American Capital Energy & Infrastructure Commits $130 Million to Nigerian Power Sector

5 Dec 2013 14:25 Africa/Lagos

American Capital Energy & Infrastructure Commits $130 Million to Nigerian Power Sector 

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, Dec. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- American Capital Energy & Infrastructure ("ACEI") announced today that it has committed to invest up to $130 million in Azura Power Holdings Ltd. ("Azura"), the company responsible for developing the Azura-Edo power project in Edo State, Nigeria. With a goal of becoming the leading power development company in West Africa, Azura will utilize ACEI's investment to fund the first and second phases of the Azura-Edo power project, pursue its greenfield development pipeline and future acquisitions, expand its team, and grow its construction and operational capabilities.


The Azura-Edo power project is a proposed 450MW open cycle gas turbine power station being developed near Benin City in Edo State and represents the first phase of a 1,000MW power plant facility. Azura and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc signed a groundbreaking power purchase agreement on April 22, 2013, which is being used as a template for other project-financed independent power producers in the country. The transaction was showcased by President Goodluck Jonathan as critical to the Nigerian power sector reform process. The first phase of the plant, which is targeted to reach financial close in early 2014 and come on stream in 2016/2017, is forecast to create over 1,000 direct jobs during its construction and operation. The project is expected to have a positive impact on the industrial and social wellbeing of the area, leading to further economic development and job creation.


Mr. Paul Hanrahan, CEO and co-founder of ACEI, said: "We are extremely pleased to announce our investment in Azura, a good example of the type of investment in high growth platforms in the energy infrastructure space that we are targeting. Our investment is in recognition of the significant progress made by the Azura co-founders on the first phase of the Azura-Edo power project, the growth opportunities in the Nigerian and West African markets, and our confidence in the Federal Government of Nigeria's power sector reform program."


In June 2013, ACEI joined Power Africa, a United States Government initiative launched by President Obama that is focused on supporting economic growth and development in Africa by increasing clean and reliable access to electrical power. The United States Government along with the governments of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania, and private sector partners have coordinated to accelerate and spur investments in the continent. As a partner in the presidential initiative, ACEI is actively pursuing investments in African power companies to originate, develop, finance and operate regional energy infrastructure assets in West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa, which, over the next four years, could reach $800 million in total investment.


"In line with our Power Africa efforts, ACEI is investing in the leading independent power producer platform in this key African market," said Lisa Pinsley, ACEI Director of Africa Investments. "Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with one of the highest growth rates in the world. With a current population of over 170 million, the seventh largest in the world, Nigeria's expanding economy suffers from a lack of power infrastructure. The United Nations estimates that Nigeria's population will reach 230 million within the next 20 years, and the total grid-based power generation capacity must rise tenfold to 40,000MW to meet the demand. Azura is, and will continue to be, a key driver in this growth in capacity."


Mr. Sundeep Bahanda, co-founder of Amaya Capital Partners, the lead sponsors of Azura, and Dr. David Ladipo, Managing Director of Azura said in a joint statement: "ACEI's investment will exert a transformative impact on our business and accelerate Azura's drive to create a flagship, multi-asset, power generation company. The development of Nigeria's electricity supply industry is a vast undertaking that requires a long term commitment from all parties. Together with ACEI, the Federal Government of Nigeria, state governments and our partners and advisers, we are committed to the creation of an indigenous world class business that will provide electricity to the people of Nigeria and, in so doing, will boost the country's industrial growth, its job creation and its social welfare."


ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE
American Capital Energy & Infrastructure invests in global energy infrastructure assets, including power generation facilities, power distribution and transmission networks, energy transportation assets, fuel production opportunities and product and service companies focused on the power and energy sectors. ACEI is part of American Capital, Ltd.'s (Nasdaq: ACAS) ("American Capital") asset management affiliate, American Capital Asset Management, LLC. For further information, please refer to http://www.ACEI.com.


ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL
American Capital is a publicly traded private equity firm and global asset manager. American Capital, both directly and through its asset management business, originates, underwrites and manages investments in middle market private equity, leveraged finance, real estate, energy and infrastructure and structured products. American Capital manages $20 billion of assets, including assets on its balance sheet and fee earning assets under management by affiliated managers, with $117 billion of total assets under management (including levered assets). Through an affiliate, American Capital manages publicly traded American Capital Agency Corp. (Nasdaq: AGNC) with approximately $10 billion of net book value and American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: MTGE) with approximately $1 billion of net book value. From its eight offices in the U.S. and Europe, American Capital and its affiliate, European Capital, will consider investment opportunities from $10 million to $750 million. For further information, please refer to http://www.americancapital.com.


ABOUT AZURA POWER HOLDINGS LTD.
Founded by Amaya Capital Partners, Azura is a world-class power development company that was created to focus on the development, construction, acquisition and operation of power generation facilities in Nigeria and over time, West Africa. Azura utilizes its project development and financing skills, in addition to the capital and expertise of Amaya and its partners, to develop and acquire large scale gas-fired Independent Power Plants in Nigeria. For further information, please refer to http://www.azurawa.com.


ABOUT AMAYA CAPITAL PARTNERS
Amaya, established in 2009, is a principal investment firm focused on energy related projects in West Africa. Unlike a typical private equity fund, Amaya does not manage third party funds but rather invests as a principal from an early development stage in a pro-active manner using the capital, capabilities, and resources of its founders and associates. Amaya has interests in the gas and power sectors in Nigeria. For further information, please refer to http://www.amayacap.com.


Contact: +1-443-214-7070
Paul Hanrahan, Chief Executive Officer
Richard Santoroski, Managing Director
Rajeev Garside, Vice President
Lisa Pinsley, Director, Africa Investments
SOURCE American Capital Energy & Infrastructure

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Farewell Madiba Mandela

Farewell Madiba Mandela

 Madiba
Alitshonanga lingenandaba
The sun never sets without fresh news.
And they are still coming and coming from everywhere  
Yinkungu nelanga
The mist and the sun are together.
Sova singasemoyeni
We shall hear, we are on the side towards which the wind blows.  
Uhambe kakuhle
Goodbye.

1. Mandela’s tribal nickname is “Rolihlahla,” meaning “Troublemaker.”

Other accounts translate Rolihlalhla to mean “to pull a branch from a tree,” which, of course, is something only a troublemaker would do. It was his teacher, Miss Mdingane, who gave him the English name “Nelson,” much to the relief of journalists everywhere when he became famous.  


2. Mandela was expelled from university after less than a year. 

After finishing boarding school, Mandela headed to Fort Hare Missionary College. Less than 12 months later, he was expelled from college for helping to organize a strike against the white colonial rule of the institution. One might call this foreshadowing.


3. The United Nations decreed his birthday as Mandela Day.

In 2009, the U.N. declared Mandela’s birthday, July 18, as Mandela Day to mark his contribution to world freedom. The holiday calls on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, reflecting the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the anti-apartheid movement.  


4. Mandela is often referred to as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name

Mandela is a member of the Thembu, a Xhosa clan, and is often referred to by his clan name, Madiba. It is a sign of the incredible diversity of people and languages in South Africa. The country has 11 different official languages.  


5. Mandela’s father had four wives, and Nelson is one of 13 children.

Mandela’s father, a local chief and councellor to the Thembu king, died from tuberculosis when his son was 9. Before that, he fathered 13 children by four wives, four boys and nine girls. After his father’s death, Mandela was put under the guardianship of Jongintaba, the Thembu regent.

- See more at: http://afkinsider.com/1772/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-nelson-mandela/6/#sthash.IaBdshDU.dpuf

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100 Stars of Nollywood and Kannywood

On Friday November 27, 2013, the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) in Nigeira celebrated their Nollywood @20 Grand Awards and honoured dozens of both notable and not so notable actors, actresses, producers, directors, screenwriters, sound engineers, make up artists, costumiers, entertainment reporters, marketers and distributors and others with awards in different categories. But there were some inexcusable omissions on their list of those who have achieved and contributed to what Nollywood has become today as Africa's biggest and largest home entertainment film industry of home videos and TV dramas. There was no call for nominations before they made their selections and till date there is still no list of the nominees and winners on their Nollywood @20 website http://nollywoodat20.com/, except a carousel of selected Nollywood stars, movie posters and news on how they came up with the idea of Nollywood @20 that would have been held last year 2012 when Nollywood actually became twenty years since the release of the best selling Igbo language home video "Living in Bondage" in 1992. But before "Living in Bondage", several best selling home videos were released in Yoruba and Hausa languages. The controversy on the true history of Nollywood is not the mission of our resolution to celebrate the shining stars of both Nollywood and Kannywood, because they are the ones who have attracted millions of movie lovers to watch thousands of their movies in videos and on TV and have become household names not only in Nigeria, but in other countries of Africa and the rest of the world. Millions of viewers have become passionate fans of these celebrated actors and actresses in Nollywood and Kannywood and they can nominate and vote for those who should make our final list of 100 Stars of Nollywood and Kannywood to be released in 2014 to celebrate the Nigeria Centenary.
  

