Author: Opinion

Reliable and affordable telecom services have never been more vital to our national economic and social resilience. That is why, across Africa and throughout the globe, national leaders and policymakers are prioritising the preservation of satellite broadband access – and why South Africa needs to keep pace with the rest of the world on this critical issue. The technical details are relatively simple: the most widely useful and applicable satellite services are provided using the Ka-band, also known more widely as the “28 GHz band”. What kind of useful services? Reducing “digital deserts” by bringing broadband internet connectivity to unserved…

These foreign exchange controls and restrictions will pose challenges for international businesses and foreign investors in Tanzania.

When introducing approvals and making them necessary for just about every kind of transaction, foreign exchange restrictions add a level of complexity to investors’ business model and implementation strategy.

The Tanzania Foreign Exchange Regulations require authorisations and justifications for several areas including exporting, importing or simply where a non-resident is directly investing in Tanzania.

While there could be a problem with income being paid outside of Tanzania for activities that are taking place in Tanzania, putting foreign exchange controls rarely constitutes the answer to encourage investors to keep their funds in the country.

For this reason, the WHO is working tirelessly to stop tobacco use, while also working to make nicotine replacements available to smokers who want to quit.

In Kenya, by contrast, the anti-tobacco lobby has fused tobacco and nicotine into one and decries any voice seeking tobacco harm reduction or reduced smoking as a paid party.

Thus, nicotine pouches are being produced in Kenya that are selling across Africa and globally, but, in Kenya itself, they are banned.

Mapping “Adaptech”: introducing a multi-dimensional map of over 70 digital technologies for climate adaptation Climate change adaptation has been a significantly underfunded area in low-income countries.  At the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen 2009, high-income countries made a pledge to provide US$100 billion per year to low-income countries to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature.  To date this amount of investment has not yet been reached in a single year.  Among the investments that have been made, less than 30% have been applied to climate change adaptation with the majority of investments applied…

It is obvious that the DRC’s desire to become a member of the EAC is to tap into the benefits of regional trade, i.e. an expanded market of 300 million people, and to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through its membership in the EAC bloc. DRC’s capital market remains underdeveloped and consists mainly of the issuance of treasury bonds.

There is no stock exchange in the country and only a small number of private equity firms are actively investing in the mining industry.  There are hardly any institutional investors in the DRC except for an insurance company and a state pension fund. The Central Bank of Congo (BCC), developed a market for short-term bonds, which are bought and held by local Congolese banks. 

The absence of a domestic debt market has meant that the fixed-rate market is limited to government-issued treasury bonds with maturities of up to 28 days traded through commercial banks.

CBDC is a digital currency issued by the central bank and intended to serve as legal tender while Crypto is a privately issued digital asset based on a network that is distributed across a large number of computers.

The fundamental difference between CBDC and Crypto is the former is asset-backed while the latter is not, so seeks to create value through some intrinsic mechanism like mining. One primary drawback is that the speculative nature of mining makes it considerably volatile.

This has given rise to “stable coins” which are crypto assets that aim to maintain a stable value relative to a specified asset, or a pool of assets. A Global Stable Coin (GSC) is a stable coin with potential reach and adoption across multiple jurisdictions and could achieve substantial volume down the line.

On a spiritual level, the fracturing of the relationship between the people and the land as urbanisation kicked in with a vengeance is causing lasting and severe damage to the environment and the population’s food security.  

The curious thing to a British observer is that nearly all of the people of my age (more than 50 years!) whom I know and who are at the top of their professions in finance, government, trade, hospitality or retail are also…..farmers.

In fact, I know hardly anyone who came to the big city seeking an escape from rural ways who is not now farming in the village or on the outskirts of their city. Many times I see them a good deal more excited about their crops than they are about their balance sheets.

The Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 was forced to address women’s rights as a human rights issues because of the violence and sexual abuse against women occurring in Yugoslavia at the time.

The Fourth International Women’s Conference was held in Beijing in 1995 made human rights and women’s participation in decision making at all levels key. One of the recommendations was for the countries to have gender desks in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies including Security Services. It cautioned against the specific establishment of Women’s Ministries as these would take gender issues to the periphery as that ministry would be saddled with all matters gender-related.

The conference also discussed the eradication of poverty, women in armed conflict and violence against women.

Africa’s creative digital economy, which includes music, film, art, fashion, cultural artefacts, apps and games is not only creating wealth for the creators but also contributes to the gross domestic product, exports and boosting development outcomes according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

“The creative economy is recognized now as a tool of sustainable development,” says Marisa Henderson, Chief of the Creative Economy Program at UNCTAD. UNCTAD defines this “creative economy” aka “orange economy” as the sum of all the parts of the creative industries, including trade, labour, and production.

They have tracked trade in creative goods and services for close to twenty years and consistently found that the growth rate of creative economy exports outpaces that of other industries[11]. Africa’s cultural goods sector is estimated to employ about half a million people and generate US$4.2 billion in revenue[12].

It is highly discouraged to go to a company directly and purchase a cover as in more ways than one you will be short-changed when the time comes to pay the claim. You will find that the requirements for you to get paid a claim can only be handled by an agent or broker as they will go the extra mile to make sure that you are properly sorted out.

These insurance intermediaries will also advise you on the best insurance company to insure with as they have the knowledge which most likely you do not have. I always point out about those insurance clients whom we once saw knocking on the door of an insurance company whose doors had been closed for good, but were pleading to be let in and purchase a motor insurance cover.

That is the tragedy of not trusting your agent or broker as you might find yourself holding onto a useless piece of paper known as a motor insurance sticker.