Monday, November 13, 2017

Andela Raises $40M To Connect Africa's Engineering Talent With Global Technology Companies


Andela Raises $40M To Connect Africa's Engineering Talent With Global Technology Companies

NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Andela, the company that builds high-performing engineering teams with Africa's most talented software developers, today announced that the company has secured $40M in Series C funding. The investment was led by pan-African venture firm CRE Venture Capital with participation from DBL Partners, Amplo, Salesforce Ventures, and Africa-focused TLcom Capital. Existing investors, including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, and Spark Capital, also participated. The round, which marks one of the largest investments ever led by an African venture firm into an Africa-based company, brings Andela's total venture funding to just over $80M.

Friday, November 10, 2017

First BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Summit in Nigeria



First BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Summit in Nigeria

Johnny Amoo, Nigeria Country Manager of Mobi Hunter, Sarah Nolte, Senior Business Development Manager, BBM Content and Marketing, Timothy Lambrechts, CEO/Co-Founder of Mobi Hunter and John Butler, Africa Regional Director of BBM at the first BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Event on Friday, November 10, 2017 at the Protea Hotel Ikeja, Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, Nigeria.


The first BBM Messenger Digital and Mobile Innovation Summit in Nigeria was held Friday afternoon at the Protea Hotel Ikeja, Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.
The event was attended by journalists, techies and leading digital innovators; including Adam Pattison, BBM Messenger, VP Americas and EMEA, Timothy Lambrechts, ‎CEO-Co Founder of Mobi Hunter, Elsie Oluku, CRO of Ariiyatickets.com, Simeon Ononobi, Founder and CEO of SimplePay and Charles Ifedi, Divisional CEO of Interswitch among others.

Nigeria Ranked 31 in EF English Proficiency Index 2017

Nigerian woman at the British Council office. Photo Credit: British Council.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of more than 180 million people and the largest democracy in the continent where English is the official language has been ranked 31st among 80 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index 2017. 
South Africa is the only African country ranked in the top 10 countries.

EF's Global Ranking of English Skills Shows Netherlands Still on Top 

ZURICH, November 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Global survey of over one million adults maps worldwide trends in English proficiency

The Netherlands still has the world's best non-native English speakers, according to the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) released today by EF Education First. This year's EF EPI results were first announced at a reception in the U.K.'s House of Commons.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

The Best Performing State Governor in Nigeria


The best performing state governor in Nigeria, Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday added another feat to his administration’s achievements in the education sector with the commissioning of another Elementary school, St. Augustine’s Government Elementary School, Ipetumodu, in Ife North Local Government Area of the state.


Read more on
http://www.nairaland.com/4166750/aregbesola-commissions-st-augustines-government.

RECOMMENDED BOOK

The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream: My Testimony on the 2015 Presidential Election
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Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Video: About 151,000 Migrants Crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, 2,800 Died


The trip across the Mediterranean is deadly — about 58 percent of the refugees who have died this year during their cross-border migration have drowned in the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration.


A top Salerno official, Salvatore Malfi, called the discovery a tragedy and told AFP authorities will “need to see whether there are suspects to concentrate on or whether the murder inquiry will proceed against persons unknown.”

Malfi said the girls may have been thrown off their rubber dinghy into the waters of the Mediterranean, according to NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli. “The cause of death appears to be by drowning.”

Women are more likely to drown because they cannot swim as well as men or because they sit on the lower levels of the vessels carrying them, away from life jackets, according to a 2012 study published in SAGE. Women might also try to rescue their children from drowning, putting them at greater risk of death.

The Spanish ship managed Sunday to rescue 90 women and 52 minors, including a newborn, officials told CNN. The rescue was one of four that altogether saved about 400 people over the course of the weekend.

So far this year through Nov. 1, about 151,000 migrants survived the journey across the Mediterranean to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration. Almost 75 percent of those migrants — about 111,500 people — landed in Italy, with the rest reaching the shores of Greece, Cyprus and Spain. More than 2,800 migrants have died attempting the journey.
Click here to read the complete report.

President Kagame and Tony Elumelu to headline Young Entrepreneurship Day at the Africa 2017 Forum

President Kagame and Tony Elumelu to headline Young Entrepreneurship Day at the Africa 2017 Forum
The Young Entrepreneurship Day will bring together some of Africa’s most promising entrepreneurs with investors and new partners to help them scale up their ideas and businesses and the most successful start-ups will gain access to a deal room and also a one week tailored course at Stanford

H. E. Paul Kagame President, Republic of Rwanda.
Tony O. Elumelu, CON. Chairman and Founder, Heirs Holdings and Tony Elumelu Foundation.

