Inventure Management Ltd.

Develop and deliver innovative service concepts and products to form a sustainable sanitation value chain assuring low income countries with quality sanitation systems.

Go to scale with the implementation of sanitation services based on local entrepreneurship, management incentives and value creation through the transformation of human excreta into a safe and hygienic soil improvement agent and fertilizers for agriculture.

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WHAT IS IMPACT INVESTING?

2011-12-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

Reaching consensus around a common definition to a relatively new concept is always a challenge. In this context, we find the definition of impact investments used in JP Morgan’s November 2010 “Impact investments: An emerging asset class” report useful:

“Impact investments are investments intended to create positive impact beyond financial return. As such, they require the management of social and environmental performance (for which early industry standards are gaining traction among pioneering impact investors) in addition to financial risk and return. We distinguish impact investments from the more mature field of socially responsible investments (“SRI”), which generally seek to minimize negative impact rather than proactively create positive social or environmental benefit.” (JP Morgan, 2010)

We see impact investing as a bridge between philanthropy and the outright quest for financial returns. At one end of the scale, the differentiation seems quite straightforward: impact investing is not charity, there is a clear expectation of a return on investment, albeit lower than that offered by the market on a risk-adjusted basis. In the African context however, where almost any investment can be deemed to have an impact on the host country’s development, through job creation or contribution to GDP and tax revenue, determining where the realm of impact investing stops is more challenging. The adoption of industry standards is therefore of the essence.

African Impact Report

Want to become an internet billionaire? Move to Africa (Wired UK)

2011-12-24T09:27:00.000-08:00

Want to become an internet billionaire? Move to Africa (Wired UK):

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VC4Africa Meetup - Oslo, Norway - Eventbrite

2011-12-24T09:26:00.000-08:00

Our fellow member Svein Mork Dahl has stepped forward with the idea to host the first VC4Africa meetup to be help in Oslo, Norway. I think this is a great idea and a nice opportunity to bring together members in the area.

As always, the meetup is free of charge and you are welcome to bring along friends and colleagues! Sign up and help spread the word :)

Ben

VC4Africa Meetup - Oslo, Norway - Eventbrite:

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Lion economies of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will grow fastest in the world - Comment |theeastafrican.co.ke

2011-12-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

Lion economies of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will grow fastest in the world - Comment |theeastafrican.co.ke:

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Africa the next frontier for private equity, venture capital - News |theeastafrican.co.ke

2011-12-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

Africa the next frontier for private equity, venture capital - News |theeastafrican.co.ke:

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SEED Forum in Nairobi, Kenya

2011-12-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Then it's official!

We are planning the first SEED Forum in East Africa on the 21. June 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. We are SEED Forums partner in EAC, and we hope to arrange SEED Forums in other african countries later.

About Seed Forum

PROVIDING OPPORTUNITES FOR BORN GLOBAL COMPANIES AND INVESTORS

Seed Forum International Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation working out of London, and it is the international collaboration entity for the national Seed Forum not-for-profit foundations in various countries.

The Seed Forum concept has grown rapidly since it was founded in Norway in 2002, and the Seed Forum concept is currently referred to as a global concept. Seed Forum International Foundation and national Seed Forum foundations are currently conducting investor matchmaking forums in 18 countries in Europe, North America and Asia.

The Seed Forum process has the objective of providing competence within investor readiness and investor matchmaking opportunities within seed and venture capital to born global companies. Seed Forum International Foundation and the national Seed Forum foundations are giving born global companies seeking capital a unique opportunity to present their business concepts to investors by facilitating international and local investor matchmaking forums. The companies presenting to investors are nominated, selected and trained in the Seed Forum process to secure that the companies are investor-ready when they are presenting to investors. The Seed Forum process is very important to reduce the risk on investments in early stage companies.

The mission of Seed Forum is to create a global investor matchmaking market place for seed and venture capital without national or regional borders.

The investor matchmaking forums are core concentrated on investor matchmaking. B2B (Business to Business) matchmaking is conducted in gatherings within the Seed Forum entrepreneurs network, within the Seed Forum nominators network and within the Seed Forum local Business Angels Networks.

http://www.seedforum.org/int/

Finance & Development, December 2011 - The Quality of Growth

2011-12-12T04:05:00.000-08:00

SUB-SAHARAN Africa has had a great start to the 21st century—at least that’s what the numbers show. Year after year the region has racked up solid economic growth, even when the global economy was anything but sound. Low-income countries have done particularly well. Not only have average per capita incomes mounted steadily, but inflation has generally been tamed, debt pruned, and opportunities for foreign trade and investment opened up.

Finance & Development, December 2011 - The Quality of Growth:

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VC4Africa Meetup - Oslo, Norway - Eventbrite

2011-12-08T23:51:00.000-08:00

As always, the meetup is free of charge and you are welcome to bring along friends and colleagues! Sign up and help spread the word.

VC4Africa Meetup - Oslo, Norway - Eventbrite:

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Real estate listing at bourse starts next month - Money Markets |businessdailyafrica.com

2011-12-07T05:48:00.000-08:00

New possibilities for real estate investors in East Africa.

Dont miss out. Contact us at info (a) inventure.no

Real estate listing at bourse starts next month - Money Markets |businessdailyafrica.com:

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Roundtable Africa Conference

2011-12-05T00:37:00.000-08:00

Roundtable Africa Conference: "Round Table Africa is organizing the international Sustainable Business Conference “Business resilience, sustainability and the rapidly changing environment”. By bringing participants together in Arusha, Tanzania, December 15th and the 16th 2011, the organizers aspire to sensitize the business community in the region on sustainable business solutions."

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7 Questions to Assess Your Business Model Design « Business Model Alchemist

2011-12-05T00:25:00.000-08:00

7 Questions to Assess Your Business Model Design « Business Model Alchemist:

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The Lean Finance Model Of Venture Capital | TechCrunch

2011-12-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

The Lean Finance Model Of Venture Capital | TechCrunch:

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Business Angels make their move to business accelerators | iBusinessAngel

2011-12-05T00:05:00.000-08:00

Business Angels make their move to business accelerators | iBusinessAngel:

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Inventure + *iHub_ Nairobi

2011-12-04T05:21:00.000-08:00

Our new innovation playground in Nairobi. Come visit!

*iHub_ – Nairobi’s Innovation Hub for the technology community is an open space for the technologists, investors, tech companies and hackers in the area. This space is a tech community facility with a focus on young entrepreneurs, web and mobile phone programmers, designers and researchers. It is part open community workspace (co-working), part vector for investors and VCs and part incubator.

*iHub_ Nairobi:

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Work smarter not harder...

2011-12-02T02:46:00.000-08:00

We implement Lean Startup in East Africa and Norway.

The Lean Startup methodology has as a premise that every startup is a grand experiment that attempts to answer a question. The question is not "Can this product be built?" Instead, the questions are "Should this product be built?" and "Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?" This experiment is more than just theoretical inquiry; it is a first product. If it is successful, it allows a manger to get started with his or her campaign: enlisting early adopters, adding employees to each further experiment or iteration, and eventually starting to build a product. By the time that product is ready to be distributed widely, it will already have established customers. It will have solved real problems and offer detailed specifications for what needs to be built.

The Lean Startup | Methodology: "WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER

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SocEntLab East Africa: Can Venture Capital Save The World? - Forbes

2011-12-01T11:11:00.000-08:00

SocEntLab East Africa: Can Venture Capital Save The World? - Forbes: Can Venture Capital Save The World? - Forbes : 'via Blog this'

Why Africa is not high on the agenda of most companies in the West

2011-11-11T03:24:00.000-08:00

Why Africa is not high on the agenda of most companies in the West:

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Africa Unleashed | Foreign Affairs

2011-11-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Africa Unleashed | Foreign Affairs

KENYA Investment Guide

2011-10-12T02:39:00.001-07:00

You may receive a .pdf copy of this dokument by sending an e-mail to post (a) inventure.no.

KENYA Investment Guide

Openness to Foreign Investment

The Government of Kenya encourages foreign direct investment. Multinational companies make up a large percentage of Kenya's industrial sector. In the past, Government support for foreign investment was often implicitly conditioned on some form of joint venture whereby a related parastatal or a politically well-connected individual became the local partner. This practice is becoming less common with economic liberalization and privatization of public sector enterprises. Particularly since 1994, the Government of Kenya has sought out foreign investment through investment conferences and foreign trips by the head of state.

Foreign investment is not routinely screened. Nevertheless, investors may choose to take advantage of the one-stop office of the Investment Promotion Center (IPC), created in 1982 under the Ministry of Finance, and an independent agency since 1986. The IPC sets minimal environmental, health and security requirements for its projects. An investment code has been in the works since 1994. The code would set forth guidelines on investment, enumerate the various investment incentives and mandate that all new projects obtain IPC approval. Efforts are under way to harmonize investment regimes in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and, eventually, to remove all tariff barriers between the three East African countries. In addition, the three Investment Authorities are working towards harmonizing the investment incentives.

It is Government of Kenya policy to encourage investment that will produce foreign exchange, provide employment, promote backward and forward linkages and transfer technology. The only significant sectors in which investment (foreign and domestic) is constrained are those where state corporations still enjoy a statutory or de factomonopoly. These are restricted almost entirely to infrastructure (e.g., power, posts, telecommunications, and ports) and the media (e.g., radio). Even in these sectors, ongoing commercialization and economic reform is expanding the room for private business. Two foreign private sector power producers sell more than 85 MW of electricity to the national grid. Purchase agreements with two other independent power producers (IPPs) were put in place in 1999.

In July 1999, Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation was split into Telkom Kenya, a telecommunications corporation, and Postal Corporation of Kenya, a postal services corporation. The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) was also established to regulate those sectors. The Government plans to sell up to 49 percent of Telkom Kenya to a strategic partner before an initial public offer is made on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. With the right competitive environment, the potential for private sector investments in telecommunications is enormous.
Branches of foreign companies pay higher income tax rates than local companies and locally incorporated subsidiaries of foreign companies. The 1997/98 GOK finance bill reduced these rates to 40 percent for foreign companies and 32.5 percent for local firms. There is no discrimination against foreign investors in access to government-financed research. Expatriates face difficulties in obtaining work permits, but the requirements are not onerous. The Kenyan Government’s Export Promotion programs do not distinguish between local and foreign-owned manufacturers.

