Strive Masiyiwa, a 60-year old Zimbabwe-born telecommunication tycoon who moved to London in 2010, has officially been named as the UK's first Black billionaire, according to the Sunday Times' Rich List. He also serves as the African Union's special envoy helping secure COVID-19 vaccines for various countries throughout the continent of Africa.

Masiyiwa, whose family fled unrest in Zimbabwe when he was just 7-years old, first made it to the Forbes billionaire sheet in 2018, with his total worth estimated to be around $2.3 billion. Earlier this month, he has also been listed as a billionaire on the Sunday Times Rich Times.

Strive is the founder of Econet Wireless, which is Zimbabwe's largest telecom and largest company by market capitalization. He launched the company in 1998 despite opposition from then-President Robert Mugabe and fought a costly legal battle for 5 years before it was given the go signal to operate.

He eventually launched a new Econet Wireless group, which now operates in Africa, Europe, South America, and the East Asia Pacific Rim. Masiyiwa is also currently a member of the Netflix and Unilever boards of directors.

A father of six and now living in London, he is one of the most prolific African philanthropists, providing scholarships to over 250,000 young Africans in the last 20 years. He continues to do so through Higherlife Foundation, which he and his wife Tsitsi founded.

Most recently, he helped seal a historic agreement with Johnson & Johnson for 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for Africa.

City of Wolverhampton Council has secured a deal to house the first ministerial department outside of London at the city’s new i9 office building.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will make the eye-catching Grade A and WiredScore Gold development its joint headquarters when construction is completed later this year. It will take up the ground and fourth floors, housing hundreds of staff, including ministers and senior civil servants, with the Council currently supporting MHCLG with recruitment for new vacancies.

The Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for City Economy, Councillor Stephen Simkins, said: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the City of Wolverhampton. The Council has worked hard to make this happen and we are delighted that our city has been chosen to host this historic move away from Whitehall. 

“It’s also a big endorsement of the Council’s ambitious plans to invest in – and develop – a new multi-million-pound commercial district in the heart of the city centre, right next to our new, award winning railway station with its excellent connections to London, Birmingham and Manchester. We are currently enjoying record levels of private and public investment with £4.4billion pounds on site or in the pipeline.

“Now, the kudos of being the first place outside of Whitehall to host a Government department will create a real buzz and interest in our city, attracting further investment which is exactly what we want to be able to ‘relight’ Wolverhampton after the pandemic. The city is the ideal location in the heart of the country, with enviable connectivity to the rest of the West Midlands and beyond.

“When the idea of MHCLG moving out of London was first discussed last year, the Council, local MPs and other stakeholders lobbied hard to make it a reality and that has paid off. This move could even inspire the next generation of homegrown civil servants and I look forward to developing a long-term partnership with Government that can maximise our plans for the City Learning Quarter, potentially leading to an academy for the Civil Service.”

i9 is located at the heart of Wolverhampton’s new £150million Interchange and is ideally placed to benefit from HS2 which will cut journey times to London and elsewhere dramatically. The city is also becoming one of the most digitally connected cities in the UK, with 5G and gigabit speed, full fibre broadband being rolled out at pace. 

i9 emerged following the success of the award-winning i10 complex on the opposite side of Railway Drive. The Council and leading property developer, Ion, selected Glenn Howells Architects’ design for i9 as the winner from a strong field of ten UK leading architects and urban design practices in a national design competition.

Contractors GRAHAM are progressing works and the building is planned for completion this summer. The finished development will provide up to 50,000 sq ft of Grade A office space, which has potential for 5,600 sq ft of retail or leisure space.

It is the next step in developing a thriving commercial quarter at the heart of Wolverhampton Interchange - bringing further investment and jobs to the city. The Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is also supporting the development of i9.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “I’m pleased to announce that the i9 building will be our new home in Wolverhampton and look forward to opening the office later this year.

“This department is leading the effort to level up every corner of the country, so it is absolutely right that we bring decision-making to the heart of the communities we serve. I hope that this vote of confidence in Wolverhampton helps the city to attract other employees and further investment.

“We are already recruiting in Wolverhampton and over time this move will bring hundreds of jobs and exciting careers in the UK Civil Service to the city and the West Midlands. I look forward to welcoming staff to our new headquarters and as a Wulfrunian myself, will be working from the office as often as I can and enjoying the city once again.”

The Mayor of Wolverhampton has sent his congratulations to five charitable organisations from the city who have been awarded the country’s highest award for voluntary service. Big Ventre Centre, Friends of Bantock House, The Well Foodbank, TLC College and Wednesfield in Bloom have all been included as recipients of this year’s prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) - known as the MBE for the voluntary sector.

