NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 5 – The growth of the Kenyan economy will be driven by small and Medium Enterprises.

Speaking to Investors in Nairobi at the Entrepreneurs Summit, Entrepreneurs Society of America Chairman Karl Gibbons says though blue chip companies are still attracted to Kenya, only small business will grow the economy.

He urged the government to continue investing in ease of doing business especially for small business in a bid to generate growth.

“The Kenyan economy will be driven by the guy or the girl who starts their own business, will probably never do a million dollars a year and will have less than five employees and they will be 80 percent of the economy,” he said.

About 46 percent of SMEs in Kenya close shop within a year of founding, while another 15 percent in the subsequent year according to the Central Bank of Kenya that cites SMEs failure to solve big enough problems in the market.

According to Deloitte Kenya Economic Outlook 2016 report, Kenyan SMEs are hindered by inadequate capital, limited market access, deprived and unsupportive infrastructure, inadequate knowledge and skills and rapid changes in technology. Besides, corruption and an unfavorable regulatory environment creep in to add more disharmony to the sector.

“Kenya should focus on creating a good environment for small businesses to thrive, some of these small businesses could end up being big corporations,” he said.

He added that America investors are keen on investing in Africa.

“Africa is growing enormously; many American investors are keen on investing here,” he added.

Gibbons will also be speaking to entrepreneurs on Wednesday in Mombasa at an event organized by Sprinter Real Estate Limited.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 6 – African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), has appointed Wanjiku Mugane as a senior advisor in Kenya.

Based in Nairobi, Mugane will be working closely with the AIIM investment team, delivering market insights and supporting the deal pipeline.

AIIM is one of Africa’s largest and most experienced infrastructure-focused private equity fund managers and a member of Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI).

“East Africa continues to be one of the fastest growing regions in the world with an estimated growth rate of 6.2 percent in 2019. To sustain this strong performance the region needs to continue to unlock investment in its infrastructure and AIIM is committed to seizing the opportunities this presents for its partners, investors and communities it operates in,” Jurie Swart, Chief Executive Officer of AIIM.

Mugane is the co-founder and Executive Director of Eagle Africa Capital Partners Ltd, a corporate finance advisory and patient capital investing firm.

Prior to this, Mugane was the East Africa CEO of Standard Chartered Securities and co-founder of First Africa Group, providing cross-border corporate finance advisory.

“Wanjiku’s appointment reinforces our deep operational experience on the ground in Kenya and brings an expert new perspective to the table. Her impressive background paired with her deep understanding of the investment landscape in Kenya, makes her a terrific addition to AIIM as we seek to broaden our capabilities in the region. We are thrilled to welcome her to the team,” Swart added.

Following the successful close and exit of Kipeto Wind Farm, AIIM has invested in BBOXX New Generation Utility in Kenya and are shortlisted on the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway PPP.

“I’m looking forward to working with Africa’s pre-eminent infrastructure investment manager and utilising my expertise in the East African capital markets and region to contribute to their growth strategy,” Mugane said.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 7 – Facebook is set to open its first sub-Saharan Africa content review centre in Nairobi.

The centre is expected to employ to 100 reviewers by the end of the year that will support a number of languages, including Somali, Oromo, Swahili and Hausa.

Facebook’s Public Policy Director Africa Ebele Okobi says this is part of the firm’s continued investment across sub-Saharan Africa and commitment to safety and security on its platform.

The centre is in partnership with Samasource – one of the largest digital employers in East Africa and a leading social enterprise.

“This further highlights our commitment to serving the community of people using our platforms across Africa, as well as our commitment to continuing to invest and partner locally across the continent. I am delighted that through our partnership with Samasource we will be opening our first content review centre here in Africa,” Okobi said.

Fazdai Madzingira, Public Policy Associate for content said over the years, Facebook has made significant investments globally, and locally in ensuring that people see the content they want to see, and are aware of what is and isn’t allowed on the platform.

“We want Facebook to be a place where people can express themselves and freely discuss different points of view, whilst ensuring that it remains safe for everyone,” Madzingira added.

Carolyn Komen, Samasource Program Director said the partnership with Facebook in Nairobi will help keep Facebook safe.

“We use technology and private sector methods to measurably improve access to work and job training. Our team will receive extensive training and support, benefit from industry-leading facilities, and have the opportunity to advance their careers in tech through this partnership.”

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 12 –  Kenya’s earnings from fresh produce exports in 2018 jumped to Sh153.68 billion, a 33 per cent increase over 2017 earnings.

This is according to the statistics released by the Kenya Flower Council (KFC), Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK), and Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya.

Flower exports contributed Sh113.16 billion up from Sh82.24 billion earned in 2017, representing 37.8 per cent growth while Fruits and vegetables earned Sh12.83 billion and Sh27.68 billion in 2018, up from Sh9.0 billion and Sh24.06 billion earned in 2017, respectively.

The cut-flower export still remains the largest earner, contributing 74 per cent of the total fresh produce annual earnings, fruits at 8 percent and vegetables at 18 percent.

Hosea Machuki, Chief Executive Officer of Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, said the sector has remained resilient amid various challenges, as the industry was hit hard by an acute shortage of soluble fertilizer and the imposition of 16 percent VAT on pest control products.

The shortage of fertilizer was caused by stringent and lengthy clearance process by the Kenya Bureau of Standard at the port of entry.

“The sector has seen marked resilience and continued growth and huge potential which has enabled it weather various challenges such as the Brexit shock and fertilizer shortages which the sector faced,” said Machuki.

The imposition of 16 percent VAT on pest control products and VAT return estimated to be Sh3.5bn, has increased the cost of production, resulting in non-competitiveness in the international markets.

“These challenges have compounded the many challenges Kenyan farmers face including numerous taxes, and levies at national and county governments, high energy costs, trade and phytosanitary restrictions in several potential markets, and the recent notice on closure of runway during the valentine peak season,” said Clement Tulezi, Chief Executive Office, Kenya Flower Council.

Principal Secretary, Ministry of Trade Chris Kiptoo said the government was working toward expanding the export market for the horticultural products besides the primary European markets.

“The government is exploring new markets like China to complement the traditional European market. Already a delegation from China will be in the country soon to evaluate the avocado market and we are optimistic soon our farmers will start export to the Chinese market. US market is also key for us, following the commissioning of the direct flight between Kenya and the United States,” Kiptoo said.

Kiptoo also noted that the government was in discussion with the United Kingdom on the issue of Brexit to ensure that the sector is not adversely affected, irrespective of the outcome of the process.

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 12 – The Competition Authority of Kenya has announced that it received 148 merger notifications in the 2017/2018 financial year.

Competition Authority of Kenya Director General Francis Kariuki said a majority of the requests were registered in the second half of the period.

Kariuki added that 55.3 percent of the mergers assessed had an international dimension, which attests to Kenya’s continued attractiveness as an investment destination.

Among the planned mergers and acquisitions that came to light in 2018 include; Ramco Plexus acquisition of rival Panthera Publishers, Synovate buyout of Ipsos, the merger of NIC and CBA banks, and the failed merger of operations between retailers Tuskys and Nakumatt.

The Competition Authority Kenya also announced that it has started implementing recommendations of the Banking Phase II market inquiry which sought to determine the challenges that hinder customers from exerting competitive pressure on commercial banks.

The study, which is aimed at contributing to increased financial inclusion focused on issues such as; price transparency, disclosure practices by service providers, ease of switching between banks and data portability.

Already, the Authority’s interventions in the telecommunications sector have seen a significant drop in charges of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) by the country’s leading telecom firms, to the benefit of consumers.

The Authority has also initiated a regional study into the Shipping, Trucking and Haulage industry in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

“The objective of the inquiry is to identify and remedy anticompetitive practices impeding national and intra-regional trade and hence act as an obstacle to the growth of our manufacturing sector,” said Kariuki.

In collaboration with Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya, the Authority initiated a market study on the level of competition in the leasing sector, with the aim of developing an enabling and competitive market especially for SMEs participating in this sector.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 15 – Cytonn Investments has been granted a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Manager License by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).

The move comes after the firm was recently granted a license to manage retirement benefit schemes funds by the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) in December 2018.

The new license will allow the firm to register their own REIT products, which include Development REIT’s and Income REIT’s, allowing them to access a pool of investor capital that wishes to take specific real estate exposure.

Cytonn Asset Managers Limited (CAML) becomes the ninth Kenyan fund manager to be granted a REIT Manager License by CMA.

Having the REIT Manager license will allow CAML REIT’s source funds to build or acquire real estate assets, which they sell to generate development returns, or rent to generate income.

The income generated is then distributed to the shareholders at the end of a financial year.

Additionally, CMA consented for CAML to proceed and register a number of Unit Trust Funds, the Cytonn Africa Financial Services Fund, Cytonn USD Money Market Fund and Cytonn High Yield Fund.

“This is an important milestone for CAML because it allows us to bring investment grade real estate offerings to a wider pull of clients through regulated capital markets vehicles. This will be the first real estate backed high yield fund in the market and it demonstrates that our capital markets are open to innovation” said Edwin Dande, Chief Executive Officer, Cytonn Investments.

Deepening of the capital markets remains a key priority for Cytonn Asset Managers and the REIT Managers license is another positive step forward towards regulated product development.

“A key challenge facing the real estate sector is access to financing away from the traditional sources of funding, which include bank funding. Financing structures such as REIT’s and real estate backed funds such as high yield fund, offer a capital markets based solution to raising funds towards real estate development, and also a chance for eligible investors to invest and gain attractive yields, capital appreciation and above-average total returns” said Maurice Oduor, Principal Officer, Cytonn Asset Managers, on receiving the REIT Manager License.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 15 – Safaricom Board of Directors has appointed Rose Ogega as an independent non-executive Director with effect from February 12, 2019.

Ogega is the founder and Managing Director of Bloom Consultancy Limited, an organization that develops leadership skills through executive coaching and mentoring.

She started her Career at Pricewaterhouse 32 years ago and moved on to DHL International as the Finance Director for Kenya and East Africa.

She retired at age 34 to start her journey as an entrepreneur.

Ogega has over 15 years of Board experience spanning across professional, large listed companies, large private companies, government Institutions and small/startup ventures.

She has served in several boards in Kenya including; Barclays Bank Kenya, UAP Old Mutual Group, and at the National Economic and Social Council.

As a non-executive Board director, she has worked very closely with senior executive teams on a broad range of strategic issues in a diverse array of industry setting including banking and Insurance.

She also helps individuals prepare for Board positions through mentoring and coaching.

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 15 – Kenya is set to host the first ever Africa Protected Areas Congress In November 2019.

The congress is the first ever continent-wide gathering of African leaders, citizens, and interest groups to discuss the role of protected areas in conserving nature and promoting sustainable development.

The meeting is expected to attract more than 2,000 delegates who will deliberate on homegrown ways to secure a sustainable future for Africa’s protected areas.

The conference will also showcase homegrown examples of practical, innovative, sustainable and replicable solutions that harmonize conservation and sustainable human development.

The collective efforts from the African leaders are expected to contribute to African Union’s Agenda 2063 of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in international arena”.

Tourism and Wildlife Principal Secretary, Margaret Mwakima says human beings can live with animals and take care of each other to save biodiversity.

“As a continent, we can offer resilience, adaptability and tackle climate change to protect our biodiversity,” he said.

The forum is organized by the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, at the start of the 20th century, there were only a handful of protected areas approximately 200,000 which cover around 14.6 percent of the world’s land and around 2.8 percent of the oceans.

“Protected areas safeguard nature and cultural resources, improve livelihoods and drive sustainable development. We must work together to preserve them. The launch steered awareness and visibility of the upcoming conference to be held on 18th to 23rd November this year,” Mwakima added.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – Construction of the 821km oil pipeline connecting Lokichar oilfields in Northern Kenya to the Lamu seaport to be completed by 2022.

Tullow Oil Kenya Managing Director Martin Mbogo said the pipeline will cost Sh100 billion and will pump about 80, 000 barrels per day.

Mbogo said Tullow Oil is also constructing oil fields at a cost of Sh300 billion to be financed by 70 percent debt and 30 percent equity.

Kenya’s early oil export project transports 600 barrels of oil per day from Turkana oilfields by road to Mombasa port for storage, ahead of shipments expected to begin mid this year.

Kenya has so far struck 750 million barrels of oil since 2012, considered commercially viable, with ongoing exploration indicating the figure is likely to cross the one billion mark.

However, so far, the country is yet to make revenue from the resource.

“Early Oil project is not a commercial venture, it’s about finding out exactly what are the requirements from a logistical point of view and a social point of view on what we will need to produce full field,” said Petroleum PS Andrew Kamau.

So far the country has transported about 80, 000 barrels.

Kamau said the country will not construct a local refinery to process the Turkana oil as the reserves are not enough to make it a viable project.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22 – NIC Bank has set its foot in Zanzibar with a new branch. “The new branch was opened on Thursday at Muzammil Centre on Mlandege Road,” the bank announced.

The move comes as the bank is working on a merger with Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA). The merger is expected to be completed in the second half of 2019. Until then, the two entities will continue to operate independently.

CBA shareholders will own 53 per cent of the merged business with NIC Bank while NIC Bank shareholders will own 47 per cent.

The merger will propel the entity to be the second largest bank in customer base in Kenya and third largest by assets.

The new entity will have 40 million customers across five regional economic centres including Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Abidjan making it the largest bank in Africa by customer numbers.

In asset base, the combined bank will be among

the largest financial institution in the East African region with an asset base of Sh444 billion about 100 branches with a shareholders’ equity of Sh65 billion.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22 – The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has urged Kenyans to begin submitting their 2018 tax returns early.

The Authority has urged all employers to issue P9 Certificates to their employees early enough to facilitate them in filing their 2018 individual income tax returns in time and avoid late filing penalty.

Last year about 3.2 million taxpayers filed their returns in time. This year’s with deadline is scheduled for June 30th, 2019.

“KRA has enhanced iTax to have an auto-populated return of employment income. This has made it much easier, smoother and faster for employees whose source of income is only employment to file their returns. The employees are only required to input data on pension and annual relief.

On receipt of the P9 certificates, the employees should simply proceed and file their returns accordingly,” the Authority said in a statement.

Persons with employment and other sources of income are required to download excel sheet from iTax, fill in the required information offline and submit the return by easily loading it in iTax.

All PIN holders who have no source of income, for example, university or college students are required to file NIL returns.

“Taxpayers should note that filing of tax returns is a requirement for the issuance of a Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC),” KRA notes.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22 – Ten women-owned businesses from Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya will next week attend COTERIE, one of the United States’ top fashion trade shows, with support from the International Trade Centre’s SheTrades initiative.

Taking place at the Javits Center, New York City, on 25 – 27 February, COTERIE provides an opportunity for the brands to showcase their collections and connect with international buyers.

All ten companies are part of SheTrades in the Commonwealth Programme, funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

In 2018, SheTrades sponsored a delegation of 9 brands from Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria to attend the fall edition of COTERIE, which led to meetings with 100 buyers and secured US $495,000 USD in trade leads.

One of the participating companies was Afrodesiac, a Ghanaian company that has seen tremendous success following its attendance at COTERIE.

‘The International Trade Centre has helped our company reach international markets by giving us access to new buyers through trade shows and exhibitions. Thanks to support from SheTrades and DFID, we expanded our business by over 50 percent.’ said Chiedza Makonnen, Founder of Afrodesiac Worldwide.

This year SheTrades is showcasing new brands including Bello Edu, a Ghanaian company, and Lilabare Clothing from Kenya.
The SheTrades in the Commonwealth programme aims to increase economic growth and job creation in Commonwealth countries by increasing the participation of women-owned businesses in international trade.

The project is funded by the UK Department for International Development and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) under the framework of the SheTrades Initiative.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22 – The Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF) has approved a Sh1.3 billion grant to the Geothermal Development Company (GDC).

The grant which will facilitate the drilling of up to six geothermal wells and support the development of key infrastructural works at the Baringo – Silali Geothermal Project in Kenya’s North Rift region.

The Baringo – Silali Geothermal Project being developed by GDC, covers three geothermal prospects (Silali, Paka and Korosi) from which the company is looking to produce a total of 300MW by 2030.

The GRMF grant will fund 40 per cent of the costs associated with the drilling of two geothermal wells in each of the three prospects and 20 per cent of the total costs incurred during the development of requisite infrastructural work in the project area.

“The next step is for GDC to give us a date and venue for the signing,” said Sylvain Degolmal Marketing Expert, GRMF, and African Union Commission who was leading the GRMF delegation.

GDC committed to expedite and get the requisite approvals to the signing of the grant contract in a bid to fast-track the development of their Baringo-Silali geothermal project.

GRMF is a risk mitigation facility set up in 2012, by the African Union Commission (AUC), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (EU ITF) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

The key mandate of the facility is to encourage the development of the geothermal energy sources in East Africa, by removing the high upfront costs that are associated with infrastructure development in green-fields and initial exploratory drilling in geothermal fields.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 15 – Nairobi Traders and Small business association will on Wednesday hold a major protest against what they term as government harassment of their business.

Organizing Secretary Ann Nyokabi says all businesses in Nairobi will close shop paving way for traders to hit the streets in all major roads.

Nyokabi says over 3000 containers worth Sh12 billion have been seized with the government claiming they goods imported are substandard.

“Most of our members are being auctioned and defaulting on loans because they can’t pay loans. Some of the goods belonging to thousands of small traders have remained stuck at the port for months,” she said.

According to Nyokabi, their challenges vary from harassment by police officers to arbitrary arrests of their members as well as frustrations on clearance of imports from the port.

She says all efforts to have discussions with the government have not been fruitful.

“It should be remembered that it is the said challenges that led us to exercise our constitutional right of picketing about two months ago prompting the government to have a sitting with us.  However, it’s rather sad that the many resolutions reached out of our meetings have never been honoured by the government,” she said.

Some of the resolutions during the meeting with the government included unconditional release of seized containers which the government has not adhered to.

“To add salt to injury, due to the imminent and inevitable piling up of containers at Mombasa port, an auction for the same goods has been advertised without care to the importers burden and worse still cartels are ready to purchase the goods at a throwaway price,” she explained.

In August, the small-scale traders and importers in Nairobi sought a petition from the Senate seeking the release of their consignments from the Port of Mombasa following implementation of stringent cargo clearing measures by government regulatory agencies.

The traders also called upon the government to stop the blanket destruction of imported goods at the port, saying that a few contraband goods in a container of consolidated goods should not warrant destruction of the whole consignment.

Last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the destruction of illicit goods worth Sh1.5 billion including 149 motor vehicles.

Before setting the contraband ablaze and witnessing the crushing of the vehicles, the President said that the war against corruption, contraband, counterfeits and all forms of economic crimes will be sustained, cautioning politicians to stop politicising the crackdown.

Besides the cars worth over Sh71 million , other general merchandise on the destruction list included an array of foodstuff, fake electronics, assorted pharmaceuticals some of which were expired and poisonous, laboratory equipment, motor-vehicle spare parts, construction materials, alcoholic drinks, counterfeit cigarettes, motor-cycle tubes, energy saving bulbs, cables  and  sex toys all worth millions of shillings.

NAIROBI, Kenya Jul 25 – In the blink of an eye, she lost everything; her business and job. She was left wallowing in self-pity.

For months, Njeri Muchina did not have any hope, it was a dark place to be, and she did not know how to get out.

You see, the mother of three had always had an income. During her university days, Njeri enrolled for a course in sign language and started earning gigs for sign language interpretation.

She became so good at it that she landed a job at Media Max Limited as a sign language interpreter and was slotted for Kameme TV’s news bulletin.

But her entrepreneurship spirit could not limit her to a day job.

“I opened a Wines and Spirits shop in Ruaka Town determined to make a little bit more for myself and family, and things went well for quite sometime. And then they did not. The Kiambu County Government was fighting alcoholism in the county, and my shop was among the affected ones, meanwhile at my place of work, things weren’t good either, and I ended up losing my job at the same time,” Muchina narrates in the latest episode of Founders Connect Africa.

For seven months, she had her pity party, with a bit of prayer over here and a bit of self distruction over there.

“I drunk a lot, and I prayed alot, I actually read the whole Bible, I was lost, my friends were gone, my family was confused and didn’t know how to help me, but I had one friend, who was tired of my whining. She got me an interview in Meru in an insurance company as an agent. When I went for the interview, the interviewer was elated to see me, because he had seen me on TV and gave me the job,” she said.

It was during the Job training that she realised Insurance was not for her.

“The job was commission based, during the training, I learnt that the one who earned the most in that month, got Sh10, 000. I was shocked, and knew I wasn’t coming back, I used the Sh100 bob they gave us to buy credit to look for cleaning jobs. I went to the first shop, they were suspicious, and chased me away. I mean, I was very well dressed, in stilettos, and wanted to clean? But one owner of a cyber Cafe, gave me the opportunity to clean her Cyber Cafe for Sh50,” she revealed.

Later that day, word went round that there was a graduate who was cleaning shops for a living.

She was immediately booked for the next day and made Sh1900, from cleaning four shops for Sh100 and a house for Sh1500.

That is how Max Hub Limited started.

The firm is now one of the largest cleaning companies in Meru.

“We are now cleaning malls and hospitals, we still do houses and a few premises, it is all a blur and happened so fast, I cannot believe how far we have come,” she said.

She now has over 10 employees and plans to open branches in other counties.

“We have differentiated our product through service delivery, our staff is highly trained and honest. We have standardised our services, we have affordable monthly packages for house cleaning, this makes our product very attractive to many homes,” she added.

Her biggest challenge right now is scaling up.

“I am in a comfortable place right now, I want to scale up. I don’t want to stagnate,” she noted.

She advised those who lose their jobs not to give up on themselves.

“Don’t stay in that pity party for so long, do something, anything, don’t despise any opportunity, you never know what will work for you,” she said.

In the recent past, nearly a million people have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has forced many businesses to either cut jobs or shut down.

The move comes even as youth unemployment in the country remains a great challenge for the Uhuru Kenyatta administration.

The government had promised to provide a over million jobs every year, but have fallen short with each year averaging at 800,000 new jobs.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 5 – Kenyans are set to receive free advice on Non – Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in all Goodlife Pharmacies across the country in a new campaign dubbed wellness 360.

The campaign follows a partnership between Goodlife Pharmacy and Phillips Pharmaceutical where Goodlife pharmacy staff will get the continuous training on Non – Communicable Diseases in a bid to equip Kenyans on lifestyle modification interventions so as to help in reducing the burden of NCDs and promote healthy lifestyle.

“Of our 300 workforce we have so far trained about 100 of them and we will continue to keep training all of them, we realized the first place any patient visits, it’s a chemist, asking for a certain drug, how about equipping our workforce with the necessary information,”said Goodlife Pharmacy Head of Retail, David Kasonga.

The partnership is under Phillips Top100 training programme that seeks to provide patient centric education aimed increasing knowledge of NCDs to Kenyans.

“Under the collaboration, various experts from Clinical Nutritionist, Medical Experts and Consultant pharmacists will provide continuous training and update tailored on patient centricity and advice on wellness and lifestyle modification,” said Phillips Pharmaceutical Chief Executive Newton Siele

The move comes even Covid-19 pandemic worsens with people who suffer from NCDs at a great risk.

