A Nairobian Perspective ! - Blog Listing Details

British Banks Stock Crises: Jitters World Stock Markets

Watching CNBC yesterday i was just amazed at how fragile the world economy is as i witnessed the effects of the British Banks Stock crises and its rippling effect to other world stock markets.Yesterday morning British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Lord Chancellor Alastair Darling announced a $ 88 billion bail out plan to marshal the credit crises that was affecting the British banking sector.

I am not an expert on these things i would rather leave that to my friend Bankelele but what amazed me is how the other world stock markets were being immediately affected due to the financial crunch, for example:

The Tokyo Stock exchange closed at 9.38 % down
Russia,Indonesia,Ukraine suspended trading on its stock exchange
European markets suffered losses of up to eight per cent, including a 5.18 per cent fall on the FTSE, followed quickly by falls on the New York Stock Exchange.
In London, the FTSE 100 shed 5.18 per cent to finish at 4,366 while in Paris the CAC 40 fell 6.39 per cent and Frankfurt DAX was down 5.88 per cent. There were declines of 5.51 per cent on the Swiss Market Index, 5.20 per cent in Madrid, 5.71 per cent in Milan, 7.36 per cent in Brussels and 7.68 per cent in Amsterdam.

The State bailout plan is similar to the $700 billion fund to purchase defunct mortgage assets from troubled financial institutions proposed by the U.S. Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson Jr.The American Government had to recently step in and nationalize companies like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group(AIG), which were on the verge of collapse.

I wonder what the effect is for the Nairobi Stock Exchange....but im sure its not good especially for Companies such as Barclay's Bank of Kenya.Oops just seen Mr. Chris Mwebesa 's Nairobi NSE CEO' s statement indicating that trading at the NSE' s floors was suspended yesterday after the market almost lost 5% of its value.

Crazy About Kenya Website; Press Release

I am just so happy to extend this favor to a friend of mine Siobhan Mcgeady for her passionate endeavors to promote the local tourism scene alongside with her team.This a re-print of Crazy About Kenya Press release( 7 October, 2008)...A UK based tourism promotion initiative (between site.

GO CRAZY ABOUT KENYA WITH ACACIA ADVENTURE HOLIDAYS - THE NEW

ONLINE PORTAL FOR AFRICA'S WILDLIFE CAPITAL

Acacia Adventure Holidays and the Kenya Tourist Board have joined forces to create the new Crazy About Kenya website (http://www.crazyaboutkenya.com) ? an online portal that proves there?s more to Africa?s wildlife capital than the Mara.

An ethically charged initiative, Crazy About Kenya features a collective of over 20 indigenous artists and musicians, including world renowned singer/songwriter Eric Wainaina; the talented crew coming together to give would be adventurers an insider perspective on the destination.

A site with a positive vibe, surfers can get to grips with Kenya?s animal kingdom, immerse themselves in the hip and happening culture of Nairobi, chill to the latest tracks from Africa?s wildlife capital, and feast their eyes on some fascinating Kenyan art - in just one click. From virtual inspiration to real life experiences the website also comes packed with destination highlights and new adventure itineraries from Acacia Adventure Holidays, to satisfy the cravings of even the most avid Kenya fan.

Full of exclusive content, Crazy About Kenya will feature regular news updates on album launches from the project?s Kenyan partners and new artists; details on upcoming events and ethical projects in Nairobi; the latest travel deals from the tour operator and a dedicated newsletter entitled the "Whispering Grass of the Maasai Plains". Visitors to the website can also enter Acacia Adventure Holidays ?Answer the call of the wild? competition for a chance to win one of ten Rough Guides to Kenya (www.roughguides.com).

A truly responsible guide, armchair adventurers can show their support for ghetto based initiatives and the projects talented partners by uploading the new Crazy About Kenya logo onto their travel blogs, websites, or social networking pages (http://www.crazyaboutkenya.com/downloads.php). Alternatively, they can chat to the artists and musicians online as many of them are featured on Facebook and MySpace.

For those of us who are simply Crazy About Kenya this is one URL that captures the diversity of Africa?s wildlife capital and for travellers who are planning on catching up with the annual migration in 2009 ? there will be no need to wait, as Acacia Adventure Holidays even has a Maasai Mara e-safari game due to launch on the site on 31 October.

Angie Sloan, Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for Kenya Tourist Board, comments: " The Kenya Tourist Board is delighted to be working with Acacia Adventure Holidays as part of our autumn campaign, to promote not only the wildlife but culture of Kenya. Acacia Adventure Holidays is a well established expert in selling holidays to Kenya with a wide range of product for visitors to experience Kenya's vast array of charms - from the Indian Ocean beaches to the thrilling experience of a safari."

Acacia Adventure Holidays offers overland tours taking in the world renowned Maasai Mara from �595pp + local payment from �208pp (13-day itinerary). A great time to book, the tour operator is currently running its Winter Sun Specials promotion and discounting all overland departures up to 01 July 2009 by 25%. Bookings should be made by 15 November.

The above price includes tour highlights as listed in the brochure, transport, roads tolls and taxes, camping accommodation and cooking equipment, most meals and services of tour leader and driver (no single supplement). Excludes return international flight, visas, departure taxes, and transfers. Contact Acacia Adventure Holidays direct to take advantage of the discount on 020 7706 4700, email info@acacia-africa.com or visit www.acacia-africa.com for further information. ATOL No. 6499 and ABTA No. W4093 PROTECTED.

-ends-

For further information please contact Siobhan at tion London on 020 8180 1585 (VoIP) or 020 8180 1614 or email siobhan@tionlondon.co.uk.

