Why Kenya’s Low-income Earners are Hit Hard by High Food Prices – Africa Business Round Up

We looked at price data of some basic commodities from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) over the past 10 years, and calculated the percentage change in price between 2005 and 2015, as well as the compounded annual change in price, year on year.

According to 2015 KNBS data, tomatoes are nearly three times as expensive as they were a decade earlier. In 2005, they were retailing at Sh39.75 per kg. Now, you are looking at paying Sh107.31 for the same.

That’s nearly a 170 per cent difference. Over that period, every year tomatoes have been 10.4 per cent more expensive than they were the previous year. Read: 

The EU’s migration policy in Africa: five ways forward

The European Union is not helpless in the face of migration flows from sub-Saharan Africa. Here is how it can act. Read:

Ethiopia Turmoil Threatens Unlikeliest Airline Success Story

Ethiopia, indelibly linked with images of grinding poverty and famine, has quietly built one of Africa’s rare corporate success stories with the continent’s only consistently profitable airline shuttling passengers from around the world through its hub in Addis Ababa. Yet just as state-owned Ethiopian Airlines starts to vie with the likes of Dubai-based Emirates, outbreaks of violence around ethnic and human-rights protests have claimed an estimated 500 lives since June, threatening to deter travelers and undermining the political stability that helped it flourish.  Read: 

Related: 

• Emirates Airline Hits a Rough Patch 
• IATA Projects African Carriers Will Post Net loss of $800M in 2017

Are tablets the best way to increase digital literacy in African countries?

Sure, tablets are a cool gadgets to have. But unless our objective is only to create a generation of cool kids who will learn how to swipe and tap tap on screens, our investments will likely yield higher return if we invested in modern desktops/laptops to be stationed in their school labs or a central place (assuming such facilities exist) for them to use during school time and during free period after their class schedules. With this strategy, would increasing the number of kids we can offer digital literacy to, per unit time, since the classes can take turns to use the same set of computers. Read: 

Related: Laptops From China For Standard One Pupils: Is The System Ready?

Can Africa’s manufacturers profit from the economic rebalancing in China?

Manufacturing wages are rising quickly in China, so production capacity is beginning to be outsourced to other countries, mainly in Southeast Asia. There will be, however, huge opportunities for African countries to take advantage of this trend, if they are prepared in terms of ensuring sufficient water and power supplies, plus transport infrastructure. Read:

Related: 

• Optimism Among Kenyan Manufacturers High
• Barclays Bank of Kenya working with SMEs to Address Supply Chain Challenges
• Africa Could Double Manufacturing Output to US $930 billion in 2025

From hawkers to criminals: how the Lagos ban on street selling hurts the city

Hundreds of thousands of Lagosians make their living selling food and household goods in traffic, providing a valuable service to commuters and a solid (if dangerous) job. A new crackdown aims to change all that, but at what cost? Read: 

Related:

• How to Survive as a Hawker in Nairobi
• Growing Informal Sector is Driver of Kenya’s Job Market
• Kenya’s Informal Sector Created 713,000 jobs in 2015
• Informal Sector is Key to Achieving Vision 2030