The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), together with the European Travel Commission (ETC) launched a new report on health tourism. Part of their joint research programme, the study is the first attempt to set a coherent conceptualisation of health tourism and define the motivations behind travellers looking for health-related services. Health, wellness and medical tourism have grown…
If you’re prone to losing car keys, the latest-generation Hyundai Santa Fe just going on sale in China is for you. It offers buyers the option of using a fingerprint detector that can open the vehicle and turn on its engine, rendering car keys as necessary as a landline. Touch one of the SUV’s biometric sensors…
MTN Uganda has today announced that it has completed (the final) Phase 3 which has seen UTL being switched on, making MTN the first telco in Uganda to fully comply with the Bank of Uganda initiative. This year 2017, Bank of Uganda directed all Mobile Money operations in Uganda to be interoperable between the telecommunications…
Bharti Airtel has decided to sell a further 32% stake in Bharti Infratel, valued at close to Rs 15,500 crore, to create a war chest to bolster its countrywide 4G networks and counter Reliance Jio Infocomm. Separately, the Sunil Mittal-led telco on Thursday also appointed a panel to explore various other fundraising options, and named Badal Bagri as…
Kenya’s mobile phone penetration crested the 100 per cent mark, says the Communications Authority of Kenya. It joins Morocco, Namibia and Tunisia, the only countries in Africa to achieve the milestone. The first quarter sector statistics report for the financial year 2018/2019 by CA shows that the mobile penetration – the total number of active…
Zimbabwe is too far for many people to visit, but 37-year-old Tawanda Kanhema grew up here (Zimbabwe) before moving to the United States. Thanks to Kanhema, though, you’ll soon be able to play virtual tourist, thanks to his work and the magic of Google Street View, Kanhema, who left the country to study journalism and documentary film-making…
TelOne is forecasting an 8 percent jump in revenue to $128 million this year, driven by broadband and data revenue, which have been performing relatively well throughout the year. The revenue is expected to rise by $10 million from last year’s $118 million. TelOne managing director Mrs Chipo Mtasa, recently said the revenue is anticipated…
The labour court has issued an order, with the consent of ex-Vodacom employees, to enforce their restraints of trade after reports emerged in November that they were working with rival MTN South Africa. Vodacom said in a statement on Friday that it was “forced” to bring an application requesting the labour court to find that by being employees…
iflix, the leading entertainment service for emerging markets, is pleased to confirm the sale of the rest of its African business to Econet Global Limited. iflix first announced the launch of its service in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in June 2017. Following eight months of rapid growth, the company joined forces with Econet Global Limited, which saw…
The Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (“CHRDA”) (https://CHRDA.org) is stunned by the trends of events in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon and by the degeneration of events tending to affect neighboUring Francophone Region of the West Region. Because of these, CHRDA alerts the government of an impending hate crime,…
By Phillip Ngwalongwalo Rising rapper Pascal Mushore, 21, better known as Mc Skettoh is one of the most promising upcoming Zim-Hip-hop talents in Harare. The upcoming rapper has not looked back since he dropped his first song titled Jiva, 7 years ago. Mc Sketto also released two singles No love and Rimwe level which features…
Christmas has come early for MTN Group. The telecommunications operator’s shares are likely to soar when markets reopen on Thursday in Johannesburg after it announced late on Monday that it has settled a multibillion-dollar dispute in Nigeria. It will pay just US$53.2-million (about R777-million) in a settlement with Nigeria’s central bank, a tiny fraction of the…
A ZTE foldable smartphone described in a patent application that was recently uncovered describes a device which is pretty much, in concept, similar to Samsung’s foldable smartphone. We’re talking about a tablet that folds into a phone (or a phone that folds out into a tablet). It features a flexible display and allows the phone to unfold into a…
President of the MDC Alliance, Advocate Nelson Chamisa on 24 December 2018 made spot visits to several places in the City of Harare where he spoke to citizens and assessed the plight of the Zimbabwean people. Chamisa spoke to people aboard several buses including those with peripheral destinations, buses that were headed to Gokwe, Chiredzi,…
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed a financing agreement with Securiport SUARL, Senegal, to provide Securiport with a $15-million term loan to finance the design, construction and commissioning of a civil aviation and immigration security system for the Juba International Airport in South Sudan. The facility, which was approved for five years, will assist South Sudan…
Naspers, the South African investment giant, is back at it in India! Days after backing educational startup Byju’s by leading a $540 million investment, it has led a $1 billion investment in food delivery company Swiggy. The new round sees Chinese internet and Naspers ally Tencent join the party, alongside fellow new investors Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management…
