More than 5,000 sellers joined the Jumia platform in 2022, a 20% increase from the previous year underscoring how brands, distributors, and traders are leveraging e-commerce as a channel to increase sales and grow their business. The announcement was made during the Jumia Awards ceremony that took place at the Aspire Center on Thursday.
“By selling on Jumia, we give our sellers the opportunity to reach a growing base of e-commerce savvy consumers countrywide who are seeking the benefit of convenience and affordability. Our vendors include SMEs, Micro entrepreneurs, restaurants, and food restaurants that are able to reach thousands of customers by working with Jumia and also leveraging services like marketing and Jumia Advertising Services (JAS). We are proud of the progress made by our vendors over the last decade of e-commerce in Kenya, and they truly deserve to be feted.” said Jumia Kenya Chief Commercial Officer, Kenneth Oyolla.
Events such as the recently concluded Black Friday in November, where Jumia invests heavily to attract new customers to online shopping, are another draw for new vendors.
Among those awarded for top performing categories included, Vision Plus for Best TV Category Growth, Waanzilish for 2022 Best Fashion Category Growth, Diageo scooped the Beverage Category Leader and Pwani Oil scooped the Best Food Category Growth. TranssionHoldings (Tecno, Infinix, itel) stood out as the Leader in the phone category.
Among SMEs who joined recently include; Taifa Imports Ltd who won the Best Deals category, Trizine Collections who was feted with second runner-up for the Best Deals Category and PhonePlus who joined Jumia in April won as the vendor who shipped the most amount of items in a 24hour period.
The annual vendor award ceremony was aimed at celebrating Jumia vendors and sharing e-commerce insights that would help the vendors sell better in the new year.
Naivas Supermarket to open 3 branches in a span of one week ahead of the Kenyan Christmas festivities which are typically kicked off by Jamhuri Day. This development will bring the retailers’ store tally to 91. These store openings come as the 12th edition of Kikwetu, Naivas annual festive season campaign is transitioning into more festive gear.
This year the campaign is dubbed Team Naivas and for the first phase, it delivered, Kikombe Kikwetu and as from the Jamhuri weekend it’s presenting Krisii Kikwetu and this is a great opportunity to welcome the new communities into the festivities. The Naivas Christmas kikapu carries Naivas Foodmarket Ojijo at Boardwalk Mall located in Parklands along Ojijo Road which opens its doors to the public on 9th December 2022. The store is of the elevated foodmarket concept and beautifully compliments the very exquisite new mall.
The next goody in the Naivas Christmas kikapu is Naivas Nairobi West located in Nairobi West shopping center. This store will start serving customers on Saturday 10th December, 2022. The final gift in the form of a store opening for the year will be Naivas Express Uthiru on Friday 15th December. “This new development was motivated by the need to offer convenience to our shoppers by offering them a world-class shopping experience at their doorstep. We have not had a presence in all these three places and we are elated to be welcoming more communities into Team Naivas,” said Willy Kimani Naivas Chief Commercial Officer.
“Our excitement is also compounded by the fact that this is when all the get-togethers, sherehez and homecomings are held and we now have three additional communities where we shall be a part of these life moments,” concluded Willy Kimani.
With Team Naivas shoppers across all 91 branches will enjoy market-leading sale promotions and different giveaways ranging from Naivas Gift vouchers, the Iconic Mbuzi, ksh.200 cash backs from Visa and 65’’ tvs from Coca-Cola. It is exciting that the residents of Parklands, Nairobi West and Uthiru will get to experience the joy that is the Naivas festive season as they join in on Krisii Kikwetu.
Kenya Pharmaceuticals Distributors Association is faulting the Anti Counterfeit authority for usurping powers that will see it regulate the importation of medicine and other essential medical products. The medical products and health technologies are highly regulated under the National Regulatory Authority.
