Prime property market boom

Inside a gated community in a tranquil Kenyan suburb, a group of builders are putting the final touches to the exterior of a lavish, red-tiled villa nestled in the middle of a landscape garden.

Within the spacious property, no luxury is spared: Hardwood floors, Venetian finishes, designer furniture and five en-suite bathrooms ensure that all the modern conveniences are in place for the future tenants.
Welcome to Miotoni Ridge, a 14-mansion development in one of the Kenyan capital's most prestigious locations.

Houses here are designed for the highest-end of the luxury market. Asking prices are running at more than $1 million but that has not deterred any potential buyers: 60% of these properties are already sold out.

In fact, a study earlier this year by estate agents Knight Frank and Citi Private Wealth found that Nairobi was the best performing prime residential market in the world. Values in the city grew up by 25% in 2011.
Read On: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/28/business/kenya-luxury-housing-boom/index.html

NSE stocks lure templet on to world’s third-best rally

Kenyan stocks, the worst performers in sub-Saharan Africa last year, are this year’s third-best worldwide as the central bank reins in inflation and spurs a rally in the currency.

The Nairobi Stock Exchange All-Share Index (NSEASI) has surged 24 percent this year, the most after Venezuelan and Egyptian equities and paring 34 percent losses in 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While valuations have climbed from an all-time low of 5.6 times earnings in March, the ratio of 6.4 is 42 percent below the average for the index since 2008.

Shares are rebounding after record-high interest rates cut inflation to 12.2 percent in May from 19.7 percent in November and sent the shilling to the biggest rally globally since October. Kenya’s $12.3 billion stock market will probably extend gains as economic growth accelerates, said Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s largest lender.
Read On:  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-27/kenya-stocks-lure-templeton-to-world-s-third-biggest-rally

New Kindaruma dam unit to add 24MW

A third unit at the Kindaruma dam has been commissioned and is expected to add 24 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. The new unit, which will take a year to complete, and the refurbishment of other two will cost Sh4.6 billion.


Kindaruma dam is Kenya’s oldest hydro-electric power generating plant. After the works, the units will produce 24 megawatts each, raising the combined output from Kindaruma dam from 40 megawatts to 72 megawatts. 
Read more: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/New+Kindaruma+dam+unit+to+add+24MW+/-/539550/1436540/-/1o4ct3/-/index.html

Broadcast, Film & Music Africa Conference to bring continent’s movers & shakers to Nairobi

The fourth annual Broadcast, Film & Music Africa (BFMA) Conference, taking place in Nairobi, will coincide with the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) taking place over 7-15 July, to double the attraction for creative industry professionals throughout the world to travel to East Africa and experience African film and art.
Source: http://aitecafrica.com/news/view/194

The continent’s leading business & technology event for digital media and creative content is  themed: Innovation, investment and partnerships for local content and service excellence.

The event is expected to bring together over 400 participants, the largest annual gathering of broadcast, film, music and other electronic media and content creation and distribution professionals in sub-Saharan Africa.
Read more: http://aitecafrica.com/event/view/79?symfony=592a0b9ba3b9425e4e6fdac67c4b6831

View images of Oshwal Centre on Flickr.com/photos

Welcome to the Madhouse - The Movie (2012) by NRBLN_BLNRB

Duration 38min* / filmed in Nairobi & Berlin 2010
See and hear what happens when a handful of musicians from Berlin set up studio in Nairobi – and the Kenyans come visiting a couple of months later, in the cold German winter.
Featuring Just a Band, Gebrüder Teichmann, Ukoo Flani, Jahcoozi, Nazizi, Modeselektor, Radi, Mr. Abbas, Michel Ongaro, Maasai Mbili art Centre and many more.
More videos at Vimeo channel

Africa is experiencing some of the biggest falls in child mortality ever seen, anywhere.

It is, says Gabriel Demombynes, of the World Bank’s Nairobi office, “a tremendous success story that has only barely been recognised”. Michael Clemens of the Centre for Global Development calls it simply “the biggest, best story in development”. It is the huge decline in child mortality now gathering pace across Africa.

Three countries—Senegal, Rwanda and Kenya—have seen falls of more than 8% a year, almost twice the MDG rate and enough to halve child mortality in about a decade. These three now have the same level of child mortality as India, one of the most successful economies in the world during the past decade.

