The call for applications to be part of Mettā’s first Fashion Product Lab, a programme to help the continent’s future fashion designers deliver on their true creative potential, is now open. Every element of the 8-week programme course is designed to help fashion-focused entrepreneurs launch their brands into the local and international markets, develop new clothing products and showcase new collections in new and innovative ways. Applications close 30th September…
I am a doer. This trait was developed by my parents, growing up in a farm. See, there was nothing like sitting around doing nothing in my parents house, unless the “nothing” was reading a book. Also, there was nothing like “sleeping in”. You woke up at between 6am and 6:30 am whether you had something to do or not. In fact, I have a distinct…
Kenya’s economy is largely driven by SMEs and informal businesses. Nowhere is this more evidence than when you study the economy’s numbers. It for example did not make sense that only 1.5 million people filed their taxes with the Kenya Revenue Authority last month. One wants to believe that we have more than 1.5 million taxpayers (and we do), it is just that these tax…
The last couple of months have seen rather discouraging times in our banking sector, with the collapse of Dubai Bank and Imperial Bank, and most recently Chase Bank which is in receivership under the management of KCB. However, it is heartening to see aggressive moves in the market, like the recent launch of Spire Bank. Inspired by the word “Inspire” , Spire Bank says it is here…
Over a year back when Safaricom announced that it would be launching a card specifically for government offices, I did wonder what the difference between Safaricom and other banks really is. Yesterday, the company announced that it is piloting its debit card, designed as a Point of Sale (POS) payment card like the bank cards we use. It is designed as an upgrade to the…
Fusion Capital has opened the sale of its development real estate investment trust, commonly referred to as D-Reit, to the public at a price of Sh23 per unit. Fusion hopes to raise Kshs 2.3 billion through the sale of 100 million REIT units, and the offer closes on July 15th. The funds will go towards developing a mixed residential, office and retail project in Meru;…
In Part 1, we saved some money on insurance by asking, Part 2 saved us a tidy some in HELB penalties. The third and final post looks at how to get flexi-time at work. In 2011, IBM’s research on the cities with the worst traffic jam in the world ranked Nairobi as the 4th most painful city to commute within, in the world! We know…
Professor Max Bazerman always starts the first day of his Harvard MBA class the same way. He holds up a 20-dollar bill and offers it up for auction to the class. He has two rules for this auction: Rule number 1: bids must be made in $1 increments. Rule number 2: the runner-up must honor their bid, meaning that, although the winner will take the…
Danson is 71 years old, and since his retirement from a City Council job in 2004, he’s been living well. He is actually living better than he ever did while employed. His monthly income is higher than his salary at retirement, he first drove a car post-retirement; he has two vehicles actually. When we think of life after retirement, we don’t imagine it as an…
I am an introvert. The earliest memory I have of getting into trouble about my introversion was may be 20-22 years ago as a young girl in rural Kenya. Visitors would come, and as a well trained child I’d welcome them, serve them tea/fruit, then leave them in the living room by themselves as they waited to see my mom or father. I knew I was…
