TANZANIA Bureau of Standard (TBS) has introduced automated standardisation and quality control systems that would enable traders and manufacturers to access certificates or permits online. The system is centred to simplify standardisation of permits business, not only to the locals, but also regional or international investors. The system, introduced by TBS in partnership with Trademarks East Africa are Integrated Standard, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing (iSQMT), and e-Learning portal—an online system for conducting training to stakeholders. TBS Director General, Dr Athuman Ngenya, said some of the benefits including a reduction in time and transaction costs as stakeholders will no longer need to visit TBS offices for services related to standards and quality control, training, collection of permits and certificates. “Provision of automated services has largely reduced waiting and processing times and costs for TBS’s stakeholders to secure various services,” he said. Thus, through iSQMT, TBS has automated the following core processes, standards development, products certifications, import inspection, metrology and testing. “The data collected via the system will inform better decision making in the regulation and administration of the TBS process,” Dr Ngenya said over the weekend during the launch of the systems. Also, the iSQMT portal is integrated to the e-Government payment gateway platforms, which guarantee fully automated processes from application, payment and acquisition of the final products—certificate/permit. Due to the system introduction, TBS now predicts to significantly reduce incidences of loss and duplication of records since all the information required to process requests from stakeholders will be hosted within...

Local banks' failure to fully embrace trade financing is hindering growth of Kenya, regional exports to international markets, experts now say. This comes even as the country continues to push for trade deals, among them the recently concluded Economic Partnership Agreement(EPA) with the UK, and the ongoing talks for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US. While the country is seeking to grow its exports to the United States, it barely serves 23 per cent of the potential under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which expires in 2025, which eliminates import tariffs on goods from eligible African nations. According to the the Export Promotion Council of Kenya, the country is doing only one per cent (1%) of the potential in textile and apparel, where 10 countries account for almost 80 per cent of all US apparel imports with China topping the list with a 30 per cent share. “Trade finance is a pain to people seeking opportunities,” Export Promotion Council chairman Jaswinder Bedi said, during the launch of the 'Trade Finance Landscape Report' covering East Africa and the Horn of Africa. According to the report by TradeMark Africa and FSD Africa, costly loans are also making the regions uncompetitive, where 90 per cent of trade is financed by foreign banks. For instance the high interest rates in Kenya of above the seven per cent Central Bank of Kenya base lending rate, is making manufactures and trader in Kenya uncompetitive compared to the likes of China and India, who...

It's a sigh of relief for Busia County residents after the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) on Thursday placed an advert in newspapers seeking bids from eligible contractors for dualling of the Busia One Stop Border Post-Korinda road. KeNHA has invited similar bids for completion of outstanding and additional works for Malaba One-Stop Border Post. The move by Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) to fast track the dualling of the busy road will end over five years of uncertainty with the Governor H.E Sospeter Ojaamong lauding TMA, the financiers, for the gesture. The Governor said the journey to dualize the road started in 2015 when he hosted the then British High Commissioner to Kenya Dr Christian Turner who offered to have the dualling of the road with a donation of Ksh300million from the British Government. The Governor said the road upgrade will bring a sigh of relief to his administration which had to endure criticisms from county residents over poor state of the road. "My government has been blamed on several occasions over claims I have refused to expand the road which is a preserve of the national government,” the Governor said. He added: " This is a Northern Corridor road to East and Central Africa and it was not the responsibility of my Government to maintain it,” the governor said in response to complaints that his administration had failed to maintain it." The Scope of work for the Busia OSBP road works will involve dualling of of the main...

