For the first time, Africans need visas to travel to less than half of other African countries, the report finds. A record 87% of African countries either improved or maintained their score, an increase of 9 points from 2018. The biggest improvements were made by Ethiopia, which moved up 32 places to join the top 20 in terms of openness, mirroring the country’s progress in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index. Senegal’s move to introduce visas on arrival for some African countries and removing visas required before travel pushed it up into the top 10. Yet the freedom of movement that will be needed to make the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) a success remains a work in progress. Africa’s infrastructure deficit was a central theme at the AIF, which highlighted the need to attract investment into large-scale railway and road projects. Such projects will both require and further stimulate the free movement of people. Only two African countries, Seychelles and Benin, offer visa-free access to all Africans. Higher income African countries are among the laggards. Seven out of eight of Africa’s upper-middle income economies have low visa openness scores, the report finds. Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Cameroon remain near the bottom of the table. Trust deficit The absence of the protocol for free movement of persons was a notable omission from the agenda at the African Union Summit in Niger in July, according to a paper by Mehari Taddele Maru of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute in Florence. The AfCFTA was launched at...

With its first dry port, Rwanda is looking to create a gateway of trade to Kenya, Tanzania, and beyond, sparking interregional trade across the continent. Source: Marketplace Africa

First international digital road freight platform to be launched in the continent; Provides shippers and carriers a one-stop platform for road freight connections for domestic shipments within South Africa and international movements to several neighbouring countries; Further expansion to connect shippers and carriers within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is planned for early 2020. Digital freight forwarder Saloodo! a subsidiary of DHL Global Forwarding, the leading international provider of air, sea and road freight services, today launched its digital logistics platform for shippers and transport providers in South Africa, bringing the first digital road freight solution to the region. An efficient road freight network is a key conduit of trade within a geographically wide-spread country such as South Africa but also with 16 landlocked countries within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, much of the region’s road freight operations remain fragmented and highly traditional, missing out on the visibility, efficiency and security that logistics technology offers. “Digital transformation is a top priority for the industry and given the demographics, we expect demand for digital transformation to be driven by emerging markets globally,” said Tobias Maier, CEO of Saloodo! Middle East and Africa. “Africa is the world’s youngest continent with 60% of the continent below 25. This is a dynamic generation of digitally-minded young adults, demanding smart, digital solutions both on the business and home front.” With South Africa as its launch pad into Sub-Saharan Africa, Saloodo! is the first digital logistics platform available in the region that offers a single, simple and reliable interface...

Growing momentum behind regional integration, economic reforms, technological advances and infrastructure development are among the key factors fuelling business growth in sub-Sahara Africa, said a new whitepaper released by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The report, entitled “Promise and Perils: Scaling up businesses in sub-Sahara Africa”, was issued ahead of GBF Africa 2019 in Dubai. The findings shed light on the current business climate in sub-Sahara Africa and examined attractive business prospects offering the most potential for investors in the UAE and wider GCC region. Key growth drivers The report highlighted the importance of regional integration initiatives such as the East Africa Economic Community, Single African Air Transport Market and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in removing trade barriers and driving business exchange. The AfCFTA is expected to liberalising trade and investment policies and ease easing operational challenges related to international money transfers and payments. Combined, these allow African SMEs to expand operations across markets, creating attractive opportunities for investors too. Expanding telecommunications networks are facilitating the growth of internet connectivity, mobile money and new digital services that build on it. Mobile money, which facilitates money transfers and payments, is also a growth enabler as it moves into business lending. Improved internet connectivity is expected to drive the next wave of technological innovation, enabling companies to develop new, digital services for consumers on the continent. By 2025, 3G mobile network coverage is expected to account for 60% of the mobile...

Women still lag behind in Kenya’s corporate sector management with only 22 per cent representation in the managerial positions, a report on gender equality in the workplace shows. Further, no company has achieved a gender balance at all four levels, that is, board, executive, senior management and general workforce. In totality, women account for 23 per cent of board members up from 21 percent in 2017. According to The Gender Equality In the Workplace Report jointly prepared by the NSE, Equileap and New Faces New Voices and launched on November 13 in Nairobi, of the 60 firms listed on the National Securities Exchange, only seven were headed by women. The report looks into four parameters in ranking the firms, that is, commitment, transparency and accountability, gender balance in leadership and workforce, equal compensation as well as work-life balance, policies promoting gender equality. Of the 60 firms surveyed, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya led with a score of 63 per cent while Nairobi Business Ventures closed the list with a 3 per cent score. Diana van Maasdijk, chief executive officer of Equileap said a firm that scored above 40 per cent was considered to be performing better in enhancing gender equality values at the workplace. Overall, average score for the the Kenyan companies is 26 per cent which is comparable to the Canadian companies’ average score of 27 per cent, the report shows. “This score is an indication that there is room for improvement in gender equality in the workplace,” the partners indicated in...

The value of intra-trade among East African Community partner states increased to $5.98 billion in 2018 from $5.46 billion in 2017, accounting for a 9.4 per cent growth. This comes as member countries opted to trade with each other in the wake of falling demand for the region’s agricultural products in the US and the rest of the world. The East African Community Trade and Investment Report (2018) shows that all EAC member states save for Burundi recorded growth in trade with their regional counterparts. The report prepared by the EAC Secretariat shows that Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Kenya’s combined exports to the EAC and Southern African Development Community regions amounted to $3.1 billion and $1.9 billion in 2018 respectively. This shows, however, the growth in intra-EAC trade slowed down to 9.4 per cent last year compared with 24.8 per cent in 2017. The positive trend signals the importance of intra-EAC trade that has been stifled by persistent trade disputes on rules of origin, non-tariff barriers, inadequate value addition to the agricultural sector and competition from other producers and regional blocs that benefit from export subsidies. In 2015 and 2016, intra-EAC trade was in the negative territory. Burundi’s total trade with other EAC partner states fell by 11 per cent to $150.9 million in 2018, from $162.6 million in 2017. Kenya’s total trade with EAC partner states increased by 4.7 per cent to $1.95 billion in 2018 from $1.86 billion in 2017, mainly on account of increased total trade...

