Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dubai Chamber) has announced the launch of a new website that delivers key insights into the burgeoning markets of Africa. Titled ‘Africa Gateway,’ the online portal acts as a rich knowledge resource designed to equip users with essential information on the most promising countries in the continent to do business, with statistics, strengths and weaknesses, challenges and opportunities the main elements. Accessed via Dubai Chamber’s website at https://africagateway.dubaichamber.com, Africa Gateway currently provides an extensive business overview of 10 African countries; Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, with…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
A report done by the World Bank in 2018 shows that Kenya’s population is aging and the number of the elderly as a percentage of the population is expected to hit 7% by 2050, from the current 3%. This is as a result of an improvement in life expectancy from an average of 49 years in 2006, to 59 years in 2016, and 64 years in 2018. The reducing birthrate has not helped as we have seen the average number of children per family fall sharply, from 8.1 children in 1978 to 4.6 children in 2008, and it is projected to…
Why is a listed bank that belongs to the workers of Kenya (48%), small shareholders (30%) and government (22%) being taken over at a tenth of its value and without paying a cent of cash by a bank that largely belongs to private shareholders in an unprocedural way that runs foul regulations, laws and common sense? BY NBM WRITER To be clear, the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) transaction is an unsolicited hostile takeover of a listed bank that has majority ownership by the public; 60,000 individual investors, National Social Security Fund (NSSF) contributors and Government of Kenya (GoK) by…
BY DAVID ONJILI The just-concluded 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt has cast, expectedly, the spotlight on Kenya’s total lack of care for sports; a story of failed promises, neglected athletes and poor sporting infrastructure. In their party manifesto; Transforming Kenya, Securing Kenya’s prosperity (2013-2017); Jubilee Government anchored several election pledges. The document had three key pillars namely; Unity, Economy, and Openness. Sports and Culture fell under the first pillar, the mission being to celebrate the best in the world. As the manifesto captured, the Jubilee Coalition envisioned to bring prosperity and opportunity for all and sports would be…
BY OLUKAYODE KOLAWOLE For most people living outside Africa, the continent is the home of poverty, corruption, internet fraud, infrastructure deficit, and everything that describes under-development, marginalization, oppression, bad leadership, insecurity, diseases, and many more. Although Africa is truly beset with some perennial development issues, some of these notions are preposterous and not entirely peculiar to the continent. No doubt, for a continent that is richly blessed with numerous natural resources, the economies of the countries within it should be enviable and have the capacity to truly compete with the First World countries. Home to 54 countries, with Nigeria and…
Dutch-Kenya relations: a one-on-one with the Ambassador on the occasion of a three-day visit by the Dutch Healthcare Business delegation to Kenya in search of partnership and investment opportunities in the health sector BY BENARD AYIEKO Does the fact that the Dutch government is increasingly shifting focus from aid to trade pose a threat to the Dutch-Kenya relations? Not at all, In fact, it’s a frontier for new and stronger partnerships on economic diplomacy with Kenya aimed at realizing growth and prosperity for the citizens of the two nations. Basically, the aid-to-trade policy calls for increased private sector engagement. The…
The East African region is facing a huge deficit of qualified risk managers and local public and private organizations need critical hand-holding to ensure risks and opportunities within organisations are effectively identified and managed. The IRM EA Regional Group, a member body of the IRM UK, and Serianu Ltd, have resolved to work together. This is in a bid to develop a fundamental home grown cyber risk management framework for the African context which aims to increase the number of competent risk professionals as well as enhance excellence in cyber risk management and reporting. Serianu is a pan African cyber…
The local pharmaceuticals regulator, has approved the use of Janssen’s once-daily medication ZYTIGA® (abiraterone acetate) for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer ahead of a chemotherapy regime. The approval is expected to help boost ongoing efforts to minimise existing barriers to cancer care access. The prescription only innovator (non generic) oncological management drug is distributed locally by Janssen Kenya as part of the global pharmaceutical firm’s commitment to enhance access of essential drugs. Confirming the recent approval, Janssen Kenya country manager Mr Marseille Onyango said prior to the approval, ZYTIGA had only been licensed for treatment of advanced prostate cancer…
The UAP Old Mutual Group has launched a wellness program which is geared at making the lifestyle of an individual better and healthier. Centred around three key pillars: knowing your health, improving your health and getting rewarded, the program will be supported by an application (App) called Go Plus which can be downloaded on the Google Play Store and App Store. The three objectives are catered towards helping customers live healthier as they incorporate various activities in their daily lives. The activities include going for regular check-ups, forming a community using Go Plus and engaging in various health activities like…
BY VICTOR ADAR When Jacqueline Mathaga took to the podium to talk about the 13th edition of Family Group Eldoret Half Marathon that is expected to take place in October 2019, the foundation manager stated clearly that apart from the already existing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) angle, objective is also to support a course. For one thing, CSR models, though changing have been viewed with what Ms Mathaga terms “a lot of scientism”. The sponsorship kitty, currently valued at Sh12 million, has been boosted by the sister companies under the Family Group Foundation banner that brings together Family Bank, Daykio…