Equity or Uchumi?

Uchumi
Bad timing for Uchumi whose private placement to raise 300 million shillings from shareholders draws to a close on August 15, which is when we are making investment decisions about Equity Bank shares.

The minimum investment of 10,000 shillings, approximately equals my loss, and I have to say no thanks this time - I am not going to put another 10,000 into Uchumi. It's too soon to come back begging, the company's status is unclear, and there are too many investment options out there.

Shareholders who take part will be on par with the government's rescue loan, but rank behind after banks and suppliers. And we know how poor parastatals are at repaying government loans. Also, there are many investigations pending, and no one has yet come out and clearly reported why the 1.2 bilion shillings raised 9 months ago was not enough or where it was spent.

Yes, I will shop at Uchumi as much as I can, but that's the extent of my support this time.

Equity
With the August 7 listing of Equity Bank shares just a week away, one of the company’s prominent directors has resigned from the Board.

We have to take note of what directors do in a company and it remains to be seen why a director at Equity made this decision so late in the game. We all remember how ICDCI duped the public they were not taking part in the Uchumi rights issue, as a way to reduce their stake in the company when all along they planned, and did sell out of the company completely soon after.

Got Milk
It's a good time for milk drinkers as prices have dropped and all the major dairies have positioned sales people at supermarkets to hawk their milk. Many of them are selling 500ml packs at 20/= (down from 25/= a few months ago) and also give away a free 200ml pack as well. The oversupply of milk is likely to reduce prices paid to farmers - a situation that no one wants, and so milk companies are giving away their surplus for free.

Bio-diesel
Nice feature on KTN/Standard over the weekend about efforts to produce bio-diesel in Kenya. Kenyatta University is pioneering a scheme in which 200 farmers in Kitui, Bondo and Rachuonyo are cultivating jatropha curcas which take 2 months to grow and can be used to produce diesel, which should reduce the country’s fuel bill.

July 28 Jobs

Advertised in the daily papers in the week ending on July 28

Research executives at AC Nielsen. Apply to hr@acnielsen.co.ke by 2 August.

AG Chambers
- Special litigation counsel (10 posts) department of civil litigation
- Special prosecuting counsel (16 posts) department of public prosecutions
Apply to the secretary public service commission 30095-00100 Nairobi by August 9.

Celtel
- Business analyst
- Corporate sales leader
Apply to hr@ke.celtel.com by August 4.

Bus stewards/ stewardesses at Citi Hoppa. Deadline is August 11.

Finance manager at Dyer & Blair. Apply to hcapjobs@wananchi.com by 10 August.

Travel consultants at Emirates Airlines. Check emiratesgroupcareers.com for details.

Family Health International
- Country manager S. Sudan
- Project officer S Sudan program support program
Apply to hr@fhi.or.ke by 11 August.

Senior sales manager at Iwayafrica. Apply to vacancy@iwayafrica.com.

Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
- Senior human rights officer/legal counsel
- Human rights officer/assistant legal counsel
- Principal finance officer/financial controller
Apply by 11 August to haki@knchr.org.

Internal auditor at Kenya Petroleum Refineries. Apply by 11 August to the HRM 90401 Mombasa.

Information technology manager at Kenya Railways. Apply by 14 August to the MD 30121-00100 Nairobi.

Narc Kenya
- Executive director
- Media communications, events officer
- Membership development & strategy officer
- Resource mobilization, finance & admin officer
- Accountant
Deadline is August 14.

Online sales manager at Nation Media Group. Apply to hrrecruit@nation.co.ke by July 28.

Managers at the Tamarind group. Apply to Tamarind@tamarind.co.ke.

International rule of law officer (s) at UNDP Sudan. Apply to jobs.juba@undp.org by 8 August.

Transaction processing officer at the World Bank Sudan in Juba. Deadline is August 11.

Country director at World Relief. Apply to wrkenya@wr.org 10 August.

Internal auditor at World Vision Somalia. Apply to recruitsom@wvi.org by August 2.

Equity Bank Listing: A to Z

About Equity Bank, will have a secondary listing on the Nairobi Stock Exchange next month at a price of Kshs. 70 per share. I located an information memorandum (prospectus) a at thanksgiving celebration /prayer /dinner the company threw for 3,000 Nairobi customers at KICC last night – and went through it do decide on whether to buy the shares next month.

