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Eramet Group’s subsidiary Grande Côte Opérations (GCO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CrossBoundary Energy for the construction of a 13 MW hybrid solar power station with 8 MW battery storage in Senegal.

This comes at a time when Senegal is emphasizing the role renewable will play in the country and has set up ambitious targets to reach universal access to electricity by 2025, achieve 200GWh of hydro power production, and have renewable make up 30 percent of the power mix by 2025.

In a statement, CrossBoundary said the solar power station is dedicated to the Diogo industrial site (north-western Senegal) for the production of mineral sands, and is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2023.

Its renewable energy is expected to help improve GCO’s carbon footprint and reinforce its ISO 50001 approach.

“This is a first that reinforces the company’s commitment to the climate, in line with that …

The ZIPA Executive Director said Zanzibar’s government recognizes that these islets possess sensitive ecosystems and are already home to thriving fishing and agricultural communities. As such, potential developments require careful planning, handling, guidance and oversight, and potential investors will need to adopt a holistic approach in implementing future projects.

“Our investors Expressions of Interest should provide information demonstrating that they possess experience and the ability to develop, operate and manage investment projects.”

“They should also demonstrate financial capacity, and skills in conserving environments, biodiversity, cultural heritage and community development. Interested Investors should specify the intended small island/islands for investment and provide detailed information on the kind of high-end investment intended.”…

Liquids Intelligent Technologies has reported that over 90 percent of IT decision makers across South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe have accelerated their Cyber Security due to the substantial emergence of digital ways of working. 

The study established some of the main concerns about Cyber Security threats and the most significant impacts of digital breaches on an organisational level.

A critical insight from the research suggests that 79 percent of businesses from all three countries attribute an increase in Cyber Security threats to the advent of remote working.

Data breaches like data extortion, data leakage and data disclosure constitute almost 71% of the cyber-attacks for Kenyan businesses, and over 70% of South African and Zimbabwean organisations consider email attacks like Phishing the most prominent digital threats.

The participants from the research also indicated an increased consumption of Cloud-based services this year, with the numbers being as high as 96% in South …

The Kenyan private sector has recorded improvement for a fourth straight month in August 2021, according to a new report.

Stanbic Bank’s Purchasing Managers’ Index report indicates that the rate of growth picked up in August as firms saw a faster expansion in new business compared to July.

During the period, job creation also strengthened, but output rose at the slowest rate in four months and business confidence fell to a near-record low.

After climbing sharply in July, the pace of input cost inflation eased in August, leading firms to increase their charges at the softest rate in 2021 so far.

As such, the country’s PMI picked up to 51.1 from 50.6 in July, to remain above the 50.0 neutral mark for the fourth month in a row.

According to the index, readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show …

Most Kenyans turn to digital lending platforms first when looking for sources of credit to fund the growth of small businesses, a new report has said.

The State of Digital Lending in Kenya Report 2021 by consumer intelligence firm ReelAnalytics shows that most Kenyans would seek business growth loans from sources such as close family members in the absence of digital lending platforms.

However, the report further finds that borrowing within family circles is less convenient, as loan accessibility is usually unpredictable.

Respondents also state that family funding is also much less compared to sources like digital lenders.

“Majority (over 60percent) of customers are satisfied with the services of digital lenders and that there really are not strong formal or institutional alternatives to digital lenders,” said the report.

Forty per cent of Kenyans interviewed in the report said they would borrow from relatives as their prime alternative to digital lenders …

Regional insurer UAP Old Mutual Group has recorded a profit before tax of Sh552 million in the first half of the year, compared to a loss of Sh57 million for the same period in 2020.

The company has attributed the performance to strong topline growth and investment income performance on the back of the recovery of the Nairobi Securities Exchange during the period.

Excluding the impact of the Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (OMLAC) consolidation, the Group recorded a profit before tax of Sh518 million.

Commenting on the report, Arthur Oginga, Group CEO noted that the performance of the business in the period was delivered on the backdrop of the initial stages of the expected economic recovery as the different countries they operate in work towards a return to normalcy while managing the risks of subsequent waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In our core Kenya market, we have seen positive …

Regional financial services firm, Britam Holdings PLC has posted a profit after tax of Kshs 376.3 million from a loss after tax of Kshs 1.6 billion posted in the six months ending June 2021.

According to the firm, the improved performance is attributed to growth in premiums from new business and investment income from its broad investment portfolio.

The firm also registered significant growth in investment income following the moving of its investment portfolio to increase yields.

Investment income during the period grew to Kshs 4.9 billion, representing a 35 per cent growth compared to a similar period last year.

The Group also realized growth in revenue from both its local and regional businesses.

The regional businesses contributed 24 per cent of the Group’s gross earned premiums.

The Group’s gross earned premiums and fund management fees were up 5.7 per cent to Kshs 14.9 billion.

Britam’s Group Managing Director, Tavaziva …

Regional Financial Services Group, I&M Group PLC has announced an increase of 33 per cent after-tax profit for its 2021 half-year financial results up from UGX 102.5 billion to UGX 134.6 billion.  

In a statement, the Group says its Total Assets recorded a growth of 12 per cent to close at UGX 12.2 trillion up from UGX 10.9 trillion in June 2020, bolstered by expansion into Uganda and increased private and public sector lending.

The Group adds that the acquisition of Orient Bank Ltd (OBL) in Uganda has expanded the Group’s balance sheet by UGX 753 billion as of the reporting date.

Net interest income also recorded growth of 28 per cent to UGX 285.2 billion up from UGX 221.1 billion in June 2020 attributed to increased interest income from government securities.

The Group’s total Non-Funded Income reduced by 6 per cent to UGX 124.9 billion from UGX 134.6 billion.…

There has been growth in searches and bookings to East African Community countries with Tanzania leading as a leisure destination.

This is according to data by the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) and Amadeus search and agency booking which shows a very slight improvement in both outbound and inbound search demand and booking volumes for 2021 year to date, while compared to the same period in 2020.

The booking agency indicates that travel demand remains significantly below pre-COVID-19 levels owing to international travel restrictions in key markets in Europe, North America and Asia.

According to KATA, there has been a growing demand for inbound travel into Kenya from USA, Germany and UK.

“Domestic travel searches remain high as people are looking to travel more within the country. However, overall travel demand to and from Kenya stands at -69.9% in June 2021 compared to same time in 2019,” the travel …

Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) has received carbon credits from its Olkaria I, Units 4 and 5 Geothermal Power plant at a time when it is working to solidify its lead in climate action in Africa.

According to the power producer, the milestone follows the issuance of an additional 2,040,515 Carbon Emission Reductions (CERs) for the Naivasha based project by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This brings the amount of carbon credits issued to KenGen to date to 2,591,496 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e) valued at USD.3,887,244 which are now available for sale.

The sale process of the carbon credits has been initiated as guided by the applicable disposal laws and regulations for the public sector organizations.

The 140MW Olkaria I Additional Units 4 and 5 power plant, will reduce CO2 emission through the displacement of electricity generated by fossil fuel fired power plants …