Author: NLM Editor

Kenyan startups led African funding in H1 2023 with $520 million, followed by Egypt, South Africa, and Rwanda. Nigerian startups, fifth in funding, topped the continent with 101 deals; Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Egypt followed. African startup funding fell to $1B in H1 2023, causing investors to shift focus from growth-stage startups to late and early-stage ones. Startups in Kenya have received more equity funding from investors in Africa in the first half of 2023, as per data released by Briter Bridges. The top four countries highlighted in the report are Kenya ($520 million), Egypt ($510 million), South Africa…

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4 Law Firm Leaders Share Their Stories In 2015, Webber Wentzel’s Sally Hutton became the first woman lawyer in South Africa to be appointed as a managing partner. “There are now a few of us woman leaders in law firms operating in South Africa, including Lerisha Naidu, managing partner of the Johannesburg office of Baker McKenzie, Lee Mendelsohn, ENSAfrica’s chief operating officer, and Jean Meijer the managing partner of Herbert Smith’s Johannesburg office,” she said, adding that 45% of Webber Wentzel’s broader leadership team today are women. Juggling Leadership With Family Commitments Hutton started her legal career at Webber Wentzel in…

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How the West imported an investor crisis to the NSE By Peter Wanyonyi November 1971 was a watershed moment for international economics and the US dollar. Up to that point, the United States had maintained and honoured dollar-gold convertibility at market rates: back then, as now, countries settled their international accounts in dollars. But, unlike today, those dollars could – and frequently were – converted to gold at a fixed exchange rate of $35 per ounce, which was redeemable from the U.S. government. Thus, the United States was committed to backing every US dollar with gold, and other currencies were…

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For Catherine Conteh, there’s a moment from the birth of her daughter that still plays over and over in her mind, 30 years later. She had been lying in her hospital bed in Sierra Leone, in Labor, writhing in untreated pain, for four days straight. The doctors told her that due to complications with her Labor, she needed a Caesarean section surgery – one that 18-year-old Catherine and her husband, Augustine, couldn’t afford. Without payment up front, she would not be given the surgery. Decades later, she remembers the thought that ran on a loop amid the pain and fear.“I…

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Like a double-edged sword, AI can be wielded for good or evil. Unfortunately, we currently lack adequate regulations to ensure ethical AI use. By Naini Lankas The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a game-changer in recent years, bringing both incredible advancements and potential dangers. While AI holds tremendous promise, it also threatens our fundamental human rights. As governments and large corporations increasingly adopt AI, How can we regulate its use to prevent abuses and safeguard our rights? Like a double-edged sword, AI can be wielded for good or evil. Unfortunately, we currently lack adequate regulations to ensure ethical…

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When a court orders the payment of compensation for a victim of human rights violations by state, any public officer who is involved ‘shall pay a portion of the compensation. A year after Human Rights Watch issued a strongly-worded report on torture and illegal detention carried out by security officers in Uganda, a court in that country has awarded substantial damages to a man who was held and tortured for 17 months by the country’s Internal Security Organisation (ISO). The court also ordered that the damages, and legal costs, be paid by the members of the ISO involved. Musa Nsereko brought…

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By Wendy Edelberg In recent years, household finances have fluctuated amid large swings in federal income support and the stock market, a surge in inflation, and strong consumer spending. As documented by The Hamilton Project, household balance sheets at the end of 2021 were stronger than would have been expected before the pandemic. However, this Economic Analysis explains how household balance sheets have deteriorated in some respects since then. Moreover, an examination of household finances for different demographics (age, race and ethnicity, and income) shows that the deterioration in finances has been faster for nonwhite and lower income households. The…

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That most sub-Saharan African states have become profoundly fragile over their six decades of independence has been the cause and effect of millions of citizens lost to war and destitution By Prof. John Harbeson Sub-Saharan Africa is composed of 49 nation-states. Western Sahara and Somaliland have long waited in the wings, and the Maghreb states of North Africa, are conventionally, albeit debatably, regarded as looking more toward the Middle East than south across the Sahara. Everyone recognises that describing these 49 countries as nation-states Is so remote from reality as to verge on indulging in euphemism. With the possible exception…

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Members of Parliament say new ‘electronic internet and digital’ tax regulations will expand the government revenue base, and avail more resources which can be redeployed in strategic expansion of the country’s digital space BY SILAS APOLLO The National Assembly has approved the Value Added Tax (Electronic Internet and Digital Market Supply Regulations) 2023, effectively amending the current Value Added Tax (VAT) regulations initially published in 2020. The regulations published by the National Treasury in March 2023, will guide on taxations relating to electronic, internet and digital marketplace supplies including downloadable digital content such as mobile applications, e-books and films. Other…

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