Gender balancing efforts aimed at encouraging more women to venture into entrepreneurship is receiving attention with the female-focused VC firm ShEquity launching the ShEquity West Africa VC Fund and the ShEquity Business Accelerator (SHEBA), offering female founders funding as well as venture building and technical support. Launched this year to help reduce the US$42 billion gender funding gap in Africa, ShEquity combines cash investment, structured technical support and access to high value networks.
Pauline Koelbl, the founder and managing partner at ShEquity
To achieve this, the firm has so far invested in three companies – Kenyan insect-based feed manufacturer Ecodudu, Kenyan data and AI startup Superfluid Labs, and Zambia’s WidEnergy, a last mile distributor of clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions. They also plan to scale its impact in 2021, and with this in mind is launching a West Africa VC Fund and an associated accelerator, SHEBA. Headquartered in Accra, Ghana, SHEBA will work with female entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses and create a pipeline for the fund.
Pauline Koelbl, the founder and managing partner at ShEquity, said that through SHEBA “we plan to onboard 30 female entrepreneurs each year, who will receive venture building and technical support. Of these, qualifying entrepreneurs will receive investment from our VC fund. Our goal is to build an investment ecosystem which unlocks the potential of African female entrepreneurs.”
“We are interested in innovative, sustainable and impactful businesses that can generate revenue within one year, and we focus on the following sectors – natural resources, the digital economy and fintechs, the hospitality and service industry, agriculture, healthcare, and FMCGs.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
2020 was not the perfect year. Nonetheless, it was definitely the year we learned many lessons that made us stronger and more resilient writes Jihad Dardar
If we could delete 2020 from our lives or change how everything went this year we would in an instant, but we can’t. Therefore, the next best thing we can do is to learn from the lessons this year taught us and prepare for 2021.
Jihad Dardar
At the start of 2020, everyone — well, almost everyone — was excited to start a new year and a new decade in their lives. Most of us envisioned and expected a new year and new decade full of adventures, fun, achievements, and personal growth. Instead, 2020 came to flip the global spirit upside down with the coronavirus pandemic.
As new cases of COVID-19 started appearing ridiculously fast in the early months of 2020, many still hoped it was all a momentary low, a soon-to-be-over nightmare on the long road to greater collective happiness and personal achievements. But the harsh, generalized lockdown and quarantine came the sudden realization that the pandemic was deadly serious stuff.
That, ultimately, it would take (very) long to enjoy normal life again. As many lost their loved ones, as the economy stalled and businesses stagnated, as individuals lost their jobs and grew more desperate, “normal” took on a whole new, liberating meaning.
Instead of the adventures and excitement we often demand of a new year, we just wanted life to go back to normal. Being able to have a walk, to enjoy the weather, to have a good time with friends and family. We longed for small mercies and awakened to the unsuspected preciosity of the mundane.
With the global health and economic crisis camet fear and terror as our collective financial prospects and mental health took devastating blows.
However, as human beings, we have shown through centuries just how strong we can be, how unshakable our resilience is. In other words, it is in our nature to overcome hardships and take them as an opportunity to thrive — as individuals and as nations.
Through the global pandemic, the series of quarantine and lockdown, and the global financial crisis, 2020 has taught us invaluable lessons about life the hard way.
We wish we learned them in a better situation but we can’t change the inevitable. We should therefore take these lessons as they come along, using them to grow, live longer, and prosper. These are 8 tough lessons that everyone learned in 2020.
Humans are adaptable
As cases of coronavirus started spreading, most countries decided to go under strict lockdown. With the ensuing quarantine, many people working and studying remotely felt bizarre, excruciatingly difficult at first. Working and studying from home can be distracting. It can drive you to be in a situation where you do not know when work starts or ends. As a result, most of us worked all day — but sometimes without the same efficiency of a well-defined working shit — while others, the resu procrastinated the whole time and panicked about deadlines. The result? More anxiety and stress.
However, after a few weeks, we had no choice but to change in our lifestyle, especially our approach to work and life in general. Those changes allowed us to be more adaptable to remote work/studies, and helped us to better manage our time. Some even managed to find some free time to indulge in hobbies or learn something new.
Adaptability did not just come from our need to be flexible with working from home. Most importantly, perhaps, we adapted to the new health measures that help keep us safe from the virus.
