Monthly Archives: March 2006

Homeless part IV (final chapter – pocket healing)

I got my apartment deposit back from just in time to ease a cash crunch. I got 54,000 shillings out of an initial deposit of 60k and after the landlord deducted some charges;
– They tried to charge me 3,000 for a loose shower fixture, but I showed them my move in report from a year ago – which showed the shower was loose when I moved in (and they never fixed it despite my complaints).
– Phantom charge of 3,000 for a broken toilet cistern, which I disputed. They called the apartment manager who still insisted that it was broken, so I had to accept to get out of there quickly.
– I also accepted that a kitchen tile was broken and a socket needed repairing.
– The lease also stated that I had to repaint the apartment and varnish the floor, which could have been a bit of a hassle since I didn’t know any painters. There was a handyman at the compound who offered to do it at a slightly expensive charge. Eventually I gave him the go-ahead since I figured that my payment would go around – and sure enough, the paint job was certified good and did not affect my deposit.

Kengen
Took the cash, put some of it in a savings account and the rest is for Kengen, Express Kenya and Crown Paint shares. Moving has meant an expensive few months during which I have reluctantly sold shares in Kenya Airways, East African Breweries and Mumias Sugar to meet moving costs and other unexpected expenses

– The lines of Kengen applicants were still long at the stockbroker, but much improved from last week when they went round the block.
– The IPO is heading for a massive over subscription even with over 600 million shares available
– I can’t wait for next IPO’s Scangroup (69 million shares) and Sarova hotels

Banks
Today, March 31, was the deadline for all banks to publish their 2005 results.

Citibank Kenya (no. 6 in assets)
Increased government securities by 4.5b to 8.5 billion and deposits by 3b to 22.7 billion shares. fee income dropped from 322m to 291 million but increased interest income and reduced provisions and operating expenses meant profit went up 3.5x from 354m to 1,285m.

Commercial Bank of Africa (No. 7)
after consolidating with First American bank, CBA’s assets increased from 20b to 30 billion shillings. Profit before tax was up to 1,294m including exceptional items. The Bank acquired 33% of AIG insurance during the year and intends to recapitalise by 500m.

Prime (No. 18 )
Loans went up by 800m to 3.4b and deposits increased by 1.2b to 5.8b. Pre tax profit increased from 103m to 125m despite higher operating expenses.

EABS
As Akiba Bank used to be about bank no. 25 but will be ranked about 15 following the merger with east African building society last year. Loans went up by 1.6b to 3.9b and deposits increased by 3.7b to 6.7b. though interest income was down, the bank reduced its operating expenses resulting in a turnaround from a 62m loss in 04, to a modest 7m pre-tax profit in 2005.

Middle East (No. 30)
No change in deposits and loans.. Fee income reduced, but net interest income improved such that their pretax profit went up 3x from 36m to 115m

Chase (No. 35)
Had a remarkable turnaround from loss of 92m in ’04 to a profit of 61m last year largely from reduced provision for bad debts. Deposits and loans both increased by 400m to 1.7b

Family Finance
This should be Kenya’s next bank and is expected to be licensed in June 2006. Deposits were up by 1b to 2.8b as were loans by 700m to 1.67b. Its fast growth showed as operating expenses almost doubled from 388m to 621m. Profit was up slightly from 91m to 94m.

Jobs
Consultants: Senior bank supervision advisers at the Central Bank of Kenya as part of the FLSTAP program. Deadline is April 19

Kenya Airports Authority
– manager logistics
– purchasing manager consumables
Apply through Hawkins associates (www.hawkins.co.ke) at hawkins.associates@khigroup.com

Kenyatta University
– senior planning manager
– public relations manager
– human resource manager
– catering & accommodation manager
– legal officer
Apply to kudvcadmin@wananchi.com by April 21. institution still has archaic procedure in that if you apply by snail mail (P O Box) you must include 14 copies of all your application documents.

human resource manager at KLSA pannell kerr forster . apply to pkfnbi@ke.pkfea.com by 14 April.

acquiring manager at a multinational bank. Apply through Deloitte at esd@deloitte.co.ke by April 7.

