Around 97% of Kenyan adults with Internet access are using some form of online video service, with nearly two-thirds paying to view digital online content. That’s according to GfK’s international ViewScape survey, which this year covered Africa (South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria) for the first time. The study—which surveyed 1,250 people representative of Kenyan adults with Internet access—shows that 98% of the country’s online adults continue to watch linear broadcast television. One in four download pirated content from the Internet and 94% watch some digital video on YouTube. Kenyans spend around six hours and 37 minutes a day consuming video…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
BY PETER WANYONYI As far as I can remember, the period between March and June has been marked by heavy rains in Kenya. In one of the earlier Kenyan curricula, this period was nicknamed “the long rains”, and rural Kenya’s agricultural calendar was planned around the period: farmers would till their land in December, re-till it and plant in February in time for the rains beginning March. Those of us brought up in the rural areas will remember that April – May was weeding season, and the April school holidays were the least cherished of all. Weeding maize and beans…
Over 1,000 delegates are expected to attend the Connected Summit 2018 set for October 22 2018 at the Bomas of Kenya. This year’s forum, which marks the summit’s 10th edition and will be held under the theme “Building for prosperity”, is expected to bring together Information and Communications Technology (ICT) innovators, corporate executives, financiers and key policymakers in the regional ICT industry for a series of high-level discussions geared towards nurturing partnerships that will spur the realization of Kenya’s development agenda. Speaking during the launch event which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, the ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru…
For all the promise it holds for the future, artificial intelligence is still guilty of historic bias. Voice recognition software struggles with English accents that are not American or British and facial recognition can be guilty of racial profiling. As this technology increasingly outpaces human discourse on race, China seems to be getting ahead on recognizing a diverse range of faces across the wider world, despite its own struggles with racial insensitivity. Facial recognition in particular has trouble differentiating faces that are not white, according to a study by MIT’s Media Lab. While tech companies grapple with how to teach machines about race, their Chinese competitors…
BY DAVID ONJILI The average price of a Smartphone in the Kenyan market has halved from Sh23000 to around Sh9500 with the vigorous entry of Chinese models. Infinix remains the most popular smart phone by sales to both the low and high-end mobile phone users. Models like Lenovo, Oppo and Tecno are fiercely fighting for a share of the local market. The sales of the gadgets too as observed by the sales from Jumia reveals that the market has continued to grow with over 200,000 gadgets sold via the online platform in 2017. According to a report by Jumia Business…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA In the engineering field, a number of challenges usually arise whenever one comes up with a hardware idea aimed at having a positive impact on society. The main problem is usually acquiring adequate capital. However, even for those lucky enough to acquire the capital, a number of obstacles still stand in the way to truly create an innovative product. This is because the product requires testing, design iteration, feedback from customers and assistance in design from experts in the same field. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) through its Innovation Showcase (IShow) competition, which has been…
Investors continue to cash in on the real estate sector in Kenya driven by (i) the huge housing deficit, (ii) high returns which came in at 24.3% as of December 2017, and (ii) various government incentives and continued infrastructural improvements. The following were the key highlights of last month; Consonance Kuramo Special Opportunities Fund I, a subsidiary of New York-based Kuramo Capital, bought an undisclosed equity stake in Century Developments Limited, a Nairobi based Pan-African real estate development and Investments Company, focusing on building affordable housing communities across Africa. The deal will see Kuramo invest Sh20 billion over the next…
BY DAVID ONJILI Financial freedom is a term thrown here and there but what truly does it entail? An investment is a risk, what we mostly are exposed to are news headlines of individuals losing millions of shillings at the bourse or through pyramid schemes. What we never realize is that investors do make great returns and have learnt the art of seeking financial knowledge from trusted sources. Mercy, 20 years old, for example, had been promised a car by her father. But when the time came, her father chose instead to deviate from the original promise to something else…
Africa has a higher percentage of companies affected by fraud, theft, money laundering or other financial crimes than the global average, according to a comprehensive survey of international business. Thomson Reuters commissioned the survey of more than 2,300 senior business leaders in large companies to shine a light on how pervasive such crimes have become across the world. The report, Revealing the True Cost of Financial Crime, shows that 53% of people questioned in Africa, and 47% of respondents globally, admitted that their organisation had suffered at least one incident of financial crime over the past 12 months, with cybercrime…
In stark contrast to preceding quarters of decline, consumer sentiment in Kenya is on the rise in the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) results for Q1, 2018, having gained eight points to 102. Looking at the East African outlook, Nielsen East and South Africa MD Bryan Sun comments; “Consumers are feeling more upbeat in light of the political situation settling down, GDP strengthening and the country emerging out of a period of drought. The private sector also has a more positive outlook and the economy is opening up, with the entry of international retail chains in the country, bringing…