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End of the Entrepreneurial Trilogy

Many years ago when I was in primary school, we used to play a frenetic game called “Tip”. The Player who was “it” would touch someone else while yelling “tip!” and the person so touched became “it”...

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Wine and chocolate from the Tax man

The New York Times online edition ran this breaking news story on Tuesday September 15th this year: “De Blasio to require computer science in New York City schools.” The article explains further, “To...

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Devolution, piracy and banking meet in Mombasa

I spent the better part of last week down in Mombasa and arrived at three conclusions: firstly, devolution works. Secondly, banking, as we know it in Kenya will have to change or it will die. Thirdly,...

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Bankers are business people too

A distraught investor called his financial advisor. “Is my money really all gone?” He wailed. “No, no,” the advisor answered calmly. “It’s just with somebody else!” I need to disabuse some readers of...

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Horse Whispering for Dummies

Several years ago when I was still working in the banking industry, the finance manager at one of our key corporate customers put me to a challenge. Achieng* had taken up horse riding as a hobby and...

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Sun Kissed Beaches Do not belong to Kenyans

Serendipity is defined as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. Hang on to that thought, as I will get back to this definition further ahead in this column....

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Give your entire wealth to strangers

I was in a recent discussion with someone who has just joined a not for profit organization whose area of focus is sexual reproductive health in Africa. Having sat on the boards of a few not for profit...

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Board Directors Do Not Have X-Ray Vision

Have you visited ABC Place on Waiyaki Way? If you happen to be driving there you first arrive at a poorly designed ticketing booth, maneuvering your car to an impossible angle that will enable the...

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Driving on borrowed funds

Mutua stops John in BuruBuru and asks for the quickest way to Westlands. John asks, “Are you on foot or in the car?” Mutua says, “In the car.” John says, “That’s the quickest way.” In case you missed...

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Dump your gadgets for your own sanity

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” Western Union internal memo, 1876. I recently stumbled...

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Banks are the new slaves of technology

$300 billion. Let me translate that into Kenya Shillings. Roughly, Kshs 30 trillion. Now let me put that into perspective. The Kenyan Government budget for the current financial year 2015/2016 is Kshs...

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That used to be a bank over there

A woman visits a fortuneteller who tells her, “Prepare yourself to be a widow. Your husband will die a violent and horrible death this year.” Visibly shaken, the woman takes a few deep breaths,...

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Entitled and Uncouth Heirs to the throne

Last Tuesday, a video of a nauseating scene at the Tuskys management offices went viral on social media. In case you missed it, an entitled, uncouth and mealy mouthed ragtag of young family members...

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Political Fallacies Shouldn’t drive Economic Behaviour

In my previous life, I was an executive director on the board of Barclays Bank of Kenya. Being the first female in that position in the bank’s ninety-year history was a testimony to the bank’s...

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Banking scandals are not unique to Kenya

In October 2010, I wrote a piece in this newspaper about a lady called Cecilia Ibru, the disgraced former CEO of Oceanic Bank in Nigeria. Prior to August 2009, Mrs. Ibru had been the Chief Executive...

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Banking Crisis in Kenya

The Kenyan banking sector is in turmoil with vicious rumours swirling about the health of many banks and discerning where the truth is sandwiched between various shades of grey is remarkably difficult....

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Chasing The True Numbers

Last week I started reflecting about the key issues that were driving the current turmoil in the banking sector, and concluded that both the regulator’s banking supervision unit as well as the guilty...

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Gentrification in Johannesburg

A few weeks ago, a work assignment took me on a tour of the Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD). Now if you are a frequent traveller to Johannesburg, it is quite likely...

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Banking Crisis in Africa

A few weeks ago, I quoted extensively from a speech given by the former Nigerian Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, in February 2010 where he was explaining, with painful honesty what had gone wrong...

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What everyone needs to know about borrowing in Kenya

A few weeks ago I received a random text message from a credit reference bureau: “URGENT: This is to notify you of some NEW information on your CREDIT BUREAU records. Send URGENT to 21272 to check...

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