Monthly Archives: November 2011

Guide to Dakar (Senegal)

A guest post by Angela (@Honoluluskye)

I will preface this entry by saying that this was a very short trip for a conference, held at a luxury hotel. Being very busy with conference events, I was unable to travel out of the hotel environment more than a couple of times. Hence, I know that this is a skewed perspective of the country, but hope it helps!

Getting There I flew the most direct route available from Nairobi to Dakar via Kenya Airways. We stopped in Mali on the way over and stopped in Ivory Coast on the way back. Including the one-hour stop to refuel, the entire flight from Nairobi to Dakar took approximately 9 hours. The roundtrip flight cost of $1,450 was more than it costs me to fly to the US from Kenya!

There were no unexpected taxes upon arrival. As an American citizen, I was lucky in that I also did not need a visa, and they simply stamped my passport upon entry. It was not as easy for my Kenyan colleagues as some had not arranged for a visa’s prior to leaving Kenya and therefore had to leave their passports at the airport. But at least they were able to enter the country! Not sure if they had to pay some fees on their way out…

Language: French is used everywhere. There is also mother tongue for many people though and I heard some Wolof being spoken in downtown. I believe there may be an English newspaper though I did not see one. It was difficult for me to communicate because I don’t speak French and most don’t speak English.

Getting aroundI had a free hotel transport van waiting for me so don’t know the real cost of taxi from airport. But I found out that from the Radisson Blu back out to the airport via taxi, (flagged down from the hotel), was about 5,000 CFA (~ 10 USD). I know that this was expensive, and it’s the maximum that you pay.

I hired a taxi to take me to the various markets in Dakar for three hours. The driver started out saying 20,000 CFA; we haggled and he was pretty stubborn, until we finally agreed to 12,000 CFA. But he accompanied me around to all of the markets and also acted sort of like a bodyguard/escort the entire time, which I appreciated. Therefore, I ended up giving him 18,000 CFA for about 3.5 hours of driving around. Usually, reasonably short, one-time, taxi rides should cost about 1,000 CFA (and if you can speak French you can probably get it down to about 850 CFA).

Popular transport for locals are walking and also a matatu-looking bus (see picture). These are usually brightly painted, and the doors open up on the back of the vehicle making them sort of look like police vehicles. I am not sure the French name for these vehicles…

It felt very safe walking around, even at night, as is the case in many Muslim countries, however the advice given was to take a taxi. There were also many MANY joggers/runners alongside the beach during sunrise, and sunset and you’d observe many practicing Muslims, washing their feet and faces in the street.

Business & Infrastructure
– CommunicationsInterestingly enough, upon immediate exit from the airport, all of the touts waiting outside were trying to sell… ORANGE SIM cards for mobile phones. I had a Safaricom line, but did not activate it for international use, and so it did not work in Senegal. The Wi-Fi in the hotel was not as good as I would have expected.
– Roads: They were smooth tarmacked roads, with NO TRAFFIC! Woah! And it’s 4 pm on a Wednesday! How is that even possible??
– Hotels: I stayed at the Radisson Blu which was incredibly expensive, in the range of 200-450 Euros/night. It had reliable electricity, but I don’t know if it was run on a generator.

Shopping & Sight-Seeing: Some of the major shopping markets are Cour des Maures, Sandaga, Tileene, Colobane, HLM. Sightseeing places were the National monuments and Institut Francais. The beach is two minutes out of the airport, and as soon as you get off the airplane you can smell the salt in the air… nice!

Getting around, I spent 10-20 USD on food and about 100 USD on gifts. I learned that Senegal has very nice silver jewelry. Here is an artisan/jewelry maker whom I was impressed with by his creative designs and reasonable prices.

– Food & Drink: The main local dishes were fruits, vegetables, and rice. There are some nice French places to eat as well.

Summary: Similar to Cairo but more African/French.

Guide to Kampala

A guest post by a visitor to the exotic land of Museveni and Matoke!

There are several airlines flying daily to Entebbe (the international airport is an hour’s drive from Kampala) and these include Fly540 and Kenya Airways which cost about $250 and $300 respectively for a round trip. There is also Air Uganda which just celebrated its fourth anniversary this month.

Getting There: Entebbe Airport was fantastic, well organized, manned, signed, and even though we landed at midnight, it put JKIA to shame. The best thing I like about it was that there were no forms to fill!. The taxi was $35, but I think we got taken for a “ride” – we were approached by the official airport taxi guy and shown those rates, but were sat in another taxi and he didn’t even give us a receipt! Maybe we were easy targets as the last people leaving the airport that night.

Getting Around: Most locals walk and take matatus and boda bodas. Boda bodas are popular because the traffic is so horrendous. We got around in a car provided by our clients, and our driver was the owner of a car hire company that our clients use often. He drove a Rav4 and said it costs about 60,000 Ugandan shillings per day to rent, which is about $25. I’m guessing this does not include the cost of fuel.

Kampala was very secure, I walked around in the evenings too , and there were army and police guards everywhere. However, many have really bad attitudes and are clearly on power trips. Also, I didn’t venture into the kind of places that might be more prone to crime.

