PET re-cycling drive in Kenya

Plastic packaging industry players in East Africa, Safepak, Kenya's PET packaging manufacturer, along with Coca Cola East and Central Africa and Highlands Mineral Water Company have launched the PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) Recycling Company of Kenya (PETCO) local media reported.

PETCO plans to recycle over 70% of plastic bottles used in the region by 2015. The joint initiative has a target of recycling 4,200 tonnes of plastic by 2015.

Representatives from the three companies, along with

Staff Writer, 01 October 2010

Packaging group invests in 3-sheetfed presses in one year

Egypt based packaging group First Print has installed three large- and medium-format sheetfed presses within one year. Established in 2008, the company has invested in two large-format KBA Rapida 162a presses, one with five colours, the other with six, alongside a medium-format six-colour Rapida 105.

General director Louai Ali Abdel-Wahid says, "We print medium to long runs for top-flight customers covering the food, household, medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors. Our customer

Shilpa Jasani, 01 September 2010

Egyptian wins Silver Lion

Arabic movie channel, Melody Aflam has won the Silver Lion for copywriting in film craft at the 57th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

The Film Craft Lions category received 1,110 entries for which the Silver Lion was awarded to Melody Aflam.

"I am extremely thrilled and delighted to be able to achieve such prestigious awards this year," stated Gamal Marwan - chairman & CEO of Melody Entertainment Ltd; "First winning our second Grand Prix at Mena Crystal followed by our third Grand

Staff Writer, 01 August 2010

Kenya Times to say bye after 27 working years.

Kenya Times will finally be closing shop after 27 years of operation, local media reported.

First published on April 5, 1983, the Kenya Times was previously known as Nairobi Times when the title was bought from publisher Hillary Ng'weno.

Five years after its launch, media mogul Robert Maxwell bought 45 per cent stake in the newspaper.

The Kenya Times was the first full colour newspaper in the country as it had the most modern printing press in the region.

A case has been filed in a Nairobi court

Staff Writer, 01 July 2010

Nation Media Group extends its KBA press line with 4-high tower

Nairobi-based Nation Media Group Ltd has announced that it will be adding a further four-high tower onto the KBA Comet press it commissioned in 1997 and extended several times subsequently.

The extended press line will be ready for action at East Africa's leading multi-media enterprise at the end of the year, it was learnt. Celebrating its 50th jubilee this year, the Nation Media Group has expanded from its core business of print into television, radio, the internet and logistics and also holds

Shilpa Jasani, 01 June 2010

Vision Group goes for a $14m expansion plan

Kampala based Vision Group has invested $9m to purchase a Chinese printing press and a further $5m in a purpose-built factory premises.

The printing press has a capacity to print 40,000 copies per hour with 64 pages of full colour in one run at optimum speed.

The chief executive officer of Vision Group, Robert Kabushenga said, "This press is the first of its kind in East Africa, and also the third new printing press ever imported in the history of Uganda.

"The new printing press will improve

Staff Writer, 01 May 2010

Fujifilm hosts seminar on printing industry

FujiFilm & Al Madina for Advanced Technology organised a seminar on "The Future Of Printing -CTP Technology Innovations & Approaches" at the City Stars Intercontinental Hotel in Cairo.

According to the organisers, more than 150 managers, owners and representatives attended the event from a large number of Egyptian & Arab private, newspaper and government printing presses.

Ashraf Fathy, general manager in his welcome speech talked about the Al Madina growth strategy, followed by a speech given by

Shilpa Jasani, 01 April 2010

Police Press invests in Kodak's NexPress S3000 digital press.

Commercial printer working for the Egyptian police and government, Police Press has invested in 4-colour digital press from Kodak, NexPress S3000 with a glossing unit as an add-on feature. The printer has also bought two Digimaster EX150 digital production systems with finishing capability to 'boost its production speed and capacity, penetrate new markets and generate additional revenue'.

Mohamed Abu Zahara, general manager at Police Press said, "The performance of both the NexPress

Shilpa Jasani, 01 March 2010

Horus invests in 5m UV curable HP XP5300

Egypt based outdoor media company, Horus has installed a third, large format printer from HP. The 5 meter UV cured printer, XP5300 was installed in December last year.

According to founder of Horus, Ashraf Shaker, the purchase was necessary due to rapid expansion in printing jobs. "We decided to increase our printing capacity considerably to fulfil high demand expected in the new year with this UV curable technology."

Horus had installed XL1200 in April 09 and XL1500 in June last

Pratik Sardesai, 01 February 2010

IGPP ups capacity with KBA comet investment

Khartoum-based International Group Printing Press (IGPP) has installed a single-width KBA comet newspaper press, the first such installation in the country.

Yassir Hamad Madani, owner of IGPP said, “Our operations are very large and we cater to 70 per cent of the printing market in Sudan.  In our endeavour to improve productivity and quality, we decided to install the KBA machine, which can print 200,000 copies per shift (8 hours).”

The company, with a staff of 47 people

Shilpa Jasani, 01 January 2010

Egypt based printer invests in Screen CTP

Prepress and offset printer based in Egypt, Photo Screen Company, recently placed an order to install a Screen CTP, model PTR 8300S.

