As global organizations seek to recast themselves for speed, the retail sector has been under significant pressure By Stine Anderssen, Guilherme Riederer, and Ahmad Zaidi The retail sector has reached a fork in the road. The sector has been heading toward this fork for a decade, and its journey has only been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the crisis, customers’ expectations and behaviors have changed the retail landscape: traditional competitive advantages are eroding, channel preferences are evolving, and technological sophistication has become a basic requirement. Many incumbent retailers are poorly prepared to deal with these disruptions, leading to a…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
Kenya’s retail journey has undergone dramatic transformation over the past decade and half By Victor Adar The evidence is clear: if you’ve gone around Nairobi, you must have noticed how market players like Carrefour, Naivas, and QuickMart have aggressively taken up prime retail space, especially in malls initially occupied by troubled retailers such as Shoprite, Tuskys, Uchumi, and Nakumatt. Supermarkets appear to be on an expansion spree. Naivas supermarket recently opened stores in Kilifi, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, and Nairobi; Carrefour opened stores in Kwale, Nairobi, and Kisumu; QuickMart in Nairobi, Eldoret, and Kisii; Cleanshelf in Nakuru, and Chandarana Food Plus…
In September, DIB Bank Kenya which is celebrating its 4 years anniversary in the country, promised to increase investments in the Kenyan market by supporting the financing of business and individual customers, which is currently valued at Sh10.2bn. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, DIB Bank Kenya began operations in Africa in June 2017 as a full-fledged commercial bank offering financial services to all Kenyans under the umbrella of “Sharia-compliant”, which is a market niche that is based on ethical and moral foundation that generally aims at improving societal structures, and has spread across a majority…
Kenyans working online pocket an average of Sh2,001 per hour, and Sh20,774 every month, an indication that the lot are earning above the minimum wage. This is according to a study by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) on digital and digitally enabled work in Kenya. Commissioned by the Ajira Digital Program, which is a project of the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth, and conducted by Tifa Research in September 20, the study also revealed that the pay of online workers stands at Sh7,549 in a week compared to earnings per project which is Sh7,110. The program is transforming lives…
In the highly competitive oil and gas industry, gaining an accurate real-time view over the total performance of every aspect of the business can unlock significant competitive advantages and give organisations an edge over their peers – it is interesting that Vivo Energy has, sort of, drawn lessons from this fact. The company has evolved out of traditional ways of doing business by embarking on a total transformation of its business processes to become an intelligent enterprise through an ambitious technology deployment. “We are now faster in generating sales, order, stocking and pricing data, and can process purchase orders quicker,”…
National Police Service vehicle fleet has been bolstered with 40 Volkswagen Tiguan SUVs acquired through a leasing deal with RentCo Africa Limited. The vehicles were flagged off by Patrick Ndunda, director of planning and logistics at Inspector General’s office and Chris Ndala, the managing director of DTB Dobie. “To be able to uphold the rule of law for a safe and secure society, the police force need vehicles that are fuel efficient, reliable and with adequate safety measures. We are proud to add these locally assembled vehicles to our fleet as we are also helping build our economy,” said Mr…
Tech start-up, CoAmana, recently organised Community Supported Agricultural Day (CSA Day) at Nairobi’s Karura Forest in a bid to bring together farmers and consumers who are interested in buying directly from farmers at affordable prices. The event featured farmers and produces from 16 farming clusters, including; Nakuru, Narok, Nyandarua, Nairobi, Kiambu, Muranga, Laikipia and Meru. According to the founder and CEO of the company, Hafsah Jumare, the event is part of a movement to encourage the conscious consumer by linking them to farmers in their local communities. Worldwide, CSAs are systems based on mutual trust to give farming communities more sustainability while reconnecting…
Orbit Products Africa Limited (Opal), which is the contract manufacturer in Kenya for Reckitt, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever owned by brothers Sachen and Dirchen Chandaria, has raised more than Sh5bn by selling its own manufacturing plant and warehousing in Mlolongo, as buildings, to Mauritius-based Grit Real Estate Income Group (Grit). The IFC, arm of the World Bank, has provided half of the finance for the developer to purchase the Opal facility, at $28.6mn, while Grit has raised another $25mn through a corporate bond issue. Once the redevelopment is complete, the buildings will be leased back to Opal to continue its manufacturing. “At…
Home Afrika has appointed the current executive director and chief finance officer, Jayne Nyokabi as the acting managing director following the retirement of its managing director, Dan Awendo. Peter Mungai, the firm’s chairman said Ms. Nyokabi, a finance expert, has previously been embedded in the company’s transformation and restructuring committee and is in step with its future strategic direction. “Ms. Nyokabi will be charged with ensuring continuity in overseeing the implementation of sound corporate governance practices, revenue growth, generating liquidity and cost rationalisation,” said Mr. Mungai. As the Chief Finance Officer and Executive Director, Ms. Nyokabi was formerly charged with all aspects of finance, investor relations, legal, and businessoperations. “She…
100 young people between 18 to 30 years have received scholarships worth 5mn to advance skills in animation, software engineering and artificial intelligence through a partnership between Family Bank and Adanian Labs. Speaking during the commissioning of the beneficiaries of the ICT project Family Bank CEO Rebecca Mbithi noted that there is no industry that is alive to the digital revolution like the banking sector. “The COVID pandemic and innovations in the sector such as mobile money have been key accelerators in the uptake of digitization in Kenya. We believe that through these scholarships we can build capacity for our youth in key…