Author: Antony Mutunga

By Antony Mutunga The world health pandemic has sped up the paradigm shift towards digitization that was already underway. As a result, organizations and businesses have been left with limited paths; it’s either they go digital or they go dark. Businesses that were reluctant to embrace digital transformation before have had no choice but to make the shift in order to survive in the ensuing environment. This, unfortunately, has turned out to be a blessing for cyber criminals and hackers, as they take advantage of the new digital norm and exploit the large number of users online. As a number…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA As time goes by, we continue to transform our world into a digital one. Just how digital can we get was recently answered by the catastrophic Covid-19 pandemic. As with most pandemics throughout history, the Covid-19 saw the norm change. with social distancing, a majority around the world were forced to either work from home or close down their businesses for a time. In the period, reliance on the internet grew as doing everything online from ordering food to usual work meetings became the new norm. Despite the continuing emotional and economical toll the pandemic has on…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA “Africa shall no longer be described as the Dark Continent, she will be called the Sparking continent. The fire is not too far from catching on.” – Zenanu Kihme Since the days of colonization, Africa has come a long way, despite still playing catch up to the developed countries, the continent has managed to handle the latest technology and integrate it in most of its industries. In fact, in some cases, Africa has managed to get ahead as in the case of mobile money, for example, Kenya’s M-Pesa which saw the country leap the reliance on plastic cards…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA The festive season is finally here with us after the year was mostly plagued by the disruptive Covid-19 pandemic. As we ushered in 2020, many would have not imagined the economic disruptions that have seen an economic slowdown worldwide. Many businesses were forced to close down and many people around the world were left unemployed. As we come to the end of year, which is mostly a time of consumer spending, things are expected to be a bit different for many. The long queues of shoppers and heavy traffic is not an expected sight this year as…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA In 2014, Facebook acquired the popular messaging service, WhatsApp for about Sh2.07 trillion ($19 billion) after years of tracking it because of its rising popularity and it’s potential as the Facebook killer. The acquisition saw many expect that the newly acquired WhatsApp will follow in the footsteps of Facebook and include advertisements as a monetization strategy. However, after trying to do so, the parent company gave up on adding advertisements to the messaging service earlier this year. Having not given up on the monetizing of WhatsApp, the parent company has taken another path to earn some income…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA With COVID-19 having slowed down movement and business activity, many have found themselves at home in order to combat its spread. During the period, access to the internet has become crucial especially among the youth. Mobile data bundles and Wi-Fi have seen an increase in popularity. With a majority working from home, many have experienced slow connections especially those on Wi-Fi. The more people are on the same Wi-Fi, the slower the connection. The problem is especially worse where there is a large number of people on one network at the same location for example in stadiums…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA At the start of 2020, the Kenyan economy was expected to rebound as compared to the previous year. The Covid-19 pandemic was still in its early stages and was only being recorded in China. The Kenyan shilling which had weakened against international currencies in the last decade was slowly stabilizing and, compared to 2010, the cost of living had almost doubled as a result of the depreciation. The slow stabilization was therefore a good welcome because if it was to continue then the citizens would see a change in the cost of living. However, this has not…

As much as governments and companies are excited about the use of contact tracing apps in helping combat the virus, they must not replace the work that contact tracers do or stop mass testing BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Technology has come in handy amid the coronavirus pandemic more so in contact tracing. Despite its sudden rise, the idea behind the contact-tracing tech has been used for years as a standard disease control measure. Basically, contact tracing entails gathering information from those who tested positive to determine the number of people they have been in contact with as well as the areas…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Kenya’s GDP growth increased to 6.3% in 2018 from 4.9% in 2017, thanks to increased production in the agricultural sector, continuous growth in the transport sector, acceleration in the manufacturing sector and a vibrant service sector. As a result, the country was expected to increase its growth come 2019. However, this is did not come to pass as Kenya experienced a slowdown recording a growth of 5.4%. According to the 2020 economic survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Kenya’s economy was higher when compared to that of Sub-Sahara Africa, which stood at 3.1% in…

BY ANTONY MUTUNGA The beginning of 2020 was to mark the end of the continuous challenges that a majority of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya have been facing. Limited access to credit (top of the list), limited market access, poor infrastructure, rapid changes in technology, and lack of adequate skills and training are but a few. With President Kenyatta recently repealing the interest rate cap, SMEs were foreseeing a change in terms of finance, which in turn, would help deal with the rest of the challenges. In the last half of 2019, the private sector, which had…