Wearing a mask was abnormal, inoffensively discomforting at first. But having to wear one every time was a chore, an unwelcome “new normal.” Indeed, it was torturous not being able to hug friends and family. But for the sake of keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe, these measures were necessary and we quickly adapted to them.
Being adaptable is an important lesson we learned in 2020. And, as we prepare to welcome another year, resilience and adaptability are values that will help to navigate the coming uncertainties — now and in the long term. Challenges, formidable and unpredictable, will again come along.
But with the lessons 2020 parted on us, we now understand that sustained confidence and motivation can help maintain our spirits and productivity, whether in our personal or professional lives.
Our health is precious
Health has always been precious and important, but more often than not we rarely think about whether something is really healthy or unhealthy for us. We often massacre our bodies — be it the food we consume, the health exercises we don’t have, or the energy-draining activities we fill our time with. And only when we fall ill do we remember how vital every body part is, or how self-destructive some of our choices have been.
2020 allowed us to learn a crucial lesson on how to maintain our health and stay safe at all times. Keeping the necessary COVID-19 health measures of wearing a face mask, sneezing in a napkin, keeping a safe distance, and always sanitizing, made us more conscious about and more mindful of our health. The renewed, year-long urgency of recalibrating our schedules and daily routines to these COVID-19 measures helped us realize how fragile our health can be at times.
In respecting all the pandemic rules, we reminded ourselves that while the body is a strong vessel that is always trying to protect us from viruses and other threats, our choices are an invaluable asset to the body’s defense mechanism. In this sense, we all discovered that it is our duty to be kinder to ourselves, to be mindful of our physical health by cherishing, nourishing, and protecting it not just in these dreadful times but also for the long term.
Every new year, many people vow — but subsequently fail — to change their diet and lifestyle to healthier ones. But with reports and warnings that the COVID-19 virus was most ruthless in people with a weak immune system and chronic diseases, more and more people are now actually, effectively turning to healthier food.
Our mental health is precious, too
You might have noticed more and more people are talking about the importance of self-care and mental health, and it might be too much sometimes and these ‘self-care’ ideas might sound unrealistic.
Most of us do not have the luxury of travelling whenever and wherever we want. Others are grateful to have a job during this whole global crisis, even if most can’t afford to go on vacations. The struggle was even more real, tougher for people who lost jobs or businesses. And, besides the financial issues that many might be struggling with, retail therapy might just not work for everyone.
That being said, self-care is indeed important for better mental health. It is crucial now more than ever to care about and improve our mental health, as the COVID-19 crisis did not just affect our physical health and careers, but our mental shape and fortitude level as well.
Doing what helps us unwind is in many ways the ultimate self-care, and doing activities that boost our mood is generally something that can be personal and different depending on individual characters.
It can be just taking a break and hanging out with friends, or spending more time on one’s hobbies,, watching one’s favorite films or TV series, or just eating one’s favorite food. In a year of collective debacles and personal tragedies, these little things do help in keeping us feel lighter and more equipped to deal with stressful situations
Spending time with family and friends is important
During the lockdown, many of us were unable to see our families and friends for a month or more. Even though technology and the internet did help in keeping us in touch, we certainly felt the weight of this particular emotional void.
In our hearts of hearts, we felt the soothing presence of parents, relatives, friends, and colleagues whose warm hugs, tender kisses, and friendly handshakes could have palmed away much of our pandemic-induced anxiety and dread. Because we could not meet our family and friends in real life, we made extra effort to take some time to call on the phone or have a zoom chat with them to check on everyone. We kept in touch; we tried to be there for each other, to relieve the burden of isolation and loneliness that came with social distancing. As much as we longed for the company of our loved ones, however, we kept our distance out of love and concern for our collective safety.
2020 also helped us learn an important lesson about the importance of human company and connections. That it is okay to talk to others about our problems and issues. That, just as you would like to be there for people you love by helping them through their problems, they, too, would love to be there for you, to guide and help you through your insecurities and uncertainties.
And that is something we learned in our professional lives as well. Being in the same situation as your colleagues or classmates during this pandemic can help you talk together about common issues and how each one tries to solve them.
Excessive social media is toxic
Being locked in our homes without many real-life contacts with others had us use our phones and gadgets more to stay in contact with work, school, family, and friends, but also to stay informed and updated about the pandemic.
A non-stop online presence — always scrolling through Facebook pages, Twitter news, and Instagram posts — can be hectic and energy draining. Most often than not, what started off as a 10-minute phone check can turn into two hours of aimless scrolling, and that is a trap that almost all of us are guilty of falling into.