The ambitious expansion plan of 2012 has made the Port of Mombasa the biggest in East and Central Africa. It is currently ranked fifth in Africa in terms of cargo volume after Port Said in Egypt, Durban in South Africa, Tanger Med in Morocco and Alexandria in Egypt. The Kenya Ports Authority management is undertaking huge infrastructure projects within the Port of Mombasa, Lamu Port, Shimoni Port and the Kisumu Port. Lamu Port’s berth Number 1 and Kisumu Port’s Sh33 billion facelift are also awaiting President Uhuru Kenyatta’s official opening. In Mombasa, Phase II of the Second Container Terminal (CT2) is 40 per cent complete since construction began in February 2019. Toyo Construction Co Ltd of Japan is undertaking Phase II of CT2. In an earlier interview, KPA Managing Director Dr Daniel Manduku said completion of Phase II of the Second Container Terminal will increase Mombasa port's container handling capacity by more than one million Total Equivalent Units (TEUs). Phase I of the Second Container Terminal, which was commissioned in 2016, can handle 550,000 TEUs, whereas Phase II can handle 450,000. Last year, the Port of Mombasa handled 1.2 million TEUs and it aims to handle  1.4 million TEUs by the end of this year. In September this year, the port already had handled 1.06 million TEUs (containers) compared to last year’s 957,568 TEUs within the same period — a 10.7 per cent increase. “Going by our daily handling of  3,500 TEUs and 4,000 TEUs, simple arithmetic tells us that...

Uganda Revenue Authority has bowed to traders’ pressure to allow them to pay taxes for their goods when they enter Uganda.   The tax body had directed that all imported goods be cleared from the port of entry under the single customs territory. This meant that a trader would import goods and when they reach Mombasa or Dar-Es-Salaam, they pay taxes immediately and continue to the final destination – in this case, Uganda.  The directive, which was to start on October 20, 2019, also listed ten goods that would no longer be eligible for warehousing, including garments, motor vehicle and cycle tyres, sugar, and rice. But the traders rejected it, saying there are high chances that they will pay taxes for goods in Mombasa and lose them before they reach Kampala. They argued this would mean they made a double loss.   At a meeting at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala on Friday, URA officials seemed to go around the issue but traders led by leader Everest Kayondo insisted the tax body be clear on where they pay their taxes from.    Dickson Kateshumbwa, the URA commissioner for customs, told traders that they would not be forced to clear their goods from Mombasa.       Kateshumbwa, however, said 53 per cent of goods already pay taxes from the port of entry.  On the issue of bonded warehouses, Kateshumbwa said traders were using them to play games changing goods, their expiry dates to sell unsuspecting customers, and also there are leakages where traders sneak...

A delegation of Irish investors opened their two-day trade mission in Nairobi with more than 40 companies inking investment deals worth Sh4.8 billion with their Kenyan counterparts Led by the Minister for Business Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, they said the deals in education, construction and financial technology, would boost their presence in Kenya. Mrs Humphreys said Kenya, being one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, presented great partnership opportunities. “Irish companies are known the world over as being innovative and trusted partners and we hope to bring this ‘Irish Advantage’ to Kenya, seeing more Irish companies invest, grow and partner here,” she said. On Thursday, Irish engineering firm Designer Group announced the opening of new offices in Nairobi and Kampala, which will handle upcoming projects of up to Sh4.4 billion within the region. “The deal will see the firm engage local supply chain in knowledge transfer and upskilling over the coming 12 months,” the officials said. The office, the firm said, will also assist a number of East African companies to engineer, procure and construct projects ranging from utility, infrastructure, industrial and sustainable energy. Online payment platform PiPiT announced an investment of Sh224.5 million in digital payment platform Cellulant as well as in Takawal, a Kenyan bank. The partnership will enable Takawal customers and Cellulant users to send money home and pay bills. Animal husbandry inputs supplier Nutribio has announced a Sh145.9 million annual manufacturing partnership with Norbrook East Africa in the next three years. Anam Technologies has...

African countries have been urged to carefully analyze global lessons and think beyond short-termism so as to effectively tap into the benefits offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement. The latest call was made by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), an African non-profit organization, as it stressed that "global lessons show that for AfCFTA to work, the continent's leaders must think beyond short-term election cycles." The ISS, in its latest publication on Thursday entitled "Can African leaders put free trade above nationalism?" also noted that the signing of the continental free trade pact "couldn't have come at a better time for the continent," emphasizing some of the latest developments in the global trade relations. According to the institute, the collective effort required to get 54 of the 55 African Union (AU) member countries to sign the AfCFTA, "particularly on a continent divided by disparate political agendas, short-termism and sporadic diplomatic standoffs, shouldn't be underestimated." "While the agreement is lauded as an African solution to African problems, it is worth remembering the pitfalls of those who've traveled a similar journey to avoid the same mistakes. This is even more important as trade agreements worldwide show signs of unraveling," the ISS said. Noting that trade relations in Europe were forged over decades following World War II to counteract the factors that caused the war, and collaborate for sustained economic growth and prosperity. Reaching agreement was an arduous process, the ISS stressed that "Africa seeks the same outcome in...