East African Business Notifier

Last week, the board of the International Monetary Fund   approved   current Managing Director   Kristalina Georgieva   for another five-year term. It is a welcome development that comes at a critical moment. Her second term will finish just before the end of this “ make-or-break ” decade for reining in climate change and   delivering   on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Georgieva has made significant progress in aligning the IMF with these goals. She was instrumental in the IMF’s decision to acknowledge climate change as a critical macro issue under its institutional mandate.  Under her leadership, the IMF launched its first-ever   climate-change strategy ; created the   Resilience and Sustainability Trust  (RST), its primary climate-finance instrument; and fostered global dialogue on the issue through its   flagship  publications and   research . But now even  bolder leadership  is needed. As ...

Uganda Development Bank (UDB) convened a high-level meeting with prominent stakeholders on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings.  The purpose of this strategic engagement was to foster partnerships, exchange insights on the empowerment of national development banks in Africa to address the economic, social, and environmental priorities of the continent, and chart a course for UDB’s transformative journey. UDB has increased its balance sheet more than ten-fold in the last decade while retaining its profitability and aims at mobilizing further international sustainable funding to achieve its strategic objectives. Led by Felix Okoboi, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Patricia Ojangole, the Managing Director, UDB engaged in productive discussions with key players, including: Hon Henry Musasizi, Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Uganda Dr. Diab Karrar, Director of the Operations - Public Sec...

A wise man once said, “Good money makes good art, and good art makes good money.” Legend, patriarch, and seasoned actor Andrew Benon Kibuuka delves into his passion for art, on yet another episode of MultiChoice Uagnda’s Home of Our Stars Podcast, Season 2, with Flavia Tumusiime. Back in the 1980s, a time when film was viewed as a futuristic medium and the limited entertainment options included only a TV and radio, of which TV only started started broadcasting at 6 pm, theatre was the premier form of amusement. Dominating Uganda’s entertainment scene were the Kampala Drama Actors, who would later evolve into the renowned Bakayimbira Drama Actors. Among these stars is Andrew Benon Kibuuka, a distinguished figure in both film and theatre. With a career spanning over 40 years, Kibuuka has appeared in more than 100 productions as an actor and directed over 150 creations. He shares his journey into the world of acting: “After completing senior six, I teamed up with two friends from high sc...

Baheej Tourism Development Company, a collaborative venture between ASFAR, the PIF-owned investment company, and the alliance between AWN Enterprises and Tamimi Group, a private joint venture, proudly announces its platinum sponsorship for the upcoming Future Hospitality Summit 2024. The summit is set to unfold from April 29 to May 1 at Riyadh Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah. Under the theme "Invest in Tomorrow: Today. Together," the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) will spotlight Baheej's first destination in Yanbu and the signing of strategic agreements with various partners. In addition, Baheej will actively engage in panel discussions during the FHS, addressing essential topics focused on hospitality investment, sustainable development, and human capital. The primary focus will be advancing the quality of life and tourism in coastal destinations, perfectly aligning with the objectives outlined in Saudi Vision 2030. Norah Al Tamimi, CEO of Baheej Tourism Development Comp...

American businessman, actor and songwriter Jimmy Dean once said, “I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” Nothing could better capture more perfectly, the need for businesses, to adapt to digital marketing, in order to remain relevant, updated and competitive on the global market. As digital marketing takes over, the way we do business continues to gradually evolve from the traditional interpersonal approach to a virtual interaction one.  For instance, it’s not every sale that requires one to get on that plane, or catch that bus, or drive to a destination to close that deal with pen on paper and a handshake. Neither is it a must that effective sales targets are only achieved by knocking on office doors to convince decision makers to buy one’s products and services. Back in the day, one had to spend an arm and a leg to advertise their products and services. With the new digital marketing wave however, things have grea...

At the 21 st   Huawei Analyst Summit,  Huawei's rotating chairman, Eric Xu, urged developers to collaborate on the development of native apps for the company's mobile operating system HarmonyOS.  "We call on all app developers and owners in China to join our HarmonyOS-native app ecosystem as soon as possible, and work together to deliver a better experience to consumers," said Xu. HarmonyOS is the company's next-generation operating system that can run on a wide range of smart devices, e.g. smartphones, wearables, tablet computers and smart TVs . By the end of 2023, HarmonyOS had been deployed on more than 800 million devices. According to Counterpoint Research , Harmony OS reached 4% of the global market share and exceeded 16% market share in China in the fourth quarter of 2023. Huawei has made substantial progress in developing the HarmonyOS ecosystem, with more than 4,000 of the targeted 5,000 apps already in the process of being ported to the new operating sys...

  Uganda Development Bank (UDB) has retained a National Long-term Rating of ‘AAA (uga)’ with a Stable Outlook, the highest attainable on Uganda’s national scale and reflects high support propensity by the government. Fitch Ratings has also affirmed UDB's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B+' with a Negative Outlook and UDB's Government Support Rating (GSR) at 'b+'. KEY RATING DRIVERS The Government Support Rating (GSR) is equalized with Uganda's sovereign rating, reflecting Fitch's view of the authorities' high propensity to provide support. The Negative Outlook on UDB's Long-Term IDR mirrors that on Uganda's sovereign rating,” the Fitch Rating report reads in part. “As is usual for policy banks, Fitch does not assign a Viability Rating to UDB. This is because its operations are largely determined by its policy role.” Fitch rating noted the following factors as key rating drivers: 1.  High Propensity to Support:  The Ugandan governmen...

Great Lakes Energy Company NV (GLE) has secured a significant victory in its ongoing legal dispute with its local partners, Bryan Xsabo Strategy Consultants (Uganda) Limited, Mola Solar Systems (Uganda) Limited and Consicara Global Investors Limited over the Kabulasoke Solar Power Project in Uganda owned by Xsabo Power Limited.   Following a protracted legal battle, the High Court Commercial Division of Uganda has ruled in favour of Great Lakes Energy. The ruling has recognised as binding and enforceable the final award made by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and has affirmed Great Lakes Energy’s right to enforce the final award in Uganda – a major boost to international investor confidence. In the final award, the LCIA found that GLE’s local partners were in breach of the project agreements by their failure to repay debt due to GLE of US$ 6.78 Million and further by GLE’s local partners’ wrongful misappropriation of substantial funds in excess of US$ 8.66 mill...

Recent discussions about the implications of artificial intelligence for employment have veered between the poles of apocalypse and utopia. Under the apocalyptic scenario, AI will displace a large share of all jobs, vastly exacerbating inequality as a small capital-owning class acquires productive surpluses previously shared with human laborers. The utopian scenario, curiously, is the same, except that the very rich will be forced to share their winnings with everyone else through a universal basic income or similar transfer program.  Everyone will enjoy plenty and freedom, finally achieving Marx’s  vision  of communism, where it is “possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman, or critic.” The common assumption in both scenarios is that AI will vastly increase productivity, forcing even ...