STHE SHABANGU Africa is standing before a small window of opportunity to grow future-ready leaders equipped to take on a new era of industry. It will be our ability to come together and develop those leaders that will determine whether we fly or fall. The tough reality is that radical disruption to skills requirements in the workplace is headed our way as we edge towards the next Industrial Revolution. Research presented at the World Economic Forum on Africa last month shows that in South Africa alone, 39% of the core skills required across industries will be completely different in three years’…
Author: Editor
BY NBM WRITER The average person is believed to be a few weeks from financial trouble without a paying job. This is the harsh reality that many Kenyans have woken up to in recent weeks and months as companies have continued to lay off staff. Although the signs of job losses in the Kenyan economy have been there, many individuals who have lost jobs have suffered financially, emotionally and even had strains on their relationships. There isn’t a specific study on the Kenyan population to ascertain the exact impact of job losses to the Kenyan population, several studies have been…
BY DAVID ONJILI Job losses and unemployment are always a good barometer for a country’s economy. In Kenya, the job sector can be classified into the formal sector and the informal sector. I delve into the formal sector scenario especially the manufacturing sector because as a nation we have experienced severe job losses and minimal job creation. It is also worth noting that close to 800,000 graduates join the job market annually. This is evidenced by the unemployment figures, which have risen from 12.7% in 2006 to 40.2% in 2016 according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The Government is…
ONE, a campaigning and advocacy organisation of nearly 8 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa has urged African leaders at the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA), in Durban, South Africa to take bold actions to reap the benefits of Africa’s fast-growing population, estimated to almost double by 2050. WEFA’s meeting of regional and global leaders from business, government and civil society focused on economic development opportunities issues facing the continent. ONE called on African governments to urgently increase and implement investments in young people between 2017 and 2020 to avoid plunging…
BY BARNABAS ONYONKA It has been five good years of eating by our legislators. They have been receiving the best salaries in the world (only second to their Nigerian colleagues), unlimited sitting allowances and a few softeners here and there in Parliamentary Committees. Time flies when you are having fun though. It is now barely two months to August 8, the day that determines who will be on the dining table for the next half-decade. The party has to stop. You can’t afford the luxuries of the capital while your opponents, those whom you beat five years ago, are busy…
BY VICTOR ADAR Michael Mutiga knows too well how 300 million Rand ($19 million) that was withdrawn from South Africa’s Standard Bank through Automatic Teller Machines in different areas in Japan (last year) complicated banking big time. What went wrong in just 20 hours; when all necessary internal controls were in place, is something that not only him but also other individuals in the financial sector were not able to fathom. The worst was only confirmed when millions of shillings were already lost thanks to counterfeit cards that were used by the perpetrators. Mr Mutiga, who occupies the seat of…
SBM Holdings Ltd (SBM Group) announced last month the completion of acquisition of Fidelity Commercial Bank in Kenya through its subsidiary SBM Africa Holdings Ltd, marking its entry into continental Africa. SBM Group’s acquisition of Fidelity Commercial Bank which will operate under the legal entity SBM Bank (Kenya) Limited, will result in rebranding of all branches and ATMs to SBM Bank, appointment of a new board of directors and a capital injection of $20.6 million in its first year of operations. Welcoming this acquisition, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge said, “The entry of SBM Group into…
BY DR KELLEN KIAMBATI Process consultation (PC) is a general framework for carrying out helping relationships. Schein defines process consultation as “the creation of a relationship that permits the client to perceive, understand, and act on the process events that occur in his or her internal and external environment in order to improve the situation as defined by the client.” The process consultant does not offer expert help in the form of solutions to problems, as in the doctor–patient model. Rather, he works to help managers, employees, and groups assess and improve human processes, such as communication, interpersonal relations, decision-making,…
Opera, the developer of one of the most popular mobile browser in Africa, has announced its plans to invest $100 million (Sh10.3) over the next two years to facilitate the growth of African digital economy. The company will use the investment to speed up Internet adoption in Africa and strengthen the Internet ecosystem with local partners. Africa is on its way to transform itself into a digital continent with the rapid adoption of mobile Internet. For the past five years, the Opera Mini browser has been a key facilitator in bringing more than half of Africa’s Internet population online by…
BY VICTOR ADAR The issue of food security has been there for quite a long time. Although it is a complex issue, it is clear that it is not just about perennial lack of access to finance, non empowered farmers, cartels and corrupt deals being some of the things hurting the agricultural sector, but also high prices of fertilizer. So bad the situation that things will only open up and special food challenges becoming a thing of the past if, and only if, focus is angled towards practicing profitable agriculture. As an effort to curb such issues, a Sh1 billion…