Kenya eyes Malaysia avocado market as KEPHIS hosts Malay auditors undertaking orchards and facility audits at Kakuzi The local avocado growers and exporters may soon enjoy market diversification opportunities in Malaysia as part of ongoing trade facilitation efforts by the Kenya Plant Health inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). KEPHIS, the national plant health regulatory agency, has been engaging counterpart agencies in crucial target markets in the Far East to secure a broader international market footprint. According to KEPHIS managing director, Prof Theophilus Mutui, an audit team from Malaysia’s National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) concluded pest-risk and field assessments at Kakuzi Plc in…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Nairobi and the Aga Khan Health Services, East Africa have received Sh950 million grant from the German Government to boost the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in East Africa and support the public health system. The grant offered by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the German Development Bank (KfW), will enable AKUH Nairobi and the Aga Khan Hospitals in Kisumu, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam to increase access to Covid-19 vaccination through mobile vaccination drives and donations of relevant vaccine infrastructure to thepublic health system. “We are delighted that, thanks to this…
The firm is ensuring contactless payment boom by scaling digital fare collection for over 10,000 buses Automated transport collection platform, O-City, which is run by banking and payment firm BPC, has taken a crucial step to accelerate contactless payment in Kenya by digitising payments across over 10,000 matatu buses. Dubbed “Lipafare”, the service was designed to lessen reliance on physical cash at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, launched with transport savings and credit specialists, NikoDigi, and payments firm, Tracom, and leverages the popular M-Pesa mobile wallet. Users put in a code on their phone that debits their wallet and can immediately…
A designer and manufacturer of biomass, LPG and electrical cookstoves based in Nairobi, Burn Manufacturing, has been awarded International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001:2015 certification for its implementation of the “internationally recognized quality” management system. The certification, awarded by SGS United Kingdom Ltd after a 12-month assessment of the firm’s business processes across all its core departments, demonstrates its commitment to consistently provide high quality products while improving the design, manufacturing, and distribution processes to enhance customer satisfaction with its products. With more than 400 employees across Africa, 50 % of whom are women, the company has sold over 1.2 million modern solar-powered and firewood stoves, popular by the brand name “Jiko Okoa”. The company has set-up operations…
Research firms thrive on execution, and delivery, including research design consultancy, questionnaire programming, translation, sampling, field coordination, data-processing, and visualisation, according to Nicholas Parsamakis who is the chief executive of Total Operations Africa, a division of Ipsos in Kenya. A write up by Mr Parsamakis said the research firm bets on contactless approach, which is unique as compared to in-person interviewing. This is achieved through seamless offline and online integration, from online and mobile to face-to-face and telephone interviewing. “Mixed-mode data collection is the future,” he said in the story. “We constantly invest in innovative and automated approaches to data…
Gulf African Bank (GAB) Kenya and car distributor DT Dobie have sealed a Shari’ah compliant financing deal to enable both existing GAB clients and new clients, including those referred by the vehicle distributor to purchase commercial vehicles. Under the agreement, registered SMEs and corporates will be able to acquire Mercedes Benz trucks and buses as well as Hyundai light trucks with financing of upto 90% for a maximum tenor of 60 months. Speaking during the signoff ceremony, the lender’s chief executive officer, Anuj Mediratta said all Kenyans who are running registered businesses should take advantage of the financing package to…
Yousef Elhemmali has joined OLA Energy Kenya Limited as the general manager effective August 1, 2022. His appointment comes at a time when the company is implementing its expansion on the retail network to increase overall market share in the petroleum product sales. Last year, the firm commissioned a new state of the art Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) plant in Nairobi that is fully automated with superior leak detection systems to guarantee safety. With the new plant and other planned LPG infrastructure projects, OLA Energy Kenya reaffirms its commitment to clean and affordable energy. In addition to his new role, Dr.…
By Risto Paldanius A shift from Africa’s traditional approach to power generation is needed to unleash the continent’s clean energy potential and secure a future free from blackouts. A strategy centred around energy storage and flexible power systems will be the key to guaranteeing the reliability of a high-renewable grid, while also lowering the cost of electricity. As the continent’s economies and populations steadily grow, so too does the demand for reliable electricity. In short, new power plants should be built, and the reliability of electricity systems needs to be vastly improved. But here is the challenge: How can African…
BY WILLIAM MWANGI Education impacts an individual’s thought process through the development of critical, analytical and creative thinking just to mention a few. It is vital to invest in early childhood development with a focus on the end goal. The choice of an education system will determine the outcome. Kenya has embraced the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) a system that begins in early years education (pre-primary and lower primary), middle school (upper primary and lower secondary), senior school (upper secondary) and tertiary education. Cambridge curriculum consists of four stages – primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and International AS and A Levels –,…
BY GEORGE BODO The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia is deeply rooted in the history of Europe. In the 19th Century, as Prussia, under Chancellor Otto von Bismark, began to seriously advance the idea of unification of Southern German states under one strong State (which later became Germany), France, then under Napoleon III, saw a stronger unified Germany as a threat to its own standing within Europe and war between France and Prussia was inevitable. Historians are still divided but the war was eventually triggered by the candidacy of Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a Prussian prince, to the throne of…