CAIRO, Egypt, November 8, 2017/APO Group/ -- HE Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and chairman of Smart Africa, and Tony Elumelu, Founder of the $100m Entrepreneurship Programme, will be headlining the Young Entrepreneurship Day (YED) at the Africa 2017 Forum (www.BusinessForAfricaForum.com).
The YED is a new addition to the Forum and will take place on the eve of Africa 2017, on the 7th December. It has been designed to connect some of Africa’s most promising entrepreneurs and also give them exposure to investors, incubators and accelerators as well as to partake in workshops that will give them the skills and tools to scale up their businesses.

World Bank’s Praise of Nigeria’s Economic Reforms


World Bank’s Praise of Nigeria’s Economic Reforms
Nigeria’s recent ranking by World Bank, evidence of productive collaboration anchored by FG's ease of doing business initiative

ABUJA, Nigeria, November 8, 2017/APO Group/ -- Remarks by the Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo San at the Ease of Doing Business Stakeholders’ Engagement Forum at the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Hall, Abuja on November 7, 2017:
Protocols

I must congratulate the PEBEC team and the reform leaders in particular for this important milestone in the journey to making Nigeria one of the most attractive destinations for business in the world.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Nollywood and the French Connection


Nollywood and the French Connection

The emergence of Nollywood, the phenomenal Nigerian video film industry which is the largest in the world by the production of home videos has generated diverse interests and pursuits in many reports and studies since the New York Times coined the name “Nollywood” in 2002. But many people are ignorant of the important and significant role played by the French government before the support of other foreign governments and even before the financial support of the Nigerian government in the sustainable development of Nollywood.

The leading filmmakers whose films have contributed to the global phenomenon of Nollywood have been supported with grants from the Fonds Images Afrique of the Cooperation and Cultural Action Department in the French Embassy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France.
Majority of them are notable members of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) when Monsieur Pierre Barrot was the Regional Cultural Attaché in charge of audiovisual media in the French Embassy in Nigeria (2002-2006). He had a good official rapport with the association and got the financial support of the French government. He saw the making of Nollywood which he gave his eyewitness accounts in Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria, one of the first books on Nollywood he coauthored and co edited, published by the Indiana University Press in February 16, 2009.

Monsieur Pierre Barrot.

“Excellent, attractive, and valuable . . . the phenomenon has become so huge and the videos have spread so widely in Africa and elsewhere that they have begun to attract a good deal of attention. This book is a superb introduction to the subject.”
~ Prof. Jonathan Haynes, Long Island University.

Monday, November 6, 2017

Aliko Dangote Foundation Pledges US$100 Million To Fight Malnutrition in Nigeria


PRESS RELEASE
Aliko Dangote Foundation Joins Global Leaders to Fight Malnutrition - Pledges US$100 Million for Nigeria

The Aliko Dangote Foundation is on a mission to reduce the prevalence of undernutrition by 60 percent in the most needy areas of Nigeria, specifically the North East and North West
LAGOS, Nigeria, November 6, 2017/ -- The recently concluded Global Nutrition Summit 2017 (http://APO.af/kpSRbS), held in Milan, Italy, convened governments, international agencies, foundations, civil society organisations and businesses to accelerate the global response to malnutrition, an underlying cause of nearly half of all global child deaths.

A major highlight of the Summit was the pledge by the Aliko Dangote Foundation to invest US$100 Million over five years to tackle malnutrition in the worst-affected parts of Nigeria. The Aliko Dangote Foundation is the philanthropic organization of Aliko Dangote, founder and Executive Chairman of the Dangote Group (http://Dangote.com), Africa’s largest homegrown conglomerate.

Nigerian Startups Among 20 Top African Start-Ups for World Bank Group Digital Acceleration Program



PRESS RELEASE
20 Top African Start-Ups Enter World Bank Group Digital Acceleration Program

Selected from a pool of over 900 applicants, these start-ups specialize in digital solutions for the African market, including fin-tech, transportation, health care, education, human resources, and B2B
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 6, 2017/ -- Twenty of the most promising African digital start-ups will take part in the XL Africa (www.XL-Africa.com) residency, the flagship initiative of the business accelerator launched last April by the World Bank Group’s (www.WorldBank.org) infoDev program. From Nov. 6-17 in Cape Town, the entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to learn from their mentors and peers, increase their regional visibility, and get access to potential corporate partners and investors.

The residency will conclude with the XL Africa Venture Showcase, a regional event organized in association with the African Angel Investor Summit, in which the entrepreneurs will present their business models to a select audience of corporations and investors. With support from African investment groups, XL Africa will help the start-ups attract early stage capital between US$250,000 and US$1.5 million.