Talking about their reason for choosing this particular machine over competitors’ models, Mohamad Hamed, general manager of Photo Screen said, “Our research showed us that the machine would be easy to operate and therefore too much time and money need not be spent on training staff to use the machine and also, it has faster production capacity

Shilpa Jasani, 01 December 2009

Eng installs one of the largest billboards on Mombasa road

The high-visibility billboard is 170 metres long and 8 metres high, with flex face front lit technology being innovatively used.

“We pioneered the technology,” says Sandeep Nehra, chief operating officer, ENG East Africa.  “Samsung is our first client and they were so impressed with the idea, that they have signed up for two years.  The visible impact of the billboard has been such that we have received inquiries from several multinational companies including

Shilpa Jasani, 01 November 2009

Inaugural ‘Paper Middle East 09’ targets paper industry in MENA

The first exhibition on paper, paperboard, tissue and converting industry was held between 3rd to 5th October, at Cairo International Fair Grounds in Egypt. 

Targeting the paper industry of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the event had a total of 113 exhibitors and 5800 visitors from Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Egypt.

The event was inaugurated by Dr Ahmed Gewely, secretary general, Council of Arab Economic Unity and Ibrahem Salh, chief, Arab Federation For

Shilpa Jasani, 01 November 2009

Mwananchi Communications invests $4 million for Hiline 45

Dare Es Salaam-based printing house, Mwananchi Communications has purchased the Manugraph Hiline 45 web offset recently, at a cost of $4million. The machine can print 40 pages in a single run.

In an interview with PrintweekMEA, managing director Sam Shollei said: “The investment was required to grow our newspaper operations in Tanzania where we will now have the most modern press, capable of offering full colour pages and operating at very high speeds. Sensing a need in the market

Shilpa Jasani, 01 October 2009

‘First’ Komori Lithrone LS440P at Jamana Printers, East Africa

Jamana Printers Limited has installed a Komori Lithrone LS440P. The Tanzania-based company purchased the machine at Drupa last year with installation taking place in August.

According to director of Jamana Printers Limited, Shabbar F Kermali: “It is the first machine of its kind in East Africa.”

Kermali said that installation took around two weeks to complete. The machine is to be used for “commercial jobs”.

He added: “We purchased this new machine to increase

Staff Writer, 01 September 2009

Kenyan-based company buys machine to break into digital

Magnate Ventures Ltd has purchased the HP Scitex XP5300 printer.

The Kenyan-based company, which was established in 1996, purchased the printer to attempt a move into markets offering new digital services.

Initially established due to the growing need for outdoor signage in the country, the company focuses on strategic advertising development, manufacture and installation of billboards, signage, point of purchase advertising, building wraps and more.

According to marketing director of

Staff Writer, 01 July 2009

Technoprint Egypt 09 seen as ‘great success’

The TechnoPrint Egypt 2009 event has taken place at the International Conference Centre in Cairo.

The event – held from May 24 to 28 this year – saw several hundred exhibitors, including Heidelberg, Canon, Goss and Xerox, attending.

Exhibitors included press manufacturers, pre-press equipment suppliers and technologies, post-press equipment and materials suppliers, paper, inks, plates and chemicals manufacturers and suppliers, packaging materials manufacturers and suppliers

Staff Writer, 01 June 2009

Print boom in Uganda due to vast demand

Printing in Uganda is booming, says the Uganda Printers Association.

That’s according to an online report that says despite the digital era, in Uganda, there is still a strong demand for print.

The association estimates that some 6,000 people are now employed in the print industry compared to the 2,000 people 10 years ago.

This has been attributed to the growing population and new markets in neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Southern

Staff Writer, 01 May 2009

Kodak shows latest pre press and digital printing updates in Luxor

Kodak’s Graphic Communication Group (GCG) has held a series of seminars in Luxor, Egypt to showcase its latest pre-press and digital printing product portfolio.

The event was also used as a forum to share the latest information on market developments.
Partners were also provided with the latest news relating to the company. This was at Kodak’s annual partner conference at the end of January.

The company staged presentations and workshops on different product groups and

Staff Writer, 01 April 2009

Five Star Graphics adds Jeti 5024 for accuracy

Five Star Graphics has upgraded its press, adding a six-colour Gandinnovations Jeti 5024 to its press.

Managing director of the company, Ahmed Sherif said: “We already have a Jeti 3324 solvent printer but we were looking for more accuracy and speed, which is why we installed the new machine.”

The 5.1m RTR machine – which was installed in the final quarter of last year – has 24 spectra heads and can print up to 600dpi with a speed of up to 160 sqm/hr.

Sherif said the

Staff Writer, 01 March 2009

Algerian security forces orders printer to stop book production 2009-02-01 16

Algerian security forces have raided a printer and ordered its director to cease the printing job of a journalist’s new manuscript in Algeria.
According to online media reports, the manuscript, entitled The Journal a Free Man, was written by Mohamed Benchicou and was confiscated from a printing plant in Blida, north of Algiers.
The raid came only a few days before Algeria held an International Book Fair on October 27 to November 5 last year.
A former publisher of the

Staff Writer, 01 February 2009