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Dr LinkUp: The African startup connecting the continent’s doctors

21 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Featured

Doctors in African-American Community

Dr LinkUp is a startup company that aims to help doctors around Africa support each other.

Dr LinkUp is a Senegalese startup company that is only a year old, and yet it offers a unique platform for the African market. While social media is a global phenomenon, Dr LinkUp provides a network specifically for doctors, within Africa, to contact each other and discuss medical issues. The goal is to provide a platform for doctors to seek help from one another, and to therefore improve the service that they provide.

A founder dedicated to healthcare

Dr LinkUp was founded by Caamo Kane, a 32 year-old woman of Senegalese-American heritage. Kane studied “Gender Studies and Public Health of Women” in the United States, and after completing her MBA, she returned to her father’s home of Senegal to enroll at medical school. Kane had already involved herself closely in health initiatives within Senegal well before she devised her idea for Dr LinkUp.

After seeing how poor many of the services were for pregnant women in Senegal’s capital, Dakur, Kane embarked upon a fund raising campaign to transform the maternity facilities at the Centre de Santé Philippe Maguilene Senghor in Dakur.

When interviewed about the project at the time, Kane had said, “I see the health center as a pilot project. We are planning to do some interesting and innovative things.”

Doctor using Dr Linkup

Doctor using Dr Linkup

Of the innovative ideas that Kane alluded to, Dr LinkUp is her most recent venture: launching in May 2015 and within weeks of its launch, hundreds of medical professionals had registered. Kane hopes that by creating a support network of experts, doctors can improve their own services, and help each other discuss pertinent issues. The exchange of information is of notable worth during sudden outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as the recent Ebola epidemic.

Sharing ideas and information

Dr LinkUp allows doctors and medical students across Africa to ask questions and share experiences online. This should allow specialists to help general practitioners with specific queries, but it also provides forums for debate. Doctors can discuss different ideas on treatments and as people challenge one another, so the range of ideas available to all is broadened.

Moreover, the space gives members the ability to upload medical literature from around the world, which may not be easily accessible within certain regions. The forums are divided into various categories, such as cardiology, medical imaging and public health. The wider the network grows, the greater the sum of knowledge there is for any given doctor to draw upon. Patients will benefit from seeing doctors who have access to the expertise and experiences of numerous other physicians from around the continent.

Kane hopes that 2016 will continue to see the service grow, commenting “We want to involve up to 3,000 African doctors in our debates online, and help them better care for their patients.”

Working with others

As Dr LinkUp looks to expand its e-health services, Kane has embraced outside support in order to grow the company. The tech startup incubator Upstart was approached, in order to help Kane establish connections with other nascent companies, where mutually beneficial relationships could be established. Kane agreed to work with another startup inside Upstart, which she claims provided additional skills to support Dr LinkUp’s early days. Kane explained that such cooperation saved her valuable time, and allowed her to “stay focused on the acquisition and retention of new users.”

Dr LinkUp is a first for Senegal, and Kane aims to not only continue growing the professional network of medical experts, but to produce a series of web videos on the world of medicine. The hope is that some of the web series could go viral on other social media outlets, thus broadening the reach of its educational output, and heightening attention to important issues.

Kane’s experience in helping improve the education of midwives and doctors in Dakar should surely stand her in good stead, as she attempts to create a focus on educational support within Africa’s medical community. Whether it’s dealing with long standing health problems, or tackling sudden dilemmas in a given region, communication and education are evidently essential components to improving healthcare in Africa.

Kane summed up the core principles that motivate her: “I’m passionate about women’s health and wellbeing, preserving the environment, community service, entrepreneurship.”

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SABMiller sales hurt by economic volatility in Africa

21 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Brewer SABMiller, in the process of being bought by Anheuser-Busch InBev, reported lower quarterly revenue on Thursday, hurt by tough conditions in some African markets.

The maker of beers such as Castle Lager, Peroni and Grolsch said group net revenue fell 4 percent in its first quarter, ended June 30, with volume flat.

Excluding the impact of acquisitions, disposals and currency fluctuations, revenue rose 2 percent as gains in Europe, South Africa and Latin America offset more challenging conditions in other African markets, where volume was hurt by economic volatility and tough conditions.

