Equity Group has crossed the Ksh.1,000,000,000,000 rubicon becoming the first bank in Eastern and Central Africa to cross this mark. The milestone was achieved upon successful migration of BCDC to Equity’s Finacle core banking platform. The one trillion mark by Equity lifts the visibility of the financial sector in Eastern Africa significantly to compete favorably with financial institutions in South Africa, West Africa and North Africa for project and development finance.
Speaking when announcing this milestone from Kinshasa Congo where he was witnessing the migration of BCDC to Equity’s core banking platform, Dr. Mwangi said, “We are delighted to witness this milestone that has shattered the psychological barrier of a trillion-shilling balance sheet.” He added, “The benefits to our customers will be immense. The bank is also the most capitalized in East and Central Africa with over Ksh. 142 billion giving it a single lending obligor of Ksh. 35 billion. Equity banking subsidiaries will now be in a position to leverage the Group’s strength to extend large corporate loans across all the countries where Equity operates.
Equity crosses the ksh 1,000,000,000,000 balance sheet mark
DFC, Rockefeller Foundation sign agreement to invest in solutions to end energy poverty
The Rockefeller Foundation and U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work to end energy poverty by promoting investment in Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) around the world. The agreement will focus on delivering reliable, sustainable electricity to the 800 million people worldwide who currently lack electricity, and 2.8 billion more who have unreliable access, to support economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and foster long-term economic growth.
The partnership will be built around three pillars; Financing, Global Platform, and Green Energy
“The pandemic has undermined decades of progress on poverty reduction,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “Global cooperation and investment are desperately needed to address this crisis and ensure a broad and inclusive economic recovery. Our collaboration with DFC will be key to unlocking significant investment in distributed energy and will build on the Foundation’s work to expand access to reliable, sustainable electricity that can power the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.”
Uganda Airlines flies further with its brand-new A330neo
Uganda Airlines, the country’s flag-carrier, has taken delivery of its first A330neo, the latest version of the most popular widebody airliner. It is the first Airbus aircraft delivered to Uganda Airlines, which was established in 2019.
In line with the Company’s strategy to keep offering its customers unbeatable economics, increased operational efficiency and superior passenger comfort, the A330-800 is the latest addition to Airbus’ commercial aircraft product line. Thanks to its tailored, mid-sized capacity and its excellent range versatility, the A330neo is considered the ideal aircraft to operate as part of the post-COVID-19 recovery.
The A330neo will enable the new airline to launch its long-range operations with non-stop intercontinental flights to the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
BAT progresses COVID-19 candidate vaccine into Phase I human clinical trials
BAT’s US Bio-tech arm, Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) announced plans to commence a Phase I, first-time-in-human study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate following approval of its Investigational New Drug application by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Enrolment for the study is expected to begin shortly.
The COVID-19 vaccine candidate will become one of a number of potential vaccines to have progressed beyond pre-clinical testing. The study is designed to enroll a total of 180 healthy volunteers who will be divided into two age cohorts, age 18-49 and age 50-70. Each group will then be subdivided into low and high dose treatment groups (N~45) and randomised 2:1 to receive either the low dose (15 μg KBP-COVID-19 vaccine + 0.5 mg adjuvant) or placebo, or high dose (45 μg KBP-COVID-19 vaccine + 0.5 mg adjuvant) or placebo. Results from the study are expected mid-2021 and, if positive, would allow for continued progress into a Phase 2 study, subject to regulatory approval.