Toyin Adegbola.
 

Genevieve Nnaji and Sola Sobowale.
 

Pete Edochie and Ibinabo Fiberesima.
 

Ngozi Ezeonu.
 

Olu and Joke Jacobs.

So much has been written and published on Nollywood, our Nollywood, the phenomenal Nigerian film industry producing thousands of home videos telling stories of Nigerians from the past to the present and has caught the attention of the rest of the world to say WOW! African magic? Did you know that Ivorian rebels in the bush stopped fighting when a shipment of Nollywood DVDs arrived from Lagos? Did you know that Zambian mothers said that their children now talk with accents copied from Nollywood movies? Did you know that when the President of Sierra Leone asked Genevieve Nnaji to join him on the campaign trail he attracted record crowds at rallies, because of her? Yes, Nollywood is our African magic that has hooked the world.

~ From Nollywood Mirror Series.

  Mofe-Damijo, Richard

Saheed Balogun and Kate Henshaw.
 

Adebayo Salami.
 

Taiwo Hassan.
                         

Van Vicker.
 

Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde.

  

Nollywood, Nigeria's booming film industry, is the world's third largest producer of feature films. Unlike Hollywood and Bollywood, however, Nollywood movies are made on shoe-string budgets of time and money. An average production takes just 10 days and costs approximately $15,000.

Yet in just 13 years, Nollywood has grown from nothing into a $250 million dollar-a-year industry that employs thousands of people. The Nollywood phenomenon was made possible by two main ingredients: Nigerian entrepreneurship and digital technology.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Lagos and other African cities faced growing epidemics of crime and insecurity. Movie theaters closed as people became reluctant to be out on the streets after dark. Videos for home viewing imported from the West and India were only mildly popular. Nigerians saw an opportunity to fill the void with products of their own.

Jim Iyke.
 

Mike Ezuruonye.
 

Emeka Enyiocha.
 

Desmond Elliot.

Experts credit the birth of Nollywood to a businessman who needed to unload thousands of blank tapes and to the 1992 video release of Living in Bondage, a movie with a tale of the occult that was an instant and huge-selling success. It wasn't long before other would-be producers jumped on the bandwagon.

Currently, some 300 producers churn out movies at an astonishing rate—somewhere between 500 and 1,000 a year. Nigerian directors adopt new technologies as soon as they become affordable. Bulky videotape cameras gave way to their digital descendents, which are now being replaced by HD cameras. Editing, music, and other post-production work is done with common computer-based systems. The films go straight to DVD and VCD disks.

Thirty new titles are delivered to Nigerian shops and market stalls every week, where an average film sells 50,000 copies. A hit may sell several hundred thousand. Disks sell for two dollars each, making them affordable for most Nigerians and providing astounding returns for the producers.

Nadia Buari.

Not much else about Nollywood would make Hollywood envious. Shooting is inevitably delayed by obstacles unimaginable in California. Lagos, home to 15 million people (expected to be 24 million by 2010), is a nightmare of snarled traffic, pollution, decaying infrastructure, and frequent power outages.

Star actors, often working on several films at once, frequently don't show up when they're supposed to. Location shooting is often delayed by local thugs, or "touts", who extort money for protection before they will allow filming to take place in their territories.

Yet Nollywood producers are undeterred. They know they have struck a lucrative and long-neglected market - movies that offer audiences characters they can identify with in stories that relate to their everyday lives. Western action-adventures and Bollywood musicals provide little that is relevant to life in African slums and remote villages.

Nollywood stars are native Nigerians. Nollywood settings are familiar. Nollywood plots depict situations that people understand and confront daily; romance, comedy, the occult, crooked cops, prostitution, and HIV/AIDS.

