Author: Francis Muli

As of August 2019, Hormuud Telecom had grown to become the largest and most influential telecommunications company in Somalia with thousands of shareholders, employees and huge assets. It was founded in April of 2002 by Ahmed Nur Ali Jim’ale, a key leader in the defunct Somali Islamic Courts Union (ICU) whose most radical elements eventually formed the Al-Shabaab. Despite the tremendous growth, something seems amiss. “Since then, Hormuud entrepreneurs and managers have been badly split between those adhering to moderate business style, norms and ethos and those devoted to the goals of radical political Islam,” notes a new report dubbed…

Asilimia, a Kenyan technological startup, will on  Thursday, November 7 be among top ten startups from around Africa that will be showcasing their solutions to some of the biggest challenges affecting the continent at the Startupbootcamp (SBC) AfriTech 2019 Demo Day. Asilimia makes mobile money cheaper and easier to use for informal traders whilst rechanneling the transaction fees saved into critical services and products they couldn’t previously afford and access such as insurance. Other startups showing off their solutions, which span financial services, retail, agriculture, property, big data, commerce and more, include: Cinnamon Clubs (Uganda) is helping the treasurers of savings…

More than 10,000 clinical Officers have gone on strike effective today. The Kenya Union of Clinical Officers had two weeks ago issued a strike notice following a collapsed CBA negotiations and failure by the National government to pay Diploma interns . In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health ,Council of Governors and Ministry of Labour, KUCO General Secretary George Gibore said that the National government and county governments failure to have the CBA signed and registered in court ,scheme of service ratified, Diploma Interns paid and failure to promote and redesignate clinical officers are the main reason why…

Safaricom has announced a Ksh35.6 billion net profit in half year results for the period ending September 30,2019, representing a 14.4 per cent growth. Voice income contributed the largest portion of the revenue, contributing to 34.7 percent followed closely by M-Pesa at33.8 percent. Mobile data was a distance third contributing 15.9 percent of the revenue while dropped to 6.9 percent. During the period there was an increase in the number of overall customers to 34.57 million with M-PESA one month active customers increasing to 23.61 million and mobile data customers increasing to 20.19 million customers. Read: Peter Ndegwa’s Wife Jemimah…

More than 60 percent of the companies that entered into the CIO100 IT excellence awards in East Africa have been shortlisted with Kenya being ahead of the pack. 150 out of 384 companies were shortlisted successfully ahead of the major IT symposium and Awards that will be held in Naivasha from November 21, 2019. This award covers six East African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia. Read: Instagram To Pull Down, Block Images That Suggest Self Harm, Suicide “This year for the first time, we saw companies from Ethiopia making submissions to be considered for the award,”…

Global on-demand courier service company Glovo has partnered with News Cafe in a move aimed at expanding their market footprint in the country. Speaking during the partnership announcement, William Benthall, Glovo General Manager for Kenya, said that the move will benefit News Cafe customers through enhancing the efficiency of service delivery while also positioning Glovo as a trusted delivery partner. “We are proud of this partnership and we look forward to delivering News Cafe products to our consumers spread across Nairobi. Our desire to be the top-of-mind delivery app necessitated our entry into this partnership and we look forward to…

Boeing has grounded up to 50 737NG planes that were detected to be having cracks, the plane manufacturer has announced. According to reports by AFP, Australian national carrier Qantas was the hardest hit by the purge, with other 32 planes belonging to the airliner awaiting inspection and possible grounding. “We would never operate an aircraft unless it was completely safe to do so,” Qantas head of engineering Chris Snook said. The cracks were detected at the pickle fork, a part that attaches the plane’s fuselage, or body, to the wing structure. Read: Boeing Now Facing Law Suits Worth Ksh100 Billion…

