Author: staff reporter

By Jeff Kizzilah

The Founder of the International Youth Fellowship (IYF) Rev Ock Soo Park said this initiative will be a milestone in the development and adoption of mind education in kenya.

The launch which was attended by different mnistry including ICT and Ministry of eduction in partnership to expand the national mind program.

Speakjng during the event Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo who was represented by Director of Administration Mr.Maritin said its important kenya orient the young generation through education as well as value systems.

He said the broad mandate is to formulate,administer, develop information that can be utilised by the young generation.

The Vice Chancellor Kisii University Mr John Akama said the more youths open their mind the more they expand knowledge and peace to a greater heights.

Mr Soo said that since International Youth Fellowship was founded many youths have benefited through broadcasting program and that also help raising a God fearing nation.

The event was attended by also various different government institutions.

By Fred Maingi
Kenya Defense Forces (KDF ) proved their might when they emerged winners of the one-day Nairobi County five-two aside Taekwondo Junior Championship held at Kasarani over the weekend.
The 10-teams tournament that attracted a foreign team from Burundi (Team Jaguar ) lived up to its billing with plenty of fireworks and upsets.
KDF led by their coach John Ireri were a joy to watch. They amassed 15 Gold and a similar number of bronze.
Regional team led by Master Voiya Lumwach who doubles up as the Chairman of Taekwondo Nairobi region finished second overall with 10 Gold and similar number of silver. Shofco team finished third with 10 Gold followed by Black Kings and Mathare North in that order.
In his speech, Voiya thanked participating teams for showing discipline and sportsmanship. He particularly thanked Burundi for being a regular participant.
He said the state of Taekwondo in the country is good but the major challenge remains funding and lack of adequate sponsorship.
Voiya further pleaded with the Ministry of Sports to step in and fund counties but not the National level alone.
“I ave approached friends in Europe for sponsorship for our future events. It’s expensive to host a tournament without funding. I had pledged some uniforms for winning teams but I have issues with clearance. Next event in our calendar is the International coaching seminar for referees whose dates will be announced in due course. “Observed Voiya who is one of the top Taekwondo instructors in the region.
He added” We have also a junior tournament in April which is among the many events in our calendar. We need true support and sponsorship to boost our future events”
Other future events include the Presidents Cup donated by Major Suleiman Sumba slated for April in Mombasa at KPA makande hall, Madaraka Cup, Labour Day, Jamhuri Cup, Mashujaa Day and the All Africa games qualifiers set for next year among others.
Other participating teams apart from the winners included NYS Nairobi, KDF engineers,
Mks County, St. Teresa, Lions Gate Korogocho, NMN, Shofco, and Kayole Taekwondo.
Other teams included Rahamani club from machakos, and others from Meru, Awendo and the visiting Burundi team.
The colourful event was graced by Taekwondo Grandmaster Ngala Hastings, Instructors Isaac Kamau and Coach John Ireri both from KDF among other Administrators.
A volunteer Mr Spider donated Ksh. 20,000 to be shared among the top three finishers. Winners were also rewarded with medals, trophies and a small token of appreciation.

by Ronald Njoroge

The second edition of the data training workshop for protected areas for Africa opened in Nairobi at Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD).

Director General, RCMRD, Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza said that the second edition of the Data Training Workshop on Protected and Conservation Areas under the Regional Resource Hub will run from 20th to 24th March 2023.

The participants were drawn from Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Nkurunziza observed that the Regional Resource Hub acts as one of the regional observatories implemented by the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme and hosted by the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Nairobi covering Eastern and Southern Africa.

BIOPAMA aims to improve the long-term conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, in protected areas and surrounding communities. It is an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States financed by the European Union’s 11th European Development Fund, jointly implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC).

It’s now without any doubt that Kenya Tea Development Authority Chairman David Muni Ichoho has proved that he is equal to the task.

He is the gentleman who has sought the best interests of our farmers. He has been out and about seeking new markets and calling for value addition so as the tea can fetch better prices.

