Browsing: Malawi

• They will also receive comprehensive mentorship and coaching as part of a 12-month accelerator program.
• This year’s focus was on female-owned enterprises pioneering Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, virtual reality, robotics, IoT among others.
• The winning ventures, led by women from across Africa, focus on sectors affected by climate change.

African enterprises have triumphed in the 2023 YouthAdapt challenge, with eight dynamic women-led businesses securing victory. Each of these enterprises is set to receive grant funding of up to $100,000.

They will also receive a comprehensive mentorship and coaching as part of a 12-month accelerator program. Since its launch in 2021, the YouthADAPT initiative has provided more than $5 million to 33 young entrepreneurs from 19 African nations.

Jointly organised by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the Global Center on Adaptation, supported by the Africa Climate Change Fund, YouthADAPT is …

• Kenya’s Bluewave Insurance Agency has announced plans to raise $6 million to expand into five new African markets to increase insurance penetration in markets characterized by low uptake.
• Company Founder and CEO Adelaide Odhiambo says the investment would be raised over the next three years.
• The insurer is partnering with Mobile Network Operators and banks to distribute affordable micro-insurance products, with plans to enter Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi, DRC, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Zambia.

Kenya’s Bluewave Insurance Agency has announced plans to raise $6 million as the firm seeks to expand into five new African markets, aiming to increase insurance penetration in regions characterized by low uptake. Adelaide Odhiambo, Founder and CEO of Bluewave Insurance Agency, stated that the investment would be raised over the next three years to support the expansion plans.

Bluewave Insurance Agency’s new target markets

The company has forged partnerships with large aggregators, specifically Mobile Network Operators …

The Vodafone Foundation has set aside $6 million to extend the successful m-mama maternal health initiative to Malawi over the next five years. This expansion aims to enhance maternal and newborn healthcare access in Malawi and the region. Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Estimates show that the country currently records 5.7 maternal deaths per 1,000 live births.…

• Commodity exchanges are organized marketplaces that facilitate the trading of agricultural commodities such as grains, livestock, and even precious metals.
• These exchanges provide a structured environment for buyers and sellers to come together and exchange commodities based on standardized contracts.
• In Southern Africa, these exchanges have taken on a transformative role in empowering farmers and bolstering the agricultural sector.

Southern Africa’s agriculture is marked by its rich diversity of crops and products. According to International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD), agriculture is the largest sector in the East and Southern Africa region, employing 65 per cent of Africa’s labour force and accounting for over 30 per cent of the region’s GDP.

But it’s not without its hurdles. Smallholder farmers, who constitute a substantial portion of the agricultural workforce, often grapple with unpredictable market prices. They also suffer from limited access to credit, and inadequate information on market trends.

Additionally, the …

• Price of staples goes up 300 percent compared to the same time last year.
• UNICEF estimates more than 4.8 million children are in dire humanitarian need.
• Over 500 000 people displaced 

The social and economic impact of tropical cyclone Freddy on Malawi continues to worsen as inflation kicks in on all staple foods.

While recovery efforts are ongoing, Malawi is now under high pressure to stabilize food prices. It is now over ten days since the South-Eastern African country was hit by what is considered the worst-known tropical cycle to ever occur anywhere in the world.

“Very intense Tropical Cyclone Freddy was an exceptionally long-lived, powerful, and deadly storm that traversed the southern Indian Ocean for more than five weeks in February and March 2023. Freddy is both the longest-lasting and highest-ACE-producing tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide,” reports the World Food Programme (WFP).

The report cites 1,078mm of rain fell …

• EU insists it has not put sanctions on food and fertilizers from Russia
• Malawi receives the first consignment of 20,000 tonnes of Russian fertilizers
• The EU, UN might consider releasing more fertilizers and food embargoed at European ports to Africa

The EU insists that food and fertilizer are not part of the sanctions it has imposed on Russia due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, yet the global supply of much-needed fertilizer is in short supply which begs the question; is Russia hoarding fertiliser supplies?

While the EU says it is not to blame, Russia says it is the Western sanctions that are causing the decrease in fertilizer exports. It only makes sense that Russia would hold back fertilizers to increase its own domestic food production in the face of future uncertainties in the still very volatile situation.

The sanctions on other sectors of Russia’s economy are spiralling to the …

Medical marijuana may very well be the agri-business that Africa needs to get its economies high in the global multi-billion agro-industry.

Already, Africa’s marijuana production is on the rise.

According to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) medical marijuana dispensary sales totalled US$11.5 million in just under one month. Other than the sales, OMMA also says in that same time, between January and February of 2019, it also raised more than US$3 million in taxes alone.

The following month, approximately US$873,361 came from the 7% gross receipts tax and US$1.3 from the 4.5% state sales tax.

Since OMMA began accepting applications for medical marijuana licensing, the state says it has pocketed well over US$7.1 million inpatient license fees and more than US$11 million in revenue generated in commercial license fees.

That is just one state. Consider how much the entire US has made from medical marijuana as a country. Worldwide, …

The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Acupuncture Centre at the Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, has started training on TCM and acupuncture for the first batch of local health workers to meet the growing demand for Chinese medicine in the country.

According to Xinhua, the centre was established in 2020 as part of efforts to offer Zimbabweans affordable medical treatment and has in recent months seen a multitude of patients seeking medical attention free of charge

Zhu Wei, a TCM doctor and chief of the centre, said the three-month program aims to train a group of local health professionals who can provide an alternative medical option to Zimbabweans.…

• Tropical storm Ana in January 2022 affected 180,869 people, injured 207 people, killed at least 38 people and flooded a total of 70,982 hectares of land.
• In two weeks, Madagascar, the most cyclone exposed country in Africa, experienced both Ana and Batsirai cyclones.
• The strength of Cyclone Batsirai could increase and spread to other countries in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Several cyclones, from Cyclone Ana, Batsirai, Idai, Eloise, Kenneth and Tropical Storm Chalane, have tormented the southern part of the African continent – from South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
A cyclone is a tropical storm with heavy winds rotating inwards to an area of low pressure. An anticlockwise circulation occurs in the northern hemisphere, while a clockwise circulation happens in the southern hemisphere.
The frequent occurrence of these storms indicates the heightening effects of climate change in the southern region of Africa and the world at large. …

Ending LF Elephantiasis as a public health problem in the three nations would make them the first cluster of countries in Africa to achieve the breakthrough.
This, following the announcement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in January 2020 that Malawi had eliminated the disease as the second country in Africa, after Togo in 2017.
Elephantiasis is a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) which causes swelling and disfigurement and has left thousands of East Africans permanently disabled.…