"We are telling our own stories in our own way," director Bond Emeruwa says. "That is the appeal both for the filmmakers and for the audience."

The appeal stretches far beyond Nigeria. Nollywood films are proving popular all over English-speaking Africa and have become a staple on M-NET, the South African based satellite television network. Nigerian stars have become household names from Ghana to Zambia and beyond. The last few years have seen the growing popularity of Nollywood films among African diaspora in both Europe and America.

"Look out, Hollywood," one exuberant Nigerian producer exclaims. "Here we come!"

~ By Franco Sacchi, Robert Caputo and Aimee Corrigan from This Is Nollywood

Sani Danja.
 

Majid Michel.
 

Hadiza Gabon.
 

Rihama Hassan.

The name Kannywood for the Hausa film industry was first coined in 1999 by publisher Sanusi Shehu Danaji three years before the New York Times used the term “Nollywood” to refer to the Nigerian film industry

The following report mirrors the popularity of Bollywood movies and how they have boosted the emergence of Kannywood.

For over forty years, African audiences have been watching Indian movies. In places such as northern Nigeria, generations of Hausa youth have grown up besotted with Bollywood ("Bombay/Hollywood") film culture. Over time, Indian movies have altered the style of Hausa fashions, their songs have been copied by Hausa singers and their stories have influenced the writings of Nigerian novelists. Favorite stars are given Hausa nicknames, like Sarkin Karfi (King of Strength) for Dharmendra, Dan Daba Mai Lasin (Hooligan With a License) for Sanjay Dutt, or Mace (Woman) for Rishi Kapoor. To this date, stickers of Indian films and stars decorate the taxis and buses of northern Nigeria, while posters of Indian films adorn the walls of tailor shops and mechanics' garages.

Nafisa Abdullahi.

Lebanese distributors began importing Indian movies in the 1950s, though; Hausa viewers have recognized the strong visual, social and even political similarities between the two cultures. By the early 1960s, when television was first introduced, Hausa fans were already demanding (over British objections) that Indian movies be shown on TV. Hausa fans of Indian movies argue that Indian culture is "just like" Hausa culture. Instead of focusing on the differences between the two societies, when they watch Indian movies what they see are similarities, especially when compared with American or English movies. Men in Indian films, for instance, are often dressed in long kaftans, similar to the Hausa “dogon riga”, over which they wear long waistcoats, much like the Hausa “palmaran”. The wearing of turbans; the presence of animals in markets; porters carrying large bundles on their heads, chewing sugar cane; youths riding Bajaj motor scooters; wedding celebrations and so on: in these and a thousand other ways the visual subjects of Indian movies reflect back to Hausa viewers aspects of everyday life.
 

In a strict Muslim culture that still practices a form of purdah, Indian movies are praised because (until recently) they showed "respect" toward women. The problem with Hollywood movies, many of my friends complained, is that they have "no shame." 
In Indian movies, they said, women are modestly dressed, men and women rarely kiss, and you never see women naked. Because of this, Indian movies are said to "have culture" in a way that Hollywood films seem to lack. The fact is that Indian films fit in with Hausa society. This is realized by Lebanese film distributors, and Indian video importers as well as Hausa fans. Major themes of Hindi films, such as the tension between arranged and love marriages, do not appear in Hollywood movies but are agonizing problems for Nigerian and Indian youth.

After Maine Pyar Kiya was released one friend told me it was his favorite movie: "I liked the film" he said, "because it taught me about the world." When the star Salman Khan had to choose between an arranged marriage with someone he didn't love and running away from his family to follow the woman of his heart my friend said, "I shed tears, tears. Even though I know the film is fiction I still shed tears, because it was about what is happening in the world." Hollywood films, he said contemptuously, have no shame or they are just action, "they don't base themselves on the problems of the people."
 

