Category: Business Daily

Kenyan firms plan to increase the number of full-time employees in the final quarter of the year to support heightened activity anticipated during the festive period, a new Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey shows.

The survey findings show more respondents expect improved business activity in the fourth quarter, with higher demand orders, sales, production volumes, and employment levels projected as consumer spending and sectoral activity rise heading into the holiday season.

A trader in locally produced rice has sued the State over a gazette notice authorising the importation of 500,000 tonnes of the staple food duty-free, between July 28 and December 31.

Frankline Ojiambo says the directive to authorise duty-free importation of the rice was made without public participation and that the only entity consulted was the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC), which is also the designated importer.

The Two Rivers International Finance and Innovation Centre (Trific) has been designated a project of strategic national importance, allowing it to bypass Nairobi County in seeking development approvals, instead obtaining them directly from the national government.

The designation, announced by the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning under the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, effectively places the 64-acre Two Rivers Special Economic Zone (SEZ) under the direct supervision of the national planning authorities.

Uasin Gishu, Machakos, and Nairobi counties are the most conducive to doing business for small traders due to the cost of licences and the availability of funding and infrastructure with Nyandarua, Kakamega, and Kisii ranked last, a new index shows.

The index, developed by the African Institute of MSME Policy and Research and consultancy firm Viffa Consult, reckons that unification and cost of licences and business support services like funding and incubation hubs are game changers.

The world’s largest cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), has experienced a major outage that has impacted thousands of organisations, including banks, financial software platforms such as Xero, and social media platforms such as Snapchat.

The outage began at roughly 6pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEDT) on Monday. It was caused by a malfunction at one of AWS’ data centres located in Northern Virginia in the US. AWS says it has fixed the underlying issue but some internet users are still reporting service disruptions.

This incident highlights the vulnerabilities of relying so much on cloud computing – or ‘the cloud’ as it’s often called. But there are ways to mitigate some of the risks.

Renting IT infrastructure

Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of diverse IT resources such as computing power, database storage, and applications over the internet. In simple terms, it’s renting (not owning) your own IT infrastructure.

Cloud computing came into prevalence with the dot com boom in the late 1990s, wherein digital tech companies started to deliver software over the internet.

As companies such as Amazon matured in their own ability to offer what’s known as ‘software as a service’ over the web, they started to offer others the ability to rent their virtual servers for a cost as well.

This was a lucrative value proposition. Cloud computing enables a pay-as-you-go model similar to a utility bill, rather than the huge upfront investment required to purchase, operate and manage your own data centre.

As a result, the latest statistics suggest more than 94 percent of all enterprises use cloud-based services in some form.

A market dominated by three companies

The global cloud market is dominated by three companies. AWS holds the largest share (roughly 30 percent). It’s followed by Microsoft Azure (about 20 percent) and Google Cloud Platform (about 13 percent).

All three service providers have had recent outages, significantly impacting digital service platforms. For example, in 2024, an issue with third-party software severely impacted Microsoft Azure, causing extensive operational failures for businesses globally.

Google Cloud Platform also experienced a major outage this year due to an internal misconfiguration.

Profound risks

The heavy reliance of the global internet on just a few major providers – AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud – creates profound risks for both businesses and everyday users.

First, this concentration forms a single point of failure. As seen in the latest AWS event, a simple configuration error in one central system can trigger a domino effect that instantly paralyses vast segments of the internet. Second, these providers often impose vendor lock-in. Companies find it prohibitively difficult and expensive to switch platforms due to complex data architectures and excessively high fees charged for moving large volumes of data out of the cloud (data egress costs). This effectively traps customers, leaving them hostage to a single vendor’s terms.

Finally, the dominance of US-based cloud service providers introduces geopolitical and regulatory risks. Data stored in these massive systems is subject to US laws and government demands, which can complicate compliance with international data sovereignty regulations such as Australia’s Privacy Act.

Furthermore, these companies hold the power to censor or restrict access to services, giving them control over how firms operate.

The current best practice to mitigate these risks is to adopt a multi-cloud approach that enables you to decentralise. This involves running critical applications across multiple vendors to eliminate the single point of failure.

This approach can be complemented by what’s known as ‘edge computing’, wherein data storage and processing is moved away from large, central data centres, toward smaller, distributed nodes (such as local servers) that firms can control directly.

The combination of edge computing and a multi-cloud approach enhances resilience, improves speed, and helps companies meet strict data regulatory requirements while avoiding dependence on any single entity.

As the old saying goes, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

How does that management cliché go? ‘Managers do things right, but leaders do the right things.’

Do business leaders have distinct characteristics, or are they all over the map? Is there a magical recipe one can follow to become a leader? Or is it a myth, that to be a leader, one has to exhibit quality A, B and C?

‘Legacy is not what you leave behind-it’s what keeps growing when you’re gone.’ – African Proverb

Last week, I wrote about the emotional cost of building to last-the sleepless nights, the hidden weight and the quiet ache that comes when purpose turns into responsibility. Some readers asked: But what is legacy, really?

Fourteen suspects in Kenya have been flagged for financing of terrorism activity through virtual assets, including cryptocurrency, the global police body Interpol said on Wednesday.

Four of the flagged suspects in Kenya have been arrested as part of an operation across six African countries targeting terrorism financing and the illegal activity supporting it.

By mid-October, racks in Nairobi’s sports shops rarely stay full for long. Marathon season sends a rush of customers looking for sneakers they can trust on the road, whether they’re serious athletes or just joining the city’s growing fitness culture. Sellers say this is when shoes move fastest, from the Central Business District (CBD) stalls to mall boutiques.

The spike is more than just seasonal excitement. For many Kenyans, sneakers have become part of everyday life, used for running, gym workouts, weekend walks or simply a corporate look.

Former NIC Bank chief executive James Macharia, who also served as a Cabinet Secretary in the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, has made a comeback into the public eye after being named the chairman of Sidian Bank in a board overhaul.

Mr Macharia who served in various dockets during both terms of the Jubilee administration has not held another public role since the exit of the Uhuru government in 2022.