HiPipo Money

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Third edition of pan African African schools competition attracts entries from 14 countries

Paris, Johannesburg – Friday, 13 December 2013 – Following the success of the national judging of this year’s entries to the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat announce that the international jury meeting of this pan-African schools competition will be held in Ghana on 5 February 2014. This year’s jury will be chaired by the Italian ESA astronaut, Paolo Nespoli who undertook his first flight into space in 2007 on the Discovery Space Shuttle before spending over 5 months in space aboard the International Space Station where he was responsible for a range of scientific and technological experiments and educational activities.

“Africa is by far still a continent of contradictions with pockets of world-class innovation co-existing with a lack of resources and skills, particularly in fields which require Maths and Science. As a company born and bred in Africa, we recognise that technology will be one of the key drivers of the continent’s growth story and that Africans need an education system that will produce young people who are creative and innovative thinkers who can think out of the box. What is needed are world-class scientists, engineers and businesses with skills to take the continent to the next level of innovation,” said Nico Meyer, CEO of MultiChoice Africa.

Michel de Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Eutelsat Communications, added: “Now in its third year, the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards shine a spotlight on how scientific principles can be applied to Africa’s development. They enable high-school students to reflect on the use of technology and underscore the importance of developing a new generation of technologically-savvy Africans who will further transform their continent. We look forward to the outcome of who will come tops in the search for Africa’s next generation thinkers.”

MultiChoice and Eutelsat selected Accra as the host city for this year’s judging and awards ceremony, following Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam for the first and second editions of the event. Ghana has made significant progress towards attaining its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the eradication of extreme poverty, universal primary education, promotion of gender equality, empowerment of women, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Equally as something to celebrate, Ghana prepares for its third FIFA World Cup in succession having qualified again for one of the world’s most watched sports competitions to be held in Brazil in 2014.

Two months before Africa’s brightest stars battle it out in Ghana for the coveted prizes, which for the poster winner is a trip for two to visit Eutelsat’s headquarters in Paris and for the essay a visit to see a rocket take off into space, Paolo Nespoli encourages Africa’s youth to reach for their dreams: “You have to make your dreams real and education is key to dreams becoming reality. Looking at planet earth from space is an exhilarating experience – it motivates you to overcome barriers and all odds to travel the world. You realise that the earth is small and fragile and that it needs to be well looked after.”

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The year 2013 has been a great one for MultiChoice Africa which saw fantastic new channels launched on both its broadcasting platforms, great consumer campaigns and the introduction of innovative new technology aimed at enhancing the overall television experience.

DStv subscribers got a lot more choice with introduction of a variety of new channels across a range of genres. Over the last 12 months MultiChoice launched a total of 13 channels on DStv including three M-Net Series Channels, M-Net Movies Zone, Fox, Ebony Life, Telemundo, Hip TV, Spice TV, CBS Action, CBS Drama, JimJam and MGM. One of the channels that took audiences by storm is Africa’s first dedicated telenovela channel, Telemundo, its content has proven to be a very big hit with DStv subscribers right across the continent.

GOtv marked its second successful year on the market, and has managed to consolidate its position as Uganda’s leading DTT Pay-tv brand, providing families with a fantastic selection of channels from sports, drama, movies, news, documentaries, kiddies shows and music at a price everyone can afford” said Mr. Charles Hamya the General Manager MultiChoice Uganda during the end of year media party. He continued this year  “we expanded our GOtv signal footprint significantly to cover all the five regions of the country, Ugandans can now enjoy GOtv services in Lira, Gulu, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Masaka, Mbale and Iganga as well as our earlier sites in Kampala and Entebbe”.

“As a business born and bred on the continent, celebrating Africa is a key priority. In partnership with Africa Magic, MultiChoice Africa launched the inaugural annual Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards in March 2013. The awards recognize and reward excellence in African film and television stated Mr. Hamya.

The pay-tv operator announced another innovative milestone with the launch of its next-generation PVR decoder – the DStv Explora. The Explora is the most modern decoder ever produced and comes with 2 Terabyte hard drive of four times the current storage capacity this allows subscribers to record up to 220 hours of HD television in addition to downloading 20 movies in Box Office and 60 hours of Series Catch Up content. The Explora represents an exciting new era for digital television allowing subscribers to completely personalize their DStv viewing experience.

In closing Mr. Hamya thanked Ugandan subscribers for the incredible support in 2013 which has been the best year so far for the company in Uganda, he promised that MultiChoice would continue to invest and innovate in order to provide MultiChoice viewers so much more in 2014.   