Currency Conversion and Transfer Policies

In December 1995, Kenya repealed its Foreign Exchange Control Act. (Ministerial decrees had previously removed nearly all limitations.) There are no remaining restrictions on converting or transferring funds associated with an investment. No recent changes or plans to tighten remittance policies exist. Foreign exchange is readily available. Kenya has had a floating exchange rate since late 1993. On July 1, 1996, Kenyan shillings became freely convertible into Tanzanian and Ugandan shillings and vice versa.

Expropriation and Compensation

Article 75 of the constitution prohibits the nationalization of private property without prompt and full compensation. Kenya has also enacted the Foreign Investment Protection Act that protects foreign investment against expropriation. During the 1980s, however, the government used its authority on occasion to compel foreigners to sell a portion of profitable companies to political insiders. The Insurance Act was amended, for instance, to require large foreign insurance companies to have at least 33 percent local ownership. Foreign brokerage and fund management firms are allowed to participate in the local capital market only through locally registered companies. Such locally registered firms must have local ownership of at least 51 percent in case of brokerage firms, and 30 percent for fund management firms. Another example is the International Casino in Nairobi, formerly wholly Italian-owned, which sold out to local investors after Government regulators ran down its business. More recently, some telecommunications companies have been compelled to sell equity to Kenyans to meet the Government's new 60 percent local ownership requirement.

Dispute Settlement

Government delays in remission of value-added tax on exported goods have caused frustration to business people generally, but have not resulted in litigation. Likewise, corruption and slow clearance of imported inputs, goods and capital equipment has handicapped industry and trade. In the past, tight controls on foreign exchange led to disputes over the repatriation of profits. Liberalization of the economy, and the foreign exchange regime in particular, since 1993 has removed that irritant.

The only legal dispute in the past few years was between the Government and the U.S. company Arkel International. Arkel won contracts in 1987 and 1990 to expand a parastatal sugar factory in western Kenya. Arkel ceased work on the project during the second phase due to the government's failure to make full payment. International arbiters ruled in early 1995 that Arkel was owed approximately $5 million. In November 1995, the Government agreed to pay the amount in five monthly installments. This dispute was unusually complicated, in part because of repeated parliamentary allegations that the contracts were corruptly obtained. Kenya's judicial system is modeled after the British, with magistrates' courts, high courts in the major cities, and a court of appeal. In addition, there is a separate industrial court that hears disputes over wages and labor terms. Its decisions cannot be appealed. Property and contractual rights are enforceable, but long delays in resolving commercial cases are not unusual. The system is subject to political influence and corruption.

Kenya does not have a commercial code. The Export Promotion Council released in April 1998 a proposed Business Charter, however. It incorporates a Code of Practice for all business and commercial contracts. The proposal has not been widely promoted. Kenya does have a bankruptcy law. Creditors' rights are comparable to those in other common law countries. Monetary judgments are usually made in Kenyan shillings. The government does accept binding international arbitration of investment disputes with foreign investors. Kenya is a member of the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. It is also a party to the New York Convention of 1958 on the Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

Performance Requirements and Incentives

Investors in the manufacturing and hotel sectors are permitted to deduct from their taxes a large portion of the cost of buildings and capital machinery. All locally financed materials and equipment (excluding motor vehicles and goods for regular repair and maintenance) for use in the construction or refurbishment of tourist hotels are zero-rated for purposes of value added tax. The Permanent Secretary to the Treasury must approve such purchases.

Though formerly a higher rate was applied to investments outside the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa, now there is one flat investment allowance of 60 percent. Another general incentive is the Duty Remission Scheme administered by the Export Promotion Programs Office in the Ministry of Finance. Materials imported for use in manufacturing for export or for production of duty-free items for domestic sale qualify. Approved suppliers, who manufacture goods to be supplied to the exporter, are also entitled to the same import duty relief.

Special incentives exist for qualified investors under the Manufacturing Under Bond (MUB) program and the export processing zones (EPZs) Authority. MUB investors receive duty and value added tax exemption on imported plant, equipment, raw materials and intermediate inputs. They are also entitled to an investment allowance of 100 percent on immovable fixed assets. Investors in the EPZs enjoy duty and VAT exemption on imported machinery and raw material inputs; a ten-year corporate tax holiday; exemption from withholding tax (on dividends payable to non-resident shareholders) and stamp duty; exemption from certain industrial regulations and single licensing. Most new investors prefer the EPZs because they also provide power and water as well as support services.

With the exception of the insurance and telecommunications sectors and other infrastructure and media companies discussed earlier, Kenya does not require that its nationals own a percentage of a company. For insurance companies, at least one-third of the controlling interest, whether in terms of paid-up share capital or voting rights, must be held by citizens of Kenya. In the telecommunications sector, at least 60 percent equity must be owned by Kenyan nationals. In other sectors, joint ventures are encouraged but not mandatory. The percentage of foreign equity need not be reduced over time. Technology licenses are, however, subject to scrutiny by the Kenya Industrial Property Office (KIPO) to assure that they are in line with the Industrial Property Act. The goal is to obtain new technology and know-how. Licenses are valid for five years and are renewable. This function of KIPO is under review. Foreign investors are free to obtain financing locally or offshore.

The Government no longer steers investment to specific geographic locations. Local content rules are applied but only for purposes of determining whether goods qualify for preferential duty rates under the Common Market for East and Southern Africa. Kenya has replaced its old policy of import substitution with one of export promotion. Employment of Kenyan nationals is strongly encouraged. In fact, the Immigration Department requires that a minimum of Ksh3 million (approximately $42,000) be invested before it will authorize work permits for foreigners. The Investment Promotion Center is more flexible. Its minimum is Ksh2 million (approximately $28,000). Exceptions have been made. Foreign employees are expected to be key senior managers or to have special skills not available locally.

Private Ownership Rights

Foreign and domestic private entities have a right to establish and own business enterprises and engage in nearly all forms of remunerative activity. The principal exceptions concern public utilities (infrastructure) and the media. Recent energy sector reforms have provided limited opportunity for private power generation to fill in a national power deficit. By statute, manufacturing companies are not permitted to distribute their own products. In addition, local officials have used their licensing authority to ensure the retail trade is mainly in the hands of Kenyans. Private enterprises can freely establish, acquire and dispose of interests in business enterprises.

In general, competitive equality is the standard applied to private enterprises in competition with public enterprises. Nevertheless, certain parastatals have enjoyed preferential access to markets: Kenya Reinsurance, for instance, has a guaranteed market share (although it is being phased out, and there are plans to privatize the parastatal). Kenya Seed Company continues to face fewer barriers in marketing than its foreign competitors. Easier access to cheap Government credit is another advantage from which some state corporations have benefited. The National Oil Corporation of Kenya, for example, is developing a retail marketing operation using Government funds. Certain parastatals have also been held to lower licensing standards. This was the case until recently with Kenya National Assurance Company (KNAC). KNAC had been insolvent for at least five years, yet it was permitted to do business until June 1996.

Protection of Property Rights

Secured interests in property are recognized and enforced. In theory, the legal system protects and facilitates acquisition and disposition of all property rights—lands, buildings and mortgages. In practice, obtaining title to land is a cumbersome and often corrupt process. It is frequently complicated by improper allocation to third parties of access and easements. That many of the 99-year Government leases covering much of Kenya's urban land are expiring is another extenuating factor as is the general unwillingness of the courts to permit mortgage holders to sell land to collect debts. Furthermore, foreigners may require presidential approval to acquire large tracts of agricultural land or any seashore property.

Protection of intellectual property – copyrights, patents and trademarks – is inadequate. Piracy of audio and videocassettes is rampant. About $3.5 million is lost every year as a result of illegal software being used, according to the Business Software Association – a computer industry association established to protect software copyrights and to prevent software piracy. The software piracy rate in Kenya is about 90 percent. The most prevalent form of software piracy in Kenya involves business use of unauthorized copies. Kenya is in the process of conforming its legislation to the WTO TRIPs Agreement. Patents, trademarks and trade secrets are the responsibility of the Kenya Industrial Property Office in the Ministry of Research, Technical Training and Technology. Copyrights are the responsibility of the attorney general's office. Kenya is a member of most of the major international and regional intellectual property conventions. The Copyright Act was amended in late 1996 to provide protection for computer programs. Literary, musical and artistic works were already protected. Penalties for infringement remain low, and enforcement and the understanding of the importance of intellectual property are poor. Criminal penalties associated with software piracy in Kenya include a fine of up to SHS 200,000, a jail term of up to five years and confiscation of pirate operation hardware.

Transparency of Regulatory System

Kenyan regulations allow for the establishment of public and private corporations, as well as joint ventures and branches. Under the law, manufacturers may not distribute their own products, and they are required to supply information to the government about their distributors. The Government of Kenya has legislation to control monopolies and restrictive trade practices.

Private foreign investment in Kenya is governed by Kenya's Foreign Investment Protection Act (FIPA). The act is being reviewed in light of recent liberalization of foreign exchange and import controls, and as a result a number of provisions are no longer applicable. For example, the previous requirement that foreign investors apply for a certificate of approved enterprise from the Treasury that allowed them to repatriate capital and profits has been removed. There are no formal requirements on minimum local participation in either equity or management under FIPA.

Foreign investors are required to sign an agreement with the Government stating training arrangements for phasing out expatriates. Expatriate work permits are increasingly difficult to renew or acquire. Government approval for ventures in agriculture, distributive trade, and small-scale enterprises has become more difficult to get as the Government seeks to localize these sectors.

There are no special requirements imposed on foreign investors. All investors (foreign and local) receive the same treatment in the initial screening process. The Government screens each private sector project to determine its viability and implications for the development aspirations of the country. For example, a rural agro-based enterprise, with many forward and backward linkages, is likely to receive licensing fairly quickly. However, new foreign investment in Kenya has in the past been constrained by a time-consuming and highly discretionary approval and licensing system that has been vulnerable to corrupt practices. To counter this, the government amended the Investment Promotion Center Act in September 1992 to require the Center, through its “one-stop-office”, to process applications for foreign investors within one month.

Despite the changes in 1992, the process still does not work well. The Government of Kenya has proposed, therefore, to adopt a new investment code which will cover local and foreign investment and govern the Investment Promotion Center. The code is expected to set clear guidelines for processing investment applications and will incorporate the means to ensure transparency and accountability. It will provide information on various incentives to investors, including the procedures for obtaining such information, and how the incentives are implemented. At present, the IPC lacks proper authority to implement many available incentives and procedures.

Incoming foreign investment through acquisitions, mergers or takeovers is governed by antitrust legislation that prohibits restrictive and predatory practices that prevent the establishment of competitive markets. The legislation is also aimed at reducing the concentration of economic power by controlling monopolies, mergers and takeovers of enterprises. Mergers and takeovers are subject to the Companies Act, the Insurance Act (in case of insurance firms) or the Banking Act (in the case of financial institutions).

The Government of Kenya launched a privatization program in 1991, in which 207 enterprises were targeted for privatization. As of September 1998, the Government of Kenya had divested from 165 public enterprises. Plans to privatize two large sugar companies and the Kenya Reinsurance Company are currently in the works. Senior officials – both Government and non-government – have repeatedly stated that Kenyans should be given higher priority in the privatization exercise. Divestiture through public share issues provides little opportunity to corporate investors. In past divestitures, the Capital Markets Authority has seen to it that shares are thinly spread over many applicants thereby ruling out the possibility of a foreign investor acquiring a big stake in a company. However in the privatization of Kenya Airways, a foreign company acquired 23 percent of the shares as a “strategic” investor in the airline.

Under a World Bank export development program, the government of Kenya has abolished, except for a few categories, export-licensing requirements and initiated three export incentive schemes for both local and foreign investors. It provides import duty/value added tax remission to importers of raw material inputs used for manufacture of exports. In addition, the government of Kenya has an Export Assistance Scheme and an Export Development Support project, both of which provide grants for export promotion including export market studies and seminars. Manufacturing under bond facilities and export processing zones also exist.

In 1990, the Government of Kenya strengthened the law on health and safety in factories. The revised act authorizes the Labor Minister to undertake formal investigations of occupational accidents and disease. Factories that employ over 20 employees are required to have a safety and health committee. The Government of Kenya also has established a National Advisory Committee on Occupational Health and Safety and an Occupational Health and Safety Fund.

Political Violence

There have been several clashes in the recent past between police and demonstrators over political reform and other issues. Although some shops in major cities, notably downtown Nairobi, have been damaged or looted during recent disturbances, the damage has been limited and not directed at foreign companies. In August 1997, ethnic violence hit Mombasa and other nearby areas on the coast. Most damage was done to property owned by non-coastal Kenyans. Tourists and foreigners were not targeted. Kenya enjoys good relations with all its immediate neighbors.

The terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy in August 1998 was the result of transnational terrorism and unrelated to domestic Kenyan issues.

Corruption and Crime

Corruption is pervasive in most sectors, particularly in Government procurement and dispute settlement. A police unit was recently established at the Kenya Revenue Authority to tackle tax evaders, including scandals involving duty evasion at the Port of Mombasa. There has been slow progress in fighting corruption. In an ongoing case, three former senior Kenya government officials and a Nairobi businessman and his firm have been accused of stealing Ksh5.8 billion ($82 million) belonging to the government in 1993. The case is part of a massive financial scam in which the Central Bank and Treasury lost over Ksh21 billion ($400 million at average exchange rate of the period) in the early 1990s.

Kenya has adopted laws to combat corruption. The Prevention of Corruption Act was amended in late 1997 to create the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA). A Director, who is appointed by the President, but has security of tenure, heads the Authority. KACA is established as an independent body by an Act of Parliament. It has wide-ranging powers. For example, the Director can take over cases of corruption from the police, and its employees have powers similar to those of the police. They are empowered to launch investigations, seize documents and other evidence, compel witnesses or suspects to testify, and to arrest and prosecute. Vigorous enforcement of the law by the KACA has been lacking, however. KACA got off to a poor start when its first Director was sacked in 1998. President Moi appointed a new Director in March 1999. Although annual reports of the Controller and Auditor-General and the Auditor-General for Corporations have identified specific areas of corruption in the financial accounts of ministries and parastatals, little action has been taken. The same is true of the reports of the two parliamentary watchdog committees that review these findings. Anti-corruption efforts would be strengthened by the adoption of legislation requiring, for example, public officials to disclose their assets and barring them from making decisions on issues where they have a conflict of interest.

Labor

Kenya's estimated 2.6 percent annual population growth rate translates into a high demand for new jobs annually. In 1997, an estimated 1.2 million males and 473,400 females engaged in formal wage employment. In the formal sector, women worked overwhelmingly in services, men in agriculture, education, manufacturing, building and construction, trade, and transport. The highest percentage of female formal sector workers was in education, where women constituted 40 percent of the total work force. About one-quarter of the women worked in this area, but only 15 percent of men. Women also constituted more than 25 percent of the work force in finance, insurance, and other business services and over 29 percent in public administration and agriculture. Women, however, staff some textile factories almost exclusively.

The informal sector, known as jua kali, employs approximately 64 percent of all Kenyan workers and, thus, plays an important role in Kenya's economy. Indeed, a report by a Kenyan think-tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs, shows that the informal sector is the most dynamic in the economy in terms of job creation, accounting for about 90 percent of new jobs outside the smallholder farm sector. Examples of informal sector business activities include carpentry, motor vehicle repair, tailoring, and small-scale manufacture of spoons, cooking pans and ovens. The Government of Kenya and donors are striving to improve working conditions and infrastructure in the informal sector. However, there often is a gap between Government policy and implementation.

Kenya's laws provide many safeguards and benefits for workers, with mechanisms and procedures to address complaints relating to worker rights. The normal work week is 40 hours, after which overtime must be paid. Kenya also has a minimum wage scale for twelve different categories of employees. In addition, benefits, ranging from housing to home transportation allowances, account for 25 to 50 percent of a Kenyan worker's compensation package. Kenyan law establishes detailed environmental, health, and safety standards that are not strictly followed in practice.

International Investment Agreements

Kenya signed a bilateral trade and investment agreement with Germany in 1996. According to the Investment Promotion Center, agreements are pending with the United Kingdom, Italy, and Russia.

Foreign Trade Zones

Kenya has 14 export processing zones; six are in operation. The six are inclusive of both GOK and privately owned zones. Samara Industrial Park is Kenya's largest privately owned space-leasing export processing zone. Located in Nairobi's industrial area, it has been operational since 1990. Three others have been set up and are operated by Kenyan firms for their specific needs, while four privately owned zones are being constructed. The Government of Kenya has developed a 230-acre zone out of 721 acres allocated for export processing at Athi River, a Nairobi suburb; GOK is also developing another large export processing zone in Mombasa, Kenya's main seaport. The export processing zones are available to both developers (i.e. those intending to put up structures for lease) and operators.

Incentives provided to manufacturers in the export processing zones include:
•a ten-year corporate tax holiday and 25 percent tax rate thereafter;

•a ten year withholding tax holiday on dividend remittance;

• duty and VAT exemption on all inputs except motor vehicles;

• stamp duty exemption on legal instruments;

• exemption from Industrial Registration act, Factories Act, Statistics Act, and Trade Licensing Act;

• exemption from pre-shipment inspection; on site customs inspection; and work permits for senior expatriate staff.

Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) is a Kenya Government parastatal tasked to facilitate participation in manufacturing in the EPZ.

Foreign Investment Statistics

Kenya does not keep data on the value of FDI (position/stock and annual investment capital flows) by country of origin or by industry sector destination. Neither is data available on Kenya's investment abroad. It is however estimated by the Investment Promotion Center that by 1994, cumulative foreign direct investment totaled more than $1 billion.

More than 200 foreign companies are registered in Kenya, the majority from United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.

Taxation

The corporate income and branch tax rates are 32.5 percent and 40 percent, respectively, and there is no capital gains tax. The withholding tax on dividends is 10 percent, unless the dividends are paid to a resident, in which case, the tax is 5 percent. The withholding tax on interest is 12.5 percent for non-residents and 15 percent for residents, except interest on bearer instruments, to which a 20 percent tax applies.

Stock Market

The Nairobi Stock Exchange was established in 1954, and is the fourth largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. By the end of 1990s the Nairobi Stock Exchange had 57 listed companies.

Sources : IMF, US State Department, EAC, Inventure Management, Kenya Investment Authority, AABF

Svein Mork Dahl
Managing Partner
E-mail: smd (a) inventure.no
Skype: svein.mork.dahl
Kenyan phone: +254 701 359 259
UK phone: +44 20 88 168 333
Norwegian phone: +47 4141 0171

Address
Inventure Management Ltd.
Business Development, Entrepreneurship & CSR
Att: Svein Mork Dahl
Po. Box 778 - 00521 Embakasi Village
Nairobi, Kenya

Caxtus SocEntLab: Undersøkelse om sosialt entreprenørskap i Norge og...

2011-10-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Caxtus SocEntLab: Undersøkelse om sosialt entreprenørskap i Norge og...: Vi gjennomfører en liten spørreundersøkelse for å kartlegge litt om sosiale entreprenører i Norge og Øst-Afrika. Som takk for at du sva...

Caxtus SocEntLab: Nobel Peace Price to Africans

2011-10-07T02:53:00.000-07:00

Caxtus SocEntLab: Nobel Peace Price to Africans: Nobel Peace Price to Africans, Africas first female president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee and yemenite T...

Richard Branson on Finding and Selecting Investors for Your Startup | Entrepreneur.com

2011-08-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

Richard Branson on Finding and Selecting Investors for Your Startup | Entrepreneur.com:

'via Blog this'

Three startup investments in 48 hrs @IPO48 Nairobi

2011-08-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

The second IPO48 in Nairobi saw an increase in everything: startups submitted to our platform, participants and onsite mentors and last, but not least - investment winners.

The main investment of 25 000 € went to Tusqee Systems. But the investors of a brand new investment company 88mph decided to make not one, but two additional investments into 6ix Degrees and Ghafla! The fact that we keep getting such positive feedback from all of the participants is an indicator that we are on the right track.

"I wish we could have more IPO48 events to share knowledge," said the Tusqee Systems. "We learned more in 2 days @IPO48 Nairobi than we would've in 6 months at university," claimed the 6ix Degrees.

"The standard of competition this year was overwhelming. All the business proposals seemed viable and potentially profitable, the other teams really kept us on our toes and inspired us to work much harder! The working environment was stressful, but positive, the iHub was a good choice of venue. We've already made partnerships with some of the competitors, I hope that we can extend the life of the event and all succeed together," informed Ghafla!

