Browsing: Kenya

The financial sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has not been one of the most sought after in the continent. The DRC has 18 banks, five of which are local, four pan-African and nine foreign. The DRC’s ratio of bank assets to GDP at 7% lags regional peers, while only 7% of the population holds a bank account.

Similar to steps taken in markets such as Zambia and Ghana, the Central Bank of Congo (BCC) has directed that all banks must raise their minimum capital to $50 million by the end of 2020. Banks have a number of options, to sell and exit, to merge, to raise capital or to step down the regulatory hierarchy to be a non-bank lender or microfinance institution.

It is such a move that is seeing foreign banks seeking new partnerships and ventures to help them remain in business.

Dutch entrepreneurial development bank …

Slawek Muturi has seen all of it. He has been to each UN-recognized country at least twice, joining a group of just a handful individuals to achieve this fete, and now plans to be the only person to have visited all the 193 countries in a single year when he embarks on his global tour in 2021.

Born in Poland to a Kenyan father and Polish mother, Muturi has carried the country of his father close to his heart. So much has been the love that in several instances, he singlehandedly negotiated trade deals between Poland and Kenya and boosted tourist numbers significantly.

It all started on a chilly October morning of 2004. Though Muturi had grown and schooled in Kenyan schools including Kenyatta Mwatate, Alliance High School and prestigious St Mary School, he had not reached a level where he would interact with senior government officials.

On this October, …

Smile Train Vice President and Regional Director for Africa Dr. Esther Njoroge-Muriithi has been selected to serve as an Advisory Group Member for the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CSEM) for UHC2030.

Dr. Njoroge-Muriithi has represented Smile Train on several Civil Society Organization (CSO) platforms and events including the G4 Alliance, CORE Group and UNGA73 side events advocating for Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The CSEM is a growing global civil society movement with over 1000 members from more than 850 organizations in 100+ countries. Membership in the CSEM is open to all civil society representatives advancing health, financing and governance agendas that relate to achieving UHC.

As a member of the Advisory Group, she will help strengthen a broad and inclusive UHC movement, which aims to influence policy design and implementation and facilitate citizen-led accountability. Her voice will join other strong CSO voices to contribute significantly to UHC2030, ensuring systematic attention …

Chubb, the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company has made a $10 million equity investment in the Kenyan based African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI). Chubb is the first global property and casualty insurance company to become a shareholder in Africa’s leading multilateral political risk and credit insurer.

Chubb has operations in 54 countries and territories. The company, which is AA rated by Standard & Poor’s, is a leading underwriter of political risk insurance and reinsurance through two of its businesses, Sovereign Risk, a specialty underwriter based in Bermuda, and Chubb Global Markets, its London market division.

ATI supports trade and investment in African member states by providing comprehensive risk solutions, such as political risk and credit insurance products. Headquartered in Nairobi, ATI is Africa’s leading multilateral political risk and credit insurer (rated A/Stable S&P and A3/Stable Moody’s).

ATI currently counts 16 African nations and 10 …

Serena Hotels and Resort, a leading global hospitality brands with prominence in East Africa has partnered with a Forbes feted travel-tech company INTELITY to launch a mobile app to promote easy bookings.

The upscale hospitality brand, best known for its unique collection of luxury hotels, resorts, and safari lodges within East Africa, Mozambique, and Asia, will partner with INTELITY to build a custom, richly branded mobile experience for their guests.

Serena Hotels’ new brand app will enable guests to book and manage reservations, check-in (and out), and download a mobile room key directly to their smartphone. Additionally, the app will support service requests, mobile dining orders, messaging with staff, and local and property information, while easy access to amenities will simplify the booking process for spa, dining, and tours. From an operations perspective, INTELITY’s staff-facing dashboard collects and streamlines workflows, tracks all activity, and offers real-time operational insights with built-in …

The East African Community has for long earmarked the linking of partner countries through roads. One of this link is the link road that connects the coastal towns of Mombasa and Tanga, touching the lives of thousands of commuters and transporting goods and services worth millions.

Recently, the EAC announced that it has increased its funding for key projects from various donors among the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), which has now approved this project.

The Bank’s support for the Mombasa-Lunga Lunga/Horohoro and Tanga-Pangani-Bagamoyo roads Phase I, is in the form of African Development Bank and African Development Fund loans and represents 78.5% of the total €399.7 million project cost.  The European Union contributed a grant of €30 million, 7.7% of the total project cost, to the government of Kenya.

The road is a key component of the East African transport corridors network, connecting Kenya and Tanzania. Producers, manufacturers and traders …

M-KOPA, the Kenyan pay-as-you-go solar company has this week completed the rollout in Kenya of its new fridges to all 65 its retail outlets. It is available as part of the company’s M-KOPA MK6500 system, with daily payments of only KSh 165.

This ground-breaking 100L fridge was developed specifically for Africa in partnership with   Embraco Nidec, a global cooling brand and part of Nidec Global Appliance. It won the Unit Cost Affordability Prize in the 2019 Global Leap Awards for off-grid appliances.

The Younma-branded fridge features Embraco’s innovative DC compressor, which provides lower starting power and greater energy efficiency, compared to a traditional model. It was developed with support from Shell Foundation in partnership with UKAID and USAID.

M-KOPA Customer, Esther Mutua says “Before I got the fridge, I was selling one [drinks] crate per week, but now, because I have a fridge, I sell two or three more crates …

Kenya is expected to host several leaders of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) during the 9^th ACP Summit of Heads of State and Government. The Summit is themed “A Transformed ACP: Committed to Multilateralism” and will be preceded by Ministerial Sessions from 6 to 8 December at the same venue.

The Summit comes at a time when ACP Group prepares to finalize the Post-Cotonou negotiations as well as the revision to its Constitutive Act, the Georgetown Agreement. At the 110^th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers which will precede the Summit, Ministers will appoint the next Secretary-General for the term 2020 to 2025. The tenure of the current Senior Management Team expires on 28 February 2020.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is an organization created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975 and brings together Africa, Pacific islands and Caribbean countries into one …

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has underscored the need for East African Community member states and the wider region to nurture peace and unity, saying colonial boundaries should not divide people.

The President said the region stands to achieve faster development if its people work together in peace and harmony.

READ ALSO:EAC countries rank among world’s rising stars of global trade

“We need to live together as brothers and sisters and respect all communities in the region,” the President said.

The President was speaking at State House, Nairobi, during a meeting with King Abdile Wabar Abdi, the Ethiopian-based traditional leader of the Degodia community found in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti.

King Abdi, who was accompanied by a huge delegation of members of the Degodia community from Kenya and Ethiopia, delivered a message of peace and unity to the President.

President Kenyatta said cultural diplomacy should be used as a …

The East African Community has marked its 20^th Anniversary with pomp and fanfare at its Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

This comes as the community mulls over the inclusion of The Democratic Republic of Congo into the community, which would not only give the community a major population rise but also a coast to coast linking both the East African coast and the West African coast. Though the considerations are yet to be approved, policy analysts believe this move is a matter of when not if. However, there is still contention on whether to include the East most country, Somalia which has also expressed interest.

Uganda’s 2^nd Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for EAC Affairs, Hon. Dr. Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, who presided over the anniversary celebration, said that EAC Partner States would not repeat the mistake of the past that led to the collapse of the first Community.

Dr. …