1WEF Comes to Africa

Ethiopia has been confirmed as the first country in Africa to host the World Economic Forum’s Annual International meeting, in 2020, it is usually hosted at Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The founder of the forum, Prof Klaus Schwab and Prime Minister, Mr. Abiy Ahmed discussed the importance of a collaborative approach among government, the private sector and civil societies in addressing key global challenges.

SOURCES: CGTN Africa

2Angola Bans Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

The country has dropped the divisive “vices against nature” provision in its law, widely interpreted to be a ban on homosexual conduct. Taking things one step further, the government has also prohibited discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation. And so anyone refusing to employ or provide services to individuals based on their sexual orientation may face up to two years in prison. Parliament adopted its first new penal code since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and removed the provision, inherited from its Portuguese colonizers.

SOURCES: Human Rights Watch

3This is the Third-largest Venture Investment Ever for an African Startup

Andela, a firm which uses African computer programmers to work remotely for US corporations, has secured $100m in investment. The funding comes from Generation Investment Management – a firm run by the former US Vice-President Al Gore. The technology company says it intends to use part of the funding to improve its software to spot talented programmers and monitor the performance of their workers. Andela has tech campuses in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

SOURCES: Bloomberg

4Kabila’s Parting Words

In a brief address, Kabila urged the Congolese people to unite in a “grand coalition” against what he called the “predatory forces that will band together to monopolize our natural resources.” Kabila congratulated Tshisekedi, son of the late opposition leader Etienne, who had posed such a charismatic challenge that after he died in Belgium in 2017, Congo’s government did not allow his body to be brought home. His son’s spokesman has said that will be corrected once Felix Tshisekedi takes office.

SOURCES: VOA

5How Africa is Leading the Drone Industry

Drones have become more than just cool-looking flying objects. They are now one of the world’s most publicized and intriguing technologies. African countries are embracing drone technology, and in doing so are helping to boost the industry by stimulating innovation for a wide range of uses, from journalism through agriculture to humanitarian aid work.

SOURCES: iAfrica

6The Tale of Senegal’s Conjoined Twins

Their fight for life has taken them from Dakar to Wales. Marieme and Ndeye are two years and eight months; they live in Cardiff, having moved with their father, Ibrahima Ndiaye, 50, from their birth place of Senegal. It’s been a journey of hardship, with the family swapping a prosperous existence for one of hostels and food banks. The girls are now safe, but a shadow looms.

SOURCES: BBC

7Female Candidate in the Nigeria Presidential Race Withdraws

One of the main candidates in next month’s Nigerian presidential election has stepped down because she says she wants to form a broader coalition to defeat the two main parties. Oby Ezekwesili is well known for leading the #BringBackOurGirls campaign to help free the 276 girls kidnapped from Chibok, northern Nigeria, in 2014. She co-founded Transparency International and has served as the education minister and vice-president of the World Bank.

SOURCES: Al Jazeera

8Cameroon Backs New Technology Hub

It will be called “Cameroon Silicon River” to be situatedin its capital city Yaoundé, the move has already raised eyebrows because the country already has a thriving ecosystem in the country’s southwest region. The new tech hub is modeled after Buea’s Silicon Mountain, which lies in the Anglophone area, and will take a sizable portion of Cameroon’s $20.6 million 2019 budget.  Cameroon’s ministry of scientific research and innovation says it will be a platform for research and innovation where young, creative, and enterprising Cameroonian software developers and other technologists will have the infrastructure and support. Tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Mountain have often complained of systematic neglect by the government.

SOURCES: Quartz Africa

9Can the DRC’s New Administration Save this Species?

The country is one of the most biodiverse places in Africa and home to an almost-mythical mammal that few people have ever seen. The striped okapi is often described as half-zebra, half-giraffe, so rare is the okapi, that it was unknown to the western world until the turn of the 20th century. While the okapi is virtually unheard of in the West, its image pervades life in the Democratic Republic of Congo gracing cigarette packets, plastic water bottles, and even the back of rumpled Congolese Francs. The okapi is to the Congo what the giant panda is to China or the kangaroo to Australia. But decades of misrule under a succession of dictators has seen much of the Congo’s natural resources spin out of the government’s control, and okapi numbers fall by 50% since 1995.

SOURCES: CNN

10This South African Port Town is Shedding its Reputation as a Cultural Desert

A growing number of creative professionals are picking Port Elizabeth over bigger South African cities. Though naturally beautiful, affordable and relatively traffic-free, Port Elizabeth has long suffered a reputation as a cultural desert compared to Cape Town or Johannesburg. But incentives offered by the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) — a joint initiative between the municipality and the government-owned Industrial Development Corp. — and the example set by entrepreneurs are combining to allow the city to finally shake off that image.

SOURCES: Ozy

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