Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Japanese car giant Toyota announced Monday that it will stop selling diesel cars in Europe, beginning the phase-out this year. “Diesel will be phased out in our passenger cars in 2018,” Johan van Zyl, president of Toyota Motor Europe, said in Geneva, where Europe’s first …
Read More »COMESA to boost regional seed trade
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is set to introduce the use and distribution of seed labels and certificates as a way of improving access to quality seeds in the region. This is because more than 130 million people in the region …
Read More »Uchumi Supermarkets’ losses increases
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Business seem to be worsening at the retail chain, Uchumi Supermarkets. Latest data shows that the retail chain recorded a 63.5% growth in net losses to US$8.95million for the half year ended Dec 2017 citing reduced sales. The listed company recorded a net loss …
Read More »Kenya raises US$2bn in new Eurobond
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | On Feb 22, Kenya’s Treasury said it raised US$ 2 billion in a new sovereign bond issue listed at the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The Treasury said the Bond attracted a significant level of interest leading to over subscription. “This issue was seven times …
Read More »Cameroon startup launches drones for global market
Douala, Cameroon | AFP | Talking fast and dreaming big, William Elong shows off the first “made in Cameroon” drone at his sixth-floor workshop in downtown Douala, minutes from the economic capital’s Atlantic seafront. The 25-year-old, known as a high-flyer after being named one of Forbes’ most promising young Africans …
Read More »Kenya plans to repeal rate cap law
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kenya’s Treasury Secretary, Henry Rotich, has indicated plans to repeal the rate cap law as part of the contentious reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund to extend a frozen Kshs 153bn emergency standby facility that expires this month. The facility, which is designed …
Read More »Cobalt boom turns life upside down in DR Congo
Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In early 2014, according to local folklore, a man digging a septic tank or a well in his garden in Kasulo came across rocks with a distinctive grey-green sheen: cobalt. From then on — rather like the find at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 that …
Read More »Ethiopia buys stake in Dubai-managed Somaliland port
Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | Ethiopia on Thursday acquired a stake in a port in the breakaway state of Somaliland, its operator DP World said, as a legal dispute rages over another major Horn of Africa shipping hub. Dubai-based DP World last week accused Djibouti of illegally seizing …
Read More »Jambojet to buy four aircrafts for new expansion
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Jambojet, a low-cost subsidiary of Kenya Airways, plans to buy four aircrafts in the next 18 months to support its local and regional expansions. The airline’s CEO Willem Hondius said during the carrier’s maiden international flight to Entebbe on Feb 15 that they expect …
Read More »Coffee’s future in dilemma
Kampala conference discusses ways of increasing output but many wonder who would buy it Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Uganda is currently implementing an ambitious plan the coffee road map to increase coffee output from the current 4.5 million bags to 20 million bags by 2025. This new target is …
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