About production business

Its a beautiful Friday morning this side of Africa, the sun is out, weather not as gloomy as it has been the past days. What does that all have to do with this post? Everything.... especially that's its a great day to be alive and getting something going that is helping in making other peoples lives better.

While alive (work with me), I recently came across a story about young people now engaging in business deals with prominent business people in order to attain state contracts. How it  works, a prominent dealer, targets a disadvantage young entrepreneur, with the belief that he/she will not be found out because they lack the scent of "obviousness" and the capability to exploit the procurement process, making it quite easy for them to be granted the contract. Why do they do so? Because they are rules that govern the procurement procedure in Kenya, so that dishonest business people don't benefit all the time.

So sponsoring young less fortunate people to get the job done is the trick of the day.  Mine is not to point a finger, but to just highlight that the problem here is mostly likely after all is said and done the dealer benefits (getting preferential treatment) while the disadvantage youth remain in the same state of poverty. Regardless of a few shillings made, the problem is still not solve. Needless to say, that's why organisations like SKY TRUST are created, to provide economic possibilities  for young people in Kenya so that they can benefit positively.

Talking of benefiting, SKY TRUST is up to some amazing and inspiring stuff. I gather, there is a "TV show, production in the works. About? All I can write for now is cameras, lights, contestants, action and prizes are involved, with one lucky winner taking it all. Pictures coming soon!!

Creating Economic Possibilities

Starting out!!!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Harry Karanja, for donating his blog to Startup Kenya Youth Trust SKY TRUST, as the French would say it, "merci beaucoup".

As highlighted in the previous post, Startup Kenya Youth Trust - SKY TRUST is all about helping talented Kenyan young entrepreneurs achieve their potential, by giving them economic empowerment through business seed funding.

 Startup Kenya Youth Trust
Creating Economic Opportunities



Took as a minute to come up with the logo, but eventually it came to us, as in a video, as in a drama (smiles). While starting out, the twist to it, is SKY TRUST takes a more exciting and engaging approach as opposed to boring and rudimentary process, normally associated with charity activities (or not??). Either way expect to be intrigued by our daily growth and experiences.You will be kept on the loop of all the magnificent events/activities that will be unfolding. Of course you are also welcome to be engaging, as we embark on this new exciting journey. Ecstatic, if you ask me!!

Startup Kenya Youth Trust

The last post as Harry

Since 2006 I have enjoyed your company and patronage as I put down my thoughts in black and white on this blog. I started this blog to share my experiences in entrepreneurship but I also ended up learning, making new friends and developing my own ideas on what I really wanted to do.

For a long time I have known that the knowledge and experiences I have been fortunate enough to acquire must not be confined within me, but must be used to generate wealth, success, and fulfillment for others. Today I therefore wish to announce that I will be donating my blog and twitter handle to the charitable trust Startup Kenya Youth (SKY) Trust .  I look forward to continuing our engagement under the banner of SKY Trust.

A bit about SKY Trust.

SKY Trust was founded in 2013 by Harry Karanja. SKY Trust's goal is to act as a catalyst to entrepreneurship among people under the age of thirty

Harry started his first business when he was fifteen, retailing bread and biscuits to his fellow students at a 50% margin. Although the business only ran for a month, the thrill and excitement that making money had on him would remain throughout his later high school years and college years. It was the bite of this entrepreneurial bug that saw him at the age of 21 - while a student of law at the University of Nairobi - co-founding SoftLaw, a pioneering legal publishing firm that also made him a millionaire before he graduated.

SoftLaw's success helped Harry found Genius Executive Centre (GEC) in 2005; a commercial business incubator that revolutionized how businesses access office space in Nairobi CBD. With GEC Harry discovered his love for starting and helping young entrepreneurs establish their businesses, which directly led to the founding of SKY Trust.

SKY Trust assists young entrepreneurs through financial support, management consultancy, office facilities, business process outsourcing. mentorship and coaching. It seeks out inspirational stories of young entrepreneurs to motivate other potential young entrepreneurs and galvanize an entrepreneurship movement in Kenya

We welcome you on board.