Nairobi hosts EU-Africa Green Talk dialogue on sustainable development impact of local projects Dialogue between European Investment Bank, Portuguese Embassy in Kenya, financial community and development stakeholders confirms importance of green investment. The Secretary General of East African Community today joined more than 150 African business leaders, financial experts and diplomats in the Nairobi EU-Africa Green Talk to share investment best practice and outline how to mobilise private sector support for sustainable development across Africa. “Recent innovative investment across East Africa has transformed access for millions of people to clean water, renewable energy and finance essential for a better and more sustainable future. Today’s Nairobi Green Talks allow innovative solutions and technical best-practice to be shared with the rest of Africa and the world. The East African Community commends the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union and the European Investment Bank for their engagement with East African partners to further strengthen sustainable investment in the years ahead.” said Dr Peter Mathuki, incoming Secretary General of the East African Community. Participants highlighted how recent and future private sector led clean energy, sustainable transport and business investment across East Africa can unlock economic opportunities, strengthen resilience to COVID-19, increase protection from a changing climate and ensure more sustainable use of resources in the future. “Partnership between Africa and Europe is key to increasing investment essential to combat climate change and create new opportunities. The Portuguese EU Presidency and European Investment Bank are pleased to join forces with East African business, political and...

The Mombasa Tea Auction will operate for five days a week aimed at enhancing its capacity to handle all tea produced in the country and the region. This will come into effect once the auction regulations are enacted as stipulated in the Tea Act 2020. According to The Crops (Tea Industry) Regulations, 2020, the sale of tea to the export market is exclusively through an electronic auction process. Section 36 of the Auction Process: (3) An auction organizer shall establish an electronic trading platform for the auction of tea that will be usable and accessible to all players in the value chain. (4) A buyer shall pay in full the value of the tea bids they have won at the auction before collecting or taking custody of the tea. The funds from the sale of tea at the auction shall be remitted directly to the respective factory accounts within 14 days from the auction date. Moreover, factories shall be required to deposit at least 50% of the funds to farmers’ accounts within thirty (30) days from receipt of proceeds, with the balance being paid as a bonus within the same financial year. “It is important to note that tea auctions should now be held throughout the week and not necessarily the three days as currently designated by the East African Tea Traders Association (EATTA) Secretariat,” Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Peter Munya said Friday while issuing a statement on the status of operations at the Mombasa Tea Auction and ongoing tea factories...

A six-lane concrete link road that is expected to ease cargo movement from Mombasa port has been completed, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) said recently. KPA General Manager for Infrastructure Development Vincent Sidai said the Sh2 billion road is co-financed by KPA and TradeMark Africa. The 1.2-kilometre road extends from Changamwe roundabout to KPA Gate 18 with additional 200 metres inside the port area. It will replace the old four-lane road. "The road will boost port capacity by improving traffic flow with other economic benefits including improved service delivery, reduced port congestion and delays with faster gate clearance," he said. The road will also accommodate a 40-metre railway bridge and a gate canopy for custom and security purposes. Mr Sidai said the road will improve port productivity and reduce the cost of doing business. "The construction of the new road was necessitated by cracks after it was noted that the ground had continued to be unstable and could not withstand the increased frequency of heavy commercial trucks plying the route due to the increased capacity at the port," he said. Initially, the existing four-lane dual carriageway was affected by traffic congestion from the Changamwe roundabout - disrupting the fluidity of cargo movement. For KPA, the completion of the road adds credibility to the management’s plan to increase efficiency through the Mombasa Port Development Programme (MPDP) initiative. Among the highlights of MPDP is the completion of the dockyard jetty at the port. Sidai said the new road will improve drainage, reduce vehicle...

MAJOR upgrades in ports in Tanzania are nearing completion to boost the country's prospects of becoming a major regional transport and trading hub. The Prime Minister said in Parliament in Dodoma on Tuesday that upgrades for Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara ports were on final stages of completion as the country is focused to make optimal use of its strategic geographical location to enhance regional trade, stimulate economic growth and development and ease transportation. The premier said upgrading work on berth no 6 and 7 at the Port of Dar es Salaam had reached 90 per cent and 75 per cent respectively and dredging of 1.75 kilometre entrance channel for Tanga port was complete to allow large vessels to anchor at the port. Construction of 300 metres berth at Mtwara port, renovation of the cargo yard and warehouse number three at Mtwara Port were also complete, he said. "These projects will enable the nation to make the most of the geographical opportunities we have as well as stimulate economic growth and facilitate transportation," said the Prime Minister while tabling in the House his office's budget proposals for the 2021/2022 financial year. Dar Port Last month the fifth berth of the Dar es Salaam port was inaugurated to mark another major step for speeding up loading and unloading of cargo at the port which is a gateway for 90 per cent of domestic trade, as well as the access route to six land-linked countries including Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda...

