Following the killing of Hachalu, a notable Ethiopian figure in the Oromo ethnic group, on Monday evening at the Gelan Condominiums area of the capital Addis Ababa, according to state broadcaster EBC’s report citing the Addis Ababa police commissioner, Getu Argaw, Netblocks, a world wide web-monitoring NGO, claimed that internet access “has been slashed across most of Ethiopia from soon after 9am neighborhood time on Tuesday.”
Hachalu Hundessa, Ethiopian musician
“The authorities should straight away raise the countrywide blanket net shutdown and permit folks to access details and to freely mourn the musician,” Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Fantastic Lakes was quoted as saying.
Here Is What You Need To Know
Although Ethiopia ‘s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had tweeted condolences to Hachalu’s spouse and children and buddies on Tuesday, including that an investigation is underway but urged his citizens to continue to keep the peace, Wayne Ma reports that Ethiopia ’s governing administration has formerly been accused of shutting down internet and telecommunications services during elections and durations of unrest.
Ethio Telecom, the country’s only telecoms provider, is a govt-owned monopoly.
The Addis Ababa law enforcement commissioner stated that some suspects caught taking pictures have been arrested.
Hachalu fought for visibility of the Oromo ethnic group, and his tracks brought Ethiopia’s youth together during years of protests that led to political reforms in the place in 2018, explained Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Fantastic Lakes, CNN reports.
Jackson claimed authorities ought to carry out a “prompt, comprehensive, impartial, unbiased and helpful” probe into the singer’s killing and restore internet link right away to allow for the musician’s lovers mourn his loss of life.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer.
The author, Nic Ray, argues that customer service in the era of the coronavirus is facing unprecedented pressure.
With 96% of its flights grounded, cabin crew at Singapore Airlines are helping the carrier’s overwhelmed social media team identify customer complaints on Facebook and Twitter.
Nic Ray, CEO of BrandsEye
In the UK, where contact centres have not yet closed, Virgin Media is employing 500 new call centre staff to meet the growing demand for customer service after its offshore centres in the Philippines and India shut. The Financial Times reported that the chief concern for British banks wasn’t liquidity, but whether they would be able to maintain customer service amidst the massive influx from customers in financial difficulty.
We can expect better, more responsive digital customer service, and both businesses and their customers stand to benefit
In South Africa, a CEO of a Durban-based call centre was arrested for operating the facility during the national lockdown.
Customer service is facing unprecedented pressure.
Covid-19 will change many aspects of daily life, from remote working to personal hygiene, but one of the most significant changes is likely to be the way we seek information from the organisations we buy from and subscribe to, including banks, telecommunications operators and retailers. We can expect better, more responsive digital customer service, and both businesses and their customers stand to benefit.
For a while now, millennials have expressed their preference for contacting brands on social media and live chat, rather than by picking up the phone. For many people, myself included, asynchronous digital customer support is convenient and permits me to seek help when and where I need it without disrupting my (remote) working.
Digital channels
The halt of normal life, which has kept us home and led to the closure of physical branches and stores — including in some countries the closure of call centres — will now force all of us to consider digital customer service channels. In theory, we’re lucky to have them. I can contact my telecoms operator about a connectivity or billing issue over a bowl of cereal. But, in reality, organisations around the world, however large, are facing a new and unprecedented wave of customer service queries that they won’t have faced before. The swift and serious measures some organisations have taken to prioritise business continuity and maintain customer service is good news. But they must move quickly or risk losing customers and causing lasting reputational damage.
South Africa’s lockdown has already led many more consumers to use social media when seeking service. BrandsEye’s assessment of some 950 000 social media posts involving six South African industries between 1 March to 2 April 2020, found that businesses are struggling to respond to customer queries amid increased online conversation due to Covid-19. Since a national state of disaster was announced on 15 March, the rate of response to customer posts that require attention has dropped by 26.6% across banking, retail, telcos, insurers, pharmacies and ISPs.
