I feel the need to state clearly that i dont know of this guy and i only got to know of his blog on the news last week on Friday. But i only post this weblink on my blog now as my physical location may have changed and didnt want to do it before my move
Anyway the guy is with the police for his blog info- have a look http://www.dennisitumbi.com/
It is interesting his news only came into our TVs a day after cck and CSI or somebody like that moved to say they want legislation to enable them spy on emails and other e-communication from Kenya
Talk of Kenya becoming China - the aftermath of powerful cables etc etc
If you want to write something questionable according to these two bodies - well get a new emails and never use it in your laptop.
My mother once mentioned she got a call from 'information centre' saying she has been warned about talking sensitive information - i thought she didnt want my gossip of the day but i guesse she may have been right.
Anyway, you got the blog have a look at it if you are safe to!
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
A Corgette goes for 10 bob
I like to write about Kenyan Prices; this is because i believe that if you are in business you do need to know about prices. I mean without price then there is no sale and thus no profits; you might as well not be in business.
For me, I use the prevailing prices to determine where there is a Market gap and if there actually is a business opportunity. For instance I have been to Naivas and discovered some disturbing trend. Quencher, Highland and Pep something juices all go for relatively the same price; Clearly these juices arent the same and the companies selling them are making sure there is no price differentiation rather only quality differentiation.
Today i noticed that a corgette goes for a tenner. I am not saying that this is expensive or cheap all am saying there is a great market opportunity here. A typical corgette plant would produce on average 10 corgettes a week - the plant doesnt require fertelisers etc as it is a vine. Anyway agriculture is clearly the way forward as long as you are creative enough to know where to sell your products. If you can cut out the middle man then even more profits for you.
The butcher down the road accidentally told us of his margins the other day. He buys a kilo of meat at 210 shillings and sells it for 320 shillings. He is making more than the farmer which i just think is wrong.
Next week i blog about a business idea on how to go about it, so keep tuned for it! Ps the business is seasonal but can give you some good money if well planned.
For me, I use the prevailing prices to determine where there is a Market gap and if there actually is a business opportunity. For instance I have been to Naivas and discovered some disturbing trend. Quencher, Highland and Pep something juices all go for relatively the same price; Clearly these juices arent the same and the companies selling them are making sure there is no price differentiation rather only quality differentiation.
Today i noticed that a corgette goes for a tenner. I am not saying that this is expensive or cheap all am saying there is a great market opportunity here. A typical corgette plant would produce on average 10 corgettes a week - the plant doesnt require fertelisers etc as it is a vine. Anyway agriculture is clearly the way forward as long as you are creative enough to know where to sell your products. If you can cut out the middle man then even more profits for you.
The butcher down the road accidentally told us of his margins the other day. He buys a kilo of meat at 210 shillings and sells it for 320 shillings. He is making more than the farmer which i just think is wrong.
Next week i blog about a business idea on how to go about it, so keep tuned for it! Ps the business is seasonal but can give you some good money if well planned.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Price of Meat in a Typical Kenyan Butchery
I have been hanging out quite a lot with my brother in the Thika road region! Clearly not the high end of the market.
For a start i have noticed that most butcheries have differentiated themselves. The Butcheries with a pub adjacent to them are almost always more expensive that the ones not adjacent to the pubs. A kilo of mutton goes for 480 shillings whilst that of cow goes for 380 and that of pork goes for 320. A kilo of chicken goes for 360 in kenchic raw meat butchery but goes for 560 in the kenchic chips joints. The kuku sama has no spices no salt just plain roast/oven chicken - pretty tasteless and dry if you ask me.
I have also noticed a hotel ( new to me but not sure how old it is) called sports view in Kasarani. There is no such view as it is heavily build but once out of their compound you can see Kasarani on the about 500 m away - suppose that is where the name comes from. Anyway they have a tiny swimming pool, i mean more like 20 m long and maybe 10m wide and the deepest point is about 1.6-1.7m deep. But then again this doesnt matter as most people i saw swim in there were kids who all stuck by the railings as their parents/guardians couldnt be bothered getting in the water themselves.
