Author: Kimani Chege

The Aga Khan Health Services, the arm of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) that supports activities in health across Africa and Asia has announced a new partnership with the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement – AFD) to establish infectious disease units in two of Tanzania’s cities.

The two entities have signed a €300,000 grant agreement to establish Infectious Diseases Units (IDU) in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza. The Infectious Disease Units will offer full-fledged services, capacity building, infrastructure, and technology to enhance the quality of service delivery.

The grant will enable the strengthening of the current system to address challenges pertaining to infectious disease control management. It will enable the Aga Khan Hospital, Dar es Salaam to respond adequately to pandemics, such as COVID, including addressing issues pertaining to inadequate health infrastructure and capacity.

The grant of €300,000 is provided as part of the worldwide “COVID-19–Health in …

For almost two decades, Kenya’s retail store Tuskys has dominated the market establishing itself as an alternative space for shoppers who looked for quality at an affordable rate. However, two years ago, the retail store has seen a downward trend with increased competition from online based stores as well as the rise of foreign stores like Carrefour and the Game.

The company has been unable to meet its financial obligations including paying suppliers and other debtors. This situation has been severe making the Competition Authority of Kenya to come in and scrutinize the accounts of the retailer.

The Authority issued Prudential and Reporting Orders to Tusker Mattresses Limited (Tuskys), requiring it to submit records revealing the full extent of debt owed, financial statements and records, sales forecasts, among others.

Now, the retailer shareholders through Orakam, the retailer parent company have released a statement describing their path to recovery. This includes …

The British Chamber of Commerce Kenya (BCCK) has unveiled its inaugural Integrity Index showcasing local companies and how they fair on the integrity test. It features a selection of companies based in Kenya, that have a track record in working with integrity with organizations in Kenya and British Chamber of Commerce Kenya (BCCK) members.

These companies which cut across various sectors including horticulture, ICT, real estate, recycling and water and showcases a new trend in Kenya where Integrated has been prioritized. In the past, Kenyan private sector has been labeled as the hub for corrupt under dealings and this list shines a new light Into Kenyan private sector.

The Index is part of the Business Integrity Initiative (BII) pilot programme, which is run by BCCK in partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) …

For years, steamers carrying goods and passengers were the main transport mode across Lake Victoria moving from one country to another and easing cross border trade. In its hey days, Lake Victoria had over five functional ports: Kisumu being the largest, Mwanza, Musoma and Bukoba in Tanzania, Entebbe, Jinja and Port Bell all in Uganda. There were other minor ports scattered across the area including Kendu Bay, Port Victoria, and Mbita Point which were mainly used by smaller boats. 

The lake was mainly used to move goods from one point to another, but also was instrumental in the growth of the fishing industry in East Africa. There were also international ferries operating clockwise and anticlockwise across the lake cities of the biggest lake in Africa, moving thousands of passengers every year. Initially, the ferries and ports were run under the East African Railways and Harbou…

When the idea for Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was mooted, there was clear excitement among landlocked countries in East Africa who saw a quick way to ship cargo to and from the regional maritime hub of Mombasa. It would take at most three days for a container to leave Kigali and snake all the way to Mombasa and vice versa cutting costs, risks, and time spent to move cargo and people. 

However, a decade and US$5 billion later, most of it from Chinese loans already spent, the railway line is yet to reach its final destination. In fact, it never managed to get even halfway through the Kenyan landmass.  Meanwhile partners in the project like Rwanda have cooled their interests while Uganda and South Sudan have reluctantly taken up the option of using the Naivasha inland depot as a closer destination compared to Mombasa.…

Kenya and Tanzania have always seen each other as competitors when it comes to megaprojects that have a regional reach. The competition has risen from years ago with each duplicating its partner’s efforts and laying out schemes to win other members of the East African region and beyond.  

However, if there is any project that has been the hallmark of this competition, then it is the development of sea ports, with Kenya investing heavily in both Lamu and Mombasa ports while Tanzania is boosting its Dar es Salaam port and planning on growing both Bagamoyo and Tanga ports. Each country has an eye on the larger eastern African region as local commerce cannot sustain the projects. 

Ports are gateways for 80% of global merchandise trade by volume and 70% by value. This is a point both the East African countries have taken keenly …

Kenyan based travel-tech outfit HotelOnline has made a strategic acquisition of companies across Africa, positioning itself at the helm of the industry. While many companies in the travel industry have been facing a major dip due to COVID-19, HotelOnline has diversified and acquired other entities solidifying its position in the African travel industry. 

Run by two Norwegian-born Kenyans, Havar Bauck, and Endre Opdal, the company has announced the acquisition of AfricaBookings – a pioneer in the tech–enabled distribution of African hotels with an impressive inventory of 6000 hotels, and Cloud9 – a savvy travel and adventure app that has gained huge traction in Kenya. 

Since then, the HotelOnline platform which was born in 2015 out of Nairobi’s lack of affordable accommodation next to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has grown to be a force to reckon within the hospitality industry. Since the first business in September 2014, to …

Kenyan perennial entrepreneur Havar Bauck, teaming with several of his investment partners, has ventured into the global multi-billion-dollar cloud kitchen by launching Foodledoodle, the first of such in East Africa, a move expected to change the food and hospitality industry in the region.

The cloud kitchen model of business in a concept that primarily offers a restaurant kitchen and accepts incoming orders only through online ordering systems and offers no dine-in facility.

Also known as dark kitchen, this model is primarily virtual and is reliant on food delivery apps, web portal orders and to generate sales. The global cloud kitchen market size was estimated at 0.65 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 and is forecast to reach 2.63 billon U.S. dollars by 2026.

The cloud kitchen concept

The concept is gaining ground around the globe with established brands in Europe, US, India and some appearing in South Africa. Such leading brands …

WellPower, an ambitious and savvy new tech startup, is now operating in all areas of Nakuru- 150  Kilometres north of Capital City of Nairobi- and is soon to expand to other parts of Kenya. They have launched an easy to use mobile app where users can now order clean, safe, and affordable drinking water on their phones and from the comfort of their homes.

Through the mobile application, which is available on Google Play Store, users are able to place an order for purified drinking water and select how much water they need between 10lts and 20lts. A WellPower delivery personnel then receives the order and delivers it at their doorstep within minutes.

WellPower launched the delivery service in August 2019 and already have more than 300 repeat customers in Nakuru. The company is founded by four Princeton University students who believe that access to clean, safe, and affordable drinking …

In 2005, the landscape of Cairo, Egypt’s biggest city changed for the good. Through the Aga Khan Trust for Culture AKTC), a new 30-hectare (74-acre) Al-Azhar park, undertaken in the historic district of Cairo was unveiled.

The site had become a large rubbish dump, which the AKTC began to gradually remove and clean in collaboration with the Egyptian Government and local community.

The leisure and recreational space created a “green lung” in the heart of the densely populated city. The project included the excavation and extensive restoration of the 12th Century Ayyubid wall and the rehabilitation of important monuments and landmark buildings in the Historic City. It also encompassed an extensive social development programme, including apprenticeship arrangements, housing rehabilitation, micro-credit and health care facilities.

Fifteen years later, the work of this park is getting another highlight with the release of a film, entitled Al-Khimyah, written and directed by Prince …