Despite contributing more than a third of Kenya's GDP, local micro and small businesses still face credit access problems. With the new risk-sharing facility, I&M Bank Kenya will finance SMEs that it categorizes as too risky. The Dutch development finance institution, FMO, announced on Monday, July 18, a local-currency-denominated US$15 million portfolio guarantee for the Kenyan commercial bank,...

In recent years, Telecom Namibia has faced numerous subscriber complaints, notably because of the poor quality of its network and services. To address the complaints, it is committed to increasing its investments.   Mobile operator Telecom Namibia has announced plans to invest N$2.3 billion (US$145.2 million) to upgrade fixed and mobile network infrastructure in the next five...

Egypt has one of the oldest food subsidy systems in the world. While poor global economic conditions are forcing many governments to make spending cuts, the country is instead increasing its budget dedicated to supporting staple food prices.   Egypt will allocate EGP90 billion (US$4.7 billion) to cover food subsidies in the 2022/2023 fiscal year, Ahram Online reports. The amount,...

Seven years after the creation of Lekela Power, Actis and the consortium led by Mainstream announced the sale of this power generation company presented as “Africa’s largest independent power producer." Private equity firm Actis and wind and solar developer Mainstream Renewable Power announced today (July 18), the sale of Lekela Power, "Africa’s largest independent power...

Mobile money adoption is growing steadily in Africa. To boost financial inclusion, Kenya wants to interconnect the various mobile money platforms active on the national territory.  Kenyan telecom operator Safaricom’s mobile money platform, M-Pesa, completed the interoperability of its bill payment service on Friday, July 15. The move will allow Airtel and Telkom Kenya subscribers to pay...

For several years, Kenya and Somalia have had a stormy relationship, due in part to disagreements over the delineation of their maritime border. After disturbances aggravated by covid-19, the two countries want to start all over.  Kenya and Somalia will resume diplomatic and trade relations. On Friday, July 15, during a visit by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to his counterpart...

The Tanzanian telecom regulator regularly assesses the quality of the services provided by mobile network operators. Those assessments allow it to identify deficiencies and instruct operators on problems to fix to provide better services to the subscribers.  In Tanzania, telecom operators are ordered to improve the quality of their voice, data, and SMS services. The instruction was given by...

According to the National Institute of Statistics, the overall debt of modern companies is nearly 7 times their equity, while profit margins are quite narrow. The situation is risky but it is also an opportunity for the financial sector.  In Cameroon, companies whose tax returns were reviewed by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) face insolvency risks. In its recently published 2021...

In Mozambique, Islamist insurgents are concentrated in a strategic area mainly for the exploitation of huge natural gas reserves, killing thousands of people, and disrupting development projects.   The Southern African Development Community (SADC) announced, Wednesday (July 13), an extension of the mandate of its regional intervention force SAMIM deployed in Mozambique to fight the...

In preparation for its digital transformation, Uganda recently completed its regional telecom infrastructure program. It now wants to boost access to the services.  In Uganda, MPs urged Wednesday (July 13), telecom operators active in the local market to offer cheaper voice and data packages to consumers. According to the MPs, doing so will boost ICT penetration.  In the same vein,...