Commissions: Banking at Equity is not cheap, and this is the situation in the entire the micro-finance sector – and Equity will probably have to lower some of their bank charges. Their account opening minimums are very low, but some of their charges e.g. cheque clearing are rather high compared to other banks who are now targeting Equity’s customers.

However lowering charges may not be an easy option since, these form a greater portion of the Bank’s income (52i%) than at its peers (CFC 33%) NIC (24%) and D-Trust (30%).

Employment: Despite the staff high turnover, the bank is a good, fast growing, employer that has gone from 354 employees in 2003, to 884 in 2005. It has 35 branches, (14 in Central province, 8 in Nairobi) and over half of them have opened in the last two years.

One issue I disagree with in the memorandum is that Africap agreed to sell 50% of their shareholding in the Bank to staff. But the truth is that staff were forced into buying these shares. The staff trust (unregistered staff ESOP) now owns 5.52% pf the Bank’s shares, same as Africap.

Listing costs: Floatation was much cheaper than a new IPO. Equity’s listing is budgeted at 28 million compared to the Kengen IPO at 401 million and KCB rights issue at 104 million. The CMA and NSE get their fees (8.1m and 1.5m here respectively) as they did from Kengen (24m, 1.5m) and KCB (6.1m, 0.5m) and most of the savings come from not having to pay stockbrokerage and advertising costs. Equity has budgeted 11m for the financial advisers and sponsoring brokers; compare this to Kengen who paid 101m for advertising & 118m to brokers and KCB who paid 13m for advertising, 6m to brokers, 37m as agent commissions, 9m for postage, and 11.5m for printing etc.

Loans: Equity has been keen to grow their loan book ever since they became a bank to keep up with their ever growing deposits. They have five times as many depositors as they do borrowers and while this was acceptable at a micro-finance level, it is important they grow their interest income.

They doubled their loan portfolio in 2005 from 2.9 to 5.5 billion, but NPA’s likewise doubled from 246m to 519m. Their loan to deposit ratio is now 72% (June 2006) which is comparable to CFC (76%), NIC (85% and D-Trust (785) at the beginning of the year

Management: The MD, current Chairman, and former Chairman, are among the largest shareholder in the Bank - and along with employees (in the ESOP) are barred from selling their shares for the next two years.

Marketing: Equity is now a Bank and should focus on marketing as a bank, not a micro-finance institution. The more, the MD shouts about how the Bank is not about one community, being very liquid, excellent global capital rating, not depending on government deposits etc, the more it makes one think about those very issues. Imagine if Adan Mohamed said the same thing about Barclays every time he was on TV. The focus should shift to marketing the bank’s customers, products, and convenience.

Nakumatt like: I’d compare Equity to Nakumatt in terms of their fast growth and they also own very little property (branches).

Ownership: Confusing to say the least, and it would be good to know why the management took such a convoluted route - from building society converting to a bank, converting deposits into shares, private placement to finance the bank’s share capital, and finally the issue of 4 bonus shares for each 1 held that created the 90m shares, that will be on offer in August.

Pesa Point: Equity has signed and agreement with Pesa Point to link their ATMs.

Verdict: In 2005 the Bank returned a pre tax profit of 501 million, which translated to an EPS of 3.77, up, from 2.51 the year before. (Dividend was Kshs. 2 per share, same as in 2004). The Bank is on track for another year of record profits of 800 million before tax and could pass the billion shilling milestone next year.

The memorandum contains joint statement by Dyer & Blair and Suntra Stocks that values Equity shares (par value 5/=) using the DDM method at Kshs. 91.4 shillings per share, PBV at 64/=, and PE method 63.4 shillings per share. The advisers reckon that this compares well to CFC, Diamond Trust and NIC banks, who they consider to be Equity’s’ peers listed on the NSE

Yes, Buy Equity: But not immediately. It will take a few months for the share to settle since, the current 2,800 shareholders of the bank will have to open CDS accounts and immobilize their shares before they can be traded. In 2006, 2.5 m shares have been sold in the OTC market. A share split is likely but it is also prudent to ask if the Bank is growing too fast.

