Month: September 2019

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced that the first berth of the new Lamu Port will be opened in October.

Lamu Port is the country’s second major sea port after the Port of Mombasa. It is part of the US$24.5 billion Lamu-Port-South-Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport corridor project aimed improving trade in the region.

The President who visited the project over the weekend expressed satisfaction with the progress of the ongoing construction works at the seaport.

He said the mega project will create the much needed jobs for Kenyan youth.

“Since I was here last year, it is true you’ve worked hard. Very soon, next month, we will be here to open the first berth which I am told you will have completed,” the President announced.

“We will launch by seeing a ship dock here to offload cargo. Offloading of cargo will be the beginning of jobs not just for you alone but also …

Kenya is bidding to host the 24th edition of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly in 2021; when the congregation of the UNWTO members meets for its bi-annual, 23rd session this week in St Petersburg, Russia.

Through the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, Kenya will be looking at leveraging its vast past experience in hosting top global events to make a case for the event to be hosted here in 2021.

The move is in line with the ministry’s long-term strategy to diversify the tourism product to attract more tourists into the country and consequently enhance the revenue stream.

READ:Kenya’s tourism on the rise as numbers hit all-time high

On average, over 1,000 delegates from over 130 member countries of the UNWTO, attend the five-day bi-annual meeting, translating into millions of dollars in foreign revenue for host countries over the duration of the stay.

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The anticipated East African Crude Pipeline project (EACOP) involving Tanzania and Uganda, has just been postponed by oil-goliath Total SA until further notice.

The reason given for the shelving of the project is due to a broken deal pertaining Tullow Oil Company failure to sell its stakes to Total SA and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), which occurred last week.

According to Reuters, a Ugandan official cited the project halt of the costly $3.5 billion with 1445km long, featured some marred issues, involving a taxing dispute with Uganda authorities.

“All East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) activities including tenders have been suspended until further notice because of the collapse of the deal” the official commented, under conditions of anonymity adhered.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Tullow Oil forcibly abandoned plans to sell a stake in Ugandan project and resume the deal afresh after-tax negotiations foundered the deal.

“The …

KCB Group is seeking to deepen its new women proposition, committing billions of shillings towards funding women owned and women run enterprises.

According to the bank, the drive is meant to strengthen its diversity and inclusivity focus as part of its sustainability agenda by simplifying financial inclusion for women.

The programme dubbed ‘Women Value Proposition’ has seen the bank disburse loans worth Ksh7.1 billion (US$68.9 million) to 1,400 women to date, KCB said in its current Sustainability Report.

It is aimed at increasing credit facilities to women alongside, providing them with technical and non- financial support.

READ ALSO:KCB commits Ksh10 million for Afro-Asia Fintech Summit

The initiative is in line with KCB Sustainability 10-point action plan on diversity and inclusion. This pillar aims to incorporate gender diversity as part of its strategic initiative to ensure that we encourage more women to take up key roles in business ventures.

“KCB …

The ongoing efforts to promote excellence in oncology nursing and quality cancer care in Kenya have received a boost following the launch of Oncology Nursing Training Initiative.

Cancer is a major public health issue and represents a significant burden of disease globally. In the past few years, Cancer prevalence in Kenya has continued to rise, posing a widespread staffing problem.

READ ALSO:Johnson & Johnson scores in Kenya’s fight against prostate cancer

Kenya has continued to face rising demand for Oncology personnel, especially nurses where the need is a minimum of 500 nurses yet there are only 36 qualified nurses.

This has put extreme workforce pressure on cancer services, and a serious blow to patient care at a time when cases of cancer prognosis are on the rise.

Towards this, Johnson and Johnson Global Community Impact (JNJ GCI), under the leadership of the Ministry of the ministry of Health has …

The battle for Kenya’s telecommunication industry market share has intensified with the planned merger of Telkom Kenya and Airtel Kenya, the subsidiary of Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel.

On February 8, 2019, the two telcos announced the signing of a binding agreement to combine their respective Mobile, Enterprise and Carrier Services businesses in Kenya into Airtel, which will see them trade as Airtel-Telkom.

The merger has however faced opposition from former employees of Airtel. It has also faced headwinds in getting approval from regulators with both Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) and the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) remaining adamant in giving a green light.

The regulators have pegged their decision on ongoing investigations in past dealings at Telkom by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Agency (EACC).

The anti-corruption body is investigating how the National Treasury surrendered part of Telkom Kenya ownership to French multinational—Orange, which later offloaded its stake to …

Kenya’s banking industry has witnessed a myriad of changes in the last four years as lenders adjust to remain profitable since the capping of interest rates.

Mergers and acquisitions have become a norm in the country as the rate cap law, which came into place in September 2016, continues to weigh on banks’ earnings and loan growth.

READ:Why banks in Kenya will lend at a maximum 13%

The latest is the KCB Group PLC (KCB) take-over of National Bank of Kenya (NBK), which now sets the stage for the integration of the second tier lender into KCB.

In an announcement approved by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and published on Friday September 6, 2019, KCB confirmed that it had received consent to acquire NBK from shareholders holding 297,130,033 issued ordinary shares out of 338,781,200 issued ordinary shares, representing 87.7 per cent by the offer closure date on August 30, …

Tanzania has moved to look into a possible profitable venture in Cryptocurrency.

A circular purported to be coming from the Directorate of Economic Research and Policy at the Central Bank of Tanzania (BoT) shows that the bank is conducting a study to assess the extent of cryptocurrency impact on the Tanzanian economy with a view to registering brokers for the business.The circular, in part, reads:

“Please be informed that the Bank of Tanzania is conducting a study to assess the extent of Cryptocurrency and Online Forex Trading and its implication to the economy in Tanzania. The result of this survey will determine whether or not there is any need to register brokers for this business in the country.”

The letter goes on to further state that BoT will conduct the survey by visiting various parts of Tanzania and interview selected individuals to gather the needed information for decision making.…

Looking for growth opportunities? Africa is a continent with huge economic potential.

It has been gradually transformed in the past 20 years and we are on the cusp of significant growth, with blossoming entrepreneurship and plenty of opportunities for smart and simple business solutions.

Africa is on the rise

Africa is a 1.2bn-person market, a number expected to double over the next 30 years. Generally, business leaders tend to overestimate the challenges of doing business in Africa and underestimate the size and potential on the African continent. Thereby not stating that the African markets are easy to do business in, but emphasising that they are worth the effort, and companies not engaged in African markets risk losing out on one of the 21st century’s great growth opportunities.

One of the fastest growing economies in Africa

Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world but it will see large-scale …

Charity is yet another effective measure against poverty across the globe.

It provides communities with compelling abilities to exercise their socio-economic activities within inclusivity parameters and resilience, alleviating worst humanitarian conditions that affect populations over time and space.

As we are marking the international day of charity, today 5^th September. It is crucial to acknowledge the role taken by the charity organizations worldwide, in their quest for harmonizing livelihood in disease-ravaged communities, while appending public services such as health care, education, housing, and child protection.

For over 20 years, United Nations has designated this very day, to execute vital objectives; sensitizing and mobilizing people, NGO’s and stakeholders all around the world to help others through volunteer and philanthropic actions.

Eradicating poverty in its all forms is inevitable, alleviating extreme poverty and the worst humanitarian crisis is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

READ: How Africa can create jobs, conquer