It has been a big year for The Filing Room. We have implemented a number of wide-reaching and exciting changes. All of which are part of our mission to build a modern, dynamic and, most importantly, African company that is well-suited to this changing continent. Many interested parties will be unaware of the various changes we have implemented over the past year. If you find yourself in that category, continue reading to find out why we thought they were so important in achieving our aims.   February Our year started with the completion of two massive projects. First, securing our long-term access to state-of-the-art storage facilities. Early on, we completed the legal process of purchasing our Athi River Warehouses. With the paperwork signed we were finally able to take possession of these new storage spaces. Before the month was out, we had completed the first phase of racking. The bottom

Kenya’s capital city is of vital importance to the emerging East African powerhouse and, indeed, the world. It is home to the United Nations African offices as well as that organisation’s Environmental Programme. The UN, among other internationally renowned bodies, base their operations in the capital. As a result, and despite the importance of Mombasa as a port city, Nairobi is the largest contributor to Kenya’s GDP.  Many different industries combine to give Nairobi this status and importance to Kenya. Managing the capital’s efficiency is of vital import to a variety of concerned parties. It is importance to the government, its citizens, international tourists, as well as the business owners that operate within it. One of our previous articles focussed on how office space affects workforce productivity. If you missed that article you can access it here. This article, part two of our investigation into space management within Kenya’s capital,

As any business owner or resident in Nairobi will tell you, property prices are on the rise. HassConsult Limited, the property investment consulting firm, have monitored prices in Kenya’s capital for nearly two decades. Over the first three quarters of 2019, they found a price increase of 8.6% in Muthaiga, one of the city’s major suburbs. Over the same period, they also found a 4.8% rise in Westlands and a 3.7% hike in Lavington. Kenya’s largest city is becoming an increasingly expensive place to buy or rent land. This has a major impact on business and how companies use their space.  Even if Nairobi’s property prices were not rising, a successful business should know how to manage their space effectively. This article will explore some of the reasons why space management is important to all the capital's companies. No matter what industry you operate in managing your workforce is very

Archiving is a skill. The goal is to file all your important documents in as little space as possible whilst retaining ease of access and an intuitive organisational scheme. If you have absolutely nailed your document management system and have squeezed your files away into colour-coded boxes in a small corner of your office, well done. If your filing system is a sprawling mess that takes up loads of room and is impossible to navigate then you should consider how it is impacting your workspace. In this article, part of a three-part series on space management, we will explore 7 alternative uses for space you currently use for filing: Collaborative workspaces for your employees Communal workspaces are a good way of boosting morale and promoting teamwork and camaraderie among your employees. Indeed, workspaces have been proven to promote innovation. Employees are given the space and time to discuss potential solutions

Online, our data comprises our lives. With all the shopping and interacting we do on the web, interested observers can tell where we’ve been, who we went with, what we ate there, etc. Data collection is a part of the modern world and its why companies like Facebook and Google are so profitable. It can be helpful. Data collection streamlines the adverts we get on social media. It helps keep the apps on our phones and laptops streamlined to our needs and interests. The collection of all our data can also feel invasive. The Kenyan Government’s latest Data Collection Act came into force on the 25th of November 2019. It stipulates a number of changes to your rights. You could read the whole document here. But if you haven’t got the time, we have compiled a short list of its most important and salient points. This article will explain why

The traffic in Nairobi is some of the worst in the world. However, according to online resources, Nairobi is far from the levels of congestion experienced by many cities in the US and in India. These online resources usually track the number of hours lost by commuters when they travel to work. The issue with this variable is that it does not quantify the various other factors that may exist when determining the extremity of traffic congestion. The traffic in Nairobi rarely resembles a long line of inert vehicles, waiting for movement up ahead. No, Nairobi traffic is a sprawling mess of multiple diverging and converging lanes of traffic. Matatus push and shove, overtake and undertake and find themselves on the footpath along with cyclists and pedestrians. It's carnage. Especially on the Mombasa Road, where many businesses are located. Consequences for Business Bad traffic is bad for many reasons. It

If Blockchain is that thing you hear about at dinner parties and at work and you have no idea what it means but in order to not seem ignorant you smile and nod and make the right sounds until people stop talking about it, then you should keep reading. Blockchain is changing the world. The technology is used in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and in banking as a simple and secure way of keeping records. How does it work? In layman’s terms, a blockchain is composed of blocks and chains. The block contains a piece of information, e.g. Joseph sells 2 cars to Stephen for Ksh 100. The chain then connects this block to other boxes with different information. Each box has an individual hash code, and, if anyone attempts to change any information from inside a block, the hash code of that block will change, and a new block will

It has now been two months since the launch of the Mara Smartphone handsets. The first ever made-in-Africa Smartphones have hit the markets and now  there are two manufacturing plants. One in Kigali, Rwanda, and another in South Africa's Kwa-Zulu Natal. The company, Mara Group, produce two handsets: the X and the Z.  Two sleek, modern mobile phones that their designers hope will rival the industry-leading Samsung and Apple products. This, Africa's entry into consumer tech, is a landmark moment for the smartphone industry and for African business. This article highlights four things that the launch of these new phones can tell us about Africa right now. Firstly, the shape of African business is changing. We witness the radical developments every day. Roads where previously there had been dense forest. Tourists where there used to be farmers toiling. Railways, electricity, smartphones (even if they only came from Japan or America).

Many archived files hold the potential for serious financial consequences should they fall into the wrong hands. A company that fails to respect the integrity of other businesses by not securing files is destined to fail. With reference to business-critical documents, every business should take these factors into account when setting up security systems for archived documents: Data privacy laws in the country the business is located and in any countries the business operates in. A resolution debated and passed in 2014 by the African Union addresses the need for rules and regulations regarding personal data and data transfer. Businesses should familiarise themselves with data laws or else they risk making foolish errors. Data privacy laws for the industry each business operates in. For example, the advertising industry was hit particularly badly by the EU’s new data regulation act, dubbed GDPR. Previously, advertising agencies were able to access huge amounts

At the heart of The Filing Room’s core values is a deep interest in data. The service we provide is rooted in the belief that data should be stored safely, it should be easy to access, and it should help businesses and communities to grow.  In this article, we explore the main vehicle for data creation and movement today: the internet. In order to get all Kenyan communities thriving and developing, we need to look at the recent statistics for internet usage in Kenya so that we can do more to boost data exchange and interconnectivity. Internet Usage in 2000 The internet first became available in Kenya in 1993. However, full access wasn’t achieved until 1995. Multinational corporations, international organisations, and NGOs were the main users of the internet at the turn of the century.  It is estimated that there were approximately 200,000 users of the internet in Kenya, back