The Famous Crossover Artist Simon Ma Cooperated with Major Charities

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Launch “Drago Cavallo Travels Around The World” and arts charity activities ; Create a New Scene of Art and Literature in Hong Kong

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 September 2022 – ‘Dragon’ stands for ‘heaven’ and ‘horse’ stands for ‘earth’. Dragon Horse is the mascot of the unity of heaven and earth, the fusion of ‘Qi’ between heaven and earth, and the symbol of benevolence and harmonization. Drago Cavallo is the cute version of ‘Dragon Horse’ created by artist Simon Ma, and it is the guardian angel of the leading horse. It not only represents the dragon horse spirit of Chinese traditional culture, but also constantly spreads love and positive energy with the concept of ‘harmonization’ with love.

Create Quality Jobs, Provide Social Protection, Urges UN Secretary-General

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Create Quality Jobs, Provide Social Protection, Urges UN Secretary-General

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged governments across the world to quickly invest in quality job creation the and the provision of social protection for those without coverage.

Guterres was speaking at a high-level session to discuss the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions (https://bit.ly/3rfWGUk) initiative during the UN General Assembly meetings in New York.

He told leaders to focus on concrete solutions to implement the initiative and warned, “the path of inaction leads to economic collapse and climate catastrophe, widening inequalities and escalating social unrest. This could leave billions trapped in vicious circles of poverty and destitution.”

The initiative, launched in 2021 by the United Nations International Labour Organization, brings together governments, international financial institutions, civil societies, the UN, and the private sector to create 400 million new, decent jobs, especially in the green, care, and digital economies, and extend social protection to more than 4 billion people worldwide that are currently without coverage.

The session was also addressed by various leaders from around the world including the President of the African Development Bank Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera, Uganda’s Vice President Jessica Alupo, and Egypt’s Minister for Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said.

The UN chief praised Togo for protecting thousands of its citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic after deploying “innovative digital solutions to expand social protection to hard-to-reach populations.”

On its part, South Africa was praised for launching the Just Energy transition partnership, signaling an important step in the fight against climate change.

African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina highlighted the bank’s rapid response to the Covid-19 pandemic by launching a $10 billion facility which helped provide social protection for more than 28 million people. The bank also launched a $3 billion social impact bond on global capital markets in 2020, which at the time was the highest in world history.

“But that is not enough”, Dr. Adesina added, “We have to restructure our economies to be productive with education, infrastructure, energy and making sure we have productive sectors that can use people’s skills and absorb that into the economy.”

“At the African Development Bank, we have taken a proactive approach job, jobs, jobs approach,” said Adesina. As an example, he named the bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa program to create 25 million jobs by 2025. Nearly half of those jobs had already been delivered, he said.

To generate more jobs, Adesina cited sectors such as agriculture where the bank is investing $25 billion to transform rural areas and turn the sector into a business.

In the energy sector, Adesina gave the example of the Sahel region. “We are investing $20 billion to build 10000MW of electricity that will provide energy for productive use and create millions of jobs,” Adesina said. He added it was time for Africa to build a manufacturing capacity for polysilicon material that is used for solar panels “so that we can create a lot of green jobs.”

The creative industry especially Nigeria’s film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, is another area that requires significant investment given its potential to generate $20 billion of revenue and create twenty million jobs, Adesina said.

The UN expects each government to commit to the Global Accelerator initiative and its objectives by, among others, developing national policies and integrated strategies for just transitions.

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera said given the financial constraints his country was facing, implementing the initiative would require the support of partners, donors, international financial institutions, and policy support from the UN system.

He said the overlapping crises of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the war in eastern Europe, Malawi is left “to grapple with downgrades of our sovereign credit ratings, leading to higher borrowing costs and intensified debt risks.”

President Chakwera said his country was ready to be part of the fact-finding work of the Global Accelerator initiative.

Uganda’s Vice President Jessica Alupo said her government has initiated efforts to increase jobs for Uganda’s under 30 who make up 75% of the country’s population.

