Kosewe Success

yesterdays edition of Money matters brilliantly told us how Mr. Osewe famous for the kosewe dishes, has beaten the NSE. well am guessing he did. since we are told he started with less than a shilling some 30 years ago. today the man is a household name and he attracts not only kenyans with his ugali and witty humour but also tourists. in fact when a consultant came to our offices the other day and asked specifically for kenyan food, i couldnt think of a better place than ronalo foods. It was refreshing to see the man on telly and hear his story again. Am sure after yesterday, more kenyans will open 'osewe' dens all over the city and expect a return in a week. how about an IPO of ronalo foods? it would be oversubscribed!

Actually when money matters started i thought these were the kind of stories they were going to feature and not stories about how multinationals have made decisions abroad and imported to kenya. in another blog i suggested that but readers werent happy with me. I think Kenya stands a chance only if we keep getting kenyan solutions to kenyans circumstances

Elsewhere the bullish trend at the NSE is not relenting, even at this time when investors are taking profits and the prices are going down, volumes traded suggest that those who missed out earlier are taking stronger positions and holding on to them. in fact twice in a week the turnover hit or passed the 1Billion mark. the index is approaching the 5000 point from a low of about 2500 only 4 years ago this time not based on infaltion but real activity and increase in the number of invetors and speculators (i heard a politicaly correct name is traders)

some blog which believes that nothing good can come from 'Nazareth' has suggested that the liquidity at the NSE has nothing to do with the economy being good but rather that the money is from questionable sources. it in fact is money laundering by highly placed govt operatives. i almost belived him but then i thought about the other 'fundamentals' like increase of the number of investors, the cash ratio requirement of commercial banks, increased awareness, improved profitability in most sectors of the economy (sorry) and so and decided to continue investing at the NSE.

I loved how Murigu of Suntra said that the market LOVESspeculators!

Tribalism is a bad thing. no its a very very bad thing! and thats why during the good old presidents days our radio stations could not play 'tribal' songs. read songs in vernacular. i always wondered why we could play lingala and other southern african songs on national radio. we ended up promoting those cultures and upto now there are some zairois who live in kenya on music alone while our own artists live in squalor. another blog is going on and on about tribalism in kenya. but i love the way some enterprsing kenyans have taken advantage of tribalism to beat the NSE. i am thinking of royal media, kameme, KBC , panafric hotels and even carnivore. well thats not new since politicians have made money for a long time by simply using tribalism.

odegle tip of the day - great investors see oportunity in every situation.