Day: April 26, 2022

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Aella: Creating Solutions to Africa’s Problems With Credit

LAGOS, Nigeria, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Creating solutions tailored to African problems is crucial in addressing the financial wellness of the continent. The peculiarity of the life patterns of the average African begs one to intentionally design and build mechanisms, to tackle financial illiteracy in the underserved communities. Aella has seized the opportunity to develop solutions to such problems by designing a Debt-as-a-Service model in Nigeria.

With over 300,000 agent clusters, Aella has built a nerve centre to empower businesses with credit infrastructure and business capital. Being one of the foremost micro-business lenders, they have continuously built with initiative and provided software and capital that allows individuals become lenders in minutes. This Debt-as-a-service model is powered by Aella’s finance mechanism using decentralized finance.

Aella’s partnership with Nomba, formerly known as Kudi: an agency bank in Nigeria is the first official lending partnership that highlights Aella’s role as a credit aggregator for agents. Consequently, building more products for them and integrating them into their ecosystem. Nomba has expanded its business by leveraging Aella’s credit infrastructure. In six months, Aella has disbursed over $30 million to Nomba agents hitting a milestone.

Another agency lending initiative birthed from Aella’s Debt-as-a-service model designed to boost Nigeria’s lending ecosystem is its partnership with CrowdForce, a technology-driven agent distribution network. This partnership will see Aella facilitate agents’ access to digital financial services for the largely offline population across the country by offering credit. In turn, Aella’s credit infrastructure provides over 60,000 agents with funds to scale their businesses.

Ultimately, Aella’s credit infrastructure operates in two ways; through asset financing and the debt as a service model. One of Aella’s most innovative partnerships is definitely its multimillion-dollar power financing collaboration with Buy Power, a utility payment platform to ease the process of buying electricity for Nigerian residents. Aella’s commitment to financial empowerment will enable Nigerians access power, through its diversifying credit solutions for over 6 million customers across the country with Buy Power. This integration will utilize Aella’s comprehensive technology platform to provide consumers with the opportunity to buy electricity on credit.

These partnerships are crucial to the overall development of the Nigerian economy and at large the African continent. Aella is introducing cost-effective ways for all classes of Nigerians to access credit. Ready access to credit is key to promoting financial freedom and inclusion, particularly among the underbanked population.

Contact: [email protected]

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Seegene unveils world’s first commercialized ‘3 Ct’ PCR assay

  • Provides Ct value of three targets in one channel; ‘3 Ct’ PCR assay to launch in H1
  • “Dream MDx technology” developed based on Seegene’s 20-year expertise; combines 19 different patented technologies, including DPO™, TOCE™, MuDT™
  • ‘3 Ct’ to lay foundation for automated syndromic testing and make MDx more accessible

SEOUL, South Korea, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Seegene Inc. (KQ096530), South Korea’s leading molecular diagnostics (MDx) company, today announced the development of the world’s first commercialized PCR assay applying ‘3 Ct’ technology. The ‘Allplex™ HPV HR Detection’ was showcased at the 2022 European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held April 23-26 in Lisbon, Portugal.

[Figure 1] Seegene unveils world's first commercialized '3 Ct' PCR assay

In a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the cycle threshold (Ct) value is used to quantify the concentration of a viral DNA sequence (the target). Due to technological limitations, the conventional real-time PCR technique finds the Ct value of one target in one channel.

But Seegene’s ‘3 Ct’ technology can provide the Ct value of three targets in one channel without compromising sensitivity and specificity. The successful development is based on Seegene’s 20-year expertise and combines 19 different patented technologies, including DPO™, TOCE™, and MuDT™. Using five channels in a single tube, Seegene can provide quantitative data for a total of 15 targets. ‘3 Ct’ has been dubbed the “dream MDx technology.”

