South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A standard 63% of its young people aged 15 to 24 are unemployed. A large part of these young people have never worked in the formal economy.

The media frequently portray young people excluded from paid work as inactive, aimless and alienated from mainstream society. This image fuels fears of crime, violence and social unrest in which unemployed people are presented as “”time bomb”Which constitutes a threat to the stability of a country.

But this is a very misleading characterization. Most analyzes of unemployed youth fail to capture the reality that unemployment in the sense of “doing nothing” is not a feasible option for most young people.

As research in many parts of Africa, including Kenya, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, has shown that unemployed youth use a wide range of economic strategies and practices to earn income.

I conducted research in the informal settlement of Zandspruit, north of Johannesburg, in 2015 and 2016, on the lives, livelihoods and struggles of most of the young men who were either unemployed or marginalized. It included life and work history interviews with 37 young people, a survey of 100 young people and a mapping exercise of the local economy, including semi-structured interviews with 40 local business owners.

My study showed that many unemployed young people are engaged in various economic activities. Many of them are not necessarily registered as a form of self-employment or informal employment, but they consume a large part of the lives of young people.

Unemployment coping strategies

I discovered that livelihoods included running car wash businesses, repairing cars for people like informal mechanics, and renting back rooms or cabins. Other activities included wiring illegal power connections for a fee and gambling on the streets. They have also secured sponsorship from NGOs and local politicians to support local initiatives and community organizations that have helped local youth access educational and economic opportunities.

These livelihood strategies seldom constituted a business or a formal enterprise. Many young people in Zandspruit combined short stays in the formal economy with forms of “pushing” and self-employment.

In many cases, informal livelihoods have been adopted due to the loss of a job or the inability to find one. There was also evidence of young men rejecting jobs in some of the low-wage sectors, in favor of self-employment in the informal economy.

This not only reflects a desire for greater social autonomy and social power, which low-wage employment denied them. It also shows the importance of investing in very localized relationships at a time of generalized precariousness.

These informal livelihoods are rooted in networks and social relationships that are essential for young people to survive unemployment.

Take the example of a car wash company. Although often analyzed as a business or a stand-alone enterprise, my research has highlighted how it also functions as a connection point for a dense web of social relationships that underpin and connect various informal businesses. These include the taxi industry (drivers and washers), informal mechanics, a chesanyama (barbecue attached) and local drug trafficking.

A car wash also provides a space where young men (most of whom also make a living informally) can come together to socialize and hang out. These social relationships are essential for young men to gain influence in a particular niche of the local economy. They also serve as an essential source of male sociability and self-help which a young man described as “common life. “

The relationship between the young men who congregate at the car wash is meant to pass the time and to “get by” for a living is based on an understanding of “flexible reciprocity,” whereby those who currently have it. money, or are employed in one form or another, help those without. These support networks offered an informal form of “insurance”, as one of my interviewees said, but also social relationships that offered alternative ways to earn an income. As Sandile, 27, explains:

There is a great common life. You are not going to starve when you have friends.

The social entrenchment of informal work is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, these interdependent relationships are an essential source of support and solidarity. On the other hand, relationships are rooted in complex power dynamics that can reproduce forms of social differentiation and inequality.

They also demand that informal entrepreneurs invest so much in personal relationships, costs and protection that many have little money to invest in improving their businesses.

What to do about unemployment in South Africa

Given the failure of the formal economy to generate enough jobs, policymakers and governments often present self-employment in the informal economy as the solution to youth unemployment.

For example, the provincial government of Gauteng, the economic center of the country, identified the “predominantly informal”township economy”As the key to fighting unemployment and promoting entrepreneurship.

Cantons are historically black urban residential areas. They are mainly characterized by underdevelopment and high levels of poverty.

The renewed interest in the “cantonal economy” is significant given the extent of unemployment, poverty and the detrimental legacy of the marginalization of cantons under apartheid. Cantons were seen as working dormitories for white businesses in cities and suburbs, and were not intended to have their own viable economies.

But the government’s interest in the economies of the cantons as job generators, entrepreneurship and “socially inclusive wealth”Is terribly out of step with the reality of most businesses in the canton. They are too small to provide an escape from poverty.

While the idea of ​​entrepreneurship is gaining traction among young people, research suggests that only a small number see it as a viable livelihood and something to strive for.

The majority have a strong preference for stable formal sector jobs, which they associate with economic stability and social mobility.

The growing precariousness of jobs in the formal economy underscores the urgency of strengthened social protection and income support For the young.

This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read it original article.

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South Sudan received $ 116 million world Bank to fund two projects aimed at strengthening the capacity of farmers to improve agricultural production and restore livelihoods and food security.