The pharmacy and Poisons Board is anchored under the Pharmacy and Poisons act cap 244. Kenya is desirous of manufacturing Human vaccines it’s imperative to allow the country to be able to manufacture vaccines. For export the National Regulatory Authority system must reach WHO maturity level three which means a stable and consistent regulatory environment. The WHO assessed Kenya in June 24th to July 1st 2022 and one of the issues that was raised is overlay of authority between government agencies.
“We have been informed that the Anti-counterfeit Authority will require distributors of medicine to buy excise stamps or something similar and affix them to all medicines imported into Kenya, this is a particularly cruel way to treat the sick and the dying by charging them a sin tax.Anti-counterfeit Act 34(13)The Anti-counterfeit Authority wants “to start implementation of these rules with the pharmaceutical industry as a priority”BackgroundThe Recordation rules seeks to create new offences that will not only hurt business (including e-commerce) but also criminalize doing legitimate business. It also creates another layer of registration of intellectual property rights which is totally unnecessary in light of existing laws.
Challenges criminalization of legitimate business The recordation rules makes it an offence to import goods into Kenya goods which bear brands that have not been recorded by the ACA. This means, for instance, that a brand owner whose trademarks are already registered under the Trade Marks Act will be committing an offence by importing those same goods unless the brand has been recorded with the ACA.Usurpation of KIPI mandateACA has taken over the role of KIPI as the only statutory body mandated by law and equipped with resources to examine and register brands.
ACA should only ask for evidence registration of IP and should force a second registration of brands by ACA. The proposed changes will increase cost of doing business and severely reduce the ease of doing business in Kenya.ACA Violating IP ownership by subjecting registered IP to restrictionsThe Recordation requirements overlook the fact that based on international conventions to which Kenya is a party, the enjoyment of copyright cannot be subjected to any form of restrictions such as the proposed recordal.Prohibition of unbranded products.
The Recordation rules seeks to make the importation of unbranded goods illegal except for raw materials. This is a curious and oppressive provision which is going to stifle business in many goods that are generally imported and sold unbranded such as shoes, clothes, utensils, ornaments, etc. Unbranded non-proprietary medicines are at the core of the supply of affordable medicines to the republic of Kenya and the blanket prohibition of importation of these medicines will seriously prejudice the citizens of Kenya. Not only will the rules prevent access to essential affordable medicine, they will cause an astronomical increase in the price of those medicines which will be available. This is in complete violation of the people’s constitutional right to the highest attainable standard of health as contemplated by article 34(a)1 of the constitution of Kenya 2010.
The recordal rules also overlooks the fact that intellectual property rights are private rights and no one can be forced to use or register a brand in order to trade in any kind of goods. Additionally Unbranded medicines do not infringe anybody’s intellectual property rights and ought not to be banned. Furthermore, some trade marks may have expired or may simply be unregistrable for any number of reasons. Copyright may also have fallen into the public domain and become unprotectable. It is therefore not sensible to require all goods to bear registered brands in order to be imported into Kenya.Exhaustion of IP Rights.
All trademark rights are deemed to be exhausted once products are placed on the market. The recordation rules propose to enforce non-existent intellectual property rights even after they have been exhausted. For example when Toyota Japan manufacturers a Land Cruiser and sells to someone in Japan, that buyer from Japan should not be prevented by recordation rules from selling the same car to a Kenyan citizen as a second hand car. This is because Toyota exhausted their trade mark rights when they sold the car in first instance. On the other hand our trademarks law is correct on this issue – Trademarks Act Section 7(3)a. It provides that such an event is not an infringement. Recordation period is impractical
We are surprised that recorded last only for 12 months and brand owners are required to repeat the entire process every year for all their brands. This is not only tedious but very expensive for the importation of medicine Conclusion Our view is that Ministry of Health, through PPB has put in place adequate measures to prevent counterfeits including. No further intervention is required for the pharmaceutical industry.
