Free Trade fingers crossed, some time this summer, goods should start being sold without tariffs across borders within the five countries of the East African Community (EAC). The new common market will take in 130m-plus people in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The next step is monetary union, with political federation a far remoter prospect.
The agreement signed last year at the EAC’s headquarters in the Tanzanian city of Arusha was a first step. Optimists say the EAC should join free-trade blocks in southern and western Africa before 2030.
The EAC should be better placed to trade with Congo, Ethiopia, and Sudan. And if it can build its own wider manufacturing base, its goods may start to compete with cheap stuff from China.
Kenya, which has the region’s strongest manufacturers, retailers, and banks, is sure to gain most. But for the EAC to succeed, others must win too. Rwanda and Burundi should benefit from cheaper and quicker transport of goods to and from the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. Uganda is well placed to expand its agriculture for export. Read the rest of this entry »
The National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) will regulate the new mobile money transfer system that will soon be introduced by MTN Rwanda, the Central Bank Governor Francois Kanimba said.
Rwanda has become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to top the World Bank’s annual ranking of reformers doing the most to create business-friendly environments, the World Bank recently said.
The capacity made available to Africa by the implementation of SEACOM seems to be gaining momentum.
Tadiran Telecom, a leading global IP business telephony and communications supplier, has signed a distribution agreement with Teledata Technologies Ltd. This collaboration leverages the extensive expertise of both players in order to target the vast opportunities of the African telecommunications market.
The scramble for mobile markets in Africa is well underway, and while early activity was driven by expansionist local operators like MTN, the European giants are now stepping up their game, with French players poised to shake up the picture significantly.
KenCall, a Kenyan call center company, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) or the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2011 to expand its operations in Africa.
“We want to become the pre-dominant player in sub-Saharan Africa and then go global,” Nicholas Nesbitt said. The company aims to generate sales of $10 million this year, Nesbitt said. 
Botswana led a record year for African reformers making it easier to do business, with 28 countries completing 58 improvements