Of the funds, $ 62.2 million will be used to support training programs for farmers to help them manage their organizations effectively, adopt new technologies and use climate-smart agriculture to increase their yields. It will also invest in the tools, machinery and seeds needed to improve productivity.

The remaining 53.7 million will be allocated to the Emergency Locust Response Project (ELRP). This will strengthen South Sudan’s response to the Desert Locust by providing direct income to the most vulnerable households to enable them to produce more food for themselves and local markets, as well as utilize energy-intensive public works. labor force to provide income opportunities while promoting the restoration of pastures and agriculture. systems. This is the third phase of the regional emergency locust response program, which has already provided funding to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia.

Restoration of pastures and agricultural system

The World Bank said the project will provide direct income to the most vulnerable households to enable them to produce more food for themselves and local markets, as well as to use labor-intensive public works. works to provide income opportunities while promoting the restoration of pastures and the agricultural system. The two grants will be the first World Bank-funded projects since 2018 to be implemented through government systems, in particular the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

“These two timely projects offer a mix of investments in social protection and agriculture to address drivers of acute and chronic food insecurity,” Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan.

• President Uhuru Kenyatta had indicated that he would choose his successor in 2022 from among the leaders of NASA if they unite and agree on a single candidate.
• Governor Alfred Mutua, however, said the decision was a threat to democracy.
• The county boss for the second term has laid eyes on the presidency and claims he is the best leader to succeed Uhuru

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Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has rejected President Uhuru Kenyatta’s plan to endorse one of the main leaders of the National Super Alliance (NASA) for the 2022 presidency.

Speaking in Embu on Tuesday, June 15, the leader of Mandeleo Chap Chap said anyone can be president while insisting that the top post is not a reserve for a few people.

“Anyone can be president of Kenya. The presidency is not reserved for certain special people depending on the length of their service in the government or the party they lead,” Mutua said.

Mutua rejects Uhuru’s quest to unite NASA leaders

The county boss for the second term said Uhuru’s quest to unite NASA leaders to make him a presidential candidate in the 2022 general election was a threat to democracy and should be rejected by all means.

“Hii mipango ya kupangiwa ati hawa pekee wakae kwa meza wagawane Kenya kati yao ni ubatili mtupu (the plans for a few elected officials to sit at the high table and decide who will rule Kenya are vanity).”

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Mutua was in Embu to meet with members of his party from the region.

The MCC chief said he had received approval to run for president of his allied Embu MCA.

“Personally, I am touched by this endorsement and appreciate their support as well as that of other leaders from various parts of the country who have also urged me not to back down; believing that I am the most qualified person to help create jobs for young people and secure income opportunities for all men and women, ”Mutua said.

Mutua laid eyes on the 2022 presidency and launched a charm offensive in different parts of Kenya in search of votes.

Ruto sarcastically welcomes Uhuru’s statement

Mutua’s remarks came after Vice President William Ruto sarcastically praised Uhuru’s declaration to support a NASA presidential candidate in the 2022 general election.

Responding to a headline from one of the local dailies that his boss openly supported one of the main leaders of the defunct alliance, the DP wondered what would happen to the more than eight million Kenyans who sang the tano tena.

The beleaguered politician, however, said that with God’s support he would continue his race for state house.

“Eucho! Ngai fafa mwathani !! So what happens to the Thurakus, the kumìrà kùmèrà contingent, the eight million of us ?? None, no young, no woman, no man of the eight million who woke up early and voted three times for merit support for UK / WsR tickets? Sawa you! Tutajipanga na support ya mungu (We will strategize with God’s support). ”

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Source: Tuko News

When Tanzanian businessman Joseph Kadendula, CEO and co-founder of Central Park Bees and his retail brand Swahili Honey, decided to start an apiary, he had no knowledge of bees. What he had was an innate passion for entrepreneurship and was fascinated by agriculture; for the rest, he trained on Google and YouTube.

“I have been an entrepreneur since 2005. Initially, I sold cell phones that I bought in bulk, adding a resale margin. It helped me raise capital that I used for farming, which has always been my main interest, ”says Kadendula.

After graduating with his Bachelor of International Business degree from Dodoma University, he began to seriously cultivate onions, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in an area outside the capital Dodoma. It was the existence of too many intermediaries that ultimately led him to question the viability of this business enterprise.

“There were so many people between the production of the crops and the customer. There was very little direct access for the farmer to the market and I felt like I had no control, ”he recalls. During a trip to China to buy agricultural equipment in 2013, Kadendula saw the importance of honey in this market. Back home in Tanzania, most of the local honey was sold by the roadside as a way to earn a little extra income.

Kadendula wondered if honey could be marketed and, with no honey production in place, bought his first processing machine. Next comes the search for commercial beehives. Having no luck in Tanzania, Kadendula imported his first beehives from neighboring Kenya.

