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Uptime Solutions is pleased to accomplish the setup of the first ever Johnnie walker luxury store in the East and Central Africa region.
The Walker House is designed and fitted with a classy touch of leather and to notch wood finishes. All in house from Uptime Solutions.
Walker House has been setup on behalf of Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL), a leading beverage manufacturer in this region.
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Nutrition networks from across East Africa recently met in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to Launch the Global Nutrition Report and chart a course for improved action on nutrition in the region. The event brought together an expected 40 participants from Scaling up Nutrition networks across Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
Good nutrition is the Bedrock of Human well-being before birth and throughout infancy, it allows brain functioning to evolve without impairment and immune systems to develop more robustly. For young children, good nutrition status averts death and equips the body to grow and develop to its full potential. Over the course of the human lifespan, it leads to more effective learning at school, better-nourished mothers who give birth to better-nourished children, and adults who are likelier to be productive and earn higher wages. In middle age, it gives people metabolisms that are better prepared to ward off the diseases associated with changes in diet and physical activity. Without good nutrition, people’s lives and livelihoods are built on quicksand.
Across East African countries, stunting (short height for age due to chronic malnutrition) ranges from
1 in every 3 children to as high as 1 in every 2. Malnutrition has severe consequences on the survival and lifelong mental and physical abilities of individuals, and also on national economies. Despite this massive challenge, resources to nutrition‐specific programs in East Africa amount to only a small fraction of national health budgets.
“We are facing a chronic emergency that will not wait for our attention. For the healthy future of our
Countries and communities, we must act now and encourage the governments of our region to make political and financial commitments that match the scale of the challenge set before us,” said Dr.
Aristide Madagasha of the Burundi Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network (SUN CSN).
“It has been ascertained that undernutrition levels lower Uganda’s national GDP by 5.6% and found that Uganda is one of the 47 countries in the World that have overlapping under five stunting, Anemia in Women of reproductive age and adult over weight according to indicator data from Unicef, WHO and World Bank”. Said Christine Muyama the National Coordinator, Uganda Scaling Up Nutrition.
She further added that even with the government’s intervention to scale up nutrition, malnutrition still remains high in the country, “hence the government is considering drafting a policy to address malnutrition as it is one of the major causes of deaths in children under five years”. emphasised Christine.
She explained that relying on communication received from the Prime Minister’s office, the government intends to enforce this policy by ensuring that each household grows food stuff not just for commercial purposes but also for home consumption.
Launched globally last year, the Global Nutrition Report is the first report to compile comprehensive data on the status of nutrition around the world, highlighting progress in combating malnutrition, identifying gaps, and proposing solutions. Participants in the East Africa launch compared the report’s findings to the region’s status, and are to plan action to ensure East African governments increase commitment and accountability for nutrition.
“Most East African countries are not on track to meet globally‐agreed World Health Assembly targets on nutrition. In just one year the global community will come together at the second Nutrition for Growth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2016 to take stock of global progress. The East African community must make new and ambitious financial and political commitments to ensure we do not fall behind in efforts to defeat malnutrition,” said Dr. Million Shibeshi of the Ethiopia Civil Society Coalition ‐ Scaling up Nutrition (ECSC‐SUN).
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Samsung Galaxy S6:
Irresistibly bold metallic beauty with a premium design! That’s what Samsung Galaxy S6 brings into your world. With a 5.1 inch screen and a metal band around the side split by strips of plastic to allow the antenna and other radios to make their connections, Galaxy S6 is compact yet elegant and feels very awesome and convenient to hold. The volume buttons on the left-hand side and the power button on the right are perfectly positioned; and the home button delivers a very solid click.
Taking a closer look at the design dynamics, the Samsung Galaxy S6, has a thickness of 6.8mm, weighs138g and packs a battery of 2550mAh.
The camera protrudes quite conveniently from the rear of the Galaxy S6 to allow for a higher power optical system and you’ll see in the camera section that it is very much worth it. The screen is characteristic of the brilliant screen technology that Samsung has always had and the Super AMOLED display offers clear, crisp whites against pure blacks, meaning even dark scenes are shown off perfectly.
The 5.1-inch display now packs more pixels than ever before – 1440 x 2560 in fact, which matches the Galaxy Note 4 but with a higher PPI of 577 – which means you’re looking at the sharpest display on the market. It arrives alongside the Samsung Galaxy S6, and the two handsets share pretty much identical specs.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge:
On the other hand the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is a striking handset! It is eye catching and if you are in love with beauty and aesthetics, it sure will make you weak in the knees. Samsung has brought your way a product that makes a strong statement about the awesome progression of Samsung‘s curved display technology. As soon as you pull the Galaxy S6 Edge out in public, everyone will sure want to have a piece of your phone.
