The COVID-19 crisis triggered an unprecedented local backlash in Africa.There has been a wave of business philanthropy and network solidarity: for example, the South African Solidarity Fund and the Nigerian Private Sector Coalition opposed to COVID-19 (CACOVID).Taken together, an avalanche of donations from Americans and small businesses to cushion the socio-economic situation has an effect on social estrangement measures (quarantines, curfews, lockdowns) on the poor.
The personal sector has created an effect on which African governments may never have achieved on their own.But business and government action to curb the spread of COVID-19 is directed at urban centres and momentary humanitarian aid.It’s too early for a full description of aid efforts.But I see through my paintings with corporations at Lagos Business School that responses to the crisis are aimed at providing food aid and money grants to predominantly urban households.
The war against the virus will be won or lost in the continent’s most deficient communities, which are the most vulnerable to COVID, and this is a long-term struggle.By deploying responses and support, companies deserve to focus on what’s left.Businesses also face key structural demand situations that predate COVID-19 and are exacerbating its current effect.
How poor are the communities for COVID-19
A ripped social fabric in Africa increases the effect of COVID-19.
Most Africans live in precarious situations at $1.90 a day.In Nigeria, for example, another 90 million people, about a part of the population, live in excessive poverty.Their life situations further fuel the transmission of the COVID-19.60% of the continent’s population (587 million Africans) lives in overcrowded and unhealthy urban slums, such as Alexandra, Makoko and Kibera.Here, the social estrangement needed to fight COVID-19 is to implement, and informal sector staff resist closures.save them from making a living.
Rural poverty is even worse. Most rural poor people live without access to critical health, education, energy and telecommunications infrastructure.Natural errors and primary economic trends also restrict the productivity, source of income and food security of the poor, most of whom are farmers.have discovered their only help in coVID-19’s remedy from the network’s aid associations.(For example, MANSAM, a coalition of grassroots women’s organizations and civil society groups, has introduced a “Sudan vs. Crown” campaign: mask making, supply donation, distributing posters containing essential data and raising awareness of the virus through social media.)
The young population of Africa might seem like a protective barrier in this pandemic.While the existing pandemic has spread throughout Asia, Europe and North America, others over the age of 60 have suffered the most severe cases of COVID-19.Africa has 19.However, widespread malnutrition, anaemia, malaria and tuberculosis in African countries would likely lead to a higher incidence of severe COVID-19 bureaucracy in younger patients.These situations of immunity abolition are mixed with a weak public fitness infrastructure and the exodus of doctors to the West to create a dangerous situation.
Rethinking CSR in a pandemic
Through my paintings with corporations at the Lagos Business School Sustainability Center, I have noticed that corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects tend to be individual small-scale efforts.These activities do not address demanding situations in a comprehensive way and do not provide the breadth of only a handful of corporations, basically multinationals such as Unilever and Coca Cola, will have sustainable progression charts that prove to have a systemic and long-term view of the social upheavals they are trying to solve.some giant corporations have introduced partnerships such as the Alliance for Plastic Recycling in Africa and the Private Sector Advisory Group; are vectors of collective action on major disorders of sustainable progression, from plastic pollutants to malnutrition.
The same old CSR dynamics appear in paintings with answers to COVID-19: corporations pass it alone under their own control and deploy fragmented solutions.
Corporations have long had to pursue a long-term, system-driven, collaborative commitment to address structural poverty and similar situations that demand sustainability.The damage caused by COVID-19 is made imaginable through pre-existing demanding situations such as food insecurity, poor housing, lack of access to quality physical care and youth unemployment.
This is what this technique could look like in the field of food security.
Lack of confidence in long-standing food is exacerbated by COVID-19
COVID-19 exacerbated existing food insecurity, which already affected one-fifth of the population of sub-Saharan Africa.Food security exists “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient and nutritious food that meets their food needs.personal food desires and tastes for an active and healthy life.”
African agriculture focuses on small farms, which have long experienced underinvestment and low productivity. Farmers face demanding situations in many key resources, adding quality inputs (seeds and fertilizers), schooling through agricultural extension services, financing, storage, logistics and transportation..
Here’s an example of how it’s going: African countries (Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria) produce more than one part of the world’s cassava, a staple crop; however, 30 to 40 percent of the total cassava crop is wasted in the world.lack of services good enough to buy this crop after highly consistent and disposable harvest.Meanwhile, massive swarms of locusts have destroyed a swath of farmland in 8 East African countries.
The COVID-related lockdowns have disrupted already fragile food production and distribution systems. Farmers are unable to sell their crops, exacerbating their poverty and leading to increased dependence on external food imports. restrictions on the export of food in supplier countries such as Vietnam and India. Shortages have made staples too expensive for many households, leading to further malnutrition.
Companies can the food price chain
Momentary humanitarian assistance is valuable given urgent and demanding food security situations, but CSR programming and investments should focus on strengthening the food price chain, from its roots basically on rural farms to the table.
Businesses, both in the money sector and in the food and beverage industry, can, through CSR projects and investments, expand financing opportunities for farmers,
create the right education and equipment for the most productive agricultural practices, invest in logistics, transportation and garage systems, and supply more to retail markets at fair prices.
These efforts deserve to expand the promising reports of social enterprises such as One Acre Fund in East Africa and Babban Gona in West Africa.These social enterprises have business models rooted in rural economies that link experience and business resources with government agencies, network groups., multinational food buyers and foreign advance partners. Farmers can increase their productivity by leveraging high-quality inputs (seeds, fertilizers, etc.), agricultural education and logistics to bring their products to market.intake and other activities.
This reorientation of care and resources can enable Africans to emerge from the current food security crisis and build resilience towards a sustainable future. The coronavirus crisis teaches us that it is up to companies to adopt a systemic and long-term technique to combat poverty, forging new corporate partnerships and inclusive business models for the common good, and to disrupt and transform failing public service delivery systems and price creation.
Dr. Ijeoma Nwagwu is a professor of sustainability and at Lagos Business School.
MTN, a pan-African telecommunications company, has joined the league of leading players in the global telecommunications application programming interfaces (API) market.The telecoms giant announced its new API market a few days ago to allow developers and businesses to realize and subscribe to what will be the largest open API library published on the African continent.
Depending on the size of the global telecom API market
An API is a set of communication protocols and computers that help expand cellular applications.These interfaces provide easy-to-use features that allow expanders to focus only on application progression.Simplifies the application progression procedure by eliminating the desire to expand a feature from scratch.
APIs are imperative in all cellular programs and come with messaging, voice and video calls, cellular bills, and location tracking.The growing number of cellular subscribers is the main contributor to market growth.According to statistics published through the GSMA, the total number of cellular subscriptions was approximately 5.1 billion in 2018 and is expected to succeed at 5.8 billion by 2025, boosting API demand.
The growing adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) is also expected to have a strong influence on market growth. APIs play a role in monetizing the IoT network because they act as a point of interaction between multiple elements of the network.Mobile operators are focusing on expanding their role in the price chain to deliver end-to-end IoT solutions, reducing their reliance on other third-party solution providers.
The market has a prospect of higher expansion in emerging regions, such as Africa and Asia-Pacific, due to the growing number of start-ups.Telecom operators, such as Orange and Vodafone Group, have developed partnerships with start-ups in those places in the market.These partnerships have enabled mobile operators to take advantage of new sources of profit by allowing start-ups and developers to access their APIs, driving market expansion.
Just over a week ago, MTN introduced its partnership, which the company described as Africa’s largest API market.Under the Chenosis brand, the newest API market will allow developers to use a wide variety of API products across the continent, from telecommunications, online.health, e-government, IoT, fintech, e-commerce, identity and authentication, invoices and recoveries, location and more, of a single market.
“Chenosis is a distinct logo and entity, and will have an independent appointment with MTN to remain open to all cellular network operators, new financial technology companies, payment service providers, cell wallet operators, money service providers, etc.,” Charles said.Molapisi, Chief Technology and Information Officer, MTN Group.
Chenosis market companies and developers publish their APIs for other developers to view and consume.The marketplace also provides publishers with the team to monetize and advertise their APIs, creating subscription plans and bundled product offerings that developers and businesses can purchase.The Chenosis Marketplace portal provides dashboards that allow publishers and consumers to track revenue and credit balances, view admission analytics and API performance, and more.
The strength of the platform will lie in the creation of mashup APIs that will attach cross-sectoral APIs and facilitate innovation and the ability to create new and commercial models. Mashups are new product orchestrations and are created through developers from at least two existing APIs.
“We have interesting pan-African and partner partnerships to publish and monetize their APIs in the market in the coming months,” Molapisi revealed.
“These partnerships will enable Chenosis to be the largest and most varied development ecosystem on the African continent.”
“This is one of the tactics MTN is investing in the emergence of an open African API ecosystem, driven by African ingenuity and innovation,” he added.
The telecommunications API market is developing due to the growing number of cellular Internet users. According to the GSMA, the total number of cellular Internet users at the end of 2017 was 3.3 billion.With the growing number of cellular Internet users, telecom operators are focusing on improving their solution offerings to provide faster and safer service to customers.APIs enable organizations to operate at other Internet speeds and create cutting-edge responses for engagement.
The development of Machine to Machine (M2M) device adoption is expected to stimulate the market. APIs are very important for M2M communication because they specify the message format that can be used to control the device. According to industry experts, the number of connected cell phones The up-up devices are expected to be around 10.5 billion by 2020, creating market opportunities, particularly in the customer electronics and M2M sectors.In addition, the expanding e-commerce industry is expected to generate demand for products, such as payment AND location APIs..
As a component of plans to empower Nigerians to be well versed and well balanced in business, entrepreneurship, capacity progression and other human efforts, Global Outrevery one, a platform that leverages the human perspective for maximum productivity, recently presented a series called EQUIP on Metro FM 97.7 “Get John-Mabun”, which aired last Thursday , it will air the same day each week.
Speaking about the initiative, Mr. John-Mabun Adesoga said that the Equip radio series will influence many other young people in Nigeria and around the world: “We are very pleased that this initiative will make other young people notice their goals in life.and give clarity to young adults who are at the crossroads of their career, marriage and non-secular life.We will distribute blunt eBooks written on the radio screen for loose and also create tutoring channels for listeners.
Equip is a Global Outsucceed initiative designed to motivate Nigerians to greatness.In addition, the purpose is to succeed in those in need and empower others through skill progression programs.
Adesoga is also the founder of Purpose Summit, where he teaches others how to notice, align, and maximize the goal.Early Dew is a prophetic ministry that is helping others notice God’s movement for the season so that others can line up for God.With Equip, it comes with an apostolic and prophetic anation as you take your listeners to the prophetic dimensions of the discourse with wonderful testimonies.
BEATINGCorona of RED recently presented its COVID-19 Internet map to keep key stakeholders objective and redouble their efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in Nigeria.
Building on the strength of knowledge analytics, the interactive platform highlights the strengths of concerted combat opposed to COVID-19 while highlighting the imaginable intervention spaces for individuals, governments and donor agencies.
The map shows more than 1,000 PRIMARY occasions similar to COVID-19 and stakeholder efforts to flatten the curve in Nigeria, ranging from the announcement of the index case in Lagos to the slow blockade of the country’s major cities to involve the spread of the virus.
“Monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic is vital for government, personal establishments, and nonprofits to plan and expand effective methods on how to lower the rate of infection and deaths from the pandemic,” said Adebola Williams, executive director of RED For Africa.”As a result, in addition to providing comprehensive data on all ongoing interventions, BeatingCorona will provide featured data and data from the new Internet map to help facilities fight the virus head-on and mitigate its effects on individuals, businesses and communities.
“With COVID-19 instances expanding to more than 45,000, it is imperative that we actively document their footprint and expand people-centric responses to prevent their spread.”
Created through The Future Project, in partnership with Y!Africa and RED’s cultural intelligence, BeatingCorona is a state-of-the-art knowledge collection platform on all COVID-19 interventions in Africa.-19.
Mr. Omoboyede Oyebolanle Olusanya has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Nigeria’s main agri-food group.
Prior to this recent commitment, Olusanya had served as commercial transformation director for Dangote Group.Between July 2017 and October 2018, he was CEO/CEO of the Emerging Markets Telecommunications Service, also known as 9Mobile.He also participates in the Axxela, Starsight and OVH Energy forums.
Olusanya holds a degree in engineering from the University of Lagos and two master’s degrees in environmental engineering and computer science from the universities of Liverpool and Manchester, and joined Flour Mills as the group’s chief operating officer in January 2020.
Commenting on the importance of his appointment, John Coumantaros, chairman of the board of directors of Flour Mills Plc, said the organization would gain advantages from Olusanya’s extensive experience.
“We are very happy to welcome Olusanya to our Board of Directors.He is an experienced business leader whose experience and delight in telecommunications, monetary services, energy and production are essential for our operations and long-term strategy and FMN in achieving its purpose of “Feeding the Nation every day,” Coumantaros said.
(Reuters / NAN) Flooding on China’s Yangtze River has forced the government to evacuate more than 100,000 Arrays.
The Nigerian Diary
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