Editors' notes:
Crazy About Kenya is also available on Facebook on the following pages: Acacia Adventure Holidays and Crazy About Kenya. The project will appear on MySpace on 15 October.

For further information on the Kenya Tourist Board please telephone Tel: +44 (0) 20 7367 0931, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7407 3810, email Kenya@hillsbalfoursynergy.

com, visit www.magicalkenya.com or contact the Kenya Tourist Board at 3rd Flr. Colechurch House,1 London Bridge Walk, London SE1 2SX.

Kenya is your ideal destination for a holiday retreat!

Nokia Kenya- Research Centre's !

Nokia cellphones are just ideal!!!I have been an ardent fan of Nokia phones ever since i owned a mobile phone.If you are like me you probably cherish the 3310(most Kenyans first phone apart from Alcatel...remember those phones?) which were readily famed in the Kenya in the late 1990's.I owned one until thieves decided to raid our house in Ongata Rongai and we had to throw our phones over the window to stave them off.So the news that Nokia was opening Research and Development(R&D)offices in Kenya was great news!

The R& D offices will aid Nokia company to design products and services that are relevant and tailor made for the local users.According to a KBC interview of Jussi Impio "As of April 1, 2007, Nokia had R&D centers in 11 countries and employed 14,500 people in research and development, representing approximately 32% of Nokia's total workforce. The R& D centres expenses totaled EUR 3,9 billion in 2006, representing 9,5% of Nokia's net sales. It is apparently seen that Nokia invests a substantial portion of its resources in research and development activities within its principal business groups; Mobile Phones, Multimedia and Enterprise Solutions, Technology Platforms, and in the Nokia Research Center (NRC).Certainly consumers appreciate receiving such attention and care.

Nokia Pilots:
To buttress this position Nokia has only recently launched its online Nokia Pilots recruitment initiative to enable it gather vital information from its consumers.the Nokia pilots programe enables individuals to have a unique opportunity to get involved in Nokia's creative processes.Nokia Pilots Subcribers also get the rare opportunity to sneak peek the latest trends and a chance to see get some of their feedback and suggestions implemented.In yesterdays news(see YouTube Video)Nokia Kenya launched an initiative to help Kenyan Musicians tap into their potential and identify development opportunities using mobile technology.

We now look foward to the positive contributions that Kenyan R&D centres and Nokia Pilots will bring to Africa where mobile telecommunication is rapidly bridging the development divide!

NB: if you are interested in purchasing the latest mobile phones within Kenyan/East African region including the Nokia E71 see the following links: http://mea.nokia.com/english , OR Kenya's first online shopping mall at http://ke.gadgetsguru.com/index.aspx

Zains New Vuka Tariff !

Zain Kenya yesterday launched a new product VUKA tariff plan that will see their subscribers pay Kenya Shillings 8/- per minute on per second billing accross all networks!!!SMS cost is Kenya Shillings 3 bob per SMS accross all networks. That is the cheapest tariff charges being offered in Kenya among the major networks i.e Safaricom, Orange and Econet !Zain has taken a bruising battle to Safaricom and unlike previous practice Safaricom slumbers and continues to take the fatal blows to the dismay of its subscribers!

Safaricom IPO:
I believe that my opinion article on Safaricom Slumber is now starting to bear its truth.With the new Vuka Tariff much awaits to be seen as to how Safaricom's marketing department will counter this threat.My motto is "NEVER LOOSE A CUSTOMER".I hope Safaricom has a similar mindset.The Safaricom IPO marked the begining towards the declination of vodafone's affiliate company - Safaricom's dominance of the Kenyan mobile market! The Mobitelea Shares controversy didnt even make the matter better.I pity Safaricom shareholders as their shares continue to decline!

The Vuka Tariff Ripple:
For Zain Subscribers to change subscription to the New Vuka tariff all they need to do is dial *123*8# if on pre -paid tariff or dial *128*8# if on postpaid tariff.Vuka is value for money.Thanks Zain!Safaricom sleep still and sleep some more remember Orange and Zain are now here and with unlocked dual SIM phones around watch your subscriber base erode !

Twitter-Twittads And Blogging !

Many Western bloggers use twitter to generate traffic and follow up on blogs or on activities of friends of interest.During post election crisis Kenyan Blogger Ory Okolloh of KenyanPundit fame updated her readers via sms using twitter on election violence and this gave birth to the award winning website Ushahidi.Com but the use of Twitter is not so widespread or well known among internet users in Sub -Saharan Africa.

I personally use Twitter ,my twitter account is : http://twitter.com/collinsom92, if you are a blogger and are interested in following me please create a twitter account and click on my link and add me.The benefit of twitter is that you can receive and send tweets through your PDA or Mobile Phone(i-phones) etc.You can update your friends on the go so it is necessary for an enlightened online entrepreneur.So are you one ? its time you started tweeting .

What if you already are on twitter and are following me.I want to share tips on 2 delightful services:

Twitterfeed:This service will post your blog feeds to twitter automatically for you .You can customize the service on how often you want your posts updated.
Twittad: First and only website created to allow Advertisers place ads on Twitter.If you sign up you may just have an opportunity to earn money on ads placed on your twitter account!Perfect site for social website promotion,networking and product placement.Online Marketeers watch this website it will grow big in huge leaps and bounds!

Hence you can clearly see that Twitter offers a variety of opportunities and is a fast developing popurlar tool for professional bloggers.Join twitter and follow this blog for updates and tweets on how to maximize and optimize your use of twitter!