Looking at its design, the S6 Edge has sweeping sides, a rounded metal frame and a premium appeal, with a beautifully curved front.
It provides awesome optimized video watching and the screen is clearly sharper than normal Full HD display.
The Super AMOLED technology makes the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge even more amazingly awesome with improved resolution.
The home button on the S6 Edge has been updated with a vastly improved fingerprint scanner and a sturdier construction, making it feel even more premium and resilient.
The design of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is very good and a huge leap forward from the Galaxy S5 and even the Galaxy Note Edge.
In all, both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are super awesome devices- a must have.
VERDICT
The S6 Edge is a fantastic looking handset with plenty of power and an impressive camera, but a high price, poor battery performance and sub-par edge screen features stop it from achieving perfection.
Visit Kaymu.co.ug to get yourself one, today.
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MultiChoice Africa, the continent’s leading digital pay-tv company and NBS Television, one of Uganda’s top-ranked, privately-owned television stations have signed an agreement that will see NBS TV being carried on DStv, effective 18th June 2015.
This exciting partnership will give Ugandan viewers all over the country an opportunity to enjoy NBS’s fantastic line-up of quality local and international programming that includes news, current affairs, entertainment and sports in crystal clear digital quality.
Commenting on MultiChoice Africa’s latest addition to the DStv family, the General Manager of MultiChoice Uganda, Mr. Charles Hamya, said: “MultiChoice constantly looks for ways of improve the viewing experience for our current and potential subscribers and this includes promoting local content on our platforms. The addition of NBS TV on DStv is a manifestation of our commitment towards this objective. We firmly believe that the future of digital television in Africa lies in the adoption of the latest technology and a company’s willingness to invest in showcasing programming that is increasingly relevant to the end consumer. NBS fits within this strategy which is the reason we have entered into this partnership with them today”.
Joseph Kigozi, Chief Marketing Officer of NBS added, “This is a historic partnership which we have been looking forward to for a long time. We are both proud and excited about the opportunities this collaboration presents and are confident that our viewers will appreciate the value it will bring them in terms of countrywide reach and quality of signal”.
He continued: “NBS is ranked amongst the top television stations in country based on our local, attractive programming that resonates with Ugandans. We are also an innovative brand with fresh, exciting technologies and programs that everyone can enjoy anytime and anywhere. We are proud that NBS is finally on DStv in Uganda as well as in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya”.
In closing, Mr. Hamya thanked NBS for committing itself to the partnership with MultiChoice which will bear fruit for the company and its viewers. He also encouraged Ugandan viewers to purchase DStv and GOtv sets to get access to NBS and other fantastic channels offered on MultiChoice platforms.
NBS will be available on DStv channel 286 and is also on GOtv channel 94.
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A humanitarian move made by MTN Uganda staff under their annual Y’ello Care initiative is expected to improve the quality of education of 760 students at Uganda Technical College Lira where a fully-fledged ICT lab was set up and donated to the college.
On Thursday 10th June 2015 a team of MTN staff headed to Lira where they opened the ICT resource centre and engaged in community work including cleaning up of the college premises and donating the cleaning materials to the college.
The College management through Senior Lecturer Mrs. Mary Ajore thanked MTN for the good gesture and prayed that other private companies emulate MTN to work with government institutions in an effort to improve learning through the ICT platform.
MTN Uganda General Manager Corporate Services Anthony Katamba reiterated MTN’s commitment to continue working with government institutions such as Uganda Technical College Lira to drive ICT based initiatives.
“As MTN staff we are aware that the Internet is the future and the future starts now. We have brought along an MTN mobile shop and internet bus to reinforce our efforts. In addition our staff has set up a fully-fledged ICT lab with 15 brand new computers.”
The Guest of honour of the day, Municipal Education Officer Jane Francis Ofungi appreciated MTN staff initiatiative as a meaningful CSR initiative. She urged schools to embrace the new ICT driven trend which is ideally part of the global trend.
“Education system must now be more practical and technology driven especially in this new age trend. Now that MTN has set up this modern facility for this college, I urge you to be exemplary in this effort”, she said.
Every month of June, employees across MTN’s international footprint take time off to physically get involved in activities that uplift communities around them through financial, physical and emotional contributions of staff and MTN as a corporate citizen.
For the next 21 days MTN staff will be traversing the whole country from Central, to Western region in Kasese district; Northern region in Lira district, South Western region in Masaka and Kisoro; and finally in Eastern region in the districts of Mbale and Bududa. Throughout the 21 days, similar ICT Hubs will be set up by Staff of MTN.
