Browsing: Mombasa

• Three startups Twende Green Ecocycle, Oceania Pacesetter, and Eco-Redemptors offered the most effective solutions in tackling Mombasa’s marine plastics problem. 
• Marine plastic waste is the most harmful form of scrap accounting for at least 85 percent of total marine waste.
• The Mombasa Plastics Prize Awards and Celebration by Challenge Works  was  funded by USAID and Global Affairs Canada. 

Three Mombasa-based startups that are helping reduce marine plastic waste have secured $50,000 in prize money for their innovations fighting pollution in the coastal region. 

Twende Green Ecocycle emerged first place receiving $25,298. Twende Green Ecocycle is a social enterprise that promotes sustainable development. It tackles pollution by recycling marine plastic waste from informal settlements into school eco-desks. The startup says it uses advanced recycling technology to turn plastic waste into eco-desks. The start-up’s high-quality school lockable eco-desk are used by students and teachers.

Startups reducing marine plastic waste

Oceania Pacesetter emerged …

Most Kenyans, 83 per cent, indicated a willingness to increase the amount of money they allocate to savings and investments, but the inability to save due to insufficient funds after fulfilling their obligations that require regular funding and the availability of quick digital loans.

Among their obligations which contribute to Kenyans’ financial strain is supporting their extended family which considerably bites into their savings. 84 per cent of people indicated that they regularly provide some income to their extended family, mostly in case of emergencies, because they feel a sense of obligation to send their extended families money and because their extended family members treat them better when they are sent money.

On their part, the extended family members mostly use the money to cater to recurring expenses like food & transport, school fees and medical expenses at 23 per cent, 19 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. Farm-related …

A new report by the Central Bank of Kenya has revealed that bed occupancy in some Kenyan hotels increased to 30 percent in June and July, respectively, from 19 percent in April.

Bed occupancy in hotels in Nairobi and Mombasa counties improved in July, while the occupancy in the rest of the country declined.

The occupancy levels in hotels in Nairobi and Nakuru counties were boosted by the World Rally championship in June.

The report noted that hotels in Nakuru County reported that they were fully booked during this event.

In addition, the end of financial year expenditure by the national and county governments boosted hotels operations in the rest of the country in June.

Hotels in Mombasa reported improved business in July 2021, mainly attributed to the July school holiday and the high season for tourists.

Consistent with the improved level of bed occupancy, the utilization of restaurant services …

The East Africa Tea Trade Association, the organization that runs the famed Mombasa tea auction has announced that it was postponing indefinitely the planned auction of regional teas, sending the industry into chaos.

With the suspension, 600,000 small-scale farmers and employees. of factories across the region will not be processing tea leaves unless those destined for alternative markets rather than the Mombasa auction.

The postponement comes amid reports that key buyers have failed to turn up for trade at the auction resulting in massive price drops.

“Further developments have come to light with respect to the spread of COVID-19 virus. It is due to this that the East African Tea Trade Association has taken the decision to postpone auction-12, the secondary auction of Monday 23rd and Primary auction of Tuesday 24th April,” noted a statement by Edward Mudibo, the Managing director of EATTA.

According to the figures from the auction, …

Returning from a global legal onslaught, Chinese owned Opera has moved on to solidify its hold of Africa with the installation of new servers in Mombasa which it says makes browsing four times faster.

The browser with more than 350 million monthly active users has faced legal tackles mainly from US and Europe on how it handles app-based loans. Google play also announced that it will take measures against the company based on how it runs Okash, an online money lending app.

Opera has announced the successful installation of its new local servers in Mombasa, Kenya, through iColo.io MBA1 data center facility which has helped increase the browsing speed significantly. The company said its new server was saving a total of 4400 hours of time waiting for webpages to load.

These servers significantly increase browsing speed up to four times faster than before, meaning that millions of Kenyans who …

Every month, Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway moves an average of 200 cargo trains from the coastal city of Mombasa to Nairobi’s inland container depot. With it, it moves at least 1,000 containers to Nairobi. This has left a bitter taste among residents of Mombasa, who have over the years depended on the undertakings around the port for jobs.

SGR, which has been billed as the biggest transport infrastructure project in the Kenya’s history, is expected to haul about nine million tonnes of cargo to make a profit of Sh5.08 billion a year, averaging Sh424 million per month, compared with 990,488 tonnes carried in the first year when SGR made a loss of Sh10 billion.

The SGR has so far made Sh10.9 billion from cargo and passenger business since it started operating, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ economic indicators report released in December 2018.

The cracks on the …

Raphael created a solution that uses technology to detect objects within eight meters of the user. Once the object is detected, the device uses haptic feedback, or vibrations, as well as audio feedback to alert the user.…

Bottlenecks to the completing of the planned Trans African Highway include difficult terrain and climate conditions, inadequate funding for Road maintenance and upgrades as well as insecurity due to civil conflicts that have damaged roads that now require reconstruction.

There is a new-found political will and High-level commitments by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda to develop and upgrade the Northern Corridor Road Sections  of their country of the Trans-African Highway (TAH) Network No 8 from Lagos, Nigeria to Mombasa that is expected to open the whole of Africa to interstate trade.

Uganda and DR Congo are already working to fix the gaps of the northern corridor in Mbarara-Bushenyi-Kikorongo-Mpondwe-Kasindi-Beni-Komanda-Kisangani  which measures 940Km.

Bottlenecks to the completing of the planned TAH include difficult terrain and climate conditions, inadequate funding for Road maintenance and upgrades as well as insecurity due to civil conflicts that have damaged roads that now require …