Hotels: Serena was overbooked and bumped us! So we paid $150 at Imperial Royale for a single B&B, which is just behind Serena. The hotel was nice, spacious and clean, but they didn’t have hand towels which was weird. I didn’t have time to shop around and ask about other hotel rates. There were a few power cuts every day I was there, but I didn’t pay attention because I was in places where they had generators.

Communications: I roamed with my Safaricom (linked to MTN Uganda), and the reception was terrible. Incoming text messages came in days late and I went hours with no reception at all. My colleague got a local number while he was there and it wasn’t better at all. I’m not sure about the costs. Internet speeds at the hotel we stayed at and at the offices and even with a 3G Orange SIM card in an iPad were slow.

I used English because I mostly interacted with professionals, but I took a small taxi and the driver spoke to me in Swahili. The local English newspaper was a joke! – clearly censored heavily by Museveni’s cronies and full of shallow stories.

Bars & Restaurants: The local dish is MATOKE, MATOKE, MATOKE! People eat Matoke for all 3 meals! There is a dish called Luwombo Lumbwana (I think) that is delicious – it is chicken, fish, or beef wrapped in Matoke leaves (surprise, surprise!) and slow-cooked with groundnut sauce. The groundnut sauce is also served with most meals and it quite delicious and healthy. I didn’t have the opportunity to drink a beer.

I was surprised that they spoke a lot about Museveni. Most people complain about the kind of things we complain about (in Kenya) – roads, corruption and unemployment. However, I think Ugandans are tired of fighting and war, so although they complain, they have resigned themselves to the fate exerted by the rich and powerful. This might explain why Uganda didn’t join the Arab uprising wave after Museveni stole the election.

Sight-Seeing: I think Gorilla trekking is getting popular. There is a small hotel called Casia Lodge that someone recommended highly, as a gorgeous place. It’s alright and the view is nice, not stunning. Kampala is a green city and the lake is huge, so all the fixings of a nice view, I guess.

Biggest Surprise: Sooooo….there is an interesting place called Honey’s Pub near Pride Theater, if I remember correctly. Now, I don’t know how to even begin describing what I saw there! Some Ugandan tribes have girls who, from an early age, certain parts of their bodies are stretched. A lot. More than you can imagine. I’m not talking about breasts. It was freaky! So many of them become exotic dancers (which you and I both know is just a euphemism for “strippers”). It was definitely something a lot of businessmen, especially from Europe, were keen on seeing and were floored by!

Guide to Tel Aviv

Land of the Bible, History, and personal fitness!

Getting There: Ethiopian Airlines is the fastest way from Nairobi for now, cost is between $800 – $1,200 with a stop-over in Addis Ababa. In Tel Aviv, clearing out of the airport takes four hours minimum as there are many security checks, and it’s a very busy airport (over 50 flights were taking off to various destinations on that one night). Also, the airport staff are not very friendly

Getting Around: The cost of taxi trip from/to town is approx $50 and taxi’s are the way to go, many locals uses cars, bicycles & motorbikes. You feel very secure walking around, and there are no specific restrictions, electricity is reliable, and you spend about $100.

Accommodation & Communications: The Hotel which cost about $170 per night had Wi-Fi (spots are not too common in town) and fixed line calls from the rooms. International calls were available on particular cell line bundles, but I was not able to use a personal (Safaricom) line.

Food & Drink: Meals consisted of various meat dishes, preceded with handsome quantities of salad. Beers cost about $7 a pint in a restaurants, or $4 in a corner shop/ supermarket.

Most of the conversation are in Hebrew, but the locals we interacted with wanted to know about our country etc. and vice versa. Local legends include Ben Gurion (who the international airport is named after) and Raoul Wallenberg. All mainstream newspapers are in Hebrew, but the Hotel also issued a leaflet in English

Shopping & Sight Seeing: The main shopping areas for tourists are Allenby St Market and Dizengoff Centre and they mostly buy Jerusalem mementos, and jewelry. Sightseeing included Jerusalem City, and the Dead Sea

Biggest surprises about the city: The obsession with fitness and healthy eating. Lots of people can be seen jogging in the evening, or riding, and all meals are served with lots of salads first. Fitness levels of the citizens are high, with no potbellies in sight, and even people in pub all look like athletes!!

Real Estate Moment: Not about Syokimau

I don’t own land outright, but I know people who do and have worked on some securities that relate to land. So here are are five trends in real estate deals that drive lead to good & bad outcomes

1. Not all land deals are equal: There is greed & fraud among buyers and officials including government (county & ministry) who will approve incorrect land & building transactions, valuers who will inflate property prices, contractors who will undercut on building materials & costs etc. There can be fraud anywhere, but mostly it is with developers who will score deal after deal and move on from a controversial piece of land. A good tip is to look out for prime, but idle or under-developed land (open parking lot, cheap Mabati (iron roof) pubs & eateries) – which mean that there’s probably a story there about ownership that deters those who know from investing too much in structures on the land. But such deals are the minority and should not deter people from investing in land. Note – these houses in Syokimau were being advertised at last month’s homes expo at a cost Kshs. 4.8 to 9.2 million.

