Kenyan school feeding social enterprise Food for Education has expanded its school feeding operations to Mombasa County's public schools, moving closer to its target to feed 100,000 school children every day by the end of this year. 

Food for Education’s Mombasa County’s pilot kitchen targets to serve 5,000 lunches daily, and 30,000 in the region by the end of the year. Already, Food for Education delivers 30,000 similar daily servings from its Ruiru and Dagoretti South kitchens, in Nairobi County.  

The award-winning Food for Education program works with public schools to ensure children from low-income households in urban and peri-urban areas have access to quality, hygienic and nutritious meals complementing the Government of Kenya's school feeding programme in rural and semi-arid areas, and helping reduce the classroom hunger crisis in Kenya.  

According to Food for Education’s founder Wawira Njiru, Mombasa stood out for its need for well-balanced, standardized, and healthy school meals.

"Mombasa county is prime for this infrastructure, with most schools seeking options of a sustainable school feeding program. Being a densely populated city, the majority of the schools have limited space for kitchens, forcing children to seek alternative means to access meals while in school, while some are forced to stay hungry all day."  she said

Through its model, Food for Education owns a central mega-kitchen in a select school where meals are prepared. The food is then distributed, using smart logistics and innovative technology. Its Tap2Eat uses the mobile money technology allowing parents to prepay for meals which are distributed to surrounding schools, saving on costs, expanding the reach for low cost nutritious meals. 

According to Wawira, the kitchen will source foods from local small-holder farmers, improving farmer incomes and the viability of local food value chains. "Our 'home-grown' strategy fosters increased production and diversification by smallholders, which stimulates the strengthening of local and national food systems and the promotion of better-quality diets," said  Wawira.  

According to a study commissioned by the World Food Program (WFP) and MasterCard Foundation and titled School Feeding Programme Cost Benefit Analysis, , free meals are an incentive for parents to enroll their children in school, and improve their attendance throughout the year. Further, school meals help children overcome under-nutrition and poor health, and support local agricultural economies.  

Food For Education targets to serve a million school meals per day by 2025, and is working on setting up kitchens in the major counties in Kenya as a key plank of its expansion. It also plans to set up pilot kitchens that will be used to study the different needs of the regions.

This will enable it to effectively meet the needs of the different communities and tailor its system as an end-to-end solution for delivering nutritious meals in the near future.  

According to World Food Programme (WFP), the annual global investment in school meals amounts to Sh. 7.5 trillion. An estimated 368 million children receive a meal at school every day, as a safety net, in both developing and affluent countries. Further, WFP believes that school meals can contribute directly to the attainment of a number of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

These include a contribution to ending Hunger, ensuring Quality Education and promoting Gender Equality and indirectly to ending Poverty, ensuring Decent Work, and Reducing Inequalities.  

World's fastest growing smartphone maker, realme is among the Top 5 brands in 15 regions according to Q4 2020 Canalys global smartphone shipment report. 

According to the shipment report, realme ranked fourth and holds its position as the fastest-growing smartphone brand among the top five vendors in the Southeast Asia market in Q4 2020.

The company ranked 3rd in the Philippines and maintained more than 100 percent year-on-year growth in growing economies like Thailand and Myanmar. In the Indian market, realme came in fifth place with a 12 percent market share, staying closely with the top four.

At the same time, realme entered the top five positions in some European markets, including Greece, Czech Republic, and Russia, while in Russia realme achieved 338 percent annual growth in Q4.

The brand which has been making inroads in the Kenyan market by launching 6 phones as well as AIot products last year in just 4 months,  also became the first in the world to ship over 50 million units with Kenya being one of the key destination markets.

“By embodying the spirit of ‘Dare to Leap’, realme is the amalgamation of best performance and trendy designs, with remarkable prices. We are confident that realme’s products and marketing strategy are effective even during this difficult time. realme will keep providing an optimum combination of bold, innovative designs and a balanced integration between software and hardware to meet the young generation’s requirements.” realme CEO, Sky Li introduced.

According to Canalys, realme ranked in the Top 5 brands by shipment including the following regions: India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Czech Republic, Greece, and the greater Southeast Asia region as a whole.

The company has already rolled out a plan to increase sales by at least 30 percent in 2020 saying amazing products that mirror the changing trends are lined up for the Kenyan market.

