Tag: Business

Tunis: The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) North Africa office launched a call for consultancy to conduct a comprehensive fauna assessment in GSraa Sejnane. GSraa Sejnane is a key biodiversity zone in Mogods, a mountain range in northeast Tunisia. The inventory is intended to help develop an initial action plan to safeguard Eurasian otter populations in Tunisia, said the WWF. One applicant civil society organisation will be selected. It will be tasked with conducting detailed field surveys in GSraa Sejnane so as to compile a comprehensive fauna inventory while focusing on the Eurasian otter. Likewise, the selected organisation needs to draw up a scientific report on the current state of biodiversity in GSraa Sejnane, put in place an action plan on the conservation of the Eurasian otter and organise a workshop on the scientific monitoring of biodiversity for local actors. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

WINDHOEK: The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) has embarked on setting up infrastructure for informal traders. Addressing micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) owners of the Moses ||Garoeb Constituency in Windhoek on Saturday, Minister of Industrialisation and Trade Lucia Iipumbu said the ministry has identified the need to upgrade and develop infrastructure of MSMEs and has budgeted N.dollars 4 million under the current financial year towards the Informal Economic Traders Platform Infrastructure Development programme. She said MSMEs makes up 40 per cent of the country's traders and therefore the ministry has committed towards budgeting for the upgrading of informal trader economic hubs. 'We think we have done enough with industrial and SME parks, our focus now is on informal traders. We see many people are selling their products on the margins of the street and many of you are street vendors. So our focus is that each financial year we at least envisioned to give three main informal trad ers space,' she said. She indicated that through the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA) a total of 46 industrial and SME parks were constructed across the country. Iipumbu further explained that the programme is done in collaboration with local authorities, noting that under the current financial year, infrastructure development will commence in Okalongo in the Omusati Region, Mariental in the Hardap Region and Henties Bay in the Erongo Region. She explained a ministerial tour in City of Windhoek's informal settlements during the COVID-19 era in 2020 identified that about 19 informal economic hubs need infrastructure development. Also, she noted the ministry has the Industrial Upgrading and Modernisation Programme (IUMP) that offers free training on behavioural change, finance and equally assists traders with equipment between N.dollars 50 000 and N.dollars 400 000. 'Everybody needs training, even you selling fatcakes. We came to realise that we need to train you on how to manage your finances. We don't want you to continue selling 20 fatcakes a day which will gain you a profit that is only enough for you to buy a 1kg maize bag, we want you to grow and think in terms of growth,' she said. Iipumbu also indicated that the ministry has revived in 2023 the Equipment Aid Scheme which was halted since 2016 due to budgetary constraints, which supports MSME owners with start-up equipment. Source: The Namibia Press Agency

First National Bank (FNB) Namibia through its FirstRand Foundation donated N.dollars 225 000 for the renovation of the kitchen at the Swakopmund Lions Old Age Home. The recent unveiling of the renovated kitchen was combined with staff volunteerism and initiatives, during which some helped prepare meals for the elderly while others assisted those in the village's Frail Care Centre. FirstRand Corporate Social Investments Manager Revonia Job in an interview with the media said the donation is part of the foundation's focus area and motto of giving back to the community. 'It is important for us as a bank to take care of our senior citizens with the wisdom that they have, and we are really very happy to be associated with the Lions Club and the elderly home,' she noted. The donation included tiling, replacement of equipment and painting. Secretary of the Lions Club Jonathan Wilsnach noted that the kitchen had not been renovated for the past 35 years and it had been the club's long goal to get the renovations done. 'We are therefore very grateful that we have managed to accomplish that task with the help of the FNB Foundation. We have been busy with projects to try and raise funds to renovate this kitchen and a lot of work has indeed been put into this renovation and we cannot be more appreciative as we can now focus on other areas to improve at the old age home,' he expressed. Head chef at the home's kitchen, Maria Seibes also expressed gratitude to FNB for the renovations, adding that the new equipment will now make food preparation easier and more efficient for her and the other kitchen staff. There are currently 90 units at the centre, with over 200 elderly and frail care residents at the old age village. Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Tunis: Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Moez Belhassine, announced on Saturday the launch of the Tourism Code project, stressing the importance of reviewing the sector's legal framework in light of the practical problems posed by the current texts. Speaking at the opening of the ordinary general assembly of the Tunisian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies in Sousse on Saturday, the minister said his ministry was working to create an appropriate legal framework for the implementation of tourist accommodation projects in line with the pillars of sustainable tourism. For Belhassine, this new framework will contribute to the development of investments and projects in this field, in parallel with the revision of the investment law and its orientation towards equitable and sustainable regional development. The project to revise the classification system for hotel units has reached the final stage before publication, in parallel with the creation of a working group chaired by the Ministry of Finance and compri sing representatives of the Ministries of Tourism, Justice, the Economy and Planning, as well as the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), to examine the files relating to the indebtedness of hotel establishments, he added. He also said that his department was working on a strategic vision for the future of the sector. Belhassine stressed that this strategy was being developed through a participatory approach involving the various stakeholders in the public and private sectors, as well as civil society, with the aim of developing diversified and sustainable tourism in the long term and enhancing the country's status as a competitive tourist destination. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The weather on Saturday is locally misty in eastern regions in the morning, then a bit cloudy nationwide. The wind is blowing east relatively strong to strong near coasts and in the south, with local sand storms, and light to moderate elsewhere. The sea is choppy to very choppy. Temperatures are slightly down with highs ranging between 19 and 22°C in eastern coasts and on heights, between 23 and 30°C elsewhere, hovering over 33°C in the far south. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse