Just recently, ESET, a developer of security software, warned of fake apps after its researchers discovered first ever fake lockscreen app named Pokemon GO Ultimate and scareware apps on Google Play. The malwares, that resemble a version of the much-hyped game (Pokemon GO) but with a true malicious functionality, were all removed from the store thanks to ESET’s recommendation. Alistair Freeman, ESET East Africa CEO spoke to NBM’s Victor Adar on how they are helping people enjoy safer technology, giving wider perspective not only on cyber security but also changing business landscape, during a media cocktail held at DusitD2 Hotel…
Author: Editor
BY BENARD AYIEKO In any economy, the manufacturing sector is part of the goods-producing industries super-sector group. Kenya has a relatively larger manufacturing sector in the EAC and exports more manufactured goods to the region than Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan – the new EAC entrant. According to a 2011 World Bank Report, the contribution of manufacturing sector to the GDP of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi stood at 11.8%, 6.8%, 7.6%, 6.2% and 8.8% respectively. Even though Kenya remains industrially developed in the EAC, it is an open secret that the sector has lately run into headwinds contributing…
BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Savings And Credit Co-operatives (Saccos) are global financial phenomena that play a key role in the financial sector of many economies globally. The financial sector is made up of commercial banks, non-bank financial institutions, mortgage companies, foreign exchange bureaus, development finance institutions, pension schemes, insurance companies, private equity firms, Saccos, among others. Saccos were invented in South Germany in 1846 at the time of agricultural crisis in Europe. Freidrich W. Reifeisen and Herman Schultze-Delitsche are considered as the founding fathers of the global Sacco movement. It is well understood that Canada, United States, Australia and Ireland have…
BY NBM WRITER Even though Saccos run their core business of mobilizing savings and advancing credit in the same economy where they face stiff competition from banks, there is a deep-rooted culture where Saccos have perfected the art of misappropriation and embezzlement of funds belonging to members. A case in sight is where a Sacco spends huge percentages of their funds in trainings and seminars that do not add value to the Sacco. The tragedy of Saccos management committees Why would you send an entire board of directors to a five star hotel in Mombasa from as far as Western…
BY JANE WACHIRA The cooperative movement in Kenya is a four-tier structure; including primary, secondary societies, National Cooperative Organizations (NACOs) and apex societies. Primary societies have been defined as those whose membership is restricted to individual persons. It is created by individuals at the lowest level of structures of cooperatives who have a common economic interest and a desire for promoting those interests by pooling their resources together and working as a team in order to minimize the cost of doing the same thing as individuals. Individuals may also form Savings & Credit Societies, which enable them to pool their…
BY LANJI OUKO In a typical African fashion, being an artist is considered more of a “hobby” than a career. Aside from that retrogressive belief, one main reason the arts fail to flourish in Kenya is our lack of strong cultural roots. As Bernard Shaw states,”patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.” Sadly, if we based our understanding of patriotism on this definition, Kenya would have an extremely low percentage of patriotic citizens. A Kenyan would rather read Danielle Steel literature than buy a Ngugi Wa Thiongo book title.…
BY RICHARD LAPCHICK Contributing Writer, ESPN.com I wrote columns for ESPN on Muhammad Ali’s 65th and 70th birthdays. I was looking forward to writing again in January 2017 for his 75th birthday. That was obviously not meant to be as the world mourns the loss of this giant. Had I never met Ali, I still would be mourning. But as my wife and our family were able to become close friends with Ali and his family, it is especially hard. I was in my late teens and a child of the 1960s. I marched against the Vietnam War and for civil rights. I…
Cooltech Applications, S.A.S. (Cooltech), a leading magnetic refrigeration company, has announced the availability of the first commercial magnetic cooling system for its magnetic refrigeration system (MRS) product line. The magnetic cooling system utilizes a water coolant instead of a refrigerant gas—a major contributor to climate change—resulting in an eco-friendly solution that consumes minimal energy. With cooling powers between 200W and 700W, the MRS product line is optimized for a wide range of products in commercial refrigeration, including medical refrigerators, display cabinets, beverage dispensers, store plugins, and wine cellars, a market that is worth over $20b a year. “The MRS200 was…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Over the years banking systems have been laid out in a manner that subconsciously makes people trust in them as institutions that are dedicated to protect clients’ hard earned cash and assets although, this is not always the case. Lately, the level of cyber security in financial institutions is surrounded by various situations that have caused people to start losing faith. The recent turn of event that brought to light the information that since 2015 four banks had been hacked into has people questioning exactly how secure the financial institutions are. People became even more worried as…
By Lanji Ouko The culture of couponing is relatively new to Kenya and unsurprisingly very common to the American folks. Couponing is a term used to refer to the act of consumers collecting and using coupons or vouchers offering discounts on goods and services. It basically entails paying a smaller percentage of the total bill thanks to the coupon. Most people describe the benefit of coupons as a form of budgeting, planning shopping smart and enjoying services and goods without having to part with extravagant amounts of money.Coupons are the new revelation when it comes to saving money, especially while…