“The beehive supplier gave me training and that’s where I learned the basics of beekeeping. I spent a lot of time researching online and watching YouTube videos to see what others were doing.

In 2014, he started selling honey in the local market. It did not take long for Kadendula to make better profits than he had ever made from agricultural production. He approached his brother, Christopher Kadendula, and a friend, Charles Kazaula, and Central Park Bees was founded in 2015.

Demand-driven expansion

Central Park Bees has gradually added equipment for processing honey, always driven by market demand. “Honey processing equipment is incredibly expensive. We didn’t have the capital to buy them all at the same time. We still use this first machine that I bought in 2013, ”notes Kadendula.

“We let demand drive our expansion. We don’t want to invest a lot in capacity, just spend more on marketing to find the market for the product.

From day one, however, they realized that the company would not be able to meet the demand for its own apiary. The plan was to establish a network of farmers to be part of the supply chain. “We have given ourselves two years to put this network in place. At the same time, we focused on the creation of the brand, the design of the packaging, the search for customers and the implementation of our distribution model ”, explains Kadendula.

The company only imported beehives from Kenya once. The second time around, Kadendula got a supplier in China at a much better price. And in those first two years, Central Park Bees brought beehive production in-house. The company would train small farmers, grant them equipment loans and give them access to quality beehives. They have followed these farmers on bee management and proper harvesting techniques and are on the front line as the buyer of the raw product.

In Europe and the United States, establishing a beehive has input costs such as purchasing a queen or purchasing a swarm. This is not the case in Tanzania. “Usually in most parts of Africa you just put the beehive and beeswax in place and the bees will come,” says Kadendula. This makes beekeeping a viable option for small farmers.

Local and international clients

At the end of 2016, Central Park Bees had a network of 200 farmers producing honey. Its certifications and registration for local sales were in place. The following July, she officially entered the market with Swahili honey and today works with around 1,300 farmers. It was able to focus on its core business, processing honey, and hand over the beehive production workshop to another entrepreneur who manages it independently. Last year, it transferred 270 tonnes of Swahili honey, exported largely to other African countries and the Middle East, but also to the local market.

The product can be found all over Tanzania, and Central Park Bees uses third-party logistics companies and five major distributors to ensure its products reach the shelves of not only supermarkets but also small independent stores. “It was just too expensive to cover the distribution ourselves as well as the collection of payments. It just wasn’t feasible.

The company hopes to expand its export reach but is waiting to finalize its Fairtrade and Organic certifications. These credentials are becoming more and more important to the consumer. Kadendula adds: “We are already benefiting from the growing importance consumers place on product traceability. We love to tell the story of the origin of our honey and our farmers. We share the full experience from the hive to the table.

Maintaining consistent quality is high on Central Park Bees’ priority list. Working with so many small farmers can be a challenge, but Kadendula believes they have the right processes in place. The support it provides to farmers also makes it possible to meet another challenge: the loyalty of supplier farmers. “Of course we have competitors who are trying to poach our farmers. We have to stay ahead of them; build these relationships of trust so that they are not tempted to trade with other companies.

Diversification for growth

Initially, the founders used their own capital to start the business. Over time, he turned to international investors, participating in start-up pitch competitions instead of local financing options such as bank loans. “Even today, it is difficult to get a loan from the banks. We had to rely on external investors; one from the United States and one from Italy. They have also provided us with subsequent soft loans when we need them for working capital, ”he reveals.

This year, the company is launching its first complementary product: a mixture of peanut butter and honey. Next are the energy bars which combine Swahili honey with peanuts, cashews and sesame seeds.

“Honey is only part of it. We now look at the big picture. The machines are in place to start production, ”says Kadendula. “We are working hard to improve sales in order to attract more investors so that we can grow even more.”

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Older people around the world at higher risk of abuse and neglect than before pandemic: new report

06/14/2021

• Launch of HelpAge International new report on the occasion of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

• Restrictive measures increase the risk of abuse and neglect

• Other health issues overlooked as a result of COVID-19

• The elderly are invisible in official COVID-19 impact statistics

Impact of COVID-19 has increased risk of elder abuse and neglect around the world, says HelpAge International in new report released today to mark United Nations World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

The report, “Carry the weight”, reveals that although the elderly are one of the groups most at risk for serious illness and death from COVID-19, they remain chronically invisible and woefully neglected in response and recovery efforts.

HelpAge heard from older people living in low- and middle-income countries whose exposure to violence, abuse and neglect has increased due to isolation, restrictive measures, loss of income and lack of ‘access to services.

Neglect, isolation and financial abuse were identified as the top three fears of the pandemic in a survey of 3,658 older people contacted by HelpAge for COVID-19 Rapid Needs Assessments (RNAs).

