This weekend I finally rid myself of a headache I’ve been dragging around for the last one month. I learnt something (which I already knew but had chosen to de-learn), and that is to never accept full payment for a job before you begin. Here’s the story:
About one month ago I was giving free consultation to one of my GEC members. In the course of our consultation he inquired about SoftLaw’s data entry services. Apparently he had to populate a database daily with about three hundred records each with more than ten different columns. He was concerned about how much his part-time employee was costing him to do the job. Another problem was that he had a huge archive of data which he wanted entered into the database as well.
On further enquiry I discovered his problem had parallels to one I faced while doing some work for the Judiciary. My member was OCR scanning the property classifieds of the dailies and entering the information into an excel sheet with different columns for price, bedrooms, location, telephone contacts, description, agent etc. After formatting the scanned document he had each classified on a separate line of a text document. His employee was manually copying and pasting the data from the text document to the excel file.
Since he was a computer science graduate I asked him if he had considered automating the procedure. I found out that he even tried developing an application but each classified ad had a different format resulting in countless permutations. After programming the 14th rule for the first data type (price) he gave up on the automation angle. I asked him to send me a sample copy of one of the text file to see whether I could offer a better way of doing it.
I’m not a professional programmer, but I love the logic involved and have a particular fondness for pattern matching and string manipulation. Looking at the sample text and his requirements I figured it was a three-day job at most for me. The rules involved were complex, but I had plenty of source material to use from the previous application I developed called “Abstractor”.
Although the market price for the software should have been in the K.Shs. 50,000 – K.Shs. 100,000 (US$ 685 – 1,370) I decided to charge him a nominal K.Shs. 5,000 (US$ 68) for the job since he was a GEC member. The fee was high enough to make him appreciate the work but low enough not to be a strain to his young business. In a continent where software piracy hovers at 80%, $68 spent on software (even where it is customized) is a decent amount. I also asked him to pay in full and upfront as I did not want a situation where I’d have to chase him for the balance.
Now here is perhaps where the trouble began. What was supposed to be a three-day job took a whole month to complete, and I’ve narrowed down the reasons to:
1. Taking the full payment upfront;
As a businessman you appreciate the value of promptly paying customers. At GEC it’s slightly better since all payments are pre-payments. For software development and related types of supplies (where delivery of goods or services is required) most payments are made in parts. Usually customers will pay 50% on start and 50% on finish. Sometimes some customers will only make payment on full delivery. And even then rarely will customers pay on time; a supplier might undergo many frustrating delays before she receivers her pay.
This foreknowledge prompted me to require the full payment before I began. However coupled with reason number 2 the outcome was disastrous.
2. Charging less than the real value for a job;
What I had promised would take three days took a whole month to complete. On review of the development process though I actually realized that I had not spent more than 24 working hours on the software. With an 8-hour day this translates to 3 days. My greatest mistake though was underestimating how valuable those 24 hours were to me. Although I did not want to charge more than the nominal K.Shs. 5,000 for developing the software the opportunity cost was almost ten times what I was charging. Finding a compromise proved extraordinarily difficult as I had to prioritize my time. I also had very little motivation as the entire price had been paid. This had a much greater effect than I imagined. I was trying to find time to do something for which inadequate consideration had already been satisfied.
All in all though, it was not too bad of an experience. I learnt a lot, got insights for my future consultation with other clients, and enjoyed the programming.
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14:00
The Art of Losing
» KenyanMusings The art of losing isn't hard to master;
So many things seem filled with the intent to be lost, that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day.
Accept the flusterof lost door keys,
The hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
Then practice losing farther,
losing faster:
places and names,
and where it was you meant to travel.
None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother's watch.
And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones.
And some realms I owned,
Two rivers,
A continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.
Even losing you,
the joking voice,
a gestureI love
I shan't have lied.
It's evident the art of losing is not too hard to master
though it may look like...... like disaster.
E.Bishop. -
Gracie, Price Index and Phantom Caller
» KenyanMusings For the strangest reason, I dreamnt/dreamed I was having a never-ending dinner with Grace Maathai, and all she could talk about was errrm, her braids.
Something about me combing out my dreadlocks, one by one for two weeks, yes it can be done although I shed hair like a rabid dog, I feel odd having no locks after 2 years…., why did I do it really?, I am so getting them back like next month,
Something about that is coming back to haunt me…or why would Gracie (term loosely used to refer to Grace Maathai, yes, I know she is not aware of my ‘endearement’ term for her) and I discuss of all things possible…hair?
Serious, we were giggling like old girlfriends talking about matters of immense importance like hair, right, maybe we mentioned in passing if it were possible to have enviromentalists use 'eco-friendly' braids, weaves, hair wax and such, but you get it, the gist was hair!
Why would Gracie do that to me?
Theen, I got up this morning and I kept mumbling “Laspeyres index, Laspeyres index ”!!!
Why? Besides the fact that I have lost my marbles, again, which for me really is a state of normalcy, why would that word, which I vaguely remember from Macro or Micro was it? Economics 311, like I totally flanked that class, at best a C...at best!!!, feh!
I had to find my old economics books, yes, I keep them, iko shida? just to remind myself what it really was...and I found, its a price index and I thought, oh yeah, it makes sense...NOT
Anywhooo....
Point of information, I do not take calls after 10.30 pm. I am supposed to be asleep. It does not matter if I am or not, but as far as I know, the only people allowed to call me past that time is my immediate family, 3 of my girlfriends or their case of emergency people and my boyfriend.
I make exceptions for international calls sometimes, depends on where/who from, but really, I like the only call I receive after 10.30 to be my baby’s only.
Largely, my family and friends understand how I feel about late calls, so if they are actually calling me at that time, it is bound to be important-can’t wait till next day.
My boyfriend? Well, no excuse for this one really…he is the last voice I hear before I get to bed, and we like to speak when we are done doing everything, yes, even if we spent the whole day together…..we get off on stifling each other see.
I feel odd sleeping without speaking to him, and aaand, when a man has the patience to call you up when your tummy hurts and give you 5 minutes to gag before conversation resumes, then yes, he can call me any damn time.
And primarily because, he respects my time and aaaand if he calls and I’m too sleepy, he wants to let me sleep... And I groggily mumble/lie, “I am up really, you did not wake me up” but errm, oh well, either that is a mad case of double standards or I just simply really would chose talking with him over sleep, which I make no apologies for.
Yeah, my superman, the one with an S on his chest.
It scares me when people call me at that odd a time because my immediate reaction is “you are crazy to be calling at this time is something wrong and don’t tell me you just wanted to say hallo could you not do it in a godly hour lord please!!”
Theeen, there is the weekends, and people, uncouth dare I add, ask “where are you?” I do not reply to those texts/calls either because I am a not a last minute back up, and if you did not care enough to call me earlier in the day and make plans with me, then I have no business telling you where I am or picking your call on Friday at 12.30 pm, while you clearly inebriated scream “where are you guys?” and I fight the urge to say “us guys who?” .
*Shrugs*, It does not augur well with me….
I’d much rather ski down Mount Everest.
In the NUDE.
With a carnation up my nose.
Right, So I get this phone call at 1. 26 am .
I’m groggy, very sleepy, very unfriendly.
I do not put off my phone when I go to bed, seeing as I have explained, ala! Kwani you were not listening, that I do not expect late calls.
I keep it on, there could be an emergency see, on sound, the vibrate drives me I.N.S.A.N.E especially because I can hear the phone going ‘brrrrrrrrr’ and gingerly hopping along.
I just hate vibra when I’m asleep.
So, my phone is on volume…ascending to annoy me, I get off on annoying myself see.
For a girl with so many rules I should really switch off the damn phone no?
So I hear the phone ring at circa 1am, and I know that is not my boyfriend’s tone, or family, or girlfriends, or emergency people.
It is bound to be a nondescript so I smack it silent.
Then it goes again,
I smack it silent.
Then again and I smack it silent.
Point of information, I have no problem with hearing a phone ring, hitting the silent button and picking up from my sleep where I left off.
Really, if I was jumping off a precipice, say in search of adventure, going ‘aaaaahhhh’, then the consequent events will be;
smack silent button>
resume midair cliff-jumping matter>
continue with …’’hhhhhhh’
Kss kss, I never really hit the bottom, I hear if you do you die, (Ptuu! Ptuu! ) ,
As you can see (read, read), I am alive to tell it but it strikes me as odd seeing as no one actually died, came back and said “erm, I died because I hit rock bottom (literally)” shrugs, oh well.
My nondescript calls again for only nine times.
Eventually, I grab my phone.
Peer at it, totally hating the blue light burning my face
Then I get a glimpse, (one eye open), of the number.
I don’t know it.
Rigggggghhhhhhtttt, I hope its not some ‘arab’ speaking person.
Funny I get those all day, they say “Hussein blab bla”,
Bla bla herein used to mean that for all my lingo, I frankly cannot make head or tail of what they are saying, I suppose its Arabic, but seeing as they cannot get the number towards whom the afore said 'bla bla' should be directed right, how sure can one be what their chosen mode of communication really is? It could be Arabic, it could me gibberish...frankly *shrugs*, I dunno.
.....then I say “wrong number” then they click and hang up, so much for courtesy, theeeen they call again, I let it ring, then they send “please call me thank you” (arrrrghhh), then I don’t call back then they call again and go “Hussein blab la bla” and I hang up.
I donno, did they not get it the first time?
Could it be really? (gasps, hand flies to agape mouth…..)
Are they what? Dumb? Hard of hearing?
So, finally, I decide maybe you know what, let me just pick it up. Who knows right?
KM: Yes?
Phantom caller, herein referred to as PM): Hi KM (they actually know my name, boo yaaa!!)
PM: Sorry to be calling so late
That actually softened me up. That they realize they are calling at a very unfriendly time, and make an apology for it, whch fooled me into thinking they actually had something important to say as symbolized by their persistence and apology.
KM: Yeah, it’s a bit late. Can it wait till morning?
PM: NO. Please, I had trouble tracing your number, please it will only take 5 minutes.
OK, work with me here, I’m alert now. This sounds as important as, **gasps** world peace!!, not hair with Grace Maathai, which I was eager to get back to by the way, and see where it ends, like could we possibly talk real issues please Grace!!! So I sit up.
KM: Ok, who I’m I speaking to?
PM: Guess who?
OK, don’t do that.
Really don’t.
Not to me.
Don’t do that.
My mind is so totally NOT programmed to be mocked like that.
Don’t ever ask me to guess who is calling.
Especially if you are calling at that time of the night.
Especially ever!
Don’t mock me.
KM: I dunno who.
PM: ______ (he mentions his name then waits for me to have an ‘aha’ moment, I don’t. I do not know the name, I have never met anyone with such a name, EVER, and I know, I am good with names…and I was not drunk because I do not give my number to anyone when I am drinking. You give me yours, maybe I will call, maybe I wont, but I'm not giving you mine)
KM: ooooookay. How can I help?
PM (sounding very very offended) You don’t know who this is do you? Okay. Okay. Fine see ya.
KM: (glad to be relieved of these late pasttimes,) OK, bye.
PM: No No. Wait…its me. We met at your cousin’s wedding? Don’t you remember? I got your number from your cousin’s friend.
(right, ok, my cousins wedding, where I met only 500 people, most shaking hands no time for proper introductions…yeah, duuuude, how can I not remember?)
KM: OK. Sorry I don’t remember you. Can we talk during the day please. Goodnight.
PM: Are you married?
KM: Sorry?
PM: Are you married?
(at this point, I have lost the point of this call as I’m sure, so have you. In fact, so had PM)
KM: yes.
PM: To who? How long have you been married?
KM: Goodnight
I mean, really, I know I sound pathetic saying I’m married and all, I hear that lie is generally a preserve of 'insecure women' hurtling towards 50 alone....totally overrrated that we all need to be married if you ask me, so totally crap that people have the audacity to label women who cannot find a man worth their salt as desperate, even worse that some women need to use that lie, but seriously. This guy. This guy. ….uuuughhh!!
Alafu he kept calling and calling so I put my phone on silen mode, woke up to 12 missed calls and a text message saying LOOOL, “Please tell me if you are available"
For what I wonder, **smh**, aiiiiii, me I’m not.
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23:49
Will the real entrepreneurs please stand up
» Startups in Kenya Today, I am inspired. Watching the Barclays sponsored Enterprise Kenya on KTN last night showed me just how far I am from calling myself an entrepreneur. The source of inspiration: a woman called Joyce Wairimu and her amazing fortitude in starting and running her eatery business Babylon Kitchen. Every aspect of her story seemed so keeping with the entreprenuerial spirit that I was tempted to think it all scripted.
Joyce Wairimu was a victim of the Molo clashes in 1992 which displaced her and family. The clashes uphove her life and she found herself separated from her husband, penniless, and destitute, with five children to care for. A chance boarding of a Kayole bound matatu found her living off handouts in the streets of Kayole.
But the woman's spirit was not broken and a good samaritan welcomed her and her children into her home and also introduced to her to work that could earn her an income. Joyce started making a little money by working in the City Council farms and washing clothes. It paid little but Joyce knew how to save and put away K.Shs. 900 (US $12) every week.
Joyce joined a welfare group Maisha Bora where she deposited her savings. She narrates how the welfare changed her life by allowing her borrow double what she had saved and invest it in business. With K.Shs. 7,000 (US $ 96) she began a tea kiosk in Kayole and gradually built it into a popular restaurant with outside catering. With financial discipline, prudent management, perseverance in the face of adversity, and always putting the customer first Joyce saw her business grow and flourish.
Six years later her business and personal assets now include real estate, land and are valued at K.Shs. 2,500,000 (US $34,247). Joyce has also bought property for her children and given them capital to start their own businesses. She is now reunited with her husband, remains an active member of the welfare group which started her off, and is happy and content with her life. She is a truly wealthy entrepreneur by all standards.
The story behind Babylon Kitchen is one of knowing what you want in life and using business as a means of achieving it. It is the true entrepreneurs story, one that makes you realise there's more to it than just making money. Today I feel challenged to be an entrepreneur as Joyce Wairimu is an entrepreneur.
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4:48 Change of Subject and Trip to Asia
» african bullets & honey I suspect that there is a saboteur out to get bullets and honey; in the last week paragraphs have disappeared from the blog and I just now had a techie friend fix the problem (with embarrasing ease.) Maybe this is what I get for dipping my toes into Kenya’s treacherous tribal wars, in which case [...]
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*Nada*
» KenyanMusings Right…okay, blogging on a holiday is sooo loser. **flutters eyelashes, kicks foot back** Passing time and over indulging at my cousin’s house. I have a feeling I will get a stomach upset…no really, I know it..I can see coming.
I should have spent time with my man *giggles/breaks into a sweat/hyperventilates* tihii, yeah, my boyfriend…maybe I’ll do that later or tomorrow. I could just lie there and kiss him only for like 12 hours and sniff him. He is my superman. The one with a an ‘S’ on his chest!!! Sorry, His big chest. Ooops, soory, his big warm safe chest.
My niece. Sigh. What a pretty child. I came in and had this conversation with her;
Niece: auntie (me), (hugs me)
KM: Hallo little lady (she does not like to be called a little girl)
Niece: Hi. Whast did you bring me
KM: (rummages bag, comes up with 'orbit' chewing gum)
Niece: Aiii, sitaki hiyo. Hiyo si tamu.
KM: (Thinking ooookaaaay, time to go to the matrices) Yeah? After lunch we will go get you something real nice
Niece: I had lunch teneeee!! (long ago) (i love the way she says that)
Ngai, no loopholes haki, so I started tickling her(so she could forget, sigh, whaaat?) and she was getting offended, totally not tickled, going "noo! Nooo! give me what you brought me first"..sheesh!!!
She is ummmmm errrr, heavy. She likes to eat. A lot. She can eat you under the table…Lit and met….she likes to go under the table when she eats. I came in, lifted her and she said “ Auntie (insert my special name), I’m heavy..I’m sorry” woiyeeee, double sniff, sasa now who told her that.
It must be that evil (the neighbor is evil, and the boy is evil….the apple don’t fall far from the tree) neighbors boy who thinks my Niece (yes, I know she is 3) is hitting on him and **rolls eyes**, she is so not!!!!
I weighed myself today.
Nothing to do with my niece.
Way before I got here even.
Way before I went to the park and saw funneee couples and people singing and the man I refused to talk to because I was busy reading, duuuuh can’t you see that, and he told me “malipo ni hapa duniani”, errrrrm, Ok yeah, what did I do wrong?
Way before my boyfriend came by looking goooood and kissed me and gave me chocolate (ok, I’m fronting aren’t I?).Way before all that, I weighed myself. Boom! 3 extar kilos. Yaaaay. I kinda like the way they are gathering around my ass. Boom shakalaka!
Tihiii, and my man arms, and my tummy (oh, who am I kidding, I gave up on that kitambooo!). Me likey. I think I will hit the gym. Soon. One day. In the near future.Maybe I should save the world….or have a baby. A real one this time. Not my imaginary daughter, *rolls eyes* a real one with flesh, blood and a yep! A name.
2 of my girls are having babies. Yaaaay. I want mine. Mine. Mine.
Yeah, my boyfriend *shivers* we will get married *shivers* and have a little girl with his and my everything….last name included, and aaaaaand, I will put in a petition for my man arms, yes, on the girl. She is gonna be hooooot! I know…I have seen good genes running there.
Alright, ok, so I’m sprung…a lil bit.*shrugs*
If I sound like an airhead, Its prolly because I feel like one. I, have been for the last 1 hour been watching ‘Dora’, and yes, singing along to it with my nieces and nephews. Dora!!!! Do-friggin Ra!!
The scary bit, is ummm, I was actually enjoying it more than they were!!!! What’s with that? Pass cerelac.
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Entrepreneurs hate holidays
» Startups in Kenya It's October 10th today, a holiday that used to be called Moi day or Remembrance day but I'm no longer sure if that is still its name these days. What I am sure about is that it is a holiday, and I hate it. I have a number of entrepreneurs here at GEC who hate it as well. But wait a minute, doesn't everyone love holidays, a chance to relax, take time off, enjoy the fruits of one's labour?
Not entrepreneurs. For an entrepreneur a holiday means: lost opportunities, lost income, absent employees, delayed cheque clearances, delayed deliveries et cetera. Holidays are the number one killers of entrepreneurs.
Don't get me wrong, holidays like Christmas and Easter are welcome, even feted by entrepreneurs. But what's with these irrelevant holidays, what are we celebrating today anyway? Earlier this year there was an even more irrelevant holiday called Prayer day. And let's not forget the dubious "celebration" holiday right after the last general elections.
Understand where I am coming from, with a workforce of 11.85 million, every holiday we lose 94.8 million man hours, or in money terms: 2.4 billion shillings!! (figures from www.cia.gov ) Enough said, ban the irrelevant holidays and lets get back to work.
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4:17
Kenya’s Coming Fire?
