Author: Ken Mutuku

• Fintech BKN301 will significantly aid MENA region’s fintech sector, which experts project to reach $3.45 billion by 2026.
• Two of the world’s three largest remittance corridors located in the UAE and Saudi Arabia handled $78 billion in payments in 2020, 6 equating to 7 percent of the GDP of the two nations combined.
• Currently, fintech companies attracted 48.3 percent of known startups funding on the continents in 2021 and 43.3 percent in 2022.

Fintech heavyweight BKN301 is eyeing fresh growth opportunities in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) market, where the firm seeks to deploy its leading innovations in the industry. Its entry into MENA is set to accelerate the adoption of digital currency, even as expert project that the region’s market  will grow to $3.45 billion by 2026.

MENA fintech market on the rise

Africa’s digital transformation is paving the way for numerous advancements within the continent’s economy. Regional economies …

• East African Business Association objectives revolve around industry-specific training in healthcare, transportation, technology and retail.
• According to the African Development Bank, 22 percent of Africa’s working age are venturing into alternative business.
• According to EABA, the US-based community primarily originated from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Kenya.

Investors looking for opportunities in the region can bank on the East African Business Association (EABA) for an informed guidance on how to navigate the terrain in different economies. Already, the entity’s zeal, hard work, and willpower have positively impacted entrepreneurs of African origin from Minnesota seeking growth opportunities.

EABA is now gearing up to provide even better environment for Africans seeking to explore international business opportunities.

The journey of the East African Business Association

For decades, Africa has been known for having one of the most innovative and creative minds in various industries. The continent has the highest entrepreneurship rate setting the …

• Africa is home to 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated fertile land, but millions sleep hungry daily.
• Amini Corp seeks to address the scarcity of data in Africa as well as facilitate capital investment.
• The scarcity of high-quality environmental data prevents others from building climate solutions such as farmer insurance schemes.

Amini Corp, a Kenyan-based climate tech startup, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding which it plans to channel into developing an environmental data platform for Africa. The funding was secured through an oversubscribed round led by top European Climate Tech Fund, Pale Blue Dot. 

Other investors in the venture are Superorganism, RaliCap, W3i, Emurgo Kepple Ventures and angel investors from the global tech community.

Amini Corp seeks to address the scarcity of data in Africa as well as facilitate capital investment. The company also promotes climate resilience, and helps accelerate economic development opportunities in the region.…

• In Kenya, fuel is set to cost more once the taxman effects 16 percent VAT from the current 8 percent, which will make already high pump prices simply prohibitive. 
• Starting January 2024, Finance Bill also seeks to increase the advance tax payable on passenger and commercial trucks to $36.52 from $21.91 per year.
• The new tax will simply increase the cost of transportation in Kenya, piling pressure on consumers already overburdened by high food prices amid sluggish economy.

Kenya’s transportation sector is at risk as the government considers fresh fuel VAT increase, which threatens to cripple businesses. Through the Finance Bill, the government is also proposing to increase the advance tax payable on passenger and commercial trucks to $36.52 from $21.91 per year. As a result, investors in the industry might be forced to scale down their operations even as others heap the costs on consumers. 

The looming hit by …

• ChatGPT has a premium version – ChatGPT Plus – that is only accessible for a monthly fee of $20.
• Open AI termed the release of these new features as a move from an alpha phase to a beta phase, allowing access to over 70 third-party plugins. 
• The power of the latest AI application has led to the development of AI-created SEO articles.

Open AI’s revolutionary product, ChatGPT, is readying additional features this week which allows more accurate internet search results. This move could power a new wave of subscribers for the AI platform that already has over 100 million users. 

The updates comes even as the firm faces mounting concerns that AI applications could render various jobs obsolete. To counter this, Open AI has set in motion a new approach to technology targeting various industries relying on the power of Artificial Intelligence.

