Author: Giza Mdoe

• The use of digital solutions is revolutionizing all kinds of financial transactions from making simple payments to borrowing and lending.
• With mobile phone and internet penetration rising at a phenomenal phase, even the remotest parts of Africa can now access financial services through their mobile phones.
• The World Bank: It is time for policymakers to embrace fintech opportunities and implement policies that enable and encourage safe financial innovation and adoption.

Financial technology or the application of digital tools to streamline financial services more commonly known in the short form Fintech, is reshaping the future of financial services and creating a boom for investors in the fast-growing segment.

The use of digital solutions is revolutionizing all kinds of financial transactions from making simple payments to borrowing and lending. Be it your next investment portfolio or your insurance, you name it, almost any financial service you can think of can now be …

• Only 38 percent of Tanzania is connected to electricity. 
• Kenya ranks third in Africa in wind energy generation.
• Global net zero goals still off track with growing fossil fuel investments.

Tanzania does not produce enough electricity to meet its growing domestic demand. And this is despite having diverse renewable energy resources including hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind.

The country’s power sector is monopolized by state-owned Tanzania Electricity Supply Company Limited (TANESCO). The utility owns and controls almost all of the country’s energy transmission network and over half of its generating capacity.

Currently, Tanzania’s total power installed capacity is 1,602MW split into Hydroelectric (568MW), thermal (951.6MW) and 82.4MW from other renewables.

Read also:  Powering Africa: Renewables safest bet for sustainable future

Solar and biofuels

According to TANESCO, Tanzania’s electricity generation comes mostly from natural gas at 48 percent. Hydro sources account for 31 percent of the energy mix.  Petrol contributes 18 …

• To transition from fossil fuels to cleaner more sustainable energy, we need innovation and new technology.
• The earth has an array of minerals that carry huge energy potential that has little to do with burning.
• The World Bank: Harnessing natural resource wealth provides an opportunity to improve fiscal and debt sustainability of African countries

The race to combat global climate change challenge is offering Africa a fresh opportunity to attract investments in the decarbonization industry as countries adopt clean energy. The known patterns are gone, we now have unpredictable weather changes and ever-so-frequent catastrophic weather events all caused by global climate change.

The effect is desertification where there was vegetation, floods where land was arid, melting glaciers from the North Pole to Kilimanjaro, famine, food insecurity, and disease, all because of the energy we used to industrialize, it is time for the energy transition.

To transition from fossil fuels to …

• At least three Australian firms have signed a handful of agreements including Evolution Energy Mineral Limited, EcoGraf Limited, and Peak Rare Earth Limited.
• This is the second mineral exploration and processing deal that Tanzania has signed in as many months and the government says there are more in the pipeline.
• Global markets are experiencing a rising demand for rare earth minerals, critical elements that are used in the manufacture of a vast array of electronic devices, and electric vehicles.

Australia, a vast country that hugely powers its economy through a vibrant mining industry, is bringing its expertise to Tanzania, East Africa for the exploration and processing of energy-rich graphite and other rare earth deposits.

At least three joint venture companies have been formed each having Tanzania accrue 16 percent of the shares, a rare deal in an industry that has for years left the East African country earning little because …

• Lender AfDB is looking to harness global equity funds to finance climate change mitigation in Africa.
• AfDB statistics show that only 14 percent of $29.5 billion that was invested in climate finance for Africa in 2020 was from the private sector.
• AfDB is set to hold climate change financing meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, this May.

An increasing number of people across Africa are grappling with unpredictable but definite cycles of failed rains, flash floods or severe drought as climate change-induced weather patterns become the norm in the continent that is one of the least polluters globally.

“Africa, the continent that pollutes the planet the least, is today one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate risks,” admits the African Development Bank.

In many countries in Africa today, it is nearly impossible for farmers to practice rain-fed agriculture, which is the primary option for 99 percent of agricultural production …

• Tanzanite is so rare that it is only found in one place in the entire world, Tanzania and hence its name, tanzanite
• For years, Tanzania has complained bitterly over how India has been benefitting from the sale of tanzanite, a rare gem
• The mineral’s value chain extends far beyond its borders across the seas in India’s city of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan state.

After decades of smuggling allegations, conspiracies of misappropriation and outright accusations of value theft, Tanzania and India have finally come to common ground on mineral research.

For a long time, Tanzania has lamented how India has been benefitting from the sale of tanzanite, a rare gem. In fact, tanzanite is so rare that it is only found in one place in the entire world, Tanzania and hence its name, tanzanite.

However, Tanzania has, for years now, been exporting raw tanzanite while other countries such as neighbouring …

• Tanzania gives six months tax break to domestic start-ups, usually Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs).
• Foreign companies in Tanzania enjoy a five-year tax holiday as permitted by the investment law.
• At the moment, new Tanzanian businesses are required to full tax payments despite the availability of this six months’ tax break provision

Start-ups in Tanzania are given six months of tax holiday as the government looks to boost the private sector competitiveness but a quick survey on the ground by The Exchange shows the program still lags behind.

The move to extend a tax holiday comes in the wake of persistent outcry by the private sector over the unfair competition by foreign companies that can afford to offer lower prices for their services and/or products.

However, does a reduction in taxes equate to improved productivity, increased efficiency and higher quality of services or products?

There is an overarching argument …

• Tanzania’s government has banned institutions from using charcoal and firewood for their energy needs.
• Tanzania has lost 16 percent of its forest cover to human-related activities.
• 85 percent of Tanzania’s energy needs are met with charcoal and firewood burning.

To curb the destruction of forests, Tanzania has set a deadline for its own institutions to stop using charcoal and firewood, an ambitious gesture for a country whose 85 percent of energy needs are met through the burning of charcoal and firewood.

As a result of this high dependence on forests for its energy needs, Tanzania’s forests are being depleted at a tremendous pace; 16 percent of forest cover has already been lost to date. At the current rate, Tanzania is losing over 640,429 hectares of forest per year.

The forest loss is mostly blamed on human activities related to unsustainable farming practices, development activities and to meet the huge energy …

• Africa Development Bank (AfDB) has launched the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanisms (AFFM) to boost purchase of the critical farm input across the continent.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that Africa is spending less on agriculture development than the rest of the world.
• AFFM has already secured $10.15 million in new funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

Shortage of fertilizer in Africa continues as the war between its main suppliers Russia and Ukraine enters the second year. To increase food productivity and security, African countries need increased access to fertilizer, nut until this dilemma is resolved, food security is off the table.

Access to fertilizer in Africa is very limited, where available, this basic agro-input for increased production is simply too expensive for effective use.

Such shortcomings were meant to be addressed by progressive initiatives such as the Maputo Agreement that was signed in Mozambique in …

• Zanzibar has entered into a deal with Belgium to attract more tourists to the East African coastal Island.
• The number of tourist arrivals in Tanzania is projected to increase in 2023. The country saw 62.7 per cent jump in new arrivals between January and July last year.
• Tanzania received a total of 100,600 tourists from USA in 2022 followed closely by France that was the source of 100,371 holidaymakers.

Zanzibar’s tourism development initiative under its Blue Economy agenda is starting to pay dividend with the isles setting its sights on attracting tourists from Belgium.

Isle’s President Hussein Mwinyi recently met with Belgium’s Ambassador to Tanzania Peter Huyghebaert, and  unveiled ongoing improvement of infrastructure in Zanzibar to improve tourists’ experience.

President Mwinyi cited infrastructure improvements such as airports and roads, access to power and water as well as the construction of new hotels by the private sector.

“We have been working …