Kenya Bitter Truth

Being highly confident isn’t a trait that comes up on its own; it’s something you choose to become and it’s something that becomes a part of you after a series of habits and events. Highly confident people weren’t just born highly confident, they became it, and these are some of the traits they have. 1. THEY UNDERSTAND THAT MISTAKES ARE ONLY A PART OF LEARNING While others beat themselves up for making a mistake, highly confident people pick themselves up and learn from their mistakes. They see mistakes as a chance to learn and they get better for this. 2. THEY ARE THINKERS Highly confident people don’t just sit and mope around; they are thinkers — they might not be the most intelligent in the room, but they are sure to use their brains. 3. THEY LISTEN Really, empty vessels make the loudest noise. Highly confident people aren’t really talkative, but they are good listeners and in listening comes knowledge. Talkativeness is just a show off to cover the emptiness that exist within. 4. TH...

1. HE ENJOYS MAKING FUTURE PLANS WITH YOU A man who doesn’t want a future with a woman would avoid discussions about the future with her. He might even get angry and pissed when she talks about married life with him and kids. If he wants a future with you, he would enjoy making future plans with you. 2. HE TRUSTS YOU A man can’t want a future with a woman he doesn’t trust. If he doesn’t trust you, he won’t want a future with you. 3. HE ALWAYS WANTS TO MAKE YOU HAPPY A man who wants a future with you will always do whatever it takes to make his woman happy. He hates to see his woman sad and strives to always make her happy. 4. HE INCLUDES YOU IN HIS SOCIAL LIFE A man who wants to have a future with a woman will include her in his social life. He would take his woman along when hanging out with friends or when going for special events. 5. HE ALWAYS MAKES TIME TO SEE YOU OR CALL YOU When a man truly loves a woman and wants a future with her, he would always make time to see her or call he...

I was once stranded in town when I was new in Nairobi in 1999. It was 8pm and I desperately needed to go back to Umoja Estate where I was living with my elder sister. There were no cell phones then and I didn't even have money to call any of the land-lines I knew. Even if I did, there was no likelihood of anyone I knew to be in the office then, including my cousin who was a City Magistrate or my aunty who worked at View Park Towers. I was certain my brother-in-law too had left the University where he still teaches to-date. I stared at the real possibility of spending the night in the cold streets of the city. Nairobi then was a little too hostile, with menacing gangs prowling the streets with wanton abandon. I was frightened to the bone. I slowly started walking from Kenya Cinema along Ronald Ngala street, towards the matatu stage. I was engulfed in fright. I was toying with the idea of walking to Umoja, but wasn't sure I could remember the road well at night. At the junction o...

By Moses Kuria Listening to Prime Minister Raila Odinga accuse senior officials from the Office of the President of rigging the forthcoming General Election, the first thing that comes to one’s mind is that it’s more of vintage Raila doing what he does best – creating confusion and wild claims with a view to precipitating civil strife. For, indeed, to expect Raila to thrive in a peaceful environment is akin to asking fish to swim on dry land… · Yet, this time round I see in Raila’s claims a man who has sensed crushing defeat at the polls. He has good reasons to do so. There is a saying among some African communities that when the monkey’s final hour beckons, all trees in the forest suddenly become slippery. The monkey cannot hold on to any tree without falling onto the ground! · To use the football analogy for which the Prime Minister is acknowledged as an unrivalled professor, the game is in the last minute of extra time. The final whistle has gone off and we have to decide this on pe...

At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA. At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job. At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer. At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school. At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a suicidal single parent living on welfare. At age 28, Wayne Coyne (from The Flaming Lips) was a fry cook. At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter. At age 30, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker. At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs. Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39, and got her own cooking show at age 51. Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40. Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40. Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career to pursue acting at age 42. Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first movie role until he was 46. Morgan Freema...

