Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT

Luxury car maker, Porsche, sets new delivery record in the first half of 2018 with 130,598 vehicles distributed worldwide, exceeding the previous record set last year by 3%. With 20,500 units delivered to customers, the Panamera enjoyed the strongest percentage increase, almost doubling the figure from the same period of the previous year. At the same time, the Porsche 911 also saw double-digit growth with an increase of 28%, amounting to 21,400 vehicle deliveries. The highest-volume model series continue to be the Macan with 46,600 vehicles delivered and the Cayenne with 28,700 deliveries. “In the year of our ‘70 years…

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Joshua Oigara, Kenya Commercial Bank’s group chief executive officer is now the new chairman of Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) governing council after being elected by members, ending the tenure of Lamin Manjang, Standard Chartered Bank CEO and area general manager for East Africa, who had held the position for the last two years. Not being a stranger in the banking sector, he is expected to use his extensive expertise and experience to lead the bankers association towards the right direction. With a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Nairobi and Master of Business Administration from Edith Cowan University as…

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About 41 government-funded projects at various stages of completion, totalling Sh1.93 billion, are likely to stall owing to the drastic cuts in budgetary allocations to the fourth arm of Government, Chief Justice David Maraga has warned. The CJ also revealed in a statement to media on the state of the Judiciary, that there is an imminent expiry of the Judicial Performance Improvement Project (JPIP), the Sh11.5 billion World Bank loan facility through which many of the Judiciary’s projects have been funded. The institution requested Sh31.2 billion from the Government to support its operations for the current financial year. Out of…

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BY VICTOR ADAR At the heart of security are various assumptions, the most glaring being that it is all about armed and strong guards standing in front of a gate. But this perception, especially coming from lay investors that security is about muscles, weapons and powerful guards, is making one Julius Delahaije disappointed. Two and a half years now at the helm of Security Group Africa (SGA) having taken over from the founder who passed away two years ago, Mr Delahaije is aware that competition is always at the heart of every business, and agrees that there has to be…

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BY SADIE GOERING The U.S. Department of State’s African Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) is trying to unleash africa’s women entrepreneurs, especially those who are often denied business opportunities to the detriment of their families and communities. The initiative takes promising female entrepreneurs from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States each summer to learn American business strategies, advocacy and innovative techniques. Participants spend three weeks on a journey across America to network with entrepreneurs, policymakers, business incubators and others. The more than 200 women who’ve completed the program since 2010 have returned home to create thousands of jobs. The program “encourages…

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Total Kenya has entered an agreement with Alfa Romeo for the provision of the inspection ramp for the CBA Africa Concours d’Elegance, which has organised the annual event for the past 48 years. The agreement also covers supplying environment mats for the assessment of the 40 motorcycles, which will contest the classiest event on the Kenyan motorsports calendar on September 30th at the Nairobi racecourse.  The Concours d’Elegance has Africa continental status for cars and motorcycles and has been recognised and sanctioned by the FIM Africa since 2006. Speaking at the ceremony marking the completion of the agreement Francois–Xavier Ruenes,…

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Kenya will be doubling its current shareholding investment in the pan-African infrastructure investment platform, Africa50, to Sh10 billion ($100 million), President Kenya has said. The President was speaking at the Africa50’s third general shareholders meeting in Nairobi where said that the move to increase its investment was justified and the support for bankable projects was needed to drive Africa’s growth. “The private sector must step up and help us close the infrastructure gap on the African continent. Public funding is limited, and there are competing priorities,” he said. Akinwumi Adesina, chairman of the Africa50 board as well as the president…

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Unplanned drilling of boreholes to deal with water shortage could affect the ground water resources in the country in the long-term, leading water and energy solutions company, Davis & Shirtliff has warned. The company has said indifference to the legislation that governs drilling of boreholes could ultimately have adverse effects on the aquifers and the quality of water in them. It is time, Davis & Shirtliff chief executive officer David Gatende says, Kenya sought ways to protect her surface and underground water resources effectively, sighting instances where people are drilling boreholes within few meters of each other yet the law…

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The 2018 Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) has ranked Kenya as not only the top financial secrecy jurisdiction in East Africa but in the whole of Africa as well.  According to Tax Justice Network, financial secrecy refers to a situation where an entity refuses to share financial information with legitimate authorities such as revenue, security, and so on. This means that Kenya is among the countries where the rich can hide their money, pay fewer taxes and have limited supervision from the authorities. Kenya was given a secrecy score of 80.05%, which led it to be ranked 27th…

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So far, 2018 has been an excellent year for Kenyan start-ups as according to a report by Weetracker, a research and publishing firm, out of the 10 companies to receive the highest amount of capital in Africa, 5 were from Kenya. The first half of 2018 saw an influx of Sh16.9 billion ($168.6 million) being spread across 120 deals into African start-ups. The record saw a massive increase compared to 2017 where the annual funding mark stood at Sh16.8 billion ($167.7 million). The top 10 list included the following firms; Cellulant, Branch, M-Kopa solar, Africa’s talking, We-farm, SureRemit, Swvl, Lidya,…

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