In its trading statement on Thursday, which comes ahead of its annual general meeting, SABMiller did not mention its pending $107 billion takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev, which received approval by the United States on Wednesday.

The takeover of the London-listed brewer has come under scrutiny in recent weeks as a drop in the British currency has reduced the relative attractiveness of the all-cash offer aimed at most SAB shareholders.

Two activist hedge funds, TCI and Elliott Advisors, have taken small stakes in the brewer, raising the possibility that shareholders may push to try to get improved terms.

 

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Mark Potter)

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South Africa’s Astral weighs job cuts as drought, imports hurt poultry producers

20 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African poultry producer Astral has to cut jobs, it said on Wednesday, under pressure from high feed prices due to drought and from an over-supplied domestic market.

Maize prices in South Africa have hit record highs as an El Nino triggers the largest rainfall shortages in over a century, while cheap chicken imports flood in with the ending of punitive duties on U.S. chicken imports in 2015.

Analysts said production cuts were likely to be accompanied by mergers and acquisitions as companies across the food sector scramble to offset falling revenues.

“A lot of producers are suffering under current conditions and a lot them will be forced to become very, very competitive,” said Global Trader equities analyst Paul Chakaduka.

Shares in Astral slipped more than 4 percent on Wednesday after the firm delivered its operational update.

It said the impact of rising feed costs, record poultry imports and a weak consumer market was more severe than it had originally anticipated.

“The impact of the planned production cutbacks will unfortunately negatively impact on the labour force due to the reduction in hours to be worked,” Astral said.

The company employs about 13,000 people across operations in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland, with a combined processing capacity of nearly 5 million broiler chickens a week.

Astral said it had implemented an import strategy to hedge against maize shortages and high prices, but if conditions did not improve it would have to consider further cuts to production and jobs.

Government expects the 2016 maize harvest to come in 28 percent lower at 7.16 million tonnes, with an improved harvest only in 2017 with a return of more rainfall.

Astral’s fellow poultry producers RCL Foods and Quantum Foods have also struggled in 2016, both citing the effect of drought, costlier raw materials, and lower demand made worse by high unemployment and climbing food inflation.

In May, Quantum reported headline earnings per share at 14.8 cents versus 26.3 cents in 2015. RCL reported HEPS up 25 percent to 87.2 cents, higher due to its diversified products.

Astral previously said it saw HEPS falling around 30 percent to between 801 cents and 701 cents per share for the six months to end March.

Share prices in all three of the poultry producers are lower compared to a year ago.

“These stocks may continue to become cheaper but it doesn’t mean they’re in buy territory. It only means they’ve become extremely uncompetitive or that you could see further mergers and acquisitions in the sector,” Chakaduka said.

 

(By Mfuneko Toyana. Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

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Kenya’s new vehicle sales plunge 30% in first half

20 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) – The number of new vehicles sold in Kenya dropped 30.2 percent in the first six months of this year from the same period last year mainly due to high lending rates.

Most buyers of new vehicles, like light commercial trucks, rely on asset financing facilities by banks and interest rates were as high as 24 percent during the period.

The east African nation’s car market is dominated by low-priced second-hand imports from countries such as Japan, but investors monitor new car sales to gauge the health of the economy.

Vehicle assemblers, including GM, sold 6,946 cars in the period, down from 9,953 in the first half of last year, The Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Association said.

Sales were not expected to pick up soon due to political uncertainty over an election set for next August and a new 20 percent excise duty on new vehicles imposed by the Treasury last month, the association said.

 

(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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South Africa leads university rankings

20 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Featured, Politics

University of Cape Town, in South Africa

Eight of the top 10 institutions of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa are located in a single country, according to new rankings.

South Africa wins the university sweepstakes according to new rankings: Eight of the top 10 institutions of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa are in that country while the other two are located in Kenya and Tanzania.

According to the 2016 University Web Rankings & Reviews by 4International Colleges & Universities, the University of Cape Town is the top university in Africa.

The 187-year-old public institution in the suburbs of Cape Town has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students.