Mid-week Business

International takeover
The Linde Group, (Germany) has applied to takeover the BOC Group (UK) which owns 65% of BOC Kenya - and who are in the process of acquiring Carbacid Kenya. Both local company shares remain suspended on the NSE and BOC Kenya managers’ don’t expect this new deal to affect the Carbacid takeover which is yet to be approved by the CMA.

Nosy bankers
- The Judge at the corruption trial of former Central Bank Governor, Andrew Mullei has refused to allow Charterhouse Bank lawyers to cross-examine witnesses.

- Kenya Commercial Bank has thwarted efforts by the City Council to set up a public toilet on Aga Khan walk, opposite Kencom House.

Sometimes, Government is a good shareholder
Kenya has blocked Ethiopian Airlines from operating daily flights on the Entebbe-Nairobi route. The move could however trigger a backlash since it’s only a matter of time before other African counties, envious of KQ, and desiring to revive/support their airlines, retaliate with their own trade blockades.

Madaraka
The high court has indefinitely extended the period for Madaraka residents to obtain financing to purchase their houses.

Equity No. 1
Equity, is the first bank to report quarterly results as at 30 June 2006 and they have come out just in time for their shares to list on the NSE on August 7. On Monday, the Bank announced some amazing numbers. From a year ago (June 2005) assets are up 55%, pre tax profit is up 115%, deposits are up 67% while loans are up 130%. Good Buy, on August 7? Maybe!

All VoIP
All the three major phone companies in Kenya are now offering VoIP for international calls.
A comparison of call costs to the USA;
- Telkom 888 15/= per minute ($0.2)
- Celtel 123 29/= ($0.39)
- Safaricom 888 30/= ($0.4)

Restricted News
The Daily Nation has joined the East African Standard and now restricted the magazine section articles on their website to premium subscribers only (One month costs $10 while annual cost is $ 60)

Kuku Cars
Cool true story on converting a Volkswagen Jetta to run on cooking oil and achieve 600 miles a gallon! Wouldn’t it be cool if someone started converting our local Toyota’s so that a taxi driver could buy chips, from Kenchic and then squeeze out the oil to put in his fuel tank?

Oil & Gold
Gold: encouraging results from Migori
Oil: High potential deposits in Lamu.

How to Change your Stockbroker

Republished from January 2006.

Change your stockbroker – a.k.a. central depository agent (CDA) - by taking these steps to transfer a shares (CDS) account to a new broker.

1. Complete and sign CDS 4A and 4B and submit both to current and new CDA (all stockbrokers have these forms).
2. Sign account opening forms with new CDA.
3. Keep signed copy of security transfer forms for own records.

It can take one day for the new arrangement to be effective - if processed before 12 PM. Shareholders can also contact the NSE's business development department (info@nse.co.ke) or send complaints (compliance@nse.co.ke).

Also this week
- The Scangroup IPO will close on Friday, July 28.
- The Weekly Citizen reports that Charterhouse Bank will re-open on July 28.
- For the recently unemployed, here are Steve Pavlina’s 10 reasons NOT to get a job!

Share Regrets

I have been actively buying shares as long as I have been blogging (2004) and have made some investment decisions that have turned out to be both good and bad. Here’s a re-cap of the major lemons:

Total Bonkers Broker!
I deposited a cheque with my broker to open an account while I picked the stocks I wanted for my portfolio - and then settled on Kenya Airways (KQ) which I felt was undervalued at 11 shillings (11/=) per share given it’s growth and earnings. But, when I got my first statement from the broker, in addition to my KQ shares, two-thirds of my money had been used to buy me shares in Total (Oil) at 37/=. I called the broker and was told that Total was a good company and shares were likely to appreciate

This would not happen to me today, but at the time, I was new at the broker. I was timid, and didn’t want to rock the boat - I had no sense of my rights and expectations as a shareholder. I felt that if I had asked for the shares to be un-sold, the broker would handed me back my cash and closed my account, since I was not ready to follow his advice in the mysterious arena of share investments.

So I sat with my Total shares, and since I didn’t want to have a negative cash position in my account I sold some KQ shares at 12/= to bring my account back to zero.

