(Posted 09th February 2023)
CCA IN THE NEWS
Corporate Council on Africa And The Preparation of Botswana for 15th US-Africa Business Summit
Business Post
The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), the leading US business association that focuses solely on connecting business interests between the United States and Africa, has indicated its strong commitment towards holding the 15th US-Africa Business Summit (USABS) in July in Gaborone, Botswana. The 15th USABS theme Enhancing Africa’s Value in Global Value Chains will highlight multi-dimensional issues that were heavily discussed during the business forum held on the second day of the US-Africa leaders’ summit in Washington. The decision was taken during the last US-African leaders gathering held under the chairmanship of President Joe Biden. The primary aim is to strengthen and broaden bilateral business and investment across Africa… Read more>>
U.S.-Africa Business Summit to be held July 11-14 in Gaborone, Botswana
Zawya
During a visit to Gaborone, Botswana, Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) President and CEO Florizelle “Florie” Liser was honored to meet with H.E. Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of the Republic of Botswana, who reiterated his Government’s commitment to successfully co-hosting the 15th U.S.-Africa Business Summit (USABS) in Botswana later this year. President Masisi noted that key Cabinet officials who were in attendance at the meeting were ready to mobilize their ministries and work collaboratively with CCA and the private sector to organize a highly successful Summit. Following several days of government and private sector meetings as well as site visits, Ms. Liser was pleased to announce with Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Hon. Mmusi Kgafela that the Summit will be held July 11-14, 2023 in Gaborone. The announcement was made Friday, February 3, 2023 at the Minister’s office along with the signing of an agreement between CCA and the Government of Botswana… Read more>>
CCA MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
Flutterwave expands into North Africa with new Egypt payments licences
Finextra
Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has announced today that it has received its Payment Services Provider and Payments Facilitator licenses in Egypt. The licenses will enable Flutterwave to act as an official payment service provider in the country, collect payments on behalf of its customers and settle payments locally and globally. These licences will allow Flutterwave to deploy Flutterwave for Business suite of products including store, payment links, invoices, checkout in Egypt… Read more>>
U.S.-AFRICA RELATIONS
Under Secretary Fernandez’s Travel to South Africa
U.S. Department of State
Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez has arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, to give a keynote address at the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba—Africa’s largest mining investment conference. He will focus on the importance of U.S. support and investment in developing and securing more resilient and sustainable critical mineral supply chains. During his visit until February 7th, Under Secretary Fernandez will engage with government officials, business leaders, investors, and other stakeholders on our shared objective of bolstering key supply chains, particularly with respect to the critical minerals vital to a clean energy transition, while respecting environmental, social, and governance standards… Read more>>
Assistant Secretary Phee’s Travel to South Africa, Nigeria, and Ethiopia
U.S. Department of State
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee will travel to South Africa, Nigeria, and Ethiopia February 5-19. In South Africa, Assistant Secretary Phee will participate in the University Partnerships Initiative Summit at the Future Africa Campus of the University of Pretoria to show U.S. support for advancing higher education across the continent of Africa. In addition, she will meet with South African leaders in politics, business, and civil society… Read more>>
Bush demanded billions for AIDS in Africa at his 2003 State of the Union. It paid off.