New web browsing and plugins

Open AI …

• Agritech Analytics has received global and local recognition by onboarding at least 3,880 farmers.
• Maryanne Gichanga participated in the COP27 Youth Adaptation Challenge in Egypt and won by a landslide.
• In 2022, many investors backed up startups developing biological fertilizers, vertical farms and robots.

A young African woman is changing the pace of agriculture by implementing agritech to sustain her new livelihood. This Kenyan agripreneuer has discovered her green thumb by applying data analysis to detect pests and account for the resources a farm requires depending on size.

This innovative ex-banker is proving that Agritech is the next phase of Africa’s oldest and long-lasting economic activity. Africa’s digital transformation might encompass more than our manufacturing and financial industries.

Kenya’s queen of agritech

It is common knowledge that agriculture in Africa is a significant economic activity. Small-scale farmers from all over the continent bank their lives and their next meals to …

• After over a decade since launching, Mpesa has 54.4 million users in Africa.
• Safaricom has increased its Group Service Revenue by 5.2 percent to $2.159 billion, while the Group net income declined by 10.6 percent within Ethiopia.
• Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia added close to 3 million customers.

Safaricom, one of Africa’s top telecommunication services in Africa, finally acquired a license to operate M-PESA within Ethiopia. This new milestone will open doors for the East African country by ushering in a new age of mobile money.

This new initiative is what the Ethiopian economy requires as it struggles to regain stability within its borders.

The power of Mobile Money provider M-PESA

M-PESA first debuted in 2007 and sent Africa into a wave of digital money before any government perceived digital transformation. Its primary mechanism allows users to send and receive currency by clicking a button. This new initiative ushered in a …

• Organizations like the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have pioneered several African investment opportunities.
• Mitsui & Co Ltd has announced plans to resume constructing the multibillion-dollar Mozambique natural gas project.
• Toyota Tshusho covers automobiles, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and energy, employing over 22000 Africans.

Africa’s international relations are strengthening as the Japanese government seeks to shore up investment opportunities in Africa. The African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi Adesina has been wooing investors from Japan to trade with Africa. His primary objective was to showcase the enormous investment opportunities within the continent that would improve its development in the long run.

The move comes even as Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida led his country’s charge with a tour of four critical economic points in Africa; Kenya, Egypt, Ghana and Mozambique.

A renewed Africa-Japan partnership confirmed by AfDB

The AfDB has been on a mission marketing various investment opportunities across African countries …

• According to their announcements, Germany would take professionals, skilled worked and semi-skilled Kenyans.
• German has promised to fund, extend and modernize the country’s TVET institutions and centres of excellence from levels three to seven.
• They will create a framework for linking Kenyan Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) colleges with chosen TVET colleges in Germany.

Kenya and Germany struck a deal to increase the rate of International Jobs in Africa. According to reports, Germany agreed to allow Kenyans to fill 250,00 unfilled positions to help both countries with their impending unemployment rate.

Due to this partnership, Kenya cannot deal with its corrosive low employment rate, significantly dragging its economy down.

Kenya’s History with low job rates

It is common to hear the wails of Kenyan Youths when t comes to their country’s employment rate. These days most individuals turn to entrepreneurship to sustain their livelihood while “tarmacking” the town streets to …

• Sustainable agriculture employs 65-70 percent of Africa’s labour force.
• Only two to three percent of African renewable water resources are usable compared to the 5 percent worldwide.
• In 2019 a report revealed that Africa produced more than 50 percent of the world’s cassava.

A severe drought has left millions of people in Africa dependent on grain from Ukraine, a country at war with Russia, yet a number of crops that could support more climate-resilient and healthful food systems in sub-Saharan Africa continue to receive limited attention.

Across Africa, cassava, sugarcane and maize stand out for supporting millions of families in governments’ quest to maintain food security

Sustainable agriculture is one of the highlights that support Africa’s economic development. For decades these cash crops in Africa have accounted for almost 20 percent of the entire continent’s revenue. It has further advanced and introduced concepts such as agritech, significantly teaching better farming …