News - Afrikan Heroes

South Africa Is Developing A Law That Will Bar Foreigners From Participating In Certain Businesses

September 23, 2019

In the wake of xenophobic attacks, South Africa appears to be going a step further in stopping foreigners from carrying out certain types of businesses in the country, a preference that may represent an indirect way of shutting out new influx of migrants to the country.

Here Is All You Need To Know

The new legislation will attempt to bar foreign nationals from operating in certain sectors of the economy, a key member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet revealed this week.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola told a fundraising gala dinner hosted by the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation on Thursday night that his small business development counterpart, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, was developing legislation in relation to foreign nationals doing business in South Africa.

“(The minister) is also developing legislation in relation to foreign nationals doing business in our country – which sectors of the economy can they play in and where and how? That is the kind of legislation she is busy with and we are hoping that soon it will be released for public engagement,” Lamola said.

Lamola said the reality was that foreign nationals were needed in certain sectors of the economy for it to grow.

“The legislation will also have to cover and be realistic to such kind of dynamics because we are not going to wake up and have a massive deportation of Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Lesotho nationals,” Lamola said.

“We need to put in place legislation that will be able to set aside and strike a clear balance that will help us to still grow the economy for the benefit of everyone in South Africa, but still be able to say there are sectors that we need to regulate and be clearly stated that no foreign national can run this kind of a business”.

Lamola denied this was protectionism.

“Because South Africa is the most industrialised economy on the continent, we are going to be the biggest beneficiaries of the Africa Free Trade Agreement. We don’t have the luxury of closing our borders altogether.”

Attacks on foreigners broke out in Johannesburg, South Africa late August 2019, which saw the destruction of more than 50 shops and business premises mainly owned by Africans from countries in the rest of the continent. Cars and properties were torched and widespread looting took place. The violence against African nationals may be a reaction to extra competition for jobs and services in Africa’s most-industrialized economy.

SOUTH AFRICA’S DEPORTATION RATES OF FOREIGN NATIONALS, 2014/15

Egyptian Edtech Startup ‘Knowledge Officer’ Wins $500,000 New Grant In The UK

The wave of investment in Egyptian startups this year has been quite remarkable. Knowledge Officer, a London-based edtech startup founded by two Egyptians; Ahmed El-Sharkasy and Ahmed Eshra is the latest to join the train, winning $500,000 (over £400,000) in grant from Innovate UK, United Kingdom’s innovation agency.

Here Is The Deal

The grant called ‘Smart’ according to Innovate UK’s website is for ‘best game-changing or disruptive ideas (from any area of technology) with a view to commercialization.’

Ahmed El-Sharkasy, co-founder and CEO of Knowledge Officer, commenting on the occasion, said:

“The grant will help us scale our ML team in London and support our ambition to help millions of job seekers find the right and proven path to pursue their dream career goals at an affordable price. It’s a huge under-served market and we are here to serve the unserved”

This is a significant amount of money, especially considering the fact that Knowledge Officer’s seed round that it raised in March last year was ~$750,000 (£600,000).
Knowledge Officer in a statement said that they will receive the money after presenting their research and results later this year, to take their platform to the next level.

Why Knowledge Officer Won The Grant

Although Innovate UK says the grant is for the ‘best game-changing or disruptive ideas (from any area of technology) with a view to commercialization,’ Knowledge Officer in a statement noted the grant was awarded based on the significance of the problem Knowledge Officer is working to solve — building the best path-to-employment platform and promoting data-driven learning at scale.

‘‘The Smart grant is awarded to game-changing ideas from business with strong evidence of impact. Knowledge Officer was one of just a few startups selected for the fund from 500 applications,” Knowledge Officer noted in the statement.

It also went ahead to state that winning the grant was further validation of both the problem the startup was looking to solve as well as the approach that it is relying on to execute the problem.

What Knowledge Officer Does

Knowledge Officer which also has an office in Alexandria (Egypt), helps users transition into new careers by analyzing their current skills against their dream career and creating a customized learning path to help them learn the skills needed for the new career of their choice. The six areas that it currently covers include founder, product manager, growth manager, machine learning engineer, marketing specialist, and customer success.

Users are offered curated learning material from around the web that comes with challenges and the option to track one’s progress. The users are required to answer different questions at every stage to advance to the next one and can even compete with their friends on Knowledge Officer.

