Author: Wanjiku Njugunah

Regional Financial Services Group, I&M Group PLC has announced an increase of 33 per cent after-tax profit for its 2021 half-year financial results up from UGX 102.5 billion to UGX 134.6 billion.  

In a statement, the Group says its Total Assets recorded a growth of 12 per cent to close at UGX 12.2 trillion up from UGX 10.9 trillion in June 2020, bolstered by expansion into Uganda and increased private and public sector lending.

The Group adds that the acquisition of Orient Bank Ltd (OBL) in Uganda has expanded the Group’s balance sheet by UGX 753 billion as of the reporting date.

Net interest income also recorded growth of 28 per cent to UGX 285.2 billion up from UGX 221.1 billion in June 2020 attributed to increased interest income from government securities.

The Group’s total Non-Funded Income reduced by 6 per cent to UGX 124.9 billion from UGX 134.6 billion.…

Kenya’s Stima Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) Limited has launched its Affordable Housing Mortgage Scheme in partnership with the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC), a treasury backed lender, targeting both individuals in formal and informal employment.

The purpose of the scheme is to offer affordable mortgages to members of the SACCO with bespoke terms.

For individuals who are employed, the SACCO will offer a loan up to a maximum of Sh4 million, at 9 percent interest rate, with a 25-years repayment plan.

For individuals in business or those with rental income, the loan will still be capped at Sh4 million, at 9.5 percent interest rate, with a repayment tenor of up to 20 years.

According to analysts from Cytonn Investment, an employed individual will be required to make monthly payments of about Sh33, 600 while a business home owner will pay Sh37, 300.

For salaried Kenyans, these payments are still …

Invest Africa has launched a new programme of support for over 500 African MSMEs.

In a statement, the company, which is a trade and investment platform for African markets, says it will be hosting the Next Generation Africa Forum to connect MSMEs across the Continent.

The forum will take place virtually on 16th September using a digital platform, with practical support from leading banks, VCs, multi-national tech companies and incubators, including Google, KPMG, DHL, Aon and 4G Capital.

“MSMEs form the backbone of Africa’s economies and are the engine of the region’s job creation drive, accounting for 70 percent of employment,” the company said in a statement.

The firm also noted that with a high proportion of informal enterprises, many of Africa’s MSMEs, which already faced significant challenges, have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Addressing the structural difficulties that small businesses in Africa face, will therefore be essential …

There has been growth in searches and bookings to East African Community countries with Tanzania leading as a leisure destination.

This is according to data by the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) and Amadeus search and agency booking which shows a very slight improvement in both outbound and inbound search demand and booking volumes for 2021 year to date, while compared to the same period in 2020.

The booking agency indicates that travel demand remains significantly below pre-COVID-19 levels owing to international travel restrictions in key markets in Europe, North America and Asia.

According to KATA, there has been a growing demand for inbound travel into Kenya from USA, Germany and UK.

“Domestic travel searches remain high as people are looking to travel more within the country. However, overall travel demand to and from Kenya stands at -69.9% in June 2021 compared to same time in 2019,” the travel …

The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) says its Booster Program targeting 2000 Micro, Small and Medium sized enterprises (MSMES) has surpassed the set target with over 2,500 MSMES receiving training on various issues.

Launched on launched on 25th February 2021, the training covered Introduction to e-commerce, digital marketing, aftersales, content creation & management.

KEPSA says 1300 businesses were on-boarded onto various ecommerce marketplaces to increase and diversify their revenue streams hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MSMEs targeted by the program were struggling with their digital brand presence with majority of the MSMES reporting they were either unaware of missed opportunities or did not have a digital brand strategy, which means they were edged out by their counterparts already offering their products and services online.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause disruptions in global and regional value chains, it is clear that e-commerce is an important tool and solution …

Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) has received carbon credits from its Olkaria I, Units 4 and 5 Geothermal Power plant at a time when it is working to solidify its lead in climate action in Africa.

According to the power producer, the milestone follows the issuance of an additional 2,040,515 Carbon Emission Reductions (CERs) for the Naivasha based project by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This brings the amount of carbon credits issued to KenGen to date to 2,591,496 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e) valued at USD.3,887,244 which are now available for sale.

The sale process of the carbon credits has been initiated as guided by the applicable disposal laws and regulations for the public sector organizations.

The 140MW Olkaria I Additional Units 4 and 5 power plant, will reduce CO2 emission through the displacement of electricity generated by fossil fuel fired power plants …

Business confidence for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) across most sectors is on the rise, according to the latest research by Mastercard.

The inaugural Mastercard Middle East and Africa (MEA) SME Confidence Index found that 76 percent of SMEs in the food, beverage and entertainment sector are optimistic about the next 12 months.

Confidence levels were highest among businesses in retail, closely followed by food, beverage and entertainment.

Forecasts in this sector are also positive, with 72 percent of SMEs projecting revenues that will either grow or hold steady. Almost half 47 percent are projecting an increase.

Access to training, skills and digitization key for future growth

As many regional economies gradually enter the normalization and growth phase, and social restrictions continue to ease, small and medium sized businesses in the MEA region’s food, beverage and entertainment sector have identified access to training and development support (55 percent), upskilling staff …

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has opened an Internet Point of Presence in Miami, connecting to the Liquid network via a South Atlantic subsea cable.

In a statement, the technologies company says the new POP is connected to their 100,000km of fibre across 11 countries on the continent and another 14 countries via the Operators Alliance Programme and Liquid Satellite Services.

This is part of Liquid’s East-West route between the US and Asia via Africa.

The company says the move will result in customers being able to leverage a better connection to the US, giving them access to Cloud services, OTT resources, Internet content and high-quality voice and video calls with family and business partners.

Speaking about the impact, David Eurin, Chief Executive Officer, Liquid Sea, said the new POP in Miami will enable US-based operators, businesses, OTT, Cloud service providers and CDN operators to access 40 data centres across Africa, including …

East Africa’s largest insurer, Jubilee Holdings Limited has announced a Profit Before Tax of Sh5.206 billion, representing an increase of 119 percent for the Half Year ended June 30th, 2021.

This jump was partly due to the gain of Sh2.074 billion, from the sale of 66 percent of its Kenyan General Insurance business to the Allianz group on May 4th, 2021.

However, the Profit Before Tax on the Insurance business grew by an impressive 32 percent from Sh2.377 billion to Sh3.132 billion.

Total Gross Written Premiums and Deposit Administration contributions grew by 10 percent to Sh22.2 billion compared to Sh20.2 billion in 2020 due to a dynamic growth of 20 percent in Medical business and a 36 percent increase in Annualized Premium Equivalent sales.

This strong performance reflects Jubilee’s diversified business and investment portfolio that has proven robust against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and is now well positioned …

Equity Group Plc said it intensified its ‘shared prosperity’ business model in the first half of 2021 by investing US$ 496 million (approx Sh54.3 billion) in social impact projects through Equity Group Foundation.

The Group said the projects are anchored around the Foundation’s key pillars, namely: health, energy and environment, food and agriculture, enterprise development and financial inclusion, education and leadership development, and social protection.

Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi said he believes the Group’s principle of putting people before profits has greatly contributed to the Group’s impressive performance in the just-released half-year financial results.

“We recognize that beyond a regulator license we also get a license from our host communities and we have continued to treat them as significant stakeholders and invest in them through our shared prosperity programme,” said Dr. Mwangi

In the health sector, the Group said it rolled out a massive Covid-19 …