Trade amongst the Africa countries has stayed low for a long period. The Africa Continental free trade agreement hence aimed at rectifying this. After being approved by all but one African Union (AU) member state, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) became the preferential trading area in the twenty-first century. Today the African Continental Free Trade Area has mostly concentrated around removing non-tariff obstacles. The research focused on the potential of the African continental free trade area in fostering free trade in Africa: a case study of Kenya. The research was based upon the following goals:; to Critically analyze the key policy challenges of attaining free trade in Africa, to assess and evaluate the key factors that may hinder AfCFTA in attaining free trade between Kenya and the rest of Africa, and to critically examine the impacts of AfCFTA in improving Kenya’s Trade. In achieving this the study was guided by international business theories of Comparative advantage and the Theory of the Second best. These theories are well-positioned to explain the phenomenon of Continental free trade area. The study used a descriptive-analytical research approach, using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The study's target group included 383 respondents from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade, and Enterprise Development, AfCFTA specialists, academics, the business community, and the general public. The qualitative data was summarized and categorized according to the themes and presented thematically. Analysis of quantitative data was done through Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 21 to generate frequency distributions, percentages, and inferential statistics. The findings of the study on Key policy challenges of attaining free trade in Africa were that the low intra-African trade is due to a number of Policy challenges faced by the African continent. Non-Tariff Barriers, Rules of Origin and Regulatory Policies, Poor macroeconomic policies, and poor trade infrastructure were found out to be the main policy challenges to attaining free trade in Africa. The studys findings pointed out to a number of challenges that can hinder Kenya from gaining in the AfCFTA. factors like lack of a political will can also hinder Kenya from gaining from. Moreover, the conclusions of the research on the effect of AfCFTA are that it would increase Kenyan enterprises' competition at the industrial and firm levels by pooling output capacities, offering global access to markets, and enabling effective resource allocation across the continent.The study, therefore, recommends Customize and defining broader economic support for AfCFTA implementation and economic change, such as infrastructure support, digitalization, and national AfCFTA and trade facilitation committees. Kenya should look for additional COVID opportunities, such as in the pharmaceutical industry (and associated intellectual property assistance) and other regional value chains.

The issue of audit committee characteristics is an area of interest to researchers due to its impact on the firm‟s financial performance. Some companies have experienced different results depending on how they embrace corporate governance issues. Firms which have embraced good audit committee practices are in a position to satisfy major stakeholders. On the other hand, companies which fail to embrace good audit committee practices have experienced difficulties. This research sought to bring out the effect of audit committee characteristics on financial performance among insurance firms in Kenya. The research established the effect of AC independence, AC tenure, AC size, AC financial expertise, AC meetings and AC multiple directorship on financial performance among insurance companies. Underwriting risk, liquidity and solvency margin were used as the control variables in the model. Descriptive research design was used. The target population was the 54 insurance firms in Kenya. There are 54 insurance companies in Kenya but only 49 provided complete data set. Research variables data were derived from audited company's annual financial statements from 2016 to 2020 for all 49 companies making 245 observations. Regression and correlation analysis were used to test the study hypotheses by establishing the relationship between audit committee characteristics and performance. The study found that AC independence (β=0.297, p=0.006); AC financial expertise (β=0.137, p=0.020) and solvency margin (β=0.156, p=0.010) had a positive and significant relationship with financial performance among insurance firms. Underwriting risk has a significant negative effect on performance (β=-0.422, p=0.000) while AC tenure, AC size, AC meetings, AC multiple directorship and liquidity were not statistically significant. The results also indicated R2 of 0.238 which implied that the selected independent variables contributed 23.8% to variations in performance. The study recommends that insurance firms should strive to have finance experts in their audit committees as this contributes significantly to financial performance. Policy makers such as IRA should also come with policies and guidelines of the proportion of finance experts in an audit committee. The study also recommends that IRA which is the regulator should make it mandatory for all insurance firms to have independent audit committees.

Foreign direct Investment commonly referred to as FDI is the investment by one party in a business in another country. This study’s paramount objective is the perceived effect of E-government in the promotion of foreign direct investment in Kenya. The specific objectives for this research were to evaluate the role of information accessibility and reduced uncertainty, time efficiency, cost reduction and effective governance in the promotion of foreign direct investment in Kenya. The research adopted a descriptive research design where the target population was the 327 staff who are in Job groups L-N, P-R and the policy makers holding job groups S and above and working at three organizations that are engaged with the handling of foreign direct investment in Kenya, namely;) KenInvest, the Export Promotion Council, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The study employed a multi-stage sampling technique in the selection of the respondents in the study where 87 samples were selected and 79.3% response rate achieved. Data was analyzed using descriptive measures of mean and standard deviation, and inferential statistics while presentation was done using tables. The results from the study reveal that there is a strong positive correlation that exists between e-government and the level foreign direct investment (r=0.477) and that the four e-government dimensions studied explains 22.8% of the attractiveness of foreign investors to a country. The regression coefficient variables suggest that time efficiency, cost reduction and governance had a significant effect on Kenya’s FDI with their respective p-values of 0.000 and 0.010 and 0.015 being less than study significant value of 0.05. However, information accessibility and reduced uncertainty were found to be insignificant in affecting the level of foreign direct investment in Kenya recording a p value of 0.312. Due to the positive relationship recorded between e-government and foreign direct investment, the researcher recommends that the government should enhance the efficiency of its e-government platform and make it more user-friendly and offer options in terms of language accessibility. Because the findings suggest that information accessibility and reduced uncertainty characteristics of e-government platform were not significant factors to the level of FDI, it is recommended that the government improves its e-governing structure with a view to attracting FDI

