Author: Khusoko

Leading Pan-African Internet and connectivity service provider, SEACOM has announced a partnership with Microsoft to enable Kenyan firms to link to the Microsft data centers in South Africa. The private connection dubbed Azure Expressroute will link companies to the data centers without going through the public internet, reducing the risk of security breaches. “The Seacom subsea cable, which connects Kenya to South Africa, offers a fibre express route that carries Terabytes of capacity with speeds offered to business customers from as low as 50MBps up to 10Gbps,” Seacom’s managing director Tony Tugee said. “In addition to this, Seacom’s recent acquisition…

Kenyan farmers will soon have their own market where they sell produce directly to consumers, cutting off the traditional value chain that is replete with middlemen. The Nairobi Farmers Market, which is under construction in the upmarket Runda Estate, will contain 45 stalls that are exclusively operated by farmers. This borrows from international practice where most cities have farmers markets that supply produce directly from the farms to the consumers. While some provide temporary selling space for different farmers on a day-to-day basis, others lease out permanent shops that are operated by individual farmers who take the space on a…

Female entrepreneurs do not make business decisions in a vacuum. Rather, their business decisions differ systematically from those of male entrepreneurs because they are constrained by factors in a way that men are not. World Bank’s Profiting from Parity- Unlocking the Potential of Women’s Businesses in Africa report presents nine underlying constraints and explores the evidence on why the factor matters and the extent to which it contributes to the gap in business performance. Contextual factors Legal discrimination: Female entrepreneurs cannot have equal economic opportunity if a country’s laws restrict a woman’s ability to own and run a business. Women…

The managing director, Samuel Waweru and chairman, Dr. Steve Mainda of mortgage financier HF Group’s banking subsidiary, HFC Limited, have retired. The firm announced on Monday that Mainda has been replaced by Kaushik Manek. “The board of directors wishes to notify the public that Dr Steve Mainda retired as non-executive director and chairman of HFC Limited. Dr Mainda continues to sit as chairman of HF Group PLC, the non-operating holding Company,” said the announcement by HF.

The Chinese handset maker OPPO ‘s first 5G smartphone has passed 5G CE tests conducted by Sporton International Inc, a global inspection services authority. Kenya is currently, waiting for the 5G services to become available to consumers after the year 2020. Once the 5G technology is availed, it will be an exciting technology and communication breakthrough for the country and continent as the OPPO 5G product line will soon be introduced into the global market. “An integral step towards the commercial launch of its 5G smartphone in Europe, OPPO’s CE certification verifies that the 5G device is compliant with EU…

The Kenyan Shilling remained stable by 1.1% on Friday to close at Kshs 100.8, from Kshs 101.8 at the end of December 2018 against the US dollar on non-traditional flows from diaspora remittances in Q1’2019. However, it depreciated marginally by 0.05% against the dollar to close at Kshs 100.8, from Kshs 100.7 during the week ending March 28, due to end-month demand from the energy and manufacturing sector exceeding dollar inflows from remittances. A positive trend was witnessed with diaspora remittance growth of 31%. “Diaspora remittances remained resilient in February 2019, with inflows amounting to USD 199 million compared to…