» african bullets & honey I grew up being told that Luos were clever but addicted to showboating; Kambas were clean but stupid; the Maasai brutal and backward; people from the Coast were lazy; while we Gikuyus were ambitious and a tad dishonest. In a Kenya where the president’s marital wars impact national politics more than his economic policy, it [...]
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22:52
East Africa : Kenya gifts six key oil blocks to China
» My Africa Today The Chinese have lately taken a keener interest in oil exploration in sub Saharan Africa – regarded as one of the fastest growing oil arenas in the world. A STAFF WRITER reports
Two major European oil exploration companies have protested that they are unable to access Kenya even as the country emerges as the latest frontier in the ferocious global battle between Europe and China for oil resources.
The EastAfrican has learnt that the two European companies, Compania Espanola de Petrolas (Cepsa) of Spain and Sweden’s Lundin International, have both lodged complaints with the government.
In an unprecedented act of generosity, the government in April gave the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Company Ltd (CNOOC) exclusive rights over a total of six out of 11 available blocks, including the hotly contested Blocks 9 and 10A in the Mandera area.
So dominant has China become in the oil exploration scene in Kenya that CNOOC alone now controls 28 per cent of the total exploration acreage in Kenya.
Cepsa, the first to apply to the government for the two sought-after blocks, was until last year considered a frontrunner in the race for the coveted Block 9 and 10A when the Chinese jumped into the fray. In 2005, top government officials led by President Mwai Kibaki conducted a high-profile tour of China during which the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding calling for co-operation in several sectors including the oil industry.
After the visit to Beijing, the application by the Spanish appears to have been put into cold storage as it became clear that Kenya had fallen for the charms of the world's new economic powerhouse.
Events moved very fast from then on. On April 29, acting Energy Minister Henry Obwocha signed away the six blocks to the Chinese under terms that – according to oil industry experts – were far inferior to what the Spanish and the Swedish exploration company had put on the table.
Apparently, CNOOC negotiated and signed only one complete production sharing agreement for Block L4 with the government. The rest of the contracts were one-year-study agreements granting them exclusive access to the five blocks – with the option to relinquish the blocks at the end of the one-year period.
The one-year study period covers Blocks 1, L2 and L3, 10A and 9. The blocks are located in three basins of the country covering 115,343 square kilometres.
With the door having been closed on the European companies, it is understood that the government advised Lundin and Cepsa to try negotiating with CNOOC to get the Chinese to accommodate them in joint-venture exploration deals, a common practice in the business.
But as it turned out, the Chinese have not been willing to accommodate the Europeans.
Recently, Cepsa wrote to the government lamenting that the Chinese had not responded to its offer despite several approaches.
Lundin International has also written to the government narrating its tribulations.
Why the government agreed to sign such a lopsided agreement dishing out liberal privileges to the Chinese and allowing them to hoard exploration acreage at the expense of the two European companies, is clearly the most intriguing aspect of the saga.
Apparently, the Spanish had made the government an offer whereby they would go straight into drilling exploration wells as opposed to the arrangement with the Chinese, where most of the acreage is being hoarded for studies.
Cepsa currently acts as an operator on the onshore Ouhourd Oilfields in Algeria in a joint venture with state-owned Sonatrach.
Recently, it was awarded a new exploration permit in Egypt. Currently, its upstream activities are concentrated in Spain, Algeria, Egypt and Colombia. Fields where the company has interests produce approximately 250,000 barrel per day.
The Chinese have lately taken a keener interest in oil exploration in sub Saharan Africa – regarded as one of the fastest growing oil arenas in the world.
Last year, the activities of the Chinese in Africa grabbed headline attention when CNOOC purchased a stake in Nigeria's OML Block 130 for $2.3 billion – taking China into the top league of foreign direct investment providers on the continent.
With the entry of China and other Asian companies into the oil exploration field in Africa, including such companies as Petronas of Malaysia and ONGC Videsh of India, the expectations are that this will encourage interest even in the more marginal oilfields such as Kenya’s.
China is also turning to Africa as its preferred source of oil with imports already being sourced from several African countries including Angola, Congo Brazzaville and Sudan.
Interest in oil exploration in Kenya has picked up lately after Shell stopped drilling in the Loporot area of northern Kenya in 1992.
Currently, the total number of leased blocks in Kenya is 11: Apart from the blocks leased to the Chinese, others are leased to Pan Continental Inc and the Australian company, Woodside Energy.
Until recently, the Ministry of Energy had discretionary powers over allocation of exploration acreage.
But in 2003, the responsibility was transferred to an inter-ministerial committee chaired by the ministry with representation from the Treasury, National Environmental Management Authority (Nema), the Office of the Attorney General and the National Oil Corporation of Kenya.
Petroleum exploration in Kenya began in the 1950s with the first well being drilled by British Petroleum (BP) and Shell in 1954 in Lamu, where they drilled 10 wells.
However, none of the wells was fully evaluated despite several indications of oil. In 1975, several companies acquired acreage in the upper part of the Lamu Basin
Texaco drilled at a location called Hargaso – and encountered oil and gas shows. In 1976, Chevron and Esso drilled the Anza-1 and Bahati-1 wells where the mud drilled was suspected to have hydrocarbons.
A group of companies led by Amoco and Total drilled ten wells between 1985 and 1990. The wells were found to contain limited oil and gas.Customize your mobile with your Complimentary Ringtone!
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'Jobpreneurs' earning money in a Kenyan way
» Startups in Kenya I've invented my own portmanteau today to describe a way in which I think many jobless/retrenched Kenyans may find gainful employment. A jobpreneur is a person with a skillset suitable for an office job who outsources her skills to willing payers through the Internet. A jobpreneur is a worker and therefore will want a business model that almost approches an employer-employee relationship. But a jobpreneur is also a businessperson because she is ready to control the future of her income through her own hard work. A jobpreneurs skillsets are diverse but primarily use the computer: data entry, transcription, graphic design, software development, language editing, music composition, research, journalism etc. Genius Executive Center is helping jobpreneurs set-up their operations and start earning money using their skills by providing furnished offices, consultancy and financing. With K.Shs. a 10,000 investment, Genius can help you earn from K.Shs. 30,000 per month. Prospective jobpreneurs now have an opportunity to make a decent income using their skills.
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9:09
The Gikuyu Debate Hots Up!
» african bullets & honey I thought I would take comments from Binyavanga’s open letter to his father and post them as a debate. Between Binyavanga and ‘Uncle Joe’ on the issue of Gikuyu tribal chauvanism as reflected in the actions of the Kibaki government. This argument really cuts to the heart of a debate that Gikuyus of [...]
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5:50
Shortages
» bankelele Cement
Caused by unexpectedly high construction demand around the country and with cement companies already producing at full capacity.
Financing
For the missing middle. Many banks claim to have financing products for SME sector, but the collateral, and other borrowing requirements are too rigid for many deserving applicants.
Good stockbrokers
A very lucrative business (1.5% commission per trade) with restricted membership, but with hundreds of thousands of new customers (from Kengen, Scangroup, Equity and Kenya Re IPO's) why not license more players to enter the sector and serve these new shareholders?
Water
There’s a water shortage this week in some parts of the city and blame is being put on water diversion to the ongoing Nairobi International Trade Fair (aka Nairobi Show) whose many activities require a lot of water.
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Quality service non-existent in Kenya?
» Startups in Kenya Is it impossible for Kenyan companies to give guarranteed quality service? I thought the problem afflicted only startups who are mainly product-oriented before they learn to be customer-oriented. I figured its a cost issue for startups, as much as they'd like to guarantee their products, they just can't afford it. But even large Kenyan companies, with entire CRM departments and support departments can't seem to deliver top-grade service. Just the other day I signed up with an ISP who guarantees 99.8% uptime. Roughly translated this means that in the span of a month they can only be down for one and a half hours. Two days after using the service they went down for two- and-a-half hours. On complaining they mumbled something like "...maintenance...sorry we didn't inform you.."
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KCB treading
» bankelele KCB has lowered borrowing rates for a variety of retail loans by up to 5% and the move is already having a knockdown effect with customers, at other bank, asking for their loans rates to also be lowered likewise.
But for KCB, their intention is probably to accelerate their lending which has remained flat this year. From January to June 2006 their loan book is up less than 1%, compared to peers Barclays and Standard Charted whose loan books have increased by 7% and Equity Bank whose loan book increased 46% in the half year.
Card ping
CFC card account holders can receives SMS each time their MasterCard’s are used/charged.
School Finance Loans
(From Africa Intelligence )
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide financing for private school institutions in Kenya, towards purchase of educational materials, and other capital expenditures under a formula which it inaugurated in Ghana last year.
On the flip side Bretton Woods Project offers six reasons why the World Bank (and IFC) should not finance educational projects
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14:27
A Letter to My Father, and Others
» african bullets & honey Dear Baba, This is an odd and public and rhetorical letter, on a subject that recent tradition has asked us to sweep under the carpet. I find myself, at 35, at odds with the tone and nature and political space that is Gikuyu. For the first time in my life, in the Kibaki government, my identity [...]
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GRATITUDE? WTF!!! WTF!!! Arrrrrrghhhh WT bloody F!!!
» KenyanMusings You can only have listened to Classic 105 this morning to be as pissed off as I am today. My God! Ugghhhhhh!!! This is why I hate radio talk in the morning. It fucks me up! Totally upsets my day!! the politics...now this!!
So, this woman calls the station. She found, while being a good wife and emptying her husband’s pockets, a pack of condoms with two condoms missing. So, she calls her mother or was it sister, to ask for advice on whether she should confront him or let it slide, and the sister/mum (who cares!!) tells her to be GRATEFUL he is using a condom, and that he is a great father to her 2 kids.
