A few weeks ago I had to travel to Switzerland. As I was preparing for the trip, I wondered whether I needed my passport or if my Spanish ID would suffice. Switzerland doesn’t belong to the European Union but I wasn’t sure about this type of administrative arrangement between it and the EU member countries. […]
Ease of Doing Business Rankings in sub-Saharan Africa
The Managing Director of a Kenyan company with operations across East Africa explained to me that “Rwanda is embracing investors. They have an organized, one-stop process. We were done with registration within a week.” Her experience doing business in Burundi was completely different. “The laws are not publicized and they change overnight”, she said. “Half […]
Trading Times Across East African Borders
My young friend Giovanni came back from a visit to East Africa last week. As part of the trip, he traveled by car from Uganda to Kenya. This involves crossing the Malaba border where trucks can wait anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. But the driver was an expert at crossing this border, so they only […]
Kenya’s middle class and economic growth
A couple of weeks ago the news came out that Kenya has seen its economy grow 25% after statistical revision. Officially, Kenya is now a “middle-income country.” A few months ago, a similar type of revision brought Nigeria’s economy to the top of African countries in terms of the size of the economy, surpassing South […]
Personal care products booming in East Africa
Something I find amusing is that most African women use not only hair extensions but also wigs. I went to a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi, and I was amazed at the space dedicated to wigs! Women change their hairstyle so often that at times I’ve a hard time recognizing faces. This is but an indication […]