The measures are as follows1) GMP Inspection of manufactures – USD 80002) Technical evaluation of products –USD 1000 (now USD 5000)3) Annual Retention – USD 300 pa4) Proactive Pharmacovigilance The risk for counterfeits in legitimate businesses is practically zero. Counterfeits find their way into the country through unregulated contraband, that is is Customs and Borders issue which should impact negatively on legitimate trade in pharmaceutical products by regulated stakeholders. The pharmaceutical industry should exempted from the oppressive recordation rules.
Kitale Rugby Club has appointed Mr. Arthur Shikwe as the new assistant coach. Mr. Shikwe has vast experience from his playing days at KCB Rugby Club and Kenya Simbas . He has also coached The Western Bulls francise side at the Supper series Competition, Kabras Rugby Club and Kisumu RFC at Kenya Cup level.
Now that he has relocated to his home county of Trans Nzoia , we are more than happy to utilise his vast exposure and expertise.
The club wishes him all the best in his new assignment and it will accord him the necessary support as he embarks on his new adventure.
Farmers in two wards in Migori county are set to benefit from a donation of 100 bicycles to help in tackling cases of malnutrition.
Through the Ripple Effect and World Bicycle Relief, the two organisations offered the bicycles to farmers groups in Kakrao and West Kanyamkago wards.
Ripple Effect And World Bicycle Relief
“We started off as groups which were affected by HIV and wanted to boost our nutrition through kitchen gardens and fruit farming, before we realized we could make money,” Jane Auma, a member of Ogongo Women Group said.
She said after realizing there is a need to tackle malnutrition and boost local economy they started up kitchen gardens among members and chicken rearing.
“We started off with banana farming as a best means to boost food security and we realized we could sell off, these bicycles will help in our work,” Auma said.
Jacktone Odundo, chairman of Suna East Pamoja Farmers Cooperatives Society which has 411 members said the bicycles will be offered to group members who have been acting as extension officers.
“Among our group members we have those who have been offering extension services life vaccines to chicken and seeds, this will make our work easier,” Odundo said.
Titus Sagala, the country Director Ripple Effect said the bicycles will also be used to transport produce to the market apart from family use.
“We started by promotion of nutritious food and creating kitchen gardens in homes, we saw a new need to increase extension services for more farmers,” Sagala said.
Peter Wechuli, World Bicyle Relief said the donation will help in mobility to access markets for their farm.
The project was worth Sh3m and the two said they will scale it up to Sh10m in the future.
Bicycles donated by Ripple Effect And World Bicycle Relief
Police in Migori town have recovered alleged stolen assorted items after a raid at Pandpier slums in the outskirts of Migori town.
Stolen Items at Oruba Police Station
According to Suna West sub county police commander Elizabeth Wakuloba said that the officers working on tip offs from members of the public raided a rented house in the slum and recovered the stolen items as the occupants managed to escape the police dragnets.
Suna West sub county police commander Elizabeth Wakuloba
She said that the police managed to recover stolen clothes,window curtains,television sets, laptops, radios, utensils and other electronic goods.
She added that they suspect the recovered items are alleged to have been stolen in different places and estates in Migori County and towns.
Eliakim Boaz a resident of Oruba estate said that his brother lost all the items in his house as it was alleged to have been broken in and assortment of items stolen from the house during the day when his brother was at work.
He wants the police in Migori town and other places to beef up security in all the estates around Migori town in order to make sure that the residents are well secured and safe to conduct their businesses.
Vivian Odoyo a businesslady in Migori town recovered some her stolen items at Oruba police station said that the slums are hubs of criminals and the youths in the slums pounce on businesses at night and conduct their evil actions to the business community in Migori town.
She wants the police officers in Migori to conduct several daytime raids in the slums so that they could be able to arrest and get the criminals who are causing terror and harm to innocent Migori residents.
Migori town and Migori county at large has witnessed a wave of crime that has resulted in night watchmen being badly hurt and others even killed in cold blood
The residents living in estates near Migori town are now living in fear as the criminals rein terror and cause deaths to innocent residents.