To swim, it costs an adult KSH 200 and KSH 100 for a kid; there are two live guards but i witnessed a couple near drowning moments for some of the kids. Interestingly the parents were not even in the pool area - they were busy chatting or eating in the nyama choma area of the hotel.
A plate of nan, rice and Tandori chicken goes for KSH 650 in this hotel; i am not a hater but i think it is plainly overpriced. This has nothing to do with affordability. Oh yeah and they have what they call salad - grated carrots and cabbage and a hint of onion - talk about selling soil at the cost of gold!
For a start i have noticed that most butcheries have differentiated themselves. The Butcheries with a pub adjacent to them are almost always more expensive that the ones not adjacent to the pubs. A kilo of mutton goes for 480 shillings whilst that of cow goes for 380 and that of pork goes for 320. A kilo of chicken goes for 360 in kenchic raw meat butchery but goes for 560 in the kenchic chips joints. The kuku sama has no spices no salt just plain roast/oven chicken - pretty tasteless and dry if you ask me.
I have also noticed a hotel ( new to me but not sure how old it is) called sports view in Kasarani. There is no such view as it is heavily build but once out of their compound you can see Kasarani on the about 500 m away - suppose that is where the name comes from. Anyway they have a tiny swimming pool, i mean more like 20 m long and maybe 10m wide and the deepest point is about 1.6-1.7m deep. But then again this doesnt matter as most people i saw swim in there were kids who all stuck by the railings as their parents/guardians couldnt be bothered getting in the water themselves.
To swim, it costs an adult KSH 200 and KSH 100 for a kid; there are two live guards but i witnessed a couple near drowning moments for some of the kids. Interestingly the parents were not even in the pool area - they were busy chatting or eating in the nyama choma area of the hotel.
A plate of nan, rice and Tandori chicken goes for KSH 650 in this hotel; i am not a hater but i think it is plainly overpriced. This has nothing to do with affordability. Oh yeah and they have what they call salad - grated carrots and cabbage and a hint of onion - talk about selling soil at the cost of gold!
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Capital Talk with ....Mr Mpesa (Michael Joseph)
I have been watching Capital talk again; Sometimes it can be down right boring lakini Jane nilipenda
There is no denying that MPESA is a phenominon to reckon with; i dont have MPESA for personal reasons, but i do use my Bro Mpesa to buy credit and send money to the very few suppliers i do have
The fact that we Kenyans have made the MPESA the product it is and one which has proven impossible to replicated anywhere else in the World in the last 5 years means we are a people to reckon with.
Most of the time Kenyans come across as people without confidence ( and we are of no confidence when compared to Nigerians) but in this product we have come out at the top - the world can finally have something to write about us which isnt negative - to the best of my knowledge i have not seen the MPESA on BBC and i do watch BBC on a daily basis.
Anyway, next time someone says that all that has come from Kenya is Athletes and the wildlife - well there is MPESA
There is no denying that MPESA is a phenominon to reckon with; i dont have MPESA for personal reasons, but i do use my Bro Mpesa to buy credit and send money to the very few suppliers i do have
The fact that we Kenyans have made the MPESA the product it is and one which has proven impossible to replicated anywhere else in the World in the last 5 years means we are a people to reckon with.
Most of the time Kenyans come across as people without confidence ( and we are of no confidence when compared to Nigerians) but in this product we have come out at the top - the world can finally have something to write about us which isnt negative - to the best of my knowledge i have not seen the MPESA on BBC and i do watch BBC on a daily basis.
Anyway, next time someone says that all that has come from Kenya is Athletes and the wildlife - well there is MPESA
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Watching Capital Talk on …….Jonathan Moi the named innocent man!
