BY VICTOR ADAR In the late 2010 and early 2012, as the influence of smartphones was being felt across the country, expectations were a tad high. It was about which brand should we use. The capabilities that we see now like multi cloud platforms, did not really exist. Although some have kept it traditional, ignoring the digital shift, the result is quite transformative. Having an array of mobile applications means that what we used to do in the past is no longer applicable. It is about selling technology and solutions. Before, apps were scattered. But today, there are apps that…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
BY PETER CHENEY If you’ve ever noticed that your car burns more gas than its official rating suggests, you’re not alone, especially if you drive a car with a turbocharger. Turbochargers are the new darlings of the automotive engineering world. Pushed to achieve government-mandated fuel efficiency gains, car designers increasingly turn to small-displacement, turbocharged engines. Almost everyone’s doing it. Ford offers its F-150 pickup with a turbocharged V-6 instead of the traditional V-8. Porsche just downsized the motor in its iconic 911 sports car from 3.8 litres to 3.0, but made it more powerful by adding a pair of turbochargers.…
BY VICTOR ADAR Across the country, the demand for housing is on an upward trajectory. Today, available data shows that Kenya’s housing deficit stands at 2 million units and is rising steadily – at the rate of about 200,000 units a year, in fact. Scores of real estate developers trying to fill the gap cannot seem to catch up, in the wake of tough economic times. It is why, perhaps, players in the sector have increasingly found themselves having to find or create niches to either remain competitive, or draw consumers, or both. Whether one wants to put up residential…
By NBM Writer Frank Mosier, the chairman of Rendeavour, the owner and developer of the Tatu City Special Economic Zone in Kiambu County, has been named to a special committee advising President Donald Trump, the US government announced last month. Mosier, a long-time emerging markets investor and the largest American investor in Rendeavour and Tatu City, has been named to the 26-member President’s Advisory Committee on Doing Business In Africa (PAC-DBIA), joining executives from General Electric, Visa, Bechtel, Mastercard, Pfizer and IBM, among other companies. US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the appointment. The PAC-DBIA was established in 2014…
Residential Following the pending legal case in regard to the Kenyan Government’s Housing Fund levy, Principal Secretary for the State Department of Housing and Urban Development, Charles Hinga announced that Kenyans can begin voluntary contributions, which according to the Housing Fund Act, shall not be less than Sh200 per month. This is to kick start contributions from willing individuals, especially the 225,000 Kenyans registered on the Boma Yangu portal, a symbol in itself of their interest in the Affordable Housing Scheme. Operationalization of the institution is, therefore, set to be backed by voluntary contributions and Sh5b seed funding from the National…
BY KOSTA KIOLEOGLOU Property market’s trend is too based on expectations and speculations and, of course, depends on actual market analysis. It is subject to market fluctuations and can be affected by several factors. What makes a good sustainable market from bubbles and the fragile opportunities are a stable, well-founded economy and a balanced relationship between demand and supply. Unfortunately, we have seen many bubbles and bursts around the world both in the stock markets as well as the property markets. If there is a lesson learned out of all these cases is the fact that all markets will be…
When customers make payments, they are unlocking the value they have stored in their pockets, wallets or accounts. Key to their ability to unlock that value is the third-party acceptance of both the “value” they are transferring, and the means by which they want to transfer it. The utility of any payment convention thus depends first and foremost on the depth and breadth of its adoption in its intended universe. Beyond reach, a modern payments convention needs more; it needs supporting mechanisms that are efficient, accessible, interoperable; safe, reliable and fast. In most modern domestic markets only one form of…
BY David wanjala We revisit the interest rate cap topic following the proposal by the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Henry Rotich, in the Budget reading for 2019/20 fiscal year, to repeal Section 33B of the Banking Act, which capped interest chargeable on loans at 4.0% above the CBR rate. As highlighted in the Finance Bill 2019, the proposition to repeal the interest rate cap stems from the adverse effects the law has had on credit access, especially by the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which consequently has detrimental effects on economic growth. In 2018, the Parliament rejected a…
BY DAVID NDII In October last year, Uhuru Kenyatta fired a broadside at imports of fish from China: “The Finance bill has passed but we can think outside the box. We might as well say the fish imported is bad then we lock it. There are many ways the government can work if we really intend on serving our people.” The trick backfired. The ban was imposed in November and lifted two months later following what was reported as a “biting shortage”. Had he taken a quick peek into the Economic Survey – the Government’s annual statistics report that should…
BY BOSIRE NYAMORI Interpretive challenges are a salient feature of tax legislation. The case of Kenya Revenue Authority v Republic (Ex-parte Fintel Ltd) (KRA v Fintel), illustrates problems that come up when precise meaning of words in a statute is uncertain and murky. The source of the problem was the word “paid” in sec 2 and phrase “upon payment” in sec 35(1) of the Income Tax Act. At issue is whether the obligation by the payer of interest to deduct and remit withholding tax is based on the accrual principle or the cash basis. The Court of Appeal (COA) held…