Author: Njenga Hakeenah

The East African Community (EAC) is regressing with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania leading the pack.

It is gross discouragement to hardworking East Africans who are seeing their countries’ economies continue on a downward trend despite the much-hailed talk of GDP growth.

Coupled with unfavourable economic conditions globally, the EAC economies are degenerating, leading to chaotic disruptions of livelihoods of the majority poor.

Kenya’s debts, theft of public resources

Kenya is East Africa’s economic hub but with the goings-on lately, it seems like the centre is no longer holding.

A Gallup International annual End of Year Survey released in 2002 showed that Kenyans were the most optimistic people on earth and in 2019 the Global Optimism Outlook Survey found that 70 per cent of Kenyans viewed themselves as optimists.

This average was above the global standing at 56 per cent and continental Africa’s average of 64 per cent.

For a country …

Already, the decision is sending shockwaves around the chocolate world with those opposed to the move painting a doom and gloom picture of why the plan cannot work.…

China is on an economic dalliance with Africa where trade between the country of the dragon and the ‘Dark Continent’ has hit US$188 billion from a meagre US$13 billion in 2001…

Fintechs in Sub-Saharan Africa have recorded a 24 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the past decade…

Jumia Kenya has opened up its online platform to brands and corporate organizations for advertising.

In a move to optimise customer data, the company is marketing itself as a highly targeted platform promising great exposure to those who will take up the service.

The company’s CEO, Sam Chappatte, made the disclosure during the launch of Jumia Advertising Services (JAS) on Friday (today).

“20 per cent of active internet users in Kenya are on Jumia each month. We know our customers well – what they shop, how much they spend, etc – and can use this to present relevant adverts to them. This can enable our customers to discover relevant products & services, and will become a powerful digital marketing channel for advertisers,” said Chappatte.

Chappatte emphasized that their messages will reach highly targeted segments, right at the moment of purchase – e.g for DSTV the ads will be presented to …

As of 2018, trade between Pakistan and Africa stood at US$3.6 billion with Pakistan exporting a volume of US$1.4 billion while importing a volume of US$ 2.2 billion from Africa.…

Ethiopian Airlines is staying ahead of the competition and has launched a cold chain air freight for transporting temperature-sensitive medicines.…

While digital lenders in Kenya have agreed that Kenyans indebted to more than one mobile lending application will no longer continue accessing loans from multiple lenders, the tables are turning.

In what could be a silent coup against these lenders, Kenyans feel that the tactics used by some of them to recover debt are overboard and breach barriers which should not be broken.

The Digital Lenders Association of Kenya’s (DLAK) desire is to have Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB) put in place a mechanism that will enable DLAK’s members to acquire a borrower’s credit history in real-time. The target is to lock out borrowers with poor credit scores if the proposal sails through.

Hostile treatment

However, while this has been done, borrowers feel that some of the lenders have been going overboard and even breaching privacy in their loan recovery mechanisms.

According to Ajua, an Integrated Customer experience company, Kenyans want …

Africa continues to face difficulties in achieving the more robust and sustained growth path that is needed to enhance living standards across the continent…

FDI dropped by a third, to US$1.0 billion from US$1.5 billion in the three years between 2015 and 2018.…