2. Land is finite: Land is still one of the best investments, for the simple reason that its quantity is not increasing. It’s uses are changing with generations, migration and population changes resulting in different demands for land use (e.g. forest, agricultural or rural to residential, commercial or urban) but the amount of land available is the same (the rare reclamation of land by dredging notwithstanding)

3. Banks have failed: By banks being prudent as lending institutions, this has resulted in a situation where there are very few mortgages in the country – about 20,000. This means that (i) banks have not convinced Kenyans that they are perfect partners in the construction or purchase of houses (ii) people are building out of savings, other income or unsecured loans (iii) by not using a bank for land deals, buyers & builders miss out on the professional advice that could be helpful in the land buying process.
4. Herd Mentality: Investment group, savings club, SACCO’s and other collective vehicles have been popular ways to invest in land. They have worked with, or as developers themselves to scope out, purchase, sub-divide, and sell land to their members, and other interest parties.

Buyers then flock to these developments because groups and peers who have invested convey security and more so as word spread fast via ads in the newspaper, or whispers in bars and church. While initial investors in these schemes may have been quite cautious with calculated risks, later investors will have seen the value of plots (and their entry price) triple and watched as other members put finishing touches to lovely houses that they are still dreaming of – and this can lead to a temptation to rush in without doing the usual land checks. But what if the original land deal was fraudulent? Does anyone check for the mother title or original drawings & approvals? If they took a loan or paid for professionals to assist, they may find out that the deals were not as good.

5. The Government is not Stupid or Evil: The government creates and keeps records, and the government does not issue title deeds in a casual way. Many properties are built without a title deeds or without owners having got all approvals. But the government has an institutional memory and does not forget. You won’t sell a property without clearing arrears on land or paying stamp duty.

The government also does not forget that it owns land and as Syokimau owners found out the way, the government may sit idle, but it will act when it’s convenient or necessary. Legend has it that Ugandans soldiers discovered Migingo Island when checking for insecurity points ahead of the 2006 commonwealth summit (CHOGM), and now, while KAA has tolerated the Syokimau houses for years, now that the country is at war with Somalia, the proximity of the houses to Nairobi’s international airport (JKIA) may have escalated security concerns.

Idea Exchange: TED Global, Richard Branson, Student Opportunities

The 2011 Africa Awards ceremony take place in Nairobi on December 8 and reward entreprenual excellence & efforts. This year the odds are strong that the winners of the total $400,000 of funding prizes won’t be Kenyans as the nominees shortlisted are soleRebels, – Ethiopia, Unique Solutions – Gambia, Expand Technology – Mauritius, Chocolate City Group , FASMicro, and Pepperoni Foods (3 from Nigeria) Cellular Systems International – Senegal, Victoria Seeds – Uganda, Securico – Zimbabwe and InvesteQ – Kenya.

The Awards are held in conjunction with Convergence Africa also in Nairobi on the same day and which features Richard Branson among other speakers and leaders.

Africa Leadership Academy: The world famous school in South Africa is taking on the next crop of students leaders. Application details are online and the Deadline is 12 December 2011.

Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund: Has a new round of financing for renewable energy and climate adaptation technologies. It is aimed at for-profit companies with eligible projects in the East Africa region and Funding will be in the form of grants and repayable grants of between US$ 250,000 to US$ 1.5 million. Details here.

Google Photography Prize: Google + is seeking photographs submitted in ten categories (main ly by university students). More details.

NetFund: Identify individuals, educational or community institutions with project, initiatives or campaigns that contributes towards environmental management and are worthy of an award. Details here and deadline is January 30 2012.

Reuters Business News Workshop Fellowships: This is a five-day course in London next year, that is open to as journalists or regular contributors to print, broadcast or online media organizations. D/L November 25 (Found at Yipe)

TEDGlobal 2012 takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland in June 2012 with 50-plus speakers and performers from all over the world. See registration details.

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Australia Awards: The Government of Australia has scholarships to Kenyans in priority development sectors. They include masters levels (D/L Feb 28) and short term professional development (D/L 16 December). More details here.

Chevening Scholarships: The Chevening Scholarship Programme for Kenya 2012-13 is now open for applications. It facilitates post graduate study program in the UK available for up to 12 months or for short courses or research. details here and the deadline is Jan. 23, 2012.

CNBC Africa: Top Trader is a new reality television show that will in 2012 follow the trials and tribulations of Africa’s top amateur traders> The competition is now open to public; there are more details on CNBC Top Trader and the D/L is Jan 21.

FiveByTwenty program of the Coca Cola company to create five million women entrepreneurs in the coca cola ecosystem by 2020. The pilot had 100 young women trained in Nairobi in financial & distribution training and become sales partners and more are invited to apply to coca cola 5 BY 20 technoserve as producers, suppliers, farmers (project nurture) etc. if they meet some criteria.

Google Africa Internships: This is a continuation of their summer internship program, now open for new applicants, and more Google Internship details can be found at the Africa blog.

Pasha: Latest round of funding from the Kenya ICT Board. Details here and D/L is Dec 3.

CNNMultiChoice African Journalist 2012 Awards. Details here and D/L is Jan 26.