Leonard Stiegeler, former general manager for Nigeria and head of West Africa operations for leading diversified digital media company Ringier in Africa, was recently appointed to general manager. The move is part of Ringier's international market restructuring program, which began Jan. 1. All of the new officials will report to Ringier CEO for Asia and Africa Robin Lingg. Read More »

John Deere is launching a new campaign to help African farmers improve productivity on their farms. The S.M.A.R.T. campaign offers African farmers one-stop shopping for all their agricultural equipment needs by advocating mechanization. John Deere is also developing its own financing network specific to African agriculture, brokering partnerships with local African banks. Read More »

The Africa-Arab Partnership meeting started Wednesday to discuss trade, investment, transport and communication at the African Union. The meeting was created to work on the development of an Africa-Arab Action plan, which will become part of the region's 2017-2019 action plan, set to be unveiled in November during the fourth annual Africa-Arab Summit in Equatorial Guinea. Read More »

The UNIFAD is collaborating on a new initiative with Benin to boost production among market gardeners and create jobs for young people and women. The project will invest nearly $50 million in 17,000 market gardeners. The package provided to growers includes market research, better access to and from their gardens through 75 miles of new roads and help with collecting seeds. Read More »

Both deluge and drought resulting from El Nino and La Niña events are expected to significantly affect the African continent's agriculture and economy. In a joint press conference with UNOCHA officials at the 26th AU Summit, Dr. Aisha Laraba Abdullahi classified the consequences of the unpredictable weather system into a trio of categories: erratic climate and weather extremes. Read More »

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Summit is scheduled for Aug. 27 and Aug. 28 in Nairobi. TICAD is an event co-hosted by Japan, the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor on Africa and the United Nations Development Programme, with the goal of fostering discussions on high-level policy between African leaders and their development partners. Read More »

The African Union adopted the African Space Policy and Strategy Sunday during their 26th ordinary session. Developing an African space program is one of the major aspects of the AU Agenda 2036. The group requested that member states and organizations focus on raising awareness on the importance of space science and technology for Africa's socio-economic development. Read More »

Six new uranium exploration permits held by Ontario, Canada-based Global Atomic Fuels Corp. for sites in Niger have been renewed for three years, allowing the company to continue development activities on uranium deposit locations. The renewals were issued by Niger's minister of mines. The largest of the deposits is the DASA deposit; Global Atomic is conducting economic assessments. Read More »

A feasibility study was recently completed on the Kobada Gold Project in the West African nation of Mali. The study revealed 511,000 ounces of gold within two oxide open pits at the site as well as a proved and probable reserve of 12.7 million tons, capacity for gold production exceeding 50,000 ounces each year and average cash costs of $557 per ounce of gold produced. Read More »

A recent conference hosted by the government of Ghana, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Kingdom Department for International Development in Accra, Ghana, saw macroeconomic policymakers from more than 40 African nations gather. The conference was also attended by officials from educational and financial institutions and a variety of international organizations. Read More »

Culminating six decades of Nigerian investment, Coca-Cola expanded further into dairy and juice products in West Africa with an initial share purchase in Chi Ltd. As the holding company of Chi Ltd., Coca-Cola entered into an agreement to acquire an initial minority shareholding of 40 percent in Chi Ltd., establishing a solid partnership to deliver Nigeria's beverages. Read More »

With a goal of helping farmers throughout the continent of Africa mechanize their operations, representatives from U.S. farm equipment company AGCO are attending the 10th Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The package is built around Massey Ferguson's MF Series tractors and has been developed with farmers new to mechanization in mind. Read More »

The AUC honored professor Tebello Nyokong and professor Opara Umezurike with the Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Awards. The awards are dedicated to three different levels: regional, national and continental. The purpose is to recognize the African men and women who are involved in science and who stand out because of their training and research contributions to develop Africa. Read More »

FAO officials intend to invest resources that guarantee women's rights to land and similar productive resources. As part of the 2016 African Year of Human Rights action plans, the agricultural and agro-processing initiatives are meant to increase food production and generate added wealth to help family farmers. It will also minimize and prevent waste and loss of food. Read More »

Kosmos Energy of Dallas, Texas, announced a significant gas discovery from one of its exploration areas offshore in Senegal Wednesday. The discovery site is in about 2,700 meters of water. Guembeul-1 was drilled to about 5,245 meters. The site has been found to have reservoir continuity and static pressure communication indicative of a single, large gas accumulation. Read More »

The African Union elected Idriss Deby Itno as their new chairperson Saturday. President Itno is the successor to Robert Gabriel Mugabe, president of the Republic of Zimbabwe. In his new position, Itno will hold the position for 2016. Of his service, President Mugabe said, "It was an honour to guide our organisation to implement its vision of the 'Africa We Want.'" Read More »

The African Union appointed development finance expert Dr. Donald Kaberuka high representative of the African Union Peace Fund. Read More »

Officials from U.S. government agencies, African governments and private companies gathered in Washington, D.C., Thursday for the Powering Africa Summit. Read More »

Commissioner for Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission Fatima Haram Acyl held a press conference at the 26th African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government to discuss the role of industry and trade in Africa's development. Acyl described the need for industrialization in Africa as urgent and necessary in order to help the continent reach the goals of the AU. Read More »

The AUC's Administration and Human Resources Management Directorate announced a new initiative Thursday meant to raise professional competency and leadership skills across Africa. The African Union Leadership Academy will help train African leaders in workplace development, capacity building, project management, effective policy design and other nuances of leadership. Read More »