Africa Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
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NOVEMBER 2016
UNECA: The Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA/SRO-WA), in collaboration with the Senegalese Government, organized an ad-hoc experts’ group meeting on the theme: "Transport infrastructure and trade in West Africa", in Dakar the 22 and 23 November 2016. The primary aim of the meeting was to take stock of the transport infrastructure in West Africa and assess their impact on intra-regional trade and the competitiveness of the sub-region and regional integration.
UNWTO: The city of Luxor in Egypt hosted the 104th meeting of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) between 31 October and 1 November.
UNCTAD: Policy makers in developing countries will soon be able to analyze the likely impact of trade policy on women and other groups within society, an UNCTAD official said on November 14, announcing new funding from Sweden for the trade and gender programme.
OECD: Jointly developed by the OECD and the African Development Bank, the Anti-Bribery Policy and Compliance Guidance for African Companies is a practical, concise guide to help African companies set up measures to stop the supply side of bribes to public officials in business transactions and support both the public and private sectors in their efforts to prevent bribery and improve the quality of corporate compliance and bribery prevention measures.
AFRICA- UNWTO: African Ministers of Tourism and heads of delegation along with UNWTO officials assembled in Marrakech in the framework of the 22nd Session of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP22) adopted the first African Charter on Sustainable and Responsible Tourism and sign the Declaration on 'Tourism and Climate Issues in Africa. The meeting was held in Marrakech on 10 November 2016. The flowing countries undersign the document: the Kingdom of Morocco, the Republic of Congo, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo-Verde, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Chad.
BENIN: Benin accepted the 2005 protocol amending the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 23 November 2016. Ambassador Eloi Laourou of Benin presented his country’s instrument of acceptance to WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo
NIGER: Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), on early November, has entered into partnership with the Niger State Government for the training of graduates of agriculture for the purpose of improving rice cultivation and production in the 25 local government areas of the state
NIGERIA: Federal Government Negotiating Free Trade Agreements, Updating Trade Policies and Examining the ECOWAS CET. These were made known by FMITI Minister, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, during a press conference at the Ministry on November 17 in Abuja, to give a status report on the implementation of MITI’s objectives
WESTERN AFRICA CONCERN
AFRICA: Africa Finance & Investment Forum (AFIF) will focus on “Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Growth” and will be held for the first time Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by the Strathmore University, taking place from 15th -16th February 2017
AFRICA: The World Bank Group is to launch a series of accelerator programmes across Africa, aimed at helping tech startups commercialise and scale innovative digital products. The first program launched in Africa is to be held in partnership with Senegalese hub CTIC Dakar
AFRICA: Angel fair Africa held in Kenya on November 10-11 following previous editions in Johannesburg, Lagos and Accra.
AFRICA: New Online Ecosystem “Afrinection” Connects African Entrepreneurs, Job Seekers & Professionals with Employers, Investors & Partners
AFRICA: (From November 28- December 2) the African Trade Week held in Africa Union Headquarters focused on the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), with emphasis on Trade Facilitation, implementation as well as building Productive Capacities for Industrialisation. The main objective of ATW2016 is to provide a comprehensive, integrated and inclusive platform for policy dialogue between various Trade Constituencies.
AFRICA: The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in partnership with the European Commission have launched Boost Africa, a EUR150 million (US$158 million) initiative to support 1,500 startups and SMEs across the continent.
AFRICA – USA: Power Africa Coordinator Andrew M. Herscowitz has announced $4 million in new investments in eight companies that are revolutionizing household power across Africa through the ‘Scaling Off-Grid Energy: Grand Challenge for Development
BURKINA FASO: On November 15 the Minister of Youth and Vocational Trainings met with Ministry executives for enhancing Young People Entrepreneurship training Program (PFE)
COTE D IVOIRE: Endeavour Mining organized on November 15 investors Day in Abidjan
GHANA: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), through their joint Scaling Seeds and Technology Partnership (SSTP) held a national dialogue on November 17 to 18 in Accra, to discuss the challenges facing the development of Ghana’s seed sector.
GUINEA: A UK trade delegation visited Guinea from October 31 to November 3, 2016 to meet with local mining companies. The objective of this mission was to meet with mining stakeholders in Guinea to find business and partnerships opportunities
MALI: Ognon seeds fair held in Niono, Mali on late October
MALI: the first Mali domestic e-commerce platform, bitikini powered by YES Inc MALI, has been launch in Bamako on November 19
MALI: On November 12 a Business 4 Climate Campaign has been launched in Mali
MALI: Statup Week end held in Bamako on mid November
NIGERIA: Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform, Farmcrowdy.com, was officially launched on November 15, in Lagos, Nigeria. Nigerians can now participate in agriculture using online technology.
SIERRA LEONE: Global supplier of flexible power plants secures the EPC contract for a 57MW heavy oil fuel-fired power plant, envisioned to boost Sierra Leone’s power supply
ELSEWHERE ACROSS AFRICA
ANGOLA:UNCTAD and the European Union are discussing a wide-reaching technical assistance and training programme for national experts in Angola's Ministry of Trade, worth €5.5 million ($6.1 million)
BOTSWANA: Botswana's first technology assembly plant for smart phones, computers and laptops has opened shop in the capital Gaborone.
EAST AFRICA: The 1st International High Level Multi-Stakeholders Conference on Promoting Pharmaceutical Sector Investments in the East African Community (EAC) was held in Nairobi, Kenya at Laico Hotel on 2nd to 4th November 2016.
