Browsing: Uganda

Uganda road toll fees to start in January 2020 on the Chinese-funded  51 kilometre Entebbe Expressway in Uganda.

The government of Uganda seeks to raise money to finance public infrastructure projects through toll fees.

Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) is to start charging fees for the Kampala – Entebbe expressway that links the capital Kampala with the Entebbe international airport. This is following the enactment of the new road act that was passed by the Ugandan parliament.

Allen Kagina the executive director UNRA said the authority has already started on the process to procure an operator and by January 2020 they will start collecting the toll fees.

The expressway has been free to use since it was opened to traffic in June last year. Lack of tolling equipment and an operator caused the delay.

Ms Kagina said that reports show an increase in traffic on the road with the increase …

Ugandan Asians fear expulsion as MPs dig into properties that were left behind in 1972 after the first expulsion.

A section of Ugandans of Asian origin says that with the parliamentary looking into the management and status of properties left in 1972, they fear it is likely to result in a second expulsion.

They believe that it is “targeting individuals” instead of dealing with the real problem of the properties.

A selected task force of the parliamentary on Commission Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) committee is investigating members of the Association of Expropriated Properties Owners’ Limited on the matter.

The members say that it is only President Yoweri Museveni who can save the image of the country by stopping what they are calling “rewriting Amin’s history”

Mr Mohammad Allibhai, the association’s chair said, “The way the Cosase is handling this matter based on a whistleblower shows that we the …

An Austrian company Technik-Plus has developed a cutting-edge Carbon Farming-technology in their Impuls-Centre in Mureck, Southern Austria,  for sustainable and gently mechanized farming with a strong commitment to conservation and environmental sustainability and a special focus on African agriculture.

The company has been making inroads in several countries in Africa with significant sales in South Africa, Uganda, Gambia and Morocco. They are in talks with farmer’s organizations in Kenya and Nigeria with a targeted niche in semi-arid agriculture in many African nations.

The Austrian company says it has sales contacts in all 55 African countries and is looking at possibly developing local license assembly in specific countries for their tractors, which is expected to create local jobs and makes it a 50% African product.

Beside their pneumatic air seeders, the company also construct “exhaust-farming” systems, which means, they blow the carbon emissions of the tractor’s exhaust pipe back into the …

Sub-Saharan African clothing and footwear market is worth $31 billion US dollars and growing. In a series of articles about the industry in Sub Sahara Africa, we will explore the policies, trade and the budding creative fashion industry in the region. This is the second part of the series where we focus on the raw material for the textile industry.

Read the first of our series:  Africa Fashionomics: Making sense of the $31 Billion industry

Kenya has taken years to review and establish a commercially viable production of a variety of cotton laced with foreign genes from the naturally occurring bacterium Bacillus thurigensis. By the start of the year, the government announced it was ready to go full commercial in production of this variety to push the availability of raw materials.

It is highly expected that adoption and commercialization of Bt cotton will revitalize the textile industry and by extension …

African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), one of Africa’s largest and most experienced infrastructure-focused private equity fund managers, has announced the final close of its flagship pan-African infrastructure fund, AIIF3, which raised US$320mn from a diverse investor base across Africa, Europe and Asia.

Since inception, AIIM has raised cumulative commitments of US$2.2bn over 7 funds and executed more than 56 transactions in target pan-African markets.

With a focus on diversification and predictable cash flows, AIIF3 targets significant influence investments across the power, transport and midstream energy sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa – areas with the biggest disconnect between demand for critical infrastructure and supply of available capital.

The Fund focuses on mid-market opportunities in these sectors, a space which is less competitive and carries less execution risk than the larger marque deals; gaining exposure to opportunities in countries with high growth prospects but lacking the scale to support mega deals.

A key …

Jervois has completed its merger with eCobalt after receiving eCobalt’s nod from its Canadian shareholders and Supreme Court of British Columbia approvals. According to a joint announcement, following the successful completion of the Arrangement, all conditions precedent have been met and settlement of the A$16.5 million equity placement in Jervois has occurred.

The expanded company has projects in Australia, East Africa, and the US, including eCobalt’s Idaho Cobalt project, which boasts the highest combination of cobalt grade and scale in North America.

The acquisition of M2 Cobalt gave Jervois an entry into Uganda, complementing its East African strategy looking at opportunities around the historic Kilembe mine and Kasese cobalt refinery.

Idaho Cobalt Project has been renamed Idaho Cobalt Operations (“ICO”) to reflect its advanced stage of development and Jervois’s intention to transform the site into a mining operation. The site has had an estimated US$100 million invested to date in …

Software Group, a global software company that provides digital financial solutions with African operations run from Kenya, has appointed Mr. Connor Hanan to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, it currently serves a worldwide client base in more than 70 countries from 9 regional offices located in Australia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Hanan was the company’s Key Global Accounts Manager. He has had a successful career focused on financial services specific to affordable shelter in developing contexts. Within this sector he helped establish operations, Small Businesses and partnerships across roughly 35 markets in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Mr. Hanan has over 11 years of experience with FSPs, client-focused product design, and market analysis, a seasoned professional in Investor/Client Relations, as a Program/Project manager, and as a Director of …

Pan-African connectivity provider, BringCom, in partnership with science and technology investor, Imprimatur Capital, and European edge cloud software company, GIG Technology, have launched a cloud sovereignty system – afriQloud.

Launched in Uganda, afriQloud will provide, at internationally competitive rates, local and foreign customers with an innovative and secure distributed edge cloud service.

The aim of afriQloud is to have the Edge Cloud installed in cities and tech hub ecosystems which hosts a high number of startups and developers. Now present and operational in Uganda, afriQloud will be spreading its services further into the different regions of Africa this year.

Hans van Linschoten, founding partner of Imprimatur Capital Africa and CEO of afriQloud says,  “We see significant potential in the growing African cloud market where an estimated $2 billion is being spent in cloud this year, and we’re excited to bring this service to the continent. By the end of 2019 …

Pan-African telecoms enabler SEACOM has further extend its corporate market offering into the East African region, under its Seacom Business brand, by providing its industry-leading Internet connectivity and cloud services directly to corporate customers in Uganda.

SEACOM has been a leading data connectivity provider in Uganda enabling access though the service provider segment.

READ ALSO:SEACOM and Microsoft to boost connectivity in Kenya

It is now bolstering its presence in Kampala by expanding its enterprise reach and will now be able to provide corporate organisations in Uganda with reliable data connectivity and cloud services.

SEACOM will provide a corporate-grade consistent service quality by leveraging its existing high-speed fiber-based network infrastructure that extends from Kampala onto its diverse subsea international backbone.

Speaking during the launch, SEACOM’s Managing Director for the Eastern North and East Africa region, Tonny Tugee, said the new development is part of the telecoms provider’s plan to strengthen …

In Kiambu, on the outskirts of Nairobi, it is not uncommon to find new residential estates coming up replacing coffee estates. Coffee was the mainstay of economies in the central Kenya region for decades, before more lucrative real estate prospects knocked door to provide homes for a burgeoning Nairobi population.

But this is more than quick returns for land owners. Coffee returns have been dwindling for the last three decades. Initially, the poor prices were blames on government policies to subdue a region that was clearly opposed to the government of the day. Then the global slump on coffee prices hit the region and farmers failed to see the need of keeping the bushes where returns were minimal. But also, there was local mismanagement of coffee farmers’ cooperatives and recently climate change and coffee theft that has brought the once important crop to its knees.

But this did not just …