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How LG’s ‘Make Life Good’ turned an orphanage’s two-plate stove into a full kitchen – and other 24-hour makeovers

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LG

The series reaches viewers in Kenya and Nigeria too, and sits within LG’s wider regional storytelling, gathered in its newsroom feature “Beyond the Product”

Life’s Good is our slogan, but this series asks us to prove it where life isn’t always easy or fair

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, July 6, 2026/APO Group/ –For years, a Johannesburg school’s soccer coach did the entire team’s laundry himself. Several evenings a week he and the teachers carried the kit home, washed and dried it, and brought it back so the squad had something clean to train in. Their changing room was a bare space with one toilet, a broken mirror and nowhere to store a thing. There was no shortage of talent or commitment – the surroundings just held it all back.

 

Until very recently, this was the reality at Kensington Secondary School. With the help of LG Electronics South Africa (https://apo-opa.co/4eQr5B2), the achiever who chose to fix it was Williams Okpara, the Nigerian goalkeeper who spent more than a decade guarding Orlando Pirates’ posts and still holds the club’s appearance record. His episode opens Make Life Good, LG’s six-part reality series made in partnership with MultiChoice, a Canal+ company, and hosted by Jessica Nkosi. It has aired on Mzansi Magic every Thursday at 19:00 since 11 June, with repeats on Saturdays at 14:00 and Sundays at 09:30.

The premise is rare for reality television. No prizes or eliminations, no scandals or tempers boiling over. Instead, six change-makers – or as they are affectionately known by LG as ‘Achievers’ – each return to a cause they already back, and the build teams get 24 hours to remake a space that shapes the people who use it. What connects them is geography as much as generosity: the Achievers come from across the continent, from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, yet every organisation they chose sits in a South African community close to their hearts and in need of support.

In Lanseria, that community is a safe home and orphanage for babies and young children called LIV Lanseria, backed by Saray Khumalo, the South African mountaineer who became the first Black African woman to summit Everest. Her makeover turned a room with a single two-plate stove into a fully-fledged, working kitchen. A 900 L fridge now holds food for the whole home. A dishwasher returns the hours volunteers used to lose at the sink. A microwave warms a bottle evenly, without the cold spots that catch out a tired caregiver. The appliances follow the problem, which is the guiding principle in bringing together the Achievers, LG and Multichoice to make a difference by using their specialities.

The pattern holds at a skills programme for unemployed men, where a small projector gave way to a 100-inch smart display that now runs learning demonstrations and its written theory side by side, as well as an energy-efficient air conditioner that keeps a packed training room usable through the afternoon. In a country that plans its weeks around the unpredictable availability of service delivery, that efficiency is what lets a stretched organisation keep the equipment running once the cameras leave.

“Life’s Good is our slogan, but this series asks us to prove it where life isn’t always easy or fair,” says Pennileigh Naidu, Head of Corporate Marketing and PR at LG Electronics South Africa. She frames it as a deliberate move away from product-led marketing. “We didn’t want to talk about impact, we wanted to show it. For every organisation, we started with the operational problem they live with daily, then chose the technology that removes it.” Her measure of success, she emphasises, is the hours a caregiver gets back and the dignity a working kitchen restores.

That is the shift worth a marketer’s or a technologist’s attention. Corporate social investment has tended to sit off to the side of the business, a cheque written and a photograph taken. Make Life Good folds the impact into the brand and invites the harder question of whether the fridge is still working, and still useful, a year from now. Naidu calls it shared value rather than charity, the point where commercial capability and social relevance stop competing for the same budget.

The series reaches viewers in Kenya and Nigeria too, and sits within LG’s wider regional storytelling, gathered in its newsroom feature “Beyond the Product”. This season, though, the work was South African, room-by-room and need-by-need.

The crews have now packed up, and the Achievers have started their work on making changes with more communities. What stays behind in a Lanseria kitchen and a Kensington changing room is quieter and more durable: kit dried overnight, meals prepped faster, an afternoon lesson a full class can finally see. None of it will trend, but all of it will still be working when the next intake of children arrives.

Make Life Good – the Achievers and their causes

Williams Okpara (Nigeria) – Kensington Secondary School soccer programme, Johannesburg

  • Former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper who holds the club’s appearance record and was part of the 1995 CAF Champions League-winning team, and is now Pirates’ team manager.
  • Products: 13Kg Front Loader with AI DD™ & Steam+™ in Black Finish (https://apo-opa.co/4wpZzSf); 10kg A+++ Dual Inverter Heat Pump Dryer in Black Finish (https://apo-opa.co/3QEJSrj); LG XBOOM Stage 301 by will.i.am Bluetooth Speaker (http://apo-opa.co/4aG3IsW).