Wolverhampton’s five award recipients were among 241 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups across the country to receive the prestigious award for 2021.

The Big Venture Centre (BVC), based in Chesterton Road, The Scotlands, is a community centre with a “very special caring culture” which provides a wide range of services for all ages including its own radio station, tranquillity garden, café, a befriending service for the elderly, help for victims of domestic violence, advice on money management and during the pandemic centre volunteers have delivered meals and activity packs to families in need and provided socially-distanced doorstep chats to people living alone. All of this and much more is provided by a team of eight main volunteers and 15 helpers.

The Friends of Bantock House is a small charity that has been operating for more than 20 years and is run by 20 dedicated volunteers. The Friends are an enthusiastic and ambitious team who have transformed the Edwardian house, museum and park into a vital and vibrant asset that enriches the lives of many city residents and visitors.

The Well operates city-wide and provides emergency food parcels and toiletries to people in acute need across Wolverhampton and is run by around 100 volunteers. They helped around 10,500 people last year with demand increasing during the pandemic.

TLC College, based in Dunstall, was established in 1997, as a ‘not for profit’ organisation to help local communities, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with training, education and a diverse range of support services. The college promotes well-being, community cohesion, confidence building and offers accessible adult skill courses and youth development activities. It offers volunteer roles in various areas such as teaching, reception, admin and childcare. Its job search programme covers CV writing, applications, interview skills and business mentoring.

Wednesfield In Bloom has been running for four years to provide the town with the beauty and colour of flowers.  The team of 55 regular volunteers organise, run and promote the project and are joined by others for specific projects. Their green skills have been recognised with prestigious Heart of England in Bloom awards (2016, 2017, 2018). They received the Gold Community Achievement Award 2019 and were the category winner for Urban Community and as a result have been nominated in the Britain in Bloom finals.

Mayor of the City of Wolverhampton, Councillor Greg Brackenridge said, “I wish to pass on my heartfelt congratulations to the five organisations from Wolverhampton which have been given this most prestigious award recognising outstanding voluntary service. 

“We have a thriving voluntary sector in our city where people who care about their fellow Wulfrunians go out of their way and do the most amazing things to enhance and improve the lives of others.

“I am incredibly proud of the organisations named today as recipients of the QAVS and for Wolverhampton to have the most of any area in the region, five out of the 13 announced today in total across the entire West Midlands, is a huge credit to everyone concerned.”  

The Lord-Lieutenant of the West Midlands, John Crabtree OBE said; “Through the activities of the West Midlands Lieutenancy, I come across many people providing amazing support and giving their time to help others. It is heart-warming to see so many of these organisations gain the recognition they deserve. I am so grateful for everything they do and am thrilled that we can praise their efforts through the QAVS Honour.

“These special charities make such an effort to support others and, like many people and organisations, have faced some huge challenges in the way they supported their community through the pandemic last year. It is truly inspirational to hear the lengths and imaginative ways the volunteers have gone to in order to provide what is often a lifeline to so many who are vulnerable and in need.” 

Downtown in Business is back to doing what it does best, hosting a flurry of events over the past fortnight as COVID restrictions are slowly lifted.

Celebrating a special commendation from the national Event Production Show awards this week, for the best in-person ‘non-music’ event in 2020, the ‘Livercool’ Conference in December last year, Head of Events Heather Thornton said:

“We have hosted six events across the country during the past fortnight, and the response we have had has been excellent. There is a genuine appetite for people to be out and about again, and it is fantastic to see business leaders and entrepreneurs being able to engage in-person again – without being told every fifteen minutes ‘You’re on Mute.”

“A huge thank you to all those who have attended, and particular thanks to the venues who have been so welcoming to DIB as we return to what is a bonanza of events for the rest of the year.”

Severn Trent is backing a new government campaign to help small businesses go green, as part of the UK’s drive to net zero.

The UK Government has launched its ‘Business Climate Leader’ campaign, encouraging small businesses to cut their emissions to net zero by 2050 or sooner. The water and waste company is playing its part by encouraging its own supply chain to make this pledge, and urging other businesses across the region to do the same.

Small businesses who make a net zero commitment will be recognised by the United Nations Race to Zero initiative. It’s a scheme Severn Trent signed up to earlier in the year, building on its own Triple Carbon Pledge of net zero emissions, 100% energy from renewable sources, and a 100% electric fleet by 2030.

Severn Trent CEO Liv Garfield said: “We’re proud to support the government’s ‘Business Climate Leader’ campaign, helping small businesses across the region to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner.