I don’t know what irked me the most…the fact that at that point I was convinced that marriage is indeed the farthest degree of alienation from paradisiacal life, or the fact that women, married women were calling telling her to thank her lucky stars (in verbatim, used loosely here) that she has a responsible man because get this…HE IS USING CONDOMS!!! And hence, not confront him.
In what friggin twisted world is that responsible?
In what twisted world would one think twice about confronting him?
In what fucking twisted world would I think twice, nay, even solicit advice over the fact that I found a pack of used condoms in my man’s (used fluffily) pants?
The man to whom in an absurd, ludicrous but hey, scared nonetheless wedding day, I promised the standing formulae of my heart’s desire…love, cherish, and hold no other bla bla?
Where was I when these changes happened? That now it’s okay to cheat?
And where are these women?
Just how many of them are out there?
No, who are these women telling her to be grateful?
Grateful because he is taking care of the children. Was there ever a choice?
You bring your offspring into the world, you damn best take care of them. That is neither up for debate nor is it something to thank you about.
Take me away on an exotic holiday, rub my tired feet at the end of the day, buy me diamonds, call me in the middle of the day to say hi and you love me, then I will be grateful. Taking care of your children? Tough luck. It’s your job!!!
Well, in fairness, our job. Its our fucking job!!!, and I would be under very grand delusion to thank you if I find condoms in your pocket. I might have been thinking of thanking you for being a great Papa to the kids’ pre-condoms but gratitude post-finding-the–blasted-condoms would be the last, the absolute last thing on my mind!
Another woman called, saying she went through the same, and the man, the man, the bloody man said that “the watchman gave them to me”. Perfect!! Just perfect Mr. Pinocchio, can you see beyond your long nose? Not only do watchmen nowadays guarantee your security but if you are really nice, like really taking care of your children….guess what, little jig party there, they give you a pack of condoms with two missing. Double yaay! Bring out the champagne!! Power to the watchmen!!
Wtf!!! Thennnnn, the same woman, she, Mrs. Pinocchio, in parting, says “Maina, I’m just grateful he is using condoms. I know he does it, but…..(insert bullshit here)” Why please lord…whyyyyyyy?
Give me a minute here. Is it me or did grateful not mean ‘profound feeling of thankfulness’ the last time my class 1 or was it 8, what can I say, I bloomed mos mos, teacher pounded the meaning into my ass?
The fugged up bit? I could tell the woman was smiling through the phone!!!! Not remorseful.
No profound sense of loss from the realization that this man has failed her.
Just a smile and a word of advice to her fellow aggrieved friend to be…yep!
Grateful!
Why? Why please Lord would I be grateful to man whose sexuality is obviously haunted by his own impossibility of fulfillment?
Why would I be grateful to a sexual exile, the asshole, my husband, but an asshole nonetheless who has chosen to wander the earth, Nairobi if you please but hey, we don’t know how far he has been spreading his spawn, seeking satisfaction, never content.
There is nothing, no single thing in that behavior for this, or any woman to be grateful about.
It would break my heart if anyone told me to be grateful about it. Primarily because I would be talking to a divorce lawyer and making sure that this man sends me a child support cheque every month. Don’t chastise me with that “it happens, if you were in it you would know” bullshit. Just shut up okay! Cheating does not just happen!!
It breaks my heart into smithereens that so many women accept this kind of behavior and it has created a culture where relationships are becoming so exploitative, regressive and a ritualistic acting out of past histories.
And these women, by serving such quintessentially defeatist ideologies are, without even realizing it (the saddest part), creating a culture where for those who lack the strength to demand and expect without relenting, fidelity in marriage and relationships, then for those, it becomes okay to cheat as long as you are ‘responsible’.
I sit for a minute here as I type this blog, and think have I in my own way perpetrated this ill when I say in jest to my people “if you have to cheat on me, and I don’t expect you to, please use a condom”? Is that construed to mean, “its ok as long as you use a condom”, because if so, I am guilty of poor communication skills, a class which I aced in theory, but who’s asking…while in fact, what I mean to pass across is “I need you to love me enough to never put my health at risk in this day and age of disease”.
Disgust. Utter disgust is my reasoning’s only proper response to the grossness(is there such a word? Grossity?) and complacency of chosing an ‘Its ok as long as he is using condoms” approach to the issue.
He has cheated on you woman…what other sign do you need?
He slapped your face, what other sign do you need?
And, aaaand, do you think in a world of over 6 billion people you would fail to find a man, just one, who loves you and respects you totally and completely? Just one?
Aiiiii halafu (small digression) what's this bullshit of turning it around on people, eti "I cheated because you grew fat, you are undesirable (insert any other variations masked as a reason here)"....walalalala! Me, I dont care if I have piled on rolls of flesh, if you don't want to fuck me, haiya, tell me first, I give your, or rather you give me my walking papers then you can go fuck 'the non-fleshy ones' you pompous little faggot!! ughhhh. I'm saying, I will do my best to remain the woman you married and I will need you to remain the same man I married. Fair is fair. Period.
Sigh, hiatus has done nothing to tame my putrid mouth haki..I am so sorry. wooosa!
It is fucked up. These are issues feminists grapple with every day. That culturally motivated falsehoods have created these smug women who think that they are lucky to have a husband, an asshole, but a husband nonetheless. And these are real issues. Fluffy on the surface you think, like battering women, disrespecting the essence of women? Your bad.
In the real sense, as controversial as it may sound, they epitomize the hatefulness of patriarchal society in aesthetic disguise…..the husband.
The only luck about a husband is only if he is a damn, and I cannot emphasize enough on the hot damn, good husband. Getting a man to marry you is not luck!!! It is NOT luck for fuck’s sake.
Still, at the end of the day, as is with every feminist issue, this is something that crucially involves, but goes beyond gender. It is not, (just like battering or marginalizing women in every sense of the word) an issue that is essentially and only the preserve of men, or of women. And therein lies the biggest misunderstanding of all. Its not about women fighting men…it’s about fair for fair. Period.
The men who do it are no less guilty than the women who accept it.
We have all been there, we all are guilty of creating a culture that at the end of the day boils down to the people that accept certain kinds of reprehensible behavior and those that see, through clear/controversial eyes, a culture so pervasive that even those directly aggrieved by it fail to see.
And the biggest task, the part that actually hurts the most, is not that men will do these things, that men batter women, that men disrespect women, the hardest part, the place where change should begin, is the most murky….that women accept it, they accept that they deserve that kind of abhorrent treatment.
And as long as there is even a single woman harboring that kind of complacency, the battle is far from won.
Sigh, I dunno if I am expressing myself as I would like to here….but, I will say this. Call it Utopian, call it feminist…no one has to accept my perspective or share my conviction, but I, KM, of sound mind, and I say this unflinchingly, without batting an eyelid, and I stand by these words, and say them for all and sundry to hear, I would rather wither of heartbreak, of stigma, of being alone(shiver…**rolls eyes**, so totally overrated that flawed notion that you need a man to complete you), than be with a man who disrespects me (insert here, cheating, beating, and such other transgressions to the fantastic woman that is KM). You don’t get it…I don’t care how much I love you, or how many critters I brought forth for you, but I fucking embody confidence, and believe me, ridding myself of you, the fucked up degenerate husband/boyfriend, I am sure would do me more good that harm. I really do not give a fuck about ending up alone….I have lived with myself for 24 years, I think nature would appropriately subject me to extinction if I could not survive sans a man in whose pockets I find condoms. That is how I feel about it. I doubt anything less than profound and dare I add, abnormal would do much to change that.
A husband or a boyfriend who cheats on me is NOT the best I can get.
To expect unwavering fidelity is NOT in the least bit utopian.
Arrrrghhh. I dunno. I just don’t.
**slinks back from whence she came**
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So you’re a businessman, eh?
» Startups in Kenya So you’re a businessman, eh? You have a registered business, a proven product, and a growing client list. You’re passionate about your business and spend every waking moment at it. You’re confident that you know best how to deal with the problems of the business and you’re there to save the day in case anything goes wrong. You’re a specialist at what to do. No! You’re the best at what you do. Hiring someone else to do a client’s job would be short-changing your client, as you care deeply about your clients.
So you’re a darn good businessman, right?
WRONG!
While consulting for one my clients today I realized that many of us businessmen (term includes both male and female gender) are still victims of what Michael Gerber in his E-Myth series describes as technicians seized with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Angela[1] my client is a dyed-in-the-wool believer in taking personal charge of one’s business. Back in 2000 she took a three-year IT course where she specialized in web development.
Two years into her course she was already bagging clients as the nascent web industry in Kenya took shape. A perfectionist, she gave great value for money, and a satisfied list of clients was testament of her great work. Her clients were always unsolicited and mainly sought her out after referrals from other clients or her web developer colleagues.
Her skills were soon noticed by the training institution she was studying in as they offered her a position as a web developer. Angela took on the job with her usual zeal but bureaucracy, low pay and the inflexibility of working hours soon got her entrepreneurial bug biting.
In 2004 Angela went solo; she whipped up a logo, drew up a portfolio and went into business as a free-lance web developer. Things started out well, referrals from her old clients got the ball rolling and she was making a decent living from her work.But as the clients streamed in and the money piled up things started going downhill. Angela found herself working 90-hour weeks. There seemed to be a new deadline to meet every day and she found herself carrying a blanket to work (for a few hours nap) on the nights before the deadlines. Feeling frustrated that she had become a slave to her work she started sub-contracting out work. This only made things worse. The subcontractors were not perfectionists like her and she found herself redoing almost 100% the work they submitted to her.
