Author: David Indeje

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cabinet on Thursday approved the establishment of a credit guarantee scheme targeting the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)  with an initial seed capital of KSh10 billion. The capital will be disbursed in two tranches of KSh5 billion in the current financial year 2020/21 and Financial Year 2021/22. In addition, Development Finance Institutions and participating commercial financial institutions are expected to boost the funding for the scheme to at least KSh100 Billion.  The scheme is expected to be operationalized by mid-October, 2020.  In June, the National Treasury allocated KSh3 billion to the scheme. In addition, the Cabinet…

Africa Oil Corporation has been granted an extension for its oil exploration license on Blocks 10BB and 13T in the South Lokichar basin scheme by the Kenyan Government. In a statement, the company says under the terms of the extension, the Joint Venture partners have the right to extend the second exploration period for the 10BB and 13T licence blocks until 31 December 2020, with a further extension until 31 Dec 2021 contingent on an agreed work programme and budgets. “We strongly believe in the value of the Kenya development project and will be spending the next year on optimizing…

As the effects of COVID-19 continue to be felt with an uncertain future, members of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) are contemplating a shift strategy to remain competitive. In collaboration with tax consultancy firm, KPMG, they have published a ‘Manufacturing resilience and sustainability strategy: Priority Policy Toolkit’ on how the sector will be in a position to better build business resilience plans and policies, prioritize their workers, monitor potential pain points, and implement measures to stay resilient during this crisis and beyond. The report emphasizes that going forward, the sector will need to focus on cost competitiveness and diversifying…

Kenya’s economy to grow at 1.5% in 2020 Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, says the East African economy is expected to lead the Sub-Saharan Africa region in post-COVID-19 recovery.  Yvonne Mhango, Renaissance Capital, Sub-Saharan Economist, speaking at the 6th Annual Virtual East Africa Investor Conference, said “We expect the East African region to lead the recovery in Sub-Saharan Africa,” adding that “We expect the economies to be among the first to emerge from this crisis.”   According to Mhango, East Africa scores high in terms of resilience largely being attributed to key sectors, agriculture, tourism, global…

South African retailer Shoprite is downsizing its operations in Kenya and plans to close or dispose off its remaining stores as the business has slowed down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. According to its financial results for the year ended June 28, the retailer says, “Kenya, with three stores at year-end, has continued to underperform relative to our return requirements.  Post-year-end, one store has been closed.” “Given the ensuing economic impact of COVID-19 and our experience to date, we expect to close or dispose of our remaining two stores in the region in the year ahead,” the company…

Listed utility company Kenya Power & Lighting Company Plc (KPLC) profit plunged 91% for the financial year ended June 30, 2019. According to its audited results, Kenya Power reported a net profit of KSh262 million compared to  KSh3.3 billion the previous year. The company said it attributed the loss to increased non-fuel power purchase costs which rose by KSh18.1 billion to KSh70.9 billion, from KSh52.8 billion in a similar period in 2018. In addition to the commissioning of two power plants with a combined generation capacity of 360MW. “In addition, finance costs rose by KSh3.2 billion due to increased levels…