The newest store by the retailer will cover 35,000 square feet of trading space, promising to adequately serve the residents of Ruai as it carries through on its mission of delivering a world class shopping experience to all. This opening comes during the exciting Naivas annual festive season campaign dubbed Kikwetu. This year the campaign called #TeamNaivas has two phases with the first phase Kikombe Kikwetu whose tagline is “Kila Mkenya ni Mshindi” having already kicked off. It is therefore quite exciting that the residents of Ruai will get to experience the joy that is the Naivas festive season with something in store for everyone ranging from market-leading sales promotions to chances of winning gift vouchers, the iconic Naivas mbuzi and even TVs. “This expansion targets to bring our unique offering of freshness, quality, and affordability to all our customers. With every new opening we ensure that the store set-up, layout, and catalogue meet shopper needs. “We understand that you need to have a reason why shoppers choose you as their retailer of choice, and that’s why for us exceeding customer expectations is our modus operandi,” remarked Willy Kimani, Naivas Chief Commercial Officer. “As a homegrown brand, we know we bear a responsibility to the communities where we set up shop, we believe we exist to make other people’s lives better and this goes beyond our excellent customer service. We firmly believe in the sustainability of not just our business but also the communities we serve and that is why we have firmly entrenched environmental, safety and governance practices embedded throughout our business operations something that we know the residents of Ruai will appreciate given the strained infrastructure borne out of a very fast-growing township,” concluded Willy Kimani.
Chiefs and their assistants have been warned against diverting relief food for hunger-stricken families.
Nyatike South DCC Mr. Daniel Ouma Migose said the food distributed to the must be given to needy families adversely affected by drought ravaging the region.
He ordered the administrators to avail the list of the beneficiaries and their contacts so that the randomly call to confirm if those handling the relief food have made sure it gets to the intended persons.
While witnessing the release of the 560 bags of rice and beans to over 2,200 families in Nyatike South subcounty comprising of Kaler ward, Got Kachola and Muhuru wards, Migose said the food will go a long way in mitigating the drought effects and appealed to other organizations to direct their energies on assisting the residents.
Kaler MCA Thomas Akungo said the formed committee will guide on the priority groups and areas and ensure transparency in the exercise.
His Muhuru ward counterpart Lawrence Magubo said they are keen and will be monitoring the whole exercise closely saying that any issue that will be reported related to diversion of food will be dealt with firmly.
The Kaler residents were equally happy saying they have missed food for days thus the consignment will greatly improve their lives.
Information, Communications and The Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary (CS) Eliud Owalo on Friday launched food distribution in Nyanza region targeting more than 60,000 homesteads in Nyatike Constituency of Migori County alone.
He explained that the government had set agenda of economic development meant to address agricultural production, mining, and the fishing sector in the Lake basin region.
The Sub County was allocated a total of 1680 bags of rice and beans that will serve an estimated population of 60,000 in Nyatike South and the larger Nyatike Constituency.
All parents remember the excitement that greeted every milestone the new baby, especially the first one, reached.
Some people even have photo albums and diaries with records of baby’s first smiles, first steps and to extent first days in school.
Unfortunately for 67-year-old Mama Grace Imari, all she can remember about the 28 years lifespan of her first born daughter, Margaret Ajema, is a spell of unfulfilled dreams, despair and total sufferings.
Imari’s all hopes of living a better life ended immediately she gave birth to Margaret who bounced into this world, a physically challenged child.
Margaret Ajema
The jovial and bright looking disable girl, whose life has since gone full circle of poverty, only moves around by crawling due to her twisted lower limbs. The ever smiling girl also lacks the full ounce to handle heavy works because of her abnormality in her upper limbs.
Margaret is one among hundreds of persons living with disability who have vowed not to be deterred by their physical impairments.
