International Economic Growth
Taking your business global

A recent Economic Report on Africa (ERA 2007) titled “Accelerating Africa's Development through Diversification”, from the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa, forecasts continued growth for the continent’s economies by an average of 5.8% in 2007, due in large part to oil exporting countries outperforming oil importers.

South Africa is enjoying its longest period of economic growth and best period of job creation. President Thabo Mbeki said that by September, South Africa would have been growing "for eight solid years -- longer than ever before in the recorded economic history of our country". According to Mbeki, real income per capita had risen 4% a year and more than 500,000 jobs had been created annually

Source: All Africa.com http://allafrica.com/ Africa Front.com http://www.africafront.com

Community Involvement
Your company’s key to success

LG Electronics, now a global company, delivers on their "Great Company, Great People" slogan by getting involved in community relations such as:

Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund – Established in 1994 to empower and promote the well being and rights of South African children and youth.

Unite against Hunger - Tiger Brands’ social responsibility program that focuses on hunger relief within South Africa.

LG Hope Program – In 2003, LG Electronics sponsored free surgical operations for 30 cleft lip child patients in Morocco whose families could not afford the operation

Source: LG Africa.com http://www.lgeafrica.com/default.asp

Innovation
Google Sees Cellphone as Ticket Into Africa

GOOGLE, the world’s most popular search engine, had to tailor its offerings to work better on cellphones if it was to make real headway in Africa, the group said yesterday.

In a continent with a dearth of computers, the cellphone is the only way most people can get online. And as only 22% of cellphone users have computers, even in relatively wealthy SA, Google’s local branch is making mobile search technologies its priority.

Google was launched in the 1990s with the ambitious aim of organising all the information in the world and making it universally accessible. Considering that 80% of information is still not online, it has a long way to go. But the information already online had to be made available to everybody, and in Africa that meant via cellphones, Merrill said.

Source: South Africa Info. http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/companies.aspx?ID=BD4A709053

International Advocacy
African scientists call for permanent forum

African scientists ended a four-day brainstorming conference in Addis Ababa with a call for the creation of a secretariat that will serve as a permanent forum for interaction between them and their international partners.

Conveners of the conference, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union Commission (AUC), were urged to collaborate to set up the secretariat that among other functions will monitor and evaluate actions that the scientists have suggested to move the continent forward in the areas of science, technology and innovation.

For Africa to occupy an appropriate position in the contemporary global knowledge-driven economy, it has to put to better use current scientific knowledge and skills to address its priorities, according to the final report of the conference.

The Science with Africa Conference called on the African Union (AU) and its partners to foster the development of the African science and technology policy framework.

 

Source: World Bank http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/16319

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