Plane Perspective – Part II

Adieu 5Y KYA


Part I

More pictures of the ill-fated aircraft

5Y-KYA, a 737-800, was leased aircraft from the Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) (now owned by the Bank of China). Why leased? At the airline’s 2005 AGM management said that, with their strong financial footing, KQ was now able to lease new aircraft which confers many advantages over buying new aircraft for a rapidly expanding airline. The lease deal was signed in September 2005

The first new 737-800 was delivered in October 2006 to KQ directly from Boeing, the manufacturer and replaced smaller 737’s on many of the airlines existing and new routes.

It was a larger aircraft with improved safety features. The aircraft (was) equipped with a Heads-Up Display (HUD) system that projects key navigational data directly in front of pilots, allowing for safer operation in difficult conditions such as inclement weather or problematic navigational terrain.

It is also no comfort to families and relatives of the passengers, but the tragedy could have been worse if the airline had used the usual, and larger, 767 aircraft that night.

Final word

Kenya Airways is expected to release its year-end results at the end of the month, and the 3rd quarter results showed strong growth in Asia, Eastern African and an overall 13% growth on (non-Kenyan) Africa routes.

The company should be unaffected by the loss in the long-term, nor should its share price. The leased aircraft will be immediately replaced and with proper & timely insurance response, careful PR management and investigation of the accident, the airline should pull through.

Achieving a work- life balance

Rob Parsons, the renowned author, lawyer, and motivational speaker gave talk on work-life balance that people must achieve in order to be happy, productive, workers i.e. by balancing time between their families and their careers. Some of his pointers:

– There are no slow days. Don’t ever say when you achieve you will sow done and devote time to your family once you achieve or attain A, B, or C. You will never slow down
– Don’t work so hard to give your children what you never had, that you forget to give them what you had
– Hire smart people (ala Richard Branson) – to give yourself time to think and remain creative
– No phone call is so important that it can’t wait for ten minutes for you to finish attending to your family first.
– You’re not irreplaceable at work even if you think you are. Your company can and will likely go on and do very well without you.
– Do something meaningful that you’ve always wanted to do today – as you never know if it could be your last day or breath.
– More leading companies are acknowledging the importance of giving their employees sufficient time to attend to family matters i.e. achieve a work-life balance

Plane perspective

Condolences to all the family members of passengers and staff of the airline.

This is a tragic time, as are all plane crashes when they happen. This time, it has happened to Kenya Airways (KQ), an airline with an exemplary safety level.

I flew on KQ this week and will gladly fly with them tomorrow or any other day. It is an unpleasant fact of life that anything could happen to me – the next time I get into a car, light a match, walk onto a sports field, step into a bathtub, enter a building, or board a plane.

The question of air crashes in Africa should not arise – they happen all around the world. Yes, there are bad airlines, but it is not an African thing. Poorly run airlines do not last for very long as passengers avoid them (unless they have no alternative) and authorities (should) step in and shut them down. The (unfortunate) passenger list produced by KQ is an endorsement of the high regard that other nations have for the airline.

Plane crashes should never happen and when they do, one plane crash should not be a matter of concern. It is only when an airline, or airport, or country has a series of avoidable crashes that the aviation world and public take notice and realize that’s something is wrong. In 2006, questions were asked about Nigeria and Indonesia) – and often old aircraft or unsafe regions are factors. The 737-800 was the newest aircraft at the airline which has continually upgraded its fleet to meet the highest standards of service and safety.

KQ should keep on flying high and remain the Pride of Africa


Plane I flew

Window on East Africa

East Africa biz news and bytes

Uganda
– Communities are already benefiting from oil exploration done by oil companies in Hoima and Bulisa regions.
– Government to audit/evaluate NGO’s in the north with a view to weeding out briefcase organization, those with an anti-NRM (government) message, or harming the peace talks in Juba
– Simba (a nationwide telcom dealer with 22 shops in Kampala) has partnered with USAID to launch Simba cash a money transfer service available at its stores nation wide. It targets the rural poor who don’t have bank accounts and they can send as little as 10,000 shillings (Kshs. 400)
– Diesel shortage expected to ease following the clearance of four companies – Caltex, Kobil, Total and Tamoil to be allowed to ship diesel from Mombasa by trucks. Demand for diesel and petrol in Uganda has grown to exceed the capacity of the pipeline which reached Eldoret. Previously only shell was allowed to do this is it was supplying diesel for Agrekko’s thermal energy project. The Kenya Revenue Authority has been blocking this move citing fears of illegal dumping of fuel in Kenya and had insisted that the companies should pay full taxes on fuel before they collect it at Mombasa to be refunded after they cross into Uganda, but the companies refused, claiming that KRA already owes them about $6 billion in unpaid refunds.
– From July 2, the Bank of Uganda will stop clearing cheques 20 million shillings (~Kshs. 800,000) thus requiring bank customers to use RTGS or EFT which are more efficient and less risky alternatives for large payments.
– Barclays to enhance its retail presence by purchasing Nile Bank for $120 million.
– Government plans to buy a new Gulfstream G5 (budgeted at $50m) for the President replacing the current G4 when it completes lease payments in November.
Uganda telephone companies may soon be required to share infrastructure (masts, switches, networks). There are 3 companies now (MTN, Celtel, Uganda telcom) and will soon be joined by a fourth (Hits to launch in November) and fifth.
– A bill covering the USE is before the cabinet which has been slow to approve papers/make decisions. This would allow setup of a CDS system here, and also eliminate capital gains tax for foreign investors (does that cover stanbic shares?)
– President Museveni (M7) frequently writes lengthy articles in the newspaper and comments on matters especially where he feels he has been misquouted. The First Lady has also taken to similar writing as well.
– AON has introduced medical cover for people living with HIV. It targets company employees in productive careers & life stages (35 – 44 years).

Tanzania
– Madonna in Malawi perhaps to adopt another baby?
– Kenyan businessmen at athi river, rongai and kiserian are colluding to lower the prices of livestock bought from Tanzanian livestock dealers
– Dar es Salaam university closed after students riot about plans to introduce cost sharing
– RVF on the increase in Dodoma and soon expected to breach Dar
– Tanzania breweries will build a factory that will use seawater to make beer. (This paper was published on March 31 – could it be an April fools teaser?)
– President Kikwete has a monthly state of the nation speech that is broadcast live on radio
– Plans are at an advance stage for a women’s commercial bank in Tanzania
– A newspaper reports that the Tanzania tourism board quotes an ABC news program that identifies the Serengeti Park as one of, and – only African location – among the seven wonders of the world.

Kenya
It’s amazing what you discover about Kenya in other countries newspapers

– Kenya Airways shelved plans to fly to the US owing to safety & security issues. Also the airline will in May receive two leased Embraer jets to replace the Saab 340’s turboprops.
– Mobile phone taxes will be lowered in the budget this year
– Nakumatt to open stores in Kigali, Dar and Kampala
– NSE to start providing live prices to SNBC, and maybe even reuters and bloomberg one of the benefits of automate trading introduced in 2006 is that they will be able to provide instant and delayed reports, in addition to the current end of day and weekly reports.
– The Nation has started publishing reports from the Kenya gazette, a great, and for too long underutilized, source, of inside information on the government.
– GTV a satellite TV service comes to Kenya and Uganda next month as a low cost rival to DsTV

VC Fund update

More on the $40 million VC fund set up by the Africa venture capital association and East African development. It will invest $100,000 to $2 million in SME’s for expansion & modernization, as well as start-ups led by exceptionally qualified entrepreneurs. Advantages of getting funds is that unlike bank loans, you don’t have to pledge assets or incur subsequent loan repayments

Jobs

The Africa Development Bank is currently accepting applications for its Young Professional Program (YPP). Details at their site and D/L is 10/5.

Celtel: Product development manager (Comm-mkt-02/07), Product developer (Comm-mkt-03/07). Apply to hr@ke.celtel.com by 4/5

Kenya Airways: Manager – hub & airport systems (I/065/04-07), Revenue management systems administrator (C/066/04-07)
Apply to the group HRD 19002 Nairobi by 14/5

Foundation manager at KCB. Apply to recruitment@kcb.co.ke by 9/5

Safaricom: Head of Retail, Head of Customer Management, Materials Inspection Officer, Senior CRM System Developer, Business Intelligence Developer.

Fund manager at the above mentioned VC fund. Apply to EADB@avcanet.com by 14/5

The Young Professionals Program (YPP) of the World Bank. apply online by 15/7