Have you ever been in this position? I know I was when I worked as a contractor.
[1] Name changed to protect identity
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13:23
Dance Movies
» Couch Potato Forget FlashDance forget Fame...forget Save the Last Dance...with newer movies like Honey and Shall we Dance( which I will admit had some serious lines..."The rumba is the vertical expression of a horizontal wish. You have to hold her, like the skin on her thigh is your reason for living. Let her go, like your heart's being ripped from your chest. Throw her back, like you're going to have your way with her right here on the dance floor. And then finish, like she's ruined you for life.")
I grew up on Breakdance. Not to mention it was the fisrt tape I borrowed when we first got the first video a Sharp VCR that had a remote control that had an extension cord you would have to plug it into the machine.
I am also the Proud owner of the original LP album of Breakin and Breakdance...y'all have no idea how I had to finish them peas to get them albums.
Dance Movies were made of this...
Breakin'
Some struglling Street breakdancers meet beautiful classy ballet dancer!
Welcome to the land of OZONE, BOGALOO SHRIMP and KELLY
Dayum watched it 26 times and probably can recite the words
Let's not mention the killer soundtrack with Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" and
Ice T's "Reckless"
Breakdance 2
Yup caught it on big screen as well. There was a song that was done by Carolyne Townes "Believe in the Beat" somebody hold me down Im getting misty
Fast Forward
Some strugllin dancers.
I only remember these songs
"out on the edge with my back turned against the wind, i'm on m own like a young lion hungry...you're the one who'll keep on standin' when all around you fall , you'll live to....SURVIVE""
"fast forward fast forward"
and some chick sayin that to avoid gating raped all you have to do is " look him in the eyes and kick him in tha balls honey!"
Ice T's Reckless:
Verse 1
Once upon a time a DJ's task
Was just to play records, what more could you ask?
But then came remixes, scratching and cuts
Which was too much for many, drove some DJ's nuts
But the DJ named Glove has reigned supreme
As the turntable wizard of the hip-hop scene
So listen to him, check him out, but remember this
When The Glove's on the wheels of steel he's Reckless
Verse 2
This high-powered music is truly unique
As The Glove cuts the rhythm to the hip-hop beat
He moves like a madman as he spins his disc
He's the number one scratcher on the DJ list, he's Reckless
Verse 3
Now I've seen DJ's, too many to name
Some gained recognition and even fame
But when you talk of MC's, Ice-T is the best
And when you talk of DJ's, forget the rest, Glove's Reckless
Verse 4
So listen very closely as The Glove throws down
He cuts like a razor to the big beat sound
Dave's layin' down a groove that we know you'll like
With The Glove on the turntables and Ice-T on the mic, we're Reckless
Verse 5
So listen to the music, let your mind feel free
Realize you're with the master G-L-O-V-E
Dave and MC Ice-T, you know you're with the best
Because when we're in the mix you know the groove is fresh
and Reckless, Reckless, Reck-Reck-Re-Reckless
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Styling Up a Jua Kali Garage
» Startups in Kenya 
Today fed up with my overpriced town mechanic and needing some specialized service on my car I decided to try out a “jua kali[1]” garage. My friend gave me the instructions to get to the place and after a few wrong turns I pulled into a muddy ‘mabati[2]’-fenced garage with a boldly drawn Mercedes-Benz three star on its gate. I was apprehensive but I had been assured the best mechanics this side of Kenya would be found within those tin walls. Four hours and perfectly working car later I found myself unsure whether to agree or disagree with my friend.
Great customer care, consistent service, and a professional set-up attract me most to my town mechanic. The jua kali mechanic lacks all the above but sufficiently compensates with sublime technical skill and competitive pricing. What put me off though most was that the jua kali mechanic takes on the role of administrator, sales man, customer care rep, and mechanic at the same time. He ends up giving your car staccato attention as he shifts from tightening a bolt, to buying spare parts, to appeasing a delayed client, to negotiating for a job.
Body repair work at the garage
As I waited, frustrated at how slowly the job was moving and consoling myself with the few thousands I had saved, the entrepreneurial spirit seized me. How many other similarly dissatisfied car owners like myself are out there: wary of the expensive town mechanic whose spare parts you can count on being genuine but whose skill in fixing them you can’t; or those willing to put up with technically superior jua kali technicians with great quotations for a job but who need to be baby sat and change prices on the fly?
The more I thought about it the more excited I became, I quickly got my laptop out of the backseat and started on a proposal for setting up a garage which would combine the best of both types of garages. There are hundreds of thousands of cars in Nairobi and every car owner I’ve spoken to has gripes with their mechanic. Its an entrepreneur’s dream: there’s an identifiable need, a large customer base, and an existing product that is a candidate for disruptive technology. I’ve posted the first half of the proposal below, and I’d like to invite you to give your comments and suggestions. Please note that your suggestions shall be publicly available to all.
THE GARAGE PROPOSAL
INTRODUCTION
The Garage (the “Garage”) is an automobile repair shop located in the outskirts of Nairobi city. The Garage currently occupies land that has been leased out. The presumed owner of the Garage is a senior mechanic plying his trade at the Garage. It is very likely however that the real owner is another individual is not involved in the day-to-day activities of the Garage. It has been witnessed by this author and confirmed by the aforementioned senior mechanic that the Garage faces severe management problems. It also appears on the face of it that the Garage is not being utilized to full capacity. This presents an opportunity for the investors to enter the automotive repair industry with: a functioning garage, a strategic location, large pool of human resources, and little capital investment.
BACKGROUND
The area where the Garage is located is home to several different automobile-based businesses including: petrol stations, used car dealerships, garages, and auto spares shops. There are at least four other garages in the immediate vicinity with an estimated combined workforce of fifty mechanics.
The Garage has the following organizational structure: a senior mechanic at the top, other mechanics who are employed on a permanent basis and semi-skilled handy-men who are recruited for one-off jobs as the need arises. The senior mechanic is also responsible for management of the garage which involves: sales and marketing, administrative issues e.g. receiving money, purchases, and customer care. As he is also the foremost mechanic this has led to a situation where he unproductively splits his time between his managerial and technical portfolios. From observation it appears that his managerial skills are also worse for the wear.
The Garage does not issue receipts for payments made to them and will ask the customer to meet any expenses incurred as the work is being done. This includes the likely suspects: petroleum, spares, oil; but also includes things such as: torch cells (to power a torch as work is done at night), paying a petrol station attendant for use of his pressurized air nozzle, sandpaper. It is not clear what the mechanics do when a customer is not available to pay for these impromptu costs. The end result is a feeling by the customer that he is being cheated, as he ends up paying more than he was initially quoted for.
During the author’s observations of the workings of the Garage it was noticed that the progress of work was very slow on the author’s and others’ jobs. The initial view was that the Garage was stretched thin and understaffed. However this view was hard to reconcile with the fact that on numerous occasions the mechanics were absent from the Garage. The more likely reason for the slow work and “overworked” nature of the mechanics may be hypothesized as thus:
- the mechanics are not punctual in reporting to work, and have a large number of AWOLs;
- where the mechanics meet an obstacle they will abandon the job and possibly transfer it to another mechanic;
- the mechanics will not work on a job unless there is pressure from the customer and possibly his presence;
- the mechanics in many instances do not know how to perform the job given, and spend more time diagnosing other problems than fixing the identified problem
The Garage was observed to have five to ten mechanics, who were working on two to three cars at any given time. The nature of the work being carried out included: gearbox repair, body work and spray painting, and engine repair. The Garage however had in its compound approximately 15-20 cars, some of which appeared to have been in the Garage for a very long time evidenced by their peeling paintwork and layers of dust. Most of these cars were not worked on by the mechanics during the author’s period of observation.
The owner of the Garage intimated that at its peak the Garage earned KShs. 300,000 per month. It is not known whether this figure was of sales, gross profits, or net profits. As the garage operates only on weekdays and Saturday this would translate to roughly K.Shs. 11,500 a day. I came to know of the Garage after a friend referred me to a mechanic there when I complained to him about a car problem that my town mechanic had been unable to fix. The Garage in the senior mechanic was touted as having the foremost specialist in the repair of the specific problems of the my automobile. It is not clear though whether the Garage has an established system of referrals. It is not known at this time whether the Garage has any sales and marketing strategy.
The Garage was observed to have the following assets:[3]
- a quarter-acre property off a main road.
- an approximately 1000 sq. ft building complete with roof, walls, and windows and partitioned into approximately three rooms;
- a three-walled building with a two-story high roof with approximately 1000 sq. ft. of floor space;
- office furniture (heavily worn);
- spray paint machine;
- car batteries;
- hand-held tools including: spanners and pliers;
The question I pose to you is: From these observations, what strategy can be employed to convert the Garage into a leading automotive repair shop?
[1] Literally hot sun. Used to refer to entrepreneurs in the informal sector
[2] Tin sheets commonly used for roofing but can also be used for fencing
[3] It was not possible to verify that all these assets actually belonged to the Garage
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8:13
Staring Death in the Face on the Drive to Jomo Kenyatta Airport
» african bullets & honey After a week of Digital Indaba polemics, entertaining outraged comments from South Africa, I had my moment of Outrage on the way to the airport yesterday morning. My flight for Addis Ababa from Nairobi was scheduled to leave at such a time as made it necessary for me to be at the airport by [...]
