BY AKINWUMI ADESINA, ABIDJAN – Water is essential for life, and yet it is scarce in many parts of the world. Owing to the effects of climate change, Africa is experiencing its worst drought since 1945, especially in Southern Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Northern Nigeria. These fragile areas now need the global community’s support. We...
Ethiopian Airlines will get a $159 million loan from the African Development Bank to help finance an expansion plan that includes doubling the size of its fleet and increasing its revenue to $10 billion over the next decade. The state-owned carrier has around 80 planes, including Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Airbus A350-900 jets, and has...
The Guardian Despite recent heavy rains, Ethiopia is still reeling from the worst drought to hit the country for half a century, particularly in the livestock-dependent regions of Oromia and Somali. Yet studies (pdf) suggest the country could have billions of cubic metres of untapped groundwater. The story is the same across many parts of...
By Tristan McConnell Nairobi (AFP) – On a Sunday afternoon in late February a car exploded outside a crowded restaurant in Baidoa, Somalia, and moments later a suicide bomber blew himself up among fleeing survivors. At least 30 people died in the attack, the latest by the Shebab, a Somali-led Al-Qaeda group in East Africa...
By: KENNETH AGUTAMBA If you ever travel to Ethiopia, ask to be served ‘injera’ which is some pancake-style bread made from a grass grain (teff); but when it’s served, don’t jump in fright because it will appear like a large chapatti spread out on a wide tray-so large you might think it’s meant for you and the...
Cargo trucks await clearance at the Malaba border post in western Kenya. The report notes that while East Africa displays some positive aspect of trade openness, weak transport infrastructure still presents a formidable barrier to trade. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP By JAMES ANYANZW East Africa can become a global and intra-regional trade hub...
Africa’s middle class is rising and they have money to spend. About a third of the continent spends between $4 to $20 a day—a group that is expected to grow to 42% by 2060, according to data from the Africa Development Bank. That’s more than a billion people. Consumption on the continent rose to more...
By Peter Schlebusch “In the next three to five years the vast majority of our transactions will be performed on smart-mobile devices.” Retail banking is experiencing a seismic shift in customer behaviour thanks to the digital revolution that continues to effect fundamental changes in the way businesses and individuals transact. Nowhere is this metamorphosis in...
by Paul Richardson Abdourahman Omar Haga moves his hand over a fissure in a lava lake on the edge of Djibouti’s Ghoubbet el Kharab sea, trying to detect hot vapors invisible to the naked eye in the searing midday sun. “Can you feel it?” the 59-year-old geologist asks before offering a word of caution: placing one’s...
By Robert Looney Why it’s time for East Africa’s big success story to change the way it does business. Just over 30 years ago, Ethiopia’s famine regularly made the news. Gruesome accounts of up to a million deaths stemming from drought and civil war captured the attention of aid agencies, sympathetic governments, and humanitarian groups around...