Next IPO48 will be held in Copenhagen, on 12-13 of September, in collaboration with the largest internet conference New Media Days. Due to that the usually 48-hour bootcamp will be shortened to a 36-hour one and one of the startups marches out with a DKK 250 000 investment. We have already 17 different startup-ideas posted on the platform. If you wish to see your idea there, keep in mind that registration ends on 1st of September. Read about IPO48 Copenhagen here.

Clean Technology business and investment conference

2011-08-30T08:01:00.001-07:00

On the 17th & 18th October 2011 the first Clean Technology business and investment conference for the African continent is to be held in Johannesburg South Africa. Called Viridis Africa, the event is dedicated to entrepreneurs and corporates who are seeking funding to introduce clean technology solutions and services. Principals who would present their business opportunities at this event would have the audience of numerous local and foreign investors. Investors would include venture capital, private equity, project and corporate finance outfits and others dedicated to the clean tech sector.

Mara Foundation - Finding sustainable and replicable solutions to some of Africa's biggest challenges

2011-08-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

We are joining the Mara Foundation mentorship programme to help grow entrepreneurship in East Africa.

Mara Foundation - Finding sustainable and replicable solutions to some of Africa's biggest challenges:

Interested doing business with Norwegian companies ?

2011-08-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Norwegian-African Business Summit is a must-go-event for decision makers in companies with international ambitions, people in charge of M&A, investors interested in the world’s most exciting emerging markets and business people keen to learn more about the opportunities in African markets.

See more information at Nabas website :http://norwegianafrican.no/conference

For those companies that can not participate them selves Inventure will invite them to be represented by us. Contact us at info(a) inventure.no.

Whats preventing Entrepreneurship in Africa?

2011-06-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

This past week Venturecapital4Africa conducted a poll with members on VC4Africa. Specifically,weI wanted to know what the community feels prevents (more) entrepreneurship on the continent. Is it the entrepreneurs, tough business models, lack of exits, the government, corruption or a lack of capital?

Akinyele Aluko, one of the respondents writes from the University of Calabar in Nigeria,’The hardest is getting funds for a start-up, however, other attendant problems are lack of ideas because our R&D system is very poor so innovation is limited. Corruption is another serious problem as well as lack of sincerity by our government.’ Fred Oduke, from the Makerere University in Uganda, expands, ‘It’s hard to get investors ready to invest in new ideas or emerging businesses. As well, we have a very hostile business environment, where government, being the biggest buyer, is deeply tipped in corruption and only those connected can access government contracts. However, it is not all doom, as democracy takes root, opportunities beckon those investing in new ideas and especially pro-poor targeted enterprises; 90% of African are poor, yet they are consumers. Pro-poor business ideas are bound to pay most, especially where ICT is the driver.’

Putting more emphasis on the role of corruption and government, Fidel Buchi Anyi writes from Lagos, Nigeria, ‘Corruption is the greatest impediment to entrepreneurship in Africa! It is corruption that drives poor and inconsistent government policies, volatile political environment, sit-tight rulership, non-access to project financing, multiple taxation, etc. Remove corruption and the business environment will be cleared up to allow brilliant ideas to thrive. Fair competition and honest productive collaboration can only flourish in an environment where corruption is treated with disdain and trust can grow.’ Oliver Wassmann, from the Technische Universiteit Berlijn, shifts the focus again when he writes about the need for better education. He says, ‘The one and single most important issue in Africa is lack of education. And when I say lack of education, I mean lack of knowledge and lack of good values! Education drives the behaviour of human beings. How often did I meet really motivated people with brilliant ideas who miserably failed to live up to their promises? Pointing the finger to government and corruption from my point of view is too simplistic. Corruption flourishes all over the world, also in countries like the US and Germany, yet they are still prospering.’ Clearly all of these challenges play a role in putting together the right ecosystem businesses need to thrive. But which factor stands out heads above the rest?

Not surprisingly ‘Hard to access finance’ is ranked as the number one factor hindering entrepreneurs today. So why does the community cite this as the number one challenge? Is it because the entrepreneurs have bad ideas unworthy of investment? I don’t buy this as many of the ideas we see on VC4Africa are not only important they are actually essential – serving a basic life need in critical sectors like agriculture, health or housing. I wish I could say the business plans I read in other parts of the world were as relevant! So the ideas don’t seem to be part of the problem to me, even if we need different business models and some creative implementation needed to execute them successfully.

So what does ‘Hard to access capital’ actually mean? Is it hard to find money for businesses? Is this to say there is no/little money available or instead that there is money but for some reason it is hard to move? And in this case is it because the entrepreneur lacks the skills, network, model and circumstance needed to make an investment worthwhile or does the money get stuck because the broader political, economic and social context don’t make sense? The infrastructure doesn’t effectively facilitate investment or the money simply doesn’t see the market developments needed to offer viable exits down the road? Again, all of these pieces play a role.

That said, investment capital is seriously required by thousands if not millions of entrepreneurs building businesses across the continent. And I strongly believe there is always money for a good idea in a growing market. In furthering this discussion I reach out to the community again and ask the same question from a different perspective, ‘What is the hardest part about investing in Africa?’Share your thoughts and help spread the word.

See some of the other comments made by respondents:

NEACC- Promoting trade: About us

2011-06-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

NEACC- Promoting trade: About us: "The Nordic - East-African Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit, nongovernmental organization established by Nordic and East-African business..."

iTrend.no - om innovasjon: Svein Mork Dahl: Sosialt entreprenørskap i Kenya

2011-06-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

iTrend.no - om innovasjon: Svein Mork Dahl: Sosialt entreprenørskap i Kenya: "Svein Mork Dahl bor i Nairobi, Kenya. Her har han vært siden høsten 2010. Og han har ikke tenkt å dra hjem igjen med det første. Svein har b..."

Rediscovering entrepreneurship in Kenya

2011-06-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

Svein Mork Dahl’s sabbatical: more adventure than he asked for

Rediscovering entrepreneurship in Kenya

Business consultant Svein Mork Dahl needed a break from corporate life in Norway. He found himself a job as head of business development of an NGO in Kenya. After this sabbatical year he decided to stay in Nairobi.

To read full text :Rediscovering entrepreneurship in Kenya

iTrend.no - om innovasjon: EN KORT INNFØRING I AKSJEMARKEDE

2011-06-13T06:07:00.001-07:00

iTrend.no - om innovasjon: EN KORT INNFØRING I AKSJEMARKEDE: "EN KORT INNFØRING I AKSJEMARKEDET INNHOLD: Aksjemarkedets historikk og funksjon i samfunnet Noen basisregler for investeringer i aksjemark..."

Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Afric

2011-06-13T01:58:00.000-07:00

Sub-Saharan Africa’s recovery from the crisis-induced slowdown is well under way, with growth in most countries now back fairly close to the high levels of the mid-2000s.

Growth this year is expected to average 5½ percent, and 6 percent in 2012.

East-Africa (EAC) Brief Economic Outlook April 2011

2011-06-13T01:35:00.000-07:00

To order this brief in PDF-format please e-mail post (a) inventure.no

Members of the East African Community (EAC) are among the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa, and more broadly in the developing world, in recent years, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, the region still lags behind the successful economies in terms of export growth and savings mobilisation.

"Three countries in the EAC (Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) were among the fastest growing economies in the world during 2005 to 2009," the IMF said in its Regional Economic Outlook launched in Dar es Salaam.

In the rankings of the top-twenty fastest-growing countries in 2005-2009, Uganda ranks the sixth, Rwanda the ninth and Tanzania ranks at sixteenth.

"With annual per capita growth averaging close to 4 per cent over the past 6 years, the EAC comes close to qualifying for a "growth acceleration" episode as defined in the economic literature," the report reads in part.

Rwanda and Tanzania have expanded rapidly since the early 2000s (7.7 per cent per year in Rwanda and 6.8 per cent in Tanzania). Angola emerged the best performer with an average real GDP of 14.7 per cent during the same period.

It said part of the recent high growth is "catching up" after years of very poor growth--in the last part of the 20th century the region suffered periods of severe civil strife and bouts of economic instability. Since then, the region has demonstrated commitment to strong policies.

According to the report, since 2005, these countries have been among the fastest growing economies in the world, with annual average GDP growth rates of close to 8 per cent--similar to other sub-Saharan African high performers like Mozambique.

With strong output growth, per capita incomes in the region are catching up. Average real per capita GDP in the EAC reached $412 in 2009--close to the average of $420 for sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa and Nigeria)--although wide variations remain within the region, from $487 in Kenya to $115 in Burundi.

However, the region's high population growth (close to 3 per cent per year over the last two decades, compared with the sub-Saharan Africa's average of 2.6 per cent) has constrained poverty reduction. Also, per capita incomes remain low.

Medium-term prospects are favorable for translating recent gains into sustained high growth for the region. The recent growth path, however, will not be enough to achieve middle-income status and substantial poverty reduction by the end of the decade--the ambition of most countries in the region.

The causes are largely of a structural nature (limited physical and financial infrastructure, high financing and regulatory costs) as exchange rates have been broadly in line with fundamentals.

There is scope for active policies to unlock potential in these areas. Deeper regional integration, particularly in trade and investment (both public and private), could help raise productivity and reduce costs, facilitating higher exports.

The IMF reiterated its forecast of 5.5 per cent GDP growth for the region this year and 5.9 per cent in 2012, with low-income countries that make up the bulk of the continent recovering the fastest.

"Sub-Saharan Africa's recovery from the crisis-induced slowdown is well underway, with growth in most countries now back fairly close to the high levels of the mid 2000s," read part of the report.

But it warned rising food and fuel prices were about to test the region's resilience of the past few years once again.

Growth forecasts varied, with the poorest countries recovering the fastest -- such as Ethiopia, forecast to grow 8.5 per cent this year -- and middle-income countries lagging behind. South Africa is expected to grow just 3.5 per cent.

