Author: Opinion

The review period has been salient with fresh 52-week low levels hit by some of the listed counters. Centum’s profit–warning announcement (expecting a dip in profit in its earnings by more than 25% on a yearly comparison) at the tail end of 1Q21 triggered a negative momentum on the counter in the subsequent two–month period.

This resulted in the counter touching a fresh low of KES14.40. Standard Group touched a new low of KES15.55 in early May, attributed to the negative knock from its FY20 earnings release. The media company had reported a KES301.6Mn loss during the last calendar year. Limuru Tea also fell to a new low of KES340. That said, activity on this agriculture stock has been thin with only 100 shares (minimum) trading in the review period.  

Bamburi Cement recorded a higher-than-expected FY20 EPS (Earnings per Share) of KES2.89. This partly enabled …

According to Wikipedia, regulation means the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. Industry regulations aim at bringing order by laying down a set of rules to be followed by all, rules aimed at harmonizing all the players together without favoring one over the other. 

There has been a lot of concern why the insurance industry in Kenya is not growing, and in fact has been declining over the years—a situation that has led the government to come up with a National Draft Policy aimed at filling in the gaps and strengthening the sector. A situational analysis in the draft policy identifies various gaps and challenges the industry faces. These include limited access to insurance, low levels of insurance awareness and financial literacy, poor public perception and lack of trust in the industry, poor management of policies and claims processes, limited products, fraud, low usage …

I love football. And I love clever, secure, creative, impactful investment. The fact that most of what we find, and I personally invest in, has a meaningful and measurable impact on those who need a hand-up, and not a hand-out, is a constant source of joy to me.  

Having followed football and my English team for more than 45 years I have been saddened to see the adverse effect that money has had on football – and the detrimental effect that money has had on the beautiful game at the lower levels and in leagues outside of Europe. But it is the huge amount of money that now washes through football that is offering me the chance to help to create soccer academies in East Africa – allowing young and talented African footballers to transform their lives and the lives of their families and communities; and investors to make very …

Mining activities are some of the most power-intensive globally, with electricity required to operate haul trucks, earth-movers, underground excavators, blasting tools and mining drills accounting for up to 40% of a company’s total expenditures. Regionally, southern Africa is forecast to elicit some of the largest power requirements in mining on the continent – led by South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia – and followed by Central and West Africa. With COVID-19 leading to production site shutdowns, loss of output and volatile commodity prices, the ability to reduce operational expenditures – via electricity costs – has risen to the forefront of mining firms’ agendas.

And yet there are two major impediments to accessing sufficient quantities of low-cost electricity. First, Africa is home to some of the lowest electricity access rates globally, with a lack of infrastructure, unreliable grids and frequent blackouts posing a major threat to output and production efficiencies. The Democratic …

On 1^st of April, as I was publishing my Uniconization of African Fintech piece[1], Mastercard was busy announcing their $100 million investment into Airtel Money (Airtel Africa’s mobile money subsidiary) to acquire a minority position – half what TPG Capital did[2]. Even though I had gotten wind of the transaction knowing that Mastercard was already in bed with Airtel Money[3] – some part of me thought of it as an April fools joke…. On the 12^th of April 2021, Mobile Telecom Network (MTN) announced the valuation of their mobile money business at $5 billion making it the 7^th African fintech unicorn with plans to bring in minority shareholders before going public[4]. Given that Visa is already in bed with MPESA (Vodacom and Safaricom’s mobile money business)[5], it is a matter of time before Visa also invests. The unicornization …

So…..one of the longest bull markets in history; the Covid-19 pandemic; two trillion dollars invested in a digital pyramid scheme (Bitcoin et al); government borrowing on an unprecedented level to deal with the pandemic; real trade tensions between China and the West; post-quantitative easing unemployment set to rocket; the stock markets being manipulated by large groups of retail investors; a new market dynamic caused by digitalisation; markets back to pre-Covid-19 levels……..what is an investor to do?! 

The only thing that is certain is that, in the words of Chinua Achebe, “Things Fall Apart”. It is not a matter of “if” but “when”. Most commentators would suggest that the “when” will be within a maximum of 24 months and many think much earlier.  

So if there is a global recession/depression on its way and if markets are going to undergo a substantial correction it makes sense to diversify …

Cash in lieu in insurance means where the insurance company exercises the option of giving you cash for repair of your car instead of them having it repaired for you. There are a number of ways an insurance company can settle a motor insurance claim: by having your car repaired, or by giving you compensation in case of total loss or giving you cash for repairs. Insurance companies are technically liable for poor car repairs should you suffer injuries as a result. 

Thus for an insurance company to remove themselves from the latter kind of situation they should just be liable for the cost of repairs and not arranging for repairs. That is different in Kenya and elsewhere where insurance companies arrange for the cost of repair in a bid to save a few shillings. An insurance company can opt for …

For over a century, Kenya and the United Kingdom have enjoyed strong ties hinged on trust, enhanced cooperation and mutual benefit across key sectors, among them trade, tourism, security, health and education. 

The UK views Kenya as a strategic partner due to her wealth of agricultural materials, booming services sector and for being a gateway to other markets in the East African community. It has therefore over the decades invested in growing Kenya to become the region’s economic powerhouse. Indeed UK remains one of the largest foreign investors in Kenya with a portfolio approximated at £2.7 billion. More than 200 British companies have set up shop in Kenya opening up the country to increased employment opportunities and economic growth. 

Kenya on the other hand has found a key export market in the UK for its products, among them tea, coffee, flowers and other horticultural produce. For millions of  farmers …

The fairly ominous title of the Forrester 2021 Predictions paper for software testing ‘Software Developers Face Mounting Pressure’ really does capture the changes that have been wrought by the global pandemic on a sector that is now even more digital, driven, and deadline-powered.

No, the sector did not collapse thanks to the weight of the pandemic, like many others, but it has meant that software development teams and testers are under immense pressure to meet increasingly tight deadlines in increasingly complex times.

Software testing

As the world shifts into second-quarter gear, Mandla Mbonambi, CEO of Africonology believes that some definitive trends will shape the software testing and security landscape over the next year.

“The industry is incredibly challenging right now – the pressure is on the software tester to ensure that quality is baked into every aspect of development, but at greater speeds,” he adds.

“Organisations know that quality is …