Category: APO-OPA

OTTAWA, Canada, August 25, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:

“Canada deplores in the strongest terms the ongoing violence and destruction in Libya and is appalled by the reported incidents of human rights abuses. We urge all parties to accept an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities.

“It is unacceptable that it is the people of Libya who pay the ultimate price in this conflict. They have sacrificed a lot for their freedom and recently elected the House of Representatives as their sole and legitimate representative.

“Canada will continue to work closely with its allies and partners to support Libya’s elected institutions and hold to account those responsible for violations of international law.

“Canada stands with the Libyan people in their struggle to defeat terrorism and violence, restore the rule of law, and build a free, prosperous and democratic society.”

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, August 19, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Africa has experienced substantial growth in its middle class over the past 14 years, according to a study by Standard Bank (http://www.standardbank.com).

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/standardbank.png

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1310 (Standard Bank senior political economist Simon Freemantle)

The report, entitled ‘Understanding Africa’s middle class,’ found there are 15 million middle-class households in 11 of sub-Saharan Africa’s top economies this year, up from 4.6 million in 2000 and 2.4 million in 1990 – an increase of 230% over 14 years. However, of the total number of households across these focal economies, 86% of them remain within the broadly “low income” band, emphasizing the nascent maturation of many of the continent’s markets.

The report also found that the combined GDPs of the 11 measured economies had grown tenfold since 2000.

The study uses a proven methodology widely employed in South Africa. The report, based on the Living Standards Measure (LSM), gives investors to Africa data on which to base their investment decisions.

In the past, the conventional wisdom was that as many as 300 million Africans are categorised as ‘middle class’. The report points out that investors using an unquantifiable assumption might find individuals they had thought were middle class were in fact highly vulnerable to lose that status in any economic shock.

The report suggests that while the middle class may be smaller than previously thought, two factors should give investors greater comfort: by any methodology Africa’s middle class is growing strongly; and Africa’s income accumulation is far more broad-based than had previously been thought.

Standard Bank senior political economist Simon Freemantle, author of the report, says the new report is cause for optimism among investors as it suggests even greater scope for future growth, and indeed the report forecasts acceleration in the accumulation of middle-class households in Africa.

Commenting on the lower than anticipated total number of middle class households, Freemantle says any view “concerning the undoubted ongoing improvement in Africa’s economic performance has to be tempered with the reality that the level of this growth and the nominal size of the continent’s middle class had not until now been adequately measured”.

He argues the previous figure of 300 million ‘middle class’ Africans was viewed as a best-estimate that has now been confirmed as to trend if not as to the total aggregate. The report cites the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) influential 2011 study, ‘The Middle of the Pyramid: Dynamics of the Middle Class in Africa’, which by its methodology attached middle class status to individuals earning just USD4 to USD20 a day, and even a “floating class” of individual earning USD2 to USD4 a day, thereby categorising fully one-third of Africa’s people (over 300 million of them) as ‘middle class’.

“In fact, such individuals would still be exceptionally vulnerable to various economic shocks, and prone to lose their middle-income status,” explains Freemantle.

South Africa’s LSM measure as a methodology is not income-based but rather uses a wider range of analysis. The report covers 11 selected sub-Saharan African countries which combined account for half Africa’s total GDP (75% if excluding South Africa) and half its population. The methodology identified LSM5 and above as middle class and categorises household income into four distinct income bands: low income; lower middle class; middle class and upper middle class.

“Standard Bank has attempted to fill the knowledge gap by using comprehensive household income data and adopting our own measure of the middle class using South Africa’s LSMs as a framework in order to provide cross-quantifiable reference points for peer African economies.” The 11 focus economies are: Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

This methodology found there was an undeniable swelling of Africa’s middle class irrespective of which methodology was used. “Looking ahead, an even greater elevation in income growth is anticipated in the next 15 years; between 2014 and 2030, we expect an additional 14 million middle-class households will be added across the 11 focal countries – tripling the current number. Including lower-middle-class households, the overall number swells to over 40 million households by 2030, from around 15 million today,” the report states.

Furthermore, while figures for 1990, 2000 and 2014 all contain more lower-middle class than middle class households, by 2030 it is expected that “there will be notably more middle-class households than those in the lower-middle-class bracket (19.2 million versus 22 million)”

Freemantle says: “The swifter pace of middle-class growth is critical in its suggestion of a more marked income ascent in the next decade and a half, compared to the period since 2000.”

As a caution, the report states: “Though there has been a meaningful individual lift in income, it is clear that a substantial majority of individuals in most countries we looked at still live on or below the poverty line (measured as those with a daily income of USD2 or less).” Income discrepancies are vast among the 11 economies, with almost 86% of the 110 million households in the focal grouping falling within the low-income band. This is expected to fall to around 75% by 2030.

“In conclusion, while the scale of Africa’s middle class ascent has, we believe, been somewhat exaggerated in line with the at times breathless ‘Africa Rising’ narrative, there is still plenty of scope for measured optimism regarding the size of the middle class in several key SSA [Sub-Saharan Africa] economies. Reliable and proven data should if anything spur more interest in the continent’s consumer potential by adding depth to what was previously conjecture,” says Freemantle.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Standard Bank.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ross Linstrom

Standard Bank Media Relations

Mobile: +27 (0)83 262 1882

E Mail: ross.linstrom@standardbank.co.za

About Standard Bank Group

Standard Bank (http://www.standardbank.com), trading as Stanbic Group, is the largest African bank by assets and earnings. Our strategy is to build the leading African-focused financial services organisation using all our competitive advantages to the full. We will focus on delivering superior sustainable shareholder value by serving the needs of our customers through first-class, on-the-ground operations in chosen countries in Africa. We will also connect other selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other, applying our sector expertise, particularly in natural resources, globally. We operate in 20 countries on the African continent, including South Africa.

Standard Bank has a 151-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s. In recent years, Standard Bank has concluded key acquisitions on the African continent in Kenya and Nigeria. Africa is at our core and we will continue to build first-class on-the-ground banks.

The group’s nearly 49 000 employees in all regions deliver a complete range of services across personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking and wealth management. Standard Bank’s Corporate & Investment Banking division offers its clients banking, trading, investment, risk management and advisory services to connect selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other. It has strong offerings in mining and metals; oil, gas and renewables; power and infrastructure; agribusiness; telecommunications and media; and financial institutions.

Normalised headline earnings for 2013 were R17.2 billion (about USD 1.8 billion) and total assets were R1 694 billion (about USD 162 billion). Standard Bank’s market capitalisation at 31 December 2013 was R209.4 billion (about USD20 billion).

The group’s largest shareholder is Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, with a 20,1% shareholding. In addition, Standard Bank Group and ICBC share a strategic partnership that facilitates trade and deal flow between Africa, China and select emerging markets.

For further information go to http://www.standardbank.com

Or if related to CIB deals:

For further information go to http://www.standardbank.com/cib

LAGOS, Nigeria, August 18, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — MoboFree.com (http://www.mobofree.com), the leading African social marketplace, today announced that the total volume of items currently for sale in its marketplace is worth USD 526 million and is expected to reach USD 1.5 billion by 2015.

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/mobofree.png

Screenshot: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1309

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1308 (MoboFree CEO and co-founder Neringa Kudarauskiene)

With 3.3 million registered users, including 2 million in Nigeria and a strong footprint in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Ghana, MoboFree.com is among the largest and most successful mobile social and trusted classifieds platforms in Africa.

MoboFree members upload thousands of new classifieds every day, generating an average of 60 million page impressions monthly.

The best-selling items on MoboFree.com are phones, tablets and mobile devices, followed by clothes, fashion and beauty and electronic devices.

The MoboFree technological platform makes buying and selling online easy for any African user with any device, not only for PCs and smartphones but also for old phones with small screens (so called “feature” phones).

“Africa is home to six of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world. Our strong performance once again confirms the success of our model and is indicative of the high level of activity in all markets in which we operate. We are now looking for new partners with which to share our exciting expansion plans as we see enormous opportunities arising in Africa,” said MoboFree CEO and co-founder Neringa Kudarauskiene.

MoboFree is a social marketplace with a unique user-centric approach rather than the traditional item-centric approach. MoboFree allows its buyers and sellers to obtain a large amount of personal information about one other – ranging from photos and mutual friends to ratings or other data that enables identification of whether or not a person is trustworthy.

Negotiation and communication during the buying/selling process is a very important part of African culture. MoboFree allows its members to communicate and negotiate conveniently without leaving the platform. They can do this via private messages or via chat. MoboFree members send over 8 million private messages per month.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of MoboFree.

For more information, please contact:

Lawrence Karka

Public relations manager

Email: lk@mobofree.com

Mobile: +370 656 59516

About MoboFree.com

MoboFree.com (http://www.mobofree.com) is a leading African social marketplace allowing people to buy, sell and swap products and services with other trusted people. MoboFree.com combines a social network and classifieds board into one integrated online platform and makes buying and selling online more fun, personal and safe.

Over 3.3 million users are registered on MoboFree and together they generate on average around 60 million page impressions monthly. More than 2 million registered users are from Nigeria.

MoboFree currently has more than 3.3 million registered users, with more than 2 million users in Nigeria and a leading position in several other African countries such as Uganda and Zimbabwe. MoboFree users generate on average around 60 million page impressions monthly and upload thousands of new classifieds daily. The project sees ~3000 new registered members added every day. http://www.mobofree.com

MAPUTO, Mozambique, August 18, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Movitel, a joint venture between Vietnam’s telecommunication Viettel Group and Mozambique’s SPI, has won the Mobile Innovations Awards for enterprises in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. This is the third consecutive year in a row that Movitel has been selected for the coveted award for its achievements and innovation in mobile technology.

