Cookie Policy

Information about Business Links Africa’s use of cookies

Our website, www.businesslinksafrica.org uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.

These cookies help us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our websites and also allows us to improve our sites. By continuing to browse the sites, or by submitting any forms on our sites, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

We use the following cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies: These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into Business Links Africa or other secure areas of our website to place press release orders and to customise your account and news profile.

  • Analytical/performance cookies: These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our websites when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our websites work, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

  • Functionality cookies: These are used to recognize you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by your name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).

  • Targeting cookies: These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

NamePurposeExpiration Date
portal.JSESSIONIDEnables the web application to identify users during their browsing session.When browser is closed
bwjscookieVerifies that javascript is enabled for correct browsing behavior.When browser is closed
EpicentricEnables a user to be logged in automatically when 'Remember Me' is checked.One year
bw.web.efs.common.util.SecureCookieSecurity cookie required for account or ordering operations.When browser is closed
__utmaUsed by Google to distinguish users and sessions.Two years from initial set or last update
__utmbUsed by Google to determine new sessions/visits.30 minutes from initial set or last update
__utmcUsed by Google in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determineWhen browser is closed
__utmcUsed by Google to store visitor-level custom variable data.Two years from initial set or last update
__utmcUsed by Google to store the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site.Six months from initial set or last update
__hstcUsed when visitors interact with Business Wire’s marketing automation system (HubSpot). It contains the domain, utk (see below), initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session).Two years
hubspotutkThis cookie is used to keep track of a visitor's identity. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when de-duplicating contacts.10 years
__hsscincrement the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie. It contains the domain, viewCount (increments each pageView in a session), and session start timestamp.30 minutes
__hsscWhenever HubSpot changes the session cookie, this cookie is also set. We set it to 1 and use it to determine if the user has restarted their browser. If this cookie does not exist when we manage cookies, we assume it is a new session.None, this is a per-session cookie
__hs_opt_outThis cookie is used by the opt-in privacy policy to remember not to ask the user to accept cookies again. This cookie is set when you give users the choice to opt out of cookies.2 years
__hs_do_not_trackThis cookie can be set to prevent the tracking code from sending any information to HubSpot. Setting this cookie is different from opting out of cookies, which still allows anonymized information to be sent to HubSpot.2 years
__hs_testcookieThis cookie is used to test whether the visitor has support for cookies enabled.After session
hsPagesViewedThisSessionThis cookie is used to keep track of page views in a session.After session
_hs_ab_testThis cookie is used to consistently serve visitors the same version of an A/B test page they’ve seen before.After session
__keyWhen visiting a password-protected page, this cookie is set so future visits to the page from the same browser do not require login again. The cookie name is unique for each password-protected page.14 days
_hs_langswitcher_choiceThis cookie is used to save the visitor’s selected language choice when viewing pages in multiple languages.2 years
_cfduidThis cookie is set by HubSpot’s CDN provider, Cloudflare. It helps Cloudflare detect malicious visitors to your website and minimizes blocking legitimate users. It may be placed on your visitors' devices to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It is necessary for supporting Cloudflare's security features. Learn more about this cookie from Cloudflare.30 days
_cfruidThis cookie is set by HubSpot’s CDN provider because of their rate limiting policies.After session
_gaThis cookie is used by Google to distinguish users.2 years
_gidThis cookie is used by Google to distinguish users.24 hours
__adrollTracking cookie used by NextRoll Technology. View the NextRoll Website Privacy Notice.13 months
__adroll_v4Tracking cookies used by NextRoll Technology, in conjunction with Google.13 months
__adroll_fpcTracking cookie used by NextRoll Technology, in conjunction with Facebook.13 months

Please note that third parties may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.


NamePurposeExpiration Date
portal.JSESSIONIDEnables the web application to identify users during their browsing session.When browser is closed
bwjscookieVerifies that javascript is enabled for correct browsing behavior.When browser is closed
EpicentricEnables a user to be logged in automatically when 'Remember Me' is checked.One year
bw.web.efs.common.util.SecureCookieSecurity cookie required for account or ordering operations.When browser is closed
__utmaUsed by Google to distinguish users and sessions.Two years from initial set or last update
__utmbUsed by Google to determine new sessions/visits.30 minutes from initial set or last update
__utmcUsed by Google in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determineWhen browser is closed
__utmcUsed by Google to store visitor-level custom variable data.Two years from initial set or last update
__utmcUsed by Google to store the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site.Six months from initial set or last update
__hstcUsed when visitors interact with Business Wire’s marketing automation system (HubSpot). It contains the domain, utk (see below), initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session).Two years
hubspotutkThis cookie is used to keep track of a visitor's identity. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when de-duplicating contacts.10 years
__hsscincrement the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie. It contains the domain, viewCount (increments each pageView in a session), and session start timestamp.30 minutes
__hsscWhenever HubSpot changes the session cookie, this cookie is also set. We set it to 1 and use it to determine if the user has restarted their browser. If this cookie does not exist when we manage cookies, we assume it is a new session.None, this is a per-session cookie
__hs_opt_outThis cookie is used by the opt-in privacy policy to remember not to ask the user to accept cookies again. This cookie is set when you give users the choice to opt out of cookies.2 years
__hs_do_not_trackThis cookie can be set to prevent the tracking code from sending any information to HubSpot. Setting this cookie is different from opting out of cookies, which still allows anonymized information to be sent to HubSpot.2 years
__hs_testcookieThis cookie is used to test whether the visitor has support for cookies enabled.After session
hsPagesViewedThisSessionThis cookie is used to keep track of page views in a session.After session
_hs_ab_testThis cookie is used to consistently serve visitors the same version of an A/B test page they’ve seen before.After session
__keyWhen visiting a password-protected page, this cookie is set so future visits to the page from the same browser do not require login again. The cookie name is unique for each password-protected page.14 days
_hs_langswitcher_choiceThis cookie is used to save the visitor’s selected language choice when viewing pages in multiple languages.2 years
_cfduidThis cookie is set by HubSpot’s CDN provider, Cloudflare. It helps Cloudflare detect malicious visitors to your website and minimizes blocking legitimate users. It may be placed on your visitors' devices to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It is necessary for supporting Cloudflare's security features. Learn more about this cookie from Cloudflare.30 days
_cfruidThis cookie is set by HubSpot’s CDN provider because of their rate limiting policies.After session
_gaThis cookie is used by Google to distinguish users.2 years
_gidThis cookie is used by Google to distinguish users.24 hours
__adrollTracking cookie used by NextRoll Technology. View the NextRoll Website Privacy Notice.13 months
__adroll_v4Tracking cookies used by NextRoll Technology, in conjunction with Google.13 months
__adroll_fpcTracking cookie used by NextRoll Technology, in conjunction with Facebook.13 months