Over 2,500 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya have received training on expanding their digital presence courtesy of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). The KEPSA E-commerce Booster Program was launched in February this year with a target of training 2,000 MSMEs. According to the Alliance, the enterprises have been trained on introduction to e-commerce, digital marketing, aftersales, content creation and management. Of the figure, 1300 businesses were on-boarded onto various ecommerce marketplaces to increase and diversify their revenue streams hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic. The MSMEs targeted by the program were struggling with their digital brand presence with majority of them reporting they were either unaware of missed opportunities or did not have a digital brand strategy. “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause disruptions in global and regional value chains, it is clear that e-commerce is an important tool and solution for both businesses and consumers,” KEPSA said in a statement. The Alliance says it conducted the program owing to the fact that e-commerce can support small businesses in reducing their costs and effectively reaching their customers. E-commerce is also an economic driver for both domestic growth and international trade that makes economies more competitive. KEPSA reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has occasioned a spike in business-to-consumers (B2C) online sales and an increase in Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce. According to the Alliance, the increase in B2C sales is particularly evident in online sales of medical supplies, household essentials and food products. As a result, attention has been...

Summary Kenyan vegetable and cut flower producers are set to access the British market more efficiently and cheaply. The UK, which voted to leave the 27-member economic bloc in 2016, formally left the bloc on January 31, 2020. TIP is the first digital trade corridor to be established between the UK and a developing country since the UK's exit from the EU. Kenyan vegetable and cut flower producers are set to access the British market more efficiently and cheaply, following a plan to eliminate paperwork in trade between the two countries with long-standing historical ties. The plan, which is still under discussion, is set to make Kenyan exports to the United Kingdom market more competitive, just seven months after the two countries signed an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) in London in December 2020, ensuring continuity of their trade relations after the British government voted to exit the European Union (EU). The UK, which voted to leave the 27-member economic bloc in 2016, formally left the bloc on January 31, 2020, with a transitional period of up to December 31, 2020, to negotiate new trade agreements with countries it was trading with under the EU terms. The Kenya-UK EPA allows Kenyan products unfettered access to the British market, free of duty and quota restrictions. On Monday, July 26, Kenyan-based non-profit making organisation TradeMark Africa (TMA), and the UK-based Institute of Export and International Trade ((IOE&IT), signed a memorandum of understanding providing a framework for collaboration in the implementation of a digital...

The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab today (27 July) welcomed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to Mansion House in London to announce £132 million of new UK investment in Kenya. He also launched the Nairobi International Financial Centre, and its formal partnership with the City of London. At the start of a three-day visit to the UK to co-host the Global Education Summit with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President Kenyatta witnessed the signing of a new memorandum of understanding between TheCityUK and the Nairobi International Financial Centre Authority, establishing a formal partnership, including closer collaboration with the London Stock Exchange. This will help to channel international investment into Kenya and the wider region, making sure firms and investors are able to make the most of trade and investment opportunities. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: This £132 million package of new UK-Kenya deals from the UK government and British firms will support investment in the region, including building new green affordable homes, connecting households to clean energy, and boosting manufacturing. This package of investments will create new jobs and unlock new opportunities for UK and Kenyan businesses by strengthening the relationship between Nairobi and the City of London. British insurer Prudential intends to be the first firm to set up in Nairobi’s new International Financial Centre, while Kenyan mining company Mayflower Gold announced plans to dual list its shares on both the London and Nairobi Stock Exchanges in a deal worth £14 million. Prudential PLC Chair Shriti Vadera said: Africa is an important...