In India, HelpAge India received more than a thousand calls to its Elderly Helpline regarding abuse, violence and conflict in Wave 2, an increase of 18% from the previous wave. first. The helpline received nearly 20,000 calls in total during the second wave, a 36% increase since the first.

Restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the virus, increased stress and tension in homes, and the inability of older people to escape their abusers during periods of confinement have created conditions that may increase the risk of violence. , abuse and neglect. Older people may suffer in silence because they do not know how to report incidents or they may feel threatened by their abuser or stigmatized if they seek help.

Camilla Williamson, HelpAge health advisor and co-author of the report, said:

“COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on older people around the world.

“Not only are the elderly at higher risk of serious illness and death from the virus, but the government’s responses to the pandemic increase their risk of abuse and neglect.

“The global response to COVID-19 has systematically overlooked the specific needs and risks faced by older people. After more than a year of the pandemic, older people in low- and middle-income countries still face discrimination and marginalization.

“COVID-19 has exposed the inadequacy and failures of systems at local, national and international levels to meet the needs and rights of older people and support their resilience. The world is going through the second wave with a worsening impact on the elderly. “

The report, compiled by HelpAge and funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), gives voice to those who have not been heard, using information gathered from case studies in Ethiopia, at Kenya, Malawi, Moldova, Pakistan and Ukraine as well as interviews. with older people in 14 low- and middle-income countries for COVID-19 RNAs.

It offers insight into the experiences of older people and reveals barriers and concerns.

The report explains that a huge barrier to effective prevention, response and recovery is the lack of available data on older people around the world; they continue to be excluded from datasets and surveys. Existing surveys on violence against women focus mainly on women of childbearing age (15-49). This keeps older people out of sight and underrepresented in global and national policy and legal frameworks, which can influence the level of funding available to older people. COVID-19 funding has also been diverted from gender-based violence support services which are often the only providers of direct support to women, including older women, facing violence.

The report shows that older people are not getting the health care they desperately need. The response to COVID-19 has disrupted services for noncommunicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes, communicable diseases such as malaria, and essential mental health services. Combined with a loss of income, many seniors are unable to get the drugs they need.

Imtiaz Ahmed, Head of Mission at HelpAge India, said: “The elderly suffer in silence. There have been many unresolved health issues, people with cancer, diabetes, go untreated because the country is so busy with the COVID-19 response. They are afraid to take basic tests if they have symptoms, which may or may not be COVID-19, because they believe a positive test is a death sentence. It is an unimaginable reality. “

Health and psychosocial services have moved to telephone or online support, which means that older people who do not have Internet or telephone access, or those who have no technological skills are excluded. Neglect of access to health services will have disastrous consequences for the lives of all those affected.

Many older people already live in precarious situations around the world, especially those who have already lived a life of poverty, exclusion and inequality. Other findings from the report reveal that responses to the pandemic have made their lives even more difficult; jobs and livelihoods have been lost and rights denied.

Camilla Williamson added, “Governments and the international community cannot justify the continued neglect of older people. We need to see them act and make sure we make better progress in including older people in response plans and data collection if we are to build resilience for the future and advocate for their rights. We must all have the same opportunity to recover.

With an increasingly aging population and devastating cuts in foreign aid, HelpAge urgently calls on the international community to address the wider impact of the pandemic on the elderly, prepare for future challenges and ensure that access to COVID-19 vaccines prioritizes those most at risk.

The international community must learn the lessons of last year. The report provides urgent recommendations to humanitarian actors, donors and agencies. This includes calling for improvements in United Nations and government data systems, with the support of international partners to collect, analyze and use data on violence, abuse and neglect of older people. in order to inform prevention and response, and for States to United Nations Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

Notes to Editors

For more information and to arrange an interview, please contact susanna.flood@helpage.org and on +44 7768 233 757, or Johanna Rogers on +44 7969 083371

The report can be viewed online here. Photos available.

HelpAge and its local partners conducted rapid COVID-19 needs assessments in 14 countries in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan South and Uganda. A total of 3,658 people over the age of 50 were interviewed.

** HelpAge works on elder abuse **

HelpAge works with partners on the ground to help them recognize and prevent elder abuse and help them help older people affected by it access safety and response services. This includes access to legal advice and counseling for elderly survivors. We also provide older people with the information they need to seek help if they are abused.

HelpAge is advocating for prevention and response services, which include the elderly, to be classified as life-saving and essential in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. HelpAge also continues to advocate for laws and policies to protect older people from violence, abuse and neglect.

South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A standard 63% of its young people aged 15 to 24 are unemployed. A large part of these young people have never worked in the formal economy.

