the World Bank International Corruption Hunters Alliance (ICHA), the conference is expected to generate new opportunities for engagement with some ICHA members from Africa, Europe and Central Asia to promote information exchange and innovative tools in addressing global challenges such as illicit financial flows, tax evasion, and asset recovery among others.

The World Bank Group has stepped up its efforts to engage with governments, private sector and citizens in managing integrity and governance-related risks with an emphasis on strengthening systems, promoting transparency and a clearly-defined accountability standard as well as mechanisms for reporting fraud and corruption.

Recently, a number of World Bank programs have been designed to support clients in building systems for asset disclosure by public officials and to protect against money laundering. These efforts to build transparency and accountability also aim to ensure that clean public officials and business are recognized, while corrupt and criminal ones are sanctioned.

Relying on the investigative, forensic and preventive work of its Integrity Vice-Presidency (INT), in 2015, the World Bank debarred 73 firms and individuals while preventing about $138 million from being awarded to companies that had engaged in misconduct. Debarments are part of a robust administrative sanctions system that excludes proven wrongdoers from projects but is carefully designed to ensure that accused parties are treated fairly and given the opportunity to mount a defense.

INT’s Integrity Compliance Office also works with sanctioned companies – about 50 in 2015 -to improve their compliance standards.

Country Example:
NIGERIA – The country was the first African government to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and one of the first steps it took was a comprehensive audit of the oil sector value chain to verify that all payments were correct and settled.
The audit revealed $9.8 billion in outstanding recoverable revenues from 1999 to 2008, including an estimated $4.7 billion owed by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
As a result of the audit, at least $2.4 billion of the lost revenue was recovered.

Nigeria Ranks 44 in Africa Peaceful Country Index

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14/06/2016

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Mauritius, according to the Global Peace Index 2016 published on June 10 by Australian think-tank, Institute of Economics and Peace, is Africa’s most peaceful country.

Coming 23rd worldwide, the archipelago, with a score of 1.559 points, outranks Italy, UK, France and the USA.

It is followed by Botswana (28th worldwide), second in Africa in the ranking which is based on 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators that assess three main areas: the level of safety and security in society; the extent of domestic or international conflict; and the degree of militarisation.

Next is Madagascar (38th worldwide) which is ahead of Zambia (40th worldwide), Sierra Leone (43rd), Ghana (44th), Malawi (45th) and Tanzania (58th).

Equatorial Guinea (62nd worldwide) closes the Top 10 of most peaceful African nations. (See full ranking listing Africa’s 50 nations below).

For all 163 states and territories worldwide, the study conducted by the Institute of Economics and Peace shows that the world is becoming less peaceful given that this year the global level of peacefulness has decreased by 0.53% compared to 2015.

More globally, the world’s most peaceful countries are Island, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand and Portugal. The most dangerous are Syria, South Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

The Global Peace Index 2016 also revealed that global cost of violence was $13,600 billion (measured in with purchasing power) in 2015. This is 13.3% of the world’s GDP.

In detail, military expenditure was the highest, $6.2 trillion. Then comes the cost related to domestic security, crimes and acts of violence which respectively were at $4.2 and $2.5 trillion. Direct losses in conflicts were estimated at $742 billion. Peace-keeping missions represent only 2% of the global cost of violence.

Africa’s most peaceful countries in 2016:
1-Mauritius (23rd)
2-Botswana (28th)
3-Madagascar (38th)
4-Zambie (40th)
5-Sierra Leone (43rd)
6-Ghana (44th)
7-Malawi (45th)
8-Namibia (55th)
9-Tanzania (58th)
10-Equatorial Guinea (62nd)
11-Lesotho (63rd)
12-Tunisia (64th)
13-Togo (66th)
14-Mozambique (68th)
15-Senegal (70th)
16-Benin (72nd)
17-Liberia (72nd)
18-Gabon (79th)
19-Burkina Faso (88th)
20-Swaziland (90th)
21-Morocco (91st)
22-Gambia (92nd)
23-Angola (98th)
24-Uganda (101st)
25-Guinea (102nd)
26-Algeria (108th)
27-Niger (113th)
28-Congo Republic (114th)
29-Guinea Bissau (116th)
30-Côte d’Ivoire (118th)
31-Ethiopia (119th)
32-Djibouti (121st)
33-Mauritania (123rd)
34-South Africa (126th)
35-Zimbabwe (127th)
36-Rwanda (128th)
37-Cameroon (130th)
38-Kenya (131st)
39-Erythrea (135th)
40-Chad (136th)
41-Mali (137th)
42-Burundi (138th)
43-Egypt (142nd)
44-Nigeria (149th)
45-DR Congo (152nd)
46-Lybia (154th)
47-Sudan (155th)
48-Central African Republic (157th)
49-Somalia (159th)
50-South Sudan (162nd)

Private Wealth in Africa, Middle/East Hit $8tr in 2015

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14/06/2016

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Private wealth in the Africa-Middle East region has increased by 2.7% in 2015 to $8 trillion according to the “Global Wealth 2016” report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), an American strategy consulting firm.

Private wealth which includes all financial assets of households, property excluded, thus grew relatively less than in 2014 (3.8%) as commodity prices plunged and stock markets performed poorly, in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria namely, two countries that regroup close to one third of the region’s private wealth.
The wealth of households from Africa and middle eastern African nations includes at 50% bank and cash deposits. The rest is equally divided into share and bond placements.

In detail, households with more than a million dollars hold 44% of all of the region’s private wealth. In 2015, the wealth of affluent homes (more than $100 million) is the one to have increased the most in the Africa-Middle East region.