Rwanda and Tanzania have moved to expand their bilateral ties to new horizons, further consolidating the historical cooperation between the two neighbours. The two countries signed four fresh agreements Monday, August 2, on Day I of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s first visit to Rwanda since she assumed office earlier this year. The new pacts in the areas of ICT, education, healthcare and immigration add to the already existing bilateral agreements in other sectors such as infrastructure. Hassan became the first Tanzanian female president in March 2021 and has since visited all four East African Community partner states that share a border with her country, signalling a desire to work closely with the rest of the region to promote trade and cooperation. Now, Tanzania is not only a key trading partner of Rwanda, but its port of Dar-es-Salaam is the gateway for some 90 per cent of Rwanda’s imports and exports. But the two countries are also jointly implementing critical projects such as the highly-awaited Standard Gauge Railway Line between Isaka and Kigali that would connect Rwanda to Dar, and Regional Rusumo Hydroelectric Power Project. The Covid-19 pandemic will have derailed some of these initiatives but President Hassan’s visit should help inject much-needed fresh momentum into different projects and programmes that the two countries have been working on together, whether bilaterally or with other regional countries and partners. From a regional perspective, Tanzania is not only a major player in the central corridor, which serves Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo, among...

Covid-19 pandemic is ravaging economies around the world. We are living in digital revolution where digital technologies are redefining how we live and work. Since the change is inevitable, we must embrace it. When covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March 2020, it sent us all home and forced us and our institutions to change from the way we operate everyday to using digital technologies as a way to stay connected in the face of virus that forced people to be apart, closure of businesses and institutions. The Covid-19 pandemic acted as a wake-up call for people and business to have a plan to stay in operation in case of disruptions. Closure of schools to face-to-face learning forced students and teachers to shift to online learning through zoom, chefs started doing live cooking classes online, companies and institutions moved from offices to video conferencing, families separated due to pandemic started holding holidays, birthdays and funerals and other life’s celebrations via zoom to celebrate and mourn with other family members as a way to avoid social gathering to curb the spread of the virus. Covid 19 has pushed us to digital future and people have embraced the change to new digital reality without many years of training as expected. This adaptation has allowed our economy, education and people to keep going during the pandemic. It is evident that in future most work will be done remotely through technological devices. people and institutions have embraced technology to facilitate remote work. On the...

The East African Community (EAC) on Thursday, July 29, hailed the decision by Kenya to waive the requirement of obtaining a visa to enter Kenya for the citizens of South Sudan holding a valid passport. According to EAC Secretary General, Peter Mathuki, the move was in line with the decision announced by the Chair of the EAC Heads of State, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, during the 21st Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State held on February 27. Mathuki said: “This demonstrates the goodwill among the EAC Heads of State in promoting regional integration and revamping relations, which is set to boost intra-EAC trade." Rwanda and Tanzania are the other members of the bloc that have also waived visa requirements for South Sudanese citizens. According to Manasseh Nshuti, the Minister of State in charge of EAC affairs, the EAC Protocol on common market presumes free movement of people - no visas for EAC citizens - and people can work without permits; "free movement of capital and, of course, free movement of goods and services to take advantage of the 180 million market" in the bloc. "As such, member countries can only abide by the protocols they assent to," Nshuti said. Mathuki also commended South Sudan, which has in the spirit of reciprocity also waived visa requirements for Kenyans, Rwandans and Tanzanians wishing to visit the country. “This is a positive step towards realizing the gains of the Protocol on Establishment of the EAC Common Market and a win for...

The latest Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) report by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) has said Malawi needs new drivers of growth now more than ever to jumpstart economic recovery. The report released last week, says population is growing at roughly three percent a year, meaning that the already densely populated country will likely double its citizenry within a generation. The two institutions argue that an estimated 400,000 Malawians are entering the job market each year and that the economy is not growing at a pace to provide decent work. According to the report, even for those who do find work, most are underemployed. According to the report, the latest government household survey (2020) found that nine out of 10 respondents were engaged in at least some income-generating activity over the survey’s preceding 12-month period. It adds that most of these activities were in temporary, informal farming and fishing work. In urban areas, where farming is more limited, roughly one quarter of all residents reported being unable to find work in the past 12 months. “Only one in 10 Malawians over age 15 has a wage—or salary—paying job. Even those with a tertiary education struggle to find formal employment, with less than two-thirds finding a waged job. These numbers have only worsened since the onset of the pandemic. “Estimates through August 2020 suggested 12 percent of the employed population lost jobs, with those in services and industries in urban areas most heavily affected,” the CPSD report says....

