African countries start business classification to shore up green investment

African countries start business classification to shore up green investment

By Conrad Onyango, bird story agency Kenya has joined South Africa and Rwanda in offering a "green investment" handbook as African countries race to close a huge climate financing gap. The draft Kenya Green Finance Taxonomy (KGFT), published by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in mid-April, is expected to help position the country for green funds and make the investment climate more attractive. Targeting banks, […]

April 17, 2024 21

Africa

Ethiopia looks to the Singapore model to lure startups in sweeping new reforms

By Seth Onyango, bird story agency Ethiopia has unveiled sweeping reforms to support a burgeoning startup industry and turn the country into a leading incubator of entrepreneurs. Notable changes include slashing a 30% capital-gains tax on the transfer and issuance of shares, according to Brook Taye, Director-General of the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority. The move, combined with an allowance for startups to retain all foreign currency […]

April 16, 2024 11

Africa

bird TenX: African countries with the highest number of EVs

By Bonface Orucho, bird story agency Despite recent headwinds, a growing shift from gasoline-powered vehicles to electric vehicles continues apace in Africa. Last year, the global sale of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles rose by 31% compared to 2022, according to a 2024 report by market research firm Rho Motion. Despite the high cost of conversion and a lack of adequate enabling infrastructure such as […]

April 16, 2024 65

Africa

New e-mobility policies are pushing EV fleet expansions in Africa

By Bonface Orucho, bird story agency African countries are welcoming a new era of more robust e-mobility policies as countries seek to scale their electric vehicle (EV) fleets after successful tests and pilots. According to Lusanda Madikizela, the head of Zero Emission Transport at C40 Cities in South Africa, better policies provide confidence for investors, manufacturers and operators. “Manufacturers need policy certainty so they can adjust specifications... financiers […]

April 16, 2024 74

Africa

Burundi-Rwanda rivalry: RED-Tabara rebel attacks add to regional tensions

By Patrick Hajayandi, University of Pretoria The RED-Tabara armed group, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has renewed attacks in Burundi since late 2023. The group – which is an abbreviation of the French Résistance pour un État de Droit au Burundi (Resistance for Rule of Law in Burundi) – is one of a handful of rebel groups seeking to unseat the Burundi government. […]

April 15, 2024 34

Africa

30 years after genocide: Rwanda’s older generations fear a return of ethnic tensions, but youth feel more united

By Jonathan Beloff, King's College London It’s 30 years since a genocide ripped through Rwandan society, leaving up to a million Tutsi and non-extremist Hutu dead. Every year in early April, the country enters a 100-day period of commemoration during which Rwandans are asked to remember and reflect on historical divisions between the country’s main ethnic groups: Tutsi, Hutu and Twa. This is done under the banner […]

April 5, 2024 12

Africa

Kigali is Africa’s fastest rising international financial centre

By Conrad Onyango, bird story agency Rwanda’s deliberate move to carve a niche in sustainable finance is helping to grow Kigali as Africa’s next significant International Financial Centre. The capital city has climbed up 18 spots, the highest in Africa and third highest globally, in the 35th edition of the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) rankings, placing it third in Africa and 67th globally. “The greatest improvements were […]

March 25, 2024 16

Africa

Press freedom in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda: what journalists have to say about doing their jobs

By Karen McIntyre, Virginia Commonwealth University and Meghan Sobel Cohen, Regis University A majority of the world’s population has experienced a decline in press freedom in recent years, according to a UN report. In east Africa, the results are mixed and debatable. In Rwanda, both international press freedom rankings and journalists on the ground say press freedom has increased over the past 10 years. In neighbouring Uganda, both […]

March 19, 2024 12

Africa

Kagame agrees to meet Tshisekedi over eastern DRCongo crisis

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has agreed to meet with his Democratic Republic of the Congo counterpart Felix Tshisekedi to discuss the ongoing crisis in eastern Congo. The agreement, according to the BBC, followed a meeting on Monday in Angola's capital Luanda between Kagame and Angolan President João Lourenço, the African Union's mediator, in the DR Congo crisis. Rwanda's presidency said on X that the two leaders "agreed on key steps […]

March 13, 2024 17