My Ghana Electronic Desk

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The African Development Bank (AfDB) has proposed plans to float Africa’s first infrastructure bonds to member nations to raise up to $22 billion for investments in infrastructure projects such as ports, railways, roads and energy, across the African continent. This follows a recommendation by Made In Africa Foundation (MIAF) for AfDB to offer the opportunity to invest in the infrastructure bonds to all, which would be in addition to funds committed by member governments. It also brings to reality, an initiative first raised at the March 2009 conference on Growth Corridors, hosted by MIAF’s Ozwald Boateng and UK Foreign Minister, David Miliband. According to a statement issued by MIAF partner - Nigerian oil company, Atlantic Energy Tuesday, September 25, by opening up the bond offering to everyone – private institutions such as global banks and pension funds, individuals and corporations – there would be increased transparency, and hopefully better gov...

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Western Union, a leader in global payment services and new Global Partner of the UEFA Europa League, has announced it will turn every successful pass in this season’s European football competition into funding to provide a day’s education for young people around the world. By so doing, it hopes to deliver one million school days to unschooled but brilliant and hardworking students around the world. Declaring this through a statement issued from Paris, France Tuesday September 11, 2012, Western Union said their decision is informed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO’s) publication that 71 million bright, hardworking students globally are not enrolled in secondary or vocational education. Stating that this is a tremendous loss of economic and human potential, the payment service known very well in Ghana for remittances from relations abroad, believes each extra year of school can increase an individual’s pot...

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has been named Telecoms Brand of the Year, at the 8th edition of the Nigerian Telecoms Awards held in Lagos, after 21 months of operations in the country.   The telecoms company, which chalked the feat in Nigeria on Saturday, September 8, 2012, clinched a total of three industry Awards - The Most Innovative Telecom Company of the Year, Telecom Brand of the year and Customer Friendly Operator of the year at a well-attended event marked by a huge presence of dignitaries from both private and public sectors.  According to Awards’ citations, Airtel emerged overall best in the three categories following its enviable strides in charting new paths in meeting the demands and needs of its esteemed stakeholders through superior brand experience, a rich portfolio of innovative products and services ranging from exciting voice solutions to inventive data packages and mobile broadband. On the Customer ...

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Millicom International Cellular S.A. (“Millicom”) operating under the Tigo brand, and non-profit organisation ‘Reach for Change’ are working in partnership to improve the lives of children in Africa through social entrepreneurship. As part of the programme, a joint programme to identify and support social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions for children is being launched in Chad, DR Congo, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania throughout 2012.    In the programme which has already been piloted in Ghana and has reached more than 140,000 children in the first year, Tigo and Reach for Change invite people in all of the African countries where Tigo operates to present innovative ideas for improving the lives of children. The most entrepreneurial candidates with the strongest and most promising ideas are then invited to join a three year incubator programme, where they will work on transforming their ideas into sustainable ventures. According to Tigo...

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin Dr. Agnes Kalibata Two of Africa’s female leaders, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources in Rwanda, and Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, outgoing CEO of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) in Ethiopia, have been awarded the Yara Prize for an African Green Revolution . The prize seeks to contribute to the transformation of African agriculture and food availability, within a sustainable context, thereby helping to reduce hunger and poverty and the two leaders were selected by the Yara Prize Committee yesterday, September 5, 2012,  for their work on groundbreaking areas for the African Green Revolution: effective public policies in support of agricultural growth and profound innovation in agricultural markets. The award consists of US$ 60,000, which will be split between the laureates, a crystal trophy and a diploma and was handed out in Oslo from 2005 to 2009 but moves to Tanzania, Africa, this year ....

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Airtel Africa yesterday, September 5, 2012, announced a US$ 400,000 innovative project with a grant from the GSMA Development Fund, to provide approximately 250,000 small-holder farmers in Kenya reliable and relevant agricultural information via their mobile phones. The innovative project, dubbed ‘Sauti ya Mkulima’ (Swahili for voice of the farmer), aims to provide farmers with access to pertinent agriculture-related information, advice and research that will help them make better decisions about their crops, increasing the productivity of their yield, as well as their potential income. According to Airtel, it will also help create a farmer community within which peers can share experiences and exchange information about social gatherings, events, and job opportunities.    Outlining the importance of the project, Shivan Bhargava, Managing Director, Airtel Kenya, said: “At Airtel, we recognise innovative telecommunications solutions have the p...

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Political leadership is more important than a city’s wealth, when it comes to protecting the lives and economic assets of cities and towns from disasters, a new study launched by the UN two years ago has established.  The study of a major urban safety campaign, the “Making Cities Resilient Report 2012”, provides a global snapshot of how local governments reduce disaster risk and was undertaken by a team from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), led by Senior Fellow, Dr. David Satterthwaite.  Commenting on the study, Dr. Satterthwaite stated: “The Making Cities Resilient campaign is proving that despite a rise in extreme weather events and the threats posed by climate change, urbanisation does not have to lead to an increase in risk.” He said “Where city and local governments demonstrate leadership and competence in working with low-income populations living in informal settlements, flood impacts can...

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Bharti Airtel, a leading telecommunications company in Africa, has announced that it has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with leading South African financial services group, Sanlam, for the distribution of insurance and health funding products.    A press release announcing this, says the agreement covers seven African countries, on a non- exclusive basis, in which both companies have a presence, namely Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria. The agreement is aimed at enhancing value for Airtel customers and increasing access to insurance, which will enable Sanlam to market and sell its Life, General and Health insurance products through Airtel’s extensive telecommunications networks in the seven countries. Commenting on the deal, Chidi Okpala, Airtel’s Director and Africa Head, Airtel Money, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Sanlam on this exciting initiative. This will offer our customers in Af...