The company plans to apply ‘3 Ct’ technology to its entire product line-up, including respiratory virus (RV), sexually transmitted infection (STI), gastrointestinal infection (GI), and urinary tract infection (UTI) assays. Seegene expects ‘3 Ct’ technology to take syndromic testing to another level. By detecting the causative pathogen, level of infection, and potential of co-infection, it will help determine the priority of treatment and enhance patient management. ‘3 Ct’ technology also increases testing capacity. Such features are expected to improve the service and cost-structure of the medical sector once ‘3 Ct’ technology is widely utilized.

Logo

Seegene’s first ‘3 Ct’ technology applied product, Allplex™ HPV HR Detection, is designed to detect 14 high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) types that can cause cervical cancer (See figure 1). It also provides the individual Ct value of each of the types allowing quantitative analysis regarding infection level. Early detection of HPV contributes to the prevention and management of cervical cancer. HPV products from other industry players provide individual Ct values for two high-risk types, HPV 16 and 18.

The Allplex™ HPV HR Detection, planned to be launched within the first half of this year, will come with a significant cost advantage compared to existing HPV products to increase accessibility to PCR testing, which had been difficult previously due to high costs. The product will also be compatible with Seegene’s fully automated AIOS (all-in-one system). The company plans to introduce the industry’s first ‘fully automated, mass, syndromic testing system,’ to lay the foundation for testing anywhere, including large hospitals, C-Labs, and even small and medium-sized clinics, and make PCR testing part of everyday life.

“HPV genotyping is essential for a good follow-up of a patient to observe the emergence, persistence or clearance of each genotype,” says HPV expert Sebastien Hantz, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Limoges in France. “Seegene is a company very involved in the development of molecular diagnostics tests for the detection of different pathogens. For certain clinical situations, like respiratory infections, syndromic testing is very useful.”

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1804637/image_1.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1357790/Seegene_logo_Logo.jpg

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Open Society Condemns Travesty of Justice in Kavala Verdict

New York, April 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Open Society Foundations are appalled by today’s Turkish court decision to sentence Osman Kavala—the business leader and philanthropist—to life in prison, even though no credible evidence was ever presented to substantiate the baseless charges against him.

“Today a Turkish judge ruled against Osman Kavala even though there is not a shred of legitimate evidence against him,” said Mark Malloch-Brown, the president of the Open Society Foundations. “This bogus trial has utterly failed to meet the most basic standards for fairness and procedural justice.”

The court in Istanbul also sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years in prison each. The cases against these defendants were also without any merit.

Osman Kavala was first arrested and detained in October 2017. The government has held him, without conviction prior to today, for more than four years.

During that time, Turkish prosecutors have bent over backwards to try to keep Kavala in prison, even having him re-arrested in February 2020, after a previous trial ended with him being briefly released.

“This is not about justice,” added Malloch-Brown. “It is about trying to intimidate and silence anyone who might speak up in defense of human rights in Turkey, including all independent civil society groups.”

In December 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Kavala’s detention was unjustified, and that the case against him was designed to silence him and to dissuade other human rights defenders from speaking out.

Turkey has so far defied the ECHR ruling.

Kavala is an established businessman and philanthropist, known for his support of human rights, the arts, and culture in Turkey. He also served as a board member with Open Society’s foundation in Turkey. (Open Society Turkey shut its doors in 2018 due to harassment from the Turkish government.)

Kavala is expected to appeal the court ruling.

“It is long past time to end this legal farce,” added Malloch-Brown. “Osman Kavala should be released and his name cleared immediately.”

Office of Communications
Open Society Foundations 
(212) 548-0378
media@opensocietyfoundations.org
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Military Veterans hosts Consultative Conference For Renewal, Unity, Welfare And Discipline, 27 Apr

The Ex -MK all inclusive Consultative Conference For Renewal, Unity, Welfare And Discipline

The Department of Military Veterans, together with the All-inclusive Ex-MK Conference Preparatory Committee, will host an all-inclusive conference of Ex-MK military veterans under the theme “Renewal, Unity, Welfare and Discipline. This conference is taking place against the backdrop of Freedom month, when South Africans celebrate the date in which the first non-racial elections took place in 1994. The conference will take place from the 28th – 30 April 2022 at the East London ICC from 09:00am.

