Another Awesome AfriCAN week 20190829

#CapeVerde

Did you spot the Google Doodle this week of Cape Verdean Singer, Cesária Évora? 

This “Barefoot diva”,  who had the most amazing voice, was being remembered in a special Google Doodle on what would have been her 78th birthday (27 August, 1941).  Évora took up singing as a girl, and as an adult began her career by performing at bars in her hometown of Mindelo. After several years of singing without financial success, she was eventually spotted by former musician and record producer José da Silva, who urged her to record her music in France.Genre-wise, Évora specialised in morna, the traditional music style of Cape Verde. Her songs typically had melancholic, poetic undertones. One of her most famous songs is a recording of the coladeira song “Sodade”, which encapsulates the nostalgia of emigrants from Cape Verde. Évora was an ambassador for the United Nations’ World Food Programme, a humanitarian food-assistance initiative that delivers food in emergency situations and works to improve nutrition in communities around the world. [SOURCE: THE INDEPENDENT]

#DemocraticRepublicofCongo

Sierra Leone: Health workers prepare to enter an area where Ebola patients get treatment. Flickr image by EC/ECHO/Cyprien Fabre, August 2, 2014. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

This is fantastic news: ‘We will no longer say that Ebola is not curable’. On August 12 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a positive development in the clinical trials of drugs being tested for the treatment of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR of Congo).[Source]

#Nigeria

Apple buys a Nigerian-owned ICT firm for $1 billion. United States of America’s most celebrated brand, Apple, has bought Nigeria’s Chinedu Echeruo’s HopStop.com. According to The Wall Street Journal’s publication, AllThingsDigital, it informed that though the term of the deal has not been disclosed officially, but HopStop has been compared to Israel’s Waze, which was recently acquired by Google for $1 billion.

Founded in 2005, HopStop.com makes mobile applications for both iOS and Android that covers over 300 cities and that helps people get directions or find nearby subway stations and bus stops.

[Source: The Guardian]

#Rwanda

Image via: eturbonews

Elisabeth Nyirakaragire is not just the first female vet treating the precious mountain gorillas in Rwanda but she is the first vet to work with the mammals. For 32 years, Elisabeth has transversed Volcanoes National Park to keep in check the health of the endangered gorillas. [Source AfricanNews] 

#Rwanda

This Intervention will Change how Rwandans do Business. Rwanda has introduced the use of electric motorcycles as part of its efforts to protect the environment and cut fuel costs. One electric bike costs $1,300 ~ less expensive than the $1,600 price for fuel motorcycles. Two charging stations exist in Kigali. A moto-taxi driver has to bring an exhausted battery to take a charged one, which runs for 70 kilometers . The price for recharging an electric vehicle is equal to the cost of the fuel for traditional cycles. In 2016, four entrepreneurs from different countries formed a start-up called Ampersand with a mission to transform Rwanda into a mass market for commercial electric motorcycles. Josh Whale, the company's chief executive officer, said electric motorcycles, also known as e-Motos, have great potential in Rwanda, a country known for its environmental initiatives.  [SOURCE: VOA]

#SouthAfrica 

Robben Island Museum (RIM) Council Chairperson, Ms Bernedette Muthien welcomed guests at the annual Imbokodo Lecture, a prestigious event that honours and celebrates the Women who shaped South Africa on Thursday, 21 August 2019.

RIM celebrated the Women who overcame adversity and helped build our nation and society. RIM’s annual Imbokodo lecture honoured the Women who stood against the apartheid regime.  The event also celebrated those Women who are making waves in South Africa in various male dominated industries.

#SouthAfrica

Photo via www.cbn.co.za

Congratulations to the University of Stellenbosch Business School (UBS) for being ranked Number 1 in Africa for their full-time MBA programme. The annual ranking is done by  Eduniversal, an international education rating agency with its head office in Paris, France.

USB was also ranked the Best Universal business school with strong global influence. This follows on last year’s position as top excellent business school in South Africa. The rankings are the result of voting by deans of business schools around the world, based on a list of criteria.

Have an awesome week everyone!

If you would like to contribute to the Awesome AfriCAN segment of my blog, please send me a photo and caption by close of business on a Wednesday, you can mail it through to: africa@repuationmatters.co.za