Kenyans should brace for tougher times ahead, even as the inflation rate continues to soar with the rates hitting 4.95 percent in the month of September. The rise, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the shift is attributable to the index of the alcohol, tobacco and narcotics which rose the highest, going up by 1.97 percent as a result of a hike of excise tax. The indices of maize grain-loose, maize grain-sifted and tomatoes increased by 5.82, 4.58, 4.44 percent respectively. Maize floor is retailing at Ksh145, up from Ksh90 earlier this year. Read: Kenya’s Twiga Foods…

The share price for leading banks has increased by at least eight percent at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) minutes after tMPs agreed to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s proposal to abolish the interest rate caps. The share price for Co-operative Bank shot by 10 percent from Ksh12.50 yesterday to Ksh13.75, while the the NCBA Bank shares shot by 8.66 percent to Ksh37 per share. I&M Bank’s share price shot by 10 percent to Ksh49.50 while that of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) rose by 7.89 to Ksh48.55 from yesterday’s closing price of Ksh45. Read: MPs Agree To President Kenyatta’s Calls To Remove…

Ksh1 billion was paid from the Ministry of Sports to move the controversial mobile clinics from Miritini National Youth Service (NYS) yard to different stations in the country. According to reports, the money was used to furnish the containers (mobile clinics), which have been lying in the yard for over a year after the counties fell out with the Ministry of Health. “It’s true the money was paid to the Ministry of Health. We were told the money was used to furnish the clinics. We have no problem with the ministry being paid the money but we are concerned about…

The first ever exclusively students’ backed unit trust fund in Kenya and the continent has been launched in Nairobi under the umbrella; Wanafunzi Investment Unit Trust Fund. The Fund is regulated by Capital Markets Authority, managed by Nabo Capital with KCB Group as the Custodian bank. Wanafunzi Investment is an initiative aimed at building an early culture of savings among students in institutions of higher learning. In a statement, the management says that the investment aims at raising Ksh1.5 billion in the next 3 years from over 300,000 college and university students. “Research shows that students have spent a total…

The government has interdicted two employees at the ACK Bishop House registration bureau after an exposé by Kahawa Tungu revealed the stinking corruption in the service. According to Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’í, the two had been tainting the image of the department, after being greatly mentioned in corruption claims. The two are the deputy chief of bureau only identified as Mwadime and the chief of bureau Kagiri. “Already, two senior officers at the CRB have been interdicted and investigations into the facilitation of corruption into the issuance of certificates are ongoing,” he said. Read: Corruption Reigns High At ACK…

Facebook-owned photosharing app Instagram will now bar users from posting images related to self-harm or suicide following, in a bid to protect vulnerable teens from seeing these graphic images. This follows a public outcry, with the company saying that accounts sharing this type of content won’t be recommended in search or other parts of the app. The purge will focus on drawings, memes and graphic images from films or comics. Other artistic works with associated materials or methods will also not be spared. Read: Cellulant Unveils Payment App, Tingg, in 8 African Countries “The tragic reality is that some young…

Former President Daniel Arap Moi is currently admitted at Nairobi Hospital, a fortnight after he was admitted at the facility. The family is yet to issue an official statement, but reports indicate that he could be admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where he is under life support as medics fight to save his life. However, Moi’s long-serving Press Secretary Lee Njiru however says that Moi is at the hospital for ‘routine’ medical checkup, as quoted by the Nation. “It is true [that] Mzee Moi went to Nairobi Hospital today (Monday) but it [was for] a routine medical check-up.…

Kenya Power has appointed Bernard Ngugi as the new CEO. Ngugi, an accountant by profession will take over from acting MD Engineer Jared Otieno.He is the current head of procurement where he has been serving as the General Manager Supply Chain. Before that he was the Chief Accountant – Treasury Section. Othieno has been acting in interim capacity since the ouster of Dr. Ken Tarus in July last year over corruption allegations. Kenya Power is 50.1% owned by the Government of Kenya and is the sole retail distributor of power in the country. Read: Kenya Power Issues Warning To Companies…