Analyzing Uhuru Kenyatta's Cabinet Nominees

Since the presidential elections and its petition ended Kenyan's have gotten their politics fix from discussing possible appointees to the first cabinet under the new constitution. President Kenyatta and Deputy President Ruto have reportedly spent the better part of their first weeks after elections deep in consultation about who to appoint. Last week they gave us the first hint that their cabinet appointments would not be business as usual when they unveiled a government structure of eighteen (18) ministries which is four less than the constitutional maximum. This was a clue that they were more keen on delivering on their manifesto than rewarding of friends.

Today they went further and gave us a good taste of things to come when they revealed their nominees for the ministries of: ICT, National Treasury, Health and Foreign Affairs.Have no doubt, it was no accident that these were the first nominees unveiled. It is clear that the digital duo consider these to be the most important ministries and the ones which they most need to fulfill their campaign pledges. Allow me to make an armchair analysis of what I foresee with each of the nominees if they are confirmed.

1. Fred Matiangi - ICT
Of all the nominees Mr. Matiangi is probably the most educated holding a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the University of Nairobi but he is by no means an academic type with his heads in the books. According to his current employer he has extensive experience in governance-related research, civil society advocacy, and donor-funded democracy and governance projects. So why hire an English professor with civil society networks? One word: Konza. Expect Mr. Matiangi will take up Bitange Ndemo's pet project with unfettered gusto, getting stakeholders committed and involved. His employer goes on to describe him saying that he has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to secure stakeholder buy-in, facilitate program objectives, and deliver high-quality technical assistance. This means that although he will follow through with Konza, he will also focus on quick and immediate results from the manifesto. Read the manifesto to see where Mr. Matiangi is planning to take ICT.

2. Henry Rotich - National Treasury
Mr. Rotich is the only nominee who is a long serving civil servant and the reason for this is simple: continuity. For his first budget I do not expect that we'll see any big deviation from past budgets as he has probably been one of the main authors in his position as deputy director in charge of economic affairs. That said based on a paper he gave I think the rest of his tenure will be defined by major tax reform as he tries to bridge the ever-widening deficit. What this means is that he is going to make the tax code simpler, ruthlessly pursue defaulters and cheats (including small scale traders), and broaden revenue streams through carbon credits and land holding taxes (no more land speculation business)

3. James Macharia - Health
Why appoint a banker to run a health ministry? It's because bankers are specialists in redistribution (usually to their shareholders though). Bankers collect deposits then use the same deposits to lend back to the public and in the process make their shareholders much richer. How will Mr. Macharia adopt his banking skills in redistribution to the Health ministry? It's clear from Jubilee's manifestos that they are keen on providing free basic health facilities and also universal health care. They are also alive to the fact that this might become a massively expensive program and do not intend for the government to solely finance it. Instead expect NHIF to play the role of redistributing wealth to promote health care for the most disadvantaged groups. We will see the NHIF rates go up, but also the benefits. His banking creds will probably come in handy as well as he negotiates with health insurance mandarins who have been known to oppose the scheme.

4. Amb. Amina Mohamed - Foreign Affairs
She is the only woman in the list but by no means a minnow among giants. From he recent campaign to be the head of the WTO we can surmise that she is supremely confident and ambitious. Like a few past ministers of foreign affairs she is also a lawyer by training with deep experience in the UN. As a pioneering Muslim African woman, she is uniquely positioned to garner global attention when she speaks. Expect Mrs. Mohamed to be deployed primarily as an adversarial, no-holds-barred advocate of Kenya's and the digital duos international interests.

President Kenyatta and Deputy President Ruto seem keen to break from the past and take full advantage of the division of the executive and legislature by appointing brilliant Kenyans with histories of success and who can deliver on the promises the two made in Kenyans.

I am keenly looking forward to their confirmations and seeing them getting down to work.

