By Akebe Luther King ABIA — The rapid onset and spread of coronavirus is proving to be a huge challenge for public health officials across the world. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some cause illness in people and others only infect animals. Very rarely have animal coronaviruses infected and spread between people. This is what’s …
By Safura Abdool KARIM — Earlier this month, the Competition Commission approved Pepsi’s R25.6-billion acquisition of South Africa’s Pioneer Foods. The move has been hailed as a “massive boost” to the South African economy. This acquisition is one in a slew of mergers that have seen multinationals such as Massmart and Coca-Cola begin to, in their own words, “take over” the African …
By Ifeanyi Nsofor ABUJA – The coronavirus outbreak — which began in Wuhan, China, and causes a pneumonia-like illness — is raging across Asia, infecting close to 300 people and killing four. It was initially known to be transmitted from animals to human, and was just confirmed to be transmitted from human to human. The rapid nature of …
There is renewed optimism that Africa’s small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) could be big winners with the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) — the world’s largest such trading zone with a combined current GDP of US$2.5 trillion and a market of over one billion people. Given the challenges that have …
The sun was mid-way up when the car that carried me and a few local agricultural officers pulled up in front of a farmhouse. We got out and walked behind the house. There we found a heavily damaged field of corn. The farmer talked animatedly about a strange ‘hungry worm’. His corn was less than …