“We are increasing investment in skills development, supporting informal social enterprises to transition into the formal economy and supporting the private sector to create jobs in key growth areas, including providing incentives to investors,” she said.

Egypt’s Minister for Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said outlined various initiatives undertaken by her government to mitigate the impact of crises on people in Egypt.

“These include increasing beneficiaries of the cash transfer program to reach 5 million families in addition to substantially increasing food rations that benefit more than 64 million Egyptians,” she said.

“The government has embarked on an ambitious program, the Decent Life Initiative, to revamp the rural communities, and transform the lives of the more than 50 million Egyptians across 4,500 villages, constituting more than half of the total population,” she added.

Harmonising payments In Africa Depends On, Harmonising Payment Regulation Across Continent

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Harmonising payments In Africa Depends On, Harmonising Payment Regulation Across Continent

Most African businesses, if asked, would leap at the chance to expand their markets beyond their home countries. And whether it’s a Kenyan fashion designer wanting to make their Summer range available to South Africans or a Ghanaian cocoa bean wholesaler looking to reach traders in Lagos, payments are key to making that dream a reality. 

 

While technology has undoubtedly made things a lot easier than they once were, we believe that there’s always more that can be done. A customer sitting in Johannesburg should, for example, be able to make a payment to someone in Nairobi as easily as making a phone call. Critically, they should be able to do so using whatever platform they’re most comfortable with and the same should be true of the business or person receiving the payment on the other side.

 

But achieving that level of payment harmony increasingly requires the ability to navigate and comply with a growing number of regulations across the continent and around the world. That shouldn’t be seen as a hindrance though. Regulations are a sign of a maturing environment and, for the companies that embrace compliance, may actually be key to growth.

 

Understanding African payment regulations 

 

Before digging into how companies can unlock compliance, it’s worth getting a sense of the regulatory landscape African payments companies typically navigate. In most jurisdictions, there are numerous licences required to operate and the regulatory environment is still evolving to match technological advancements.

 

These range from a Payment Service Provider licence in Kenya to a Payment Terminal Service Provider licence in Nigeria. While many of these regulations have common features, there are also significant enough differences that each has to be given due care and attention.

 

Almost every country across the continent has multiple such licence categories and the application process can sometimes take months, or even years. Errors or exclusions can slow the process down and sometimes the process has to start from scratch if a regulator requests more information to support your application. Applying for these licences also cost money. Businesses not only have to pay non-refundable application fees, but they must also show regulators that they have the necessary capital to meet the ongoing requirements of those licences. That means setting aside capital which might otherwise be used for the organisation’s daily operations.

 

That does not, however, mean that businesses looking to expand on the continent should simply give up on expanding into new markets or on utilising new forms of payment. Far from it.

 

Partnering for compliance 

 

As African regulatory bodies come to terms with the growth of the continent’s payments space, there may be increased opportunities for both African and international businesses. The more, and better, regulated the space is, the more comfortable people will feel using new forms of payment as well as using payment forms they’re already familiar with, to purchase goods and services. Key to unlocking those opportunities, however, is finding the right payment partner.

 

Such a partner should have a strong track record of facilitating interoperability and of helping both African and international businesses enter new markets on the continent. It should also have a dedicated regulatory team that has a keen grasp of the processes, procedures and policies needed to negotiate an organisation’s smooth arrival in whichever African market it plans on entering.

 

Perhaps most importantly, however, partner with an organisation that is ahead of the curve and able to anticipate changes in the rapidly changing regulatory environment. That, in turn, means constant engagement with regulators across the continent and abroad.

 

Embracing harmonised payment regulation 

 

African consumers and businesses alike increasingly expect payments to be fully harmonised (even if they don’t express it in those terms). But in order for digital payments to be truly borderless and in ‘harmony’, regulators need to be willing to embrace regional and continent-wide collaboration on regulation, licensing and ongoing oversight.

 

While the African regulatory payment landscape continues to develop at its own pace, having the right payment partner can make pan-African market entry a great deal simpler.