Excessive use of social media platforms can be very toxic, a lesson that we learned the hard way in 2020. It encouraged the spread of another pandemic called “infodemic” — the deliberate distribution of false information that ends up spreading at a ridiculous pace due to technology and the internet. Obsessive use of social media also leads to many mental health issues such as anxiety, stress, and a slew of other psychological conditions. These include symptoms that can come from constantly wanting to be connected through the internet, or from comparing one’s life to the illusive and performative perfection that friends and celebrities exude on social media.
In 2020, we learned that not everything on the internet is true, a lot of fake news spreads fast and needs double-checking. Getting news from trusted sources is important, and we should remember that the people on social media are not perfect creatures without flaws.
So toxic and intoxicating has our relationship with our cell phones become that psychologists are now seriously researching the ways in which our gadgets have markedly altered life and meaning for our generation. NOMOPHOBIA (no mobile phone phobia), ringxiety, techno-stress, and over-connection are all emerging emotional disorders that recent research has uncovered.
Hanging out by yourself can be fun
This year we got the chance to spend more time alone. This might have been a scary thing in the early months, especially for those who are used to being in the company of others. However, this gave many of us the opportunity to understand ourselves better and take a break from others’ constant influence on how we see ourselves and the world around.
2020 was the year we all learned an important lesson, hanging out alone was not all that bad. That, in fact, it can be fun! We got to know more about what makes us happy and what does not. Some of us even took this precious alone time to reflect more profoundly on the choices we have made until now and what we really want to achieve in life.
Others also discovered new hobbies and passions that helped them cope with stress and anxiety. Some others got the chance to learn new skills, whether it was a new language, coding, or just fixing something at home.
We learned not just that we are fun on our own but also that learning about ourselves is a long and painful process. This year was undeniably one of the toughest years in most people’s lives. There have been many losses and there were issues whose solution required that we be fast and flexible in dealing. But this did not stop us from learning from the challenges and growing through the obstacles. After all, as the old adage goes, what does not kill us might leave us severely hurt, but it definitely makes us stronger — and smarter.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The NEF Fellows program recognises Africa’s best young scientists and technologists. These innovators and emerging leaders, all under 42 years, at least 40 percent of whom are women, are chosen for their strong scientific record, the relevance of research or innovation, and potential for leadership. Meet the 2019-2021 class of NEF Fellows unveiled during the just concluded virtual edition of the NEF Global Gathering (NEF-GG) 2020. Selected from across Africa and the Diaspora, their areas of research range from medicine, cancer prevention, public health to urban life, environmental conservation, and sustainable development.
NEF Global Gathering (NEF-GG) 2020
The Next Einstein Fellows for the 2019-2021 are Dr Vidushi Neergheen-Bhujun of Mauritius. Vidushi has taught undergraduate and postgraduate students in applied biochemistry for over 10 years. An associate professor since April 2019, she currently heads the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Mauritius and is affiliated with the institution’s Centre for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research at the Faculty of Science. Her research interest is centered on using functional food and medicinal plants indigenous to Mauritius to prevent several types of cancers in Africa.
Dr Badre Abdselam of Morocco. Badre’s research focuses mainly on public policies of higher education and social economy addressing three social groups – women, migrants, and the youth – particularly in Africa. He is currently an associate professor of social sciences at Rabat-based Mohammed V University in Morocco and was NEF Ambassador for the country between 2016 and 2018.
Dr Ademola Adenle of Nigeria. Ademola has almost 20 years of combined experience in teaching and research at the international level, working at the interface of natural and social sciences. His research is interdisciplinary, focusing on sustainable development issues related to agricultural biotechnology, food security, climate change, health innovation, biodiversity conservation, renewable energy, and entrepreneurship. He has attracted a number of competitive grants for his research and has had his work featured in a number of local and international media outlets.
Dr Fanelwa Ajayi of South Africa .Dr Ajayi in 2017 established two non-profit organisations where schoolchildren in marginalized communities can learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) before tertiary education. AmaQawe ngeMfundo works on providing on-site STEM experiments for learners while KasiMaths, co-founded with four others, is a scalable low-cost mathematics HUB for learners. Both came after she won first prize at the prestigious TechWomen Programme in Silicon Valley. Dr Ajayi is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Chemistry Department of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and a Research Lead at the Enzyme Sensor Laboratory, SensorLab, where she specializes in research that involves the development of drugs (particularly HIV and TB treatment).
