New Bank; Gulf African

Gulf African Bank has been licensed and will become Kenya’s 42nd bank.

While earlier billed as a Sharia only bank, it’s hard to see how that would have been sustainable and it now appears that the bank will also be open to non-Muslims. Mainstream banks like Barclays, KCB, I&M and Dubai already have shariah complaint products.

With a 1.75 billion capital base starts off around 14th largest bank largest bank. It has advertised for top jobs over the last several months with a view to becoming a regional powerhouse backed by its wealthy shareholders.

Opportunities
most from the daily papers this week

Jobs
– Business analyst sub Saharan Africa – at BAT
– Alliance For A Green Revolution In Africa (AGRA): Director for Market Access Program, Program Officer for Market Access Program. Apply through KPMG
– Electoral commission of Kenya : returning officer, assistant returning officers, trainer of trainers (but must be over 35 years for most jobs). D/L is 2/10
– Investment Officer at the IFC – Nairobi Kenya. D/L is 8/18
– Kenya Airways: Database Architect, Head Of Corporate Security Services, Manager Materials Planning & Procurement, Team Leader Motor Transport
– Head of IT at the Nairobi stock exchange . Apply through Deloitte at esd@deloitte.co.ke (Ref HIT/09/07) by 28/9
– National Museums of Kenya: marketing/PR manager, development manager (resource mobilization). Apply to dgn@museums.or.ke
– Safaricom: M-PESA New Business Sales Officer, M-PESA New Agent Sales Officer, CRM Support analyst, M-PESA Operations Officer
– Agribusiness specialist at USAID Kenya D/L is 21/9
– USIU: senior research associate, webmaster. Apply to jobs@usiu.ac by 30/9

Real estate
– a 5 storey shopping mall in Eastleigh on sale for 150 million shillings ($2 million) from Lloyd Masika
– Have Man U star Rio Ferdinand as your neighbor by buying into this luxury complex in Uganda
– develop houses for USIU on 45acres in Athi river.

Taxes, IPO’s and Unit Trusts

Taxing corruption
So Parliamentdealt another blow to the war on corruption by denying the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission with the authority to investigate crimes that happened before it was formed (2003).

KACC as a body has aimed high (going after high profile figures – CEO’s, Ministers) but mostly caught small fry leaving many Kenyans dissatisfied and who now consider the Commission to be a waste of money

But there’s another public institution – the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) that has achieved milestones in the war of corruption that KACC can only dream of. They have gone after untouchables, and some lawyers and MP’s have had their accounts and salaries frozen and asset seized. Now if only they could publicize this.


RICO in Kenya?

Why not legislate a tax on corruption, so if you’re named, you could lose 90% of property, leaving the accused with 10%? This is humane, but is as good as taking back everything – and bypassing court processes. Hitting Pattni with a tax bill would end 10 years of court injunction and delays and realize some significant gains in cash recovered.

Kenye Re slipping away
My strategy to bypass the IPO of Kenya Re not working as well as I thought. I placed orders at 13 shillings, only for the share to zoom. It’s tempting to buy the shares at 17 or 18 and then the balance when they drop (if ever).

Unit Trust get more accessible
Market leader, Old Mutual, has lowered their minimum entry amount for unit trusts from Kshs.500,000 to Kshs. 200,000 (about $3,000). The offer runs till December 2007.

Alternative banking solutions

replacing credit cards
I keep writing about one Equity Bank product because it’s unique and lucrative. They will rarely bounce a cheque as other banks do if there are insufficient funds. Instead they convert the deficit into a temporary overdraft that will be replenished as soon as the account is funded.

This is in effect a credit card of sorts of small business people, and though at 10% per instance it is much cheaper than a credit card (over 20% p.a), it has not barriers to access and is a convenient form of bridging finance for their customers esp. SME’s.

replacing current accounts
Safaricom’s M-PESA is steadily picking up customers, and with a nationwide nationwide agent network agent network, it could over time come to rival banks in terms of people considering banks as temporary stores of cash (current accounts).

Motoring moment: Schools, traffic jams & motor shows

Motor show

The 2007 Total motor show was held at the Ngong racecourse over the weekend. Of late only the Concours (classic car show) seems to run regularly, but it was great to have the motor show back after two years where we can always see the latest new vehicles and dream of buying them with Safaricom millions. Nairobians can also look forward to the Nairobi air show to be held on October 7.

Who’s here? Heavy presence by American brands (hummer, Chevy, Cadillac, Chrysler, jeep), while also upcoming is India (Tata, Mahindra), and China (FAW and great wall).

Also present were several banks (NIC, CFC, Barclays, bank o Africa, and Consolidated) all offering vehicle purchase finance plans.

Who’s missing?: Some prominent British (Land Rover), and German (BMW, Volkswagen / Audi) brands, and the Kenya Revenue Authority. It’s interesting (and sad) to realise how much tax is paid on new cars – as some car companies chose to display both the regular price and duty-free price (which the government, embassies, or national of other countries – Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda etc. pay for the same car).

Some prices

Cars
Chevy Optra 1.9m
Chrysler 300C 7 million (only 4.1 million duty-free)
Mercedes E class 6.4 million [EUR 70k] (only 3.7 million duty free) [EUR 41k]

SUV
New Pajero 6.1m , older model Pajero 3.3 million,
Toyota Land Cruiser VX 9.7m (5.8m duty-free), Land Cruiser Prado 5.2m (3.2 DF)
Jeep grand Cherokee 5.7m [$85k] (3.2m DF) [$49k]
Mercedes ML 8.5m (4.9m DF), GL class 11.8m (6.7m DF)
GH Humvee
Cadillac SPX

Lorries
Mercedes Actros 3340 prime mover8.3 million (only 7.1 million duty-free)
Mitsubishi Fuso prime mover 8.2m
Trailer by Randon 2.5m

Buses
actually have the same chassis as lorries, just the upper body is different
Tata school bus (62 seats) 4.9m
Nissan 51 seat (i.e. Citi Hoppa) 4.3m
Mitsubishi Fuso (51 seat) 2.8m
Nissan 67 seat 8m

Pickup
Toyota Land Crusier4.8m (2.8m DF)

Schools & Traffic

Last week has marked the beginning of the third term for most schools kids – and the impact on rush hour traffic has made a bad traffic situation even worse – commutes have gone up by 30 min at least each way, and it is often faster to get off the matatu and walk passed a major intersection. The increase is from more passengers (school kids) on matatu’s, more school buses on the road, but mostly from parents’ droppings kids off at far away schools across town before cutting back to the office

What would happen if parents were required to school their kids within a certain radius of their homes or offices? And the rule was given a 5-year grace period for investors (or teachers) to get funding (government loans) and other incentives like land to create quality schools within neighbourhoods? What kind of impact would it have on traffic? There are negatives, but kids would be able to get to school/back home at a decent time (in daylight) or even walk. Parents would not have to make long commutes to quality schools for their kids, and the road would be much clearer even when schools are open. A wishful idea, but totally unenforceable.

Gotcha

They finally got to me – halfway at least, almost a year and a half since the last known attempt. There may have been more attempt, but they were probably thwarted by round the clock security and other precautionary measures employed such as tipping night sentries and never straying from safe houses.

The perpetrators took advantage of a rare lapse in judgment and were swift, silent, and deadly in their attack.

The fateful moment came when I went to the bus station to pick up someone visiting the city. As is the case with many such visitors, they believe there is no food in Nairobi so they come armed with several sacks of fresh fruits and vegetables. So for a few seconds I stepped out of the car (leaving it unarmed and exposed) to help force the sacks into the boot – and for those few seconds, the car doors were open and the alarm was off.

As soon as I drove off I knew something was wrong – and sure enough when I stopped to check there was a huge hole where my indicator light used to be!

That’s one plague of driving very popular and very common Toyota is their parts are in great demand – much so that thieves are always ready to snatch your mirrors and lights to sell the last motorist who has lost his – and front indicator lights are a prized item that is likely to be stolen anytime.

TED Talks: Andrew Mwenda

Next up from TED Global Talks in Arusha is Ugandan editor Andrew Mwenda’s talk from TEDGlobal2007 who defined on of the themes of the summit with his calls for investment and trade opportunities and not for more aid for Africa. (Another great TED synopsis here from Ethan Zuckerman)

Unfortunately, Mwenda now appears to find himself wrong footed, when one of East Africa’s premier investors, the Aga Khan, chose to suspend him in a bid to appease the Ugandan government and ensure smooth survival of his business interests in the country.