Negative Performance Returns In Local Bourse

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Negative Performance Returns In Local Bourse

At the end of yesterday’s trading session, the Nigerian All-Share Index closed in the red, falling by 0.12% to close at 49,161.45 points.

The performance was due to selloffs in bellwether stocks such as VITAFOAM (-6.98%) and GTCO (-0.53%). Consequently, the YTD return decreased to 15.09% as market capitalisation fell by ₦15.03 billion to close at ₦26.52 trillion.

The sectoral performance marginally weakened as three of the five indices under coverage declined. The Banking index, the biggest loser, declined by 0.65% on  ACCESSCORP (-4.55%). The Consumer Goods and Industrial indices followed suit, falling by 0.52% and 0.01% on VITAFOAM (-6.98%) and CUTIX (-0.49%) respectively. Conversely, the Oil & Gas and Insurance indices, the gainers, improved by 0.20% and 0.06% on ETERNA (+9.91%) and MANSARD (+4.37%) respectively.

Investors’ sentiment strengthened but negative as the market breadth increased to 0.82x from 0.71x. This was illustrated by the advance of 14 stocks, led by NGXGROUP (+10.00%) and MULTIVERSE (+10.00%) and the decline of 17 stocks, led by MAYBAKER (-9.79%) and REGALINS (-7.69%). Activity level strengthened as the total volume and value improved by 72.87% and 176.38% as investors exchanged about 206.21mn units of shares worth over ₦2.36bn.

We expect positive sentiment to return in the next trading session as the equities market still presents decent opportunities for investors chasing positive real returns on investments.

 Fixed Income

There was relatively quiet outing across the bond yield curve as three of the four bond yields under coverage closed flat while the FGN-JUL-2030 yield increased by 46bps to close at 13.27%. The yields on the FGN-APR-2023, FGN-MAR-2024 and FGN-JAN-2026 remained unchanged at 6.12%, 12.14% and 13.20% respectively.

The Treasury bill yield for the 91, 182-day papers compressed by 1bp and 124bps to close at 11.45% and 5.51% respectively, while the 182-day paper advanced by 124bps to close at 6.75%.

We expect market activity to be influenced by the liquidity levels in the financial system.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

  • Negative Performance Returns in the Local Bourse, NGX ASI Sheds 12bps
  • Quiet Activity across the Bond Yield Curve
  • Positive Performance in Global Stocks
  • Commodities Market Closes in Green
  • Negative Performance in African Stocks

Catastrophic Malnutrition Crisis In Northwest Nigeria Must Urgently Be Recognised

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Catastrophic Malnutrition Crisis In Northwest Nigeria Must Urgently Be Recognised

As the malnutrition crisis in northwest Nigeria continues at catastrophic levels, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling for the international and humanitarian community to respond to the emergency needs of people in the region, and for northwest Nigeria to be included in the UN’s humanitarian response plan, enabling a broader and more sustained response.

Since the beginning of 2022, MSF teams have witnessed extraordinarily high numbers of children with malnutrition in MSF’s programs located in five states across northwest Nigeria. Multiple factors have led to a sharp increase in malnutrition in the region over last year.

“With increasing insecurity, climate change and global inflation of food prices in a post-pandemic world, we can only imagine this crisis getting worse,” said Dr. Simba Tirima, MSF country representative in Nigeria. “The Nigerian authorities need support to deal with a crisis of this magnitude. This must include emergency humanitarian funding now for organisations able to respond and a commitment to include northwest Nigeria in the UN’s humanitarian response plan for 2023.”

Since January, MSF teams working in collaboration with the Nigerian health authorities have treated close to 100,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition in 34 outpatient facilities and admitted about 17,000 children requiring hospital care in 10 inpatient centres in Kano, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi states. In Zamfara state, one of the areas most affected by ongoing violence and banditry, we recorded a 64 percent increase in the numbers of severely malnourished children treated in the outpatient nutritional departments supported by MSF from January to August 2022 when compared to January to August 2021.