Second in the rankings is the University of South Africa, in Pretoria with an enrollment of more than 45,000 students, followed by the Universiteit Stellenbosch (enrollment 25,000) and the University of Pretoria (enrollment 60,000), with the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (enrollment 25,000) rounding out the top five.

The other South African universities on the list are: Rhodes University in Grahamstown with an enrollment of 7,000-8,000, the University of the Western Cape in Bellville with more than 15,000 students, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban with more than 40,000 students.

In Tanzania, the University of Dar es Salaam in that city also made the top 10 list. It has an enrollment of more than 15,000 students.

The University of Nairobi in Kenya rounded out the top rankings for the southern continent. With more than 45,000 students, the university also has branch campuses in Kikuyu, Parklands, Lower Kabete, Upper Kabete, Chiromo and Kismu.

Ratings favor graduate, research programs

Experts said South African Universities tend to do well on university rankings because the ratings tend to favor institutions that have significant numbers of doctoral students and faculty with doctoral degrees, and are recognized research centers.

University of Cape Town, for example, has made a point of becoming a “research-led flagship” university, according to Nico Cloete, director of the Centre for Higher Education Trust and coordinator of the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa.

Students in a classroom at University of Cape Town

Students in a classroom at University of Cape Town

In a 2014 study, Cloete found that nearly a third of all students at the University of Cape Town in 2011 were postgraduate students and nearly two-thirds of the faculty had doctoral degrees.

In contrast, he found that institutions of higher education outside South Africa typically had low enrollments of graduate students and operated professional master’s degree programs rather than developing potential research leaders.

South African universities torn by protests

While South Africa’s universities receive high academic ratings, they have come under fire in recent years with students and faculty complaining about high fees and predominantly white faculties.

Violence erupted at several South African universities, including the University of Cape Town, earlier this year as students protested housing conditions and complained that white international students were given preference in accommodations. Several Cape Town students were arrested after protesters torched vehicles, burned artwork, invaded residences and petrol-bombed a vice chancellor’s office.

Leaders seek to increase participation

The rankings come against the backdrop of efforts to improve participation in higher education in Africa.

Higher education leaders have set a goal of 50% enrollment by 2063, the same level that is projected globally.

Currently, only 8% of sub-Saharan Africans of college age are enrolled, compared to 26% in the Middle East and 32% globally. In the developed world, the rate is more than 75%, according to 2012 data.

In setting the 50% target last year, the African Higher Education Summit called for a large increase in African investment in university education, greater research spending and stronger links to scholars in the African diaspora.

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Corruption in South Africa stunting reforms: IMF

20 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Corruption in South Africa is hampering reforms needed to boost economic growth and greater transparency is needed at state-owned companies, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said on Tuesday.

IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton said that cutting taxes and increasing government spending would not solve the problem of sluggish growth in Africa’s most sophisticated economy.

The IMF recently cut its growth forecast to only 0.1 percent for 2016 versus a previous estimate of 0.6 in May, citing the impact of severe drought and ineffective fiscal policy.

President Jacob Zuma’s unexplained decision to change finance ministers twice in four days in December and a series of political upheavals that followed had also hurt the economy’s prospects, Lipton said.

“The leadership changes at the National Treasury last December and other political developments have had an adverse impact,” he told a public lecture in Johannesburg.

“They have heightened concerns about governance, deepened political uncertainty and shaken investor confidence.”

Lipton also alluded to investors’ lack of faith in the management of South Africa’s 300-odd state-owned enterprises, many of which are over-staffed and under-productive.

A team commissioned by Zuma to review the firms recommended that some should be sold but nothing has happened.

“Support for money-losing companies is a growing drain on government coffers,” Lipton said.

As a solution, he suggested South Africa centralise the formulation of fiscal policy, reduce labour regulation uncertainty and root out public sector corruption.

 

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Ed Cropley)

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South Africa’s Eskom expects increase in export sales

19 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s state power utility Eskom expects a significant increase in export sales in the near future, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

“We foresee quite a significant increase in export sales,” chief financial officer Anoj Singh told a news conference, adding that in 2015 Eskom achieved a 12 percent rise in export earnings.