Ministry of Health data shows that NCDs accounted for over 50 percent of hospital admissions in Kenya.

Moreover, 33 percent of Covid-19 related deaths suffered from diabetes and hypertension.

Latest statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) also indicate that about a quarter of Kenyan Women aged 15 years and above are either underweight or obese.

In contrast only, 7 percent of Men in the same age group suffer from the conditions with obesity increasing across at an alarming rate.

“Lifestyle modification is highly recommended as one of the interventions in reducing NCDs related complications, Kenyans can now walk in any of our pharmacies and get necessary advice especially on nutrition and healthy living,” said Goodlife CEO Amaan Khalfan.

The campaign will run for five months.

Goodlife has about 65 branches in the region with a reach of over 3 million people.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 15 – The Africa Union is betting on top digital solutions among them PanaBios – a bio-surveillance and bio-screening suite -, to ensure continuity of business in the region, in the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.

The technology maps COVID-19 hotspots throughout the continent and builds risk models that create a base for standardized protocols to prevent transmission of the disease.

Using similar risk models tied to testing across the continent, PanaBIOS makes it possible to verify the health status of international travelers across borders, at a time when air travel has resumed.

The technology will see travelers use test results from one country to satisfy port clearance requirements in another country through their personal PanaBios app, which is already available on the PanaBIOS website.

The technology will thus simultaneously help ease port congestion (by obviating the need for testing on arrival) and prevent importation of new Covid-19 cases at ports of entry.

Furthermore, it provides the means to track vaccine administration and also adverse reactions, in a bid for transparency and confidence rebuilding in the wake of growing paranoia about vaccines. This will however only be important when vaccines for Covid-19 are widely available.

Of more immediate use is the potential of the platform’s machine learning algorithms to serve as rapid screening measures to help with school reopening, workplace safety and cross-border travel through the meshing of testing-related data and geolocation intelligence.

The move comes as African countries are getting ready to reopen their borders and economies. The momentum building behind reopening is causing a surge of alarm amongst public health experts who fear a harsher and more devastating “second wave” of the disease if smart digital measures are not implemented to replace the physical restrictions being abandoned.

Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga says the move towards digital solutions for the 55- member state intergovernmental union is critical even as the Union commits to meet the Africa Continental Free Trade Area operationalization deadline of January 1, 2021.

“This will help to ensure that African countries are able to meet the new date for the start of trading under the AfCFTA of 1st January 2021, as set by Africa Heads of State and Governments who are strongly committed to getting the AfCFTA agenda back on track after the postponement of the start of trading initially set for July 1, 2020,” he added.

PanaBios has been piloted in Ghana for a range of the measures it is supposed to support trans-continentally. In a fascinating recent use case, the Ghanaian electoral authorities deployed it to keep electoral registration activities on track despite fears of COVID-19 among the country’s medical personnel. Registration centres were eventually digitally decongested, helping blunt some of anxiety in the buildup to the process. Ghana’s constitution does not offer a mechanism for the postponement of elections during a pandemic.

Among other digital solutions the AU is promoting to the member states to keep integration and business continuity across the continent on track notwithstanding the pandemic are a “virtual diplomacy platform”, to address member states’ concerns about virtual negotiations, and an “AfCFTA Number” concept to boost e-Trade among SMEs across the continent and speed up e-commerce interoperability.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 25 – Standard Chartered Group profits drop by 31 percent in the first six months of 2020 as Covid-19 pandemic continue to bite.

The Bank posted Sh3.2billion in profit in the first half of the month compared to Sh4.7 billion the same period the previous year.

Interest income dropped the period under review to hit Sh2.54 billion compared to Sh2.89billion recorded the same period 2019, while non-interest income also dropped to Sh9.39 billion compared to Sh9.85 billion in the period under review.

Customer deposits went up to hit Sh256 compared to Sh228.4 billion as the country recorded nearly a million job losses due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

In a surprise move, the bank’s loan book expanded 11.9 percent to hit Sh134 billion up from Sh120 billion while the government and other securities grew 3.2 percent with the bank maintaining a very liquid balance sheet at 66.7% percent.