Global private wealth was $167.8 trillion in 2015, up 2% from the year before. The Asia-Pacific region was the one with the highest growth during the past year (+13.4%) ahead of Latin America (+7%), Eastern Europe (+6.7%), Japan (+4.3%), Middle East and Africa (2.7%) and North America (1.8%).

“Uncertainty about the future of the European Union and continued low commodity prices weighed on equity and bond markets despite a generally promising start to the year,” the report said.

The North America region is the one with the greatest number of wealthy homes and should remain as that until 2020. The Western Europe region comes second but could be beaten by the Asia-Pacific by 2020.

BCG’s report also includes homes’ offshore wealth, that is their financial assets (property excluded) outside their place of origin, mainly in States or countries with soft fiscal regimes (United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, Panama, etc.). So, private offshore wealth was $10 trillion, up 3% compared to 2014.

In this category, the Africa and Middle East region comes first with $2.6 trillion, ex aequo with Western Europe, but far ahead of Asia-Pacific ($1.6 trillion), South America ($1.2 trillion), Eastern Europe ($700 billion), North America ($700 billion), and Japan ($100 billion).

ADB, ECOWAS Hold Roundtable on Non-tariff Challenges

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14/06/2016

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Representatives from trade ministries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the International Trade Centre (ITC), and other trade, customs and regional organisations will meet in Abidjan on 14 and 15 June to discuss ways of removing regulatory and procedural non-tariff’ obstacles to regional trade.

The roundtable, co-organised by the African Development Bank and ITC, will be attended by Jean-Louis Billon, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister for Commerce; Aicha Pouye, ITC’s Director of Business and Institutional Support, and delegates from the 15 ECOWAS countries.

ITC will present insights on obstacles to regional trade within the ECOWAS bloc drawn from national business surveys on non-tariff measures (NTMs) in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Senegal.

These surveys, which collectively document the experiences of nearly 2,000 exporters and importers, capture the trade-related challenges encountered at the product and partner country level by companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

NTMs cover measures such as sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards (SPSs), technical barriers to trade (TBTs), price control measures, import and export licensing, inspections, as well as rules determining the origin of goods for the purposes of tariff treatment.

Ms. Pouye said: “The trade landscape of the 21st century is one characterised by low tariffs with the average global applied tariff reflecting around 5% of the cost of trade, while non-tariff measures may account for roughly 30% of international trade costs. It is important to identify these measures and focus on where barriers can be alleviated and regional harmonisation accomplished. This will serve not only to boost inter- and intra-regional trade, but to make the region more attractive to investment.”

Commenting ahead of the meeting, Moono Mupotola, Director of NEPAD Regional Integration and Trade Department at AfDB said: “International trade can be a powerful engine for sustained economic growth, generating new job opportunities. Key policy reforms for increased intra-African trade can lead to youth unemployment reduction and stimulate inclusive growth for Africa’s economic transformation.”

“During our discussions, we will work towards setting up a framework and an action plan to alleviate non-tariff restrictions to boost Africa’s regional integration agenda, one of the five pillars of the Bank’s High 5s vision,” she added.

Participants at the roundtable will look at trade integration initiatives in the region; and analyze high priority obstacles to intra-regional trade identified by governments and other regional stakeholders.

The six NTM surveys will serve as a basis for identifying key challenges and agreeing on concrete action at the national and regional levels to help address the obstacles as a means to further facilitate regional trade integration.

A roadmap for implementation is expected to be validated and announced at the end of the two-day deliberations.

Magna Carta Wins African PR Consultancy of the Year

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Business Journal

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14/06/2016

0

Magna Carta Wins African PR Consultancy of the Year

Reputation Management agency, Magna Carta, won the Africa PR Consultancy of the Year category at the SABRE Awards in Berlin, Germany recently.

The awards were hosted by the Holmes Report, with their editors having reviewed the performance of 400 agencies based on their Report Card research process.

The judging process was extensive, involving hundreds of submissions from the best public relations and strategic communications firms from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Five African PR agencies were in the running for the prestigious Africa PR Agency of the Year award: Epic MSGLROUP, Atmosphere, Burson-Marsteller, Djembe Communications and Magna Carta.

“We were delighted to be amongst top agencies as finalists for Africa PR Agency of the Year and we are thrilled to be recognised by the industry and our peers,” says CEO, Vincent Magwenya.

With an ever-growing pan-African network of 19 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Angola, Mozambique and, most recently, Zimbabwe, Magna Carta’s philosophy of continuous evolution remains a key driver in integrating global best practice, while keeping a finger on the pulse of local services and offerings.

‘Why I Sold Linkedln to Microsoft for $26.2bn’

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Business Journal

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14/06/2016

0

Microsoft announced yesterday that it would acquire professional networking site LinkedIn for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion.

In an email to LinkedIn employees, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner explained why he decided to sell the company to Microsoft. Weiner mentions Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella’s leadership as a driving factor.

“The Microsoft that has evolved under Satya’s leadership is a more agile, innovative, open and purpose-driven company,” Weiner wrote.

“It was the latter point that first had me thinking we could make this work, but it was his thoughts on how we’d do it that got me truly excited about the prospect.”

Weiner shared some ideas for how LinkedIn’s services could be integrated into Microsoft’s products, such as weaving LinkedIn’s graph into Outlook, Calendar, Office, Windows, and other Microsoft apps.

The LinkedIn CEO also said the company would remain a fully independent entity within Microsoft.

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