Farhana Hassanali likens Kenya’s housing market to an inverted pyramid. She says the supply of housing units at the bottom — the low and the lower-middle income segments — is as small as the tip of a pyramid, whereas the upper middle and the high-end of the market enjoy broad supply, just like the base of a pyramid. “That is the tragedy of our housing market today,” Ms Hassanali, the business...

Mr Kamau, a high school teacher, built his dream house in a rural part of Murang’a county, although it was just 20 km from Murang’a town. He lived there happily with his family until one day when he was parking his 4wd car, some bunch of criminals appeared. He pleaded with them not to harm him and luckily, they didn’t  They made away with his car. The following morning, his car was found by the...

Do you know why at times you fail to get that loan to develop your property? Maybe as an institution or individual you are not well dressed to meet the financier. Look, if your bank has 7 million account holders or 40 million across Africa, it might not be practical to give personalized attention to all these account holders. Some investors have very brilliant ideas but they are not well dressed. What is...

First published on January 2, 2013 In the last quarter of 2012, I attended very many weddings. This year, I will change my eating habits when I go for weddings. I only eat rice and beef but still end up with food poisoning .This year, I will strongly purpose to only take soda when I go for weddings. This way, am sure I will not get food poisoning. I have four other resolutions. Let me list them down:...

The other day I went to buy meat from the shopping center in my hood. It was an early morning but the butchery was already open. The butchery is very small. In spite of this, he confidently told me that he sell the greatest quantity of meat per day in the entire shopping center. There are a few lessons that I learnt as I interacted with the butcher. Cleanliness is next to godliness. He told me that he...

The microwave is that TV that’s kept in the kitchen. Its normally used to heat food….am sure now we are on the same page. There are a few parallels that we can draw from this important gadget of the 21st century. The other day I wanted to make tea using the micro wave. I pressed 3 minutes and by the time the bell rang, the tea was pouring from the cup. The following day I decided to make tea and this...

The other day I accompanied by friend to look for a car. He had visited this website where “everything sells” and had taken the contacts of the seller. I must say, am very critical when it comes to second hand cars. Unless I know the owner very well and I have driven the car in the past, I don’t trust that anyone would sell a second hand vehicle when it is in its best condition. With this mind set,...

First published on February 26, 2013 If you have been to Upperhill lately, you will agree with me that the local banks are going “head to head” as they compete to have the tallest and most fancy office blocks. Owning high rise office blocks looks like the “in thing” for these financial giants. In fact, there are certain big banks that have their head quarters in Nairobi Central Business District...

Land as a factor of production is a commodity that can be traded. These are the instructions that God gave to His people and the lessons we can draw from them. Greed Vs Ambition 14 “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God. Greed is discouraged in land...

When Peter graduated from a leading private university, he was very excited. He knew that the sky was no limit for him. He quickly landed a job with a local bank as back office staff. During the orientation week, the bank manager came to address all the new staff members. He said many good things to assure the “fresh blood” that their dream had come true. He went on to tell them how privileged they...