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Genius Executive Centre – Incubating Kenyan Startups
» Startups in Kenya Andrew Mongy’s first business involved developing complex information systems for large organizations. To woo over his potential clients he invested heavily in expensive furniture in his uptown office where he met the clients. Unfortunately his business suffered from poor management, weak marketing and insufficient capital and had folded within a year. Down but not out he vowed he would not make the same mistakes on any future business. It was therefore with great pleasure when in early 2006 as he prepared to launch his second business, he heard of Genius Executive Centre located on the 15th floor of View Park Towers, a business incubator that would keep his start-up costs low, assist him in his marketing and possibly even finance his business.
The prestigious View Park Towers“Genius Executive Centre although begun as a subsidized business centre, now operates with the social responsibility of a business incubator” according to Ms. Christine Matogo, acting centre manager. Begun in mid 2005 by SoftLaw, the Centre initially provided fully furnished office workstations with shared lounge, reception and meeting rooms facilities for an affordable monthly fee.
An incubatee at work at her workstation
“Over time we realized that the average start-up business requires more than a furnished office at a fancy location,” continues Ms. Matogo. “We turned round the Centre on its heels and began emphasizing on giving our members solid business advice, consultancy services, access to knowledge repositories like LawsofKenya.com, access to investors, and collateral-free loan financing. Our sister business division, Genius Capital & Consulting was initially set up to serve the Centre incubatees with these services at no additional cost. Capital & Consulting now also provides these same services to non-incubatees who have shown great enthusiasm in the products.” Ms. Matogo explains that the Centre acts mostly as a showcase of the services provided by Capital & Consulting which she calls the real cash cow.
The shared reception area
The business model for the Centre is a unique one. Although a for-profit organization, the heavily subsidized monthly fee and the free business support services would make one think it is an NGO. Ms. Matogo explains how the Centre achieves this. “When we begun the Centre, we could have chosen to go the way of the existing alternatives at the time and charge exorbitant fees in order to make high margins. Instead we chose to keep the costs low and work on volumes. This ensured the Centre was able to serve its intended clientele. Our targeted clients are business start-ups whose main asset is the skills and knowledge of their owners or staff. Such businesses are service-oriented and use the Centre as a communication and marketing point for their business. Collectively they can be grouped as consultants who specialize in one area or another. To become an incubatee one simply needs to attend an interview and if their business is assessed to have growth potential they are offered a space. The incubatee thereafter needs to pay only K.Shs. 10,000 every 30 days to enjoy the Centre services”
Genius seems to have struck a resonant cord with its targeted clientele, with 75% occupancy in its first month. The Centre is now fully occupied and new members are added to a waiting list. How the Centre ensures that all deserving start-ups get a chance at incubation is by encouraging the growth of its existing incubatees businesses. “Part of being an incubator involves nurturing the growth of the incubatee’s business. We call this graduation and we work with our incubatees to have them graduate within three to six months of joining the Centre. When an incubatee graduates, it means her business has: a strong business and marketing plan, a growing client list, sustainable revenues, a good understanding of cash flow and tight control of its finances as well as a marketable product. Since the Centre begun participating directly in the growth of its incubatees businesses we have had over thirty graduates.”
One of the boardrooms at Genius
The concept of business incubators is not new, but unlike most incubators that rely on donor support or government backed funding, Genius is a self-sustaining business albeit with low margins. Ms. Matogo explains that the Centre is more of corporate social responsibility effort than a money making venture. “The founders of the Centre decided to set up an incubator based on their own hardships and frustrations when starting their business. It was an effort at giving back to the community, but the Centre has been stringently managed to ensure that it can sustain itself financially. The Centre serves a social function as well as to advertise Capital & Consulting’s products to non-incubatees. When non-incubatees see the success of our incubatees they seek out Capital & Consulting to benefit from the same services.”
The members' lounge area
The future of Genius is bright. With a strong understanding of nurturing and developing small businesses SoftLaw’s plan for the future is to concentrate fully on the financing and consulting arm, Genius Capital & Consulting. “A plan is already in motion to remove the monthly fee for incubatees altogether, explains Ms. Matogo . We intend to provide offices at no cost to deserving start-ups who will undergo an interview to determine the viability of their business. We will also share in their risk by becoming equity partners through buying of shares in their companies. Our belief is that simply providing offices is not a sustainable business. The motto at Genius is ‘our business is your business’. We intend to put all our resources, skills, human capital and finances in facilitating the establishment and growth of innovative Kenyan companies.”
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Hello all Startups
» Startups in Kenya Hi, finally I've posted my first blog! Been wanting to do this for a long time but lazily never got around to it. I'm an entrepreneur of sorts and my blog will concentrate on entrepreneurship in Kenya. You're all welcome to post comments.
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Taifa Stars To Camp In Brazil.
» My Africa Today The national team of Tanzania, Taifa Stars, will travel to South America for a month’s training camp as they continue preparations for the ongoing 2008 African Nations Cup qualifiers. After winning their opening qualifier against Burkina Faso 2-1 early this month, the team is planning to camp in Brazil in February ahead of their qualifying fixture against Senegal in March. The tour will serve as boost for the team and they will play against local sides when they make the tour, which will be sponsored by a local business tycoon tycoon Mohammed Dewji. Dewji is chairman of a committee that was appointed by the Tanzania government to help raise funds geared towards the national team’s campaign for the 2008 African Nations Cup finals. Tanzania have only made one Nations Cup appearance in 1980 and failed to progress beyond the first round.
Customize your mobile with your Complimentary Ringtone!
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16:51
Students In Free Enterprise
» tHE mEDiCinEmAn 
So much seems to be happening, keepin me so busy, away from my blog and all!! That's more or less the reason why i've not posted in ages. Today, however, i've decided to push aside a few things... to share the exciting... (ok, maybe not quite) , happeninings since i last wrote.
Well for one, i did pass the Ortho CAT i was telling you about. 53% was the score, being in med sch., i'm told gettin over 50 is enough for yo' patients (sic). We were quite a number of us who didn't make it all the way to 60, the bookworms, and the not so bookworms. Enough rationalising.
Back to wat's kept me so quite. Ever heard of SIFE? That's Students In Free Enterprise. What's it's all about is summarised by this extract from their site.
..SIFE team members leverage their personal educational experiences, the expertise of their faculty advisors, the support of their local business advisory boards, and the resources of their institutions to implement programs that create real economic opportunities for members of their communities. The effectiveness of their programs is judged at competition. Each national SIFE organization conducts a national competition, which is judged by leaders from its business community. At competition, SIFE teams present the results of their educational outreach projects and compete to determine which team was most successful at creating economic opportunity for others. SIFE National Champion teams advance to the top level of competition, the SIFE World Cup...
Being the business-minded fellow that i am, i promptly joined. I can't think of any other person from med sch. who felt this was worth their time.. boring lot! So indeed we went forth and "leveraged our personal educational experiences" and changed the world, took part in the National SIFE exposition with top business leaders in Kenya as judges. This is where we put together all our projects with a nice audiovisual presentation runnin in the bk ground (read powerpt presentation), and try and convince the judges that ours had the most impact to our communities.
Hours later, we got to the finals against USIU and Africa Nazarene University. Sadly for them, we were definitely better and UoN-SIFE was declared the winner of the 2006 Kenya National SIFE exposition!
Hurrah! We had a month and a half to put our passports in order, coz we were on our way to
Paris, France, for the World Cup...
Keep it here, because when we return we find out,
.. shall i actually make it to France?
.. the university is broke.. again!
.. that'll be 3k for your visa..
.. then cough 20K if u want to survive in Europe!
and many more trials and tribulations that is my life..
Keep it blogged people,
Baadayez,
The WebDoc.
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19:25
Is the Digital Indaba the Internet Berlin Conference of 2006?
» african bullets & honey (This post is a follow-on to a previous one on next week’s Digital Indaba on Blogging and the resulting comments that included accusations of my being racist and illegitimate) Does the African blog-space – if there is such a thing – need codification, a coming together, a corralling under the auspices of a code of conduct [...]
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10:02
Wetin Dey Happen?
» Mama JunkYard's I am blogging from the beautiful capital of Nigeria, Abuja, which shall be my home for the next 12 months.
My internet access at the moment, while being 100% free and 100% unlimited is also 100% unreliable. Hopefully that will change very soon as there is so much I want to blog about.
So far everyone I have met has been incredibly friendly and hospitable. Nigeria is the only country I have been to where an Immigration officer has said to me, ‘I hope you extend your stay to three years’. Not sure I will take him up on his offer but so far all is going well.
The only downside being that I, along with about fifty other passengers had some or all of our luggage left behind. Thankfully for me two of my three suitcases that made it across were the ones that had my important stuff - my underwear, eight boxes of Jaffa Cakes and my flashlights (thanks Remi I have experienced 4 power outages in 24 hours and I have had to rely on my torch for the two minutes of darkness before the generator kicks in!). The one suitcase that has all my shoes, Ketepa tea, Royco and java coffee shall apparently be with me tomorrow!
Last night while driving around Abuja I noticed a few street names that reminded me of Kenya such as Eldoret Close and Embu Close (or Road…can’t remember) which are both towns in Kenya. Eldoret for many years was home to most of my family including Mshairi, Uaridi and Nyakehu.
I know this blog post is rather disjointed but it is my attempt to cram everything in before my internet connection dies again.
‘Wetin dey happen’ is Nigerian Pidgin English for ‘What is going on’ and is used as a greeting in the same way as one would say ‘What’s up?’.
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4:33
Comments on “(White?) African Blogger Conference in a Week”
» african bullets & honey Below are some comments on the last post I had on the upcoming African bloggers indaba. It turned out that AB&H is racist and illegitimate. I will be back to talk more about the attempt to codify the African blog space and make it part of a kind of NGO-ish, funded civil society [...]
