Category Archives: Nairobi Jobs

Safaricom 2s

Three weeks after Safaricom’s share price dipped into the 3 shilling range, the share is on the verge of tumbling into the 2/’s [$0.025] – down from the IPO of 5/= and brief high of 8/=.

What are others saying?

Coldtusker points to some deals that can be cut cheaply with NSE shares.

KCIG states that a bear market should be no big deal for serious investors.

Analysts are still producing reports on NSE shares to buy (Access Kenya). What about when to sell?

Everyone’s doing it, so throw more stones at D&B – Dyer & Bair who structured the Safaricom IPO.

Shut down the NSE?: Closing the shares market to salvage what’s left was proposed in Nigeria and now a stockskenya thread has taken it up here as well.

Could be worse: Liquid Trader gives insights on the SA economy that are not easy to decipher by watching CNBC.

Another IPO you say? Co-Op Bank opens tomorrow. No prospectus out yet, but here’s another PDF from the Bank MD.

Looking for work? here’s a great new local Kenya job blog.

Reassurance from bankers

The downward trend continued at the stock exchange again this week to Friday. So how about some banking news to reassure nervous investors?

KCB: are first out of the blocks with their third quarter results. Some shareholders might be peeved about having forked over Kshs. 25 a share in the rights issue a few months ago, only to have the share trading at below 20 this week.

How have they performed? Compared to a year ago, assets are up 67% and profit up 66% – which should go on through Q4 of the year, and hopefully the bank will reward patient shareholders with 2/3 increase (or more) in dividends after December. After three quarters, the bank has already passed their full year income mark for 2007, and aggressively loans are up over 50% against just 15% increase in deposits.

Equity: are usually one of the first banks to publish quarterly results, and have been known to run them in the Saturday newspapers, so we’ll see by Monday.

Co-Op: a week to the IPO and the media push is on, though subdued compared to past NSE offers. There’s a pre-prospectus document (PDF) at their site published a few weeks ago. See also analyst Robert Bunyi’s perspectives on the IPO (Hat tip Ratio Magazine)

Safaricom (M-PESA qualifies as a bank!) CEO Michael Joseph does his part to reassure retail investors about their Safaricom share prospects going forward. and regardless of their current price.

Opportunities

most from the Daily Nation
– East African Cables commercial manager hr@eacables.com 13/11
– Econet credit manager see www.Adeptsys.biz by 31/10
– Government of Kenya (Ministry of public service): 112 senior personal secretaries, 126 personals secretaries. D/L is 31/10 to the PS by snail mail
– KCB: head of alternative business channels, manager – trustee services & compliance. 7/11
– KPMG: seeking several public sector & development associates (PSA01/08) apply through talentrecruit@kpmg.co.ke D/L 7/11
– Suntra investment bank: Chief executive (SIB-CEO/10.08) apply through esd@deloitte.co.ke D/L 12/11

from The Economist
– African Agricultural Technology Foundation: Executive Director Nairobi, Kenya
– IUCN: Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Nairobi, Kenya
– KickStart International, Inc: Development Economist / Director of Impact Evaluation & Monitoring Nairobi, Kenya
– Africa Center for Strategic Studies: Associate Dean, Relations Professor Washington, DC
– eRwanda PROJECT: Lead Technical Manager for RCIP-Rwanda Kigali, Rwanda
– Africa University: Vice Chancellor Mutare, Zimbabwe
– Alliance for a Green Africa: Senior Policy Officer, Innovative Financing for Agriculture Nairobi, Kenya
– SNV: Senior Advisor Water, Sanitation and Hygiene -Nanyuki, Kenya
– Call for Paper – First Congress of African Economists

from the mailbox
Free Web, Domain and Blog Hosting in Kenya‏: read more but buyer beware

To Coop or Not?

The big debate now is if the Co-Op Bank IPO should go ahead this month or if it should be postponed. The Chairman of the Nairobi Stock Exchange has issues conflicting statements on the matter but appears to have bowed to the arrangers and the stockbroking community line that it should go ahead.

IPO’s in London and New York are beign deferred as they are unlikely to be warmly taken up, and here, the dearth of IPO’s in the pre-Kengen was guided by the sentiment that they would not perform well in the then deflated markets. Even the giant IPO of Safaricom – was postponed till after the 2007 elections.

The timing is just not right, with two collapsed stockbrokers still being sorted out, Safaricom refunds not fully reconciled, and the Diaspora who were so enthusiastic about Safaricom still (i) worried about repercussions of the US financial markets turmoil (ii) real estate and (iii) feeling suckered by Safaricom’s post-IPO performance which they heavily invested in.

Though the funds raised are targeted towards, mortgage finance, ICT and branch expansion, the Co-Op IPO should be postponed to at least next year. It withstood the 1998 Nairobi bomb blast and has turned round a Kshs. 3 billion loss to a similar profit in 6 years and a few more months won’t make a difference. But as a fall guy of Safcom, I’ll revert to my IPO bypass plan when the Co-op IPO arrives.

Need for Capital; Co-op is a fast growing bank with a retail and branch base like KCB and Equity that requires capital to be shored up. The two banks that were most in need of regulatory capital – KCB and Housing Finance have already had rights issues in 2008, and other shareholders should prepare for the same at CFCStanbic, Prime, CBA, among other smaller banks.

NSE/CMA to note; In the wake of Crown Berger and Portland Cement share collapses, it should be noted that irregular share trades happen – even to Google – but the prices were re-adjusted and trades made at erroneous prices were then canceled.

Opportunities

Barclays graduate program: The Barclays Graduate Emerging Managers (GEM) is open

US Visa The DV 2010 diversity visa (US green card) lottery kicks off today and runs till December 1

TED Global 2009: Registration for TED Global 2009 at Oxford is open.

Kutwa Friday: Everything Must Go

It’s been a while since the last Kutwa post. Here’s a rundown of things, most from the daily papers and various sites that have piled up

Banking: Co-Operative bank are deep into the marketing program for their October 20 listing at the Nairobi Stock Exchange. They may also venture into mortgage finance
– Barclays and Standard Chartered will both offer mobile messaging services to their customers
– Rand Merchant Bank (SA) plans to expand to Kenya
– Salary cards are coming to Kenya as FNDS3000 Corp which launched its payroll card program in South Africa and will follow into Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates and Qatar

What’s in a Name?
a step forward: Telkom Kenya is now Orange: more on their new site and products

will they have orange phone booths?

– Nyanza petroleum dealers is now called Auto Xpress
– Chloride exide is now Chloride Solar
– The naming rights for Nyayo national stadium are up for sale to a corporate bidder (will it be Safaricom or Zain Stadium?)
a step back
– A new name is recommended for the discredited electoral commission of Kenya
– Grand Regency is now Grand Laicos Hotel?!

Developments: A new 21 storey 5-star hotel in Nairobi to be situated next to Barclays plaza (and is a stones throw away from the former Grand Regency)
– Kenya anti corruption to build a new headquarters
– Two battery recycling factories will be set-up; one in Changamwe and one in Konza
– Ethacom international will set up an ethanol production plant in in Bungoma
– Nairobi City council is seeking 50 acres for a new cemetery

Airlines: There’s little reporting about a pending strike of Kenya Airways engineers; however K24 TV reported that this may affect plans of President Kibaki to fly to London next week as engineers were going slow on maintenance of his planned aircraft and also other repairs after another little reported aircraft incident.

[image: KQ 777]

Energy: Following last months electric shock it was pleasant to see my electricity bill drop from 2,600 to 1,800 shillings ($26). No thanks to KPLC though, as the savings came largely from taking cold showers that reduced consumption from 161 to 115 units . Meanwhile there was another increase in KPLC fuel cost from 769c/kwh to 778c/kwh this month.

popular item in supermarkets

– Why doesn’t the government owned National Oil Corp (NOCK) who are supposed to check against check the high petrol prices charged by oil marketers sell petrol at the Kshs. 100 per litre (~$6.4/gallon) price that Energy Ministry says is correct?