My Endorsements for Nairobi County

Like me, I'm sure you must have election fatigue by now. To be quite frank, I have sworn off local media until after I vote. I had also resolved not to publish any more election related posts, but then I read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. The concept of objectivism fascinated me greatly and got me thinking about some of the policies being spewed by candidates for office. As a capitalist nay a compassionate one, I am wary of any politician promising redistribution of wealth. The begging culture (harambee) sadly is a national culture and it is important that we break this habit through our policies and politics.

It is for this reason I have decided to share my endorsements for candidates for Nairobi county as this is where I get my bread and butter.

We start with governor, a powerful new executive position. I will consider the three leading contenders: Kidero, Waititu, and Mbaru. Among the three Kidero gets my endorsement, yes he is haughty but he also has the best combination of skills and experience to enable me to further my business through good policies. Kidero proved his managerial chops with an amazing turnaround of Mumias sugars, which I can confirm has transformed the lives of thousands of people in Western province. Waititu despite his apparent real concern for the downtrodden is disqualified for his failure to respect the rule of law in past altercations and his socialist policies. I don't think the welfare policies proposed by Waititu (which will keep slum dwellers in the slums) is in tandem with my capitalistic views. Mbaru was in charge of NSE when Suntra Stocks, Nyaga Stockbrokers et al defrauded thousands of investors, when it really matters he's shown he'll side with his rich buddies. Plus he doesn't have to be governor to build the 500,000 houses, he's rich enough let him risk his billions and maybe I'll take a look at him in 2017.

Let's skip senator for now and go to Woman rep. Here the choice is tough. I find Esther Passaris and Rachel Shebesh both highly intelligent, capable, and ambitious women. However put to the wire, Passaris squeezes out a win. Chalk it to Shebesh's bad behaviour banging doors at IEBC. Rule of law is very important.

Sonko vs. Wanjiru for Senator. No thanks I will abstain and pray for a by-election. Both have enough cases that can fell them anyway.

Walk My Path

The last few months in my toastmasters journey have been a whirlwind. Since December last year I have delivered four speeches and taken two roles. Of all these yesterday's speech was the most exhilarating. I spoke on a topic which I am deeply passionate (EVA) and its potential to generate wealth in rural areas. The speech was also special as it was delivered as part of the International Taped Speech Contest for Toastmasters. I was humbled that despite very worthy contestants also giving speeches the judges awarded my speech as the winning speech. Here is the full text of the speech below, titled Walk My Path.

UPDATE: You can now see the video here or at the end of this post.

Almost 60 years ago, my grandfather at the behest of British colonialists was forced out of his central province and found refuge as a miller in the Rift Valley town of Njoro. It took independence of our nation for him to find a chance to move his family back.

30 years ago, my father left a cushy government job that let him traipse the country with helicopters and brought his family to Njoro to lecture at Egerton University. He was attracted by the genial multiethnic atmosphere of intellectuals, where he felt his children could best develop.

And so I, two years ago, driven more by romanticism than rational, determined that I would be the third generation to find his future in Njoro.

I laid the plans to invest in an outsourcing centre that would pioneer in Njoro and spread to other rural towns around the country. The centre targeting Nairobi clients would rival the much heralded Konza city in its ease of setup, its impact to the community, and its value to its customers.

My father once told me that he who walks alone will soon find a hyena trailing him, ready to pounce on the swinging hand if it falls off. I have embarked on this path, and though my hands are not in danger of falling off, I know the value in bringing more to caravan. Today I am here to ask you to walk with me, to walk my path with me. Walk my path, leave your urban life and find your future in the rural towns.

My friends warned me against this path, prophesying it would end in misery. My investment would not be welcome in ethnicities different from my own, there was no infrastructure in the village, and I would never find qualified personnel to work in the centres. So I was forced to base my decision on reason.

What I found, is that those fears could not be further from based from reality.