Dr Daniel Akinyele of Nigeria. Daniel is one of the six grantees of the African Institute of Mathematical Science (AIMS) small grants in climate change science and is currently working on clean energy options for sustainable electricity supply to remote locations. A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering at Bells University of Technology in Ota, Nigeria, his expertise includes renewable energy, microgrid design, and planning, energy efficiency, life-cycle impact analysis, and sustainability.
Dr Zaheer Allam of Mauritius. Zaheer works towards accelerating the integration of technologies in urban life and cities, to better enhance governance and lead to informed decisions without compromising resilience. His approach has been widely featured in scientific publications and adopted at both policy and legislative levels. He also contributes to the work of numerous international organizations, driven by an interest in contributing to building a more humane world.
Dr Cecil Ouma of Kenya .A PhD holder in Physics, Cecil’s work centres on affordable and small-scale off-grid technologies for rural and peri-urban settlements in Africa. He has received several awards from conference presentations based on his research and findings from fellowships. Cecil has also initiated several collaborations with experimental and theoretical researchers from different parts of the world, tutored postgraduate students, and supervised PhD students.
Dr Ibrahim Cissé of Niger. Ibrahim has been with the Department of Physics at the (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) MIT since January 2014. He is interested in developing high-resolution methods of microscopy that go directly inside living cells and look at the behaviour of single biomolecules that could decode the human genome from DNA into RNA. Ibrahim is a recipient of multiple national and international awards.
Dr Menattallah Elserafy of Egypt .Menattallah’s work focuses on DNA repair mechanisms and genome maintenance pathways, using budding yeast as a model organism to identify novel gene functions. She is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Genomics, Zewail City of Science and Technology (ZC), and a lecturer of undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Dr Obidimma Ezezika of Nigeria. Obidi founded the NutridoTM gamification program and is a recipient of several awards, with research interests lying at the nexus of global health, food security, and implementation science. He is currently an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough and in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health of the University of Toronto. He also serves as the President of the African Centre for Innovation and Leadership Development based in Abuja, Nigeria.
Dr Jesse Gitaka of Kenya .Jesse’s team is involved in projects aimed at addressing infectious disease, maternal and new born health. The work on malaria is aimed at epidemiology and surveillance for resistant parasites while working to prevent bacterial infections that lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as stillbirths, prematurity, maternal and new born sepsis, and mortality. He has published findings in several peer-reviewed journals, including Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr Alpha Keita of Guinea. Alpha is a board-certified physician of the Guinean Medical Council. His research works on exploring the history and reservoirs of viruses, particularly the Ebola virus infection, with the goal of better anticipating, differentiating, and preventing epidemics from Africa to the world. To carry out his work in Guinea successfully, Alpha set up a Molecular Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Public Health in the country and, with his colleagues, created the Centre for Research and Training on Infections disease where he currently manages the laboratories.
Dr Agnes Kiragga of Uganda . Agnes is passionate about using data science to predict HIV outcomes as well as preventing the virus among adolescent girls and young women in Africa. She currently heads the Statistics Unit and is a Senior Research Scientist at the Kampala-based Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) in Uganda, holding a PhD in Statistics with vast experience in HIV clinical research and the use of advanced statistical methods. Agnes is also keen to promote the uptake of science and mathematics among African girls and women.
Dr Eric Lontchi of Cameroon. Eric works to tackle and positively impact obesity and diabetes with the aim of uncovering new insights into the pathogenesis and potential treatments of diabetes. He once studied the characteristics of diabetes common in populations of African origin and his research contributed significantly to the understanding of how ketosis-prone diabetes progresses. Currently, Eric supervises a team of researchers and uses highly sophisticated glucose and insulin clamp techniques to assess novel diabetes treatment strategies. He is the recipient of a number of national and international fellowships and awards.
Dr Salome Maswime of South Africa .Dr Salome’s research interests are in global surgery, related to caesarean sections and placental causes of stillbirths. An advocate for women’s health rights, and equity in maternal healthcare, she has published many of her works and presented them at various conferences and global meetings. Salome lectures undergraduate and postgraduate students and supervises MSc and PhD students, sits on many committees as an Advisor and Consultant, including the World Health Organization (WHO), and has received awards for her tenacity and commitment to research in maternal health.