EAC Quick Facts

Area (incl. water):	1.82 million sq. km
Population:	133.5 million (2010)
GDP (current market price):	$74.5 billion (2009)
EAC Headquarters:	Arusha, Tanzania
First established:	1967
Re-established:	July 7, 2000
Main languages:	English, Kiswahili
Current chairman:	H.E. Pierre Nkurunziza
Council Chairperson	Hon. Hafsa Mossi
Secretary General:	Dr. Richard Sezibera

Kenya Economy

GDP (2010 est.): $32 billion.
Annual growth rate (2010): 5.4%.
Gross national income per capita (2008, Atlas Method): $770.
Natural resources: Wildlife, soda ash, land.
Agriculture: Products--tea, coffee, sugarcane, horticultural products, corn, wheat, rice, sisal, pineapples, pyrethrum, dairy products, meat and meat products, hides, skins. Arable land--17%.
Industry: Types--petroleum products, grain and sugar milling, cement, beer, soft drinks, textiles, vehicle assembly, paper and light manufacturing.
Structure of economy (% of GDP): Services--59.5%; industry and commerce--16.7%;agriculture--23.8%.
Work force: Formal sector wage earners--1.95 million (public sector 30%; private sector 70%). Informal sector workers--6.4 million.
Trade (FY 2010): Exports--$4.96 billion: tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, cement, pyrethrum, soda ash, sisal, hides and skins, fluorspar. Major export markets--Uganda, United Kingdom, Tanzania, Netherlands, United States, Pakistan.Imports--$11.6 billion: machinery, vehicles, crude petroleum, iron and steel, resins and plastic materials, refined petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, paper and paper products, fertilizers, wheat. Major suppliers--United Arab Emirates, China, India, South Africa, Japan, United States.

Tanzania Economy

GDP (2010 est.): $23.2 billion.
Real GDP growth annual percentage (2010 est.): 6.4%.
GDP per capita (2009): $509.
Natural resources: Hydroelectric potential, coal, iron, gemstones, gold, natural gas, nickel, diamonds, crude oil potential, forest products, wildlife, fisheries.
Agriculture (2009 est.): 26.6% of GDP. Products--coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco, cloves, sisal, cashew nuts, maize, livestock, sugar cane, paddy, wheat, pyrethrum.
Industry/manufacturing (2009 est.): 22.6% of GDP. Types--textiles, agro-processing, light manufacturing, construction, steel, aluminum, paints, cement, cooking oil, beer, mineral water and soft drinks.
Trade (2009 est.): Exports--$2.74 billion (merchandise exports): coffee, cotton, tea, sisal, cashew nuts, tobacco, cut flowers, seaweed, cloves, fish and fish products, minerals (diamonds, gold, and gemstones), manufactured goods, horticultural products; services (tourism services, communication, construction, insurance, financial, computer, information, government, royalties, personal and other businesses). Major markets--U.K., Germany, India, Japan, Italy, China, Bahrain, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia. Primary imports--petroleum, consumer goods, machinery and transport equipment, used clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals. Major suppliers--U.K., Germany, Japan, India, Italy, U.S., United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya.

Uganda Economy

GDP (nominal, 2009): $15.7 billion.
Natural resources: Copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, phosphate, oil.
Agriculture: Cash crops--coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, cut flowers. Food crops--bananas, corn, cassava, potatoes, millet, pulses. Livestock and fisheries--beef, goat meat, milk, poultry, Nile perch, tilapia.
Industry: Processing of agricultural products (cotton ginning, coffee curing), cement production, light consumer goods, textiles.
Trade: Exports (2009 est.)--$2.25 billion: coffee, fish and fish products, tea, tobacco, textiles, cement, maize, electricity. Major markets--EU, Sudan, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Switzerland, Rwanda. Imports (2009 est.)--$5.24 billion: petroleum, road vehicles, cereals, industrial machinery, iron and steel, medical/pharmaceutical supplies. Major suppliers--EU, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, India, China.
Fiscal year: July 1-June 30.

Rwanda Economy

GDP (2009 est.): $5.1 billion.
Real GDP growth rate (2010 est., International Monetary Fund): 6.5%.
Per capita income (2009 est.): $510. Purchasing power parity (2006 est.): $1,600.
Average inflation rate (2008 est.): 5.7%.
Agriculture (2009): 36% of GDP. Products--coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide made from chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes, livestock.
Industry (2009): 14.2% of GDP. Types--cement, agricultural products, beer production, soft drinks, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals.
Services (2009): 43.7%.
Trade (2009 est.): Exports--$193 million: tea, coffee, coltan, cassiterite, hides, iron ore, and tin. Major markets--China, Belgium, and Germany. Imports--$963 million f.o.b.: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, steel, petroleum products, cement, and construction material.Major suppliers--Kenya, Germany, Belgium, France, Uganda, and Israel.

Burundi Economy

GDP (2009, World Bank): $1.325 billion.
Real growth rate (2009): 3.4%.
Per capita GDP (2009): $151.
Population below poverty line (2009): 70%.
Inflation rate (2009): 10.5%.
Central government budget (2010): Revenues--$588.5 million (internal and foreign grants);expenditures--$699.2 million, including capital expenditures.
Natural resources: Nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum, vanadium, arable land, hydropower, niobium, tantalum, gold, tin, tungsten, kaolin, limestone.
Primary sector (2009 est.; 46% of GDP, of which agriculture is 45% of GDP): Coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca), beef, milk, hides. Arable land (2009 est.)--35.57%.
Secondary sector (2009 est.; 19% of GDP): Types--beverage production, coffee and tea processing, cigarette production, sugar refining, pharmaceuticals, light food processing, chemicals (insecticides), public works construction, consumer goods, assembly of imported components, light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap.
Services (2009 est.): 35% of GDP.
Mining: Commercial quantities of alluvial gold, nickel, phosphates, rare earth, vanadium and other; peat mining.
Trade (2009): Exports--$63.9 million f.o.b.: coffee (50% of export earnings), tea, sugar, cotton fabrics, hides. Major markets--U.K., Germany, Benelux, Switzerland. Imports--$402.3 million f.o.b.: food, beverages, tobacco, chemicals, road vehicles, petroleum products. Major suppliers--Benelux, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan.
Debt: In 2009, the country’s debt was erased through the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Heavily Indebted Poor Countries mechanism.

Sources : IMF, US State Department, EAC, Inventure Management

Svein Mork Dahl
Managing Partner
E-mail: smd (a) inventure.no
Skype: svein.mork.dahl
Kenyan phone: +254 701 359 259
UK phone: +44 20 88 168 333
Norwegian phone: +47 4141 0171

Address
Inventure Management Ltd.
Business Development, Entrepreneurship & CSR
Att: Svein Mork Dahl
Po. Box 778 - 00521 Embakasi Village
Nairobi, Kenya

CARE - Conference 2011

2011-06-03T02:18:00.000-07:00

Svein Mork Dahl has been invited to participate on this high level conference :

"The African economies are growing rapidly, and nearly one billion people who live on less than US$2 a day are embracing the opportunities for better lives.

We welcome you to a participatory conference exploring new and more efficient solutions within areas of health care, finance and new technologies. Leaders from business, governments and civil society will present cutting edge innovations.

The aim is to engage businesses and organisations in seeking solutions, drawing on the strengths of partnerships."

CARE - Conference 2011

Kenya Social Investment Exchange has launched

2011-06-02T02:24:00.000-07:00

Caxtus Social Enterprise: Kenya Social Investment Exchange has launched: "27. of May launched East Africa's first stock exchange for social enterprises . The reason is to give investors the..."

We partner with East African Social Enterprise Network

2011-04-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

EAST AFRICA SOCIAL ENTERPRISE NETWORK The Job Creators Network

Background

East Africa Social Enterprise Network (EASEN) was formally launched on 9th June 2010 in Nairobi Kenya as a membership organization working for the social enterprise sector in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan). EASEN is modelled on the aspirations of the East Africa Community (EAC). It is also connected to the Pan African and Global social enterprise networks.

Vision

To be a transforming network of job creators through social entrepreneurship

EASEN Mission

To work with stakeholders in the ethical pursuit of financial, environmental and social returns through productive use and equitable distribution of resources for job and wealth creation in East Africa and beyond

Social enterprises

A Social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives, whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profits for shareholders.

The focus is on a triple bottom line of financial, social and environmental returns.

A social entrepreneur is someone driven by a social mission and a desire to find innovative ways to solve social problems that have been neglected by either the market or the public sector.

Social Enterprise Quotes

What business entrepreneurs are to the economy, social entrepreneurs are to social change. They are the driven, creative individuals who question the status quo, exploit new opportunities, refuse to give up, and remake the world for the better (David Bornstein, Author)

I’m encouraging young people to become social business entrepreneurs and contribute to the world, rather than just making money. Making money is no fun. Contributing to and changing the world is a lot more fun (Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank Founder)

Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry (Bill Drayton, Ashoka Founder)

EASEN Strategic Objectives

To provide Advocacy services for and on behalf of beneficiaries and benefactors of social enterprises

To mobilize financial and other resources to support existing and emerging social enterprises.

To provide Business Development Services to social entrepreneurs and social enterprises.

To provide Advisory and Expert services on social entrepreneurship and development of social enterprises.

To recruit and provide value adding services to members from east Africa and beyond

Challenges facing Social Enterprises

Lack of appropriate financing structures
Limited knowledge and understanding of social enterprises
Lack of staff with entrepreneurship and social skills combined.
Not yet taught in colleges and universities
Sector confused with NGOs and charity.
Absence of properly trained business development specialists for the sector
No legal, regulatory and policy framework suitable for the sector.
Taxation of earned income

Some Global Networks

Africa Social Entrepreneurs Network of South Africa
Social Enterprise Coalition of UK
Social Enterprise Alliance of USA
Social Enterprise Council of Canada

Who can be a Member

Social enterprises
Social entrepreneurs and social investors
NGOs, CBOs and Faith Based Organizations
Corporate Organizations
Donors and other support agencies
Government related agencies
Academic, research and policy development agencies
Individuals and students
Other Membership organizations

Membership Benefits

Become a pioneer of the social enterprise Sector in East Africa
Join a global network using entrepreneurship to address social problems
Receive and access social enterprise information on financing, business development services, Legal changes and research.
Contribute to debates, discussions and research on social enterprises
Participate in meetings, conferences and other international events
Competitions and award schemes
Peer learning and support

EASEN Achievements

Became the 1st strong network in Africa using business approaches.
Quarterly breakfast meetings attracting national and international speakers.
Developed and conducted social entrepreneurship trainings.
Connected to and worked with other networks globally
Published Book ‘Factors influencing the development of social enterprises in Kenya’
Has become a hub and connector for social enterprises and social entrepreneurs in east Africa and the world.
Participated in international forums and advocated for social enterprises.
The network featured strongly at the April 2011 Social Enterprise World Forum in South Africa.
Designed and ran job creation projects

Comments from stakeholders

This is the best course I have attended and am ready to go out there and make a difference (past EASEN social entrepreneurship course participant).

