Safaricom still cruising - with Fuliza see 45B transaction in 3 months

[Nefertiti]

Most kenyan companies don't have any global strategy - the best they can think about is East Africa and some now Africa. Safcom are in comfort zone with their dominance of kenya market.

Yup - but an easy fix just hire a CEO with global profile - they got the $$$ for that. It's easy to expand past M-PESA and spin subs like say Alphabet - span into Google, Waymo, X, Jigsaw - the original Google is now like 20 $B companies. A proper visionary CEO at Safcom - with all the billions and freehand - can pick up the Viusasas, iHubs, etc - into a big ecosystem of tech - with Sfc as the group holding brand. Some areas like enterprise AI - despite losing out on cloud - none of the big techs IBMs or Microsoft know enough to implement. AI is purely vertical - DEEP learning on specific proprietary data - and will remain so for a long time. It took 2-3 decades for ERP, BI, etc - to be fully horizontal - that's why all the local Oracle & SAP or Microsoft partners minted $$ for years. It was impossible to plug-&-play ERPs and such - until cloud and SaaS took over. AI will take a decade to mature into horizontal or cloud - IBM has tried AIaaS with Watson - and flopped big-time. Sfc with local presence and brand can run away with that space. But you find they cannot even make their own AI work - ZURI chatbot - the dumb thing coughs SQL errors if you type jibberish.

[Nefertiti]

Of course i don't get the idea behind "chatbot" or "voicebot" - it's like a person who can only interact via email. A servicebot should be full-circle - chat, video, voice, bla bla.

[RV Pundit]

I get it but you're talking shareholders having a appetite for risk - and vodafone is already covered in the global front - and kenya gov is not interested. Until shareholders change - nothing management will do except try ideas in the kenya market.

I think Equity is going to be first kenya real MNC and of course SportPesa is trailblazing. Actually Mandu Chandaria already did that - but the guy is so humble - you won't know he ran a global conglomerate with his brothers.

Most kenyan companies don't have any global strategy - the best they can think about is East Africa and some now Africa. Safcom are in comfort zone with their dominance of kenya market.

Yup - but an easy fix just hire a CEO with global profile - they got the $$$ for that. It's easy to expand past M-PESA and spin subs like say Alphabet - span into Google, Waymo, X, Jigsaw - the original Google is now like 20 $B companies. A proper visionary CEO at Safcom - with all the billions and freehand - can pick up the Viusasas, iHubs, etc - into a big ecosystem of tech - with Sfc as the group holding brand. Some areas like enterprise AI - despite losing out on cloud - none of the big techs IBMs or Microsoft know enough to implement. AI is purely vertical - DEEP learning on specific proprietary data - and will remain so for a long time. It took 2-3 decades for ERP, BI, etc - to be fully horizontal - that's why all the local Oracle & SAP or Microsoft partners minted $$ for years. It was impossible to plug-&-play ERPs and such - until cloud and SaaS took over. AI will take a decade to mature into horizontal or cloud - IBM has tried AIaaS with Watson - and flopped big-time. Sfc with local presence and brand can run away with that space. But you find they cannot even make their own AI work - ZURI chatbot - the dumb thing coughs SQL errors if you type jibberish.

[Nefertiti]

How much is Chandaria Inc worth in $B - that says everything. The man is not even a billionaire last I checked.

I get it but you're talking shareholders having a appetite for risk - and vodafone is already covered in the global front - and kenya gov is not interested. Until shareholders change - nothing management will do except try ideas in the kenya market.

I think Equity is going to be first kenya real MNC and of course SportPesa is trailblazing. Actually Mandu Chandaria already did that - but the guy is so humble - you won't know he ran a global conglomerate with his brothers.

[RV Pundit]

Chandaria are big - his steel company operates in more than 30 africa countries and many in Asia. Chandaria are very humble. They are all over - also in IT.

Their company UST Global - is alone valued at over 1b dollars.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2017/07/07/carlyle-group-offers-200-million-for-minority-stake-in-kenyan-owned-company/#5ad556124af4

[Pragmatic]

Chandaria are big - his steel company operates in more than 30 africa countries and many in Asia. Chandaria are very humble. They are all over - also in IT.

Their company UST Global - is alone valued at over 1b dollars.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2017/07/07/carlyle-group-offers-200-million-for-minority-stake-in-kenyan-owned-company/#5ad556124af4

[vooke]

Pundito,
There is nothing magical about Sportpesa other than exploiting mobile money in a virgin market. Just as MPesa has totally failed to take off elsewhere outside Kenya, SportPesa gets nowhere outside Kenya.

