Browsing: Rwanda

On the slopes of the Usambara ranges on the Eastern region of Tanzania, lays the Usambara forests sprawled across miles and miles of undulating old fold mountains.

Under this thick canopy, walks Juma, 45 yr old farmer and his daughter Halima, 15 and in secondary school.

As they regularly do, they have in hand several tools and containers, as they approach a clearing, we find out why they are here, and what the equipment in hand is for. The distant humming alerts us to the beehives up ahead and when Juma adorns his netted face guarding mask, transforming into some kind of astro-peasant, it is clear he is a beekeeper and it is time to harvest honey.

In Tanzania beekeeping is estimated to generate about USD 1.7 million each year from sales of honey and beeswax alone. And in rural Tanzania, it employs about 2 million farmers like Juma and …

Zimbabwe’s education sector is highly regarded worldwide and as far back as 2011, the country had a 97 per cent literacy rate of people above the age of 15.

The difficult economic times in Zimbabwe have meant that there is little to nothing in terms of opportunities for Zimbabwean professional talent in general with teachers and healthcare workers specifically involved in engagements with the government over better working conditions.

These engagements have often turned acrimonious with devastating and unfortunate consequences. In a very strange turn of events, the government is said to have offered striking medical and healthcare workers access to free Wi-Fi internet as an incentive for them to come back to work.…

• EIB has committed EUR 95 million to support companies that were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda
• Bank of Kigali and KCB Bank Rwanda have been picked to manage the funds

The European Investment Bank has announced that it will support companies that were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda, to a tune of EUR 95 million.

In a statement, the bank said it had picked Bank of Kigali (BK) and KCB Bank Rwanda to manage the funds, as well as provide new credit lines for Rwandan companies.

Commenting on the development, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Uzziel Ndagijimana welcomed EIB’s latest private sector engagement in Rwanda and the launch of its EUR 175 million East Africa COVID-19 Response Facility in the country.

Rwanda becomes the first country in East Africa to benefit from the new streamlined financing programme that will provide long term …

Deposits formed the bedrock of the source of funding for assets, notwithstanding impacts associated with the pandemic, DT-Saccos were still able to mobilize deposits at a near similar rate as the growth in their assets’ portfolios.
Gross loans increased by 13.16 per cent in 2020 to Kshs 474.77 B compared to Kshs 419.55 B of 2019.
Net loans and advances increased markedly by 12.60 per cent to reach Kshs 450.58 B in 2020, compared to Kshs 400.16 B in the previous year.…

In most OECD countries, commercialization of research and innovation is very commonplace and is a foundation to establish national, region and global tech and industrial titans.
Where is Africa with this strategy? And, how can Africa engage and attract its diaspora professionals to scale ground breaking research innovations that can scale and solve local problems?
Furthermore, these African researchers work on projects that have the potential to impact Africa and mankind. Think about all the lifesaving medications we take every day, yes, an African researcher may have research or an innovation in Life Science that could save thousands or even millions of lives per year. In tropic Africa, we have the largest biodiversity in the world – can an enzyme from a plant with the help from the latest Artificial Intelligence, come up with the next billion-dollar drug?…

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 …

Looking at the bigger picture, speculations are that the milk and milk product levies and taxes are designed to lure Uganda to choose favourably towards other trade issues that are pending.

As local Ugandan media puts it; “Uganda maintains that if there are issues that need to be addressed, they can be handled through bilateral arrangements or the regional trade agreements within the East African Community instead of using arbitrary means such as high taxes.”

Squeezing Uganda to act in its favour, Kenya has also imposed what Uganda is terming ‘a restriction to Ugandan diary products since January 2020.’ Notably, Kenya is Uganda’s largest milk trading partner in the region, yet for over an year now, Kenya has maintained restrictions on Ugandan milk products despite the East African Community (EAC) common market protocol.…