Mr. Ichoho notes

“Good news to our tea farmers! The government of Pakistan has honoured our request to consider tea as an essential commodity.

The move will boost Kenya’s export earnings from tea.

This comes two weeks after our meeting with the Islamic Republic Minister of National Food Security and Research. This action will result in automatic allocation of dollars for tea import from Kenya.

The shortage of dollars in Pakistan has been a major hurdle to trade and we have overcome this challenge.
Pakistan is the largest buyer for Kenyan tea accounting for 42% of exports in the last year 2022 (191M Kgs).

On behalf of KTDA and tea fraternity I sincerely thank Hon Mithika Linturi CS of Agriculture and Livestock and by extension the GOK for this diplomatic engagement.

Our gratitude also to Government of Pakistan for accepting our request for this categorization of tea as an essential commodity.

Thanks to Pakistan Tea Association for your support in this endeavour.

This is a double blessing as the heavens open with rain which will enhance production of tea and other food crops. God bless our land.”

By Ronald Njoroge

23-year old university student Mack Marangu was declared winner
of Save the Children’s Digital Innovation Challenge, during a winner announcement ceremony
that took place on Friday evening.
Mack walks away with a cash prize of Ksh. 250,000 and an opportunity to collaborate with Save
the Children to customize and scale up his innovation and or get a 12-month fellowship program
to develop and implement it further.
The journalism and mass media communications graduate who is also pursuing a Bachelor’s
Degree in Computer Science from the University of London emerged victorious after
successfully pitching and convincing a group of select judges in the technology, education and
climate resilient and livelihoods space, that his innovation was indeed the best.
His innovation dubbed Toto Register, is a digital attendance system that is designed to take the
daily attendance of students in Kenya. The system utilizes a mobile app that allows teachers to
import student lists, mark attendance, and transmit the data securely to a backend server.
Speaking after he was announced winner, Mack said he was elated by the news.
“I hoped that I would win but never did I think that I would. It is such an honor to have this
opportunity to show you what we are doing in Tharaka Nithi to protect children and to ensure
they get constant and quality education. It is great to see what my fellow young innovators are
doing and how this will have greater impact for children,” said an elated Mack.
Hot on his heels were KCA University student Gift Mumbi who was 1st runner-up for her
innovation, Maoni Mtaani, a feedback mechanism system while Sydney Aurah was the 2nd
runner-up for his innovation, Mwalimu Smart, a chatbot and SMS-based learning platform
targeting children in pastoralist communities. The two will get Ksh. 150,000 and Ksh. 100,000
respectively.
“We received 163 submissions from across the country. From this, we were able to narrow
down to 12 innovators who got a chance to pitch their innovations to a panel of five judges. We
were extremely impressed by the caliber of entries we received for the digital innovations. It
demonstrated the remarkable talent and creativity Kenyan youth possess,” said Hellen Owiti,
Director for Programme Development and Quality at Save the Children Kenya and Madagascar
Country Office.
The judges of the innovation challenge included, George Owiso, I-TECH Kenya Country
Representative, Moses Okech, Masterspace Solutions Limited Chief Technical Officer, Mercy
Shitolwa, Business Intelligence Solutions Developer, Clara Njeru, Researcher & Product
Designer – Education Design Unlimited and Stephen Mutiso, Senior Climate Resilient
Livelihoods Advisor with Save the Children UK.
Speaking during the award ceremony, Yvonne Arunga, Country Director for Save the Children
Kenya and Madagascar Country Office expressed the oKenya and Madagascar Country Office expressed the organization’s commitment to leverage digital innovation in it’s programming.

Kenya Tea Development Authority Chairman David Ichoho on Monday paid a courtesy visit to Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi. On his page he noted:

“Today I paid a courtesy call to His Excellency Kiambu Governor, Kimani Wamatangi at his offices. On behalf of KTDA board members I appraised the governor on steps KTDA is taking to promote the welfare of tea farmers in the county. I also updated the Governor on the reforms progress in the smallholder tea sector.
Kiambu County is host to 6 KTDA managed factories: Kambaa, Kagwi,Theta , Ndarugu , Gachege and Mataara

In the last financial year ( 2021/2022) the factories processed 104 million kilos of tea, translating to a total revenue of Kshs 7.5 Billion that was distributed to 28,000 farmers.”