The launch also featured the state of the art MTN Internet Bus which aided training, mentorship and career guidance for learners and teachers.
The MTN Internet Bus, a vital component for the promotion of ICT, is targeting to have 2500 people as beneficiaries of the training by the end of the 21-day programme.
In line with MTN’s vision “To lead the delivery of a bold, new Digital World to our customers”, several operations will again engage in activities that seek to introduce learners and teachers to the digital world.
Education is one of the most important investments a country can make to its people and its future and it is critical to reducing poverty and inequality and MTN Uganda realizes and understands the need for investment in the education sector.
According to United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), each additional year of schooling can increase a person’s income by up to 10%, and raises average annual GDP by 0.37%.
Funding of the project is solely dependent on contributions from MTN Staff who also physically get involved in the campaign activities. Leveraging on MTN’s regional presence across the country, the planned activities will allow a cross section of staff to participate in this worthy Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.
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L_R) Patricia Kiconco Segment Brand Manager GOtv Uganda, Winston Agaba Managing Director Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, Charles Hamya General Manager MultiChoice Uganda and Eng Sam Batanda Managing Director SIGNET Uganda, display the GOtv-SIGNET Free to Air decoders that will enable television viewers watch FTA channels in digital transmission at a one off purchase fee of just 125,000UGX.
In an effort to ensure all Ugandan television owners are able to smoothly migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting the National signal distributer SIGNET has partnered with GOtv and made available for sale thousands of heavily subsidized FTA (Free To Air decoders). The development comes just days after a UCC directive instructing all FTA television companies to switch off their analogue transmission signals by the 15th of June in preparation for the digital switchover.
Making the announcement at a joint press conference held at UBC offices Eng Batanda the MD of SIGNET said this partnership is very significant because “it will allow thousands of Ugandans who want to migrate but cannot afford monthly subscriptions to do so. He continued “The decoders have received type approval from the UCC and will be sold for only Ugx125,000 (FTA special offer) at the UBC offices and through GOtv and MultiChoice dealers and retail sales network countrywide”.
Warning Ugandans who remain skeptical that the country will migrate on time Eng Sam Batanda stated that “the National Digital Terrestrial Television DTT network infrastructure in the central region where over 70% of all televisions are found has already been built and is in the final stages of being tested, this coupled with the private DTT infrastructure being run by pay television companies like GOtv means the entire country is covered by some form of digital signal so there is no reason why we should not migrate come the 17th.”
Explaining the reasons why SIGNET had chosen to partner with GOtv Eng Batanda reminded the audience just last week the Minister of finance while reading the national budget said the Migration would be carried out under a PPP arrangement “so this partnership is an example of that principal in action.”
Talking about his companies level of readiness Charles Hamya the GM of MultiChoice Uganda noted that they had been preparing for the migration for a very long time “not only have we built the largest DTT network in the country we have also created the most extensive retail and distribution network with over 1,000 sales points located.” “I encourage Ugandans to take advantage of this and other promotional offers we have put on the market including the 99,000 UGsh DStv special which includes the full kit and one month’s free subscription on the Access bouquet because they are one in a lifetime price specials”.
Speaking about UBC expectations for the broadcasting industry post migration Winston Agaba the MD of the Corporation noted that the country stands to benefit tremendously for the opportunities that will come about from the increased availability of bandwidth. Digital broadcasting is a high capacity technology that supports a number of differing applications including voice, data and of course imagery this means companies in the sector will have the opportunity of introducing new services and expanding their product offering. This will lead to new revenue streams, employment opportunities and positively boost the entire economy.” He urged Ugandans to embrace the migration because it represents a major transition to the next level of broadcasting which the entire world is moving to.
The digital migration in Uganda began with the switch off of the analogue signal in the central region on Monday the 15th of June 2015 other regions will be switched off in a phased manner as the National DTT transmission infrastructure is rolled out.
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Qalaa’s 1Q15 Revenues Rise 42.5%, EBITDA records an eight-fold surge to US$ 36 Million and Bottom Line Losses Continue to Narrow in line with Year-End Profitability Target
Financial performance continues to improve quarter-on-quarter reflecting merits of Qalaa’s strategic transformation that is nearing completion. Management reiterates strategy going into 2015 with key factors being financial and operational risk reduction.
Qalaa Holdings (CCAP on the Egyptian Exchange, formerly Citadel Capital) released today its consolidated financial results for the period ending 31 March 2015, reporting revenues of US$255million, up 42.5% from the same period last year. Topline growth was driven mainly by operational improvements at ASEC Cement’s Sudan subsidiary Al-Takamol, which recorded revenue growth of 157% or a US$17 million increase over 1Q14. Furthermore, Qalaa’s core platform company TAQA Arabia also saw revnues increase by 57% to US$69million in 1Q15. Together the energy and cement segments contributed 71% to consolidated revenues.
