Foreign investors have long eyed opportunities in Ethiopia — Africa’s second-most populous country — especially within its financial sector. In Africa, lenders in Kenya, South Africa and Egypt are front runners. Ethiopia has entered the final stage of its first stock exchange launch, as the country’s Capital Market Authority begins to on-board foreign investment banks from the second week of February. The regulator announced that it will start issuing investment bank licenses from February 12, 2024, the first time in the country’s history and after six ‘rigorous’ months of developing guidelines to govern the financial sector players. Ethiopia Capital Market…
Author: Bird Agency
An app developed by tech startup, Vambo Technologies, co-founded by Chido Dzinotyiwei and Isheanesu Misi, will empower users to seamlessly communicate, learn, and create content in various African languages, fostering cultural inclusivity and breaking linguistic barriers. By Phendu Kuta When Chido Dzinotyiwei moved to South Africa from Zimbabwe as a child, language became both an obstacle and an opportunity for change. Her primary concern as an adult was children struggling with their mother tongue in new environments, facing challenges in pronouncing names, and finding it difficult to connect with the languages spoken in their surroundings. Fast forward to today, the…
Family has been a theme at AFCON tournaments since the early 60s, and the ongoing 2023 competition has brothers and cousins playing alongside each other in search of that elusive family-won title. By Joel Omotto In the history of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), a number of closely-related players have graced the tournament with six siblings winning the trophy. Ethiopians Italo and Luciano Vassallo won it together in 1962, Congolese brothers Albert Bwanga and Robert Kazadi were part of the 1974 winning team, Cameroonians Andre and Francois Biyik claimed the crown in 1988 while Egyptians Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan…
Africa’s “big four” tech ecosystems maintain their positions in 2023 but smaller economies, including Francophone startup ecosystems, are racing to fill emerging startup hub slots. By Conrad Onyango In 2023, Africa’s startup ecosystem finally succumbed to a funding crisis that had been looming for over a year. A big fall in funding aligned the continent’s trajectory with that of the global market and left startups reeling. A slew of investment reports show a significant drop in fundraising, across all tech sectors and in all forms of funding, from equity to debt. A Partech report shows that during the year, African…
Despite a squeeze in funding across Africa’s VC spectrum in 2023, climate tech startups were a striking exception, hauling in US$1 billion of the total US$3.5 billion raised as investor interest surged. Seth Onyango Climate tech startups bucked the trend in Africa’s venture capital space, actively notching up an impressive $1 billion amidst a broader funding fall-off in 2023. Data tracker, Africa: The Big Deal notes that around 1 in 3 dollars invested into startups on the continent in the forecast period went to climate tech startups. The strength of the sector according to the Deal, illustrates “both the potential…
Recently discovered coltan deposits offer to inject fresh momentum into Kenya’s mining sector, amplifying the impact of ongoing reforms. Bonface Orucho Kenya’s mining and extractives sector is flourishing, reaping the rewards of recent reforms that promise to increase sector revenues as the country positions itself for economic gains from the burgeoning industry. From legal and legislative reforms to seamless mapping and surveying of available resources, the East African country is showing increased interest in tapping into new revenue-generating opportunities in the sector. A recent find of Coltan deposits is the latest development that promises to increase the country’s mineral portfolio…
As a little girl, Fatma Hina received compliments for her designs. Now resident in the Swahili Town of Lamu, she makes money by offering a fresh new take on the age-old patterns used by henna artists worldwide. That’s helping to lure customers from as far away as Oman. Velma Pamela and Irene Mumbi A crowd has assembled on both sides of a narrow street in the Swahili Town of Lamu, making it difficult to see what has drawn so many people onto the road. From the sound of the festivities and the cries of approval from the crowd, it is…
IMF tracking shows that no African state has sought comprehensive debt relief in over a year indicating a trend of growing fiscal hygiene across the region. By Seth Onyango Countries in Africa are showing signs of improving fiscal management, as they navigate through a cascading set of global shocks that exacerbated their debt vulnerabilities. Remarkably, no state has sought comprehensive debt relief since Ghana’s request over a year ago, signalling a trend of growing fiscal discipline across the region. The improvement bucks the trend of recent years, given that several economies like Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Chad, sought debt restructuring or…
Mercy Makau’s love of flying knows no bounds. After founding a club for young aviation enthusiasts in 2012, she has expanded her engagement to mentor women in the industry. By Cynthia Rotich It’s a Tuesday morning at the Wildlife Club of Kenya and members of the Young Aviators Club of Africa are deeply engrossed in the Jamhuri Day celebrations, broadcast on a television in the premises. As soon as the military flypast begins, they excitedly gather outside to watch the display in the sky above. From the chatter, it is abundantly clear that they have a deep passion for flying…
Orphaned at 13, dancer Moesha Tajiri is on a crusade to provide what adults failed to give her as a child. By Ann Mbuthia On any given day, Moesha Kibibi Tajiri’s house, located in the heart of scenic Madaraka Estate in Nairobi, can be home to as many as 30 children, all eager to welcome visitors with the greeting, “feel at home.” It may be a crowd, Tajiri is quick to explain, but these are just some of the over a thousand she has “adopted”, country-wide. “I have four types of kids: orphans, children from mentally unstable parents, special needs…