Showing posts with label Mali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mali. Show all posts

Monday, November 20, 2023

SpaceX is advertising a position for growth manager of its Starlink Internet service in Sub-Saharan Africa

ACCORDING to the following article, SpaceX is advertising a job vacancy for a manager to boost Starlink growth in Africa. The role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, from where the growth manager will report to a team at Starlink’s Hawthorne, California headquarters. It would prioritise applicants with a current right to work in Kenya. Also:


"Starlink’s estimated rollout date in South Africa has remained “unknown”, whereas the service has already been available in Kenya for four months. Six other Sub-Saharan African countries — Benin, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zambia — have also launched Starlink. In addition, the company has given estimated rollout dates for the vast majority of the other countries in the region before the end of 2024. Aside from South Africa, the only four countries that don’t yet have a planned launch date are Central African Republic, Eritrea, Mali, and South Sudan". 


Read more in report from MyBroadband - mybroadband.co.za/news/
By Hanno Labuschagne
Dated Monday, 20 November 2023 - here is a copy in full:

SpaceX hiring manager to boost Starlink growth in Africa

SpaceX is advertising a position for growth manager of its Starlink Internet service in Sub-Saharan Africa.


The role — first reported by Space in Africa — is open for applications on the Greenhouse recruitment website.


SpaceX explained that it was looking for someone to join the Starlink Growth team, which is responsible for launching, growing, and improving the service.


The successful candidate will be accountable for Starlink’s growth and success in the region, identifying and removing barriers to growth, championing user experience, and driving initiatives to accelerate adoption.


The role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, from where the growth manager will report to a team at Starlink’s Hawthorne, California headquarters.


The growth manager’s responsibilities will entail the following:

  • Own growth of active consumer subscriber base in the region, identifying blockers and prioritising levers for growth
  • Set vision, develop strategy, and manage a budget around consumer growth initiative strategies, and tactics to meet company goals in the region
  • Deeply understand the customer experience in a country, elevating insights to drive localised improvements
  • Develop dashboards to track progress, drive improvements to growth and operational metrics, work with the operations team to create forecasts, and communicate to the broader Starlink team and senior leadership
  • Engage with local partners to drive efforts catered to the market, understand what’s working and what’s not, and drive continuous improvement
  • Champion key strategic consumer-focused projects end-to-end by collaborating and working cross-functionally with Operations, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and Support teams

The basic qualifications required to be considered for the position include a Bachelor’s degree, five or more years of experience in consulting or project management, and three or more years of experience in Excel and SQL.


In addition, SpaceX demands two or more years of leading in interdisciplinary projects. The candidate must also have residency and work authorisation in Africa.

Skyline of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya

Other preferred skills and experience that will benefit applicants include:

  • Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain, management information systems, computer science, engineering, or economics disciplines
  • 8+ years of relevant work experience in go-to-market, growth, international operations, consulting, software, Internet, and/or media industries, or early-stage companies
  • Proven ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment
  • Experience leading complex operational and strategic initiatives
  • Demonstrated track record of cross-functional stakeholder management and leadership through influence
  • Distinctive project management, problem-solving, and analysis skills, combined with business judgment and top communication skills
  • Experience working in broadband Internet or other consumer product industries
  • Master’s degree in management, engineering, or supply chain

SpaceX added it would prioritise applicants with a current right to work in Kenya.


They must also be willing to travel approximately 50% of the time and work extended hours and over weekends as needed.


It also stressed it does not have regional offices everywhere in the world and the candidate might not work from a SpaceX office.


No clarity on South African rollout


Many tech companies operate their Sub-Saharan Africa offices out of South Africa because the country is among the most well-developed on the continent.


However, Starlink’s estimated rollout date in South Africa has remained “unknown”, whereas the service has already been available in Kenya for four months.


Six other Sub-Saharan African countries — Benin, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zambia — have also launched Starlink.


In addition, the company has given estimated rollout dates for the vast majority of the other countries in the region before the end of 2024.


Aside from South Africa, the only four countries that don’t yet have a planned launch date are Central African Republic, Eritrea, Mali, and South Sudan.


SpaceX’s enterprise director Phillip van Essen previously told Mining Weekly that the company prioritised countries that made it easy to get approval for Starlink.


It is possible that the role of the growth manager could include expanding the service into countries where Starlink has not passed the necessary legal hurdles.


In South Africa, Starlink requires an electronic communications services (ECS) licence to sell its service directly to customers.


