Can Islamic Banks Flourish in Somalia after 25 Years of the Collapse of the Country’s Entire Financial System?

The purpose of this study was to establish if Islamic banking can flourish in Somalia and role it can play to tackle financial exclusion in the country. Similarly, determining the best way of enhancing the chances of Islamic banks succeeding in Somalia and identifying the most suitable marketing tools for achieving these objectives were investigated. Our findings reveal that the introduction of Islamic banking is long overdue in Somalia given the country’s strong Islamic identity and the fact the only functioning institutions currently operating in the country are Hawala companies which only provide money remittance services. The results also reveal that the business community is in dire need for a well-functioning banking sector. However, majority of respondents were of the view there are severe institutional shortcomings including the absence of the rule of law that could severely impede the process unless properly addressed. Furthermore, results showed that Joint venture with International banks is the best banking model in this country due to lack of local expertise .Finally, the results revealed that online marketing tools and mobile systems can play a greater role in marketing Islamic banking products and services in Somalia. Keywords: Central Bank of Somalia, Hawala, Islamic banks in Somalia, Sharia compliant financ

Payout policy and ownership structure: The Case of Islamic and Conventional Banks

Using a sample of Islamic and conventional financial institutions domiciled in 16 countries for the period 2000–2015, we examine how ownership structure affects dividend policy. Our main findings indicate that ownership identity is important in explaining dividend policy in these banks, albeit in different patterns. In particular, the results suggest that government ownership seems to exert negative effects on dividend payouts in both types of banks, which is in line with the preference of governments towards bank stability. With respect to family ownership, the impact is negative for conventional banks but positive for Islamic ones, consistent with agency theory. These results are to some extent similar in the case of foreign ownership where it is associated with a higher payout policy in Islamic banks, but not significant in conventional ones. Our results are robust to an array of additional analyses including propensity score matching

Climate Changes in Africa: Does Economic Growth Matter? A Semi-parametric Approac

This study attempts to further examine the impacts of income on carbon emissions in the African continent through investigation of the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Within the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) framework, this is the first study in Africa to explore the income-carbon emissions nexus; using panel data together with a semi-parametric panel fixed effects regression. Our data set refers to a panel of 54 countries in Africa; spanning the period 1990 - 2014. Our results show evidence in contrast to the EKC hypothesis. Our findings shed new light on the income - CO2 emissions nexus and supports implementation of certain policies. Keywords: Per capita income, carbon emissions, STIRPAT environmental Kuznets curve, African continent JEL Classifications: Q01, Q28, Q51, Q5

The Influence of Social Media Advertising Values on Consumers Purchasing Intention in Somalia

Background of the problem: Due to the absence of internet facilities and strangeness on the part of regional customers, particularly the countryside and some states residences are not aware of social media advertising existence, social media advertising is still at the beginning of advancement Somalia. Main objective: This study's main objective is to understand the impact of social media advertising on the purchase intention of consumers in Mogadishu-Somalia by employing Ducoffe’s advertising value model. Research methods: a quantitative study was used, and the participants totalled 182. The data was collected using a convenience sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was utilized to gather the data through the social media platform, especially Facebook and WhatsApp and analysed employing exploratory factor analysis and multi regression analysis. Findings: Results signify that there is a significant relationship between informativeness, entertainment, credibility, the overall perceived value of social media advertising and the purchase intention of consumers who are living in Mogadishu-Somalia. Contribution: Social media marketers in Mogadishu-Somalia should develop an innovative, cutting-edge, information-rich, full entertained of social media advertising, maintain the trustworthiness of their ad’s campaigns, and enhance the perceived value of social media ads to lure and urge the purchase intention of the consumers. Conclusion: All the independent factors (informativeness, entertainment, credibility, and perceived value of social media advertising) have a positive impact on consumers' purchase intention. Therefore, it is recommended for marketing professionals to carefully plan and design their advertising campaigns to lure their target audiences' attention

The role of public health information in assistance to populations living in opposition and contested areas of Syria, 2012-2014.

BACKGROUND: The Syrian armed conflict is the worst humanitarian tragedy this century. With approximately 470,000 deaths and more than 13 million people displaced, the conflict continues to have a devastating impact on the health system and health outcomes within the country. Hundreds of international and national non-governmental organisations, as well as United Nations agencies have responded to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. While there has been significant attention on the challenges of meeting health needs of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, very little has been documented about the humanitarian challenges within Syria, between 2013 and 2014 when non-governmental organisations operated in Syria with very little United Nations support or leadership, particularly around obtaining information to guide health responses in Syria. METHODS: In this study, we draw on our operational experience in Syria and analyse data collected for the humanitarian health response in contested and opposition-held areas of Syria in 2013-4 from Turkey, where the largest humanitarian operation for Syria was based. This is combined with academic literature and material from open-access reports. RESULTS: Humanitarian needs have consistently been most acute in contested and opposition-held areas of Syria due to break-down of Government of Syria services and intense warfare. Humanitarian organisations had to establish de novo data collection systems independent of the Government of Syria to provide essential services in opposition-held and contested areas of Syria. The use of technology such as social media was vital to facilitating remote data collection in Syria as many humanitarian agencies operated with a limited operational visibility given chronic levels of insecurity. Mortality data have been highly politicized and extremely difficult to verify, particularly in areas highly affected by the conflict, with shifting frontlines, populations, and allegiances. CONCLUSIONS: More investment in data collection and use, technological investment in the use of M- and E-health, capacity building and strong technical and independent leadership should be a key priority for the humanitarian health response in Syria and other emergencies. Much more attention should be also given for the treatment gap for non-communicable diseases including mental disorders

Plasma cell proliferative index predicts outcome in immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis treated with stem cell transplantation

The plasma cell proliferative index provides an insight into plasma cell biology in plasma cell disorders and is an important prognostic marker in myeloma and smoldering myeloma. We analyzed the prognostic impact of the plasma cell proliferative index in 513 patients with systemic immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis undergoing stem cell transplantation at the Mayo Clinic between 1st January 2003 and 31st August 2016. Two cohorts were identified according to Low or Elevated plasma cell proliferative index. Patients with an Elevated plasma cell proliferative index had more cardiac involvement (56% vs. 44%; P=0.01), less renal involvement (55% vs. 70%; P=0.001), and were more likely to have 10% or over bone marrow plasma cells (58% vs. 32%;