Author: Opinion

By Caroline K. 

There is something very … approachable about Mary; she gives off a welcoming presence. As the owner of a successful public relations company, she is a pioneer in her own right. Having started the business at the age of 23, she has come a long way to becoming the person she is now. She shares on what has made her journey a successful one this far. 

1. In your opinion, what does it take to run a successful PR company? 

To be honest, I wouldn’t want to make it sound like there is a one-size fits all formulae for success but I will share what has worked for me. One: discovering myself, what my strengths are and what I am truly wired for. Two: my relationship with God; this has moulded me into a patient individual and has taught me how to perseverant.  

1. How have things changed

It feels very appropriate to talk about investing in disruptive innovation at a time when all of our lives have been so seriously disrupted by Covid-19.  

Many investors are drawn to the “retail” investments peddled by banks and insurers. Huge amounts of money are given to East African governments in the form of Treasury Bonds and Bills that pay between 9% and 15% per annum before withholding taxes are applied. And post-Covid what will your KES, UGX, ZAR, TZS or RFR actually be worth? And how safe do you think East African government debt will actually be? The default investment for many East Africans has traditionally been property but in a damaged economy property looks like the most illiquid of assets – and a likely victim of a global correction in prices.   

Of course there is a place for retail investments – low risk, short and fixed terms, average …

The grasp of the Coronavirus has been unrelenting; like the grim reaper, it continues its deadly march around the economies of the world, sucking the soul of one sector after another, leaving a trail of death and destruction.  

The flower industry has not been left unscathed, being one of the hardest hit sectors. Plummeting revenues have been the plight of flower farmers, who have been disposing of blooms meant for export that have been wilting by the day. Covid-19 has upended the flower industry and crushed consumer demand in the international market, incurring a net-loss of well over Ksh.8 billion (US$74.7 million) in just a month, with daily losses reported to be amounting to Ksh.20 million (US$187.0 thousand). Direct sale orders have plunged to below 35%, placing the livelihoods of both the 150,000 direct dependents and across the value chain, to the over four million, who indirectly …

The African fashion industry is hanging on by a thread and stitch, as it continues to suffer plummeting revenues in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, swiftly thrusting it into economic distress. According to the research group Euromonitor, the apparel and footwear industry is cumulatively estimated to be worth $31 billion. However, the vibrant industry is teetering on the edge of a precipice, with a plethora of challenges that have brewed up a storm, with rippling effects across the supply chain due to its interconnected nature. Covid-19 has just stirred up a hornets’ nest in the industry that was already on high alert. 

Prior to the pandemic, the fashion industry was generating $2.5 trillion in global annual revenues, but is set to contract by 27 to 30% in 2020, based on a joint report dubbed ‘The State of Fashion 2020, Coronavirus update’ …

This article aims to highlight the challenges and implications of COVID-19 in the agricultural sector using current industry trends and outcomes to forecast the impact of the pandemic on agricultural value chains and consumer behaviour in the short, medium and long term.  Most importantly, however, this report proffers actionable innovations and systems that can be adopted and scaled up to negate the effects of the pandemic on food supplies to urban areas and industrial processors in Nigeria. 

WHERE WE ARE NOW: 

Short term (1-3months)  

• Disruption of supply chains due to inter and intrastate border closures. An example being the pileup of trucks on the Kano-Kaduna road due to shutdowns on what is a key route for national grain distribution. 
• The stock of grains does not seem to be hampered but there is a risk it will if the

As soon as East African countries restricted movements and public gatherings in response to the rising cases of Covid-19, perhaps owing to the scarcity of information on the pandemic, misinformation flew around social media platforms, causing an overload of fear across the region.

Kenya and Uganda were the first to take precautionary measures as Tanzania adopted a more relaxed stance towards the pandemic, which is being seen as a threat to Africa and the world. During this past week to date, Kenyans on Twitter and East Africans at large have been tweeting information about Tanzania, making it the fourth most trending topic in the world.

Furthermore, the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam, also came out with a statement indicating that “many hospitals in the main city of Dar es Salaam have been overhelmed in recent weeks, contends the risk of contracting Covid-19 there is “extremely high.”

This in turn …

Africa remains one of the regions with the greatest growth potential in the world with African organisations focusing their growth strategies beyond borders. With these growth strategies come complex new risks which demand sophisticated cross-border insurance solutions. Doing business between different African countries means that all involved need comprehensive cross-border insurance, as this can protect operations by covering all potential risks that may arise between different legal frameworks. DLA Piper’s Luc Bigel and Hamza Akli share insight on Africa’s challenges in this regard and how to structure an efficient, cost-effective insurance programme for cross border risks.

What are the main challenges to trade in Africa, particularly with regard to potential business loss?

We believe there are two main challenges, depending on the situation in which the investor or partner finds themselves. The first is that of solvency. Indeed, in many African countries there is an obligation to use local players …

The world is in economic lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  No good news is coming out of any media whether mainstream or social media. Never in our lifetime have we witnessed such a magnitude of business and border closures, from developed to developing countries. It is a global problem and therefore, its effects should be measured globally. The coverage of this pandemic by the global and local media clearly indicates the economic problems ahead not only for individuals but also for businesses at large. This calls for a reflection of the effect of this pandemic on the financial sector in Tanzania given the current global and local environment.

A summary of the financial sector in Tanzania shows a composition of thirty commercial banks, six community banks, five microfinance banks and two development finance banks (collectively lenders). The primary function of these lenders is to acquire liabilities through deposits and …

Recently I did an interview with the guys at the “State of the Markets” podcast. In it, I discuss many things, including a few specific investment ideas — stocks I have personally invested in, over the last 18 months, in Tanzania, which I plan to hold for many years.

If you haven’t listened to it yet, you may find it worthwhile. You can replay the entire conversation at the Global Value Hunter homepage.

One of the core attractions of investing in less developed markets around the world is that they still inhabit a normal universe where interest rates are positive, and it’s possible to earn excellent real rates of return on plain vanilla investments, such as government bonds and bank deposits.

In Tanzania, for example, one can currently attain as much as a 15.85% yield on 20-year government bonds. What’s more is that inflation in Tanzania is only 3.3%, …

By Terry Adembesa, Chief Officer, Derivatives Market, Nairobi Securities Exchange

A derivative contract is an agreement to engage in a commercial transaction in which the delivery of an asset is set for the future, while the price and various specifications of the contract are agreed at the time of contract initiation. These markets originated from burgeoning oil and grain markets. In the agricultural markets, these created a need for a farmer to secure a price at one point in time, store the grain, and deliver it at a later point in time.

Despite these markets initially being dominated by agricultural commodities, globally there has been a proliferation of other financial instruments such as currencies, bonds, and stock indices. Although the commodity derivatives markets include very active contracts in oil and precious metals, financial derivatives have remained the most traded instruments in the global derivatives markets.

Types of derivatives include forward …