Have been inspired by the speeches and networking opportunities during breakfast meetings

EASEN is providing valuable leadership on application of entrepreneurship for sustainable and responsible development

EASEN Governance

EASEN has a secretariat headed by the Regional Director and a board that is drawn from diverse sectors and with experience on issues of development using entrepreneurship

Dr James Mageria –Chairman. He is also Chairman of Karen Hospital and Heart to Heart Foundation.

Prof. Rosemary Maina - KCA University Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs.

Dr Dinah Mwinzi - Director of Training at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in Kenya.

Helene M Van Der Roest - Managing Director TAK Africa

Mr. David Kairo - Manager of KCA University Centre for Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

Mr. Carlo Chege - Regional Director EASEN

Our Supporting Partners

KCA University
Fusion Capital
Kenya Social Investment Exchange
British Council Kenya
Social Enterprise World Forum

Current Partnership Opportunities

Mapping study of social enterprise sector
Quarterly breakfasts and Conferences
Capacity building and Training
Advocacy and policy initiatives
Social Enterprise awards
Business Plan Competitions
Social Enterprise Consultancies
Business development services
Writing case studies of social enterprises
Developing social enterprise support fund
Youth Social Entrepreneurs Programme
Institutional development of EASEN

To Partner or Sponsor EASEN Initiatives

Contact our secretariat or visit our website.

EASEN Contacts
Ecobank Towers, 10th Floor, Muindi Mbingu Street, Tel: +254 20 2211263/4/8, +254 725 816 375, +254 721833014 P.O Box 101787, 00101, Nairobi, Kenya.
Email: info@easenetwork.net
Regional Director: carlo.chege@easenetwork.net
Website: www.easenetwork.net

Scandinavians can contact Svein Mork Dahl directly.

Kenya seeks investors for 800 MW geothermal plants

2011-03-10T01:39:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Reuters reports that Kenya's Geothermal Development Company invited applications on Wednesday from investors interested in setting up eight power plants to plants to produce a total 800 MW in the country's Rift Valley.

The state-run firm said in a newspaper advertisement it planned to drill 200 wells from next January on the Bogoria-Silali Block.

"GDC intends to shortlist potential investors to develop 8X100 MW at its Bogoria-Silali Block," it said.

"The investors' role will include financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the power plants. In addition, GDC will require the selected investors to partner in financing steam development."

Geothermal power comes from steam made from water heated by the earth's core and used to spin turbines.

Kenya says it has potential to produce 7 000 MW from the vast heat reserves under the Great Rift Valley. It is targeting at least 5 000 MW of geothermal by 2030.

GDC said studies showed the Bogoria-Silali block had a potential to produce 3 000 MW. The 800 MW would be produced in an initial phase ending by 2017, and another 1 200 MW would be rolled out in three 400 MW phases ending in 2023.

The company said interested parties would have to prove they could raise at least $400-million for each 100 MW development, supported by letters from credible financiers.

"The expected capital structure for the power plant is at least 25% equity and 75% debt," GDC said, adding that the government would not provide any sovereign guarantees.

"Funds obtained from the investors, on the terms and conditions agreed, will be a loan to GDC, which will be repaid from steam sales revenues," GDC said.

State-run Kenya's main power producer KenGen is already producing more than 200 MW of electricity from geothermal sources in the Rift Valley, and plans to add 280 MW at a cost of $1,3-billion by 2013.

The drought-prone nation, which relies heavily on hydropower, is increasingly turning to geothermal energy to increase power production. Businesses say frequent blackouts increase the cost of doing business in Kenya.

GDC said that Kenya's peak power demand stood at 1 200 MW and was expected to grow to at least 17 000 MW in 20 years.

The GDC has pledges worth $400-million, 40% of the amount it needs for a 10-year plan to produce 2 000 MW of steam.

For more information on the investment offer please contact us via e-mail

Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011

2011-03-07T02:38:00.000-08:00

Entrepreneurship in Africa

2011-02-27T01:28:00.000-08:00

Entrepreneurship in Africa

filed under:

Hosted by Mugure Kabuga Mugo (May 2009)

Did you know that Africa was once the source of 90% of the world's gold? And that one of the largest proven oil reserves is found on the African continent?

No? Neither did I!

A few months ago, in the course of researching for an article, I was pleasantly surprised to unearth some gems about the continent of Africa, facts about my own homeland that I didn’t know.

I was amazed to find out that Africa is the mostpolyglot (I learned that this means multilingual!) continent in the world. I speak three languages, as do most of my fellow countrymen (Kenya) but I was not aware that this was common throughout our continent. Most Africans can speak at least two African languages and one European one, I discovered.

To my further surprise, I found that Africa’s economy has had healthy growth in the past few years, averaging a rate of 5%, comparable to other more economically advanced regions. This was great news!

I am an entrepreneur, born and bred in the East African country of Kenya and have been in business for the last ten years. I believe much of Africa’s recent economic growth has been driven by the same entrepreneurial spirit that has seen other regions grow and prosper. However, very little of this is heard of, and most images coming out of Africa do not do much to highlight entrepreneurship on the continent.

As an entrepreneur, I have met and networked with several young Africans engaged in all sorts of entrepreneurial activity – from simple retail activities (buying and selling of this and that), to manufacturing of various products for local and international markets, to providing services ranging from the simple to the complex (from say, laundry services to high-level financial services).

What has always amazed me, is the sheer determination and ability of African (and other) entrepreneurs to navigate not only the usual challenges of business, but also to overcome the additional challenges of operating in a developing economy.

I run a business process outsourcing company from Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. In the past few years, I have witnessed changes in the economic environment that have enabled my company and others to grow and prosper in a manner that may not have been possible a decade or two ago. For instance, due to recent improvements in telecommunications, my company is able to serve USA-based organizations from our office in Nairobi, providing “back-office” support to several companies.

That said, I have always been curious to hear other views about Africa. So, I’d love to hear from you on the following:
1)    As a social entrepreneur, what do you think are the three main areas of need on the African continent?
2)    Based on the above, how best can a USA or UK based social entrepreneur effectively operate in Africa?
3)    Any personal experiences anyone would like to share? Never know – we might debunk a myth or two!

Join Mugure Kabuga Mugo, Founder and CEO of Preciss International Ltd. in Nairobi (Kenya) in the conversation.

A Solar Strategy for Africa: International Players Set To Expand Key Markets

2011-02-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of RenewableEnergyWorld.com

A Solar Strategy for Africa: International Players Set To Expand Key Markets

By Mark Hankins, Africa Solar Designs | 4. januar 2011

Now that real progress has been made in growing global demand and production and lowering costs in developed countries, it is time to think seriously about kick-starting real solar markets in Africa.

There is a need for a shift in focus on solar markets in Africa away from donor and rural electrification projects to commercial and productive investments. There is also a need for the international PV industry to aggressively invest in the development of solar markets and not to leave it up to aid and relief organisations. This must be based on the need to move – today – towards grid-connected and urban markets. As part of this process there is a need to engage and educate African governments about the current global status of the solar sector and help them build frameworks for industry growth.

Markets for small off-grid systems, those below 100 Wp, are important to kickstart solar industries, but they will be less important in the long term as demand for them begins to fall.
It is also useful to have an idea of where marketing and development efforts will lead in the long term. 'Off-grid rural solar development' in Africa has dominated discussion for so long that we seem to have lost the bigger picture. Where does the solar industry want to be in Africa in 10 years? Leaving aside the 'rural electrification' impact, which is more attractive for a solar company: 20,000 solar home systems at 50 Wp or 500 systems of 2 kW each? Both will result in 1 MW of sales.
Kenya's so-called 'solar PV success story' is a good example of this. Its focus on small systems – to the exclusion of larger commercial or grid-connected systems – and has resulted in an annual PV market of 1.5 MW that is low-tech, over-the-counter and dominated by small products. But the market is stagnating.
Continued efforts by aid groups to build sales in 'poverty markets' will likely increase the depth and accessibility of small scale lighting systems. However, this will not build a market with a 20 MW/year solar demand of a scale that is interesting to larger PV supply companies. No matter their importance to the rural poor, LED lanterns with 1 W modules fall into the realm of the fast moving goods providers from Asia, not solar PV companies.
If healthy markets that are multi-dimensional and sustainable are to develop, solar advocates must prepare the ground for the variety of viable niches that will be part of a healthy long-term solar market. In addition to village electrification, this includes off-grid markets such as telecoms, tourism, business and pumping as well as grid-tied and utility-scale markets.
Africa is not solely a poverty market and, in the long term, middle class and commercial groups will do far more to develop solar markets than procurement-driven public sector projects or the efforts of humanitarian groups.
Every car salesperson knows that, when a customer enters a showroom looking for a luxury car there is probably no need to show the second-hand hatchbacks. But, in Africa, the solar sales approach shows high-end customers bicycles, not limousines. Africa's most important buyers go for generator sets because they see generators as being 'classy' and practical solutions - and generator dealers latch on to this. Solar agents do not recognise this market.

