The Covid-19 pandemic’s expansion of online learning has created new higher education opportunities to teach African prison inmates, even if some jail administrators and government officials have often been reluctant to take advantage of these options. The idea that prison can deliver personal growth and reform as well as punishment and justice is not universally accepted across the continent, restricting the potential of higher online learning for inmates.…

A growing number of successful good practice case studies in Africa are helping guide universities and colleges into how best to boost access to higher education across the continent. More than 80 million Africans have disabilities, according to the UN (1).…

Concerns continue to be raised about the negative impact of the used-clothing trade with sub-Saharan Africa, hobbling the development of the region’s clothing and textile sector, although some experts warn its removal will not be easy.

According to the most recent UN data, the world’s used clothing exports increased from only USD2.5 billion in 2009 to over USD4.2 billion in 2019, noted Dr Sheng Lu, associate Professor at the Department of Fashion & Apparel Studies, University of Delaware, USA.…

The halal food market and industry in Kenya, east Africa’s economic hub, is growing, say experts, although reforms in regulation and certification are needed to underpin the sustainability of this growth.

As elsewhere, said Eugene Jernigan, director of International Trade Policy and Development at the Action Green for Trade and Sustainable Development (AGTSD) organisation, that serves small businesses in Kenya, Covid-19 hit food service sales in Kenya, and that included halal outlets.…

Decentralised finance – DeFi for short -is a growing variety of blockchain-based financial services, such as loans and insurance, that can operate without central control from an intermediary. While some say DeFi will democratise finance and liberate the under-banked, it is also an increasing area of interest for anti-money laundering (AML) authorities, who rely on the existence of intermediaries to enforce AML procedures.…

The Kenyan government is being urged to strengthen the country’s backward linkages in clothing and textile production to ease poorer Kenyans’ reliance on imports of commercial second-hand clothing, factory and shop rejects.
Phyllis Wakiaga, chief executive officer at the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM),  stressed to just-style how the textile, apparel and cotton sub-sector has been identified as a key priority, with the potential for high growth and economic impact.…

Sub-Saharan Africa has natural resources that aids the development of renewable energy, it has lots of sun, plentiful wind, and much potentially sustainable biomass. With the development of small-scale affordable renewable energy technologies, such systems have been promoted by major aid agencies keen to prevent deforestation and excessive reliance on fossil fuels, that – even where they are plentiful, have not usually led to widespread economic development.

The huge offshore finance leak unveiled last month (October 3) by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has highlighted the risks major companies face when doing business in offshore jurisdictions. Keith Nuthall and Andreia Nogueira report.

Major companies undertaking international business must comply with increasingly tough beneficial ownership transparency laws, and risk reputational damage if they are associated with particularly elaborate devices to avoid tax, even if it is legal.…

The huge offshore finance leak unveiled yesterday (October 3) by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its media partners has highlighted the pressures AML reporters face in complying with increasingly tough beneficial ownership transparency laws.

Reports generated from 2.94 terabytes of data within 12 million documents leaked to the ICIJ from the confidential records of 14 offshore service providers have been analysed by 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries.…

Demand for paints and coatings in Kenya is set to recover this year from the impact of Covid-19 epidemic, being driven by the rebound of building construction and other civil engineering works that require use of paints, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has predicted.…