Category Archives: World Cup

Kenya Easter Tourism Expo 2010

Past Easter expos: 2007, 2008

This year’s edition of the Kenya Tourism Board Easter 2010 Holiday Expo was held at the Sarit Center last weekend. Some of the notable offers were

Nairobi: KWS has self catering guest houses in most of the national parks and mountains areas. They also offer shuttle services to the Nairobi National Park from downtown Nairobi on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays (9.a.m and 2 p.m.) at a cost of 500/= (~$6.5) for adults and 200 for children

Country-wide: Heritage have full board and family adventure packages at their three Mara properties, (Siana, Intrepid and Explorer), three coast properties (Voyager Ziwani, Voyager beach resort, Kipungani -Lamu), as well as Samburu intrepid, and Great Rift lodge (Naivasha)

Ashnil Hotel has Aruba Lodge (located next to a man made dam inside Tsavo Park) at a cost of 6,000 ($80). They also have a new controversial camp inside the Masai Mara, but recently lost their 200 million shilling ($2.5 million) tented camp in Samburu in a matter of hours after heavy rain and flooding last month. Another property in the Samburu managed by Atua Enkop Africa got insurance compensation after flooding. Also not nature related but a looming disaster, the Bogoris Spa Resort and other hotels around Lake Bogoria must be wondering what will come after the recent Endorois court award that may affect their land holdings.

Also in the Central Rift there is also Lake Nakuru Lodge single in April to June is 8,000 while its 11,000 in high season from July to march, sunbird lodge at lake Elementaita at 5,200 full board from April to June, Kigio with Kigio Wildlife Camp and Malewa Wildlife Lodge

In Western Kenya, there’s a new entrant from Kakamega – Mago Guesthouse.com – an income generating venture of the Mago youth polytechnic in Kakamega with prices of 2,500 half board for residents missionaries and volunteers.

Kenya Coast: New North Coast Beach Hotelwon a prize for best stand the expo. They are trying to establish themselves with low introductory rates e.g. single half board is 5,800 ($75) and 6,500 full board up to December 2010 (except Christmas fortnight)
– Mombasa continental has a flying package from Nairobi 22,750 ($295) per person for 2 nights half board up to July 2010, while singles normally pay 6,500 in the low season (April to June)
– Leisure Lodge Leisure Lodge, site of the Kenya ICT Board
connected government workshop has single rooms at 6,900 8,855 and 10,960 for Easter week.

East African Tanzania had Kempinski (Dar $130, Zanzibar $170, Serengeti $200 and Blue Bay), Plan Hotel (mapenzi beach camp special $333 and Neptune pwani beach $234) Hotels & lodges Tanzania (private island Zanzibar $264), Lamela Camp (Ngorongoro and Serengeti) and Gibbs Farm (Ngorongoro and Manyara)

Uganda had Lake Victoria Serena – opened in September 2009 with 2 nights flying on Air Uganda at $590 per person, Peal of Africa (tours of Bujagali falls) and ATV Safaris (ATV/quad bike safaris at lake Mburo)

other – Sports: surprisingly did not see any world cup related travel opportunities to South Africa in June/July 2010 – a missed opportunity?
– Kuoni have a package for golfers for $1,185 comprising 6 days of Golf at Windsor, Karen, Muthaiga and the Great Rift Courses, with the option of an extra trip to Masai Mara for ballooning
– Wildflower have the Wildman Triathlon 24 -25 April 2010 at Turtle Bay Resort (Watamu)

Wedding: Serena Hotels had a beach wedding package for $1,380 per couple with 2 nights half board VIP stay, marriage license & certificate, wedding cake, champagne breakfast, wedding gift, bride manicure/pedicure, and guest of the couple enjoy 10% off.

Twitter Week: January 7

Here’s a summary of my week on Twitter in a top 5 format covering traffic and restaurant woes

5. Raring for the World Cup in South Africa: – ESPN to broadcast 2010 world cup in 3D http (via Business pundit)
– Thinking of driving to world cup in SA? AA of Kenya offer (i) car passport (ii) international driver license (iii) COMESA insurance; r/t @bugzville58 good idea you should though Kampala bus is also offering a trip for about 800 dollars one way.

4. Traffic in Nairobi was Good and then Bad: – Nairobi should remain like this: no traffic, or queues and faster bandwidth. Lets close Thika & Nakuru roads and #devolve the rest to shags

– Back to 5 day week and a matatu strike in Kenya to kick off 2010; ying yang: Nairobi public transit strike means booming business for taxis (good luck getting one this evening); r/t @tmsruge I was in the CBD today. All streets were a parking lot. No point taking either as you won’t get anywhere. #footing works best! ; Roads not so bad out of town 30min stationary then 10 min cruise home #matatustrike
– R/t @MoSande KE Matatus call off nationwide strike after PM promises to address their grievances. Normal service to resume immediately
– @inexes and i hear someone may be ending Mombasa vacation this evening #nairobitraffic; @karuoro someone just flew in from Mombasa holiday

3. Odds and ends: – From Nairobi Star: statehouse complains about Lucy worst dressed rank, while Atwoli is scandalized–says his peers in 150 wool class are Moi & Kirubi
– The Tamarind Group has taken over the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden Restaurant, which is renamed Tamambo KBCG
– Repeat of ‘House of cards’ showing on CNBC Africa. Documentary should be done on Nairobi or Nigeria shares bull run and bust
– Books first have buy pizza in happy hour, get one free. But also charge Kshs. 100 for take away pizza cartons – why?

