The Banjan

Despite several attempts at cover-up, it is emerging clearly that Ethiopia is in the grip of a civil war. After several months of fighting secessionist forces in the Tigray region, the country`s economy has been battered, many people displaced and a looming humanitarian crisis is inevitable. Across the world, media pictures of thousands of government troops captured by the Tigray Liberation force amidst reports that the government has withdrawn its forces from the rebellious region have been beaming. This is shattering to the aspirations of a country that in the recent past has been one of the fastest-growing economies on the African continent. Recently while addressing parliament the Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy was blunt on the way forward. He came to power on a platform of reform, and courtesy of this, the country has witnessed liberalization in its economic policies and increased democratic space. The Prime Minister said that the country had lost infrastructure worth about U...

Do not get caught up in the crazy maze created by marketers as they seek to woo bank clients. Make a sober choice. Here below are some useful tips. The main business of banks is to act as financial intermediaries. This involves the taking up of deposits from savers at a cost paid to the depositor in the form of an agreed rate of interest while using the same to issue credit products to the borrower at a higher rate of interest. According to the regulatory authority, banks do not keep fixed assets on their balance sheet, though in the course of their business they take into custody asset titles and charge them as loans security. There has been a lot of innovation in this industry lately but the core business remains credit-issuing alongside other services such as the support of trade finance, advisory, custodial, and now banc assurance services just to mention a few. It is for this reason that bank accounts are mainly recognized for serving two key purposes i.e. Savings-interest earning...

While reading the life history of the famous Jamaican reggae star, the late Bob Marley, an incident that occurred between him and a young African girl caught my attention. He was then a centre of attraction with a fanatical fan following who included many young ladies who easily felt attracted to him. In one episode, it is recorded that the daughter of the late central African president Omar Bongo while attending a Bob Marley concert went straight behind the stage and immediately expressed her intention to him. The girl had fallen in love with the then famous musician. Bob Marley is said to have looked at her and told her straight to the face that she is ugly. The remarks came out of his mouth after seeing her, a black woman,  wearing straight hair. Her persistence paid off. After trailing the musician for a while, she earned his attention and Marley even accepted to perform in the central African nation at the invitation of his latest girlfriend. Bob Marley, later on, died of canc...

Are you seeking for a non-secured loan? Please read this first. As earlier stated in the piece on Building Relationships With Banks , offering credit is one of the major functions of local banks not only in Kenya but worldwide. When it comes to credit, banks have sectoral tailored products with certain specified terms and conditions for ensuring that they retain value and make profits since they are in business. Non-secured lending or simply stated as loans with no tangible security have since their introduction to the local market become a very lucrative business though inherent with high levels of risk. The terms and conditions for these popular lending are fairly stringent though are enabled towards faster credit facility turnaround time. Commonly referred to as consumer lending, the assessment and approval requirements are almost standardized within the bank thus does not need high level credit analysis expertise. For some banks, the process is automated because of the high volumes...

Relationship Building With Financial Institutions Having moved on from the formerly held tradition that banks only keep people’s money, any progressive individual whether in business or not should have by now realized that banks exist for more. One must therefore seek to have a healthy relationship with these institutions of which to attain does not come overnight. Making the bank your partner just like in the marriage institution requires commitment and high levels of financial discipline. It is not an overnight affair. It takes time. As finance intermediaries, if well utilized financial institutions exist as the most probable catalysts that help spur the economic growth of a country and wealth creation at the individual level. A bank should be viewed as a partner in financial progress and not as a master or an entity created to exploit the populace. The start of engagement or entering into a legal contractual engagement with a financial institution is most of the time the point at wh...

I feel greatly privileged as a member of the public in taking this opportunity to make my comments on the above. I do realize that the main objective is to unlock our potential as a country, enable investment and create an enabling business environment for sustainable economic growth. The stage we are in as a country requires that we rely more on the private sector for growth. Much has been done to remove most of the legal obstacles that hinder our entrepreneurs from being able to do more, but the finance area which is key to unlocking capital for investment has not been explored to the full. The time has come for us to put in place the prerequisite structures that will catapult us to the next level and give us a competitive edge as Kenyans. One of these enablers is the creation of a Development bank as you have wisely proposed. Having worked in the financial services sector for not less than 25 years, I have witnessed firsthand some of the challenges and obstacles faced by our busines...

Looking at events from the ancient days of man to those dating as recent as a few decades ago the history of man is replete with either individuals or whole communities who went to great lengths to register achievements some of which are quite rare. Some of these feats in the form of projects or activities are quite telling about what kind of results human passion and ambition can realize whether positively or negatively projected. History records many events some of which appear bizarre when viewed from the current knowledge and science perspective not only because of their magnitude and impact on society but also for the sheer fact that enormous resources, time, talent, and great human effort and skill were a key input. The result of some of these activities fails to be justified from a modern world perspective thus bringing into question the reasons as to why they were hatched altogether. The ideal answer to the many probing questions we raise as we peep into what the ancients did w...