This category presented to Movitel is not open for individual entries but considered by the Judges based on all the shortlisted entries in the awards. Movitel has outpaced many other strong telecom and electronic commerce companies to win the award thanks to its unique mobile operating solution in Mozambique initiating from the concept that telecom service is a kind of commodity that everyone needs. The solution is to popularize telecom services to every population, regardless of their locations or income conditions. This investment strategy has been successfully applied by Viettel in many telecommunications projects in different countries.

There are different business models applied by telecom companies. For instance, Vodacom follows a traditional operation method by building up the basic network infrastructure, then holding marketing and sale activities focusing in potential areas of customers. Another example is Airtel, which pursues an infrastructure sharing model for its telecom projects in many countries. As being late entrant to the Mozambican telecom market, Movitel has chosen to invest on a strong network infrastructure and distribution channel throughout the country to provide services nationwide.

While urban market with 40% total population witnesses a fierce competition among operators, the rural areas seems to be neglected. Therefore, Movitel has endorsed an initiative focused on offering full telecom services in rural and underserved areas in Mozambique, including mobile, fixed phone and Internet. The company has built up a great network infrastructure of 2,800 towers – accounting for 50% nationwide, 25,000km fiber optic cable – accounting for 70% nationwide. It has a widespread supplying chain to every village with 153 shops, 12,600 agents and points of sales and nearly 4,000 direct sales staffs. Especially, in order to take care of customers in the case of scattered and low-density population like in Mozambique, Movitel applies a door-to-door model. With Movitel, local people can be served and cared at their house instead of walking far away to reach the shop or agent. This unique way not only helps Movitel spread out its services quickly but also gaining strong support from the local people thanks to the jobs and services Movitel brings to them. As a result of this, it is currently dominating the rural areas with more than 80% of market share.

Besides, the low and flexibly tailored tariff plan for different customers also makes it easier for the people to access telecom services. Furthermore, with an aim for sustainable development before earning profit, Movitel has organized many social programs including free Internet broadband to schools, subsidizing handset cost for rural users, offering special packages designed to support low-income users such as farmers or students.

By deploying a mobile network infrastructure in rural and remote areas; providing free Internet to 2,500 schools; and generating nearly 20,000 jobs in rural areas; Movitel has considerably contributed to uplifting the telecommunication status of the country and creating the field for e-commerce in Mozambique. After 2 years, Movitel’s initiative has helped increase the telecommunications coverage in Mozambique from 60% to 85% nationwide and from 35% to 70% population. Mozambique is now among the top three nations in terms of fiber optical cabling infrastructure in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Consequently, Movitel has set the right platform, which is mutual beneficial for customer and itself. Movitel’s initiative is leading in increasing their subscriber base thus raising their market share. Customers are benefitting from a strong and reliable network available countrywide, majority of who will be loyal to Movitel’s brand due to their strategy and effort to reach them. For these reasons, the switching rate from Movitel’s competitors to become its customers can be expected. This can be proved by the number of 5 million subscribers (making up 32% of market share) it has achieved since its inception in May 15, 2012 and it is poised to take the lead in the market in the coming time. Total revenue in 2013 is US$154.5 million, bringing the company US$8.8 million profit.

The significant success of Movitel has proved the unique but effective investment strategy of Viettel. Affiliates of the group in Cambodia and Laos, respectively Metfone and Unitel are leading the market in terms of subscriber and revenue. Others including Natcom in Haiti and Telemor in Timor-Leste are taking the second positions in the markets and promisingly opting the first position within this year.

*Author: Quang Phuong – Reporter of People’s Army Newspaper (Vietnam). He was granted many national press awards.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of People’s Army Newspaper (Vietnam).

LONDON, United-Kingdom, August 14, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The latest report from Think Security Africa (TSA) (http://www.thinksecurityafrica.org): National Security Profile on the Republic of Kenya, raises concerns about the pace of reform in Kenya, and the need to ensure that existing security challenges do not negatively interact with changes in Kenya’s new political and budgetary arrangements – intended to improve long-term security in Kenya.

Download the report at: http://thinksecurityafrica.org/research/national-security-in-kenya

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1306

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/think-security-africa.png

The importance of security in Kenya for regional development makes security in Kenya a regional concern. Kenya plays a key role for sub-regional trade and logistics, and this role is set to expand with the inception of Lamu Port and Southern Sudan – Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET).

Key findings from the report:

National and regional economic development

Current infrastructure development plans provide a unique historical opportunity to align the interests of domestic and regional constituencies and may be instrumentalised to improve (a) motivation within the security forces, and (b) relations between security forces and communities in key security and development zones.

Impact of political reforms on existing security concerns

Devolution from 8 provinces to 47 counties is intended to bring governance closer to the people. However, it also makes it more feasible for the current spate of terrorist attacks (and radicalization within Kenya) to evolve into an insurgency – as there are now almost eight times as many governmental targets to attack. There is a need to take pre-emptive counter-insurgency actions in the eight counties currently impacted by terrorist-related violence, and potentially others such as Kitui.