Born without limbs, Margaret is determined to beat all odds and become the sole rescuer of her poor family.
“My condition will not shatter my urge to uplift my family,” vowed Margaret during an interview with the Kenya News Agency (KNA) recently.
At the moment, as found out by LTN, her ailing mother and young sister are fully dependent on her.
Unbelievably of her condition though, Margaret is able to cook, wash clothes, clean utensils, receive and make calls easily on her cheap phone without much ado.
However, Margaret has to be in turn helped to bathe, dress up and do other house and personal chores by her sickly mother and siblings.
Mama Grace Imari and her Daughter Margaret Ajema
According to her mother, Margaret was born in that condition in 1994. Since then it has not been easy raising her as she required a lot of support which she could not get.
“I gave birth to Margaret in her condition. Life has never been easy ever since as I had to work extra hard to take care of her. I faced a lot of challenges because I had no formal employment,” said Mrs. Imari.
A first-born in a family of four children – three girls and a boy- Margaret who did her fourth form at St. Georges Secondary School for the physically challenged persons in Nyakach, Kisumu County, scored a D+ in her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, wiping away all her hopes of taking up the full responsibility of fending for the family.
Her dream of becoming a high Court Judge in Kenya was all washed away after performing poorly in the exams. “I had all along dreamt of being a High Court Judge in Kenya to help dispense of with the many injustices happening in Kenya and especially those peddled against persons living with disabilities,” she told the LTN who visited her home in Suna East Constituency, Migori County.
Nevertheless, Margaret is still a spirited and determined soul that one day she will meet someone who will open college doors for her to pursue any course that will help her raise her son and also support her ailing family.
Amidst the hardships Margaret and her family face, she is so determined on doing things for herself in helping the family and at the moment she is the breadwinner for her mother and younger sister, who is set to sit for her KCPE exams.
The family leaves deep in Nyahera village, about 30kms from Migori town and, their ramshackle single leaving house is enough proof that mama Imari and her children lead a poverty ravaged life.
Things turned worse when Margaret’s father, Mr. Tinael Misoga, passed on in 2006 leaving her wife with four children and no job.
With no formal employment and a small piece of land for cultivation, the Mrs. Imari has since been forced to do manual labour on other people’s farms to fend for her children.
Life has not gone well for mama Imari as she has been on and off hospital after developing chest problems due to heavy manual labour of working for other people. At times she is forced to beg for food from the neighbours to give her children.
Her only wish is for her daughter Margaret to get someone who can take her to college and get trained on something she can earn a living from rather than begging people from time to time.
“After my husband passed on, I have been working as a manual laborer to feed my children. In the long run, it left me with a chest problem and currently I am grounded. If I don’t beg, I depend on my daughter who is disabled,” said Margaret’s mother.
The family is in a total fix, wading in a sea of poverty and depending on food tilled from a quarter acre farm, the only piece of land the late Misoga owned in the area and, to extent, food sourced from money earned out of performing manual labour for other people.
Compounding the misery in the family history is the fact that Margaret herself has one boy child to take care of. The boy is also physically challenged like her mother Margaret, nursing a deformed leg.
She gave birth to the lame child while still in school after a man lured her to an illicit sex escapade to the chagrin of the family members and the local villagers.
The boy who could not be fended for properly by her mother and grandmother is currently under the care of a local orphanage home and attends school at the Kenya Relief Academy within the outskirts of Migori town.
“I gave birth to my son while I was very young. I wanted to be with my child and see him grow and walk in my arms, something I cannot do. But I had to let him go after three months because I had no means of taking care of him,” she remorsefully narrated.
Despite her admiration to be with her son, who is now eleven years old, Margaret is grateful for the well-wishers from the Kenya Relief Organisation.
The organisation has taken full responsibility for educating her son and allowing him to visit home every holiday when schools are closed
When Inua Jamii cash transfers and disability funds came in, it gave hope to many who are unable to fend for themselves like Margret. She has been a beneficiary of this program where she has been receiving Sh. 8000 after every three months.
