The airline industry faces its gravest crisis. Within a matter of a few weeks, our previous worst-case scenario is looking better than our latest estimates. Without immediate government relief measures, there will not be an industry left standing BY GILBERT NG’ANG’A The past three years have certainly been a bloodbath for Kenya Airways, or KQ as the national airline is known by its international code. And possibly, the coming few months to the end of 2020 hold the biggest sway on whether the airline will stay in the skies in the future. Like other airlines globally, the Covid-19 pandemic has…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
Think globally, pick your fights and file early BY VICTOR MWAGO AND JORDAN URSTADT Entrepreneurs are usually short on time or money, or both. What’s the best strategy for an entrepreneur to pursue a patent? As technology entrepreneurs from Kenya and Switzerland, we pooled our experiences and came up with three pieces of business advice for entrepreneurs. We hope it will help entrepreneurs pursuing a patent. Think global Getting a patent in Kenya may safeguard intellectual property in Kenya, but it doesn’t help scale your business against global competition. For industries like software (where we work), the market is global.…
African leadership must deliberately choose to rethink and strengthen health governance, promotion of regional integration, and broadening partnerships for health as important now more than ever before in the context of the Africa Health Strategy BY DRS OLAJIDE ADEMOLA AND BENJAMIN DJOUDALBAYE The COVID -19 pandemic has drastically challenged and strained health systems worldwide. All components of the health delivery architecture – from human resources to physical infrastructure – have been severely tested as morbidity and mortality caseloads unfortunately gallop. Globally, close to seven million people have been infected, with about 401, 000 lives lost. As the pandemic continues to…
What is on record is an organisation that remained silent, even in the glaring presence of massive colonial government excesses against a majority of the country’s population BY GILBERT MUYUMBU The establishment of the modern state in Kenya on June 1, 1886 was not a process that followed any universally accepted rule of law. It was a foreign imposition on the African populations, which then lived in a space that would later be referred to as Kenya. As a foreign imposition, it lacked legitimacy among a majority of Africans and thus faced stiff resistance from many of them. In order…
Continent’s own domestic travel market will be at the forefront driving recovery of the sector post COVID-19, and it’s up to the leisure and business accommodation industry to get behind what these markets will demand BY MARK HAVERCROFT Two years ago, a PwC report identified the importance of local markets for the African travel sector, and the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic make these more relevant than ever. In its PwC Hotels outlook: 2018-2022 Positioning for future growth, the company predicted the steady growth of the domestic tourism market across the continent, noting the principal role this market plays in…
BY TIMOTHY KIAMBATI There is a silent but agonizing cry by private school teachers across the nation. Since the abrupt closure of schools early March that was occasioned by the Coronavirus, private school teachers have been going without salaries. This is despite the fact that they already had pending bills to settle especially in terms of house rents as well as meet their normal daily needs. The covid-19 global pandemic has exposed the underbelly of private school proprietors. Most private school teachers are on indefinite unpaid leave. One can only imagine the damaging effects of this uncertainty. What these teachers are…
Companies and individuals are being impacted on a financial level because of the deadly coronavirus. The manufacturing industry is not spared from the obvious challenges brought on by the pandemic. So how are businesses reacting? At this time of crisis, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has appointed Mucai Kunyiha as the new chairperson with hopes that things will change, given adaptability and resilience in SMEs. He will be taking over from Sachen Gudka, whose term ended after holding the position from July 2018. Mr Kunyiha brings a vast wealth of experience to the manufacturers’ lobby in terms of business,…
Sagaci Research, a leading independent pan-African market research and market intelligence firm, has released its KFC Index for the Q2 2020. This quarterly index utilises the price of KFC chicken buckets to estimate US dollar foreign-exchange (FX) rates of more than 20 African currencies. It is based on price data collected by Sagaci Research field agents, who visited KFC restaurants in 20 countries during June 2020. If a country’s currency is found to be overvalued, this implies that it is cheaper to buy KFC chicken in the US than domestically. Unsurprising, most African currencies (17 out of 21) were found…
Local non-bank financial services provider Sanlam Kenya has confirmed plans to leverage on information technology-based solutions to sustain its business growth as part of its post-Covid-19 recovery strategy. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed firm has been on a sustained recovery path in the last two years but acknowledges that business slowdown arising from Covid-19 ripple effects may impact its 2020 performance. Speaking at the firm’s 74th and first-ever virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM), Sanlam Kenya Chairman Dr John Simba said the firm’s recovery trajectory would take a hit from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted businesses…
The Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMIA) has finally recorded a rise in motor vehicle sales since the first Covid-19 case was reported in the country in March. According to the association’s data, motor vehicle sales increased from 568 units in May, the lowest recorded in the year, to 762 units in June. This was the highest sale since March and February when the sales hit 864 units, and 1,049 units respectively. The pandemic saw the sector experience a 54% decrease in sales as at the end of May as compared to the same period in 2019. Breaking it down, Isuzu…