Charles Mghenyi is the new Coast Bureau Chief for The Star newspaper.

Mghenyi takes over from Maureen Mudi who resigned last month to join the media council of Kenya.

http://ommydalla.co.ke/people/item/2020-maureen-mudi-quits-newsroom-to-join-regulator

Mghenyi was among three correspondents from the Mombasa office who were interviewed for the job late last month.

He is currently in Nairobi for a two week orientation before officially taking over his new role.

Mghenyi has worked for the Star newspaper as a correspondent since 2013. He begun his career at Radio Rahma as an intern.

Mghenyi who also doubles as a photographer has mainly been focusing on tourism and features.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has encouraged more women to actively seek elective and other positions of leadership both at national and county levels.

While applauding the current 23 percent representation of women in the National Assembly, the First Lady said more work needed to be done to achieve the constitutionally proposed two-thirds gender rule.

“Let us continue working, together, for the progress we all believe in. And let us begin with ourselves, in our own spaces, in our homes, in our schools and with our children.

“We know that women can bring a difference in leadership by ensuring that the needs and aspirations of women and men, boys and girls are addressed equitably,” the First Lady said as she rooted for enhanced gender equality and women empowerment especially during the COVID-19 era.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta spoke Monday when she presided over virtual celebrations to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) under the theme ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’.

The First Lady pointed out that the theme of this year’s IWD calls for women leadership, saying it is timely and resonates well with the current global situation.

“It highlights the need for us to demand for a level playing field for women and girls irrespective of race, religion or social background,” she said.

The First Lady emphasized the need for women to lend their voice in combating harmful cultural practices that curtail progress even as she expressed satisfaction that a lot of resources are being channelled towards ensuring equity and justice.

“We also, as women, must continue to raise our voices and protect ourselves against harmful practices such as FGM and early child marriage; these factors impede our pathway to reaching our gifted potential,” the First Lady said.

At the global level, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta said the election of the first woman Vice President in the United States of America should serve as an inspiration for women worldwide to aspire for leadership positions.

“Her Excellency Kamala Harris, has done women proud and broken the glass ceiling by going into history books as the 49th Vice President and the first female occupant of the office in the United States,” she said.

During the occasion, the First Lady conferred Annual Trailblazer Awards to several women and institutions in recognition of their outstanding achievements and contribution to advancing the gender equality and women empowerment agenda. She also conferred certificates to graduands of the first cohort of the Women in Political Leadership Training Programme that she launched last year.

Public Service and Gender CS Prof Margaret Kobia said the theme of this year’s IWD illustrates the urgency of putting women empowerment at the core of recovery and bouncing back better in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She noted that while the journey of women in leadership has been long and bumpy, their determination and commitment has yielded fruits.

“Therefore, we celebrate the gains made and also reflect on the social, economic, political and cultural context in which women and girls live and work,” the CS said.

In her address, Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland stressed that gender equality and women empowerment are essential components of human development and basic human rights.

Other speakers included Defence CS Dr Monica Juma, Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organization Chairperson Rahab Muiu, European Union Ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue and UN Resident Co-ordinator Stephen Jackson are among others.

 The event also witnessed the national launch of the continental digital platform dubbed ‘the 50 Million African Women Speak’. The project is geared towards empowering millions of women in Africa to start, grow and scale up businesses by providing a one-stop shop.

A team of top government officials drawn from transport and treasury ministries will retreat to review the progress in the merging between the Kenya Ports Authority [KPA] and the Kenya Ferry Service [KFS] from Monday.

Senior officials from both ministries are leading the process to accommodate KFS employees into the new structure at the port of Mombasa.

KPA and KFS officials will be in attendance at the four-day retreat in Malindi,Kilifi county to chart the way forward in the merging of the two state corporations.

Both state corporations have formed a team ahead of the retreat with the aim of changing the way of conducting business at the port.

Unconfirmed reports said KFS managing director Bakari Gowa will be deployed at the transport ministry before the process to recruit a new KPA MD is completed.

The post of KFS MD has been reduced to that of a divisional head known as General Manager, services, in the new proposed Human resource management structure.

The move is to change the dynamics of doing business at the port of Mombasa with the re-structuring of operations with a proposal to make managers answer to a head of division under General Managers.

The four-day re-retreat will comprise of teams from each department to hasten the progress of absorbing each other under a simulated system.