Between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 15 March announcement and 2 April, banks suffered the largest response rate drop of 39.2%, while supermarkets and pharmacies had the most significant customer conversation growth of 300% and 257% respectively. As shopping for medical supplies and groceries is still permitted under lockdown, online consumer conversation has focused on pricing, stocks of sanitiser products, and the safety and hygiene measures retailers are taking for customers and staff.
The primary challenge faced by organisations is finding the important customer conversations to respond to from within all of the increased noise of social media. Too many organisations still rely on systems that do not filter incoming social media conversation. The good news is that this is likely to change.
Covid-19 will force organisations to revise the ways they serve their customers, likely shifting focus to digital channels and introducing new measures and tools designed to alleviate pressure on their care teams. The net impact of this is responsive and reliable service. There will be some hiccups, but if organisations get this right, we are likely to see a global change in consumer-brand interactions that will have long-lasting benefits for businesses and their customers for years to come.
Nic Ray is CEO of BrandsEye
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Calls by some international groups on the need to start weaning the global economy of fossil fuels seem to have drawn the ire of the African Energy Chamber who asserts that the OECD and IEA’s recent call to phase out fossil fuels is not in the interest of Africa. The Chamber reiterates its support for inclusive dialogues that take into account the realities of African economies, many of which depend on fossil fuels and the issue of energy poverty in the continent.
Dr. Farouk Ibrahim, African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO) Secretary General
According to African Energy Chamber, it is unfortunate that the Africa Ministerial Roundtable organized this week has sidelined key stakeholders and actors within Africa’s energy sector, preventing its ability to be truly inclusive and impactful on the ground. Africa’s energy transition will not be possible without the inclusion, and participation of, the continent’s petroleum and gas ministries and companies.
The Chamber strongly believes that key institutions like the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), led by its Secretary-General Dr. Farouk Ibrahim, need to be part of this dialogue, along with representatives of the petroleum ministries of producing countries such as Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial, Libya, Congo or Gabon and key National Oil Companies such as Sonatrach, GEPetrol, Gabon Oil, NNPC or Sonangol. The African private sector was not invited while we note the invitation and participation of an international oil company. Given the importance of the oil & gas sector for several African economies, the Chamber questions the relevance of an energy debate that would exclude them from the conversation.
“Energy poverty is as real as climate change, and the global debate on Africa’s energy transition tends to forget that hundreds of millions of African have no access to energy and still rely on firewood for cooking. Their needs must be at the center of the energy transition debate, which should not be made at the expense of any particular source of energy,” stated Nj Ayuk, Executive Chairman at the African Energy Chamber.
“This generation of Africans are not tickled by foreign aid and handouts that resulted in poor governance and mismanagement. Jobs, sustainable power and gas that drives development, along strong market-driven economies, are what Africans want. In order to accomplish a true African energy transition, petroleum producing countries, their National Oil Companies, civil society, African entrepreneurs and independent producing companies need to have a seat at the table,” he added.
The African Energy Chamber remains concerned that global conversations on Africa’s energy transition would result in a new foreign aid narrative by which Western stakeholders and investors would blindly push a renewable energy agenda at the expense of proper private sector-led development supporting jobs and entrepreneurship. While the Chamber strongly supports diversified energy mixes and wishes to see cleaner energy developments across Africa, solar and wind projects are still relying on global value chains which restrain their ability to support local content development. As a result, most solar and wind projects in the continent continue to have local content participation of less than 50%. Such issues need to be at the core of the energy transition debate so Africa’s cleaner future does not serve only the interests of big multinational corporations but also translates into private sector development and opportunities in Africa. It is time to put the voices of African businesses at the center of the debate.
As Africa seeks new ways to develop and grow in a post Covid-19 world, let’s remember the words of Nelson Mandela: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom. Do not look the other way; do not hesitate. Recognise that the world is hungry for action, not words. Act with courage and vision.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Leading VMware cloud partner and local vendor-neutral cloud infrastructure provider Routed has been listed as one of 10 global providers of VMware’s Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). As the only South African company to feature on this list, Routed has further established itself as one of the leading VMware cloud service providers. In November 2019, Routed was also the first company in Africa to become a VMware Cloud Verified partner. Routed has reputation as a true cloud provider that is secure, robust and reliable.