BY PRUDENCE KENDI 1. To my classmates who refused to tear apiece of paper from the middle of their notebooks for me to write a test, I hope you are still using that book. . 2. To those who refused to open their notebooks for me to copy, I hope you are all working at chevron or Microsoft company now. 3.To class captains who used to always write my name as one of the noise makers in the class simply because my name is very easy to spell, I hope you are now in heaven writing the names of believers in the book of life now! 4. To those seniors who seized my belongings, belt, necklaces, foot wears, etc, and never returned them, hope you have obtained the highest rank in custom force! . 5. To those who collected the little money my parents gave me and made me go hungry without pity, the thieves who always broke into my locker and stole my belongings, I hope you have broken into world bank now! 6. To those who mistreated me because I was too tender, and those who always refused to fix me in sc...

BY OMBATI EDWIN To the members of the fourth estate (Media) and the entire nation, We are here today as Mombasa Youths caucus not only voice our opinion but also join fellow patriotic Kenyans in condemning police brutality as witnessed on Monday and also unequivocally call for a credible electoral body. Fellow Kenyans we the Mombasa Youths are not amused by the manner in which the CORD Leader Hon.Raila Odinga and the entire CORD brigade were treated by police on their match to IEBC offices on Monday. Ruthless police brutality has no place in Kenya today and all attempts to take us back to the dark days of dictatorship must be met by strong opposition possible. We join H.E Ali Hassan Joho and other Kenyans who respect the constitution in condemning the senseless and barbaric teargassing of CORD leaders by the police. Hon Raila Odinga is a respected Prime Minister of this country, he has paid the price for the freedom and democracy we enjoy today, it is dispeakable to see the police and ...

Before we head on to helping you figure out what you can do to scale your startup successfully, you need to know the difference between growing your business via Growth Hacking and growing your business via Scaling. Never confuse the two terms. Although similar, they are vastly different fundamentally. Growth hacking is new-age marketing in the Web 2.0 era. A successful growth hacker researches consumer behavior, insights and gamification concepts then combines them with the product knowledge to find the right message to attract users. Growth hacking extraordinaire, Aaron Gin says, “A growth hacker finds a strategy within the parameters of a scalable and repeatable method for growth, driven by product and inspired by data. He lives at the intersection of data, product, and marketing.” On the other hand, scalability depends on your product/market fit and business model. Forbes writer Martin Zwilling defines scalability very aptly, “(scalability) means that your business has the potentia...

“Don’t let anyone ever break your soul. You have to stand on your own two feet and stand up for yourself. There are those that would give anything to see your Failure, but you must never give them the satisfaction. Hold your head up high, smile and stand your own ground.” Have faith in your journey and find your inner peace. Trust in your soul’s guiding energy, which provides you with divine well being and infinite abundance. You have the ability to attract and create positive outcomes in every situation. Know that the storm will pass and that your love will continue.

1. When life does not go as planned, breathe and remember that life’s richness often comes from its unpredictability. 2. Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that things will never go back to how they used to be, and that this ending is really a new beginning. 3. One of the most peaceful mindsets ever begins the moment you finally find the courage to let go of what you can’t change. It is what it is. Accept it, learn from it and move on. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done; what matters is what you choose to do from here. 4. The secret to getting ahead is to focus your energy not on fixing and fighting yesterday, but on building and growing something new right now. 5. Even if you have a good reason to be angry and resentful about what happened, don’t. Channel your energy into thoughts and actions that actually benefit your life today. 6. Your world can be an entirely different place than the world you lived in just a few moments ago, once your attitude toward it changes. 7. The si...

When Dan Kan was a senior in college, he applied for about 35 jobs, most of them in finance. By the time he graduated in 2009 from Claremont McKenna college, Kan had been rejected from all but two of those jobs. “I remember distinctly when I was graduating that I was going to go into finance. Like, ‘Oh! This is the path. Everyone goes into finance.’ You make a lot of money,” says Kan, 29, during a phone conversation with Entrepreneur. With hands full of rejections from the finance world, Kan had two opportunities: teach English in Korea or work at a startup in San Francisco called UserVoice, a platform which helps companies collect user feedback. “I went for the startup,” says Kan. Dan in college. Today, about seven years later, Kan is the co-founder of Cruise Automation, a startup that General Motors bought in March for $1 billion in a cash and stock deal. So how does a wannabe finance college grad land at the top of one of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley? A bit of luck, the ri...

