bankelele

• Local Content, Conservation & Branding in Africa

  Posted: December 28, 2010, 2:07 am by bankelele

  Late in 2010, TNS released a Kenya digital study as part of a three month study of the habits of online Africans; In Kenya it involved 800 interviews - 400 online, 400 face-to-face and tried to answer various questions like - Who is online? What are people doing online? How can brands connect? What messaging/digital communication channels are best?
  
  Some findings included:
  - Internet penetration: Kenya & Uganda is 10%, Tanzania is 1.6%, Nigeria is 29%, Egypt 22%, South Africa 11%. In local capitals - 49% of Nairobi residents have tried the internet, 53% in Kampala, 31% in Dar es Salaam (and 42% & 49% in Mombasa & Arusha respectively) for an average of 45% of EA urban nationals
  - Cyber café are the primary mode (67%) of access Internet in Sub-Saharan Africa, but in Kenya its the mobile phone (60%)
  - Many people started using Internet in last two years and are on a learning curve; Companies need to make sure they educate the users on how to use their sites more effectively. This is compared to countries like Japan which has high internet penetration but low interest (its a part of life, no longer exciting)
  - In terms of daily media access, digital is still lower than conventional media – so companies/brands have to continue with old media; Also radio is very important, compared to global where radio trails TV
  - Top e-mail sites: Gmail Yahoo, Facebook, MSN
  - Top social networks: Facebook Google Yahoo Youtube
  - Top knowledge sites: Google Wikipedia Yahoo DailyNation
  - Top news sites: Google BBC Standard DailyNation
  - Top multimedia sites: Youtube Google CapitalFM Facebook
  - Very few people (7%) say they are shopping online
  - Kenyans (and Africans) want to do more activities online - like internet banking, pay utility bills, watch TV, make travel bookings, submit taxes, advertise online. This will become an annual study by TNS to monitor trends in the online space.
  
  One of their partners, VML (Kansas, US) also did a complementary study on digital monitoring of some Kenyan and African brands over several months this year using SEER ecosystem to find a link between bloggers and brands. They looked at mobile companies (Orange,Safaricom,Yu), countries as brands (Kenya,Nigeria,South Africa) and banks (Stanbic,Ecobank)
  
  Some findings:
  
  Mobile: Orange is way ahead of everybody else (846,000 mentions with 92% positive) but may have little to do with Kenya (more the international Orange brand)
  - Safaricom had 11,000 conversations online, with people talking about the business, Michael Joseph (outgoing CEO), but not about products & prices. 66% was positive, and this varied from month to month, with some negative on their customer service and competition/regulation.
  - Most intriguing - the bulk of conversation abut Safaricom does not happen in Africa - it's highest in US, UK, Germany. In Africa, there is some conversation in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa - and in Kenya its associated with 4 blogs (Kenyanjobs, siku-moja, bankelele, kenyaprincessproject)
  
  Banking: Ecobank has 5000 mentions, and Stanbic 900 mentions – but Ecobank spiked as a result of an unrelated Ecobank twitter account in Japan (not Africa) while for Stanbic it was due to coverage of a cricket tournament in Zimbabwe
  - The highest conversation about Stanbic is in UK, while for Ecobank its in the US,
  - These are very few conversations about banks or their business, and these are happening mainly outside Kenya and Africa (Ecobank is associated with this blog on the strength of a couple of blog posts about the bank’s 2010 AGM in Nairobi)
  - There is an opportunity for banks, to engage, and not just about Internet banking products.
  
  Tourism: Kenya tourism conversation is 81% positive, 16% negative – (jambo ad annoyed people on the net) - and again a lot of conversation in UK and US.
  - While Kenya gets good conversation given the budget they spend, Kenyan tourism only get as much positive conversation as Nigeria – showing a need for more positive content creation and engagement online.
  - Concern that despite the natural beauty of Kenya (wildlife, beaches, scenery), 0% is taking place on photo or image sites - a missed opportunity to create visual content.
  
  Summary
  - Very little conversation about African brands is originating in Africa, and there are opportunities for links to be created either with influential blogs, or social media etc.
  - Complaints cause large spikes in conversation
  - Companies need to monitor online conversation, beyond press clippings
  - Companies need to incorporate digital plans in their branding exercise

• Reading the Tea Leaves at KPLC

  Posted: December 22, 2010, 2:17 pm by bankelele

  The on going rights issue closes on today (22/12/10) after a month and a half of the balance sheet restructuring program.
  
  Background: CEO Joseph Njoroge said its necessity began with the 1999-2002 power-rationing period when the company incurred heavy trading losses of Kshs 15.9 billion. The debt was converted into equity for the government (GoK) and preference shares for the government and what became Kengen – and which Kengen transferred back to GoK prior to their IPO.
  
  Preference share burden: There was a five-year moratorium on dividend, but the preference shares have continued to be perceived by lenders and investors as debt - with fixed annual payout. This distorted the value of ordinary shares, creditworthiness of KPLC, and would be a burden on cash flow to meet as seen when the moratorium ended with a payment of Kshs 1.25 billion ($15.6 million) to holders of 7.85% preference shares in 2010
  
  New balance sheet will have a level playing field and enable the company to access more funds after the redemption of preference shares in three steps by (i) issue of 76 million new ordinary shares (ii) ordinary share split 1 to 8 (iii) a (December 2010) rights issue to shareholders entitled to buy 20 new shares, for every 51 they own, at a ~20 per share with GoK renouncing its rights – to raise a net amount of ~Kshs 9.1 billion ($114 million)
  
  Underwriter: KPLC sought an underwriter and got Centum and Equity Bank to underwrite the issue by 50%.
  
  Retain GoK control: from a current 40% ordinary shareholding, GoK stake will 69% for short period, but as they are renouncing their rights, on conclusion it will be 50.1% and still remain a parastatal. GoK can also ‘count on’ no.3 shareholders – the National Social Security Fund who own 8%

• Entrepreneurship Moment: Apprentices, Intellectual Property, Mentors, Partners

  Posted: December 19, 2010, 8:48 pm by bankelele

  Over the last few week, I have been exposed to various events and lessons that touched on entrepreneurship. We had the Legatum business awards winners feted in Nairobi, talks by some young US technology start up executives, and got to watch the movie 'social network', and final episodes of the Apprentice beamed live from the US.
  
  Talk 1: Russell Simmons co-founder of Yelp.com and Jawed Karim co-founder of Youtube were here for i/o Ventures which aims to incubate start up entrepreneurs and formalize angel investing – this is because giving back is a big deal in Silicon Valley.
  
  They talked at the Nairobi iHub and some of the business advice they imparted to local entrepreneurs included
  - What you are working on, will be different in 3 to 4 years, but keep going & don’t give up
  - If you have bad chemistry with an employee/co-worker, fire them as soon as possible – as dealing with them takes up so much productive energy
  - It’s hard to find good team members. But it may be better to recruit from universities, as enthusiasm trumps experience
  - Get your product out immediately, don’t over tweak - perfect it as you go along. Also, instead of juggling many projects, focus and do one project really well - hit home run and people will line up for more
  - On Intellectual Property: In Kenya, theft of ideas is a big worry with young companies seeking partners & financiers, but their advice was that in Silicon Valley, theft of ideas not an empirical problem
  - If you have idea, someone else has same idea – and having idea does not give you advantage, it’s about being better to execute better than anyone else,
  - Don’t be afraid to share your ideas, because once you launch, everyone will see it anyway
  
  Talk 2: Paul English co-founder of Kayak.com who’s working on Join Africa a last mile (wifi) connectivity project with University of Nairobi, University of Kigali and MIT also gave a talk on entrepreneurship.
  
