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Barclays to rebrand to ABSA

Special Correspondent - May 17, 2018

Barclays Africa Group shareholders have approved the lender’s planned change of name to Absa Group starting July. This, in effect, sets in motion the start...

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The organization "Youth for Peace and Dialogue Between Cultures" is honored to announce that its President and Founder, Zakaria El Hamel, has been officially nominated for the prestigious Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize. The Foundation of the Prize, via Deputy Director Vadim Karasev, has confirmed that the nomination has been formally received and accepted for review. Mr. El Hamel’s candidacy is now being evaluated by the international jury in accordance with the foundation’s established procedures. Recognition of Two Decades of Commitment This nomination serves as a milestone in Zakaria El Hamel’s twenty-year journey as a journalist and human rights defender. Based in Oujda, he has dedicated his life to youth empowerment, having reached over 50,000 young people through educational campaigns centered on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Global Momentum for Peace This international recognition follows a major achievement for the Oriental region of Morocco. In March 2026, under Mr. El Hamel’s leadership, Oujda was officially designated as the 468th International City of Peace, solidifying the city’s role as a Mediterranean and African hub for diplomacy and tolerance. "This nomination for the Leo Tolstoy Prize is a recognition that extends beyond myself; it belongs to every young person who believes that dialogue is the only path to overcoming division," said Zakaria El Hamel. About the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize The Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize honors individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the prevention of global conflict, the promotion of disarmament, and the strengthening of mutual understanding between peoples, inspired by the humanitarian legacy of Leo Tolstoy. About Youth for Peace and Dialogue Between Cultures Founded in 2005, the association works to promote tolerance, coexistence, and human rights. It remains a leading voice in grassroots activism and citizen diplomacy within the Mediterranean and North African regions.

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Moroccan Activist Zakaria El Hamel Officially Nominated for the Leo Tolstoy...

The 12th Edition of the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) has been launched. The event, which has over the years brought together hundreds of delegates from non-governmental organisations, academia, media, funding partners, the United Nations, the technical community, government and the private sector within the digital ecosystem, will be held in Lusaka, Zambia between April 29th and May 1st, 2025. Every year, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a pan-African non profit organisation works in collaboration with partners to host the event. Partners who will be working together with PIN to host the 2025 event are; Bloggers of Zambia, Common Cause Zambia, Internews Network Zambia, Zambian Cybersecurity Initiative Foundation (ZCSI), Internet Society Zambia, Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) and the Ministry of Technology and Science. Also announced during the launch was the theme of DRIF25 which is, Promoting Digital Ubuntu in Approaches to Technology. PIN and partners have successively held 11 DRIF editions since 2013. The 2024 DRIF was held in Accra, Ghana, attracting 1,044 registered attendees and delegates from 61 countries across the world. In 2023, DRIF which was held in Nairobi, Kenya was attended by 601 participants drawn from 54 countries across the world. Speaking during the launch of the 2025 Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF), ‘Gbenga Sesan, Paradigm Initiative’s Executive Director stressed the need to guard the Internet, saying it is the last standing civic space in the Global South. "The last standing civic space we have in the Global South is the Internet. Next year from April 29th to May 1st we will gather here in Lusaka, Zambia. We will be discussing several things here, including the need to fight our own battles and the need to protect civic spaces. There is a fierce urgency of protecting civic space.” He also urged countries on the continent to fight for their own elections and electoral systems, and not other people’s battles, and the usual bad habit of shutting the Internet or introducing laws that make all illegal things become legal. “When I see national security as a phrase in any policy, I’m going to question it,” he added. In his remarks, Richard Mulonga, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bloggers of Zambia said we need to fight for digital freedom. “We are freedom fighters in our own way. Every morning we wake up, we have to fight for digital freedom in our own contexts. We should fight for our own African democracy.” He implored citizens to be on guard and look out for enforcement of digital policies. DRIF25, he added, will be instrumental in promoting Zambia as the country would be hosting global citizens. On her part, Brenda Zulu, Digital Safety Coordinator at Internews Network Zambia said the organisation was excited to partner with PIN to host DRIF25, and would be offering personalised guidance on safety practices and also enhance tools for digital security. The Forum is an important platform where conversations on digital policy in Africa are shaped, policy directions debated, and partnerships forged for action. The Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum has carved a niche as the arena for tough topical global issues on digital rights and inclusion, accommodating views and opinions from civil society, technology companies, government, academia, and other stakeholders.

