BRIEFS

8%IvoryCoast’sGDPto grow 8% in 2012, says IMF. Post-conflict recovery and cocoa sector reform spur growth

16% In sub-Saharan Africa, where traditional banking has been hampered by transportation and other infrastructure problems, mobile banking has expanded to 16% of the market.

Spider is Africa’s new web browser »The Anansi web browser – “Anansi” means “spider” in Ghana’s Twi language – has been created by 22-yearold computer science student Raindolf Owusu in Accra, Ghana. Softpedia.com have added the Anansi browser to their software database and it has had over 600 downloads with 75% coming from outside Africa. It is an easy-to-use program that allows fast access any web page.
It is very interactive with offline features like the web camera and theme changer. It also has a download manager that speeds up file downloads, such as music and videos. Its offline features are designed to allow for unstable internet access. The Anansi browser can be found at www.softpedia. com/get/Internet/Browsers/AnansiBrowser.shtml

Snippets Around Africa THIS MONTH ICT

TELECOMS Angola’s 4G, Tanzania’s fibre optic Angolans will get high-speed 4G services ahead of most of Europe and many parts of the US thanks to a $100m project. Angola’s Movicel has partnered with Chinese phone giant ZTE to bring in 4G and will undertake a $1bn upgrade of Movicel’s entire system. The firm is providing all the equipment direct from China – including handsets.

The initial 4G roll-out includes the oil-producing region of Cabinda, as well as 15 densely-populated cities and towns including Luanda. The next phase will take in another 30 cities aiming at 1m 4G customers by the end of the year as part of a wider strategy to boost its overall subscriber base from 4.5m to 7m. Movicel is also expected to place an order for 4G tablet computers. (See story page 48.)

Tanzania is to get a $1m fibre-optic network linking 10 major cities and towns, and improving connectivity between urban and rural area provided by the Metro Network, part of Six Telecoms Data Company, which has already laid 15,000 km of fibre in East African Community countries. SubSaharan bandwidth capacity is currently only 1% of the world average.

fod and drink Tea with milk? Research into South Africa’s rooibos plant has found evidence that rooibos tea is rich in anti-oxidants which assist in preventing various forms of cancer, heart attack, and reducing cholesterol levels. Tests showed significant increases in anti-oxidant levels in the blood of people who drank rooibos and that drinking 400ml of rooibos (two cups) per day can help prevent heart attack. Research also revealed the tea to reduce levels of bad cholesterol while increasing levels of good cholesterol.

The Nigerian government has signed a Mem-

NIGERIA Nigeria will import 18 large-scale cassava flour processing plants capable of handling 1.3m tonnes of cassava a year in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda. US company Cargil has expressed interest. The budget has tax incentives for cassava flour millers.

DR CONGO Young farmers in smallholder associations are using a new strain of cassava, TME 419, which produces higher yields than F100 and adopting new methods of hoeing. Impresa

Servizi Coordinati (ISCO), an Italian NGO is making free cuttings of the new cassava variety available.

UGANDA The African Development Bank (AfDB) has received approval from the government of Uganda to issue bonds denominated in Uganda shillings on the Ugandan capital market. Launching its note programme will give the Bank the flexibility to issue bonds in tranches.

KENYA Kenya’s top telecoms operator Safaricom, in which Britain’s Vodafone has a 40% stake, will lay a fibre-optic cable network to offer faster and more efficient internet data services in expectation of a mobile ‘data tsunami’ in the next 12 to 18 months.

GHANA Ghana’s leading telecoms tower company in Ghana, Helios Towers Ghana, won the prestigious Infrastructure Company of the Year award, for the second consecutive year. The award recognises special capabilities and outstanding performance.

6

African Business | June 2012 Building cities worth building a future in.

Siemens provides answers for Africa‘s rapidly growing cities.

Every day in Africa more and more people are moving to urban areas. This is creating an urgent demand for the development of better, more sustainable infrastructures.

Already we’re at work in major cities like Lagos and Algiers, helping ensure a reliable electricity supply to power economic growth and infrastructure development.

on track. With our water technologies, more people in Dar es Salaam have access to clean drinking water. And our medical equipment is providing citizens of Nairobi with affordable healthcare.

We’re working with African cities today to create answers that will last for generations to come.

Our efficient rail technologies in Johannesburg are transporting commuters safely and keeping the economy siemens.com /answers