  - Most important elements for him were the team, customers and profit incentive
  - Don’t make customers happy – blow them away – kayak.com is the best for getting cheap flights (actually make more money from hotels than airlines)
  - Take risks, but pick partners carefully.
  - He has no customer service, everyone in the company does that
  - Be the best; He said even if an employee took their code to a rival, he believes he’d’ still build a better travel site
  
  At the talk, Communications PS Bitange Ndemo also talked about push to have a sub-patent law and creative commons in Kenya, as opposed to unwieldy patents - these are suitable for local development of incremental innovations as many creations will not qualify pass IP test. He also believes it’s best country for have flexible laws until we develop further
  
  Apprentice: Got to watch the final few episode of Donald Trump's Apprentice - which this year featured Kenyan born Liza Mucheru-Wisner. She was one the 16 contents, picked from several thousand applicants and made it to the final three. She would have gone further but for the sudden decision by Trump to fire her even when her team had won a challenge.
  
  Earlier, in defending her decision on that project, she got into a debate with Trump about race as a factor in marketing of products, and Trump said he fired her be she did not get along with her fellow contestants – and she was shocked because they were all in a competition to win, not be popular.
  
  The apprentice is a TV show with plot, structure, bad guys, and a defined ending. But it’s a microcosm for business & entrepreneurs who face different challenges, have to play multiple tasks, who's plans don’t always go right, may not have the resources they need or you don’t get to work with the right people - and there’s always a bit of improvisation to get a win.
  
  Liza Mucheru-Wisner, Apprentice Contestant
  It’s all cut and edited into a dramatic hour package for TV, which means that you don’t see a lot of the hard work that contestants put in. Liza said she actually got a long with all the contestants and the harsh comments were never repeated in front of contestant during tasks, but only came out in boardroom, when everyone was fighting for to stay in the show.
  
  Despite not being the Apprentice, she does not feel like she lost. She represented herself well, put a spotlight on herself and her passion (education, kids, technology) and as a result she’s got lots of offers to consider, one of which may may involve becoming a goodwill ambassador.
  
  Social Network: This is a well received movie about the origins of Facebook - and which leads Roger Ebert’s list of top movies of 2010> I got a 50/= ($0.6) bootleg copy in Nairobi and it’s a must see for any entrepreneurs - with lessons on maintaining focus amid changing business concepts & expectations, management, and picking/rejecting partners

• Urban Inflation Index December 2010

  Posted: December 18, 2010, 2:43 am by bankelele

  tracking changes to three months ago and two years back
  
  Quarterly Review: The talks are again about price controls. While earlier in the year the president rejected a parliamentary bill that controlled food prices and courts have stalled the controversial health care bill. But now there is now . There is an alcohol bill, which some the Star eluded was crafted by the national drug abuse agency with strict hours of drinking and this week the minister for energy gazetted rules for petrol prices
  
  On to the index
  
  Gotten cheaper
  
  Beer/Entertainment: A bottle of Tusker beer is Kshs 140 ($1.75) compared to 170 three month ago. It was 140 a year ago, and 120 two years ago. It is widely believed that bar owners are struggling with the reduced hours of alcohol sale of 5 – 11 PM on weeknights and 2 – 11 PM, and there is room for shady arrangements to extend the hours.
  
  about the same
  
  Fuel: A litre of petrol fuel (at local petrol station) is now Kshs 94.3 ($5.28 gallon) about this same as 94.5 three months ago, It was 83.5 last December and 92.7 two years ago. The price was 97 until Tuesday when the new rules came into effect, and as the business daily noted, the drop in petrol prices was offset by increase in diesel and kerosene prices. Price controls have been resented across the board but the populist wave won and it will be interesting to watch how the government will respond to oil prices, and the join import tender system, to appease the refinery, pipeline and oil marketers in addition to the public
  
  Staple Food: Maize flour, which is used to make Ugali that is eaten by a majority of Kenyans daily. A 2 kg. Unga pack at Uchumi today costs Kshs 69 ($0.85) compared to 65 three months ago, 83 a year ago and 97 two years ago. There have been good rains this year and good harvests, but which lead to farmers wanting the government to buy at higher prices. And there was a strange story of the government importing maize form Japan
  
  Other food item: Sugar : A 2 kg. Mumias pack is Kshs 195. It had been two hundred for over a year, but two years ago it was 160. The tug of war about the licensing of as sugar company in western Kenya has highlighted some challenges of the sugar sector regulation.
  
  Communications All Kenya’s mobile phone companies have call rates of about Kshs 3 shillings per minute to call across networks. What has changed is the offering of more value at the same price and significantly blurring of the lien between pre-paid and post-paid services - through offers for subscribers to sign up for ‘unlimited’ or enhanced call, SMS, or internet services by sending in text messages and these in turn entail daily deduction of money. By offering these packages, mobile companies are assured of steady revenue from a subscriber even if he does not use the service on a given day and continues until a customer deactivates the promotion
  
  Utilities: Latest electricity bill is Kshs 1,800 ($22.5 for a month), slightly up from Kshs 1,700 three months ago, but less than 2,100 of a year ago, but about the same as 1,700 two years ago. Though the droughts of 2009 has now been forgotten , fuel surcharges are still a feature on electricity bills
  
  Foreign Exchange: 1 US$ equals Kshs 80.5 compared to 80.8 three. A year ago it was 75.6 a year ago and 79.0 two years ago. Presently Kenyans are riveted by the Wikileaks Kenya cables that are slowly being disseminated
  
  more expensive
  N/A

• How is the GOP’s opposition to Obama’s decision affecting USA?

  Posted: December 17, 2010, 12:26 pm by bankelele

  A Guest Post by Jason Holmes
  
  The Grand Old Party or the GOP very commonly known had asked President Obama to fire his entire economic advisors because they had failed to take out recession and job loss problems out of the country. The decisions taken by Barrack Obama are criticized every now and then by the GOP. Take a look at how the compromises are forced in to the decisions of Obama and how it in turn is devastating the country.
  
  Republicans against the financial reform by Obama
  
  Barrack Obama’s decision to sign a bill for financial security in the country is jeopardized by the strong opposition from the GOP. The decision lies in the regulation of derivates which are financial instruments and their value depends on the underlying assets such as mortgages or stocks. But there is also the risk that these assets can sink giving rise to losses and other financial crisis. 41 Republicans are against any bill by the Democrats including this bill. It’s predicted that the regulation of derivates market is quite risky and will badly affect the small businesses as well as community banks. But even if there were some of the well-known financial crises in USA due to the regulation of risky derivates, it can also reduce the loss and produce huge profits if the underlying assets don’t sink.
  
  Obama fears for the failure of bipartisan prospects
  
  In the new reports it has been recorded that Obama is not against a lot of decisions of the Republicans but fears that he won’t be able to take other decisions freely if the GOP runs the House. He wants to make some changes in education and energy-related decisions that have been overlooked. He fears that if GOP comes into power, he won’t be able to make any decisions regarding foreign policies even. His bipartisan cooperation prospects are looking bleak due to the GOP opposition at every step. But if given a chance, Obama’s decision may work for the betterment of the country but due to the problems in the House due to the Republicans, public is showing less interest in any decisions. Since the term of Barrack Obama started in 2008, Republicans have shown very little interest in working with Obama or the Democrats in the whole.
  
  GOP create problems for Obama for building foreign relations
  
  Obama has taken decisions to bring US troops from Afghanistan back to the country by July, 2011. But Republicans oppose this decision and say that it’s arbitrary and that war commanders shouldn’t withdraw forces just like that. Obama’s plan to improve relations with other countries such as Cuba and Iran is also not accepted by the Republicans. They fear that if there is no border control, US may have to face another war since the World War II. But against the Republican concepts, Obama’s decision may mean peace with other countries and no war.
  
  USA and EU relations affected if GOP comes to power
  
  As per the latest reports, it’s foreseen that the relations between America and European countries may come to a halt when the GOP comes into power. Obama’s decision to have good relations with European countries especially Turkey will be highly affected and opposed by the Republicans. If the New Strategic Arms Control Treaty with Russia is signed by Obama and the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, it may lower limits of both the nations’ nuclear arsenals. But the Republicans are not sure whether or not Russia would be fair in its decisions to be fair.
  
