Why General Electric is betting on Africa.

Adapted from GE reports. 
Consider that just three out of 10 Africans have electricity in their homes. But even those in Africa with electricity are having a bumpy ride. The World Bank estimates that manufacturers on the continent face an average of 56 days a year without power. Although Africa as a whole is growing 2 percent faster than the rest of the world, the lack of power acts like a potent brake on Africa’s economic expansion and standards of living. Controlled power outages to avoid overloading the grid shaved an estimated 2 percent on average

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Should You Take an Unpaid Internship position?

Finding a full time job has become harder than ever before, which has seen many recent graduates resort to taking unpaid internship positions within companies. But before accepting any offers to labor away for free, here's what you should ask.

1. What are the expectations? On paper, the internship seems like a real deal, even if it's unpaid. Still, it's wise to have a solid grasp of what you'll do and the amount of work. 

2. Will you be overextended? Whether you're unemployed or have a part-time job, it's important not to let

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The Top Five Career Regrets

Daniel Gulati, co-author of Passion &Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders’ asks a simple question. What would you do differently if you had the chance to magically rewind your career?
Here are the top five career regrets he identifies on most professional’s mind:

1. I wish I hadn't taken the job for the money. By far the biggest regret of all came from those who opted into high-paying but ultimately dissatisfying careers.

2. I wish I had quit earlier. Almost uniformly, those who had actually quit their jobs to pursue their

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The 10 Worst Career Tips That You Should not Pay Attention to.

The old refrains are well known-you can be anything, do what you love, make yourself indispensable-but may not reveal the path to the top. The moral? Career advice comes cheap, so be careful what you buy into. A cross-section of specialists weigh in to debunk some old favorites. Don't be fooled into following the worst career advice disguised as the best.

1. Life is short. Never stay in a job that isn't personally rewarding.

"Most people misunderstand the relationship between passion and career choice".  The current fixation on loving what you do is misguided, as you'll have better career outcomes if you choose a profession that you'll excel in. "Passion alone is not a sufficient condition for making a living." 

2. They aren't paying you enough to do that.

"If you actually believe that you're too good to do something, you're fooling yourself". Young workers who thumb their noses at menial tasks are often perceived as immature and unwilling to be team players. By

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Facebook introduces Twitter's hashtags.

Borrowing from its rival should help keep Facebook relevant.

The trend of major social networks borrowing key features off each other is nothing new: the Facebook ticker that sits alongside the news feed is very Twitter-like, while Twitter has introduced Instagram-style filters into the photo capabilities of its mobile apps. Facebook's adoption of Twitter's hashtag feature may ruffle a few feathers, but (like Google+) Facebook had to adopt it eventually or risk being left behind.

The appeal of the hashtag lies in its simplicity -- it's really just an extension of the search capabilities already built into Facebook and Twitter, but it makes them far more immediate and easy to use. You can already search public posts on Facebook for certain words, and as the super-fast Graph Search

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Facebook hashtags: A new Way to Compete with Twitter?

Facebook has announced that the social networking website will include hashtags within its set-up from now on, in order to allow existing Facebook users to follow conversation on trending topics within Facebook.
This move is an obvious attempt to keep up with its rival Twitter, for whom hashtags have been a massive part of its operation for some time.

With Twitter growing in popularity, it is clear that Facebook has taken this step to try to keep its existing users happy, and prevent them from defecting permanently to its competitor.

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10 Career Tips on How to be Found and prized by Job Recruiters.

Judging on extrinsic and skill-based factors is a relatively objective and straightforward exercise. Gauging softer traits such as will or attitude is much, much harder, and takes one-on-one contact, attentive listening, and careful observation. That's why it's important to approach a job interview more as an attitude audition than a question-and-answer period around skills.