The platform at different points throughout a user’s learning journey also notifies them when their recently acquired skills match with the relevant jobs on different recruitment platforms.

“In our journey to create the shortest and most efficient path to employment, think [of Knowledge Officer as] Google Maps for learning. We wanted to change the way people perceive learning and transform the overall experience to be based on data and ML. Imagine the impact of a concrete route to take you from your current skill set (Point A) and a transformed, aspirational state (Point B), where you are being offered your dream job.”

Knowledge Officer, according to the statement, has more than 100,000 users now with a few thousand active users on a weekly basis. The startup that offers a premium subscription with extra learning tools to both individuals and businesses aims to reach a stable MRR by the end of 2019 from both B2C and B2B revenue streams.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

Tanzania and World Health Organisation (WHO) Trade Words Over Ebola Claims

September 22, 2019

The Tanzanian government has hit out at the World Health Organisation (WHO) over claims that the country is failing to provide information on suspected cases of Ebola in Tanzania, which the global health body claim is the risk of hindering the fight against the spread of the virus, which has already killed more than 2,000 people in the region. According to WHO, a suspected case of Ebola was reported in the capital city of Dar es Salaam recently and contacts of this patient, who tested positive for hemorrhagic fever, have been quarantined. The WHO went on to say that aside this suspected patient, two other suspected cases have been reported informally while the health authorities in Tanzania have failed to provide further details on the cases, WHO noted.

Responding, Tanzanian health authorities has assured the world body that contrary to their claims, that there was no Ebola in the country, while refusing a “secondary confirmation test” at a WHO centre, according to the UN Health Organization, even though they reported to WHO that a contact of the patient was sick and hospitalized. The World Health Organisation warned that inspite of these evidence clinical details and results of the investigation, including laboratory tests performed for differential diagnosis of these patients, have not been reported to them. Also because of insufficient information received by WHO, it is unable to carry hypotheses about the possible cause of the disease. WHO further warned that the that the initial patient travelled extensively in Tanzania and the uncertainty and lack of information surrounding these cases, which, if confirmed, would represent the very first Ebola epidemic in the country, meant that the risk was considered very high at the national level.

Since the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo over a year ago which lead to the death of over 2100 people, Eat African countries have been at an alert. It could be recalled that four people were earlier diagnosed as carriers of the virus in Uganda and they subsequently died.

But Tanzania has come out strongly to refute the allegations of harbouring an Ebola case in the country by formally telling the World Health Organisation (WHO), it had conducted investigations on suspicious cases and ruled out the deadly virus. The Ministry of Health of Tanzania has assured the citizenry not to panic as there is no Ebola outbreak in Tanzania.

The WHO announcement came a day after the head of a U.S. government health agency traveled to Tanzania at the direction of America’s health secretary, Alex Azar. Azar criticized Tanzania last week for not sharing information, saying on Monday he was aware of a death in Tanzania and that the government had reported two suspected cases who tested negative for Ebola. He specifically said that the government of Tanzania, however, has not made available the samples or the ability to test the index case of the individual who died, nor has it made available any other information. He called on Tanzania to comply with international obligations to share information and allow independent verification of test results.

But in a swift reaction, the Minister of Health of Tanzania, Ummy Mwalimu insist that the Tanzanian government has investigated two recent cases of unknown illnesses, but they were not Ebola.She however, did not say if the two cases investigated included the death of the woman.

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.

Benin Republic Modernising Cotonou Port to be the best in West Africa

Benin Republic has embarked on a major modernization process of the Port Autonome du Cotonou (Cotonou Port) to make it more competitive, efficient and effective in meeting the needs of the 21^st century trade demands and also align with best practices in the sector. With the ongoing modernisation project, the government hopes to build the best seaport in West Africa as Cotonou slowly but consistently becomes West Africa’s transshipment hub. The 300 hectare transit port is in a highly competitive sector and region, especially with the overall growth of trade in West Africa.

Government sources in Cotonou say that the Port of Cotonou contributes more than 60% of GDP and mobilizes more than 90% of domestic resources in the country. As part of efforts to ensure that the running and management of the Port meets global best practices, the government of Benin has entrusted the management of Cotonou Port Authority, the administrative structure to the Port of Antwerp International (PAI) Belgium with the aim of reorganizing and restructuring the administration: computerization of services, dissemination of a code good behavior, staff training among other things.

