Author: David Indeje

Cash-strapped clothing and footwear retailer Deacons (East Africa) PLC  (Under Administration) has announced Expression of Interest to sell its business and assets in whole or in part in a public notice. “This invitation (expression of interest) is to potential applicants for the purchase of the business and assets domiciled at the stores – 4U2 (Sarit Center), Adidas (Sarit Center and Two Rivers), Bossini (Two Rivers, Yaya Center, Village Market, Garden City and Rwanda), and FNF (Sarit Center)  via competitive bidding process.” This follows the approval of the Administrators’ proposal by the creditors on January 2019 to undertake a competitive and…

Five Kenyan commercial banks on Monday unveiled a Central Bank of Kenya backed mobile-based credit scheme dubbed Stawi aimed at improving access to funds for Small-to-midsize Enterprises. The loan product will initially be managed by five banks – Commercial Bank of Africa Limited (CBA), the Cooperative Bank of Kenya Limited, Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Limited (DTB), KCB Bank (Kenya) Limited, and NIC Group PLC. Customers will access the loan through a mobile phone application. The money will then be credited to the customer wallet. Stawi offers unsecured loan products ranging from KSh30,000 up to KSh250,000 with repayment profiles of 1-12…

All is not lost for consumers of Huawei devices following Google’s move to suspended business with Huawei in compliance with the U.S. government’s order to place it on its Entity List. “For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices,” a Google spokesperson said on Monday. https://twitter.com/Android/status/1130313848332988421 According to Reuters, citing a source close to the matter, “Huawei Technologies Co Ltd will immediately lose access to updates to the Android operating system, and the next version of its smartphones outside of China will also lose access…

Cybersecurity skills shortage is worsening in Kenya amidst the raising cases of breaches according to the 6th edition of the Cyber Security Report by Serianu Limited. “We estimate that today, Kenya needs at least 10,000 cybersecurity professionals to keep abreast with the number of organisations in need of this critical skill, yet we have observed that each year, just about 100 new personnel join the market. In another five years, going by the current rate of technology uptake, we anticipate that the country will need at least 50,000 cybersecurity professionals,” says William Makatiani CEO, Serianu Limited. The report indicates only…

Kenya has unveiled its Digital Economy Blueprint anchored on five pillars as a guiding tool for the adoption of digital technologies for Africa’s transformation. President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the blueprint-themed “powering Kenya’s transformation”  at the Transform Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. He said “It is intended as a framework to guide us as we accelerate the adoption of digital technologies. I hope all countries will find value in contextualizing this framework to their specific ecosystems so as to realize the full potential of our digital transformation,” the President noted as he launched the blueprint at the Transform Africa Summit in…

The Kenyan Government sold KSh210 billion ($2.1 billion) Eurobond, in tranches of 7- and 12-year tenors, for budgetary allocation and to repay KSh75 billion bond maturing in June. The dual tranche bond was oversubscribed more than four times, the finance ministry said on Thursday. https://twitter.com/PaulWallace123/status/1128692377403691008 “The issuance of this bond followed extensive engagements and consultations with over 100 investors in the United States of America (Los Angeles, Boston and New York) and in the United Kingdom (London). The roadshows began on 8th May, 2019 and ended on 14th May 2019.” the ministry said in a statement. READ: Kenya not Likely…