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21:41
(White?) African Blogger Conference in a Week
» african bullets & honey Word on the street, the Khartoum one where I am for the week, is that there is a Digital Citizen Indaba on Blogging conference being held in Grahamstown, South Africa. It is a shock that there should be this kind of meeting without AB&H being told about it. From the list of speakers, listed [...]
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Toilet Humor Classics
» Couch Potato Not many understand toilet humor...perhaps I am the only who loves cheap jokes and cheap jolllies. Well this is just a short post on Toilet humor comedies as I work on another post of my best 'clean' comedy movies! As much as Chicks are allowed to have their Chick Flicks then guys should be alowed to have their Toilet Humor Jokes!!!!
Comedy before used to be very moderate with definite limits but the following movies broke the mould and pushed the limits to the edge.
There's Something About Mary
This is where I'd say that it all started. Back in 1998...wow this had us rolling in laughter and shocked and dismayed that Oh Hell No they did not go there!
That picture of Mary with her hair rising to the occasion is the pure comedy right there! WOW.
As for Ben Stiller's piece gettin stuck in the zipper twice...I think he even zipped over one of his testicles...damn...at his prom date's house...and him getting whisked away in ambulance with background people yelling "we have a bleeder" and "he was masturbating" Pause and finish laughing!
American Pie
Wow tempo just kept getting better and better and so was American Pie 2.
That dad is just a killer. Stiffler managed to steal the show in this series by American Pie two he was the star of the show. I loved the guy who slept with Stiffler's mum as well ...woe unto him when they pranked him with a does of ex-lax!
Road Trip
This was one crazy trip with cheap jokes and the toilet humor was plenty!
From Three fingered rectally induced ejaculations to that guy having relations with the big boned black chick. Oh this was great!
Scary Movie
One of the best comedies and spoofs of all time. Even two had some good laughs especially the Exorcist scene!
Van Wilder
There is this part where they send a basket of baked goodies to their enemies in another fraternity...loaded with semen from their bulldog...high point of nasty humor!
Do you remember this line? said by the indian guy who was also in "Harold and Kumar"
Tit! Oh, mommy. Most Indians would say "cow" because they are sacred, but I hear "milk," I think giant jugs. You see, I cannot go home a virgin. I came here to study the great American art of muff diving. To smack clam, munch rug, dine at just one American pink taco stand! You know, I wanted to, how is it, park the porpoise. You know? I want to take it through the car wash, baby. And get it waxed. I want to wax it. Wax it! You know, and air dry. Air dry that shit, yeah! And I would like to be your assistant very much, Mr. Van Wilder.
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Bane of my Existence
» Mama JunkYard's Commas ( ,)
I hate them.
Perhaps hate may be too strong an adjective but commas and their correct use have become my biggest bugbear.
I put it down to the fact that I speak very quickly. Not always, certainly never in a formal or professional capacity. In an informal setting, those who have heard me speak will confirm that every word I utter merges with the next. No full stop to separate my over running sentences. Speaking at the speed of light, as it is called by some members of my family, does have some advantage; there is no better way to repel a person than to waffle endlessy about useless facts at a pace so fast that all they can hear are abunchofjumbledupwords. They immediately walk away baffled and afraid to ever speak to me again.
Yet like most things in life, this trait does have its disadvantages. The speed of my speech is ultimately governed by the speed at which the thoughts in my brain travel. The same is true of anything I read, especially when reading silently, I barely notice punctuation marks. Thus when I sit to write a blog post I often do so with very little punctuation. Upon completion of the post I read it aloud and attempt to insert the relevant full stops commas and whatever else is missing.
This method while useful is flawed. Firstly it can only be used when I am blogging from home, or any other location that enables me to engage in what is essentially talking to myself. Secondly, try as I may, I can only read the post aloud at two speeds. One speed being my normal speaking speed, which defeats the object since my speech pattern cares little for the apparently natural breaks in conversation. The other speed is my attempt at mimicking what 99% of my friends and family would consider normal. The end result, to my ears at least, is something that sounds rather ghastly and takes me back to the days when the Walkman was the ‘in’ musical accessory. At this supposedly normal pace I sound exactly how a tape played through a Walkman would sound right before the battery died. E v e r y s i n g l e l e t t e r i s d r a g g e d o n a n d o n a n o n until it becomes impossible for me to work out where the punctuation marks should be placed.
So conscious am I of my grammatical shortcomings that I either use very short sentences or I rely on a tactic which while being grammatically incorrect does make me feel slightly better; once I have completed my post I simply insert a comma at random intervals making sure it is at least three words away from the nearest full stop.
What vexes me the most about this whole situation is that we who suffer from commaphobia are not taken as seriously as other grammatically challenged groups. Take for example those who are yet to learn how and where to place an apostrophe. They can rely on The Apostrophe Protection Society to set them straight and instead of being ridiculed for the inability to correctly use an apostrophe, their misuse is rewarded by giving it the cuddly and friendly sounding title ‘Greengrocers’ apostrophes.’
There is no justice in this world!
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Give me Grass
» Mama JunkYard's According to Wikipedia:
In Māori mythology, Kui was the wife of Tuputupuwhenua. They lived below the ground and when a new house is built, a tuft of grass is offered to them.
Indeed!
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Blogger To Testify About Comment Made On His Blog
» Mama JunkYard's (via Digg)
In an understandably vague entry, blogger Jeremy Shoemoney of Shoemoney.com, wrote:
…it appears that I am going to be deposition [sic] and logs from my blog will be subpoena [sic] for use in a case where 1 person [allegedly] slandered* another on my blog.
In the past I have had discussions with at least one blogger regarding my views on comment moderation and deletion. I make no secret of the fact that I will happily delete a comment if I do not like it and first time commenters have to be approved before their comment can appear on my blog.
My main reason for doing so is simple. As the owner of this site I believe that it is perfectly within my rights to ensure that the contents of the site (including comments) are to my liking and within what I consider to be acceptable standards. Certainly my definition of acceptable standards is subjective however everything about this blog is subjective. In as much as I can try to be objective the fact remains that all that is written in this blog is from my perspective and I would not attempt to alter to that because it would go against the notion that this is a personal blog; more specifically my personal blog.
Shoemoney’s predicament reinforces my stance on comment moderation and deletion. Given that most blog authors can elect to disable the comment facility, I consider it a privilege to be able to comment on a person’s blog, a favour granted to me by the blog owner. With this in mind I can’t even begin to imagine how frustrating this whole episode must be for Shoemoney. It is one thing to be taken to court for your actions it is a whole other issue to find that you are being asked to give evidence because somebody else chose to abuse this privilege. Knowing that one can not even document the details of the case or anything related to it in their own blog must only add to the frustration.
What would undoubtedly anger me had I been in Shoemoney’s situation, is the knowledge that the alleged defamotary remarks could have been made without involving Shoemoney. Assuming the defendant is/was a blogger, they should have elected to post the remarks on their blog. In the event that that the defendant is/was not a blogger, setting up a blog is an incredibly easy and free process. Certainly if a person is capable of navigating the comment section of a blog then that person is more than capable of creating their own blog and using their newly set up blogs to record whatever they chose to. While this may not have prevented the action being brought against them it would not have involved Shoemoney.
Shoemoney refers to this case as a ‘landmark case’, this may be true or it may not. Irrespective of the outcome one thing remains, a blogger gave people space to engage and interact in the hope that people would treat this space with respect. Sadly this did not happen and as a direct result this same blogger has been inconvenienced. This alone has led me to approach my comment section with more vigilance. I do not need nor do I want that kind of drama.
*Jeremy Shoemoney refers to this as a ‘slander’ case yet it was my understanding that ‘libel’ is the appropriate term for defamatory remarks made via a fixed medium…oh well…
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11:19
We can clamp down on antisocial children before birth…
» african bullets & honey Tony Blair has said it is possible to identify problem children who could grow up to be a potential “menace to society” even before they are born. Setting out plans for state intervention to prevent babies born into high-risk families becoming problem teenagers of the future, the prime minister said teenage mothers could be forced to [...]
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10:06
Death of the Kenya Dream?
» african bullets & honey Written for The East African (Nairobi) July 31, 2006 By Parselelo Kantai (posted here with the author’s permission) AT THE LAUNCH OF LOTTE HUGHES’s book, Moving the Maasai, Professor Bethwel Ogot stood up and declared the Kenyan project dead. Ogot, the father of Kenyan history and Africa’s most celebrated historian, has spent most of his career writing Kenya into [...]
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11:10
The Rule of Law (you say you want it?)
» african bullets & honey From: To: KCL SS&PP Students (University of London, King’s College) Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 4:30:37 PM Subject: DVD & video borrowing restriction Dear all, Please see the dull but important message below, which will principally affect users at the Maughan Library. ************ Dear student, We have recently implemented a borrowing restriction regarding the ISS DVD/VHS collection. In compliance with the Video Recording Act (VRA) 1984 [...]
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Classics you must watch
» Couch Potato This is for you Kaggz and even you too Movie Buff(ed and polished)...finally! But I have a feeling there is a part 1 through 15 for this so lets get this party started right
And for you Aco I've done two posts in two days so there!
So what do these movies have in common:
1:They are great...we're talking abut longer than 2 hours...leaving you feeling like you travelled to another place and time. The tato was leftthoroughly quenched and as the credits rolled...I was left clappin inside
2.The have been nominated for more than one Oscar award or the other.
3.They need to be watched with the lights off...bladder empty and food at an arm's length. If you have company-company better know ain't nothin like pausing!
4. I really like when you have an accumulation of hollywood ego's at there best working with each other. It surpasses being about the star studded cast but the chemistry that each brings with their clout!
