Category Archives: Safaricom

Monster Week

Monster truck finale: Three ministries are fighting for the monster trucks and other assets of the about–to-be-disbanded CKRC.

Flora Kenya: A look at some of the major flower farms in Kenya. From Timbuktu Chronicles

Banking Secret #1: Cheques over 10 million shillings are cleared on the next day, unlike smaller cheques which normally take about a week to clear.

Nigerian Shares:During the Arsenal-Chelsea game shown on Super Sport, there were numerous advertisements about an on-going rights issue of Union Bank of Nigeria. I am not sure what the cost of advertising is on DSTV, but it’s unlikely that Kenyan banks or institutions will place adverts on DSTV especially for a rights issues. Note that the 2004 KCB rights issue had a total budget of 104 million shillings of which only 13 million was set aside for advertising.

Mobile phone questions: 

  • Safaricom House is a new office building next to Njuguna’s on Waiyaki Way. What will happen to the old Safaricom House in Westlands?
  • Now that I have bought a Celtel line for 49/= and received a second free Safaricom line for buying 100/= worth of credit on Luthuli Ave (both of which are dormant) what is my average value (ARPU) as a subscriber to both companies?

Tourism: Workers in the tourism sector are being encouraged to learn Mandarin to cope with the 10,000 (and growing) tourists from China who visit Kenya each year.

Housing: Construction of Eagle Plains Housing Estate, a 350 housing development off Mombasa Rd, is expected to resume after a Nairobi Court dismissed an objection to the construction of the estate filed by Nakumatt supermarkets against the developer and the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). Nakumatt had complained that the location of the proposed estate, which is next to its headquarters, went against the spirit/business theme of the area, which already has 13 major industries.

Retrenchment Pipeline: The Minister of Finance has approved a tax waiver of benefits to be paid to retrenched employees of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK), Kenya National Trading Company KNTC and the Civil Service. As part of the package, civil servants will not be allowed to re-join the service for a period of three years.

Jobs:  At the Kenya Times newspaper; managing director, chief accountant, adverting manager. Apply to the secretary to the board, kenyatimes@timesnews.co.ke by January 6.

Educational opportunity:  The Cornell Assistantship for Horticulture in Africa (CAHA) provides a doctoral assistantship in horticulture to a student from Sub-Saharan Africa. More details here and the deadline for applications is March 1, 2006 Thanks, Kevin.

Correction: The Nation corrects a story they had published earlier to the effect that Uchumi had fired PWC as their auditors.

Telecommunications, ATM’s and foreign aid

Balancing Act

Balancing Act’s latest newsletter (No. 285) is a special issue on telecommunications developments in Kenya. Notable points include;
– Expect more ISP mergers (after Wananchi and ISPKenya)
– VoIP could cut the cost of international corporations communications costs from US$5,000 to US$700 a month.
– A looming financial crisis at Telkom could force the government to sell some shares in Safaricom to Vodafone or to the public via the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
– New call centers have difficulties finding people with the right voices to work there – and their preference for candidates who have had some international exposure.
– The jail sentence hanging over the head of Shem Ochuodho.

Pesa ATM’s

Pesa Point now has 60 ATMs installed around the country. My bank has pesa point but I will take a pass on them because of the additional cost (30/=per cash withdrawal)except for emergencies of if I am very far from my own Bank’s ATM. Pesa Point’s unique stand-alone ATM’s are popping up in all sorts of unexpected places such as the grounds of KICC and a restaurant opposite Hooter’s with little fanfare. The company should have a web site or better way to market/advertise each new ATM added, besides a statement from the MD.

Foreign Aid
President George W. Bush’s administration plans to overhaul the US foreign aid system and align programs more with US political interests. E.g. the State Department could take over the independent US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Opportunity Friday

Rights issue
CFC has announced the calendar for their rights issue through which the Bank hopes to raise 744 million shillings by issuing 12 million new shares at 62 shillings (a discount of about 16% on the current market price). Each shareholder (of record on November 2) has the right to 1 new share for 12 currently held. Significant dates are;
– 16 November rights start trading
– 30 Nov last day of trading
– 9 December last payment date
– 16 Dec Results announced and register updated
– 21 Dec 21 new shares start trading

Who wants to be a millionaire?
Mobile operator Safaricom has launched a new contest that will reward 1 lucky subscriber with one million shillingseach week day over the next month. You qualify for the daily draw each time you top up a phone account by one hundred shillings. I’m down 1 today, 29 to go.

Bank consultancy
A Risk management consultancy opportunity has been advertised by PTA Bank, and the deadline is November 30.

Hotel for sale
The National Social Security Fund is selling a 114 bed hotel formerly known as Polana in downtown (not beach) Mombasa. Submit proposalsto the managing trustee by December 7. More information can be obtained from info@nssfkenya.co.ke

Transportation
For transportation of emergency relief commodities to various districts for a period of one year. Apply to the special programmes ministry in the office of the president by December 13.

jobs

Kenya Commercial Bank
– Database developer
– Hardware systems specialist
– Enterprise solutions specialist
Apply by November 25th to the divisional director, human resources, 48400-00100 Nairobi

Savings & Loan Kenya – a subsidiary of KCB
– manager sales (ESD/SL/05)
– manager marketing (ESD/MK/05)
– corporate credit analyst (ESD/CCA/05)
– advance manager (ESD/AM/05)
Apply by November 25th via KPMG’s executive selection division at esd@kpmg.co.ke .

East African Development Bank
– corporate finance specialist
– internal auditor
Apply by 25 November to the country manager EABB, 47685 Nairobi

UNDP Kenya
Poverty & Environment Advisor. Check www.ke.undp.org for details and apply by November 13.

Commonwealth Secretariat
GIDD (Government & institutional development division) advisors for East & West Africa. Check www.thecommonwealth.org for details and deadline is 9 December.

Deloitte & Touché
– Audit seniors. Apply by 30 November at admin@deloitte.co.ke

Tetra Pak
– financial analyst. Apply by November 22 to the human resource manager, 78340-00507 Nairobi.

Sports
Champions Unite: To create a champions league and super bowl powerhouse. (British soccer team Liverpool FC said it has held discussions with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft amid speculation that the U.S. tycoon could be poised to buy a stake in the club.)

Slow Week

VoIP for all
Effective October 11th, all existing ISP licences will be amended by the Communications Commission of Kenya allowing providers to offer VoIP services.

Mystery IPO
While Kengen continues to stream roll its way to the NSE, much less is known about the Equity Bank IPO.

Safari conned
Many more people are now signing up for Safaricom’s post-paid service which offers cheaper call rates of about 10 shillings per minute all day. But many of these new subscribers are not aware that they may be entitled to a new phone under the package offer – presumably some dealers are pocketing, and then re-selling these phones.

Enable business mobile
The Nation media group (through Safaricom) now offers access to its business directory. Send an SMS “GET bankelele” to 2102 and you’ll get the telephone number of a business at a cost of 10/= per request.

Beyond the Eclipse
Russia is planning to launch a rocket from an Italian satellite platform located at San Marco, on the Kenyan coastline.

Corporate Briefs

Telecommunications: From Nation 7/22/2005: Safaricom is seeking an international gateway licence from the Communication Commission of Kenya, “which, if granted, will see a significant reduction in international calling charges”, says CEO Michael Joseph. And he hopes the CCK will speed up the processing of the licence for the benefit of the subscribers. Responding to a query, Joseph says his company’s tariffs “are not exploitative and have actually been designed to be as competitive as possible”.

Shareholder services: The Kenya Airways 2005 AGM will be held on August 12 at Bomas. But the company’s share registrars, Barclays Advisory Services, are proving to be somewhat inefficient which is understandable given that they are servicing over 86,000 KQ shareholders. It takes forever to immobilize the airline’s shares, and it’s proving to almost impossible to change an address – I think I have given them my Nairobi address three times, and my mail, including the invitation for this years AGM, and possible dividend, are still being sent upcountry.

Radio: In the radio sector, KISS FM is hiring presenters, a news anchor, feature writer and sports writer. Applications to be e-mailed by August 5 along with an MP3 or tape recording.

Also, Metro FM (101.9 Nairobi) will become a reggae station from August 1. It currently does R&B and soft pop.