Author: Giza Mdoe

The country is nonetheless instituting economic reforms aimed at empowering the private sector and attracting foreign investment in abid to diversify the economy. Hopefully, this will create new jobs especially for the youth who are currently facing enormous unemployment in the wake of the pandemic due to the country’s reliance on tourism.

Notably, other than tourism, Cape Verde’s economy is very much service-oriented with commerce, transport, and public services accounting for three-fourths of the country’s GDP.

Since the country’s economy is heavily dependent on conditions in the eurozone countries, Cape Verde’s economic recovery is hinged on foreign aid as well as remittances. Currently, One UN is assisting Cape Verde to develop a national trade strategy designed to enhance its productive capacities.…

This amount of vaccines may sound considerably large but in reality its not, its actually  only enough to vaccinate a mere 17 per cent of the population and that is way below the intended global year-end target of vaccinating 40 per cent of Africa’s population.

As such, this shortfall in vaccine doses is worsened by the misconceptions that are keeping the public from usurping even the few doses that have made it into the continent. Falling short of explaining why, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the COVAX facility has been forced to reduce the amount of planned vaccine deliveries to Africa.

According to the WHO, some 150 million vaccines that were intended for delivery to Africa this year will not make it. As a result, the continent is facing a shortage of more than 500 million doses.…

Africa is also moving to mechanize agriculture offering another avenue for heavy investment for technology-rich UAE. Investing in mechanizing Africa’s farms also goes to investing in the world’s food security and alleviating poverty, all of which are priority UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Then you have the energy and mineral sectors; Africa, and in particular East Africa, has been the site for the world’s most recent offshore oil and gas discoveries. The potential is immense; however, here we must point out the equally lucrative and much more sustainable opportunity to invest in renewable energy. Africa offers vast expanses of huge wind and solar potential that can be harnessed to power the continent and beyond. …

Kenya has strategically managed to tap into the lucrative United Arab Emirates (UAE) tourism market. With less than five hours’ flight time from Dubai to Kenya’s capital Nairobi, the UAE is very well positioned to provide Kenya with much needed tourists to help re-boost the ailing industry.

Notably, tourists and business persons alike, have a wide range of flight options to and from Nairobi all scheduled at convenient times and routes. There is also a score of airlines that provide fast and efficient connectivity and frequency including Kenya’s own Kenya Airways, UAE’s Emirates Airlines (from Dubai), Air Arabia (from Sharjah), and Etihad Airways (from Abu Dhabi).

UAE targets Kenya in new chamber partnership

Marketing Lessons to Learn From Kenya

To help ease travel arrangements further, Kenya has set up an Embassy in Abu Dhabi and a Consulate General office in Dubai which allows travelers to access visas hassle-free. To …

Long gone are the days you hear of Africa and envision mud huts and malnourished babies.  Well, maybe long-gone is an over-statement because these unfathomable pasts are buried in very shallow time graves and ever threatening to re-emerge and haunt the continent again.

It is for this very reason that Africa, and its trade and development partners must harness the continent’s technology potential and put innovation at the forefront of every nation’s development agenda.

Why? For Africa, it is how the continent will keep those shallow graves buried and build a bright, healthy future and for the world—well, Africa is the market of the future. Just to bring this market into perspective – as of January 2021, in the heat of the global pandemic, African tech business enterprises have raised US$940 million, making the continent the strongest market for technology worldwide.

Impressive, right? While many on the continent may still …

Commenting on Africa’s participation at the conference and the continent’s development in general Egypt’s representative at Expo 2020, Ahmed Maghawry Diab, who is also an official from the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said, “…the world has started to look at Africa and rediscover it…the continent has a lot of difficulties, but it has also started to develop.”

Another optimist for the continent’s development and what it has to offer is Dr. Levi Uche Madueke, Head of the African Union (AU) Strategic Partnerships Office and AU Commissioner General for Expo 2020 said, “…Africa is undergoing a dynamic socio-economic and political transformation. There is a lot happening on the continent but the world is yet to hear all about it. It is time to take charge of Africa’s narrative and reclaim its rightful place in the global arena.”…

The Zanzibar government has issued express interest to rent out the more than 50 islets surrounding the main archipelago to investors in the marine tourism sectors as well as the catering and hospitality sectors to invest in eco-friendly investment on the islets without compromising on the safety of the ecosystem.

What is envisioned is an investment that will bring foreign exchange to the island yet maintain the pristineness of the environment.…

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating toll on the global tourism sector and Tanzania along with the acclaimed tourist destination of Zanzibar are no exceptions. According to the latest EABC report on the impact of Covid-19 on selected sectors, the East African Community (EAC) tourism sector has lost a shocking two million jobs between last year and this year August.

The report looked at key sectors including the Tourism & Hospitality Industry and the results are shocking if not downright appalling and calling for some kind of drastic action to resolve the situation. So when the out of work tour guide says she has no job she is only one of 2 million people out of work from the tourism industry in the EAC.…

Moody’s points out that the “…good resilience of Islamic banks despite a difficult operating environment in many African countries, suggests that Sukuk issuance will continue to grow steadily and that these banks will continue to perform well.”

Places like South Africa where the First National Bank, the third-largest banking group in South Africa and the continent, associates its growth to “Islamic” deposits.  The South African Islamic bank Al Baraka enjoyed increased profits by 12.4% between January and June 2019 compared to the previous year.…

Barely three months since Tanzania’s incumbent president Samia Suluhu Hassan made a public announcement of her intention to regain investor confidence, the efforts are already bearing fruits.

The president recently said ‘…investors view the country as having an unpredictable investment climate, hostile tax collection, and bureaucracy all of which are scaring investors away.’ As such, she pledged to change the status quo.

“The sixth phase government will take an uncompromising approach on this, and we will start with the blueprint for the improvement of Tanzania’s business climate…” the president announced.

Against the backdrop of the work that has already been done by her government to regain investor confidence a major global financial firm, EFG Hermes, an Egyptian financial services company, has doubled its investment in the country.

Earlier in August, the firm doubled its purchase of CRDB Bank shares, Tanzania’s leading bank in terms of market share. According to a …