Insight type: Article

Trust is at the heart of humanitarian action. It is a core tenet to the relationships humanitarian organisations build with the local communities in which their actions are rooted, as well as with donors, both to whom they are accountable.

The most important sector of the African Economy is Agriculture. It contributes 15 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in sub-Saharan Africa and employs more than 60 pecent of the labour force continent-wide. Agriculture accounts for 75 percent of Africa’s domestic trade.

In the age of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues, boards of directors are steering companies toward an ESG-compliant future. Diversity and inclusion within the board of a company have become emblematic of good corporate governance and are illustrative of the “G” in ESG which considers such factors as how a company is managed by its board of directors and executives, the composition of the board, as well as the quality of decision making.

The COVID-19 pandemic has tested private equity firms in ways not seen before. In the first half of 2020, private equity activity took a sudden halt as COVID-19 took hold.

The Finance Act, 2020 which came into force on 1 July 2020, introduced a raft of changes to various legislations.

Since the coming into power of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia has undertaken a number of significant reforms, changes and amendments to existing laws.

The evolution of insolvency laws across the world has been aptly described as the “redefinition of insolvency from sin to risk, from moral failure to economic failure”. In the United Kingdom, for example, the treatment of debtors has significantly improved since medieval times, when failure to co-operate with bankruptcy commissioners would earn convicted bankrupts the death penalty. Kenya is no exception.

The global wave of increased transparency and disclosure requirements of ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) has finally landed on East Africa’s shores. In 2020 and 2021, Kenya and Tanzania adopted regulations mandating disclosure of UBOs for entities registered in both jurisdictions. The UBO regulations are far-reaching in their scope and have important operational and tax implications for portfolio companies and investments held by private equity and venture capital investors in the region.

There has been a surge of interest in using artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare in recent years. Artificial intelligence (AI) can potentially transform the field of medicine. Specifically, AI will most likely improve access to healthcare and how patients are treated, but it will also optimise resource allocation, allowing health systems to function more effectively and efficiently.

Private equity and venture capital funds (PEVC funds) domiciled in Kenya, or that wish to raise funds in Kenya, are currently regulated by the Capital Markets Authority. Recent amendments to the Capital Markets Act in 2020* expanded the remit of the CMA, enabling the CMA to licence, approve and regulate PEVC funds that indirectly have access to public funds in Kenya, with the aim of bringing PEVC funds that access public funds through public bodies and pension funds under the CMA’s remit.