Liquids Intelligent Technologies has reported that over 90 percent of IT decision makers across South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe have accelerated their Cyber Security due to the substantial emergence of digital ways of working. 

The study established some of the main concerns about Cyber Security threats and the most significant impacts of digital breaches on an organisational level.

A critical insight from the research suggests that 79 percent of businesses from all three countries attribute an increase in Cyber Security threats to the advent of remote working.

Data breaches like data extortion, data leakage and data disclosure constitute almost 71% of the cyber-attacks for Kenyan businesses, and over 70% of South African and Zimbabwean organisations consider email attacks like Phishing the most prominent digital threats.

The participants from the research also indicated an increased consumption of Cloud-based services this year, with the numbers being as high as 96% in South …

The Kenyan private sector has recorded improvement for a fourth straight month in August 2021, according to a new report.

Stanbic Bank’s Purchasing Managers’ Index report indicates that the rate of growth picked up in August as firms saw a faster expansion in new business compared to July.

During the period, job creation also strengthened, but output rose at the slowest rate in four months and business confidence fell to a near-record low.

After climbing sharply in July, the pace of input cost inflation eased in August, leading firms to increase their charges at the softest rate in 2021 so far.

As such, the country’s PMI picked up to 51.1 from 50.6 in July, to remain above the 50.0 neutral mark for the fourth month in a row.

According to the index, readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show …

Regional insurer UAP Old Mutual Group has recorded a profit before tax of Sh552 million in the first half of the year, compared to a loss of Sh57 million for the same period in 2020.

The company has attributed the performance to strong topline growth and investment income performance on the back of the recovery of the Nairobi Securities Exchange during the period.

Excluding the impact of the Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (OMLAC) consolidation, the Group recorded a profit before tax of Sh518 million.

Commenting on the report, Arthur Oginga, Group CEO noted that the performance of the business in the period was delivered on the backdrop of the initial stages of the expected economic recovery as the different countries they operate in work towards a return to normalcy while managing the risks of subsequent waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In our core Kenya market, we have seen positive …

Kenya has become the first country in Africa, and globally, to launch a national malaria youth army.  

In the global arena, it has been a constant battle to eradicate malaria and efforts have been channeled towards this initiative. 

Below is a global map and the malaria prevalence in each country. 

Countries with zero indigenous cases over at least the past three consecutive years are considered to have eliminated malaria.  

In 2019, China and El Salvador reported zero indigenous cases for the third consecutive year and have applied for World Health Organisation (WHO) certification of malaria elimination; also, Iran, Malaysia and Timor Leste reported zero indigenous cases for the second time. 

In 2017, the WHO warned that the global response to the malaria menace had reached crossroads. This was a wake-up call from the organisation that more needs to be done to further reduce the spread of the disease. 

The …

Kenya and Uganda are among the countries selected for the Phase 1 clinical trial of an HIV vaccine.  According to the Globally Relevant AIDS Vaccine Europe-Africa Trials Partnership (GREAT), the first dose will be given in Lusaka, Zambia while Kenya and Uganda will receive the vaccines in a few weeks.  

Dr. William Kilembe, project director of the Center for Family Health Research in Zambia (CFHRZ) and trial principal investigator, said that international partnerships are crucial in developing and evaluating HIV vaccine candidates in countries and communities where HIV vaccines will ultimately have the greatest public health impact. 

“CFHRZ is proud to be part of the consortium evaluating HIVconsvX and to deliver the first dose of this experimental HIV vaccine in the HIV-CORE 006 trial,” he said.  

The trial will see 88 healthy, HIV-negative adults, aged 18-55, who are considered not to be at high risk of infection, receive one …

Regional financial services firm, Britam Holdings PLC has posted a profit after tax of Kshs 376.3 million from a loss after tax of Kshs 1.6 billion posted in the six months ending June 2021.

According to the firm, the improved performance is attributed to growth in premiums from new business and investment income from its broad investment portfolio.

The firm also registered significant growth in investment income following the moving of its investment portfolio to increase yields.

Investment income during the period grew to Kshs 4.9 billion, representing a 35 per cent growth compared to a similar period last year.

The Group also realized growth in revenue from both its local and regional businesses.

The regional businesses contributed 24 per cent of the Group’s gross earned premiums.

The Group’s gross earned premiums and fund management fees were up 5.7 per cent to Kshs 14.9 billion.

Britam’s Group Managing Director, Tavaziva …