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Email at bankelele_at_hotmail_dot_com

Agriculture not only improves Food Security but creates Wealth for Africans

An open letter to African Union Heads of State by Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the United Nations rural development agency, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Judging from the daily outpouring of commentary, opinions and reports, you would think that there were two African continents. One of them is the new land of opportunity, with seven of the world's 10 fastest growing economies, offering limitless possibilities to investors. There is, however, this other image: a starving and hopeless continent, hungry and poor, corrupt and prey to foreign exploiters.

As Africans, we are tired of caricatures. But we are also tired of waiting. Waiting to be led toward the one Africa we all want: the Africa that can and should be. We know the real Africa, filled with possibilities, dignity and opportunities, able to face its challenges and solve them from within. Never has the time been more right for us to finally realize our full potential. It is within our grasp.

As a scientist, I am always interested in facts. Africa is a land rich in resources, which has enjoyed some of the highest economic growth rates on the planet. It is home to 200 million people between the ages of 15 and 24. And it has seen foreign direct investment triple over the past decade.

As the head of an institution whose business is investing in rural people, I know that you also need vision and imagination. At the International Fund for Agricultural Development we have banked on the poorest, most marginalized people in the world, and over and over again these investments have paid off. For people, for communities, for societies. And more than half of the people we invest in are Africans.

More than 10 years have passed since the Maputo Declaration, in which you, as African leaders, committed to allocating at least 10% of national budgets to agriculture and rural development – key sectors in the drive to cut poverty, build inclusive growth and strengthen food security and nutrition.

Today, just seven countries have fulfilled the Maputo commitment consistently, while some others have made steps in the right direction. Ten years is a long time to wait. In less time I have seen projects turn desert into farmland.

In just a few days in Malabo at the 23^rd African Union Summit, I will join those of you, African leaders, who will gather to discuss this year's focus of agriculture and food security. This is my call: Don’t just promise development, deliver it, make it happen now. Make real, concrete progress toward investment that reaches all Africans. Investments that prioritize rural people.

Our biggest resource is our people. To squander this is worse than wasteful. If we don’t act now, by 2030 Africa will account for 80% of the world's poor. Is this the legacy that we want to leave for future generations?

The AU declared 2014 as the year of Agriculture and Food Security. And this is the year we look beyond the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals to a post-2015 world with new goals and targets to reach. I hope that this means that we will be dedicating ourselves fully to making agriculture a priority. GDP growth due to agriculture has been estimated to be five times more effective in reducing poverty than growth in any other sector, and in sub-Saharan Africa, up to 11 times. Ironically, it is countries that lack lucrative extractive industries and that have had to invest in agriculture who have found out what is now an open secret: agriculture not only improves food security but creates wealth. Small family farmers in some parts of our continent contribute as much as 80% of food production. Investing in poor rural people is both good economics and good ethics.

A full 60% of our people depend wholly or partly on agriculture for their livelihoods, and the vast majority of them live below the poverty line. It’s not pity and handouts that they need. It’s access to markets and finance, land tenure security, knowledge and technology, and policies that favour small farms and make it easier for them to do business. A thriving small farm sector helps rural areas retain the young people who would otherwise be driven to migrate to overcrowded cities where they face an uncertain future. Investing in agriculture reinforces not only food security, but security in general.

In an Africa where 20 states are classified as fragile and 28 countries need food assistance, the need for a real rural transformation backed by investment and not just words is critical – I have often said that declarations don’t feed people.

Investments must be focused on smallholder family farms. Small farms make up 80% of all farms in sub-Saharan Africa. And contrary to conventional wisdom, small farms are often more productive than large farms. For example, China's 200 million small farms cover only 10% of the world's agricultural land but produce 20% of the world's food. The average African farm, however, is performing at only about 40% of its potential. Simple technologies – such as improved seeds, irrigation and fertilizer – could triple productivity, triggering transformational growth in the agricultural sector. It is estimated that irrigation alone could increase output by up to 50% in Africa.  Rural areas also need the right investments in infrastructure – roads, energy, storage facilities, social and financial services – and enabling policies backed by appropriate governance structures that ensure inclusiveness.

If we look at the countries that have met the Maputo commitment, we see that investing in agriculture works. Given that agriculture has become lucrative for private investors, and about 60% of the planet's available uncultivated agricultural land is in Africa, there is no mystery why we hear about so-called 'land grabs'. Opportunity draws foreign investors. There is nothing wrong with foreign investment. But it has to be managed, to the benefit of all.

What is a mystery is why, with such a vast potential and a young population just waiting for a reason to seize it, our African leaders do not announce that they will redouble their efforts to drive an inclusive rural transformation, with concrete commitments, that will make Maputo a reality. I hope that after the Malabo meeting, that will be a mystery no longer.

African economies have grown impressively. But it is time to stop focussing on GDP figures and instead focus on people. The majority of our people are engaged in agriculture, and the neglect of that sector must stop if we really want to realize the healthy, peaceful and food secure Africa that we know can be. It is not a dream; it is a responsibility.

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.

Win #NationHela Cards

Prepaid cards are really useful these days as there's so much you can buy on your phone or computer - such as purchases from app stores, online book stores and deal of the day sites. The best things about the cards like NationHela is that they only take money that you have, and send you an immediate alert on the remaining available balance by SMS. 

This is unlike with a credit cards, which, if you're nor careful, your purchases will creep up and hit you with a surprise when you see the bill a few weeks later. Yes, a few purchases of $3.99 and $9.99 items won't seem like much until you get a bill that is in Kshs '000 shillings.

NationHela has two cards to give away - each loaded with Kshs 2,000 (~$24). To win the first, leave a comment on what you think is a best feature of NationHela or a prepaid cards, and for the second, leave a comment suggesting how NationHela can improve. 

Blogging in 2013

Top blog posts in 2013

1. Consumer Guide on Solar for Homes
2. Kenya Bank Rankings 2012 (Part I) 
3. Kenyan M&A
4. Private Equity Moment
5. Subway (Restaurants) to Kenya
6. Why Unit Trusts are better than Bank Savings Accounts
7. Chama Management 101  (a book review) 
8. Paypal in Kenya
9. Base Titanium aims to be a model for the Kenya mining sector
10 Buyouts, Vultures, Divestments

So lot's of interest in reading up merger and investment activity in Kenya this year, but, overall, the top posts visited were Safaricom/CBA launch M-Shwari and Who Created M-Pesa  both published in 2012.

Tablet for Business Tales: Part I

How do you introduce someone who's watched the new world of tablets, launched with the first iPad, go by very rapidly and evolve into many stronger models three years later - and who does not believe in them? Very gently...! 

Despite the prevalence of iPads and other tablets at conferences, on the TV news, and even around Nairobi,  I still have not met anyone, other than @Wanyama, who uses a tablet productively as their main business device.

I recently got a generous offer to review the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 (Model GT-N5100) from Samsung Kenya after the recent 2013 Kenyan Blog Awards in which Samsung was a sponsor.  

The first order of business was to get a SIM card, and that was at Safaricom who also cut the card down to micro-SIM size with a special stapler. It's also very easy to switch the Note from Safaricom, to a Wi-Fi when you find a signal, and save on some money. I also bought a Micro SD card, but when it came to getting a hard shell/case for the Note that took a bit longer. I went to several shops, who all had a variety of 7" and 10" cases, and this is a new size in the market at 8" (the Note is aimed at Apple's new iPad mini), but eventually I found one at Fone Express.

Need to invest in larger Suit Jacket pockets

Another challenge was portability of the Note. It does not seem to fit in many jacket pockets, but larger pockets are something one should request from a tailor when ordering a suit in the future!

Tablet's are about apps, and there is a Google Play Store and a separate Samsung Store that I've not really tried. In the first month, from the Google one, I downloaded several apps I was familiar with such as:  

- Evernote (great when you take notes on different devices like laptop's or mobile phone and sync) and Adobe Reader

- Waze, Ma3Route and Ushahidi for Nairobi traffic updates

- Skype for communications

- The New York Times, Bloomberg, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal for news

- DSTV to see programming highlights

- Tried out several simple farming applications to track farm inputs and sales.

Road Bump: Swype is a nifty program that makes typing faster in touch screen devices. It costs $0.99 and I was able to buy it from the Google store (which also prices paid apps in Kenya Shillings) after I added my credit card details. However when I uploaded Swype, I found that I could not access the tablet as there was no keyboard to Swype/type in my access password on the top screen.

I spent a few days going back and forth with the Swype (online) and then Samsung (in Nairobi) teams without success and I had no choice but to go for the most radical option - which was to wipe out the tablet.  This seems to be a common issue in the tablet world in which people are constantly adding and deleting apps, some of which don't work properly, or compromise all devices. 

There were quite a few guides online and videos on YouTube  showing the simple commands to reset  it to factory mode - and fortunately it worked! Within a few minutes, the tablet was back to life, and once I got online, the previously downloaded apps were ready to re-install including Swype, which I've re-added, without incurring an additional charge.

So far the Note is growing on me. It's nice and easy to use for taking notes at meetings, where I previously used to carry around a laptop. With a hard case, and larger jackets, let's see where how far this can go.

Blogging in 2012

Top blog posts in 2012

5. Nation Hela to revolutionize revolutionize debit cards & diaspora remittances.

4. A review of the autobiography of Duncan Ndegwa, first governor of independent Kenya's Central Bank.  

3. Discover who created Safaricom's M-pesa.

2. A re-cap of Kenya's top banks in (year) 2011. 

1. The most read blog post (by a large margin) in 2012 was on Safaricom & CBA's launch of M-Shwari. 

Special thanks to @AngieNicoleOD for helping the blog move to a local domain address this year (after a long period of procrastination)

10 Business Blogs in East Africa

There are quite a few business blogs in East Africa, worthy of reading. In fact, there are way more, than 10, but that's a catchy title for the search engines. Here's a list of some business blogs found in over 10 categories, but feel free to add more in the comments section.

Architecture/Infrastructure: 

- Architecture Kenya  is about architecture in Kenya and tracks large projects. 

- East African Energy is about energy issues.
- new  Tom Makau on telecoomunications and the Power industry

- Thika Road Blog is all about Kenya’s new Highway from Nairobi to Thika. 

- Ujenzi Bora is about real estate & building best practices.

Business Writers/Economists:
Quite a few journalists & writers also blog on business issues including; 

- Andrea Bohnstedt is a risk analyst and column writer.
- new Biz Extra's

- Terry Anne Chebet is a business anchor with CCTV Africa.

A blog by Wolfgang Fengler, the World Bank Nairobi Economist. 

- Nairobi Tech is on corporate happenings in Kenya, mainly related to tech companies.  

- Naked Chiefs is about African geo-politics and issues around big man leadership
- Niti Bhan writes on the Prepaid Economy and other unique economics circumstances of low income people. 

- Wanjiku is an accomplished columnist, who focuses in ICT issues

Entrepreneurship: 

- How we Made it in Africa celebrates and discusses entrepreneurs and companies investing in Africa.
- InspiringGreatness001 is a blog about the Kenyan entrepreneurship experience that gives practical tips on how to build  a great company.

- Kenya Manual is a business guide that shows you the actual steps & processes of paying taxes and doing other things to keep a start-up or small business compliant with Kenyan laws.
- Mama Mikes blogs about growing a $50,000 company to a  $500,000 one

- Ratio Magazine is about risk analysis for entrepreneurs in this part of Africa risk analysis. 

- Timbuktu Chronicles  is an all time favourite that chronicles homegrown entrepreneurs and their achievements, even from countries that are rarely on the news radar.

General Financial Advice: - Centsible Woman  and Centonomy are on financial advice for women. -  Coldtusker  all round blogger on economics, corporate governance, voodoo & vulture economics! 

- Credit Kenya dissects the finance print in loans and other borrowing arrangements. 

- Huduma Bora  is a blog about customer service issues, taxation, and other business ideas from the perspective of a motor vehicle dealer. 

- The Kenya Capital Investment Group is on banking, mortgages, diaspora issues and Kenyan political risks. 

- Pesatalk is a new site that aggregates business news and articles from several young bloggers. 

- Rookie Manager is on personal financial advice & portfolio growth. 

- Zack Mukewa is a traveling economist & strategist.

- Other blogs on Nairobi Securities Exchange listings and offers include Contrarian Investing,  Frontier Markets, and Mashilingi.
- New Ashanti Research

ICT issues 

- A blog about open data.  

-  Kachwanya and Moses Kemibaro blog about new products, ICT happenings and local tech events in the region.

- Two blogs on intellectual property issues are IP Kenya and Afro-IP.  

- White African  is a Senior TED Fellow who writes about the big ICT picture and small locally-grown innovations (Afrigadgets)

Mobile Money blogs
- Read the Frontlinesms credit blog about extending financial services to under-served communities.

- The team at Kopo Kopo blog about extending the functionality of mobile money. 

-  Think M-pesa is all about M-Pesa, the mobile money platform popularized by Safaricom

Politics & Business: There's Mzalendo which tracks Kenya's parliament including new bills that it is discussing,  Mars Group Kenya which has several blogs and reports on the economic impact of corruption in Kenya and Kenyan Jurist looks at reforms in the court system which will have an impact on business dispute resolution. 

Tourism: Wolfgang Thome writes extensively about tourism developments in East Africa. Two other blogs are Murugi Njehia who reviews local tourism destinations and Njooro who's DianiLife should be the starting point for all visitors to Kenya's world famous Diani Beach.

Regional & around Africa 

- Amid the writing on opposition politics Ethiopia Review also has several write ups on agriculture, infrastructure and other developments in Ethiopia.

-  Linda Ikeji is a top Nigerian blogger and socialite who also writes a fair amount of stuff on aviation, infrastructure and other business happenings. 

- Imod.co.za is the one business & tech blog from South Africa to be followed.

- South Sudan is Africa's newest country, and Lorry Boys is a blog about a company that deals in specialized vehicles that are suited to the harsh terrain and infrastructure. 

- Issa Michuzi  is Tanzania's top blog. Written in Swahili, it's astounding to see the amount of corporate advertising on a Tanzania blog. 

- Zambian Economist writes about the country's economy and notably on the financial drain of taxpayer funds. 

-  Zimbabwe Absurdity bills itself as life and viewpoints from the world's 2nd worst economy. 

Social Media & branding:  There's Mark my Words, Marketing medicine for Africa and the team blog from Squad Digital.

Blogging in 2011

Last year was a very busy one, but which meant there were fewer blog posts. However, there was more collaboration and guest posting, as well as more travel tales, but with limits in what to write. While there were many more events to attend (sometimes two a day), there was some difficulty in finding what to write that was not better expressed on in short posts on twitter.

Fortunately, life as a consumer of goods, services, and information was an data source of posts - and here are the most read posts (published in 2011), some of which had links to others in the top 25.

1. Mututho a.k.a. the new Alcohol Law in Kenya was the most read post of the year.

2.Kenya bank rankings was a list of the top Kenyan banks for 2010.

3. Farewell Mars Group was written when this Kenya anti-corruption watchdog group suddenly shut down it’s website (but it's now back online).

4. Prepaid Electricity meters were rolled out by the Kenya Power & Lighting Company and many people who were in the dark searched online for information about the new system.

5. A post about Overlappers and bad driving was the most popular motoring post.

6. Pepsi in Kenya was about their quiet re-entry to this market. Somewhat related was a link to my guest post about KFC in Kenya (No. 24) that was published in the UpNairobi magazine.

7. Banks introduced a new cheque design & clearance system. But did it flop? (No. 23)

8. Guide to Accra by @Coldtusker was the top in the series of African capital travel series write-ups.

9. Another of the travel series was the Guide to Addis Ababa by @Kahenya which proved very useful as it gave me a last minute reminder not to fly to Ethiopia without a yellow fever certificate. Other popular travel tales were from the Hague (No. 19), Gaborone Botswana (No. 22) by @MarvinTumbo and Asmara in rarely visited Eritrea (No. 25).

10. More driving tales rounded up the top ten – this one focused on Thika Road as did another a guest post wondering how Kenyans will maintain Thika Road (No. 13) when the Chinese contractors leave.

11. Unplanned Infrastructure in Nairobi was the most popular real estate one, along with other posts on sector developments (No. 14), Tatu City (No. 20), and other Golf Resorts (No. 21)

Fun with Wordle

Inspired by Rookie Manager, here's a Wordle snap of some top words contained in this blog;

First World Problems in a Third World Country

Ory (@kenyanpundit) reigned some of us with a recent comment that people are complaining on twitter about a lack of parking at the Junction Mall in Nairobi, while there are people near there who don't have enough food to eat.

I realized that it's something that happens a lot. Today I spent the whole morning searching for cooking gas (LPG) which has been in short supply in Nairobi for about a month. Is that a superficial or a genuine subject worth ranting about?

Other common complaints on twitter include:
- Not having tap water or being caught in darkness when the electricity distributed by Kenya Power goes off (including both at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport - JKIA)
- MPesa downtime which are almost a weekly routine with Safaricom
- Bad service issues at the bank or with an internet service provider
- A delayed Kenya Airways flight
- Newly done roads that develop potholes within a few weeks
- Companies that don't respond to email
- Satellite TV that cuts off when it starts raining
- The increasingly bad traffic (and bad driving styles) around Nairobi

These are hardly life altering situations to tweet or complain about - and seem like trivial first world problems in a third world country. But they are unnecessary inconveniences for busy people with plans and appointments who have become accustomed to things like having regular electricity & internet connectivity, the ability to send money by phone at any time to any corner of the country, the convenience of boarding a flight to Mombasa and arriving in time for a court case or business appointment & return to Nairobi the same day, not having to pay a bribe or tip to get good customer service from a government or private office etc.

They have expectations of service that, when not met cause a un-anticipated re-deployment of resources usually precious time e.g. six hours driving around town, burning (sometimes scarce) petrol in search of (LPG) cooking gas or having to call in a previous favour to accomplish a routine matter.

The sad thing about this is that (at least in Kenya) politics is the missing link, and people here become accustomed to have low expectations about political class (Sonko) and their decision making. This is a fatal assumption as the 2007 election period showed and as we grapple with unnecessary & expensive challenges of infrastructure, distribution, under-employment, inflation, corruption, taxation, the solutions require the adherence of the political class to leave the third world

Cutting the Big Deals

A guest post by Shiroh.

Many people ask me how to make money especially because I work in an institution that helps people make money. I don’t know the answer, as I have little wealth myself, but I can give a few tips that I have learnt from those who do.

1. Read widely: Most people get information when it is no longer useful. Information is power, so the adage goes. Get information when it is hot. Don’t buy a share when the owners have already issued a good dividend - instead monitor the activities of that particular company for a period of time. Read the financial statements and its notes. The likelihood of making money when the dividend is announced is almost zero. Instead, read about the acquisitions/mergers the company is making. For example, what is the impact of Kenya Airways buying new planes? What is the effect of the international debt that Kengen and Safaricom keep taking periodically, on the company’s future profits? In short, do your research, and stay extremely informed.

Also read personal finance books and blogs. If there is one book I thank the heavens for, it is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. This is the book that introduced me to personal finance. These books are available everywhere, and have a look at them as ignorance is not bliss.

2. Have the money ready: If you are like any other Nairobian, you live from one pay slip to another, or you are on the verge of taking a credit card because the money is no longer enough to last a whole month. When deals come, it is your ability to pay for it, mostly in cash that counts. If you’re considering taking a loan, interest rates are quite high, so the returns will be wiped out.

You have put money away so that when an opportunity strikes, you will be in a position to take advantage of it, so Save! Save! Save! . If you cannot save Kshs. 2,000 ($24) per month, then you are unlikely to be able to Kshs. 20,000. Also consider:

- Joining a SACCO (Savings & Credit Society) if you don’t have the discipline to save.
- Have standing orders with your bank that automatically place money in savings accounts (which are not easily accessible).
- Resist the urge to spend on things you don’t immediately need.

3. Diversify your income: There is always something you can do outside of your job that could give you the extra money. You can read more on this here.

4. Use Professional advice: Many people think they can do everything without professional advice. Get a good lawyer, accountant, and financial advisor to before embarking on major steps. Just like you go to a doctor when you are sick, or a lawyer when you are making deals, also visit a financial advisor if you need to know how to invest.

5. Network: The big deals are made in small smoky bars. This means that you need to align yourself with the right people who know where the deals are. If this means joining your local rotary so that you can get the right introductions, do it. If it means doing more social work, do it. In short, the world is unfair to those who don’t know the rules of the game.

Corporate Blogging: from scarcity to abundance

Looking at the evolution of this blog over the last few years, and it has been one of transition from scarcity to abundance of events and subjects.

A few years ago it was rare to find events to write about. I was shareholder of less than half a dozen companies and was attending as many AGM’s as possible, and I was able to reach out to family and friends like @coldtusker for proxies to attend a dozen more AGM’s or investor briefings of companies with small registers.

Requests to company registrars for access to attend briefings were often stone walled and rejected with various answers like ‘what is a blog?’ ‘We only allow media’ i.e. TV radio newspaper. The distinction between blogger and journalists is not new and is not going away.

The scarcity largely changed around 2010 as a new gatekeeper emerged, in the form of branding and PR agencies that handled ‘media’ relations for many listed and unlisted companies. This was common at those with budgets to push out their products from new tariffs, new shares & IPO's, new products, but also to re-brand old or existing products & services. They PR people were about awareness, and creating attention, buzz, and conversation about the brands they oversaw, and recognized that online space - blogs, and lately twitter were ways to reach a diverse audience.

The agency that brands the company, and does PR recognize the online presence of an event or story for what it can do - better search placement, better archiving & retrieval for years to come) – and so the more press the better.

A recent article this week point out to a trend in the US where, to some extent, PR is replacing news as the gatekeepers of corporate world. This also partly happens here where many newspaper stories are actually repackaged press releases, readily disseminated by PR teams and summarized from complex to simple phrases to be instantly re-broadcast in a variety of channels.

The Probulica article lists the positives and negative of the PR vs. journalist trend, but for me, it means more opportunities than I can take up, several press releases, and invitations to events (sometimes 2 or 3 in a day) with the expectation that there will be some reciprocal coverage. I may not use everything, but I try and give feedback to the agency that monitors the brand or to the company itself. With the press releases, it may soon be a good idea to dedicate a blog area for press releases like Ratio magazine has done.

Payoff? Nah: Corporate blogging does not pay the bills in this part of the world, but it does get access that can be vital. In addition, new (online only) platforms have emerged like Rich.co.ke and Ratio Magazine which demonstrate that well structured analytic platforms can attract audiences, advertising, and funding.

Kenyan Guide to the Hague

A guest post

Arriving at Schipol, you can take a taxi to The Hague (around € 45) or for the budget conscious traveler, you can take the train (€ 7.90) to go to the Hague. Within The Hague, transport seems to consist of many, many cyclists, trams and cars. There are two bikes per Dutch person in the Netherlands, but despite knowing that the Dutch use bikes as the main way of getting around within the towns, it’s still a surprise to see all the people cycling to work, to the pubs, to the stores and pretty much everywhere.

When crossing roads, keep an eye out for the bike lane, the tram lane, AND the car lane. And you might want to obey the traffic lights as well, as the pedestrians also wait for the pedestrian crossing light to turn green before crossing, even in the absence of incoming cars. When being driven within The Hague, you might decry all the “wasted” driving lanes that are taken up by the bicycle lanes, but there is no overlapping from drivers into the bike lanes as the cyclists also seem to have significant cycling rights.

For accommodation in The Hague, there are a range of hotels to choose from. The Ibis hotel, part of an European chain is a pretty safe bet (€99 before tax), and is an environmentally friendly hotel , no frills hotel. Prepare for sticker shock for meals though as breakfast goes for €15.

You can get around even if you speak no Dutch, as almost everyone in the service and retail industry speaks English. Window-shop in the Noordeinde area which has really high end shops located near the Noordeinde Palace. Make sure you soak in the old architecture while you’re there (Google says the Palace was built in the 16th century). The real shopping takes place in Grote Marktstraat where many retail electronics, clothing, shoes, bath and body retails chains have stores, and there are plenty of small shops that sell the distinctive blue and white Delft pottery.

To get the full tourist experience, take a day trip to Amsterdam which has great shopping and tourist attractions. The Van Gogh Museum and the Rijk Museum are must sees. For sightseeing and shopping, a good place to start is Dam Square where shops are flanked by waterways, and with tourists attractions like Madame Tussauds . Many of the international chains have retails stores in this area. Amsterdam isn’t of course Amsterdam without a visit to the Red Light District, so if you can, try and see that as well.

Biggest surprise about Holland? That the dikes aren’t brick walls that prevent the sea from flooding the country. They’re more miles and miles of mounds of earth. Oh, and this boy? He never existed as part of Dutch history. It’s an American children’s story!

DABRA 2011

The 2011 Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards - DABRA were launched today in Nairobi, Kenya and entries are invited from all African countries for the winners to be announced in London later this year.

The 2011 DABRA's will feature entries for blogs, podcasts, online content, print, radio and TV entries, published or broadcast between 18 April 2010 and 20 March 2011. Entries can be submitted in eleven categories - ICT feature, finance feature, infrastructure feature, agribusiness / environment feature, tourism feature, use of new media in a story, business news story, business feature story, newcomer, media of the year and journalist of the year and the deadline is March 21 2011.

The 2010 awards attracted 750 entries that were narrowed down to the finalists including this post.

How is the GOP’s opposition to Obama’s decision affecting USA?

A Guest Post by Jason Holmes

The Grand Old Party or the GOP very commonly known had asked President Obama to fire his entire economic advisors because they had failed to take out recession and job loss problems out of the country. The decisions taken by Barrack Obama are criticized every now and then by the GOP. Take a look at how the compromises are forced in to the decisions of Obama and how it in turn is devastating the country.

Republicans against the financial reform by Obama

Barrack Obama’s decision to sign a bill for financial security in the country is jeopardized by the strong opposition from the GOP. The decision lies in the regulation of derivates which are financial instruments and their value depends on the underlying assets such as mortgages or stocks. But there is also the risk that these assets can sink giving rise to losses and other financial crisis. 41 Republicans are against any bill by the Democrats including this bill. It’s predicted that the regulation of derivates market is quite risky and will badly affect the small businesses as well as community banks. But even if there were some of the well-known financial crises in USA due to the regulation of risky derivates, it can also reduce the loss and produce huge profits if the underlying assets don’t sink.

Obama fears for the failure of bipartisan prospects

In the new reports it has been recorded that Obama is not against a lot of decisions of the Republicans but fears that he won’t be able to take other decisions freely if the GOP runs the House. He wants to make some changes in education and energy-related decisions that have been overlooked. He fears that if GOP comes into power, he won’t be able to make any decisions regarding foreign policies even. His bipartisan cooperation prospects are looking bleak due to the GOP opposition at every step. But if given a chance, Obama’s decision may work for the betterment of the country but due to the problems in the House due to the Republicans, public is showing less interest in any decisions. Since the term of Barrack Obama started in 2008, Republicans have shown very little interest in working with Obama or the Democrats in the whole.

GOP create problems for Obama for building foreign relations

Obama has taken decisions to bring US troops from Afghanistan back to the country by July, 2011. But Republicans oppose this decision and say that it’s arbitrary and that war commanders shouldn’t withdraw forces just like that. Obama’s plan to improve relations with other countries such as Cuba and Iran is also not accepted by the Republicans. They fear that if there is no border control, US may have to face another war since the World War II. But against the Republican concepts, Obama’s decision may mean peace with other countries and no war.

USA and EU relations affected if GOP comes to power

As per the latest reports, it’s foreseen that the relations between America and European countries may come to a halt when the GOP comes into power. Obama’s decision to have good relations with European countries especially Turkey will be highly affected and opposed by the Republicans. If the New Strategic Arms Control Treaty with Russia is signed by Obama and the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, it may lower limits of both the nations’ nuclear arsenals. But the Republicans are not sure whether or not Russia would be fair in its decisions to be fair.

Whether Barrack Obama or the Republicans take decisions, they should always use a fool proof plan so that it positively affects the country. In their fight to stay in power, both the Democrats and the Republicans are overlooking the public interest. The downfall of the big economic countries led to the financial crisis. They must look for reforms to improve the countries financial status and create more jobs.

About the author: Jason Holmes is a regular writer with debtcc community and is also a contributory writer with other financial sites. His expertise is woven around various aspects of the debt industry and with his e-books he tries to impart to people the different situations and simple solutions to get out of difficult situations. Some of his works include e-books like ‘Credit Score The Quintessential Therapy for a Happy Pocket’, Take Creditors and Collection Agencies to Small Claims Court’ and, My Story- From Depression To a Smile’.

Best of 2009

recapping 2009: 2009 has been another great year, for me in blog world. I was trying to do a year-end post, and decided to adapt from ken banks formula by analyzing the most read blog posts.

the top 10 were
1. Kenya exam results online
2. Safaricom jobs & other business
3. KCSE Results are out
4. Nairobi Kenya Jobs
5. Where to buy Shares
6. Media Bill 2008
7. Jobs with Emirates Airlines
8. Bank’s Need to Embrace MPesa
9. Money Transfer within Kenya
10. Safaricom Success

so what are Kenyans looking for online? Jobs, exam results and money transfer? But many of these posts are a few years old, and ½ the blog traffic is from search engines and just 25% is direct visits. So I put on my Kivuitu hat and refined the searches to look at direct traffic and posts from 2009 alone and the tally was:

1. Media Bill 2008
2. Which Kenyan Bank Has Best Transaction . . .
3. Kenya Infrastructure Bond
4. M Pesa IPO
5. Urban Inflation Index (March 2009)
6. Zain In Kenya
7. Equity Bank 2009 AGM
8. Mostly Equity Laptop Ni Lazima
9. M Pesa As Low Cost Bank Account
10. KCB And Triton
11. Google Launches Local Maps Domain
12. Analyzing Kenya Pipeline
13. Mindspeak With Professor Calestous Juma
14. Money Transfer In Kenya
15. Zuku Slashes Kenya Internet Prices
16. Nairobi Stock Exchange Fiddles
17. Athi River Board Mining Evicts Bamburi
18. Skunkworks Nairobi September 29
19. Best Bank For Netpreneurs
20. Pyramid Schemes In East Africa

so popular reading topics are cheaper banking, financial scandals, money transfer, local tech events, and again money transfer

In terms of blogging there have been positives and negatives in 2009

ayes - Peaceful Kenya: and many ex-diasporans continue to stream back and set up tech & other business ventures
- Pictures: after several years of procrastination, got a camera from a fellow blogger and have tried to incorporate a relevant picture in every post; the best picture I think I’ve taken was during the ‘test’ period before got the camera – (forest in Kericho) – maybe it’s just the beauty of the area and not my skills, and the first one is fireworks from a wedding I attended last week.

- Also thanks to a fellow blogger, I finally got onto twitter, two years late - and if you’re not on it (individual or local company), you’re missing the world.
nays - vitriol and in-fighting in the small local blog community remind one to be careful while networking in the online world
- did not travel outside Kenya. I made many local trips, but I need to breathe kerosene fumes and eat re-heated airline dinners; travel blogs are the most fun and I plan to have some more in 2010, maybe even the world cup in south Africa
- facebook goes mainstream, but the endless tweaks they make take away form the experience

Missing the TED Party

The ongoing TED Conference in California makes me thing back to the remember TED Global that was held in Arusha, Tanzania in 2007. From the opening talk by Euvin Naidoo President to the last talk President Jakaya Kiwkete this TED conference was a unique event; it was a magical event full of euphoric, optimistic and inspiring moments. Links, networks and friendship were formed and the path was set out to open a new chapter for Africa, through business & investment, with diseases & poverty largely eradicated. Sadly in 2009 not much has change in the continent and even some of the shining economic models then like Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, have had politics overshadow and handicap their economic ambitions.

Housekeeping

New tools
- Heard about Twitter in Arusha, but only signed up last month. It’s a bigger world than blogging, and fills in a lot of the gaps e.g. found something unique, but too small to post, or you just want to share in a second via mobile phone? Twitter’s the answer!
- Never has much interest in photography as a blog tool, but got a camera now, so fellow shutterbugs - Hash, Mental, Afromusing, Mweshi - your influence has rubbed off, and I’ll be throwing in random photos of travel and daily work events here are a few


forest near Kericho


I found the Ark


would you steal these hotel sandals?

Getting some love
- Bankelele is listed as one of the 100 best blogs to learn about Africa - not sure how selection was made, but there are some interesting reads on that list 87 Bankelele. Banking and business are at the forefront of this blog written by a Nairobi banker.
- The best way to learn about blogs in other parts of Africa or the non western (US, Europe) world is through Global Voices. They have a post that mentions the top ranked blogs in Africa with Bankelele (ranks 18) from Kenya who writes about baking banking, finance and investment in Kenya and Bongo Celebrity (ranks 20)
- The Business Daily ( a Kenyan financial newspaper) had a feature on blogging with topics like Blog post revolution hits corporate Kenya, Blogs command attention of corporate world, Blogs emerge as avenues for making money, Companies use online platform to monitor views from the public, Fibre optic cable to pave way for corporate blogging, Mounting lawsuits could sound death knell for social sites and What is likely to compete with the mainstream media which noted Some are born out of events like bankelele.com Bankelele, started in 2004 after the blogger attended a “very riotous AGM.” And he describes his blog as “ It’s my diary of financial events —and as a banker and investor. I use it to keep track of pertinent events.

Anyway, I hope to link up with some friends from TED and collaborate on projects in the future and that the Business Daily leads to more corporate blogging opportunities and ideas in this part of Africa.