Kenya

Access Bank has signed a pact with Nairobi-headquartered National Bank of Kenya, setting the flagship subsidiary of Nigeria’s largest lender up for the ownership of the company, which has been in business since 1968. The target bank was formerly controlled by the Kenyan Government but is now owned by KCB Group Plc, the parent of the country’s biggest commercial lender. The deal is the first to be announced since the passing away last month of Herbert Wigwe, the erstwhile CEO of Access Bank’s parent company Access…

Ilara Health, a Kenya-based health-tech enabling private clinics to access diagnostic devices and pharmaceutical products, has secured $4.2 million debt-equity in a pre-Series A round. The funds will be used to scale operations in the East African country, and to deepen health care access to the masses through the rollout of a B2B health and occupational service that will enable uninsured workers access care at its network of partner clinics for a fixed monthly fee. The $2.5 million equity round was led by DOB…

It almost sounds like a fairytale: a tiny ant dramatically impacting a giant lion. But thanks to a study that reveals just how interconnected all life forms really are, researchers have just figured out that it happened on the savannas of Africa.Sometime around the turn of the last century, an invasive ant species known as Pheidole megacephala, believed to come from the island of Mauritius, began to establish itself in earnest at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. These big-headed ants, as they are more commonly known,…

Image Source : PIXABAY Indian internet infrastructure soars India reportedly secured the second position in Asia last year for having the most Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) per country. As per the Internet Society Pulse Country report, this marks a significant milestone in the commitment to adopting advanced technologies and addressing the challenges of a connected…

For most of us breathing is the easiest thing to do because oxygen is naturally available in the air. An oxygen crisis in the country continues to rise and patients are losing their lives while in search of this precious commodity. Oxygen is an expensive luxury. Health Minister, Mutahi Kagwe, has reported low oxygen capacity in the country, due to the rising number of patients in need of the commodity. Why is the government not taking the oxygen crisis as something that needs to be addressed? RUTH WAMBUI My name is…

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This weekly newsletter is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Thursday.This week: Christmas trees have the potential to spread unwanted critters What has 2 (or 3) wheels and helps reduce oil consumption? Here's why food waste is a major climate change issue Christmas trees…

Pan-African e-commerce giant Jumia Technologies will end the running of its food delivery arm this month in Nigeria and six other markets where it has footprints on the continent. The decision is part of a cost-cutting push aimed at refocusing the company on expanding its online retail business. Jumia Foods, which accounted for 11 per cent of Jumia’s gross merchandise value – the value of goods sold via its platform – in the nine months to September has never recorded a profit since it commenced business. In…

Kenyan e-commerce and fintech platform for mass market consumers Copia Global has appointed John Lazar, the ex-CEO of Metaswitch, a Microsoft subsidiary, to its board off the back of $20 million in new funding. Enza Capital, the Pan-African VC firm that Lazar co-founded in 2019, was among the large participants in the Series C extension round, which also includes global private bank LGT, investment firm Goodwell Investments, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), German financial service…

“We only went to Kenya because a Nairobi businessman fumbled in his jacket pocket.” So begins Nicholas Rankin’s hybrid of history and memoir focused on the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s. The businessman’s car keys “snagged the trigger of his Beretta, and he shot himself in the stomach. My father got his job.”Historians don’t write history, they curate it, and in Trapped in History Rankin challenges his own childhood absorption of propagandistic accounts of Britain’s imperial past. Nearly 70 years after his arrival in…

Kenyan fashion e-commerce startup ShopZetu is set to add beauty and home décor categories to its portfolio, in response to the growing needs of the young and style-conscious women in Africa. This is as it currently scales regionally over the next few months while working to attract international fashion brands, and more than triple the number of vendors on its platform to 1,000. The startup plans to trial regional delivery services in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, scaling beyond Kenya, where it launched in 2021, on…