Here it goes:
First and foremost we begin with the movies that I had said before have the best endings of all time....at the time forgot to mention The Others
Gladiator
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
...need I say more!
The Insider
Russel Crowe so deserved the oscar for this.
Al Pacino as usual was greatly FANTASTIC!
Michael Mann directed this beautifully!!! shame on you for Miami Vice-Shame. But Heat was also great it should have made the cut here as well..maybe in part 2.
American History X
Edward Norton was on a roll...first came Priamal Fear then came Fight Club and then this! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Schindler's List
Woiye remember that was the only Color in the entire black and white movie. This was brilliant!
Saving Private Ryan.
Best War Movie ever ever...wow Star Studded cast...it shoulda won BEST PICTURE!
(I forgot to mention Black Hawk Down)
Platoon.
Best war movie ever ever before the above. Pure Oliver Stone
JFK
Why lie all Oliver Stone movies rock and he so so works well with James Woods (a small by the way) ... but this one with its insinuations takes the cake.
A few Good Men
Jack Nicholson at his best! WOW those lines were a killer. Rob Reiner Rocked!
Tom Cruise and Demi Moore at there finest!
House of Sand and Fog
Really nice!
Sir Ben Kingsley hasn't been this good since Gandhi.
Braveheart
This is what movies are made of!
Apollo 13
Yes! Yes! Yes!
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7:00
Less Kids in Africa Equals Better National Security for America
» african bullets & honey Jeffrey Sachs who leaps over tall buildings in Bolivia and Russia in a single bound and lands in Africa to solve its many problems is at it again (read article in Scientific American). Where he once promoted the power of unfettered markets, advising the Russians on the ’shock therapy’ that left a bulk of [...]
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Scangroup IPO Results
» bankelele Scangroup received over 100,000 applications of which 12,800 rejected, leaving 96,000 valid applicants
Individuals
93,000 applications
- Those who applied for 1,000 shares have been allocated 300 shares
- 10,000 get 500
- 100,000 get 1,000
- 1 million get just 3,000 shares
Institutions
2,900 applications
Who applied for up to 10,000 will get full allocations.
Employees
80 applications
Those who applied for up to 15,000 will get a full allocation.
Lesson of the day: apply as an institution if allocation has been pre-determined prior to IPO
Other
Declining money transfers
Fewer people are using Western Union to transfer money. Despite reducing their fees earlier this year, it seems more people are using alternatives and other other methods to get around the still high costs.
Wish of the day
Be like Nepal where protesters have forced the to government to reduce fuel prices. Here, notorious Koinange Street has the highest prices and the fuel stations there are always the first to raise prices, giving an indication of how prices will soon be in the rest of the City. (From dealbreaker)
Funding for Kenyan SME’s
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will contribute US $5 million to the Business Partners International Kenya SME Fund (BPI-K) which invests between USD50,000 (Kshs. 3.75million) and USD500,000 (Kshs. 38m) in small? companies.
People
- The Economist catches up with Ayisi Makatiani.
- Who is the Aga Khan besides being a major shareholder through his foundation in NMG, Diamond Trust, Jubilee, Serena and numerous other private, educational and charitable initiatives in Kenya?
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6:26
On a Further Reading
» african bullets & honey Parselelo Kantai on the contested territory in writing and acting on history in Kenya, and the recent spate of books by white, western intellectuals decrying the oppressions suffered by Kenyans of various stripes under British colonialism. One of them, Caroline Elkins (author of Britain’s Gulag) reviews Adam Robert’s The Wonga Coup, [...]
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7:27
On the War Front
» african bullets & honey Ah, peace. Who is it good for? ‘”In Afghanistan, Americans have all the wrist watches but Afghans have all the time.” The enemy will attempt to control the clock with the strategic intent of winning by not losing. He will use the clock to wear down American resolve. Management of the clock will allow him [...]
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4:33
Books
» african bullets & honey Steven Hahn reviews Eric Foner’s Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction. At the heart of American freedoms is the history of Black America during the First Reconstruction. Eric Foner revises revisionism. What if the history from which you draw ’self esteem’ were forged? Pride and mistaken identity. John Updike tiptoes around [...]
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Dead Man's Chest ****
» Couch Potato 
We knew it...we expected it..and it delivered. Yes ye of little patience and endurance it was a long movie...but great movies are usually very long. This is was an adventure/journey why would you want to take short cuts...it had to be viewed in its entirety. I can't wait to watch it again.
Verdict: Watch it twice! and even worse get Curse of the Black Pearl and relive it! Great! Great! Great!
1. It had an all star-cast.
2. It was very funny.
3. Serious outstanding action.
4. Great Special effects...oh that Krakon rocked!
Remember this is a summer movie and that is what summer movies are made off. And with the movies nowadays it sets up the sequel very well with the return of Captain Barbosa right at the end... You want a rollercoster ride in a summer movie..you wanna see money was spent and poured to make this movie...you wanna leave the theatre saying "...yes. yes it is well with my soul!"
I usually love Johnny Depp in all his performances cause he is one of the most versatile role-actors. He never plays similar characters like Denzel. And him as the cheeky Jack Sparrow-is the ultimate. You should see him acting as Chief who the villages are about to turn into a meal! Yup see picture below.
But we also have Bill Nighy as Davy Jones and damn he plays this role well. I discovered him in Love Actually and he is actually a good actor!
I loved the whole concept of your heart being broken so much you remove your heart and put it in a chest so that you could actually live on...boo hoo
This was a SUPERB MOVIE!
"Would ya sail to de ends of de earth? "
cannot wait for the sequel and it comes out next year with Spiderman3...OH YES!
Those who trash this movie don't know what to look for in a summer movie or in a Bruckheimer movie!
Needless to say Jerry Bruckheimer as usual took this baby home! Its no wonder why already its breaking records...biggest weeekend opening ever...but I know Spiderman 3 will break it next year!
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4:19
Prize Winning 419s: I’m blind, also have Diabetes Insipidus, and Diabetes Mellitus
» african bullets & honey I am a fan and historian of the 419 scam email. I have noticed lately that they seem to be getting better by the day. Now they are written (supposedly) by middle class families in England rather than the usual relative of deposed African dictators (usually West African.) AB & H will henceforth [...]
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Googling out Corruption
» bankelele There was an intriguing, and sadly funny, piece on Nation TV (NTV’s 9 PM news) last night where reporter Robert Nagila called the offices of a company that has a controversial $2m tender to supply raw material to EAPC.
Someone (perhaps some directors) could be overheard mumbling what to tell the reporter who had unexpectedly called, before coming back on the line to tell Nagila that all company information, including a (Nairobi) office location were confidential matters that he would not disclose.
A google search of the company name reveals that the only mention of the company are in Kenyan newspapers and only in reference to the supply contract. Not every answer is in Google/ search engines but it gives the impression that the company was formed for only one purpose, or has only one business, which is to supply EAPC.
Compare that to the expose by Sharesleuth of a dubious company attempting to rip off investors diving into the bio-fuel craze. Yet the owners of this company, which actually exists, engaged in more elaborate side tricks, including a reverse merger, to prop up and get their shares trading at rising prices.
Google/search engine results are not perfect it goes to show that the days of briefcase contractors of the Anglo-Leasing kind may be numbered since a simple Google such can reveal something or nothing about a company and its expertise. What would have happened if staff at the AG’s Chambers had googled the names of any of the Anglo Leasing companies? And would they still have signed off on these mind-boggling contracts with international (non existent) company?
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11:16
What do George Galloway, Five-Fingered Betty and Erica Jong Have in Common?
» african bullets & honey George ‘Gorgeous’ Galloway with his overly orange tan, shiny suits, ‘indefatigable’ love of the spotlight and praises for Saddam Hussein is not my usual cup of tea but that man can do an interview. There is little that is better on TV than to watch Galloway tear a hapless interviewer to bits. Watch this [...]
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NSE: Share split and divesture
» bankelele EA Cables split
The Board of East African Cables which has been riding high atop the stock exchange has recommended a 10 for 1 share split - 20,250,000 of par value 5/= will be split in 202,500,000 of par value 0.5 each.
Shareholders will be asked to approve this (really a formality since the Trancentury Group controls 75% of shares) at an EGM on September 1, books close on September 4, and the new shares will be listed on September 5, 2006.
This is the third company after Kenya Oil and East African Breweries to split their shares, and the others appreciated significantly thereafter. EA Cable shares have already climbed by 10% this week from 364 to 399 per share.
Intriguing, but maybe out of reach for me now since, a typical investment of 10,000 shillings, will yield only 25 shares at the current price of 400 shillings. After the split, this becomes 250 shares of about 40 shillings, which still looks promising.
Mumias Divestiture
As promised in the 2006 budget speech the Government has now began the process of divesting from Mumias Sugar Company. GoK will sell 18.04% of its’ 38.04% shareholding through an offer for sale on the NSE and parcelling the shares through brokers should be cheaper than going the mwananchi route again. As such they have advertised for transaction adviser/lead broker, legal advisor, reporting accountant, receiving bank, and PR firm to assist with the process with applications expected at the Treasury by 24 August.
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10:44
A Son of the Soil in Khartoum
» african bullets & honey I am in Khartoum and I need a drink. Badly. But there are none to be had here or at least in no place that I know. Most women are covered up demurely which only seems to raise my curiosity rather than diminishing it. This is my first time here and [...]
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3:03
From the Land of the blondes to that of the Two Niles
» african bullets & honey I left Copenhagen a few days ago and find that my experience of that city was quite underwhelming even without having expected much on arrival. Perhaps it is because I was there for too short a time to appreciate anything more than its architecture and its tourist face. But even on the level [...]
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