Idea Exchange: Bank, Literature, Journalism, Opportunities, and Win a Free Phone

The Africa AgriBusiness Challenge from Enactus Kenya and Syngenta seeks out youth to generate creative business ideas to improve the agricultural productivity of certain crop value chains. Deadline is June 10.

The 2014 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship will have five awards to celebrate entrepreneurs at different stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle; lifetime achievement, transformational business, outstanding mature business, outstanding growing business and outstanding social entrepreneur.

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. Details here .. via @calestous.

@AfriCOG Investigative Journalism Fellowship Programme 2014. Deadline is 30 May. 

Anthemis Fellowship seeks out entrepreneurs, executives and thought leaders who are passionate about building an improved financial services industry fit for the digital age. The Anthemis Fellowship program includes 4 months at the Anthemis London office, 4 months with one of their portfolio companies and 4 months with a major financial services firm. It also comes with a monthly stipend of EUR2000 and an invitation to attend the Anthemis #HackingFinance Retreat from July 10-13, 2014 in Meribel, France. Deadline is June 1. 

@APO_Source has had a scholarship for an African journalist to to attend the 2014 annual meetings of the African Development Bank.

Bloomberg Africa ‏@BBGAfrica - seeks Swaziland, Eritrea, Djibouti, G.Bissau, Cape Verde, Eq. Guinea, Sao Tome stringers - Please e-mail asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Citi Africa Management Associate Programme Citi in Africa is  looking for ambitious graduates with strong academic backgrounds, maximum of two years’ work experience, leadership, teamwork, and excellent communication skills.

The 2014 CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist Awards will recognise excellence in culture, economics & business (NEW), energy & infrastructure (NEW), environment, health & medical, news impact (NEW), photography, press freedom, sports, language general news, Francophone news and also Portuguese news. Details here and the deadline is 30 May.

EABL Foundation scholarships for needy students who have gained admission to Kenya public universities. Deadline is June 6. 

Etisalat Prize 2014 for African literature is now open with a top prize of £15,000 and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia, while winner and shortlisted writers also receive a sponsored two city tour promoting their books. Details here and the deadline is 8 August.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature include awards for a picture Book (targeting readers aged 6 – 8 years), early chapter (targeting readers aged 9 -11) and rising writers (for a young African author under the age of 18 who demonstrates the talent and drive to become the next great African author for children). Details here and the deadline is June 29.

Jalada / @KwaniTrust seek 3 best Afrofuture submissions for a second anthology. Deadline is D/L 15

Japan Government scholarships  in research, teacher training, technology, and specialized training .. via @njathika

Want to be a Jameson brand ambassador? Here's how to apply (via @uqweli ) oops - deadline also passed.

KCB: The region's largest bank has ongoing internships, management trainee and management exchange programs. Sourced from @RookieKE blog.

 

Kenya Revenue Authority -  KRA graduate trainee program 2014

The Kenya StartUp Cup is open to all Kenyan youth entrepreneurs who can apply to win Kshs 1 million (~$11,500). Details from the @prepaid_africa blog and the deadline is May 20.

KenyaTop100 seeks successful companies with turnover of Kshs 70 million to Kshs 1 billion (~$12,000)  with 3 years audited accounts to compete and be among @kenyastop100 

Kijabe Forest Trust @KijabeForest  is seeking a new logo design.

Kuona Trust has internship opportunities for students at their offices in Hurlingham, Nairobi. 

The Kwani Trust 2014 fiction workshop seeks to develop new contemporary fiction writers between the ages of 18 and 24 and from outside of Nairobi. To apply, check the website, and send email to submissions_at_kwani.org by May 26.

Orange  has launched the 4th edition of the Orange African Social Venture Prize which will award prizes to four projects; three with grants of 10,000 EUR, 15,000 EUR and 25,000 EUR, and a new special prize of 10,000 EUR. It's open to all entrepreneurs or legal entities that has been in existence for fewer than three years at the time of the competition and the deadline is 19 September.

Power Africa Off Grid Energy Challenge from @USADF and @GeneralElectric Africa offers up to $100,000 to 100% African owned and African managed firms that seek to power up under-served parts of rural Kenya. Deadline is June 20.  

School of Data: Become a School of Data Fellow as they are currently broadening their efforts to spread data skills around the world, and are seeking people who are data savvy, understand the role of NGO's, are interested or experienced in working with journalism and/or civil society, or enjoy community-building.  Deadline is 1 June.

Standard Chartered Bank Fast Track Program: The bank is looking for young graduates to join their management trainee program in several African countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and several international locations. Sourced from @RookieKE blog

 
The Stanford University Africa MBA Fellowship Program pays for tuition and associated fees (approximately US $145,000) for citizens of African countries with financial need who wish to obtain an MBA at Stanford GSB. Stanford will award up to eight Stanford Africa MBA Fellowships annually. Details here and the deadline is 13 June.

Strathmore University @StrathU scholarships from @imbankke for 10 needy students pursuing various Finance related degree programmes.

Swedish Institute Management Programme‏ The Swedish Institute is launching a new leadership programme for progressive leaders from Kenya,Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia - offering a combination of theory and practice in the area of responsible leadership and sustainable business.  Details here and the deadline is June 6.

Total Kenya Graduate Management Trainee Program. The company was is looking for young dynamic graduates.  Also sourced from @RookieKE blog but the deadline was 7 May  

The Wall Street Journal @WSJ looking for entrepreneurial reporter to cover the most entrepreneurial of Africa beats--business, from Nairobi. Apply to @pwonacott

Submit your wikimedia proposals to be included at Wiki Indaba 2014 in Johannesburg. Details here and the deadline is 15 May.

The World Bank Young Professionals Program 2014 seeks highly qualified and motivated individuals skilled in areas relevant to the World Bank’s operations such as, economics, finance, education, public health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, and natural resource management. Details here and the deadline is 30 June.

 
Win a Nokia Lumia 1320: There are very few comments on the blog here despite the number of daily readers, and many of the comments are from spammers promoting products from far off countries. To stimulate comments, I’m giving away a brand new Nokia Lumia 1320 phone (worth about $400/Kshs 35,000) to the person who engages the most on the site. The phone was an excellent, but unexpected, prize awarded to the winner of the best business blog at the recent 2014 Kenya Blog Awards ceremony. During the month of May, readers to the blog and it's archives, can make as many comments as they want, and I'll respond on some. 

Rules 
1. There are no rules about winning.
2. It's about serious comments, not volume - and blog comments only, not tweets/tags

3. This is personal, and the promo has nothing to do with Nokia  or Nokia East Africa.

4. @Coldtusker is excluded :(
5. An announcement will be made on June 14, and there may not be a winner  if no one is deemed to be worthy.

Idea Exchange: African Business, Bellagio, County tech, Kenya blog, TED Global

New, and ongoing, opportunities to apply for, including..

The African Media Initiative (AMI)  African Story Challenge  provides grants to support African business reporting and is inviting applications from individual journalists and newsrooms with unique story ideas or projects on business and technology that can only be produced with substantial support. The top twenty multimedia projects that show the best potential for adopting innovative storytelling techniques using data journalism tools, will be shortlisted for the final prize and will be awarded grants of up to $20,000 to produce them for broadcast and publication.

The All Africa Business Leaders Awards [AABLA] awards invite nominees in four categories, business leader of the year, business woman of the year, entrepreneur of the year and the young business leader of the year who through their vision, leadership and commitment make significant contributions, financial impact and/or a considerable differences through their assistance given to the work of voluntary organisations, communities, causes or society.  Deadline is 23 May.

Commonwealth Scholarships The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission has 

scholarships for candidates from developing African and South Asian Commonwealth countries to study for the part-time Masters degrees in International Human Rights Law from September 2014. Deadline is 23 April.

Nominations are now open for the 2014 Kenya Banking Awards by Think Business and categories include best bank in East Africa, and awards for product innovation, mortgage finance, SME, product, agency banking, internet, mobile, customer satisfaction, asset finance, best recovery, fastest growing, CEO, lifetime achievement, among others. 

Vote for the short-listed Kenya Blog Award finalists for the year 2014. This blog is nominated under the best business blog and there are other categories for best blogs in technology, photography, creative writing, food, environmental / agricultural, fashion/beauty, politics, corporate blog, topical blog, sports, entertainment/lifestyle, travel, health, county blog, best new blog and Kenyan Blog of the Year.

Kenya ICT Innovation Awards 2014 celebrate Kenyan companies and organizations that are using ICT in new and interesting ways. Categories this year include agriculture, BPO, education & training, environmental management, financial services, gender youth & vulnerable groups, healthcare delivery, housing & urbanization, manufacturing, social equity & poverty reduction, tourism, water & sanitation, wholesale & retail trade and finally county government issues. The deadline to apply is March 31.

Pivot East The 2014 edition of the most prestigious East African mobile start-up competition is back, and yhis years conference will be held on 24th – 25th June in Nairobi, Kenya. Apply in 5 categories of mobile finance, mobile enterprise, mobile entertainment, mobile society and mobile utility by 11 April. 

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio residency program offers academics from universities or think tank-based academics or scientists a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work, and the unparalleled opportunity to establish new connections with fellow residents from a stimulating array of disciplines and geographies. Fiction and non-fiction writers should apply through a separate Arts & Literary Arts Residency competition, and the Foundation does have a limited travel assistance program, based on income level of invited residents. Deadline is May 1.

The Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation aims  to reward entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa in disciplines from mechanical, civil and computing to biomedical, oil and gas, mining and electronic engineering.  Every shortlisted entrant will receive six months of extensive mentoring, training and support in commercialising their innovation, as part of the Academy's commitment to international development. Thereafter, finalists will be invited to present their innovation and a winner will be selected to receive £25,000. The deadline for entries is 30 May.

TED Fellowship. The TED Fellows program is looking for people who have "demonstrated remarkable accomplishment." Normally, there are two admission cycles per year: one for TED and one for TEDGlobal with 20 Fellowships to each conference. Deadline  is April 18, 2014. 

EDIT

Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature are an annual Pan-African award series that recognize and celebrate excellence in stories targeting African children. Deadline is June 29.

The Business Daily Top40Under40 Women series is now open for 2014. Download entry forms from the Business Daily website and submit nominations via email. 

What other opportunities are out there? Share in the comments section

Equity Education & Leadership Congress

There’s a unique event taking place this week at the Kenyatta University Amphitheatre in Nairobi called the Annual Education & Leadership Congress (watch livestream of the #EGFcongress sessions).

 

About 5,000 children from across Kenya have assembled to hear talks from business, social, and other leaders from Kenya and other countries. They are beneficiaries of Wings to Fly which offers secondary school scholarships to top primary school kids, and the University Sponsorship Program, that offers university scholarships. The financial and mentorship programs are supported by the Equity Group Foundation, and the MasterCard Foundation with support from USAID and UKAID.

This year #WingstoFly is sponsoring the high school education of over 2,000 boys and girls (20 per district who applied at their local Equity bank branches and were selected by their communities). 

For another group of 250 who topped their districts in KCSE (national high school exams) in 2011, the University sponsorship program will be supporting their education and Kenyan and overseas universities, including for a few who will be starting at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton and Columbia universities. Over 1200 have benefited from this including Samuel Kirubi, who was the first beneficiary of the program in 1989 and is currently the Managing Director of Equity Bank Rwanda.

The mentorship session includes an annual event in Nairobi while many beneficiaries also mentor others within the program.  A session yesterday on innovation had Anthony Mwai (Regional GM IBM East Africa), Erik Hersman (Co Founder iHub  and Ushahidi), Paul Kukubo (CEO, Kenya ICT Board) and John Waibochi (Founder Virtual City) and which was moderated by the Equity Bank CEO, James Mwangi.

All the panelists gave brief talks on the need to innovate and change in order to survive in the world of business. Hersman spoke of the iHub with 8,000 members with the potential to change the IT status quo through phone innovations, research and super computers, Waibochi spoke of changing his business model from Simu ya Jamii, selling expensive internet, to building agriculture apps and the need to always anticipate the next thing coming, Mwai spoke of IBM’s 100 year path from meat weighing scales to typewriters, mainframe computers and restructuring and now consulting & software, while Kukubo spoke of the need for the students to visualize the next 15 years because the present was barely fathomed 15 years ago.

KCB 2010 AGM

Excerpts from a few minutes spent at the annual general meeting of KCB - Kenya’s largest bank that was held on Friday May 7 at KICC

Summary
Good: they have styled up - gave packed lunches, had registration points spaced out so no crowds/ queues squeezing and interrupting the meeting
Bad; timing is an issue, it was one hour before the auditor finished and the Chairman opened floor to questions - ok they may have a large crowd (5,093 attended the last AGM), but still!

Shareholder Q&A
Annual report was not circulated: copies were given to shareholders as they walked in so some said they had reviewed them. Why even print glossy copies which will be thrown away after AGM (print on plain paper instead)? Why not avail copies at bank branches nationwide?
CEO replied Last year shareholders approved this new measure – and the bank will no longer be sending out annual reports to its 170,000 shareholders – an exercise that was costing them about 30 million (~$390,000) each year. They printed fewer copies this year, but will look at other ways to get it out faster such as e-mail [note: it’s been available at their site for about a month, but few shareholders went and downloaded PDF]

Raise Capital: this happened later with the shareholder approval to raise about Kshs 15 billion (~$200 million) - CEO said after growing at about 20-30% p.a. they needed more capital as a regulatory requirement to continue to take in more deposits and lend out money. Their goal is to raise 21 billion over next few years and balance may be from bond.

Are subsidiaries profitable? (information missing from accounts)? CEO pointed out the information was in the account notes, but said many subsidiaries were in infancy after massive investment in people, technology, marketing and were still not profitable, asked for more time for them to achieve payback [A/R notes showed KCB Tanzania lost 141 million, KCB Uganda lost 438 million, KCB Rwanda lost 273m, while KCB Sudan made a profit of 84 million ]

Open more branches in under-served areas CEO said they have slowed down on this in 2010, they have attained branch network of 210 (168 in Kenya) and 650 ATM’s (including partners) . however where they see a need , they will expand their footprint.

Poor customer service: some shareholders companied about poor service at KCB branches, one said their staff had not kept pace with technology while another noted that staff still think they are working for a government agency. Chairman said they have noted the comments

Ernst & Young have been auditors for a long time is that prudent , or are you stuck with them? yes E&Y have been their auditors since 1989, there is no requirement for company to rotate auditors, though management has noted the point. CEO also mentioned that CBK requires that the lead partners is rotated and that has been the case at E&Y partner who handles KCB

Shareholders companied about no SWAG this year to which CEO said they had reviewed costs of AGM and decided to focus on dividend; they still gave lunch to shareholders who showed up; they handed out (ahead of meeting) - a brown bag packed lunch (from Tintin Restaurant) with chicken drumstick, sausage, potato crisps, boiled egg, banana, soda

Other bank happenings
- Separately another bank Standard Chartered today announced a rights issue to raise capital from shareholders(estimate 3 – 6 billion targeted)
- I&M Bank will give 10 scholarships to Strathmore business students enrolled in 4 year BBS in actuarial science, finance or financial economics. Application deadline is May 31
- Stanbic Bank has an Africa Graduate development programme - apply here
- Equity Bank Pre-university sponsorship program wil benefit 200 of Kenya's top high school graduates - details here

Kutwa Tuesday: Toxic Brokers

Toxic Brokers The US has toxic banks, Kenya has toxic stockbrokers

Discount stockbrokers was yesterday placed under statutory management. It has been technically insolvent since new managers were appointed six months ago, and given the cost and extent of their operations it’s unlikely to ever turn round.

Bob Mathews was also re-admitted at a stockbroker after injecting in new capital, but once labeled at a toxic broker no amount of rescue cash is enough to salvage an institution. Nyaga stockbrokers got a lifeline infusion of Kshs. 100 million rescue loan, which was largely paid to other brokers, but it was not enough and the firm went under too. smart investors should read the signs of a collapsing company

Capital Gains market turnaround

The Nairobi stock exchange had its best week in a long time, with a mini run led by Equity Bank up 31%, CMC up 25%, Kengen 22%, EA Cables 20%, National Bank 16%, EA Breweries 15% and Diamond Trust 12%. With no significant financial results, or economic & political news out last week, the rise remains a mystery; Was it in reaction to US markets having their best week, or realization that there was a new finance minister in charge or investors realizing that they had missed on the infrastructure bond (and the next one was not as lucrative), or was it stockbrokers making a last stand?

Insurance Losses

Pan Africa Life a relatively large company with assets of Kshs. 6 billion ($75 million) returned a pre-tax loss for 2008 of Kshs. 175 million down from a profit of 51 million in 2007, which they attribute to the unrealized loses in capital markets. If a large insurance company is in this state, what about the smaller other Kenyan insurance companies? Already standard assurance has gone under and it was not the main company in public transport sector (matatu’s) whos' claims are being blamed for its collapse.

Opportunities & Events

TED Global applications have opened for the 2009 TED Global 2009 conference. Deadline is April 3 for fellowship applications

Tujuane Mixer will be held on March 20. More details at Tujuane site and here’s a re-cap of the last mixer I attended. The event will be facilitated by Nyokabi Njuguna, Founder - Entrepreneurship and Leadership Foundation, and with a special appearance by R&B vocalist and Guitarist Harry Kimani.

Nairobi Wine Festival Get stylish and drunk is how Rafiki Kenya describes the event on Friday and Saturday (20/21 March)

New month, new hopes

seeking bloggers: Mediation talks are going on in Nairobi, and we hope for a better month than January. The last post I did was on winners - one of whom was Kenyans online who have been inspired by the political crisis to start blogging. I’d like to add new bloggers to the blog roll (the list on the right, below the advertisements) - an update of the list is long overdue and some blogs there have since become dormant. Regular readers are invited to submit any interesting blogs they have found (and which are likely to be running for the next few months at least) and I may do a write up of them

Other opportunities
most from the daily papers this week

TED Africa registration opens today

Import finance: the Government of Japan has through Kenya’s ministry of finance come forward with a 1.5 billion yen (884 million shillings) facility for Kenyan businesses to import raw materials and finished goods from Japan. Applications are on a first come, first served basis, minimum amount is 5 million shillings, maximum 40 million ($560,000) ; terms are down payment of 10% and finance is up to 90% to be repaid over 1 year and secured by a bank guaranteed. Info is from crown agents (crownagents@ke.crownagents.com)

Ford foundation scholarships: The 7th round of the Ford foundation international fellowships program is up and running. 48 scholarships are available to Kenyans – details online and D/L is 7/3
Jobs
- Credit analysts at Africa trade insurance company
Consolidated bank: branch manager, credit manager, credit admin manager, credit analysts. Apply though snail mail by 15/2
- Regional learning & development coordinator at Deloitte. Apply to hr@deloitte.co.ke
KCB: divisional director HR - apply through hawking associates by 11/2. Also investigators (frauds-forensics) and head of central services. Apply to recruitment@kcb.co.ke by 8/2
- Kenya Airways: Ramp Bus Operator,
Sales & Ticketing Agent, Multilingual In-Flight Attendant, Customer Service Agent, Qualified Pilots
Nimble Africa: industry experts (hospitality, financial, retail). Apply to recruitment@nimbleafrica.com by 10/2
- Safaricom: Area sales representative, M-PESA new business sales officer. D/L is 6/2
- Standard group: financial & commercial services director, group managing editor. Apply through PWC at ess.ke@ke.pwc.com by 15/2.
- USIU; management accountant, financial accountant. Apply to jobs@usiu.ac.ke by 15/2
- Independent financial advisors at Winton investments: Apply to jobs@wintoninvestments.com.

Opportunities – February 3

from the daily papers this week

jobs

Principal consultant - corporate financial services at Deloitte Tanzania. Apply to dloitte@deloitte.co.tz by 16/3

East African Breweries: marketing manager (MM/MD/02.07), brand manager (BM/MD/02.06). apply to hr.recruitment@eabl.com by 14/2

East African Cables: marketing manager (MM/07), group procurement & logistics manager (GPLM/07) and other engineering positions. Apply to hr@eacables.com by 10/2

Family Finance: Apply online for company secretary, works officer, and executive secretary by 16/2

Hilton Hotel: Managers (operations, credit, Food & Beverage, Sales Account), Internal Auditor, Trainees (front office, F&B). send one page CV to nbohitwhrd@hilton.com

Government of Kenya: Account managers (210 positions) at the Constituency Development Fund national management committee secretariat to be based at constituency level. Applicants must be degree holders with accounting or project management experience, good computer skills, and be under 45 years of age. Those selected will undergo 3-month probation after which they will be awarded 3-year contracts. Apply to cdf@wananchi.com by 28/2

IFC (modern lighting program): senior program manager (Kenya or Ghana), program manager Kenya. details online D/L is 24/2

Head of forensics (HF/32/07) at KCB. Apply through KPMG at esd@kpmg.co.ke by 16/2

Simba technology limited: functional consultant - oracle e business suite (3
positions), functional consultants Orion enterprise/advantage (3), functional consultants - banking (2), functional consultants - insurance (3). Apply to jobs@simbanet.co.ke by 10/2 ( REF: 150106)

UNDP Kenya election assistance program: communications & education specialist, finance officer, procurement officer, and administrative associate. Apply to jobs.ke@undp.org by 7/2

scholarships
Aga Khan Foundation: for development -related overseas postgraduate apply by
(50% grant 50% loan payable 5 years after completion that covers tuition & living expenses only) . D/L for applications to the Nairobi office is 15/3

Ford foundation: Details at international fellowship program and D/L is 9/3