Been watching capital talk by Jeff
Koinange; I love his questions they are relevant and they lead to knowledge gain, I hate his intro and goodbyes. I mean ...'now more an ever am Jeff Koinange!', like really cannot he just say I am Jeff Koinange! why the rest of the gibberish! Anyway!
He was just interviewing Gachoka
and Ahmed guy about the Julie Ward murder and this guy (Ahmed) has mentioned
Moi son as the ‘innocent guy’ in all this Julie Ward Murder and Rape saga.
I PERSONALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT WENT
DOWN, LIKE MOST PEOPLE I GOT NO WAY OF KNOWING!
However, just hearing what is being
said and in the manner it is being said and written, I love the Ahmed Guy. He
got some balls, and his balls are strong and special. Most men (and women) don’t
have his kind of balls. He is the kind of guy you want to vote for but then
again wonder would he have the same strong opinions when it comes to things we
as a community would not approve of.
And a few question come to mind, is
it right for him to make such a comment when he is on the JSC ….I am not
advocating that he be silenced. I still think him a genius I just hope he keeps
being that way!
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
KPLC AND POWER ....2
sometime back I wrote about KPLC and Power. I talked about how the Use of Solar power seem like the most prefered alternative than relying on KPLC due to their unreliability
...sometime back I blogged about KPLC and Power ....http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5046264994435381551#editor/target=post;postID=4908671479268840347
Well now i got a few more prices re solar prices in Kenya. For a start a solar panel can cost anywhere from 30k and you will even get a simple water heating system going for 94k. Please check on www.Nairobi.dealfish.co.ke
There is also the market for backup power. This is surprising over-charged and can understand why most people would not want to get this. For a start a simple 4 hour basic power battery would go for 8k shillings. You would then need a charger which costs 10k to buy and an inverter which costs 17k to purchase. You would then use the three above to charge your battery using electricity and cross your fingers that electricity doesnt dissappear for more than 4 hours. The inverter mentioned above isnt automatic,for an automatic one you need 91k.
Chloride Batteries is the company in this market segment and from what i can see they are paying their foreign owners good money to bring light to poor Africans.
So are there alternatives? Well for a start a computer battery goes for upto 3 hours uncharged and doesnt need an inverter or an additional charger. This gets me thinking that there is an alternative way to store power that doesnt need to be this expensive. Just thinking.....anyone with more info, please dont hesitate to share.
For those in business, power is a big issue. For instance I couldnt buy an egg incubator due to the uncertainity about power. Yet this would have been a profitable venture, but on factoring the above then the ventures profits are well drained into some greedy business owner. But then again all businessmen around here seem to be greed - think of Safcom once upon a time they used to charge an arm and a leg to make phone calls but now thanks to the competition they have brought their prices down.
Food for thought......Power is part of 2030 vision ( that is 18 years away!, about 3 parliamentary terms)
...sometime back I blogged about KPLC and Power ....http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5046264994435381551#editor/target=post;postID=4908671479268840347
Well now i got a few more prices re solar prices in Kenya. For a start a solar panel can cost anywhere from 30k and you will even get a simple water heating system going for 94k. Please check on www.Nairobi.dealfish.co.ke
There is also the market for backup power. This is surprising over-charged and can understand why most people would not want to get this. For a start a simple 4 hour basic power battery would go for 8k shillings. You would then need a charger which costs 10k to buy and an inverter which costs 17k to purchase. You would then use the three above to charge your battery using electricity and cross your fingers that electricity doesnt dissappear for more than 4 hours. The inverter mentioned above isnt automatic,for an automatic one you need 91k.
Chloride Batteries is the company in this market segment and from what i can see they are paying their foreign owners good money to bring light to poor Africans.
So are there alternatives? Well for a start a computer battery goes for upto 3 hours uncharged and doesnt need an inverter or an additional charger. This gets me thinking that there is an alternative way to store power that doesnt need to be this expensive. Just thinking.....anyone with more info, please dont hesitate to share.
