Botswana aims to introduce Swahili language in the southern African country's local schools, a senior official said Tuesday. At a language teaching workshop in Francistown, Botswana's second-largest city, Fidelis Molao, Botswana's Minister of Basic Education, said that Swahili language will be introduced in schools in future. Swahili is a Bantu...
Category: Business
Facebook to Open Office in Lagos, Nigeria in 2021
In 2016, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg visited Nigeria in what was his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. While the attraction to the budding tech ecosystem which was already producing some of Africa’s best known startups was obvious, there was also the underlying influence of Facebook’s pool of high-ranking Nigerian-American executives. Four years later,...
East Africa’s First Major Oil Pipeline Agreed With $3.5 Billion Deal
Tanzania and Uganda have signed an agreement allowing for the construction of a 1,445 km (898 miles) crude oil pipeline. The $3.5bn (£2.7m) project will connect Uganda's oil fields to Tanzania's port of Tanga. The signing ceremony was attended by the presidents of both countries. Oil reserves were found in...
Actress Lupita Nyong’o Speaks Out About Death of Co-star Chadwick Boseman
Actress Lupita Nyong'o has for the first time spoken about the death of her "Black Panther" co-star Chadwick Boseman who succumbed to colon cancer on August 28, 2020. Nyong'o, 37, shared a picture of her and a cheerful Boseman on Instagram on Tuesday, along with a heartfelt tribute. "I write...
Nigeria to Regulate Trade in Crypto Assets
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said it will begin regulating trade in crypto assets to protect investors and ensure market integrity and transparency. SEC said in statement that digital assets offerings provide alternative investment opportunities for the investing public, noting that it is therefore essential to ensure that...
Crash in Tourism Means Africa Will Lose $120 billion
Raino Bolz quickly diversified when his tourism business in South Africa’s winelands crashed to a halt in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. He sold a minibus — useless without tourists to ferry around — and bought a herd of pregnant cows. He’ll have to wait for the cows to...
EABL Ups Stake In Serengeti Breweries
Regional beer giant East African Breweries Ltd is expected to spend at least $18.7 million to increase its stake in Serengeti Breweries, signaling the company’s growing faith in future prospects of the Tanzanian market. EABL has been seeking to plug revenue holes punched by tight regulations and increased taxes in...
Ethiopian Airlines Suspends Flights To 80 Destinations
The Ethiopian Airlines announced on Sunday that it had suspended passenger flight to over 80 destinations around the world as the COVID 19 infection number hit over 700,000 around the world. Some of the major competitors like Turkish Airlines and Emirates have suspended flights. But there are also those that...
Condom Shortage Looms As Coronavirus Stops Production
A global shortage of condoms is looming, the world’s biggest producer has said, after a coronavirus lockdown forced it to shut down production. Malaysia’s Karex Bhd makes one in every five condoms globally. It has not produced a single condom in its three Malaysian factories for more than a week...
World Bank, IMF Call For Debt Relief
With immediate effect and consistent with national laws of the creditor countries, the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are calling on all official bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments from International Development Association (IDA) countries that request forbearance. This follows a joint statement to the...