African governments are harnessing digital technologies to support ongoing reforms and better serve the interests of citizens, according to industry experts at the Global Business Forum Africa 2019 in Dubai.

Innocent Muhizi, CEO, Rwanda Information Society Authority who spoke during a session entitled Rethinking Government – Working with the New Guard, explained how the government agency partnered with companies to develop an e-procurement platform that handles proposals and contracts and said the government in Rwanda operates like a private sector entity by setting KPIs and working towards ambitious targets.

Hon. David J. Francis, Chief Minister, Republic of Sierra Leone, noted that his country was in the process of creating a “new direction government” built around digital innovation, science and technology. He explained that his department has piloted iPads to reduce stationery, introduced an automated public expenditure policy and expanding internet and mobile coverage, providing real-time data to citizens – …

The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), the bilateral organisations housed by Africa Development Bank and drawing membership from the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US) has released a new report that shows a significant increase in financial commitments for infrastructural development in Africa.

Among the key findings of the report was an increase in financing commitments across all sectors, with a notable increase in the energy sector, which attracted financing commitments worth $43.8 billion, an all-time high and a 67% increase on the 2015-2017 average. The ICT sector also saw record commitments in 2018 of $7.1 billion, mostly from the private sector.

 the ICA’s Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa 2018 report shows that financing of infrastructure in Africa reached a new high of $100.8 billion in 2018, a jump of about a quarter on 2017 and 38% up on the 2015-2017 average.

Mike …

Livestock keeping is profitable in Tanzania, especially now, when livestock rearing gathers viable potential amidst growing meat, skin and diary demands.

The sub-sector undoubtedly generates millions to serious investors, but it stands to generate billions to the entire nation, under ameliorated sectorial strategies.

On March 10, 2019, Tanzania brought to life, the Livestock Master Plan (TLMP) which allocated over $ 608 million in its realization, 64 per cent of the funding is foreseen to be fetched from the private sector and 36 per cent originating from government funding.

The TLMP is a five-year plan strictly set up to address major challenges facing the sector and transform via guiding viable investments in major profitable subsectors.

In realization of the grand plan, the government of Tanzania requested: the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) provided technical assistance and training to the Tanzania Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in a project funded by …

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is the 2nd fastest growing airport in the word cargo ranking. This has been revealed in the Airports Council International (ACI) latest World Airport Traffic Report, which highlights top airports for passengers, cargo and aircraft movements and showcases the world’s fastest-growing airports for 2018.

JKIA was ranked 2nd in the ‘Fastest Growing Airports (Handing over 250,000 metric tons of air cargo)’ category, after handling over 342,000 metric tons of air cargo in 2018, a 25% growth from the what was reported in the year 2017.

This ranking came as a surprise to many given the dwindling fortunes of Kenya Airways which has been facing a hard economic time coupled with staff strikes and poor profitability. Kenya Airways management has fallen out with its pilots over continued losses at the airline, in the latest of many stand-offs between the two groups. This is in the wake of …

In a statement given by Tala, the company has not yet made a decision to permanently shut down its loan services in Tanzania but are reviewing its operations to make their final decision.

The statement also reads, “Tala Tanzania has not made a decision to permanently close operations. However, after piloting our credit product in Tanzania, we have paused our lending operations and are undertaking a review of our operations to determine our path forward in the market.”

The company serves more than four million subscribers at an approximated Ksh.100 billion ($961.9 million dollars) on disbursed loans, said it is actively working to continue to support financial services access to Tanzania.

According to Tala, Kenya remains at the heart of Tala’s operations with a customer reach of over three million and ease in offering financial services. It assured that its operations in Kenya would remain uninterrupted.

“Our operations …

Tanzania has moved to look into a possible profitable venture in Cryptocurrency.

A circular purported to be coming from the Directorate of Economic Research and Policy at the Central Bank of Tanzania (BoT) shows that the bank is conducting a study to assess the extent of cryptocurrency impact on the Tanzanian economy with a view to registering brokers for the business.The circular, in part, reads:

“Please be informed that the Bank of Tanzania is conducting a study to assess the extent of Cryptocurrency and Online Forex Trading and its implication to the economy in Tanzania. The result of this survey will determine whether or not there is any need to register brokers for this business in the country.”

The letter goes on to further state that BoT will conduct the survey by visiting various parts of Tanzania and interview selected individuals to gather the needed information for decision making.…