Category Archives: tedglobal2007

TED: CDF

Had a breakfast chat with the Member of Parliament for Laisamis (in Northern Kenya), Joseph Lekuton who’s here at TED to give a brief talk this morning and we discussed the constituency development fund in program in Kenya.

CDF was established in 2003 and is a program that directs 2.5% of the Kenya government revenue (from taxes) to be directly apportioned to the 210 constituencies depending on their population and other demographics. Local committees administer the fund and pick the programs which are to be financed e.g schools, dispensaries. The Laisamis CDF has disbursed its full allocation of about $600,000 for the year which he has committed to deliver services to his constituents who are largely nomadic.

More stories about the MP and Marsabit district, where Laisamis is located, which has a dedicated website.

NN

I am newsless newswise (NN). TED has been great so far but I also want to know more about Tanzania on my first trip here (wandering around Lunga Lunga does not count)

One of the ways to appreciate what’s happening in a country (political, financial, investment, government, arts, developmentetc.) is to read as many local newspapers as possible – because while there are billions of things found online that a newspaper will not contain, there are also thousands of things in a daily newspaper that cannot be adequately captured online. However here at TED i have had a very hard time getting a newspaper to read.

I woke up on Day 1 (Monday morning) expecting to find newspapers available (free or tot buy) in the hotel lobby or gift shop. But I was told that daily newspapers would only arrive in the afternoon – which I found strange. And unlike in Nairobi or Kampala, there are no vendors milling around hotels selling newspapers. Have i found stumbled upon something here? Is the reading culture different from Uganda or Kenya and does that mean anything for the East African Community? Or is it just that guests at this premier hotel are usually not interested in the Tanzanian daily papers?

On Day 2 (Tuesday) I even got up at 5:30 a.m. and went in search of any shuttle driver (who transports delegates across town to conference) to buy and bring me a papers in the morning and I even left money at the reception.

So, after two days, I have got three newspapers. Day 1: Citizen, and Mtanzania (Swahili), that I that I bought at 1 PM from a vendor at the hotel. Day 2: the African that I believe was brought by a shuttle driver at about 12 PM. I have also had a change to read the Tuesday daily nation (Kenya) – a copy which belongs to the hotel.

I have become something of a newsless nuisance (NN) to the hotel staff who seem bemused at my desire to locate a newspaper in the morning (fresh with news for the day) – as if I am awaiting an important fedex package which I can’t trace.

It seems I may have to go to town myself to buy more papers like the business times, Arusha Times as well as other newspapers.

We’ll see what Day 3 brings….

The Story of House of Manji Biscuits

Chatting with Hash at TED this morning about entrepreneurship and I got to talking about a book I had recently read. Before long, we agreed that it was a good story that would be worth repeating here this week. Kumeckucha [Blog] had posted on this a while ago)

A few weeks ago, I had read the autobiography of the late Mandatally Manji, an Asian-Kenyan who founded House of Manji which he built into the largest regional biscuit company.

He was encouraged by his family to put his life story together and it’s a fascinating story for any budding entrepreneur to read on. He details how;

  • From being a clerk transporting commodities around Central Kenya he came up with his plan to start a bakery.
  • After hard work and sweat many years later, he achieved his dream when through a partnership he was able to buy and run a bakery with a perfect location and healthy customer base in Nairobi.
  • How he chose to walk away from the bakery in frustration at his deadweight partner who contributed little to the success of the bakery.
  • Having to start all over again with even less, as his former partner was slow in paying him for his shares.
  • Dealing with macroeconomic problems – and having to produce biscuits even as basics commodities like sugar and wheat were rationed and diverted to the war (WWII) effort.
  • Dealing with discriminatory/political barriers – and winning customers and contracts away from European bakeries through unmatched service and delivery.
  • Ingenuity to keep producing bread and biscuits by observing and experimenting. This he did by adopting the cooking habits of his employees who used grains not known (or rationed) by the Colonial Government. His competitors accused him of sourcing from the black market as they could not imagine how his bakery was able to keep producing.

It’s a great book that’s less than 200 pages long, but very hard to find.

More:
– Earlier post on Manji by Kumeckucha.
– Wikipedia entry
The book can found at Amazon (though pricey)

TED Global: History Rhymes

Dr. Ken Vickery of North Carolina State University gave a talk on past leaders in Africa and their engagement in entrepreneurial zeal and partnerships on their own terms to benefit their people.

  • Nzinga Mbemba the Manikongo (leader) of the Kongo in the 16th century who entered into a joint venture with the Portuguese where his people would receive education and Christianity in exchange for ivory and slaves. His son was eventually consecrated by the Pope as the first African roman catholic bishop. But the Portuguese did not fulfill their end of the deal, negotiating around him to get greater even greater numbers of slaves and corrupting his court. His relationship with the Portuguese is chronicled in 22 letters that are now widely published.
  • Ja Ja, King of the Opobo Kingdom, in the 1880’s: Got into a partnership with the English for the shipment f palm oil. When he felt he was not getting a fair deal from shipping companies he set out to establish his own shipping line. For this, he was captured and exiled by the British.
  • Third, was African countries in the post independence era (early 1960’s to mid 70′): Their economies GNP’s grew after independence and they delivered services such as education and health care and largely performed as governments. They were not basket cases until the oil crisis and collapse of raw material market shocks destabilized their growth patterns.

So even as we stand at the dawn of a new era of partnerships of trade, development, debt, aid, etc., remember that history rhymes.