BY ROB SINFIELD It’s no secret that ‘Industry 4.0 – also known as the fourth industrial revolution – is causing dramatic shifts in how businesses operate. What started as a marketing buzzword has now become one of the key drivers of change across a whole host of industries – particularly manufacturing. Characterised by the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT), the rise of Industry 4.0 is continuing to gather pace. Indeed, a report from KPMG suggests that the component markets of Industry 4.0 will be worth a combined $4 trillion by…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
BY VICTOR ADAR The word going round is that female-run businesses are few. Sectors that should attract more ladies than men, like public relations, seem to appeal more to men. Looking at the faces behind big (industry) boys like Trascend Media run by Mike Njeru, Scangroup (Bharat Thakrar), and Lens Media (Ahmed Mohamed), we still have a long way to go. Actually, it has been tough for women to get commercial advantage when it comes to building business empires. There are exceptions however. Shreya Karia is one creative who believes that if strategy and craftsmanship were the canvas to an…
BY KOSTA KIOLEOGLOU Every day, Kenyans are anxiously wondering about the future of the real estate market. Many people have put their future’s family financial stability in real estate investments. Over the last almost four years the market has not been able to meet their expectations. Real Estate in Kenya was mistakenly seen by many as an easy and secure way of enrichment. Unfortunately, the reality of the property market is disappointing, as the return on the real estate market is not yet close to their awaited expectations. In the vortex of the property market over the last years, several…
East African governors of the African Development Bank have commended the institution for approving transformative projects valued at $13.8 billion since 2010. The projects in ICT, education, public finance, energy, transport, water and sanitation sectors, make the institution “a trusted partner for delivering innovative solutions,” the governors noted during consultative meetings with the institution’s president and senior management. Governors and representatives from Burundi, Djibouti, Rwanda, Comoros, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda attended the high-level meetings, which were an opportunity for Governors to pitch regional needs and highlight country-specific opportunities. According to Makki Mohamed Abdelrahim Alian, temporary Governor for…
BY FUAD ABDIRAHMAN The Somalia Miraa Traders Association has banned khat from Kenya, choosing to stand with their Government after Kenya severed diplomatic ties with their country following a maritime territorial dispute. Instead, the traders are now getting their khat from Ethiopia. For Kenya, this means loss of millions of dollars in revenue from the miraa trade. One needs just to look back a few years to know why the Somalia miraa market means a lot for Kenya. Somalia has been able to leverage this advantage to blackmail and arm-twist the Nairobi Government. A few years back, Somalia closed the…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Ever since its establishment in the late 1990s, Safaricom has enjoyed dominance in the telecommunication sector as its competitors fall short of reaching its level. For years, the other service providers such as Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya have played catch up to the dominant leader, with their market share only growing at a slow rate. According to statistics from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), Safaricom market share in terms of mobile subscriptions stood at 64.2% during the third quarter of 2018 while those of Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya stood at 22.3% and 9% respectively.…
BY DAVID WANJALA All but six African countries, according to the United Nations’ E-Government survey 2018, fall in the lower tiers (medium and low) level of E-government development. The six best performing countries are Mauritius, ranked globally at 66, South Africa at 68, Tunisia at 80, Seychelles 83, Ghana 101 and Morocco 110. There have been improvements in some African countries regarding the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) resulting in at least 12 of them, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone transitioning from the low to the…
Technological disruptions have greatly affected the Kenyan financial services industry in recent years. Mobile money is by far the most significant, as underlined by data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), which indicates that the value of mobile transactions has grown at a CAGR of 66.3% since inception in 2007 from Sh14.8b of transaction volume, to Sh4.0t of transaction volume in 2017. Online banking has also gained traction and majority of banks are now aligning their business models towards online channels as opposed to the traditional brick and mortar. The most recent innovation to shake up the industry is…
BY NDUNG’U WAINAINA International Center for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) has carefully studied, analyzed and evaluated the new call for referendum against the recommendations of two critical reports; the Report of the Working Group on Socio-economic Audit of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (group formed by National Assembly) and the Report of the Taskforce on Devolved Government, 2012. These Reports have arrived at the following conclusions thus: That the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provisions, combined, address the root causes of violence and the perennial tensions that the country that Kenya grapples with. It provides opportunities for better development and realization of aspirations…
BY DAVID ONJILI After the unfortunate terror attack at the Dusit office complex along Riverside Drive in January, Kenyans, in their typical fashion, weighed in on how best to deal with the ever-present threats of terror. Consensus seemed to emerge that we need to arm private security guards, who man most of the office buildings in the country and who, indeed, are the first line of defense whenever there is a security breach. Predictably, a debate on the merits and demerits of the move arm private guards with firearms raged, with a majority opposed to the proposal to arm the…