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12th Edition of the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF25) Launched

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Africa’s leading electric vehicle (EV) and clean energy infrastructure platform, today announced the successful closing of its latest funding round at $270 million. This milestone follows a newly finalized $55 million investment from NewTrails Capital, a prominent Chinese growth-stage investment fund focusing on emerging markets with strategic locations in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Nigeria. Scaling Africa’s next-generation mobility and energy ecosystem This capital injection positions Spiro among the continent's most heavily backed Africa’s e-mobility and energy ecosystem. Building on the support of long-standing institutional partners such as FEDA, Spiro’s latest equity round also draws global capital from Europe and Africa, Impact Fund Denmark, Equitane and FEDA, on top of the recent backing from Nithio and the Africa Go Green Fund. "I would like to thank NewTrails Capital for believing in Spiro’s model and supporting our unique tech, energy and innovation journey. Having deployed 100,000 electric vehicles and 2,500 smart-swap stations across seven active markets, Spiro has firmly moved past the proof-of-concept phase. Partnering with NewTrail Capital’s deeply experienced team marks a powerful new chapter for Spiro as we prepare for the next steps of our pan-African and international expansion”, stated Gagan Gupta, Founder of Spiro and Chairman of Equitane. Yufan Zhang, Founding Partner of NewTrails Capital, added: “We believe Spiro is driving a profound “energy revolution” across mobility use cases in Africa. This represents not only a vast and highly imaginative market opportunity, but also the potential to grow into an infrastructure-like business that creates meaningful commercial, social, and environmental value. In our view, Spiro’s core strengths lie in its deeply localized operating capabilities, vertically integrated supply chain, digitally enabled ecosystem, sound unit economics, and strong ability to scale rapidly. More importantly, Spiro has systematically integrated vehicles, batteries, energy replenishment, payments, and service networks into a solution that is truly tailored to the needs of African users, effectively addressing long-standing structural pain points in the local market. As a Chinese fund committed to investing in Africa’s energy transition and green technology, we are also very encouraged to see Chinese supply chains and financing playing an increasingly important role in this process. Spiro is still a young company, and everything today is only the beginning. We look forward to continuing to fulfill our role as a long-term investor, contributing our resources and experience, growing together with Spiro, and helping accelerate Africa’s new energy transition.”, This partnership will be instrumental to support Spiro’s current manufacturing and supply chain localisation effort on the continent in particular with Chinese suppliers.