Market segmentation approaches applied by small businesses in Kenya have mostly been based on very limited customer factors. This includes geographic, demographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics of the customer. These approaches have not entirely brought out the nature of the customers in the business. In some cases, the approaches have been based on incorrect assumptions and have also led to challenges like potentially ignoring new markets and difficulty in keeping up with changing customer needs. This research seeks to use a clustering algorithm to carry out market segmentation based on more variated and integrated data that could give more information on customer habits. The dataset that was used in this research contained integrated data on various customer and business facets. The research used the spectral co-clustering algorithm to bring out various traits on the business customers that could then be used to segment the customers into more effective markets. This research eventually brought out different market segments with varying characteristics all based on the best features in the integrated business data. This study showed that there is more data available in a business that can be used for market segmentation other than just geographical, behavioral, demographic and psychographic data. It also brought out the importance of feature selection in a dataset since different features may have different effects on sales on a business and the overall performance of a market segment. This study also contributes to research by identifying other features other than geographical, demographic, psychographic and behavioral factors that could be used to identify market segments in a small retail business. This approach is also more effective since the use of a clustering algorithm enables the discovery of patterns in business data that would not have been easy to spot with the naked eye, and the use of up-to-date business data aids the business in keeping up with customer habit changes and prevents missing out on potential markets.

The study area exhibits a first-class catena having homogenous parent material and forming a spatial continuum. This study aimed to classify the soils using a geopedological approach which involves a strong relationship between pedology and geomorphology. The area was delineated into Soil Mapping Units (SMUs) through augering into soils defined by different macro-relief. Mapping units were based on slope categories namely 0 to 5%, 5 to 8%, 8 to 16%, 16 to 30% and >30% connoted as flat to gently undulating (AB), undulating (C), rolling (D), moderately steep (E) and steep (F), respectively. Profile pits were dug in the five identified mapping units using Stratified Random Sampling technique. This technique was used because delineation was based on slope categories that acted as stratum within which profile pits were dug. Identified SMUs include UmIr/F, UmIr/E, UxIr/D, UxIr/C and UxIr/AB in the order of decreasing slope gradient. The first entry represents the physiographic unit (Uplands, U), followed by physiographic position (lower middle uplands, m or uplands, undifferentiated levels, x), geology (I), colour (r) and slope class, respectively. Topographic influence on soil properties was presented by Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) with p-value included where the influence was significant. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software for correlation and descriptive statistics. All the map units were well drained and deep to very deep (>80 cm). The colour of the upper B horizon was predominantly dark reddish brown. The texture of top horizon was clay in UmIr/F and UmIr/E and clay loam to clay, sandy clay loam to clay and loam to clay loam in UxIr/D, UxIr/C and UxIr/AB, respectively, lucidly exposing the influence of topography on the depth of clay illuviation (clay: r = 0.724; p ≤ 0.01). Clay in the top horizons ranged from 24 to 66%. The structure was predominantly subangular blocky throughout the profiles with the top horizon of cultivated areas having predominantly granular structure. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) generally decreased with increasing clay content down the profiles and the bulk density ranged from 0.9 to 1.2 gcm-3. Means of soil reaction of top horizons generally slightly decreased with decreasing gradient (r = 0.231) having lower values in cultivated areas. Percent organic carbon regularly decreased down the profiles with higher values in uncultivated, steeper areas (r = 0.521; p ≤ 0.05). It ranged from 1.66 to 4.03% in the top horizons. In the top horizon: Total nitrogen was predominantly medium across the study area ranging from 0.2 to 0.56% (r = 0.185) and followed the organic carbon trend; Available phosphorus was deficient (<20 ppm) in the study area. Bases were sufficiently to richly supplied while micronutrients were richly supplied. The Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) was predominantly medium across the profiles ranging from 15 to 27.6 cmol(+)/kg with values increasing slightly with increasing slope (r = 0.320). Based on data collected from description of the profiles and physicochemical data of the soils and according to IUSS Working Group WRB (2014) soil classification legend, the soils were classified as Mollic Nitisols. The findings of this study show that the geopedological approach to soil characterization is valuable in soil management. Spatial variability of soil properties was investigated in a selected farm (Field 3). Selected soil properties varied spatially in the field which indicates the need to blend fertilizers with targeted nutrients. Variable input application is also recommended. Soils of the study area are generally fertile for crop production but application of organic manure is recommended to buffer the acidic soil reaction and to improve nitrogen and phosphorus sources. Organic sources will help in efficient use of these nutrients and also improve soil resilience. Keywords: First class catena, Soil Mapping Units, Stratified random sampling, Mollic Nitisols, Spatial variability.