NBC News
President George W. Bush’s reputation may have been forever complicated by 9/11 and war, but a proposal he made in his 2003 State of the Union address became a historic humanitarian success, one that resulted in 25 million lives saved from AIDS, 20 million people with HIV provided antiretroviral treatment and 5.5 million babies born to HIV-positive mothers but free of the virus themselves. After two decades, this is the legacy of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR — the most ambitious and transformative U.S. foreign aid program since the Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe from the rubble of World War II… Read more>>
AGRIBUSINESS
Irony of $30b mobilised for agribusiness as 282m Africans starve
The East African
The war in Ukraine has roundly been blamed for the food shortages being witnessed in the world, and especially Africa. Energy, fertiliser and food costs have risen by between 40 percent and 300 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022… Read more>>
Three Young-Led African Agritech Business Receive Investment To Help Scale Up African Agriculture
Forbes
Three African youth-led Agritech businesses— Kenya’s DigiCow, Botswana’s Brastorne Enterprises and Nigeria’s ThriveAgric— will receive mentorship and $1.5 million in grants to help them to aggressively expand solutions to long-standing challenges faced by smallholder farmers across the continent… Read more>>
ENERGY
Huawei Pushes for Africa’s Energy Transition with Solar PV and Green Solutions at Solar Power Africa Conference
Venture Burn
Huawei demonstrated its dedication to Africa’s energy transition at the Solar Power Africa Conference, showcasing its solar PV and green home and business solutions. In his keynote speech, Xia Hesheng, President of Huawei Digital Power Sub-Saharan Africa Region, highlighted the importance of clean energy in the transition towards a carbon-neutral future… Read more>>
Africa will remain poor unless it uses more energy
Mint
A window seat in a helicopter flying south-west from Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, offers an otherworldly diorama. The landscape shifts from earthly desert to Mars-red dunes, then to moonscape as the chopper nears Luderitz. In the early 1900s this tiny port was the hub for a diamond boom that brought the art-nouveau mansions that perch on the town’s slopes. More than a century on, Namibia hopes that the area will again bring riches, this time from sun, wind and land, by hosting one of Africa’s largest renewable-energy projects… Read more>>
HEALTH
South Africa Reports 2 Imported Cholera Cases
VOA News
South Africa has recorded two confirmed imported cases of cholera, the health department said Sunday, as it called for vigilance. The cases were of sisters who had in January traveled to Malawi, where a cholera outbreak since last year has claimed more than 1,000 lives as of January, the highest on record in the country… Read more>>
Fake medicines kill almost 500,000 sub-Saharan Africans a year: UNODC report
United Nations
In sub-Saharan Africa, as many as 267,000 deaths per year are linked to falsified and substandard antimalarial medicines, the transnational organized crime threat assessment found. In addition, up to 169,271 are linked to falsified and substandard antibiotics used to treat severe pneumonia in children.Trafficking these products is also taking a direct economic toll on affected countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that caring for people who have used falsified or substandard medical products for malaria treatment in sub-Saharan Africa costs between $12 million to $44.7 million every year… Read more>>
INFRASTRUCTURE
Dakar Financing Summit: $160 billion worth of infrastructure projects for Africa
The Africa Logistics
African heads of government, the African Development Bank, development finance institutions, and institutional investors gathered to draw the modalities for pushing the projects to completion by 2030. The African Union Development Agency and the Government of Senegal are co-hosting the summit… Read more>>
Botswana sees 2023 growth of 4%, plans infrastructure drive
Reuters
Botswana expects economic growth of 4% this year while targeting medium-term growth of 5.7%, and the government plans to ramp up infrastructure investment, its finance minister said on Monday. The diamond-rich southern African country now sees its 2023/24 budget deficit at 3.06% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with 2.1% for 2022/23, Peggy Serame said during an annual budget speech to parliament… Read more>>
Africa Looks to Diversify Tourism Mix by Investing More in Cruise Business
Skift
African destinations have taken major steps in recent years to move away from a heavy emphasis on safari tourism, and several of them are focusing on a cruise tourism industry poised to make a complete recovery by the end of 2023. Countries around the continent are increasing their investments in a sector that they believe they will give their economies a boost, with cruise tourism expected to be worth $15.1 billion worldwide by 2028… Read more>>
ICT
Mawingu piles pressure on Safaricom and Zuku
The Star
Mawingu, a Kenyan-based internet service provider is targeting counties in its expansion drive after netting $9 million (Sh1.23 billion) in funding. The firm currently operates in more than 15 counties in Kenya with a customer base of 7,500. It plans to double its customer base to 14,000… Read more>>
Africa’s innovative enterprise solutions get $2m boost with new technology lab
Business Day
As the world advances in enterprise solutions, the future of Africa’s progress in the sphere has gotten a major boost with the launch of a $2 million Lab by Ouranos Technologies Limited, a provider of Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure services across West Africa. The $2m Ouranos Lab is a venture studio focused on building the products and solutions that will power the future of enterprise technology in Africa… Read more>>
