China Southern Airlines has begun two time weekly flights between Nairobi and Changsha, the capital city of central China’s Hunan Province. The flights are a move towards boosting business and tourism between the two countries, China and Kenya. The new flights are are also seen as a move in anticipation of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo which is expected to be held in Changsha between 27th June 2019 and the 29th of June 2019. The China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo is expected to bring together businesspeople from more than 53African countries and global organizations. The airline (China Southern Airlines)…
Author: Tobey
Kenya’s leading ride hailing service provider; Bolt, has announced that it has begun operations in Thika, Kakamega and Kisumu, in a move which is seen as the company’s Continued drive towards expanding its market footprint within the country. Bolt’s launch in Thika, Kakamega and Kisumu, will see the number of Kenyan cities and towns with access to the company’s services, rise from the 2, to 5, making it the largest ride hailing service provider in terms of geographical reach alone. Bolt currently provides 85% net income to its drivers in Kenya, only charging a commission of 15% which is much…
Multinational financial services corporation; VISA, has partnered with the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and the Boda Boda Safety Association of Kenya (BAK), to begin the digitization of payments for the motorcycle transport operators. The partnership will commence with a pilot project where 100 Boda Boda riders will have VISA enabled on mobile, so that they can make and receive payments using the platform. The Pilot Project will be over a duration of 3 months. The new free mobile payment solution, is expected to accelerate safe digital payments and also facilitate financial inclusion among boda operators. The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB)…
According to Business Daily, the Nairobi United States Embassy will delay its acceptance of Kenya’s new currency notes for payment of services like Visa fees, stating that it needs to put in place new procedures to accept the notes. It made it known that payments at the embassy will continue to be based on the old currencies, which Kenya gradually started replacing on the 1st of June 2019. The older versions of smaller denominations will however remain in circulation alongside the new ones launched, but after October 1, the older 1,000 shilling note will be invalid. The embassy did not…
Telecommunications giant Safaricom, has announced the launch of its new service; ‘Reverse Call’, a feature which will give its more than 31 million users the ability to pay for calls made by their loved ones. The service ‘Reverse Call’, basically enables a caller to transfer the cost of a call to the receiver by adding ‘#’ before the number they are calling. For example, to transfer the cost of the call to 0723456789, a user will simply dial: #0723456789. Once a user receives a reverse call request, the details of the caller will appear on the screen as usual the…
A new app by Facebook will now allow users to sell their data to the Social Media company. The data will include how users use applications by Facebook’s competitors. Facebook announced on Tuesday the 11th Of June 2019, that it is currently recruiting participants to download its new app called ‘Study’ from the Google Play store. Once the app has been downloaded, it will then begin to transmit data on what other apps the users have installed, what features they use, and how much time is spent on them, to Facebook Inc. The new app; Study, comes after Apple cracked…
After years of intense preparation, the Nairobi Derivatives market will begin operations on the 4th of July 2019. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) received the license to operate from the market regulators; the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) and the Central Bank of Kenya. It will be the number two derivatives market in Sub-Saharan Africa after the Johannesburg market. The exchange will first start by trading single stock futures involving the most traded companies at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) like Safaricom, the KCB Group and Equity Holdings. The platform will also trade equity index futures before introducing other…
President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, has expressed his country’s interest to join the East African Community as its 7th member. In a letter written to President Paul Kagame who is the current chairperson of the East African Community, Mr Tsishekedi said that the decision was as a result of the increasing trade between his country and the members of the East Africa Community (EAC). The letter stated that “Following the conversation we had in Kigali and later on in Kinshasa and the interest that showed my country to adhere to the community of the East African…
East African Nation; Kenya, is on high alert after a woman from Malaba was admitted at Kericho County Referral Hospital and put on isolation depicting Ebola like symptoms. The patient, was admitted to Siloam Hospital in Kericho on Sunday the 16th of June 2019, at Night. Sources at the medical facility claim that the patient who hails from Malaba, was travelling to Kericho to visit her husband. Ebola’s symptoms include sudden fever, body weakness,muscle pain, headache and sore throat. Once the symptoms manifest themselves, the victim is then plunged into a state of vomiting, bodywide rash, impaired kidney as well…
The Coca-Cola Complex located in the Upper Hill business district, is now up for sale. The Complex, which is one of Nairobi’s most modern buildings, is three storeys high, covering 116,350 square feet on 3.26 acres. It has been placed on the market by realtor Knight Frank. The Realtor firm, invited prospective tenants and buyers to place bids on or before the 4th of July 2019. A notice by Knight Frank stated that “The Grade A office building with 130 parking spaces is strategically located in the business district…Where it occupies one acre with the rest undeveloped. It has…
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) on Friday the 14th Of June 2019, increased the price of a litre of petrol (super petrol) by 3.07 Kenyan Shillings and the price of diesel by 0.39 Kenyan Shillings. It stated that the new prices, are inclusive of the eight percent Value Added Tax (VAT). The regulator (EPRA), also announced a decrease in kerosene prices which will go down by 0.34 Kenyan Shillings per litre. The Director General Robert Oimeke made it known that, “The changes in this months’ prices have been as a consequence of the average landed cost of imported…
Layoffs seem imminent for employees in 74 universities and campuses after the Treasury on Thursday the 13th ofJune 2019, ordered a merger of the institutions. In the budget, the Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich announced certain radical measures which will see some of the 32 public universities merge, some of their satellite campuses across the country shutdown as well as a review of the academic courses offered. One consequence of these measures is that some members of staff will have to be let go. The Treasury Secretary, Henry Rotich stated that, “We shall review all the university public financial and management…
Kenya’s Interior Secretary Fred Matiang’i has deported 7 Chinese nationals who were found to have been trading illegally in Gikomba market. The discovery was made after an exclusive Business Daily story which revealed the presence of Chinese merchants in the Kenya’s biggest second-hand clothes market. A statement from the Interior Ministry stated that “Foreigners suspected to have been illegally engaging in business in Kenya were arrested yesterday during a raid on Gikomba. Seven Chinese nationals were found to have flouted immigration rules. Officers established that three of them had no valid work permits while the other four have been…
The Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich has proposed a cut of the rate of withholding Value Added Taxes (VATs) from 6 percent, to 2 percent in a bid to reduce its impact on cash flow, especially for exempt exporters. Mr. Henry Rotich said on Thursday in Budgetary proposals that “The implementation of the (Value Added Withholding Tax) system has encountered challenges, the major one being a build-up of huge credits, yet the law does not provide for refund of the same to the taxpayers,”. The Treasury Secretary added that “In order to address these challenges, I propose to reduce the rate…