Outcome I kept my Total shares for a almost a year, got a 2.50 shilling dividend, and sold them at the same price of 37/= - and they are still at 37/= today, while KQ is at 113/=

Broker vs. Investor Smarts!
I attended one Serena AGM (as a proxy) where the company announced that there would seen be restructuring to combine their holdings in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Other companies that have had rights issues had seen their share prices appreciate if investors looked positively at the moves (e.g. KCB). I had just sold my Total shares and thought this was a good buy as Serena was around 50/= per share then.

At the AGM lunch I met a classmate of mine who worked at one investment bank and I shared my thoughts with her ”should I buy Serena?” “nah, looks good, but buy Breweries” “Tourism is hot, the company is going to be bigger in a few months” “nah, breweries just had a stock split (now at 90/=, buy now as it will soon go back up to 300)”.

Outcome I took her advice, placed an order for EABL which was rapidly rising from 90 to 110, 115, then 130 when my broker finally bought the shares. Again I kept them for a year, got a 3/= dividend and sold them at the same price of 130/=. Meanwhile Serena's shares rose after the AGM from 50, 70, to 80 when they announced the rights issue and closed their register. After they re-listed, the new company shares are now at 115/=.

Uchumi
I had read the prospectus at the time of the rights issue, and all the research, about Uchumi. I did not believe in the company then, did not participate, but only bought the shares afterwards when the prices started going up.

Outcome I was greedy and bought into a company I knew had no fundamentals because I would have sold at a higher price. Now I'm stuck, and on Friday, we shareholders will be asked to invest another 300 million shillings into the company.

Ultimate Sin
Looking at Ory’s shareholding is an excellent indication of the time value of share investments and the need to start early. At one time Breweries shares were going for 50 shillings, B.A.T 45, Barclays 90 and Portland cement was 15! Some shares may look expensive, but where will they be in ten years?

A few years ago I was on holiday from the States, and home for a typical Kenyan student summer trip - sun, sand, fun, tusker, nyama choma etc. I had also lined up a possible interview with a leading stockbroker in Nairobi to feel out future employment prospects. I was working at the time, and one of my good friends there (also Kenyan) suggested that now would be a good time to buy some shares in Kenya because it was so hard to save money in the US. He gave me a $1,000 to give the stockbroker and I also set aside $500 to add to the pile.

I came to Nairobi and interviewed with the stockbroker - it was more a chat really, that went nowhere. He didn’t give much information, was not encouraging, was non-committal on a job offer, and was maybe preoccupied with his impending political foray. So I never brought up the issue of buying shares and after I left his office, all the money was wasted on sun, sand, fun, tusker, nyama choma etc.


Big mistake. Big. Huge!
I then went back to the States and had work harder, to repay my friend.

Outcome What a wasted opportunity - I may have become a student millionaire.

Death of a stockbroker

Amid other revivals

No stockbroker is collapsing!

Part II
The whole stock broking industry is due for a shake-up. Arguably CFC is the only stockbroker with the capacity to serve a myriad of customer stock broking requirements.

Now, one other leading Kenyan Bank has applied for a stock broking license, which is expected to be granted later this year. And if one of the big Kenyan banks (Barclays, KCB, Stanchart) decides to enter the market, this could herald the death of the traditional stockbroker.

Banks are always looking to grow their fee income and the sums are here. Imagine if every time a customer withdrew or deposited funds from his/her account, the bank earned a commission of 1.5% of that amount. That’s what a stock broking license means as brokers get paid their commission when investors buy or sell shares regardless of their investors gain or loss.

Revival

EA Safari Air: The airline will launch twice daily flights to Mombasa starting on August 1 at a price of 8,900 shillings plus tax. No response from Kenya Airways who have had a virtual monopoly on that route.

Equity Bank: The listing of 90.5 million shares of Equity Bank at the stock exchange has now been approved. listing on August 7

KBS: A few Kenya Bus vehicles are back on the road this morning. The buses are refurbished, painted over, with new seats, and look much cleaner and better maintained than when the company shut down earlier this month.