2. Safaricom mandatory SIM registration, and costly 3G: – Via @kahenya solutions to improving mobile competition in #Kenya, and break #Safaricom domination of #3G http://tinyurl.com/y8bs9cl
– via @kainvestor #Safaricom forcing new users to register their sim cards, which can’t be activated unless registered with an ID ->safcom=Gok r/t @LarryMadowo Its now a legal requirement for ALL SIM card holders to be registered & #Safaricom move is only the 1st step but @LarryMadowo @kainvestor Safaricom already has 1/2 their subscriber details from m-pesa accounts
– Can’t find a reliable #zain #zap money transfer agent in Kenya? Try the local post office or #posta (via #introverted blog post)
– Consumers getting unhappy about #Safaricom #internet bundle costs http://tinyurl.com/yzxjt25 but they rarely leave @archermishale the word is out, be careful how you use expensive Safaricom data bundles – are they billing on supa ongea tariff?

1 It’s 2010: Happy New Year: Against sound advice, went out and got served a crap lunch. Remember waiters & kitchen staff are working, not celebrating the holidays
– Best food prayer I’ve heard ‘. . Also for the wonderful meal, bless the pockets that may have been depleted by it’
– Looking at the @KenyaBuzz year end calendar – Pole Dancing Competition at Tembo Disco Mombasa http://tinyurl.com/ya786td

Motoring Moment: Spare Parts and Bad Driving

Bad Driving today in Kenya, there is a matatu (public mini-bus) strike protesting at the new crackdown by policemen for bribes, noise pollution etc. Matatu’s get blamed for a lot of the bad & dangerous driving behaviour on Kenya roads. This used to be the case, but the bad driving trend has passed on, and you’re just as likely to see over-lapping and traffic gridlock caused by small cars (especially taxis), buses, ministers & other government VIP’s – who all over-lap traffic and engage in other risky road behaviour.

Shell Quitting BBC reports Shell petroleum will quit operation in 20 African countries disposing of refineries, storage and product sales. In 2008 Shell had already left some 15 African countries, and rumoured suitors for their assets included Oil Libya Morocco Oil in Northern Africa and Engen in southern Africa. Here in Kenya @coldtusker reckons KenolKobil would be interested if they could line up enough funding. Total of France are likely to snap up some stations after taking over Chevron, and the government will likely arm-twist a fraction of the Shell assets to go to parastatal National Oil Corp of Kenya (NOCK)

Read on Cars: also got the latest issue of AUTOnews published by the Automobile Association of Kenya – some gems in it:

In another world cup opportunity pitch, the AA of Kenya (aalicenscing@aakenmya.co.ke) is offering:
– Car Net a.k.a passport eliminates the hassle of lodging log-books or cash duty as you cross border points
– International Driver License that allows Kenyans to drive across borders
– COMESA insurance that covers Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa

Also, (in the issue), did you know there are 9 Kinds of Spare Parts? I thought there were just two genuine and fake, but according to the AA the 9 are:

9. Off cuts – whole chunks of cars from accidents or scrap
8. Imported used parts (also scrap from cars shipped to Kenya in mixed load containers)
7. Stolen parts (from chop shops)
6. Reconditioned parts – salvaged parts which vendors claim to have re-conditioned and tested (likely an impossible task)
5. Salvage parts – taken piece by piece from wrecked cars
4. Counterfeit parts – illegal parts branded as genuine
3. Non-originals – independent brands which copy established brands
2. Original equipment (OE) parts – independent parts approved by manufacturers
1. Genuine parts – made by vehicle manufacturers, brand new & guaranteed with warranty

Cheap Bikes are Good Business: Toyota Kenya sells Yamaha motorbikes including the kazi ngumu which costs Kshs 99,000 (~$1,320) and comes with 1-year warranty, 2 free service schedules, free registration, and a free helmet. Elsewhere in the issue, the Toyota Marketing Manager says the arrival of cheap (Chinese) bikes are boosting their (Yamaha) sales, saying low-cost brands offered an entry point, but as the motorcycle market has become established they can afford higher quality machines and turn to Yamaha for superior reliability, durability and performance…we are not worried about used imports, they are not a bad thing, certainly there are anomalies in standards and much duty evasion, but mitumba is a way for people to get started, and as they flourish they will look for better and newer products

From Twitter – the classic @roomthinker: You can buy a Toyota Vitz in 2 configurations: 128MB and 256MB #AVitzIsNotACar
– @ArcherMishale: Overheard on FB: In addition to #ToyotaFeets #Feetsubishi #Legsus, Kenyans will also be on #KNEEsanPatrol! LOL!!

– @MwaiKibaki: Kenyans should not listen to radio traffic reports. There have been no traffic jams in Nairobi since January 2003

African Business Outlook for 2010

Africa Practice: A survey of business executives conducted by Africa Practice, a consulting firm, reveals some interesting perspectives for the coming year:
– 68% of the interviewees expect to expand their businesses significantly
– 100% expected FDI to increase in 2010 (mainly from china) (up from 69% in 2009)
– Leading business challenges are access to credit (30%) and availability of talent (35%)
– No change in US administration impact on Africa
– Increased intra-African business and moving away from a reliance on international exports was cited as key in Africa’s private sector development
– The most significant development will be technology investments and reduced costs communions costs (56%)
– But, just 54% believe that economic benefits from the 2010 world cupwill be felt only in South Africa itself.

Economist: Also writing on the World Cup is the Economist which notes

the more pressing question is whether South Africa will benefit from the World Cup. New airports and roads will attract more foreign investment to provincial cities, …but the boost in tourism in poorer country areas will hardly offset the broken promises of investment by the crony-ridden African National Congress. And the newly built stadiums will be filled only occasionally by the national rugby team.

A worry for FIFA is that the tournament will not be African enough…There will not be many fans travelling from qualifying African countries. Many black South Africans will not be able to afford even the subsidised ticket prices for matches; gifts of tickets to nurses and teachers will be needed. So Africa’s moment may be uncomfortably white.


The article is part of their annual the The World In (2010),and this issue also has an article crowning neighboring Somalia as the worst country on Earth and which reads like it was conjured up for the satire in the onion

Standard Chartered: Also an interesting read is this future wealth report from Stanchart.

Can Africa Profit from the World Cup?

I was supposed to write a piece on business opportunities for the 2010 World Cup for Kenya; however the notice was short and though I started research, I never got to finish it by the deadline. Also I lost my notes and forgot about it, till I was jolted back by an e-mail from Emirates Airlines yesterday advertising world cup travel packages that include airline tickets, hotels selection and, most important, specific match tickets. I tried one and it came to about $4,000 to watch Algeria vs. England.

Back to the post, so besides global giants like Sony and Coca-Cola, what other opportunities are there for Kenyan and other African nations & companies?

Airlines: while Emirates is the official partner of FIFA and can put together packages, their passengers flying to SA have to route through Dubai. Meanwhile local airlines like South African Airways, Kenya Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines that have huge footprints in Africa can fly hundreds of fans in and out of SA daily.

Road transport: Nairobi is 3,000 kilometres from Johannesburg and which would take perhaps a week to travel by road. Bunson Travels, a Nairobi agency, has scheduled an overland bus and truck transport package to South Africa, with the possibility of match tickets on some of the higher priced packages.

Tourism: The World Cup will draw thousands of people making their first or a rare trip to African continent, which can yield opportunities for locales outside South Africa
– Beach tourism: The World Cup is associated with summer, but takes place in winter in SA (southern hemisphere), and while the weather will be relatively mild compared to Europe and US winters, it’s not beach strolling weather like you could get in Mombasa, Zanzibar or Seychelles.
– Regional packages: Ethiopian Airlines has travel packages that cover more than one country e.g. see the attractions of Ethiopia, Tanzania, Egypt, and Kenya and will probably sell those in SA. Likewise, Kenya Airways (or local agents) who will probably have travelers from Thailand and China can draw on the same to entice people on the way back e.g. also tour the Great Rift highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia and visit athletic camps to see where world-beating Olympic athletes hone their skills.

new Ole Sereni hotel neat Nairobi airport

– Nairobi hotels: these are 4-hour flight away from South Africa, and will be much cheaper than the premium-priced rooms in Johannesburg next June/July. Seasoned travelers may choose to cool off and wait to minimize their hotel bills
– Sports counter-programming: how about an event that takes place immediately after the world cup e.g. an international rugby tournament (Safaricom safari sevens?), safari rally or a cross-country event.
– Training camps: for teams to practice away from fan and media attention, but in similar climate e.g. Naivasha

Logistics: Looking at the staggering numbers from the last world cup there are opportunities for hospitality, medical, security and other personnel, including K street. In IT support, there will be data, video, broadcast, and programming opportunities all of which will need capacity e.g. at the recent zuku internet launch, the Wananchi CEO bragged about the company having more fibre capacity than the entire current usage of South Africa!

Financing: Three years ago UAP insurance launched a World Cup savings plan (what happened to it?). And while Visa is the official FIFA partner, I won’t be surprised if Equity Bank launches a ‘world cup loan’ package to enable tardy fans to finance a trip to SA.

Curios: Local companies should put their African art and curios online with local companies like verviant And mamamikes, and not have to be there in SA physically to sell them to visitors.

Governments: there are opportunities for proactive governments to get involved and promote their countries with marketing campaigns, or with travel advice for locals, expedited transit visas (JKIA) or passport renewals. See what UK government is doing.

Which other local (non SA) companies have World Cup related packages, or have started, or can position themselves to profit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa? Please post comments below, but not unrelated advertising spam