Kenya is a test case. It has cut the rate of infant mortality (deaths of children under one year old) by more than any other country. It has had healthy economic growth (4.8% a year in 2005-10) and a functioning democracy, albeit after horrendous post-election violence in 2008. But Mr Demombynes noticed something else: it increased the use of treated bednets from 8% of all households in 2003 to 60% in 2008. Using figures on the geographical variation of malaria, he calculated that half the overall drop in Kenya’s infant mortality can be explained by the huge rise in the use of ITNs in areas where malaria is endemic.

Bednets are often taken as classic examples of the benefits of aid, since in the past they were pioneered by foreign charities. Consistent with the view that aid is vital, Jeffrey Sachs, an American economist, recently claimed that a big drop in child mortality in his Millennium Villages project (a group of African villages that his Earth Institute of Columbia University, New York, is helping) is the result of large increases in aid to villagers. In fact, argues Mr Demombynes, the mortality decline in these villages was no better than in the countries as a whole.

The broad moral of the story is different: aid does not seem to have been the decisive factor in cutting child mortality. No single thing was. But better policies, better government, new technology and other benefits are starting to bear fruit. “This will be startling news for anyone who still thinks Africa is mired in unending poverty and death,” says Mr Clemens. But “that Africa is slipping quickly away.” Source: The Economist
image source: feedback.abroaderview.org
 

Turning to geothermal energy

Jun 19 2012  The FT's east Africa correspondent Katrina Manson films and reports from the Great Rift Valley on Kenya's latest plans to exploit geothermal energy to produce electricity.  


Watch video: http://video.ft.com/v/1697297280001/Kenya-turns-to-geothermal-energy

50.4km Thika super highway set for completion after years of waiting

After a nearly five years wait, engineers responsible for the reconstruction of Nairobi-Thika Highway are all smiles after conquering one of the most challenging engineering feats, constructing a super highway while it is used by motor and human traffic.

“This is not the standard practice, of doing a major highway when in use by traffic, but we had to do it here because there were no alternative roads to divert traffic,” said Hari Ramesh, Chief Resident Engineer for the 50.4 kilometre highway. Despite the interruptions, Ramesh said delays have been minimal and the quality achieved is that of global standard.
read on: www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2012/06/superhighway set for completion after years of waiting

Work starts on Kenyan Olympic anthem

Work starts this week on the Coca Cola Kenya Olympic Anthem after two lucky Kenyans won a contest to take part in creating it, alongside musician and producer Madtraxx.

Collins Okoth from Kisumu and Juliet Karanja from Nairobi were selected from among 12 finalists via a public voting process on national television, which was concluded last Friday.
read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/lifestyle/2012/06/21/work-starts-on-kenyan-olympic-anthem/

How I navigated Kenya using Twitter

Surfers beware. There is an incredibly influential and vocal group on Twitter, using a common hashtag and blazing keyboards to ensure their African country is discussed fairly and with respect online. Kenyans on Twitter, better known as #KOT, are a 21st century phenomenon born out of the social media boom and growing economy in East Africa's most populous city, Nairobi.

Why are they so vocal and what is it doing for the country at large? My mission for "Inside Africa" recently was to find out - and I did so with an experiment.

The concept was simple; if Kenyans are so connected I should be able to assemble a quick meet-up; I should be able to navigate Nairobi via Twitter. The entire process should teach me how tech-savvy this country really is and show me where its heading. It worked far better than expected.
READ ON: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/15/world/africa/kenya-twitter-experiment/index.html

Sawa Sawa Festival

The Sawa Sawa Festival, organized by Sarakasi and held during the Madaraka week, has attracted audiences of over 120,000 people (2010) and due to excellent media campaigns, relations and partnerships, millions of others have been reached through PR campaigns and live radio and TV broadcasts. The Festival is usually extensively covered by other (not contracted) media as well.

Sarakasi Trust initiated the concept of the annual Sawa Sawa Festival to create a unique festival with a unique and African identity appealing to the Kenyan public at large while at the same time creating an opportunity to reach out to audiences across age, gender, cultural and economical back grounds. Sawa Sawa aims to promote the performing arts through workshops, meet the artist sessions, technical skill and cultural sharing workshops, community building (theme) activities, media activations and the multi stage multi day concerts. source: www.sarakasi.org

Festival brings funky, eclectic Afro-Latino music to Nairobi
In an increasingly globalised world, it is hardly surprising to find a meeting of diverse musical cultures.