Mudassir Amray, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Titan Trust Bank Limited, has said that the lender’s groundbreaking successes in just 17 months of its commercial operations despite the COVID-19 pandemic, was tied to its unmatched digital technology which has delivered superior customer-centric experience. In a chat with selected journalists in Lagos at the weekend, Mudassir Amray said as a financial service provider that is passionate about the future, Titan Trust Bank positioned itself for delivering seamless banking services to its teeming customers during the pandemic by continued investment in its alternative banking channels which include: the Titan Mobile Application, Titan Internet Banking platform and the Titan *922# Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) solution. According to him: “At the inception of the bank’s operations in October 2019, we drew up a holistic and integrated approach to business modernization which has formed the foundation for the bank’s superior customer-centric experience. The impact of this strategic decision led to a positive impact in our performance and it has also given us recognition on the global stage where we recently emerged the ‘Best Trade Finance Provider in Nigeria for the year 2021’, an award previously given by New York-based Global Finance Magazine to only the first-tier banks in Nigeria. “In a demonstration of our commitment to deliver superior, convenient and innovative banking solutions to our customers, we have invested substantially in technology and developed fully integrated service models that enable our customers to enjoy banking services through a wide range of...

Mon Mar 29 2021Africa is set to recover from its worst recession in half a century. Real GDP is projected to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2021 after contracting by an estimated 2.1 per cent in 2020, mainly due to COVID-19 related disruptions, according to the African Development Bank’s recently released African Economic Outlook (AEO). The pandemic also caused deep scars in the financing and debt landscape of the continent that may linger on if not quickly addressed.FG warns against encroaching on national monumentsAt the launch of the AEO, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz rightly explained how the COVID-19 pandemic caused both demand- and supply-side shocks in the continent. “It affected the demand for exports of African countries…but it also affected the willingness of people to work in some of the more exposed sectors and its effects were very disparate across different sectors.” Following Stiglitz’s train of thought, Africa’s projected recovery will be subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty and risks, as is also pointed out in the analyses of the AEO.The most obvious risk to the recovery is the disease itself. The emergence of more contagious strains of the COVID-19 virus could derail the recovery process. Furthermore, if progress in deploying safe and effective treatment is slower than expected, governments would have to reinstate restrictions. headtopics.com On the upside, if COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines become accessible in the continent earlier than anticipated, the growth projection for 2021 could be exceeded, leading to a more robust recovery.Another risk...

Summary Canada invested $100 million to support indigenous women and children experiencing violence and financed women’s shelters, sexual assault centres and other organisations providing SGBV services. Women put people first and that seems to be the approach that delivered better Covid-19 outcomes in female-led countries. In Canada, half of the ambassadors are women, that’s change. Kenya and Canada share an identity when it comes to gender equality. They are among the few countries that adopted gender responsive measures in the fight against Covid-19. On one hand, Kenya invested in investigating the cause of rise in teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and established a multi-agency team to tackle the problem. Canada on its part, invested $100 million to support indigenous women and children experiencing violence and financed women’s shelters, sexual assault centres and other organisations providing SGBV services. As the world shifts focus to redeeming the lost gains and building stronger economies of economically, politically, culturally and socially stable women and girls, we speak with Canadian High Commission to Kenya, Ms Lisa Stadelbauer to pick her mind on the way forward. Studies have shown women-led countries outperformed men’s in Covid-19 response, what does this mean? That is interesting and it is a moment in time we need to sit down and think why it is the case. One theory that has been put forward is that men are risk enthusiasts. And so countries that took a more cautious approach tend to have come out of the pandemic a...