Dr Blessing Mbabie of Nigeria .Blessing has a passion for tackling issues of public health, which has led her to a career in antimicrobial research experiences, demonstrated in her publications and public engagements. Blessing is a recent Postdoctoral Fellow of the University of Nottingham, UK, and holds a lectureship position at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Nigeria.
Dr Ebele Mogo of Nigeria. With a keen interest in the urban transition and the rise of non-communicable diseases, Ebele is working to transform societal systems to produce health and wellbeing through evidence-informed and collaborative investments across sectors. In her role as a Research Associate at the Global Diet and Activity Research (GDAR) Network within the MRC Epidemiology Unit, she develops and manages cutting edge research projects and partnerships centred on the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in African and Caribbean countries.
Dr Marian Nkansah of Ghana. Marian’s research interests span a wide range of fields including finding solutions to environmental problems associated with levels and fate of toxic substances and the interaction of these pollutants with each other in the environment. Her research work in Environmental Chemistry has set a high standard in bringing public awareness to researchers and civil society. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, and teaches Chemistry across multiple subfields.
Dr Eucharia Nwaichi of Nigeria. Eucharia is an Environmental Biochemist with an interest in environmental assessments, monitoring, and remediation, with her most recent focus on finding sustainable and safe sanitation strategies for remediation of petroleum-impacted environments. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, with work experience in diverse industries including the Dangote Group, Coca Cola, and Shell Petroleum Development Company.
Dr Dyllon Randall of South Africa. After focusing his PhD thesis on treating mining wastewater using a novel technology, Dyllon is focused on sustainable sanitation with a view to changing modern sanitation systems to focus on resource recovery rather than merely treatment. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Water Quality Engineering and a core member of the interdisciplinary Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town.
Dr Samson Rwahwire of Uganda.Samson was the first pioneer Ugandan Head of Department, Textile and Ginning Engineering. A Mechanical Engineering Graduate, he wants to use nanotechnology to solve Africa’s food security and environmental challenges through the development of sustainable food packaging materials, and to employ plastic waste as road materials using nanomaterials as precursors in modified bitumen. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Technical University of Liberec and was elected a fellow of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences in 2018.
Dr Cheikh Sarr of Senegal. Cheikh’s research focuses on field applications of the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Wireless Mobile ad hoc Sensor Networks, IPv6, and Security Networks. Full Professor at the Department of Computer Sciences at Université de Thiès, Sénégal, he has been a visiting Professor at Institut Universitaire des Sciences et Techniques d’Abéché (IUSTA) in Chad and the University of Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso since 2016. His works have appeared in renowned international journals and presented at conferences.
Dr Geoffrey Siwo of Kenya. Geoffrey is working on combining artificial intelligence with genetic data and scientific knowledge in order to accelerate the discovery of principles that could enable the equitable development of precision medicine. As an Assistant Professor at the University of Notre Dame, he has pioneered the use of natural language processing to automatically extract insights from thousands of scientific publications on gene editing technologies. Geoffrey is also developing new ways to assess the effectiveness and safety of gene editing technologies across individual human populations with an emphasis on Africans.
Dr Sara Suliman of Sudan. Sara’s broad research aim is to dissect biological mechanisms underlying the risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease, in order to inform better interventions to prevent its progression. Her research interests span immunology, epidemiology, and systems biology to identify individuals at high risk of the disease, and dissect mechanisms driving pathogenesis in susceptible hosts, with the goal of informing the development of evidence-based interventions. She is currently is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and also has a strong interest in mentoring African youth, particularly women in science and technology.
Dr Jessica Thorn of Namibia. Jessica is an Ecologist whose research is focused on investigating and measuring the expected and possible impacts of development corridors in land-use change, livelihoods, ecosystem services, and social coherence. She has been involved in various funded projects, conducted field research in several countries and her professional activities have been affiliated with the UN, governments, and NGOs while working closely with local stakeholders across sectors to generate new information.
Being part of the flagship program provides selected Fellows with opportunities to showcase their work and receive mentorship from leading scientists, policymakers, industry representatives, civil society leaders, and other exceptional young African scientists while at the same time bringing African science to the world stage.
Far from an ordinary science forum, the NEF Global Gatherings position science at the centre of global development efforts. In the presence of political and industry leaders, and with a strong focus on youth and women, the voices of global science leaders’ have the opportunity to be heard and to have a major impact on Africa’s scientific future.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
No more COVID-19 tax reliefs for businesses in Kenya still looking for more. In a majority vote by the country’s parliament, the series of tax cuts put in place since April to cushion the economy from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have been ended.
