Author: NLM Correspondent

Kenya has leapfrogged in financial inclusion due its positive regulatory environment and attractive macroeconomics. Positioned as one of Africa’s top performing economies, growing at a predicted 6 percent this year according to the latest African Development Bank (AfDB) figures, Kenya has led the continent in financial inclusion for well over a decade. According to the 2019 FinAccess Household Survey, put together in collaboration with the Central Bank of Kenya, Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics and FSD Kenya, 82.9 percent of the adult population has access to at least one financial product. South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria follow close behind…

Cape Town based start-up Zindi has registered 10,000 data-scientists on its platform that uses AI and machine learning to crowd-solve complex problems in Africa. Founded in 2018, the early-stage venture allows companies, NGOs or government institutions to host online competitions around data-oriented challenges. Zindi opens the contests to the African data scientists on its site who can join a competition, submit solution sets, move up a leader board and win — for a cash prize pay-out. The highest purse so far has been $12,000, according to Zindi co-founder Celina Lee. Competition hosts receive the results, which they can use to create new products…

The statistics tell a grim story: Africa is the world’s least electrified continent and its electrification rate is growing slower than anywhere else. To shore up the deficit as national grids lacking lack capacity and efficiency to power homes, solar power has often been deployed as a viable alternative—despite bureaucratic scepticism. Yet there’s evidence that Africa’s leading economies are looking to diversify their energy mix even further with wind power becoming an increasingly popular choice. Last year, led by Egypt, Morocco and Ethiopia, countries in Africa and the Middle East installed nearly 900 megawatts of wind power, recent data from the Global Wind Energy Council…

How could earth’s changing climate impact socioeconomic systems across the world in the next several decades? By Jonathan Woetzel After more than 10,000 years of relative stability—the full span of human civilization—the Earth’s climate is changing. As average temperatures rise, climate science finds that acute hazards such as heat waves and floods grow in frequency and severity, and chronic hazards, such as drought and rising sea levels, intensify. In this article, we focus on understanding the nature and extent of physical risk from a changing climate over the next one to three decades, exploring physical risk as it is the basis…

By Jennifer Fitchett Many parts of Kenya have been experiencing torrential rainfall for a couple of months now. This has resulted in floods and landslides. The unusual weather can be attributed to the Indian Ocean Dipole. This is the difference in sea surface temperatures between the eastern and western tropical Indian Ocean. In Kenya, when warmer sea surface temperatures are experienced heavy rainfall occurs, while hot dry conditions (conducive for wildfires) are experienced in Australia. When warmer sea surface temperatures are experienced off the West Coast of Australia, Australia is likely to experience heavy rainfall, while Kenya experiences drought conditions.…

In many ways the next technological revolution will be one based on data, the businesses that can best use that data, and in a legal, private, and secure manner, will be the winners By Cameron Kerry Our world is undergoing an information Big Bang, in which the universe of data doubles every two years and quintillions of bytes of data are generated every day. For decades, Moore’s Law on the doubling of computing power every 18-24 months has driven the growth of information technology. Now–as billions of smartphones and other devices collect and transmit data over high-speed global networks, store data…

By BYRON REEVES There’s a lot of talk about digital media. Increasing screen time has created worries about media’s impacts on democracy, addiction, depression, relationships, learning, health, privacy and much more. The effects are frequently assumed to be huge, even apocalyptic. Scientific data, however, often fail to confirm what seems true based on everyday experiences. In study after study, screen time is often not correlated with important effects at a magnitude that matches the concerns and expectations of media consumers, critics, teachers, parents, paediatricians and even the researchers themselves. For example, a recent review of over 200 studies about social media concluded there was almost no effect of greater screen time on psychological well-being.…

By Antony Mutunga Donald Trump was very clear where he stood on immigration before he was elected. He wanted America to be just for Americans. When he assumed office, he immediately started working on travel bans for countries that had a large Muslim populations. He announced travel bans on countries such as Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Protests and a federal court order stopped his zeal momentarily until 2018 when the Supreme Court upheld an amended version of Trump’s ban. The amended version restricts entry of some citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, Venezuela and…

By Peter Mwangi The Building Bridges Initiative Report proposes insightful and detailed recommendations under the Safety and Security pillar among others. However, one of the solutions recommended to facilitate court procedures that guarantee the protection of informants, whistle-blowers and witnesses is to “create rules in courts that allow for the presentation of confidential testimony from whistle-blowers, informants and witnesses, particularly in regard to terrorism, serious transnational crimes and corruption.” It gives the impression that there are no such rules in place to enable courts address the safety and security challenges posed by serious criminality. That is incorrect, but before…

There is renewed concern about the sustainability of rising debt levels in many African countries. Much of this debt is incurred through foreign currency denominated Eurobonds issued on international financial markets. The value of Eurobonds issued between 2018 and 2019 was more than the value of all bonds sold between 2003 to 2016. African governments are issuing and listing their Eurobonds on established international debt markets – usually London and Irish Stock Exchanges. African governments would venture offshore a lot less if domestic bond markets were active and liquid. But besides South Africa, African bond markets are largely underdeveloped with…