Category: Business

A not-for-profit organisation, Oceanika, is calling on industrial fishing vessels to make more effort to remove fish aggregating devices (FADs) after fishing, after the NPO removed 24 fish FADs from Seychelles’ waters.

Oceanika, which has offices in Geneva and Thailand and has recently established one in Seychelles, has set an aim of locating and removing FADs in the waters of the Indian Ocean islands.

The organisation recently spent over 20 days at sea to find and remove the devices mostly used by large tuna fishing vessels.

Olivier Manaut, the chairman of Oceanika Seychelles, told SNA that “having seen the issues with regards to the FADs, which are left at sea and end up drifting to the coast and damaging the sea floor and corals, we decided that we need to do something.”

FADs are man-made, usually floating wooden structures with hanging nets to attract fish and these can either be free floating or anchored to the seabed.

When FADs are left at sea, they can also cause problems for marine life including turtles and sharks can become entangled in the floating nets attached.

The government of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, is very attentive to this issue because of the impact of FADs on the marine environment.

Seychelles is recognised by the international community for its work on environmental protection and has worked for a long time with partners to put in place sustainable solutions for tuna fishing and seek all means to minimise the impact of this fishery.

Manaut said that he has been in regular discussion with the Ministry of Fisheries and the fishing companies that have been receptive to these concerns.

One of the areas all parties have agreed on is to have tracking devices on the FADs to make it easier to locate and remove them.

“At the moment, we have to go at sea and look for the buoys attached to the devices, which makes it very difficult and we might miss a lot of them. If we know their exact location, we can then go directly to each one and remove it,” he explained.

Other local organisations helping to remove FADs from Seychelles’ waters are the Islands Conservation Society (ICS) and Islands Development Company (IDC).

Meanwhile, with 24 FADs removed on their latest outing, Manaut said Oceankia has been in contact with local companies who are looking at ways to recycle these devices.

A young Seychellois company called Brikole, is already very active in the recycling of nets, and is a partner of Oceanika for the reprocessing part of the FADs.

“WASTEA, another Seychellois company, is also our partner, helping us with its expertise and its advice, in addition to these processes to eliminate this waste or reprocess it,” said Manaut.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) office in the Eastern Region with support from the Koforidua Central Police Command have raided some parts of Koforidua central market to arrest people peddling unregistered medicinal products.

The products included Aphrodisiac (drugs that stimulates sexual desires) such as Henigra 200, Hiergra 200, AK 47, and Maxx man.

Madam Anita Owusu-Kuffour, Eastern Regional Acting Head of FDA told the Ghana News Agency that such products among others could not be guaranteed on the market and the swoop exercise (unannounced) was part of the Authority’s mandate to clear the market of non-conforming goods.

She said the exercise was conducted after the FDA’s regular awareness raising on unregulated products was done at market centres and lorry parks to draw people’s attention to health hazards in purchasing and using of such goods.

The exercise, which took place at Nkurakan, Effiduase, Korley Nkwanta and Koforidua township focused on drug peddlers, herbal retail shops, and operators of community information centres.

They arrested nine people including persons running information centres that had drug manufacturers depositing products for sale with a continuous pre-recorded advertisement, particularly on unregistered Aphrodisiac.

They are currently under investigation for possible prosecution while the seized unregistered drugs were in FDA’s confinement, she said.

The swoop will be extended to the rest of the districts in the region. ‘Some of such medicinal products do not have any label and others too provide labels as and when you buy.

The sellers could be seeking for wrong labels for such products and this situation is worrying,’ she lamented.

Madam Owusu-Kuffour urged the public/ consumers to buy products from recognized facilities and traceable places, cautioning that if you buy from hawkers, you will not be able to trace them when facing health complications after using a drug. ‘ Consider buying FDA registered products. It is only when a product is registered that you will know it has gone through the necessary procedures and it is guaranteed, she said adding that ‘ safety and efficacy is important.’

She said raiding the market of unregistered medicinal products exercise drew public’s attention to the works of the Food and Drugs Authority in ensuring that wholesome products were offered for sale. FDA exists to ensure the safety, quality and efficacy of human and veterinary drugs, food, medicinal products, cosmetics, medical devices and household chemical substances.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Prince Ackuaku, a Business Development Coach, has encouraged the youth to seek support from coaches and specialists to have sustainable start-ups and Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Businesses (MSMEs).?

He noted that business planning, research and hands-on training were very key in business survival apart from finance.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr Ackuaku, who is also a banker, indicated that MSMEs constituted about 85 per cent of businesses in Ghana.

‘As such their sustenance is critical to economic development and employment creation,’ he said. ?

Mr Ackuaku was concerned that most MSMEs tend to fizzle out in a brief time due to a myriad of challenges, including access to finance and market, lack of proper bookkeeping and inadequate research.?

Mr Ackuaku, however, said those challenges could be surmounted when young people in business or those who intend to operate MSMEs seek assistance from business coaches.?

He said: ‘A business coach is helpful in setting goals and developing a strategic plan over a certain period to achieve set targets. The coach will assist you get direction about your goal and clarify all the issues to be able to stay in business.?

‘The coach also helps you to avoid the pitfalls…What the University gives you is a broad understanding of the business world and operations, but it doesn’t automatically make you, a business graduate; that’s why mentorship is important,’ he added.?

Mr Ackuaku encouraged young and start-up entrepreneurs to seek the assistance from business coaches, and not to sit back with the intention of getting a consultant to do things for them. ?

The Business Development Coach called for the right environment to be created by the Government for MSMEs to thrive.?

‘MSMEs employ a lot of people, contribute to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and production in the economy, and enhance the living standards of people.

So, government policy and business regulations should be geared towards helping them,’ he said.?

He added that: ‘If it is business registration, we can say that when you’re starting-up a one-page business registration can be done, then after six months or a year, then more elaborate registration can be done.’ ?

He also called on the Government to support business incubation centres, whose work has also become critical for start-ups in recent years.?

Among others, the incubators, he said help people with bookkeeping, marketing, financial strategies, operational scale up, which is critical to business survival, therefore, must be encouraged.?

The Business Development Coach noted that there were opportunities to be explored in the agricultural sector, and the post Covid-19 period was bringing up more businesses in the hospitality, pharmaceuticals and travel and tour businesses, among others.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Angola hosts in September, for the first time, the final of the 2022 international business management simulation contest, called Global Management Challenge.

The event will feature more than 30 groups from around the world, including the hosts.

The Global Management Challenge is a strategic management competition for managers and university students. Participants form teams of 5-8 members to allow the development of skills for managers, company staff, among others.

According to the director of operations at Soik Investments, João Pereira, representative of the organizers of the event, it is a great value for Angola to organize one of the biggest simulation competitions in the world.

João Pereira added that, for the 2023 contest, registrations were already taking place across the country, until 31 May of the current

year, stressing that young Angolans could access the website: www.gms.ao. to participate in this edition.

To participate, he continued, it is sufficient that the candidate has completed at least the first university year, in any course, and is 18 years of age.

He said that the objective for that year is to include young people from all over the country, in order to get rid of the idea that only

Luanda participates.

“We have the objective of reaching the whole country, with the broadening of the candidacies. We had the opportunity to take the competition to the provinces of Namibe, Benguela and Huíla. We also intend to reach Huambo”, he stressed.

The winners for the 2023 edition will be announced on the 6th of July of the current year.

Launched in Portugal in 1980, the Global Management Challenge has become the largest international strategy and management competition,

achieving, over the years, an enormous success, becoming an event of

high notoriety and visibility.

In Angola by Soik investments since 2007, it contributes to the

training and development of management skills, for university

students, company staff and Angolan managers.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for the Angolan manufacturing industry registered, in the period from 2018 to 2022, a cumulative 7.7%, with greater emphasis on the last year.

The information was provided this Wednesday by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, during the opening ceremony of the Industrial Fair’s 5th Edition, which takes place under the motto “It is possible for us to walk together”.

According to the Angolan Head of State, the figure represents a growth of around 6%, surpassing the projection foreseen in the 2022 General State Budget (OGE).

At the exhibition taking place in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE), in the Luanda Municipality of Viana, in Luanda, President João Lourenço stated that over 200 new projects were approved and implemented in the same period.

These are high-impact ventures in the field of manufacturing industry, distributed across the country’s 18 provinces, in several subsectors of activities.

According to the holder of the Executive Power, the action resulted in over ten thousand jobs, with greater emphasis on the food sector, having highlighted that it is a commitment by the Executive to increase industrial production, to ensure self-sufficiency in essential goods of consumption.