  Whether Barrack Obama or the Republicans take decisions, they should always use a fool proof plan so that it positively affects the country. In their fight to stay in power, both the Democrats and the Republicans are overlooking the public interest. The downfall of the big economic countries led to the financial crisis. They must look for reforms to improve the countries financial status and create more jobs.
  
  About the author: Jason Holmes is a regular writer with debtcc community and is also a contributory writer with other financial sites. His expertise is woven around various aspects of the debt industry and with his e-books he tries to impart to people the different situations and simple solutions to get out of difficult situations. Some of his works include e-books like ‘Credit Score The Quintessential Therapy for a Happy Pocket’, Take Creditors and Collection Agencies to Small Claims Court’ and, My Story- From Depression To a Smile’.

• Investor Choice: December 2010

  Posted: December 15, 2010, 7:36 pm by bankelele

  December is traditionally a slow investment month in Kenya, but not so this year with so many investment offers from a variety of sectors
  
  Recap
  
  - Bralirwa IPO is ongoing for Rwanda’s largest beer company. Nairobi stockbrokers who are facilitating the cross-border deal include Dyer & Blair, Faida, African Alliance and CFC Stanbic
  
  - Deacons set out to raise Kshs 800 million ($10 million) in November. They extended the deadline to early December, and came up slightly short at Kshs 700 million which is still commendable for a low marketed company in a competitive industry with no immediate listing plans
  
  - I&M Bank had a private placement to raise about 2.4 billion ($30 million) and is said to be past the mark
  
  - The Kenya Power & Lighting Company - KPLC Rights issue set out to raise almost Kshs 10 billion ($125 million) in a combination share split, tights issue, government shareholding restructuring. It runs till December 22, but for new shareholders deadline is December 15 and is 50% underwritten with Centum and Equity bank.
  
  - A second tranche of the Kshs 12 billion Safaricom bond program which aimed to raise Kshs 4.5 billion ($56 million) closed yesterday, and announcement is to be done today - (PDF)
  
  - Airline Investors – away from retail investors we have the rarefied world of institutional investors and buccaneers in the aviation space in Africa
  
  - (Via Flight Africa Blog) Jetlink expanding flights to (Asmara) Eritrea while Fly540 is to soon launch operations in Angola and Ghana
  - Kenya Airways resumes flights to (Rome) Italy on December 16 which is its fourth European destination
  - Recently, Rwanda Air launched flights from Rwanda to Dubai via Mombasa.
  - Yemenia resuming flights to Kenya.
  - East African, (who may or may not be in business) are promoting flights from Nairobi to (Hargeisa) Somaliland for $620
  - And helicopter leasing is getting popular in Kenya, even at rates of $2,000 per hour.

• 2010 Kenya Bank Rankings Part II

  Posted: December 6, 2010, 3:53 pm by bankelele

  Comparing to last year’s Top 10 list.
  
  I&M Bank: Sits, at number eleven, for the year, just outside the top 10, but made more profit than two of the top banks . I&M had an exciting year, with a November rights issue targeting to raise Kshs 2.4 billion ($30 million); they also launched an e-commerce platform, bought stakes in banks in Mauritius and Tanzania and got investment funding from Proparco & DEG.
  
  10. Diamond Trust (2009 rank 10): Assets of Kshs 58.2 billion ($727 million) and nine month profits of Kshs 2.3 billion ($29 million) – had growth across the board of 30% compared to a year ago and with a good income outlook and very low NPA. Expanding to Burundi while other banks have headed to Rwanda, and Chairman stepped down to take up similar post at the revived Air Uganda.
  
  9. Citibank Kenya (2009: 7): Assets of 63.9 billion ($798 million) and nine month profits of 2.15 billion ($27 million). A quiet year for the bank but ramped up in Q3 this year and that will impact year-end numbers, which were flat before that. MD Ade Ayeyemi moved on to other bank operations, and the bank has been unable to shake off local stockbroker allegations that they are holding Safaricom IPO refunds from investors since 2008
  
  8. Commercial Bank of Africa (2009: 9): Assets of 65 billion ($813 million) and nine-month profits of 1.9 billion ($23.7 million) . A quiet year for the bank which has grown by about 40% since a year ago, but which will soon have to raise compliance capital from its shareholders.
  