President Uhuru Kenyatta is usually a very jolly man, but at the 13th Northern Corridor Infrastructure Summit held at the weekend in Kampala, Uganda, he appeared to be the opposite of his usual self. Days to the summit it had been concluded, and perhaps he had even been briefed early enough, that Uganda had chosen the southern route through Tanzania for the proposed multi-billion-dollar crude oil export pipeline. With an election not so far away, according to insider accounts, President Kenyatta had hoped for his country to snap up the deal via the Northern route to the Lamu port at the Indian Ocean. The project starting in a pre-election year meant investments, jobs and other associated benefits — which undoubtedly would go to his government’s credit. Ugandan technocrats, however, knew clearly and very early enough, after several feasibility studies, that nothing worked in Kenya’s favour. President Museveni, a close ally of Mr Kenyatta, had been briefed several times on the odds betwe...

Devolution has been instrumental in empowering communities to manage their affairs, advance development, protect their interests and rights of minorities, enhance participation of the people in making sound decisions as well as facilitating effective and efficient service delivery. As the country celebrates three years of devolution, it is important to knowledge the remarkable progress the national government and county governments have made providing public service in spite of the myriad challenges in various areas. For example, the provision of roads and infrastructure, water and sanitation, improving the role of cooperatives, agriculture, transformation of health and also in enhancing the use of education and its corresponding technology in everyday lives. The Government may soon set up a unit at the National Treasury to manage conditional grants as the Council of Governors has requested to facilitate proper service delivery. This should encourage faster disbursement of resources to...

wp-ss-20160424-0002.png President Uhuru has thinned down people he follows to only eleven, with only three Kenyans remaining. Apart from Deputy President William Samoei Ruto, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu, the President ‘unfollowed’ over 600 people, ending the bragging rights of people like Caroline Mutoko, Dennis Itumbi, Kipchumba Murkomen and House Majority Leader Aden Duale. The President also unfollowed former CS Anne Waiguru, current foreign affairs CS Amb. Amina Mohammed, Kiambu Governor William Kabogo, Alfred Mutua, ‘Nexus’ (a state house newsroom), former IG David Kimaiyo, current IG Joseph Boinett and all state institutions on twitter. Essentially, he unfollowed all his cabinet secretaries. In the private sector, President Uhuru unfollowed Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore, PR Guru Gina Din Kariuki and Chris Kirubi. He unfollowed Jeff Koinange and all local TV stations. In the international stage, notable people he unfollowed are British PM...

We landed at Kisumu International Airport at 7am. Kisumu reluctantly stirred under a mild blanket of gray. She remained aloof and picturesque. Our driver, standing where a horde of taxi men congregated, held up a placard written “KCDF.” That was us. I convinced Jamo, the cameraman, that we had a moment to dash into town for a quick breakfast before we set off for the assignment in Usigu, Siaya County. I know a decent Swahili place in Kisumu’s sprawling Industrial area called Mafud that serves some truly champion brown chapos. It’s always been my ritual to have breakfast there if I arrive in Kisumu on that horrid dawn flight. Mafud is a greasy spoon frequented by blue collar men who live off the toil of their roughened hands. It’s set behind a long block of warehouses. The tables are covered with cheap plastic sheets adorned with gaudy pictures of tropical fruits. If you are lucky you will get a seat by the large window which offers a view of the street outside where Kisumu moves on mot...

