By Anthony Mutunga In December 2017, cryptocurrencies were on the rise as bitcoin had hit its highest value at the time recording a high of Sh2.35 million ($20,000). Scores of people, mostly those with high risk appetite, invested on cryptos with an aim of making quick cash. The fear of missing out is what pushed up the demand. What followed was a crash that many did not anticipate – the price of bitcoin dropped by 65% and other cryptos soon followed. The prices dipped to below Sh1.17 million ($10,000) till October 2020 when they started to rise again. Cryptos reached…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
By Alex Owiti Africa has the greatest opportunity to set its own virtual world, popular as metaverse, based on the web 3.0 advent. Just like cloud technology that has now become available everywhere, Africa can turn metaverse into a blessing – the continent is lucky because of the over 30 submarine cables currently offering high speed broadband. In Kenya a lone, there are 6 submarine cables, including SEACOM, TEAMS, EASSy, LION2, DARE1 and PEACE, as per Submarine Cable NetworkS website. Telkom Kenya owns a 23% stake in TEAMS, a 10% stake in LION2 and 2.6% stake in EASSy. Content and cloud…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA With the ever-increasing population, opportunities have become scarce. However, new opportunities are set to come up thanks to digital transformation. To ensure that young people are not left in the cold, the government, through the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology and Innovation (ICT) recently launched a training program that is set to equip 20 million Kenyans with digital skills. If anything, the pandemic was a wake up call on the need for digital transformation. Businesses and individuals are now aligned to the “new normal”. Business operations, for example, are no-longer disrupted much because of digitalization of…
By Jedida Baraza and Wambui Muthoni The political state of the country has not affected the real estate industry with investors and developers still coming into the market. Estate Intel research associate Tilda Mwai said that despite the forthcoming election, the market is still expanding and key emerging trends such as flexibility and quality in terms of what people are occupying is driving the demand. Speaking recently at a Nairobi hotel during the annual East Africa property investment summit held under the theme “a re-newed focus” Ms Mwai said the market has been resilient to the political campaign with both…
By Victor Adar The central land registry is set to go live on ArdhiSasa, the National Land Management System (NLIMS) at the end July this year, following its permanent closure last year to pave for digitisation of land records. Speaking at an alumni forum at Strathmore University on “The Digitalisation of Land Records in Kenya”, Farida Karoney, the CS, Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning said the Ministry had already gazetted 84,000 land parcels set to migrate to the Land Registration Act 2012, with 64,000 of them having matured. “The law stipulates that we must wait for 90 days to…
Topline, the firm reported a gross income of Sh12 billion representing a 38% improvement over the previous year’s Sh 8.7 billion. However, the earnings were a loss after tax of Sh 542 million (restated 2020: loss after-tax of Sh 628 million). The firm has been undertaking revenue growth strategies for both its life and general insurance subsidiaries and has attributed its performance to a challenging market. Sanlam Group CEO Dr Patrick Tumbo noted that the life insurance subsidiary had performed significantly well and helped sustain the Group’s resilient performance. “After the successful implementation of revenue growth strategies in both short- and…
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has been ranked the third worst-performing major security market in Africa in 2022 as a result of foreign investor capital flight and ease of repatriation of equity sales compared to other capitals in the continent. Data from EFG Hermes, an investment bank, shows that the Nairobi bourse is ranked eighth among the top 10 stock markets in the continent, beating only the securities from Ghana and Egypt in terms of earnings. The NSE had a return of -30% in dollar terms while Ghana and Egypt tied at -32%. At the top of the list is…
By Ouma Ojango If the Government patronage that has shielded Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KP) from competition were to be dropped, the electricity retailer would suffer the same fate as Kodak, a one-time world leader in technology with products and services in commercial print, packaging, manufacturing and entertainment. Left to its own devices, KP would quickly join the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KP&TC) in the deep end of the sea with no prospects of ever rising to the surface again, leave alone staying afloat. These two are world’s best examples of how not to catch up with…
By Felix Ochieng Bioenergy dominates the Kenyan energy mix at 65% of the total on-the-grid energy. Other energy sources are oil at 17%, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind at 15%, and hydropower and coal at 2%. The country spends nearly half of its annual foreign exchange on imported fossil fuels such as oil and petroleum that are used to meet the basic energy requirements. On the electricity front, renewable energy currently constitutes 90% of the country’s energy sources, primarily hydropower and geothermal power. Geothermal power, wind, and solar energy have a high potential in Kenya due to…
When the government lowered the cost of power in January this year, we wondered how it would be achieved without bankrupting Kenya Power. The reduced charges meant that the energy distributor was selling power at a loss to some of its customers. It is now official that the cut in power prices is as a result of a government subsidy – the company has been allocated Sh7bn in addition to Sh9bn allocated in February. The move, it appears, intends to reward theft and inefficiency. I have on many occasions demonstrated how the cost of power can be lowered to below Sh12…