Month: September 2019

East Africa coffee to be hit by Nestle's 'Glyphosate Storm'

Swiss food and beverage global leader Nestle has warned its suppliers primarily in Brazil and Indonesia that it will be performing more tests on coffee beans after the company found higher levels of the weedkiller glyphosate – the key ingredient of weedkiller Roundup, originally designed and sold by Monsanto.

This has sent jitters among other coffee-growing areas across the globe as more scrutiny is being put on the use of the chemical whose producer Bayer is facing numerous suits it inherited when it purchased American firm Monsanto.

A statement quoted by Blomberg notes, “We actively monitor chemical residues, including glyphosate, in the green coffee that we purchase.” The Nestle said in a statement continued, This monitoring program has shown that in some green coffee lots chemical residue levels are close to limits defined by regulations. We are reinforcing our controls working with suppliers to ensure that our green coffee continues …

E-commerce to create 3 million jobs in Africa by 2025 - The Exchange

E-commerce is set to create three million jobs for the youth by the year 2025 a report by bankers and financial experts.

The World Economic Forum, in partnership with the International Trade Centre, released the Africa E-commerce Agenda, which is an eight-step action plan to recognize the benefits of e-commerce in the content.

The Africa E-commerce Agenda action points enable e-payments, manage data, grow the tech industry, refresh policies, expand connectivity, upgrade logistics, coach small business and join forces.

The Agenda released early this month, recognizes the significance of the large ecosystem of digital technology and supporting elements.

Experts who attended the forum said e-commerce has the potential to create 3 million jobs yet e-commerce startups, face many challenges, which includes low consumer digital trust, low regional integration and poor infrastructure.

The head of the regional agenda, Africa and a member of the Executive Committee of World Economic Forum Dr …

The extractive industry in Tanzania is prone to substantial operational and management changes.

Since President John Magufuli took leadership, several mining sector advancements have been made in the course of 3 years, proving billions in return at a rather intriguing socio-political cost.

The latter can be reflected, in a recent development ushered by Ministry of Mining (on September 19th 2019) directing all gold produced from Biharamulo gold mine, operated by STAMIGOLD company a subsidiary of the State Mining Cooperation (STAMICO), to be sold within Tanzania, primarily in the newly established Biharamulo gold market, by December 2019.

During the first quarter in 2019, the mining sector saw a 10 per cent growth, which was attributed by increased gold production.

However, the mining industry contributed over 5.07 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2018, this being a significant increment attributed by the ongoing reformation in the sector, compelling wider …

Ethiopia and Mauritius attract leading M&A law firm Bowmans

Bowmans Law firm, a leading pan African legal entity specializing in business deals, merger and acquisitions (M&A) is set to launch its base in Ethiopia and Mauritius at the beginning of October 2019. The move is seen as an expansion of the company to two countries where FDIs have remained high coupled with financial growth.

Bowmans is opening a fully-fledged office in Mauritius, having joined forces with FirmWise, a local firm that specialises in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, investment funds, tax, compliance and private equity.

Robert Legh, chairman, and senior partner, says ‘This move, which is effective from 1 October 2019, is an investment in the ambitions and success of our clients across Africa. Mauritius and Ethiopia are key jurisdictions for many of our clients and our presence on the ground there will help us to better support them.’

The law firm already has a presence …

China tops investments in Uganda

China registered the highest amount of planned Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Uganda in 2018/19 according to reports.

In its latest report, the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) a state agency charged with investment promotion showed china’s planned investments totalled $607.3m, accounting for 45.1% of all the planned investments.

“Things have changed, you see that China which used not to be mentioned among the top investors in Uganda ten years ago is now number one foreign investor,” said Lawrence Byensi, acting executive director of UIA.
Byensi further said that the Chinese investments are mostly in road and manufacturing projects.

The report further showed Ugandan investors as the second source of FDI in Uganda during the 2018/19 period with a total value of $328.7 million.
Lebanon followed with planned investments of $70.6 million followed by India at $58 million and the United Arab Emirates at $55 million dollars.

The sectors that attracted …

Rwanda gets $20 million for clean water programme

Rwanda gets $20 million boost to finance water supply and sanitation programme.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development (OFID) signed an agreement with Rwanda on Wednesday for additional the financing.

Rwanda aims at improving water and sanitation infrastructure in Kigali, the six satellite cities and contain waterborne diseases as well as related healthcare costs with the funding it is getting.

The funding boost is seen to improve the living standards of nearly 1.6 million people. This is in line with the country’s development and poverty reduction agenda which aims at scaling up investments, developing an affordable and environmentally sustainable infrastructure.

The funding is an addition to the $17-million loan that the OPEC Fund gave to Rwanda in March last year. The funding was still for water and sanitation programme whose aim was to ensure equitable provision of adequate, reliable and sustainable water and sanitation …

Top 10 countries to invest in Africa

 

Top 10 countries to invest in Africa 2020 an annual report released by Johannesburg –based Rand Merchant Bank Ltd (RMB)

1. Egypt

Egypt has an enormous market and a sophisticated business sector, which makes it the most attractive investment destination in Africa, compared to other countries.
Egypt has improved the business environment, which is facilitated through government programs and a progressive increase in investment from the private sector. This has enhanced its economic growth and assisted in repositioning the country on the global investment map.

2. Morocco

Since the Arab Spring, the country’s greatly enhanced operating environment has served the country well with an expected growth rate of 4% over the medium term.
Morocco joining the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and rejoining African Union has enhanced its investment appeal.

3. South Africa

South Africa remains a hotspot for portfolio investment despite its depressed levels of …

A total of 29 entrepreneurs from 11 countries in Africa travel to China to participate in an intensive eFounders Fellowship course and become catalysts for digital transformation

Alibaba Group and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will launch a digital map to track food-security issues across the globe.

The “Hunger Map LIVE” will leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to predict and track the magnitude and severity of hunger in close to real-time in more than 90 countries.

The map will allow the WFP, humanitarian-aid organizations and global leaders to identify negative trends early and enable better decision-making to improve response times and cut costs.

“The Hunger Map LIVE is a visual wake-up call every day, showing us a real-time snapshot of the problem and reminding all of us that we must do more to defeat hunger,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley, speaking on the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly in New York.

The map will bring together publicly available information on food security, nutrition, conflict, weather, and macro-economic data to …

The Kenyan government is considering a $15.4million financing option for smallholder tea farmers across the country to help them diversify tea production in Kenya with production of orthodox tea.

The High Court in Nairobi, Kenya, has ruled in favour of Kenya Revenue Authority(KRA) in a tax related case filed by a Dubai based company.

The company was seeking orders to stop KRA from collecting Ksh2.3 billion(US$238.8 billion) in tax debts from its affiliate company registered and operating in Kenya.

READ ALSO:KRA struggles as stinking rich Kenyans hide trillions abroad

Justice Pauline Nyamweya on September 23, 2019 ruled in favour of KRA and struck out a Judicial Review filed on July 28, 2018 by United Arab Emirates(UAE) registered firm, Suzan General Trading JLT.

Suzan General Trading JLT had sought among others an order to stop KRA from enforcing the warrants and distress notices issued on July 9, 2018 in respect of a tax (customs duty) debt owed by its affiliate company Diplomatic Duty-Free Limited (DDF) amounting to 2, 296,210,133 shillings.

Suzan General Trading JLT

The company had also sought to stop KRA from