Saray Khumalo (South Africa) – LIV Lanseria children’s home, Lanseria

  • The first Black African woman to summit Mount Everest and to ski to the South Pole, and founder of the Summits With a Purpose foundation, which raises funds to build libraries in disadvantaged schools.
  • Products: 900L InstaView™ Door-in-Door French Door Fridge with UVnano™ in Black Finish (https://apo-opa.co/3SKr5eF); 42L NeoChef™ Grill Microwave Oven in Stainless Finish (https://apo-opa.co/4f4TweN); 14 Place QuadWash™ Dishwasher with TrueSteam™ in Stainless Finish (https://apo-opa.co/4f4Twvj).

Adze Ugah (Nigeria) – Bold Men Skills Program / BBM Foundation

  • Nigerian-born, Johannesburg-based filmmaker, one of the directors of Shaka iLembe, whose feature Sierra’s Gold won Best South African Feature Film at the 2024 Durban International Film Festival.
  • Products: 100 inch LG QNED evo AI QNED86 MiniLED 4K 120Hz Smart TV (https://apo-opa.co/4bt52j0); 9.1.5 ch LG Home Cinema Soundbar with Surround Sound and Rear Speakers S95TR (https://apo-opa.co/4wmHX9H); [Wifi] 24k BTU DualCool+ Inverter (https://apo-opa.co/4wt1WDP).

Esther Munyi (Kenya) – Botshabelo Babies Home, Midrand

  • Kenyan data and analytics leader, founder of Charmed by Data and former Group Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Sasfin.
  • Products: 900L InstaView™ Door-in-Door French Door Fridge with UVnano™ in Black Finish (https://apo-opa.co/3SKr5eF); 42L NeoChef™ Grill Microwave Oven in Stainless Finish (https://apo-opa.co/4f4TweN); 13Kg Front Loader with AI DD™ & Steam+™ in Black Finish (https://apo-opa.co/4wpZzSf).

Thandi Mavata (South Africa) – The House Group, Johannesburg

Perpetual Kendi (Kenya) – Moses Molelekwa Arts Foundation, Tembisa

  • Kenyan Pan-African entrepreneur and communications strategist, founder and CEO of Addleston PR and of the Laute Luxury Wines brand.
  • Products: 65 inch LG QNED evo AI QNED86 MiniLED 4K 120Hz Smart TV (https://apo-opa.co/3QYRg0v); LG MR11 2300W, 4.2Ch AV Receiver System (https://apo-opa.co/4brSdW9).

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of LG Electronics.

 

Energy

Kosmos Energy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andrew Inglis to Receive Mohammed S. Barkindo Lifetime Achievement Award at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026

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Inglis is recognized for more than four decades of industry leadership, spanning major African oil and gas developments, entrepreneurship, workforce development and community investment

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, October 5, 2026/APO Group/ –Andrew Inglis, Chairman and CEO of international energy company Kosmos Energy, has been selected as the winner of the African Energy Week (AEW) 2026’s Mohammed S. Barkindo Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication to advancing African energy projects and ongoing commitment to strengthening community development continent-wide. The award recognizes a career spanning more than four decades and an enduring contribution to the development of Africa’s energy industry.

 




  

Inglis joined Kosmos as Chairman and CEO in 2014 following 30 years at bp, where he rose to become CEO of Exploration and Production. Since then, he has overseen Kosmos’ growth across some of West Africa’s most important offshore basins, helping translate major discoveries into producing assets while supporting investment in local businesses, professionals and communities.

Andrew Inglis represents the kind of leadership Africa needs – leadership that finds resources

Central to this legacy is the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG development, situated on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal. Kosmos discovered the Tortue field in 2015, opening a major new gas province that ultimately underpinned GTA. First LNG production was achieved in 2025 and the project continues to move into ramp-up and optimization in 2026. Additional liquefaction capacity is expected to come onstream in phases, with a portion of gas allocated for the domestic markets in Mauritania and Senegal. In Q2, 2026, gross production averaged approximately 2.65 million tons per annum and nine LNG cargoes were lifted during the period.

In Ghana, Kosmos continues to invest in the Jubilee and TEN fields. A multi-well drilling campaign in 2026 has driven Jubilee production higher, with new wells supporting gross output above 85,000 barrels per day by the end of the second quarter and further development planned. Earlier this year, Ghana ratified extensions to the Jubilee and TEN licenses through 2040, providing the foundation for additional investment and drilling. Kosmos Energy has also played a central role in strengthening Equatorial Guinea’s production landscape. Inglis oversaw Kosmos’ expansion in the country, where the company invested in the Ceiba Field and Okume Complex from 2017 until completing the sale of its producing interests to Panoro Energy in June 2026.

