Author: Kimani Chege

Sub-Saharan hospitality investment platform Kasada Capital Management has reached a first close on its maiden fund Kasada Hospitality Fund LP with equity commitments of over USD 500 million.

This is in line with a first announcement disclosed in July 2018 by Katara Hospitality and Accor who are respectively contributing USD 350 million and USD 150 million. In a region which offers robust growth opportunities, the fund will target both greenfield and brownfield projects.

The hospitality market is currently one of the most promising and yet underserviced sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa where growing economies and emerging middle class are creating high-growth markets that are left largely untapped.

The first platform of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kasada Capital Management intends to bridge the gap between the local hospitality market players and international investors.

The team is co-led by Olivier Granet (CEO and Managing Partner) a former CEO of AccorHotels Middle East …

DOB Equity, a leading Dutch family-backed impact investor in East Africa, has invested in Jibu Tanzania the producer and distributor of clean drinking water to support the company’s rapid growth of a replicable franchise store concept in major cities in the country, starting from Arusha.

Jibu is a well-established regional producer and distributor of water through branded and refillable bottles in different sizes, substantially below the current price of bottled water. Jibu complements the Tanzanian government by providing new ways of providing access to quality drinking water to households. The need is evident as unsafe water may lead to health problems and water-borne diseases which seriously affects the wellbeing of, especially young children.

The technology that Jibu uses consists of a patented reverse-osmosis water filtration system, using municipal water. The filtration systems also include bottle sanitizing equipment. The onsite treatment and filling technology allow Jibu franchisees to sell water significantly …

Allianz X, the digital investment unit of the Allianz Group, has announced that it has made an undisclosed amount of investment in SafeBoda, an East African based motorcycle hailing company.

Allianz Z, based in Germany referred SafeBoda as a major African ride-hailing platform that also offers various on-demand consumer and payment services in what is the entity’s first investment in an African-headquartered company.

SafeBoda, winner of the 2018 AppsAfrica Award, aims to offer reliable and safe transportation to its customers and its mobile payment platform is an example of digital companies contributing to financial inclusion across Africa.

It started in Kampala Uganda and has seen it expand into Nairobi getting good reception which made established competitors like Bolt (Formerly Taxify) and Uber revisit the manner in which they operated motocycle taxis.

For the Series B investment, Allianz X is co-investing with Go-Ventures, a venture fund whose cornerstone investor is GO-JEK. …

Cash transfers equal to the cost of common development programs have the same impact

Just last year, the World Bank asked Kenya to expand its cash transfer programs to the poor noting that these programmes were having a great impact than the traditional aid. The Bank urged the Kenya;s Treasury to ramp up allocations for direct cash transfer programmes beyond the 519,878 Kenyans covered as at 2015 under the social safety net plan.

In the World Bank report titled “Fiscal Incidence Analysis for Kenya” which analyses the impact of the direct cash programmes in Kenya, the multilateral lender says the elderly cash transfer programme covered only around three percent of all households in Kenya in 2015/16.

This call is now being backed by research as more people evaluate the effects of cash transfer programmes in Africa replacing the old model of donor dictating the project and how a beneficiary can …

Dimension Data Solutions Ltd & SAP has announced a strategic partnership in the East Africa that will give customers the ability to leverage intelligent enterprise solutions localised for the African market that can be integrated with SAP solutions

Africa is welcoming a new dawn in adoption of technologies that are making the continent remain relevant among other global peers. These technologies are guided by evolving needs of consumers which dictate that a the need to integrate technology in all aspects of their life. Such technologies include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).

Dimension Data, a USD 8 billion global technology systems integrator and managed services provider is seeking such integration through global partnerships steered at making the African tech user safe and efficient. This is also guided by the desire to tap into the strengths of different players in the industry to offer holistic IT solutions.

Such …

Kenya flower exporters make $259,000 deals in the US.

