Archive for January, 2006
Kenya - Surprises Galore
Kenya continues to surprise - in so many ways.
Take women for instance. What is their position in Kenyan society? I’m not certain, but it cannot be that bad if the security guard at the Co-op Bank branch in Chogoria - a small village in Meru district - is a woman. Or, if when I go [...]
Americans - Loud and with Shorts
The typical american is tall, overweight, loud, white, and wears shorts and sandals. In a country where nobody - absolutely nobody - shows their knees, and the local people take great pride in their appearance, why do the americans insist on importing their complete disregard for everything?
In Geneva, people did wear shorts - but only [...]
You are entering the Nokia Mobile World
My poor soaked mobile phone is breathing again. Hallelujah!!!
If you remember, it left me in the lurch, to face life’s vagaries alone when I was thrown into a pool at the new year’s eve party. I had all but given up but then, 2 weeks later, its back. Now I can take photos, listen to [...]
The Role of the Public Sector
I just received a refresher course in the difference between the public and private sectors. This, during a visit to the Horticulture Crop Development Authority (HCDA). For background, the HCDA is a government institution that provides services such as pre- and post-harvest training to horticultural producers, and creates market linkages for exporters. The most interesting [...]
Neutrality & Objectivity
My job, as GSB broker, has been to facilitate pro-poor investments. I try to identify sectors and industries where private enterprise can introduce services for the poor or reduce costs for them, and I try to identify companies that are interested in such BOP investments.
It is an exciting job. In a country like Kenya the [...]
Delivering Development Assistance
I tend to rant a lot about the problems of development aid. Well, here is one more for the list.
Projects are the de facto vehicle of choice to deliver development assistance worldwide. But as I’ve learnt, for almost two months of the year all real work must stop. This past December was devoted to wrapping [...]
Where are you?
I was going to write about something else, but that topic has to wait. I just stopped chatting with two of my friends, and my time online confirmed a rather massive shift in my life - and those of my friends.
My IOMBA class of 2005 was, prior to the IOMBA, mostly financially secure and settled. [...]
Kenya’s Drought Update
I mentioned previously the drought in Kenya. Well, things are worse than I had anticipated. Living in Nairobi, it is easy to forget about it, as the city is still very green. But now the city too is having to deal with the challenge. This past week, they started rationing water in the many apartment [...]
