Author: Jack Oduor

• Payment for ransomware attacks is not only impacting large businesses even smaller ones have been hit with 7-figure demand.
• The rate of ransomware attacks falls slightly, but recovery costs hit $2.73 million.
• Despite the soaring ransoms, this year’s survey indicates a slight reduction in the rate of ransomware attacks

The amount organisations are paying to get back their data from cyber criminals has increased by 500 per cent in the past year, a new report by Cybersecurity solutions provider Sophos has revealed.

Sophos, in its annual “State of Ransomware 2024” survey, says this has seen organizations that paid the ransom report an average payment of $2 million, up from $400,000 in 2023, with ransoms being just one part of the cost.

Excluding ransoms, the survey found the average cost of recovery reached $2.73 million, an increase of almost $1 million since the $1.82 million that Sophos reported in 2023. …

• TikTok Community Guidelines will see introduction of stricter For You eligibility standards.
• Video sharing entity says this code emphasizes responsible behavior on and off the platform
• According to the recently released Reuters Institute Digital News report 2023 survey, Kenya leads in world TikTok usage.

Popular video sharing platform TikTok, has unveiled significant updates to its Community Guidelines and introduced new features aimed at supporting creators and maintaining a safe environment for users. The platform’s Community Guidelines, which outline rules and standards for all users, have been updated to provide greater clarity and transparency.

These updates, set to take effect in a few weeks, include refined definitions for policies on hate speech and health misinformation. Additionally, TikTok has detailed how it moderates features like Search, LIVE, and the For You feed to ensure a positive user experience.

One of the key updates is the introduction of stricter For You eligibility standards. …

• Africa private capital deals fell to to 450 deals in the past one year.
• The continent’s total private capital deal value stood at $5.9 billion, the fourth largest value on record since 2012.
• Decline in Africa private capital deals marked the continent’s steepest year-over-year decline in volume in 12 years.

Africa recorded a 28 per cent year-over-year (YoY) decline in the total private capital deal volume for the first time since 2016, falling to 450 deals. This downturn is attributed to the global economic turmoil, which led to inflation spikes and the devaluation of continental currencies.

In Kenya and Nigeria for instance, the Shilling and the Naira plunged to historic lows in 2023, while in Egypt, a shortage in foreign currency led to increased controls over its usage in the country.

According to the 2023 African Private Capital Activity Report, the depreciation of local currencies and the depletion of foreign …

• Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism will avail 8000 tons of fertiliser.
• 5.533 million Kenyan farmers are registered for the government’s subsidised fertiliser programme.
• African Development Bank granted Kenya $67 million in 2022-2023 through its African Emergency Food Production Facility.

The Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism has launched a project to help deliver 8,000 tons of fertilisers to 100,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya to boost harvests and incomes.

Through its Fertiliser Financing for Sustainable Agriculture Management Project, the Mechanism will provide a $2 million partial trade credit guarantee and a grant of $219,000 to Apollo Agriculture Limited, a Kenyan corporation, to facilitate the company’s fertiliser sales.

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, through a contribution of $10.15 million to the Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism, is also supporting the project.

Representatives of the African Development Bank, which manages the Mechanism, Apollo Agriculture and the Kenyan and Norwegian governments attended the launch event in Nairobi.…

• Kenya’s high-interest rates hit 13 per cent in the last review by the Central Bank of Kenya.
• Since mid-2023, however, the World Bank’s index of commodity prices has remained essentially unchanged.
• World Bank reiterates that between mid-2022 and mid-2023, global commodity prices plummeted by nearly 40 per cent.

Kenyan consumers will have to bear the high cost of borrowing for much longer as Central Banks will not loosen their monetary policies any time soon, the World Bank has said.

The lender says the continued tightening will be a result of the prevalent global economic shocks, such as the Middle East conflict, which is threatening to halt the inflationary decline that has occurred in the past two years.

“Global commodity prices are leveling off after a steep descent that played a decisive role in whittling down overall inflation last year,” the World Bank says in its latest commodity markets outlook. “However,

• Kenya-Ethiopia trade relations have been on the rise in the past 27 years, with Kenya having the upper hand. 
• Ethiopia, on the other hand, recorded an increase at an annualised rate of 23.7 per cent.
• During the Meeting Kenyan investors also undertook exhibitions showcasing some of their products.