Andrew Cruise, Managing Director of Routed
Routed cloud platform is vendor neutral and offers scalable, full or hybrid cloud hosting. Engaging directly or within a channel, Routed delivers cloud and infrastructure solutions to enterprise customers, wholesale partners, resellers and affiliates. Founded in 2016 in response to a growing demand for data centre hosting solutions following the rapid growth and penetration of fast, reliable connectivity services in South Africa, Routed is led by industry veterans with over 35 years of experience in delivering and managing secure cloud and infrastructure solutions both locally and internationally.
Speaking on the development, Andrew Cruise, Managing Director of Routed said that this is a significant achievement for his organization adding that “we are extremely proud to reach such important milestones within months of each other. As a dedicated VMware partner, Routed is committed to assist enterprise customers, wholesale partners, resellers and affiliates to deploy and utilise the power of VMware technology, and in this case, its DRaaS solution.”
While being listed on the website as an official provider is an achievement, Routed, along with the other nine international service providers, has also been hard-coded into the VMware vSphere 7 client software. “As an essential services delivery mechanism for the modern hybrid cloud, VMware vSphere 7 is the biggest evolution of vSphere in over a decade. This makes Routed’s inclusion more significant and exciting for us.”
DRaaS is cloud-based data protection and is currently offering a welcome alternative to traditional disaster recovery methods. Cruise says that it is about creating a responsive infrastructure that is easily accessible for development, and ultimately enables enterprises to successfully adapt to their customers’ changing needs. “Disaster recovery is one of these needs and where we have made some significant inroads. DRaaS is cloud-based data protection and is currently offering a welcome alternative to traditional disaster recovery methods.”
By shifting the responsibility of DR to third-party providers, which harness private or public cloud storage, organisations no longer need to independently equip and operate offsite DR facilities. With DRaaS, an organisation’s physical servers or virtual machines (VMs) are replicated to a third-party service provider, which then hosts the customer’s infrastructure, using public or private cloud resources, providing a failover target in the event of a disaster.Guy Bartram, director of product marketing: cloud at VMware says: “Routed has proven itself as a specialist cloud provider and dedicated VMware partner. We are delighted at the company’s progress as one of our top cloud providers and currently the only one in Africa listed as a global DRaaS provider.”
Dave Funnell, senior manager for cloud providers at VMware says: “The inclusion of Routed as an endpoint for DRaaS within vSphere 7 is a huge boost for the provision of local cloud services. DR is becoming even more critical to all organisations and the requirement for a powerful, but simple to use solution, which can be directly accessed and managed from VMware vSphere is an exciting opportunity for local VMware customers. This latest collaboration between VMware and Routed, following its announcement as the first VMware Cloud Verified partner in Africa, brings further advantages for companies as they accelerate their adoption of cloud.” VMware vSphere 7.0 was a highly anticipated release and boasts key features such as vSphere Lifecycle Manager, Identity federation, vSphere Trust Authority, Dynamic DirectPath IO, DRS and vMotion.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Mosaic, the US-based fertilizer producer Mosaic has filed a petition with the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission to request “initiation of countervailing duty investigations” into imports of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia. Mosaic in a statement claimed that large volumes of “unfairly subsidized imports” from Morocco and Russia are harming its fertilizer operations and causing “distortions” in the US phosphates market.
Mosaic President and CEO Joc O’Rourke
“Mosaic is not competing on a level playing field,” said Mosaic President and CEO Joc O’Rourke in his appeal to “restore fair competition.” Adding that government subsidies in Morocco and Russia give phosphate producers unfair cost advantages. This has been a long-term and increasingly injurious situation, and we have engaged in this process to demonstrate unfair trade practices by international competitors,” the statement said.The American company is the largest US producer of finished concentrated phosphates in the world, with an operational capacity of 16.1 million tons.
