Africa.com is an internet media company, launched in 2010 by Teresa Clarke, which provides coverage on topics such as financial, political and cultural news related to Africa. The purpose of the online web portal is to be a platform for anyone interested to learn more about Africa, as well as provide business and world leaders accurate information about the investment climate.
The Africa.com organization has representation offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lagos, Nigeria, and New York City, United States. African American business women and entrepreneur Teresa Clarke is the CEO and founder of the site, CBS News correspondent Jacqueline Adams is the Executive Editor, and Jendayi Frazer (former Ambassador to South Africa) is an advisory board member.[1]
History
Africa.com was launched in February 2010, by Teresa Clarke after resigning from her position as a managing director in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs & Co.[2] Clarke is also co-founder of the Student Sponsorship Programme in South Africa.
Clarke lived in South Africa from 1995 to 2000 and acquired the domain name around 2001. "Over most of the last decade, I worked at Goldman Sachs. During my free time, I imagined what I would do with the domain name and I looked at other African websites."[3]
In a May 2010 article in The Wall Street Journal, Africa.com was mentioned because of its potential relevance with the impending 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa that same year. The site is small, with about 50,000 monthly unique users but Ms. Clarke said she "sees potential in the growth of African investment and a middle class in several African countries."[4] Since then, Africa.com has expanded to add information about each of the continent's 54 countries,[2] with over 30,000 daily visitors according to Alexa.com.[citation needed]
Partnerships
Recently Africa.com has partnered with a number of well-known content providers, including The Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Affairs and HAND/EYE Magazines, McKinsey and Company, Freedom House and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. It has also developed its own original content including blogs from the likes of a former president of Nigeria and several U.S. ambassadors to various African countries.[5] Also it has published the first and only online museum guide providing detailed information about museums in every African country, thus becoming a heavily visited site and destination for users from different continents interested in Africa.[2]
The site aims to provide travel information, financial, political and cultural news, maps, information about international events and non-profit organizations related to Africa, as well as views from a varied array of opinion-leaders. It also provides encyclopedic information about each of the 54 countries on the African continent, with specially written travel information about 54 countries and 27 cities as well as 200 curated videos. Designed in collaboration with Brightcove Inc., Africa.com offers the same flexible, multi-language, on-line video platform used by The New York Times.[6]
In January 2011, Africa.com received over three million page views from almost one million users, the majority from the United States and Europe.[5]
On a March 2011 interview to Memeburn.com, Teresa Clarke said, "For me, ownership of the Africa.com domain name is about more than a business opportunity. I see this as a tremendous privilege and a great responsibility. Whoever owns this domain name has a monumental opportunity to shape how the internet world views Africa. Africa has been very good to me throughout my life and my career, and I wanted to step up to the challenge of ensuring that this great vehicle for change is used responsibly and effectively."[3]
On Thursday April 28, 2011, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan pledged government support and collaboration with the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) when he hosted founder Tony Elumelu and the TEF Advisory Board in Abuja, stating that relevant government institutions will be asked to work with the foundation. The advisory board members who accompanied Elumelu when he paid a courtesy call on the President included Teresa Clarke, founder and CEO of Africa.com and H. E. Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister of Pakistan.[7]
Clarke said Africa.com is working on a platform that would allow people to check stock-market prices and make transactions on their cellphones.[4]
Country profiles
Africa.com offers an encyclopedia, nicknamed “Afripedia”, that aims to provide information about each of the 54 sovereign states, including Madagascar and various island groups. Every country profile offers an overview of said country, as well as historic, geographic, economic and social data. The section also includes a fact and figures entry, information about the leaders of the country, and a "Rights and Liberties Report".
The site also offers interaction with Twitter and Facebook, travel and music videos, and short films and documentaries.
Rights and Liberties Report
In partnership with Freedom House, Africa.com brings information on the human rights and civil liberties of every African country. Basic freedoms, political rights, freedom of religion, the right to free speech, free elections, political freedom, Africa human rights.
The "Rights and Liberties Report" is a scored provided by Freedom House, an advocacy organization that monitors and supports the expansion of freedom around the world. The organization has developed a survey to measure and rate worldwide political rights and civil liberties. A rating of 1 indicates the highest degree of freedom and 7 the least amount of freedom. The political rights and civil liberties ratings for each country or territory are combined and averaged to determine an overall "freedom status".
