Author: Khusoko

Michael Joseph has been announced as Safaricom’s acting chief executive following the death of Bob Collymore with immediate effect. “The board is confident that during this transition, Mr Joseph will provide the necessary guidance and leadership to the company and its employees,” Company Secretary Kathryne Maundu said in a statement. “Mr. Joseph will hold this position until the Board communicates in due course on a permanent appointment,” said Maundu. Mr. Joseph sits on the Safaricom board , he is the M-Pesa Foundation Academy chair and also the current chairman of Kenya Airways. https://twitter.com/SafaricomPLC/status/1145935377791950849 RELATED M-Pesa Foundation Academy Shaping Kenya’s Next…

Qatar Airway’s maiden direct flight, QTR1459, carrying 115 passengers to Somalia landed on Monday at the Aden Ade International airport. https://twitter.com/xaldoor/status/1145685549145042944 Qatar Airways will operate three flights a week to Mogadishu via Djibouti. The direct flights from Doha to Mogadishu rejuvenates the already growing international carrier market in Somalia. https://twitter.com/SomaliPM/status/1074368263654641665

Nairobi will host the 3rd Edition of the Kenya Gem & Jewellery Fair (KGJF), a national jewellery and precious stones open market between July 11 to July 14. KGJF hopes to place Kenya on the map where global industry stakeholders acquire a variety of stones from the source. It has been themed “Responsible Sourcing of Minerals, Precious Stones and Metals in Africa. Ms. Betty Gikonyo Patron AWEIK in a statement she said; “Africa is endowed with unique gemstones; Kenya, in particular, has a lot to offer in terms of these precious stones.” The fair, jointly convened by the Association of…

Kenya’s real estate market remained subdued during the first half of the year, with a similar trend expected throughout the year, according to Cytonn Investments’ H1’2019 report besides the sector recording increased activity. During the period, “The residential, commercial office and retail sector recording average yields of 4.9%, 7.8%, and 8.2%, respectively, from 5.5%, 9.3% and 9.7%, respectively, in H1’2018.” Cytonn attributes this to oversupply within the commercial office and retail sectors with a surplus of 5.2mn SQFT and 2.0mn SQFT, respectively, as at 2018, and inaccessibility of financing by both developers and off-takers. The residential sector expected to continue…

South African lender Absa Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered Bank, have signed a $500 million syndicated loan, that will be used for general corporate purposes including trade-related finance. The Facility has an initial tenor of two years, subject to an extension option available at the Borrower’s discretion to extend the maturity by a further one-year at the end of the initial two-year tenor. The Facility pays a margin of 1.05% per annum. “The need for this syndicated loan is to fund the growth in our U.S. dollar lending both in South Africa and our Regional Operations,…

Kenya’s economy grew at a much lower than expected 5.6% in the January-March period compared to 6.5% the same period last year the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday. The drop is attributed to dry weather which impacted the agriculture sector. “The quarter was characterised by a slowdown in agricultural activities following the delay in the onset of long rains,” KNBS said in a statement impacting agro-processing and the manufacturing sector. READ Kenya Records 6.3% Growth Driven by Agriculture in 2019 Kenya Manufacturing Growth Disappoints in Q1, But There is Optimism Ahead Highlights Manufacturing declined to 3.2% from 3.8%…