Kenya Re Another IPO expected, probably in 2007 will be that of the Kenya Reinsurance Company (Kenya Re) from www.stock-detective.co.ke.

Scangroup: IPO opens today, with 69 million shares up for grabs.

Uchumi: One month after I made, what I thought was, my last Uchumi purchase, I was back to buy some Afya apple juice. Afya is one of the brands of Kevian Kenya owned by Kimani Rugendo, a dynamic Kenyan entrepreneur and businessman, and who as a supplier, has led the Uchumi supplier’s movement that successfully lobbied the government to revive the chain.

The stores have reopened with the same euphoria and fanfare that followed the rights issue last year. The question is can this be sustained and will customers be shopping, and suppliers be stocking, at Uchumi 3 or 6 months from now?

Also, the Minister of Trade announced that an Uchumi shareholders meeting will be held this Friday at KICC.

July 14 Jobs

Most appeared in the Friday July 14 Daily Nation

Regional representative for East Central & Horn of Africa at the Academy for Educational Development. Apply to regionaloffice@aed.org by August 4.

Chief accountant at AirKenya Express. Apply to the CEO 30537-00100 by July 28.

East African cables
- Electrical engineer
- Regional sales manager
Apply to hr@eacables.com by July 28.


Flashcom
- marketing manager
- corporate sales manager
- human resource leaders
Apply to the administration manager 9423-00100 by 21 July.

The company is also seeking exclusive distributors who can apply to retail@flashcom.co.ke by July 21.

GJLOS
- information, education and communication specialist
- program officer
- human resource development specialist
Apply through the project director at KPMG by July 28.

Kenya Banker’s Savings and Credit Society
- general manager
- assistant manager human capital development and management
- assistant manager credit
- internal auditor
- accountant
Apply to efex@consultant.com by 25 July.

Nzoia Sugar
- Field assistants
- Management trainees (sales & marketing)
Apply to Box 285 Bungoma by August 5.

Qatar Air
- reservations supervisor
- reservations agent
Details of the these Nairobi jobs at www.qatarairways.com.

Program manager East Africa at the Save the Child Fund Finland. Apply through Hawkins Associates, Nairobi.

Marketing & promotions manager at the Tea Board of Kenya. Apply by August 2 to 20064-00200 Nairobi.

IT analyst at the World Bank, Juba, S. Sudan. Apply to wbitrim@worldbank.org by July 31.

Tiomin: A raw deal?

This interesting article/interview recaps some of the questions that have dogged the controversial Tiomin project in Kwale and which I am sure have been covered during the 10 years that that it has taken the project to start.

Such as:
- What is the true value of the Tiomin resource? $1,3-billion, or $11-billion? Given the current debate of whether mining & oil should disclose all their payments some of the figures which are bandied about need to be reviewed.
- Why was the approval of the Toronto stock exchange required for a Canadian-Chinese finance deal based in Kenya? Where’s the NSE & CMA?
- Was it really cheaper to construct a value adding processing plant in Canada than in Kenya? And that is after shipping the raw product to Canada?
- Why was an environmental-impact assessment (EIA) by a South African consultancy firm used and a Kenyan one ignored? And isn’t our NEMA the ultimate arbiter on environmental issues?

The article notes that most opposition to the project was because Tiomin was accused of being sketchy on the finer details of the project.

I hope when we find Oil, (and it’s only a matter of time, si Uganda has already found theirs?!), the benefits will accrue within Kenya.

Bankshares

Top public bank/financial institution gainers in the first half of the year based on changes in share price from January to June, but leaving out 2005 dividend declared and paid .

So buy bank shares, instead of leaving money in the bank earning 2%!

Housing Finance 98.92%
National Bank of Kenya 64.35%
Diamond Trust 61.24%
Jubilee Insurance 50.60%
Kenya Commercial Bank 46.02%
NIC Bank 39.22%
I.C.D.C Investments 37.24%
Standard Chartered 7.91%
Pan Africa Insurance 7.50%
Barclays Bank 2.66%
C.F.C -10.00%

Previously
At the end of 2005
Pan Africa Insurance 91.43%
Kenya Commercial 77.27%
Housing Finance 59.20%
National Bank of Kenya 52.41%
Jubilee Insurance 46.12%
Barclays 38.50%
CFC 29.03%
ICDCI 25.83%
Standard Chartered 17.62%
Diamond Trust 12.11%
NIC 6.00%

Alternative NSE

The Nation’s Smart Company magazine looks at the alternative investment market segment of the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) today which includes these companies: A. Baumann, City Trust, Eaagads, Express, Williamson Tea, Kapchorua Tea, Kenya Orchards, Limuru Tea, and the Standard (newspapers) Group.

As the Nation notes only two shares are actively traded – almost on a daily basis; One is Express (I own a few shares) which is a company that has undergone some restructuring and is, I believe, in the right place at the right time with some good growth potential.

The other is the Standard Group which is in a restructuring phase, and though it trails the Nation Media Group in most segments (except television), has some upside predicted for it given its’ daring political coverage and the upcoming election year which is always good for the newspaper industry.

Recent stable changes
In: (soon) Scangroup
Out: Sameer

Uchumi, KBS, Madaraka

Uchumi
Uchumi stores will re-open this week. No word yet on the fate of shareholders and if it will be re-listed soon on the NSE. I still don’t think they will be able compete with Nakumatt & other supermarkets, or recover their lost ground, but I hope I’m wrong.

KBS
Official confirmation that KBS buses are not running, but the company plans to resume as a new company and a new fleet by the end of the month.


Madaraka
Monday (July 10) marks the deadline for residents of Madaraka Estate to have submitted applications, along with a 10% deposit, to buy the houses they live in.

Economics not Politics

It must be said that the current government is looking good to farmers in several rural communities.

While us urbanites are concerned with issues like corruption, governance, broadband, media freedom, mercenaries etc., farmers just want to earn a decent living from their hard work – and this government has made several right moves.

One of these was to revive the Kenya Meat Commission and another was during the recent drought when government agencies were out buying livestock to minimise farmer’s losses.

For dairy farmers, the turnaround has been very dramatic. Where a few years ago milk was selling at 7 shillings per litre, farmers were pouring milk by the roadside as the industry had very low capacity and could only process a limited amount of milk. Now milk commands 17 or 18 shillings per litre and there are many companies buying milk, and paying farmers on time, including a revamped KCC that is now able to process and distribute milk nationwide after many years in obscurity.

If the government can sort out the greed in the sugar and coffee sectors and fix the country's infrastructure (roads and railways) it will have connected with people’s stomachs which, in a way, matters much more than their minds.

Throw in other goodies like free primary education, Kengen & other IPOs, and the constituency development funds (CDF) and things look quite good. With the electorate wiser than ever, the 2007 elections will be harsher on MP’s, than on the government, and we are likely to see several dozen new faces in parliament in 2008.

Any MP who misuses the CDF will bear the brunt of voters as only a foolish or crooked MP can fail to make an impact with direct funds from the government at his/her disposal.

Even though there is still an unhealthy obsession with becoming an MP, and crowds of recycled/rejected politicians jumping parties to be in the right place, there are many new faces willing to taking the plunge into politics to make a positive difference.

The problem is that the government has such a poor image and even worse sales people - that even this simple message does not translate via the media. Also the message of economic prosperity is difficult to push through since cash handouts at election time are a necessary evil and the only way that old politicians perceive as a way to sway gullible voters. This is an expensive, misguided habit and old habits from old politicians die hard.

E.g.
One senior official has just upgraded to the latest S-class barely month after the Finance Minister announced a cutback in government expenditure on limousines.

papa’s got a brand new bag

Friday Jobs

Most of these appear in Friday daily papers

Akamba
- 50 bus drivers at Akamba public road services, apply at company.
- Also Chief financial officer/head of finance. Apply to mushtaqk@akambabus.com July 21.

EABL
- Manager, group audit & risk. Apply to Hr.customercare@eabl.com by 21 July.
- Group FP&R analyst. Apply to hrrecruitment@eabl.com by July 21

DFID
Human development advisor (Somalia). Get details from dfid@adetsystems.co.ke and apply to
recruit@adeptsystemes.co.ke by 19 July.

Flower logistics manager at Homegrown. Apply to Hrd.NboHQ@f-h.biz by July 14.

Housing Finance Company of Kenya
- finance manager
- Risk & compliance manager
Apply to human.resources@housing.co.ke by 14 July.

securities market technical specialists (2) at the International Finance Corporation to be based in Nairobi or Johannesburg. Details at www.ifc.org/careers/ and deadline is 23 July.

JKUAT
- Deputy VC research production and extension
-chief internal auditor
- IT manager
Deadline is 25 July.

Kenya Airways
- Manager technical projects
- Sales executives
- Ab initio pilot trainees
- Cabin technicians
- Internal auditor
- Sales & ticketing agent and othe jobs.
Apply to the group human resource director P O Box 19002 Nairobi by 21 July.

Principal Officer forensic investigations at the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission. D/L is 21 July.

Kenya Bureau of Standards
- ICT manager
- Head of operations
- Head of business development
- Head of staff welfare
- Head of personnel, head of internal audit.
Apply to the MD by July 25.

Lecturers, librarians and administrative positions at the Kenya Methodist University. Apply by July 21.

Marketing manager at Magadi Soda. Apply to recruit@magadisoda.co.ke by 21 July.

Mobile Planet
- Business development manager - premium services
- Chief technical officer
jobs@mobileplanet.co.ke by 31 July.

National Environmental Management Authority
- Director finance & administration
- Director legal services
- Chief accountant
D/L is August 7.

software developers (5) positions at Optenet.com which is opening a new office in Nairobi. Apply through Strathmore University at recruit@strathmore.edu by July 19.

Graduate engineers at Safaricom. Applicants who attained 1st class honours or 2nd class upper div in 2005/06 should apply to technologygraduateprogram@safaricom.co.ke

Learning & development manager at Tetrapak. Apply to Recruit.ke@tetrapak.com by August 1.

at an unnamed IT company
- IT manager
- Project managers/business consultants (2)
- Financial accountant
Apply to kenyait@yahoo.com by 14 July.

Other IT opportunities

GJLOS
- Network cabling of AG chambers and provide computer servers. D/L is 10 August.
- Supply and install forensic software and hardware for KACC. D/L is 16 august.

KCB
- Computer servers
- Emergency PA system at Kencom house
DL is July 24.
- Implement wide area network
- Implement enterprise network system
D/L is August 4.

HFCK ESOP

At the company’s AGM later this month, shareholders of the Housing Finance Company of Kenya (HFCK) will be asked to approve the creation of an employee share ownership plan (ESOP) unit trust. This plan will benefit from a tax incentive for ESOP’s announced in the budget speech last month and follows in the steps of Kenol and EABL as a way to motivate and retain employees.

To avoid causing friction, the ESOP shares will be bought from the stock exchange and will not dilute existing shareholdings. No mention yet if there will be a separate plan for executives.

Mid week business

IPO
The Scangroup IPO has been officially announced, but with a rather short window for investors to prepare (opens July 17 closes July 28).

While advertising is a fickle industry, the company seems to be a good bet since it controls over half of the media buying market and had revenue and profits of 2.3 billion and 200 million respectively last year.

It should not be as euphoric as Kengen, the hangover of which is still being felt by the investment community – and one lesson learnt is that an allocation criterion has been set to secure the interest of institutional investors who were all locked out of Kengen. They and corporations will get 45%, individuals 50% and 5% of the floated shares will go to staff.

Bonus share
Express (K) announced a share bonus at a rate of 1: 10 to shareholders of record as at 13th July.

Uchumi update
A suppliers group being coordinated by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has been informed that identification of an impeccable management team has been the main delay in the reopening of the company stores. (franchise uchumi's stores remained open). Suppliers have been asked to secure their interests by registering with the "Uchumi action” group and pay 10,000 towards lawyer and other movement expenses.

Miss the bus?
There are virtually no buses of the struggling KBS/Bustrack company on the road this month (anyone seen one?).

Broadband
Telkom Kenya launches Kenstream broadband wireless today.

- Also the Minister of Finance has granted a special tax waiver for the about-to-be-retrenched employees at Telkom – one condition of which is that they can’t resume work/or consult for the company for a period of 3 years.

Education
The Tropical Institute of Community Health in Kisumu will convert into a new private university to be known as the Great Lakes University.

Housing
A new housing project known as Neema Estate, comprising 450 1 to 3 bedroom bungalows in Lukenya (located on the Nairobi - Kangundo road).

- Meanwhile a recent tribunal decision has given Jamii Bora Trust the go-ahead to continue with a slum resettlement project. Jamii Bora had sought to construct 2,000 low cost homes at about 150,000 shillings each to settle 2,000 families (i.e. about 10,000 people) from the Nairobi slums of Kibera Mathare and Soweto in a new town to be called Kaputiei on 293 acres in Isinya, Kajiado. The town will be located 60km south of Nairobi, bordered to north by Nairobi national park and to the south by the Magadi-Mombasa railway

The Trust sued the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) who had blocked the project saying it would adversely affect the environment and community. NEMA received objections to the Jamii project from Masai communities & area residents (who welcomed the town development but not slum dwellers), the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) & other wildlife bodies who argues that the land was part of the wildfire migratory corridor into the park. The land was currently sustained by lease agreement where the KWS paid Masai communities $4 per acre or about $400 – 800 per household per year as accomodation for wildlife.

The Tribunal found that the residents who opposed were not representative of the entire community and that the project had support of church groups, AMFI, and had also received approval from other government sectors. The tribunal also deemed the area as no longer viable for wildlife owing to nearby human development.

One troubling verdict of the decision noted by the tribunal is that the influx of residents is likely to alter voting patterns and create hostilities, something the tribunal feels would be alleviated by voter education. Also it will be tough for workers who settle here to commute to their jobs in Nairobi.

Tourism
- A new Tourist lodge in Buffalo Springs reserve in Samburu with 52 bedrooms and 12 luxury tents.

- Baobab Beach Resort in Ukunda will add 84 rooms to its 188 existing ones.

- Oltome Mara Campat Koyaki ranch, a semi permanent tented camp will be set up in the Mara for Christian tourists visiting Kenya on religious missions.

BARS for Sale

The Weekly Citizen reports that Barclays has put up its troubled Barclays Advisory and Registrar Services (BARS) unit up for sale. There have been numerous complaints at recent AGM’s of poor/slow shareholder services at BARS, which has also weathered a long-running fraud case regarding dormant shareholder funds.

Book Villa Anniversary

A year ago, I joined Book Villa - and I when I renewed my membership today, I also got a chronological statement today listing all the books I have read over the last year.

I started off with a mix of my favourite authors such as Nelson Demille and Lee Child, in the beginning but later on diversified into others books, mostly autobiographies, business, stock and financial books.

The statement also shows that I had borrowed about 20 books worth 10,000 shillings all for an initial investment of 1,500 shillings (i.e. one time 500 joining fee, and annual fee of 1,000).

The number of books is lower than I expected, but it’s because I drive more these days - whereas before I used to do most of my reading in a matatu, now it's in loo.

Also I try and buy all my magazines (I estimate about 2,000 shillings worth) at Book Villa as a way to give back for this tremendous opportunity. The store has a vast collection of books and friendly staff, who are knowledgeable about the location & availability of books, which they can even hold for you. Definitely one of the best investments I have made.

Bankers Predict the World Cup

In March this year, an Economics team made some interesting predictions about the now on-going World Cup. While the likely outcome then was that Brazil would defeat France in the final, the team predicted that the entire world economy would benefit most from Italy defeating Germany in the final 3 – 1. Interesting read, since Italy, Germany and France are all in the semis now. (PDF here)

Safaricom goes VoIP

Safaricom and Celtel both received internet gateway licenses which will enables them to bypass Telkom on international calls.

While Celtel promises some good things for consumers in the future, Safaricom immediately launched 888 VoIP service with calling costs of 30 shillings per minute (to US, Canada, Australia, Europe, others) 40 (around East Africa) and 50 (to India, others) - all billed per second.

I have made a few calls and the quality is quite good. More details here on the service, including some rather harsh terms and conditions.

Who Cares?
Also today Safaricom cell phones started displaying location messages – You look at your phone screen and it says where you are at the moment e.g. “Nairobi West”, “Upper Hill", and “City Center”.