The themes of Indian movies are often based on the reality of a developing country emerging from years of colonialism. The style of the movies and plots deal with the problem of how to modernize while preserving traditional values - not usually a narrative theme in a Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Spielberg movie. Characters choose between wearing Indian or Western-style clothes; following religious or secular values; living with the masses or in rich, western style bungalows. Women often decide whether they should speak shyly to their lover or stand up, look him in the face and declare their love forcefully. Male stars are often presented with the choice between a "traditional" lover, who respects family and dresses modestly, and a modern woman who lives a rich, fast, life hanging around discos and hotels. The use of English by arrogant upper-class characters or by imperious bureaucrats; and even the endemic corruption of police and state officials, all present familiar situations for post-colonial Indian and African viewers.

 Indian movies have been an accepted, admired part of Hausa popular culture compared favorably with the negative effects of Western media. Indian movies offered an alternative style of fashion and romance that Hausa youth could follow without the ideological baggage of "becoming western". But as the style of Bollywood has begun to change over the last few years, this acceptance is becoming more questioned. Contemporary films are more sexually explicit and violent. Nigerian viewers comment on this when they compare older Indian films of the 1950s and 1960s that "had" culture to newer ones which are more westernized. One friend complained about this saying that "when I was young, the Indian films we used to see were based on their tradition. But now Indian films are just like American films. They go to discos, make gangs, they'll do anything in a hotel and they play rough in romantic scenes where before you could never see things like that."

The irony is that this shift in the style of Indian films also mirrors the transformations in contemporary Nigerian society. Post-oil boom Nigeria has exacerbated a sense that traditional Hausa values are eroding, that women are becoming sexually freer, that men are more likely to rebel against their parents' authority. Hausa fans have seen these changes in Indian films. While they preserve the sense that Indian culture is "just like" Hausa culture, there is a mounting argument that current Indian movies are spoiling the values of Hausa youth. This argument hasn't affected the massive popularity of Bollywood, but it is a new, conservative critique whose impact remains to be seen.

The international success of Indian film subverts the constant mantra of the cultural dictatorship of Hollywood movies. While the success of Bollywood doesn't alter the fact of America's media supremacy, it does focus attention to the many parts of the world where Bollywood reigns supreme. When I left the Marhaba cinema after seeing Mother India, I bumped into a friend who asked me where I'd been. I told him and asked him if he knew when the movie was made. "No," he said, "I couldn't tell you. But as soon as I knew film, I knew Mother India." From Nigeria to Egypt to Senegal to Russia, generations of non-Indian fans who have grown up with Bollywood, bear witness to the cross-cultural appeal of Indian movies.

~ FromKannywood, the growth of a Nigerian language industry – Carmen McCain, http://hausafilms.tv/custom/nigerianstalk_perspectives_carmen.htm and "Bollywood in Africa — Is it getting too Western?"
http://www.salon.com/2007/06/13/bollywood_in_africa/

 

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Nollywood Star Tricia Esiegbe Tackles Child Sex Abuse with The Psychologist

 Tricia Esiegbe Kerry. 


Nollywood Star Tricia Esiegbe Tackles Child Sex Abuse with The Psychologist

~ By Husseini Shaibu


Having made name as an actress and show host of the popular television magazine programme Bold Faces, popular Nollywood actress Tricia Esiegbe Kerry has stepped out and this time her interest is in helping to prevent the further spread of the crimes of child sexual abuse. 

Tricia called from London to say that her foundation, Boldfaces International is set to enlighten the populace about pedophiles. To achieve this, Tricia who made a name as the lead actor of the successful home video Samadora disclosed that the Boldfaces Foundation has introduced a public awareness programme on child abuse called "The Psychologist". According to her, the programme aims at ‘’preventing the sexual abuse of children and to encourage victims of child sexual abuse to come out and tell their stories via our television talk-show programme. 
Tricia said:  “ we intend to use the platform of ‘The Psychologist’’ to address child sexual molestation in our society, to expose sexual predators and create a support platform for victims of child molestation, and to get the authorities to do more to support our children’’. 

Scheduled to go on air soon, ‘The Psychologist’ is designed as a 30 minutes television talk show programme and it will feature a special segment called Brave Seat of Change which will week in, week out feature real life stories of people that have experienced child molestation whilst growing up.  As Tricia further explained: ‘’we have identified, refined and produced an effective television programme that will help mobilize adults, families and communities to take actions towards protecting children before they are harmed. Our stories are real life heart breaking stories of people that have experienced child sexual molestation while growing up.  We have a team of researchers that source for true-life stories on Child Sexual Abuse and Molestation. The programme is reconstructed by actors who play out these true-life stories’’. 

