Out of hospital and recovering this week and trying to catch up after two weeks away from a computer. Missed so much, mailboxes are full, have to send proper replies, and most of the news links are now out-dated and need to be refreshed.

It was a pleasant week, whose main difficulty was the passage to time. I read many books and consulted Dr. Hannibal Lecter who had spent 8 years in one room.

Describe a share investor
The Economist published a series on executive compensation and ran a quote from 17 years ago that can be used to accurately describe (we) investors who speculate on shares;

To a shareholder in a typical company, a share is little more than a betting slip. It is bought at what a shareholder thinks are good odds to provide winnings he hopes will be large.

The notion that he owns part of a company makes as much sense to him as it would for the average gambler to imagine he owns part of a horse running in a 2:30 race.

A title deed to a house tells someone what he knows instinctively – that he owns the place and must care for it. A share certificate tells him nothing more than that he has the right to a dividend and the chance to make some cash.

Tiomin sells out
Tiomin will sell ATW Venture Corp. a 50% interest in the Kenyan mineral sands for US$35 million to raise funds owing to cost escalations.

Githongo blog
He must be wondering what he has to do to get his point, but after putting up a blog he should be very careful

Stanbic Results
With over 1 billion shares on offer and despite the over-subscription, there’s won’t be too many complaints about allocation;
– Uganda nationals get full allocation up to 2.15 million shares
– Others (including Kenyans) get full allocation up to 109,500 shares (about 312,000 shillings)[But the stock exchange there trades for (I think) 3 days a week]

Sky please
After years of getting (and under appreciating) SKY news of Britain, the local STV channel has taken it down and replaced it with VOA TV. There’s no apparent reason why VOA should be broadcasting as there’s nothing I’ve seen that is newsworthy or worth tuning in for.

Opportunities

Jobs

International director of fund raising at AMREF. Details here and apply through olga@crsearchandselection.com by 9/2

Financial controller at Children’s International. Apply through KPMG at esd@kpmg.co.ke by 2/2

Senior project officers (2) at EADB Nairobi. Apply to the Kenya country manager at box 47685 by 16/2

Housing Finance: Manager [HR], assistant manager[legal], officer [insurance]. Apply to human.resources@housing.co.ke by 3/2

I&M Bank: Details here for Cashiers [Tellers], Liability Manager, Trade Finance Officer, and Relationship Manager [Assets].

Marshalls: General Manager (Tata), General Manager (KIA/Honda), Marketing Manager. Apply through Dagger Consultants at gd@africaonline.co.ke by 9/2

National Oil Corporation: Various jobs including customer service assistant, ICT manager and internal audit assistant. Apply to hr@nockenya.co.ke by 13/2

NIC Bank: Nakuru [business development manager, sales executives (2), branch advances officer, branch customer service officer], Mombasa [service delivery manager], Nairobi [Corporate relationship manager]. Apply to the Head of HR 44599-00100 Nairobi by 7/2

Finance manager at Sense International – Nairobi. Apply to info@senseint-ea.org by 2/2

Finance manager at Tearfund – Nairobi. Apply to internationaljob@tearfund.org by 31/1

Other

KCB is seeking new ATM machines to expand its network into the hundreds.

The Nairobi Stock Exchange will conduct a Market Index Review via a consultancy.

Associate consultants at the influential Steadman Group. Apply to md@steadman-group.com