Author: Njenga Hakeenah

The East African Business Council (EABC) and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) say the unilateral bans on products, high fees by the Agriculture & Food Authority (AFA)-Kenya, trade information asymmetry and single lane road on Kenya’s side stifle business between the two East African countries.

Cross border traders decried the impounding of fish from Kenya destined for the Democratic Republic of Congo worth Ksh40 million in October 2021 by Uganda and import ban on eggs and sugarcane by Kenya.…

West Africa’s largest market, the huge Kumasi Market in Ghana has more than 12,000 shops and stalls and with the traffic it receives, upgrades are inevitable.

Up to 800,000 people visit the Kumasi Market in Ghana, which neighbours Benin and Togo, each day.

There have been numerous fires in the area because of its size and unplanned development, which has caused the destruction of many stalls and the loss of jobs.

To avoid this, the Deutsche Bank together with the UK Export Finance Agency and the African Export-Import Bank have signed a financing agreement for the second phase of the Kumasi Market reconstruction project.…

Due to the Till number’s ease of interoperability, it is now not necessary for businesses to sign up for numerous Paybill/Till numbers for them to accept payments from customers who pay using different numbers.
This latest product by the giant financial institution brings competition to Kenya’s established M-Pesa tills which have been adopted countrywide. Others that will feel the pinch include Airtel Money which is battling the giant telco in courts over its dominant position in the country.
Equity already has Equitel, Equity Mobile and now the One Equity Till number.…

Cargo freight and passenger flights from Dubai to Nairobi were not affected by the Kenyan ban.

All incoming and transit passenger flights from Kenya have been banned till further notice as a result of an increase in Covid-19 cases in the nation, which led to the suspension of flights by Kenya Airways (KQ) to Dubai earlier this month.

KQ said tickets prepaid for travel during the suspension period will be refunded. KQ said that when flights resume, passengers will be able to rebook.…

Somali PM Mohamed Roble has apologised to the UAE for the seizure of US$9.6 million in April 2018.

The Somali government, at the time, said the money seized at Mogadishu airport was intended for purposes of destabilising the country.

On the contrary, the UAE claimed it was for paying the salaries of the Somali military.

Read: Mastercard signs partners to elevate e-commerce in Somalia with new debit card launch

The back story

After the seizure, security officials in Somalia said the substantial amount of cash was intercepted after the plane landed from Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, at Mogadishu airport.

There were three suitcases carrying the US$9.6 million which were put in storage inside Somalia’s national bank, according to two senior security officers.

Security officials in Somalia said they had intercepted a substantial amount of cash that landed from Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, at Mogadishu airport on …

With several elections in 2022, there is a possibility that some countries may become conflict hotspots. In addition, the threat of terrorism remains real.

Already, the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia remains a major cause of instability in the East African nation. Depending on how this is dealt with, countries in the larger Horn of Africa region remain sensitive.

In 2022, more than 25 of Africa’s fastest-growing economies will register more than 5 per cent growth as projected by the IMF.…

For survival, businesses need to guard against the negative effect of the elections by geographically diversifying their revenue streams. Revenue streams from different sources could help balance fluctuations.

While not all businesses are able to this, there is the need to come up with plans to cushion their businesses.

In order to plan effectively, it is critical to first assess the threat at hand. Some firms, such as those that provide critical goods and services, may be less adversely affected than others. A company’s sales may actually grow during election time especially for those working in the printing sector since they can produce campaign materials like posters and t-shirts. …

African food imports have risen in the last few decades, reaching nearly US$35 billion a year, according to the World Bank. Most imported goods could be made in Africa, creating much-needed jobs in the process.

It is with this knowledge that a coalition of multilateral development banks and development partners has pledged more than US$17 billion in finance to combat rising hunger in Africa and improve food security. This funding was pledged on the final day of the Feeding Africa: Leadership to Scale Up Successful Innovations on April 29-30, 2021.

The two-day high-level debate was held in conjunction with the CGIAR System Organization and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the AfDB and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). …

In 2020, total transaction values climbed by 22% to hit US$767 billion. or the first time, and in a pandemic, the industry is processing more over US$2 billion per day which has more than doubled since 2017. 
The GSMA predicts that by the end of 2022, this value will be in excess of US$3 billion every single day. Some of the innovations that will help propel this growth include APIs and regulation initiatives like tightening transaction and balance limitations which could bolster the industry’s transaction values growth.
Transaction costs remain a big concern for many with users calling for a review of this in countries like Kenya. When the pandemic was announced in Africa, Kenya and Ghana- which also happen to be the continent’s two biggest mobile money markets– were swift to scrap fees on small person-to-person transactions. …

In Africa, the idea of having a seed bank on the scale of the Global Seed Vault is unknown since farmers have for decades been using seed banks for their consecutive crop production activities. The sad reality is that this practice may be infeasible in the coming years since the changing climatic conditions are pushing the continent over the ledge with ever-decreasing farm productivity. 

A report released by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in October 2021 shows that the biodiversity doomsday is nigh for Africa. 

According to a report, staple crops in eight African countries might decline by as much as 80 per cent by 2050 if temperatures continue to rise driven by climate change. The result of this might be a devastating effect increasing poverty and reducing food supply.…