Thursday, May 29, 2008

How to keep Kenyans interested

Having seen the success of Safaricom IPO, I hope GoK and every investment body realises that;
  1. There is too much idle cash in the economy. Hence the inflation of 11% before the general elections. Interest rates are not the panacea they because that will stifle growth. Lakini ways must be found to tap into that cash.
  2. Kenyans by the millions will invest in profitable opportunities. Again the pyramid phenomena of 2006 & early 2007 and success of even funny IPOs like Everready is testament to this.
  3. So, the alternative strategy is to offload more of its holdings in various parastatals. Two that immediately come to mind are Kenya Pipeline (PBT has increased from Ksh524m in 2002/3 to Ksh2.9bn for 2006/7) and Kenya Ports Authority (made Ksh2.5bn for 2007). Kenyans can relate to both and they know that they are profitable.
  4. There are many projects that only lack funding because they've not been priced correctly or have no exit routes. The ever-present road-building. Why not use tolls and create a company that Kenyans can invest in? There is electricity generation; Nairobi upgrade (you don't sell an idea by calling the "Zero" draft!).

1 comment:

bankelele said...

Absolutely Kenya Pipline should be next.