Author: David Indeje

The M-PESA Foundation Academy provides world-class Kenyan education to talented but economically disadvantaged students from across the country.

The Kenya financial market has been ranked third with a score of 65 percent in Africa in the second edition of the Absa Financial Markets Index (AFMI). This is an improvement from fifth place in the first edition attributed to ease of foreign exchange access where it ranked first and third in its ability to enforce financial agreements, clarity on property rights and compatibility with international standards. South Africa, with a score of 93 percent, was declared the most advanced market in Africa. According to the report, areas of improvement for Kenya include limited product diversity, relatively low pension assets…

Creditors of indebted ARM Cement have approved the sale of one of its subsidiaries to reduce its debt according to the company’s administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers (pwc). In their first meeting of creditors that took place in Nairobi on 23 October, Muniu Thoithi, one of the co-administrators from PwC as reported by Reuters, said 102 creditors, collectively owed KSh9.6 billion approved the proposal with two creditors, together owed Ksh 87,000 rejecting. ARM Cement owes creditors more than Ksh 12.5 billion. Bloomberg reported that there are 11 potential investors who have shown interest in participating in ARM’s recapitalization, according to George Weru, an…

Manufacturers rely on a stable, balanced and common-sense regulatory environment to create jobs and fuel economic growth. Kenya is among five countries that have been identified to have well-developed manufacturing sectors. The other countries include South Africa, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. The Brookings Institution paper ‘The potential of manufacturing and industrialization in Africa Trends, opportunities, and strategies’ written by Landry Signé in collaboration with Chelsea Johnson attributes this to the high scores for the pay versus productivity of the labor force, quality of electricity supply, and quality of transport infrastructure.  However, at continental levels, the paper observes that “Investment in…

The third edition of Barclay’s SME in Conversation, an initiative which engages small business owners in talks on what affects them and how to go about pushing through, was held in Eldoret on Thursday. ‘SMEs in Conversation’ gives focus on four pillars of business performance management, access to market, business knowledge and skills, and mentorship and networking. The event, which was held at Boma Inn saw various SME owners from the tech, manufacturing, farming, hotel and hospitality industry raise questions on how to deal with challenges like funding, how to retain employees, how to tackle theft in the workplace as…

The Kenyan Cabinet has approved the merger of the Export Promotion Council and the Brand Kenya Board to create the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA). This follows an earlier Presidential directive on the key objective of the integrated National Exports Development and Promotion Strategy (NEDPS) which the Government launched mid this year, and aims at growing Kenya’s exports at an average rate of 25 per cent per annum. KEPROBA will be a one-stop-shop for all trade promotion and branding activities covering local as well as regional and international engagements so as to eliminate duplication and hence create a…