Yet Inglis’ impact goes far beyond project development. Under his leadership, Kosmos has advanced its local content strategy, centered on capacity building, education and entrepreneurial support as well as social development. The Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) has supported entrepreneurship in Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal and Ivory Coast. Since inception, KIC programs have trained more than 5,600 people, supported 185 businesses, helped launch more than 220 startups and contributed to more than 700 direct jobs. In Equatorial Guinea, Kosmos supported education, healthcare and community initiatives, including the PRODEGE education program, which trained two-thirds of the country’s primary-school teachers during its first five years.

“Andrew Inglis represents the kind of leadership Africa needs – leadership that finds resources, invests for the long term and understands that the ultimate measure of success is the opportunity created around those investments. From GTA and Ghana to the entrepreneurs, workers and communities Kosmos has supported, his impact extends far beyond barrels and molecules. He has helped build businesses, develop people and demonstrate the enormous value that responsible investment can create across Africa,” stated NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

Inglis will received the Mohammed S. Barkindo Lifetime Achievement Award at the AEW Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony, taking place during the conference next month. Convening international investors, African governments and leading operators from October 12-16, the event is positioned as Africa’s energy marketplace.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

 

 




 

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Africa’s Biggest Energy Movement Returns to Cape Town Next Week

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Taking place October 12-16, African Energy Week is one of the continent’s major gathering, convening more than 10,000 international delegates for five days of dealmaking

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, October 5, 2026/APO Group/ –In one week, more than 10,000 delegates will converge in Cape Town to access Africa’s next generation of energy investment opportunities as African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 brings projects, capital and decision-makers together from October 12-16.

As Africa’s biggest energy movement, AEW 2026 is built for business. Through dedicated investment forums, country spotlights, the Deal Room, investor briefings, roundtables and high-level networking, the event will provide direct access to the projects and decision-makers driving Africa’s next phase of energy development.

 




  

Multiple Tracks, One Strategic Focus

AEW 2026 will deliver a multi-track agenda designed to move investment discussions across the energy value chain. The AEW Townhall will tackle the major strategic issues shaping Africa’s energy future, while the Upstream E&P Forum will put exploration, licensing, drilling and production growth at the center of discussions.

The Energy Finance Forum will connect projects and developers with capital, while the Energy Additions Forum will examine the mix of resources and infrastructure required to expand energy access and support industrialization. The Downstream & Petrochemicals Forum rounds up the main conference stages and will turn attention to refining, fuels, petrochemicals and opportunities for African markets to capture greater value from their resources.

More Platforms, More Investment Pathways

Beyond its core forums, AEW 2026 will feature dedicated platforms targeting some of Africa’s fastest-growing investment opportunities. A pre-conference will set the tone for the week’s discussions, featuring sessions including the 8th Meeting of the APPO NOCs CEOs Forum; Global Energy Leaders Forum; the Deal Room; and African Farmout Forum.

Next week, Cape Town will bring the industry together with one objective: getting African energy projects moving

Renegade Intel will bring artificial intelligence, data centers and digital infrastructure into the energy conversation, while Power Africa Today will focus on the investment, infrastructure and technologies required to expand electricity supply across the continent. Dedicated technical stages will provide space for specialized industry discussions, while roundtables and investor briefings will bring smaller groups of decision-makers together around specific projects, markets and investment requirements.

Africa’s Investment Markets Take the Stage

AEW 2026 will put some of the continent’s most dynamic energy markets directly in front of international investors through dedicated country spotlights. South Africa, Nigeria, Gabon, Ghana, Namibia, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Algeria, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea and more will take the stage, providing governments and industry leaders with an opportunity to present investment strategies, policy developments, available acreage and priority projects.

Petroleum ministers from across the continent are participating, bringing their respective investment priorities and opportunities directly to an international audience. The President of Senegal has designated a high-level representative to speak at AEW 2026, while ministers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Kenya, and more are also participating. International government is also confirmed, including senior representatives from Brazil, Japan, Venezuela, the United States, Grenada, among others.

Beyond the Conference Floor

Dealmaking at AEW 2026 will extend well beyond formal conference sessions. On Monday, October 12, the Just Energy Transition Concert will open the week by bringing African music and energy together, featuring Keasungs, Mafikizolo, Roga Roga & Extra Musica and DJ Dollar before Nigerian star Adekunle Gold closes the evening as the headline act.