The President of the Republic considered it fundamental to continue to stimulate and boost the increase in national production in order to reduce prices, imports and increase exports.

With that, he said, the country will be able to face the competitiveness arising from Angola’s adherence to the protocols of the SADC Free Trade Area, the African Continental and the Tripartite Free Trade Area.

In his speech, João Lourenço called for an organized, systematic and persistent effort to attract national and foreign private investment, in order to place the country on the path of industrialization established by SADC.

For the Angolan statesman, this task is not an easy one, as competition between countries to attract foreign direct investment is quite strong.

It is notorious the effort that the country has been making in recent years in increasing and improving the infrastructure to support industry and the economy as a whole.

Improved electricity supply

In front of exhibitors and businesspeople, President João Lourenço noted that there has been, in recent years, a considerable increase in the supply of electricity from hydroelectric and photovoltaic production sources.

He said that the aforementioned increase consequently reduced the production of electricity from thermal sources (pollutants) and that increase the price of the product (energy) sold to domestic and business consumers.

Within the framework of improving the supply of electricity, President João Lourenço underlined the fact that the Executive is investing in the construction of transport lines.

On the occasion, the Head of State said that it was energy produced in the Lower Kwanza basin, namely in Kapanda, Laúca and Cambambe, as well as in the Soyo Combined Cycle, in Zaire Province.

“All of them are already interconnected, through the National Transport Network, to take this available capacity to the East, Southeast and South of the country”, informed the President of the Republic.

The holder of executive power added that one of the ideas of the project is to connect the national network to the provinces of Lunda Sul, Lunda Norte, Moxico, Cuando Cubango, Huíla, Cunene and Namibe.

Water sector

President João Lourenço announced that important investments are also scheduled in the water sectors, all over the country.

He stated that for Luanda, the country’s main industrial centre, the Bita and Quilonga projects are being implemented which should improve the water supply to the Angolan capital.

As for the current context of the national manufacturing industry, the Angolan statesman said that it offers many challenges, opportunities but also constraints.

Angola continues to mark very precise steps in its process of opening up to the outside world, looking for ways to diversify the economy by substituting imports, promoting exports, reducing the country’s dependence on the oil sector.

Around 230 companies are taking part in the Industrial fair/2023 5th edition, in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE) Luanda-Bengo, until the 1st of April.

The transformation industry, engineering and civil construction, as well as the food industry and agribusiness are some of the sectors present in the sample that has national and foreign exhibitors.

The “Expo-Industria” (Expo Industry) event is the biggest industrial showcase in Angola and aims to stimulate investment in national industry, within the scope of the strategy of diversifying the economy, substituting imports, increasing exports, reducing unemployment and poverty.

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Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment announced Tuesday, in Malanje Province, the construction of the Memorial of the Sovereigns of the Kingdom of Ndongo and the requalification of the village of Muculu-a-Ngola, in the Municipality of Marimba.

The project foresees the construction of the tombs where the remains of King Ngola Kiluanji and Queen Njinga a Mbande lie, in addition to 40 residences for members of the court, the King’s palace, a primary school, a health unit and the requalification of other monuments and kingdom sites.

When presenting the project to the local community, the national director of Communities and Institutions of Traditional Power of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Albano Cufuna, said that the budget has already been approved and the start of works depends on the rehabilitation of the road that gives access to the locality, since it is in an advanced state of degradation.

Despite this, he guarantees that feasibility studies are already underway for the execution of the project, which aims to dignify the kingdom and guarantee better living conditions for local communities.

On his turn, the deputy governor of Malanje for the Political, Social and Economic sector, Domingos Eduardo, informed that, with the construction of the memorial and the requalification of the locality of Muculu-a-Ngola, the area will be transformed into an important of tourist attraction.

The official highlighted the historical and cultural role played by the sovereigns of the ancient kingdom of Ndongo, which is why the Angolan government has the duty to restructure the place and facilitate its access to the youth and beyond, in order to be in contact with history.

The Deputy National Director of the Institute for Tourism Development (INFOTUR), Agostinho Xavier, praised the initiative, as the province could register an increase in the frequency of tourists and consequently raise more revenue for the State.

Meanwhile, the sovereign of the Kingdom of Ndongo, King Buba Nvula Dala Mana “Cabombo”, expressed gratitude with the project, considering that it will give greater dignity to the kingdom.

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Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)