It’s almost the third anniversary of this blog (started in November 2004) and it’s time to reflect on the 800 or so posts that appear here. It’s been great channeling everyday stories and knowledge and new, finding obscure pieces in the Kenya Gazette or the classifieds and building something worthwhile to write about. Also, some posts have been obscure, trivial, and forgotten a day after.
Now there’s a support group of other financial bloggers (see the blog roll to the right) to spread the financial word as well as the Business Daily which has been a great resource for me over the last year - and I truly enjoy it though I question its long term viability.
Dear readers: Idea exchange
This is also a chance to improve going forwards and readers are invited to offer their suggestions;
- Why do you read this? What do you hate?
- What topics would you liked to see covered more? Or less? As long as there are shillings involved, it’s worth blogging about.
- Do you like the design? Go back to black?
- More posts or less?
- What features, enhancements, tools, can be added to enhance the information and participation at this blog? Digg etc?
- What blogs would you like to introduce here? Preferably financial, social, or economic with an African or development focus
- Would you like to advertise or collaborate on an idea? Remember this has been an one man shop with full time social, family, and work activities
- Any other ideas? Comment her or drop a line via the contact page
22 comments:
Congratulations on your third anniversary. Long may you continue!
I read your blog because you offer your opinion on the business news of the day, not just telling us the business news of the day. It is your analysis that drew me to your blog in the first place and I must admit I have repeated it occasionally at dinner parties to make myself sound smarter.
I like your posts on the various AGMs you attend and your passion for planes.
Like you I believe the next step is to monetize our blogs so that they contribute to our lives financially as they contribute in so many other ways. I have some ideas about this which I will share with you as i develop them.
As for now, congratulations!
Well done Banks.
For your consistency & longetivity.
I enjoy the AGM write-ups because those are the ones I would definitely attend if I was home.
Keep it up.
Keep up the good work.
Enjoy reading you blog
You are able to deliver information about AGM, companies that sometimes the financial publications don't bother with.
I have been a reader of your blog for the last two year and value the insights you give us on financial matters. I have directed members of my investment club to your blog many times.
I agree with mental, maybe you should now start charging for the free service you provide. Maybe you can partner with safaricom so that those without credit cards can subscribe through their cell phones.
your blog is normally an information blog for me. i read it to find out what is going on that i was not aware of. also great insight into the workings of banks (real banks he he)
about charging, nah! i doubt it will work given the number of free information sites available in the web today. the best way is to use it as an advertisement site or promotional site like manyara kirago used his articles in the nation media to become a sought after financial consultant
I should clarify; when I said we should “monetize our blogs” I did not mean we should charge our readers to access our content that would be shooting ourselves in the foot. Luckily there are other options available!
Congrats on your blogs 3rd anniversary. I like the way you give information on issues main stream media does not bother to. in most cases they usually copy your content later on. I've been a regular visitor to this blog for over a year now. To say the truth you inspired me to start my blog {though its proving hard to keep up with}
At first when you changed to a white background i was bothered but i think it doesn't matter as long as the information is quality. I think you have a product people can advertise on. Create more space for adverts, even in between posts.
Mentalacrobatics: Thanks, it's been a good run. Monetizing will definetly make the time worthwhile
BTW - did you see that report in Saturday Nation that an A380 had brought chartered tourists to Mombasa?
MainaT: Thanks, will try and attend more AGM's.
7easons & Reasons: Thanks, I'm not in any club myself but I admire members who commit to save & invest. hope the stuff here is useful
Odegle: thanks, no plans to charge for content though. I like Manyara kirago's columsn too, but teh beauty of a blog is that I can write about anything, not just savings
ka-investor: Thanks, am happy that anywone is copying this stuff a little credit though - the Transcentury story was on KTN last night a week after Riba Capital)
- always looking out for adverts
The jobs postings are a favorite and the main reason I give when recommending your site. I also enjoy your stories about work (the hangman story stands out) but I do recognize you have to be discreet. More generally, your personal stories and how that gives you a certain take on something financial or business related are great. Like your comments on the food served at annual meetings. The pure business posts are good, but don’t have that hook that the more personal ones do.
Cheers, Dave
Congrats Banks!
Your take on financial matters keeps me coming back.
Coverage of news in the financial sector is spot on. And I prefer this design to black.
I'd like fewer, longer posts personally.
Digg won't add value to your demographic in my opinion
Enhancements? Definitely. Get a full domain mzee. Bankelele.co.ke or better yet bankelele.com if its still there.
Congratulations on the anniversary! 800 posts of quality is quite the ahcievement.
Congratulations Banks & pop some champagne too ! I've been an ardent fan of your blog which makes not just financial news but a couple of general issues e.g. the John Gakuo profile, American Gangster post etc. It's been good ride, I guess you'll only take us higher. It's been my inspiration too to start my own blog...though as you know it ain't easy to make daily entries. All the same, keep that line of info going !
Fine blog, banks.
reliable info and analysis,with a personal touch to it, is what makes the blog worth more than a newspaper.
more on fundamentals though eg the effects of the current inflation on middle-classes wouldn't hurt though.
Hey Banks i have been on your blog for sometimes now and must say you rock with your avid analysis and insight on various financial markets events.
The stock market has come of age and with new developments you should:
- focus on ways we as bloggers can partner to promote our blogs
-Offer analysis of the derivatives that is still a new phenomenon here
-Provide a forum for other young investors to access information you offer through subscriptions etc
-Focus on other emerging markets of Africa
-Provide Investments tips every week
Thanks
Fintrade capital
www.fintradecapital.blogspot.com
I read your blog because of the enlightment i get from your postings.
I enjoy the financial ones and i still look forward to reading more. i have been reading this for now two years. I stumbled on it and never want to stop.
Posting on local development ideas will be great too.
Congrats on your third anniversary Banks!
first. a big bow to the heap big bankelele. man u r one in a million.ur intel is way up there. have benn reading ur stuff 4 close to ayear now, i even read the archives. sorry about the transcentury story. u c some time back i wrote and u said u wanted no recognition media wise and without actually plugging ua site for a mention there isnt any simple way to give credit if u dont have the persons name. i am news reporter myself and one of the things i do at those functions and agms is try to figure out which one of those chaps is bankelele..... its really interesting uc. i have been narrowing it down a bit though its a bit of a toughee. keep up the good work and forgive the plagiarism. plus if i give u credit, then those no good research fellow reporters will get wind of the mother lode.
u r take on happennings on the financial scene are really intersting and helpful.would be better if it was easier to contact u for clarifications, plus more posts. then theres the posts themselves, often u post something then i connect that with something i heard or read somewhere and it just blows the mind. eg. tanscentury... they are raising money to buy into development bank... wainana was really shocked when we called him for a prospectus.. the bd had a story about how the government was offloading its shares in the bank and a list of the sharholders.
plus something about the equity helios cdc transaction. something u said led me to look up the funding behingd several transactions and it seems that transcentury. and ..inc control almost 90% percent of the company plus housing finance which is illegal... still putting the pieces together thought they have already sued us for apiece on the irac court case and their loan port folio( in house settlement)blog on!! and i will keep guesing........ i am that annoying guy with all the questions at those functions....
i think that you should post more often. you give a different take on all the things that go on in this economy. post something on the current politics and the economy, so that we can have some input on the direction the economy might take.
Banks: Sorry for joining the party a bit late.
But I respect this blog and will admit was my motivation to start ribacapital.
And lol about the KTN story copying my post, pity I missed that, but remember the Rogue broker too.
::: CHEERS BANKS:::
Congrats on your third anniversary.
Overall your insights are really good. Found a stock broker through your website! Thank you for that...
Maybe some more inside scoop which you may hear about which you can share?
Auto Kenya
Kudos guy! the quality and insightful analysis are just superb!
You should consider collaborating with other bloggers in an effort to cover the financial ongoings of other African nations as well.
He-e-e-y-y-y! Congrats, banks!
This made me think about how I came across your blog. Pardon the long post, I think you'll allow me to ramble a bit.
(Was it 2004?) I was helping a Kenyan friend look for an ICT job via the Internet. Foolish for looking for work in Kenya, even for ICT spots, as I later learned, but I came across your blog in my search. I don't remember which post captivated me, but I ended up being a regular visitor.
(BTW your job postings, thru-out all these years, have turned out to be of no use for me and my friend! Still, do much appreciate that you actually type them out by hand! [or copy/paste])
What makes me so happy and proud about your blog is that it is written by a "common man" financial professional, divorce of ridiculous (apart from that FLSE post [i]:wink:[/i] ), politically-bias, and outright wrong financial critique, advice, debate and dialogue.
I hate the white-based color scheme.
(I have a javascript that converts it back to "normal" but it's not working in Greasemonkey for some reason, so I have to run it manually. Still, as with all things ICT, it's just a matter of time...)
Whatever. It's your blog so you set the tone, pardon the pun. As I and others have written before, what's most important is the content. As long as your standards remain high and your contributions interesting, I will keeping coming back and participating.
I have no suggestions for anything new and shiny. I was thinking recently, considering how little you've been posting lately, that perhaps you could consider a partner to run/contribute to the blog. Keep the same format and style, but add someone to your "staff" who's also a finance or business professional, who's Kenyan or at least African, and someone who follows your philosphy for topics to discuss.
Finance/Business has always been a boy's game, but if you could get a woman's perspective that would be so sweet.
This would be a big step, plus you need to have a lot of faith and confident in that person, but they would share the load of "parental responsibility" you have for running your baby.
Here's wishing you much more success and longevity.
Its been a while since i was in blogland so i'm abit late to this post.
However...here i go...
Why do you read this?
-Info.Info.Info.
-To read what Cold Tusker has to say...and BTW, where did he go to???
What do you hate?
-Ignorant/Shallow/Narrow-Minded Contributors
-That freaking white background!!!
-Anything NSE simply because i am not an NSE investor.
-I find it waaaaaaay too "politically correct".
What topics would you liked to see covered more?
-Entrepreneurship in Kenya or Africa.
-African Matters (Entertainment, Devt Issues, Business, Politics,Leadership etc)
-Youth Matters (Under 40 years old)
-Opportunities in Kenya for Kenyans living in the diaspora.
Or less?
-NSE...hahahahaha
Do you like the design?
-NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!
-Please, Please Go back to black.
(I'm not good at begging but pliiiiiiiiizzzzz :)
Go back to black?
-YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!
As s'one once said...it was ur identity.
More posts or less?
-Diversity is more important than quantity.
-However, 3 posts a week is more than enough for me...a Monday,Wednesday & Friday/Weekend Post)
What features, enhancements, tools, can be added to enhance the information and participation at this blog? Digg etc?
-Group all your posts into categories (Stock Mkt, Politics, Banking, Sports etc) hence readers can select which section/category to click on depending on their interests.
What blogs would you like to introduce here?
Preferably financial, social, or economic with an African or Development focus
-Anything by Cold Tusker, Kenyan Entrepreneur, Sijui, Maina T, Thinker's Room, Acolyte, EGM, Odegle etc
Would you like to advertise or collaborate on an idea?
Remember this has been an one man shop with full time social, family, and work activities
-YES...but to be discussed privately.
What's your email?
CONGRATS for a job well done and all the best in your 4th Blogging Year.
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