Author: Maureen Murori

In 2025, the virtual card market is increasingly catering to individual users. Tools that were once available only to businesses are now accessible to everyone. One such solution is virtual cards with no spending limits. Traditional bank cards impose transaction limits on international purchases due to security measures, bank policies, or payment system restrictions. However, in an era of digital nomads and evolving consumer expectations, such limitations have become outdated. People require financial mobility and convenience. This article provides an overview of three virtual card services — Spend, Payoneer, and Ezzocard. These services support unlimited spending and are accepted worldwide.…

East Africa has since late 2019 been fighting swarms of desert locusts which have posed a serious threat to crops and grazing across the region.  The locust plague In Kenya is the worst in 70 years. In the last two months, new swarms have been breeding and hatching leaving farmers devastated as they try to cope with the negative effects from previous pests not to mention the dry spells and floods that hit the region further destroying crops.  “We expect the worst if the young hatch in March and April,” Kelvin Shingles, Kenya Country Director for German Agro Action (Deutsche Welthungerhilfe)…

According to the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO), reduced working hours or job losses as a result of COVID-19 crisis cost the world approximately 255 million jobs in 2020.

Although the full economic impact of the current crisis is still not entirely understood, many people have suffered one blow or another as a result of the pandemic.

Following COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions, it is predicted that up to millions of African jobs will be lost in the aviation and aviation-related industries, according to a report by Air Transport Action Group.  The report revealed that 4.5 million jobs out of Africa’s 7.7 million aviation-related employment would be lost. Up to 172,000 jobs in the aviation sector alone have been lost by the end of 2020.  Subsequently, the aviation sector in Africa is estimated to fall by 58 percent, that is US$37 billion, compared to pre-pandemic levels.  Moreover, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Employment Outlook indicates that the effect of the containment measures is worse than the 2008 financial crisis.…

Hardly any industry is unscorched by the COVID-19 menace that has forced businesses to close down while others are surviving on tight budgets. The sector to be first affected and that is still dealing with major blows is the travel industry.  A month after the worldwide lockdown, border closure and major travel restrictions within and between countries resulted in over 90 per cent decrease in the number of air passengers. Land and water transportation also experienced cancellations as people were cautious of crowded places.  According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) analysis global passenger demand fell by 14.1 per cent in February 2020…

Covid-19’s impact on transportation in East Africa has been the greatest impediment to trade in the entire region. Due to the multiple medical tests that drivers are forced to undertake, the wait period has been a critical hinderance on goods being delivered on time. This has drastically changed much of the supply of goods and services from the two key ports of the region, namely the Mombasa Port in Kenya and the Dar es Salaam Port in Tanzania.   With the global pandemic continuing its tirade, no corner in the world is spared.  Trade in Eastern Africa has severely been affected by internal and regional barriers…

Since the September 1995 United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women, one would think that the world would have achieved gender parity in all areas and sectors. However, while there have been important gains over the years, there are still areas that need more work and revised strategies to reduce the gap and meet the target. Following the world largest global gathering on gender equality in Beijing, China, 25 years ago, member states agreed that the meeting would be a basis for “comprehensive and transformative agenda for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.” A recent report: Gender Equality: Women’s Rights in Review 25…

Before the economic shock of COVID-19, world merchandise trade in 2019 was already slowing down due to trade tensions and decelerating economic growth.   According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), “the dollar value of world merchandise exports in 2019 fell by 3% to US$18.89 trillion”. Overall, world trade is expected to continue falling and will range between 13% and 32% in 2020, as the health crisis continues to disrupt world economies.  In addition to the economic disruption, so far, Coronavirus has left more than 200,000 people dead across the world, more than the fatalities recorded in the World War 11, as observed by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gueterres. The effects…

The job market is ever dynamic; continuously changing as a result of socio-economic and technological development. In recent months however, the changes experienced are neither as a result of economic nor technological advancement, but rather, the health crisis that has altered the daily lives of people around the world.   One of the major effects of COVID-19 on the labour market is the loss of jobs for hundreds of millions of people. In big economies, workers are benefiting from unemployment claims, but the same cannot be seen in developing countries in Africa where governments are grappling with means to mitigate the effects…

The dream of a world without hunger seemed achievable three years ago. However, with increasing challenges such as those recorded recently like the locust invasion and the novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) that is still wrecking lives across the globe, the future looks bleak.  Africa accounts for the highest number of people suffering acute food insecurity due to conflicts and tensions between communities.   According to the 2020 Global Report on Food Crisis (GRFC 2020): “In East Africa, armed conflicts, intercommunal violence and other localized tensions continued to affect peace and security.”  Moreover, “the upheaval that has been set in motion by the COVID-19 pandemic may push even…