To this end, the Port of Cotonou has raised the bar on quality control, burnish its image within the global shipping industry, and reduce its waiting times. The country equally wants to take advantage of its geographical position and remains a transit point, especially to the Nigerian giant market of 190 million and Niger which has been loyally using its port. Speaking on the development, Chaibou Attahy from Niger Republic said that there is need for the management of the Port to reduce waiting time, and also reduce the cost of clearing containers because it is still expensive compared to others especially its closest competitor which is the Lome Ports with a turnover of 18.3 percent from its port where it has heavily invested the facilities.

However, a shipping expert said that for the government of Cotonou to modernize the Port, they must dredge it to accommodate larger vesels like those of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tema, Ghana, that can accommodate larger vessels because the basins are deeper and more extensive because the water body in Abidjan is 1,000 ha against 80 in Cotonou, thus the cost of Passage is lower and delays faster. This is basically why the Beninese government is investing about 450 million euros on the ports modernization by 2020. The Managing Director of Cotonou Ports Joris Thys said that the government is bent on making the Cotonou’s autonomous port an innovative, secure and reliable logistics platform for international trade,he added that “we want international handling and logistics companies to come and invest”.

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.

Andela Has Laid Off Junior Engineers In Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda But Not In Rwanda

Some of the office spaces for junior engineers at Africa-focused outsourcing startup Andela in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda are already empty but this is not so in the East African country of Rwanda. No Rwandans will be affected by the restructuring and consequent lay off by Andela. In fact, Andela is bringing on board more junior engineers in that country.

Here Is All You Need To Know

In 2018,Andela entered the Rwandan local market after cabinet approval and the signing of an MOU on the establishment of a Pan-African tech hub.
The MOU with the government will also remain unaffected.

“The recent strategic shift at Andela does not alter the MOU that we signed with the Rwanda govt. In fact, moving forward, we will be focusing our junior engineer training efforts on our pan-African hub in Rwanda,” Clement Uwajeneza, the Country Director at Andela Kigali told Business Times.

Andela had earlier in a statement by the Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Andela, Jeremy Johnson said that as part of a restructuring exercise to be fit for purpose in line with their clients, they would ‘be releasing approximately 250 Andelans in Nigeria and Uganda, with an additional 170 potentially impacted in Kenya.’
According to the agreement signed with the government last year, Andela committed to recruit and train up to 500 Rwandans with expertise in software development and offer them six months paid training.
The startup also noted that they are seeking to intensify their training in Rwanda as part of responding to market demands.
Trainees are expected to receive over 900 skill checkpoints enabling them to be competitive across the world. Thereafter, Andela is expected offer the new trainees jobs as remote members of software development teams at world leading firms.
In the training phase of the 500 software developers, the firm said that they expect to incur between $15,000 and $20,000 each, raising its market entry outlay to between $7.5 million and to $10 million.
The firm launched operations in Nigeria in 2014, to help global companies overcome the severe shortage of skilled software developers and has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United States.

Read also: Why California’s New Employment Law Could Return All Logistics, Transport And Similar Startups In Africa To Square One

Andela Is Changing Its Strategy By Laying Off Junior Staff Who Are Liabilities Under Its Current Model

Andela noted that the restructuring of the company was necessitated by a demand for senior developers by their clients which has made it a challenge keeping junior developers on their team.

“While placing teams led by senior engineers has helped drive additional junior placement, it hasn’t been enough. We now have significantly more junior talent than we are able to place. Just as important, those junior engineers want, and deserve, authentic work experience that we are not able to provide. As a result, we’ve come to the conclusion that Andela’s next phase of growth requires a strategic shift in how we think about talent.”

“Going forward, we will hire another 700 experienced engineers by the end of 2020 in order to keep up with demand from our partners,” Johnson’s statement said.

For the employees to be laid off, the firm said that they were putting in place support programmes such as learning and job placement services to ensure a smooth transition.

“We have identified over 60 companies who are looking to hire top quality junior engineering talent,” the statement said.

The firm in January this year announced that it had raised $100 million funding through its fourth round seed stage financing, also known as Series D funding.