“We’ll be encouraging our own supply chain to do the same, working together in the fight against climate change. We’re already working with them on science-based targets, as we look to help the Midlands region build back greener from the pandemic.”

Last week, the company revealed plans to invest £565m over the next four years to help the environment and improve infrastructure across the Midlands, as well as creating 2,500 new jobs as part of an ambitious Green Recovery programme.

Severn Trent has also been named official nature & carbon neutral supporter of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games - including plans to create 2022 acres of brand-new forest and 72 tiny forests – each representing one of the competing nations and territories.

Small businesses who want to make a difference can register their zero commitment on the government’s new UK Business Climate Hub.

Sustainable cooling experts are creating a roadmap to help reach the UK’s 2050 net-zero carbon emissions target, whilst maintaining food security for consumers and economic opportunity for the country’s food industry, as the University of Birmingham secures £2.9 million of UK Government funding announced today for energy-related projects.

Backed by £1.4 million of UKRI funding, the four-year Zero Emission Cold-Chain (ZECC) project will create the first detailed road map to allow the UK food cold chain industry to identify opportunities to reduce emissions.

Led by the University of Birmingham, the project includes experts from Heriot-Watt University, London South Bank University and Cranfield University - highlighting ways in which the industry can become more competitive whilst heading towards zero-carbon.

In parallel at the University of Birmingham and supported by £1.5 million of UKRI funding, the Heat Accumulation from Renewables with Valid Energy Storage and Transformation (HARVEST) project will develop new heat storage and conversion technology to help ensure that renewable electricity is stored in times of less electricity demand and ready for use to meet high heating demand in winter and high cooling demand in summer.

ZECC project leader Toby Peters, Professor of Cold Economy at the University of Birmingham, commented: “Much of UK’s food is dependent on the cold food chain, which is also a significant contributor to the country’s energy demand. Our project is about thinking thermally and analysing engineering, energy resources, food quality and safety, finance and business aspects to crack the conundrum of sustainable decarbonisation of cooling and the cold-chain.

“We’re bringing together world-leading researchers, industry, technology innovators and customers such as farmers and retailers to look at the whole system and map the opportunities and challenges to ensuring that the chain can support UK-wide Net Zero goals and decarbonise while also meeting demand and being resilient.”

Professor Peters, who is also a visiting professor at Heriot-Watt University added that the food cold chain is complex and lacks integration between sectors. Technological challenges exist, but many decarbonisation issues are techno-economic or behavioural. The project provides fresh analysis in a field yet to be researched from a system approach, also targeting food loss in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations (12.3).

Researchers will identify how sustainability of the cold-chain system can be increased by exploring integrated measures covering societal, technical, operational and economic perspectives across:

·         Reduce: Reducing the need for cooling, ensuring optimal conditions for food

·         Shift: Transitioning to more sustainable technologies and working fluids and taking    different approaches to cooling

·         Improve: Enhance equipment and operation efficiency

·         Aggregate: synergies within the cold-chain to better integrate different cooling demands into single system

The project aims to deliver energy savings, significantly reduced postharvest food losses and better quality of product to UK industry and policy makers, as well as reduced emissions related to crop loss, by:

·         Updating information on energy usage and CO₂ emissions;

·         Assessing how to maintain the quality and safety of fresh produce in the supply chain;

·         Designing strategies to reduce food loss;

·         Evaluating future cooling energy consumption demands and their impact on UK energy;

·         Using a systems approach to explore how to manage cooling demand; and

·         Determining areas of intervention considering available energy and thermal resources, emission targets and other commitments as well as costs.

The HARVEST project sees researchers at Birmingham working in partnership with their counterparts at University of Edinburgh and UCL to develop a microwave-assisted process to flexibly absorb electricity and then regenerate it through reaction between thermochemical materials and ammonia solution.

HARVEST project lead Dr Yongliang Li, from the University of Birmingham, commented: “Great Britain curtailed wind power on 75% of days in 2020, with over 3.6TWh of wind power being turned off in total. The HARVEST project will develop new decentralised heat storage and conversion technology to meet high heating demand in winter and high cooling demand in summer.”

UK Minister for Climate Change Lord Callanan said: “The way we use energy in our buildings makes up almost a third of all UK carbon emissions. Reducing that to virtually zero is going to be key to eradicating our contribution to climate change by 2050.

 “That’s why it’s important that innovative projects like HARVEST and ZECC in Birmingham receive backing to develop new and effective ways to heat and cool our homes and workspaces, helping drive down the costs of low-carbon technologies so everyone can feel the benefits of cheaper and greener energy.”