The business meet set for October 5 and 6 is projected to bring together over 2500 investors from Kenya, France and other African countries. Dubbed ‘The Encounters Africa 2017’, the event is already attracting strong interest from French companies, as well as from Francophone countries. Event Coordinator Annemijn Perrin says they expect to connect businesses with the aim of closing deals at the summit. “Most companies are coming here to find partners to work together with Kenyan companies, either to set up in these countries, or to find a partnership to develop their business. Over 100 French companies have already signed up to come, dealing with agriculture, manufacturing, energy, education among others,” Perrin told Capital FM Business. The first edition was launched in 2016 in Paris, bringing together 2700 decision makers from 30 countries. Bilateral trade between Kenya and France remains heavily skewed in favour of France as it’s the is the third largest source market for Kenya’s imports in Western Europe, and the sixth largest market for Kenya’s exports in the bloc. Official data shows that Kenya’s exports to France grew 12 per cent to Sh5.6 billion between 2010 and 2014, while imports rose 20.4 per cent to Sh22.4 billion in the same period. Business France opened its office in Nairobi in 2013 to assist French firms interested in investing in Kenya and neighboring East African nations. Over 70 firms have invested in the country. Source: Capital Business

With a 14.2 kilometre dual carriageway stretch of the Arusha-Holili road almost complete, Tanzania is looking for funds from development partners to upgrade the remaining part of the road. Sources close to the East African Community (EAC) said the government had approached the government of Japan to secure funds for road upgrading towards Moshi. "Negotiations are going on how best to extend the road from Tengeru to Usa River at least and rehabilitate Kikafu Bridge near Moshi," the source told The Citizen on Sunday recently. Arusha-Holili Road is part of the 240-kilometre regional road that extends to Voi in Kenya and is being upgraded within the framework of the East African Road Project (EARP) at $400 million. It is part of the vast network of major roads earmarked for massive rehabilitation throughout the East African Community (EAC) bloc to facilitate cross-border trade and movement of people. Construction started in June 2015 although it was launched by regional leaders in March last year during the EAC Heads of State Summit at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge. The idea is to create another major transport corridor in the region linking Mombasa Port with northern Tanzania and beyond. Rehabilitation of the Holili/Taveta-Voi stretch in Kenya is almost complete. When reached for comment, the principal civil engineer with the EAC Secretariat, Mr Hosea Nyangweso, declined to talk about efforts to secure funds for road extension works, but gave hints on proposed civil works. He revealed that the concern of Tanzania and the secretariat was to...

On July 2 President John Magufuli unveiled the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DSMGP), which aims to overhaul Port of Dar es Salaam’s infrastructure by 2023. The project, which according to the World Bank will cost approximately $421m, will see the construction of a new multi-purpose berth at Gerezani Creek, dredging of the port’s entrance channel, and intermodal improvements to both rail and road linkages. The 11-berth port, which handled 13.8m tonnes of cargo last year, is expected to see its handling capacity more than double to 28m tonnes per year by 2020 as a result of the upgrades, while berth wait times will be reduced from 80 hours to 30. The project is being financed in part by the World Bank, which has provided roughly $350m in loans and grants, while the bulk of the remainder – approximately $70m – is being provided by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA). The UK’s Department for International Development has also put forward grant assistance. Increased port throughput makes expansion a priority The need for the improvements is clear, with demand steadily increasing. The Port of Dar es Salaam has seen rising traffic over the past five years: between 2011 and 2016 throughput at the port jumped by 3.4m tonnes annually. The pressure the increased traffic puts on the port’s infrastructure and intermodal connections is particularly notable, given that it currently handles roughly 95% of Tanzania’s external trade. Dar es Salaam’s capacity far outstrips that of the country’s next two largest ports,...