I travelled the breadth of this country to find the truth. In Migori county: from the gold mines in Nyatike to the sugar cane plantations of Aedo, I was given friendly welcome and abode by diverse ethnic communities. Deep in Kerio Valley near the fluorspar mines, I found a primary school with teaching technology more advanced than our universities, training future knowledge workers; and in southern Meru past Mitunguu I found irrigation technology that had converted unproductive land into wealth generating banana plantations. All these rural areas dispelled the myths floated by well-meaning friends, and everywhere I visited, there ran a common deep vein of aspiration and openness that contrasted with the indifference and rejection that I had come to accept in Nairobi.

My most significant trip was to Mbale, the home of my maternal grandfather. A town perched on the hills of Taita overlooking the plains of Voi. My elderly aunt, a woman of nearly 70, invited me to her home. It was up a 60 degree incline and she bound up the hill as if wound on springs, while I portly labored on all fours from the physical infelicities of my sedentary lifestyle.

Like her, most of the villagers were grizzly beards and sun-weathered crow’s feet. Where are all the youth I asked? A strong wrinkled finger pointed at the coastal city Mombasa. They have gone to look for jobs.

It is the same reason I found my way to Nairobi to find economic prosperity. Barely legal I braved the smoke from the buses and the dust from concrete structures going up left and right leaving no trees in sight. With many others, we came to Nairobi to be millionaires but instead became a million heirs to the scraps of the spoils of what the true owners of Nairobi had already shared among themselves

The dream of success in Nairobi at the same time is what inspires us and shackles us. For until we believe that our success can be found elsewhere we remain forever imprisoned by the false promise of urbanity.

So I call unto you. Walk with me. Walk my path. Let us remove the negativity attached to rural life. Never before has chance met with such opportunity. We are a generation at the cusp of an once-in-a-lifetime prospect. In a weeks’ time our structure of government will change and the commission for revenue allocation will begin releasing hundreds of billions of shillings into these rural areas; and there is something there for all of us.

Young graduates. You need not tarmac for months upon months fighting over the few jobs that Nairobi can offer, free yourself and instead create jobs, through your skills and passion. Walk with me, become the entrepreneurs and managers of these outsourcing centres.

Middle class professionals: teachers, doctors, engineers, insurers, professors, marketers. You have attained comfort and security but at the expense of being pushed further and further away from the city centre. Left clinging to the notion you are a Nairobian only by expanding the Metropolis. Instead, achieve your true destiny and potential. Walk with me, walk my path. Your investments and experience will meet ready returns can make you the royalty of these burgeoning county economies.

Nairobi elite, you who own Nairobi, whose surnames adorn our buildings and roads; whose factories manufacture our bread and butter. There is opportunity for you too in providing housing estates for the professionals and shopping malls for the consumers. Walk with me, walk my path, and if your soles cannot tread this path the let your wallets walk with me and partake in the opportunities.

Near the top of that steep hill in Taita, my aunt noticed that I had fallen behind and because sometimes we need a guide to see our dreams, she reached out her hand to pull me up. And as I reached the top and the heavens kissed my temples, the clouds in my mind were cleared. I knew that this path held the future, for me, and for you, and you and you.

Martha Karua for President

With slightly over a month before the first general elections under a new constitution, I have assessed the candidates for Office of the President of the Republic of Kenya, and I have no doubt in my mind in my selection of Narc Kenya's Martha Karua as my choice.

Martha Karua always had a head start in my mind's eye, as early as February 2011, I registered under her Narc Kenya party because she appealed to my vision of a candidate. I nevertheless withheld making my endorsement for the 10 months following, giving other potential candidates the opportunity to surprise me. And while there were a few surprises along the way: Raila's embrace of Kalonzo, or Mudavadi's surprisingly good interview on BBC's Hard Talk, Peter Kenneth's flawless launch for presidency, and even Johnson Sakaja's brilliant defence of the Jubilee Alliance, none of these were sufficient to sway my vote.

On March 4, 2013, I therefore intend to cast my vote for Ms. Martha Karua and here are my reasons why.

