Month: September 2019

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 …

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is the 2nd fastest growing airport in the word cargo ranking. This has been revealed in the Airports Council International (ACI) latest World Airport Traffic Report, which highlights top airports for passengers, cargo and aircraft movements and showcases the world’s fastest-growing airports for 2018.

JKIA was ranked 2nd in the ‘Fastest Growing Airports (Handing over 250,000 metric tons of air cargo)’ category, after handling over 342,000 metric tons of air cargo in 2018, a 25% growth from the what was reported in the year 2017.

This ranking came as a surprise to many given the dwindling fortunes of Kenya Airways which has been facing a hard economic time coupled with staff strikes and poor profitability. Kenya Airways management has fallen out with its pilots over continued losses at the airline, in the latest of many stand-offs between the two groups. This is in the wake of …

Only 43 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population was financially included by the end of 2018…

Uganda road toll fees to start in January 2020 on the Chinese-funded  51 kilometre Entebbe Expressway in Uganda.

The government of Uganda seeks to raise money to finance public infrastructure projects through toll fees.

Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) is to start charging fees for the Kampala – Entebbe expressway that links the capital Kampala with the Entebbe international airport. This is following the enactment of the new road act that was passed by the Ugandan parliament.

Allen Kagina the executive director UNRA said the authority has already started on the process to procure an operator and by January 2020 they will start collecting the toll fees.

The expressway has been free to use since it was opened to traffic in June last year. Lack of tolling equipment and an operator caused the delay.

Ms Kagina said that reports show an increase in traffic on the road with the increase …

Halan an Egyptian technology startup that uses tuk-tuk to transport passengers and goods will begin operating in Ethiopia.

The company targets under-served communities and is expanding in more cities in the Egyptian governorates of Sharqeya, Daqahleya, Damietta, Qena and Gharbeya before the end of this year, said

The company was founded in November 2017 and already operates in around 20 to 25 cities in Egypt and Sudan.

Halan’s app allows customers to request for the three-wheeled vehicles, motorbikes or order food or goods for delivery through motorbikes or cargo tricycles.

Nakhla said the app has around 10,000 active drivers per month.

He continued to add that Egypt has around 70,000 tuk-tuks in its streets and Uber has 90,000 monthly active drivers in Egypt.

The company’s founder said, “Halan completes a few million rides per month, almost half a million of which are in food deliveries.” He further said that adding …