Le FARA travaille actuellement à un inventaire de projets sur les systèmes d’information vocaux ou audio pour les paysans et sur l’information agricole sur demande par l’utilisation des téléphones portables [en Afrique].Ils sont intéressé aux systèmes d'information de paysans en Afrique qui vont au-delà des systèmes d'information du marché :Services d'extension en agriculture employant la voix humaineServices n ationaux d'information pour les paysansRadio téléphonique: Informations agricoles sur demandeServices de vulgarisation bases sur le téléphone portable et le suivi des bases de donnéesFormation en ligne pour les competences de base, l’enseignement de base et l’information sur les marchésApproches à base vidéoPour plusiers informations, contactez M. Dady...
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FARA is currently working on an inventory of projects about audio based farmer information systems and on Agricultural Information on Demand using mobile phone [in Africa].They are particularly interested in Farmer Information Systems in Africa which are going beyond Market Information Systems:Voice-enabled information delivery servicesNational farmers information servicesDial-up Radio: Agricultural information on demandExtension services based on mobile phone and database monitoringE-learning for basic skills, agricultural education and market informationVideo-based approachesFor more information, contact Mr. Francois Stepman : fstepman AT...
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Hash reports from Skunkworks on a slew of locally developed software applications, Tulipe,Kikwe(airtime delivery), Jahazi and Timetabler which is a:
Desktop application that works in rural, unconnected Africa on old computers. It’s a perfect example of Africans developing software for their own needs, instead of just importing solutions created for a different world...[continue...
Inc. magazine profiles TED speaker, Herman Chinery-Hesse's latest company BSL, covered earlier:
When BSL launches this fall, it will let African entrepreneurs easily sell their products online and accept payments via mobile phone. Such transactions are extremely difficult in a country in which computers are rare and in which PayPal doesn't operate. If Chinery-Hesse can sign up enough merchants...
White African reports:Jon Gossier and Paul Engulu of Appfrica has just launched Afridex, an index of African tech startups. Anyone can submit their website or mobile application and be added to the index...If you click on any company’s name, you will be taken to the detail page on them. On that page you will find a bunch of publicly available information, including everything from contact...
G. Pascal Zachary profiles Antrak Air founded by Asoma Banda and discusses the "air transport solution":
...air service provides an important boost — and not only for people. Fresh mangoes are making the plane trip from Tamale to Accra as well. Some of the mangoes get eaten by prosperous urban elites, while the remainder move onto another airplane — this one traveling to Europe...[continue...
We often hear about the fall out from financial crises. Those who are hurt line up at the door around the block. Yet, we rarely hear about the winners.
Accompanying the Russian market’s 50% nosedive this year, are news that companies are actually pouring money and buying up their stocks at prices as low as they were 2 or 3 years ago. Who are the winners of such actions? Traditionally, under such conditions, it would be shareholders - a stock buyback would be a smart investment for companies with plenty of cash on hand.
As always, there are good and bad sides to everything. For those with the money, it might be the age of opportunity; while for those without - its a grim future of struggling financial markets, especially in emerging markets where declines have been...
The last decade has been a turbulent one for the Islamic world. Dramatic events have shaken the region and dominated the headlines. One of the biggest changes, and also one of the quietest, has been the transformation in Libya, and Muammer Gaddafi specifically. Once the nemesis of the United States, Muammer Gaddafi has silently been evolving into a more open and moderate leader.
This week the Financial Times is reporting that Gaddafi is moving to initiate free-market reforms, pledging to amend laws to promote private enterprise and encourage international trade and economic cooperation. Gaddafi, whose government once controlled every aspect of Libyan society, is now playing a different tune. He said that government control inevitably leads to corruption and theft, and that the only...
Bankelele writes:
I'll begin by saying that, apart from Enablis, I haven't found a true venture capital firm anywhere in Nairobi. Although many firms describe themselves as 'investment banks', 'development banks', xyz Funds, or venture capitalists, for better or for worse, they absolutely do not fund start-up companies. They like real-life balance sheets rather than projected balance...
"...Babawatoto is an e-commerce company that allows the Kenyan Diaspora to meet the needs of their family at home without the need for money transfer services. Kenyans abroad can pay school fees, provide vouchers for shopping or home utilities, buy stocks, or transfer mobile airtime directly through the Internet...We have a very efficient network set up and compared to the rest of our...
Reuters profiles Nigeria's largest insurance group,Industrial and General Insurance (IGI):
The company plans a $2 billion expansion drive in Africa, the company's chief executive officer told Reuters.Three years ago, the insurance firm began expanding out of Nigeria, initially investing in Ghana, Gambia and Uganda.
"Originally we set aside $200 million of our own funds but we see this attracting...
From ICTUpdate:
Using the internet and mobile phones, farmers in East Africa learn to work more efficiently with the traders who buy their goods. The Linking Local Learners method of learning explores how farmers can access market information and get a fairer deal...[continue...
Omatek covered earlier, raises N6bln ($51mln) in their recently concluded IPO.
A $100 Million Legacy Africa Alpha Hedge Fund Launched By INTL Consilium and First City Monument Bank.- HedgCo
Oson Chemist describes itself as "...a leader in pharmaceutical distribution and supply chain management..."
Emmanuel Banza a mechanic, describes his mill for crushing cassava leaves,a necessary food...
