Author: Francis Muli

Fuel prices are set to hike once more in the upcoming August review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). The price per litre of Petrol and Diesel is set to go up by Ksh3.32 and Ksh2.57 respectively, according to reports by Business Daily. This will see the price of a litre of petrol retail at Ksh103.80 in Nairobi from the current Ksh100.48, while a litre of diesel will retail at Ksh94.44, up from the current Ksh91.87. The increase in prices could be attributed to the implementation of petrol levy at Ksh5.40 from Ksh0.40, a 1,250 percent rise. The…

Businesswoman and the proprietor of beauty salon and spa Posh Palace, Susan Kaittany has has announced expansion of her business to deal with high-end beauty products. Kaittany says that she will soon be launching “one of a kind” beauty hub; retailing high-street products targeting the luxury market. “The international cosmetics and skincare venture will feature brands like Fenti and Dior, and the physical shop is set to launch in the next few days,” she says. “The idea of her beauty business was informed by the need to create a safe haven where women could relax, unwind while receiving state of-the-art…

Over a third of small businesses on Facebook in Kenya have been forced to shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Global State of Small Business Report released by Facebook in collaboration with the World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report indicates that only 62% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) on Facebook sampled in Kenya remain operational or are engaging in any revenue generating activities. The report derived from the Future of Business Survey, was conducted between January and May this year and sampled 30,000 small business leaders in over…

Land and house prices Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado and Machakos slumped in the three months to June due to the effects of Covid-19, that saw demand drop. According to the Hass Consult Index, house prices dropped 0.2 percent in quarter two, compared to a growth of 3.6 percent in a similar period last year. On the other hand, land prices in the suburbs decreased by 0.7 percent in the period under review while in the satellite towns prices dropped 1.21 percent. The drop is attributed to an oversupply of homes to a population that is experiencing reduced income due to job…

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered that three local youth initiatives get full government funding and support for full actualization. In his Global Youth Day speech, President Kenyatta ordered the Department of Youth to immediately work with the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation to support  the Angaza Elimu, Tambua and PGRC 360 Recycle initiatives. He ordered the concerned departments to undertake a comprehensive inventory of the innovators, support them to fully develop the innovations and facilitate them, in some instances, to mass production and enterprise development. The departments have also been tasked to assist them in protecting their intellectual…

Facebook is facing allegations that it illegally harvests biometric data of users through its popular photo sharing app, Instagram. Last month, the social media company offered to pay $650 million to settle a lawsuit brought against them for harvesting biometric data through a photo tagging tool on Facebook. “The new lawsuit was filed this week in Redwood City, California. The company has been accused of collecting, storing and profiting from the biometric data of more than 100 million instagram users without their knowledge or consent,” A Bloomberg report says. If found guilty of violating the privacy of its users, Facebook…

International ICT companies will now be required to extend Kenyans 30 per cent stake of the business to be considered Kenyan. This is according to the recently published National Information Communication and Technology Public Policy Guidelines of 2020. International companies with an interest in the Kenyan market will have to fulfil the 30 per cent Kenyan shareholding requirement to obtain licenses. Existing companies have been given three years to comply with the new ownership regulation, with a one-year extension by the ICT Cabinet Secretary upon request. “It is the policy that only companies with at least 30 per cent substantive…

Since the introduction of Safaricom’s data bundles with no expiry last year, subscribers have more than doubled the value of unused data purchased to Sh2.1 billion. According to Safaricom’s financial report, the airtime and bundles under unutilized resources increased from Sh0.9 billion last year to Sh 2.1 billion March this year, a 133.3 percent jump. The rise is attributed to Safaricom’s decision on October 23, 2020 to introduce data bundles without expiry following a public outcry that ended up in court. “During the year the group introduced the no expiry products under the Neo theme to ensure customers get value…

M-shwari has raised the minimum loan size to Ksh2,000 up from the previous Ksh500. The mobile loan platform owned by Safaricom and NCBA Bank says that borrowers seeking for loans below Ksh2,000 will now have to use the Fuliza overdraft service. M-Shwari charges a facility fee of 7.5 per cent, amounting to an annualised interest rate of 90 per cent while Fuliza charges 1.083 per cent per day or 395.2 per cent per year. “M-Shwari serves the critical need for planned credit and the demand for lower ad hoc (impromptu) credit is now better served with Fuliza,” NCBA Group managing…

On Tuesday, August 11, Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi resigned from the post, citing threats to her life. However, it has emerged that the vocal speaker and former nominated senator could have been ordered to step down by the State House, after Nairobi MCAs met President Uhuru Kenyatta in a bid to streamline operations in the city. President Uhuru Kenyatta met with Nairobi Jubilee MCAs a fortnight ago, in a bid to know what was the problem in the City Hall after a series of wrangles. Revelations from the political circles indicate that during the meeting, all fingers pointed…

The situation in the country is becoming dire everyday due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with thousands of Kenyans losing their jobs everyday. Among those who have felt the pain is a graduate engineer who shared his experience on Twitter, on how he found himself at a company in Industrial Area arranging bottle-tops for over 13 hours every day. In a tweet thread, the graduate using the Twitter handle @Wyregi say that he applied for a Mechanical Engineering job that was posted at the UoN Career Services centre. The job was being offered by a company named Metal Crowns Ltd, and…

Some of America’s tech giants have challenged US President Trump’s decision to restrict foreign workers. Amazon, Facebook and Apple have argued that the temporary visa bans will affect US firms. Trump imposed temporary visa restrictions on foreign workers to safeguard jobs for American citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the most affected include technology workers from India who are crucial to the tech companies. Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter and other big technology companies have also backed the lawsuit, which was filed last month by major US business associations. The industry groups include The National Association of Manufacturers, which represents 14,000…

Facebook has unveiled a new Finance Division to expand its finance and payment ventures. David Marcus, co-creator of its Libra cryptocurrency project has been put in charge of the initiative. Marcus will continue running Novi, the division in charge of building a digital wallet that holds the company’s Libra cryptocurrency. Facebook has also hired Stephane Kasriel, former Upwork Chief Executive Officer, to serve as a payments vice president under Marcus. Dubbed F2, for Facebook Financial, the division will also oversee projects such as Facebook Pay, which was launched in 2019 to allow users to send and receive money on Facebook,…

WomenWork, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, has announced the launch of Rebuild, a program for women entrepreneurs. The Rebuild Program includes an emergency interest-free short term working capital loan for businesses, expert-driven business training and support from an engaging peer community of other women entrepreneurs – all delivered online. This is the first time that WomenWork is running such an initiative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation in Kenya. The emergency loan facility is aimed at providing a soft landing against COVID-19 which has disproportionately affected women-owned businesses. The access to the funding will act as a short-term working…

497 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours after testing a sample of 4,171, bringing the total number of those infected in the country to 27,425. 15 more have succumbed to the virus in the same period, bringing the total number o fatalities to 438. 372 patients have recovered, 315 being from home based care, bringing the total number of recoveries to 13,867. 312 of the new infections are male and 185 female, with the youngest being a six-month-old infant while oldest is 80 years old. 467 are Kenyans while 30 were foreigners. Email your news…