Only in Uganda!: free enterprise, private initiative, innovation and the insatiable desire to talk.
In the shadow of Covid
1 year ago
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Only on Nalubale!
Only in Uganda!: free enterprise, private initiative, innovation and the insatiable desire to talk.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Stanbic Has Landed
From a IPO priced at 70/- a share to one priced at 205/-, that is almost 300% investment growhth. Not many investment schemes can deliver that. And it is a well deserved pat on the backs of all long suffering sons and daughters of the soil.
I bought 20,00 shares, on the 2nd last day of the offer.......and boy am I smiling, wish I hads bought more, just did not think I would be allocated a bigger share.
Its great that a public holiday has dampened a bit of the euphoria, because the hard work of maintaining ones new found wealth, and more so keeping it growing, has begun. The stock market can be a ruthless place for the unweary, but with knowledge and research one can make a tidy profit.
International fund managers and other institutional investors who missed out on large block of shares will be buying up on the secondary market and this may drive up the price further, tthen it will decline to a lower level and stabilise.
Stanbic traded 4 billion shillings worth of shares on day one and now has a market capitalisation of $585 million!! This is second only to KQ and EABL on the USE. One must realise that Ugshs 203 for this share is peanuts for the kenyan investor, so expect greater demand and even higher prices when the USE merges with the nairobi Stock Exchange.
In other words: HOLD ON TO YOUR STANBIC SHARES!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
A Kenyan Colony?
I am sure many have read the article by Dr. Ian clarke that appeared in today's edition of the sunday Vision newspaper. He simply stated something that we all have noticed, but typically we mutter under our breath and look on.
The invasion of the kenyan professional manger on the Ugandan scene is a well established phenomenon and shows no sign of subsiding. The entire senior management of many multinantionals and subsidiaries of kenyan companies have all been hired almost exclusively from across the border.
This in itself is not a bad thing as they have capabilities that the 'locals' may not have. and for ther economy to grow it is always necessary to import migrant skilled labour from anywhere on the planet if necessary. But is there really that dire a shortage of skilled local labour??
What isn't okay is the fact that ugandan professionals in Kenyan do not enjoy the same upward mobility. Getting a work permit is an absolute nightmare , even for someone who has lived and worked in Kenya for 10 years. You are treated like you arrived just yesterday.
It is also a fact that there is a very obvious glass ceiling in many compnaies above which a non citizen can not be tolerated......ask the Ugandan pilots in KQ. Their stories are tragic, they are confined to flying only the oldest planes in the fleet, 737-200, and thus can only fly in East Africa. Advancement is non existant, even after 10 years of service.
The fact one manages to hold a work permit does not mean your spouse will have one too. In fact the odds are never. This also applies to foriegn wives of kenyan nationals too. The pressure is basically on you to change your citizenship.
So it is quite painful to see how welcoming and should I say naive Ugandans seem to be. We are not being treated as we treat others. Hasn't the time to put ourselves first come! The lack of patriotism and self worth is disturbingly present in our psyche.
Our leaders willingness to hand over everything, including the family silver to anyone, especially foreigners, with unbeleivable prejudice towards fellow ugandans, without as much as a second glance is a tragedy that we need to confront, sooner rather than later.
The invasion of the kenyan professional manger on the Ugandan scene is a well established phenomenon and shows no sign of subsiding. The entire senior management of many multinantionals and subsidiaries of kenyan companies have all been hired almost exclusively from across the border.
This in itself is not a bad thing as they have capabilities that the 'locals' may not have. and for ther economy to grow it is always necessary to import migrant skilled labour from anywhere on the planet if necessary. But is there really that dire a shortage of skilled local labour??
What isn't okay is the fact that ugandan professionals in Kenyan do not enjoy the same upward mobility. Getting a work permit is an absolute nightmare , even for someone who has lived and worked in Kenya for 10 years. You are treated like you arrived just yesterday.
It is also a fact that there is a very obvious glass ceiling in many compnaies above which a non citizen can not be tolerated......ask the Ugandan pilots in KQ. Their stories are tragic, they are confined to flying only the oldest planes in the fleet, 737-200, and thus can only fly in East Africa. Advancement is non existant, even after 10 years of service.
The fact one manages to hold a work permit does not mean your spouse will have one too. In fact the odds are never. This also applies to foriegn wives of kenyan nationals too. The pressure is basically on you to change your citizenship.
So it is quite painful to see how welcoming and should I say naive Ugandans seem to be. We are not being treated as we treat others. Hasn't the time to put ourselves first come! The lack of patriotism and self worth is disturbingly present in our psyche.
Our leaders willingness to hand over everything, including the family silver to anyone, especially foreigners, with unbeleivable prejudice towards fellow ugandans, without as much as a second glance is a tragedy that we need to confront, sooner rather than later.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
A new econmic beginning???
The Stanbic IPO is now officially over and the returns are in. We all have got the shares we applied for and for many this is the birth of their stock portfolio. With it will come the ups and downs that the roller coaster ride called the stock market will bring.
But the upside is that it is also a new dawn in the way people save and grow their wealth. I need not go into the lousy interest rates that banks offer and the very high ones they charge when you go to borrow it back!! Now a new way of investing money other than the usual suspects: land, houses, bufundas and the very fashionable but rediculously named high schools.
Expect to see unit trusts or mutual funds showing up on the scene. Expect more companies to launch IPOs, no doubt impressed by the long queues of eager citizens, having dug up the money from a hole in the bottom of the garden and coming out to buy shares. These are truly exciting times.
But the upside is that it is also a new dawn in the way people save and grow their wealth. I need not go into the lousy interest rates that banks offer and the very high ones they charge when you go to borrow it back!! Now a new way of investing money other than the usual suspects: land, houses, bufundas and the very fashionable but rediculously named high schools.
Expect to see unit trusts or mutual funds showing up on the scene. Expect more companies to launch IPOs, no doubt impressed by the long queues of eager citizens, having dug up the money from a hole in the bottom of the garden and coming out to buy shares. These are truly exciting times.
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