Despite being hit by devastating droughts this year, Ethiopia is planning on taking the lead as Africa’s power hub, providing electricity to many nations across the continent.
In the past decade, Ethiopia has experienced strong and broad growth averaging 11 percent, more than twice the regional average of 5 percent.
The robust economic growth has earned the country the name, the Lion of Africa, with the growth being invested in railway, roads and dams aimed at boosting electricity production and improving transportation to and in its capital city of Addis Ababa.
Although severe droughts have held Ethiopia back from achieving adequate economic growth, expansion of the services and agricultural sectors account for most of the growth in the country. Other than these, Ethiopia is also placing itself strategically to become Africa’s leading electricity hub.
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AXA Partners With Lloyd’s Of London To Expand Specialty Insurance In Africa
Lloyd’s of London’s specialty insurance group, Chaucer, has formed a strategic partnership with France’s AXA to develop a new specialty insurance business in Africa, IntelligentInsurer reported.
Faced with low interest rates in the U.S and the euro zone, insurers are looking to emerging markets for growth, according to Reuters.
The insurance market in sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly attractive to global insurers thanks to dramatic and sustained economic expansion and demographic transformation, Ernst & Young reported.
African innovations such as mobile and cashless payments may soon disrupt developed insurance markets, according to EY.
Specialty insurance can cover anything from insuring oil rigs to footballers’ legs and currency inconvertability to political violence.
A 199-year-old company, AXA operates primarily in Western Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East with a presence in Africa. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run businesses operated according to the regulations of different countries. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
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Around Africa This Past Week (10/04/2016)
Uganda’s only radiotherapy machine breaks down
Uganda’s only radiotherapy machine used for treating cancer is broken beyond repair. Mulago Hospital, the country’s main is now looking for $1.8 million to buy a new machine as thousands of patients have been left in the cold. The machine in Uganda was donated in 1995 and had been successfully repaired in the past. This time efforts to fix it failed. The unit is said to receive 44,000 new referrals from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi as well as South Sudan. Almost 75 percent of these people need radiotherapy. Radiotherapy treatment targets and kills cancerous cells in a specific part of the body using radiation.
Congo Brazzaville Opposition leader, Jean-Marie Mokoko running scared
Mokoko, an opposition leader in Congo-Brazaville’s home has been surrounded by security forces while he has been stripped of his security detail which he is entitled to as a former army general. Mokoko came third in the country’s elections last month but has refused to accept the results. President Sassou Nguesso won the elections with a huge 60% after amendments to the Constitution allowing him to run for a third term. All main opposition parties have said the elections were rigged.
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How Ethiopia Is Establishing Itself as an African Power Hub
Despite being hit by devastating droughts this year, Ethiopia is planning on taking the lead as Africa’s power hub, providing electricity to many nations across the continent.
In the past decade, Ethiopia has experienced strong and broad growth averaging 11 percent, more than twice the regional average of 5 percent.
The robust economic growth has earned the country the name, the Lion of Africa, with the growth being invested in railway, roads and dams aimed at boosting electricity production and improving transportation to and in its capital city of Addis Ababa.
Although severe droughts have held Ethiopia back from achieving adequate economic growth, expansion of the services and agricultural sectors account for most of the growth in the country. Other than these, Ethiopia is also placing itself strategically to become Africa’s leading electricity hub.
Source
15-ton Computer to Provide Clean Water, Internet and Solar Power in Africa
Africa could soon be rid of its development challenges including clean water, electricity and internet connectivity, thanks to Watly.
The creators of the 15-ton multi-tasking thermal dynamic computer named Watly, are certain that their machine could help filter clean drink water and provide internet and electricity for towns of up to 3,000 people.
According to WaterAid, water continues to be a resource that many people across the world cannot access easily. Approximately, only about one in four sub-Saharan Africans have access to electricity, according to the World Bank. According to Internet World Stats, while Mobile technology has been increasing in the continent, internet penetration still remains low standing at 28.6%
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