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The advent of ride-hailing technology was a game-changer in the taxi business in Kenya and across the world. Public transportation is now more convenient and reliable.  These Apps have not only transformed the transport sector, but they have also improved many other business infrastructures that directly affect our society.  An analysis of the GPS systems belonging to Bolt, a leading ride-hailing company in Kenya, reveals interesting formed trends by Kenyans during the festive season.  According to the information, Nairobi County has high economic vibrancy; with more riders and App-based cabs per square kilometre than any other urban centre in Kenya.   It, therefore, formed the base for the study.  Bolt used their own Christmas and New year data for 2018, focusing on travel patterns on the city’s major roads and frequently visited malls. They also looked into popular destinations in Nairobi as well as the most popular ride times. A heat map of travel pa...

Travellers across the world, including 500 Kenyans, are increasingly prioritizing value over cost, demanding more autonomy over personalization and using digital solutions to research and manage their trips. These are among the findings of Travelport’s 2019 Global Digital Traveler Research, which surveyed 23,000 people from 20 countries: Value is more important than cost but can be hard to find • When booking a flight, value is a key priority for over four out of five travellers (81% in Kenya and 86% globally) with customer service being the top priority for 84% of Kenyans. • To find offers of value, travelers ‘nearly always’ use a combination of travel review sites like TripAdvisor (49% in Kenya and 42% globally), price comparison sites like Kayak.com (46% in Kenya and 38% globally) recommendation sites like Kiwi.com (46% in Kenya and 36% globally), and half have conversations with travel consultants (47% in Kenya and 31% globally). • But when shopping online, nearly three ...

Michael Armstrong (FCA) ICAEW Regional Director for Middle East Africa and South Asia The conversation around climate change and how to combat it has taken centre stage in global, regional and national circles. We are joined by  Michael Armstrong, (FCA) ICAEW Regional Director for Middle East Africa and South Asia, to discuss what contribution those in the financial services sector can make in the fight against climate change. How has the role of accountancy changed in light of the emergence of climate change as an issue facing global economies? The role of the accountancy profession is increasingly moving beyond the traditional arenas of accounting, tax and financial services. Accountants are in a prime position to help clients identify potential problem areas and recommend opportunities to improve profitability and reduce costs. In light of the relentless rise of energy prices around the world, the profession is playing an increasingly important role in drawing th...

Winnie Mutegi, Marketing Manager Mi Vida receives an award  from The President of the Architectural Association of Kenya, Mugure Njendu during the 29th Kenya Homes Expo Newly launched residential home builder Mi Vida has been ranked the best new entrant into the Kenyan real estate market at the Kenya Homes Expo 2019. Mi Vida also received an award in the real estate developers and agencies category at the event which came to a close on Sunday. The home builder which is targeting the middle-income sector launched its operations in Kenya in July this year. Mi Vida is a Kshs. 12 billion joint venture between Actis, a leading growth markets investor across Africa, Asia and Latin America, and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate (SPRE), the real estate arm of one of India’s largest conglomerates and aims to construct over 2,000 residential homes in Nairobi. Speaking on the sidelines of the expo Mi Vida CEO Chris Coulson said it was a great honour for the company to be feted bar...

From left: Pharmacy and Poisons Board CEO Dr Fred Siyoi, Denmark Deputy Ambassador to Kenya Henrik Larsen and Novo Nordisk's Vice President (Business Area Africa and Gulf) Mads Bo Larsen during the opening of Novo Nordisk's Nairobi Office Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company headquartered in Denmark with more than 95 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care has opened a regional office in Nairobi, Kenya. Medicine is their key contribution and they supply nearly half of the world’s insulin. However, it takes more than medicine to defeat diabetes. The company, therefore, works in partnerships to drive change to defeat diabetes. Some of the key projects in Kenya include the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) project that works to improve access to diabetes care for people at the base of the economic pyramid and the Changing Diabetes® in Children (CDiC) programme that aims to bring all elements of necessary diabetes care closer to the children and build capacity for ...

Air Afrik will cut roughly 80 per cent of its salaried staff in both Kenya and South Sudan by November as part of the company’s restructuring process. The move will eliminate 200 white-collar jobs.   The carrier hit major turbulence following the loss of a $20 million plane-leasing contract with the government of South Sudan. Since the loss of the contract and the court case against Stanbic Bank the company has been reviewing its process; fitting people into the right jobs and in the process, some roles have become redundant. “ We understand this is a challenging time for our team, but these steps were necessitated following Stanbic Bank ’ s negligent errors, oversight and unlawful actions, ” the company said in a statement The court case stems from a banking transaction gone awry. According to an official letter to the Central Bank of Kenya, the South African-owned bank admits to having regrettably made an error. Letters obtained from the Central Ba...

Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, has collaborated with Kenyatta and Strathmore Universities in Nairobi, Kenya to launch the Making More Health Venture4Change idea competition. The competition is an adaptable local and global development program that aims to unlock the creative potentials of young aspiring professionals by e ncourages participants to develop innovative, scalable and sustainable ground-breaking solutions on how to improve sanitation and hygiene for children and youths aged between 6-25 years. It further aims to foster ideas that create a holistic approach towards local communities’ engagement and empowerment. This goal will be achieved by co-creating with various experts and several partners from different sectors or businesses to discuss best practices in health and more specifically, on improving hygiene for the younger population across the country. Lilian Mwaura (centre), Faheem Sadik and Juma Onyango (right) pose with t...

Marking Kenya as a key entry point to East African markets, the number of Middle East countries exhibiting at this year’s The Big 5 Construct Kenya has gone up dramatically with Kuwait and Egypt signing up to open country pavilions at the event. A platform where local industry professionals can meet and do business with the worldwide construction community for free,   The Big 5 Construct Kenya runs from November 5 th  – 7 th 2019 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).  The exhibition, now in its third edition and held under the patronage of the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works will host 12 international country pavilions in total including Greece, Belgium, China, and Italy among others.  Muhammed Kazi, Portfolio Director at organiser dmg events, comments on the surge of Middle Eastern companies confirmed for the 2019 edition:  “ There are a total of 75 companies from the Middle East ge...

NilePay PLC, the leading Electronic Financial Services Company has today partnered with Zain South Sudan to launch the first licensed mobile money service in South Sudan dubbed NilePay Mobile Money. The partnership is geared towards eliminating significant barriers that have hindered consumers in the country from taking full advantage of global eCommerce. “NilePay Mobile Service’s partnership with Zain South Sudan is part of the company’s long-term strategy to enable eCommerce and digitize financial services across the country,” said Darius Mobe, Director, NilePay Mobile Money. Most people in South Sudan's capital have been relying on unlicensed mobile operators to transfer money through platforms created by MTN Uganda and Kenya's M-PESA. “We are excıted to have partnered with NilePay PLC to brıng the mobile wallet services to the South Sudan market, which makes it more convenient and secure for users to withdraw and deposit money to their accounts while participating in th...

Some of the innovators from Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria during the Making More Health accelerator workshop Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, has called on innovators in Africa to adopt viable business models for their enterprises to ensure growth and sustainability. Speaking during a two-day training workshop for social entrepreneurs Eduardo Lioy, Director Corporate Strategy Development at Boehringer Ingelheim said the firm has invested heavily in training innovators and social entrepreneurs especially in human and animal health in an effort to tackle unmet human and animal health needs. The 'Making More Health’ (MMH) Accelerator programme was launched last year and brings together African social entrepreneurs, Ashoka, an innovators platform and Boehringer Ingelheim's’ leaders from around the globe to brainstorm on ways to enhance the start-ups business models and identify opportunities for strategic collaboration to improv...

Xavier Selga; CCBA's new Managing Director for Kenya, Mayotte and Comoros Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Kenya is pleased to announce the appointment of Xavi Selga as its new Managing Director for Kenya, Mayotte and Comoros, effective 1 May 2019. Xavier takes over from Daryl Wilson who has been appointed to head operations in Ethiopia as the Managing Director for CCBA in Ethiopia. With more than 15 years of experience in the Coca-Cola system, Xavier first joined CCBA as the General Manager for East Africa Bottling Share Company (EABSC) in Ethiopia in February 2014 – a position that he occupied until 2016 when he became the country Managing Director for Ethiopia. Prior to his appointment at EABSC, Xavier was the Managing Director for Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company (ECCBC) in Ghana for two years. Before working in Ghana, Xavier was the Managing Director in Algeria preceded by a number of senior roles with ECCBC in Spain, North Africa and West Africa. Xavier br...

STUDENTS OF OLOIGERO PRIMARY SCHOOL POSE FOR A PHOTO WITH THE P&G TEAM AND PARTNERS OUTSIDE THE NEWLY BUILT DOMITORY Pupils of Oloigero Primary School in Narok County have a reason to smile after Procter and Gamble funded the construction of a girl’s dormitory in the school. The facility, which will accommodate 80 girls, will help support and improve the access to quality education in the area. “Access to quality education is affected by a myriad of challenges in this country. Inadequate infrastructure is one of them.  The situation is even more dire for our girls thus the reason we are here today to commission this dormitory. We believe that this facility will be a critical resource to help keep our girls in school and together with other partners we will work to ensure that we change the narrative about girls missing school due to menstruation,” said Anthony Ng’ang’a,  Associate Brand Director -Commercial Leader - East Africa at Procter & Gamble (P&G)...

The Kenyan and Philippines Ministries of Health, in partnership with Smile Train , KidsOR, the Henry Family Advised Fund, COSECSA, the G4 Alliance, and West African College of Surgeons, hosted an event to galvanize action towards the integration of surgical care as a necessary component of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). For more than 5 billion people around the world, safe, affordable, and timely surgical and anesthesia care remains out of reach. This health crisis, which represents one of the worst inequities in health, continued legacies of poverty, gender inequality, and lack of education for millions of families around the world. The burden of Neglected Surgical Diseases, including untreated cleft lip and palate and clubfoot, obstetric fistula, cataracts, hernia, and neglected trauma such as fractures and burns, falls disproportionately upon those living in low- and middle- income countries—particularly women and children. The potential for Universal Health Coverage (UH...

From left Joseph Claver, Simbisa Brands’ Head of Business Development and Glovo's General Manager for Kenya, William Benthall during the signing ceremony Global delivery firm Glovo has partnered with Simbisa Brands in a bid to bolster its market share in the country. The firm, which uses an app to enable its deliveries, has tapped into Simbisa Brands’ varied portfolio of food and eatery outlets; the flagship brands being, Pizza Inn, Chicken Inn, Creamy Inn and Galitos, in order to enhance and expand their service delivery within different parts of Nairobi. Speaking during the announcement of the partnership, Priscilla Muhiu, Glovo’s Head of Marketing for Sub Sahara Africa, said that the partnership will mostly benefit consumers of Glovo’s service and Simbisa’s products. “This partnership means a lot not only to us but also our customers. Glovo is constantly innovating thus we are always keen to onboard more outlets so as to improve the product offering we give to our ...