The money was raised through a venture capital drive that was led by UK-based firm, Generation Investment Management.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

West African Countries to Adopt Technology for Disease control

September 21, 2019

The spate of communicable diseases (CDs) and other tropical diseases within the West African sub region is giving both governments and health authorities a lot of concern. To mitigate on this, the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), made up of the 15 member countries of ECOWAS are leveraging technology that will help to prevent hem prevent cross-border outbreaks of epidemics including Ebola, cholera, yellow fever, Lassa fever, measles, onchocerciasis and meningitis. This was made known yesterday after the presentation of range of health systems aimed at strengthening solutions in Nigeria and West Africa by representatives of BroadReach Consulting during the just concluded Nigeria Implementation Science Alliance conference in Abuja. This will be achieved by employing the Regional Actions Through Data known as RAD program which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Speaking on the development, the Acting Program Director Regional Actions Through Data at BroadReach Consulting Dr Uchenna Nwokenna, said that every year, infectious diseases such as Ebola and malaria claim the lives of about five million Africans, and the inability to monitor and share information at scale has been a major set-back in the control of outbreaks. He further noted that these outbreaks have major, far-reaching implications for the communities they affect. He added that “we believe that the prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks is possible when you combine human ingenuity and technology.”

BroadReach Consulting with headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa is the implementing partner of Vantage Technologies, a Swiss registered software development company, works with various partners in many African countries, including the PEPFAR-funded grant for USAIDS’s five-year epidemic control program in South Africa, called APACE (Accelerating Program Achievements to Control the Epidemic). Vantage Technologies leverages big data to help strengthen healthcare systems in emerging economies.

That is why WAHO is exploring innovative uses of technology to support improvement of the production, dissemination and use of health information through weekly and quarterly epidemiological bulletins, regional health profiles and a regional statistical yearbook. It also hopes to use it to strengthen cross-border health and epidemiological surveillance through the cross-border health mapping, monitoring of epidemic-prone diseases (EPDs) vaccination and HIV programmes, and cross-border collaboration.

RAD is using the ‘Disease Threat Management Solution’ of BroadReach Consulting, which leverages Vantage technology to track and analyse data for major infectious diseases, including Ebola, Onchocerciasis and Cholera, in each country.

Vantage collates and digests a large amount of indicator data from different countries to produce a weekly Epidemiology Bulletin. The weekly bulletin is circulated among senior health officials and, should there be a risk of an outbreak or an actual occurrence in a border region, the relevant agencies are alerted and guided to mobilise resources and take effective action to prevent or contain the outbreak.

The ‘Disease Threat Management Solution’ is a breakthrough in the control of disease outbreaks because it utilises multi-source and multi-country data for expedited response and decision making. Previously, when an outbreak occurred in one country, a neighbouring country might have learnt of the risk only after it emerged within its borders. The inability to monitor and share information at scale has been a major set-back in the control of infectious disease outbreaks, until now.

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.

Nigeria Energy Access Fund Gets $500,000 Grant

September 20, 2019

The Nigeria Energy Access Fund has received a grant worth $500,000 from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) for investments in sustainable energy in Nigeria and to support the development and launch of the Nigeria Energy Access Fund (NEAF), a new private equity fund developed by All On, a Nigerian impact investment firm financed by Shell. With the help of this grant, the NEAF will make strategic investments in sustainable energy in Nigeria, particularly in the country’s burgeoning off-grid and mini-grid sectors.

Wale Shonibare, the Acting Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank

The SEFA which is domiciled at the African Development Bank will support specific workstreams to set NEAF in motion and enhance its engagement with private and public sector investors. NEAF will be a first-of-its-kind facility to provide eligible projects and businesses with equity solutions that are currently unavailable in the market. According to Wale Shonibare, the Acting Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank, Nigeria requires bespoke and innovative market-based solutions to provide its off-grid population, estimated at 100 million, access to sustainable sources of energy. The SEFA grant he added will be instrumental in the constitution of NEAF, and ultimately, the mobilization of much-needed private sector investment for the sector.

Arsenal and WorldRemit Shortlists 16 Coaches from Africa

September 19, 2019

Global money transfer firm, WorldRemit in collaboration with Arsenal Football Club of England has announced the shortlist of 16 names from Africa for the second edition of the Future Stars Programmes in recognition of their valuable contributions to their communities using grassroots football to provide leadership and direction for young people. The 16 youth footballs coaches, out of which eight are women have been commended for teaching the children they train life skills on and off the pitch.