The media frequently portray young people excluded from paid work as inactive, aimless and alienated from mainstream society. This image fuels fears of crime, violence and social unrest in which unemployed people are presented as “”time bomb”Which constitutes a threat to the stability of a country.

But this is a very misleading characterization. Most analyzes of unemployed youth fail to capture the reality that unemployment in the sense of “doing nothing” is not a feasible option for most young people.

As research in many parts of Africa, including Kenya, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, has shown that unemployed youth use a wide range of economic strategies and practices to earn income.

I conducted research in the informal settlement of Zandspruit, north of Johannesburg, in 2015 and 2016, on the lives, livelihoods and struggles of most of the young men who were either unemployed or marginalized. It included life and work history interviews with 37 young people, a survey of 100 young people and a mapping exercise of the local economy, including semi-structured interviews with 40 local business owners.

Economic activity

My study showed that many unemployed young people are engaged in various economic activities. Many of them are not necessarily registered as a form of self-employment or informal employment, but they consume a large part of the lives of young people.

I discovered that livelihoods included running car wash businesses, repairing cars for people like informal mechanics, and renting back rooms or cabins. Other activities included wiring illegal power connections for a fee and gambling on the streets. They have also secured sponsorship from NGOs and local politicians to support local initiatives and community organizations that have helped local youth access educational and economic opportunities.

These livelihood strategies seldom constituted a business or a formal enterprise. Many young people in Zandspruit combined short stays in the formal economy with forms of “pushing” and self-employment.

In many cases, informal livelihoods have been adopted due to the loss of a job or the inability to find one. There was also evidence of young men rejecting jobs in some of the low-wage sectors, in favor of self-employment in the informal economy.

This does not only reflect a desire for greater social autonomy and social power – which low-wage employment denied them. It also shows the importance of investing in very localized relationships at a time of generalized precariousness.

These informal livelihoods are rooted in networks and social relationships that are essential for young people to survive unemployment.

Take a car wash company, for example. Although often analyzed as a business or a stand-alone enterprise, my research has highlighted how it also functions as a connection point for a dense web of social relationships that underpin and connect various informal businesses. These include the taxi industry (drivers and washers), informal mechanics, a chesanyama (braised meat) and local drug trafficking.

A car wash also provides a space where young men (most of whom also make a living informally) can come together to socialize and hang out. These social relationships are essential for young men to gain influence in a particular niche of the local economy. They also serve as an essential source of male sociability and self-help which a young man described as “common life”.

“Flexible reciprocity”

The relationship between the young men who congregate at the car wash is meant to pass the time and to “get by” for a living is based on an understanding of “flexible reciprocity,” whereby those who currently have it. money, or are employed in one form or another, help those without. These support networks offered an informal form of “insurance”, as one of my interviewees said, but also social relationships that offered alternative ways to earn an income. As Sandile, 27, explains: “There is a great life in common. You are not going to starve when you have friends.

The social entrenchment of informal work is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, these interdependent relationships are an essential source of support and solidarity. On the other hand, relationships are rooted in complex power dynamics that can reproduce forms of social differentiation and inequality.

They also demand that informal entrepreneurs invest so much in personal relationships, costs and protection that many have little money to invest in improving their businesses.

Given the failure of the formal economy to generate enough jobs, policymakers and governments often present self-employment in the informal economy as the solution to youth unemployment.

For example, the provincial government of Gauteng, the economic center of the country, identified the “predominantly informal”township economy”As the key to fighting unemployment and promoting entrepreneurship.

Cantons are historically black urban residential areas. They are mainly characterized by underdevelopment and high levels of poverty.

Renewed interest

The renewed interest in the “township economy” is significant given the extent of unemployment, poverty and the damaging legacy of the marginalization of townships under apartheid. Cantons were seen as working dormitories for white businesses in cities and suburbs, and were not intended to have their own viable economies.

But the government’s interest in the economies of the cantons as job generators, entrepreneurship and “socially inclusive wealth”Is terribly out of step with the reality of most businesses in the canton. They are too small to provide an escape from poverty.

While the idea of ​​entrepreneurship is gaining traction among young people, research suggests that only a small number see it as a viable livelihood and something to strive for.

The majority have a strong preference for stable formal sector jobs, which they associate with economic stability and social mobility.

The growing precariousness of jobs in the formal economy underscores the urgency of strengthened social protection and income support For the young.

• Written by Hannah J Dawson, Principal Investigator, Southern Center for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
• This article is republished from The conversation under Creative Commons license

Creating wealth is an artistic profession that requires research and learning to ensure that you invest in the most profitable avenues. Despite this, it should also be noted that the higher the returns, the higher the risks.