MSF’s nutritional surveys have also underlined the severity of the crisis, including in areas that are less affected by violence and insecurity. In Mashi local government area, in Katsina state, MSF found a 27,4% rate of global acute malnutrition and a 7,1% rate of severe acute malnutrition in June, even though the community has been relatively spared from violence and forced displacement. These rates indicate a critical emergency.

The UN’s current humanitarian response plan for Nigeria focuses on the critical situation in the country’s northeast region, excluding the northwest. Unlike MSF, which is not funded by the humanitarian response plan, many organisations are currently unable to respond to the acute needs in the northwest because they rely on it for funding.

“We understand the United Nations, donors and other stakeholders are increasingly aware of the extent of the crisis in the northwest, but there is a need to go beyond discussions,” said Froukje Pelsma, MSF head of mission in Nigeria. “It’s essential that the northwest is included in the next Nigeria humanitarian response plan for 2023, because this plays a key role in mobilising the resources to save lives.

Solar Mini Grids Could Power Half A Billion People By 2030

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Solar Mini Grids Could Power Half A Billion People By 2030

Solar mini grids can provide high-quality uninterrupted electricity to nearly half a billion people in unpowered or underserved communities and be a least-cost solution to close the energy access gap by 2030.

But to realize the full potential of solar mini grids, governments and industry must work together to systemically identify mini grid opportunities, continue to drive costs down, and overcome barriers to financing, says a new World Bank report.

Around 733 million people – mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa – still lack access to electricity. The pace of electrification has slowed down in recent years, due to the difficulties in reaching the remotest and most vulnerable populations, as well as the devastating effects of the COVID 19 pandemic. At the current rate of progress, 670 million people will remain without electricity by 2030.

“Now more than ever, solar mini grids are a core solution for closing the energy access gap,” said Riccardo Puliti, Infrastructure Vice President at the World Bank. “The World Bank has been scaling up its support to mini grids as part of helping countries develop comprehensive electrification programs. With $1.4 billion across 30 countries, our commitments to mini grids represent about one-quarter of total investment in mini grids by the public and private sector in our client countries. To realize mini grids’ full potential to connect half a billion people by 2030, several actions are needed, such as incorporating mini grids into national electrification plans and devising financing solutions adapted to mini grid projects’ risk profiles.”

The deployment of solar mini grids has seen an important acceleration, from around 50 per country per year in 2018 to more than 150 per country per year today, particularly in countries with the lowest rates of access to electricity. This is the result of falling costs of key components, the introduction of new digital solutions, a large and expanding cohort of highly capable mini grid developers, and growing economies of scale.

Solar mini grids have become the least-cost way to bring high-quality 24/7 electricity to towns and cities off the grid or experiencing regular power cuts. The cost of electricity generated by solar mini grids has gone down from $0.55/kWh in 2018 to $0.38/kWh today. Modern solar mini grids now provide enough electricity for life-changing electric appliances, such as refrigerators, welders, milling machines or e-vehicles. Mini grid operators can manage their systems remotely, and paidsmart meters enable customers to pay as they use the electricity.  Connecting 490 million people to solar mini grids would avoid 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Further acceleration is needed, however, to meet Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7). Powering 490 million people by 2030 will require the construction of more than 217,000 mini grids at a cumulative cost of $127 billion. At current pace, only 44,800 new mini grids serving 80 million people will be built by 2030 at a total investment cost of $37 billion.

Produced by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), the new book, Mini Grids for Half a Billion people: Market Outlook and Handbook for Decision Makers, identifies five market drivers to set the mini grid sector on a trajectory to achieve full market potential and universal electrification:

  1.  Reducing the cost of electricity from solar hybrid mini grids to $0.20/kWh by 2030, which would put life-changing power in the hands of half a billion people for just $10 per month
  2. Increasing the pace of deployment to 2,000 mini grids per country per year, by building portfolios of modern mini grids instead of one-off projects
  3. Providing superior-quality service to customers and communities by providing reliable electricity for 3 million income-generating appliances and machines and 200,000 schools and clinics
  4. Leveraging development partner funding and government investment to “crowd in” private-sector finance, raising $127 billion in cumulative investment from all sources for mini grids by 2030.
  5. Establishing enabling mini grid business environments in key access-deficit countries through light-handed and adaptive regulations, supportive policies, and reductions in bureaucratic red tape.