“Over the last 24 months, our investments in digital capabilities have been unprecedented and building on these capabilities has enabled our transaction processing to remain resilient at the back of the COVID 19 pandemic – Today, 89 percent of transactions are being conducted digitally with a 62 percent and 90 percent penetration for our Retail and Corporate clients respectively,” said Kariuki Ngari Chief Executive Standard Group.

He disclosed that 72 percent of the firms’ head office staff have continued to work from home supporting clients and ensuring there is no hold up on their banking requests.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 18 – You may throw away plastic bottle tops and cooking oil containers after use because technically you don’t need them.

But there is a company in Nairobi that rely on this trash to put food on the table.

Gjenge Makers recycle plastic bottle tops and cooking oil containers to make pavers, which are used for sidewalks footpaths and sideways.

The company that has been in operations in the last two years and launched its product this year (2020).

“Gjenge started with a dream of four people, me and three brilliant engineers, the idea was how do we find the most sustainable solution to plastic waste pollution and giving a solution that is practical, the best impact was meeting basic needs, and in this case, housing is one of the basic needs,” She said.

When they identified the space they wanted to get into, they began doing a lot of research on it, if there was demand for the product, and how to make the product, but unfortunately, they did not find the machines they needed and had to make their own machines from scratch.

“The machines we use, we make them from scratch; we really researched the internet to find the machines that would give us what we wanted, but we didn’t find exactly what we wanted. We decided if Moses can’t get to the mountain, let’s bring the mountain to Moses,” she explained.

However, some machines were too expensive to make and they had to look for assistance.

The company went on an eight months fundraising campaign looking for a strategic partner.

“We knocked on so many doors, some did not even give us time to explain our idea, but the ones who did give us an ear, I remember getting 52 no’s but we finally landed on help,” he recalls.

Today, the factory has a capacity to produce about 1200, 40mm pavers, a day on a two-day shift.

“Having launched this year, we have seen a great uptake of our product despite the Covid-19 pandemic, we are hoping to continue getting more orders, and taking the company to the next level,” she noted.

The team eyes the government’s’ affordable housing projects, and plans to increase other sustainable products to their portfolio.

The impact of plastic pollution is felt across the world with 8 million tonnes of plastic finding it’s way into oceans every year.

Even more troubling is that only 9 percent of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled, while 79 percent ends up in landfills, dumps or the natural environment.

Kenya has however imposed a ban on use of plastic bags.

Total plastic produced in Kenya every year stands at about 400, 000 tonnes.

NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 2 –  Starting a new business has been the biggest positive lesson learnt by Kenyans during the Covid-19 pandemic according to a recent online survey by APA Insurance.

The survey from the ‘Never Say Never’ campaign indicates that a majority of Kenyans embraced an attitude of resourcefulness which has inspired out of the box thinking and the ability to adapt that entails starting a business.

“While we all wish 2020 as the new decade, had chosen a more humane mode to help us pause, the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing everyone to make do with what they have and to develop skills in doing more with less,” added Shah.

Other positive lessons learned include reconnecting with hobbies and finding time for family, to cherishing home-cooked meals.

The ‘Never Say Never’ survey also highlighted that Coronavirus has taught the majority of people to appreciate the things they have including family, friends and their health.

“Things that we never thought possible are happening and while we can’t control what’s happening in the world, we can, however, decide how we’ll react to what is going on, including what we choose to learn from our experiences, and the opportunities we seek out in the face of these changing and challenging times,” Shah noted.

APA Insurance, which is part of the Apollo Group, recently announced the new brand campaign, titled ‘Never Say Never.’

The campaign invited Kenyan’s to share their experiences on how Covid-19 has inspired them to think differently about their life since the pandemic.

The campaign aims to inspire positive opportunities, resourcefulness and renew its brand promise to insure happiness.

“We are taking up the challenge to serve our client by living up to our brand promise and flipping the frowns right back up, as even the darkest cloud has a silver lining,” concluded Shah.