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Tourism enjoys continued growth

Tourist arrivals to South Africa grew 5.1% during the first six months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. This was on top of the growth of 10.5% recorded last year during the same period. We have thus consolidated the significant gains achieved in 2010-2012 on the back of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, and have further increased the baseline to reach an historic high of 4 642 217 international tourist arrivals for the 1st two quarters of the year. Over a 4 year period, we have averaged 9.4% compound annual growth for the first half of the year, despite ever increasing global competition, tough trading conditions in some of our source markets and the fluctuating Rand.

“Tourism arrivals to South Africa continue to grow in 2013, with growth in arrivals recorded from all regions. Our growth is in line with global averages for the period. According the UNWTO, growth in global tourist arrivals was 5.2% during the first six months of 2013,” said South African Minister of Tourism, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

Europe

Tourist arrivals from Europe grew by 5.5% during the first six months of 2013 to 675 595 arrivals, up from 640 231 arrivals in the same period last year. 

South Africa continued to see good strong growth from Germany, its third biggest source market, with arrivals growing by 13.8% in the first six months of 2013. There was also positive growth in arrivals from France (10.8%) and Italy (7.1%).

However, two of South Africa’s traditional source markets, the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands are still under pressure and recorded marginal declines in arrivals of -0.6% (UK) and -1,2% (Netherlands) during this period.

North America 

Arrivals from North America grew by a further 3.7% in 2013. A total of 194 586 tourist arrivals were recorded for the first six months of 2013 compared to 187 703 in 2012.

“For us to compete as a destination in the current economic environment where many travellers in our traditional core markets are choosing to travel for shorter periods of time and closer to home, we need to work harder than ever to be seen as a destination that offers brilliant value for money. Working with our private sector partners, we are focussed on nurturing this value proposition,” said the Minister.

Asia

Asian growth figures for the first six months of 2013 showed growth of 12.7% to 210 776 tourist arrivals compared to 186 981 tourist arrivals during the same period in 2012. Arrivals from China grew by 23.9% and India by 11% during this period.

Africa

Arrivals from our continent grew by 4.8% in 2013.  Arrivals from Africa land markets grew by 4.4% in the first six months of 2013 whilst arrivals from African air markets grew by 11.4%.

There was strong growth especially from West African air markets, albeit from lower baselines: Ghana (+27.3%) and Nigeria (+15.9%).

“We remain confident in the growth in tourism arrivals from Africa, particularly from our air markets in West and East Africa,” Minister van Schalkwyk said.  “We are therefore proud to open a South African Tourism office in Lagos on the 28 January 2014. We look forward to being part of the larger Nigerian travel community. Having a marketing home in this critical West African region will do much to bolster the relationships we have with both trade and consumers in the region, and unlock the full potential of tourism.”

Tourism’s contribution to the economy 

Minister van Schalkwyk said: “Tourism’s contribution to the South African economy remains a key driver of growth and employment. Tourism injected R35.3 billion into the economy from January to June this year. Compared to other economic sectors, this is more than, for example, the R32.6 billion that gold exports contributed during the same period.”

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25 year old, Performer and Jazz Singer, representing Burundi

 

“I can’t stand people who sing off key… ”

                                                                -HOPE-

Out of all the people left in Tusker Project Fame 6, Hope is one of the few who knows that he has the star power that people like. The son of a pastor father and singer mum, Hope grew up in a family with 8 boys and 2 girls. The advantage that he has is that Hope has already performed with major East African names like Kidum, so he knows what it takes to play major stages. Finally taking his shot and stepping out of the shadows, Hope is taking the stage to find out if he came make it.

 

Q: What is the one thing you cannot do without?

A: My nylon string guitar and my plectrum.

 

Q: How far do you think you will get in this competition?

A: (laughing) I am winning this.

 

Q: Who is your music role model and why?

A: My role models are Frank Sinatra and Otis Redding. The old school big band sound is beautiful.

 

Q: Who is the past Tusker Project Fame houses did you like?

A: I liked Jackson Kalimba. He could really sing.

Fun Facts about Hope:

Hope is dating someone. She happens to be a former Tusker Project Fame contestant, but he refuses to reveal who it is.

Hope’s favourite colour is black.

Hope can be messy but can be neat.

Hope can be seen on the stage at the SERENA in Kigali, even though he is from Burundi.

Hope’s charity of choice, homeless people. Providing them a home… and a meal… and a livelihood.