Morocco is the second top phosphate mining country in the world with an extraction capacity of 33 million tons, preceded by China (140 million tons) and followed by the US (27 million tons) and Russia (12.5 million tons). The North African country is the world’s largest exporter of raw phosphate and phosphoric acid — exporting 11 million tons in 2018 — and has the largest phosphate reserves at 50 billion tons, accounting for over 70% of global reserves. From January to April of 2020, Morocco and Russia were the top exporters of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) to the US.
According to the ICIS Supply & Demand Database, Morocco currently claims 49.65% of the DAP market share, and Russia 34.57%. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered volume drops of 40.12% and 48.48%, respectively. In terms of the MAP market share, Morocco holds 67.9% while Russia claims 23.44%. The COVID-19 pandemic has not heavily impacted Morocco’s share — causing only a 0.84% drop in volume — but Russia’s market share has declined by 59.87% due to the crisis.Despite these shifts that favor domestic production, Mosaic is still looking to edge out Moroccan and Russian market influence.
“Mosaic believes in free trade and vigorous competition, and we believe we should compete on a level playing field,” the statement said. “The duties we are seeking will help ensure that North American farmers can rely on the American phosphate industry to supply critical fertilizers for the long term.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Dr. Manal Ghazzawi has been declared the winner of one of the world’s most prestigious awards, bestowed on her by the Women in Africa Entrepreneur (WIA54) initiative. This is in recognition of her outstanding contributions in the medical field and particularly because the CITIGLOBE Ltd Health Pharmacy, which she owns and is situated on Campbell Street in Freetown, continues to offer low cost medical products and health promotion services.
Dr. Manal Ghazzawi, specialist pharmacist and public health specialist
Dr. Manal Ghazzawi is a specialist pharmacist and a public health specialist. She started her entrepreneurial journey by obtaining a loan from her brother in law in 2000 which she used to establish the first branch of her Citiglobe Pharmacy, now a household name in the pharmaceutical industry in Sierra Leone.
Her postgraduate qualification widened her horizon which made her become more passionate about public health; and she incorporated that into community pharmacy practice. She is the first pharmacist to change the norm and perception of the public, who normally see pharmacists as dispensers of drugs only. Her dedication to public health has allowed the public to see pharmacists as valuable healthcare leaders and providers in the community.
In an exclusive interview with Dr. Manal Ghazzawi, she intimated how she woke up one beautiful morning, dreaming of herself becoming the winner for Sierra Leone, among women in Africa Entrepreneurs (WIA54). “Yes my dream came true. I feel blessed and honoured to have been selected among 3,800 participants in Africa,” she told this medium with a big smile. She congratulated Tutu Bundu and Muriel for being finalists in Sierra Leone as well as all the 53 women in Africa that won, and wished good luck to all the best prospective finalists in Sierra Leone for WIA2021. “When a woman is in power she gives her all to her children and the community. Women in Africa can change the world with their integrity, sincerity and passion,” Dr.Ghazzawi inspired.
She said that: “practicing as a pharmacist in a developing country where the majority of the population have easy access to drugs and hence prone to the misuse of drugs is very challenging; and because I believe in rational use of drugs, I will not recommend or administer treatment for common infectious diseases without prior confirmatory test and proper clinical evaluation.”
Dr.Ghazzawi added that this is what made her introduce rapid diagnostic tests for prevalent diseases like malaria, typhoid, H. Pylori, etc. She spoke also about how she has contributed in vaccinating thousands of Sierra Leoneans in her campaign towards viral hepatitis elimination, and also incorporated her skills and qualification as a clinician specializing in diabetes management into her practice which has affected the lives of many Sierra Leoneans in an impactful manner.
“Today I own three outstanding community pharmacies,” she disclosed, adding that she is very passionate in serving her country, especially vulnerable Sierra Leoneans. Dr. Manal Ghazzawi stated that she always ensures that the professionals she works with share her values and integrity in service delivery with passion, which contributes immensely to the success of her business.
WIA is a philanthropy Foundation for women with a potential to shape the Africa of tomorrow. Each year, the WIA 54 Award recognizes 54 female entrepreneurs from each of the 54 African countries.The Wia54 winners 2020 have 54 winners from 5 regions of Africa, 8 revelations, 1 Gold award. Revelation and the Gold Award will be released on TV5MONDE in September 2020.
Under the leadership of Aude de Thuin, a serial entrepreneur committed to the cause of women for 20 years worldwide, and Hafsat Abiola – its President, Women In Africa has become the first platform dedicated to the economic development and support of leading and high potential African women.Officially launched in 2017, Women in Africa (WIA) supports, accompanies and contributes to the promotion of a new generation of African women in pursuit of an inclusive and innovative Africa.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
One of the world’s largest tech investors and the global internet arm of South Africa’s company Naspers, Prosus N.V. (AEX:PRX), has announced its results for the twelve months ended 31 March 2020.
Basil Sgourdos, Group Chief Financial Officer
Group highlights for the period
The complete results and commentary are available at www.prosus.com/investors. See “Notes” section for an explanation of the numbers.
Revenues increased 23% to US$21.5bn (FY19: US$18.3bn).
Trading profit grew 16% to US$3.8bn.(FY19: US$3.4bn).
Core headline earnings grew 13% to US$3.4bn (FY19: US$3.1bn).
Ecommerce revenue grew 33% to US$4.3bn (FY19: US$3.6bn):
Food Delivery orders grew by 102%, driving revenue growth of 105% to US$0.8bn (FY19: US$0.4bn);
The Classifieds and Payments & Fintech segments remain profitable at their core and continue to grow profits, while investing to drive further growth.
Tencent grew revenues 21% year-on-year*.
Invested US$1.3bn in existing and new businesses.
Solid net cash position of US$4.5bn, and an undrawn US$2.5bn revolving credit facility.
The group is well-positioned to navigate the Covid-19 uncertainty ahead.
*Prosus holds a 31% stake in Tencent.
Basil Sgourdos, Group Chief Financial Officer, said:
“The group has delivered a good set of annual results, with all of our segments making good progress against their financial and strategic objectives. Revenue grew 23% to US$21.5bn, and trading profit grew 16% to US$3.8bn. The Classifieds and Payments & Fintech segments continued to deliver growth, and both are profitable at their core. Our Food Delivery segment almost doubled revenues and is now one of the fastest-growing food delivery businesses globally, reflecting our ability to build scale and strong positions in high-growth markets. We ended the period with a net cash position of US$4.5bn, which positions us well to continue investing in our businesses and pursuing growth opportunities.”
Bob van Dijk, Group Chief Executive Officer, said:
“The past year was a truly transformational twelve months for the group, marked in September by the listing of our international internet assets as Prosus on Euronext Amsterdam. This is an exciting step forward, opening up fresh opportunities to build long-term sustainable value. Throughout the year, we continued to execute our long-term strategy of building leading consumer internet companies. This was reflected in a solid performance driven by revenue growth, notably the Food Delivery segment, and improved profitability in our ecommerce businesses, particularly the Classifieds segment, underpinned by continued growth of Tencent.
In recent months, Covid-19 has had a marked impact on the daily lives of citizens and economies across the world. From the start, we have prioritised the health and well-being of our people, their families, and the communities we serve. We are working hard to protect our businesses for the long term. At both a group and a local company level, we have also provided support to governments and communities to play our part in the response to the pandemic. While the global societal and economic impacts of Covid-19 are likely to persist for some time, we are confident of our ability to weather the storm. We also expect that group businesses are likely to benefit from a further acceleration of the underlying trend toward online — brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic — to emerge well-placed for long-term growth.”
Koos Bekker, Group Chair, said:
“This was a good year in the evolution of our group. As the world changes, so do we. The fundamentals of several of our businesses look sound. However, during the last quarter the world economy took a massive blow. Its consequences will include certain technologies accelerating, but also some social and political shifts that are hard to predict. We will continue to respond and adapt.”
NOTES on the numbers:
All growth percentages are shown in local currency terms and adjusted for acquisitions and disposals unless otherwise stated.
