Author: Kaluka wanjala

Against a background of COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent disruption of global economic activities with the resultant social disruptions, Equity Group Holdings has demonstrated a resilient, versatile business model, leadership agility, innovation and diversification capability and strength of strategy to report an 85 % growth in profit before tax, a 27% growth in total assets and a 25% growth in total income. Resilience in execution of an offensive and defensive strategy saw regional subsidiaries grow their Group contribution to deposits to 42% up from 40%, revenue to 37% up from 30% and profit before tax to 26% up from 21%.…

InstaFrom intelligent refrigerators that detect your food is running low to TVs that switch to your favorite show when you enter the room, the concept of smart homes is becoming popular as people re-think how they spend time indoors with family and friends. To a great extent, our lives revolved around home. We want to experience comfort and serenity within our most treasured personal spaces. Plus, there is something nostalgic about the place we call home. As someone said, “Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong and laughter never ends.” However, home is not just a…

Earlier this year, Rolling Stone Magazine reported that paid music streaming subscriptions in the US experienced their biggest year-on-year jump in 2020. Some 15 million people signed up for various platforms for the first time, bringing the total number of paying North American subscribers to more than 75 million people. This astronomical rise of interest in music streaming isn’t unique to the US. In South Africa, leading market and consumer data provider Statista projects that the local music streaming segment will be worth US$55 million in 2021. That revenue is expected to grow by almost 13% every year, resulting in…

Safaricom has unveiled a new campaign dubbed Mwelekeo Ni Internet, which will see the service provider introduce new data offers, add more affordable 4G devices to the Lipa Mdogo Mdogo device financing plan and showcase the transformative power of the Internet. Through the campaign, the telco aims to bring more Kenyans into the digital sphere by educating them on the power of the internet and showcasing how it can transform their lives. “With more Kenyans going online for everything, from studying to business to social networking, we see an opportunity to narrow the access gap and connect even more people…

LG Electronics today announced third-quarter 2021 consolidated revenues of USD 16.23 billion (Ksh 1.752 trillion), an increase of 22 percent from the same quarter last year, and the highest quarterly revenue in the history of the company. Growth in sales of premium home appliances and entertainment products such as OLED and large screen TVs powered the strong Q3 2021 performance, shrugging off supply chain constraints especially semi-conductors, due to the impact of Covid-19. Profitability also increased significantly during the quarter but was partially offset by a one-time charge. Operating profit of USD 466.99 million (Ksh. 50.42 billion) was 49.6 percent…

Equity has once again been named among global giants in banking. The Kenyan lender has been ranked position 39 globally on return on assets, position 71 on return on capital, and position 149 on soundness (Capital Assets to Assets ratio), in the Top 1,000 World Banks 2021 by The Banker magazine. This evaluation is derived after analysing banks through eight categories: growth, profitability, operational efficiency, asset quality, and return on risk, liquidity, soundness, and leverage. Overall, Equity was ranked 22nd in Africa and 761st globally based on its Tier 1 capital base of USD 1,096 million. Equity’s exemplary performance in…

Microsoft has announced more than 90 new services and updates that highlights the organization’s commitment to addressing the trends and exploring breakthrough ways of connecting people, organizations, and ideas in the increasingly digital world. This was announced at the ongoing Microsoft Ignite 2021, a worldwide event that brings together over 100,000 executives to experience the company’s latest and greatest technologies while also receiving a sneak peek at upcoming products and services that will be available in the future. “Microsoft Ignite is an opportunity for us to show the results of our efforts across a wide spectrum of products in several…

Advanced persistent threat (APT) actors continuously advance their ways of working. While some choose to remain consistent in their strategy, others adopt new techniques, tactics and procedures. In Q3, Kaspersky’s researchers witnessed Lazarus, a highly prolific advanced threat actor, developing supply chain attack capabilities and using their multi-platform MATA framework for cyber-espionage goals. This and other APT trends from across the world are revealed in Kaspersky’s latest quarterly threat intelligence summary. Lazarus is one of the world’s most active threat actors and has been active since at least 2009. This APT group has been behind large-scale cyber-espionage and ransomware campaigns…

The Tecno Camon 18 was recently unveiled in Kenya and is currently available in the country for Ksh 22,000. This is not that much but is still on the higher end when compared to previous Camon devices. Speaking of previous Camon devices, the Tecno Camon 18 is the successor to the Tecno Camon 17 series that we reviewed earlier this year. The Camon 17 series was a good one offering good value for money and I am interested to see what the Camon 18 series has to offer. I have the Tecno Camon 18 in for review and since I…

Consumer appliances manufacturer LG Electronics is moving to tap into the fast-growing on-demand laundry market in East Africa with a new concept targeting clientele looking for superior home washing services. LG has partnered with vendors and local entrepreneurs to roll out stores in strategic locations that are equipped with state-of-the-art washing machines, and offering differentiated laundry solutions to an increasingly affluent middle income market. The concept, known as LG commercial machine reference stores, also involves the company partnering with small laundry businesses targeting time and hygiene-conscious consumers who may not own a washing machine but prefer their personal laundry done…