Property viewing is a key element in any potential buyers’ decision process; there is never a second chance to make a first impression. Here, the property experts from RE/MAX offer some pointers for preparing your home to have maximum appeal to a prospective buyer. Gate – Work from the outside inwards. The gate is the first thing a potential tenant or buyer will see. It needs to be sturdy, secure and silent (no one likes a screeching hinge). Tidy up the guardhouse as well, perhaps a coat of paint will help. Driveway – Ensure drainage issues are not causing any flooding on the driveway and the…
Author: Editor
By Victor Adar Franchising is seemingly the next growth frontier. It sees small business buy into a large brand, gaining a readymade business model including software, ways of doing business that are proven as revenue earners, staff training, and heavy marketing. Although over the years food businesses have been the biggest takers of franchise, the model is currently accelerating in other sectors too, with Coldwell Banker, opening as a local franchisor to vie for a piece of the up-market real estate businesses. It is common to come across food franchises in town. Recent ones to launch in Kenya include KFC,…
By Kosta Kioleoglou For several years now, Kenya’s Real Estate Market has been creating wealth for several investors. Today, the property market in Kenya is representing almost 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and has successfully attracted the majority of investment interest. Thousands of Kenyans are enjoying the positive results of their property investments while millions are trying to find a way to have the same opportunity. The scenario and the plan seem to be easy. All you need to do is to have the amount of money required to buy a piece of property. A few months, maybe…
By Benard Ayieko I am writing this piece on a day that the African continent is celebrating the ‘African Statistics Day’. On 18th November every year, African countries celebarate the African Statistics Day which is a day set aside to raise public awareness on the importance of statistics in socio-economic development. What caught my attention more was the theme of the day, “better data for better lives” which resonates well with the aspirations of ordinary citizens. Data is a key input of research while statistics is a vital component of research. While data is essentially numbers that feed into research…
JAMES MULIRO Kenyan banks are under pressure to lower the cost of credit after recently hiking lending rates to the detriment of borrowers and the economy. The lenders, who have perpetually come under heavy criticism for keeping interest rates high and profiting from such also stand accused of raising the rates as soon as the Central Bank of Kenya revises its rates upwards. They often take an eternity to lower lending rates despite intense pressure and criticism from all and sundry. On November 12, the CBK governor Dr Patrick Njoroge ordered commercial banks to lower lending rates. When he appeared…
By Hanningtone Ilamenya Kenya Revenue authority has entered a partnership with Kenya Bureau of Standards to tighten controls around imported goods amidst revelations that the country is losing revenue through weak systems. Faced with pressure to deliver increased revenue targets, the taxman has resolved that all goods imported into the country shall have to be inspected at the source/country of origin. The goods will have to enter Kenya already with a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) unlike currently where the same is obtained upon such goods entering the country. The multi-agency approach is also aimed at curbing the flow of substandard…
BY JAMES MULIRO The last decade has seen monumental shift in the media landscape not just in Kenya but also across the globe. Facebook was just starting in 2006 nearly a decade after the world of Internet picked momentum. Google on the other hand, which started in 1995, was to say the least, unknown. The online space was growing at an alarming rate. University students, most of who could barely afford newspapers or magazines that would keep them ‘infotained’ (educated and informed), were gradually finding an alternative in online media and so were millions of other audiences. Newspapers, magazines and a whole new…
By David Matende In a TV ad, a man tries to persuade a boda boda rider to reduce the fare to his house where he is rushing to watch prime time news. When he is told that he need not hurry home as he can get all the breaking news via his phone, the excitement on the man’s face is palpable. Although the ad is aired on a “mainstream” television channels, it carries an ominous message for traditional news media – newspapers, television and radio. For many years the source of news, both breaking and running, these traditional media are…
BY DAVID WANJALA Kenya’s giant media entities including the Nation Media Group, the Standard group and MediaMax that runs K24, the People Daily and several FM stations in their stable have, for the better part of 2015, been restructuring. In the Kenyan labour relations context, restructuring is a euphemism for downsizing, sacking employees. As such, the leading media houses have, for the said period, executed massive and sometimes ruthless dismissal of employees especially in the editorial department, the core function of any media house. In effecting the restructuring, positions in the newsroom, some traditional, have been declared redundant, numerous departments…
By Jane Wachira A Eurobond according to financial time’s lexicon is a bond that is sold outside the country of the currency in which it is denominated. The euro part of the name derives from the fact that Europe was the first place where such bonds (nominally denominated in dollars) were sold. It is not to be confused with bonds denominated in Euros. It is also an international bond issued in Europe or elsewhere outside the country in whose currency its value is stated (usually the US and Japan). The term euro is also used to simply refer to the…