Devolving the national budget and large scale investment

Enclaves of relative affluence within otherwise impoverished communities (in places such as Dadaab) have enabled the spread of harmful ideas and actors into Kenya from neighbouring countries. It is important to learn the lessons from this in plans to devolve a significant portion of the national budget or make large investments in counties, which have been historically marginalized and conflict prone. Strong national oversight is required to prevent these investments and budgetary allocations from fuelling conflict and other forms of insecurity.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Think Security Africa (TSA).

Media contact: Joel Tavon

Email: info@thinksecurityafrica.org

Tel: +44 207 287 0008

Think Security Africa (TSA) (http://www.thinksecurityafrica.org) is an independent think tank specializing in security in Africa. Since its establishment in 2009, TSA has become a leader in forecasting security-related trends in Africa – with a view to preserving lives and development ecosystems.

TSA’s resources are used by governments, inter-governmental organizations, journalists and business to assist with their Africa-focused missions.

CAPE-TOWN, South-Africa, August 14, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — CEOs around the world are increasingly recognising the untapped potential of sub-Saharan Africa. This is driven by Africa’s unparalleled demographic edge or demographic dividend. By 2040, Africa is expected to have the biggest labour force in the world and experiencing faster economic growth than any other region, according to a report issued by PwC (http://www.pwc.com).

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/pwc.png

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1302 (Stanley Subramoney, Strategy leader of PwC’s South Market Region)

The projections are contained in the latest PwC ‘Global Economy Watch’, which puts the spotlight on the largest cities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most major corporations are already active in at least one of the four largest cities in sub-Saharan Africa – Lagos, Kinshasa, Nairobi and Johannesburg.

But PwC economists believe it’s the ‘Next 10′ biggest cities in sub-Saharan Africa that should also be exciting foreign investors. The population of these cities is projected to almost double by 2030, growing by around 32 million people. In fact, latest UN projections show that by 2030 two of the ‘Next 10′ – Dar es Salaam and Luanda – could have bigger populations than London has now.

Cities are the typical entry points for businesses trying to expand into new overseas markets, because they enable closer interaction with customers in a relatively small geographic space, which in turn helps contain distribution costs.

Stanley Subramoney, Strategy leader of PwC’s South Market Region, says: “The report projects that economic activity in the ‘Next 10′ cities could grow around $140 billion by 2030. This is roughly equivalent to the current annual output of Hungary.”

This is a conservative estimate as no premise has been made for real exchange rate appreciation despite relatively strong projected growth in these economies.

“In addition to the trends with regard to high rates of GDP growth, rapid urbanisation and the so-called demographic edge that sub-Saharan Africa possesses, a number of other economic phenomena in the region are starting to appeal to the global investment community,” says Dr Roelof Botha, economic advisor to PwC.

These include the following:

• Significant new discoveries of mining and energy resources, in particular gold and gas;

• Substantial investment in infrastructure and capital formation by the private sector, which has witnessed an increase in the ratio of total fixed investment to GDP from 17.7% in 2000 to an estimated 23% in 2013;

• Sustained growth in per capital incomes, which has led to demand shifts that are benefiting household consumption expenditure on durables, semi-durables and services;

• The ability of a growing number of countries to raise financing for infrastructure projects on the international capital market, in particular Kenya and Rwanda. Both of these countries have recently managed to sell government bonds globally at single-digit yields, which obviate the need for excessive debt servicing costs.

As a result, a return was made last year to sound growth in foreign direct investment inflows (FDI)) into a number of key African economies, says Dr Botha.

However, there are three problems that could slow the pace at which the ‘Next 10′ biggest cities in sub-Saharan Africa grow, according to the report. These are issues that sub-Saharan countries have been trying to tackle for many decades with limited success:

• Low quality of ‘hard’ infrastructure like roads and railways

• Inadequate ‘soft’ infrastructure like schools and universities, and

• Growing pains arising from political, legal and regulatory institutions struggling to deal with a bigger and more complicated economy.

“The challenges that policy makers face is to convert Africa’s demographic dividend into economic reality by overcoming these hurdles. History suggests this will not be a quick or easy process. Infrastructure development is a key driver for progress across Africa and a critical enabler for sustainable and socially inclusive growth. However, investors should form their own plans to mitigate these problems by supporting infrastructure skills and development programmes,” concludes Subramoney.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

Contacts

Stanley Subramoney: Strategy leader of PwC’s South Market Region

Office: +27 11 797 4380

Email: stanley.subramoney@za.pwc.com

OR

Lindiwe Magana: Media Relations Manager, PwC

Office: + 27 11 797 5042

Email: lindiwe.magana@za.pwc.com

About PwC

PwC (http://www.pwc.com) firms help organisations and individuals create the value they’re looking for. We’re a network of firms in 157 countries with more than 184,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Tell us what matters to you and find out more by visiting us at http://www.pwc.com.

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, August 14, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Louis Berger (http://www.louisberger.com), a $1 billion global professional services corporation, has recently signed a five-year project management contract financed by local funds for the construction of the first segment of the Yaoundé-Douala highway in Cameroon. The total construction value of the project is almost €7million.