– An S-class with the fuel economy of a Toyota? Pity Merc drivers are not concerned about fuel economy

ICT: The Kenya government plans to set up an official blog by September this year to facilitate better communication between the government and the public. “The blog will allow the government to respond to everyday issues being raised by the citizens,” PS Bitange Ndemo told journalists in Nairobi. “More and more people are turning to the internet to read, write or say whatever they want to say and if such forums were properly utilized, especially during the election period, we would not have experienced the kind of problems we had in the country at the beginning of the year.” hat tip Xinhua News – China
– Also the Kenya Government will set up a $39 million venture capital fund
– Telkom /Orange makes peace with Safaricom
– Controversy about an outsourcing scholarship
– Outsourcing #1: Pioneer BPO Kencall will manage call center for Telkom/Orange
– Outsourcing #2: site stats here show that Mauritius (9%) has overtaken the UK (8%) to be the third highest source of traffic to bankelele – after Kenya (45%) and the US (17%) – but, upon closer scrutiny for true fans there, it turns out the readers actually Kenyan-based – but routed through Mauritius.

Opportunities: The Skunk Awards 2008 is your chance to recognize and reward the leaders in the various ICT fields in Kenya. Chosen by YOU, the real stakeholders in the Industry. Vote for ICT Company of The Year, Best ISP, Most Innovative ICT product, Best Local Website, Best Local eCommerce Website, Worst Local Website, Best Local WebHost, Most Open Sourced (is that a verb) Organization, Best Customer/User Support, Worst Customer/User Support, Best Training Institute, Most Promising ICT Startup, Best Paying Company, ICT Entrepreneur of the Year, Best Local Application, Most Transparent ICT Tendering Govt Branch, Most Successful Government ICT project, and Worst Government ICT project. Send in your nominations to skunkawards@gmail.com before Friday October 10th.
– Apply online to be an Acumen Fund Fellow 2009-2010. D/L is 20 October
– Take part in the Wildman Triathlon in Watamu on October 18.
– Zebrajobs is a cool new job site that has some interesting opportunities in this past of the world

Other jobs: You can’t compete with Kenya’s largest employer, the Government of Kenya. Soon available at the Governments Public Service site will be jobs including at the Ministry of finance principal accountants – 26 posts, chief accountants – 64 posts accountant II – 320 posts!; at the ministry of energy (director of renewable energy, senior deputy director of renewable energy (engineering) , senior deputy director of renewable energy (biomass) ) ; at the Ministry of immigration – immigration officer II – 200 posts; at the ministry of fisheries, chief fisheries officers – 142 posts, fisheries officers – 78 posts; and at the Ministry of medical services – Nursing officers III – 686 posts, clinical officers III – 548 posts, medical lab technologists – 124 posts and Pharmaceutical technologists III – 100 posts. The application process involves a mix of new and old technology – you can download the forms online but applications must be sent in by snail mail (post office) to the to the secretary PSC p o box 30095-00100 Nairobi by 13th October. Thereafter applicants can check the status of application by sending an SMS!

– Dyer & Blair: Database administrator, network specialist systems administrator. Apply through Manpower Associates by 26/9
– Econet wireless rolling out in Nairobi Mombasa Kisumu Eldoret (when?) is hiring head of field operations, field operations engineers, manager – RF optimization, RF Planning & optimization engineers, Manager base station sub systems, BSS engineers Regional managers – passive infrastructure . Apply to techrecruit@econet.co.ke by 29/9
– Equity Bank is hiring credit officers, and debt recovery officers
– Genghis capital: head of stockbroking, head or research securities dealers. Apply by 10/10 to the head of HR at 9959-00100 Nairobi
– Gulf African bank: Area sales manager, manager product development (housing) credit administration manager, head of audit – apply to recruitment@gulfafricanbank.com by 22/9
– HLB ashvir: audit seniors audit manager – apply to audit@hlbashvir.com by 20/9
– KCB branch managers, Business bankers- apply to recruitment@kcbco.ke by 28/9

Kutwa Tuesday: Equity Bank & Tiomin

recently in the media

Equity Bank returned to super nova status with almost 200% growth in June 2008, compared to a year before. From a pedestrian growth (at their rate) in Q1 of 8% for deposits and asset, they rebounded to 23% gains in both during the second quarter of 2008 after the Kenyan peace deal and their heavy involvement in the Safaricom IPO – redeploying funds from government securities.

March to June income grew faster for the first time in three quarters, after being evenly matched in December and March. And at 70 billion ($1.05 billion) in assets, will be 3rd largest bank in Kenya by year end (how long before they overhaul Barclays and KCB?). Also how much of a boost did NBK get from Safaricom and Barclays lose by staying on the sidelines? – Thank Kofi or Safaricom?

Alternative investments
in my mailbox
– The Barclays Bond is looking to be a good investment for retail crowd – a Kshs. 100,000 ($1,500) investment will deliver 11.5 %% for the next 7 years. Third tranche of bond coming soon
– Following the Stanbic IPO, Uganda has a rights issue from New Vision
– Tanzania has Nicol – the National Investments Company Ltd newly listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange

Biz briefs
– The Jinchuan Group Limited China will invest $25 million into the stalled Tiomin Kenya Limited project (purchasing 70%)
– From Indian Ocean Newsletter: Transcentury eyes a bid for Uchumi Supermarkets
– Rate hikes – four mid-size banks have hiked their base lending rates above 15%
– Diamond Trust Bank answers some common shareholder FAQ on deceased, lost, or dormant shares
– Stanbic Uganda leads the way communicating with its (31,000) shareholders – from sending annual reports by e-mail to communicating about divided payment calendars and difficulties, while inviting shareholders who have not received theirs to contact the Bank. Any Kenyan companies doing that yet?
– Vodafone to buy back under valued shares: what about Safaricom?

From the blogs
– Archer finds a faux/fan site for embattled Kenyan Transport Minister – Chirau Mwakwere
– How good is Safaricom’s bambanet service? (a review)
– A marketer’s perspective on the Coke vs. Alvaro brew war

Opportunities
– Nominate a company as one of Kenya’s Top 100 (D/L 31/7)

Internships/scholarships
– science & technology scholarships to study in Algeria (10) and Morocco (15) for recent high school graduates.
– Graduate trainees at the Kenya Revenue Authority. Apply by 22/8 using snail mail to the senior deputy commissioner HR 48240-00100 Nairobi
– British Council – Africa knowledge transfer partnerships for (2) graduates to work at MEA Limited and Booth Extrusions d/l 8/8

Jobs
– Marketing manager at East African Breweries
– Google Africa: Geographic Specialist (Temporary), HR and Communications Associate, Localisation Project Manager – Africa, Strategic Partner Development (SPD), Local Markets, Technical Support Associate, Google Applications (all Nairobi)
– I & M Bank: Cashiers/Tellers for Nairobi, Mombasa & Kisumu, Relationship Manager/Officer
– Jetlink Airlines: technicians, engineers, telesales officers, reservations officer. Apply to hr@jetlink.co.ke by 8/8
– KCB: Contact center services manager, quality assurance & business processing manager. Apply to recruitment@kcb.co.ke by 8/8
– Neptune software: Lead developer, associates consultant (2), consultants (2), sales manager, and client relationship manager. Apply to Kenya@neptunesoftwareplc.om
– Executive director Media council of Kenya (D/L 8/8)
– Paynet: Sales accounts manages, system support analyst. Apply to careers@paynet.co.ke 1/8
– USIU: Network administrator, internal auditor, purchasing coordinator, jobs@usiu.co.ke 8/8