 

(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Writing by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Joe Brock)

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South Africa’s rand retreats as lower gold price dampens risk-on rush

19 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand backtracked a touch on Tuesday, reversing the previous session’s strong gains with demand dampened by lower gold prices as investors held bets ahead of a local interest rate decision later in the week.

* Rand at 14.2725 at 0700 GMT, 0.3 percent weaker than New York close. Gained nearly 2 percent in previous session, testing 14.2000 resistance before retreating slightly.

* Global demand for risk assets moderating after Monday’s rush, but traders see emerging assets remaining on front foot as investors continue search for yield.

* Gold flat on Tuesday, holding on to its losses from the previous session as appetite for risk assets caps safe haven demand.

* All 31 economists surveyed by Reuters last week expect central bank to keep repo rate on hold at 7.0 percent on July 21.

* Government bonds firmer, yield on benchmark 2026 paper cuts 1 basis point to 8.83 percent.

* Stocks open weaker, blue chip index down 0.74 percent at 46,099 points, All Share slips 0.7 percent to 52,670 points.

 

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Ed Cropley)

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Rwanda tops World Bank governance ratings for Africa

19 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Featured

Life in Rwanda

The African nation, along with Cabo Verde, Kenya and Senegal receive the continent’s highest rankings for efforts to support growth and reduce poverty.

Rwanda, Cabo Verde, Kenya and Senegal lead the continent in the quality of their governance and institutions that support economic growth and reduce poverty, according to a new report by the World Bank.

The Evaluation Policy and Institution Investment for Africa 2015 gave Rwanda a rating of 4 of 6 possible points while the three other countries each scored 3.8. The average score for the continent was 3.2, the same as the year before. South Sudan and Eritrea had the lowest scores, 1.9.

Of the 38 countries evaluated, seven improved their ratings – Ghana, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Guinea and Niger. Twelve countries saw their ratings decline, with large drops in Burundi and Gambia.

The report attributed the lack of greater progress on the continent to economic challenges in 2015.

The report ranks national governance based on 16 indicators including economic management, social inclusion policies, public sector management, and structural policies.

Significant progress cited in Rwanda

According to the World Bank, Rwanda has made significant progress in transforming from a low-income agricultural economy to one that is service-based.

The government’s “Vision 2020” plan seeks to speed growth and reduce poverty with a focus on economic transformation, youth employment productivity, rural development and government accountability. The plan seeks to increase gross domestic product per capita to $1,000 by 2018 and reduce poverty so that less than a third of the population lives below the poverty line.

Rwandan youth learning to til

“These goals build on remarkable development successes over the last decade, which include high growth, rapid poverty reduction and reduced inequality,” the World Bank said.

Rwanda, which emerged from a dark period of civil strife and genocide 20 years ago, has seen growth of its gross domestic product averaging 8 percent annually since 2001. The economy grew by 7 percent in 2014 and 2015.

However, the World Bank said poor infrastructure and lack of access to electricity are drags on private investment in the East African nation, which has a population of about 11 million people.

Cabo Verde tourism flourishes

Cabo Verde, an archipelago of islands off the west coast of Africa, has developed rapidly in recent years, thanks largely to a growing tourism industry. The government is also working to make the islands a trade and transport hub, the World Bank said.

The bank described Cabo Verde’s politics as “consensus-oriented,” with established respect for majority rule and civil liberties. It noted that since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975, Cabo Verde has not had a single coup, a distinction shared only with Senegal in West Africa.

Still, economic growth slowed to 1% in 2015 as direct foreign investment fell.

Like Cabo Verde, Senegal is considered one of the most stable countries in Africa, with strong democratic institutions dating from the country’s independence from France in 1960, according to the World Bank. The Senegalese recently approved changes in the nation’s constitution that created a new assembly and will allow independent candidates to run in elections.

Senegal’s economy grew by West Africa behind Ivory Coast. High demand, stimulated by lower energy and transportation costs, as well as a government investment program, drove growth in an economy dominated by agriculture and services.

