Author: Caroline Muriuki

Africa has boasted promising prospects for investors looking to invest in the continent’s untapped sectors and industries, attractive growth opportunities and an improving business environment. Venture Capital in Africa has seen significant growth in recent years and as the entrepreneurial space on the continent matures it remains optimistic. In addition, once the African Continental Free Trade Area is fully implemented it will significantly shape the path of Venture Capital and Private Equity. According to a report by the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA), the trends that will drive Private Equity and Venture Capital in Africa are in…

Africa is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies with the continent expected to be home to nearly 1.7 billion people by 2030 and have a combined business and consumer spending of $6.7 trillion according to the Brookings Institute. This potential in the economy has made Africa attractive for investors seeking high growth businesses with long-term impact. Because of this, Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) have emerged as important drivers for directing capital into these businesses hence stimulating capacity building and economic growth across Africa. According to a report from the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA),…

Banks in East Africa are empathizing with the loss of livelihood and businesses of their clients by easing off on loan payment demands as the covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt economies. In 2020, top East African banks increased provisions for bad debts by over $736 million so as to reduce exposure on businesses and household loans in countries that are most affected by the pandemic. According to a review of the banks audited financial statements, in 2019 the top eight Kenyan banks by market share tripled their loan loss provisions to $960 million from $263.11 million. In order to take…

Egyptian start-ups are to benefit from two funds that have been raised early this month from Sawari Ventures which has raised $69 million and $90 million from Algebra ventures. Algebra Venture an Egyptian venture capital firm announced the launch of its $90 million second fund yesterday after it closed its first fund of $54 million four years ago. Come the close of the second fund, the firm hopes to have raised a total of $144 million, with the first fund closing in the third quarter of 2021. If the venture capital achieves its target, it will most likely have the…

East Africa is a global leader of mobile money with the highest penetration of mobile money in the world according to a report by the African Union in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development. The joint report is titled; Africa’s Development Dynamics’ authored by the African Union (AU) in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development. Mobile money services are provided by telecommunication companies and supported by a network of licensed agents that allows registered users to deposit and withdraw cash in a virtual wallet. According to data from the report, for every 1,000 adults,…

The African Development Fund (ADF) which is a concessional arm of the African Development Bank Group (AFDB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a loan agreement worth $668.1 million (73.6 billion Japanese yen) which will help finance Africa’s low-income countries affected by the pandemic. The loan will help support the 15th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF-15) which was approved in December 2019 by ADF donor countries. JICA is extending the loan – the largest to ADF-15 on behalf of the Government of Japan. Japan has been the fifth-largest contributor to the ADF in cumulative terms. African…

The African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program agreed to partner with the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) to provide $1.3 to 2 billion in loans to women-owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, by working with financial institutions to enhance their ability to lend to women. This comes after the launch of AFAWA’s Guarantee for Growth (G4G) program whose objective is to make available up to $3 billion in financing for women entrepreneurs through de-risking and technical assistance measures. Financial institutions in  Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda are signing…

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers urged the government of Kenya to urgently address the way to economic recovery following the immense effects of the pandemic. This was said during the launch of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) 2021 Manufacturing Priority Agenda (MPA), themed “From surviving COVID-19 to thriving: Manufacturing sector rebound for the sustained job and investment growth”. Speaking during the Agenda launch, Mr Mucai Kunyiha, the KAM chair said that the economic recovery highly depends on the goodwill and full commitment from the government. He explained that “Efforts to enhance our productivity are hampered by the increasing cost…

Emerging digital threats, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the US-China relationships are among the top five risks for business in 2021, according to a report published by Control Risk, the specialist global risk consultancy. The danger of missing the rebound in a year of multi-speed recovery is a top risk for business in the coming year if these risks are underpinned. “There’s no doubt that businesses will continue to face considerable disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, but we believe that the opportunities are real and exciting for many companies in 2021,” said Nick Allan, Control Risks CEO. In Africa,…

Egypt’s tourism revenues fell by 67.2% due to COVID-19 in 2020 after recording $13 billion in 2019 when Egypt received 13 million international tourists; in 2020 it received 9.5 million.  Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities minister Khaled Al-Anani said, “We witnessed a great year in 2019 in terms of numbers and revenues, and the first two months in 2020 were 8% higher, with 2.4 million tourists. The goal now is not to measure the number of tourists, but to say Egypt is a safe tourist destination even amid the coronavirus crisis.”  He added that a total of 65% of tourists in 2020 did so in January and February.   With the outbreak in March,…