By Patrick Kagenda In the middle of last year, the Ugandan Shilling appreciated against the dollar. The importers were all smiles as they required fewer shillings to buy dollars thereby making their businesses flow smoothly. On the punching end were the exporters who would earn less from their exports as …

By Matthew Reed As the great and good of the mobile industry browsed the exhibits at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona this week, they may have overlooked a couple of watershed moments in emerging-market telecoms. In the past week, Indian and Chinese investors have unveiled plans for …

By Patrick Kagenda Kuwaiti-based Zain, which was last year a headlines maker after its July announcement that it was looking at its options in Africa including a possible sale of its networks, is back in the news. This time newswires report that it is in talks with Bharti Airtel the …

By Joseph Were and agencies On which side will BoU intervene, if at all? The weakening of currencies in the East African region against the U.S. dollar experienced in the last two weeks is likely to persist, according to analysts. Dollar demand by offshore investors and the corporate sector to …

By Patrick Kagenda The World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick just ended an African tour that took him to Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ethiopia.He told the African Union meeting in Addis Ababa that an estimated 64 million people worldwide will fall into extreme poverty because of the global financial …

By Independent Team The Indian telecom giant, Essar Group which owns Warid Uganda, has prepared a telecom blueprint for Africa under which it would invest US$2 billion According to Standard Business of India, Essar’s goal is to get 20 million customers and more, spanning six to seven countries in the …

By Patrick Kagenda Who would want to put their money in a company whose net worth is not clear? Since the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) issued its long awaited Initial Public Offer (IPO) on December 31, 2009, the event has raised several questions that remain unanswered. Top on the list …

By Patrick Kagenda & Joshua Masinde The year 2009 began with projections of declining economic growth especially in Sub- Saharan Africa as a result of the global financial meltdown. Growth was projected to decline from 7 percent in 2007 to 6 percent in the financial year 2008/09. The economy has …

By Joseph Were It has not been a wonderful world at Zain Uganda according to its official third quarter financial statements. The telecom giant recorded a net loss of US$ 3.6 million (approx. Shs7 billion) over the three months’ period ending September 30 on top of a 27 percent drop …

By Joshua Masinde 7th phone firm promises cheaper calls Ugandans have a reason to smile. They have a seventh telecommunications operator to choose from. Aptly called Smile, the new company which launched operations last week promises cheaper call rates. Smile CEO, Irene Charnley said its target is the segment of …