This exhilarating event will take place from June 22 to 25 in Nakuru County, Kenya, and is set to showcase the country’s commitment to sports development and youth empowerment.

KCB Bank Kenya, the leading financial institution, has proudly taken on the role of the Official Financial Partner, investing a whopping KShs. 150 million towards this unforgettable rally.

Talented local drivers will also receive backing, enhancing brand activations and customer engagements. These sponsorships are a testament to the growth of motorsport in the region, opening doors for aspiring talents to showcase their skills.

After a two-decade absence, the Safari Rally has triumphantly returned to the WRC calendar for the third consecutive year.

This exciting comeback highlights Kenya’s rich motorsport heritage and the bank’s unwavering support for the sport.

Kenya’s passion for motorsport has been supported by various stakeholders, contributing to the growth and development of the sport.

Their unwavering commitment has paved the way for young talents to shine and has elevated Kenya’s status as a prominent destination for motorsport enthusiasts.

Mr Paul Russo, the Chief Executive Officer of KCB Group, expressed his pride in being part of East Africa’s motorsport story.

He emphasized the bank’s commitment to supporting sports and celebrating the Safari Rally’s return to Kenya.

The CEO also highlighted the positive impact of their sponsorship, which has paved the way for the growth of motorsport in the region, opening doors for aspiring talents to showcase their skills.

In addition to the thrilling racing action, the Safari Rally organizers are also championing sustainability initiatives and environmental care.

By collaborating with partners, they aim to promote tree planting, recycling, waste management, and other sustainability practices.

These efforts demonstrate a commitment to preserving the environment and ensuring a greener future for motorsport.

The Safari Rally 2023 promises to be a thrilling and unforgettable event for motorsport enthusiasts worldwide. As Kenya continues to gain recognition as a global sporting arena, this rally highlights the country’s rich motorsport heritage and its commitment to nurturing young talents.

Brace yourself for pulse-pounding action as the world’s best rally drivers tackle the challenging Kenyan terrain. Get ready to witness a spectacular display of skill, speed, and determination at the Safari Rally 2023.

The Safari Rally 2023 is set to captivate motorsport enthusiasts with its historic comeback and thrilling racing action.

Kenya’s commitment to sports development and youth empowerment is evident in the growth of motorsport in the region.

As the countdown to the rally begins, anticipation builds for an unforgettable experience that showcases Kenya’s passion for motorsport and its position on the global stage. Buckle up and prepare for a wild ride at the Safari Rally 2023!

The post Revving Up for Adrenaline: The Safari Rally 2023 Returns with Thrilling Motorsport Action! appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

After last year’s successful event, this year’s festival promises to be even bigger, with an exceptional lineup of Kenyan and international R&B artists.

Boyz II Men have won four Grammy Awards and nine American Music Awards, among many other accolades. They have penned and performed some of the most celebrated and best-known classics of the past two decades, including “End Of The Road”, “I’ll Make Love To You”, and “One Sweet Day”.

The group’s performance is expected to be the greatest music show of the year in Kenya, and the first leg of their first-ever Africa tour, which will also see them perform in Uganda and South Africa.

In addition to Boyz II Men, the festival will also showcase some of the best Kenyan DJs, including DJ G-Money, DJ Forro, DJ Shaky, DJ Grauchi, CNG, and DJ Cream.

Pernod Ricard Kenya joins as the spirits category sponsor, offering a unique portfolio of international premium brands, including Jameson, Chivas, and Absolut Vodka. Sankara Hotel returns as the hotel partner, and Kenya Airways is the official airline partner.

Stanbic Bank and Radio Africa Group seek to leverage music, a powerful human connector, to bring to life Stanbic’s brand promise “IT CAN BE” by creating a soulful and magical live musical experience in Kenya.

The festival aims to make possibilities real and dreams possible for millions of Kenyans, while contributing to the growth of the entertainment industry and the country’s economy.

Standard Bank Group is a leader in supporting arts across Africa, promoting the development of both visual and performing arts, encouraging engagement and social interaction, and embracing diverse initiatives.

Radio Africa is a media conglomerate with a long history in the music industry, with six radio stations in Kenya and affiliations in Nigeria and Uganda. RA Events, its event division, has organized over 250 events featuring top local and international artists.

Last year’s festival, headlined by Anthony Hamilton, was highly successful, with attendees voting it “the best-organized music event in Kenya”.

This year’s festival promises to be even better, with Boyz II Men leading the charge.

Tickets for the Stanbic Yetu Festival are available for purchase at www.ticketyetu.com. For more information about the Stanbic Yetu Festival please visit www.stanbicbank.co.ke and social media pages Twitter, Facebook and IG @StanbicKE.

The post Boyz II Men to Headline Stanbic Yetu Festival 2023 in Nairobi appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

The event featured live performances by Kenyan musicians, including Kenya Cane brand ambassador Savara, performing artiste Coster Ojwang’, and Mombasa’s finest VJ Chris and MC Gates Mgenge at Sky Lounge, Bamburi.

The Greats’ Fest is a cultural extravaganza that has been previously held in Nakuru, Thika, and Kisumu. It offers consumers a cultural blend of great music and food paired with a legendary Kenyan spirit and featuring great local talent.

At the Mombasa event, revelers were treated to serenades by Coster Ojwang’ and electric mixes by VJ Chris before Savara took the stage and gave an exhilarating performance of hits from his solo album “Savage Level” and fan favorites from Sauti Sol.

The event was a resounding success, and Davis Changalwa, Kenya Cane Brand Manager, EABL, expressed his pride in bringing The Greats’ Fest experience to Mombasa once again. He also mentioned the rewarding experience of connecting with consumers through this event and other brand activities.

Kenya Cane ran an engagement encouraging their consumers to share their stories of what made them great and celebrated two individuals – Suleiman Mohamed, a carwash owner in Mtwapa, and Keziah Mulama, a salon owner in Bombolulu – with a one-on-one with Savara. As part of the brand’s Greats Toast Twice campaign, Savara released the official music video to his song “Reggae ya Kinyozi,” which is part of his debut solo album, “Savage Level.”

Speaking on the release of the video, Savara said, “Reggae ya Kinyozi is a recognition of every hardworking person and an appreciation of our personal journeys. It is a little reminiscent of my own. Thank you to Kenya Cane for coming through on the video. I hope you all enjoy it.”

Kennedy Mutula, Marketing Manager – Spirits, KBL, expressed pride in the partnership, saying, “Kenya Cane is proud to be associated with this project. It is a recognition of a true Kenyan icon and speaks to our brand’s aspirations of celebrating authentic moments in our culture.”

To mark the video release, Kenya Cane has launched a signature “Reggae ya Kinyozi” cocktail, which will be available at local outlets.

Overall, The Greats’ Fest in Mombasa was a great success and demonstrated Kenya Cane’s commitment to celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Kenya and supporting local talent.

The post The Greats’ Fest Cultural Trail by Kenya Cane Takes Mombasa by Storm appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

New features to help teens manage their TikTok time

Cormac Keenan, TikTok Head of Trust and Safety, says new features will help teens manage their time on TikTok better. “In the coming weeks, every account belonging to a user under 18 years will automatically be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit.

“When deciding on a feasible amount of screen time for teens, we consulted the current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. While there’s no collectively-endorsed position on how much screen time is ‘too much’, or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we recognise that teens typically require extra support as they start to explore the online world independently. If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode to continue watching, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time,” he explains.

In addition, research indicates when people are more aware of how they spend their time they can be more intentional about the decisions they make, and this is especially important, but typically more difficult, for younger audiences.  Keenan says TikTok is also prompting teens to set a daily screen time limit if they turn off the 60-minute default and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok in a day. “In our first month of testing, this approach increased the use of our screen time management tools by 234%. And, we’ll send every teen account a weekly inbox notification with a recap of their screen time.” These features add to TikTok’s robust existing safety settings for teen accounts. For instance, those aged 13-15 have their accounts set to private by default, enabling them to make informed choices about what they choose to share, when, and with whom. Direct messaging is only available to those age 16 and older and to host a LIVE, community members must be at least 18.

