Author: Victor Adar

Personally, I’ve had some instances where I had to be extra aggressive – ‘almost masculine’ – to get my way – Leah Nduati By Victor Adar Offering consultancy services in a foreign country, especially amid a pandemic and tough business environment, is no mean feat. Leah Nduati, who has been in Ghana for nearly 12 years, working with Growth Africa as a growth catalyst, knows this too well. Ms. Nduati’s position involves offering advisory services to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at the growth stage. Her role is essentially about helping small players scale their businesses and also get them…

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has endorsed the Regional Women’s Land Rights Agenda in a bid to curb the challenges of gender equality on land from a regional perspective. This will support the implementation of the “AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa toward The Africa We Want and Leaving No One Behind”, which is a framework document that will enable the IGAD Secretariat to provide support to Member States in implementing gender and land projects for the next 10 years. The bottom line is that, seven member countries that include Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia will now…

Riruta Health Centre, a public health facility in Nairobi County, has received a donation of 12 hospital ward beds, Sh500,000 and personal protective equipment kits for health workers in the facility thanks to Sportpesa Foundation. The Sh 500,000 is to equip the maternity unit’s kitchen. The donation whose total value is Sh1.3mn, comes after the Nairobi Metropolitan Service completed the building of a maternal wing to enable the facility to provide not only full maternal but also 24-hour services. “This donation, to us, is God-sent and will have a huge impact to the large community that we serve,” said Sister…

Much has been written about the importance of advancing digital literacy on the African continent, especially among its younger citizens. But more often than not, mobilising and inspiring the youthful population to be active participants of the global digital economy is proving to be the continent’s challenge. For Soliyana Gizaw Hunde, ten-year-old coder and winner of the SAP Africa’s inaugural AfriCANCode Challenge, a love of maths and science and a strong community spirit inspired her to develop an educational game dubbed “Mathstainment” to create awareness about COVID-19 while offering a simple and fun way to practice maths. Mathstainment asks a…

Ekraal Hub, H-Pass businesses, Step-Hear Ltd and Personal Watchguard are the winners of the Konza innovation challenge 2021 planned by the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) and Embassy of Israel in Kenya. The four start-ups will provide solutions in their respective fields to the residents and investors in the techno city. While Personal Watchguard, Ekraal Hub and H-Pass businesses are Kenyan based, Step-Hear Ltd is from Israel. “This is exciting and historic moment in the sector as we are accelerating development by having homegrown solutions to deal with our challenges. As a government, we are glad that these innovations will…

BY VICTOR ADAR There are a million and one cases where corporate companies, individuals or political parties would send unsolicited information to a particular target group. In fact, it is a common phenomenon to be met with messages like, “don’t miss out on the next promotion”, “this week it is bigger and better”, “sign up by mid-night and we will reward you”, or “please reply with one to vote for xyz”. Peoples’ personal details have always landed in wrong hands. Will the pressing issue of data safety ever be solved? What’s the impact of the data you are collecting? Is…

BY VICTOR ADAR It is not easy being a real estate developer especially now that Covid-19 pandemic has a bearing on businesses, countries and families. For months, business environment has been tough and making the big dollar a tall order for many investors. Ensuring business continuity has meant that innovation and out of the box ideas are embraced. “We now want to move to counties,” says Shiv Arora, Superior Homes CEO. “There we see a huge opportunity in developing what we would call middle income housing but not apartments. We are delivering a unit at between Sh6m to Sh10m in…

Kisumu, formerly known as Port Florence, was founded in 1901 as the main inland terminal for the Ugandan railway. Actually, it is a port that so many Kenyans are green about. It is also interesting to note that the lakeside city was recognized by the United Nations in 2006 as the first millennium city in the world. The County has a population of 1,155,576 people according to the latest censors, and sits on an area of 2086.9km with its headquaters, Kisumu City, is the third largest city in Kenya. It has seven constituencies; Kisumu East, Kisumu West, Kisumu Central, Muhoroni,…

BY VICTOR ADAR As lack of jobs continue to be a major concern in most countries, James Watare, a HR consultant, project manager and career coach, says having a professional CV is one thing but how to use it to search for jobs is another thing all together. The bulk of job seekers, he says, write unprofessional resumes with the thought that this will attract employers. In the long run they end up not getting feedback, which is seemingly the highest standard of rejection. Mr Watare was attached to the advisory department at Ernst & Young (EY) where he managed…

Agriculture seems to be the word on Fergus Robley’s lips. The general manager of Farm Machinery Distributors (FMD), the oldest Massey Ferguson distributor in Africa, says that their success is hinged on right partnerships with customers that can be traced back to 1958 when Massey Ferguson started manufacturing tractors. The company has evolved over the years, but has remained true to Kenyan farmers by offering mechanised agricultural solutions through the sale and aftermarket support of implements and tractors. He spoke to Victor Adar on challenges and opportunities in the agriculture sector.  Some dealers have a niche. Would you say that…