Mombasa Woman Representative The Honorable Zamzam Mohamed takes her legislative duties with zeal and enthusiasm. On her verified social media page she noted:

‘Privileged to be part of this great team together with my fellow members of Parliament, Principal Secretaries, Judges, and Human Rights Leaders ready to represent Kenya in matters of women and land ownership in order to increase food production and combat global malnutrition.
Women’s rights to land ownership are critical to economic empowerment since land serves as the foundation for food production and income generation. Let us fight for gender equity in land distribution.”

by Ronald Njoroge

Half of Kenyan consumers are borrowing more
compared to six months ago with incidences of those using more than three digital
lenders on the rise. According to Tala’s 2023 MoneyMarch “State of the Economy”
report, this is attributed to fewer full-time jobs and declined alternative sources of income
forcing consumers to borrow in order to pay for living expenses in the face of growing
inflation.
Borrowing for business purposes remained the top reason for taking a loan as 67% of
respondents indicated that they borrowed to meet business expenses and add stock.
Compared to 2022, this was a slight drop from last year’s 78% as Kenyans shift focus to
meeting basic needs such as school fees, utility bills, medical care, rent and public
transport amid soaring cost of living.
“Compared to 2022, Kenyans are cutting down on spending and saving more in a bid to
curb the impact of increasing inflation in their daily lives. More generally, we are also
seeing Kenyans borrowing more, and it is fascinating to note that over the last six months
consumers have channeled more of their loans to their savings such as ‘Chama’
contributions. It appears that customers are borrowing from digital lenders to help keep
pace with their group contributions, underlying the need for access to affordable credit
for continued financial independence during challenging economic times ” said Teddy
Kahiro, Senior User Research manager at Tala while presenting findings to media and
industry stakeholders.
While speaking on spending habits, Teddy said that the report presented a unique
perspective on what respondents were spending on. They revealed that they spent 25%
of their earnings in savings with chamas, saccos or fixed deposit accounts, 22% on
personal expenses, 23% on utility bills and a distant 15% on emergencies.
On financial literacy, over half of surveyed customers who said that they were
experiencing increased expenditures over the last six months, want more guidance on
creating a budget to manage expenses. “This is a contrast from last year where
consumers wanted guidance on how to start/grow businesses and save effectively”
noted Mr. Kahiro. “The hypothesis here could be that people are holding onto money
rather than investing it in a new business amidst the ongoing economic crunch”
concluded Teddy.
“Empowering our customers with education on how to manage their finances has always
been a key objective for Tala. We believe financial resilience among the underserved

Miano on Women in Cross Border Trade
East Africa Community and ASALs Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano has highlighted the importance of working in synergy to support women in cross border trade. She observes:
“The success of women in cross-border trade relies on effective coordination among multiple agencies & policy actors.
Collaboration is crucial in developing effective policies that promote economic empowerment and regional integration.
We are keen on demystifying economic policy initiatives within the East African region such as the Customs Union to encourage more participation and fair market access for women and men entrepreneurs.
Rebecca Miano made the remarks Monday morning when she was the keynote speaker for the #KRAWomenInTaxationForum2023 organized by @KRACorporate for business people across various industries.
The forum sought to explore opportunities for women in cross-border trade.

by Ronald Njoroge

Zoho corp, the global technology company on Monday announced the opening of its new office to cater to its growing customer base in Kenya.

Veerakumar Natarajan Country Head Kenya Zoho Corp said that Zoho’s first physical office will housea modern training center for it’s customers and partners.

“We are thrilled to open our new office,”Natarajan said.

Over the past year, Zoho has experienced substantial growth in Kenya, with a 48 percent increase in revenue and a rapid rise in the number of employees.

Natarajan observed that Zoho’s growth in Kenya can be attributed to the popu5of it’s flagship products, which include Zoho One, Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk.