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- Youth Unemployment in Kenya: The Role of Vocational Training
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- Investment opportunities in South Sudan’s emerging gold industry
- Family planning drive in Kenya gets 450,000 self-injectable contraceptive doses from UK
- AfDB commits $2 billion to revolutionise clean cooking in Africa, save forests
- The harsh realities of family laws for African women revealed
Africa
- In Africa, a staggering 1.2 billion people lack access to clean cooking facilities.
- Lack of clean cooking facilities is one of the main causes of deforestation in Africa.
- AfDB funding is a major step along the road to saving the lives of 600,000 mainly women and children each year.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has pledged $2 billion over the next decade towards clean cooking initiatives in Africa, marking a huge stride in the effort to save the lives of 600,000 people, predominantly women and children, each year. This commitment aims to address the health hazards associated with traditional cooking methods that rely on charcoal, wood, and biomass, which contribute to severe respiratory illnesses and environmental degradation.
At a summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, held in Paris, AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina announced that the Bank would allocate 20 per cent of its energy project financing to promoting …
- Across Africa, gender inequality in marriage, divorce, custody, and property rights is perpetuated by sex discrimination embedded in both legal systems and customary laws.
- Discriminatory family laws have profound impacts, increasing the risk of sexual and gender-based violence for women and girls.
- Laws in Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tanzania still allow child marriage.
Discrimination against women and girls remains widespread in family laws across Africa, according to new research by Equality Now. An analysis of 20 African countries reveals that gender inequality in marriage, divorce, custody, and property rights is perpetuated by sex discrimination embedded in both legal systems and customary laws. Despite some significant legal reforms, progress has been slow, inconsistent, and hindered by setbacks, lack of political will, and weak implementation.
The report, “Gender Inequality in Family Laws in Africa: An Overview of Key Trends in Select Countries,” highlights how overlapping and …
- Kenya’s Green Jobs Potential will be key in preserving the country’s natural heritage and combating the challenges posed by climate change.
- PS Labour and Skills Development Shadrack Mwadime warned that the transition to green economy has far reaching implications for the world of work
- Green jobs are becoming a crucial driver of sustainable development in Kenya,
Stakeholders in the environment conservation sectors are deliberating on ways to unlock Kenya’s potential as a global hub for digital work and green jobs. The government, jointly with Jacob’s Ladder Africa, International Labour Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Children’s Fund, are in talks in Nairobi to align government priorities with the demands of the green job market.
Kenya National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop, brings together stakeholders from government, academia, private sector, finance, and youth-led groups to address the critical need for green jobs and skills development in …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Kenya Airways has reduced its half-year loss by 19.6 per cent to Sh11.5 billion, from Sh14.4 billion posted during a similar period last year, on account of cost-cutting initiatives implemented during the period.
In a statement, the airline says the measures helped to partially offset a deceleration in revenues.
During the period under review, the airline’s total operating costs declined by 10.4 per cent to Sh34.6 billion from Sh38.6 billion recorded the previous period.
Meanwhile, total revenue reduced by 9 per cent to Sh27 million, which is attributable to the cessation of domestic scheduled operations in the month of April 2021.
Read: African airlines’ passenger traffic increase by 9.9 per cent in six months to June 2017
It was also on the back of travel restrictions, and lockdowns due to a surge in virus cases in key domestic and international markets including the UK, India, China, UAE, and the US.…
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows fixed deposit accounts gained Sh64.8 billion in the quarter ending June, 2021.
While the decision to keep one’s finances away for a rainy day is laudable, the big question remains, what returns can an ardent saver expect from choosing a fixed deposit over an ordinary savings account?
“The best way to safeguard one’s investment from unprecedented and volatile market movement is by investing in a fixed deposit account. With the unprecedented Covid-19 Pandemic that swept the globe over the past eighteen months, fixed deposit accounts have grown in popularity in Kenya,” said Maisha Microfinance chief executive Ireneus Gichana.
Understanding how a fixed deposit account works
A fixed deposit account is like a savings account; however, the key differentiator is that fixed deposit accounts accrue higher interest based on the duration agreed upon between the individual and the bank.
This means that an individual …
