Trending
- Trump, Biden, Obama and Africa: Who got it, or will get it right?
- Tanzania on track to achieve food self-sufficiency
- Ghana Heads to Elections Amid a Gripping Economic Crisis
- Egypt’s private sector suffers job cuts in November as optimism fades
- Inflation strains ease slightly, but Nigerian private firms cut jobs and purchases
- Money laundering: The financial cancer killing Africa
- AWS and Bboxx join forces to redefine operational efficiency with AI
- The Billion-Dollar Lobito Railway Key To Biden’ Africa Visit
Opinion
- Transition finance is funding dedicated to decarbonizing hard-to-abate and emissions-intensive sectors, such as steel and cement manufacturing.
- Companies in these sectors must prepare for an orderly transition, as failure to act will bring immense risk in a decarbonizing world economy.
- Nurturing a thriving transition finance market is critical to mitigating systemic economic and financial risks.
The transition finance market provides a unique opportunity for Africa to leapfrog to low-carbon technologies and business models, which will address climate risks and enhance the continent’s global competitiveness.
Though lacking a universal definition, transition finance refers to funding dedicated to decarbonizing hard-to-abate and emissions-intensive sectors, such as steel and cement manufacturing.
It is key to overcoming financial barriers to sustainability in the industries essential for economic development yet major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Companies in these sectors must prepare for an orderly transition, as failure to act will bring immense risk in a …
- WHO’s move aims to galvanize a coordinated international response to contain and mitigate the spread of mpox.
- An uptick in cases, especially in Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, along with sporadic cases in Europe, prompted the WHO’s emergency declaration.
- Despite these concerns, mpox is not likely to evolve into a pandemic akin to COVID-19.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This decision underscores the escalating threat posed by the virus, which surged globally in 2022 but has since seen a troubling resurgence, particularly in Africa. The WHO’s move aims to galvanize a coordinated international response to contain and mitigate the spread of mpox, a virus with significant public health implications.
Mpox, a member of the same viral family as smallpox, is a rare but severe infection. It manifests through symptoms akin to chickenpox, including fevers, swollen …
- Existing scientific research in Africa’s renewable energy transition often overlooks certain dispatchable technologies that could enhance grid flexibility.
- Studies primarily focus on zero-carbon dispatchable technologies like concentrated solar power and geothermal, despite their limitations in efficiency, reliability, and cost.
- Balancing engine power plants, which are globally recognized for their flexibility, reliability, and cost-effectiveness, are notably absent in these analyses, despite their potential to run on clean fuels in the future.
It is no longer disputed that solar and wind power will be the foundation of Africa’s future energy systems. They are perfectly suited to the continent’s unique conditions and are already the most cost-competitive power option in almost all cases. This consensus spans academia, businesses, and policymakers who all recognize the potential of renewable energy to meet Africa’s growing needs sustainably.
They also readily acknowledge the intermittent nature of renewables, and the associated need for flexible power capacity within the …
I ended my May 2021 essay with the hypothesis “…leading fintechs might turn around and start acquiring the banks” and, sure enough, on the 12th of May 2021, the Competition Authority of Kenya in a gazette notice approved the acquisition of 84.89% stake in Century Microfinance Bank by Branch International Limited – a leading global fintech with operations in Kenya[1]. One of the signs of a maturing ecosystem is home grown ventures mature into unicorns[2], gazelles and zebras[3], increased mergers and acquisitions[4] and the entry of global tech giants hungry for a piece of the action – the subject of this essay. So, whilst the Branch acquisition was unexpected, it was unsurprising when Twitter announced on 14th April 2021 that they are setting up their Africa HQ in Ghana[5]. On the very same day Amazon announced an investment of …
By Emmanuel Macron, Paul Kagame, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Macky Sall
PARIS – The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that we can no longer treat seemingly faraway crises as distant problems. What happens anywhere can affect people everywhere. That is why addressing the impact and legacy of the pandemic in Africa is so important.
Although Africa has suffered fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths than other areas of the world, the pandemic’s impact on the continent could be more sustained, deep-rooted, and destabilizing for the entire planet. In one year, the pandemic has halted a quarter-century of steady economic growth, disrupted value chains, and caused an unprecedented increase in inequality and poverty.
But it is not only Africa that is at risk of losing its opportunity to emerge fully from COVID-19. The global economy could lose one of its future drivers of growth.
Africa has everything required to overcome the pandemic crisis …
In the months surrounding the birth of our own republic, from 1961 to 1963, a crucial, international organisation was also being born, to assure food safety across the globe.
As a partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation, the Codex Alimentarius Commission produces the Codex Alimentarius, which is Latin for the ‘Book of Food’. It contains internationally recognised guidelines, standards, codes of practice and recommendations on food safety, with just two goals: to ensure the health of consumers and fair trade in food.
Yet, today, both are under threat.
Over the 60 years since the Codex was launched, the commission has been led by the world’s top scientists, drawing on every global study to set food safety standards that include assessing pesticides for their impact on human health. To do that, Codex sets Maximum…
The review period has been salient with fresh 52-week low levels hit by some of the listed counters. Centum’s profit–warning announcement (expecting a dip in profit in its earnings by more than 25% on a yearly comparison) at the tail end of 1Q21 triggered a negative momentum on the counter in the subsequent two–month period.
This resulted in the counter touching a fresh low of KES14.40. Standard Group touched a new low of KES15.55 in early May, attributed to the negative knock from its FY20 earnings release. The media company had reported a KES301.6Mn loss during the last calendar year. Limuru Tea also fell to a new low of KES340. That said, activity on this agriculture stock has been thin with only 100 shares (minimum) trading in the review period.
Bamburi Cement recorded a higher-than-expected FY20 EPS (Earnings per Share) of KES2.89. This partly enabled …
According to Wikipedia, regulation means the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. Industry regulations aim at bringing order by laying down a set of rules to be followed by all, rules aimed at harmonizing all the players together without favoring one over the other.
There has been a lot of concern why the insurance industry in Kenya is not growing, and in fact has been declining over the years—a situation that has led the government to come up with a National Draft Policy aimed at filling in the gaps and strengthening the sector. A situational analysis in the draft policy identifies various gaps and challenges the industry faces. These include limited access to insurance, low levels of insurance awareness and financial literacy, poor public perception and lack of trust in the industry, poor management of policies and claims processes, limited products, fraud, low usage …
