Commissioning of an Agricultural Trade Information System (ATMIS) in the country will spur rapid growth of the economy as farmers, agro-dealers, regulators and consumers interact easily online.

TradeMark East Africa`s (TMEA) Country Director, John Ulanga said ATMIS is a powerful digital platform that brings together all agriculture stakeholders including experts in the field and markets for commodities.

`Digitization of the agriculture sector will contribute towards rapid economic growth in the East African region because it will provide access of our commodities to the regional market,` Ulanga said while opening training of stakeholders on the how to use ATMIS in Dar es Salaam last week.

He said among other things, the platform will be used by Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to issue permits for various goods and services but also allow farmers and agro dealers pay fees and commission online.

Ulanga further noted that TMEA has invested in the development…

President John Magufuli on 1^st May said there would be no pay rise for civil servants this year – the fourth time he addressed Workers` Day without salary increment – defending the position as meant to avoid inflation.

Addressing at the International Labour Day which was observed at the national level in Mbeya city in the Mbeya Region, the Head of State said his first priority is to build the economy, expressing optimism that development projects being implemented now shall warrant increments in future.

`I know you expected to hear me announce a pay rise. If I do that today, tomorrow transport and everything else will go up. Please be patient, ` the president appealed.

Prior to his address, the social media was awash with predictions that after celebrating three previous Workers` Day without announcing the sweet news, the president would not end his speech without the declaration of …

Cash transfers equal to the cost of common development programs have the same impact

Just last year, the World Bank asked Kenya to expand its cash transfer programs to the poor noting that these programmes were having a great impact than the traditional aid. The Bank urged the Kenya;s Treasury to ramp up allocations for direct cash transfer programmes beyond the 519,878 Kenyans covered as at 2015 under the social safety net plan.

In the World Bank report titled “Fiscal Incidence Analysis for Kenya” which analyses the impact of the direct cash programmes in Kenya, the multilateral lender says the elderly cash transfer programme covered only around three percent of all households in Kenya in 2015/16.

This call is now being backed by research as more people evaluate the effects of cash transfer programmes in Africa replacing the old model of donor dictating the project and how a beneficiary can …

Dimension Data Solutions Ltd & SAP has announced a strategic partnership in the East Africa that will give customers the ability to leverage intelligent enterprise solutions localised for the African market that can be integrated with SAP solutions

Africa is welcoming a new dawn in adoption of technologies that are making the continent remain relevant among other global peers. These technologies are guided by evolving needs of consumers which dictate that a the need to integrate technology in all aspects of their life. Such technologies include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).

Dimension Data, a USD 8 billion global technology systems integrator and managed services provider is seeking such integration through global partnerships steered at making the African tech user safe and efficient. This is also guided by the desire to tap into the strengths of different players in the industry to offer holistic IT solutions.

Such …

The funds will support the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Corporation

The World Bank has approved a USD250 million International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loan to support housing projects in Kenya.

The funds are expected to enhance access to affordable housing finance for Kenyans who are unable to access long-term housing finance.

The Kenya Affordable Housing Finance Project (KAHFP) will support the establishment and operationalization of the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Corporation (KMRC), a largely private sector-owned and non-deposit taking financial institution under the supervision of the Central Bank of Kenya.

KMRC’s goal is to drive affordability of mortgages by providing more long-term funding to financial institutions, an incentive to enable them to offer long tenure loans to homebuyers.

The project will also assist the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning to improve property registration and address structural constraints in the land management system in Kenya. 

“We believe that Kenya’s vibrant …

Human resource has been described as the most essential resource in an organization since it is the human aspect that makes sure that all other resources work optimally (or not).

In the construction industry, the concept of human resource management is not as well defined and improved as in other mainstream and formal industries.

For every industry to grow there has to be continuous improvement of efficiency in resources usage. There has to be capacity building to empower all the stakeholders to be better and to do better.

Every construction site has labour, whether mechanized systems are employed or not and also regardless of the magnitude of mechanization. This therefore makes it necessary to direct enough attention and resources towards human resource management and development in construction.

How many times have you commissioned a site and you only know the contractor out of an average of 20 craftsmen in your …

Fuel, personnel and cost of aircraft remain top drivers of the airline’s costs

Kenya’s national carrier-Kenya Airways has posted a Ksh7.558 billion (USD74.6 million ) net loss for the year ended December 2018, as higher operating costs continue to eat into its improving revenues.

The airline which has changed its reporting period (end year) from March 31 to December 31, had a Ksh6.418 billion (USD63.5 million) loss in the 9-month period between April 1, and Dec 31, 2017.

This is despite the airline’s growth in total revenue for the 12 months which increased to Ksh114.45 billion (USD1.13 billion), compared to Ksh80.79 billion (USD789.7 million) for the nine month period ended December 31, 2017.

According to the management, fuel, personnel and the cost of aircraft remain the top three drivers of the airline’s costs, contributing to about two thirds of total operating costs.

“Fuel price volatility remains a major challenge for …

An uptick in diplomatic ties between Tanzania and Israel has started to bear socio-economic fruits, the Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said.

The premier who saw off 274 tourists on the Israeli Airlines plane at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) over the weekend, pleaded  with the visitors to serve as Tanzania`s ambassadors back home.

Over 1,000 tourists from Israel were since April 20, this year, in the northern tourism circuit to sample various attractions in Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

The first group of the tourists left on Friday night, the second, which was seen off by the Premier, flew on Saturday afternoon, the third on Saturday evening and the last on Saturday night.

Majaliwa invited members of the business community from Israel to invest in the tourism sector in the natural-resource rich Tanzania. He further asked the Israelis to consider coming back to visit Rubondo, Katavi and Ruaha …

It has been by AviaDev event, in conjunction with partners, MIDAS Aviation and Futureneers Advisors, that the estimated potential revenue from new African aviation routes could yield $29 billion in direct revenue.

This revenue, which is more than the individual GDP’s of 70% of the countries in Africa, could be realized if the largest airports in each African country are connected with one another. Currently, only 33.7% of this huge market is served, meaning that there is over $19 billion in untapped annual revenue.

Now in its fourth year, AviaDev, brings together airports, airlines, tourism bodies, and suppliers and customizes one-to-one meetings so that new partnerships and routes can be created. AviaDev’s managing director, Jon Howell, unveiled the event’s mission: to connect the largest airports in each African country with one another. He stated: “AviaDev aims to challenge the status quo through encouraging disruptive thinking. We believe our new mission …

That will be decided during the forthcoming African Union meeting slated to take place in the next three months, according to the officials who gathered in Arusha on Thursday 25^th April, 2019.

The proposed African Continental Free Trade Area is not simply a `Free Trade Agreement` it is about establishing a unified continental market with 1.2 billion potential customers and where the private sector is the major engine to make it happen.

This was the tone from the discussions of the meeting held in Arusha about how the East African Private Sector including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could benefit from the African Continental Free Trading Area (AfCFTA)

The one-day meeting, organized jointly by the East African Business Council (EABC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), convened close to 40 key players from the region`s private sector. The office for Eastern Africa of ECA estimates large …