However, she laments the delayed remittance of such funds from the ministry as sometimes it takes months before they receive the support.
This leaves her and her family in a devastating state. “Mostly I rely on disability funds to fend for my mother and sister. Sometimes it delays which forces me to seek other solutions like begging from people,” decried Margaret.
According to her, the last remittance they received was on June 2022. Since then they are yet to receive another bunch of the money.
Apart from financial support, Margaret’s main wish is to get a wheelchair that she can use to move from place to place since crawling is not easy, especially on their rocky roads.
She says that with the chair, she can also move and find means of getting simple jobs and earning a living.
“My main challenge is movement. The roads leading to my home are rocky and after crawling for long hours I feel much pain. With a wheelchair I can move easily and reach places where I can get help,” she narrates.
With overdependence on her family for food and small home chores to help her ailing mother, Margaret is forced to do house chores like washing clothes, cleaning utensils and cooking when her younger sister is at school. This she has been doing for years as she insists she does not want to be a burden to her family.
Sadly her inability to provide for her little one and having no formal job or source of continuous income left her only with the option of sending him to an orphanage centre at the age of three months.
Although, she shares that it is always every parent’s wish to see their children make their first strides and even call the name “mama”, this is something that nature has denied her.
An interview with an orthopedic expert Amos Odhiambo who has treated Margaret and has an insight history of the family revealed that the family suffers a hereditary health problem.
The problem manifests well in first born children within the family lineage, explaining that Margaret is first born, her son who is lame is firstborn, her father who was also lame was first born and her step-mother who died long time ago gave birth to a disabled first born son.
According to Odhiambo, who works at Migori Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Margaret’s condition is referred to as congenital malformations. This is a condition where the patient has defects or abnormalities in the body that develop during pregnancy.
The condition is caused by genetic or chromosomal abnormalities, environmental factors such as exposure to toxins, and maternal health during pregnancy.
Mr Odhiambo states that the condition can only be rectified at birth or before the baby reach five years. Although, the medical operation can only be done to help the patient to stand but not develop undeveloped limbs when the patient has none.
Gabriel Omondi who is a physiotherapist at MTRH states that expectant mothers should routinely visit maternal and child health clinics and not buy drugs over counters. This is to assist them to avoid conditions that could lead to or bring gross disability.
“One of the main causes of such anomalies is that most of the mothers are not able to access medical facilities due to lack of funds or distance and end up buying over-counter drugs from quacks and even from traditional healers,” he said.
The end results can be dangerous because they use unregulated medication that eventually leads to the malformations we are talking about, explained Mr Omondi
Although Mr Omondi regrettably notes that in an instance where the ultrasound conducted on pregnant mothers reveals the disability of the unborn, the technology they have is not high tech that can rectify the deformity. This is possible in developed countries.
Over 500 children from Awendo constituency are relieved after a well-wisher donated clip boards, pencils and geometrical sets to all the 19 primary schools.
Paul Onyango said the move to save the situation by materials worth Ksh. 500,000 was necessitated by the suffering he saw in parents struggling to keep their children in school in Ulanda area of South Sakwa Ward.
Paul Onyango addressing the Media
Through Ulanda primary school head-teacher Mr. Tom Mboya, hard economic times, many families were unable to provide materials required for national examinations, such as good quality pencils and geometrical sets.
He said this has even forced teachers to dig into their pockets to help such pupils in order to ensure that they do not miss out on the crucial examinations.
Mboya said many parents have been struggling to feed their children and that buying the examination materials would have been a tall order for them.
He further said his donation will ensure all children get an equal chance when writing the examinations regardless of their backgrounds.
The students also asked more well-wishers to join the cause, especially as they join secondary schools.
Events such as the recently concluded Black Friday in November, where Jumia invests heavily to attract new customers to online shopping, are another draw for new vendors.
