Author: Padili Mikomangwa

Padili Mikomangwa is an environmentalist based in Tanzania. . He is passionate about helping communities be aware of critical issues cutting across, environmental economics and natural resources management. He holds a bachelors degree in Geography and Environmental Studies from University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Agritech Africa Source IT News Africa

Africa making huge moves to advance rapidly within the realms of social impact entrepreneurship and innovation.

From smart environmental solution based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania to e-learning innovations in Cape Town, South Africa are filled with rather interesting operations that will levitate the region in the coming decades.

The continent has rather made some great strides over the past years, having platforms such as The Next African Start-Ups program launched in 2018, connecting entrepreneurs with potential investors, financial institutions and policymakers—catering all necessary items for their growth and introduction of fresh services and technologies that will improve lives of people across the region.

Despite the year 2020 being a record market for investment into the African tech startup ecosystem. Whereby more money was raised from a large pool of investors compared to other years before, 2021 came with a dark cloud.

According to information from Bloomberg News which cited …

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Zanzibar, one of the most exotic tourist destinations in East Africa marked 100 days since its newly elected President Hussein Ali Mwinyi assumed positions of power.

The archipelago which is the autonomous region of Tanzania has been developing its efforts to enhance economic performance in the island over the past years. According to information from The Citizen, the 100 days old presidency is yet focused on transforming the country economy.

The presidency came to helms of power after the Zanzibar Vision 2020-2050 emerged to revitalize the archipelago economy particularly tapping into the sustainable utilization of the Indian ocean resources.

President Mwinyi told The Citizen that, the country has short- and long-term plans slated to ensure there are a success, accountability and quick decision making, which are key issues to a prompt acquisition of reforms in the island’s economy.

The economy of Zanzibar is rather dominated by agricultural, whereby most of …

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Africa’s top economy and oil exporter, Nigeria is battling yet another economic hurdle, as the government disagrees with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF)recommendations of lowering its currency that’s more than 18 per cent overvalued to ease external imbalances, according to Bloomberg News.

According to IMF February 8, 2021, press release, Nigeria has been hit quite hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, following a sharp decrease in oil prices and capital outflows, real GDP is estimated to have contracted by 3.2 per cent I 2020 amidst the pandemic-related lockdown.

Bloomberg News reported on February 8, 2021, that, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari administration sees currency pressures stemming from global outflows caused by the coronavirus pandemic and believes another depreciation would add to double-digit inflation.

The devaluation pressure from IMF is not new to Nigeria. In 2014 the Nigerian central bank devalued the naira by nearly 8 per cent and then fixed the official …

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The central bank of Tanzania (BoT) published its quarterly economic bulletin on Monday 8 February 2021 for the quarter ending December 2020, and it portrays rather satisfactory performance despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) shocks affecting the global economy.

The report pointed that, in the third quarter, the growth was at 4.5 per cent, leading to the average growth rate of 4.7 per cent in the first three quarters of 2020, compared to 7.3 per cent in the corresponding period in 2019 and 6.9 per cent in 2018.

According to the report, the satisfactory growth was rather contributed by various sectors particularly, construction, agriculture, transport and mining and quarrying.

The government of Tanzania did provide strategic measures to cushion the economy from the virus shocks, this included a deliberate decision of ruling out mandatory lockdowns.

Gross Domestic Product

The performance of the economy was driven by rather four sectors, construction, agriculture, transport, …

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Tanzania, one of Africa’s fastest-growing economy has taken a deliberate step to increase its 2021/22 financial year budget by 4 per cent to accelerate economic growth.

According to the Tanzanian Legal and Constitutional Affairs minister, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, standing on behalf of the Finance and Planning Minister in Parliament yesterday, cited the increase to be attributed by several issues including an amplified requirement by the consolidate fund(The Citizen)

“This includes [money required for] repayment of government debt; money required to cater for promotions of public servants and new jobs [in the public service],” he said.

According to information from The Citizen, this increment comes as the East African nation prep for its third five-year development blueprint.

Tanzania—which was categorized by the World Bank, as a low middle-income country on July 2020, will raise its budget from around $14.6 billion allocated in 2020/2021 financial year to around $15.5 billion, which is …

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The World Bank (WB)—one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for the developing sphere published its Global Economic Prospect report in January 2021.  

The report zoomed in on the prospects of the global economy and Africa, displaying how the region remains pinned by the shocks of COVID-19 unless sound policy changes and strategic investment-enhancing reforms are made.  

On the bright side, the global economy is expected to expand by 4 per cent in 2021—this is dependent on the progression of COVID-19 vaccine provision throughout the year. …

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The prosperous future of Africa will be the fruit of both men and women. In fact, at present women have the potential to make Africa great. According to the World Bank, it is the African women entrepreneurs who are leading in the world in terms of business ownership. 

This means African women stand to transform the region’s economy and compete on the world stage.  

Women in Africa are more likely than their male counterparts to engage in entrepreneurship activities. Besides, women in Africa compose nearly 58 per cent of the region’s self-employed population (Ideas4development 2020).  

A 2020 World Bank report, Profiting from Parity, indicated that women entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa continue to garner lower profits than men (34 per cent less on average). 

Nonetheless, there is more work to be done in enabling women access equal representation within political and economic opportunities which are crucial for sustainable development. 

Despite Rwanda

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Education is the lifeline of development in Africa.  At present, things are changing rapidly within the African education domain. Modern technology is now transforming learning in classrooms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda to mention a few. 
African states, just as other nations across the globe, are experiencing economic shocks from the coronavirus (COVID-19), which forced 250 million African children to stay home.  

Across the region, children were out of school for various periods. In Kenya, children remained home for the entire course of 2020 since March, while Tanzania’s school shutdown lasted for three months. …

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In 2019, 9 per cent of the GDP in Africa was contributed by mobile technologies and services. This means the mobile industry in Africa is fueling sound growth and social impact necessary for acquiring sustainable economic growth.  

The world is interconnected and it is getting seamlessly interconnected by the hour each day. This means the more you get digitally connected the more knowledgeable, wealthy and creative you become, to say the least. 

This scenario is manifesting itself across developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where ingenious innovations are made in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Tanzania, featuring seamless use of online platforms to learn, earn a living and access services. …

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Barrick Gold, the New York Exchange-listed mining company with deep business ties in Africa, has once again ignited strong business prospects in Tanzania’s mines—one of East Africa’s nation endowed with abundant minerals.

Within its statement, provided on Thursday, January 28, 2021, the miner stated that its mines in Tanzania are revived and performing well, this comes after Barrick gold resolved laid disputes raised by the government and ushered new dawn of partnership in the profitable sector.

“The North Mara and Bulyanhulu gold mines both produced near the top end of their production guidance in 2020, their first full year under Barrick’s management. Including Buzwagi, the Tanzanian assets delivered a combined output of 462,472 ounces for the year” the statement read in part.

Road to ignition of business

Barrick—the world second-largest gold miner took over Acacia mining and went through a rather historic path to secure business in Tanzania, after rather …

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