Mr, Naikuni Seeks a new Term at the East Africa Portland Cement

Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni will today afternoon become the first of the unsuccessfully ousted directors at the East African PortlandCement Company (EAPCC) to seek a fresh term at the company.

Mr Naikuni will be seeking re-election at the firm’s AGM amid a push by the government, which owns 25.3% of Portland Cement, to have new people on the firm’s board.

The KQ CEO has served on the EAPCC’s board since July 2007 and was one of the eight directors that then acting Industrialization Minister Amason Kingi accused them of poor governance and had them ousted from the firm last December.

His re-election bid is definitely a testing ground on whether the government has given up overhauling the cement firm’s board or is willing to reignite its pursuit to having new directors steer EAPCC.

Sources at the Industrialization ministry, which represents the government’s interest in the cement company, said that the State is still devoted to getting new faces on the board, raising interest in how it will take part in today’s election (Friday) at the AGM.

The firms’ directors, including Chairman Mark ole Karbolo, Kephar Tande, Naikuni and lawyer Hamish Keith, moved to court earlier this year to block their removal from the board following Mr Kingi’s order. 

The court reinstated them in a legal battle that also saw the president revoke the replacement of Mr Karbolo.

The government will therefore require votes especially from the National Social Security Fund, which has a 27% share, to push its agenda both at EAPCC’s boardroom and the shareholder meeting.

 Bamburi Cement and its parent company Lafarge have a 41.7 per cent stake in the firm

What a SACCO can do for you.

What a SACCO can do for you.

Savings and Credit Co-Operative (SACCO) are associations registered under the Ministry of Cooperative Development & Marketing and authorized to take deposits from and lend to it’s members.

SACCOs are governed by the SACCO by-laws that state the objectives, membership, share capital, organization structure, management and lending regulations. The sector is regulated by the SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA).

Why should you join SACCOs?

1. Cheap loans

Members of a SACCO, have access to loans from the SACCO guaranteed by their savings or those of other SACCO members. They lend money to their borrowers up to 3 times their savings. SACCO loans are often short term and priced lower than bank loans.

2. Build Credit Information

A person’s saving and borrowing information is recorded by the SACCO at all times. If repayment of all loans is done promptly, the individual’s borrowing record adds to his/her credit reference information which becomes useful in later days when they want to get bigger loans from other institutions.

3. Asset acquirement

Some SACCOs have arrangements with their members where the institution guarantees a member’s acquisition of assets. In these arrangements, members can get household items, plots, cars and stock for business with easier repayment arrangements.

4. Investments

SACCOs are a perfect way to channel your savings. The SACCO aggregates the savings and lends them out or invests in authorized instruments such as shares, treasury bills and bonds, and in some cases property as authorized by the by laws. Returns from SACCO savings for a member are usually high and sometimes better than what banks offer.

Africa Development Bank Sets Priority to Donor Funded Projects

Africa Development Ban Sets Priority to Donor Funded Projects

The African Development Bank (ADB) has called on the government through it’s ministries to make sure that a quick and timely implementation of various projects in the country which have already been funded, especially by the donor community.

The bank’s East Africa Regional Director Gabriel Negatu said that a delay in the execution of these projects may hinder Kenya from achieving the benefits of vision 2030.

Some challenges facing the projects include extended procurement processes, delay in release of funds and lack of clarifications on the existing projects.

According to Negatu, it is important for the country to move quickly towards the implementation of the existing programmes once they are financed. He further said that in the past, a number of countries have delayed for various reasons and Kenya is not an exception.

According to the report released by the TransparencyInternational in June , some of the major hindrances for the opportune implementation of various government programmes are poor planning, corruption, delays in payment, lack of proper payment procedures and Information Communication Technology in the procurement processes.

Negatu argues that international donors should also keep track of the projects to also ensure transparency by demanding regular audits during and finalization of the projects.

