Radio France Internationale Nairobi (AFP) - - The International Monetary Fund said it has granted Kenya a new loan of more than $941 million to help buttress the finances of the cash-strapped East African nation. Kenya is grappling with a host of economic challenges including a vast debt mountain, cost of living crisis and tumbling currency. The IMF said in a statement published on Wednesday that its executive board had approved the $941.2 million loan, with an immediate disbursement of $624.5 million. Total payments under various credit facilities amount to about $2.6 billion, it added. The Washington-based agency said it forecast Kenya's economic growth at around 5 percent this year, from an estimated 5.1 percent in 2023. "Kenya's growth remained resilient in the face of increasing external and domestic challenges," said Antoinette Sayeh,  IMF  deputy managing director and acting chair, said in the statement. 'Ongoing support' The credit arrangements for Ken...

By Strive Masiyiwa  A few weeks ago I went to the doctor. I will tell you what he said about my health at the end, but first read this: Twenty years ago, I arranged to meet a well-known British international businessman who invested a lot in Africa at the time. We agreed to meet for dinner at a leading hotel in London.  After a good meeting, we started to walk out of the restaurant when he suddenly collapsed in the lobby. There was total pandemonium as they rushed to get medical assistance. Being London, an ambulance arrived in minutes. I jumped in the back with him as paramedics wrestled to keep him alive. He had had a heart attack and had to have triple bypass heart surgery. Sadly he died a few weeks later. He hadn't been sick and his sudden death surprised everyone. And yet as I reflected on it, and later discussed it with a doctor friend who knew him, I realized he was very laid back about his health despite having a hectic business life. Even during our dinner...

By Strive Masiyiwa #Reflection: The ability to get up from failure defines an entrepreneur. __"I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed”. Michael Jordan Michael Jordan is not only one of the great athletes in the history of sport, but he was I think the first athlete to become a billionaire. And he did so when he retired and became a successful entrepreneur. I will never forget the first time I saw this quote on a huge billboard in New York. I completely choked up and allowed the tears to run down the side of my face. It cut deep into me as it brought back floods of memories of my own failures: businesses that had collapsed; countless projects that had failed to take off; failure to raise money for things only I knew could succeed but no one else had believed in me. Failed partnerships that ended in total acrimony. Countless, countless failures that never made headlines and the humiliation of those that did. Then there were the...