BY LEONARD WANYAMA Lately, Kenyan news is painting an overall triumphal picture of economic diplomacy. Indeed, the country has been very successful in the hosting of international events and dignitaries. This was exemplified by World Trade Organization (WTO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and quite recently, the Tokyo Investment Conference on African Development (TICAD). It is also captured from the notable visits by important personalities namely Presidents: Barrack Obama, Jacob Zuma, Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu, Matteo Renzi, Narendra Modi, Shinzo Abe among others. Technically, in one form or another most G20 countries have shown…
Author: Editor
By Kosta Kioleoglou In the modern times around the world, it is very common for people to desire to increase their family or personal wealth by investing in several opportunities. Some of the most popular investment schemes are in the property market. New investors usually try to understand what would be the correct criteria for them to make an investment. Although this is a very complicated issue, we will try to analyze one of the most common factors that people use for this purpose. For anyone considering investing in commercial or residential real estate, one of the first questions you…
BY LUKE MULUNDA Larry Liu loves talking. And the marketing director of Kilimall Kenya knows too well that as a retailer, and more so an online one, you should do less talk and more clicks. But he says talking a lot has not only enabled him grow the online retailer from a scrappy startup only two years ago to a regional e-commerce giant but, most importantly, it has helped him understand the fickle Kenyan market. “When you are new, you have to make noise,” said Larry, the Chinese manager sent to Kenya to drive sales through Kilimall.co.ke. “In fact, you…
BY PETER WANYONYI Last month, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg “dropped by Africa” – as the western media put it – and was reported to have visited various software development and technology training institutions, in addition to the made-for-media appearances at lunch joints and highly publicised jogs with “locals” that were actually his bodyguards who, being Black, blended into the African public environment seamlessly. But the jogs and the fish lunches at Mama Oliech Restaurant were not the real reason Zuckerberg was in Africa – neither were the start-up hubs and similar tech hotspots. Zuckerberg was in Africa –…
BY VICTOR ADAR With stronger information, privacy and data protection laws coming into effect in Kenya and other parts of the continent, businesses operating in Africa must think again about where and with which providers they host their cloud enterprise data and applications. A time when data sovereignty is growing in importance as players adopt cloud services to take advantage of the flexibility and cost-savings they offer, it is better to pick a provider that has data privacy and security measures in place to safeguard the information. Analysts say that providers have a huge impact so much that companies need…
BY FRANCIS MONYANGO Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi of the High Court of Kenya declared, in May, section 29 (b) of the Kenya Information and Communication Act unconstitutional. This provision of law was found to be vague by the learned judge. Geoffrey Andare, a web developer who was charged under that Section in 2015 successfully challenged its constitutionality and the charges against him were dropped. This was the case for other bloggers who had been arrested for the offense this year. Fast-forward to July and a Bill whose purpose is to regulate ICT practitioners surfaced. Its vagueness is stupefying to the…
BY BENARD AYIEKO The history of countries such as England confirms that agricultural revolution preceded industrial revolution. It validates the role of agriculture in economic transformation. In the U.S.A and Japan, agricultural advancement has fed into the industrialization process. Over time, Netherlands whose economy relies heavily on the agricultural sector and on exports nearing 83% of her GDP has the most progressive and transformational agricultural practices in the world. The Dutch’s agricultural prowess offers developing countries such as Kenya, lessons and opportunities for sharing their experience in increasing agricultural productivity. As the sixth largest economy in the Eurozone and the…
BY DAVID ONJILI There are certain aspects off the football pitch that we remain completely ignorant of despite soccer being one of the most popular sports on earth. From the underhand dealings during transfer of players to finances, revenue and sponsorships. This article, after a thorough Internet research and investigations from acclaimed journalists, tries to lift the lid on some of these facts. While FIFA tries to be transparent, there are many secrets that most soccer lovers fail to seek the truth about and base their knowledge on hearsay. The shirt sales myth. Can a players’ transfer fee be recouped…
BY NELLY KIHENJO All women want or, as many may say, need nice things and this still applies to plus size women. It may not be as flamboyant but I speak in terms of good quality fabrics, great cuts and wears. This is no exception to denim. Denim jeans form a basic need in every woman’s closet and yet they are the hardest to shop despite the fact that they are in every clothing store. Ironic isn’t it? You will realize that out of ten pairs of jeans that you try on, only one has a close to the perfect…
BY TOM ODHIAMBO That the media, the world over, claims that economic prosperity for all is possible even today destroys any remnants of irony in the talk about development. How is it possible to (re)distribute prosperity to all in any society today when the numbers of the poor keep on rising? Would the rich really agree to share their wealth with the poor just for the sake of making all members of any society happy? Is it even possible to think of an equitable society today when wherever one looks, whenever one is in the world, one only sees, hears…