At a time that many businesses are facing a number of challenges in the midst of a pandemic, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has announced a Sh1.6b advance aid that aims to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) move past the harsh conditions. According to Linus Gitahi, DTB Board Chairman, the pandemic has caused much harm to entrepreneurs by creating harsh economic conditions that make it difficult to operate. “We all know that the pandemic has had a terrible impact on our lives and livelihoods. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) felt the brunt of the pandemic-induced harsh economic conditions that…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
KENYA – Refinitiv partnered with the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) to enhance Fixed Income (FI) price discovery and raise market transparency in Kenya. As part of the partnership, the NSE will roll out Refinitiv Fixed Income Callouts in Kenya, an automated workflow that facilitates negotiations and agreements of secondary Fixed Income (FI) bond trading among banks, brokerage firms, and real-time integration with the Central Securities Depository (CSD). The primary FI market has been steadily growing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as governments explore better access to financing. According to the 2020 Refinitiv investment banking review, SSA debt issuance totaled $19b in 2020. With…
Equity Group through its medical subsidiary, Equity Afia, has opened a new medical centre in Muranga County to help offer quality and affordable healthcare to the residents. The new medical centre, the Group’s second clinic in the county after Equity Afia Kenol, is located at ECN Building along Uhuru Street. The centre will offer services such as general consultation, dental services, optical services, dermatological services, paediatric services, nutrition services, specialised care in obstetrics and gynaecology and wellness services. According to Professor Isaac Macharia, Equity Group board chairman, the new centre is a part of a larger strategic plan that is aimed…
A decade of political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa has generated levels of displacement never seen before, according to the latest report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). An estimated 12.4 million people are currently internally displaced across the region. When the Arab Spring protests broke out a decade ago, the MENA region was home to more than 3.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs). The figure has more than tripled in a decade as a result of enduring civil wars and localised conflict. It is expected to increase further with climate-related disasters generating new displacement every year. According…
Following a tough 2020 that saw many industries and the economy as whole come to a near halt, the registration of new vehicles in the country decreased as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the number of new vehicles registrations in the first eleven months of 2020 declined by 5% from 302,085 in the corresponding period in 2019 to 287,151. The new vehicle registrations included saloon cars, station wagons, vans, buses, pickups, minibuses, lorries, trailers, motorcycles, three wheelers, and wheeled tractors. The month of April recorded the…
Scores of small scale traders in Nairobi and beyond have begun to enjoy the services of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) National Cargo Deconsolidation Centre (NCDC) located at the Nairobi Railway Station. The traders drawn from Nyamakima and Gikomba commercial zones are enjoying fast, convenient customs clearance of their imported wares following the handling capacity tripling of the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) Transit shed launched last November 2020. With handling capacity improvements and support by KRC, the NCDC is now delivering cargo imported through Mombasa’s port in approximately 15 hours. Operating on a 24-hour basis, the new facility has enhanced…
From the slow, negligible economic growth to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Kenyans have been affected. Most have been pressured to take pay cuts as others have been forced into the unemployment bracket as a result of business closures. These economic consequences have not spared the Government as well. It has been forced to make a reduction and, in most cases, a complete halt when it comes to recruitment. Those holding government jobs are in a constant state of worry, as they no longer enjoy the job security they were used to. This is primarily due to the fact…
BY DR CLAIRE CHAUMONT With over 96 million cases confirmed and over two million deaths over a period of about one year, Covid-19 has established itself as a truly global pandemic affecting all the countries in the world and several aspects of human life, including other core global health issues such as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). NTDs are a set of parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases that affect more than one billion people in the world. Among those diseases, five NTDs can be controlled through preventive chemotherapy (trachoma, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, intestinal worms, and bilharzia). The Africa region bears…
The world has an important opportunity to turn the hard-won lessons of this pandemic into a healthier, more equal future for all BY BILL AND MELINDA GATES We are writing this letter after a year unlike any other in our lifetimes. Two decades ago, we created a foundation focused on global health because we wanted to use the returns from Microsoft to improve as many lives as possible. Health is the bedrock of any thriving society. If your health is compromised—or if you’re worried about catching a deadly disease—it’s hard to concentrate on anything else. Staying alive and well becomes…
BY RACHAEL GATHIGIA The continent Africa includes 54 countries boasting different cultures, vast deserts, lush jungles and tropical paradise islands. Africa has so much more to offer than just big wild mammals in the world – it’s the diversity for many! Some countries have grown their tourism industry better than others, naturally, based on various factors such as infrastructure, accessibility, diplomatic relations, security, and political stability just to mention a few. Among these, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya and according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, South Africa, attract the largest number of tourists into the continent. But what about the…