  7. National Bank of Kenya (2009: 8): Assets of 67.4 billion ($842 million) and nine month profits of 1.9 billion ($24.8 million). And has ramped up lending including mortgages and seen improved profits. The replacement of long serving CEO is up in the air are Government plans to privatize the bank with plans shifting toward private investor as opposed to offering more shares to the public
  
  6. CFC-Stanbic (2009: 6): Assets of Kshs 104 billion ($1.3 billion) and nine month profits of 1.5 billion ($18.8 million). The sleeping giant created by the merger of two mid size banks is still treading, and though with improved profit, they are still the lowest of the top 10 banks.
  
  5. Equity Bank(2009: 5): Assets of 129 billion ($1.61 billion) and profits of 6.8 billion ($84 million) . For the second year slightly reduced growth to 40 - 50% not the 100% of years past. The bank had a shift in direction towards an agency branch model using mobile phones to reach its 5 million plus customers, and after the rapid growth of m-kesho ( a partnership with Safaricom,), they have in the last two months also signed on with Orange and Essar, tying up 3 of the 4 Telco’s with mobile money.
  
  Diversification has been a mixed bag, with good results from Sudan and M-kesho, but not so (yet) with Uganda, investment banking, and Housing Finance, which while initially unwelcome it appears that HF shareholders would now welcome a merger. Still, this could be the year they clinch the highest profit crown in the Kenya banking sector.
  
  4. Standard Chartered (2009: 3): Assets of 134.6 billion ($1.68 billion) and profits of Kshs 6.1 billion ($77 million) in nine months. Had an over-subscribed rights issue and took over the custody business that Barclays sold in Africa. They make good money from corporate loans and from government securities – they have almost as much paper ($650 million) as they do in customer loans.
  
  3. Cooperative Bank ( 2009: 4): Assets of 141.1 billion ($1.76 billion) and nine-month profits of 4.3 billion ($53.7 million) . overall growth of ~40% with group assets about the same, and diversification has included buying stake in CIC insurance, stock broking and have talked about going into South Sudan and other East Africa countries
  
  2. Barclays(2009: 1): Assets of 177 billion (2.2 billion), with nine month profit of 7 billion ($87 million). This big bank has nowhere to go, with growth of 5% from a year ago, can they buy up some smaller banks? They shed their Africa custody business to standard chartered and got into an m-pesa banking partnership belatedly after pushing their own mobile money platform for two years.
  Site of planned KCB new HQ building, opp Equity Bank Centre, Upper Hill Nairobi
  1 KCB (2009: 2): Assets of Kshs 218.2 billion ($2.72 billion) and nine month profit of 6.39 billion ($80 million). Had a rights issue earlier in the year, that raised $156 million and they plan to put up a new headquarters in upper hill. But with total group assets of 244 billion, the bank was third in profit behind Barclays and Equity after Q3.

• Investing in Africa Moment

  Posted: December 2, 2010, 8:58 pm by bankelele

  Legatum Africa Awards: Three Kenyan companies - Biodeal Laboratories (generic drug manufacturer), Craft Silicon (financial software developer) and Mellech Engineering (construction & engineering), have been selected as finalists in 2010 Africa Awards for entrepreneurship.
  
  They are competing for $350,000 in fund prizes, with a grand prize of US$ 100,000 and five other prizes of US$ 50,000 each. The other finalists in the top 10 are Malcom-Ezindaleni Hydraulics (SA) NTR Technology (Botswana), Planbuild (Uganda) Sigma Electric ( Ethiopia) Steel & Tube Industries (Uganda), Tutuka Software ( SA) and Wilkins Engineering (Ghana) – who were also shortlisted from more than 2,700 entries.
  
  Legatum, a privately owned investment group and Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm, organized the awards, who's winners will be announced on December 6 in Nairobi.
  