“Sometimes our own processes can be lengthy. So we should make sure that they are friendly, easy to understand in that the implementing partners should fully know what is expected of them. This will enable us to reduce the time it takes, to procure, disburse the funds and finish the project,” Negatu continued.

Negatu was speaking during the signing of a Sh77 million grant to support the ‘Scaling up of integrated rainwater harvesting and management in semi-arid districts of Kenya’.

The project is to be implemented by the Kenya Rainwater Association and will include the construction of communal earth dams and school roof catchments tanks, school sanitary facilities, farm ponds, tree and vegetable nurseries among others.

The project which is expected to start in January is expected to benefit 15,000 pastoral and agro-pastoral communities with close 3,000 schools.

Co-Op Bank signs a Sh5.b deal to boost SMEs

Co-Op Bank signs a Sh5.b deal to boost SMEs

Cooperative Bank of Kenya has signed a Sh5.1 billion loan agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to increase its credit to Small and Medium Enterprises in the country.

According to Gideon Muriuki the bank’s Managing Director, the loan which has seven years tenure will also be used to support agriculture projects.

He further said that the first consideration that the bank will make is not based on where they come from but a person’s ability to pay back. Because by the time the bank is to repay the facility to IFC I have to ensure that the customers have paid.

The bank has however opted to give the loans to customers in dollars therefore only targeting those who get their income in foreign currencies so as to hedge on the foreign exchange risks.

Co-Op bank recently received a Sh7.5 billion fund from European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the SMEs.

Oumar Seydi who is the new IFC director for East and Southern Africa called on the bank not to put stringent measures while extending the loans to the SMEs as it has been the biggest challenge for credit access.

He further reiterated that IFCs aim is to grow businesses and reduce poverty through the private sector. Therefore it will provide its instruments based on market rates and it trust its partners in how they run their operations.

The banks net loan book in the third quarter of 2012 increased by 11.3 percent to Sh118.4 billion up from Sh106.4 billion in the same period.

Meanwhile Muriuki said that the bank has finalized its joint venture from its subsidiary in South Sudan where the latter’s government holds 49 percent stake with the bank holding 51 percent.

The government of South Sudan will hold the stake in trust for three years before handing it over to the Co-Operative movement that is being developed in that market.

Samsung Smart School to grace the Kenyan schools

Samsung Smart School to grace the Kenyan schools

Kenyan primary schools will soon turn away from the use of exercise books and blackboards. This will however be so after Samsung East Africa’ project aimed at transforming traditional classrooms into multimedia teaching environments comes to play.

Samsung Electronics East Africa has put in place a program set at the integration of digital technology in basic education. If this comes to light, it will bring an evolution of basic learning solutions in local private and public schools,

The current pilot program taking place at the Nairobi’s Samsung Engineering Academy facility, dubbed the Samsung Smart School, is aimed at transforming the traditional classroom.

Samsung Smart School allows for greater interaction and student engagement, which will result to improved student performance. Students will also be able to learn more efficiently by accessing additional online resources as they take their classes.

Speaking during the closing of an exposure lesson for Lavington Primary School pupils, Samsung Electronics East Africa Business Leader in Charge of Service, Koki Muia, explained that the transformation involves replacing exercise books with Samsung Galaxy Tablets for the pupils’ notes taking.

Muia said that teachers and students, can communicate interactively using the Smart School technology utilizing the GALAXY Note 10.1, the Samsung Smart School, E-Board and the central PC to engage students in class.

Essentially, the Samsung Smart School solution features a mobile learning solution that leveraged Samsung tablet PC’s and an electronic blackboard to create an interactive multimedia classroom environment.

With the Classroom Management (CRM) functionality, the teacher can directly send whatever is on the board to the students’ GALAXY Tabs and monitor their devices. The Mobile Learning Management System (m-LMS) on the other hand provides multiple learning features such as resource sharing and assignment management.

With Samsung Smart School, the teacher is well equipped to help in the improvement of the students’ levels of concentration as well as their performance. The students can download resources for independent study after school and take tests online.