Countries and territories with a combined average rating of 1.0 to 2.5 are considered "Free"; 3.0 to 5.0, "Partly Free"; and 5.5 to 7.0 "Not Free". On Africa.com, upward or downward trend arrows are assigned to countries and territories. Trend arrows indicate general positive or negative trends since the previous survey that are not necessarily reflected in the raw points and does not warrant a ratings change.
Ibrahim Index
Being an aggregator of information regarding the African continent, Africa.com features the Ibrahim Index of African Governance funded and led by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. It is an attempt to statistically monitor African governance levels throughout all the countries of Africa.
Safari Wizard
Recently Africa.com partnered with Rhino Africa, a South African safari operator, to develop the Safari Wizard guide. This tool aims to help users design a custom safari among the main safari destinations in Africa: South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. It offers a filter with which users can select different criteria, including location, children facilities, means of transportation, activities, cost, facilities, lodging amenities and animal sightings.
It also offers a Safari Advisor guide that aims to suit different safari customers based on their travel habits, destination of choice, activities they are looking for and additional requirements (e.g. vaccines for yellow fever, malaria, visa requirements, packing tips and safety concerns).
Aside from a traveling blog, it also offers maps and travel information as well as a museum guide for each country, that provides information of when to go, how to get there, what to do, safety and security tips and local advice. The Travel Health section holds information for tourists about vaccinations, medications, and other health advice for travel in Africa.
It also Africa.com offers direct links with other travel website like Tripadvisor.com, Bookingbuddy.com and STA Travel for booking flights, hotels, get deals and organizing trips.
The site offers business and financial information to its visitors, aside from that provided by the finance blog posts, based on information from the Council on Foreign Relations, Reuters Africa and Foreign Affairs magazine. It also offers articles, videos and interviews from McKinsey Quarterly.
Recently Africa.com began to offer the Africa-related articles of HAND/EYE Magazine, a New York-based print and online publication focused on global arts, crafts, design, and culture. HAND/EYE aims to highlight creative projects and ventures originating in Africa.[8]
Africa.com devotes a feature to Africa First, the short film program is sponsored by Focus Features.[9] The Africa First Short Film Program aims to support films that aspire to artistic excellence and accomplished storytelling, and substantially contribute to the development of local film industries. Award recipients of the 2010 Focus Features Africa First Short Film Program can use award money received from Africa First to complete initial production and to pay for post-production costs such as laboratory fees, sound mixing, and editing.[10]
Partnering with SARFM Radio, founded by Zimbabwean Chaka, radio.Africa.com provides with African music in all possible genres from the continent.
Audience
The site's primary audience is American, aims to shape the opinion of Americans on Africa using African sources, rather than the Western media.[11]
Based on a recent study more than 90 percent of Africa.com users have some college or are college graduates and about 22 percent have at least one graduate degree.[citation needed] Their top three areas of interest are travel, business/investment and arts and culture.
Approximately 60 percent of Africa.com users are white or Asian, 23 percent are African and 17 percent are African-American. Approximately 52 percent are male and 48 percent female. More than 50 percent come from the United States; 20 percent from Europe, 20 percent from Asia and the balance from South America, India and South Africa.
More than 70 percent of users connect to Africa.com via broadband. On May 26, 2011, the Facebook page of Africa.com surpassed the 2,500 followers. And as of June 2011 their Twitter account had little over 900 followers.
Harvard Business School African-American Student Union – Naylor Fitzhugh Conference (Jacqueline Adams)
The Network Journal 25 Business Women to Watch
Stanford University's Institute for Economic Policy Research
League of Black Women
Related Research Articles
The Organisation of African Unity was an intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. One of the main heads for OAU's establishment was Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairman, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union (AU). Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and economic integration among member states, and to eradicate colonialism and neo-colonialism from the African continent.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is an independent nonprofit research center established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age. Based in Washington, D.C., their mission is to "secure the fundamental right to privacy in the digital age for all people through advocacy, research, and litigation." EPIC believes that privacy is a fundamental right, the internet belongs to people who use it, and there's a responsible way to use technology.
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and have access to information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. As articulated by UNESCO, it encompasses
"scientific, indigenous, and traditional knowledge; freedom of information, building of open knowledge resources, including open Internet and open standards, and open access and availability of data; preservation of digital heritage; respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, such as fostering access to local content in accessible languages; quality education for all, including lifelong and e-learning; diffusion of new media and information literacy and skills, and social inclusion online, including addressing inequalities based on skills, education, gender, age, race, ethnicity, and accessibility by those with disabilities; and the development of connectivity and affordable ICTs, including mobile, the Internet, and broadband infrastructures".
Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe.
The National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the founder of NCNW, wanted to encourage the participation of Negro women in civic, political, economic and educational activities and institutions. The organization was considered as a clearing house for the dissemination of activities concerning women but wanted to work alongside a group that supported civil rights rather than go to actual protests. Women on the council fought more towards political and economic successes of black women to uplift them in society. NCNW fulfills this mission through research, advocacy, national and community-based services, and programs in the United States and Africa.
BRIC is a term describing the foreign investment strategies grouping acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The separate BRICS organisation would go on to become a political and economic organization largely based on such grouping.
Digital rights are those human rights and legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create, and publish digital media or to access and use computers, other electronic devices, and telecommunications networks. The concept is particularly related to the protection and realization of existing rights, such as the right to privacy and freedom of expression, in the context of digital technologies, especially the Internet. The laws of several countries recognize a right to Internet access.
Albert "Albie" Louis Sachs is a South African lawyer, activist, writer, and former judge appointed to the first Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela.
Packt is a publishing company founded in 2003 and headquartered in Birmingham, UK, with offices in Mumbai, India.
The Internet in Africa is limited by a lower penetration rate when compared to the rest of the world. Measurable parameters such as the number of ISP subscriptions, overall number of hosts, IXP-traffic, and overall available bandwidth are indicators that Africa is far behind the "digital divide.". Moreover, Africa itself exhibits an inner digital divide, with most Internet activity and infrastructure concentrated in South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt, as well as smaller economies like Mauritius and the Seychelles. In general, only 43% of the African population has access to the Internet as of 2021. Only 0.4% of the African population has a fixed-broadband subscription. The majority of internet users use it through mobile broadband.
Telecommunications in Angola include telephone, radio, television, and the Internet. The government controls all broadcast media with a nationwide reach.
Student Sponsorship Programme South Africa(SSP SA) is a non-profit trust based in Johannesburg, South Africa that enables academically distinguished, economically disadvantaged students to excel at some of the top private and public high schools in the Gauteng and Eastern Cape provinces. The SSP process begins by recruiting exceptional students from underprivileged communities and placing those students into top private and public high schools of nearby districts. To complete the process and ensure a positive outcome, SSP provides extensive support services for the students and their parents throughout all the high school years.
Teresa Hillary Clarke, is an American investment banker, entrepreneur, and expert on Africa. She has been a managing director at Goldman Sachs and co-founded a scholarship and mentoring non-profit, Student Sponsorship Programme in South Africa. Over the last several years, she has funded and led Africa.com.
Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu popularly known as Tony Elumelu is a Nigerian economist, banker and philanthropist. He chairs Heirs Holdings, Transcorp, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and is the founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) is an African non-profit organization founded in 2010 by Tony O. Elumelu and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a pioneer member of the Global Impact Investment Rating System (GIIRS). So far, the Foundation has empowered over 18,000 African entrepreneurs across 54 African countries.
The Negro Motorist Green Book was a guidebook for African American roadtrippers. It was founded by Victor Hugo Green, an African American, New York City postal worker who published it annually from 1936 to 1966. This was during the era of Jim Crow laws, when open and often legally prescribed discrimination against African Americans especially and other non-whites was widespread. While pervasive racial discrimination and poverty limited black car ownership, the emerging African American middle class bought automobiles as soon as they could, but faced a variety of dangers and inconveniences along the road, from refusal of food and lodging to arbitrary arrest. In response, Green wrote his guide to services and places relatively friendly to African Americans. Eventually, he also founded a travel agency.
Africapitalism is the economic philosophy that the African private sector has the power to transform the continent through long-term investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth. A think tank tasked with studying the philosophy, the Africapitalism Institute, was formally launched during the 2014 World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja, Nigeria in May of that year.
Stereotypes about Africa, Africans, and African culture are common, especially in the Western World. European imperialism was often justified on paternalistic grounds, portraying Africa as less civilized, and Africans as less capable of civilizing themselves. As of the 2010s, these stereotypes persisted in European media.
Forcepoint is an American multinational corporation software company headquartered in Austin, Texas, that develops computer security software and data protection, cloud access security broker, firewall and cross-domain solutions.
Human rightsandencryption are often viewed as interlinked. Encryption can be a technology that helps implement basic human rights. In the digital age, the freedom of speech has become more controversial; however, from a human rights perspective, there is a growing awareness that encryption is essential for a free, open, and trustworthy Internet.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