All amounts are shown on an economic-interest basis (i.e. including a proportionate consolidation of the contribution from associates and joint ventures) unless stated as being presented on a consolidated basis.
All numbers shown are from continuing operations, i.e. excluding MultiChoice Group, which has been presented as a discontinued operation in FY19.
The fundamentals of the group are strong, and the year ended with good momentum off the back of a solid performance. The group is focused on the long term and expects to benefit from a further acceleration of the underlying trend toward online ecommerce companies brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. We face the challenging period from a position of relative financial strength and with sufficient liquidity to navigate the changing environment, to continue to invest in our businesses to position them well for future recovery, and to continue to seek out new opportunities. We will remain disciplined in our investment approach, deploying capital on growth assets operating in growth industries with an expected return in excess of our cost of capital.
-ends-
About Prosus
Prosus is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Operating and investing globally in markets with long-term growth potential, Prosus builds leading consumer internet companies that empower people and enrich communities. The group is focused on building meaningful businesses in the online classifieds, payments and fintech, and food delivery sectors in markets including India, Russia and Brazil. Through its ventures team investments, in areas including edtech and health, Prosus actively seeks new opportunities to partner with exceptional entrepreneurs who are using technology to address big societal needs. Every day, millions of people use the products and services of companies that Prosus has invested in, acquired or built, including Avito, Brainly, BYJU’S, Codecademy, eMAG, Honor, iFood, LazyPay, letgo, Meesho, Movile, OLX, PayU, Red Dot Payments, Remitly, SimilarWeb, SoloLearn, Swiggy, and Udemy.
For more information on our FY2020 year results please contact: Eoin Ryan Head of Investor Relations Tel: +1 347–210–4305 Email: eoin.ryan@prosus.com
Sarah Ryan Media Relations, International Mobile: +31 6 297 21038 Email: sarah.ryan@prosus.com
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer.
The efforts by the management of Africa’s premier financial institution, The African Development Bank to turn it into a world leader in governance is yielding fruits as a recent ranking published by a transparency organization — Publish What You Fund– ranked the Bank ‘very good’ — The highest of the five categories used to assess organisations’ transparency. The ranking pits the African Development Bank fourth out of 47 global development institutions on its Aid Transparency Index. The Index is the only independent measure of aid transparency among the world’s major development agencies. The index places the Bank in the highest category of transparency along with other world class institutions such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and UNDP.
Gary Forster, CEO of Publish What You Fund
“We congratulate the African Development Bank – Sovereign Portfolio on achieving 4th place in the 2020 Aid Transparency Index. As large quantities of aid are being reallocated to deal with the COVID-19 emergency, the transparency of international aid is more important than ever,” said Gary Forster, CEO of Publish What You Fund, which has produced the index each year since 2011.
Publish What You Fund ranked the Bank ‘very good’ — The highest of the five categories used to assess organisations’ transparency. The ranking is based on several criteria, including finance and budgets, basic information data, organisational planning and performance. In the new Index, which covers the 2019 year, the African Development Bank scored 95.5 out of 100 on transparency — A significant improvement on its score for 2018.
“It is promising to see an increase in the quantity, quality and timeliness of aid data now being shared by a broad cross section of the world’s major aid agencies. As we work together to fill the gaps in the aid data landscape, we look forward to exploring how we can best meet the demand for data and data engagement,” said Gary Forster, CEO of Publish What You Fund. The institution’s commitment to total transparency is illustrated by MapAfrica — A web-based platform that maps all of the Bank’s investments across the African continent.
“I am absolutely delighted with this achievement!” said Swazi Tshabalala, Acting Senior Vice President for the African Development Bank Group. “It crowns this institution’s commitment to transparency at a time when it has never been so important. With such large volumes of funding now being assigned to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, it is crucial for our citizens to know how much, where and when the African Development Bank is investing in Africa’s development.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Users of popular search engine app, Google Chrome extensions have been warned that they might be victims of an ongoing spying campaign. The call became necessary with reports that Google Chrome extensions which were downloaded more than 32-million times were used to spy on the popular browser’s users in a massive global surveillance campaign, according to a new report. The report, published by cybersecurity firm Awake Security, found at least 111 “malicious or fake” Chrome extensions capable of taking screenshots, stealing login credentials and capturing passwords as users typed them.
Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps for Google Inc
This spying campaign impacted a wide range of sectors across the web including financial services, healthcare and government organizations, the firm adds. Browser extensions, such as the ones for Chrome allow users to add a myriad of new features previously unavailable to them. Extensions such as Netflix Party and Suspicious Site Reporter are examples of popular extensions.
Awake’s report highlights the potential for fraudulent extensions to do harm and compromise a wide variety of systems. “The actors behind these activities have established a persistent foothold in almost every network,” say researchers at the firm. “We appreciate the work of the research community, and when we are alerted of extensions … that violate our policies, we take action and use those incidents as training material to improve our automated and manual analyses,” Google spokesperson Scott Westover was quoted as saying in a statement.
“We do regular sweeps to find extensions using similar techniques, code, and behaviours, and take down those extensions if they violate our policies.”Google has since confirmed that the spying-extension flagged by Awake has since been removed. Google has since confirmed that the spying-extension flagged by Awake has since been removed. Awake linked all the extensions associated with the spying campaign back to Galcomm, an Israeli web hosting company that claims to manage around 250,000 browser domains.
“By exploiting the trust placed in it as a domain registrar, Galcomm has enabled malicious activity that has been found across more than a hundred networks we’ve examined,” Awake researchers said in the report, adding that they found more than 15,000 Galcomm domains that were “malicious or suspicious.” “Galcomm is not involved, and not in complicity with any malicious activity whatsoever,” the company told Reuters, denying its involvement in the campaign.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The Uhuru Growth Fund is planning on huge expansion with the seed $20 Million investment from the African Development Bank last month. It could be recalled that the Bank had approved a US$20 million equity investment in Uhuru Growth Fund 1, a first-generation fund sponsored by Uhuru Partners Limited, a private equity firm, focused on high growth middle market businesses across West Africa. The firm which is composed of an experienced indigenous team with strong local networks, extensive knowledge of the West Africa market and a track-record of SME investments in the region is planning to expand their operations in the region.
Abdu Mukhtar, the African Development Bank’s Director of Industrial and Trade Development
With the $20 million equity support, Uhuru Partners will make investment forays into consumer facing and financial services sectors in West African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali. Investments of $5 million and above will be made in companies in these sectors, helping them grow into regional champions, and creating new, high quality jobs. The proposed investment will give the Bank approximately 10% of the Fund’s target capitalization of $200 million.
Because equity capital is scarce in Africa but particularly so for smaller companies with revenues below $50 million, private equity funds such as Uhuru will help address this void. Uhuru’s compelling investment proposition is underpinned by several macroeconomic and institutional factors. These key factors include West Africa’s large aggregate population, rapid urbanization and youthful demographics, sustained economic growth and relative political stability.
The presence of Uhuru’s key executive and operational teams in Abidjan and Lagos is also perceived as a huge asset, enabling the team to effectively source investment opportunities in the Anglophone and Francophone economies of West Africa. The PE firm’s presence in the region’s largest and leading commercial hubs also enables them to get actively involved in the operations of their portfolio companies across the region. Abdu Mukhtar, the African Development Bank’s Director of Industrial and Trade Development said the Bank’s investment will be instrumental to Uhuru’s $200 million fundraising exercise. “The Bank’s support of Uhuru Growth Fund will unlock capital from other development finance and commercial investors into a fund that will help strengthen West Africa’s economies, create jobs and drive development,” Mukhtar said.
The Fund’s investment strategy is aligned with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2013-2022), focusing on inclusive growth and creating broad-based prosperity, as well as the Bank’s Country Strategy Papers for target countries which seek inclusive growth, access to local SME finance and regional integration as the pathway to sustainable development of the African continent.The Fund’s strategy is also aligned with the Bank’s High 5 priorities to Industrialize Africa, Feed Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
