Month: May 2019

The East and Southern Africa Breeding Network (ESABN) on 4^th May, 2018 launched the accelerated genetic gain in rice (AGGRI) project aiming at the empowering women involved in rice value chain in the region.

The launch of the project was on the sideline of the just- concluded three-day 11^th East and Southern Africa Breeding Network meeting held in Dar es Salaam.

Speaking soon after launching the initiative, representative of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for Eastern and Southern Africa, Abdelbagi Ismail said that the beneficiaries will be unified by a set of standards developed to make breeding decisions consistent with the demand of regional farmers, consumers and processors.

Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the Initiative is also aimed at expanding International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) `s variety testing network into a globally aligned, modernized, rice breeding `community of practice`

In another development, IRRI`s targets …

The Tanzanian shilling is expected to hold steady against the United States dollar in the second quarter of 2019 due to increased inflows of the greenback from tourism,  agriculture exports and demand from corporate to meet the 2018 dividend obligations.

The National Microfinance Bank (NMB) Market Digest said in its report that the second quarter will witness increase of inflows from tourism and agriculture thus bolstering the local unit.

The report stated that with traditional inflows mostly from tourism and agriculture expected to increase by June, the local unit is to hold steady with minimal volatility as the central bank continues its liquidity management efforts to preserve calm market conditions.

Further, according to the report, the local currency ended the quarter strongly after trading weaker during the first two months of the year to appreciate by 2.1 per cent. The quarter opened at Tshs.2,300 per dollar, traded to a high …

Many firms cited issues with money circulation in the economy which had a notable impact on activity levels.…

Another case of African Swine Fever (ASF) has been reported this month in the Heilbron area in the Free State province, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry revealed on Monday.

In a statement spokesperson, Khaye Nkwanyana, said: “This follows outbreaks in April 2019 in the North West, Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces.

“All four outbreaks occurred outside of the ASF controlled area of South Africa and have been reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

“The affected areas have been placed under quarantine and provincial veterinary services are applying the necessary disease control measures.”

Nkwanyana said veterinary services together with the industry were conducting follow-up investigations to trace the origin of the disease and to identify other farms that may possibly be affected.

In order to prevent the spread of ASF, the ministry has warned pig buyers to, “make sure you buy pigs only from reputable owners, and insist on …

Chinese multinational telecommunications giant Huawei said on Monday that it had partnered with 48 local developers of mobile apps, and was still looking for more, in a drive to promote South African digital talent on its mobile app store.

Huawei Mobile Services was launched in South Africa in June last year. Since then, both the mobile app store Huawei AppGallery and Huawei Themes have become increasingly popular with the local market.

Lu Geng, director of Huawei consumer cloud service for southern Africa region, said 48 developers have recently registered their apps with Huawei following a Developers’ Day where Huawei executives met with South African developers to discuss Huawei’s offering.

“South African consumers are increasingly wanting more apps that are relevant to their unique circumstances, addressing issues they experience regularly – such as load shedding or safety concerns – but also apps that celebrate South Africa’s multitude of cultures and this …

Coca-Cola Africa is partnering with African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa to gather critical inputs and insights from leaders in the water sector, to help understand how the Company and other corporates can address Africa’s water security.

The initiative runs between May 14 and 16, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

According to Coca-Cola, the partnership is in line with the company’s approach to continually engage the right stakeholders, to ensure it is responsive and collaborative in its water stewardship strategy.

“The Company has made significant strides in improving its water-use ratio over the past ten years, and recently announced that three million more people across Africa have improved access to safe water under its Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) – the largest public-private partnership focused on water in Africa,” explains Dorcas Onyango: Head of Sustainability for Coca-Cola Southern and East Africa.

Coca-Cola Africa continues to fulfill its global goal …

International trade in sand and gravel is growing due to high demand in regions without local sand and gravel resources and is forecast to rise 5.5 per cent a year with urbanization.…

Sub-Saharan hospitality investment platform Kasada Capital Management has reached a first close on its maiden fund Kasada Hospitality Fund LP with equity commitments of over USD 500 million.

This is in line with a first announcement disclosed in July 2018 by Katara Hospitality and Accor who are respectively contributing USD 350 million and USD 150 million. In a region which offers robust growth opportunities, the fund will target both greenfield and brownfield projects.

The hospitality market is currently one of the most promising and yet underserviced sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa where growing economies and emerging middle class are creating high-growth markets that are left largely untapped.

The first platform of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kasada Capital Management intends to bridge the gap between the local hospitality market players and international investors.

The team is co-led by Olivier Granet (CEO and Managing Partner) a former CEO of AccorHotels Middle East …

DOB Equity, a leading Dutch family-backed impact investor in East Africa, has invested in Jibu Tanzania the producer and distributor of clean drinking water to support the company’s rapid growth of a replicable franchise store concept in major cities in the country, starting from Arusha.

Jibu is a well-established regional producer and distributor of water through branded and refillable bottles in different sizes, substantially below the current price of bottled water. Jibu complements the Tanzanian government by providing new ways of providing access to quality drinking water to households. The need is evident as unsafe water may lead to health problems and water-borne diseases which seriously affects the wellbeing of, especially young children.

The technology that Jibu uses consists of a patented reverse-osmosis water filtration system, using municipal water. The filtration systems also include bottle sanitizing equipment. The onsite treatment and filling technology allow Jibu franchisees to sell water significantly …

Allianz X, the digital investment unit of the Allianz Group, has announced that it has made an undisclosed amount of investment in SafeBoda, an East African based motorcycle hailing company.

Allianz Z, based in Germany referred SafeBoda as a major African ride-hailing platform that also offers various on-demand consumer and payment services in what is the entity’s first investment in an African-headquartered company.

SafeBoda, winner of the 2018 AppsAfrica Award, aims to offer reliable and safe transportation to its customers and its mobile payment platform is an example of digital companies contributing to financial inclusion across Africa.

It started in Kampala Uganda and has seen it expand into Nairobi getting good reception which made established competitors like Bolt (Formerly Taxify) and Uber revisit the manner in which they operated motocycle taxis.

For the Series B investment, Allianz X is co-investing with Go-Ventures, a venture fund whose cornerstone investor is GO-JEK. …