The East African Community Secretariat will have to borrow $3.38 million from its General Reserve Fund to pay salaries and suppliers after member states delayed remitting their share of the budget. The sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for EAC Affairs and planning, in their meeting held from August 21 to 25 in Arusha, directed the Secretariat to present to the Finance and Administration Committee the request for funds for approval. The money will be refunded immediately the remittances are effected by the partner states. The Council’s report says that a number of EAC institutions and organs are unable to meet their financial obligations due to the delays in remittance by the partner states. “Late contributions or no contributions by partner states is a constraint to the smooth operations of the community,” said the ministers. “The Sectoral Council of Legal and Judicial Affairs should have their input in the proposed sanctions to the partner states who do not remit their contributions or delay to do so.” The council also raised concerns that following the deposit of instruments of ratification by South Sudan to join the community, it was supposed to pay $6,715,064 for the 2016/2017 financial year but the amount was not appropriated by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and neither has South Sudan paid. READ: Funding for EAC secretariat drops by $12m According to the provisions of the EAC Treaty, the budget of the community is supposed to be contributed equally by all the partner states. From the 2016/17 budget,...

Under the auspices of the gender ministry, Uganda is set to host the third edition of Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki Utamaduni Festival (JAMAFEST). It is a cultural festival that is every two years graced by participants from six partner states of the East African Community (EAC) on a rotational basis. According to Naumo Juliana, a commissioner of culture and family affairs at the gender ministry, the main objective of the festival is to promote regional socio-cultural integration through arts and culture by providing a regional platform to showcase culture as a prime driver of the EAC integration. Naumo told New Vision that each EAC partner state is expected to send “on average, 200 participants.”   This would take the number of participants that will grace the cultural festival between September 7 and 15 to over 1000. The festival is a result of the 23rd Council of the Ministers directive to the Secretariat to organize and hold regional arts and culture festivals and sports tournaments as one of the strategies for fostering socio-cohesion among East Africans. “We intend to better market this year’s JAMAFEST in order to help our people benefit from the festivities showcasing our art and culture,” said Pius Bigirimana, the gender ministry's permanent secretary, while opening the third meeting of the joint steering committee organizing the cultural festival. The steering committee is composed of technocrats from the six EAC partner states whose role is to tie the loose ends to the impending cultural festival. Bigirimana cautioned against blind aping of foreign...

This was revealed by TPA Director General, Engineer Deusdedit Kakoko at Ruvu-Vigwaza area in the Coast Region over the weekend, where he accompanied Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Prof Makame Mbarawa to Kwala area to inspect an ongoing construction of a dry port. In his details, Engineer Kakoko said for years now TPA has been operating its dry ports, including constructing new ones but without a Master Plan - a dynamic, short and long-term planning document that provides a conceptual layout to guide future growth and development. According to the director general, the document has been submitted to the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications for further processes before putting it into use. He said in the Master Plan, the authority is scheduling to construct an Inland Container Deport (ICfD) in Arusha Region to facilitate clearance and shipment of cargo entering the country through Tanga Port. Engineer Kakoko said Arusha dry port would significantly attract customers from the neighbouring countries of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, including the northern regions of Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Manyara to use Tanga Port and Dar es Salaam harbour. “Our competitors have built a dry port at Taveta area in Kenya. This means that containerised cargo that enters through Mombasa Port with destinations in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi is now transported up to Taveta as a strategy to attract customers from those countries,” he said. The head of TPA said talks have been initiated with Tanzania Railway Limited (TRL) management to work out the possibility...

Since the beginning of this century, the rapid economic growth of Asian economies, particularly China, has brought about immense economic benefits for Africa. This is because over the last few decades, to support its economic development, China has voraciously bought and consumed all types of commodities in Africa and globally. This enormous demand for commodities not only made the African natural resources more valuable, but also brought about a substantial amount of export revenues to Africa. Moreover, the massive inflow of export revenues has translated into a relatively high growth rate, that eventually caused people to start talking about the ‘Africa rising’ narrative. However, the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis, as well as the recent economic slowdown in China, has been hugely felt in the continent. Hence, a better insight in Africa’s global trade may provide a better idea of how Africa will fare in the future. Trends in Africa’s global trade According to data from the International Trade Centre, the 2016 global trade of the African continent had increased by a significant 238% to reach US$794.7bn from $235.4bn in 2001. Moreover, during those last 16 years, Africa received a cumulative amount of $5.8tn for its exports. This has definitely helped the African countries to grow. However, looking at a granular level, we find that trade is in fact on a decline. From 2001 until 2012, the African global trade had increased steadily to reach a peak of $1.2tn (a tremendous 427% increase), but from 2012 to 2016,...

