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Start-up competition She Loves Tech Hackathon comes to Africa

Coding school WeThinkCode_ and female entrepreneur network OYA Venture are bringing the world’s largest startup competition, focusing on women and technology, to South Africa

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Coding school WeThinkCode_ and female entrepreneur network OYA Venture are bringing the world’s largest startup competition, focusing on women and technology, to South Africa.

She Loves Tech, which was started in 2013 by Lean In China in Beijing has quickly spread to over 14 cities across the world. This year it will be holding its inaugural African sessions, with the East African Regional held in Nairobi on July 14th and the South African Regional held in Cape Town on 3 – 4 August 2018.

Given WeThinkCode_’s network of developers and focus on training, the South Africa Regional will take on the unique format of a hackathon. During the two day event, there will be workshops focusing on how to pitch a business idea, panels of thought leaders, as well as other mentoring sessions.

Read Also: Rera.farm is best start-up in Zimbabwe

During the actual women-themed hackathon, teams will be asked to focus on hacking solutions that combat youth unemployment, healthcare, or education – all problems which are deeply relevant to South Africans.

The winning team will win a trip to China for a week-long bootcamp with visits to leading Chinese tech companies and incubators, networking with investors, and cultural visits before the global finals and international conference.

Arlene Mulder of WeThinkCode_ believes the She Loves Tech initiative is a wonderful opportunity for South Africans, especially women, to showcase their innovation and talent. “South African women are strong, resilient and creative. We have the power to design solutions to create a world of possibility,” she said.

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Congo DR: President Tshisekedi visits China for mining renegotiations 

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The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi is currently on a visit to China to strengthen his country’s partnership with the Asian giant.

An official of Congo DR, Erik Nyindu Kibambe, while addressing journalists in Beijing, revealed that the trip was meant to be for the renegotiation of mining contracts. Kibambe maintained that talks were going “wonderfully.”

The president had previously promised to renegotiate mining contracts, in particular, the one signed in 2008 with China by his predecessor, Joseph Kabila (2001-2019), for better terms in favour of the country.

The president was received by a cheering audience and a line of honour and jubilant children between meetings with Mr Xi and Premier Li Qiang.

Mr. Li told Mr Tshisekedi that he believed “China-DRC relations will surely achieve greater development and benefit both peoples.”

A statement by the Chinese foreign ministry revealed that the countries were upgrading “the bilateral relationship from a win-win strategic cooperative partnership to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.”

Congo is one of the most natural resource-rich nations, holding massive untapped deposits of minerals including cobalt, copper, diamonds and gold amounting to approximately $24 trillion.

China is a major investor in the country where it leads the lucrative mining sector with firms like Sicomines.

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Kenya, IMF agree terms for $3 billion Extended Credit Facility

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Kenya has reached an agreement that could unlock more than $3 billion of new financing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The international lender and the country said the agreement could help relieve pressure on government finances in East Africa’s largest economy.

The agreement is the fifth review of Kenya’s External Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility arrangements, an extension of the program and augmentation for access under a 20-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

Under the agreement, Kenya will get access to $544 million through the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, which is intended to support climate change adaptation and resilience. A total of $3.5 billion had been committed to funding for Kenya under the three facilities, and its executive board would likely consider the staff-level agreement in July.

The IMF stated that the medium-term outlook for the Kenyan economy remained favourable, although the economy had been strained by a challenging external environment. The IMF maintained that the planned fiscal consolidation was appropriate, while also protecting priority social spending.

“Exchange rate flexibility and proactive monetary policy will remain critical to preserving macroeconomic stability and supporting market confidence against the backdrop of a challenging global economic outlook and continued uncertainty in international financial markets,” IMF said in a statement.

Kenya has insisted that it would not default on its debt repayment obligations despite delayed payment of civil service salaries.

The country in April revealed plans to issue a new Eurobond to manage 2024’s maturity of a Ksh270 billion ($2 billion) 10-year bond.

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