A solar roof installation in Senegal (Source: Kaito Projekt GmbH)

The Flawed 'Aid' Approach to African Development
The aid-dominated approach to PV in Africa has led many decision-makers in Africa to believe that solar is about helping poor people. Without detracting from the hard work of solar NGOs, village solar electrification is relief work and should not be confused as being the foundations of a developing market. If building real markets for solar in Africa, and in doing so reducing carbon emissions, is the objective, NGO contracts to supply a thousand lanterns or government procurements for 100 schools are, at best, stepping stones, but they are not the long-term answer to stimulating wider demand and building solar futures.
Too many people think of Africa in terms of desperate unempowered off-grid rural poor people with no cash. Aside from a lot of sunshine, the continent's agricultural sector is growing as are its mineral exports. In some areas, Africa is also seeing massive building projects, along with more frequent traffic jams as automobile sales increase rapidly, and more and more power shortages as electricity companies struggle to meet spiralling demand. Where there is money – and power shortages - there is a market for solar power.
The multi-megawatt PV project market is coming to Africa, but not yet. To deliver large-scale projects, a focus on intermediate-sized 50 kW to 200 kW installation market segments is required.
Developers, financiers, solar companies and governments want to push the envelope and open up new markets in Africa. But most are thinking big, and perhaps a bit too big, for the present undeveloped state of the market. For example, a finance house developing PV project portfolios for African countries, while eager to hear ideas for innovations in Africa, was unwilling to discuss projects below 1 MW.
On a continent where the largest installed system is 250 kW (Kigali, Rwanda) a 1 MW minimum requirement is unreasonable as a starting target. Even though grid parity is close in a number of countries, outside of South Africa the type of feed-in tariffs and incentives necessary for megawatt-scale projects are simply not feasible. Resistance from utility sectors can make agreements problematic and risky for investors whereas smaller-sized projects may be able to fly under the radar and build up experience as solar is assimilated into power sector planning. When experience is gained on one or two 50 kW projects in a country, these can be bundled by developers into financially attractive packages. But the first step is to gain experience.
There is a need for developers, perhaps with donor agency help, to think bigger than village scale, but a bit smaller than utility scale. Just 10 years ago 50 kW PV projects made industry headlines in Europe.
Grid-Connected Markets
Grid connection is coming in Africa, perhaps faster than expected and definitely in different ways than expected. In the near future, urban PV markets will be as important as rural markets.
In the mid-1990s, when the annual world production of PV was well below 100 MW, many ridiculed the idea of grid-connected solar anywhere in the world. Off-grid rural solar electricity made much more sense. How could grid-connected solar prosper when off-grid markets were screaming to be satisfied in developing countries all over the globe?
In every country in Africa the electricity sectors plan to eventually connect all economically active areas to a national grid system. Arguments and concerns can be raised about how fast this will occur – or even whether it makes sense – but the fact is that politicians, planners and consumers are united in their desire for grid electricity. Because virtually all solar in Africa today is off-grid, ministry planners often view solar as a second class option for remote locations where it is likely to be too expensive to establish a grid connection and where there is little economic activity. It is time for those planning national strategies to look to solar – and those developing solar marketing plans – to embrace on-grid solar and stop pretending that solar is exclusively for off-grid communities in Africa.
Some say that fragile African grids, with fluctuating voltages and frequent shutdowns, cannot accept PV power but the same thing was said about wind a few years ago. Now there are multi-megawatt wind projects all over the continent. Surely, the opposite is true - grid connect solar systems can help stabilise grids and, with small battery banks, can also help consumers weather power outages.
While there are definitely technical, financial and regulatory hurdles to be overcome there are also huge opportunities. From Lagos to Nairobi and from Addis to Dakar, businesses, hotels, offices and households today buy and install hundreds of thousands of generator sets and battery-inverter systems to hedge against brownouts. Because electricity can be unreliable in African cities people who require continuous power are willing to pay extra to ensure their supply and therefore surely it makes sense to use this willingness to pay as a wedge to open new grid-connected PV markets.
Given the choice, a substantial proportion of the middle classes, NGOs and business consumers in Africa would purchase grid-connected systems. Educated Africans will install solar for the same reasons that people in the North do – because it is clean and silent, reduces carbon footprints, is modern and aesthetically pleasing.
Net-metering, not feed-in tariffs, will initially be key to developing grid-connected markets, just as they were in Germany and the US.
For medium- to large-scale renewables such as wind, hydro and biomass, specialised feed-in tariffs are important policy tools to stimulate investment. Even in Africa (RSA, Kenya) feed-in tariffs are helping to get renewable power projects off the ground.
However, feed-in tariffs are less suited to PV than other renewable technologies for several reasons. First, there is much less economy of scale in PV; it does not matter whether a PV installation is 10 kW or 1 MW – the costs are broadly the same. Secondly, because of this scale issue, thousands of dispersed PV installations make as much sense as a single large plant. But right now PV is still more expensive than wind, hydro or biomass, so it is hard for governments to justify PV as part of their 'least cost power plan'. However, there is no need to block private consumers who want to invest in Africa's nascent solar market.
Net metering is a low-cost policy tool that allows electric utilities to incentivise on-grid PV investment by private consumers. With it, consumers invest in a PV system. Instead of storing their PV power in a battery during the day, they store it on the grid by running their meter backwards and selling their output at a retail rate. In the evenings they draw back the electricity that was generated during daylight hours, with the result that at the end of a month consumers could potentially have a zero-value bill.
Unlike feed-in tariffs, net metering does not require massive grant support or additional levies on electricity consumers by cash-strapped African governments. Net metering cannot be unscrupulously 'rigged' because there is no incentive – electricity bills are offset, and no cash changes hands. Net metering also allows demand to develop naturally. Those who want solar PV and are willing to pay a premium for it will be rewarded. In short, those that want to buy and sell PV power should be encouraged, not discouraged.
The Benefits of Solar
In Africa the versatility and practicality of solar energy solutions is as important as the cost/kWh.
Too often, electricity is judged on extremely narrow price grounds. Policy-makers, from both government and donor sides, look at the cost/kWh of solar and automatically disqualify it from discussions in national planning. African energy departments, and the donor agencies that support them, apparently dismiss solar out of hand because of its high costs. The mentality, it seems, is that Europe should busy itself with developing the PV as Africa cannot afford to do so.
But at the same time, in countries as divergent as Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Burkina Faso, petroleum-based generation is sacrosanct when it comes to investments in power supply. Thermal generation units are purchased to meet 'emergency' peak demands because petroleum flexibly supplies power when it is needed.
Even though solar PV is an expensive investment it can be an extremely reliable and predictable component source of an overall electricity profile during periods when electricity is needed.
It is especially valuable during cloudless periods when dams dry up and grid managers must scramble to get thermal units on line, and nothing seems surer than the fact that as petrol prices will invariably rise the costs of developing and installing relevant and efficient PV solutions will fall.
PV can be deployed in a decentralised manner where it is needed and where space is available. Financing can also be decentralised. The same customers who buy their own generator and battery back-up sets may consider investing in solar as an alternative to brownouts.
But perhaps most importantly it is necessary to pay the high up-front prices of solar today to build the experiences and capacities that will be needed tomorrow.
Solar did not happen in Germany and California overnight; it took decades of work to get the skills, supply lines, finance and consumer awareness in place.
Governments cannot wave magic wands and make these things happen, at which point solar suddenly becomes 'cost-effective'.
Before achieving 200 MW of installed capacity, a first target of 1 MW has to be reached.

A small-scale focus will see Africa's PV sector stagnate (Source: Kaito Projekt GmbH)

The Role of Industry
Over the past two decades, as solar markets have grown at double digit rates in the North, the job of building up solar markets in Africa has been left to NGOs and aid agencies such as the UN, the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility.
Few African governments have championed PV, and most of the companies that did have offices in Africa have left. This needs to change. As stand alone generator and petroleum-based power suppliers already know, Africa is a steadily growing market – and a profitable one at that.
Donor agencies have relegated PV to off-grid markets and, moreover, they have left the administration of PV projects to slow-moving government agencies.
Few major solar players want to bid on World Bank-supported government tenders that can take years to develop and which can be expensive.
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford had it right. When they developed their electrical lighting and automobile products, they aggressively took them to the moneyed classes in large American cities and their companies were successful. With more solar resources than anywhere else in the world, with steadily growing economies, and with massive shortages of power, the markets in Africa are ripe. But Africa needs solar entrepreneurs that can convince the buyers and it needs the type of aggressive green investment that took place in the 1990s in Europe.
Solar industries need to work together to build viable markets in Africa and should instead leave the World Bank and the UN to focus on the off-grid poor.
Aid efforts should focus on helping to steer solar policy in the right direction, and tying grant and subsidy support to the achievement of targets. This will require the active long-term engagement of governments, the private sector, civil society, and the international solar industry.
The global boom in solar – and the accompanying fall in PV prices – has occurred because a handful of countries realised that it would take strong policy initiatives to get PV markets to a size that would bring solar prices to back down to earth. Bold politicians bet on solar and we are now beginning to see the fruits of those measures.
Because of a lack of disposable income and difficulties, perceived or real, in doing business, Africa has been largely side-stepped in solar energy development discussions.
Slapping donated modules onto the roofs of rural clinics is an easy way to leave the impression that something is being done in Africa. Of course it is easier to target support for schools, clinics and village electrification, but until policy frameworks are in place to build sustainable solar energy industries, much international solar aid support is being wasted on projects in remote locations with no infrastructure and little cash. Sustainable local solar businesses are simply not being created.
As is the case with coal and nuclear industries in the North, there are entrenched interests in many African countries that do not necessarily embrace solar.
Numerous ruling elites manage profitable petroleum and large power project cartels and they could be expected to block decentralised solar and grid-connected projects. International solar industries and development aid networks that are seeking to build solar markets need to be aware of these interests and find ways to help civil society empower itself with solar.
As power prices in Africa rise, grid expansion stalls and as grid power availability is constrained, consumers and communities increasingly have to take electricity production into their own hands. In the long term, this is a good thing, and having a portion of electricity coming from decentralised solar sources is healthy for any grid.
Just as political systems in Africa have evolved to reflect the needs of educated voters, power sectors must change too to allow new segments of the population to profit from and participate in electricity production. This is the promising future of solar in Africa.

Mark Hankins has worked in the African solar energy sector for 25 years. He manages Africa Solar Designs, a Nairobi-based solar solutions provider that is currently developing on- and off-grid PV projects. He recently authored 'Stand Alone Solar Electric Systems' published by Earthscan Publishers.

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Afrilabs Links Entrepreneurs, Startups, Tech Communities in Africa

2011-02-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Exciting new networking opportunity for entrepreneurs in Africa.

Article by courtesy of Fastcompany.com

Afrilabs Links Entrepreneurs, Startups, Tech Communities in Africa

BY JENARA NERENBERGMon Feb 7, 2011

A new network will focus on connecting young entrepreneurs, web and mobile-phone programmers, designers, and investors.

Erik Hersman, director of operations at the non-profit Ushahidi, today announced the launch of a network of startup incubators and tech communities throughout Africa. Dubbing the new venture Afrilabs, the network is meant to connect a thriving scene of tech entrepreneurs involved in such outfits as iHub in Kenya, Hive Colab in Uganda, ActivSpaces in Cameroon, Nailab in Kenya, and Banta Labs in Senegal. In addition to integrating incubators throughout the continent, Hersman and his colleagues are also in the process of starting an investment fund for seed capital investments "that are accessible to startups that come through the different labs," Hersman tells Fast Company.