EBITDA meanwhile stood at US$ 36million, an eight-fold increase compared to 1Q14’s figure of US$ 3.8 million, and well on-target to meet management’s stated goal of closing FY15 with EBITDA in the vicinity of US$157million.
“The year 2015 is off to a good start for Qalaa with our strategic transformation and operational improvements continuing to be positively reflected in the company’s financial performance,” said Ahmed Heikal, Chairman and Founder of Qalaa Holdings. “As was the case in FY14, where Qalaa swung to a positive EBITDA north of US$85million, up from a negative a year earlier, we are on-track to meet our previously stated guidance of EBITDA of around US$157million by year’s end.”
“At the same time, our bottom line losses continued to narrow in 1Q15. We are well on-track to return to profitability by the end of 2015 on the back of asset sales, disposal of discontinued operations, and a decline in interest expenses as we push through with our ongoing deleveraging program,” added Heikal. “More importantly, we are making significant progress toward the start of operations at greenfield Egyptian Refining Company and raising financing for greenfield Mashreq. At ERC, I am particularly pleased to announce a construction milestone with the raising of the rerun column for the delayed-coker unit. ERC and Mashreq coming online will result in significant improvements to our top line and sustain our bottom-line profitability.”
The company reported a net loss after tax and minority of US$1.4 million in the first quarter, a 51.6% improvement from 1Q14’s figure of US$30million. The improvement comes despite the impact of the devaluation of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar which saw the USD:EGP rate climb 6.7% to EGP7.63 to the dollar during 1Q15. This contributed to additional foreign exchange charges of US$6.9 million compared to a gain of US$ 1.7million in 1Q14, and inflated interest expenses, as the company has some dollar-denominated debt. Cement and Construction unit ASEC Holding recorded US$ 10.2 million in FX losses in the quarter on the back of its dollar denominated ASEC Holding Convertible.
Management reiterates its strategy going into 2015 with its underlining factors being the mitigation of financial risk by significantly deleveraging at the holding and platform company levels, and limiting operational risk through the divestment of non-core and non-essential assets while focusing resources on core business and ensuring they have the funding needed to deliver on growth plans.
Key elements of its strategy for 2015 include:
· The company is in the process of finalizing a capital increase that will see the firm capitalize liabilities arising from asset purchases worth around US$ 222.8million of which US$131million have already been capitalized and reflected on Qalaa’s increased stakes in its core assets, with the remaining balance of US$ 91.7 million expected to close by July 2015. This will see paid-in capital rise to US$ 1.2 billion through the issuance of an additional 340 million shares, of which 85 million will be preferred shares and 255 million common shares.
· Sale of Assets: Qalaa is in advanced stages of divestments including Misr Glass Manufacturing, while negotiations are progressing for the sale of ASEC Cement’s operations in Algeria, with an Algerian Holding Company in the cement industry being the natural buyer for Zahana Cement as it already owns 65% of the company, while greenfield plant Djelfa is being bid for by two Algeria based industrial groups. Likewise, confectioner Rashidi El-Mizan and the farm and fresh milk companies that operate under the Dina Farms brand are also poised for sale by 3Q15 while the Tebbin land held by Nile Logistics is expected to be sold sometime in 2H15. Qalaa remains watchful for other exit opportunities including Tanmeyah. Proceeds from these divestments will be utilized to deleverage, which in addition to the resultant de-consolidation of debt, will have a powerfully positive impact on the consolidated financial statements.
· Share Buybacks: Management will create new value through share buybacks, using proceeds from strategic exits and post deleveraging to acquire Qalaa shares for so long as these trade at a significant discount to their fair market value.
· “Our strategy for 2015 will allow us to drive growth at current assets and increase our ownership without resorting to additional capital increases beyond the current (ongoing) capital increase to US$ 1.2 billion,” said Qalaa Co-Founder and Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar. “Proceeds from the ongoing exits will be utilized to deleverage by reducing total consolidated debt of some US$ 983million — excluding debt associated with its greenfield megaproject Egyptian Refining Company and Africa Railways — to below US$ 655million by the end of FY15.”
“Moreover, our strategy will also help accelerate Qalaa’s return to profitability by year’s end, a guidance that has been progressing quarter on quarter as our transformation nears completion. Qalaa Holdings will then be ideally positioned to seize the opportunity and capitalize on the macroeconomic turnaround in our home market.” El-Khazindar concluded.