For those in business, power is a big issue. For instance I couldnt buy an egg incubator due to the uncertainity about power. Yet this would have been a profitable venture, but on factoring the above then the ventures profits are well drained into some greedy business owner. But then again all businessmen around here seem to be greed - think of Safcom once upon a time they used to charge an arm and a leg to make phone calls but now thanks to the competition they have brought their prices down.
Food for thought......Power is part of 2030 vision ( that is 18 years away!, about 3 parliamentary terms)
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Goat farming
Goat farming is of interest to me for a couple of reasons; unlike cows goats are cheaper ( Dorep sells a pregnant breed goat at 22,00 shillings - this is of course on the higher end), and they feed much less than cows do. In fact goats feeds on 5 kg of fodder a day.
A goat is pregnant for 5 months and after weaning of the kid one can start milking. The kid shouldnt be weaned before 3 months although you can let is suck for longer. The kid is ready for reproduction at 9 months or so. I recently talked to a farmer who told me his goat ( kienyeji goat using German Alpine male for ferterlisation) gives birth to twins on season 1 and then a single kid in the next in an alternative fashion. He also told me he would sell the kid aged 3 months for 4,000 shilling if it were female.
Obviously if you are crossing a Kienyeji with a grade goat you need to be careful how you do it. For instance buying a female grade goat gives you a lower return because she can only give birth to so many of them. Whilst buying a male grade goat, you know he will spread it about and get value for your purchase. There is also a formula on how genes are crossed over, for instance if you want the offsprings to be of a better grade, then you need to use a male grade goat and kienyeji female as oppossed to the other way around. This applies to milking goats - this is my interest, but i can only assume you could cross for meat breeds to achieve a bigger goat which translates to more meat and thus more cash in your pocket.
If in commercial farming, be it pigs, chicken, goats, sheep or even rabbits be sure to sell you animals at the right age. If it matures at 2 months, keeping it for 3 months makes no commercial sense not unless the sale price will have increased to cover the feeds and other costs for the additional one month.
Goat meat goes for 360 shllings a kilo in Nairobi, those in Wazuan think there is a big problem in the market but personally this is not something that would stop me from getting into the business. The fact is that the Nairobi Middle class is on the up and the food prices are just ridiculous at the best.
Here is a link to Common Goat breeds - lets face it that is where most Milk Goat breeds originated from
http://www.allgoats.com/breeds4.htm
A goat is pregnant for 5 months and after weaning of the kid one can start milking. The kid shouldnt be weaned before 3 months although you can let is suck for longer. The kid is ready for reproduction at 9 months or so. I recently talked to a farmer who told me his goat ( kienyeji goat using German Alpine male for ferterlisation) gives birth to twins on season 1 and then a single kid in the next in an alternative fashion. He also told me he would sell the kid aged 3 months for 4,000 shilling if it were female.
Obviously if you are crossing a Kienyeji with a grade goat you need to be careful how you do it. For instance buying a female grade goat gives you a lower return because she can only give birth to so many of them. Whilst buying a male grade goat, you know he will spread it about and get value for your purchase. There is also a formula on how genes are crossed over, for instance if you want the offsprings to be of a better grade, then you need to use a male grade goat and kienyeji female as oppossed to the other way around. This applies to milking goats - this is my interest, but i can only assume you could cross for meat breeds to achieve a bigger goat which translates to more meat and thus more cash in your pocket.
If in commercial farming, be it pigs, chicken, goats, sheep or even rabbits be sure to sell you animals at the right age. If it matures at 2 months, keeping it for 3 months makes no commercial sense not unless the sale price will have increased to cover the feeds and other costs for the additional one month.
Goat meat goes for 360 shllings a kilo in Nairobi, those in Wazuan think there is a big problem in the market but personally this is not something that would stop me from getting into the business. The fact is that the Nairobi Middle class is on the up and the food prices are just ridiculous at the best.
Here is a link to Common Goat breeds - lets face it that is where most Milk Goat breeds originated from
http://www.allgoats.com/breeds4.htm
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