SportPesa paid 80B in two years (2015-2016) according to this article:
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/KRA-demands-tax-on-SportPesa-winners/539546-4987192-gp7lrm/index.html

80B is more than interest expenses of both Equity and KCB. I wonder how much profits they rake but I know they could be busy catching up on these two banks

[RV Pundit]

Do you think other business are somewhat magical? They have global ambition - and that for me is very strange in kenya. Most kenyans and kenyan companies have a regional mental blocks. Most Americans and their companies - have  a global mental outlook - they want to dominate US and the entire world. We need a change of mindset - we need to be more ambitious. But first we need to think Africa - we already cornered Eastern Africa - our companies need to invest in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Sudan and such countries.

Look at KTDA - easily the largest tea company in the world - and there is no known kenyan tea brand outside our borders. Why is Lipton tea or Sri Lanka Ceylon tea well known.

Pundito,
There is nothing magical about Sportpesa other than exploiting mobile money in a virgin market. Just as MPesa has totally failed to take off elsewhere outside Kenya, SportPesa gets nowhere outside Kenya.

SportPesa paid 80B in two years (2015-2016) according to this article:
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/KRA-demands-tax-on-SportPesa-winners/539546-4987192-gp7lrm/index.html

80B is more than interest expenses of both Equity and KCB. I wonder how much profits they rake but I know they could be busy catching up on these two banks

[RV Pundit]

Yes, Chandarias and his brothers, have learnt to get stuff done with little fanfare and controversy. I hope they one day list their company in NSE or LSE.

[Nefertiti]

Equity will beat Sfc or KCB not cause of local ownership or lack of vested interests - but the visionary Dr Mwangi. Unless you mean Equity shareholders are more risk-embracing. Vodafone or GoK wouldn't mind Sfc going global - Mpesa has been piloted in TZ, Zambia, Afghanistan all over - with dismal results. I agree it's mental block more than anything.

Vodafone 5% and Vodacom 35% - don't control Sfc - the voting clause was changed to majority. When they swapped with Vodacom. GoK and Kenyans control it now and will pick Collymore successor.

[Nefertiti]

It comes down to what you noted yourself here severally- the US and China have a structural advantage as monocultures. Once Uber or Microsoft or Alibaba corner the 12 or 20T market - they have the muscle and clout to go global. If you look at EU - no big companies since Siemens or Pfizer - yet their colleges are prolific with patents and science papers. It shows they don't really lack talent but cutting across the dozen or so EU cultures is not easy. Africa has myriad issues - political, poverty, less educated, etc - though culturally we are easily just Ango & Franco - so it easier to cut across than say EU. It's why I think without the one-off outlier Dr Mwangi - just go for MJ expat types. Noone minds expats who deliver.

Do you think other business are somewhat magical? They have global ambition - and that for me is very strange in kenya. Most kenyans and kenyan companies have a regional mental blocks. Most Americans and their companies - have  a global mental outlook - they want to dominate US and the entire world. We need a change of mindset - we need to be more ambitious. But first we need to think Africa - we already cornered Eastern Africa - our companies need to invest in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Sudan and such countries.

Look at KTDA - easily the largest tea company in the world - and there is no known kenyan tea brand outside our borders. Why is Lipton tea or Sri Lanka Ceylon tea well known.

[RV Pundit]

mobile money in tz is nearly as good as kenya

Equity will beat Sfc or KCB not cause of local ownership or lack of vested interests - but the visionary Dr Mwangi. Unless you mean Equity shareholders are more risk-embracing. Vodafone or GoK wouldn't mind Sfc going global - Mpesa has been piloted in TZ, Zambia, Afghanistan all over - with dismal results. I agree it's mental block more than anything.

Vodafone 5% and Vodacom 35% - don't control Sfc - the voting clause was changed to majority. When they swapped with Vodacom. GoK and Kenyans control it now and will pick Collymore successor.

[vooke]

Do you think other business are somewhat magical? They have global ambition - and that for me is very strange in kenya. Most kenyans and kenyan companies have a regional mental blocks. Most Americans and their companies - have  a global mental outlook - they want to dominate US and the entire world. We need a change of mindset - we need to be more ambitious. But first we need to think Africa - we already cornered Eastern Africa - our companies need to invest in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Sudan and such countries.

Look at KTDA - easily the largest tea company in the world - and there is no known kenyan tea brand outside our borders. Why is Lipton tea or Sri Lanka Ceylon tea well known.

Pundito,
There is nothing magical about Sportpesa other than exploiting mobile money in a virgin market. Just as MPesa has totally failed to take off elsewhere outside Kenya, SportPesa gets nowhere outside Kenya.

SportPesa paid 80B in two years (2015-2016) according to this article:
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/KRA-demands-tax-on-SportPesa-winners/539546-4987192-gp7lrm/index.html

80B is more than interest expenses of both Equity and KCB. I wonder how much profits they rake but I know they could be busy catching up on these two banks