However Tricia said Boldfaces International Foundation would not be doing this all alone. She disclosed partnership with several institutions including the Nigerian Police. Presently managed by Tricia & Kingsley Kerry and specialist consultants drawn from various fields of expertise. Boldfaces International Foundation was established a few years back to advocate for the sexually abused children and victims, and provide evidence-based information to policymakers, media and advocacy groups. The foundation provide consulting and training services to professionals, organizations, coalitions, and community-based programs on strategies, policies and practices for preventing child sexual abuse. And as part of strategic partnerships, the foundation consults on long term with groups that are adapting key elements of our adult-responsibility. 

‘’We intend to provide books for individuals, families and communities on how to prevent child sexual abuse before children are harmed - and to get help for everyone involved’’ Tricia surmised.


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Influencing Muslims: The 500 Most Influential Muslims

 The Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar university in Cairo, Ahmad al Tayyeb, has been named the most influential Muslim in the world, according to a new survey.

2 Dec 2013 07:00 Africa/Lagos


 Influencing Muslims: The 500 Most Influential Muslims

 AMMAN, Jordan, December 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Latest annual release of 'The Muslim 500' highlights those world's most influential Muslims and highlight changes going on in the Muslim world.

2012 was the widely considered to be the high mark in the history of Islamists movements. The Muslim Brotherhood parties won both the elections in Tunisia and Egypt, Erdogan had easily won a reelection in Turkey, the Syrian government seemed to be at the heels of a collapse, mainly at the hands of Brotherhood-led rebels and the Moroccan parliamentary elections were easily won by the primary Islamists party.
     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131202/655254 )


Within one year all that has changed.
Both Islamist-lead parties in Egypt and Tunisia have been replaced, Prime Minister Erdogan faced massive protests in Turkey, and even the embattled Assad has made a military comeback and now seems closer to winning the civil war. In Bangladesh the International Tribunal Court has found many top leaders of the Islamist Jamaat i-Islami party guilty of war crimes for their roles in the 1973 civil war. In Bangladesh and Egypt the Islamist parties have been banned in some form. All over the world Islamists movements are taking a huge hit.


What a difference a year makes.
Covering these changes, and much more, is 'The Muslim 500', an annual publication of the five-hundred most influential Muslims in the world. The 2013/14 issue, edited once again by Professor Emeritus S. Abdallah Schleifer of the American University in Cairo, has just been released and is available for free download at www.TheMuslim500.com.


Decline of the Islamists
While the 2012 edition highlighted the ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood with many of their leaders shooting up the list, the latest edition records its fall. Dropped from the top of the list are the following Egyptian leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood: Dr Mohammed Badie, President Morsi, Khairat Al-Shater and the scholar Sheikh Al-Qaradawi. Also demoted was the Qatar emir Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani, a significant supporter of the Brotherhood who abdicated the throne, and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the MB who dropped from second to sixth.


New #1 at the Top
At the top of the list this year is Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, head of Al-Azhar, the world's largest and most revered Sunni educational institute with nearly 2 million students directly under its patronage and hundreds of schools and universities all over the world under its influence. His position essentially makes him the guardian of traditional Sunni orthodoxy. This pick marks the first time in the five years of publication that the powerful King Abdullah Al-Saud didn't make the #1 mark (he's now listed as #2). Sheikh Al-Tayyeb's leadership of this massive institute has kept him in the top 10 previously but this year Al-Azhar faced some of the biggest challenges ever to the orthodox nature of the 1,036 year-old university, considered by most to be the world's oldest continuously-operating university. Al-Tayyeb's astute decision making over the past couple of years have preserved the traditional approach of Al-Azhar which faced threats from Islamists and Salafis in the tumultuous years that have followed Mubarak's fall. His public support of General Al-Sisi's coup also gave it a strong religious grounding that was necessary for it to achieve the legitimacy needed to prevent a civil war, effectively making him a "king-maker" and cementing his place at the top of the list.


New additions
Amongst the list of new additions to the list are Malala Yousufzai, the teenage advocate for women's education; President Hasan Rouhani, the new president of Iran; Nawaz Sharif, the new Prime Minister of Pakistan; Dr Bassem Yousef, the "Jon Stewart of the Middle East"; Habib Lutfi Yahya, a popular Indonesian preacher; Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, the leader of a growing Shia movement in Nigeria; Nouman Ali Khan, the popular American preacher, and dozens more.


Changes
The 2013/14 edition also added a new section; 'Major Events' that provides a timeline of the major events that have taken place over the past year. They also announced that publishers from Turkey and Indonesia will be translating and publishing this issue of The Muslim 500, making it accessible to a large number of non-English speakers.


How Influence is Measured
Determining influence can be quite difficult. Aftab Ahmed, Editor-at-large of the publication states that it "is of course the most challenging aspect of the publication, and the one where opinions diverge the most. Influence can sometimes be gauged on a quantitative basis, the number of people influenced, the number of books written, the amount of sales etc., but more often it is related to the qualitative and lasting effect of that influence." In fact the publication differs quite a bit from other annual lists in that the achievements of a lifetime are given more weight than achievements within the current year. This means that the list of names changes gradually, rather than dramatically, year-on-year.


Criticisms
Each year the publication generates a ton of both praise and criticism, some of which comes simply misunderstanding the book's purpose. Some have mistakenly understood that the list considers piety as a main criteria or that the publication supports each individual. However Ahmed noted that "impact can be either positive or negative, depending on one's point of view of course. The selection of people for this publication in no way means that we endorse their views; rather we are simply trying to measure their influence. The influence can be of a religious scholar directly addressing Muslims and influencing their beliefs, ideas and behaviour, or it can be of a ruler shaping the socio-economic factors within which people live their lives, or of artists shaping popular culture."


Another critique of the publication is that the top of the list is dominated by political and religious scholars. Ahmed responded to the critique by noting the tremendous impact heads of states have in many Muslim countries, saying "their dominant and lasting influence cannot be denied, especially the rulers, who in many cases also appoint religious scholars to their respective positions."


This doesn't discount the significant amount of influence from other sectors of society. The publication selects Muslim individuals from a range of categories of influence, thirteen in total: Scholarly, Political, Administration of Religious Affairs, Preachers and Spiritual Guides, Philanthropy/Charity and Development, Social Issues, Business, Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, Qur'an Reciters, Media, Celebrities and Sports Stars and Extremists.


About The Muslim 500
This publication sets out to ascertain the influence some Muslims have on the Muslim community, or on behalf of the community. Influence is: any person who has the power (be it cultural, ideological, financial, political or otherwise) to make a change that will have a significant impact on the Muslim world (there are 1.7 billion Muslims in the world today, making up approximately 23% of the world's population, or over one-fifth of mankind). Over the past few years The Muslim 500 has been covered by major international news media outlets such as the Huffington Post, NPR, the Guardian, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Reuters, and more. It is published each year by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre based out of Amman, Jordan.


Press Contacts
Besim Bruncaj,
Outreach Manager for TheMuslim500.com
Email: info@rissc.jo

Related Links
http://www.TheMuslim500.com
http://www.rissc.jo

CONTACT: +962-(0)65344672

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16:51	Aberdeen Emerging Markets Smaller Company Opportunities Fund, Inc.(1) Announces Performance Data And Portfolio Composition
10:52	E-learning : LA BAD et l'Université virtuelle africaine misent sur l'enseignement en ligne
06:43	Nigeria and UK Sign Energy Pathways Calculator Agreement
00:49	AfDB Launches the 2013 African Economic Outlook in Khartoum, Sudan
26 Nov 2013
17:16	ICIS Reports that Asian LNG Prices Surge Amid Fierce Winter Competition
14:49	Trend Analysis Scan: Synovus Financial, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Facebook Inc, J.C. Penney Company, Citigroup
13:00	Bristow Group To Present At The Cowen And Company Third Annual Ultimate Energy Conference
11:59	Lord West Speaks on Snowden at the Security in Challenging Environments Week
06:35	Lincoln University Alumni Group Seeks to Bring Jobs And Tourism to Chester County!

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South Korean Feature Film Shot On Smartphone To Hit Theaters

When Park Chan-wook showcased 'Night Fishing,' the Berlinale-winning short, shot with a smartphone in 2011, the South Korean filmmaker realized Spike Lee 's 2008 prediction that "within five years, new movies will be ..


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