Discord Inc., which makes chat software popular among videogame players, said it is now valued at $2.05 billion after a new funding round, the startup’s second this year as it expands its footprint into sales and subscriptions in the fast-growing game industry. Greenoaks Capital led the negotiations with Firstmark, Tencent, IVP, Index Ventures and Know-how Alternative…
Zimbabwe’s Postal and Telecommunications sector registered a 9,2 percent revenue growth in the third quarter to September, 2018 on the back on increased usage of data and internet. In its Postal Telecommunication Sector Performance report for the third quarter, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) said turnover grew to $435 million from…
Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore has said the telco is expanding its M-Pesa systems to take 1,200 transactions per second. In a statement, he attributed the recent outage that lasted four hours to the system upgrade. Latest Communications Authority telecommunication sector statistics shows that Safaricom carried out 575,660,251 M-Pesa transactions, moving at least Sh1.58 trillion between…
Liquid Telecom South Africa to provide wholesale open access roaming services to network operators starting early 2019 Liquid Telecom South Africa, part of the leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, today announced that it will establish a multi-billion Rand 4G network in South Africa. From early 2019, wholesale roaming services will be made available across…
Tendai Guvamombe and Michael Mashiri Free Zim Congress is determined to walk the talk in bringing to an end to all socio-economic challenges bedevilling the nation which the current government dismally failed to address, Party President Joseph Makamba Busha revealed. Addressing members of the media fraternity at a press conference held in the capital today,…
Strive Masiyiwa, Econet Wireless founder, this week consolidated his position as one of Zimbabwe’s richest investors after his fintech company, Cassava Smartech (CSZL), became the most valuable counter by market value on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) when the company listed on the ZSE through an initial public offering. Masiyiwa, whose Econet Wireless Global group controls…
People with disabilities have been sidelined in many activities in the areas of development and there is need for empowering them and ensuring that they are included in every aspect of life, Honourable Senator Joyce Timire has said. Addressing hundreds of people who were commemorating the International Day for People with Disabilities yesterday that…
The Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck J M Sibanda and the UN Resident Coordinator Mr Bishow Parajuli signed a USD 3.15 million agreement allocated by the UN Secretary-General to kick-start Peace Building Fund for Zimbabwe. The Fund is part of the UN Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres’ initiatives of Peace…
The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority is proud to have its subsidiary, ARDA Seeds, that is providing seeds as a critical input to ensure bumper harvests for all farmers countrywide. Speaking to Spiked Online Media, Jemitius Mukiwa, an ARDA marketing executive said ARDA SEEDS (Pvt) LTD is a registered private company wholly owned subsidiary of Agricultural…
Users of KCB M-Pesa will now get top-up loans, enabling customers to borrow several times within the credit limit assigned to them without being required to first clear outstanding balances. This is an upgrade to the old KCB-M-Pesa system where borrowers could only take another loan after clearing the outstanding balances. The top-up capability is…
Digital mobile lending in Kenya is a space that is ever-growing, whether the motivation is to push for financial inclusion or to simply provide a service in a neglected space, what’s constant is that the sector is ever-growing. As of September this year, there were over 50 mobile loan facilities, including M-Shwari and KCB M-Pesa. A report by FSD…
By Michael Mashiri The Government appears to be concentrating on strengthening its power and fighting political enemies than doing away with political corruption, Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) official has said. At a press conference held in the Harare yesterday, Mr Bekezela Gumbo, the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute Principal Researcher said, from the research they had conducted,…
During the two weeks of the conference, the African Development Bank assumed its role as primary champion of African interests and a steadfast supporter of African negotiators The curtain has fallen on COP24 (www.COP24afdb.org), this year’s global climate summit held in Katowice, Poland. However, negotiations continued throughout the weekend to reach agreement on specific parts of the…
Kwesé iflix has partnered media company, BusTop TV in coming up with a comedy series, Comic Tick, on the Kwesé iflix platform. Comic Tick features Zimbabwe’s finest stand-up comedians. The first season has 10 episodes and features stand-up comedians Doc Vikela, Mandla Da Comedian and C’skhanyiso Dat Guy among others. In each episode, viewers will get…