“I am going to surrender 50,000 shillings more every month. Let it go to the government. But let it be utilized efficiently to deliver services to my people and to all of us,” lawmaker John Mbadi said before voting on the changes.
Here Is What You Should Know
The tax cuts were introduced in April, weeks after Kenya reported its first case of the coronavirus. They were targeted at protecting the country which also is East Africa’s richest economy.
Now lawmakers said the cuts were not sustainable, reinstating a warning by the country’s finance ministry’s estimate this month that the Kenyan government will have foregone 65 billion shillings ($595.24 million) in revenue from the tax cuts.
The implication of this is that a reduction of 5 percentage points to the income tax rate for top individual earners and corporations will be reversed to 30%. The value-added tax rate will also be restored to 16% from 14% during the first phase of the pandemic.
However, government voted to keep one of the relief measures. Accordingly, Kenyans earning less than 24,000 Kenyan shillings ($220) will still be granted 100% tax relief.
The position of the lawmakers who the tax cut reversal is to the effect that the pandemic had not subsided and Kenyans still needed help.
Kenya’s economic output declined in the second quarter for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis. The tourism and agriculture exports, the main hard currency earners, have taken big hits.
Under the Tax Laws (Amendments) Act, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with annual earnings below Ksh.1 million ($9139) were exempted from tax, while those from Ksh.1 million ($9139) to Ksh. 50 million ($465,983) now have the turnover tax rate reduced to one percent from the previous three percent. This was not reversed. Position remains the same.
Reduction In Value Added Tax
Kenya’s tax law also saw that reduction from previous 16% to a new 14% of value-added tax in line with the cushion measures. New sectors such as insurance and security brokerage services have also been included in the VAT tax net. This has been reversed back to 16%.
Under the former law, Kenyans earning Ksh. 24000 ($223) and below received a 100% waiver on pay as you earn (PAYE) while earners above the threshold saw their PAYE discounted by 5%. This was not reversed.
Generally, the maximum tax rate on corporate and personal earnings in Kenya was pegged at 25% during the COVID era for those with annual income above Ksh. 688,000. Before this was 30%. This has now been reversed to 30%.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab has published a report entitled: “Running in Circles: Uncovering the Clients of Cyberespionage Firm Circles”. The document reveals that several African countries including Morocco have offered themselves the cyber weapons of the Israeli company Circles, which is into the production of tools used to dig into the personal communications of opposition politicians, rights activists and journalists. Using just the phone number, the Circles technology can identify a phone’s location anywhere in the world in seconds.
It can also access calls and messaging applications on the device. Cooperation from telecommunications companies is not required, and governments can track targets across borders without the need for a warrant. This type of tool is already used by Israel to track down the actors of Palestinian repression.
Note that Circles is a sister company of the NSO group, well known for its spyware called Pegasus, which is very popular among authoritarian political regimes. The Citizen Lab cited a total of 18 nations among Circles clients. There are also Botswana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. In the #EndSars case, the latter’s government reportedly used Circles’ tool to sabotage the protests.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
The Egyptian government places emphasis on the use of technological advances as part of its efforts to improve education. This was made known by the Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly who highlighted that the local production of tablets is part of the country’s efforts to improve education and ensure no child is left behind. According to the Egyptian Cabinet, the Prime Minister already met with both the Minister of Education and that of Communications to work out modalities. This is because of the great importance the government places on the project to manufacture tablets locally, as part of efforts to improve education, including through the use of technological advances.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly
Negotiations are said to be underway with a major international tablet producer, to open a production line for the manufacture of tablets in Egypt. The company shared the government’s intention to establish the tablet production line, in addition to implementing other programs to build capacity and develop entrepreneurial skills.
He said that the company shared the government’s intention to establish a new production line in one of Egypt’s major cities for this purpose, and that part of the production process would be exported to a number of countries in the Middle East and Africa, in addition to implementing other programs to build capacity and develop entrepreneurial skills.