It would also need an electronic communications network services (ECNS) licence to roll out ground stations to improve the service’s performance.

Starlink Gateway on Unalaska

To acquire these licences, the Electronic Communications Act determines that SpaceX — or its local subsidiary or partner — must be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups — including black people, women, youth, or disabled people.


Complicating matters further is that the licence will have to be acquired “second hand” from a willing seller, as South Africa’s telecoms regulator — Icasa — is not currently accepting applications for new licences.


It recently emerged that even government-owned fibre network operator Broadband Infraco cannot apply for an ECS  licence.


Icasa has not explained why it has not published a new invitation to apply for these licences in more than a decade.


Alternatively, SpaceX could work with a local partner that already meets the requirements.


However, this could make its subscription more expensive as the partner would have to take a cut to make such an arrangement financially sensible.


Although several companies have already confirmed distribution agreements with SpaceX, they have shied away from mentioning availability in South Africa in the near future.


Despite no official local rollout, over 4,000 South Africans are using imported Starlink kits with a regional or global roaming subscription to access the Internet.


Two Internet service providers (ISPs) that specialise in importing and managing Starlink on behalf of end-users — Starsat Africa and IcasaSePush — recently reduced their subscription prices substantially.


View original: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/515921-spacex-hiring-manager-to-boost-starlink-growth-in-africa.html


[Ends]

Saturday, November 04, 2023

Algeria becomes the second Arab nation to declare official support for Palestine and to confront Israel

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: While searching the internet for the latest news on Sudan and South Sudan, I saw this news report and thought it best to post it here for future reference. Some say Sudan is, or will be, part of a coalition of countries led by Iran intent on annihilating Israel. I am doing my best not to post inflammatory news here. No doubt, the horrors and humanitarian catastrophe in Israel and Palestine will adversely affect the people of Sudan and South Sudan, the delivery of enough aid, and set back progress and hopes for long awaited peace, development and prosperity.

__________________________


Algerian parliament authorizes President Tebboune to support Gaza amid Israeli assaults

Report at Al Bawaba 'The Hub of Middle East Content'

By Mansour Al-Maswari

Dated Thursday, 2 November 2023; 07:50 GMT - here is a copy in full:

Demonstrators march with signs in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during a rally in Algiers on October 19, 2023. AFP


Highlights

Algeria becomes the second Arab nation to declare official support for Palestine and to confront Israel.


(ALBAWABA) - In a significant move, the Algerian Parliament has officially authorized President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to enter the conflict in support of Gaza, with a unanimous vote of 100/100. 


This decision comes in response to the escalating Israeli massacres against the Palestinian population in the besieged Gaza Strip.


Algeria becomes the second Arab nation to declare official support for Palestine and to confront Israel. 


View original: https://www.albawaba.com/news/algerian-parliament-authorizes-president-tebboune-support-gaza-amid-israeli-assaults-1540187


[Ends]

_________________________


POSTSCRIPT from Sudan Watch Editor


Algeria is the largest country in Africa and the 10th largest in the world, it is a predominantly Muslim country of North AfricaHere are snippets from Encyclopaedia Britannica, maps of Africa, Algeria; recent news reports.

Map of Africa (Courtesy: Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Algeria

By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Oct 31, 2023 - excerpts:


Algeria, large, predominantly Muslim country of North Africa. From the Mediterranean coast, along which most of its people live, Algeria extends southward deep into the heart of the Sahara, a forbidding desert where Earth’s hottest surface temperatures have been recorded and which constitutes more than four-fifths of the country’s area. The Sahara and its extreme climate dominate the country. The contemporary Algerian novelist Assia Djebar has highlighted the environs, calling her country “a dream of sand.”


The capital is Algiers, a crowded bustling seaside metropolis whose historic core, or medina, is ringed by tall skyscrapers and apartment blocks. Algeria’s second city is Oran, a port on the Mediterranean Sea near the border with Morocco. Less hectic than Algiers, Oran has emerged as an important centre of music, art, and education.

Map of Algeria (Courtesy: Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Land

Algeria is bounded to the east by Tunisia and Libya; to the south by Niger, Mali, and Mauritania; to the west by Morocco and Western Sahara (which has been virtually incorporated by the former); and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. It is a vast country—the largest in Africa and the 10th largest in the world—that may be divided into two distinct geographic regions. The northernmost, generally known as the Tell, is subject to the moderating influences of the Mediterranean and consists largely of the Atlas Mountains, which separate the coastal plains from the second region in the south. This southern region, almost entirely desert, forms the majority of the country’s territory and is situated in the western portion of the Sahara, which stretches across North Africa.