Through the programme, WorldRemit will sponsor two winners – one male and one female – to fly to London for a personalised training session with Arsenal Football Development coaches. The project which has been running for the past few months had entry closed on 4 September, with the programme received over 1,400 entries from coaches from across Africa and the Americas.

Sources from WorldRemit and Arsenal Football Development say that a panel of judges reviewed the applications and selected 20 semi-finalists, including 16 coaches from Africa, based on the following criteria: the commitment of the coach to improving the lives of their community, the impact the coach has had on young people within their community and the strength of the coach’s proposal to pass on their training on their return home. To this end, the 20 semi-finalists will receive Arsenal shirts for their youth squad in recognition of their commitment to using football to bring their communities together. Moreso, from the 20 semi-finalists, the judging panel will select eight coaches – four male and four female – as finalists. Their stories will be shared onFutureStars website while two winners will be chosen based on a public vote on the website and WorldRemit will invite them to England.

The Coaches shortlisted in the Future Stars from Africa are from Uzoma Kingsley Akanador of Unity International Charity Organisation in Lagos, Ademilokun Oluwaseun David of XPR Football in Lagos, Chinasa Ukanda of Help The Talent Academy in Lagos, Towobola Grace Iyanuoluwa of Hostel Football Team and Assistant Coach at CityBoys Football Club in Ibadan and Modupe Marilyn Jiwalde Pusmut, Coach at Future Stars FC Sabon Barki in Jos.

Others are Feisal Abdi Hassan, a coach in Nairobi, Beldine Lilian Achieng Odemba of Kariobangi Sharks Academy in Nairobi, Susan Wanjiru Njoki of Kahawa Sportive Soccer Academy in Nairobi and Everline Achieng Onyango of Mukuru Starlets in Nairobi. They also have Samuel Taylor of EM Sporting Club, Accra, Alhassan Iddi Manzah of Northern Women’s Football Clubs Association in Tamale-Dalun, Ghana, Bakit Isaac Agogo of Watoto Sports Academy in Gulu, Uganda, Andrew Amanya of Kigezi Soccer Academy in Kabale, and Nabisenke Joan a coach in Kampala also in Uganda. From Zimbabwe they have Titus Tongesai Sanagurai of Big Stuff Youth Soccer Academy in Harare and Winnet Muranganwa of Zengeza Busters Soccer Academy in Chitungwiza .

WorldRemit Managing Director for Africa and the Middle East, Mr. Andrew Stewart

Speaking on this development, the Managing Director for Africa and the Middle East at WorldRemit, Mr. Andrew Stewart while congratulating the semi finalists noted that his organization’s business is all about connecting communities, no matter where they are in the world. “We developed Future Stars to celebrate the amazing work that football coaches do to support young people and have been so impressed by the quality and diversity of the applications this year”, he added.

The Head Coach at Arsenal Football Development Simon McManus said that Arsenal is thrilled to partner with WorldRemit to recognise coaches who use the power of football to inspire and support young people across the globe. He pointed out that “We have one of the most successful women’s sides in the world and are committed to encouraging greater participation in the sport among women. Through this edition of Future Stars, we hope to further amplify the positive impact that female coaches have on their communities”, he added.

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.

Kodjo Annan : African Youth should be empowered for Innovative Leadership

There is utmost need to enhance the contribution of innovation, youth and leadership in Africa and the African diaspora says serial entrepreneur and investor Kodjo Annan. Mr. Annan made this known at a forum hosted by Murdoch University Australia in collaboration with Africa Down Under aimed to support the University’s Third Commission. Mr. Annan who delivered the key note address at the just concluded 9^th Annual Africa-Australia Research Forum in Perth, Western Australia, used the opportunity to urge the Global African Community to realize that “we are the village that must raise the child”

Mr Kodjo Annan

Mr Kodjo Annan who is the son of former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said his father would be delighted to see so many people coming together at the forum, supporting his call for bolder action, in driving forwards and implementing Africa’s own agenda for transformation. “We have ample opportunity to shift Africa’s story from one of poverty and corruption to one of abundance, equity and powerful, modern, all pervasive humanitarian style leadership,” he said. “However, despite this plethora of opportunity, Africa has remained resource-rich and outcome-poor. Adding that gold, silver, diamonds, oil, copper, timber, etc. – all are abundant, and yet, these resources haven’t been enough to lift the continent out of poverty.

