The 2017 African Economic Conference (AEC) will be held from 4-6 December in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the theme, ‘Governance for Structural Transformation.’ AEC will among other things, foster dialogue that promotes the exchange of ideas and innovative thinking among researchers, development practitioners and African policymakers. The 12th edition of the Conference series will offer…

Ten teams of 21 budding African social entrepreneurs have been selected as winners of the Resolution Social Venture Challenge at the Baobab Summit in Johannesburg. Winning teams earn a fellowship that includes seed funding, mentorship and access to a network of young global changemakers to pursue impactful projects in their communities. A collaboration between the…

The energy sector of sub-Saharan Africa is not yet able to meet the needs and aspirations of its citizens, with almost 600 million people lacking access to electricity. Only seven countries — Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa — have electricity access rates exceeding 50 percent. The rest of the region…

Jack Ma the  CEO/Founder  of Alibaba Announces 4 Projects To Support African Youths Youth connekt summit in Kigali, Rwanda. The billionaire arrived with a delegation aboard three planes that landed at Kigali international airport to attend the summit also attended by Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Under project number one – Jack Ma has invited 200…

Roman Oseghale, an Architect, Business Analyst and CEO. of IntelServe Inc. a Canadian Business Analytical Services company, has identified human capital development as the key to developing sustainable economic growth for Nigeria. Speaking at The Platform recently, Mr. Oseghale argued that Africa which is one of the 6 continents is the richest in Mineral Resources but the…

With new-generation services starting today in Benin, Cameroon, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda, Konnect Africa (www.Konnect-Africa.com) is confirming its bold ambitions for Sub-Saharan Africa. The company’s innovative service offerings and products, included packaged offers inspired by ‘pay as you go’ models and Wi-Fi hotspots schemes, have already convinced a number of…

South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya lead Innovation in  sub Saharan Africa in the recently released Global Innovation Index  for 2017. Each year, the Global Innovation Index( GII ) surveys some 130 economies using dozens of metrics, from patent filings to education spending providing decision makers a high-level look at the innovative activity that increasingly drives economic…

Orange is strengthening its corporate venture strategy by creating a new Africa section in its flagship programme for investment in start-ups, Orange Digital Ventures . As part of this initiative, the Group is committing 50 million euros corresponding to half of the direct investments made via its new Orange Digital Ventures Africa programme; the other…

Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the USA and the UK are the world’s most- innovative countries, while a group of nations including India, Kenya, and Viet Nam are outperforming their development- level peers, according to the Global Innovation Index 2017 coauthored by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Key findings show the…

Photo shows: (L-r): Reginald Osuji, project executive; Loveth Igbo, project executive; Tony Ajah, director, all from Nigeria Innovation Summit;Rosemary Agu, direct sales manager, DigitalPR-Wire; Olajide Ojeniyi,Western Regional Coordinator, Nigeria Innovation Summit and SamuelSalami, director, Operations, DigitalPR-Wire, during a press conference to announce preparations of the Summit, held in Lagos on Wednesday Nigeria Innovation Summit (www.innovationsumit.ng),…

Recently I was thinking of the increase in adoption Over -The Top (OTT) content players have gained and the consequent dilemma it’s wrapping around operators who now have to grapple with the concern of who owns and influences the consumer. This also got me thinking about something else we tend to hear a lot, that…

4 Nigerian Startups  have been accepted into Google Launchpad Accelerator.The Startup companies are:Delivery Science,Gidi Mobile Limited,Flutterwave and Paystack .This was announced today through Google blog post. Google Launchpad Accelerator is a 6 months Program where the selected Startups: Work closely with Google for 6 months Get 2 weeks of all-expense-paid training at Google Headquarters Get Equity-free support Have…

The Africa Competitiveness Report was first published in 1998 and has, since 2007, been a biennial project highlighting areas that require policy action and investment to ensure Africa’s sustained growth. As the result of a longstanding collaboration, the report incorporates the knowledge and expertise of the African Development Bank, the World Bank Group and the…

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has created an incredible online resource: ‘YAS! Youth for Africa and SDGs’.YAS! is an online portal for African Youth Entrepreneurship. The portal aims to support the development and growth of youth entrepreneurship in Africa by providing the following services: Help entrepreneurs begin their entrepreneurship journey by providing the answers that…

The MasterCard Foundation is partnering with Michigan State University (MSU) for the AgriFood Youth Opportunity Lab, a five-year, $13 million collaboration. This partnership will support 15,000 young people aged 18 to 24 in major bread basket food shed regions surrounding Lagos and Dar es Salaam to access employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. AgriFood Youth Opportunity Lab…