In the previous meeting before the retreat both acting KPA managing director Rashid Salim and Gowa were present.

In the proposed new Human resource management structure majority of state corporation departments will be merged in a dynamic way to ease port operation.

According to an establishment source the move to absorb defunct ferry service employees is underway with an option for those not comfortable to work under the new proposed structure to seek for an early retirement package.

In the latest episode of Connecting Africa, CNN International’s Eleni Giokos explores why Africa's investment in renewable energy projects is so important for pan-African business growth.

Electrification is seen as key in driving economic growth across Africa. But with only 43% of the continent connected to electricity, finding ways to secure and propel the continent towards energy independence means finding sustainable solutions.

Chiboni Evans, CEO of the South African Electrotechnical Export Council, argues that without electrification it will be difficult to increase intra-African trade.

She tells Giokos, “You cannot trade, you cannot manufacture goods and services unless you've got the power to power your factories. Even in terms of supply chains, you're talking using the internet, you're using digital supply chains. You need the internet. That also needs electricity. So, without electrification, we cannot do anything.”

The next step is to get more big businesses to buy into renewable energy.

GridX Africa founder Chalker Kansteiner is using his Nairobi based company to develop cleaner ways to power the commercial sector, “I think there's large scale industries which are looking at updating their way of doing business, and so I think as there becomes greater confidence in the ability for renewable energy to deliver these sort of quite intense industrial loads, with power, the mining and oil and gas industry will increasingly adopt renewable energy, because it's lower cost and because they now have confidence in its ability to meet its needs.”

GridX Africa offers solar energy solutions across the continent – from construction and agriculture, to tourism and healthcare. Kansteiner says that deals like the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement stand to aid the expansion of other renewable energy projects across the continent.

“To the extent that we could see a continent wide free trade agreement, the application would be much broader. And so, we have projects in Liberia and Ghana, which would greatly benefit from being able to have imports from our East African projects and from our East African capacity. I think with that in mind distributed power is a huge opportunity for Africa to be a leader.”

Another key player is hydroelectric power. In Kenya’s Muranga County, the programme meets the people behind Magiro Mini Hydro Power. Business Advisor and Director Thomas Poelmans discusses why the concept works well, “We're basically using the force of the river, and falling from a higher point to a lower point, harnessing that kinetic energy, and transforming it to electric energy. And in Muranga County, in the greater Mount Kenya region actually, Muranga County is so hilly that it has the potential to power about 55% of all of Kenya.”

Magiro is currently operating an off-grid renewable energy system but hopes to develop its first on-grid power plant. Poelmans explains, “We are developing the first on grid power plant that will be providing power to the national electricity grid, and that one will produce power for 15,000 people.”

A further area attracting major funding is the development of wind farms. Ntombifuthi Ntuli, CEO of the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA), says that wind power is an underused resource across the continent, “There’s a lot of untapped potential, not just in South Africa, but in the whole continent. And the industry is looking forward to actually turning that into power, to power Africa.”

By investing in wind turbines and the engineers and technicians needed to develop, build, and maintain the technology, South Africa has created jobs. Ntuli says these workers and their skills are valued across the world, “The wind turbine technicians that we are training in the country are actually now finding jobs throughout the world because we have created that capacity, we’re now able to export it to other countries.”

At the Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm, Giokos meets Danie Du Plessis, CEO of Cennergi. He talks about the importance of including local communities in renewable energy projects, “Employing local labor during both the construction and in the operations phase is very, very important. We have to give back. You cannot do this alone. You have to take the community along. They are part of this business, they are shareholders in the company, they are beneficiaries of the community work that we do.”

Du Plessis says that he sees growth throughout the industry, and he highlights the key projects that will impact renewable energy’s future across the continent, “There are already very good opportunities and fantastic facilities up in Africa. Kenya, Senegal have some very big wind farms. And then Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, you’ve got these massive solar plants and massive wind plants going up. We’ve got good sun, we’ve got lots of wind, and it’s ready to be harnessed.”

President Uhuru Kenyatta has cautioned Kenyans including the media against peddling falsehoods on Covid-19 national vaccination exercise saying health workers and frontline service providers will be the first in line to receive the injection.

The President said Government has put in place robust policy measures on how the vaccination campaign will be conducted and advised the media to seek information from the right sources.

“Our policy and it has been clearly stated that we will start with frontline workers. I would appeal to members of the fourth estate to stop disseminating rumours.