He pointed out “that young people – with their dynamism, their energy and their inherent understanding of our interconnected world – have much to teach us… I am convinced more than ever that any society that does not succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind” While the world focuses almost exclusively on profiting from Africa’s wealth of natural resources, it almost entirely overlooks deploying the world’s most critical resource of all – Africa’s Youth.

“Perhaps, because whilst the world at large focuses almost exclusively on profiting from Africa’s wealth of natural resources, it almost entirely overlooks deploying the world’s most critical resource of all – Africa’s Youth.” Mr Annan said the African continent was literally teeming with young people, most of whom were under 21, comprising up to 60 per cent of their respective populations. “As my father so eloquently put it “any society that does not succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind”,” adding that “however, despite being the world’s player makers, every 24 hours, over 22,000 young Africans join the ranks of the world’s unemployed. Is this really how are we going to treat the children of mother Africa? Is this how we expect them to win at the game of life?”

Mr Annan has founded an organisation called Africa10 (A10) to help unlock the potential of Africa’s youth through sport and education. “We must turn our attentions to creating an A10 generation of champions both on and off the field who are fit enough to steer the continent forward. It’s time to turn our large youthful unemployed population into our strength. We have to equip them, educate them, and unleash them. He noted that Africans and friends of Africa must come together in his father’s honour and change the story of Africa, from poor and impoverished to successful and abundant, concluding that “the spirit of the Africa Progress Panel must continue.”

The Murdoch University hosted the Forum in association with Africa Down Under to support the University’s Third Commission, an initiative which seeks to strengthen Murdoch’s links with Africa across research and innovation expertise, strategic interest and networking capabilities within Australia, in Africa and globally. The Third Commission focuses on the six themes firmly rooted in the agenda for action identified by the Africa Progress Panel as being in need of more signification research attention, bolder policy innovation faster implementation on the ground, enhanced political leadership, and the conceptualisation and roll out of innovative research solutions.

Speaking at the event, the Vice Chancellor of Murdoch University Professor Eeva Leinonen pressed the importance of collaboration in reaching shared global goals, noting that it is only through researching together that we can create new knowledge and address issues of global importance. She added that through initiatives like Africa Down Under and the Africa-Australia Research Forum “we can better understand the effective structures that harness the formidable African brain power globally.”

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.

Commonwealth to Help Developing Countries on Climate Action

In the aftermath of the devastation Hurricane Dorian wrought in the Caribbean and the high level of vulnerability facing many island countries, African countries, and the pacific, a Commonwealth facility designed to assist smaller and more vulnerable countries tackle the damaging effects of climate change has helped them access USD 27 million of funding. This is in recognition of the negative impact climate change is having on businesses and people’s lives in general. This development is a milestone for the organization through its Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub which is more than 35 times the original start-up investment of $ 1 million from Australia while almost $500 million has been applied for and is in the pipeline for climate action projects across the Commonwealth.

Speaking on this development, the Commonwealth’s Secretary-General Patricia Scotland described the initiative, which is currently managing 50 projects in 10 Commonwealth developing countries, as a “lifeline for the small and vulnerable”. She added that there is a relentless assault from climate change on countries in every region of our Commonwealth. She pointed out that again and again media headlines have been dominated with strong adjectives such as “apocalyptic”, “record-breaking”, “monstrous” and “life-changing” when describing the cyclones and hurricanes, sea-level rises, and scorching droughts which are claiming lives and livelihoods, destroying homes and diverting countries from their development pathways.

“Today, in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, the death toll is rising in The Bahamas, where thousands are homeless and parts of the islands are demolished. This is why the Commonwealth has been working tirelessly since 1989 on critical solutions such as the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub”, she added.

Hosted by the Government of Mauritius, the Hub was created following the findings and recommendations of a 2013 Commonwealth Expert Group on accessing climate finance. In 2015 leaders endorsed the initiative in their joint statement. “We had a situation where, despite the set-up of multi-billion dollar funds for climate action, countries seemed unable to meet the onerous conditions required to access financing for climate change projects,” the Secretary-General added.

“The Hub pays for top international climate finance specialists to join government departments and help them navigate the red-tape and make successful applications for projects to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.” By the time of filling this report, sources at the organization say that it has received numerous enquiries from non-member states about the Hub and is exploring how it can extend the scope of its services.

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.