Monthly Archives: April 2007

VC Fund update

More on the $40 million VC fund set up by the Africa venture capital association and East African development. It will invest $100,000 to $2 million in SME’s for expansion & modernization, as well as start-ups led by exceptionally qualified entrepreneurs. Advantages of getting funds is that unlike bank loans, you don’t have to pledge assets or incur subsequent loan repayments

Jobs

The Africa Development Bank is currently accepting applications for its Young Professional Program (YPP). Details at their site and D/L is 10/5.

Celtel: Product development manager (Comm-mkt-02/07), Product developer (Comm-mkt-03/07). Apply to hr@ke.celtel.com by 4/5

Kenya Airways: Manager – hub & airport systems (I/065/04-07), Revenue management systems administrator (C/066/04-07)
Apply to the group HRD 19002 Nairobi by 14/5

Foundation manager at KCB. Apply to recruitment@kcb.co.ke by 9/5

Safaricom: Head of Retail, Head of Customer Management, Materials Inspection Officer, Senior CRM System Developer, Business Intelligence Developer.

Fund manager at the above mentioned VC fund. Apply to EADB@avcanet.com by 14/5

The Young Professionals Program (YPP) of the World Bank. apply online by 15/7

Travel with Safaricom

Safaricom has hooked up with MTN in Uganda (and Vodacom in Tanzania to combat Celtel’s East African no roaming package) to enable their customers to use their phones kama kawaida in East Africa as well and the service works great.

With MTN you even have get to enjoy their cool location prompt that tells you where you are with your phone e.g. Entebbe avenue, constitution street, Bumbu, Luwum street, Speke, etc. that scared safaricom customers one day in 2006.

Only problem with Safaricom is that their cards are very difficult to find and sold at very few locations. Only MTN stores sell them in Kampala and they are making a killing. A 500-shilling card goes for 16,300 shillings at about a 30% mark-up, while a 100-shilling card is priced over by about 36%. Still it’s worth the convenience of having affordable access to your contacts and messages.

Stanbic apples & oranges

Standard Bank (of South Africa) operates as Stanbic in other parts of Africa.

Here’s a snapshot comparison of the 2006 financial results of Stanbic Kenya and Stanbic Uganda.

Stanbic Kenya is unlisted while several Kenyans participated in the 2006 Stanbic Uganda IPO which was relatively cheap owing to the exchange rate difference (25:1) between Kenya and Uganda. The Stanbic (UG) IPO was partly blamed for the performance of the Mumias (Kenya) rights issue whose uptake was judged to be average.

Merger talks between Stanbic (K) and CFC which is another locally listed Kenyan bank are at an advanced stage. So how do the bank’s compare?

Approximate figures in US$

Rank
Uganda Stanbic (1 in Uganda)
Kenya Stanbic (9 in Kenya)
CFC (10)

Assets
Uganda Stanbic $725 million
Kenya Stanbic 378 million
CFC 371 million

Deposits
Uganda Stanbic $513 million
Kenya Stanbic 289 million
CFC 271 million

Loans
Uganda Stanbic $195 million
Kenya Stanbic 166 million
CFC 220 million

Pre-tax Profits
Uganda Stanbic $32.3 million
Kenya Stanbic 13.4 million
CFC 9.9 million

You are not me

You know it’s time to change your bank when you have to line up before the bank doors open and are stuck in a barely moving line for the next 30 minutes after it opens – as the tellers are too few and the processing system is slow.

But that’s what you get for cheap banking especially with their foreign exchange dealing and processing charges so low & attractive.

Running the Mara

The outcry from President Kibaki’s decision to return the Amboseli Park to the Masai community prior to the 2005 referendum was probably influenced by the impression that community was incompetent and would run down Amboseli reserve in no time. But the Masai Mara, Samburu, Baringo and other reserves are all run by local communities and rather successfully – even from before Kenya got its independence (in 1963).

Narok County Council: Said to be the richest council in the country, thanks largely to its stewardship of the Masai Mara. I can’t vouch for its financial efficiency but they have maintained the park well. They collect gate fees (no KWS smart cards here), undertake road repair within the parks, approve construction/expansion of lodges/camps in the park and hires rangers to guard the animals and the surrounding forest. The revenue collected is meant to be shared among communities and the council also controls the issuance of title deeds to the community with a subtle view to discouraging transfers to ‘outsiders.’

Roads: You need a true 4WD to get around the Mara which can get muddy and flooded when it rains. There is some serious road repair work going on, and roads inside the park are generally better than those leading to the park. However, I get the feeling that it doesn’t bother the tourists as much as it does locals (vehicle owners, hotel suppliers, tour operators) since it’s all part of their TIA experience.

Numbers to know:
5 – The number of airstrips in the Mara
4 – Types of hyaena exist – and that’s how it is spelt, not hyena
0 – Number of lodges that will be constructed inside the Mara as the council feels it is too crowded. Hence new projects are coming up along the fence or just outside the Mara.

More on property development at other parks