Numerous jobs at the National Aids Control Council. Apply to hr@nacc.or.ke by April 21

Senior manager /change management at Post Bank. Apply to the director HR p o box 30311-00100 Nairobi by April 21.

Account manager at Siemens. Apply to jobs@siemens.co.ke by April 14.

Deputy integrity coordinator at USAID’s office of president emergency plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR). Apply by April 7 to mgallo@usaid.gov

ICT/Outsourcing opportunities
The international finance corporation (IFC) and ICT Park (www.ictpark.com) are offering courses from 10th to 25th April at Safari Park Hotel
– Outsourcing for operators
– Outsourcing for associates

Banking, Corruption, Jobs

IMF on Kenya
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will only support drought operations in Kenya until their next review of country operations at the end of April.

Report corruption online
At the new Kenya Anti Corruption Commission KACC website. The launch was graced by Parliament Speaker, Francis Ole Kaparo, whose office is not so not so enthusiastic about websites.

Barclays improves
Barclays has joined the growing list of progressive banks by installing an ATM that accepts cash & cheque deposits at its Queensway House Branch. Many more are sure to follow.

More 2005 banks
I&M (No. 10). Loans and customer deposits increased by over 3 billion to 11b and 14.8b respectively. The Bank also increased its share capital by 500m during year.

Housing Finance (No. 14) reduced government securities from 1,346m to 796m while loans were flat at 6.5b. Profit before tax was also the same at around 100m.

Baroda (No. 15) loans increased from 2.7b to 3.4b while customer deposits also increased from 7.1b to 8b. However paying higher interest on customer deposits resulted in profit before tax dipping from 274m to 238m.

Bank of India (No. 17) Loans increased by 700m, deposits by 800m, and profit before tax increased from 73m to 80m.

Fina (No. 19) which has a significant Rwanda operation bounced back from a 2004 loss of 51m to a 2005 profit of 95m largely from reduced provision for bad debts.

Giro (No. 21) which was acquired in September by the State Bank of India went from an 04 profit of 14m to a loss of 6m in 2005 largely due to increased operating expenses.

Southern Credit (No. 26) the credit card powerhouse increased deposits by 500m to 3.6b. But paying higher interest on deposits and increased operating expenses halved profits from 61m to 31m.

Victoria (No. 27) customer deposits and placements were each up by 500m to 5.58b and 1.56b respectively. While fee income was flat, profit before tax increased from 45m to 124m largely from increased interest income.

Habib (No. 32) bank (not to be confused with the other Habib AG Zurich) posted a reduced profit of 21m, down from 94m, owing to increased interest on deposits and provision for bad debts.

Consolidated (No. 33) reduced their ’04 loss from 90m to 13m in 2005. While staff costs increased from 150m to 195m, they were able to contain other operating expenses.

Fidelity (No. 37) improved from a ’04 profit of 1m to a 23m in 2005 owing to increased fee and commission income and reduced provisions for bad debts.

Paramount Universal (No. 39) loans increased from 758m to 892m and profit also went up from 12 to 16m.

Other Developments

Tax war
Between the United Business Association and the Kenya Revenue Authority over the issue of electronic tax registers

Tourism
The 2006 tourism expo targeting the low season kicks off at the Sarit Center on March 31.

Solar for tourists: Mombasa beach hotel is seeking a solar-based water heating system (deadline is April 28).

Jobs

British American tobacco
– Accounts assistants
– Trainee technical operators
Apply by April 12 to hr_batkenya@bat.com

CFC Bank
– Communications/network engineer
– Database administrator
– Software engineer
Apply to the senior manager HR P O Box 72833-00200 Nairobi by April 10

East African Breweries
– Demand planning manager
– Field logistic coordinators
Apply by April 12 to hrrecruitment@eabl.com

East African Standard
– Head of ICT services
– Head of HR services
Apply to pa-gceo@eastandard.net by April 10

Research & development manager at an investment bank. Apply to fke@wananchi.com by April 12.

Manager customs & excise at Pricewaterhousecoopers. apply to recruitment.ke@ke.pwc.com by April 13

Various jobs at the Kenya Meat Commission which plans to resume operations in June ’06.
– Apply to the Federation of Kenya employers at fke@wananchi.com for production manager, quality control manager livestock manager, internal auditor, HR & admin manager and finance manager positions.
– Former employees under 55 years who were in following departments – technicians, production, machine operators meat cutters, and packers are invited to apply to kenyameatcom@africaonline.com.

Syriana & Maendeleo Monday

Banking

Guardian (Bank no. 24) ended 2005 with a pre-tax profit of 56 million (m)shillings.

K-Rep (No. 29 ) pre tax profit was cut in half from 110m to 48m by increased staff and operating expenses.

Oriental (No. 38) The former Delphis and former BCCI is still in the red but showed improvement in reducing its pre-tax loss from 369m to 86m. The Bank also re-capitalized from 376m to 723m.

Dubai (No. 40) Pre-tax profit was about 30m same as in ’04 at the high interest margin bank.

Housing

New housing
(i) 240 houses in Ndumberi, Kiambu, 24 km from Nairobi comprising 3 and 4 bedroom (br) bungalows.
(ii) Phase 1 of Diamond Park housing estate comprising 155 houses in South B next to balozi & hazina estates. The final complex will have 850 4-br maisonettes.

No boom
According to the Sunday Nation the so-called Nairobi property boom was only a speculative bubble that was confined to upmarket areas like kileleshwa and kilimani. A true boom would have seen housing prices appreciate in all parts and in all housing segments in the city.

Agriculture

Tetu kicking
Tetu coffee is still alive despite almost three years of frustrating hurdles. The company has applied for a coffee buyer/dealer license as well as packers & roasters license to process 400,000 kilos of coffee per year.

Relief for farmers
Good news for farmers as a new scheme will enable them to be paid on time. It involves the Agricultural Finance Corporation, Kenya Seed Company, and National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).

This will help in the perennial problem of late payments that leave farmers at the mercy of middle-men who extend goods to unpaid (and broke) farmers at exorbitant rates to plant as they await late payments for their previous seasons crop. Also the NCPB has been losing out on deliveries as farmers prefer to sell maize to middlemen who, even though they pay less per bag than NCPB, give cash upfront and collect crops directly at the farms. Farmers are then able to use the money to meet holiday expenses, school fees etc.

It would also be nice to see more trade finance banks get involved with similar products to farmers.

The scheme looks good on paper, but in real life, there are crafty Kenyans who convert schemes into scams e.g. Goldenberg and now others who have imported luxury cars bila duty under a simba scheme that was meant to enable faster clearing of vehicles.

ICT

Bigger site
Alexa.com has sparked a media war between the nation (rank 12,963) and the standard (rank 13,277) over who has Kenya’s leading online media website.

Mobile office
Safaricom has introduced Pocket Office – a mobile email solution.

Consulting opportunities
(i) The East African Portland Cement company is inviting bids for the design, supply, and installation of a new 80-tph cement mill factory. Apply by April 26.
(ii) The GJLOS program is inviting bids for consultants to supply, install, and maintain an intelligence and investigation application system for the Kenya Anti Corruption Authority. Apply to KPMG by April 28.

At the movies
Saw, and enjoyed, Syriana over the weekend which was a very complex & nice movie done by the writer of Traffic and the similarities are apparent in the parallel inter-weaving storylines. However, after watching it, I must say the George Clooney did not deserve a best-supporting actor award and that better performances were given, within the movie by both Matt Damon who plays an energy trader and Alexander Siddig, who plays the prince who plans to save his oil-rich country.

50/50 for women

cashing in my dividend from bar talk

Earlier prediction that men misbehaving would result in first woman Vice Chancellor (not Chancellor) and first woman governor at the Central Bank of Kenya was part true, though Jacinta Mwatela should be confirmed at CBK by the end of the month.

