Author: David Indeje

French retailer Carrefour plans to grow the number of branches to 9 from 7 in 2019 aiming to deliver quality, value and customer services through a family of conveniently located stores across Nairobi. The expansion is the latest move by Carrefour, whose local franchise is held by Dubai-based conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim to get hold of a growing share of Kenya’s consumer spending. According to Fitch Solutions, an industry-leading provider of credit, debt market, and macro intelligence solutions, and the primary distributor of Fitch Ratings content, “Consumer spending in Kenya is projected to tick up by 5.8% y-o-y in 2019,…

Kapchorua Tea Company Limited is considering reducing its operating costs which if not  ‘will be unsustainable’ following the profit warning for the financial year ending 31 March 2019. The Kenya-based listed company that trades at the Nairobi Securities Exchange says its earnings could be at least 25% lower than those of the financial year ended 31 March 2019  on high operating expenses. “The anticipated decline in full year’s profit is attributed in part to uneven and unpredictable weather patterns but more so to the inability to control the aggressive and rising labour costs and the lower prices fetched during the…

Kenya’s central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held its key interest rate steady at 9.00 on Wednesday. “The MPC concluded that the current policy stance remains appropriate, and will continue to monitor any perverse response to its previous decisions.” The decision met the expectations of a majority of analysts who had expected the regulator to maintain the benchmark rate citing a stable macroeconomic environment. The MPC further noted that “Inflation expectations remained well anchored within the target range, and that the economy was operating close to its potential” against a backdrop of domestic macroeconomic stability, sustained optimism on the economic…

Kenya needs to enhance its capacity in legal, institutional, and capacity in addressing challenges within the cybersecurity space. There is an urgent need to understand the rate at which the business is introducing new technologies and work out strategies for evolving its controls and processes at the same pace to accommodate that change. These are some of the critical areas that emerged during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Kenya ICT Action Network in partnership with Global Partners Digital with the support of the United Kingdom that focused on the ways to increase local stakeholder awareness of cybersecurity issues and…

Safaricom Plc, Kenya’s biggest mobile operator, expects its next chief executive to have strategic power mergers & acquisitions (M&A) skills and a deep understanding of the financial services sector. To offer the telco opportunities to expand and solidify their businesses in the new economy. According to The Africa Report in an exclusive interview with the telco’s outgoing chief executive Bob Collymore,  says “I have never been a good mergers and acquisitions person, but we will need someone who can spot a deal and grab it. [We need] someone who understands the financial sector a lot more, if we are to…

East African Breweries Limited (EABL) has launched its apprenticeship programme for female university students across East Africa. The programme will focus on students taking courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Commenting on the programme, KBL Managing Director Mrs. Jane Karuku said EABL was engaging the gear in elevating and empowering female talent because the company acknowledges that a diverse culture is intrinsic to the success the business. “At EABL, we are always striving towards achieving gender balance by making deliberate decisions that are aimed at that. Last year, women constituted a third of our workforce here and I…