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/ 16 November 2006
CNBC plans to launch Africa’s first business TV channel next year as rising investment on the poorest continent buoys demand for news that goes beyond the media’s staple diet of war, famine and disease. CNBC Africa will launch in May 2007, employing 40 journalists in four countries to cover financial markets.
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/ 15 November 2006
Expletives are scrawled across the classroom walls, the library ceiling has collapsed and up to 45 pupils cram into each filthy classroom — when the teachers turn up that is. But despite the shoddy state of her school, 14-year-old Constance Mpho has even bigger worries.
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/ 21 October 2006
African cellphone operators can expect up to three more years of rampant growth but after that must find new sources of revenue and ways of cutting costs to keep profits rising, executives and analysts say. Firms keen to keep the momentum on profits going need to find new sources of revenue growth.
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/ 18 October 2006
He took on the apartheid government and was South Africa’s first black bishop. He lambasts presidents and likes to party with the stars. And at 75, Desmond Tutu still can’t keep quiet. A new biography, Rabble-rouser for peace, paints a picture of a man who revels in the limelight and adores the trappings of celebrity, but spends up to seven hours a day in silent prayer.
From gleaming shopping malls in downtown Nairobi to gold mines buried deep in the Congolese jungle, South Africa is flexing its corporate muscle on the world’s poorest continent. South African shopping chains Shoprite and Pick ‘n Pay bring choice and price stability to African market places, while millions have made their first phone call thanks to cellular operators MTN and Vodacom.
Mobile operators are scrambling to gain a foothold in Africa, where cellphone penetration hovers at just 15% and growth is ripe for those with a stomach for risk. A decade after mobile technology took off on the continent, most affluent city dwellers have phones, making poor rural areas like Kgautswane the new battleground for operators seeking growth.
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/ 1 September 2006
South African newlyweds Richard and Christine Wyngaard could have opted to honeymoon in the exotic Seychelles or romantic Italy. Instead, they chose Kenya — their first African trip north of their own border. Twelve years after the fall of apartheid ended international isolation, people like the Wyngaards are opting to explore their own continent.
With cocktails aplenty and air kisses punctuating the post-show chatter, Johannesburg fashion week might seem to boast the trappings of an international couture event. But this is fashion week, Africa style. Fashion in post-apartheid South Africa reflects the country’s journey from pariah state and global backwater to a multiracial democracy.
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/ 5 November 2004
Ubuntu. Humanity to others. What is mine is yours. The ancient African word now applies to a new, free operating system for your computer. Download it for free, use it for free and pass it on. Mark Shuttleworth, the first South African in space, launched the system in Johannesburg on Thursday. He is convinced Ubuntu will conquer the world of software.