Qalaa Holdings’ full business review for 1Q 2015 and the financial statements on which it is based are now available for download on www.qalaaholdings.com
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Education is one of the major keys on the verge of unlocking Africa’s bloom. Looking at several educationists on the continent, these including the institutions and philanthropists, there is great hope for curbing heavy dependency on foreign expertise and exploiting the continent’s immense potential. The expectation here is, Africans should be able to efficiently manage their resources with exceptional leadership to propel Africa’s future economic development.
Roni Madhvani, Director Madhvani Group believes that science courses are the key ingredients for innovation, and the scientific and technical building blocks of any economy. “Education is one of the major determining factors of any nation’s economic growth and for Africa and Uganda in particular, it should be steered to innovation empowerment” he commented.
The Madhvani Foundation is a Ugandan Education philanthropist under the Madhvani Group, running for 12 years now, it has sponsored over 2000 Ugandan students to Ugandan universities to bridge the wanting labour market, with focus on science and technical expertise.
Egyptian Qalaa Holdings Co-Founder and Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar stresses the role of the private sector in reforming education in Africa. “The Qalaa Holdings Scholarship Foundation is an extension of our belief that the private sector must help lead positive change in Africa and Egypt in particular. By investing in the graduate education of 138 of Egypt’s brightest young scholars over the past 9 years, including this year’s class of 17 scholars, we are investing in the future development of the country as these young men and women are required to return to Egypt upon the completion of their various Masters and PhD programs,” he emphasized.
Fred Swaniker, a Ghanian entrepreneur with a passion for solving social problems, believes that many of Africa’s predicaments boil down to a lack of adequate leadership. To help change that, during the last seven years he has focused his energy on the creation and development of an elite pan-African secondary school aimed at fostering the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs. The African Leadership Academy (ALA) opened in January 2008 in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, and currently has over 300 students from over 35 countries, some of these include Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, in addition to S. Africa.
Investing in Education is definitely a shining torch which Africa should lift even higher to be able to tread the paths of great challenge of poverty, disease and illiteracy. Like the saying of a great fallen hero, Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
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The Madhvani Foundation has released the shortlist of candidates due for interviews for the Madhvani Foundation scholarships 2015-2016. This comes after a month long application period during the month of April and a vigilant selection process in the month of May 2015.
Making the announcement in a press release today, the Chairman of the scholarships committee, Mr. Gabriel Opio said the Foundation received over 1000 applications for scholarships and of these, 300 have been selected for interviews. “We expect to take on a bigger number of beneficiaries compared to last year because of the increase in the scholarship Fund by 50 million shillings to make 700 million for the scholarship package this year. Our aim is to encourage and enable science scholars to pursue the much needed disciplines for Uganda’s Labor market. We realized that many underprivileged and yet academically brilliant students couldn’t afford these expensive courses. With this boost we hope to give more opportunity to the academically gifted students” he added.
Interviews for the shortlisted candidates will be held from 13th July to 17th July, 2015 at Makerere University Kampala, Academic Registrar’s Building (Senate Building), Board Room Level VI, between 8:30a.m and 6:00p.m.
The candidates are expected to appear for the interviews at the exact times indicated on the list which is available for viewing in the website www.madhvanifoundation.com and at the foundation offices at plot 96-98 Fifth street industrial area.
Mr. Roni Madhvani the Director Madhvani Group, cautioned prospective candidates to watch out for acts of fraud following reports that unscrupulous individuals were selling application forms for Shs50,000 and promising to get students onto the shortlist for Shs200,000. “As a Foundation we conduct our affairs very transparently and do not tolerate any form of canvassing. During the application period our forms are sold for a stationery fee of only Shs2,000 shillings at our offices in Industrial Area, while on the website they can be downloaded for free” He urged anyone who has been asked for or paid more than Shs2,000 for the forms to report the matter and contact the Foundation offices immediately so that they can fortify their case with the police where the Foundation has already opened a criminal file based on the unfortunate reports”. He continued “educational fraud is a matter we take very seriously because it negatively impacts on the generous work the Foundation has done and is still doing “.
The Madhvani Foundation Scholarship programme is 12 years now, with a disbursement of over 4 billion shillings to support over 2,000 Ugandan students studying both scientific and technical courses. The earmarked science and technical disciplines for sponsorship include Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry, Actuarial Science, Architecture, Veterinary Medicine, Commerce, Hotel Management, Pharmacy, Nursing, Engineering, Food Science & Technology, Information Technology, Environment, and Medicine. The students eligible for the scholarships are needy undergraduate students, who have completed first year of studies at a Ugandan University; and graduate applicants who have been either admitted and/or registered for graduate programmes.