Before he went to satellite, radio mega star Howard Stern would occasionally get into hot water in some US cities over the content of his show. This would be manifested by busybodies in some towns starting a petition/protest outside the station re-broadcasting his show and occasionally threatening to boycott local sponsors of the show. Stern’s usual answer to this (besides accusing these groups of racketeering) was to ask his listeners to support the local sponsors of the show (in their towns/regions) by giving them business and mentioning that they had heard about them from listening to the show.

Anyway, I also read yesterday how a major league blogger – John Chow acknowledges sponsors and thought it would be a good time to do the same.

So Thanks to;

Mama Mikes: who have a new promotion where all phone airtime ordered before 5 PM (Kenyan time) is topped up on the same day. Also, several phones can be topped up in one order, all for only $2.49

Business Post: A reminder that not all good writing is online; this monthly magazine offers a great collection of Kenyan business stories.

TED: Thanks for the invitation to TED Global Arusha. They have now begun to stream some of the most popular talks from the conference, starting off with George Ayittey, William Kamkwamba and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. These three talks were among the memorable. Ghanaian economist George Ayittey coined the race in African between the hippo and cheetah generation of leaders, while William Kamkwamba, a 19-year-old Malawian embodies this as an inventor of an electricity producing windmill made out of scrap metal. And former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, famous for fighting corruption and restructuring her country’s debt, who rightly put an end to the aid vs. trade debate by reminding us that both are needed. These should be up on Wednesday afternoon with a fourth from Euvin Naidoo – President of the South African Chamber of Commerce, America on strengthening meaningful corporate ties across the Atlantic.

Readers i.e. you, but especially commenters. No one has a monopoly on information, and I learn so much from comments on investments, and perspectives from readers. I’ve said it before, but anonymous comments are given less weight, no matter how insightful they are – so try and register/come up with a name e.g. bankelele to leave comments and so we can interact better.

Networking
– Linked In: I have not responded to some invites from people on Linked In. I apologize for not following up as I am not keen on that networking aspect – yet
– Pajama Nation – micro jobs and freelance work site.
– piloting request: any ideas where a Kenyan ‘A’ student with a passion for flying can obtain piloting scholarship?

All on July 31

election 2007 registration closed. If Oprah (no comparison) can endorse a candidate (Obama), then so can I – I support and will be voting for Jonathan Mueke who will be going up in a real David vs. Goliath battle in Westlands constituency. Good luck in party elections which can be more significant than the real election. Best wishes – Bwana J

Kenya Re IPO closed

Uchumi shareholder loan deadline passed. What’s the future like for shareholders? Delta Airline (US) is a far different company in another country (different laws), but which emerged from a similar reorganization to chart a new direction. For Delta shareholders;
– The company will issue new shares to claim holders (previous debt holders) as part of its reorganization.
– Other claims remain in dispute.
– Previous shares were canceled and holders of those shares received nothing in the reorganization.