A few months back, I met with Tania for lunch and she happened to mention in passing that reading Big Magic had really inspired her to be bold in her creativity. That evening, I got the book, read the first chapter, but hesitated to continue. The first reason behind my hesitation was that I had not read “Eat Pray Love” , an extremely popular book by the same author…
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Last month, the president assented to an ammendment to the Banking Act which effectively limits how much interest banks can charge loans and how much they pay out as interest on savings. In summary, the bill put: (i) a cap on lending rates at 4.0% above the Central Bank Rate (CBR) and (ii) a floor on the deposit rates at 70% of the CBR. Banks have no choice but…
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I like businesses that do bold things, and Kisafi is bold. We have seen “all you can eat” buffets, “bottomless” soda promotions but how about “all you can fit” laundry bag? That is what drew me to Kisafi – this was bold, especially in Kenya. If you have hosted an open bar event, you know how hard Kenyans will try to fit everything in a limited space. 😀…
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We are at a point in history where entrepreneurship is receiving more attention than ever before, especially in Africa. Previous generations focused on other things; our grandparents’ generation was into government jobs – a government job was the best thing one could ever land. Our parents were the professionals – the teachers, doctors, engineers etc. We are the entrepreneurs, the trailblazers. A fancy solution for the…
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On the 23rd of September, Pewin Cabs launched their cab hailing app called Dandia, which is Swahili for that thing matatu touts in the city do, where they jump into the matatu after it has started moving. Pewin promises us that we will be able to Dandia a cab any time we want it and fast. “A cab in 5 mins, wherever you are in Nairobi” is…
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If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I love to make fun of a section of Twitter that is popularly called #CementTwitter. As you can see from the linked search results, many people do. But who is #CementTwitter? Well, these people have interesting take on our spending habits. They love to equate everything we buy to how many bags of cement we would buy instead. For…
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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…
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In the last month, I have had extended chats with two of my friends. One is a published Kenyan author. He has written a good novel, and a number of children’s books one of which my daughter loved before one of her play mates massacred (Kenyan board books please?). By all measures, he is a successful and active author. He however has a full time…
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In the last post, we looked at the conflict between the heart and the hand. The heart represents the long term savings goals that we want to achieve with our money, while the hand is impulsive and keeps reaching out for short term desires and unplanned spending. I set a goal to save 40,000 shillings towards paying down a loan in the next three months….
Read MoreThe National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) yesterday announced additional benefits for its members. They will now cover specialized, major and minor surgeries to the extent of 500,000, 130,000 and 40,000 shillings respectively. This development comes soon after they announced that they will be covering dialysis and cancer treatments, and also reviewed inpatient coverage in the major private hospitals from 1,900 shillings to 6,000 shillings a night….
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