Month: September 2019

Water sector in Tanzania stands to get a huge face-lift, following a move by the Tanzanian government experts to partner with Poland government,seeking to amend the water sector in the country.

On September 20^th, Deputy Minister of Water, Juma Aweso who led the meeting along-side Poland government experts in capital city Dodoma, stated that: the meeting sole focus is to explore various areas to for improve , primarily wastewater infrastructures, energy demands, clean water supply, and management.

Tanzania stands at a significant point to harness billions from its water resources, this is due to the huge water potential it has, including it’s decent share of African great lakes: 51 per cent of Lake Victoria and 46 per cent of Lake Tanganyika.

Further, Ministry of Water envisions to secure water supply across Tanzania, within possible lengths of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) number 6- clean water and sanitation, Five …

Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is set to auction hundreds of imported cars destined for Uganda, which are now abandoned in warehouses in Mombasa.

According to the East Africa Community Custom Management act 2004, the cars have exceeded their permitted clearance and warehousing period. Which according to the act, the cars can stay in the warehouse within 30 days from the date the auction bid was placed and after failing to pay all the requisite fees, taxes, fines, penalties and charges that will have accrued.

A number of the cars have already been auctioned as the bidding process ended early this month.

A URA official in Mombasa Charles Busomba said that the auction is ongoing and some vehicles will be actioned to decongest the warehouses and to avoid accruing more storage charges.

“Due process was followed and we placed public notices in different media and in our government website to attract …

Ugandan grown cocoa bean is producing one of kind chocolate that is about to make an inroad into USA providing the world with authentic African flavors through South African based chocolate maker De Villiers.

Classed among the finest cocoa beans in the world, the crops grown in the tropical, rainy Bundibugyo district of Western Uganda produce a cocoa bean rich in the complexity of flavors. De Villiers Chocolate uses only these UTZ Certified beans because supporting sustainable cocoa farming is vitally important to Africa’s future.

With their positioning as the first African-originated UTZ Certified chocolate brand, De Villiers are hoping to bring their distinctive new products and intriguing new flavors to the USA, with a diverse range designed to provide an indulgent exploration of sensory delights with unique African flavor profiles.

The new range created for the USA market underlines their commitment to quality and authenticity throughout their chocolate-making …

President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked US investors to make Kenya their investment destination of choice in Africa, in the latest of his charm offensives in foreign markts.

The President has said his administration’s Big 4 Agenda, particularly the manufacturing component where the government’s plan is to lift the sector’s contribution to the economy from the current 8.4 per cent of GDP to 15 per cent by 2022, offers limitless investment opportunities for US companies.

READ ALSO:How Kenya plans to accelerate Big 4 Agenda

“The sector (manufacturing) presents major opportunities for local and foreign investors in areas such as agro-processing through value addition in key value chains such as textiles and leather, the maritime sector, construction, iron and steel, oil and gas,” the President said. 

President Kenyatta who spoke at a private sector forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce and attended by tens of top executives from leading …

Dutch FMO and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have agreed to finance the construction and operation of two new solar photovoltaic plants in Kenya. EIB and FMO will each provide USD 53 million for the two projects, with the remainder of the USD 147 million total project cost provided by the project promoters Frontier Energy, David Langat, Chairman of the DL Group of Companies and Ayaz Merali, Managing Director of Paramount Bank.

The new Radiant and Eldosol projects are amongst the first to generate utility-scale solar power in East Africa. The two schemes will diversify Kenya’s electricity supply away from both rain-dependent hydro and fossil fuels, contribute to improving grid stability in Western Kenya and cater for expected increased in energy use in the coming years.

“As world leaders meet in New York to discuss future plans to save our planet, Kenya with EU support, is leading the way with …

Ethiopian Airlines is expanding its partnership with CellPoint Digital a leading provider of digital commerce and payment solutions for airlines, to offer more popular payment methods to its passengers with a specific interest to Chinese visitors.

Last year, Ethiopian Airlines adopted CellPoint’s Velocity payment platform to implement a mobile-first payment strategy and create a more seamless customer experience in its mobile app. Ethiopian Airlines initially added Alipay and saw promising growth in bookings through its mobile app in some markets. Ethiopian Airlines is now introducing WeChat Pay and KNET to cater to the international travel market.

China is set to displace the United States as the world’s largest aviation market by the mid-2020s and is a key growth market for Ethiopian Airlines. Millions of Chinese tourists use Alipay and WeChat Pay to make travel purchases, and together these two alternative forms of payment cover more than 90% of the Chinese …

On September 17^th, Tanzania via Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) and Germany (German Corporation for International Cooperation -GIZ) have entered into an agreement in amending Tanzanian graduates’ employability via a special project named: Employment for Development.

The boost comes forth to advance youth socio-economic potentials in developing their respective economies and the nation at large. This is reflected in the context of high rates of annual graduates versus available positions in the formal sector.

Available data show, over 900,000 youth enter the job market per year in Tanzania, but only 50,000 to 60,000 formal sector jobs are created yearly. Leaving rather many graduates unemployed, this goes along with the unemployment rate in Tanzania which stands at 9.7 per cent.

The project is specifically focused on seeking various opportunities and job skills demands, existing among various investors, within the Southern regions of Tanzania, and offer graduates with necessary skill-sets …

Goh Betoch Bank a new financial institution that aims to introduce mortgage banking offers its shares to the public in Ethiopia.

Getahun Nana, the former VP of the central bank of Ethiopia, who is now one of the founding members of Goh Betoch Bank said: “Currently there are 1.2 million housing shortages in Ethiopia.” He added that Ethiopia needs to provide additional houses every year in order to meet the growing demand for housing that is why they have introduced the bank to provide loans for housing construction.

Getahum said that only less than 4% of the loans in Ethiopia goes to housing construction for both real estate developers and individuals as he briefed potential investors to the new bank.

Eng. Aisha Mohammed, Minister of Ministry of Construction and Urban Development of Ethiopia, expressed her hope that the new bank will benefit individuals who are engaged in real estate …

Uganda President Museveni has told off petroleum multinationals pushing for tax waivers as a pre-condition to further develop the country’s oil fields.

This is deepening a standoff that might affect the building of a critical export pipeline in the country.

According to the highly placed diplomatic sources, President Museveni is understood to have lashed out at petroleum companies accusing them of not appreciating the many adjustments the government has already made in order to facilitate the development of the Hoima oil fields which are estimated to have 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil.

The president listed 17 promises the government has delivered on emphasizing on four major ones which include an international airport still under construction, numerous concessions on taxes and tariffs, road network known as the oil roads and a number of legislations to facilitate the exploitation of the oil.

Also Read: Inside Kenya, Uganda’s crude oil

There have …