It is important to fully understand the investment options and thus to make informed decisions. Some of the investment vehicles available in the market include; bank term deposits, stocks, government bonds and real estate, among others.

Buying and owning real estate is an investment strategy that can be both rewarding and profitable. It is generally capital intensive and illiquid, hence the need to be well informed before committing funds.

There are 3 common ways to invest in real estate:

Rental properties

An investor may prefer to build or buy real estate, and rent it out, thereby earning rental income. The amount that one can collect on a rental property depends on the type of property, its location, proximity to amenities and availability of facilities, among others.

The rental property offers the investor the benefit of a regular income, often monthly subject to having a tenant, and the value of the property can appreciate over time.

Turnaround

Pinball machines buy properties with the intention of holding them for a short time (often no more than three to four months) and quickly selling them for a profit.

The two main approaches to reversing a property include: (i) repair and update, when buying a property which he believes will increase in value with certain repairs and updates. Ideally, complete the work as quickly as possible and then sell for a price higher than the total investment (including renovations), (ii) hold and resell – here the investor buys in a sharply rising market, holds for a few months , and then sell at a profit.

REIT

A real estate investment trust (REIT) is ideal for investors who want to expose their portfolio to real estate without a traditional real estate transaction. A REIT is created when a company (or trust) uses investor money to buy and operate income properties.

REITs are bought and sold on major stock exchanges just like any other stock. REITs pay through annual dividends, and investors who don’t need or want regular income can automatically reinvest those dividends to further grow their investment.

The Kenyan REIT market has over the years attributable poor performance; i) insufficient institutional quality real estate assets, ii) a lack of investor appetite for instruments, iii) high minimum investment amounts set at Kshs 5.0 million, more than 100 times the median income at Kenya, and, iv) poor knowledge of investors.

It is important to educate yourself if you are looking to start or expand your real estate portfolio. For new investors, the real estate market can seem somewhat complex, and one can often feel that real estate investing is a difficult industry to navigate.

Here are five things to watch out for if you want to invest in real estate:

Market research

It is important that the potential investor undertakes extensive research into the current real estate landscape with the aim of establishing current real estate trends, historical and current real estate performance in terms of yield, price appreciation, rental yield.

Location

The location of the property is as important as the property itself. Location determines safety, property value growth potential, proximity to amenities, and availability of utilities.

It is advisable to aim for a prime location, thereby increasing the chances of good returns, somewhere in the midst of a development spurt, and somewhere that has a good track record of growing real estate value.

Property type

It could simply refer to making a choice between commercial and residential property guided by the objective of the investment.

The next choice is between renting and buying / selling. Rental properties are for investors who are looking for long-term gains from rental income, while the buy-sell approach offers the potential for higher short-term returns, but the strategy carries a much higher risk. .

Finally, it is important to establish the type of market that one intends to venture into, i.e. low-end, mid-range or high-end market segments.

Diversification

When investing in real estate, it’s important to diversify your portfolio. Spreading your money across multiple properties allows you to mitigate risk and increase the potential for returns, as you will not be subject to the success or failure of a single property.

Risk analysis

As with all other avenues of investment, investing in real estate comes with several risks that could have mild to negative effects on real estate returns.

Therefore, it is important that a potential investor lists all the potential risks, assesses their risk appetite and establishes a way to mitigate the risks.

In conclusion, real estate can be profitable when potential investors have the knowledge to make sound investment decisions. It can provide stable cash flow, substantial capital appreciation, tax benefits and competitive risk-adjusted returns, making it a good investment.

Read more: Unboxing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

More articles by this author

Kenyan startup MarketForce, an end-to-end retail distribution platform for mainstream brands, announced the strategic acquisition of Digiduka, which aims to bring informal retailers in Africa into the digital economy.

Launched in 2018, Market force enables mainstream brands to optimize the way they deliver essential goods and services to retailers and consumers by bridging the information gap in last mile distribution, while maximizing efficiency throughout the sales and distribution value chain.

The startup’s platform leverages mobile devices by allowing field agents to record all interactions with customers as they occur in the field, then aggregate that data and present it. via live web dashboards.

Africa disturbance reported in May of last year that MarketForce had raised US $ 350,000 in seed funding to help it build on its current momentum, and in December it launched a B2B wholesale e-commerce marketplace named RejaReja. RejaReja has so far served over 12,000 informal retailers in Kenya, fulfilling over 75,000 orders.

Digiduka, meanwhile, was trained and funded during the inaugural cohort of the Antler program in Nairobi. The platform works with similar informal retailers, allowing them to earn extra cash by reselling digital services such as airtime, electricity tokens, and bill paying. Digiduka has since acquired more than 6,800 merchants in several major cities in Kenya and is on track to triple its user base and process more than $ 5 million in transactions through its platform in 2021.