The annual Sawa Sawa Festival in Nairobi this weekend (June 10, 2012) will provide an opportunity for music enthusiasts to sample the sounds of a group that brings together an eclectic range of influences.

Napalma comprises two percussionists from Brazil, a vocalist from Mozambique and a multi-instrumentalist from South Africa. Read on: www.businessdailyafrica.com/Festival brings funky eclectic Afro Latino music to Nairobi

Who is Zubi d'Nova?

A little girl's dream turned into reality at age 14, when she launched a mini-career as ''Mellow Dee'' in Kenya. Having done collaborations with Rigga, Redsan, Vini Banton, Jaymoe, Pentamony, Syd, and other Kenyan stars, as well as lots of press coverage and a music video being played in all of East Africa, "Mellow Dee" was said to be a force to be reckoned with.

She was crowned Miss India Kenya 2004 and Zee Teen Queen - Kenya Chapter. Personal circumstances changed, and she had to leave Kenya.

She is currently based in the Netherlands, but will be moving back to her home in Kenya soon. As an independent artist, she is responsible for the writing and vocals of her songs, the filming of most of her videos, the marketing, as well as the management of her pages! She is also known for being very down-to-earth and keeping a close bond with her fans.

With velvet vocals expressing deep emotions, Zubi d'Nova creates reflective music for the seeking soul.
Find out more at: www.reverbnation.com/zubidnova
You tube channel: www.youtube.com/user/zubitv

CCK clears 168 operators to spur competition in Pay-TV

Competition in the Kenyan pay television market is expected to intensify as the industry regulator prepares to license 168 operators in a sector currently dominated by DStv.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) on Wednesday said the new providers would be licensed under the digital broadcasting regime, which is replacing the analogue platform.

“We are going to issue the 168 applications on our waiting list with temporary broadcasting permits before the end of this week...,” Francis Wangusi, the acting CCK director-general.
Read on: www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News

View Digital Migration Kenya ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_wIvauBICU&feature=colike

Nairobi Half Life film by One Fine Day Films

A young, aspiring actor from upcountry Kenya dreams of becoming a success in Nairobi. He is drawn into a new world of thuggery and violence as he still tries to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.

About One Fine Day Films
ONE FINE DAY FILMS is an alternative film production company founded by Marie Steinmann & Tom Tykwer. The aim of the organization is to use the teaching of art and aesthetic principles to allow children and young adults in disadvantaged regions of our world to discover and explore their artistic talent and imagination.

In September 2008, Marie Steinmann & Tom Tykwer teamed up with Ginger and Guy Wilson from the Nairobi-based production company Ginger Ink to launch a project that expands the work of ONE FINE DAY. into the realm of cinema.

The concept for the pilot project SOUL BOY was to use a manageable budget to develop a film workshop in Nairobi at which Tom Tykwer would work as a creative supervisor with a small, professional crew and a large group of young trainees to make a medium-length feature film in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum. The main aim was to integrate young film enthusiasts from Nairobi, especially slum dwellers, into the practical work on an ambitious film project, thus providing them with professional knowledge, career perspectives and the inspiration to continue.
source: http://www.onefinedayfilms.com/?page_id=131

James Mwangi is World Entrepreneur 2012

Dr. James Mwangi, CEO and Managing Director of Kenya's Equity Bank Limited has been named the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 at an awards ceremony held in Monte Carlo. James was picked from finalists from 51 countries, each of whom had already been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in their home country.

Equity Bank is the largest bank by customer base in East and Central Africa and the largest African majority owned company in the region. The bank has more than seven million accounts representing over half of all bank accounts in Kenya. It also has operations in Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Ruben Vardanian, President, Troika Dialog and Chair of the judging panel said,
"Not only has James really transformed people's lives across Africa by offering them access to funding that they have never had before, Equity Bank continues to grow quickly through a strong financial performance."
View highlights from the 2012 World Entrepreneur Of The Year event. http://youtu.be/WWEAVRC6QUE
Read more: http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Newsroom/News-releases/Press-release_WEOY_2012_Winner

About 

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement.

As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in over 50 countries.
Source: http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Newsroom/News-releases/Press-release_WEOY_2012_Winner

African Dreams: Alison Ngibuini & Njeri Rionge

Bringing Kenyan soap operas to Africa

Alison Ngibuini owns a communication company that aims to make engaging Kenyan soap operas to compete with dominant foreign imports - and put Kenyan television firmly on the African map.