As several countries across Africa continue to be impacted by third and fourth waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest AFRI CONVERSE 2021 dialogue took a closer look at innovative local initiatives and the ongoing international support to bolster the continent’s response to the virus. Approximately 18 months since the outbreak of the pandemic, over 2.5 million people in Africa have been infected and the death toll is in the tens of thousands. A recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study warned that by 2030, approximately eight out of 10 people pushed into poverty due to COVID-19 will live in countries on the lower end of human development, with the heaviest burden falling on Africa. And yet, in spite of the harsh impact of the pandemic on livelihoods, the continent has demonstrated extraordinary resilience across various sectors when compared to the other regions of the world. Opening the fourth instalment of the AFRI CONVERSE dialogue this year, Professor Tomohiko Sugishita, from the Department of International Affairs and Tropical Medicine at the Tokyo Women’s Medical University said, “this session is a wakeup call for us to examine Africa’s ingenuity, productivity and capacity to mitigate the pandemic, as well as determine how we can support such opportunities in building a new future for the continent.” “To boost the efforts taken by our partner countries in Africa and other parts of the world in response to the pandemic, JICA has launched JICA’s Initiative for Global Health and Medicine focusing on treatment, precaution, and...

Survey polled participants of GBF Africa, including traders and investors, and explored their insights on various aspects of investment across the continent. 63% of respondents identified Ghana as the preferred destination for investment, followed by Nigeria (62%). Findings released ahead of the Global Business Forum Africa in October, a high-level event organised by Dubai Chamber and Expo 2020 Dubai. Dubai, UAE: Agriculture has been identified as the most promising sector for  investment in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a survey released by Dubai Chamber. The survey polled participants of previous editions of the Global Business Forum Africa (GBF Africa), including traders and investors, and explored their insights and views on various aspects of investment across the continent. The findings shed light on investment trends in Africa that will be discussed at the forthcoming Global Business Forum Africa (GBF Africa 2021), which is organised by Dubai Chamber and Expo 2020 Dubai. The high-level event will take place October 13-14 at Expo 2020 Dubai under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The survey found that 61% of respondents believed that agriculture represented the most lucrative area for investment in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, followed by telecommunications (45%). In addition, cash was the preferred option for investment among 61% of respondents, followed by commodities (48%), hedge and private equity funds (42%), bonds (32%), stocks (24%), mutual funds (18%) and Exchange Traded Funds (15%). The abundance of natural...

President Paul Kagame on Friday, July 30 said the government has initiated a process to domesticate the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) trade tariffs in the country’s trade laws. Kagame said this while addressing a virtual meeting of the 19th ECCAS Heads of State summit. In bid to operationalise the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Kagame said that the country is going to adopt the proposed preferential tariffs and the elimination of non-tariff barriers within the ECCAS. This comes seven months after African countries started using the Continental Free Trade Area. Kagame regards the process as a step to implement ambitious joint actions to speed up development thanks to the increased stability. “As security and stability in our region continue to improve, the remaining challenges are being addressed through both the ECCAS and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region.” The purpose of the meeting was to discuss solutions to challenges that the region is currently facing. “We will continue working with member states to ensure that the ECCAS commission is fully staffed, resourced, and ready to serve our community,” the Head of State said. ECCAS seeks to establish a customs union by abolishing duties, quotas, prohibitions and administrative obstacles to trade between member states, with a view to adopting, in the long run, a common external tariff system. The ECCAS commission is financed by its 11 member countries, with Rwanda rejoining in 2015 after it pulled out in 2007. To ensure sustainable and balanced development,...