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/louisberger.png

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1305 (Jean-Pierre Dupacq, head of Louis Berger’s operations in Africa)

The road segment will connect Cameroon’s government and diplomatic hub in Yaoundé to the country’s economic center and deep water port in Douala. The current road between these cities is extremely congested and is one of the deadliest roads in the Central African region, characterized by its many curves, changes in road grade, poor maintenance and heavy truck traffic, including logging semi-tractor trailers. The improvements will result into a straighter 2-lane road motorway, safer and of better quality.

“The new 236-kilometer highway will lead to reduced travel time and will hopefully have a positive impact on the international transportation because Cameroon is a key transit country for the landlocked countries of Central Africa” said Jean-Pierre Dupacq, head of Louis Berger’s operations in Africa.

Louis Berger has more than 50 years of experience in Africa and more than 20 years of experience working in Cameroon. The company’s work in the country includes 10 ongoing projects and more than 20 projects completed in the last twenty years. These projects have included a broad range of services from institutional strengthening, capacity building and training of the central public authorities, feasibility studies, urban transport planning, regional transportation strategies and project management and construction supervision.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Louis Berger.

Contact:

Madalina Randasu

mrandasu@louisberger.com

Louis Berger

Louis Berger (http://www.louisberger.com) is a $1 billion global professional services corporation that helps infrastructure and development clients solve their most complex challenges. We are a trusted partner to national, state and local government agencies; multilateral institutions; and commercial industry clients worldwide. By focusing on client needs to deliver quality, safe, financially-successful projects with integrity, we are committed to deliver on our promise to provide Solutions for a better world.

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, August 14, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The trade relationship between the United States and Africa, as well as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – which provides exporters duty-free access to the lucrative US market, was recently put under the microscope at the 2014 US – Sub Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum (known as the AGOA Forum), which coincided with President Barack Obama’s US-Africa Leaders Summit, both held in Washington last week.

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/dhl_logo2.jpg

Photo Charles Brewer: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/charles-brewer-1.jpg (Charles Brewer, Managing Director for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa)

Charles Brewer, Managing Director of DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa (http://www.dpdhl.com), says that the company has seen significant volume growth in the Sub Saharan Africa region, in terms of trade with the US since the introduction of AGOA in 2000 and that they, along with many world leaders, support the call for the renewal of AGOA when it expires next year.

“Trade lanes in Africa have increased significantly as a result of relieved trade barriers, which have had a positive impact on many local businesses. A key driver of this growth has been the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which has stimulated trade and investment between Africa and the United States.”

DHL has seen a significant growth in trade between Sub Saharan Africa and the US, with strong positive growth in the last year.

He points to figures by AGOA(1), which reveal that the US imported $8.468 million worth of goods from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region in 2000 and $19.869 million in 2012. Figures released by the U.S. Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration2, report that in 2013, US imports from Sub Saharan, under AGOA, totalled $39.3 billion. The top three trade lanes to the US from the Sub Saharan Africa region originated from Nigeria, Angola and South Africa, who accounted for $11.72, $8.74 and $8.48 billion respectively.

Brewer explains that the Act offers tangible incentives to approximately 40 Sub Saharan African beneficiary countries, such as duty and quota free access to the US market for certain product lines. “AGOA has facilitated trade between Sub Saharan Africa and the US by enabling the trade process, as well as successfully promoting the integration of Sub Saharan Africa into the global economy. These favourable trade conditions have also allowed the region to maximize the opportunities available and increase exports.” says Brewer.

Brewer says that since the introduction of AGOA, DHL Africa has seen an increase in primary trading sectors like manufacturing, apparel and footwear – all directly supported by AGOA. In addition, they have also witnessed an increase in secondary sectors that are dependent on agriculture, petroleum and natural gases.

Due to expire in 2015, it is the decision of the US Congress on whether to extend or amend the AGOA agreement. Brewer says that Sub Saharan Africa’s growth is still dependent on trade facilitation and enhancing both intra-regional trade and global trade. “While trade between the US and Sub Saharan Africa has increased significantly in the last few years, there is still much room for growth. In 2013, US imports from Sub Saharan Africa represented only 1.7%(2) of total US imports from the world. This highlights the remaining untapped growth potential for the region.”

Brewer views were echoed at the AGOA Forum where World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim(3), remarked that trade preferences schemes, such as AGOA, can play an important role in helping Africa realize their opportunities to expand trade activity and that the Act assists African countries diversify their exports, and move away from dependence on minerals and commodities to reach more diversified and inclusive sources of export growth. US President Barack Obama(4) also announced his commitment to support the continuation and enhancement of the AGOA.

“Africa is the ‘last frontier’, the more we collectively focus on connecting it with the world, the more sustainable its economies will be and the more jobs we will create – creating a virtuous cycle of success,” concludes Brewer.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Deutsche Post DHL.