Here are ten key questions to help you better understand the intrinsic "why" and "how" behind a person:
1. What is the talk-to-listen ratio? You want people who are self-confident and not afraid to express their views, but if the talk-to-listen ratio is anything north of 60 percent, you want to ask why. Is it because this person is self-important and not interested in learning from others — or just because he is nervous and rambling?

2. Is this an energy-giver or -taker? There is a certain breed of people who just carry with them and unfortunately spread a negative energy. You know who they are. Alternatively, there are those who consistently carry and share a positivity and optimism towards life. There is a Chinese proverb that

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World Bank foresees Kenya’s economy to grow by 5.7 percent.

The World Bank projects that the Kenyan economy will grow by 5.7 per cent in 2013 supported by higher investment and low interest rates.

The World Bank Kenya Economic Update launched Monday attributes the higher growth compared to 4.7 per cent in 2012 to a stable macroeconomic environment, the peaceful elections in March 2013, and smooth transition of political power. 

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to improve further to 6 per cent in 2014.

“The government needs to create an enabling environment for private sector-led growth by continuing to invest in infrastructure, increasing domestic energy production, removing bottlenecks to doing

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Warren Buffet calls for women to be included in boardrooms.

Revered billionaire investor warren Buffet ahs called for more women to be included in the companies’ top management and boards. In recent months, Mr. Buffet has been more vocal of supporting the inclusion of more women in company boards. He was convinced of this after reading Sheryl

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Chris Kirubi to mentor young entrepreneurs.

Industrialist Chris Kirubi has come forward ad said he is ready to mentor young entrepreneurs, and says he will show them all the ropes needed to succeed in business. Mr. Kirubi, who also doubles up as DJ CK on Capital FM, has carved a niche in the manufacturing and media businesses, and was a top investor in Kenya Power before shelving off his shares earlier this year. 

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Atwoli denies 150 million COTU fraud.

COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli has denied his involvement in a 150 million shilling fraud at COTU. The organization has come under criticism recently for its support of the MPs salaries, which many view as earning too much salary for too little work. Mr. Atwoli has been at the helm of the workers umbrella body for more than a decade, and is again expected to stand in upcoming elections.

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Farmers Commodity exchange takes shape.

The Cabinet has approved new laws setting up a market for trading of commodities and currencies. This paves the way for opening of an exchange that could give farmers access to a bigger market for their produce.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in April published draft regulations for setting up a futures exchange, which will now be published into law incorporating input from stakeholders.

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Obama to spend 8 billion shillings on Africa visit.

There is growing outrage in the USA over the reportedly massive $60-$100 million price tag of president Obama's upcoming trip to Africa. With expenses like 24-hour fighter jets over the president's airspace and floating Navy trauma hospitals off the coast, there are calls for the White House to cancel the trip. This is the first visit of President Obama to Africa since 2009. He will be visiting four African

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Best and Worst careers to take a loan for.

Many university graduates dream of the day they’ll finally clear their Helb loans. Some students enrolled in the parallel degree program also take loans to finance their studies. So, which careers are the best, careers that promise a return on your investment? Which careers are the worst in which to take a loan against? Here are some of the careers we sampled. (Disclaimer: This is merely an opinion and not expert advice).

Best:

Advertising and marketing.
College grads going into advertising and marketing can pay off their loans in a few years. While not all marketing graduates will get top level pay, marketing majors can start working right after they’re done

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China to build Africa’s largest Hydro Power Plant in DR Congo.

The contours of a new set of agreements to build the long-shelved 40,000MW Grand Inga dam have emerged.
More than 90 politicians, businesspeople and international financiers gathered in Paris, the French capital to discuss the African infrastructure deal of the century in Paris on 17 May.

Finance and power ministers from several African countries, including South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, sat down with the African Development Bank and World Bank, alongside lawyers, bankers and the representatives of several business consortia.

Key amongst those are China's Sinohydro and the China Three Gorges corporation, which built the world's largest hydropower project across the Yangtze river, first delivering 22,500MW in 2008.

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