Author: NLM Correspondent

Octagon Africa, through a virtual financial literacy training themed “starting now for a better future”, aims to educate over 1,500 high school students on understanding money, budgeting and saving. The free financial literacy training is part of Octagon’s social responsibility to contribute to the East and Southern African region’s pension uptake across youth, employed and informal groups. “Currently the pension coverage in the country is still low at about 22 per cent of the total labour force which is heavily attributed to a poor savings culture. In order to avert these glaring numbers there is a need to cultivate healthy saving…

Equity Group has received a licence to operate a life insurance business in Kenya as it eyes growth and diversification in the financial services industry. The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) issued the licence to Equity Life Assurance (Kenya) Limited, a subsidiary of the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm. For more than a decade, the lender has been an agent of established underwriter Britam Holdings through a bancassurance agreement. “We believe we can make insurance to be understood better by the ordinary person,” Equity chief executive James Mwangi said. “Our inspiration is to offer insurance to all categories of consumers and make insurance…

Prime Bank has ventured into the digital micro lending space with the launch of a digital lending platform dubbed “PrimeKopa”, in a move to enhance its customers’ access to credit through mobile loans. PrimeKopa is designed to provide customers easy access to instant mobile loans from Sh5,000 to Sh150,000 with flexible repayment periods of 30, 60, and 90 days at a click of a button through the bank’s mobile app PrimeMobi. Managing director Bharat Jani said the bank has been constantly enhancing its customers’ digital experience through improving and adding more products and services on the lender’s digital banking platform…

The KFC brand nearly died overnight simply because of online attacks – the American fast-food giant faced a shortage of potatoes due to a delay in delivery from its overseas suppliers. The company stated it could not get them from local supply chains due to global standards issues. Kenyans on Twitter and Facebook were not happy with the move – consequently, a push to boycott the foreign food chain began. Hash tags and posts started rolling. As the online fury continued to gain momentum, it became apparent that the bulk of posts were coming from users who were totally green…

Will KFC get its brand perception back after online attacks? By Alex Owiti Online crisis has now become more than a reality. The shift from traditional to online quandary for brands cannot be over-emphasized today. Customers now express their dissatisfaction online as quickly as they can. If not well managed, the issue can spread like Australian or California forest fires. Recently, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) faced severe humiliation online when they announced on their social media platforms that they had a shortage of potatoes and could not meet the customer demand. This announcement did not go down well with Kenyans…

Visa-free travel, tax advantages, access to better healthcare and educational opportunities for the family – these are just a few reasons why Citizenship and Residency by Investment (CBI & RBI) programs are gaining ground. We ask Hiran Chohan, Managing Director of specialist firm, Windsor Capital Management, why this investment pathway is proving so popular Q1) What is Citizenship by Investment (CBI) and Residency by Investment (RBI)? Citizenship and Residency by Investment are pathways for one to acquire the opportunity to move around globally visa-free and/or have the ability to live, work and study in another country. Specifically, Citizenship by Investment…

Motive may be taken into account in cases involving direct evidence, but it carries more weight in suits relying only on circumstantial evidence. By Newton Arori ‘Motive’ explains why a person committed a crime. In Kenya, indeed in many jurisdictions, motive need not be proved to establish the guilt of an accused person. This principle is found under Section 9 of the Penal code which states: “unless otherwise expressly declared, the motive by which a person is induced to do or not to do an act, or to form an intention, is immaterial so far as regards criminal responsibility.” No…

Between 2014 and 2019, Africa has recorded increased electricity production every year. And, according to a global electricity review by Ember, an energy think tank, renewables met a third of Africa’s growth in electricity production, with gas making up the remaining two thirds. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the world’s demand for electricity, which had been rising since the financial crisis, took a hit. But, despite the fall, wind and solar power demonstrated remarkable resilience to record a growth of 15%. According to the review, the growth contributed to renewable energies being responsible for 9.4% of the global…

By Victor Adar CFK, an organization that makes hand-washing accessible to people living in informal settlements, is running a water, sanitation and hygiene program known as “WASH” in Nairobi’s Kibera area in a bid to fight Covid-19. Although CFK has long had a WASH program to encourage hand-washing by distributing soap and water stations, which was originally designed to combat diarrhoeal diseases in children, it expanded and retooled its program when the coronavirus pandemic began last year. “We cannot return to normalcy overnight, even when fatality rates appear low. We continue to face a growing number of variants, and with…

The completion of acquisitions of Jubilee General Insurance businesses in Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Mauritius to follow. Allianz, one of the world’s leading insurers and asset managers, has become the majority shareholder in Jubilee General Insurance Limited in Kenya. This follows the acquisition of a 66% stake in the company, representing 1,522,622 ordinary shares, from Jubilee Holdings Limited (JHL), East Africa’s largest insurance group who are retaining a 34% shareholding in the company. The acquisition follows the execution of an agreement signed on September 29, 2020, whereby Allianz agreed to acquire the majority shareholding in the short-term general (property and…