Kenya Airways to fly to Hanoi in Vietnam from March 2015

Kenya Airways will become the first and only airline to link Vietnam directly to Africa with flights to Hanoi from March 30 2015.

Kenya  Airways will fly three times a week to Hanoi in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and will provide strong connections to the key markets in Africa. Hanoi is home to over 7 million people (2013 estimates) and is a rapidly growing municipality. 

In 2013, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that Hanoi would be fastest growing city in the world in term of GDP growth from 2008 to 2025. Hanoi has a nominal GDP of USD 21.5bn and a per capita GDP of US$ 3000.

To support and enhance this operation, Kenya Airways will work closely with Skyteam partner Vietnam Airlines, whose hub is Hanoi, in order to provide further travel options into Japan, Malaysia, Korea and China.

Kenya Airways’ Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mbuvi Ngunze said the potential of Vietnam as a country with strong economic growth and a growing middle class is significant.

“Vietnam has shown a considerable and stable economic growth over the recent years, including an increase in trade with Africa. As the first airline to directly connect Vietnam to Africa, we are sure to leverage on this growth. Together with our SkyTeam partner Vietnam Airlines, we are very confident the addition of Hanoi to our network will be a success” said Mr. Ngunze.

In the last year, Kenya Airways has deployed its new fleet of six B787 Dreamliner aircraft for commercial service, mostly on routes to Asia and Europe. Most recently, the Dreamliner took its inaugural flight to London, one of KQ most prominent routes. Three more Dreamliners are scheduled to arrive in 2015.

With the introduction of the B787 Dreamliner, new routes and cities are now accessible from Nairobi economically, which has paved the way for Hanoi as an additional destination.
The airline, which currently has the youngest fleet in Africa, also received three 777-300ER and 3 next generation B737-800 in the last year.

African Development Bank and MasterCard broaden financial inclusion in Africa

Today, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and MasterCard announced a broad collaboration that aims to expand financial inclusion across the African continent.

The collaboration seeks to develop solutions that drive inclusive growth in Africa by broadening access and usage of digital financial services.

MasterCard brings proven expertise to design and scale inclusive financial services solutions and infrastructure. The AfDB actively promotes sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa. Together they will work with African governments and local private sector companies to develop and deliver affordable services that meet the needs of a wide consumer base, especially the traditionally unbanked. 

Specifically, the collaboration will seek to:

• Build cohesive African financial systems that drive inclusion at a country level and enable service delivery to traditionally excluded populations;

• Invest in a curated set of innovative financial services companies and solutions targeted at addressing barriers that hinder financial inclusion; and

• Share knowledge across academic, policy and commercial sectors to create thought leadership on financial inclusion and economic development. 

Donald Kaberuka, President of the AfDB, commented: “Despite the phenomenal economic growth in Africa, this has not translated into shared prosperity and better livelihoods for the majority. Growth has to be inclusive to be socially and politically sustainable. One key component of inclusive development is financial inclusion, an area in which Africa has been lagging behind other continents. Broadening access to financial services will mobilize greater household savings, marshal capital for investment, expand the class of entrepreneurs, and enable more people to invest in themselves and their families.”

Ajay Banga, President and CEO at MasterCard, said: “Less than one adult out of four in Africa has access to an account at a formal financial institution. While many of our industry partners have been active in this space, we believe that through our payments expertise, and the AfDB’s 50 years of experience in financing Africa’s economic transformation, we can achieve scaled impact and lasting transformation. This can only be accomplished when the public and private sectors combine resources and act together.”