Come with me slowly, lemme teach You how to grant yourself a ‘DISCOUNT’….. 1. To withdraw 200 costs Ksh27 Alternatively: Withdraw 100 @10, Then another 100 @10 Total= 20. SAVE 7 bob. 2. To withdraw 5,000 costs you Ksh 66 Alternatively: Withdraw 2500 @27, then another 2500 @27 Total= 54. SAVE 12bob 3. To withdraw 12000 costs you Ksh 159 Alternatively: Withdraw 10,000 @110, then the remaining 2000 @27 Total= 137. SAVE 22bob. 4. To withdraw 40,000 costs you Ksh 275 Alternatively: Withdraw 35,000 @187, then the remaining 5,000 @66 Total= 253. SAVE 22bob. 5. To withdraw 10,100 costs you Ksh 159 Alternatively: Withdraw 10,000 @110 then the remaining 100 @10 Total= 120. SAVE 39 bob….etc.etc…. You see?

It’s no secret that we’re obsessed with happiness. After all, the “pursuit of happiness” is even enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. But happiness is fleeting. How can we find it and keep it alive? Psychologists at the University of California have discovered some fascinating things about happiness that could change your life. Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky is a psychology professor at the Riverside campus who is known among her peers as “the queen of happiness.” She began studying happiness as a grad student and never stopped, devoting her career to the subject. One of her main discoveries is that we all have a happiness “set point.” When extremely positive or negative events happen -- such as buying a bigger house or losing a job -- they temporarily increase or decrease our happiness, but we eventually drift back to our set point. The breakthrough in Dr. Lyubomirsky’s research is that you can make yourself happier -- permanently. Lyubomirsky and others have found that our genetic se...

If it’s not Monday today, it will be soon. . . and since Monday is the red-headed step child of the weekdays, you need to have a little extra motivation on Mondays. So why not rename Monday “Motivation Monday” and use these awesome Motivation Monday Quotes that can keep you powered up if you’re struggling to make it through the week? If you’re looking for a little extra motivation today, here are your motivational quotes that will help you remember that Mondays aren’t so bad, that you can make it through, and that it’s going to be ok. They can even inspire you to have better Mondays every week, by changing how you feel about work and life in general. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean: Motivation Monday Quotes to Keep You Powered Up The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. —Ayn Rand “Happiness is the real sense of fulfillment that comes from hard work.”– Joseph Barbara “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”– Jimmy J...

Bill Gates organized an enormous session to recruit a new chairman for Microsoft Europe.  5000 candidates assembled in a large room.  One candidate was Njoroge, a Kenyan living in the USA.  Bill Gates thanked all the candidates for coming, and then asked all those who do not know JAVA programming to leave.  2000 people left.  Njoroge thought to himself, “I do not know JAVA, but I have nothing to lose if I stay. I'll give it a try."  Bill Gates asked that all candidates who have never had the experience of managing more than 100 people to leave.  2000 people left.  Njoroge said to himself, “I've never managed anybody by myself, but I have nothing to lose if I stay. What can happen to me?” He stayed behind again.  Then Bill Gates asked all candidates who didn’t have a minimum of a Diploma in Business Management to leave.  500 people left the room.  Njoroge thought to himself, “I left school at 15, grade 7, but what have I got to lose?” So, he stayed in ...

We are all humans and we are prone to making mistakes sometimes. Apologies are important after hurting your partner but sometimes our partner just doesn’t buy it. Well, according to a study of published in the journal Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, there’s an effective way to apologize. According to the Ohio State University study, an effective apology has six key elements. Below are the six key elements of an apology 1. An expression of regret 2. An explanation of what went wrong 3. An acknowledgement of responsibility 4. A declaration of repentance 5. An offer of repair 6. A request for forgiveness “Apologies really do work, but you should make sure you hit as many of the six key elements as possible,” Roy Lewicki, the lead author of the study and a professor emeritus of management and human resources at The Ohio State University said in a press release. The researchers also found that several of the key elements carried more weight than others. “Our findings show that...