Talaat pointed out that the company’s new factory would create 500 job opportunities, and that creation of another production line was also being negotiated for the manufacturing of mobile phones.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The emergency waivers for mobile money transactions given to operators in Kenya for mobile money operators by the Central Bank of Kenya will expire on December 31, 2020. The apex bank said the measures established on March 16st 2020, to encourage mobile money transfer over cash transactions in response to COVID-19 will end, following consultations with Payment Service Providers. To this end, from January 1 2021, PSPs will end the charges waiver for transactions below KSh 1000, replacing it with zero rated fees for transactions below Ksh 100. However, waivers for transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts will remain.
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor, Patrick Njuroge
Additionally, CBK will oversee charges between Savings and Credit Societies (SACCOs) and mobile money platforms in an attempt to integrate the societies with mobile money. Payment Service Providers will also offer revised pricing structures pegged on choice, efficiency, transparency, affordability, and customer-centricity, among other tenets. Safaricom announced that it is considering reducing its transaction costs over time.
The waivers boosted mobile money usage and brought in new users to the services. CBK says the monthly volume of person to person transactions increased by 87% between February and October 2020. Similarly, the volume of transactions below Ksh 1000 hiked by 114%. Mobile money also recorded 2.8 million new users over the period. Nevertheless, service providers bore the brunt, forfeiting fees, and commissions for the transactions. For instance, M-Pesa revenue declined by 14.5% year on year, following the waivers in response to COVID-19.
“The adverse service revenue performance is mainly attributed to the decline in M-PESA and voice revenues. Zero-rating of M-PESA transactions impacted M-PESA revenue which declined 14.5% year-on-year,” said Michael Joseph, Chairman of Safaricom Plc Board of Directors.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
A group affiliated to the United Kingdom’s government, the Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA) has launched a £2 million COVID Fund to support solutions that can reasonably provide succor to the debilitating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on low-income individuals/households and MSMEs in Nigeria. The funds, provided by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), is expected to support financial service-enabled solutions for access to liquidity, healthcare, and food. This disclosure was made by the British Deputy High Commissioner, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, during a webinar on December 8th, which was focused on how to address most challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in developing nations.
EFInA’s Chief Executive Officer, Ashley Immanuel
According to the EFInA’s Chief Executive Officer, Ashley Immanuel, “the pandemic has affected Nigeria in many ways as evidenced through job losses, increases in prices, and access to liquidity. This is the time to promote innovative digital solutions, and the £2 million COVID Fund represents another response in enabling citizens to access financial services.” Adding that “many households are experiencing food insecurity, reduced income, and challenges accessing required health services and the widespread use of digital financial services can help address these challenges.”
“Our scenario analysis shows that innovative digital financial services can strengthen recovery and resilience. The three most pressing needs that we aim to solve with the COVID-19 Fund are access to Liquidity, Healthcare & Food. We need innovative solutions that provide access to credit, enable income-earning opportunities, facilitate electronic payments, and help people get money more quickly. EFInA seeks to fund solutions that enable access for vulnerable and excluded groups including women and those in rural and northern areas.”
Bunmi Lawson, a Director at EFInA said that “many financial institutions require increased access to funds, which has provided the opportunity for organizations such as LINKS to support businesses by providing wage subsidies. However, this is not enough, as there is a need to continue to develop innovative solutions that will help de-risk growing businesses. There is also need for partnerships with mobile networks that are independent businesses to make cash available through digital transfers and allow faster access to funds.”
“The grant is a £2 million fund to help increase access to credit; enables value chains, increase household access to food and provide solutions to improve access to health care. Applicants must have or partner with an organization that has a proven track record of success for providing digital financial services. We will pay attention to projects that are sustainable, can scale post-funding, and focus on gender inclusivity. Existing financial service providers can also apply to scale their current operations.”
This grant will focus on supporting solutions that can mitigate the far-reaching impact of COVID-19 on low-income individuals/households (defined as those earning N50,000 or less per month) and MSMEs in Nigeria. The objective of the EFInA COVID-19 Grant is to support the scale of financial service-enabled solutions that enables immediate access to liquidity, healthcare and food, and EFInA is dedicating a fund size of £2 million towards achieving this, with an individual grant range between £50,000 and £500,000.
The application closes on January 6, 2021 and more information on how to apply for the fund can be obtained by visiting www.efina.org.ng.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Kenya Airways and Air France KLM Group announced yesterday that they have agreed to mutually terminate their Africa-Europe joint venture partnership from 1st September 2021. According to a press release from Kenya Airways, the two airlines had previously suspended the Joint Venture cooperation for the calendar year 2020 mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent unpredictability of return to normalcy in operations.
