Tuesday, March 19

Personal Finances

L-R: Andrew Shirley, Maina Mwangi and Ben Woodhams. The Knight Frank Wealth Report notes that Kenya’s dollar millionaires are repatriating their wealth to adopted home countries. www.theexchange.africa

The proportion of Kenyans seeking foreign passports is not the highest for Africa, with 31 per cent of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in South Africa seeking a second passport, and 44 per cent of HNWIs in Nigeria.

Andrew Shirley, editor of The Wealth Report at Knight Frank said that amongst Kenyans seeking new passports, the proportion was interested in reducing their tax bills, enhancing their safety, or getting a better quality of life just as much as the wealthy globally.

Of Kenyans seeking new passports, around 59 per cent are doing so as an investment, against a global average of 17 per cent, while 38 per cent cite education as a driver, compared with 18 per cent worldwide.

Meanwhile, 34 per cent are seeking better healthcare, compared with 13 per cent worldwide.…

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Cashlet has been developed by Sycamore Capital Ltd, and it works in partnership with regulated fund managers in Kenya, to allow users to invest in unit trust products in simple, fully digital, and modern way.

The initial partner fund managers include ICEA Lion Asset Management, Old Mutual, and Genghis Capital.

The app seeks to pioneer saving and investing flexibility, life goals creation and tracking, market interest rates, financial visibility, and expert support.…

Ndovu Cofounders Radhika Bhachu and Ro Nyangeri. www.theexchange.africa
  • Data by the World Bank reveals that at least a quarter of the African population has internet access, a nearly fifty-fold increase in internet usage since 2000. 
  • The rapid spread of the internet across the African continent has been lauded as a key driver of prosperity and a sign of the continent’s technological coming of age. 

Over the past few years, the wealth management industry has seen a significant amount of diversification, from traditionally having products geared towards institutional investors and high net worth individuals to offering more accessible products to low and middle-income earners. 

While WealthTech is not a new concept in Africa, there is room for market players to leverage consumer demand for wealth management products that are more digitally accessible and easy to use. 

WealthTech or wealth management technology is the combining of technology such as AI, big data, SaaS, with financial assets, such as savings, investments,

How does financial illiteracy impact your business and your personal wealth? Perhaps a good deal more than you might think. 

The readership of The Exchange is, of course, highly financially literate – this readership is at the other end of the scale to the majority of the population here in Africa. I believe that one of the ten top reasons that sub Saharan Africa fails to fulfil its potential is the financial illiteracy of its population and that we must change this if we are to change Africa for the better.  

Financial literacy has fallen around the world over the past 30 years. As a British businessman I am appalled at how badly we equip our children in the UK for a world order built entirely on economic foundations. There is a direct proven statistical link between financial literacy, Gross Domestic Product, home ownership, health and poverty. It is no

The job market is ever dynamic; continuously changing as a result of socio-economic and technological development. In recent months however, the changes experienced are neither as a result of economic nor technological advancement, but rather, the health crisis that has altered the daily lives of people around the world.  

One of the major effects of COVID-19 on the labour market is the loss of jobs for hundreds of millions of people. In big economies, workers are benefiting from unemployment claims, but the same cannot be seen in developing countries in Africa where governments are grappling with means to mitigate the effects of the current pandemic.  

Predictions from the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) show that up to “1.6 billion workers in the informal economy – that is nearly half of the global workforce – stand in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed.” 

According to the ILO Monitor

Juba – South Sudan has launched its first-ever mobile money transfer service in Juba last week. The aim of m-GURUSH (m-for mobile and GURUSH for money in Arabic)  is to make it easier to transfer money, as well as create new job opportunities in South Sudan.

The mobile based financial service platform is a joint partnership between South Sudan’s Trinity Technologies Limited and Zain Telecoms South Sudan.

Licenced by the Bank of South Sudan and the National Communications Authority of South Sudan, m-GURUSH allows users without bank accounts to access banking services through outlets spread across the country.

The virtual banking system allows users to access services through a Zain Network SIM card that is compatible with all of South Sudan’s mobile networks. Once activated, the SIM will allow users to transfer money to family or make payments to vendors. The service is also available on UUSD or as a …

An M-Pesa transaction. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) says that 97 out of 100 Kenyans have mobile phones, transacting almost Sh2 Trillion in three months www.exchange.co.tz

More than 7.6 million Kenyans have loans from multiple mobile loan apps with 2 per cent of these defaulting and being listed with the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) in the country.

In a report by Metropol Corporation, more than 380,000 Kenyans have so far defaulted on loans taken from the mobile money lenders.

Due to this, the Kenyan parliament through the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Committee has urged the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to create regulatory measures of the sector especially on interest rates charged by the mobile money apps.

Metropol notes that on average, a borrower in the country has loans from at least six out of the 10 mobile money lenders.

This is despite the fact that mobile money loan apps charge unregulated interest rates.

Mobile lenders’ meteoric growth in Kenya

And to show how successful the lenders have been, Mobile lender Tala has disbursed loans …

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