“We met as Cabinet and made it very clear that the first persons to be administered with this vaccine shall be our frontline health workers. That is category number one.

"They (health workers) will be followed by our category number 2, who will be our security forces, who also due to the nature of their work are equally frontline workers," the President stated.

The Head of State spoke Thursday at the Central Vaccine Depot in Kitengela, Kajiado County where he flagged off the countrywide distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The President said other groups of people that will be given priority during the vaccination campaign are teachers and defined emergency service providers.

“Included also will be our teachers because as you know we have resumed learning and our teachers are equally just as exposed.

"We will then move to those with co-mobilities and those above the age of 58 as we move to the rest of the population,” the President outlined.

President Kenyatta reiterated Government’s unflinching resolve to ensure the success of the vaccination exercise and urged Kenyans to continue observing Covid-19 containment protocols.

“I want to tell Kenyans that this disease is still in our midst. The vaccines do not mean that we are through. We must continue to protect ourselves. Put on masks, wash hands, sanitize and keep social distance," the President said.

He urged Kenyans to continue supporting frontline health workers especially in the administration of the Covid-19 vaccine saying the Government will provide the logistical support needed to ensure the national exercise succeeds.

“This is the time to come together and ensure that we are able to provide this much needed service to our people. As far as we are concerned in Government our role is to help these wonderful people who work day and night with logistics,” President Kenyatta said.

The Head of State said experts will continue giving progress updates on the vaccination campaign and expressed confidence that the country will emerge stronger from the ravages of the deadly disease.

Going forward, the President said the country will continue procuring more doses of the life saving vaccines noting that the second consignment will arrive in the country at the end of this month.

In his remarks, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said Kenya is among the first countries in Africa to receive the vaccine and thanked President Kenyatta for the support his Ministry continues to receive from Government.

Mr Kagwe assured Kenyans that his Ministry was adequately prepared to oversee a successful national Covid-19 vaccination campaign.

While responding to a journalist's question, Ag.Director General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth said the first phase of the vaccination campaign will run until end of June this year and benefit 1.2 million Kenyans. The second phase to benefit 9.6 million people will start thereafter.

Successful Kenyan artiste King Kanja is back at it! This time releasing the music video to ‘’Different Ting’’  his soulful Afrobeat smash hit single with Foreign Slim, Houston-based Nigerian singer.

This collaboration is the latest from the Kanja’s frequent outreach through his King Kanja Empire imprint that sees him collaborate and promote a host of new artists he encounters during his tours and forays around the globe.

“Different Ting” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJEEiI_vprI

In King Kanja’s own words, “the video is like a Nollywood film!”.

The steamy video is a sensuous appeal over a late night call by Foreign Slim donned in her slinky nightie while loafed in her bedroom trying to lure King Kanja away from his girlfriend.

Her advances promise a different love experience tempting King Kanja away from his increasingly frustrated partner as the rapper tries to divide his fleeting attention.

Kanja is marking his directorial debut, co-directing the sizzling visual alongside Dr. Barry.

Speaking about the video King Kanja says, “We tried to capture the poetic sense of the song visually to bring out both of our very artistic character traits in the most afrobeat way possible.’’

The tough Covid-19 times didn’t stop King Kanja from moving ahead.

He enjoyed an illustrious year in 2020 releasing two albums: VIBE LORD and VIBRATIONS. 

He has since also graced virtual performances for Belaire, Bumbu and had an appearance on 254 Diaspora DJ Live mix.

The rapper is riding the momentum projecting another album release later this year but first, his East African fans can expect to enjoy a series of visuals coming off his latest reggae offing VIBRATIONS.

Kanja sums it up: “My message to my Kenyans and East Africa fam is to stay consistent in whatever you do in life and to always strive for excellence no matter what the world or the journey throws at you.”

Kenya Ports Authority [KPA] acting Managing Director Rashid Salim will continue holding the position for a further three months, following the government's decision to extend his term.

This is after the government failed to get a substantive MD for the parastatal from the just concluded interviews.

http://ommydalla.co.ke/people/item/2040-kpa-conducts-interviews-for-md-post

Today (Wednesday) Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani rejected the proposed names for the job, directing the KPA board to undertake a fresh recruitement exercise and be concluded within 45 days.