MarketForce’s acquisition of Digiduka will see the two startups combine their offerings in search of a faster scale. The agreement accelerates the integration of financial services into RejaReja and consolidates two companies that share a common goal of providing an all-inclusive digital commerce platform for informal retailers in Africa. The whole Digiduka team joins MarketForce.

“Our team is excited to join forces with MarketForce and together seize this US $ 700 billion market opportunity. Despite the seemingly overwhelming success of mobile money in Kenya, 92% of retail payments for daily expenses are still made in cash, among informal retailers and low-income consumers. The opportunity to digitize a large portion of these transactions and expand working capital to these retailers is also largely untapped due to the perceived risk that MarketForce addresses by having reliable data on retail-level replenishment patterns at the retail level. retail, ”said Roy Njoka, co-founder and CEO of Digiduka.

Tesh Mbaabu, co-founder and CEO of MarketForce, said the two teams share a vision and values.

“Acquiring Digiduka instead of competing with them makes perfect sense. These are two strong teams coming together to create massive impact in African retail. This is a case where one plus one equals five, ”he said.

“This is a powerful step forward in financial technology for MarketForce, as we plan to further empower retailers, allowing them to act as a one-stop-shop for even more financial services. such as insurance and banking services in Kenya and other markets. Enabling them to sell such services dramatically increases retailer incomes while solving the challenge of last mile delivery and fostering financial inclusion for millions of Africans.

Retirement is an important part of most people’s lives, but the road to it can sometimes be fraught with pitfalls and concerns about how to make the best choice for the past few years. Author, financial journalist and financial planner Patricia Howard has written an easy-to-read book, The no regrets guide to retirement in which she advises living well, investing wisely and making your money last.

Howard, a licensed Australian financial advisor, author and financial journalist, graduated in Commerce from the University of Melbourne, holds her own Australian License in Financial Services and recently passed the FASEA Financial Advisor exam. She wrote for the australian, The Australian Financial Review and Age.

“So many people retire expecting the worst,” Howard says in a preface to the book. “They fear they won’t have enough money. They worry that their funds won’t last as long as they do, no matter how much money they have.

“They are worried that they are missing out on something. That they won’t be able to do all the things they dreamed of doing in life. That they simply won’t enjoy life anymore.

Howard says she wanted to write a positive, practical and uplifting impulse to help people get the most out of their financial situation whatever it is, but more importantly, a book that will hopefully change attitudes. people.

The no regrets guide to retirement will help people plan for their retirement with optimism, although this may be a bit of a stretch for some readers.

“Throughout the book I refer to Australia’s generous welfare system and think Australians are fortunate to be able to access Age Pension,” Howard says. “I know many will hesitate at this. I hear them moan: ‘You can’t make ends meet with the Australian Age Pension, so how can she say it’s generous?’ “

Howard says she thinks the age pension rate in Australia is generous and people retiring in Australia have wonderful opportunities. So many people in the world do not have access to it.

“I have been fortunate enough to have the good fortune and the challenges of living abroad, mainly in so-called ‘third world’ countries like Brazil, Mexico and Kenya. It is a term, however, which suggests that these countries are somehow lagging behind a so-called “first world” country like Australia. “

She says it’s never too early to start planning for retirement, but it’s never too late with just five simple steps enough to make a big difference in a person’s financial situation and secure retirement. better and healthier.

Think about how you want to live in retirement. A financially healthy retirement starts with good planning. Don’t be guided by outdated regulations or how your parents may have lived in retirement.

Find out if you are eligible for the Australian Old Age Pension. When planning for retirement, many people are unaware of whether or not they may qualify for the pension. This is a big mistake. If you qualify for old age pension it can make a big difference in retirement and obviously take a lot of financial pressure off.

Maximize what you have in retirement pension. Too often people think they need a million dollars in super to comfortably retire. While this is a nice goal to strive for, it too often causes people to forgo their retirement pensions.

Make good investment decisions. Howard says it might sound obvious, but it’s worth focusing on because it will prevent people from making bad investment decisions in retirement and help them focus on solid and reliable income-generating investments.

Live within your means. Once people have sorted out their financial investment, know exactly how much money is coming in each year and make sure you are living within your means. This is especially important if someone is receiving an income stream from their own investments.

Howard points out that in retirement, more than at any other time in life, the only thing holding people back is themselves and their self-imposed limits.

Some of his tips: start a business, earn money traveling, write a book, start a blog, go back to school, change trees, change completely, get in shape, get involved .

“Retirement is your time to do those things you’ve always dreamed of,” Howard says. “When you’re retired and you’re asked ‘What do you do all day?’ the correct answer is always, “Exactly what I want to do.

