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.
i totally agree with you on the commentors. i have learned so so much from the bloggers especially those who leave their comments. normally i then follow them up and read their own blogs. its also a great way of finding about them. but for me am easy on anonymous commentors , i never worry about who the messenger was.
Kenya Re IPO is over*fingers crossed*
I do agree with odegle though
Confession time: anonymity helps regular commentors say things the don’t want to say “on the record”.
How much does it cost to advertise on your blog?
Odegle: we are in agreement
gishungwa: will at & see at the end of August, when shares list
Anon: that’s fine too, but you can call yourself anything (doesn’t have to be real name, and you don’t have to have a blog)
Sales Manager: Write to bankelele@hotmail.com
Been thinking fothe studen who wants to fly but cant. has he considered the Kenya Air Force it has such a good reputation for training and will normally open doors with ease.
You jua Bwana J as well, good luck to him in his tough battle for Westlands.
odegle & banks…does anyone have a feel of what the price of Safaricom IPO will be offered at?
just been wondering how come none of the biz bloggers didnt mention the finlay – homegrown take over deal
considering that homegrown was making something like $1M a day that would have been bigger than the telkom deal and slightly smaller than safaricom.
i think dicky evans could have ashed out more if he went publci but from a biz standpoint he synergyies exist in the takeover esp w/ expansion to asia.
PS: anonymity is under a pseudonym is still anonymity. bankelele is anonymous to me.
mamamikes have been enjoying their fair share of the online remittance business until the recent entry of formidable competitors which has seen segeni & co slash their service fees by half-I’m impressed by the $2.49 airtime deal!
3N:There numerous valuation metrics used in the calculation of an offer price in ipo’s, let the cfa’s and other pros figure it out. im mortgaging my house for a piece of that badboy.
an:The evans brothers dwarf the ndegwas, merali’s, chandarias and other tycoons in terms of sheer cash flow minted by operations. If they had gone public, you can bet that some of their labor practices would have come under great scrutiny forcing changes they are unwilling to make at the expense of profits! private aquisition=stay out of the limelight and still cash in.
an:if it wasnt for sambazanow.com, mamamikes would still be charging us an outragious $5.99 to send airtime and taking 24 hours! There are kenyan techies in oakland about to unleash platform for sending INSTANT airtime and the fee is rumored to be $0.99!!this will put both sambazanow and mamamikes out of the airtime business for good; at least the latter has the nakumatt vouchers to fall back on!
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2826183.ece
Out of Africa
Anonymous Nairobi, Kenya
“This week our members of parliament gave us another bile-inducing moment with yet another attempt to raise their salaries. These are people who live in an economic matrix where they believe that ordinary laws do not apply to them. They raise their own salaries (which other job can claim that?), pay a pittance in taxes, and are able to propose and play with myriad bills – that all concern other peoples money.”
bankelele.blogspot.com
Banks: There’s anonymity and there’s anonymity. I do have a handle, but when I use it, people have expectations. I like to think that I, like you, have a reputation for saying sober reliable stuff. So when I want to vent or relay rumours I can’t back up, I go chini ya radar!
gish: That (he) is a she, who iI’m not sure was thinking of the airforce.
3N: Westlands will be tough, esp. the party nominations. He’s is the same party as Gumo who’s got Kangemi and Kawangware locked down
Anon1: I did a brief post about it the flower merger, but I doubt if the flower biz is as lucrative as Safaricom
Anon2: mamamikes – like DSTV and Safaricom have serviced a niche and quite profitably. Once other companies discovered this and set out to do things cheaper & better, then prices can only come down for all
jogoo: It will be tough call to price, too cheap will drain liquidity and be waaay oversubscribed – and too restictive is not good in an elecion year
Anon3: seen that, thanks
Anon 4: Thanks, I understand. But you see the difficulty of replying to anon’s 1 -4
Me too apreciate guyz when they leave coments coz its it goes a long way towards ensuring that our blogging is improved.
i dodnt mind people sending anonymous comments but hopefully they are positive comments or constructive criticisms.
@Banks good threads, good blog, good work, keep it up!!!!
http://www.fintradecapital.blogspot.com
Hi! Since my blog is about running, I only link other runners.
Do you know whats going in ONLINE?
Something new the battle between MICROSOFT & GOOGLE. The bike, driven by solar energy,How to burn a CD from your favourite iTune numbers?
If you dont please visit MESSENGER XPRESS
& if you know, please le me know something different..
Thanks..
eMArk @ MESSENGER XPRESS