Browsing: Investing in East Africa

Tanzania’s financial services sector, which contributed approximately 3.8 percent to the country’s total GDP on average over the past five years, was weighed down by subdued loan demand in 2020.

This is according to a report by Deloitte which indicates that the slowdown of the economy owing to the coronavirus pandemic as well as declining income levels also affected the sector.

According to the report, loans and advances to customers on the other hand increased by approximately 4.5 percent in 2020 compared to 13.6 percent in 2019 as people turned to credit for relief.

“Economic uncertainty coupled with contracting income levels in 2020 decreased loan demand, subsequently leading to a suppressed credit growth of 4.5 percent in 2020 compared to 13.6 percent in 2019,” the report says.

The report also reveals that the country’s banking sector assets accounted for about 13.8 percent of total GDP while customer deposits accounted for …

Dr. Mathuki has hit the ground running and having come from being at the helm of the East African Business Council (EABC), a regional business arm of the EAC, he understands the struggles that the common trader faces while doing business within the bloc.  This makes him an ideal leader as he makes decisions based on the experiences he has been encountering when he was on the other side of the table.  

Dr. Mathuki has now vowed to improve trade in the region which currently stands at 15 per cent by removing some of the challenges threatening the stability of regional trade.  According to him, some of the persistent NTBs include restricted market access for goods and un-harmonized charges that continue to frustrate intra-EAC trade. He says that investment by increasing transaction costs and curtailing movement of goods are contributing to the low intra-EAC trade.  “EAC intra-regional trade is under …

In this column called “The Indicator,” we will be taking an economic or financial statistic from East Africa and breaking it down into bite-sized nuggets of knowledge for investors. 

This month’s indicator figure is 816. 

816 of what? 

There are a total 816 innovation professionals in East African Community (EAC) countries as identified by inclusion of the word “innovation” in their current public job description according to a series of searches using the popular professional social networking site, LinkedIn.     

This Indicator figure certainly does not incorporate all people involved in innovation, but seeks to use this metric as a rubric to stimulate discussion on the importance of innovation in East Africa for business competitiveness.   

What do you mean by innovation professionals?  

Innovation is defined as the process of creating a new method, process, product, or service.      

People whose job is focused on innovation are considered innovation professionals who are typically …

This summer has seen a huge amount of interest, and investment, in Africa from private capital outfits.

From fund raising – such as the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) reaching final close of its US$320 million African Infrastructure Investment Fund 3 and new funds for Centum, the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed investors – to acquisitions and disposals, interest has been high across the continent. The Exchange even reported in April that Africa is eying US$1 trillion in private equity deals in the near future.

It also appears that returns are good. East African exits by private equity investors currently stand at 25 per cent, according to a recent I&M Burbidge Capital/EAVCA report, while start-ups in Nigeria have attracted more than US$110.9m of investment in H1 2019. The listing of Jumia, the largest e-commerce operator in Africa which floated on the New York Stock Exchange on a US$1bn ticket earlier this year, …