Infrastructure bond oversubscribed by 158pc, says CBK

The 12-year KES 20bn infrastructure bond offered by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) between October 8th and 21st has been oversubscribed by 158pc.

 

CBK says it received 948 bids worth KES 38.77 billion, of which 421 valued at KES 15.81 billion were accepted.

CBK, in a statement posted on its website said the weighted average rate for successful bids at the auction was 11.263pc translating to a weighted average price of KES 98.622 translating to a weighted average price of KES 98.622.
“The Bank is extending another opportunity to potential investors who missed out on the first tranche by offering a further KES 20bn of the Infrastructure Bond through a Tap Sale offer. ALL bids will be priced at the successful weighted average yield of 11.263pc adjusted for time to maturity,” said CBK. 

Early October, CBK floated the 12-year infrastructure bond at a fixed rate of 11pc. The sale closed on Oct. 21. The proceeds will finance road, energy, water and irrigation programs.
According to the Tunis-based African Development Bank (AfDB), infrastructure development needs will cost the country US$ 4bn a year. 

The money will be used to build roads, a Standard Gauge Railway line from Mombasa to Busia and a second international harbor in Lamu Port to export oil reserves being developed in Turkana

P & G emerges as the best company to work for in Kenya

Procter & Gamble has been voted the best company to work for in Kenya by its employers. According to a survey carried out by Deloitte & Touche, P&G emerged top company to work for in Kenya while Microfinance firm, Kenya Women Finance Trust and Chase bank came second and third respectively.

                                        

Other companies in the survey included, Old Mutual, Barclays bank, Coke Cola, Vivo Energy, DHL Express, Airtel, Total, Standard bank among others.

Kimani Njoroge, Partner, Human Capital Consulting hands over the Best Company to Work tropy to Procter & Gamble Communication Manager Irene Mwathi and Market Development Manager Evelyn Mgendi as Deloitte’s Partner, Business Support Services Doreen Mbogho looks on.

Under the theme ‘lead and develop’, the survey evaluated input of 5000 employees from 27 companies to ascertain which company they consider to be the best employer to work for. The survey also provided a glimpse into the ability of companies to attract and retain talent.

The survey normally looks at ten dimensions such as operational effectiveness and job satisfaction, remuneration, work life balance and confidence in the organisation. The report measures the rating by employees in terms of operational effectiveness and employee relationship with immediate supervisors and sense of inclusion in the organisation.

Irene Mwathi, P&G Communication’s manager said: “In order to win with all consumers, we must win with our employees first-  we can loose our brands our factories and everything else however if we have the people we will build again- the people are central to our operations whether in P&G Kenya, Asia or Europe.”

Recent finding by AON Hewitt on the state of employee engagement showed that engagement levels are on the rise globally but shifting across regions.  East Africa was rated as having the highest levels of engagement, followed by Southern Africa and then South Africa.

This was the second time for P&G Kenya to participate in the survey that saw over forty employees provide their feedback about working at P&G.  In last year’s survey, it emerged second after technology firm Craft silicon.

On a global level, P&G is constantly recognized and awarded for different aspects of business performance and enterprise management. Previously the global firm has won several international awards such as Barron's Magazine List for the Best 30 CEOs Worldwide that featured P&G's Chief Executive Officer A. G. Lafely in February 2009, for the second time consecutively. The Company was ranked as the world's 2nd Best Company for Leaders, for the third consecutive years by an annual study conducted by the Hay Group in partnership with Chief Executive. In addition, P&G ranked 6th on the "World's Most Admired Companies" list of Fortune Magazine.

Airtel introduces free mobile access to Twitter

Bharti Airtel has today announced that its prepaid customers in Kenya will now be able to access Twitter on their mobile phones for free till 15th January 2015.

This limited period Twitter offer by Airtel will allow customers to enjoy free access to Twitter through web browsers by visiting http://mobile.twitter.com and official Twitter Android app and enjoy posting Tweets, keeping up with news and what’s happening across the world. This offer is only available for android users.  Subscribers using BlackBerry handset will not be able to avail this offer.   

 With over a hundred million of active users worldwide, Twitter is an information network that connects people everywhere to what's most meaningful to them. People can share and read Tweets of up to 140 characters, which can also include photos, videos or links to websites and news stories.

While announcing the new offer, Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said, “Customers are increasingly relying on the mobile devices for accessing everything from emails to music to social networks. In conjunction with this trend, we are pleased to introduce 3 months of free access to Twitter to our prepaid customers. Our customers will now be able to enjoy Twitter’s rich interface on their mobile web browsers free of charge. This initiative will introduce new users to an exciting world of possibilities that mobile internet enables, thus providing an impetus to data services market”.

Mr. El Youssefi added, “We have always been committed to delivering experiences that are innovative and relevant for our customers. This offer reinforces our focus on this promise and adds to our list of many industry firsts”.

