Author: Kimani Chege

Bic, the French manufacturer of pens has been running a programme among Kenyan schools that aims to strengthen the entrepreneurial skills of young minds and at the same time helping promote conservation spirits. The BIC Education Challenge launched late last year as a partnership between BIC East Africa, the BIC Corporate Foundation, and Enactus Kenya. The challenge which focuses on fostering better learning conditions by promoting social entrepreneurship and innovation in education saw submissions from students from all over the country. Five shortlisted projects were invited to present in front of a panel of BIC experts at the BIC East…

The visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to three African countries of Senegal, Angola, and Ethiopia is significant for the Trump administration not only as of the first trip the senior official has made to the continent, but a first for a senior official since the launch of the new strategy for Africa. The last time a senior official to visit sub-Sahara Africa was Pompeo’s predecessor, Rex Tillerson who lost his job while on a trip to Kenya. Trump’s Africa Strategy was aimed at promoting prosperity, security, and stability in relations, and the business-friendly Prosper Africa which aims to…

Barclays Bank Kenya has successfully changed its name to Absa Bank Kenya marking an end to centuries of the domination of the banking sector by British banks. This follows the acquisition of Barclays Plc operations in Africa in 2017 by Absa Bank of South Africa in restructuring by the London-based lender. These are some of the changes experienced in several countries across Africa as the Absa brand cements its presence in the continent, a market that was firmly held by Barclays brand for almost a century. Similar changes have happened in Ghana, Botswana, Seychelles and Tanzania. With these changes, the…

Nigerian fintech start-up, Aella has raised a $10m debt financing round, from HQ Financial Group (HQF), Singapore-based private company specializing in new material science, semiconductor and blockchain financial investments. This debt financing round is Aella’s second raise and will bolster the company’s commitment to serve the underbanked population in West Africa and other emerging markets. The FinTech is focused on improving financial inclusion for West Africa’s low-income segment. Aella was founded in late 2015 by Akin Jones, CEO and Akanbi Wale, CTO in Lagos, Nigeria and has remained committed to building trustworthy credit for emerging markets with an initial focus…

Shanta Gold, the London Stock Exchange-listed gold miner with interests in southern Tanzania has announced plans to take over the gold prospecting activities in Kenya, formerly held by Barrick Gold. The East Africa-focused gold producer announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which it will purchase 100% of the shares of Barrick’s subsidiary Acacia Exploration (Kenya) Ltd. from two subsidiaries of Barrick Gold Corporation. The West Kenya license holds about 1.18 million ounces of gold with a grade of 12.6 grams per tonne (g/t believed to be one of the highest grading +1 Moz gold deposits…

Last year, during the Dubai Africa Summit in Dubai, African leaders were entertained with various proposals on how to promote trade and commerce with the United Arab Emirates. The meeting sought to increase the influence of the Arabian country in Africa including private business ventures as well as intergovernmental relations. During this event last year, UAE announced that it expects its non-oil trade to exceed AED 1 trillion for the period extending from 2011 until the end of 2019. Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry also announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the General Directorate…

He was the world’s most eligible bachelor with tons of efforts being made to ensure his safety.  As fate would have it, Sudan, the last northern white rhino male died in March 2018 at his home in Ol Pajeta Conservatory in Kenya. Semen was collected in 2014 when Sudan was over 40 years old. What followed have been efforts by scientists to ensure there is a continuation of the white rhino generation. So far, two embryos have been passed on to females and a third one has just been released. In August 2019 a team of scientists and conservationists broke…

East Africa continues to draw attention due to its high growth rate. The positive growth has been projected by both national and multilateral agencies like IMF and World Bank. The growth is expected in both agricultural and manufacturing sectors with great support from the service industry. To harness the power of all this growth is a budding bourse across the region. In this issue, we focus on how the stock markets are expected to behave this year. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) released a report at the end of 2019 which showed that East Africa’s…

In mid-January, US based financial whistleblower and research organization Hindenburg Research released a report titled’ The Phantom of the turn-around’ in which it questioned the operations of Opera, the Chinese owned browser whose popularity in Africa has remained high. What has followed is a series of class-action lawsuits by a dozen law firms in US and UK against the browser. The research firm accused Opera of “developing predatory short-term loans in Africa and India, deploying deceptive ‘bait and switch’ tactics to lure in borrowers and charging egregious interest rates ranging from 365-876%.” This, the company says is going against Google…

Cellulant Corporation – the pan-African technology company based in Kenya is known for developing revolutionary technologies to empower African commerce. Such a technology include blockchain-based Agrikore and Tingg, which are now being used across Africa as well as being imported to countries like Afghanistan. These technologies have empowered Africa’s agriculture sector in the assurance to leverage on technology to help block inefficiency and wastages in Africa’s agricultural value chain courtesy of its improved payment and marketplace solutions, Tingg and Agrikore. The Agriculture market in Africa, despite its $330billion size in 2015 and projected to grow to $1Trillion by 2030 is…