Kenya flowers are attracting the interest of American flower buyers. A recent event in Dallas, USA saw Kenyan flower growers exhibit at the show with a total of $259,000 in deals with the US customers.

The Kenyan flowers are getting a fare review in continental US following the introduction of a direct flight from Nairobi to New York last year which has eased cargo and passenger movements.

Flower growers from Kenya have been waiting long for the moment that they could enter the enormous US market with Kenyan grown flowers. Shipping directly to the US market without having to reload the flowers somewhere in Europe, affecting both their freshness and cost price, was simply not possible until now.

During the Dallas event, over 12 flower growers booked and exhibited  at the edition.

World Floral Expo is a trade show that offers …

By 2022, the value of Kenya’s and Uganda’s ICT sector is projected to be US$1.7 billion and US$1.33 billion, respectively.

The 4^th edition of Nairobi Tech Week (NTW2019), has launched the IT Skills Gap Report.

The report entitled The Development of IT Skills and Jobs in Kenya and Uganda, provides insights and recommendations on what Kenya and Uganda need to do in order to fully benefit from digitalisation.

The Report which is a collaboration between Mercy Corps and Moringa School explores the sources, nature and size of the existing IT skills gap in Kenya and Uganda. The importance of the Report is compounded by the well-documented growth of and joblessness within Africa’s youth population.

Stacey Ondimu, Country Director Moringa School noted, “Providing our youth with the right skills, will help us address one of the key barriers to the growth of Africa’s tech sector. The Report should help …

The accelerator accepts applications from innovative enterprises that are aligned with Kenya’s Big Four agenda and Italian excellence in Agri-food, Fashion and design, Leather, Machinery and equipment

Kenyan entrepreneurs stand a chance of building their business through an accelerator programme managed in Kenya with cooperation with Italian business.  The E4Impact Accelerator which works with Kenyan businesses, so as to support their growth, increase their revenues, guide them toward profitability and Give them partnership access to Italian businesses.

The E4Impact programme funded by the Italian Agency for Development Co-operation aims to boost the number of entrepreneurs in Kenya through exchanging ideas with their Italian counterparts.

Candidates for the Accelerator could be formal or informal, registered or to be registered in Kenya.

They will be expected to possess an innovative product/service, show post-revenue (scale-up) with existing customer base, have a team of co-founders in place with complementary skills and a clear social …

How two Norwegians-turned Kenyans built a global traveltech success from five apartments in Syokimau

When Håvar Bauck landed in Kenya in 2002, the country was in chaos. The government of outgoing president Daniel Moi was preparing to exit the scene after 24 years in power. It was not clear who would become the next leader and despite great optimism of the future of the country, fear of instability was still evident.

“Kenya was experiencing a great moment of change. When Mwai Kibaki won the election, the country exploded in optimism. I was excited to see Kenya starting to realize its potential. The spirit of ‘yote yawezekana’ was contagious,” notes Bauck who was on a student exchange program through the Norwegian Peace Corps.

For Bauck, there began his great love for Kenya and an exciting journey for sixteen years that has pushed him to developing one of the biggest start-ups ever …

Acumen announces nearly $70 Million close of for-profit off-grid energy fund through its subsidiary Acumen Capital Partners

Acumen, the nonprofit that invests philanthropic capital in companies and leaders tackling poverty, today announced the approximately $70 million close of for-profit fund, KawiSafi Ventures, through Acumen Capital Partners. After investing $22 million of patient, philanthropic capital across the off-grid ecosystem and impacting 81 million lives, Acumen saw an opportunity to drive energy access for millions of low-income people in East Africa and scale the clean energy sector.

In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 600 million people currently live without electricity and spend $17 billion a year on dirty, inefficient energy. KawiSafi aims to deliver clean, affordable energy to 10 million people, at least half of whom live in poverty, and displace more than one million tons of carbon dioxide in the next 10 years, to address energy poverty and help avert the current …