By Luke Mulunda Some big news is streaming into Kenya’s digital space: online content is beginning to attract the attention of big dollars. As the world becomes ever more digital, a lot of young Kenyan investors are pouring their little funds and tones of energies into online upstarts, creating blogs and websites to shell out news and other information. The scope of the content is as diverse – ranging from the usual breaking news, business and investment to gossip and fashion. This has resulted in a vicious battle for readers online, especially on social media, forcing some websites to get…
Author: Editor
BY CHRISPINE JUMA Elisha Otung’ and Toney Ndalo who are the co-founders of Ellis Merchandise and Graphics Company, are getting ahead in a field that is seen as saturated. It was a great time for them to follow the enterprise path proving that possible is everything when you have the right attitude. While many young people are grappling under the yoke of joblessness because they stopped thinking about venturing into businesses, the two fighter entrepreneurs are doing well, currently making money from branding and printing items. The duo started off with only one machine, growing to three a year on…
Worldwide, CEOs’ confidence levels for their growth prospects and outlook for the economy is back on the rise amidst new risks and uncertainty. In PwC’s 20th annual survey of CEOs worldwide, 38% (2016:35%) are very confident about their company’s growth prospects in the next 12 months while 29% (2016:27%) believe global economic growth will pick up in 2017. Just over one-third (33%) of South African CEOs are very confident of their company’s own growth in the next 12 months, 4 points down on last year, and 5 points below this year’s global average (38%). Furthermore, only 19% expect global economic growth to…
BY KOSTA KIOLEOGLOU The world witnessed changes, unexpected overthrows, the Brexit referendum, the US elections, wars, terrorism, signs of instability in Europe, a wind of change for the Asian markets and Africa tried to overcome challenges amid a global storm in the year 2016. For many analysts, this was a preparatory period, a rehearsal before what is expected during 2017. Like any other country around the world, Kenya is indirectly as well as directly affected by everything that is happening around the world. For Kenya, 2017 is going to be a very critical year. Not only the global changes but…
By Jane Wachira Recently a friend and I were shopping for a fridge at one of the big supermarket outlets in town, we could not help but notice the variance in different warranty years by various fridge producing electronics companies. As the salesman explained the prices behind each fridge mostly attributed to their features, the warranty given by the parent company was also a selling point. This got me thinking, what really goes into ascertaining the period/length of a warranty cover, why would one fridge give a 10-year warranty cover while another gives two? Where do you go after the…
BY JUSTICE DAVID MARAGA It is almost 100 days since I took over as Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya. I wish to take this opportunity to articulate my mid-term and long-term vision for the Judiciary; and to pronounce my aspirations and agenda for the period that I shall serve as the Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya. In the last five years, the Judiciary has been on an earnest transformation path. Significant and unprecedented achievements have been made in laying the foundations for transformation under the Judiciary Transformation Framework. In this regard, the Judiciary and the entire…
BY Victor adar For farmers who have used fertilizer to spur growth, a scenario where one is not lucky to get good returns is all too familiar. Agriculture rich areas like Embu, Nakuru and Trans Nzoia have left individuals scratching the back of their heads due to failure to do the right thing. In Kiambu for example, most individuals think you have money to waste when you are into coffee or tea farming. Lands in this county 15 years ago were under coffee. Today many plots have since been turned to commercial properties use as business shifts to building homes,…
Kenyans still prefer the good old laptop when it comes to hotel searches, accounting for 59% of traffic to the website as compared to the 37% mobile sourced traffic and a meager 4% logging to the travel platform through tablets according to the latest Kenya Travel Hospitality Report by Jumia Travel. This is a trajectory almost duplicated when it comes to placing actual bookings; 70% of visitors book via computers while the remaining 30% click on their smartphones. Interestingly, and perhaps contrary to conventional belief, there are more men visiting the website at 60% in comparison to women who take…
Kenya Power has taken a leap towards electricity distribution business growing tremendously in the period between 2013 and 2016, from an installed capacity of about 1,700 MW to 2,341MW. At the same time, the peak demand stands at 1,620 MW with a reserve margin of 33%, above the international standard, which is 30% an indication that the firm is on the right path as far as generation capacity is concerned. This growth was realised during times of the former MD & CEO, Dr Ben Chumo whose contract ended last month, a period characterised by exponential growth in customer connections and…
HF Group chairman, Steve Mainda has assured borrowers that its loan approval process is foolproof and dismissed allegations that its top executives awarded loans under unclear circumstances. Responding to claims that HF group managing director Frank Ireri overruled his employees and approved loan applications earlier declined, the chair said HFC Limited, as a regulated entity, has very clear credit policies and an approval matrix approved by the board, which has always been followed to the letter. Mr Mainda said the approval matrix sets certain limits that apply to the management lending committee, the Group managing director, the board credit committee…