The conference is entrusted with the responsibility of uniting combatants from both uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) and Umkhonto we Sizwe National Council (MKNC) including the entire Ex- MK community under one umbrella. The All Inclusive Conference therefore refers to a process that will involve fairly and impartially all Ex- MK combatants being organized into one entity focused on preserving the good legacy it has, and imparting these stories to the younger generations.

After several attempts to unite the MK, to address challenges of their welfare, housing needs, health care, skilling and education support for military veterans and their dependents, it is envisaged that the conference will bring together all Ex-MK combatants as a united force to chart a way forward to a brighter future for all those who sacrificed their youth in the battlefields engaged in activities against the apartheid regime.The conference will seek to generate interest among all MK veterans in the various detachments and internally trained cadres. It will sensitize them to the Department of Military Veteran’s database and verification process. Ex-MK combatants have been sensitized on who is eligible to attend the conference, through consultative programmes which took place in all provinces.

It is hoped that this process of uniting Ex uMkhonto we Sizwe combatants will lead to them sharing their rich history and stories with South Africans, relieving stories about heroic battles that rattled the pillars of apartheid and leading to its demise in Quito Carnavale, Wanki Sipolilo campaign and other successful battles fought inside the country.

The DMV is obliged to support military veterans in line with the executive authority priority, of the promotion of empowerment programmes for military veterans. The Department is mandated by the Military Veterans Act 18 of 2011 to honour, and memorialize fallen and living military veterans and document their contribution to the liberation struggle of our country.

Source: Government of South Africa

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Government Communications on Media accreditation for the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour

Media accreditation for the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour

South Africa will be hosting an international Child Labour Conference, as part of a larger effort to scale up action to end child labour.

The Government of South Africa, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), will host the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour from May 15-20, 2022, at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

The conference will build on four previous Global Conferences, held in Buenos Aires (2017), Brasilia (2013), The Hague (2010), and Oslo (1997), which raised awareness of the issue, mobilised resources, and established a strategic direction for the global movement against child labour.

South Africa’s hosting of the conference is consistent with SDG 8.7, which calls for the abolition of all forms of child labour by 2025 and the abolition of forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking by 2030.

Members of the media are invited to apply for accreditation to cover the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour. The accreditation deadline is Friday, 29 April 2022, at 12:00, Central African Time (CAT).

Please RSVP by sending your details on the attached template to Ms. Zeenat Patel on [email protected](link sends e-mail)

Members of the media are also requested to send their broadcast plans and highlight their technical requirements for coverage. The technical requirements should be sent to Mr. Shadrack Mashalaba on Cell: +27 76 982 6821 or Email: [email protected]

Source: Government of South Africa

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President Cyril Ramaphosa hosts President Umaro Embaló of Guinea-Bissau on a State Visit to Pretoria, 28 Apr

President Ramaphosa to host President Embaló of Guinea-Bissau on state visit

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday, 28 April 2022, host His Excellency General Umaro Sissoco Embaló, President of the Republic of Guinea Bissau, on a State Visit to Pretoria.

This visit by President Embaló will provide an opportunity for South Africa and Guinea Bisseau to strengthen bilateral, political, and socio-economic relations.

The two partners share a vision and strategic partnership on the advancement of peace and security, prosperity and development of our Continent.

The visit will also be a platform to reinvigorate a number of bilateral agreements that require closer implementation.

Since the commencement of President Embaló’s administration, there has been renewed interest in implementation of agreements and in extending partnership between the two countries.

The General Cooperation Agreement between the two countries signed in September 2008, has laid the foundation for the launching of a Joint Bilateral Commission (JBC).

This week’s visit is expected to explore new possible areas of economic, trade and investment cooperation, especially in Guinea Bissau’s key sectors such as agro-processing, defence, infrastructure and mining to the mutual benefit of both countries.

The Heads of State are also expected to share views on regional, continental and global issues of mutual interest, particularly peace, security and economic development matters.

President Ramaphosa will be supported by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor; Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe; Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thandi Modise; Minister of Health Joe Phaahla and Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Fikile Majola.

Source: Government of South Africa