The handbook is the World Bank’s most comprehensive and authoritative publication on mini grids to date.

Kenya Tea Development Agency Brews Perfect Technology Mix

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Kenya Tea Development Agency Brews Perfect Technology Mix

How do you bring consistency and improve decision-making at an organisation where more than 50 factories each operate on their own disparate systems with little to no integration? For one of the largest tea-producing organisations in the world, the answer rested in a total transformation of its end-to-end systems.

 

Over 600,000 smallholder tea farmers affiliated to the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) are reaping the harvest of a silent technological rollout that has streamlined the operations of their factories, making the tea business more efficient and technology driven.

 

Boost to payment efficiency, analytical insights

The deployment of SAP by KTDA and its managed factories has provided analytical tools that are used for better decision making while making payment for farmers’ green leaf efficient and quick. It has also drastically improved payment processing and enhanced end-to-end visibility for better controls and safeguards.

 

“We wanted a solution to bring all our factories into a single system that would improve every aspect of our operations, from production planning and quality management to sales, distribution and payroll,” says KTDA CEO Wilson Muthaura. “This was no mean feat since there are more than 600,000 farmers paid every month for green leaf supplied as well as over 10,000 employees working across the organisation. However, following this successful rollout, all farmers are now paid through our SAP system, reducing processing time by more than 80 per cent.”
KTDA Holdings Ltd is a wholly owned farmers company which has invested in various subsidiary companies along the tea value chain in Kenya. Through the KTDA Management Services company, the operations on 71 factories are seamlessly managed and SAP has come in handy in enhancing operational efficiencies with the aim of increasing transparency and profitability in the businesses.

 

The Agency has seven subsidiaries and a Foundation providing specialised services across the tea value chain, including factory management, engineering, insurance, tea trading and warehousing, credit provision and power production.

 

In late 2021, KTDA revised its monthly green leaf payment timelines to the first week of the following month. Payments for deliveries had previously been made on the third week of the following month. The change, aided by efficient payment processing through SAP, translated to faster access of farmers’ cash to meet their daily needs and align the payment to farmers’ monthly obligations.

 

The system also allows the Agency to easily incorporate other items like loans and inputs (like fertilizer) issued to the payment process allowing for easy and seamless recoveries.

 

Martin Mwarangu, Group General Manager for ICT Services at KTDA, says: “We worked with experienced SAP partner, OneConnect Technologies, to implement SAP ERP Central Component and Business Intelligence, covering end-to-end processes across KDTA’s operations.”

 

System unlocks benefits across value chain

Besides payment processing, different modules of SAP have delivered multiple benefits including production planning and management and a full visibility of tea sales.

 

“SAP has digitally transformed the KTDA business and made it technologically ready to adopt any future solutions that would further enhance business efficiencies. The wealth of data generated is important in decision making and forecasting,” says KTDA Management Services Managing Director Julius Onguso.
Plant maintenance has also been enhanced with a solution that ensures proper maintenance and provides greater visibility over costs associated with equipment. In addition, all transactions are now updated to general ledgers and relevant cost/profit centres in real time, giving the finance team full visibility over the organisation’s operations.

 

The Agency has also rolled out a sales and distribution module that allows all tea selling processes to be done on one system; from raising sales orders; tea dispatch and revenue management.

 

The SAP solution generates a wealth of data and has embedded business analytical tools that generate reports and dashboards extensively used by decision makers to glean insights and make better decisions for the business.

 

Thirty-two KTDA-managed factories are currently running on the SAP solution, making reporting and intercompany integration easier. The deployment of SAP also means there is a uniformity and consistency in how each of the factories are run. The Agency is working to have all other factories deploy the solution for group-wide benefit.

