Madagascar’s textile and clothing sector is recovering from the heavy toll taken by the Covid-19 pandemic, initially causing the loss of 11,384 jobs according to government figures released in September 2020, reflecting a steep loss in output. According to Madagascar business association the Groupement des Entreprises Franches et Partenaires, this initially resulted in a drop of 47% in apparel turnover in an island nation whose economy was already under pressure before being hit by a Covid-19-led recession.…

Sub-Saharan Africa has natural resources that aids the development of renewable energy, it has lots of sun, plentiful wind, and much potentially sustainable biomass. With the development of small-scale affordable renewable energy technologies, such systems have been promoted by major aid agencies keen to prevent deforestation and excessive reliance on fossil fuels, that – even where they are plentiful, have not usually led to widespread economic development.

Higher education institutions in Mozambique are now under legal pressure to replace lecturers who only have bachelors’ degrees with those who have masters and PhD qualifications. A law, the ‘Regulamento de licenciamento e funcionamento das Instituições só Ensino Superior decree 46/2018’, has been formally enforced since August (2021) a Mozambique government official told UWN.…

African students have been benefiting from an informal innovative online initiative helping them find jobs after they graduate. The iDEASlab (1) has in particular enabled higher education students to launch business ideas after graduation.

The network’s academics are Angolans based in the USA, Russia and Angola, who, inspired by their time at university, decided to work together informally to create development in their places of birth.…

Malawi, one the world’s largest producer of burley leaf tobacco, is making significant efforts to reduce child labour within its tobacco left sector, but the problem is still endemic.

A key sensitivity is that Malawi’s economy heavily relies on tobacco leaf, which contributes to 52% of the total export value for the country, according to the Malawi ministry of finance 2020 annual economic report.…

South Africa’s dairy sector has been dealing with a triple whammy of low economic growth, the Covid-19 pandemic, and a spate of unrest in July in parts of the country that caused major damage to retail outlets and the spoilage and wastage of up to 1 million litres of milk.…

Mozambique’s tobacco leaf and processing sector is facing tough times. Cyclones such as this January’s Eloise, and Idai in 2019 have wreaked significant damage on tobacco plantations. Covid-19 has caused processing disruption and harmed legitimate distribution, encouraging an increase in black market cigarette sales.…

IT is maybe not a common occurrence for the tobacco industry to find itself on the right side of judicial rulings, but in December, South Africa’s Western Cape High Court ruled that a four-and-a-half month national ban on sales of tobacco products, justified to prevent the spread of Covid-19, had been unconstitutional.…

The Islamic insurgency experienced in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province, since 2017, which has already displaced more than 250,000 people and killed more than 1,500, is damaging operations within the region’s higher education institutions.

While confirmed casualties have yet to include academics and students at the region’s higher education institutions, local higher education leaders are concerned about the risks.…

Covid-19 has ripped through the economy of the Indian Ocean country Mauritius, but it has helped island business advisory agency managing director Sheila Ujoodha make her case to clients that risk assessments and contingency planning are important.

The owner of SmarTree Consulting (SCL) since she created the company in 2018, Ujoodha is busy suggesting how businesses can cope with the pandemic, through its services of internal audit, risk assessment and regulatory consulting.…