Month: September 2019

Songas limited has paid the government TZS8.8 billion in dividends as a result of its shareholding in the Tanzanian gas-to-power company.

Songas is a strategic partner with the Government in meeting the growing demand for energy and includes ownership by Tanzanian sector entities, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) and Tanzania Development Finance Company Limited (TDFL) as well as Globeleq, a leading independent power producer solely focused in Africa.

Songas Chief Financial Officer, Anael Samuel said TANESCO will receive about TZS2.2billion while TPDC will receive an estimated TZS6.6billion, both amounts will be subjected to withholding tax.  The amounts are determined by each entity’s shareholding in Songas.

Additionally, the government also benefits from its 32% shareholding in TDFL, which receives about TZS 1.8 billion in dividends and also through the Tanzanian Revenue Authority from the withholding tax on dividends.

Since 2012 the company has paid TZS121.6 …

A report released at the African Green Revolution Forum in Accra finds that millions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rarely are dependent on big multinationals for their raw materials but directly rely upon millions more smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The report finds that, overall, only about 20 percent of the volume of food consumed in Africa fits the conventional notion of subsistence agriculture—food consumed directly by the farming households that grow it.

“All this represents a profound turnaround from mere decades ago, ” said Dr. Thomas Reardon of Michigan State University, a lead author of the report. “There has been a ‘Quiet Revolution’ in agrifood private sector value chains linking small farmers to burgeoning urban markets and growing towns in Africa. This has spurred farmers’ participation in food and farm input markets.”

SMEs provide a range of services, from transport and logistics to the sale of inputs such …

Vodacom Tanzania, in a bid to increase its visibility has boosted its support for the premier league.

The sponsorship that $3.91 million over the period of 3 years has seen an agreement signed on August 23, before all premier league’s parties; Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), Premier League Committee and Vodacom-Tanzania, witnessed by Minister of Information, Sports and Culture, Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe.

“Vodacom Premier League” (VPL), is an ebullient league widely known for attracting a diverse range of fans over the past 9 years.

According to Vodacom Tanzania Plc Managing Director, Hisham Hendi, noted the company’s efforts to be at the forefront of supporting development initiatives as well as sports activities in Tanzania.

“We have been sponsoring the premier league for 9 years and have seen the growth of upcoming talent as well as the league itself which commands a following of millions of fans both locally and in neighboring countries,” …

Sub-Saharan African clothing and footwear market is worth $31 billion US dollars and growing. In a series of articles about the industry in Sub Sahara Africa, we will explore the policies, trade and the budding creative fashion industry in the region. This is the second part of the series where we focus on the raw material for the textile industry.

Read the previous series:  Africa Fashionomics: Making sense of the $31 Billion industry

Also:  Africa Fashionomics: Not enough materials to support a budding textile industry

And also: Africa Fashionomics: Business of Fashion in Africa led by Ethiopia

East African Community had one ambitious goal; to get rid of second-hand clothes in the region and shield their nascent textile industry from adverse effects of these clothes from U.S and Europe. The goal was already set and the countries would effect a hike on the duty charged on second-hand clothes. East African …

According to the global technology research and consulting firm’s newly released Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, overall shipments for the quarter totalled 52.2 million units, down from 53.1 million units in Q1 2019. Feature phones accounted for 58.3% of the market, with shipments declining 3.7% QoQ, while smartphone shipments increased 1.0% over the same period to account for 41.7% share.

“Feature phones remain an integral part of the African mobile phone market due to poor network infrastructure across large parts of the continent, particularly in rural areas, and the ease of use of these devices,” says George Mbuthia, a research analyst at IDC. “However, the transition to smartphones is continuing, albeit slowly, and the affordability of feature phones alone was not enough to stop this segment of the market declining in Q2 2019. Smartphones, on the other hand, enjoyed a recovery from the decline in shipments seen in Q1 2019.”

Nigeria …

According to a report by the World Economic Forum on Africa, mega-solar projects – large-scale installations capable of producing upwards of hundreds of megawatts of power – are generating much-needed electricity in countries all over the world.

In sunny Southern Africa, however, the report says, a historic lack of public-private partnerships outside of South Africa and, until recently, Zambia, to develop such projects has left much of the region’s vast solar power potential largely untapped.

But Botswana and Namibia are poised to change this trend, the report says. The two neighbouring countries will be supported by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy – which includes organizations such as the World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC), African Development Bank, Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and the US government-led Power Africa initiative to realise this dream.

“This multi-phased …

Farmers in Tanzania can now access cheaper fertilizer for farm-production as Ministry of Agriculture reduces fertilizer costs.

In a press conference, on August 28^th, the sector Minister Hon. Japhet Hasunga, highlighted the Tanzanian Bulk Procurement System (BPS) which he said operates on a competitive basis, said that the adjustment of the prices formula serves farmers’ interests.

Currently, fertilizer pricing will be based on a different formula, triggered by 12 percent decrease of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilizer (a favorable input in maize production in Tanzania) to the source, the government also revised pricing formulas within farming year 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 respectively.

Across regions in Tanzania, 3.4 to $ 4 are the prices per 50 kg DAP-fertilizer bag, equivalent to 13 to 17 percent decrease. A 25kg fertilizer bag is now selling at $2.17 to $2.61 equal to 14 to 19 percent decrease respectively.

A 15 DAP fertilizer bag is …

To cement trade ties, boost investment flows and encourage tourism between Tanzania and China, Standard Bank and the Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have launched the I Go Tanzania loyalty program in partnership with Tanzania Tourism Board.

This initiative, part of ICBC’s I Go Global rewards scheme for its card holders in China, was unveiled in Tanzania on 6th August 2019. It will capitalize on the growing appetite among Chinese travelers to visit Tanzania by offering a range of discounts and special offers from merchants across the travel, hospitality and lifestyle sectors, says Standard Bank’s group head of card and emerging payments across Africa in personal and business banking, Lincoln Mali.

“ICBC is the biggest bank in the world, with approximately 139 million credit cards and as many debit card customers,” says Mali, explaining the rationale behind the new loyalty program, which was designed by Standard Bank in partnership …

Kountable, a global trade and technology platform, has formed strategic partnerships with customs agencies in both Rwanda and Kenya.

This provides Kountable with a dedicated group of customs experts to assist in the timely processing and payment for imported goods in the region in addition to providing last-mile logistics so that goods can remain insured in that final stretch of the trade.

“The more parties we have who validate and participate in a transaction,” said Kountable CEO Chris Hale, “the more trust and transparency we bring to the network. We have gone through an extensive process to select these partners based on their professionalism and strength of their experience.”

Selected by an in-depth interview process and the recommendations of the Rwanda Revenue Authority’s (RRA’s) Risk Management Office and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA’s) Commissioner, Customs and Excise Services Department, these custom agencies are certified, vetted and found to be …

An Austrian company Technik-Plus has developed a cutting-edge Carbon Farming-technology in their Impuls-Centre in Mureck, Southern Austria,  for sustainable and gently mechanized farming with a strong commitment to conservation and environmental sustainability and a special focus on African agriculture.

The company has been making inroads in several countries in Africa with significant sales in South Africa, Uganda, Gambia and Morocco. They are in talks with farmer’s organizations in Kenya and Nigeria with a targeted niche in semi-arid agriculture in many African nations.

The Austrian company says it has sales contacts in all 55 African countries and is looking at possibly developing local license assembly in specific countries for their tractors, which is expected to create local jobs and makes it a 50% African product.

Beside their pneumatic air seeders, the company also construct “exhaust-farming” systems, which means, they blow the carbon emissions of the tractor’s exhaust pipe back into the …