SARPONG'S BLOG

Samsung Electronics Co mpany L imi t ed today announced that the company will donate 3,000 smartphones, worth about US $ 1 million, to support the ongoing fight against Ebola. The smartphones, to be donated through the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), will be used in the Humanitarian Connectivity Project, the UN’s IT project that utilizes mobile devices to provide humanitarian support in disaster areas. The donated G alaxy S3 Neo Smartphones will be used in 60 Ebola medical clinics in the three worst-hit African countries, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. By installing the UN’s Smart Health Pro mobile application, medical staff can utilize the smartphones to treat patients and collect medical data, while quarantined patients can contact their families using the devices. All donated smartphones will be destroyed once the virus outbreak has subsided. Samsung is also supporting various efforts to defeat Ebola in Africa, including...

Muslim communities in West Africa will be able to watch and listening to news and programmes in Hausa language on BBC. According to the BBC Hausa Editor, Mansur Liman’s BBC always studies the media landscape and audience behaviour in all its markets and builds its strategy accordingly, so that it can better serve its audiences. “Use of TV as platform of choice is on the increase in Hausa-speaking areas of West Africa. As parts of a wider BBC strategy, the Hausa television bulletins were launched to complement BBC Hausa’s already existing radio and mobile/online content. We are really proud to be the first among international broadcasters to launch TV content in Hausa,” said Liman. In an interview African Media Initiative (AMI) Liman stated that since the launch of regular radio programming in 1957, BBC Hausa has gone from strength to strength, becoming a household name for millions of Hausa-speakers.  “Today BBC Hausa has a weekly reach of around 19.9...

A new banking service, Ecobank Premier Banking, which is tailored for the fast-growing middle class with an increasing sophisticated taste and demands, has been launched in Accra. Ecobank Premier Banking, the latest addition to Ecobank’s product offering, is one of the responses to the varied banking demands of the elite customer segment and seeks to provide tailored deposit, cash management and credit products and services, customized to individual circumstances, needs and wealth goals. Premier Banking customers will also be issued with Premier Banking Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, different from the ATM cards used by other customers. It is the highest within the Ecobank customer service range which is designed to cater for individuals within a GH¢450.000 annual income bracket. In an address read on his behalf to declare the product launched in Accra, last week, the Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Mr Sam Adjei said the product was designed to satis...

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Fiifi Kwetey, last Thursday said the Vea and Tono Irrigation dams in the Upper East Region would soon see rehabilitation and restructuring. Mr Kwetey said the plan was part of efforts by government to transform the agricultural sector to help address food security and improve livelihoods of the people. He said the government was going to do that in collaboration with the World Bank and USAID. The Agricultural Minister made this known in Bolgatanga during the launch of the Resilient and Sustainable Livelihoods Transformation (RESULT) Project being implemented by the Canadian Hunger Foundation (CHF) and Association of Church-based development (ACDEP) with funding from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD). The Minister indicated that the project’s objective of improving livelihoods for small holder farm families  was in tandem with the  country’s effort at  addressing food insecurity and ...

Drivers hail gov’t for project By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Work on the  Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange  Project  which is to curb congestion and reduce travel time for motorists and other users is about 65% completed  and scheduled to be handed over  on time , Chief Resident  Engineer  of the Project ,    Mr. Kweku Attakow Diafo, has told the Daily Express Newspaper. According to him, the 65% completion means that the major works  have already been done  and the three-tier  project which is being jointly financed  by the Brazilian Government and the Government  of Ghana  would  not go beyond its 24-month construction period. “Major works involving  big structures and foundations are virtually done.  What is left is not much. We have three  flyovers under project completed,” he added. Under the project which is been undertaken by M/S Queiroz G...

Daily Express’ senior business reporter, Fred Yaw Sarpong has won the 2014 Enterprise Life Assurance / Sanlam Summer School award for Financial Journalists. His selection from dozens of colleagues came after emerging as one the best business reporters during the 2013 edition of the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists Gold Awards for Financial Journalists. As part of his package, Mr. Sarpong will be traveling to Pretoria, South Africa next week to join other financial journalists from other African countries for a training programme. His travel will be fully sponsored by the Enterprise Life Assurance Company Limited from Ghana. The package include air tickets, Visa, accommodation, meal, agreed per diem, as well as an insurance package worth about €30,000. The Sanlam annual Summer School for Financial Journalists was initiated in 2003 as a direct result of a recommendation in the King II report on corporate governance; t...