Kenya Airways
According to Kenya Airways management, “Kenya Airways will continue to serve the Europe market through its gateways of London, Paris, Amsterdam with Rome slated for resumption from 2021. These routes will be served by onward codeshares from the Air France KLM group and additionally with our ever-expanding network of European carriers including Alitalia, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Swiss International Airlines amongst others.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
There are indications that dozens of African countries will experience subdued economic recovery next year, according to predictions shared by experts at a recent roundtable organized by the Nairobi-based Africa Trade Insurance Agency. The annual roundtable event which this year was organized virtually on Dec.09 provides a platform for international investors, financiers and other stakeholders from the private sector to have open and honest exchanges with African governments about current investment and trade risks and potential solutions. Speaking on the prospects for the region to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, several investors, risk analysts and African governments agreed that Africa is only likely to reach the 2019 economic growth levels in 2022.
Robert Besseling, the founder and CEO of Pangea-Risk
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that US$345bn will be required in the next three years to help countries fully recover from the economic impacts of COVID-19, while the most comprehensive debt support initiative – the G20’s debt service suspension initiative (DSSI) will only provide US$6.5 bn to eligible countries through to June 2021. Despite Uganda being in the midst of a general election, the country is expected to grow by 2.9% this year and 3.5-4% in 2021— growth that puts Uganda among the continent’s top performers. Currently, there are over 2.3 million cumulative infections with 300,000 active cases on the continent, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention dashboard.
Robert Besseling, the founder and CEO of Pangea-Risk told the virtual participants that the pandemic seems to have impacted mostly North and Southern Africa with each of these regions accounting for one-third of the cumulative infections. One of the striking features of the pandemic’s impact is that, unlike previous economic shocks that left their mark largely on commodity-dependent countries, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting a broader swathe of countries including more diversified economies including those reliant on tourism and the aviation sectors. As a result, analysts say, debt defaults are likely to be contained to a small subset of countries with little chance of contagion spreading to other countries in the region.
In 2020, Moody’s took the most ratings actions, 20 in total, since 2016 and were focused on a small subset of countries, where the COVID shock exacerbated pre-existing credit weakness prior to the pandemic leaving these countries more susceptible to shocks and possible negative ratings. By 2021, six African countries are expected to record government gross debt of over 100% of GDP while debt burdens overall were expected to rise then stabilize by 2021/2022 above 60% of GDP.
The most vulnerable countries are well known to the markets and have had pre-existing challenges. Given the isolated nature of current defaults, however, the general trend does not show any threat of regional spread or contagion, the risk analysts said. Despite the gloomy outlook, analysts noted that there are no surprises for countries like Senegal, Ghana and Uganda which have responded relatively better than their peers during this period, thanks to the sound fiscal and monetary policies they already had before the pandemic.
Moses Kaggwa, the Director of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development told the virtual participants that despite Uganda being in the midst of a general election, the country is expected to grow by 2.9% this year and 3.5-4% in 2021— growth that puts Uganda among the continent’s top performers. Kaggwa said the government’s focus has been put on generating jobs within the agriculture sector, which accounts for the employment of 70% of the population. He said entrepreneurs in the sector are being supported by ramping up value addition of some of the exports. Kaggwa added that the government is focusing on domestic tourism while the Uganda Development Bank is bridging the current financing gap to manufacturing and agribusiness.
Ghana, which has a fairly diversified economy has been helped by stable cocoa prices and a resurgent interest by investors in gold, which countered the effects of the downturn in oil prices, according to Samuel Arkhurst, the Chief Economics Officer and Director of Treasury and the Debt Management Division. Meanwhile, Senegal which is ranked second out of 36 countries globally for their COVID response could not have achieved much had the government not implemented a U.S $ 1.7bn economic and social resilience programme in April this year.
Khalifa Sarr, an Advisor to the Minister of Economy, Planning and International Partnerships said this stimulus is credited for saving thousands of lives and strengthening social infrastructure that will protect the country against future pandemics while adding to the next phase of their recovery programme aimed at attracting the private sector through a new PPP framework and policies that will ease bureaucracy for investors.
Going forward, Manuel Moses, the executive director of ATI noted that the trade agency will focus on lending more support to the most vulnerable economies, which the company plans to do through rapid membership expansion in the coming months with the support of partners like the European Investment Bank and the African Development Bank.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
