Author: Victor Adar

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…

BY VICTOR ADAR You know times are tough when a huge number of workers have been laid off and others sent on unpaid leave. The situation has been made worse by the current maddening coronavirus pandemic. Recovering from the economic crisis might be a tall order, particularly to job seekers. One certainty though, life must go on. With advancement in technology and digitization, there is a growing need for not only companies but also employees to re-invent themselves to remain relevant. In scenarios where a huge number of workers have been laid off and others are on unpaid leave, it…

BY VICTOR ADAR Bearing in mind that raising children might be a nightmare to some parents, it is important to engage services of experts. It is more telling when there are individuals who believe in traditional healers, and others who bet on the Bible. Of course it all depends on problems that one is seeking to solve. Stories of mums who take their children to herbalists because of stomach infections, flu or fever are many and diverse and with the current socio-economic uncertainties, the conventional hospital may not be first on the list of a parent whose child or children…

BY VICTOR ADAR It is easy to raise a small percentage, say 25%, of the value of an asset and pay the rest on monthly instalments. It sounds good especially to first time buyers. But what happens when things fall apart and the centre cannot hold? How do you ensure that your asset is not repossessed and put on auction? The strategy used by lenders has always been reactive. Banks, SACCOs and micro-finance institutions generally engage services of third parties in a bid to recover a range of loans. Borrowers have borne the brunt of financial institutions after defaulting on…