  Agriculture Equity: The African Agriculture Fund, a private equity fund closed on US$ 135 million of funding in November 2010. The funds will be invested in the agriculture value chain from primary production to processing at $20 million per portfolio company.
  
  The Fund also has a dedicated SME sub-fund and a technical assistance facility of 10 million euros, to support out grower schemes in large companies and business development services in SMEs.
  
  Transparency Equity: Late in October, Omidyar and Hivos created the Africa Transparency and Technology Initiative (ATTI) - a fund that will support technology-driven initiatives that give citizens the tools to hold their governments to account. Omidyar Network will invest up to $2 million and Hivos will administer the fund.
  
  Diaspora Fund: The Enkare Innovators Fund was launched and is seeking US$850 Million from Diaspora for investments in Eastern, Southern & Northern Africa with early focus on Kenya, Tunisia, Egypt and South Africa. This is via a private placement that will run from January to July 2011 and is promoted by Cauave Deaa Et Al Capital Partners
  
  Silicon Valley Visits: The Kenya ICT Board will host a team from I/O ventures, comprising entrepreneurs & founders will from Silicon Valley who will visit Nairobi on December 14 & 15 and who are seeking young ICT entrepreneurs to mentor.
  Mombasa housing development
  Impact Investing: Impact Investments are a new asset class as per a report being launched this week in Nairobi, London and New York - by the Rockefeller Foundation, Global impact investing network, and J P Morgan.
  
  These refer to investments that have an intended purpose of positive social or environmental good besides a financial return – and probably what Acumen Fund have been referring to as patient capital.
  - Impact Investments are primarily debt or equity, and are investments not philanthropy investments
  - They studied 1,100 investments and found that about 500 were less than $500,000, and only 35 were more than $10 million
  - Impact investments are founds in sectors like agriculture, water, housing, education, health, energy and financial services (micro-finance is the most mature sub-sector)
  - There are now metrics, tools, ratings, conferences – all devoted to impact investing and how to measure non-financial impact; One benchmark called IRIS (based on IFRS) and others are Pulse and GIIRS . Currently impact investments are measured primarily by investors own proprietary systems, or by a mix some investor goals such as job creation, asset accumulation, or energy efficiency
  - The report has a robust outlook for the sector and concludes that there are potential impact investing requirements over the next 10 years of between $400 billion and $1 trillion, with potential profit of $183 billion to $667 billion, and with the bulk of these to be found in the urban housing sector.
  
  Further Reading
  
  Invent for Mobile: CGAP article which asks how viable companies in mobile health and mobile money can attract VC funding and interest.
  
  Large Private Equity: FT article - about private equity in Africa by Andrea Bohnstedt (@andreabohnstedt), the publisher of Ratio Magazine

• 2010 Kenya Bank Rankings Part I

  Posted: December 1, 2010, 10:48 pm by bankelele

  Ranked by total assets at September 2010 and compared to 2009 rank (in brackets)
  
  --missing is Southern credit (32 last year) which was bought by Equatorial in 2010
  43 (43) Jamii Bora *formerly City Finance
  42 (42) Dubai
  41 (--) UBA Kenya *new
  40 (39) Middle East
  39 (41) Oriental
  38 (40) Paramount Universal
  37 (37) Credit
  36 (38) Transnational
  35 (34) Habib Bank
  34 (36) First Community
  33 (31) Victoria
  32 (33) Fidelity
  31 (25) K-Rep
  30 (28) Guardian
  29 (26) Habib AG Zurich
  28 (27) Gulf African
  27 (30) Consolidated
  26 (23) ABC
  25 (29) Giro
  24 (24) Development Bank of Kenya
  23 (35) Equatorial *merged with Southern Credit
  22 (22) Fina
  21 (19) India
  20 (20) Family Bank
  19 (18) Ecobank
  18 (16) Imperial
  17 (21) Chase
  16 (17) Bank of Africa
  15 (15) Housing Finance
  14 (14) Baroda
  13 (13) Prime
  12 (11) NIC
  11 (12) Investment & Mortgages

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes