Announcing TEDAfrica 2008!

From the TED Blog

Chris Anderson and Emeka Okafor write:

We're delighted to tell you that there will be another TED conference in Africa next year, and that we hope to make it an annual event on the continent!

TEDAfrica will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, September 29-October 1, 2008 (save the date!), and will follow the format of this year's TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania.

The conference will be organized by a wonderful local team, including TED Fellow Kelo Kubu, and the conference will be operated out of a new South Africa-based nonprofit organization devoted to promoting a better future for the continent, the TEDAfrica Foundation. TED will be supporting the foundation both financially and logistically, to help ensure that the event maintains and builds on the quality and success of the Arusha event.

We hope to see you in Cape Town!

And team member Kelo Kubu writes:

It has been an honor and a privilege to be part of the TEDAfrica process . The team is naturally excited to be hosting TEDAfrica 2008, and we look forward to the challenge of generating the usual TED cocktail of inspiration and magic. The task is undoubtedly a daunting one, but Africa provides the perfect platform and Cape Town the ideal location for yet another memorable event.

We look forward to welcoming the world to the southernmost tip of Africa to share, spread and nurture groundbreaking ideas that could open new possibilities to growth and prosperity on the continent.

Western Union And GSMA To Create New Global Mobile Money Transfer Service

18th October 2007: New York: The GSM Association (GSMA), a global trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile phone operators, and The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), a global leader in money-transfer services, today announced an agreement to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.

Western Union and the GSMA are developing a commercial and technical framework that mobile operators can use to deploy services that enable consumers to send and receive low-denomination, high frequency money transfers using their mobile phones. The first commercial services that make use of the framework are anticipated to be rolled out beginning in the second quarter of 2008.

The framework forms a key element of both Western Union's mobile strategy and the GSMA's Mobile Money Transfer program which aims to use the reach and ease of mobile money transfer services to expand the mobile financial services market and stimulate social and economic development. Mobile money transfer services will make it simple, quick and affordable for more people to send small amounts of money through a conventional and regulated system. Both Western Union and the GSMA believe there is an opportunity to create and grow a large new market for low denomination transfers.

Read More

Ghana Association of Software and IT Services Companies - GASSCOM

The Ghana Association of Software and IT Services Companies (GASSCOM) is Ghana’s premier trade association for the IT software and services industry. GASSCOM is registered as a non-profit company limited by guarantee under company’s code of the Republic of Ghana.

GASSCOM's member companies are in the business of software development, software services, IT-enabled/BPO services and e-commerce.

GASSCOM was set up to facilitate business and trade in software and services and be a strong advocate in soliciting government and other public sector support and encourage the advancement of the industry as a key and strategic sector for the growth of the Ghanaian economy in the next millennium.

China to build EA state $10m car assembly plant

By BENON HERBERT OLUKA
Special Correspondent

Uganda will start assembling vehicles and motorcycles in January 2008 in a joint venture that will see the Chinese government and Chinese automobile manufacturer, Geely International play a crucial role.

The three have formed MFK Corporation to run the project, for which the government will provide the enabling environment while the Chinese will provide the technical expertise.

Uganda will be the third country in East Africa to have an automobile assembly plant after Kenya and Tanzania.

Read more

TeleTech Expands Global BPO Footprint Into South Africa

ENGLEWOOD, CO -- (Market Wire - Nov 26, 2007) - TeleTech Expands Global Footprint Into South Africa New Facility to Support Growing Need for Global Outsourcing Distribution Source.


TeleTech Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEC), one of the largest and most geographically diverse global providers of business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions, today announced its expansion into South Africa, further broadening its global sourcing platform to encompass six continents. Today, TeleTech began construction on its first facility on the African continent. Ground was broken at the Old Match Factory in Salt River, Cape Town, at a ceremony attended by major officials from the South Africa government. The Cape Town facility is scheduled to commence operations later this year.


As a new investor to South Africa, TeleTech is the first multinational company to benefit from a new investment incentive plan launched by the South African Department of Trade & Industry, which has targeted the international business process outsourcing industry as a major future source of employment.

TeleTech plans to build a number of new facilities in South Africa and in other African countries, creating thousands of new jobs to serve global clients seeking multiple levels of front- and back-office support.

Celsys Limited

Celsys Limited, which listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in 2003, incorporates four divisions: Celsys comms, Celsys print , Celsys IT and Celsys marketing. The company was formed in 2002 to facilitate the further expansion of the communications technology group which initially started as Cellular Systems in 1996. The group incorporates security printing, airtime recharge cards, computer security, automated teller machines, community pay phones, cell phone sales, online marketing and related communication technologies.

Management’s ability to identify new business opportunities and grow those businesses, even in a difficult economic environment, has ensured that the Company remains competitive. Growth has been achieved through innovative products and aggressive sales strategies.

Oil is giving wealth to emerging markets

The price of oil has always been high, now oil is trading close to $100 a barrel. Many African countries are looking at this new revenue source with opened arms and hopes that it will bring growth into other sectors.

Many are taking note of emerging markets new found wealth.


Oil spike redistributes wealth
November 18, 2007

By Steven Mufson

Washington - High oil prices are fuelling one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history. Oil consumers have pumped more than $2 trillion (R13.3 trillion) into the coffers of oil companies and oil-producing nations this year alone. Every day they are paying between $4 billion and $5 billion more for crude oil than they did five years ago.

Read more

Lonrho group of companies

LONRHO is a pan-African company with a diverse portfolio of investments focusing on Africa. Its investments range from primary infrastructure to transportation, support services, hotels and leisure and natural resources.

The Company is focused on servicing Western investment and African business by investing in emerging sectors across Africa, creating hubs of business through key investments.

Lonrho is re-establishing a significant presence on the African Continent through strategic investments across sectors in fast-growing African economies.

Heritage Link Wines

Harvard MBAs Selena and Khary Cuffe wanted to give black wine producers a better chance to thrive. The result - Heritage Link Brands. Not many people know that South Africa has a $3 billion wine industry. Even fewer know that only 1.5 percent of that industry is owned by blacks.

Heritage Link Brands showcases indigenous wine producers who represent a variety of cultivars from across the continent, with a focus on Africa’s most developed winelands in South Africa. South African wine is now the U.S.'s ninth largest wine import. Heritage Link hopes to improve these statistics by “linking” U.S. wine consumers to Africa through fair business practices and empowering marketing strategies.

Batswadi Pharmaceuticals

Batswadi Pharmaceuticals (PTY) Ltd is a newly established black empowered, innovative company with a focus on biotechnology, founded to leverage the unmet needs of the South African pharmaceutical market.

Founded in the spring of 2005 by CEO, Christopher Whitfield, Batswadi (meaning parent in Tswana) aims to increase Africa’s access to innovative products, diagnostics, devices and services.

To ensure that it achieves these aims, it has entered into strategic partnerships with key players that will not only see it deliver economic benefits to its shareholders but simultaneously increase the African people’s access to innovative products and technologies.

Its four core business units: pharmaceutical sales, biotechnology, clinical research and consumer health, are staffed by a team of highly skilled individuals who are dedicated to ensuring the highest levels of excellence in the execution of its strategic intent.

This is Nollywood

This is Nollywood tells the story of the Nigerian film industry—a revolution enabling Africans with few resources to tell African stories to African audiences. Despite all odds, Nigerian directors produce between 500 and 1,000 movies a year. The disks sell wildly all over the continent—Nollywood actors have become stars from Ghana to Zambia.

We experience the world of Nollywood through acclaimed director Bond Emeruwa's quest to make a feature-length action film in just nine days. Armed only with a digital camera, two lights, and about $20,000, Bond faces challenges unimaginable in Hollywood and Bollywood.

Electricity goes out. Street thugs demand extortion money. The lead actor doesn’t show. During one crucial scene, prayers blast from loudspeakers atop a nearby mosque, making shooting impossible. But, as Bond says, “In Nollywood we don’t count the walls. We learn how to climb them.”

ICTPark.com represents a consortium of local, regional, and global organizations working together to make Kenya a BPO hub in Africa. The Kenyan government has been proactive and vocal with their plans of making Kenya an ICT/Outsourcing destination.

One initiative, ICTPark.com and its consortium members will provide the following services to start and/or support call centres and back-offices in Kenya:

• Templates for preparing business plans.
• Information and assistance with finances.
• Guidance on suitability of premises.
• Advice on equipment and connectivity.
• Referrals to consultants, lawyers, auditors, and other professionals.
• Networking with ICT suppliers and other vendors.
• Introduction to research and technology expertise.
• Guidance on staff recruitment and training.
• Advice on securing outsourcing contracts.

OLPC - Give one, Buy one

The people who have developed the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) are offering a 2 for 1 special. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. This is the first time the revolutionary XO laptop has been made available to the general public.