Media houses play a critical role in the communication industry providing information, entertainment, feedback and educative forums impacting national development, social communism and policing government projects. Media houses play a critical role in the communication industry providing information, entertainment, feedback and educative forums impacting national development, social communism and policing government projects.The general objective of the study was to establish the relationship between sales management practices and competitive advantage of large Media Houses in Nairobi City, Kenya. This study was based on two theories, push and pull theory and resource-based theory. The target population of the study was50 large media houses. Sales planning had a significant impact on sales management practices at moderate extent while Sales implementation and evaluation was at great extent. The study established a positive relationship between competitive advantage and sales management practices. The study concludes that there is a significant association existing between les planning, sales implementation and sales evaluation and competitive advantage hence the model of research is significant. The study recommends that the industry maps out specifically what aspects of sales management strategies are relevant to their industry and invest heavily into those aspects so as to see tangible improvement in their performance.

Investment firms and other companies listed at the NSE continue to face countless challenges recently that brought debates on financial leverage of these companies. Listed investment firms face challenges in choosing the most optimal financing decisions that will help them finance their business operations. The goal of the study was to see how financial leverage affected the performance of NSE-listed investment companies. The study’s population included all 5 NSE-listed investment companies. Leverage, entail the total debt to total assets ratio in a particular year, was used as a predictor variable. Liquidity was assessed by current ratio, total assets natural log measuring company size, and age was gauged by duration the companies were in operation. Return on assets served as the response variable for financial performance. Secondary data was collected on a yearly basis for ten years (January 2011 to December 2020). The research variables were analyzed using a descriptive design. The results yielded a 0.467 R-square value, indicating that variations in the chosen independent variables account for 46.7 percent of changes in financial performance amongst investment firms, whereas other factors accounting for 53.3% of variance in financial performance amongst NSE listed investment firms. Independent variables recorded a good relationship with company performance (R=0.683) in this study. The F statistic was significant at 5% with p<0.05, according to the ANOVA results. This demonstrated that the overall model was effective in determining the variables' relationships. Leverage had a negative as well as statistically significant impact on financial performance, but liquidity as well as age had a positive as well as statistically significant impact on the performance of the NSE listed investment companies. In this research, the size of the firm had no statistical significance. This study recommends that NSE-listed investment companies should focus on achieving the best degree of leverage, improving liquidity positions, and improving age, as the three factors has a substantial impact on their financial performance.

Firms with higher cash flows stand a higher chance of attracting investors seeking efficient opportunities to invest resources. Cash flows reveal positive impact on capital expenditure. There is a negative association among cash flows and CAPEX at low levels of cash flow but positive relationship for greater levels of net cash flow. Cash flows impact on capital expenditure rises as firm size declines. The overall objective of the study was to establish effect of cash flows on the capital expenditure of firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. It also aimed at reviewing the increasing body of theoretical and empirical studies that have endeavored to examine the range of magnitude and effects of cash flows on capital investment. The free cash flows, the pecking order, and dividend irrelevance theories guided the current study. The current study utilized the descriptive research design. The target population was all the 64 listed firms at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study employed a census and it examined the whole population. The unit period of analysis was annual, and data was collected for the period from 2016 to 2020; the period comprised of five years. The study applied correlation analysis and multiple linear regression model with the technique of estimation being Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) so as to establish the relationship of cash flows from operations, cash flows from investing activities, cash flows from financing activities, and firm size with capital investment. The study findings were that cash flows from investing activities, cash flows from financing activities, and firm size have a significant positive correlation with capital investment. However, the study findings established that cash flows from operating activities do not have a significant correlation with capital investment. Additionally, the study findings established that model entailing; cash flows from operations, cash flows from investing activities, cash flows from financing activities, and firm size explains capital investment to a very great extent with a coefficient of determination value of 45.8%. Further study findings were that that the model consisting of cash flows from operations, cash flows from investing activities, cash flows from financing activities, and firm size significantly predicts capital investment. Final study findings were that cash flows from investing activities and firm size individually have a significant positive relationship with capital investment but however cash flows from operations and cash flows from financing activities do not have a significant relationship with capital investment. Policy recommendations are made to the government officials and policy formulators in the financial sector, mainly the regulator, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), and the Treasury to focus on cash flows when endeavouring to boost firm value by increasing capital investments in order to spur the development of capital markets. Additional recommendations to policy makers is to majorly focus on cash flows apart from cash flows from operations and firm size when intending to augment capital investment. Recommendations are generated to the financial analysts to estimate market capitalization, and by extension, securities value, by using cash flows, and in extension, firm size. Henceforth, this study will offer them immeasurable insights, which will help them when advising their clients. Recommendations are generated to consultants and listed firms practitioners to mainly focus on cash flows apart from cash flows from operations and firm size to time strategies like securities exchange listings, rights issues, and dividend pay-outs