Author: Antony Mutunga

In a continent brimming with potential and confidence in its capabilities, African consumers have once again revealed their penchant for non-African brands over local products. According to the 14th annual 2024 Brand Africa Report, conducted by GeoPoll in partnership with Brand Africa, African brands, though making a modest impact, only hold a 14% share of the top 100 admired brands list in Africa for the second consecutive year. The report indicates that despite 64% of Africans expressing confidence in the continent’s potential, the loyalty towards non-African brands remains resolute. European brands continue their dominance with a 37% share in the…

The Ministry of Health has secured a grant of Sh52.65 billion ($407,887,067) from the Global Fund, a financier of AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), and malaria prevention, treatment, and care programs, to continue the fight against these epidemics. Previous grants helped in reducing malaria prevalence from 8% in 2015 to 6% in 2023, and through TB program, treated at least 85% of 264,856 patients, facilitated by innovative methods like AI-enhanced screening and community-based services. “The government is dedicated to building on these achievements through partnerships and community-based approaches,” Principal Secretary (PS) for Public Health and Professional Standards, Mary Muthoni, said during the…

Absa bank’s “InspireMe Conference 2024” kicked off on Tuesday, June 18 and will end on June 19, with stakeholders saying the forum would provide both financial and non-financial opportunity to more than 10,000 women entrepreneurs. Themed “Empowering Your Story for Growth”, the annual conference, which is an initiative under the lender’s women in business proposition launched in 2021, kicked off today, June 18 and will end on June 19, 2024 under the Women from Absa participating countries, which include Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, Mauritius, and Uganda, and others under SheTrades Hubs in Africa – that is, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana,…

The African start-up ecosystem has shown growth and resilience in the month of May, recording a significant increase in funding as compared to April, a report by Africa: The Big Deal, a tech research firm, reveals. Since the start of 2024, the report says, African start-ups have managed to raise Sh94.04 billion ($729 million) in total, which is a sharp drop compared to previous periods such as Sh219.30 billion ($1.7 billion) in the first five months of 2023, Sh348.30 billion ($2.7 billion) in 2022 and Sh141.90 billion ($1.1 billion). African start-ups also recorded an increase in total funding from Sh9.68…

Climate change has caused a minimum of Sh5.41 trillion ($41 billion) damage in the six months since the last major climate conference, COP28, which was held in Dubai, according to the climate breakdown 2024 report by Christian Aid. The report takes note of four extreme weather events that took place in the first half of 2024; the recent floods in Brazil, flooding and heat waves in Asia and the flooding experienced in East Africa. “We need rich countries who are largely responsible for causing the climate crisis to massively scale up funding for action on climate change. They need to…

During a meeting with the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) factory leaders and directors at State House, President William Ruto said branding tea from Kenya will boost earnings for farmers, while contributing to the economy. He noted that the recent state of affairs has been wanting as farmers are denied the best prices due to continious reliance on selling unprocessed tea. “Kenya’s tea should be branded to increase its visibility in the global market and labelling it with a mark of origin,” Ruto said. “We cannot continue exporting our tea in sacks. In three years, we must export 60% of…

Equity Group holdings, which is the region’s most valuable brand according to Brand Finance, has reported a 25% rise in profit after tax, hitting Sh16 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 that ended March 31, 2024. The group’s managing director and chief executive, Dr James Mwangi said the profit is attributable, in part, to a strong leadership and an agile balance sheet. The lender adopted a judicious approach to deposit placements, curbing growth to 11% as compared to 29% registered for the year ended December 31, 2023, a move that allowed the bank to avoid expensive deposits. Simultaneously,…

The talk of the town has been the Finance Bill 2024 – Kenyans are set to face additional taxes and amendments, if the bill is passed into law after being tabled in the National Assembly, with many expecting it to make life more difficult as the government looks for more ways to increase its revenue. Through the bill, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury, has proposed to amend the Data Protection Act, 2019, to grant Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) access to taxpayers’ data held by data controllers and processors, including financial institutions such as banks, telecoms operators…

The government is focused on increasing the total number of users on its digital platform, eCitizen, in a major quest to push daily revenue collection from the platform to at least Sh1 billion by December 2024. Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary, Julius Bitok, said during the Annual Network of Africa Data Protection Associations (NADPA) conference held in Nairobi, that government will make it happen by ensuring all eligible Kenyans obtain an ID which is required to register an eCitizen account. “The government targets to increase from the current Sh700 million daily revenue and 13 million users on the platform…

The ‘Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment’ (ENABLE) Youth Program has been empowering youths to access financing to expand their businesses.