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Liquid Intelligent Technologies has opened an Internet Point of Presence in Miami, connecting to the Liquid network via a South Atlantic subsea cable.

In a statement, the technologies company says the new POP is connected to their 100,000km of fibre across 11 countries on the continent and another 14 countries via the Operators Alliance Programme and Liquid Satellite Services.

This is part of Liquid’s East-West route between the US and Asia via Africa.

The company says the move will result in customers being able to leverage a better connection to the US, giving them access to Cloud services, OTT resources, Internet content and high-quality voice and video calls with family and business partners.

Speaking about the impact, David Eurin, Chief Executive Officer, Liquid Sea, said the new POP in Miami will enable US-based operators, businesses, OTT, Cloud service providers and CDN operators to access 40 data centres across Africa, including …

East Africa’s largest insurer, Jubilee Holdings Limited has announced a Profit Before Tax of Sh5.206 billion, representing an increase of 119 percent for the Half Year ended June 30th, 2021.

This jump was partly due to the gain of Sh2.074 billion, from the sale of 66 percent of its Kenyan General Insurance business to the Allianz group on May 4th, 2021.

However, the Profit Before Tax on the Insurance business grew by an impressive 32 percent from Sh2.377 billion to Sh3.132 billion.

Total Gross Written Premiums and Deposit Administration contributions grew by 10 percent to Sh22.2 billion compared to Sh20.2 billion in 2020 due to a dynamic growth of 20 percent in Medical business and a 36 percent increase in Annualized Premium Equivalent sales.

This strong performance reflects Jubilee’s diversified business and investment portfolio that has proven robust against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and is now well positioned …

Equity Group Plc said it intensified its ‘shared prosperity’ business model in the first half of 2021 by investing US$ 496 million (approx Sh54.3 billion) in social impact projects through Equity Group Foundation.

The Group said the projects are anchored around the Foundation’s key pillars, namely: health, energy and environment, food and agriculture, enterprise development and financial inclusion, education and leadership development, and social protection.

Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi said he believes the Group’s principle of putting people before profits has greatly contributed to the Group’s impressive performance in the just-released half-year financial results.

“We recognize that beyond a regulator license we also get a license from our host communities and we have continued to treat them as significant stakeholders and invest in them through our shared prosperity programme,” said Dr. Mwangi

In the health sector, the Group said it rolled out a massive Covid-19 …

KCB Group PLC has completed the acquisition of Banque Populaire du Rwanda Plc (BPR) from Atlas Mara Mauritius Limited and Arise B.V, days after announcing the doubling of its net profit in the six months to June 2021.

According to the Kenya-based regional bank, the acquisition follows the securing of the requisite regulatory approvals in Kenya, and Rwanda in what makes KCB Group the majority shareholder in BPR, Rwanda’s second-biggest bank, with effect from August 25, 2021.

KCB Group CEO and MD Joshua Oigara said that the completion of the transaction in Rwanda will give the Group a stronger edge in deepening the ongoing Group strategy to scale regional presence.

He added that combined history of BPR and KCB will take the Group to greater heights, and would give them a stronger edge to play a bigger role in driving the financial inclusion and economic empowerment agenda in the East …

“Before the Forest and Farm Facility Programme (FFF) reached out to us, I faced many challenges in marketing the avocado produce from my farm,” says Paul Mitei, a farmer from Kiptoben Village, Nakuru County, Kenya.

Paul says he wanted to know more about how the avocado and tomato value chains worked, and the proper inputs that are critical to avocado cultivation and meeting market demands.

Paul is married with 3 children and has a 5-acre farm where his family tends to avocado trees. He says he started to grow avocadoes because other farmers in his community were growing them, but at that time he had poor crop management skills which led to low fruit yields, no profit and a lot of frustration. .

To improve his knowledge and capacity on the avocado value chain, he joined the Nakuru Small Holder Fruit Producers Association (NASFPA) with the hopes of higher sales …

Africa’s healthcare sector is on the verge of digital transformation.

This is according to a policy paper that indicates that while governments are accelerating formal digital health strategies, 41 out of 54 African countries have a digital health strategy in place.

Vodacom’s e-health policy paper also finds that consumers are dramatically increasing their engagement with digital health services via their smartphones. Official data forecasts that by 2025, smartphone reach in sub-Saharan Africa will increase by almost 70 percent.

The policy paper indicates that as a result of increased smartphone reach, informal use of digital healthcare solutions has increased, with 41 percent of internet users across Africa regularly using their mobile phones to search for health information.

Overall, the policy paper notes that there has been an exponential rise in the number of people engaging with digital health services through their smartphones, creating vast potential for countries to deliver access to …

In Kenya, businesses are condemning the high cost of doing business, amidst the economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, business owners have expressed concern on the current focus on politics without practical solutions to bring local businesses back on the recovery track

The Association’s Chairman, Mucai Kunyiha, raised concerns on the severity of the additional taxes imposed on businesses in addition to inflation adjustment on specific rates of duty.

“It is becoming more expensive to operate in Kenya due to the introduction of taxes, fees, levies and charges,” he said.

Kunyiha pointed out the Crop (Nuts and Oil Crops) Regulations 2020 which introduced new fees and levies as a measure to control thirteen (13) scheduled crops.

“Through the 2021 Finance Act, the government has introduced excise tax on raw materials and 16 percent VAT on the supply of some products, effectively increasing …

Kenya’s imports from Tanzania grew by nearly 75 percent in the six months to June 2021 compared to 2020 when its exports to Kenya hit a high of USD. 167 million.

This is according to the Chief Executive Officer of the East African Business Council John Bosco Kalis who has also urged the East African Community to eliminate Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs) and finalize the Common External Tariff review.

The CEO has also called for regional vaccination drives to fast track economic resilience and rebound.

A separate report also noted growth in Kenya’s imports from Tanzania.

Data by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) published by the Central Bank of Kenya indicate that Kenya’s imports from Tanzania grew by 70 percent from January 2021 to June 2021, compared to the same period last year.

The statistics also showed that the value of goods ordered by Kenya from Tanzania stood at US$167.5 …

Trade associations in Kenya have asked for immediate reopening of the economy and ending the COVID-19 containment measures issued by the Government to reduce the loss of livelihoods from the effects of the pandemic.

The 8 trade associations from across the retail, hospitality, transport creative, and entertainment sectors also backed the motion in Parliament urging the Government to concentrate on measures to revive the economy and vaccinate more people.

As the President extended the curfew and other containment orders, the High Court issued a determination that the orders issued to law enforcement agencies on the COVID-19 protocols are in breach of the Constitution.

At the same time, there is a motion in the National Assembly urging the Government to do away with all forms of lockdowns and concentrate on measures to revive the economy and vaccinate more people.

The associations also lamented the continued harassment of their members by police …

Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) says it has surpassed a crucial stage in the ongoing USD 6.2 million geothermal drilling contracts in Ethiopia.

According to the firm’s Managing Director and CEO Rebecca Miano, a team of KenGen engineers have so far crossed the 450 meters of drilling depth of the first of eight geothermal wells for the state-owned electricity producer, Ethiopia Electric Power Company which commenced in May this year.

“The first 450 meters is the most difficult phase of the entire geothermal well drilling process which can go upto a depth of 3,000 meters,” Miano said.

“This particular one is being done under peculiar circumstances including unforeseen delays occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she added.

The CEO added that they will be drilling at a rate of about 50 meters per day going forward and therefore expect to complete the remaining part on schedule in about two months.…