Note to editor:

1 Agoa.info, Regional Info: SADC

2 U.S. Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration: U.S. Trade with sub-Saharan Africa, January-December 2013

3 Speech: World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim’s Remarks at AGOA Forum

4 The White House blog (http://1.usa.gov/1kmCbQn): President Obama Speaks at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum

Media Contact:

Megan Collinicos. Head: Advertising & Public Relations, Sub-Saharan Africa

DHL Express

Tel +27 21 409 3613 Mobile +27 76 411 8570

megan.collinicos@dhl.com

DHL – The logistics company for the world

DHL (http://www.dpdhl.com) is the global market leader in the logistics and CEP industry and “The logistics company for the world”. DHL commits its expertise in international express, national and international parcel delivery, air and ocean freight, road and rail transportation as well as contract and e-commerce related solutions along the entire supply chain. A global network composed of more than 220 countries and territories and around 315,000 employees worldwide offers customers superior service quality and local knowledge to satisfy their supply chain requirements. DHL accepts its social responsibility by supporting environmental protection, disaster management and education.

DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL. The Group generated revenues of more than 55 billion euros in 2013.

For more information: http://www.dpdhl.com

Stock images available: http://www.dpdhl.com/en/media_relations/media_library.html

CAPE-TOWN, South-Africa, August 13, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — DHL Express, who has been in sub-Saharan Africa for more than 36 years, is the ‘Most International Company in the World’ and has a significant operation in Africa, moving thousands of shipments every day.

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1116 (Charles Brewer, managing director for sub-Saharan Africa at DHL Express)

Logo How we made it in Africa: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/hwma.jpg

At the helm of this business is Managing Director Charles Brewer, who has been with DHL for more than 30 years, has worked in all regions of the world and found himself in Africa for the first time three years ago.

“Like many who haven’t actually been to Africa, the perceptions I had were found to be very different in reality,” Brewer says. “Simplistically, Africa is the last frontier. It is the most beautiful, dynamic and exciting region I have had the pleasure to live and work in, and despite the very obvious challenges and occasional risk, I love being part of this exciting journey.”

His role, as MD, is to “motivate and excite my employees to deliver unbelievable and unparalleled service levels and to help our customers grow and be successful” and it is clear that customer centricity is at the very core of Brewer’s DNA.

So what does it take to oversee this many people and territories?

“We worry a great deal less about formal qualifications and focus far more on emotional qualities, experiences and abilities” – not surprising when you consider that he spends huge amounts of time on the front line and considers himself the Chief Energy Officer.

Every week you will find Charles in a different country in Africa – he could be with a courier in Rwanda this week, selling with a sales executive in Senegal the next, to sitting side-by-side with a Customer Service Agent in Lagos the week after. “If you want to know what your customers or employees really think about your product or your company, get to where the action is as often as you possibly can.”

A few years ago, just after Brewer arrived in Africa, he took the bold decision to completely de-layer the management structure, with an aim to bring everyone closer to the “sharp-end” and to significantly improve communication and speed of decision making.

“Africa is so dynamic and I just felt that we were too far removed and operating far too slowly”. All 51 countries now report directly to Brewer and the new structure has proven to be really successful.

“The new structure is very different and demands a very open, rapid and engaging leadership style but it is working really well, with quicker decision making, simpler communication lines and a significantly improved employee engagement level”. As an example, the couriers, who are key to the DHL service delivery promise, are never more than four levels away from Brewer and five from the Global CEO.

Think global, act local and TRUST!

One of the key lessons learned over the past three years and specifically as DHL went through the structural change, was the importance of trust. “With so many countries, all with different opportunities and challenges, you have to trust the teams on the ground”. What that means is using the global processes and procedures, but allowing a high degree of input on how best to execute locally.

To illustrate his point, Brewer describes a recent example were DHL was running a retail point of sale promotion to attract new customers to its ever-growing retail points. The typical approach would be to offer discounts and/or corporate give-aways to incentivise walk-in customers. The country manager in Ethiopia however suggested a much better idea – giving customers a chicken as part of the Easter celebration.

“When the Country Manager first suggested ‘chickens’, I had to laugh and genuinely thought she was joking, but she was serious and right – the promotion was hugely successful”.

It is big, but doable

DHL’s sub-Saharan regional headquarters is based in Cape Town, but Brewer spends a considerable amount of time visiting the company’s operations across the rest of the continent. “You have to be very visible”.

In a region as large as Africa, this is however easier said than done. Unlike Europe where one would struggle to fly a stretch of more than four hours, travelling across Africa can be gruelling. Just visiting each of the countries in West Africa can easily take two to three weeks.

“It has its challenges in terms of flight schedules and being away from one’s family, but it makes for an interesting experience and I’m still having lots of fun. Playing a small role in the African growth story is an incredible privilege and one that I am very proud of,” says Brewer.

As we leave his office I hear him call out to his assistant, “which lucky country am I going to next week?!”

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Maritz Publishing CC.

LONDON, United-Kingdom, August 12, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — GSK (http://www.gsk.com) and Save the Children continue to call for applications for their 2014 $1 million Healthcare Innovation Award, as previous winners attract interest and support from national governments to help improve survival rates of newborns and children under five in developing countries.

