The United States of America has decided to re-establish its embassy in Mogadishu since its closure in 1991 during the Somali Civil War. Tibor Nagy, Assistant Secretary for US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs said, “The reestablishment of the US Embassy Mogadishu today (Wednesday) is a sign of our commitment to partner with Somalia in its efforts to build a stable, credible and democratic country.” The US government re-established a permanent diplomatic presence in Mogadishu in December 2018 with the US Mission in Somalia. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto who officiated the transition said: “It is a significant and historic…
Author: Khusoko
Khusoko
Khusoko provides market insights into Africa's business investment as well as global trends that impact East African businesses.
149,692,000 pieces of the new KSh 1,000 notes were in circulation as of September 30 – CBK The Central Bank of Kenya received 209,661,000 pieces of the old KSh1,000 notes worth KSh209 billion by September 30 at the conclusion of the demonetization exercise. Dr.Patrick Njoroge, the CBK Governor on Wednesday said 7.4 million pieces worth KSh7.4 billion were never returned. “Demonetisation has been successful,” he declared. According to the Governor, the value of money that was returned is equivalent to the value lost during the Goldenberg case. “We wanted to deal with counterfeit money on the economy and we succeeded…
Singapore’s credit scoring fintech company, CredoLab has launched its operations in Kenya aiming to drive financial inclusion by credit scoring more people. Michel Massain, Sales for Europe and Africa at CredoLab says, “With the trend in Kenya of banks shifting from traditional banking halls to digital platforms, our alternative credit scoring technology is perfectly timed to help lenders provide access to sections of the population that have been traditionally financially excluded.” “You need a credit score to participate in the economy, but what about people who are new to credit and new to bank? How do they get a credit…
Kenya’s Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho testified in court that it was compulsory to have a national identification card for persons above 18 years and a birth certificate for under 18 for one’s data to be gathered under the National Integrated Information Management System (NIIMS). Dr. Kibicho testified before a three-judge bench composed of Justices Weldon Korir, Mumbi Ngugi and Pauline Nyamweya on Wednesday where lawyers representing the petitioners in the NIIMS case grilled him on a wide range of issues, including the safety of the data collected and its privacy practices among others. Kibicho told the court that the…
Cytonn Investments has said consolidation and revenue diversification will become important for Kenya’s banking sector going forward. The independent investments management firm said the continued diversification of the sector has witnessed a consistent relatively strong profitability growth, which has alleviated the effects of relatively slow funded income growth. Further, consolidation has resulted in the successful remediation of collapsed banks and left fewer but well-capitalized players to be able to catalyse economic growth. Cytonn Investments made the comments when it released ‘Kenya Listed Banks H1’2019 Report’ with listed banks recording a 9.0% average increase in core Earnings per Share (EPS), compared…
(KQ) and Oman Air have expanded their existing codeshare agreement connecting passengers through various gateways. In the agreement, KQ will allow Oman Air passengers to fly to specific African destinations beyond Nairobi to Entebbe and Johannesburg. “Similarly, Kenya Airways guests can now extend their travel beyond Muscat (Oman) to Karachi (Pakistan) and Lahore (Pakistan),” said KQ in a statement. Kenya Airways Chief Commercial Officer Ursula Silling said, “Through this partnership, Kenya Airways extends its services to tourists as well as to those who are visiting friends and families, in Oman – through the cultural links that Oman shares with the…