Helping families have conversations about digital well-being

When teens need support, parents or caregivers are often the first people they can turn to, making them one of TikTok’s most important partners. As it continues to innovate on how to empower families, it is adding four new features to Family Pairing:

• Custom daily screen time limits: Caregivers will be able to use Family Pairing to customise the daily screen time limit for their teens – including choosing different time limits depending on the day of the week – giving families more choices to match screen time to school schedules, holiday breaks or family travel.
• Screen time dashboard: TikTok is bringing its screen time dashboard to Family Pairing, which provides summaries of time on the app, the number of times TikTok was opened, and a breakdown of total time spent during the day and night. From its recent research, TikTok knows screen time is one of the topics parents most frequently discuss with their teens, and the entertainment platform wants to support caregivers with relevant information to help them guide their teens.
• Mute notifications: Notifications help people to stay connected, but there are times when it’s important to be uninterrupted. TikTok is introducing a new setting that enables parents to set a schedule to mute notifications for their teens. Currently, accounts aged 13-15 do not receive push notifications from 9pm and accounts aged 16-17 have push notifications disabled from 10pm.
• New content controls:TikTok is cognisant that caregivers would like more oversight of the content their teens engage with, and the business is in the early stages of developing a way for caregivers to filter videos they don’t want their teen to watch with words or hashtags.

“We want to provide families with controls to make decisions based on their individual needs, and we also recognise the importance of doing so with careful consideration for both parents and teens. Over the next few weeks, we’ll continue to engage with parenting, youth, and civil society organisations to design this feature,” adds Keenan.

Every teen is different, and so is every family. That’s why TikTok remains focused on reaching parents with the information they need about TikTok. It does this through partnerships with creators, industry experts, and advertising campaigns focused on safety features. TikTok will continue to surface Family Pairing information to some of its users in-app to help them understand the options that may be useful to them or someone they know. It hopes these features will continue to help families establish an ongoing dialogue about safety and well-being in the digital world.

New screen time controls for everyone

“We want our community to feel in control of their TikTok experiences,” says Keenan. “In addition to bringing these new features to Family Pairing, everyone will soon be able to set their own customised screen time limits for each day of the week and set a schedule to mute notifications. Moreover, we’re rolling out a sleep reminder to help people more easily plan when they want to be offline at night. People can set a time, and when it’s reached, a pop-up will remind them it’s time to log off.

“We’ll continue to invest in improving our current features as well as introducing new tools to help people stay in control as they express their creativity, make meaningful connections, and enjoy culture-defining entertainment,” he concludes.

The post TikTok’s new family features gives parents control of teen’s screentime and content access appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

Every few weeks it is time to pay school fees again and many parents find themselves in a “did I not just pay school fees the other day” kind of situation. We can’t even properly plan to spend time with our children anymore. Look, it is hardly five days since they closed for the first term break and here we are already stressing about back-to-school again.

Now imagine if that’s how you feel as a parent or guardian, what is it like for your child? Is there anything we can do to make them get the best out of their school term, even as we adjust to the new normal?

Build partnerships with your child’s teachers and school community

From the start of every new school year, make an intentional effort to contact your child’s teacher. Today, technology is working in our favour and many parents are in WhatsApp groups with their children’s teachers and other parents. Let the teacher know that you want them to help your child learn. That you will collaborate in helping both of you achieve that goal. Your child succeeding at school is both beneficial to you as a parent but also to the teacher and to the school at large.

Fostering a healthy and collaborative relationship with your child’s teachers will help you bring out the best in them. While it is every teacher’s responsibility to ensure that all children under their care receive the assistance they need, this can be greatly improved where such partnerships are built. Especially for public schools where teachers are also dealing with a large number of students.

Building partnerships with teachers also means getting to who is who at the school and how they can be of help to your child. Many people at your child’s school are there to help your child learn, grow socially and emotionally, and navigate the school environment.

Most schools have at least one parents-teachers conference per year, some have more. Attend these, but do not limit your interactions with the school to these meetings only. You can always ask to meet with your child’s teacher any time during the year. Plan it at a time that is convenient to both of you – avoid making impromptu visits.  If you have a concern and can’t meet face-to-face, send the teacher a short note using your child’s school diary or set up a time to talk on the phone.

Support your child academically

Regularly evaluate your child’s performance. Ask your child’s teacher how your child is doing in class compared to other students. This is especially important today because schools do not rank learners anymore. If your child is not keeping up with his/her peers, find out what you or the teachers can do to improve this.

Assist your child in getting their homework done if they are in day schools. Let your child know that you think education is important and that homework needs to be done each day. You can help your child with homework by setting aside a special place to study, establishing a regular time for homework, and removing distractions such as the television and social phone calls during homework time.

It is also important to encourage your child to read. Helping your child become a reader is the single most important thing that you can do to help the child to succeed in school and life. The importance of reading simply can’t be overstated. Reading helps children in all school subjects. More important, it is the key to lifelong learning.

Because children learn a lot from what they see around them, what we say and do in our daily lives can help them to develop positive attitudes toward school and learning and to build confidence in themselves as learners. Showing our children that we both value education and use it in our daily lives provides them with powerful models and contributes greatly to their success in school.

Provide financial support

Finances play a big role in supporting our children’s comfort at school. School fees, textbooks, school transport and shopping and pocket money for those in boarding schools all require a considerable financial investment. In this post-Covid era, we all have to deal with slightly tighter budgets. If not from the frequency of school terms, it is from our strained earnings, now made even more difficult by the current high cost of living.

A good way to navigate this and still support our children’s learning needs is prudent financial planning bearing in mind the new school calendar. Additionally, it is important to know what kinds of financial solutions are available to us from our financial services providers.

Equity customers for instance can get a cash boost to cater for all their back-to-school needs such as fees payment or back-to-school shopping or related costs. They can access a loan of up to Kshs. 3million instantly on their phone. All these without filling in any forms or having any guarantors. What’s more, they can monitor their loan balance and make repayments by simply dialling *247# from any mobile network, via Equitel line or Equity Mobile App. The only qualification is that you must have an active Equity account and have activated Equity mobile banking by dialling *247# on your current mobile line.

To deliver convenience to parents, Equity has also rolled out Pay With Equity, a solution that enables customers to pay from any payment channel whether it is Mpesa, Airtel Money, PesaLink. Through Pay With Equity, you can send school fees directly to the school’s account and pay for shopping anywhere you see Pay With Equity Paybill or Till Number sign for FREE e.g. at supermarkets, uniform sellers, and bookshops. All you need is to input the merchant’s Pay With Equity Till Number or school’s Pay With Equity paybill number. Pay With Equity is available when you dial *247# on your line, your Equity Mobile App and Equitel line.

Talk to your child

While it may be the last on our list, it is probably the most important tip for helping your child succeed at school. For older children, talking fosters a feeling of mutual respect and love. It will help them open up to you and express any difficulty they are facing.

For younger children, it is through hearing parents and family members talk and through responding to that talk that they begin to pick up the language skills they will need if they are to do well.

The post Tips for Helping Your Child Succeed at School appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

Whichever the case it is for these young learners under your care, the back-to-school season can be both exciting and stressful at the same time.

It is always great to see our little ones advance to a new stage in their lives as they acquire knowledge, this is specifically special for parents and guardians with children advancing from one level of education to another; whether it is from kindergarten to primary school, primary to secondary school or even transitioning to tertiary institutions.

Then there is the cost involved; paying school fees, buying uniforms, shoes, sports kits, books and other school requirements that vary from one institution to another.

In these tough economic times when we are just trying to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty caused by the ever-rising cost of living can make the back-to-school season an equally stressful one for both parents and children.

We’ve put together some tips to help you and your family plan for the start of the new school term, finding savings that could give you more freedom and convenience as you spend your money.

Back to school shopping

Compare prices before you shop. Shop at outlets that offer cheaper prices or have great discounts. It is important to check newspapers and online platforms for season deals. This can save you from the time it takes to walk from one shop to another.

Before you step out to go shopping, make a list of items you want are going to buy. This will be based on the school requirement list you were provided with from your child’s school and your child’s personal needs. Carefully sift through your list removing unnecessary items or items whose requirements are not that urgent.

Some new items are unavoidable, and kids grow fast, but you may be surprised how much of last year’s clothes still fit. If you have more than one child, check what’s hiding in the back of their wardrobe, it may fit their younger sibling.

 Reuse and recycle

Does your school or neighbourhood have a second-hand book exchange? It’s probably the cheapest way to equip your kids for the new term. If not, team up with fellow parents for books swap. The books your kids used in the last school year might just be what a neighbor is looking for and vice-versa.

Take advantage of debit and credit card rewards

Most debit and credit cards in the market usually have offers and promotions with cash-back or discount rewards to those who shop using cards. Find out if your bank has a current offer and use your card if you are shopping at an outlet that accepts credit or debit cards. You can also take advantage of loyalty cards from supermarkets. For instance parents shopping with Equity cards at Textbook Centre are enjoying a 5% discount for simply paying with their cards.

Equity Bank customers can take advantage of the membership reward points from American Express, Equity Gold Credit Card and Equity Classic Credit Cards.

For your security and safety, it is advisable that you avoid transacting in cash when making purchases. Equity customers can conveniently make payments and transfer funds to their mobile wallets using the revamped Equity Mobile Application or by simply dialling *247#.

When doing online shopping, Equity customers can conveniently make payments or transfer money from the comfort of their home or office using Equity Bank’s Credit and Debit Cards, Equity Online or *247#.

Financial support

It is also important to evaluate your financial needs as children go back to school. Do you need a boost to pay their school fees, do shopping, get them pocket money or even need money for your other expenditures that are non-school related?

Through Equity Mobile and t*247#, Equity Customers can now access loans of up to Ksh. 3 million without the need to walk into a banking hall or filling up any papers. The loans have a repayment period of up to 1 year.

For needy but bright children transitioning into secondary from primary schools, Equity has offered 2,000 comprehensive scholarships through the Wings to Fly program offered by Equity Group Foundation.

The post Useful Tips for a Hassle-Free Back to School Season appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

The survey aimed at providing Kenyan businesses with scientific insights on women’s preferences and how they drive purchasing habits of consumer goods and services.

“The research shows the role that telecommunications and financial services play in the lives of Kenya’s women, who are majority owners of small and micro enterprises,” says the study.

Speaking at the report’s launch on Tuesday night, BSD Group CEO Eva Muraya said the study speaks directly to the economic empowerment of women from a purchasing ability.

“It also showcases the need for corporates to engage and give opportunities in the development of products and services that address women’s needs because today women account for over 65% of businesses although mainly in the SME sector,” she said.

She said research shows that 80% of consumer decisions are made by women.

The survey titled “Most Loved Brands by Women in Kenya 2022” also found out that Kenyan women were most concerned about their finances, family, career, education and personal issues.

The survey also found out that women in Kenya have become less worried about getting very sick, not being able to put food on the table and not achieving their goals in life in line with the eased restrictions of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Domestic abuse and sexual abuse/violence are still a major issue and are more called out by women in Kenya, versus the previous wave. Barriers to ease of doing work are less expressed in this wave, in line with economic recovery.

This survey was released as part of this month’s focus on women under the 2022 International Women’s Day theme ‘Breaking the Bias.’

The post Equity is Women’s Most Loved Banking Brand – IPSOS Survey appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

The campaign usually involves a short nomination period where listeners nominate themselves to have this once-in-a-lifetime experience with their plus one. During the last season, the station received over two thousand entries.

Epic 48 is not an Urban Radio original idea per se, and they don’t attempt to claim so. The idea was adapted from syndicated radio show producer, R Dub, of the Sunday Night Slow Jams, which also aired on Urban Radio and other 200 radio stations across the world.

“Epic 48 is the flagship audience promotion by Urban Radio 90.7 FM. We think of ourselves as an epic station and this is one of the ways we reward our listeners,” said Urban Radio CEO Ben “Japs” Ogombe in an earlier interview with this publication.

To participate listeners are required to register by logging into https://www.urbanradio.co.ke/epic48/. Last year, Urban Radio and their partners splashed Sh 1.2 million to give the two winning couples an amazing two days that started with an eviction party at Kisumu’s Alleyways Beer Garden, a night at the Grand Royal Swiss Hotel.

The couples then few to Nairobi via Safarilink for a brief stopover at Mara Olesereni and just as the contestants thought their afternoon could not get any better, they quickly hopped onto another flight to Diani in South Coast after a brief encounter at the hotel with their idols.

“I have always admired CMB Prezzo. I casually joked about it at our eviction party and you could imagine the surprise on my face when we arrived at Olesereni and there was Prezzo in flesh and blood coming to say hi to me and congratulating me for being among the Season 2 winners,” said an excited Athman Salim when we spoke on phone about his Epic 48 experience in November 2021.

“There were a lot of memorable moments in those two days. The party, the five-star hotels, the executive limos…but for me what stood out was the fact that Urban Radio spared no cent to keep the whole thing exciting. I would be joking about wanting to meet Prezzo, and the next hour he is at my table,” he added.

For Samantha Cook who was part of the other couple that won, it was the adrenaline that came with the competition…always trying to stay ahead of her competition during the elimination stages. She even got a skill out of it, she says.

“The contest was intense and fun at the same time. It actually made me work on my social media marketing skills to come out on top,” she says during a recent phone interview.

“My most memorable moments was when we went snorkelling, I love adventures. Being able to dive into the ocean and experience the underwater was just breathtaking,” she adds.

In our previous interview with Ogombe, he had promised that season 3 is going to be a passport edition, which means that contestants will be flying out of the country to a place they can have fun in and return to Kisumu within 48 hours…we hope that is still so.

When we talked earlier today about the launch though, he promised that this was going to be the best of the series ever.

“If you think Season 1 & 2 was something, you have not seen anything yet,” he says.

Why does the station spend so much money on fans for just 48 hours?

The station has three key pillars with the first being “music.” It’s known to play only number one hits; all the songs on the station’s music rotation were at one point number one in the charts. The second pillar is “the vibe,” the content, the conversation with presenters and the audience engagement.

The third pillar is lifestyle. They think of the station as a way of life. How do you define an urban person, what do urban people do?

“A big part of urban people is travelling, it’s experiencing places, it is having fun. So. Epic 48 falls squarely under that lifestyle pillar for Urban Radio” says Ogombe.

You can watch previous seasons of Epic 48 by clicking here.

The post Urban Radio Are Back With Epic 48 Season 3 appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

The airline already flies to Eldoret, Lamu, Lodwar, Mombasa, and Ukunda.

The opening of the Malindi route completes an important piece for the low-cost airline’s network, cementing its position as one of the leading local carriers.

The move Skyward Express has made is also likely to be well-received by the tourism sector, which has been pushing domestic tourism as a recovery measure following the decline in foreign guest arrivals linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Skyward Express fares from Nairobi, Wilson Airport to Malindi, Malindi Airport will start from KES 3,950 (including taxes). The airline will also operate short flights connecting Malindi and Lamu at KES 2,950.

“This is an exciting and pivotal moment for us. It fits within our strategy to enhance the local tourism network and to open up Malindi further to local traffic. We are honoured to contribute to the growth of the tourism sector in Malindi and the neighbouring towns such as Watamu and Mambrui.” said Skyward Express Chairman and CEO Captain Mohamed Abdi.

Captain Mohamed says that the decision to fly to the new destination is strategic. “Malindi is a leading tourism destination, globally acclaimed for its pristine beaches and unique cultural sites. By flying to Malindi, Skyward will be hoping to tap the anticipated increase in traffic to Malindi and Watamu that local tourists have been frequenting in the last few months,” said Mohamed.

The airline will operate its state of the art Dash8 q100 with a seating capacity of 37 passengers.

The flight will depart every day from Skyward’s Wilson airport hub in Nairobi at 14:10 arriving at Malindi Airport at 15:20. From Malindi, it will depart at 17:10 landing at Wilson Airport at 18:20. The flight’s duration will be 1 hour 10 minutes.

The post Skyward Express Launches Nairobi – Malindi route appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

The job of this committee was clearly cut out. Unlike their counterparts in countries like China, The USA, Germany, UK and Italy – they had already seen the effects of what they were preparing to deal with. They were aware of how deadly this “enemy” was. Perhaps the only thing working against them was time. Eight days later, this outbreak would be declared a global pandemic.

There is no doubt that if we had acted much faster; banned flights from some of the affected countries, initiated quarantine procedures for passengers travelling from outside Kenya – we would have slowed the spread of the pandemic. But swift and decisive action taken by the government, such as the closure of schools, limiting of public gatherings, enforcement of social distancing rules in public transport and cessation of the inter-county movement helped slowed the spread of the virus. Some of these measures, however, came with undesired social and economic impacts.

The cumulative number of infections is currently flirting with the 100,000 mark. We have also regrettably lost 1,734. While every loss of life is one too many, we have done so much better than South Africa with over 1.3 million cases and more than 37,000 deaths. Morocco has reported over 450,000 cases and 7,000 deaths, Tunisia has over 180,000 cases and 5,000 deaths, while our neighbour Ethiopia also has over 130,000 cases with over 2,000 deaths according to the most recent data from WHO.

Before March 13th, 2020 the day Kenya announced that it had its first COVID-19 patient, Pius Odhiambo was a waiter at one of the restaurants that have served local delicacies to residents of Kisumu for decades. Even though the job did not pay much, he could afford to pay school fees for his children and younger siblings and put decent meals on the table every day.

“People who ate there loved my service, some of them had grown to become my friends over the years. I got good tips, most of the time it was even more than what my employer paid me,” explains Pius.

He lost his job when his employer had to shut down due to a government ban on eating in restaurants as one of the measures put in place to contain the pandemic.

“A lot of us lost our jobs that very day, we were told we will be called when things normalize, it is almost a year now. I have been able to find jobs even after eateries reopened for seating clients. Very few of us were taken back, the owner of the restaurant says he only needs a few waiters to serve the clients who still come to the restaurant,” he says.

Maureen Ojijo owns an events company in Kisumu. She made a living providing catering services for parties, funerals and weddings. Even though she did not have permanent employees, she regularly hired the services of at least twelve people to assist her whenever she had jobs – which was like every other weekend.

“Our business is large gatherings, that is what the government banned,” she says.

Today, both Maureen and Pius are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. After struggling to find a new job, Pius is trying his luck as an attendant at a carwash in one of the estates in Kisumu. It is a job he is still learning, and there aren’t that many cars to wash every day. On the other hand, Maureen has gone back to cooking at events, but she says, “the jobs are far in-between” and the sizes of the crowds she cooks for are smaller, so are her earnings.

“If you treat this disease normally, it will treat you abnormally.” These words from health Minister Mutahi Kagwe that sort of became the punchline that defined the daily press briefing by government officials have become the reality for several others like Pius and Maureen. This Pandemic has treated them abnormally, but not because they “treated it normally.”

In both instances, they found themselves as casualties of the measures put in place by the government to contain the disease.

On the 25th of March 2020, the government announced a raft of new measures aimed at providing relief to businesses and individuals hit by the economic shocks of this pandemic. This included a 100% tax relief for persons earning less than Sh. 24,000, reduction of PAYE from 30% to 25%, reduction of corporate tax from 30% to 25%, reduction of turnover tax from 3% to 1% and the reduction of VAT from 16% to 14%.

Other measures included temporary Suspension of all listing for all persons including companies, whose loan account fall overdue or are in arrears, by the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). There was an order to Ministries and Departments to cause the payment of at least Sh 13 billion of the verified pending Bills, within three weeks from the announcement. Sh 1 billion from the Universal Health Coverage was also set towards the recruitment of
additional health workers to support the management of the spread of the pandemic. There also was an allocation of Sh 10 billion to the elderly, orphans and other vulnerable members of our society through cash-transfers by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, to cushion them from the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These measures, however, only benefitted a small section of the population – either by design or through default. The tax reliefs for instance only benefited a section of Kenyans in formal employment. These were like a drop in the ocean when businesses were closing and over 500,000 job losses were being reported in the first month alone.

A paper published by the Institute of Economic Affairs Kenya in September 2020 predicted a contraction of the economy, productivity losses, and social welfare losses as direct shocks of the pandemic. While these figures are interesting to look at or even throw around when discussing the impacts of the pandemic, they take a completely different meaning when you put faces like Maureen’s and Pius’ to them. When you think about their dependants and the untold suffering that many more like them have had to go through in the past year.

Today, as we move towards slowly reopening the economy, and with the new hope of a vaccination programme roll-out in the coming weeks, there will be more debates like this on how effective the government response to this pandemic was. The government in its usual character will pat itself on the back, the question is if that pat on the back will be a deserved one or not. On that, the jury is still out.

The post Counting the cost of the pandemic appeared first on Biz Post Daily.