Accidents, Weddings, Banks & Jobs

Accident
Went for fish lunch yesterday and got to see some free street entertainment in the process. I was crossing the road at the Treasury, when a motorcade pulled up to the intersection. It was the vice president and his crew and I paused to admire the cars and especially the Range Rover he was riding in (similar to the one that Minister Ndwiga caught flak for using)

The Escort Mercedes cars lit up their sirens and some of the bodyguards, who were chewing on toothpicks (after lunch), now put their hands out of the open windows to stop traffic as the cars entered the main road.

Suddenly there was a screech of brakes as a speeding Toyota driver jammed on his brakes but unfortunately went on to swipe into the front of one of the Mercedes cars. The VP’s range rover and other cars then sped off leaving the merc crew to deal with the errant driver.

They jumped out and surrounded the car, looking agitated with radios and mrundu’s sticking out of their jackets. The Toyota driver also got out in shock at the incident. As usual in Nairobi, a curious crowd of onlookers soon formed. Damage was slight – a few scrapes at the front of each car, but then what happens when you have an accident with an uninsured GK car?

I was too hungry to watch any more of this drama and so went on to lunch. When I passed back 30 minutes later, the cars had driven a few yards to police headquarters, the crowd was still there, and the drivers were explaining to traffic police officers who have now arrived, just what had happened. A typical Nairobi day, hope it ended well for all…..

Wedding
I got called by long-missing cousin to stand in as witness to his wedding at Sheria house. My main worry was what happened to his previous ‘wife’ he used to have years ago. He assured me that they had never been married, no church or traditional ceremony. I was relieved that there were no past wives and I would not be falsely swearing when I witnessed his ‘first’ wedding.

It was a simple no hassle five minute ceremony that cost 1,700 shillings including the license. And it made me question all the Saturday wedding functions I have attended that cost half a million shillings and involved white flowers, clothes from Turkey, borrowed ranges rovers (see above), three hour church services and all-day functions that unite the couple for the rest of their lives or until their tolerance for each other ends…..

Banks
Co-operative Bank (No. 4) continued its fast growth and turnaround as it doubled pre-tax profits from 354m to 706 million shillings. Deposits grew by 8b to 43 billion, while loans went up by 2b to 29b and the Bank increased its investment in government securities by 5b to 8.2 billion shillings during the year.

Bank of Africa (No. 20) The former Credit Agricole Indosuez increased customer deposits by 1b to 4.1 billion and doubled its cash placements from 517m to 1,015m shillings.

ABC Bank (No.24) Increased loans by 600m to 2.6 billion and deposits by 800m to 4.2b while commission income remained flat.

Banker-a-courting Several bankers are not having a great week including Central Bank governor Andrew Mullei who was charged by the anti-corruption court and former KCB manager Elijah Bii who was unable to bail himself out of Goldenberg-related charges. Of all the recent prominent people charged with corruption, he is one of the few who has not secured himself financially and has spent the last few years dodging auctioneers.

Opportunities

Jobs

Bidco
– area sales in charge
– territory sales supervisors
– apply to careers1@bidco-oil.com by April 5

Kenya Airways
– Information systems auditor
– Head of medical & occupation health
– Technical instructors (avionics and airframe & power plant)
Apply to group human resource director, P O Box 19002 Nairobi by April 3

Kenya Commercial Bank
– national retail manager
– head of business banking
– head of customer service
Apply through Hawkins associates or hawkins.associates@khigroup.com by April 3.

Standard group
– head of HR services
– head of ICT services
Apply to the CEO at pa-gceo@eastandard.net by April 3.

World Bank
The WB is seeking consultants to conduct an evaluation study on Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Communities in Kenya. The services include the collection of four rounds of detailed household survey data at 1500 homes in Western Kenya, the collection and microbiological analysis of water and fingerprint samples collected in homes and at drinking water sources. The closing date for submitting expressions of interest is March 27. 

Education Opportunities

St. Andrews Turi
various teaching jobs are available at the famous boarding school.

Scholarships
University of Nairobi is awarding PHD scholarships in economics. Apply by April 30 to economics@uonbi.ac.ke

Help a school
As part of their 60th anniversary celebrations the Davis & Shirtliff company will donate water equipment to needy primary schools. Apply to marketing@dayliff.com by March 31.