To access the offer, Airtel customers with data enabled phones shall access: mobile.twitter.com from the default browser of their handset, use Twitter Android App on their Android device, or use the Twitter apps on Windows Phone or Nokia devices.  Accessing the Twitter page is free however, standard data charges will apply for viewing external links, pictures, videos and other media thus its recommended that one purchases a data bundle or have credit.

The Twitter App has been customized wherein, every Airtel customer who is accessing Twitter, will be able to view a message on the header and footer of the app mentioning Twitter is free of charge with Airtel. This Twitter app will pop up a message of additional data consumption charges only if a subscriber chooses to visit an external link while browsing updates on Twitter.

IBM partners with Airtel & Echo Mobile to launch Ebola containment initiatives in Africa

Airtel, IBM Research Africa and Kenya's Echo Mobile have joined forces to launch several initiatives to help curb the spread of Ebola in West Africa. 

The initiatives include a citizen engagement and analytics system in Sierra Leone that enables communities affected by Ebola to communicate their issues and concerns directly to the government; a donation of IBM Connections technology in Nigeria to strengthen the Lagos State government’s preparedness for future disease outbreaks; and a global platform for sharing Ebola-related open data. 

The efforts combine expertise from IBM’s global network of research labs with the company’s years of experience in humanitarian disaster response by applying mobile technology, data analytics and cloud computing to help governments and relief agencies as they seek to contain the deadly disease. 

The work benefits from contributions from a number of partners including Sierra Leone’s Open Government Initiative, Cambridge University’s Africa’s Voices project, Airtel and Kenya’s Echo Mobile.

IBM’s new Africa research lab, in collaboration with Sierra Leone’s Open Government Initiative, has developed a system that enables citizens to report Ebola-related issues and concerns via SMS or voice calls.

It provides actionable insight to the government about the day-to-day experiences of communities directly affected by Ebola to help improve its strategy for containing the disease. 

“For us to tackle Ebola, it is crucial to maintain an open dialogue between the government and the people of Sierra Leone,” said Khadija Sesay, Director of Sierra Leone’s Open Government Initiative. “IBM has enhanced our work on citizen engagement through the use of innovative technology and opened up an effective communication channel with the general public so that we can learn from their input and create actionable policies in the fight against Ebola.” 

Tapping supercomputing power and analytics capabilities via the cloud, the system is able to rapidly identify correlations and highlight emerging issues across the entire data set of messages. As the SMS and voice data are location specific, IBM is then able to create opinion-based heat-maps which correlate public sentiment to location information. 

For example, it has already brought to light specific regions with growing numbers of suspected Ebola cases which require urgent supplies like soap and electricity, as well as faster response times for body collection and burials.

The system has also highlighted issues with the diagnosis of Ebola empowering the government to approach the international community to request more testing facilities and equipment. 

“As Africa’s first technology research lab, we are uniquely positioned to use innovation to help tackle some of the continent’s biggest challenges,” said Dr. Uyi Stewart, Chief Scientist, IBM Research, Africa. “We saw the need to quickly develop a system to enable communities directly affected by Ebola to provide valuable insight about how to fight it.

“Using mobile technology, we have given them a voice and a channel to communicate their experiences directly to the government.” 

The system uses radio broadcasts to encourage people to get in touch and express their opinions. Cambridge University’s Africa's Voices project has helped to develop a radio engagement model, incorporating questions into public service announcements to elicit feedback from citizens in both English and Krio, one of Sierra Leone's most widely spoken languages. 

“Radio is a powerful medium in Africa but its potential to gather and analyze audience feedback has not been fully seized,” said Dr. Sharath Srinivasan, Director of Cambridge University’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights. “We are working with IBM to offer people across Sierra Leone a channel to voice their opinions and, crucially, to ensure that the data is rapidly analyzed and turned into valuable insight about the effectiveness of public service announcements and possible public misconceptions about Ebola.” 

Telco operator, Airtel has set up the toll-free number via which citizens are able to send SMS messages. 

“Mobile technology is Africa’s most powerful communications platform providing an important channel for reaching large numbers of the population,” said Sudipto Chowdhury, Managing Director, Airtel, Sierra Leone. “As one of Africa's leading mobile operators, we will do everything we can to ensure that mobile technology contributes to tackling the spread of Ebola and we are partnering with IBM to ensure the effective flow of information between the government and the citizens of Sierra Leone.” 

The SMS data is anonymized by Kenyan start-up Echo mobile which specializes in leveraging basic mobile phones to give voice to underserved communities.

“We're working to make sure that the stream of messages from patients, health workers and the general public can be used to augment the response effort and provide a direct and near real-time view of the situation on the ground," said Jeremy Gordon, Product Director, Echo Mobile.