Martha Karua is the candidate who is most likely to solve Kenya's number one problem - impunity. I'm certain that many of you would argue that unemployment, corruption, or even tribalism are more deserving of the number one position. In my opinion these are all symptoms of the root problem of impunity.

Impunity is defined as exemption from punishment or loss, and this is a phenomenon that has become so entrenched in our national culture with the effect of allowing all these other social-economic ills to thrive. We are all perpetrators of impunity despite the majority of us being its direct victims.

Politicians, civil servants, and wheeler dealer businessmen rob the exchequer because of impunity, multinational companies expatriate profits that could have built Kenya because of impunity, 3,000 lives are lost every year due to impunity by road users, pharmacists in rural hospitals stock their private chemists with government drugs denying paid up NHIF contributors medication, pastors cohort with prostitutes and fleece their congregations, men refuse to maintain their children after separating with their wives , electricity companies charge exorbitant rates , real-estate investors build substandard and dangerous abodes , restaurant owners serve up food unfit for human consumption, policemen run bars within their stations and end up drinking all day, house helps are paid Sh.1,500 for 450 hours of work. The list goes on and on.

How does impunity end? Impunity ends when the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) applies the broken window theory in his prosecutions; which means all offences no matter how small and particularly those that affect the standard of living are prosecuted. Yes, many of us will end up with rap sheets longer than our CVs but by doing so we will have saved a nation. With the end of impunity 33% of our budget will stop going into corrupt networks and contribute to economic growth, young people will have a fair chance at making it whether in employment or self-employment, and Kenyan lives will stop being so cheap to be thrown away because of others' greed, incompetence, or indifference.

Of all candidates who have offered themselves only Mama has the prosecutorial zeal and and has unabashedly declared that she will provide the political will and executive power to operationalize what has been a muted DPP in order to stamp out impunity.

Martha Karua is the candidate who has exhibited the most astute fiscal management ability. Now, I'm sure many of you will argue that Peter Kenneth has the best track record in the management of CDF, but I believe that spending is only half the equation in fiscal management, the other half is raising revenue. And when it comes to raising revenue and spending this revenue to achieve maximum effect Martha Karua is miles ahead of her nearest competitors.

She has proven her fiscal management in the very effective and efficient manner that she has been running her Narc Kenya party. In their last financial year, Narc Kenya reported expenditures of approximately Sh. 13m with which they managed to reach over 40 counties! If you compare that with the profligacy of Uhuru's TNA launch that reportedly gobbled up Sh. 160,000,000 in a single day you can judge for yourself who can handle better handle Kenya's meagre revenues.

Martha Karua is the candidate who stands for something - the rule of law. It his her most endearing attribute to her supporters and the one that has her opponents gnashing their teeth in contempt. Since she famously walked out of former president's Moi's function she has shown herself unbowed in her belief in constitutionality.

But it is not only what she stands for, but the fact that she stands for it. Many other presidential candidates have shown themselves to be fickle in their principles and feckless in driving any ideology except for that of "it's our turn to eat". I want a president who will not only paint pretty pictures of unicorns and rainbows for all Kenyans with consultant designed manifestos, but who will stay in the trenches when the implementation going gets tough, and rough it out to make their promises come true.

I would like to stop there, but I'm afraid I will leave some of you skeptical. I am declared partisan so it would be easy to dismiss my opinions as just that. To allay that possibility, I will go ahead and describe why I will not vote for any of the other top 3 candidates.

Starting with Raila Odinga of the Cord Coalition.

Mr. Odinga is a force to reckon with in Kenyan politics, that is  not debatable  but I will surmise that his many political talents would be best utilized as the leader of the opposition. This is the one skill in which Mr. Odinga has no equal - keeping the government on its toes. And it is this skill that historians will take note of when recalling the legacy of Mr. Odinga. It is his opposition to Mwai Kibaki's gross executive over-reach that delivered and helped implement our current constitution. The sweetest manifestation of this implementation being a reformed Judiciary with Willy Mutunga at its head.

Despite the above, Mr. Odinga is most unqualified to become Kenya's 4th president. He has unproven managerial capacity as is evidenced by the Kazi kwa Vijana scandal among others during his Prime Ministry, he is a demagogue of the first class - he will say and do anything to attain power - most critically associating with Maina Njenga in the false believe that this would win him central Kenya votes, and he is crippled by his lack of forthrightness in his source and magnitude of his wealth. His running mate Kalonzo Musyoka despite being an articulate speaker is also a colourless and opportunistic individual whose legacy in his 30 years in politics will be that he embarrassed Kenya internationally with a failed shuttle diplomacy, perpetuated the political crisis following the December 2007 elections with his canvassing for a VP position, and failed to conclusively resolve the perennial water crisis in his native Ukambani.

Next I will move on to Jubilee Coalition's Uhuru Kenyatta. Mr. Kenyatta has matured tremendously in politics since the last decade when Moi attempted to have Kenyatta succeed him. He has also shown grace in loss in 2002 and cunning strategy in stepping aside in 2007 for Kibaki. Mr. Kenyatta has also built a formidable political party in barely half a year full of young people with vim, verve and vigour. He might have been an attractive candidate but for the following irredeemable shortcomings.

The ICC. His supporters will wish it away, but all the arguments that have been made against Mr. Kenyatta on this matter - whether or not they actualize - are serious enough to disqualify him without further consideration. Whether it is the threat of sanctions, the integrity issues, or the incapacity to govern - as a candidate for Kenya's most powerful job - by picking Mr. Kenyatta will not get value for our vote. My biggest concern however is the shroud of impunity that will suffocate our entire country from the very top echelons if Mr. Kenyatta ascends to office. After all, if my president is accused of rape, murder, and forceful eviction and yet still occupies the highest job - what stops everyone else down rung from going about their lives with the same haughty disregard for morality and ethics? Secondary but equally damaging to his candidacy is his outsized land holdings, which were mainly gained by his father through an inequitable process. If he had stayed away from politics, then I would buy the argument that he is just taking care of what was bequeathed to him through no fault of his own. But because he chooses to become a public servant, then his continued ownership of the land is irreconcilable with his stated desire to lead a just and fair Kenya. Last and equally bad is his unimpressive running of the Ministry of Finance. It was during his tenure that we saw gaping holes in the budget which point at gross incompetency in fiscal management or something more sinister. His running mate, William Ruto in contrast is undoubtedly a performer - but that alone does not make a good leader, for a good leader must always put his best effort in the service of those he leads. Mr. Ruto however has been associated with allegations of gross self-enrichment ranging from grabbing of a post-election violence victim's land to being the main driver of YK92 which severely damaged our economy and resulted in stratospheric inflation. Mr. Ruto also bears the ICC baggage and cannot be trusted to implement a constitution which he so vigorously opposed.

Thirdly I will examine the candidacy of Eagle Coalition's Peter Kenneth. Mr. Kenneth remains middle class Kenya's favoured candidate for his astute management of the CDF in Gatanga, his relatively unblemished public record, and his telegenic personal attributes. I nevertheless find him unsuitable to hold this office, basing my reasons in the realm of verifiable fact only and not other rumours regarding his impressive rags to riches story. Chief among these facts, is his apparent conflict of interest in the acquisition of public property owned by Kenya National Assurance Company while he oversaw its liquidation at Prudential Bank. In addition the fact that alleged drug lord Harun Mwau and former president Moi who oversaw a kleptocratic  regime are some of his biggest clients for his Mayfair insurance company means that his entire wealth portfolio is likely tainted with drug money, or corruption money.

Finally let me address the issue of wasting my vote. Too many times, I have heard people say that voting for Martha Karua would be wasting a vote because she has appeared to have slim chances of winning according to opinion polls. I would counter that the real wasting of a vote is when you vote for someone you do not believe in - you would do better to abstain. My vote for Martha Karua is not a wasted vote, because through my constitutionally granted suffrage I will make a difference. I will vote for the end to impunity, good governance, and for the rule of law. I will vote for Martha Karua.