She launched Al Is On Productions in 2003, after having studied marketing and hotel management, and worked in advertising.

"I started off working as an assistant in an ad agency. At the time we were just doing TV commercials and I thought 'I want to go into this a bit more,'" she told the BBC series African Dream.

Ms Ngibuini said that she started with a very small capital that she had saved from her previous employment.

"I've been that person who was taught to save, even a shilling put it aside," she said.

Many of her initial clients were people who knew her from the advertising agency.

"I had a mobile phone and a computer. Those were the two basic things that I felt I needed at the time," the entrepreneur explained.

"I used to run my company from home and now we've grown and currently I have a studio running with over a hundred people who go through he doors every day."
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18330966 

Rolling out the web to Kenya's poor

For internet entrepreneur Njeri Rionge, Africa represents the next economic frontier. She say strong indigenous, African-owned companies are needed to take advantage of the boom times ahead.

Ms Rionge is as famous in Kenya for her success in starting up several companies at the same time as she is for Wananchi.com, a cable, broadband and internet-based telephone company.

She started her dot com dream and first big venture, Wananchi.com, with the hope of bringing internet connectivity to the masses. Today the firm has grown to become the largest internet service provider in East Africa and is worth $173 million (£107 million) a huge sum for a firm with an initial start-up of $500,000 (£308,000).
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17901645

Into the lion’s den

Lance Richardson follows the trail of Tsavo lions whose cunning is etched in Kenyan history.

The overnight train from Nairobi to Mombasa leaves the capital at 7pm, sliding through darkness towards the Kenyan coast. The rail website advises that interesting sights begin to appear at the invigorating hour of 5am, when the train bisects the twin national parks of Tsavo West and Tsavo East.

‘‘If [the] train gets delayed, you have the best animal views,’’ it notes, putting a positive spin on what is otherwise considered the bane of African travel: assured tardiness and inexplicable pauses. However, according to the digital arm of African train travel, it’s in your best interests to be late. Just take a look out the window. Read more: www.smh.com.au/travel

Nairobi, best little airport in the world

As major air traffic hubs get ever bigger and blander, Kevin Rushby tells why the real glamour of travel is found in smaller airports, like Wilson, in the Kenyan capital.

We are sitting on the runway and Dino Bisleti, chief executive of Air Kenya and our pilot, has finished his pre-flight checks and is relaxing for a minute. It's a small plane. I'm in the seat right behind him. I do something unthinkable in the sterile, faceless world of modern air travel. I begin a conversation. How did he start his flying career? He points along the line of aircraft hangars that line the apron at Nairobi's Wilson airport.

"See that blue and white sign? Boscovic Air Charters. Boscovic was a Polish Spitfire pilot who came out to east Africa after the second world war. I joined him back in the 1970s. He used to fly by instinct – no flight plan, nothing. He'd just set off. We were taught real bush flying by him."

If there is anywhere in the world that welcomes the glamorous spirit of aviation, it is Kenya. Think Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen (OK, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in Out of Africa) in a biplane waggling their wings over remote airstrips where the grass is kept down by herds of wildebeest and zebra.

The wildlife bit is still true for many landing sites, where the departure lounge is nothing more than the shade of a handy acacia tree. And Wilson airport is the great-grandaddy of such places, the original. True, it has long since grown past the acacia tree stage, but it is still a million miles from the anodyne boredom of most international airports: it is leafy, charming and rather eccentric. read more: www.guardian.co.uk/travel

Nairobi best performer in property index

Green House at Adam's Arcade, Nairobi. Image source: architecturekenya.com

According to Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index for the first quarter of 2012, the value of prime property in the world’s key cities falling by 0.4 per cent but Nairobi performed quite well. “Nairobi (up 24 per cent) was the strongest performer in the last 12 months,” read the report.

The survey says this was the index’s first quarterly fall since the depths of the global recession.

According to the report, the first three months of 2012 brought with it little new momentum, but all was not lost. “Despite the overall index’s sluggish performance, four prime markets achieved double-digit growth over a 12-month period; Nairobi, Jakarta, Miami and London,” said the survey. 
read on: www.standardmedia.co.ke

Leather business from waste fish skin

In a modest studio in Kisumu, 26-year-old Everline Odera is busy putting the final touches on a unique leather handbags she has been sewing for the last two days.