Kenya reforms economy

With assistance from the World Bank, Kenya has implemented major structural and economic reforms that have sustained economic growth for the past 10 years. While poverty and inequality persist, the bank said the country’s 2010 constitution ushered in a new political and economic governance system that has transformed and strengthened accountability and delivery of services locally.

At the bottom of the scale in the new World Bank governance ratings, South Sudan and Eritrea struggle.

One of the least developed nations in Africa, Eritrea has seen thousands of citizens fleeing the country for the European Union via Sudan and Ethiopia to escape what they describe as forced labor and other human rights violations.

In South Sudan, meanwhile, fighting between the government and rebel forces have sent refugees pouring into neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan as well.

 

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Congo’s small miners fill hole left by downsizing multinationals

18 July 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – His toes bursting out of sneakers several sizes too small, a miner hacks with a pick at the copper and cobalt-laced stone in southeastern Congo, slowly filling a sack that could earn him anywhere from a handful to a few hundred dollars.

The 42-year-old father of five, who only gave his first name, Stany, has done this nearly every day for a decade, after he quit his maize fields for the comparatively lucrative mines of Africa’s top copper producer.

But unlike most artisanal mining, this is sanctioned by the Congolese government. As its mining heartland endures mass layoffs at big mines caused by low commodity prices, small-scale mining is helping to fill the deficit.

The price of cobalt, a byproduct of copper, is expected to rise 45 percent by 2020 owing to demand for electric vehicles. Congo holds about half the world’s cobalt reserves.

Seizing the initiative, the national mines ministry has recognised dozens of cooperatives of workers to exploit 10 square kilometre plots of land owned by state miner Gecamines.

Tens of thousands of people also dig near mines owned by giants like Glencore and Eurasian Resources Group, as more than 13,000 jobs have been shed in the formal sector.

Yet, as is often the case, poor local diggers say that it is savvier, well-capitalised foreign buyers who are cashing in. They accuse Chinese and Lebanese middlemen of dominating the market by colluding to drive down prices and rigging their instruments to understate the weight and tenor of ore they buy.

That could store up trouble if discontent turns into unrest, as happened in past years in Zambian copper mines, when workers beat up and killed Chinese mine managers in pay disputes.

At the Musompo market, a smattering of half-built brick and concrete depots 15 kilometres east of Lualaba province’s capital of Kolwezi, miners and traders said that of the roughly 140 buying firms, almost all are Chinese owned.

 

COOPERATIVES

Lualaba Governor Richard Muyej would rather see farming and tourism, which he considers paths to more inclusive, sustainable development but reluctantly accepts the need to expand small mining in the near term.

Muyej said giving cooperatives measuring instruments would help level the playing field between miners and foreign buyers.

Alain Chinois, the Congolese president of a cooperative with 34 members, said he might be forced to turn to foreign investors to secure the necessary funding. Under his set up, diggers will receive 60 percent of revenues from the mine while cooperative members consisting of Congolese traders running them and an investor — likely Chinese or Lebanese — would split the rest.

He said the cooperatives would result in better working conditions, equipment and access to capital.

“As a cooperative, we can go to a bank as a well-established group,” said Chinois. But he acknowledged that foreign buyers with money to invest would continue to exert major influence.

At Musompo, Louis, a Chinese buyer who checked London Metal Exchange prices on his phone between deliveries, sells to a smelter owned by Congo Dongfang Mining International (CDM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese mineral giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd, China’s top cobalt chemicals producer.

According to a January report by Amnesty International, CDM exports to China before selling to battery manufacturers who claim to supply electronics companies including Apple, Samsung SDI and Sony.

Hearing miners’ complaints, Louis shrugged: “Those who are happy with the price sell the product. Those who aren’t, leave.”

And the old concerns about the dangers and abuses of artisanal mining haven’t gone away. At the Tilwizembe mine where Stany works, despite its cooperatives, research by Amnesty in 2013 documented deadly accidents and abuse of workers.

But whatever its flaws, few see a viable alternative to more small-scale mining in the near term.

“I do this because there is nothing else. If something else came along, I would do it,” Stany said.

 

(By Aaron Ross. Reporting by Aaron Ross; editing by Susan Thomas)

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