Author: Opinion

By Anusha, Anusha Lalani, Communications Fellow at Aga Khan Academies, Mombasa, Kenya.

Since 16 March 2020, the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa has been closed due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Within two days after the government’s announcement to have all schools closed, the Academy managed to send its 260 residential students back to their home countries, such as Uganda, Pakistan, Tanzania and more. While students were on their way home, Academy teachers underwent extensive professional development within five days in relation to online learning.

One week later, on 23 March 2020, the online ‘doors’ to the Academy opened and all classes were fully transitioned online, ensuring learning was ongoing. Although the shift was challenging for both teachers and students at first, the transition has become much smoother for all.   

“Students’ lives have been turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Head of Expressive Arts department Stella Wangu. …

Both small and big companies are at risk as the number of attacks will increase during this lock down period. All over the world businesses are urged to embrace online engagement with their customers, and sale of their products.Banking security experts are advising that businesses of all sizes need a plan to defend cybersecurity threats. The following are tips on how to protect data, assets and transactions with any business—small or big, and in any sector.

Cyber-attacks may be launched over the internet or rely on someone with physical access to a company’s premises by using: emails that contain malicious hyperlinks and attachments with messages that often look like they came from a colleague and are commonly referred to as Phishing attempts, or legitimate-looking websites that are set up to capture users’ login credentials, or social engineering to convince unsuspecting employees to reveal confidential information or credentials, or mobile apps …

I have been working in the investment industry for nearly 33 years. Over that time I have made a few mistakes and have had many successes. This week one of my clients, a very successful young Kampala man, told me that whilst he had made a lot of money in business he had lost a lot of money that he had invested. He asked me what advice I would give him to help him make better investments. Based on my experience here are ten “DO´s and DON´Ts” for successful investment:

1. DON´T do it if you don´t fully understand it

If you don´t understand EXACTLY how an investment works then either you are being scammed or the person promoting the investment isn´t competent enough to trust with your money. If you are unsure about any aspect of the investment don´t do it!!!!

2. DON´T ever invest money that you may need quickly

In the Kenya Gazette of 14^th November 1944, the Governor of the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya approved a bill to make provision against Third Party risks arising out of the use of motor vehicles. This Ordinance was cited as the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Ordinance, 1944. Section 4 Subsection 1 of the Ordinance says,“Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance it shall not be lawful for any person to use, or to cause or permit any other person to use, a motor vehicle on a road unless there is in force in relation to the user of the vehicle by that person or by that other person, as the case may be, such a policy of insurance or such security in respect of third party risks as complies with the requirement of this ordinance”.

That same Ordinance is now cited as the Insurance (Motor Vehicles Third …

By Sachen Gudka

Coronavirus is our wake-up call. No one could have predicted its disastrous impact. But that is the nature of disasters; most are sudden, unpredictable and leave in their wake unimaginable misery and loss. We have been quite rudely awakened to the essentiality of disaster resilience.

Anything that we do from now on, any buildings, any plans and any developments as a country have to be done through a disaster resilience lens. Any policies developed and implemented should be able to answer the questions: ‘Will they help us get through the next disaster shock with minimal loss? Will they help us bounce back fast enough and set us on our feet to recover quickly? And more importantly, if we are ever to be left with no options but to close our borders, can we sustain ourselves?’

At the moment, efforts to reduce exposure and spread of the virus …

If any of us were given a warning by an alien, in a language we did not understand, with symbols we had never seen before, we would not emerge warned–which is a fact that is now driving legislative reform in Kenya to ensure warnings on pest control products are understandable to every farmer. The aim is to ensure farmers reap far higher yields without causing any damage to themselves or their land.

As it is, pest control products used in Kenya have been through around nine years of safety testing and more than 100 kinds of tests in order to gain approval for use in their countries of origin, such as the US, Australia and other national regimes that only approve pesticides when they are proven to be risk-free for the prescribed use.

Until they have achieved that, Kenya’s law prohibits their use in Kenya.

But even once they have …

The growth and development of the banking and financial sector has been propelled by factors driven by market demand and supply forces. We have seen banks coming up with various products not only to meet client demands but also as a means of remaining competitive given the number of players within the banking sector. Comparatively, customers now have a wider range of selection when it comes to choice of a banker.

Taking advantage of the technology banks have no choice but to keep on being creative and innovative on product development and service delivery channels. A review of financial performance of most banks reveals that lending/credit accounts for over 50% of the banks’ revenues. However, lending has increasingly become riskier thus pushing banks to equip themselves more on risk management through strengthening of credit culture where everyone, regardless of their roles, understands the need to drive revenue growth while also …

One of the most wonderful occurrences of the 21st century and which make distinct from previous centuries is globalization. Numerous governments, businesses and other entities from different nations are able to develop international interactions, impact and collaborations.

Different forces account for globalization. Examples include multinational organizations such as the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) that serve to increase co-operation among different countries. Social technology champions the seamless transfer of ideas and information within and beyond the target country.

What are the most prominent advantages of globalization?

• The boost in economic power
• Increased standards of living
• Provision of rewarding opportunities
• Increased productivity and general output.

Technology is the driving force of globalization. Technology provides some sort of template for globalization while also solving the challenges associated with it.

Let’s take a look at how technology resolved some barriers to globalization;

• Trade barriers; handled by e-commerce, electronic delivery of services,

There is only one road left to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set for Africa for 2030 and that is through sustainable businesses.The sluggish progress to date has been primarily a consequence of ‘putting all our eggs in one basket’ and expecting the state to deliver the SDGs, which it cannot.

A prime obstacle in that is finance. The SDG Center for Africa estimates the financing gap to achieve the SDGs is running at between $500bn and $1.2tn a year. That is simply beyond the reach of the public sector, with the Center estimating that delivering basic state functions of health care, education, water, energy, and road infrastructure requires more than 50 per cent of the GDP of most African countries.

However, for the private sector, pursuing the 2030 goals of eradicating Africa’s hunger, poverty, and inequality and improving health care will deliver its own rewards, creating business opportunities …

When we speak of inclusivity in healthcare, cleft lip and palate surgery is often considered a footnote in the priorities given to healthcare financing. Around the world, many children with clefts live in isolation, making it difficult to make friends and go to school, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing, and speaking. As we seek to achieve Universal Health Coverage, the long-term benefit of treating a single cleft at an early stage can bring in as much as $50,000 to the economy. This economic benefit therefore deserves to be considered a priority as governments address paediatric surgical care.

The Fourth meeting of the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery (GICS IV) which took place in Johannesburg from 17^th-18^th January 2019, brought together providers and implementers of surgical services for children, along with health, advocacy, and policy experts. Participants discussed the current state of surgical care for children …