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Image via WikipediaSean Park at the Park Paradigm writes:One of the most obvious - yet no less powerful or potentially transformational for it - themes is the combination of mobile communications, internet and geo-location technologies to disseminate information and increase connectedness from the bottom up. This emergent collective intelligence is all the more remarkable, given the typical...
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Emmanuel Mbulu founder of Tone-a-Matic a muscle stimulator manufacturer, discusses entrepreneurship.
New Scientist profiles rugged wheelchair prototypes for the developing world.
Reuters reports that currency traders and investors are increasingly drawn to African currencies. via Cheetah Index
"Ndume Little Pick-up" a solution to waste...
Hedge Funds Review reports on the launch of a new index:
The Africa Titans 50 Index is weighted by float-adjusted market capitalisation. Each country’s weight is capped at 25% and weights of individual components are capped at 8% with a maximum of 15 companies for a country to be included in the index, companies must have a minimum market capitalisation of $200 million and a minimum three-month...
From the The Africa Growth Institute website:
It is now very clear that the development of Africa depends on the growth of the SMME sector. This sector provides more than 95% of Africa’s workforce...The 2008 Africa SMME Awards aims to recognise the success and vitality of the Africa SMME sector. This unique annual awards program has been established specifically to acknowledge, encourage and...
Image via WikipediaMavuno Capital's Michael Swanich stated that:
Our philosophy is that Africans themselves should develop agriculture in Africa. More than 60% of all economically active people in Africa are employed in the agricultural sector and Africa will never be a successful continent unless people are empowered in agriculture.
The company's strategy is:
based on the BOT (Build, Operate...
Meridian Medical Services fashions itself as the "One stop" medical centre.
Kahindo Mateene a fashion designer "sews together tradition and trend"
SMS based Livestock Marketing Information System launched for farmers and traders.
Combination Industries serves up cheese snacks.
African minerals strengthens its social...
"...IWB is a grass roots initiative designed to fill a key gap in the financial markets of developing countries known as the missing middle. The missing middle are the small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are too large for microfinance, but too small to meet the requirements of many traditional financial institutions.Globally, the SME sector is a significant driver of employment growth....
Bloomberg reports:
African markets are ``extremely untapped and have huge potential to grow,'' said Nicolas Clavel, London-based chief investment officer at Scipion Capital, a hedge fund manager with $100 million in emerging-market assets that bought shares in Safaricom's IPO. ``Investors are realizing they need to move into these markets before they miss the most rapid growth phase.''...
Sean Park discusses opportunity at the Park Paradigm:
In a nutshell, it really comes down to the power of looking at the industry from a completely different perspective: understanding how markets and financial services can be made to work in the context of sub-saharan Africa, necessarily forces you to see the industry through a radically different prism: infrastructure, distribution, price...
Image via WikipediaNewsweek reports:
Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile phone provider and the most profitable company in East Africa, began trading Monday morning on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The public offering of a 25 percent government stake in Safaricom has raised more than $800 million, in what's projected to be the largest IPO ever completed in sub-Saharan Africa, exceeding those of...
The founder of Kerawa discusses the company with Africaincorp:
The company is taking on the larger Newspaper companies,the community portals and the offline social/tribal networks, that have traditionally controlled the classified ad market.Information on Job,Romance,trade,service opportunities have been often limited to your access to the newspaper[financial/geographical],or a specific...
"...The purpose of the Sirleaf Market Women's Fund (SMWF) is to provide financial and other support for the empowerment of women market traders. SMWF works to achieve this goal through assisting in:
the improvement of existing markets and construction of new ones, based on a model that includes nursery schools, storage, health and sanitary facilities;the creation of credit facilities for use...
Stock Market Nigeria reports on two impending IPO's from non-financial sector companies, Florence Seriki's Omatek Ventures and Tantalizers both covered previously:
The management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange at a recent Quotation Committee Council Meeting (QCCM), held at the exchange, gave a nod to Omatek Ventures and Tantalizers Plc’s bid to list on the Exchange. Omatek Ventures Plc would be...
The Ft reports:
Two pioneers of fund management in Africa have gathered investors from the US and the Gulf to back the first private equity venture focusing on African countries emerging from conflict.
Development Partners International launches at a time when record amounts of private capital are flowing into Africa, with investors attracted by the strongest growth in decades and potential for...
JoyOnline reports on the Launch of the Women’s Mutual Fund(PDF) a joint venture of the Women’s Management and Financial Solutions Initiative (WMFSI) and Strategic African Securities Investment Management (SASIM):
The Initial Public Offer (IPO) of the first-ever Women’s Mutual Fund (WFund), which was launched March this year, has been extended to May 23, 2008 to allow more Ghanaians to take...
Africa Investment Horizons, Carol Pineau's latest film which premiered today at the NYSE "...is about money, and lots of it. Investors – one after another – talk about astounding returns, doubling their money, even tripling. But at its heart, the film is the story of people working to create a new economic future for Africa, from two ivy-league educated Ghanaians who left top jobs on Wall...
Standard & Poor's has launched 3 African Indices they are the:
S&P Pan Africa, S&P Africa Frontier and S&P Africa 40. The new indices are designed to provide investors with access to Africa’s developing equity markets, as well as being a complete measurement tool for the performance of these markets.
The S&P Pan Africa Index covers 12 African markets – Botswana, Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana,...