The no regrets guide to retirement how to live well, invest wisely and make your money last by Patricia Howard (Wiley, $ 29.95) is available in good bookstores.

Kenyans are expected to start living with the harsh conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the next fiscal year starting in July.

In the budget statement presented last Thursday, Cabinet Secretary of the Treasury Ukur Yatani gave Kenyans an overview of the measures the government is preparing to implement in fiscal year 2021/22. They range from reforms on struggling parastatals that could see many officials laid off to college students paying more as the government seeks to make loss-making universities more financially sound.

The country has agreed to a number of conditions after the approval of a credit facility by the IMF that is expected to help Kenya tackle the vagaries of Covid-19.

The IMF approved in February a 261 billion shillings credit facility for Kenya under a three-year program.

Next, the IMF noted that the 38-month program under the Extended Financing Facility (EFF) and the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) also aims to help the country reduce its debt vulnerability.

The credit facility has far-reaching effects, some of which are evident in next year’s budget. Some of the effects include increasing taxes and cutting spending to reduce debt levels. There are fears that the restructuring of the ailing state-owned enterprise may be reminiscent of the structural adjustment program of the 1990s that left thousands of civil servants jobless.

In his budget statement, Yatani spelled out some of the measures that are expected to start taking effect in the coming months.

They include parastatal reforms, which could see some of the civil servants returning home as part of public entity reform (SOE) efforts, a process that will see some lighten and others merge.

“Given the prevailing business environment due to the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to assess the financial situation and governance of the main companies and state institutions. It is in this regard that the government is exploring targeted reforms to strengthen these institutions, including public universities, ”Yatani said.

In an advisory to the government, the IMF cited Kenya Airways, Kenya Power and Kenya Railways Corporation among the entities that need to be reformed due, among other things, to poor financial performance.

The IMF said the combined profits of all public entities fell more than 30% to 62.5 billion shillings in the year through June of last year, adding that a “handful” of them were heavily lost.

“As the deteriorating income situation of the SOE sector reduces its contribution to the budget, additional fiscal pressures could arise from SOE debt on-lent or guaranteed by the government,” the IMF said. Indeed, Yatani said the government recently had to provide financial support to KQ, Kenya Power and Postal Corporation of Kenya to enable them to meet their obligations.

Three of the largest public universities – Nairobi, Kenyatta and Moi – are also set to be reshuffled, on recommendations from the IMF, which noted that they had suffered persistent losses for a long period of time.

Yatani also said there are plans to review the fees for university students, noting that the current fee of around 120,000 shillings per year introduced in 1991 is not sustainable.

The IMF also wants the government to review its procurement process, in order to eliminate loopholes that are exploited by corrupt individuals.

The SC noted that the government has already started a process to automate the entire procurement process.

He told parliament that aspects of manual purchasing currently in place would be phased out by the end of this year. In their place will be a purely e-procurement process. Yatani said electronic procurement would allow the government to manage efficient procurement processes with the impact of reduced operational costs, increased transparency and accountability through increased participation of bidders. .

“Last year, we started the process of automating government procurement through an end-to-end electronic procurement system,” Yatani said.

“So far, we have developed an implementation strategy that reorganizes all public procurement processes … in order to update this initiative, December 31, 2021 will be the final date for the deployment of the electronic system of public procurement and shutdown of the manual. procurement process.

The Treasury, however, has remained silent on some of the IMF’s proposals, which may emerge later in the year.

These include the IMF’s suggestion to increase the VAT on fuel to 16% from the current 8% in order to increase tax revenue.

Microeconomic imbalance

It was unlikely to appear in the 2021 finance bill given that fuel prices are at a historically high level.

The Parliamentary Budget Office noted that so far the Treasury has not been explicit in its plans to meet IMF conditions.

The PBO, which advises parliament on budgetary matters, noted that it expects reforms in areas such as revenue administration, containment of the public wage bill, restructuring of state-owned enterprises and rationalization. public investment projects.

“As is the case with IMF programs, the country must face fiscal and monetary measures in order to correct its macroeconomic imbalances,” the PBO said.

“Does the 2021/2022 budget meet IMF performance criteria? He poses, adding that “a review of the budget indicates that recurrent expenditure has been reduced by 20.86 billion shillings from the BPS level; denoting some effort to limit the growth of this expenditure component. However, the link between the proposed budget and “high impact” growth spending, especially in the context of the Big Four agenda as well as the post-covid-19 ERS is not very clear. ”

“The post-Covid-19 ERS has not been given much weight in the budget and is worded in a way that does not identify any KPIs or targets for the coming year.”

In the agreement with the IMF, Kenya also pledged to step up the fight against corruption, audit spending related to Covid-19 and strengthen the framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. .

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