The Perspective

  Innovators usually unlock new business opportunities by directing their efforts at the “weakest link” in the customer journey — those points of friction, inconvenience, or frustration that established businesses often overlook. Thales Teixeira, a former professor at Harvard Business School In Africa's (and literally the World’s) rapidly evolving entrepreneurial environment, innovators are increasingly disrupting traditional business practices, challenging long-standing incumbents, and carving out their own spaces in the markets. This happens majorly, not by luck but, as a result of deliberate, strategic approaches rooted in the concept of “decoupling.” As Professor Thales Teixeira, a former Harvard Business School professor explains, decoupling involves analysing the customer value chain — basically, all steps from identifying a need to eventually disposing of a product or service. In many cases, established companies bundle all these steps together, hoping customers will navigat...

DR Congo President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi meets former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the facilitator of the East African Community-led peace process and EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki in Kinshasa on November 13. Courtesy The re-emergence of the M23 group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after a decade of inaction has, once more, raised heated debate about Congo’s security fiasco in the region. Many analysts and political commentators seem to believe and advance Kinshasa’s main line of argument which is that Rwanda, mainly, and Uganda, to some extent, are directly involved in destabilizing the Congo’s eastern region in an attempt to steal the country’s mineral resources. Believing this narrative stems from a point of total ignorance of or limited knowledge about the dynamics of the affairs of the Democratic Republic of Congo and their historical underpinnings. Ignorance of historical factors contributing to the current state of things in the Congo and the region ...

  A financing model for the sector should involve lenders shouldering the burden in case of farmer losses. Additionally, price incentivization, rather than relying solely on loan schemes, can motivate farmers to transition to farming models that yield higher output, benefiting from increased prices.                 Workers sort potatoes grown inside a green house in Musanze. Different experts are calling for increased adoption of modern agricultural models /Sam NGENDAHIMANA The May 2023 National Bank monetary policy report indicates an unusual increase in imports, with a 46.4% rise in consumer goods imports. This surge has accelerated the demand for the dollar and, coupled with a restrained US monetary policy, made the dollar even more expensive against the Rwandan Franc. Agricultural production has also experienced a decline, dropping from 6.4% in 2021 to 1.6% in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, year-on-year inflation rates reached 35.4% ...

Today, the re-emergence of the M23 and DRC government's decision to collaborate with and ramp up its support for the FDLR in, supposedly, retaliation to Rwanda's aggression against the DRC is another event which will, eventually, end with Kinshasa losing more than it thought it would benefit from collaborating with the genocidal FDLR.                             Member of the FDLR When, in 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front stormed the Kagitumba border in an open come-home-fight against Forces Armees Rwandaises (FAR), then Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana called on his Zairian counterpart and friend, Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Zabanga, to send troops to bolster the fight against the "invading Ugandans.” The Zairian troops sent to reinforce the FAR were, soon, to be recalled home for their unexpected suffering on the frontline from the Rwandan Patriotic Army's heavy fire. That was DRC's first fruitless collab...

Even when someone, individually, holds a different position about something, that position will most likely be swayed to that of the herd to which they belong.  It is 10 am, I enter my classroom (from the library) to find my guys- seated in the back corner of the classroom- discussing what three of them have just done- submitted their application letters for consideration for various leadership roles in the student administration.  Two of them (X & Y) have just submitted letters for the same post. Stunned, I look at them unhappy about that decision. This is not unfounded unhappiness. It is, rather, unhappiness resulting from a feeling of betrayal and deviation from the earlier plan.  I ask what prompted the change of mind, and I am told the other contender (Z) for the senior-most post is well known among teachers and students alike. My friend (Y), who we had agreed would throw his hat in the ring for the senior-most post, is afraid of losing to Z.  Given my loyal...

  SADC’s Protocol on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation  has, among its objectives, to “ prevent, contain and resolve inter-and intrastate conflict by peaceful means .” It is, also, in the objectives of the same protocol to, “ consider enforcement action in accordance with international law and as a matter of last resort where peaceful means have failed.” A January 2024 SADC Communique pertaining to deployment of a Mission in the DR   C ongo  provides, among other things, that the deployment is in accordance with the principle of collective defense and collective action. According to the Mutual Defense Pact , Any armed attack perpetrated against one of the State Parties shall be considered a threat to regional peace and security and shall be met with immediate collective action . SADC’s Protocol on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation  has, among its objectives, to “ prevent, contain and resolve inter-and intrastate conflict by peaceful means .” It...