KENYA: The Ministry of Tourism of Kenya has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Amadeus to foster inclusive local economic growth through travel and tourism
KENYA:The Kenya Commercial Bank Group (KCB) Foundation and Toyota Kenya have signed a partnership agreement that will enable Kenyan youths from the Foundation’s 2jiajiri program to get automotive skills from training and apprenticeship opportunities with the motor vehicle dealer
MADAGaSCAR: The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, on November 23 announced, from Madagascar, that the Government of Canada is providing over $7.5 million for three projects that will be implemented in Madagascar. Canada is announcing the approval of a $6.2-million project aimed at enhancing education and training for youth in Madagascar. Thanks to this project, over 2,500 young Malagasy men and women will be able to enter the workforce in the construction and public works, tourism, accommodation and food services, and entrepreneurship sectors.
MAURITIUS: Mauritius is the fastest growing wealth market on the continent with 3,200 millionaires, according to a report by the New World Wealth Investment Review
MOROCCO: In an effort to promote tourism in Africa, Moroccan Tourism Engineering Company (SMIT) organized a conference to discuss “tourism investment in Africa, an inclusive and sustainable development lever for the competitiveness of the territories.
MOROCCO: Attijariwafa bank involved on green finance signing MoUs on November 14
MOZAMBIQUE: Standard Bank is partnering with the Financial Times to bring together key influencers of growth and investment in Mozambique’s energy sector as the country enters a pivotal era of opportunity and fresh challenge
NAMIBIA: On 21 and 22 November, 2016, a 15-member business delegation from Germany representing nine companies from the mining and infrastructure sectors visited Namibia, accompanied by Mr. Ullrich Kinne, Commercial Counsellor at the German Embassy, to explore business opportunities. This was the fifth German business delegation to Namibia this year.
RWANDA: 10 local Flower exporters from Rwanda participates in the 7th International Floriculture and Horticulture Trade Fair (IFTF) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The week-long expo attracted over 500 sectors stakeholders, including farmers, exporters, investors and experts from across the world.
SOUTH AFRICA: A memorandum of understanding signed, on October 31, by the China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Association (CIQA) and Fruit South Africa (Fruit SA) will "broaden fruit trade" between the two nations
SOUTH AFRICA: NGO Rhiza Babuyile together with the Barclays Africa Technology team, Experian SA and the Dutch Embassy unveiled the Orange Farm Buzz hub in Gauteng
SOUTH AFRICA: Two globally successful British entrepreneurs, Anthony Sheehan and Stephen Mooney, visited South Africa from 14 to 18 November 2016 as part of the UK’s Department for International Trade’s Global Entrepreneurs Programme. They shared their knowledge & experience with successful local entrepreneurs in a series of interactive sessions in Johannesburg and Cape Town, drawing on their own significant experience in launching and scaling technology businesses
SOUTH AFRICA: More than 150 developers and entrepreneurs gathered for Facebook’s first FbStart event in Africa on 15 November in Cape Town
SOUTH AFRICA: The first African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit in Cape Town provided an innovative space for leading built environment professionals to engage with experts, projects, investors and practitioners from all over the continent.
SOUTH AFRICA: The mission of the Polish National Poultry Council - Chamber of Commerce to the Republic of South Africa took place this year between 15 - 19 November. It was attended by several producers of the Polish poultry sector.
SUDAN: UNWTO Secretary General, Taleb Rifai, has expressed the commitment of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to support Sudan’s tourism development during his recent official visit to Sudan.
SWAZILAND: on November 21 Swaziland has ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)
TUNISIA: The Tunisian Center for the Promotion of Exports (CEPEX), and the Directorate General for Organic Agriculture, have just announced that Tunisia has made major advances in organic agriculture to the point that it has become the second largest organic exporter in Africa, including olive oil, to 30 countries on five continents.
PRIZE & AWARDS
Africa Global Fund (AGF) Africa Service Providers Awards ceremony in Cape Town.
The BMCE Group Bank announced that after 3 Rounds of online mentoring 37 finalists from 22 African countries have been selected for the final phase of the 2nd edition of the that will take place during a Bootcamp in Casablanca from December 1st to December 4th 2016
Johnson & Johnson has announced the launch of the , an initiative to support Africa's vibrant and growing innovation ecosystem and to help develop.
At its 14th Annual Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) publicly awarded leading global agribusiness company Olam International with a for environmental and socially responsible palm oil production.
Orange is announced the winners of the for Africa and the Middle East during the AfricaCom Awards ceremony held in Cape Town, South Africa, on November 16. The first prize was awarded to MedTrucks, Morocco
South Africa 14th annual National Business Awards at Emperors palace on Thursday, 17 November. The National Business Awards are held to showcase, explore and share the best practices, policies and strategies in business.
AFIF 2017’s focus is to promote access to finance and strengthen entrepreneurship in Africa. To achieve this, EMRC is launching the annual “”
United Bank for Africa Plc has bagged the Chief Financial Officer of the Year, Financial Innovation Project of the Year and Finance Team of the Year at the edition
South African Deputy Minister of Communications, Ms Stella Ndabeni Abrahams, on Friday, 25 November 2016 recognized the stellar achievements of learners who have successfully completed the Film and Television Skills Programme.
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