We created the archiving insights series of articles as a bulletin board for all of Kenya’s businesspeople. It is a business blog designed to keep its viewers up-to-date with the latest developments in East African business. We hope that some of the information we have shared has made our readers better informed on the factors influencing their sector of the Kenyan economy. It is in the interest of records and document management professionals to boost the economic output of the country as a whole. Increased business activity for the country means a greater number of records of that activity. But we also created this series of articles to inform local businesspeople on the benefits of third-party records management. In some of our previous pieces, we have talked about the benefits – on workforce morale, business operation, and crisis management – of professional records storage. We are all businesspeople in our

In the final installment of our special report into the insurance industry of Kenya, we take a deep-dive into one of the key sub-sectors of the general insurance landscape: life insurance. A report by the major multinational accounting organisation, Deloitte, recently highlighted the competitive nature of the Kenyan life insurance industry. The report suggested that a lack of technological innovation and increased competition was driving prices down and reducing the profit margins of the major life insurers. Price wars and increased competition are usually beneficial for everyday consumers because they result in lower fees. However, as we are about to find out in this article, reduced profit margins for insurance companies can result in reduced investment and growth in the entire economy of a region. This is because insurance companies are the key drivers of public investment. Key Life Insurers Life insurance premiums resulted in $8.6 million worth of income

In last week’s article, we explored the general state of the Kenyan insurance sector. We looked at its competitive nature, the general themes of its recent changes toward rationalisation, and its potential for growth. In this article, we intend to take a closer look at this potential future. If you haven’t read last week’s article, then we suggest you do so. It outlines the necessary background to understand how insurance may develop in this country. We are all stakeholders in the growth of the Kenyan economy and the insurance sector is an integral part of that complex machine. Insurance exists to minimise risk for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirit is what drives economic growth and opportunity. Understanding how this sector might perform benefits all of us businesspeople. It will have a bearing on the competition in our sectors, the wealth of our clients and new avenues for investment. Coronavirus: Impacting pay-outs

The devastating effects of the Coronavirus have taught us many things. This pandemic has highlighted government and healthcare inadequacies. It has also put a harsh light on the inequalities inherent in many different social systems. And yet, more positively, it has illustrated our interconnectedness.  In a globalised world, we are all linked. Through trade routes and tourism or the diasporic movements of this planet’s peoples, we have all felt the effects of this virus. But this article is not about the Coronavirus. It is about understanding the value of educating yourself on factors that will influence your business’ operation.  The insurance industry in Kenya is vitally important and becoming even more so. It is also very much linked to the general state of the Kenyan economy.  As enterprise develops, so too does the value of insuring businesses from theft, ruin and disaster. If the insurance industry develops it will benefit

As we have mentioned several times in our weekly blog posts, The Filing Room grows when the country grows. In one of our earlier articles, we explained how GDP growth, population growth and the development of a burgeoning financial sector all have positive effects on the archiving industry.  That is because archived documents are generally “the ongoing evidence of thousands of contractual agreements being made between Kenyan businesses.” In this article, we dive further into the details. To get to the heart of the matter, we need to have a closer look at some of our clients. In the interest of confidentiality, we won't disclose any names. However, we can disclose the type of client who regularly walks through our doors. Banks Bank are some of the biggest generators of records. It is not hard to understand why. Banks are the very backbone of any free-market economy. Every business, new

Regular readers of the Filing Room’s ‘Archiving Insights’ articles will know that our team of writers enjoy covering a broad range of subjects. The coronavirus known as COVID-19 has, however, stolen the focus of the world. There is little else that the globe’s varied peoples are talking about. It is our hope that we will soon be able to bring Kenya’s archivists and businesspeople content that is informative, engaging and not centred on our current global pandemic. The virus is, however, an unprecedentedly influential phenomena, the effects of which will ripple across the globe for years to come. Even pre-COVID-19, we found ourselves living in what pessimists sought to call the age of  misinformation. The falsities and exaggerated rumours abounding since the pandemic started have done little to renew our faith in our global information dispersal system. And yet it is information, sourced correctly and acted on accordingly, that will

With the spread of the Coronavirus becoming an increasingly influential part of business operations in Kenya, the Filing Room has constructed its own contingency plan for how to handle the outbreak. The below measures are designed to curb the worst effects of the virus and can be considered the official policy for our document archival company. We publish the report of these measures so that our clients and other stakeholders might be able to take reference as to how we intend to protect our employees. Coronavirus Contingency Planning Measures Dated              13th March 2020 Version            1.1 1       Introduction To date Kenya has been spared a widespread outbreak of the Coronavirus. It may well be that the temperature and humidity conditions do not favour the virus but some countries are suggesting possible infection rates of 30%. Border screening has been intensified since the first reported case of the American visitor but

As many readers already know, the coronavirus, or COVID-19, originated in Wuhan, a large city of around 10 million in Hubei province, China. Since then, it has spread to 81 countries. In total, it has infected over 90,000 people, resulting in the deaths of approximately 3,000.  For live updates on the spread of this new virus, Worldometer has created a helpful tool that tracks total cases across the world. You can find it here. As of today, a large majority of the active cases of COVID-19 remain in China. The countries most affected after China are South Korea, Iran, and Italy. In Africa, the virus has affected less than 10 people so far.  Unfortunately, the fear of coronavirus is having a larger effect than the virus itself. Last week, the government allowed a flight carrying 239 passengers from China to land at JKIA prompting uproar on social media.  The close

Every year and at least twice, the Filing Room warehouses will fill with thick clouds of heavy, cloying smoke. It rises through the ceiling of our storage facility and streams into the outside air from our vents. Whenever this happens, and despite warnings we give to our neighbours, we always receive at least one alarm from a helpful bystander telling us that our facility is on fire. That is, however, not the case. Competing with the elements Following the rainy season, Nairobi can become a very humid place. The hot and damp conditions of our capital city can be a nightmare for paper record storage. Very often we are called to collect records from clients who can no longer archive their documents in-house because they have not got the facilities to handle the damp weather. Damp Brings out the Dudus The damp, however damaging it is to records themselves, brings

The population of sub-Saharan Africa is approximately 1.06 billion. Remarkably, 77% of this billion are under the age of 35.  That means 770 million sub-Saharan Africans under the age of 35 exist today and they are going to be a hugely influential demographic in the years to come. Especially when it comes to business.  A Youthful Population There are advantages and disadvantages to having a youthful population. One of the key challenges faced by African nations in the coming years will be overcoming the challenges and taking advantage of the benefits.  Some of the benefits include:  A growing market for manufactured products.  A large tax base for the continent due to the bigger workforce. The chance to develop an interconnected, educated community of young people.  Having a young population is very favourable to investors and can lead to the creation of millions of new jobs. If managed correctly, African nations