Uchumi seeks CEO, meets suppliers over debt

Uchumi Supermarkets has appointed consultancy firm Deloitte to headhunt a new chief executive officer less than a week after the board of directors sacked Mr Jonathan Ciano alongside chief finance officer Chadwick Omondi Okumu. This comes as Uchumi board members met with suppliers Friday morning and agreed to pay their debts in full in the next three months [...]

US equity firm, Mo Ibrahim to invest $1bn in Africa

American private equity firm TPG Capital will invest up to $1 billion (about Sh98 billion) in African companies under a tie-up with Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim’s Satya Capital, the companies said on Thursday. TPG is a newcomer to Africa while Satya’s interests range from healthcare in Nigeria to manufacturing in Tanzania. Satya will also make available an extra $300 million to $400 million (Sh29-39 billion) for investment under the tie-up [...]

Housing Finance unveils its solar finance solutions

Housing Finance has announced the introduction of SOLA Pawa Leasing, a solar financing solution that complements its recently launched Solar Financing Loan. The financing solution which targets both residential and commercial properties is not only in response to the Energy (Solar Water Heating) Regulations, 2012, but also seeks to address the prohibitive upfront costs required to invest in solar energy [...]

Scangroup rebrands to WPP Scangroup

Listed marketing services group, Scangroup Limited, has changed its name to WPP Scangroup Limited to reflect its majority shareholder. WPP, the largest advertising company in the world, owns 50.1 per cent stake in Scangroup. Announcing the change of name, the chief executive of WPP Scangroup, Bharat Thakrar, said the change of name signifies that WPP Scangroup and WPP plc are now fully together [...]

 India pledges to grant Kenya Sh10b loan

The Indian government has pledged to grant Kenya Sh9.7 billion soft loan towards procuring agricultural machines. Agriculture Principal Secretary Sicily Kariuki yesterday said the two governments are working on the paper work before commencing the release of the loan to be advanced at two per cent per annum. The money will be expended to purchase about 4,000 tractors, irrigation pipes, combine harvesters among other assorted farming machinery [...]

Nestle scales back Africa workforce

Swiss food and drinks company Nestle is cutting 15 per cent of its workforce in 21 African countries, the company confirmed on Wednesday. A Nestle spokesman told Reuters the job cuts would affect about 60 workers in the equatorial Africa region after the Financial Times reported that the company is pulling back because it overestimated growth in the middle classes[...]