Spiro secures $55M additional backing from Chinese investor NewTrails Capital

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Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) (www.RadissonHotels.com) is helping drive a new era in healthcare meeting planning, contributing to the industry’s evolution from operational event delivery to a structured, strategic discipline focused on improving scientific exchange, decision-making, and healthcare outcomes. The findings emerge from the Radisson Hotel Group Knowledge Exchange: Healthcare Planning, Design and Strategy Summit held in Florence, Italy, where 75 experts from across the pharmaceutical, healthcare agency, and venue production sectors came together to explore the future of healthcare meeting design. Built to drive tangible outcomes, the two-day summit centered on collaborative working sessions and practical workshops that translated industry insights into actionable frameworks, rather than a traditional conference format. The resulting report identifies a clear industry shift: healthcare meetings are increasingly being recognized not as standalone events, but as strategic communication systems that require structured design, measurable methodologies, and continuous improvement. “Healthcare meetings are no longer simply logistical exercises—they are strategic communication platforms that can drive measurable educational, scientific, and organizational outcomes,” said Muriel Poulenc, Senior Director, Sales Strategy at Radisson Hotel Group. “Across the industry, we are seeing growing recognition that better outcomes require more than flawless execution. They require structured design, integrated workflows, and a more deliberate approach to how meetings are planned, delivered, and measured. The organizations embracing this shift will be best positioned to create meaningful impact.” Healthcare meeting design is becoming a discipline A central theme emerging from the Florence summit is the growing professionalization of healthcare meeting planning. As regulatory requirements, stakeholder expectations, and organizational complexity continue to increase, the industry is moving toward shared methodologies, frameworks, and measurement systems that support more consistent and effective outcomes. Building on discussions first initiated at the 2025 Knowledge Exchange, participants worked to translate industry insight into practical, repeatable tools designed to improve meeting effectiveness, compliance, and stakeholder engagement. The report argues that healthcare meetings should no longer be viewed as isolated events, but as intentionally designed systems that support learning, collaboration, and decision-making across the healthcare ecosystem. The healthcare meeting planner is becoming a decision architect As healthcare meetings become more complex, the role of the planner is evolving beyond coordination and logistics. The report highlights the emergence of meeting planners as strategic decision architects, responsible for aligning stakeholders, structuring workflows, and helping organizations make better decisions throughout the planning lifecycle. Workshop discussions revealed that many organizational challenges, including delays, inefficiencies, and rework, are often the result of fragmented decision-making rather than execution shortcomings. Participants concluded that better meetings depend on better decision structures, greater alignment, and earlier strategic involvement from planners. AI won't fix healthcare meetings. Better systems will While artificial intelligence (AI) continues to dominate industry conversations, the Florence summit challenged the assumption that technology alone will solve healthcare meeting challenges. According to discussions and data presented during the summit, while AI adoption across the industry is high, relatively few organizations are achieving its full value. Participants agreed that the real challenge is not technology adoption, but the integration of AI into coherent workflows, governance models, and decision-making systems. The report identifies fragmented processes, disconnected workflows, and inconsistent planning structures as some of the industry's most significant barriers to progress. In many organizations, as much as 40–60% of planning activity remains focused on non-value-creating work. To address these challenges, RHG advocates for the adoption of structured methodologies, including Lean Six Sigma, Agile, and Sprint thinking, to redesign healthcare meeting planning around flow, efficiency, and measurable outcomes. Build. Measure. Learn. One of the report's key contributions is the introduction and exploration of the Meeting Flow Efficiency Ratio (MFER), a framework designed to measure the balance between value-creating activity and reactive planning effort. The model demonstrates how organizations can increase productive planning time by improving workflow design, reducing friction, and creating greater alignment across teams and stakeholders. The report also reinforces the need to move beyond one-off event thinking toward a continuous engagement model. This evolution is particularly important given the report's finding that 66% of healthcare professionals change their clinical practice or prescribing behavior following participation in industry-sponsored symposia, highlighting the significant influence healthcare meetings can have on professional decision-making and patient outcomes. An industry ready to evolve A panel featuring senior leaders from Inizio Engage XD, MCI, Emota, and Open Audience reinforced the report's conclusions. Drawing on longitudinal industry data spanning 2018 to 2026, the panel identified a common challenge: not structural failure, but structural inertia. While participation remains strong and investment continues, many traditional meeting formats have failed to evolve alongside changing expectations and technological capabilities. The report concludes that the future of healthcare meetings will belong to organizations that combine methodology, intelligent orchestration, and strategic design to create more impactful, measurable, and scalable engagement. By combining sector expertise, collaborative industry engagement and methodology-driven approaches, Radisson Hotel Group continues to support the advancement of healthcare meeting design and contribute to the ongoing development of the discipline globally.

Radisson Hotel Group shapes the future of healthcare meeting design

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Barclays to rebrand to ABSA

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