In the letter copied to his transport counterpart James Macharia and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, Yatani directed the process to recruit a new MD must be concluded within the stipulated period.

"I have reviewed the list of names ,scores and ranking of the candidates proposed for appointment as Managing Director, Kenya Ports Authority and note that all the candidates scored below the desired threshold of 7o per cent in the interview " reads the letter from Yatani.

Rashid was not among those shortlisted for the job.

The three candidates never met the threshold required for the position forcing the government to go back to the drawing board and it is set to re advertise for the controversial post.

Former Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport Corridor chief executive officer Silvester Kasuku came third after he managed to score 63 per cent marks.

Both former Principal Secretary at the Gender ministry Mwanamaka Mabruki who has previously worked at the port and Murshid Rashid who is maritime expert tied with a score of 67 per cent marks.

The three from the six shortlisted candidates failed to meet the pass marks of 70 per cent.

The move to extend Rashid’s contract will be the last since he is expected to proceed to his annual leave pending his retirement end of this year.

Things may get more complicated in the recruitment process as KPA board of directors chairman Joseph Kibwana is expected to exit mid this year.

Other shortlisted candidates who sat for interview for the top post were James Ng’ang’a who is currently Infrastructure Director - Northern Corridor at TradeMark East Africa and who previously worked at the port of Mombasa, former KPA General Manager Human Resource and Administration Dr Amani Komora and KPA General Manager in charge of Kisumu port Sudi Mwasingo who made his second attempt for the post.

By Doreen Kinja, Team Leader at Infobip Kenya

Like the rest of the world, Kenya’s business sector has been significantly affected and reshaped by the global COVID-19 pandemic, with a large portion of commercial activity shifting to the digital space as physical interactions practically ceased.

Interestingly, we are now seeing businesses mushrooming out of nowhere, and these are often companies that did not have a real strategy before but shaped their models around the pandemic.

These start-ups are thriving because they have taken up the challenge and launched entirely online, using technology to reach more customers.

Despite this accelerated digitisation, SMS is and likely to remain for some time yet, the most widely used channel for customer communication.

This is largely due to Kenya having a large proportion of feature phone users often located in remote areas, but it is also at the forefront of mobile penetration on the continent, with 4G connectivity and infrastructure that is increasing reaching these areas.

Yet, we have also seen significant uptake of chat apps such as WhatsApp by local businesses during the past year, thanks to smartphones becoming increasingly cheaper too. There is a noticeable trend toward businesses exploring alternative channels and adopting multiple channels to engage with their customers.

Now is the ideal time for companies to start adopting an omnichannel approach to customer engagement. An omnichannel solution brings an array of communication options, allowing the customer to interact with their brand over the channel of their choice.

Young population

Further strengthening the case for omnichannel adoption is the fact that Kenya has a young population, with more than 50% below the age of 30. This demographic does not want to use traditional channels such as voice to communicate with a business.

These customers are more likely to use chat apps and SMS and demand instant response.

Not only does an omnichannel approach provide customers with their choice of preferred channels, but it also allows the business to segment its client base and effectively target relevant and personalised messaging at specific groups or individuals.

This is key to offering an enhanced customer experience (CX), which remains the only true differentiator in a competitive market.

The trend towards digitisation is evident in areas such as Kenya’s microfinance sector, where thousands of different Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOS) provide loans and financing for their members.

While SACCOS traditionally operated out of physical offices, most have shifted all their services online – from onboarding new members to giving out loans.

Have a strategy

Despite the many benefits, the decision of whether to adopt an omnichannel approach should not be taken lightly. Last year, with the outbreak of COVID-19, we saw many companies rushing to adopt solutions that they did not fully understand, due to a lack of planning. The same counts for omnichannel – make sure you have a strategy, and the solution supports your business objectives.

 If leveraged effectively, an omnichannel platform will not only enhance the CX but will also contribute to cost savings and add to the bottom line. A targeted and personalised promotional dialogue will bring the right products and services to the right customer, resulting in a greater return on investment for the campaign.

Another benefit is that a unified CX is the key to creating powerful human connections. As human beings, we want to have things just the way we like them. We want to be reached on our favourite channels and we don’t want to struggle to communicate. We want to chat and get instant feedback.

Effectively, businesses should look to an omnichannel platform that allows for a combination of communication channels and personalised messaging as key for a holistic approach to customer engagement and powerful human connection at scale.