BY CYNTHIA WAIRIMU Everything on and in our bodies has its role, hair and nails included, dead as they may be. When it comes to hair, it has long been debated on whether or not it should be removed. Whatever reservations one holds, it is entirely a personal choice what one does with their hair. Often times, people trim or cut their hair for aesthetic reasons and also for comfort. For instance, a lady spotting facial hair along her top lip may want to shave it off so it does not look like a moustache. There are different methods of…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
By Estelle Maussion Attacked from all sides by his successor, the former Angolan head of state José Eduardo dos Santos has had a hard time living through the fall of his family empire. But his heirs did not admit defeat so readily. It’s mid-June in Barcelona. On the sofa in the living room, José Eduardo dos Santos plays cards with his grandchildren. Published on Instagram by his daughter, Isabel, the photo gives an insight into the daily life of the man who ruled Angola from 1979 to 2017, before passing the reins to João Lourenço. It shows a happy and…
BY DRs. NATH ARWA AND KATU MUTUNGI At one point in your life you may have used medication. Did you stop to think whether that medicine was safe for you to use? Did you question the choice? Were you asked if you have an allergy? Were you told how to store the medication? These among other considerations are some discussion points that you should have with your pharmacist before taking any medication. It is essential to ensure medication safety, a freedom from preventable harm with medication use. It is important to involve patients in decisions about their medicines as this…
His death is no tragedy; his life, ultimately, was. BY Simon Allison “I have died many times — that’s where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once.” Robert Mugabe, on his 88th birthday. Almost as long as there has been an independent Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has presided over it. Thirty-seven years in charge. It wasn’t all bad. But it was mostly bad, and the history books that he loved to read will judge him harshly. He was, from the very beginning, an enigma: a jumble of contradictions that somehow fuelled rather than felled him. He was the…
SWIFT is expanding options for customers moving to the cloud, announcing today both an initiative to smooth their migration to large public cloud providers such as Microsoft and Google Cloud, as well as the next generation of SWIFT’s own private cloud platform. SWIFT already has a proof of concept in place with Microsoft, building on work that started last year with the technology company’s treasury operations establishing a prototype SWIFT connection on Microsoft Azure and the successful testing of payment transactions. Under the new Cloud Connect initiative SWIFT will develop network architecture and automation templates for customers to ease deployment…
USA top, Asia grows in strength in IMD World Digital Competitiveness ranking The United States held on to the number one spot in IMD World Digital Competitiveness ranking (WDCR) in 2019, with all top five economies in the ranking unchanged: USA, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. In the Top 10, the Netherlands, Hong Kong SAR and Republic of Korea moved up (to 6th, 8th and 10th, respectively), while Norway dropped to 9th and Canada fell from 8th to 11th. Now in its third year, the WDCR, produced by the IMD Competitiveness Centre, measures the capacity and readiness of 63 economies…
BY NIKKI SUMMERS Technology is making accounting invisible. Algorithms, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) handle much of the accounting and compliance process. The benefit to accountants is that, rather than recording invoices and doing bank recons, they can use their time and skills more constructively: to help clients build resilient, successful businesses and to understand the impact of technology-driven change in their own firms. The caveat, however, is that technology has also leveled the accounting playing field and has increased the intensity of competition. As more accounting functions are automated, clients soon won’t need accountants to balance the books. The…
BY VICTOR ADAR Tonnie Mello is the founder and CEO of Bizna Kenya, a digital led marketing and enterprise development services provider that is focused on small businesses. He started the company in September 2014. A fourth-generation entrepreneur with interests in digital marketing, logistics and real estate, the holder of Masters of Philosophy degree and a Bachelor of Education degree both from Moi University, Mr Mello is grabbing the opportunity to get the best in entrepreneurship. He is the chairman of the Professional Business Mentors Association, a member of Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a former governor…
Forty percent of retirees continue to work after retirement and only 5% of retirees are financially independent at retirement BY NBM WRITER For many, the idea of retirement means transitioning into a more relaxed lifestyle, and having time to enjoy all the things we did not have time for before retirement, such as hobbies, family and friends, travel, and recreational activities. It is therefore important to protect what you have saved or invested to ensure that you will have enough income throughout your retirement; after all, you worked hard to get to retirement. To guarantee income upon retirement, it is…
Economic growth is largely influenced by factors such as capital, labour and technology. A well-functioning financial system permits an economy to fully exploit its growth potential, as it ensures that the best investment opportunities receive the necessary funding, while inferior opportunities are denied capital. What is the current state and depth of the Kenyan Capital markets? What are some of the key challenges affecting the development of Kenya’s capital markets and how can the same be circumvented? How can we leverage on capital markets to spur economic growth? Capital markets are generally categorized into primary markets where equity (ordinary and…