Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT

BY LUKE MULUNDA On February 6th, as Kenyans were smarting from a penniless January, the country’s biggest sports betting company SportPesa finally unveiled the winner of Sh230.7 million mega jackpot. Mr Gordon Ogada, a Nairobi resident who lives in Kibera, was the luckiest of the millions of Kenyans who placed bets on various games on different platforms in the hopes of lifting the jackpot, which had piled over the last 10 months since another Kenyan won Sh221 million. The two payouts alone amount to nearly half a billion shillings. If this is any guide, SportPesa is reaping a fortune from…

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Opera News, the stand-alone news app developed by Opera, has broken the 1 million-download milestone in less than four weeks since its release. The app, which provides users with easy access to their favourite news and entertainment content, has also been ranked number one in Kenya and has become the news app of choice in the country. “Opera News is already on track to become the number one news and video app in Africa,” said Jørgen Arnesen, global head of marketing and distribution at Opera. “Over the coming year, the way people consume news and videos will change completely. We…

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After a long period at the head of one of the largest, privately owned supermarket chains in the entire African Great lakes region, Atul Shah finally gave up his role as the managing director and chief executive officer of the Nakumatt Holdings Limited. This is after the court approved the appointment of Peter Obondo Kahi, who was proposed by Shah, as the administrator of the chain. Mr Kahi comes in to try and help turn around a company which has been facing major challenges that threatened to see it get acquired or worse, close down. The biggest challenge facing the…

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BY NIKKI SUMMERS Thousands of Grade 12s, among the last school leavers to graduate under Kenya’s 8-4-4-education system, are entering the working world. By the government’s own admission, this education system does not equip students with work-ready or entrepreneurial skills. As you are a Small & Medium Business owner, I’m sure you can remember how daunting it was starting out with little business knowledge or experience. This is the reality that thousands of school-leavers now face as they enter the working world – it’s new territory and there’s a lot they don’t know. No experience, no job It’s a bit of…

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BY NBM WRITER Dr Moka Lantum the co-founder of MicroClinic Technologies, a Nairobi-based company commercializing ZiDi, Africa’s first enterprise health management solution for BoP (bottom of the pyramid) clinics/hospitals has created a hardware-software utility service through partnerships. He is also the brain behind the iSikCure app, which was developed with the support of Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. iSikCure is a subscription free integrated health app that aims at improving access levels to quality care and safe medicine across Kenya as well as offer convenience and choice with a range of benefits for the patients and providers…

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UK millennials have suffered a significant decline in living standard improvements compared with the previous generation, setting them apart from most other developed countries, according to research from the Resolution Foundation think-tank. In a report published last month, the think-tank looked at how incomes, employment and home ownership rates have changed from one generation to the next since the second world war in nine advanced economies, including the UK. They found that millennials in most of the countries studied have done scarcely better — and in many cases have fared worse — than the generation before. In the UK, millennials…

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Standard Bank Wealth and Investment has been acknowledged as having the Best Investment Banking Capabilities for Wealth Management in Africa in the prestigious 2018 Euromoney Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey. Wealth and Investment also took first place for Commercial Banking in South Africa and for Net-worth Specific Services in Nigeria in the survey. It, furthermore, came first for Investment Banking Capabilities and for Succession Planning Advice and Trusts in Nigeria and was also acknowledged as the Best Bank for Societal Impact Investing in South Africa. As an international business with offices located throughout South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, London, Jersey and Mauritius, Standard Bank Wealth and Investment develops long-term, goals-based…

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One of the world’s largest global logistics networks, Japan’s Nippon Express, which has its headquarters in Japan, has officially opened up a subsidiary office in Nairobi. This is the first office that the company has opened in the African continent. The office in Nairobi is expected to provide one-stop service from procurement logistics, optimizing logistics required in product manufacturing processes, to distribution logistics. It is also expected to provide solutions that link people and organizations beyond national and regional boundaries. Nippon has been involved in the export of flowers grown in Kenya. Before opening up the office in the country,…

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CABI scientists have joined an international team of experts who suggest that the large-scale management of a range of some invasive plants could hold the key to reducing the spread of deadly malaria. Dr Arne Witt and Dr Sean Murphy worked with scientists from the University of Illinois, The Ohio State University and the Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas (FuEDEI) in Argentina, to conduct a review of existing studies which looked at how mosquitoes are attracted to both land and water-based invasive plants such as water hyacinth, floating pennywort and prosopis and how best these invasive plants can be managed.…

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Kenafric Industries Limited, one of the largest makers of confectionery, food spices and beverages in Kenya, has introduced a range of biscuits in small packets branded Goodie Bakers aimed for low-income consumers.   These are milk flavour, which is sold in a pack of five biscuits and ginger, which has three in a sachet each costing five shillings. Mikul Shah, the Kenafric Industries CEO and executive director, said, “Starting a biscuits production line follows our success in manufacturing confectionery products such as Fresh Chewing Gums, Ting Ting bubble gums, lollipops, toffees and candies and Squeezy ready to drink juices.” The…

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