Kenya and Ethiopia have renewed the push to streamline the bottlenecks that are hampering trade growth between the two states. A delegation of the National Assembly to the Kenya-Ethiopia Trade and Investment Mission held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has rooted for the speedy removal of bottlenecks hampering cross-border trade between both Nations.

Kenya and Ethiopia have engaged in bilateral trade across multiple sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and services, with the balance of trade hugely in favour of Kenya. In 2022, Kenya exported $95.1M (Sh12.8billion) to Ethiopia, mainly Palm Oil $12.4M (Sh1.7billion), Metal Stoppers $7.95M (Sh1.1billion), and Yeast $6.92M (Sh934million).

This compares …

• TLcom Capital has raised $154 million  in its second Fund, TIDE Africa II
• With this second fund, TLcom Capital maintains its early-stage, multi-sector focus and expands its mandate beyond Sub-Saharan Africa to Egypt.
• TLcom Capital currently has over $300 million under management.

TLcom Capital, the Africa-focused venture capital firm, announced the final close of TIDE Africa Fund II, its second fund for technology in Africa, at $154 million. Confirming TLcom Capital’s status as Africa’s largest Seed and Series A investor, the new fund accelerates the firm’s mission to partner with elite founders to tackle Africa’s biggest and most complex challenges with innovative solutions that will unlock massive value in the continent’s critical sectors.

At more than twice the size of TLcom Capital’s first fund, TIDE Africa Fund II is oversubscribed and sees participation from several new, high-profile LPs alongside returning LPs from the firm’s first Africa-focused fund, TIDE Africa Fund …

• AfDB asks policymakers to put in place an orderly and predictable way of dealing with Africa’s $824Bn debt pile.
• According to AfDB, Africa’s ballooning external debt reached $824 billion in 2021.
• AfDB president says there is urgent need for increased concessional financing, particularly for low-income countries. 

Africa’s immense economic potential is being undermined by non-transparent resource-backed loans that complicate debt resolution and compromise countries’ future growth, African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr Akinwumi Adesina has said.

Adesina at the Semafor Africa Summit taking place on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank 2024 Spring Meetings, highlighted the challenges posed by Africa’s ballooning external debt, which reached $824 billion in 2021, with countries dedicating 65 per cent of their GDP to servicing these obligations.

He said the continent would pay $74 billion in debt service payments this year alone, a sharp increase from $17 billion in 2010. “I …

• Cairo, Egypt, holds third place after Athens and Manilla, Philippines.
• India stands out, with three cities being included in the world’s top 10 most stressed cities.
• Los Angeles, US, holds the ninth place with the highest obesity rate on the list.

Experts conducted a study to identify the most stressful cities to live in 2024.  The study measured several parameters including the quality of life, safety, and pollution index as main criteria, also considering the presence of stress-related habits such as smoking rates, obesity, and alcohol consumption. The final score was made, considering all of the mentioned criteria.

The most stressed city in the world is Athens, Greece, with the highest stress levels, which include a low safety index and a high rate of stress-related habits such as smoking, over-eating, and alcohol consumption. Compared to other cities on the list, Athens has the highest smoking rate, with 31.3 per cent …

• Survey shows 60% of journalists interviewed indicate that their newsroom lacks an AI use case policy.
• However, 20% of journalists revealed that they are planning to explore AI’s potential applications.
• State of Journalism Survey 2024 interviewed 1,106 respondents  across the world.

Media houses are still lagging behind in the push for AI adoption in their line of work with a majority failing to institute AI policies in newsrooms. This is according to a recent survey conducted by Muck Rack delving into the current landscape of journalism, revealing notable trends and concerns among journalists across the industry.

From the findings, 60 per cent of the surveyed journalists indicated that their newsroom lacks an AI use case policy, while only 24 per cent reported having one in place.

This raises questions about whether the absence of policies hinders journalists from exploring AI tools or if other factors, such as a lack of …