http://www.cheetahblog.com Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:27:03 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Francis Kere at Design Indaba: Looking at the housing situation in West Africa, architect Francis Kéré says that Africans should stop copying the Western way of building but adapt it to their own needs, the needs of the community and to cope with the weather patterns in the region. He also talks about his ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/francis-kere-on-the-need-for-traditional-building-techniques/ It’s uncanny reading the article below side by side with the one written exactly 10 years ago (HERE) It looks like the Economist, the world leader in Afro-pessimism is finally turning around and seeing the facts rather than pre-conceived notions about the continent READ ARTICLE Cheetahblog Commentary: For Africa to continue to succeed ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/the-hopeful-continent-interesting-read-from-the-economist/ When they are not ignoring Africa altogether, big-hitting institutional investors regularly bemoan the continent’s illiquid small markets, political insecurity and shaky regulations, or fret that despite pretty decent returns little or nothing would make them touch the continent right now. But as Africa’s economies grow and its nascent middle class starts ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/investing-in-africa-catch-up-time/ In African Capital Markets News: Aureos Africa Health Fund invested $2.5 million in a Kenyan hospital and health insurance company, the Avenue Group , which offers affordable healthcare cover, integrated with quality healthcare provision. It has a 70-bed full-purpose hospital in Nairobi, 7 clinics through Kenya as well as in-house clinics for corporate clients, a home-based ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/investing-in-health-avenue-healthcare-kenya-receives-a-2-5m-investment/ TreeHugger reports on the Kiira-EV an electric car designed and built by students from Makerere University: A group of 25 Ugandan students from Makerere University’s College of Engineering, Art and Design have built Uganda’s first electric car, the Kiira EV. Initially designed in 2009, the fabricated car was taken for a public test drive last week. Most of ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/makerere-university%e2%80%99s-kiira-ev-electric-car/ The Firoz and Najma Lalji supported Programme for African Leadership With the first session starting in March 2012, the Firoz and Najma Lalji supported Programme for African Leadership, stems from the shared vision of the Lalji family and LSE: to foster emerging leaders to promote best practices of economic and social ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/programme-for-african-leadership/ Vineyards will help to add value to crops in the Rift Valley Making wine in Ethiopia, when the whole world has seen pictures of famine there, may seem absurd, if not indecent. But that would be to forget that this country of 88 million people is twice the size of France and that ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/ethiopia-uncorks-a-new-export-with-french-wine-making-partnership/ Africa’s techpreneurs are becoming more creative by the day. In following the footsteps of their Silicon Valley counterparts, African techies are building awe-inspiring companies in mobile, e-commerce, software and social gaming. As a close follower of African success stories, this week I highlight five of the continent’s sexiest tech startups, ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/five-sexy-african-tech-startups/ A historic agreement aimed at creating a free-trade zone uniting 26 African countries and establishing Africa's biggest trading bloc was announced recently in Johannesburg, South Africa. The proposed free-trade area would encompass the South African Development Community, the East African Community, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, with ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/african-free-trade-plan-must-be-supported/ Africa can feed not just itself but the world is a bold assertion to make at a time when famine stalks part of the continent. But this is precisely the claim made by Kanayo Nwanze, the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad), a specialised agency of the UN. Nwanze gave ... http://www.cheetahblog.com/africa-can-feed-the-world/