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Download the flyer: http://www.apo-mail.org/hiaen.pdf

Six months after receiving a share of the 2013 Healthcare Innovation Award, five organisations based in developing countries are helping shape national health agendas and influencing approaches to healthcare for children and newborns.

One of the winners, MicroClinic Technologies Ltd., was awarded $100,000 for ‘ZiDi™, a mobile health management system, which has now been adopted by the Kenya Ministry of Health. The system is being used as part of the national e-health platform due to its ability to improve medicine supply, service quality and resource accountability for child healthcare. It will be rolled out across 5,000 public health facilities starting next year.

Muso, a community-led organisation in Mali that helps tackle the issue of poverty-related child mortality, also received $100,000 to support its programme which aims to quickly identify women and children in need of healthcare. The award money is being used to help reach 77,000 people across the region and has inspired the Mali Ministry of Health to invite Muso to help draft its five-year strategic plan for scaling up national community-based healthcare delivery.

Previous innovations recognised by the Healthcare Innovation Award are also being implemented across borders through collaboration, ensuring that ideas that may help save children’s lives are being shared. The top-prize winner from 2013 was a low cost Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) kit, developed by Friends of Sick Children (FOSC) in Malawi. This device helps premature and newborn babies suffering from distress breathe more easily. With funding from the Award, and backing from the Ministry of Health in Malawi, FOSC is now sharing this technology with teaching hospitals in Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa. This technology has the potential to save the lives of 178,000 African children each year if implemented continent-wide.

Organisations from across the developing world can now apply for this year’s Healthcare Innovation Award. Applications must be for innovative healthcare approaches that have resulted in tangible improvements to under-5 child survival rates, which are sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated. This year, special interest and attention will be given to work that aims to increase the quality of, or access to, healthcare for newborns.

Ramil Burden, Vice President, Africa and Developing Countries, GSK, said: “The success stories we’re hearing from last year’s winners, just six months since receiving their funding, are truly inspiring and we want to help replicate this success. When it comes to improving access to quality healthcare, no single organisation has all the answers and we need to continuously look for new and different ideas, wherever they might be. Our award recognises that often the best solutions to development challenges come from people living with them and through partnerships we can help scale up local solutions to create global impacts.

Dr Sam Agbo, Head of Health, Save the Children said: “This year we’re particularly searching for innovations that are helping to improve the health of newborns in the developing world. Every year, almost three million babies die during their first month of life. But many of these deaths are preventable with the right resources and care in place. We must find different approaches, informed by first-hand experience, to address this issue. This Award provides a platform for working in collaboration, which will ultimately help to save the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.”

More information on the award and application criteria can be found at http://myg.sk/HealthcareInnovationAward. Entries close on 25th August at 11:59pm (GMT). Winners will be announced in December 2014.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Notes to Editors:

2013 Healthcare Award Innovation Winners – 6 month update

Friends of Sick Children, Malawi: Awarded top prize of $400,000 for their life-saving technology for newborns

– Friends of Sick Children, Malawi is a partnership between the Paediatric Department at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, Rice University’s Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health Technologies in the United States, and University of Malawi College of Medicine

– Their ‘bubble’ Continuous Positive Airway Pressure ‘bCPAP’ device is a low-cost device that helps newborn babies in respiratory distress to keep their lungs inflated so they can breathe more easily

– This low-cost adaptation of traditional CPAP devices can be produced for around $400 – a 15-fold reduction from the average cost of devices currently used in developed countries ($6000)

– Respiratory distress claims the lives of about 1 million African babies each year. It is estimated that this technology could save the lives of 178,000 African children if implemented across the continent

– The Award is helping FOSC to share their bCPAP technology and provide training in teaching hospital neonatal units across Malawi, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa

– To date, FOSC have partnered with the additional three countries, outside of Malawi, to undertake needs assessments regarding patient load, training needs and staff development

– Community healthcare worker training will take place in the Autumn of 2014 in select district and central hospitals and a training website has been launched to support clinical partners with accurate technical and practical applications of the technology following in-person training

– By the end of 2014, all countries in the expansion plan will have undergone training and 10 sites will have 4 bCPAP machines plus associated equipment

– Chokonojesta is just one of the baby boys to have benefited from bCPAP. He was born prematurely at 7 months, weighing just over 2lbs. Although he was able to breathe on his own, his lungs were so immature it took nearly all his energy to do so. With the support of bCPAP, Chokonjesta was able to grow and gain weight and after two weeks he graduated to Kangaroo Mother Care, where skin-to-skin contact with his mother provided warmth and helped him to regulate his own heart beat and breathing. Now 6 months old, he is thriving at home with his family.