The pouch is not only unique in design but also in the material used to make it. For the last few months, Ms Odera has been training on how to turn fish leather into clothes and gifts items.

She is a member of Afrika Pamoja, a project by a community-based organisation called the Teenage Mothers and Girls Association of Kenya, (Temak).

The use of fish leather is becoming popular especially in the lakeside city of Kisumu where various government agencies and CBOs are working together to create value out of the resource until recently considered as waste.
read more: www.businessdailyafrica.com

Triple-play bonanza

"Down one of the notorious potholed streets of Nairobi there is an 8 megabits per second fibre connection to a Kenyan home that I stayed in last week."

It is remarkable for a few reasons: the connection is the newer much faster fibre-optics; and it's for unlimited data, like broadband is around the world.

But the outstanding feature is the price: a mere $50 (about R435) a month for what the industry calls triple-play: an internet connection, a phone line and a TV service.

The service, called Zuku, is offered by Wananchi, one of the largest service providers in Kenya. "The cable TV is a bonus," another subscriber told me.

In a related development, Wananchi has begun offering a free wireless service around Nairobi called Wazi WiFi, hoping, like San Francisco, to kickstart entrepreneurial activity. read more: www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes

Mfarm & Samsung launch M-Farm mobile application

Mfarm limited, an award winning software solutions and agribusiness company has announced the partnership with Samsung that has seen them release their mobile application, which is available on both Android and Samsung’s Bada based phones.

The mobile tool allows farmers to receive accurate, real-time crop price information daily, 6 days a week, being sourced from 5 major markets in Kenya: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Kitale. The M-Farm web application gives monthly analysis of the crop prices in different markets, showing the price trends. Therefore, the farmer is able to make informed economic decisions on what to plant when, how to price his produce and where to sell.

The official launch shall be on  the  5th of June 2012 at Ole Sereni hotel Nairobi alongside the Pivot East conference. The m-farm app can be found at Samsung Apps store. source: www.ihub.co.ke/blog
About

MFarm Ltd is a software solution and agribusiness company. M-Farm, is a transparency tool for Kenyan farmers where they simply SMS the number 3535 to get information pertaining to the retail price of their products, buy their farm inputs directly from manufacturers at favorable prices, and find buyers for their produce.

MFarm is designed to: 
- Enable farmers to inquire current market prices of different crops from different regions and/or specific markets.
- Aggregate farmers needs/orders and connect them with farm input suppliers.
- Enable farmers to sell collectively and connect them with a ready market.
Source: www.mfarm.co.ke/about

Funding accord for Dongo Kundu Bypass and Ngong Road expansion

Kenya signed agreements with Japan for 31 billion Kenyan shillings ($360 million) in loans and grants to improve roads, which may reduce the cost of transporting goods, Finance Minister Robinson Githae said.

Sh28.9b for Dongo Kundu Bypass
The loan for 28.9 billion shillings involves building a road from Mombasa port’s container terminal and a bypass linking the seaside city’s South Coast to the mainland, Githae told a media briefing in the capital, Nairobi, today.

image grabbed from skyscrapercity.com

Kenya also will receive a grant of 1.7 billion shillings to widen 4.7 kilometers (2.9 miles) along Ngong Road in Nairobi to four lanes as well as put down sidewalks and drainage systems, Githae said.

Growing investment to improve the road network in East Africa’s largest economy will lead to savings for businesses and consumers, Akihiko Tanaka, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said at the same event. Transport expenses account for 40 percent of the price of goods in Kenya, he said.

Mombasa has the busiest port in East Africa, serving landlocked countries including South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-02/kenya-signs-japan-funding-accord-for-roads-in-nairobi-mombasa.html

Sh1.68b Japanese grant to expand Ngong Road
Construction that will transform Ngong Road into a dual carriageway is expected to be underway in the next few months, with a projected completion date of February 2015.

image grabbed from skyscrapercity.com

The notoriously congested road that has been a headache for motorists heading to Karen and the Central Business District will be expanded courtesy of a Sh1.68 billion (¥1.56 million) grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Newly appointed JICA President Akihiko Tanaka, said it will take a few more months before actual construction can begin. However once complete, the more efficient Ngong Road should see a decrease in transport costs and travel time. read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2012/06/sh1-6b-japanese-grant-to-expand-ngong-road/