bill and Melinda gates foundation

The world needs to produce 50% more food by 2050, and Africa can fill that need. This is the impetus behind the African Development...

Ahead of the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, to be given on 17 July, the eve of Mandela Day, we profile this year's speaker, philanthropist...

Since the inaugural Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in 2003, speakers have been notable global leaders in their field – be it politics, human rights or economics. This year will be no different. Microsoft co-founder and global philanthropist Bill Gates will deliver the 14th annual lecture on the eve of Mandela Day.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $4,7 billion grant to support data journalism in Africa. The International Center for Journalists programme will run in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, including a journalism school in Cape Town.

"Poor countries are doomed to stay poor." That's a myth Bill Gates passionately debunks. The founder of Microsoft and, today, co-founder – with his wife Melinda – of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates has released a letter that explains why pessimism about the future of poor countries holds back their development.

A R370-million partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the South African government and the University of Cape Town aims to develop vaccines and other medical innovations to fight TB, HIV and malaria. Led by local scientists, it will also help boost Africa's scientific research networks.