MTN Group has announced the appointment of several executives, including the position of Chief Technology & Information Officer and Executive for Corporate Services & Sustainability. Charles Molapisi has been appointed as the company’s Group Chief Technology and Information Officer, effective 1 January 2019. His appointment follows Babak Fouladi’s resignation from the company to take up…
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas…Guess what? DStv is giving lower-tiered subscribers an early Christmas gift by opening up some of the premium channels during the end-of-year and beginning-of-2019 festive period. From Tuesday, 18 December until Friday, 4 January 2019, SuperSport 1 (DStv 201) is being made available to DStv Compact Plus, DStv Compact, DStv Family,…
Cassava SmarTech Zimbabwe made history on 18 December 2018 when it debuted in the market at a price of $1,50 per share, valuing the company at $3,8 billion. It immediately became Zimbabwe’s third most valuable company after Delta and Econet Wireless (its now telecoms only, sister company). By any measure this is easily the largest…
Naspers and Canada’s state pension fund have invested $540 million (R7.77 billion) in Indian educational technology startup Byju’s. Bengaluru-based Byju’s launched a learning app in 2015 that offers tools for school students in India, a country with the world’s largest number of children in primary education. The latest investment values the firm at around $3.6…
BMW has joined a handful of automakers to compete with transportation upstart Didi Chuxing, which bought Uber’s Chinese business in 2016. BMW has become one of the first foreign companies to be granted a ride-hailing operating license in China. Last Friday, the German luxury carmaker launched a premium ride-hailing service in Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan…
New study by Malabo Montpellier Panel finds potential to expand irrigation across 47 million hectares in Africa, and boost agricultural productivity, livelihoods and economic growth. Helping more farmers to access and use irrigation systems holds the key to African countries meeting hunger and food security targets, a new report sets out. Food production in Africa…
The African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) initiative is a platform for high-level advocacy and engagement to advance nutrition in Africa, endorsed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the African Union (AU) The African Leaders for Nutrition on Monday inaugurated Ghana’s first lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo as a Nutrition Champion, acknowledging her work…
DStv customers can look forward to enjoying their favourite kids and general entertainment channels, Cartoon Network and TNT, in high-definition from 18 December. As part of its ongoing commitment towards re-imagining television for its African audiences, Turner will launch its first high-definition channels, Cartoon Network and TNT, on 18 December on DStv in Africa. …
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s fintech business Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe Limited (CSZL) will be listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) tomorrow. This comes after regulatory approvals to spin off the telecoms giant’s smart technology and financial technology businesses under a new holding company CSZL. The company controls 100 percent of Steward Bank, 100 percent EcoCash Limited,…
By Miriam Zvomuya Under the Mayor’s Cheer Fund, Councillor Herbert Gomba gave donations to three Council Hospitals targeting mothers with newly born babies and people suffering from infectious diseases. Donations to patients are usually done at the end of each year to patients for Christmas through the Mayor’s Cheer Fund. The Mayor said,”This year we…
Rapper Belax has come up with a new Hip Hop song “I pray” which is a departure from the usual “diss” culture comm0n among that genre. Hip Hop is becoming a popular genre among the youths and in Zimbabwe it is set to compete with Zim Dancehall. Music critic and journalist, Jonathan Mbiriyamveka, praised Belanz…
By Michael Mashiri The Government’s function in any sector, including media is to be a modulator and not a participant, a Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) official has said. Speaking at a roundtable dialogue feedback meeting that was held in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations National Coordinator Vivian Marara said…
By Tendai Guvamombe In order to curb challenges ranging from economic turmoils to global warming effects, investing in the vibrant young blood will be a wisest solution, a Boost Fellowship meeting has revealed In Zimbabwe, the Boost Fellowship (BF) under the support of UNICEF is working towards a global youth initiative trending as Generation Unlimited…
Africa must unlock the power of its women and girls if it is to adapt to climate change, cope with disasters and build its green energy sector By Special Correspondent That is the message from African delegates as the world prepares to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change in Katowice, Poland, this week. Research…
By Byron Mutingwende Three young scholars are heading for Oxford University after they were selected for the prestigious 2019 Zimbabwe Rhodes Scholarship. The Rhodes Scholarship identifies young talented individuals (25 years and below) who would have excelled academically and shown leadership, strong intellect, character and commitment to service. Speaking soon after the…