A program of networking functions throughout the week will create additional opportunities for investors, government representatives and executives to build relationships and advance discussions outside the conference rooms. The African Energy Awards & Gala Dinner will bring the industry together to recognize the companies, projects and individuals driving Africa’s energy development, providing a high-level conclusion to AEW’s wider networking and engagement program.

“AEW is not just another meeting to discuss Africa’s energy potential; it is a movement where projects meet capital, governments meet investors and companies turn Africa’s resources into catalysts for long-term development. Next week, Cape Town will bring the industry together with one objective: getting African energy projects moving,” states NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

AEW 2026 is fast-approaching but there is still time to secure your place.

Visit www.AECWeek.com for more information about registration.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

 




 

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African Energy Week (AEW 2026) Turns Cape Town into Africa’s Energy Marketplace

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Ministerial delegations, national oil companies, operators and financiers will converge in Cape Town to negotiate deals, forge commercial partnerships and advance African energy projects

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, October 5, 2026/APO Group/ –African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 (https://apo-opa.co/4dR325o) is more than a conference. It is Africa’s energy marketplace – a meeting point for the governments that control resources, the companies that develop them, the financiers that provide capital and the service providers that turn investment decisions into operating projects. From October 12–16, Cape Town will become a platform for these players to negotiate deals, establish commercial relationships and move African energy opportunities closer to execution.

 




  

This commercial mandate has helped turn AEW into a broader movement around African energy development. By bringing decision-makers across the value chain into one marketplace, the event creates an opportunity not only to discuss the trajectory of Africa’s energy systems, but to actively reshape it.

AEW 2026 will convene ministers, national oil companies (NOCs), international operators, independents, financiers and service companies, with a program structured around commercial engagement. In addition to its strategic conference stages, the event incorporates live deal signings, structured business matchmaking and closed-door meetings. More than 9,000 delegates from over 100 countries are preparing to make their way to Cape Town, bringing with them new opportunities for investment, collaboration and project advancement.

AEW has already cemented itself as Africa’s energy marketplace, where every party needed to advance a project or initiative is present and actively pursuing deals. The marketplace model has also translated engagement at the event into tangible commercial outcomes, with agreements concluded across financing, project development and cross-border partnerships.

When people ask me what AEW is, I tell them it’s the African energy marketplace

Agreements signed at recent editions span project finance, trade finance, hydrogen development and NOC partnerships. Signatories at AEW 2022 included Afreximbank, Sasol, Technip Energies and Namcor. The 2023 edition recorded a loan agreement between Afreximbank and Alphaden Energy & Oilfield, as well as a hydrogen agreement between Gambia’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and H2 Gambia Limited. Five agreements were signed at AEW 2024, including a partnership between the NOCs of the Republic of Congo and Azerbaijan and a trade finance agreement between Afreximbank and Dorman Long Engineering.

Equatorial Guinea’s 2026 licensing round illustrates how engagement at AEW progresses into commercial activity. The country announced the round at AEW 2025 and provided prospective bidders with details on available acreage, the bid timeline and amendments to fiscal terms and production sharing contracts. This momentum will continue into 2026. Algeria will bring its ongoing bid round – featuring seven onshore exploration opportunities – to the forefront of the event while Liberia’s Petroleum Regulatory Authority, in partnership with Energy Capital & Power, will showcase the country’s 2026 Direct Negotiation Petroleum Licensing Round.

AEW 2026 takes this engagement further. The Deal Room provides project sponsors and developers with a platform to present active oil, gas, power and infrastructure transactions, while the African Farmout Forum, held in partnership with Moyes & Co, Farmout Angel and Envoi, presents available blocks and acreage from across the continent. An African Upstream M&A panel will assess prevailing deal structures, and a dedicated finance session will examine risk allocation as a determinant of financial close.

Country sessions give operators direct access to government decision-makers. The program features spotlights on South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, Namibia, Ghana, the Republic of Congo and more, while the 8th Meeting of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization NOC CEOs’ Forum will facilitate collaboration between major players.

Power Africa Today, Renegade Intel and the Upstream E&P Forum will run alongside the main program, extending AEW’s coverage to power, digital infrastructure and exploration. Together, these platforms reinforce AEW’s role not simply as a forum for discussing Africa’s energy future, but as a place where the commercial relationships, investment decisions and agreements shaping that future are made.

“When people ask me what AEW is, I tell them it’s the African energy marketplace. You walk into that building and ministers are there, NOCs are there, banks are there, the company with the rig is there, and they’re all looking for each other. Some of the most important conversations of the year happen in a corridor between sessions, and more often than not they end with a signed agreement,” stated NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

Registration for AEW 2026 is available at https://apo-opa.co/4dR325o.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

 

 




 

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