"The association is for linking the spaces for learning, growth, and to provide greater mass for the entrepreneurs that we work with," says Hersman. Afrilabs will focus on connecting young entrepreneurs, web and mobile-phone programmers, designers, and investors.

Technology-focused startup incubators are now found throughout the developing world, but Afrilabs takes the idea a step further by creating formalized links between the incubators, rather than leaving them to function in isolation. While incubators in themselves leverage the resources of external institutions--such as universities, corporate mentors, and government agencies--linking the incubators means that each incubator also benefits from the resources beyond national borders, creating a fortress-like web of connections, support, and mentorship.

"My take is that we’ll end up having as many models as the unique city cultures that spawn them, mixed in with the ethos of the founders," said Hersman.

Afrilabs looks poised to grow a whole new batch of startups and they're already looking to expand their members--while the above named are the founding five incubators, "It's open to other labs and hubs and we need them to get in contact so we can get them plugged in," says Hersman.

Follow Fast Company on Twitter.

[Photos by Taylor Martyn]

SMEs and Incubation in Africa

2011-02-07T03:21:00.000-08:00

This interesting booklet gives insight in Entrepreneurship in Africa. Downloads form InfoDev.

Celebrating Incubation in Africa 2011

Download now (1246 KB)

The booklet premiered at the Open Innovation Africa Summit in Kenya this past November and gives insight into what it means to be an entrepreneur in Africa. It was created with the support of infoDev, the World Bank Group, and the African Incubation Network (AIN). For this publication, infoDev team members spoke with entrepreneurs from its African Incubation Network (AIN) in Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa to gather information on how incubation centers have supported African SMEs and the ways in which these businesses continue to change the African economic landscape.

Kenya will host the worlds First Climate Innovation Centre

2011-02-07T02:06:00.000-08:00

News From Africa: Features

http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_12298.html

Monday 7 February 2011

Kenya: Nairobi to Host World’s First Climate Innovation Centre

Denmark, Kenya and World Bank say centre will transform climate challenges into growth opportunities.

By Staff Writer

NAIROBI--- A ground-breaking new type of facility that provides financing, technical assistance and market advice to climate technology SMEs, will be established by infoDev, the technology arm of the World Bank, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Speaking at a DANIDA-sponsored conference, ‘Green Growth in Kenya’, Andrew Steer, The World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, said the anticipated global network of 30 Climate Innovation Centres (CICs) may generate 240,000 jobs globally, and harness the creative spark of entrepreneurs to “transform climate challenges into market opportunities”.

Developing countries are most threatened by climate change, yet lag in their capacity to transfer, develop and deploy innovative climate technologies. The CIC, spearheaded by the Royal Danish Embassy (DANIDA) and infoDev, will cultivate Kenya’s climate technology entrepreneurs, boost industry competitiveness and job creation, and help the country to respond to the challenges of climate change.

The infoDev Climate Innovation Centre will also help transform Kenya to a middle income country, in line with the Government of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

“This initiative will specifically enable Kenya to achieve the essential technological advancement and catalyze innovative technology among small and medium enterprises,” said Alex Alusa, Climate Change Policy Advisor in the Prime Minister’s office.

In the first five years, the CIC is expected to create more than 70 sustainable climate technology businesses, generating some 4,600 direct and indirect jobs. Over the next decade, it is estimated that it will help create over 24,000 jobs in Kenya.

The CIC works by providing targeted financing and capacity building to entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to scale up and deploy innovative clean technology solutions that meet local needs and create local jobs. This model was developed with over 150 Kenyan stakeholders, and builds oninfoDev’s successful experience supporting SMEs in information and communications technologies.

Kenya needs ‘green growth’. The country has patchy electrification, expensive conventional energy, water shortages, and increasing pressure on agriculture caused by climate variability. On top of all this, Kenya has a 40 per cent unemployment rate.

“The private sector has a pivotal role in the economy, contributing to 80 per cent of Kenya’s GDP. The CIC will assist Kenya’s 1.7 million informal SMEs and community entrepreneurs to compete in one of the most promising sectors of the 21st century while helping to provide critical solutions to the needs of the rural poor.” said Geert Aagaard Andersen, Danish Ambassador to Kenya.

The Kenyan CIC will be the first of many. infoDev’s vision is to build a global network of 30 centres to create over 2,400 enterprises, generate 240,000 direct and indirect jobs, install 3000 MW of off-grid energy capacity, provide energy access to over 28 million people and deliver clean water to over 10 million households.

Accelerating innovation in emerging technologies is essential to help reduce the current and long-term impacts of climate change. However developing countries, which are most immediately threatened by these impacts, lag in their capacity to transfer, develop and deploy innovative climate technologies.

DANIDA has supported the CIC concept, complementing Denmark’s broader private sector and business support program in Kenya. In addition to the CIC, The World Bank Group and Danida support a number of ongoing projects in Kenya which intersect the country’s climate, energy and economic development needs.

InfoDev is establishing a global network of CICs that enables developing countries’ private sectors to proactively and profitably take part in green growth. Over 120 stakeholders in Kenya assisted in design of the CIC that will provide a holistic range of services that remove local market barriers to innovation. The infoDev CIC will offer new ventures financing, technical assistance, market information, policy advice, capacity building and more.

InfoDev is a technology and innovation led development finance programme in the Financial and Private Sector Development unit of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation.

Investing in Africa

2006-09-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Finance studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses and organizations raise, allocate and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects. The term finance may thus incorporate any of the following: * The study of money and other assets* The management of those assets* Profiling and managing project risks* As a verb, "to finance" is to provide funds for business.

Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Africa: an emerging market

Africa is a relatively unexplored continent for Norwegian companies. Investments in Africa have been looked upon as very risky and to not give high enough return on the invested capital. But over the last couple of years, countries like South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania has had a steady economic growth. In light of the financial crises seen in the western economy, investments in Africa can no longer categorically be rated as high risk.

We believe that Norwegian companies and financial institutions would benefit from learning more about the opportunities, which currently are emerging on the African continent. Companies from countries like Holland, China and Japan are already investing heavily in several sectors like renewable energy, agriculture and infrastructure. There are many Norwegian companies that have technology and knowledge that could be implemented in Africa. We also see possibilities linked to utilizing the Co2 quota opportunity under the Kyoto protocol (CDM). The process industry and the energy industry in Norway can for instance benefit from the technology transfer or change under the protocol. There are opportunities north to south, but also south to north.

Inventure Management Ltd.

The Future of Renewable Energy in Africa: Promising or Precarious? | Economy Watch

Investment News Kenya :Investment News Kenya

VC4Africa Matches African Entrepreneurs With Investors | Alltopstartups

Africa the Next Frontier for Entrepreneurs

VC4Africa looks back on the progress made in 2011 | VC4Africa

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MENA PEA Report on Venture Capital in the Middle East and North Africa | Wamda.com

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Want to become an internet billionaire? Move to Africa (Wired UK)

VC4Africa Meetup - Oslo, Norway - Eventbrite

Lion economies of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will grow fastest in the world - Comment |theeastafrican.co.ke

Africa the next frontier for private equity, venture capital - News |theeastafrican.co.ke

SEED Forum in Nairobi, Kenya

Then it's official! We are planning the first SEED Forum in East Africa on the 21. June 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. We are SEED Forums partner in EAC, and we hope to arrange SEED Forums in other african countries later.

About Seed Forum

Finance & Development, December 2011 - The Quality of Growth

VC4Africa Meetup - Oslo, Norway - Eventbrite

Real estate listing at bourse starts next month - Money Markets |businessdailyafrica.com

Roundtable Africa Conference

7 Questions to Assess Your Business Model Design « Business Model Alchemist

The Lean Finance Model Of Venture Capital | TechCrunch

Business Angels make their move to business accelerators | iBusinessAngel

Inventure + *iHub_ Nairobi

Work smarter not harder...

SocEntLab East Africa: Can Venture Capital Save The World? - Forbes

Why Africa is not high on the agenda of most companies in the West

Africa Unleashed | Foreign Affairs

KENYA Investment Guide

Caxtus SocEntLab: Undersøkelse om sosialt entreprenørskap i Norge og...

Caxtus SocEntLab: Nobel Peace Price to Africans

Richard Branson on Finding and Selecting Investors for Your Startup | Entrepreneur.com

Three startup investments in 48 hrs @IPO48 Nairobi

Clean Technology business and investment conference

Mara Foundation - Finding sustainable and replicable solutions to some of Africa's biggest challenges

Interested doing business with Norwegian companies ?

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iTrend.no - om innovasjon: Svein Mork Dahl: Sosialt entreprenørskap i Kenya

Rediscovering entrepreneurship in Kenya

Rediscovering entrepreneurship in Kenya

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Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Afric

East-Africa (EAC) Brief Economic Outlook April 2011

"Sub-Saharan Africa's recovery from the crisis-induced slowdown is well underway, with growth in most countries now back fairly close to the high levels of the mid 2000s," read part of the report.

But it warned rising food and fuel prices were about to test the region's resilience of the past few years once again.

Growth forecasts varied, with the poorest countries recovering the fastest -- such as Ethiopia, forecast to grow 8.5 per cent this year -- and middle-income countries lagging behind. South Africa is expected to grow just 3.5 per cent.

CARE - Conference 2011

Kenya Social Investment Exchange has launched

We partner with East African Social Enterprise Network

Kenya seeks investors for 800 MW geothermal plants

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Entrepreneurship in Africa

Entrepreneurship in Africa

A Solar Strategy for Africa: International Players Set To Expand Key Markets

Courtesy of RenewableEnergyWorld.com

A Solar Strategy for Africa: International Players Set To Expand Key Markets

Afrilabs Links Entrepreneurs, Startups, Tech Communities in Africa

Exciting new networking opportunity for entrepreneurs in Africa.

Article by courtesy of Fastcompany.com

Afrilabs Links Entrepreneurs, Startups, Tech Communities in Africa

SMEs and Incubation in Africa

Celebrating Incubation in Africa 2011

Kenya will host the worlds First Climate Innovation Centre

Kenya: Nairobi to Host World’s First Climate Innovation Centre

Investing in Africa

Then it's official!

We are planning the first SEED Forum in East Africa on the 21. June 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. We are SEED Forums partner in EAC, and we hope to arrange SEED Forums in other african countries later.