Author: Wanjiku Njugunah

• Moderna has announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Kenya
• The firm’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, said the ‘mRNA’ facility would produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year
• Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Kenya and the company to establish the first mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa

American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna has announced plans to build a manufacturing facility in Kenya.

On Monday, March 7, 2022, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Kenya and the company to establish the first mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa.

The firm’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, said the ‘mRNA’ facility would produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year.

The company said it would invest up to $500 million in the new facility, which will focus on drug substance manufacturing on the continent of Africa …

• The fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) resolved to end plastic pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024
• The agreement will hold nations, businesses, and society accountable for eliminating plastic pollution from the environment
• UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen described the agreement as the most important international multilateral environmental deal since the Paris climate accord

This week was a win for climate change after the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) resolved to end plastic pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024.

The agreement will hold nations, businesses, and society accountable for eliminating plastic pollution from the environment.

After the passing the landmark resolution in Nairobi, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen described the agreement as the most important international multilateral environmental deal since the Paris climate accord.

Representatives, including heads of state, from 175 countries, …

• Women in Sub-Saharan Africa continue to struggle due to the negative impact of climate change
• A United Nations report noted that climate change has a growing impact on the African continent, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest and contributing to food insecurity
• Fast forward to 2022, the Horn of African countries are facing drought, with data showing that 12 to 14 million are at risk, owing to an extended period of lack of rains that driving acute food insecurity
• The AllAfrica Global Media Group says it is bringing key stakeholders under one roof on a virtual panel under the theme: “Gender equality for a sustainable future”

As the world prepares to mark International Women’s Day on March 8, 2022, several data reveals that women in Sub-Saharan Africa continue to struggle due to the negative impact of climate change.

In a 2020 report, the United Nations Climate Change noted that climate …

Kenya mainly imports frozen tilapia, frozen mackerels, sardines, prawns and salmon, while the country exports frozen Nile perch, tuna, octopus, whole tilapia and lobsters notably to the European  Union.

On the other hand, avocado has been a significant contributor to the earnings in the horticulture sector. Last  Year, Kenya topped Africa’s avocado exports and was among the world’s top 10 producers. Avocado farmers earned Sh14.48 billion between January to November 2021.

KenTrade is in partnership with GIZ in this simplification exercise.…

• UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that an extended, multi-season drought is driving acute food insecurity in the region
• FAO said that 12 to 14 million people are now at risk as crops continue to wither and animals weaken
• Resource-based conflicts are escalating as competition for water and pasturelands increases, and malnutrition rates are rising in affected areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia

Multiple data, including that of the African Development Bank (AfDB) indicates that Africa holds the key for feeding the nine billion people that will be on Earth by 2050. 

While delivering a passionate speech at Iowa State University in the US in 2017, AfDB’s President Akinwumi Adesina noted that the continent sits on 65 percent of the uncultivated arable land left in the world. 

He said that what Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food in the world.  Adesina also noted that the …

• Ghana has several opportunities for investors including abundant raw materials including gold, cocoa, and oil/gas
• It however faces several challenges that hinder foreign direct investment, among them costly and difficult financial services and lack of government transparency
• Low-cost labour, a national airline with well over 100 passenger connections and growing consumer markets are key elements attracting foreign investment into Ethiopia
• Companies often face long lead-times importing goods and dispatching exports due to logistical bottlenecks, corruption, high land-transportation costs, and bureaucratic delays

Ghana remains a favourable investment destination in Africa in 2022, despite the impact of the challenges the economy faces including the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Data by the US Department of State indicates that the economy has continued to rebound from the negative impact of the virus, and has made attracting foreign direct investment a priority. 

The economy has expanded at an average of 7 per cent since 2017 to 2020, …

• Branch International is planning to roll out a Pan-African digital bank with Kenya as the launchpad
• The company said it would spearhead the rollout of digital banking services across key markets in Africa once the local operation crystallises before the end of the year
• The company’s CEO said they would soon make a landmark transition as the first digital lender to expand into the microfinance banking market

Kenyan-based Branch International has outlined plans to roll out a Pan-African digital bank with Kenya as the launch pad.

Best known for digital lending solutions and services in Kenya, Branch says it will spearhead the rollout of digital banking services across key markets in Africa once the local operation crystallises before the end of the year.

The company’s CEO Matt Flannery said the firm would invest heavily in the strategic venture.

Flannery confirmed that the firm had activated its continental rollout plans with …

• Global trade will grow by 70 per cent from USD17.4 trillion to USD29.7 trillion by 2030, data by Standard Chartered has shown 
• The Future of Trade 2030: Trends and markets to watch report reveals 13 markets that will drive much of this growth, identifies major corridors, and five trends shaping the future of global trade
• The research found that 10 per cent of global corporates currently do or plan to manufacture in Kenya within the next five to 10 years

Global trade will grow by 70 per cent from USD17.4 trillion to USD29.7 trillion by 2030, a new research by Standard Chartered has projected.

The Future of Trade 2030: Trends and markets to watch report reveals 13 markets that will drive much of this growth, identifies major corridors, and five trends shaping the future of global trade.

Kenya is a key driver of this global trade growth, with its exports …

• Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has urged investors to increase funding into Africa’s reproductive, maternal, adolescent, and child health systems
• She invited global financiers to back Africa’s weak maternal and child health systems, which she said were overstretched by societal challenges
• Kenyatta also called for increased screening of particularly cervical and breast cancers, saying the two variants had the highest mortality rates on the continent

Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has urged investors to increase funding into Africa’s reproductive, maternal, adolescent, and child health systems.

Speaking on Friday, February 25, Kenyatta noted that private-public partnerships were viable for raising resources to support the sector.

She invited global financiers to back Africa’s weak maternal and child health systems, which she said were overstretched by societal challenges. These include Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Gender-Based Violence (GBV), teenage pregnancies, and early pregnancies marriages.

“Through private-public partnerships and collective investments, we could deepen our …

• GE Healthcare and Kenya-based startup Afya Rekod have entered a strategic collaboration to transform care delivery through improved access to personal health data
• Afya Rekod said they would focus on Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, where they will give patients an accessible record of their health history
• The access will include radiological images by enabling hospitals and diagnostic centres to host health records securely on one platform through a digital application
• Afya Rekod was founded in Kenya in 2019 and operates in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Zambia and the United States

US-based GE Healthcare and Kenya-based startup Afya Rekod have entered a strategic collaboration to transform care delivery through improved access to personal health data.

In a statement, Afya Rekod said they would focus on Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, giving patients an accessible record of their health history. The company has a health record management platform built to …