According to JLL's 2017 Africa Prime Industrial Report, within Africa's more diversified economies, the prime industrial sector is set to emerge as an attractive asset class over the short to medium term. Anthony Lewis, head of investor services for JLL Sub-Saharan Africa comments, “With forecasts of sustained high economic growth rates in several African countries, there is quite some room for the development of prime logistics and warehousing space in markets that have historically been under-served. This trend, when coupled with the growing logistics requirements of sophisticated occupiers entering these high-growth markets, suggests that sturdy growth drivers should push the establishment of the prime industrial sector. JLL’s demand analysis finds that: In the top 11 African countries, demand stands at c.15-million m2 for all grades of space as at Q2 of 2017. If only 10% of this demand is for prime space, the market should be providing c.1.5-million m2 of prime space to the market. The reality is that far less than this is being provided currently. In addition, over the next decade total demand is forecasted to grow to over 20 million m2. Once again if only 10% of this demand is for prime space, the market should be able to sustainably provide 2-million m2 of prime space to the market by 2027. Given the clear lack of good quality prime industrial space, particularly in the distribution and logistics markets, many new prime developments should be springing up over the next decade. On a regional basis, demand in East Africa...

On July 2 President John Magufuli unveiled the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DSMGP), which aims to overhaul Port of Dar es Salaam’s infrastructure by 2023. The project, which according to the World Bank will cost approximately $421m, will see the construction of a new multi-purpose berth at Gerezani Creek, dredging of the port’s entrance channel, and intermodal improvements to both rail and road linkages. The 11-berth port, which handled 13.8m tonnes of cargo last year, is expected to see its handling capacity more than double to 28m tonnes per year by 2020 as a result of the upgrades, while berth wait times will be reduced from 80 hours to 30. The project is being financed in part by the World Bank, which has provided roughly $350m in loans and grants, while the bulk of the remainder – approximately $70m – is being provided by the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA). The UK’s Department for International Development has also put forward grant assistance. Increased port throughput makes expansion a priority The need for the improvements is clear, with demand steadily increasing. The Port of Dar es Salaam has seen rising traffic over the past five years: between 2011 and 2016 throughput at the port jumped by 3.4m tonnes annually. The pressure the increased traffic puts on the port’s infrastructure and intermodal connections is particularly notable, given that it currently handles roughly 95% of Tanzania’s external trade. Dar es Salaam’s capacity far outstrips that of the country’s next two largest ports,...

Euromonitor International’s new data showed international arrivals to Africa grew by 6.5 percent in 2017, with more than 18.6 million people traveling to the continent. Five years ago, that number was 16.4 million. Africa’s key travel markets include South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Cameroon, Mauritius and Tanzania. These countries accounted for 70 percent of international trips to the Sub-Saharan African region. One of the key growth drivers at the moment is digital integration, which is helping increase Africa’s footprint on the world travel map. Another is the increasing interaction between hotels, airlines and car rental companies. Platforms such as social media, meta-search engines and the penetration of online travel agents to better communicate with one another provide more robust travel options for visitors. “Many countries are moving away from only promoting Africa as a traditional safari destination, exploring other niche categories such as beach and medical tourism,” said Euromonitor Research Analyst Christy Tawii. “The travel and tourism market continues to introduce products that suit different types of travelers, accounting for strong growth in major cities across Sub-Saharan Africa,” Tawii added. The outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be strong. Euromonitor predicts a growth to 25 million trips by 2022 and says that ongoing growth will be driven by increased interest from overseas visitors due to more competitive rates. While price will be a factor, destination marketing campaigns and an increase in airlift, especially from long-haul markets, will also drive inbound tourism. Making Africa easier to reach is key. Air prices for travel to the continent remain...