 

Hardeep Sound, Regional Sales Director for East Africa at SAP, adds: “Facing inefficiency and a lack of visibility over critical business processes, KTDA embraced the benefits of the latest technology to completely transform their end-to-end business functions. As KTDA continues to play a vital role in in the broader Kenyan economy as well as directly in the lives of more than smallholder farmers, having real-time visibility over the entire organisation’s processes will bring vast improvements to its operations benefitting all stakeholders.”

 

Taiwan TV series “Someday or One Day” Shooting Location was spotted in Hong Kong MTR station, Tainan City Bureau of Tourism is ready for the recovery of Tourism in Tainan

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The Boom of Tourism for Tainan on the horizon

TAINAN, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 28 September 2022 – At the end of 2019, the Taiwanese TV series “Someday or One Day” was broadcasted in various Asian countries and it created a wave of nostalgia for Tainan in the 1990s. There was a lot of discussion amongst the fans when the Series was being filmed in Tainan, and with the upcoming remake, the Tainan City Bureau of Tourism used the historical and cultural attractions used in the TV Series to create advertisements in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia to prepare for the recovery of tourism in Tainan.

GEMS contracted with NetEase Games for Naraka:BladePoint SEA Open

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SINGAPORE – News Direct – 28 September 2022 – GEMS, the Esports 3.0 Platform, is pleased to announce that it contracted with NetEase Esports for Naraka:BladePoint SEA Open. Naraka:BladePoint is an action-adventure battle royale game developed by 24 Entertainment and published by NetEase Games. GEMS ESPORTS 3.0 PLATFORM used for managing end-end tournament operation for NetEase Esport andaiming to attract players with a prize pool of 15,000 USD and the privilege to be SEA representative in Naraka.

https://thegems.gg/

About NetEase Games
NetEase Games is the online games division of NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES and HKEX: 9999), developing and operating some of the most popular mobile and PC games in markets including China and Japan. As one of the world’s largest incubators of quality online game content, NetEase Games is dedicated to supporting the growth of innovative studios around the globe and growing an international presence along the way. To complement its self-developed games and world-class R&D capabilities, NetEase Games also partners with other industry leaders including Blizzard Entertainment, Mojang AB (a Microsoft subsidiary) and other global game developers to operate some of the most popular international online games in China. For more information, please visit .

AfDB Sponsors Study Visit To Two Scandinavian Cities For Municipal Officials Of 11 African Cities

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AfDB Sponsors Study Visit To Two Scandinavian Cities For Municipal Officials Of 11 African Cities

Representatives of 11 African cities have begun a visit to two Scandinavian cities to learn about people-centred solutions to urban planning and development under a trip sponsored by the Urban and Municipal Development Fund (https://bit.ly/3fdZiPT). The Fund is hosted by the African Development Bank .

The 4-day trip to Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden includes officials from Marrakech, Morocco;  Bizerte and Tunis in Tunisia; Dodoma, Tanzania; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Libreville, Gabon; Bangui, Central African Republic; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Nairobi, Kanifing; Gambia; and Douala, Cameroon. The cities are all Fund partners.

Ole Stubdrup, a project manager with the Urban and Municipal Development Fund, and the visit’s coordinator, has traveled with the city officials. He said African municipalities and those of Northern Europe faced comparable problems, although appearing  to be poles apart. “This visit should be a source of inspiration for the participants and foster ideas for specific urban infrastructure investments,” he said.

The delegation is conducting field visits and taking part in presentations on water management, waste treatment and e-mobility. They also have opportunity to engage with decision-makers and municipal officials from Copenhagen and Malmo. Both cities are recognized for their pioneering approaches to balancing sustainable development with quality of life.

“Such a trip is a strong opportunity to share experience and consolidate a network of reform-oriented cities. It also paves the way for future projects in our respective cities, as we meet with potential partners and investors” said  Davis Mwamfupe, mayor of Dodoma, during the visit.

As Africa undergoes a rapid urbanization, municipal authorities are seeking investment to develop new infrastructure and improve the quality life for city dwellers. The Urban and Municipal Development Fund aims to improve urban quality of life and attract investment for infrastructure by strengthening cities’ technical capacity and planning functions. The Fund’s approach integrates economic, social and environmental factors.

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