Kenya Power’s inefficiencies give an advantage to alternative energy sources. Can solar energy save customers who are out to embrace it? By John Seko and Felix Owino More Kenyans, especially rural ones, now prefer solar power to connecting to the grid. Solar energy has several applications among rural populations, from generating electricity to lighting, heating, and drying. The latest data from the World Bank on Kenya shows that 78% of the country’s population lives in rural areas and far-flung regions, which are usually beyond the reach of the regular power lines served by the national grid. As a result, alternative…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
By NJ Ayuk In a 2014 article, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa argued for an Apartheid-style boycott on coal, oil and gas companies as a way to fight climate change and help ensure global environmental sustainability goals. “We must stop climate change. And we can, if we use the tactics that worked in South Africa against the worst carbon emitters,” he wrote. Climate change is something to be rightfully concerned about. But although Tutu’s sentiment is laudable, it is also misguided. Oil and gas companies are not autocratic regimes focused on oppressing the people and steal their resources. They are businesses.…
Africans must reconsider their positions on fossil fuels, and compel financial institutions operating in Africa to fund coal, oil and gas power plants. By Peter Wanyonyi South Africa, Africa’s most advanced and most sophisticated economy, is reeling under punishing electricity rationing. Operational failures, insufficient generating capacity, and an unwillingness to invest in new power plants have combined to create a disaster in waiting, as the country’s electricity monopoly, Eskom, hikes electricity tariffs to service debt. It is estimated that, at any given time, over a third of Eskom’s total capacity is offline due to power rationing. Kenya’s power-rationing story hardly…
For economy of African cities to boom, strong partnership between the public and private sector is required By Antony mutunga In a bid to enable cities to tap financial markets more effectively in order to fund their local infrastructure and development projects, a capacity building program was launched during the 9th Africities Summit held recently in Kisumu, Kenya. The new initiative, backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and United Cities and Local Governments, a global umbrella group for local and metropolitan governments, will give city infrastructure the impetus to grow and expand to meet the demands of Africa’s…
T he signing of a framework of cooperation between Kenya Flower Council and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is set to strengthen the efforts in adoption of sea freight for perishables in Kenya. Key to the success of the framework will be the close collaboration between the key stakeholders including both governments of Kenya and the Netherlands, logistics companies, trade associations, growers, exporters and other relevant private sector players. The Ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr. Maarten Brouwer and the chairman of the Kenya Flower Council board Mr. Richard Fernandes signed the…
An advocacy, campaigns, and public affairs organization, Niyel, celebrates 14 years of impact on the continent. Founded in 2008, the female and African led firm has changed the way advocacy is approached. The company has been apart of Africans’ lives for years. Historically, one of the key struggles with civil advocacy on the continent has been the lack of collaboration between global north and global south development organizations. “Advocacy stems from the intrinsic belief system in the universal rights of every single person regardless of gender, age, status and location. Advocacy, which is the art and science of changing policy and…
There is a growing number of women breaking the barriers and taking up leadership roles in top firms in Kenya. Women are confidently leading renowned companies into greater heights and especially in a field like investments, which is traditionally known to be male-dominated. Safaricom Investment Cooperative recently appointed Sarah Wahogo as its first female CEO, a move that the company has not made since its inception 13 years ago. Ms Wahogo is a wife and a mother of three boys who was born and bred in Nyandarua County in a village called Haraka. Her parents were farmers and as early…
BY VICTOR ADAR Jackson Muli is a typical African man with a humble Christian background having grown up in a small village called Kiumo/Embui in Machakos County. He is a family man, a proud father of two, with wide experience in insurance spanning to over 22 years with a bias in life insurance. Mr Muli, who is the current Kenya Orient Life Assurance general manager, began his career in insurance through introduction by a relative/friend. He joined the sector with very little knowledge about insurance. However, after entry he developed interest in life insurance specifically in underwriting and claims processes. …
Rosemary Kimwatu Koech has joined Kenya Commercial Bank’s (KCB) family as a new group data protection officer. Previously, she held the position of public policy manager at telecommunication firm, Safaricom. She has worked at Oxygene, a public relations company, as the head of public policy. She has also served as head of legal and regulatory affairs at WayaWaya, a messaging and payments service company as well as a legal, and administrative officer at Caritas Nairobi. Additionally, she has been a senior associate legal and regulatory affairs specialist at the Mobile Decisioning Holding Ltd (MODE). A holder of Bachelor of Law…
By Antony Mutunga Kenya’s economy has been in a slump for a while. Things started going down hill even before the pandemic hit as many companies in the country were closing down. In 2014, Eveready, a dry-cells manufacturer shut down its manufacturing plant in Nakuru citing unfavourable competition. Two years after the battery maker coiled, and died, Sameer Africa shut down its Nairobi tyre plant. Since then, matters have only gotten worse. With the pandemic, business closures have only increased further. In the 2019/2020 financial year, a record of 1,255 companies closed down, with the following financial year, 2020/2021, the…