Capital: Algiers

Population: (2023 est.) 46,116,000

Form Of Government: multiparty republic with two legislative houses (Council of the Nation [1441]; National People’s Assembly [462])

Head Of State And Government: President: Abdelmadjid Tebboune, assisted by Prime Minister: Ayman Benabderrahmane

Official Languages: Arabic; Amazigh


Recent News

Oct. 26, 2023, 11:07 AM ET (Yahoo News)

Hamas-Israel conflict: Algeria offers to host Palestine's football matches – the bigger history

Oct. 10, 2023, 12:06 PM ET (AP)

Algeria forces Francophone schools to adopt Arabic curriculum but says all languages are welcome


View original: https://www.britannica.com/place/Algeria

___


Related News


Algeria Intensifies Efforts to Stop the Fighting in Sudan

Echoroukonline report by Dalila Henache

Dated 30 October 2023 - excerpts:


Algeria is ready to intensify efforts with regional and international partners to stop the fighting between Sudanese parties, taking into account the supreme interest of their country and establishing a new era that meets the ambitions and aspirations of the Sudanese people, President of the National People’s Assembly, Ibrahim Boghali, announced.

During his meeting, on Monday, with the Ambassador of the Republic of Sudan to Algeria, Nadia Mohamed Khair Othman, to review bilateral relations and ways to raise them to the level of the aspirations of the two peoples, Boughali explained, in this regard, “the keenness of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to resolve crises by giving priority to the language of dialogue and refusing to resort to force and foreign interventions,” according to a statement by the NPA’s Council.

Full story: https://www.echoroukonline.com/algeria-intensifies-efforts-to-stop-the-fighting-in-sudan

____


Five new realities after four weeks of Israel-Gaza war

BBC News report by Jeremy Bowen, International editor, in southern Israel

Dated Friday, 3 November 2023 - excerpts:


One of the first things to understand about the reportage, analysis and commentary that has poured out since the Hamas attacks of 7 October is that no-one has the full story. Not only is it, as ever, hard to penetrate the fog of war to work out what is happening on the battlefield. The new shape of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has not yet emerged.

Events are still moving fast. Fears that the war could spread are very real. New realities in the Middle East are out there somewhere, but their shape and the way that they will work depend on the way this war goes for the rest of the year, and probably beyond.

Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67306902

___


UPDATES - Sat 4 Nov 2023 14:08 GMT; 15:14 GMT:


UK Urges Iran to Use Influence to Prevent Escalation of Israel-Hamas Conflict

Report at Asharq Al-Awsat English by Rabi’ Al-Thani

Dated Saturday, 4 November 2023 - excerpts:


British foreign minister James Cleverly has urged Iran to use its influence with groups in the Middle East region to prevent an escalation of Israel's conflict with Hamas. 

Britain's Foreign Office said Cleverly spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday, telling him "Iran bore responsibility" for the actions of groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, that it has supported for many years. 

Cleverly also reiterated that Iranian-backed threats against people in the United Kingdom were unacceptable and must stop, a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

Full story: https://english.aawsat.com/world/4647391-uk-urges-iran-use-influence-prevent-escalation-israel-hamas-conflict

___


Algeria Will Again Send an Ambassador to Spain After 19-Month Diplomatic Crisis

Report at Asharq Al Awsat English

Dated Sat, 4 Nov 2023 - excerpts:


A breakthrough in the strained relations between Algeria and Spain is looming after reports that Algiers plans to send a new ambassador to Madrid, ending a 19-month diplomatic crisis.

Senior Algerian political sources said the two countries are in the process of resolving their crisis, adding that their relations are about to return to normal.

Full story:

https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/4647561-algeria-will-again-send-ambassador-spain-after-19-month-diplomatic-crisis

___


Iran, Qatar Coordinate Efforts to Support Palestine

Report from Tasnim News Agency, Iran

Dated 15 October 2023 - 10:39 - excerpt:

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The foreign ministers of Iran and Qatar weighed plans for cooperation among Muslim nations to assist the people of Gaza and force the Israeli regime to end its brutal strikes on Palestinians.

Full story: 

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/10/15/2971951/iran-qatar-coordinate-efforts-to-support-palestine


[Ends]