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22:17 The Nairobi Stumbling Exchange
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com Ah Safaricom. Safaricom, Safaricom, Safaricom. Bankelele is freaking out because the shares of Safaricom keep a tumbling. Didn’t we not disclose here (oh..about 2 weeks ago) that Safaricom had failed to reveal a huge debt on it’s books? But don’t mind me because the funny-mentals fundamentals are always strong and since the shareholders attend annual meetings where they get [...] -
22:17
[nt]
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com
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21:50
Don’t Vote …
» citizen.africa Leonardo DiCaprio Tom Cruise Cameron Diaz Snoop Dogg Harrison Ford Julia Roberts Ben Stiller Will Smith Steven Spielberg Justin Timberlake Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Zach Braff Colin Farrell Neil Patrick Harris Scarlett Johansson Shia LeBeouf Tobey Maguire Ryan Reynolds Jason Segal …. encourage you to vote These public service announcements to encourage American youth to vote were created in partnership with Google, YouTube, Declare Yourself, and MySpace. The non-partisan PSAs, produced by DiCaprios [...]
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21:38
American Stories, American Solutions (video)
» Kenya Imagine There are only five days left until Americans pick their new president. Over 16.5 million voters have already cast early ballots all across the US. According to a Washington Post survey 59% of these votes are in favor of Senator Barack Obama.
Watch the video here. -
I am 28 and I Have Breast Cancer
» Kenya Imagine In August 2002, after eight years of working as an Executive Assistant at Morgan Stanley, I decided to resign and pursue my dream of starting a home-based boutique public relations firm. I also wanted to work for myself so I could be more involved in my daughter's life and school (PTA).
One morning as I lay with my 6-year-old on her bed I felt a lump in my left breast. This was abnormal for me, so I immediately scheduled an appointment with my gynecologist. Initially he dismissed my concerns because I was young, but he scheduled a breast sonogram which was inconclusive, and so a biopsy was scheduled six weeks later.
Want more?
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21:27
Nouriel Roubini
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com As I’ve said before, this professor of economics, Nouriel Roubini, is one of the few people who predicted this global financial crisis and he’s saying the worst is yet to come. This is a 5 part series. So, if you want to watch all of it, just google his name)
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19:27
Milking The Rhino: Conservation, Community and Empowerment
» Afromusing Last month, I was very fortunate to attend the premiere of the film ‘Milking The Rhino’ at the Gene Siskel Film center in Chicago.
This film left an big impression on me. Long time readers of this blog know that I do have granola-head, green thumb, renewable-energy obsession, tree-huggery tendencies, so no surprise there eh.
Without giving too much away…the film opened my eyes to the link between Kenya’s history and our attitudes towards conservation. Before the British came, Kenyan communities had traditions around hunting wild animals (These traditions and folklore still persist - I visited Samburu in 2006 and learned a wee bit about this). I would posit that it was sustainable, because there was some balance between the hunting that was done and the populations of wildlife. When laws were enacted to forbid Kenyans from hunting…something they had been doing for millennia, that relationship with the natural world was broken. Why would one want to protect something that they are not benefitting from? Wildlife started to be seen as a nuisance. Granted that there is demand for ‘exotic’ skins, tusks, and bone from wild animals particularly in Asia; one of the factors behind poaching in the parks, there are instances of communities killing wildlife because their crops were destroyed by animals such as Elephants. Still, our attitudes towards conservation and environment bear some reflection.The film profiles two communities, one in Kenya, at the Il Ngwesi lodge and the Lewa Conservancy, and another in Namibia. The narration is brilliantly voiced by a Kenyan Munyikombo Bukusi, a very talented guy. This film had me making plans to visit Il Ngwesi Group Ranch, if you need a place to get away and relax your cares away…Il Ngwesi lodge looks like just the place to go.
The blurb from the film’s site gives you a glimpse into the documentary…
A ferocious kill on the Serengeti… warnings about endangered species…
These clichés of nature documentaries ignore a key landscape feature: villagers just off-camera, who navigate the dangers and costs of living with wildlife.
The Maasai of Kenya and Namibia’s Himba – two of Earth’s oldest cattle cultures – are in the midst of upheaval. After a century of “white man conservation,” which displaced them and fueled resentment towards wildlife, they are vying to share the wildlife-tourism pie.
Community-based conservation, which tries to balance the needs of wildlife and people, has been touted by environmentalists as “win-win.” The reality is more complex. Charting the collision of ancient ways with Western expectations, MILKING THE RHINO tells intimate, hopeful and heartbreaking stories of people facing deep cultural change.The film will premiere on PBS Spring 2009, hosted by Terence Howard (the famous actor - Crash, Hustle & Flow etc)
Till then, the following festivals and screenings are your best chance of watching it. If you cannot wait, you can purchase the DVD for $25.00 from Kartemquin films, just contact Xan. I would highly recommend the DVD.Screenings:
November 2nd 2008 3pm: Chicago Humanities FestivalChicago Cultural Center
International Premiere
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
November 2008Washington, D.C. Premiere : D.C. Environmental Film Festival
March 11 - 22, 2009*I will update this post if there will be screenings in Kenya. (I am asking about this and hoping we can arrange one soon)
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16:09
Elendu is FREE!
» Black Looks Jonathon Elendu is Free and receiving medical attention. Nigerian Curiosity received the news from his family and he is now receiving medical treatment. This is excellent news for Elendu, his family and friends but there are still many questions to be answered by the Nigerian government not least of all the continued summary [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Elendu is FREE!", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/10/elendu_is_free.html" });
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15:59
Man vs Movement
» Paza Sauti I have been intently following the US presidential elections since Joe Biden, being the first to do so, announced his intentions to seek the Dems nomination. Since then the kamuthonjo (a clique) has congregated many a time and because the polls are in favor of my predictions i'm due to collect from Kangethe and Co. come November 5th.
My accurate (i can claim that now) forcast has not just been based on luck and a nag for making a quick buck, it is the ability to identify a force much larger than the usual politico that has shaped my ideas and opened my views.Why will Barack Obama gain the title of POTUS over John McCain?
John McCain /Sarah Palin campaign does not realize that they are not running against a presidential candidate but rather a movement that seeks to vote in its leader as president.
Obama is not just your usual presidential candidate person, he has taken a totally new identity; a brand, a true representative of the people's day to day needs, wants and aspirations. He has identified with the core of every american living in this day and time and has addressed much of what we don't openly admit to the fear of being called weak.I can imagine telling my kids of a fella with a funny name who run for the highest office in the land by offering Hope to its great citizen.
I don't condemn those who don't buy it, come to think of it, on paper this does seem to be straight out of the snake-oil salesman's handbook, then again he must be a really good salesman because not one iota of slander seems to stick. I don't know if i should give credit to the citizen who seem to have figured out the ridiculous claims or to John McCain who for his age should be very wise and should not have made some very puzzling decisions during the phase of the campaign.
With that I foresee a few new dictionary entries not too far from now:
Obama: verb the act of a true underdogs ability to achieve success with great measure without the use of fear mongering and deceptionBush: noun one who influences others by use of fear and wmd's ..or wait that is also known as a scarecrow.now let me go collect
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15:02
US Elections Necessitates High Terror Alert in Kenya
» You Missed This 
Senator Barack Obama’s grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama during a past interview with the press at her Nyang’oma Kogelo village in Siaya. The press has been barred from the home until Nov 5 to give her a break from constant media engagements.
Latest news in Kenya indicate that the Kogelo based family of US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has halted all media engagements until after the US presidential election on November 4 . According to the reports, the move has been taken to give Obama's paternal step grandmother, Mama Sarah Onyango Obama a break, so says spokesperson thura Said Obama.
However, and contrary to this information, the REAL reason for curtailing press interviews and effectively ring-fencing Mama Obama are far much more serious. Coming soon after a personal and unannounced visit to the homestead by ODM party leader Raila Odinga, whereby closed door meetings were held between Raila and Mama Sarah, it appears the grand coalition government does not want to take any chances. Although the family is promising to open up to the public after the elections, it is highly unlikely the jovial Kogelo villagers will ever again step into the currently-under-tight security-Obama-homestead, let alone see the Obama matriarch at the local market rendezvous, given that Obama has very high chances of emerging the winner against John McCain. (Make that a landslide!).
Information reaching this blogger indicates that Kenyan and regional security forces, working closely with American Secret Service and FBI, have put all exit points out of Kenya on HIGH ALERT following credible intelligence information indicating that the Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Eastern Africa under the leadership of 10 years-yet- to- be arrested- Harun Fazul is planning a terrorist attack on local vital installations and Western interest in the Eastern Africa region. Mama Sarah is, according to intelligence sources, an obvious and vulnerable target!!!! Infact, the IGAD summit on Somalia taking place in Nairobi today is just but a smokescreen to have the Heads of State/Government confer one-on-one and face-to-face on the serious security threats arising out of the imminent Barrack H. Obama presidency in the U.S.
Interestingly, even the normally vocal and social US Ambassadors in the region (including our very own MR in Kenya) have ‘gone underground’ because the threats of attack are allegedly already in advanced stages and are aimed at petrol stations (forecourts in Western lingo) oil tankers and airports and other strategic interests. The attacks are allegedly planned to coincide with the US Presidential Elections in early November when the global attention will be singularly focused on witnessing the elections of a candidate whom the Al Qaeda are not supporting because his victory will mean end of the war. Not surprisingly, the public concentration in Kenya is expected to reach the same levels or perhaps exceed what was witnessed in December 2007 during the country’s own presidential elections.
As it is, the Al Qaeda group is reportedly already IN-REGION crisscrossing the borders and mingling with common mwananchi with intentions of identifying escape routes and camouflage.
Security has therefore been enhanced to an unprecedented level at all regional seaports, airports and border points while anti-terrorism vigilance is a step or two higher than usual. Accordingly, customs, immigration and security officers are having sleepless nights as we approach the D-day in the US.
It may surprise many that a peasant granny in poverty-stricken, AIDS ravaged Nyanza Province of Kenya is now centre of global attention and supposedly a terrorist target, but this is what being President of the United States of America means.
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11:21
UN Procurement Scandal in Kenya - full report
» Kenyan Pundit Hat tip to my trusty source! (now if someone can unleash those Waki names…)
The UN’s procurement task force recently unraveled a procurement corruption scandal at the UN offices in Nairobi. You can now read the full report here: un. I just skimmed over it…boy is the process bureaucratic or what? I’m sure there’s lots more stuff going on under the radar if this is what it takes to investigate corruption within the organization. Apparently UN staff have not been happy with the taskforce’s work because it “does not respect their rights” and the task force will soon be disbanded…don’t mess with the gravy train I guess.
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11:05
What Does a Perfect African Immigrant Look Like?
» The Displaced African Hey folks,
First of all welcome to all the new readers. I have been tickled pink by the fact that even though my writing frequency has reduced a little bit, the blog’s readership and subscribers have kept on increasing and so thanks to all of you and welcome to the new readers.
Following on from my last post about confusion and my podcast with Julia Sanna where I tried to put an african immigrant relationship manifesto together, today I thought I would go one step further and, with your help, try to carve out an African Immigrant Manifesto.
“Why What Is That My Good Man?” I hear you say
In a nutshell, its the answer to the question,
What are the characteristics of an ideal African immigrant?
After all, a man who aims for nothing is sure to get there. So what should we be aiming for? What should the end result be when you take all that Africa has created and leave it in the middle of the concrete jungles of the West?
And below I’ll list 9 characteristics (with a bonus) that I personally think are quintessential:
They Are……..
1) Goes beyond the limitations of his African community.
2) Expands the borders (whether psychologically, socially, financially etc etc) of that very same African community.
3) Takes advantage of the vast knowledge this land has to offer.
4) Materially secure and/or abundant (this one doesn’t tend to be too big of a problem for us)
5) Hard working (this one either)
6) Punctual when it counts (this one we do have a problem with)
7) Responsible parents (bringing children into secure, safe environments where they can grow up)
Able to adapt9) Takes care of the body regardless of the plethora of temptation to do otherwise out here in the West.
What Should I Add to the List?
I have gone beyond my site and gone on the forum site, Mashada and asked the same question and you can find that thread here:
So either head on over to Mashada or leave a comment below, it can even be a one word response, and let me know (leave your first comment, you know you want to) what should an ideal African immigrant look like:
PS: As soon as I read the headline, I got a feeling that some of you want to leave the answer, “Obama”. I guess that’s alright, but if you do, state why………
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10:19
Safaricom 2s
» bankelele Safaricom 2s
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7:01
“Made in Africa” my talk from Pop!Tech
» White African Here is my 5-minute talk that I did at Pop!Tech this Saturday. It touches on Ushahidi, AfriGadget and why I’m optimistic about Africa.
The best part for me is that in a recording I can make sure I don’t forget any lines and I can add more images into the slideshow. I know I had to cut out a section of the talk in the live event as I was running out of time. Either way, I hope you enjoy it, as it’s a mixture of my history that explains a little of my present occupation.
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3:27
NSE going to the dogs?
» Rants, Raves & Reviews Wow... what carnage!
(All said and done I think many shares are a steal if you have a backbone of steel)
KCB at 16.85 which is a 2x PB and less than 8 PER.
Equity Bank has not seen 114/- for almost 2 years. The price is even LOWER than it was at the height of the violence in 1Q 2008.
Warren Buffett would have a blast in the market & buy up a lot of stuff. I think it might sense for some firms to go private at this point!!!
There is little LBO cash but the possibility of buying out minorities... and then taking the firm private is so tempting. Hey, Unilever Tea (Brooke Bond) did just that!
Look at KQ (29/-) which is trading at a substantial discount to NAV. If they were allowed to buy-back shares, they had KES 12,000,000,000 in cash (2Q 2008 - 31 March 2008), and could buy back 200,000,000 shares at 30/- (KES 6,000,000,000). Suddenly, you have eliminated 40% of the shares thus allowing the remaining shareholders to earn substantially more on their investments!
KCB is at 16.85 & can generate over 13% on the shares based on current earnings. A buy-back would allow an increase in ROE without the need to take on additional risk. Just raise Tier 2 capital when the capital markets improve.
And the list goes on. Finally, ABSA could make a bid for Barclays Kenya. It was too pricey earlier but at 43/-, the price is rather attractive.
If I were Vodafone, I would buy 11% of the shares that gives me effective control of Safaricom so I can consolidate their results. And I can buy them at a rock-bottom price of Kes 3.50!
Equity Bank is in a position to make a takeover bid for HFCK. Offer 20/- & the minority shareholders of HFCK will make a beeline to sell the shares!
Safaricom should make a all-cash (20/-) bid for Access Kenya & in one swoop could own Kenya's largest ISP for corporates as well as the most extensive wi-max network in Kenya. I expect almost everyone except the Somens might be running to sell their shares! Heck, maybe even the Somens!
The cash rich firms e.g. KQ, Safaricom, Equity Bank can do wonders if they deployed the cash they have!
EABL is also cash rich but who would they buy that is complementary to their existing business?
CFC-Stanbic should look at buying out NIC Bank. Or perhaps even NBK now that NBK bad debts are manageable.
How about Equity Bank swooping in for HFCK as mentioned above. Or KCB buying out HFCK in its entirety & roll-up S&L into it?
I do not know if Centum is cash-rich after the recent happenings... but it could buy out 1 or 2 listed firms... if they have the cash!
Of course, we have Williamson Tea & Kapchorua... why do they list as different firms? A combination would be ideal at this stage!