A year ago, I joined Book Villa – and I when I renewed my membership today, I also got a chronological statement today listing all the books I have read over the last year.

I started off with a mix of my favourite authors such as Nelson Demille and Lee Child, in the beginning but later on diversified into others books, mostly autobiographies, business, stock and financial books.

The statement also shows that I had borrowed about 20 books worth 10,000 shillings all for an initial investment of 1,500 shillings (i.e. one time 500 joining fee, and annual fee of 1,000).

The number of books is lower than I expected, but it’s because I drive more these days – whereas before I used to do most of my reading in a matatu, now it’s in loo.

Also I try and buy all my magazines (I estimate about 2,000 shillings worth) at Book Villa as a way to give back for this tremendous opportunity. The store has a vast collection of books and friendly staff, who are knowledgeable about the location & availability of books, which they can even hold for you. Definitely one of the best investments I have made.

Most appear in the Friday daily papers

Bidco oil refineries
– Manager communications & PR
– Marketing officer
– Accountants
– Legal officer
– Territory sales supervisors
– Area sales in charge
– Graduate trainee engineers
– Operators refinery/ packing/ soapery
Apply to careers1@bidco-oil.com by July 15.

Carlton products (EA)
– Quality assurance manager
– Junior accountant
Apply to the HRM P O Box 78105-00507.

Celtel
– Customer care manager operations
– Segment manager SME
– Assistant segment manager
– Events manager
– Events coordinator
– Geo-marketing coordinator
– Windows server engineer
Apply to hr@ke.celtel.com by July 7.

Cooperative insurance company
– General Manager finance
– Chief internal auditor
– Investment manager
Apply through pricewaterhousecoopers at ess.ke@ke.pwc.com by 30 June.

East African Cables
– Project manager
– Maintenance manager
– Mechanical engineer – projects
– Mechanical engineer – maintenance
Apply to bkowitti@eacables.com by 14 July.

Chief executive of the East African Tea Trade Association. Details here.

Equity Bank
– Human resource manager employment relations
– Human resource manager training & development
– Credit manager
Apply to jobs@ebsafrica.co.ke by 14 July.

SME Specialist at FSD Kenya. Details at their site and deadline is 10 July.

Executive director at the International Commission of Jurists Kenya section. Apply to info@icj-kenya.org by July 18.

International Finance Corporation (IFC)
– Investment Officers -Sub-Saharan Africa
– Senior Investment Officers -Sub-Saharan Africa
Details at their site and deadline is August 1.

Judiciary Service Commission
– Principal ICT officer
– Chief ICT officer
– Research assistants (20)
– Kadhi II (2)
Apply to the Secretary JSC 30041 by July 21.

Roses supervisor at Oserian Development Company. Apply to jobs@oserian.com by July 12.

Pricewaterhousecoopers
– Marketing & communications manager. Apply to recruitment.ke@ke.pwc.com by July 3.
– Operations financial analyst
– Database administrator
Apply to recruitment.ke@ke.pwc.com by 14 July.

Royal Media
– Radio marketing manager
– Head of sales Chamge FM
Apply to the HRM P O Box 7468-00300 by 14 July.

Standard Group
– Legal officer
– Security manager
Apply to the HR P O Box 30080-00100 July 7.

Telkom Kenya
– Call centre coordinator
– Call centre team leader.

Senior Health Sector Program Manager at USAID Kenya. Details here.

So I have been tagged by Kipepeo

Rules:
1. Post six weird facts/habits about yourself.
2. These cannot be used against you later on.
3. At the bottom name the six people you will tag next. Leave them a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged and to read your blog.

1. My family thinks I was a Muslim mostly because I don’t eat pork. This all comes from the fact that I have good friends from West Africa from College who were devout Muslims and I even went to the million-man march.

2. Despite this, I eat with my left hand. I am right-handed, but I have always eaten with my left hand. This is awkward when I sit with friends to eat Ethiopian food, coastal, nyama choma or other communal meals from the same dish. So I sometimes wig out by ordering food that requires an individual plate & spoon or don’t eat at all.

3. I hate chewing gum. Can’t stand it – and the sight of gum put on/under furniture makes me nauseous to the point of changing seats or tables. If someone at the table is chewing gum I will edge away from them the way people with allergies shy away from cigarette smokers. I support Singapore, which has banned this vice in the country.

4. I read everywhere and always carry a book/web article or newspaper to read – bank queues, in a matatu, in a bar. But I stopped reading while walking in town after a close call, when my bag was almost snatched by a parking boy. I looked up just in time, stared him down, and he walked past me and went and snatched a window cover from a parked car instead.

5 I am a plane spotter and airport junkie, I know all large commercial aircraft (non-Russian) and get a rush from being at JKIA and identifying all the aircraft and airlines as they come in to land or taxi to take off. I will escort anyone to the airport if they put Tusker on the table.

6. I can’t count to six.

Am a bit late to the tag and can’t think of anyone. So if I have met you or you have commented here in the last week, please consider yourself tagged.

Several leadership positions at the African Development bank. Details here and deadline is June 9.

HR Manager at AIG Kenya insurance company. Apply to hr-kenya@aig.com by 15 June.

Key account manager at East African Cables. Apply to bkowitti@eacables.com by 14 June.

Group 4 Securicor
– ATM operations manager
– ATM reconciliation supervisor
– ATM reconciliation clerks (2)
– Credit controller
Apply to jobs@ke.g4s.com by June 12

Senior Scientist – Livestock Systems Evolution at ILRI. Details here and deadline is June 30.

Evaluation consultant at Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Apply to eyrecruit@ke.ey.com by June 16.

Head of market risk at Kenya Commercial Bank. apply through Deloitte at esd@deloitte.co.ke by June 16

From Kenyan Pundit: Safaricom is conducting recruitment interviews for Kenyan professional overseas.

UAP Insurance
– senior underwriter
– underwriter
– legal assistant
Apply to recruit@adeptsystems.co.ke by 16 June.

Some jobs advertised in the local papers this week

ABC Bank
– head of corporate banking
– head of business banking
– head of branch banking
Apply to hr@abcthebank.com by May 31.

Project assistants at AMREF. Apply to recruitment@amrefke.org by June 2.

Celtel Kenya
– tax accounting leader
– products & service leaders
Apply to hr@ke.celtel.com by 26 May.

Coca Cola (Nairobi Bottlers)
– market intimacy & brand mix manager
– production manager
– procurement officer
Apply to the country HR manager p o box 18034-00500 Nairobi by May 30.

Commercial bank of Africa
– assurance and treasury general manager
– IT network and communication manager
– senior manager finance and administration
Apply to jobs@cba.co.ke by 31 May.

Program officer for media, arts, and culture at the Ford foundation. Details at http://www.fordfound.org/employment and deadline is June 12.

Head of operational risk compliance at KCB. Apply to the divisional director HR p o box 48400-00100 by June 2.

Kenya tourist board
– Board secretary legal officer
– Management accountant
– Webmaster
Apply to head of HR p o box 30630-00100 by 6 June.

manager public service & development at KPMG. Apply to psr@kpmg.co.ke by June 2.

Ministry of Justice & Constitutional Affairs – Government of Kenya
– special prosecution counsel
– civic/commercial counsel
– forensic auditors
For these short term consultancies, apply to the permanent secretary at the ministry, p o box 56057 Nairobi by 15 June.

Ministry of Regional Development
– The managing director Ewaso Ng’iro development authority. Apply to ennda@kenyaweb.com.
The managing director Kerio Valley development authority. Apply to kvda@kenyaweb.com
Details at http://www.regional-dev.go.ke/ and deadline is June 5.

Regional accountants (2) at Oxfam. Apply to hecajobs@oxfam.org.uk by 31 May.

Sameer Africa
– general manager sales & marketing
– brand managers (Uganda and Tanzania)

Sales & marketing manager at a stock broking firm

For these, send applications though Manpower associates, p o box 50736-00200 by 31 May.

Consultancies
– To help the Kenya Revenue Authority obtain ISO 9001:2000 certification.