Prostate cancer is the development of cancer in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system; the cancer cells may even spread from the prostate to other parts of the body, making prostate cancer a very dangerous sickness. However, a new study has found a 98.6 percent cure rate. The study was conducted by researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center. They found the cure in a noninvasive form of radiation treatment that involves high-dose radiation beams entering the body through various angles and intersecting at the desired target. It is a state-of-the-art technology that allows for a concentrated dose to reach the tumor while limiting the radiation dose to surrounding healthy tissue. According to Dr. Raquibul Hannan, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and lead author for the study: “The high cure rate is striking when compared to the reported five-year cure rates from other approaches like surgery or conventional radiation, which range between 80 to 90 percent, whi...

Kenya’s rural population is increasingly taking to the internet and aggressively placing orders online catching up with their urban counterparts, an internal survey by Jumia Kenya jumia has revealed. The survey indicates that urban traffic to the Jumia site stood at 77% in 2014 with rural traffic at 23% while urban deliveries accounted for 61% and rural 39%. In 2015, urban traffic maintained lead at 60% as rural traffic recorded a 17% rise to stand at 40%. Urban deliveries receded by 6% to 55% compared to 61% the previous year with rural deliveries climbing to 45%. Notably, traffic and delivery statistics for the first quarter of 2016 show an even closer range with rural Kenya catching up fast in web traffic at 49% a shy 2% away to cannibalise urban traffic at 51% interestingly, rural deliveries maintained a previous 45% success rate. Parinaz Firozi MD, Jumia Kenya said, “There is a high demand for online shopping with a high reliance on mobile from rural Kenya which is now a major foc...

1. Use Asymmetrical Risk Reward “98% of the best investors and business builders on earth do not take huge risks. They do something call asymmetrical risk reward. Asymmetrical risk reward means, they take the least amount of risk humanly possible, to get the highest possible reward. If they’re going to risk something they want to risk as little as possible to get the giant returns. If you look at Richard Branson, he’s a risk taker when it comes to his life but he isn’t when it comes to investing in business. In business Richard’s number one question is; “How do I protect the downside?” When he was creating Virgin Air. He went to Boeing and made a deal that said “If I lose, if I fail. I get to give you back these planes in 2 years and I have no liability, it will cost me nothing.” He took no risk with all upside and he hit a grand slam home run as he has multiple times in his life.” 2. Money Advice For The Younger Generation “It’s not all about being patient with your investments it’s a...

By Ciku Muiruri. There is a series the Ocampo Six should watch. It’s called American Crime Story -The People vs OJ Simpson. When legendary football player OJ was acquitted of the crime of murdering his wife and her friend, he went home and threw a party. It was sponsored by Star magazine (They paid a six figure sum for photos from the bash). OJ, whose trial had morphed into something bigger than the murders – Into issues of race and the disenfranchised black man in America – didn’t understand why no one came to his party. Sure, there were many hanger-ons and those that benefit financially from him but where were his friends? It finally dawned on him that an acquittal from a court of law was not an acquittal from public opinion. He was guilty (he even admitted it in a book he later wrote) but his trial had become about something bigger than him. The trial was a farce. They didn’t acquit OJ, their ‘not guilty’ verdict was a protest of years of abuse at the hands of the LAPD. He caught a ...

You lay the foundation for your future today. This means there might be certain things you do that might jeopardize your future and put you in big trouble. Below are 5 things you do that jeopardize your future 1. NOT REVIEWING YOUR EXPENSES You jeopardize your future when you don’t review your expenses. You should ensure you review your expenses at least once monthly. When you review your expenses periodically, you become more accountable and it also becomes easy for you to notice some bad spending habits. 2. SPENDING MONEY YOU DON’T HAVE You put yourself in a rat race when you spend money you don’t have. Avoid using loans to buy things you don’t really need as your only get yourself in severe trouble. I advice people to stay away from loans except you are taking the loan for business purposes. 3. GAMBLING Buying lottery tickets and placing bets are another easy way people jeopardize their future. Gambling might be fruitful now but it’s not a solid financial plan in the long run. Gambl...