VenturesNow

Kenya, Indonesia sign $13.85 million vaccine, pharma deal

Published

8 months ago

August 22, 2023

In a bid to modernize its pharmaceutical sector, Kenya has signed a contract with Indonesia to manufacture and distribute drugs and vaccines.

During bilateral discussions between President William Ruto and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, agreements were reached that will allow Kenya’s Biovax and Indonesia’s BioFarma to work together to produce pharmaceuticals and other vaccinations for easy access between the two nations.

The two businesses will examine the marketing of the vaccine portfolio that BioFarma will produce in Kenya under the terms of a health memorandum of agreement.

The government has committed up to Ksh2 billion ($13.85 million) to the Biovax project, whose main goal is to produce Covid-19 vaccines and other shots.

The latest development comes as the Kenyan government pushes for local manufacturing of health products to cut excessive importation and create jobs.

“It is time for us to work collaboratively, and bring on board the private sector to ensure that we develop a capacity to produce vaccines and other pharmaceutical products for our countries. We should never find ourselves in the place where we did when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, where we didn’t have facilities to produce our own vaccines,” said President Ruto.

The Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board and the Indonesia Food and Drug Authority also signed an MoU to boost regulatory cooperation in pharmaceutical products.

“Kenya is open for business. An important step in this direction must continue to be the easing and gradual removal of visa restrictions between our two nations. For our part, Kenya has decided to extend visa-free entry not only to diplomatic passport holders,” said President Ruto.

With a favourable trade balance with Kenya, Indonesia expects to send $580 million (Ksh83.75 billion) worth of commodities to Nairobi by the year 2021, with palm oil serving as the primary export.

Since the beginning of their relationship in July 1979, Kenya and Indonesia have enjoyed formidable relations with annual bilateral trade that amounts to US$250 million. Indonesian President, Jokowi, after meeting President Ruto, highlighted that relations between the two had been getting closer in the last nine years, especially in Indonesia’s foreign policy, which pays special attention to the African region.

VenturesNow

Nigeria wants managers for proposed $10 billion diaspora fund

Published

55 mins ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A tender paper shows that Nigeria is looking for fund managers for a $10 billion diaspora fund to bring in dollars and foreign investment for the economy.

The fund wants to pool the billions of dollars that its people send back to the country every month so that they can be used for local investments in things like healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

The World Bank says that Nigeria got more than $20 billion in payments from people living outside of Nigeria last year.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade in Nigeria said in a public post that it was looking for “fund managers for the development and establishment of a multisectoral, multilateral private sector-led investment fund to form the $10 billion Nigeria Diaspora Fund.”

The tender paper said that the fund manager’s job is to plan and set up the fund’s legal, operational, financial, and administrative structures.

The investment is intended to last for three to five years, and then more money will be put in after that. The government said the fund would last for 10 years and could be used for an extra two years.

The trade ministry’s tender said that people who want to run the fund must have done business in Nigeria in the last five years and must have a track record of raising money and running big, profitable venture capital funds.

Anglo-American turned down BHP Group’s $39 billion takeover offer on Friday, saying it was way too low for the London-listed company and its future.

In a statement, Minister of Industry and Trade Doris Anite said that it was a “once-in-a-lifetime chance for our citizens in the diaspora to drive Nigeria’s economic growth.”

The naira is under pressure because of a lack of foreign currency because of lower crude oil exports. This has led companies and people to buy dollars on the black market.

Nigeria is going to issue migrant bonds later this year to bring in even more foreign currency.

VenturesNow

World Bank grants Malawi $57.6 million for food crisis

Published

20 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

As a response to its food crisis, the World Bank said on Friday that it would give Malawi $57.6 million in “quick release” grants.

“This support comes in the context of the severe food crisis the country is suffering due to El Niño conditions in the wider southern Africa region,” the World Bank said in a statement.

“A series of intense disaster events over the last few years has left almost no time for the country to recover and has resulted in a severe erosion of food security at the national level.”

Malawi is one of the least developed countries in the world. It is ranked 170 out of 187 countries in the 2010 Human Development Index. Almost 16 million people live there, and 90% of them make less than $2 a day. That’s 53% of the total population.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that 46,000 children in Malawi are seriously malnourished. In 2023, UNICEF said that more than 500,000 Malawian children were at risk of not getting enough food.

Now, Malawi has a lot of programs in place to deal with things like poverty, and climate change, and to make the business and agriculture more diverse.