BRAC, Bangladesh: Awarded $300,000 for South-South collaboration, helping to improve women and children’s health from Bangladesh to the slums of Sierra Leone

– BRAC’s ‘Manoshi’ is an urban maternal, neonatal and child health programme that that equips healthcare workers with mobile phone-based data collection software, allowing them to more efficiently record and report vital patient information in a simple and standardised format. It offers a comprehensive package of health services to mothers, babies and children to meet their health needs and challenges in three key ways:

 Simple, clean delivery rooms for new mothers with a trained birth attendant

 Quick access to emergency health services for those who cannot afford it

 Patient digital data collection for more efficient health service delivery

– The Award money enabled BRAC to bring the Manoshi programme to the Portee slum of Freetown, Sierra Leone, where under-five and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. The total population in the slum is 6,049 people, including 2,593 women and children under five years of age

– Mobile phones will be used to notify staff about pregnancies, births and for sharing information efficiently about complicated deliveries and emergency referrals

– In July 2014, all community healthcare workers in the Portee slum received training on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) issues , from the District Health Management Team (DHMT) at the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation

– As part of the programme, 15 community healthcare workers have been selected from the community to implement the programme

MUSO, Mali: Awarded $100,000 for delivering care to the doorsteps of some of the world’s most impoverished communities

– MUSO is a community-led organization in Mali that helps tackle the issue of poverty-related child mortality

– Their Award money is being used to deliver healthcare to 77,000 people across the region. The programme supports the early identification of women and children in need of healthcare, before their symptoms escalate to a more serious condition.

– The increased attention and resources made possible through the award will enable MUSO to expand their reach, both in the urban areas, where they currently operate, and into rural areas.

– MUSO will replicate their rapid health system in 157 new communities, reaching a population of 120,000. This expansion will triple the number of people currently served by MUSO and help save millions of lives.

– The momentum generated by the Award has led to increased attention and action at a decision making level. The Malian Ministry of Health invited MUSO to help draft its 5-year strategic plan for scaling up national community-based healthcare delivery to provide quality care for more than three million children under the age of five

– MUSO’s leadership has also been invited to present its model and research to those working to accelerate global child survival efforts at the World Bank, USAID, and the United Nations

– MUSO have begun laying the groundwork to expand its CHW service delivery package beyond the traditional focus on malaria and diarrheal diseases to other challenges, such as pneumonia, maternal and neonatal health, and malnutrition, that impact child and maternal survival

– A MUSO-Medic mobile partnership will be launched to test and deploy a cutting-edge performance dashboard to enable CHWs to directly record and transmit data from home visits on their mobile phones

– A comprehensive site selection process will be undertaken to identify eight health centres that will participate in a rural replication next year.

MicroClinic Technologies, Kenya: Awarded $100,000 to help Kenyan public sector healthcare go digital

– ‘ZiDi™’ is a mobile health management system designed to improve the quality of maternal and child care by providing access to real-time data optimized for health planning decisions.

– With their Award money, MicroClinic Technologies Ltd, was able to develop an enhanced version of ZiDi™ called ZiDi™ Pro, which offers a full range of outpatient, inpatient and specialty care modules enabling it to be accessible at all levels of care and health facilities in Africa.

– Since winning the Award, ZiDi™ Pro has now been deployed in larger health facilities, including the Gatundu District Hospital, which serves more than 3,000 patients monthly. Furthermore, ZiDi™ has been adopted by The Kenya Ministry of Health as part of the national e-health platform, helping the Kenyan health sector to become the first in Africa to launch into the digital era.

– Implementation of ZiDi™ at national scale should achieve the target of automating over 5,000 health facilities within the next three to five years.

– The Kenya Ministry of Health through a public private partnership agreement with MicroClinic Technologies is working to secure buy-in from national and international stakeholders to ensure a successful implementation of ZiDi™ Pro in Kenya, with the hope of sharing lessons learned with other East Africa countries.

– In June 2014, ZiDi™-Pro was launched as a total end-to-end solution offered as a pay-as-you-go service to clinics. Private rural clinics can now afford to automate their services, benefit from improved efficiency in service delivery, remote management of their clinics and better forecast supplies on a weekly basis.

Kangaroo Foundation (Fundacion Canguro), Colombia: Awarded $100,000 in special recognition of its work spreading the Kangaroo Mother Care Method (KMC), to improve the premature and low birth weight babies’ care, for a better quality of life

– Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a simple technique which promotes early skin-to-skin contact between mothers and their premature and newborn babies. Mothers act as human incubators, keeping their babies warm, regulating their heartbeats and bond with them.

– This practice has a dramatic impact on reducing morbidity and mortality rates for premature and low birth weight babies.

– By winning this award and along with the support of the Health Ministry of Colombia, the Foundation has been able to widen the KMC health network by training 22 hospitals across country.

– The Kangaroo Foundation is also involved in building an e-learning platform which allows the dissemination of KMC knowledge across borders. In 2015, two countries in Africa, with the highest infant mortality rates, will benefit

– Along with their efforts on the ground, the Kangaroo Foundation is advocating for Colombia to be the first country to have KMC established as an official public health policy and for each district to have a KMC centre of excellence.

Criteria for entry – nominations must:

1) Be from a country classified as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’, or ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/country), and not be from the European Union (http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm). Countries classified as ‘high income’ by the World Bank or that are in the European Union are not eligible

2) Come from an organisation based in an eligible country, with an innovation used for the benefit of the people in an eligible country

GSK (http://www.gsk.com) – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit http://www.gsk.com.

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