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This event occured at *iHub_ Nairobi and was organized by the Elimisha_us initiative . Michael Joseph, the CEO of Safaricom Ltd, is due to retire on November 1, 2010.

I was privileged to be part of the audience and gathered some points to reflect on..

Joseph was reflecting on various issues including his last decade at the helm of the most successful company in East Africa.

The few i gathered are:

1.      ICT industry is the only industry that can create tremendous number of new jobs- Michael Joseph #MJReflections

2.      Consistency of management is a contributing factor to the success of Safaricom- #MJReflections #10Years #Shujaa!

3.      Government is supposed to play an enabling role & not a repressive role. – #MJReflections

4.      #MPesa is accepted as a guarantee. Its highest transactions occur just before schools open – #MJReflections

5.      Retail banking will disappear as we know them. Stuff is going to the mobile platform – Michael Joseph #mJreflections #Dinosaur

6.      700,000 new savings accounts || The number of accounts saved through #MKesho in 3 months am liking this!!- Michael Joseph #MjReflections

7.      Sometimes you have to take the risk to launch a new product! Even though haters may try to stop you – Michael Joseph #MJReflections #MKesho

9.      @swmaina I agree with u. In his own words he admits, “I was wrong”. I find his disposition pleasing and honest #MJReflections @SafaricomLtd

10.  RT @iHubNairobi Safaricom has over 2000 base stations. #MJReflections

11.  Do it because it is Right. Do it because it makes sense- Michael Joseph #MJReflections

12.  60 Sites || The number of safaricom stations (base stations) running on generators/windPower #MJReflections #GoingGreen #SmartBuildings

13.  #KPLC is abhoring – Michael Joseph #MJReflections

14.  @Marlmarly hi. we are at @iHubnairobi listening to Michael reflect on his 10 years as CEO of Safaricom. Live Stream http://elimisha.us/

15.  We cant just rely on the fact that we speak English. BPO is a fragile market, we must get it right – Michael Joseph #MJReflections #V2030

16.  If you outsource customer care or quality, you loose the opportunity to build your own capacity/infrastructure – #MjReflections

17.  “We are in business so we innovate to make money. Innovation is a tool but to make more money” – Michael Joseph on #DisruptiveTechnology

18.  Social Media gives people an excuse to be irresponsible. _ Michael Joseph speaking on SocialMedia || #MjReflections

19.  As a manager, you must make decisions. If you get 7 decisions right out of 10, that is cool. Lead from the front – Michael Joseph

20.  As a manager, you must make decisions. If you get 7 decisions right out of 10, thats cool. Lead from the front – Michael Joseph

21.  20-25% growth a year || The annual growth rate of Safaricom #MjReflections

22.  “The link went down”, “the server is congested” etc the standard excuses of IT guys hahahaa- Michael Joseph #MJReflections

23.  We encourage innovation. We have worked hard for this- Michael Joseph, CEO of a billion-dollar company says #MjReflections

24.  20,000 Agents || The success of the #MPesa service is the distribution network + technology behind it #MjReflections 100% integrity

25.  #Okoajahazi 1.5million Ksenyans borrowed instant credit from safaricom even though they had their phones loaded = 15MillionProfit on the 1st day of its launch

26.  #FreeCalls From 9.00Pm || The tragedy of this is that many subscribers wait till 8.59pm to make “that Call”!! – #Congestion #MjReflections

27.  Congestion || Another language for saying “hey guyz we really dont have enough cash to beef up the network hahaaha – #MjRefflections

28.  June 2001 || The year safaricom was ahead of Kencell in terms of Market share- Michael Joseph #Reflections Key  Per second billing

29.  5 People & 55 former workers || The number of employees Michael Joseph started with #safaricom #reflections #Shujaa

30.  June2000 The year MJ came to Kenya with a business plan #Reflections #Shujaa

Closing Word:

Be all you can be!

–          @ujenziBora

Many projects in the built environment stall or are blatantly delayed for lack of a proper knowledge on the basics of an Environmental impact Assessment. It could also be due to ignoring the provisions of Environmental Law as it applies to a particular development.

The building process is a complex one and it is prudent for one to have a grasp on the basics of an EIA

What is an EIA?

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is “the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating, and identifying and selecting options for mitigating the effects of proposals for development projects prior to finalizing project designs and committments.”

It is thus obvious that the assessment is an exercise that begins at the Project Definition stage. Some ignore it and end up getting stranded midstream during project implementation when the authorities step on the scene.

Framework for EIA

In Kenya, The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is established under the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA) No. 8 of 1999, as the principal instrument of government in the implementation of all policies relating to the environment.

The Authority became operational on 1st July 2002

The European Union provides separate guidelines for environmental assessment that is undertaken for individual projects or for plans, programs, and policie(“Strategic Environmental Assessment”)

There are also International Standards such as the ‘ISO 14000″ or the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention)

Objectives of Environmental Impact Assessments:

1. To ensure that environmental considerations are explicitly addressed and incorporated into the development decision-making process
2. to anticipate and avoid, minimize, or offset the adverse significant biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals
3. To protect the productivity and capacity of natural systems and the ecological processes that maintain their functions
4. to promote development that is sustainable and optimizes resource use and management opportunities

Mitigation Plan:

The EIA should identify feasible and cost-effective measures that may reduce potentially significant adverse environmental impacts to acceptable levels. The plan includes compensatory measures if mitigation measures are not , cost-effective, or sufficient.

REF:

1. European Union, “Environmental assessment, “

2.International Organization for Standardisation, “ISO 14000 Essentials“

3. NEMA, Website

4.United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, “Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.”

Kindest Regards,

David Nahinga || @UjenziBora

Unless this rapid urban growth is effectively and sensibly guided, Africa will face the realities of the equation Mega Cities = Mega Slums

2025

In 2025, it is projected that Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo will be the world’s 11th, 12th and 13th largest urban conglemerations.

In 2025, Kinshasa will be Africa’s largest city with 16.7 million inhabitants. Lagos will be second with 15.8 million citizens, slightly more than Cairo’s projected 15.5 million inhabitants.

If present growth rates persist, Africa may have more than 1.2 billion urban dwellers by 2050! (UN-Habitat)

For our case here in Nairobi, i do not know what comes to your mind about the newly emerging urban spatial configurations?

One thing is certain, we must be prepared for the change that is coming. Currently there is very scanty data on City-Wide trends. How i wish some powers-that-be would step in and make such information publicly available.

Speculators or Statistics?

Picture this: In 1950, there were only two African cities exceeding one million inhabitants with a combined population of 3.4 million and an average size of 1.7 million. In 2005, there were 43 African cities exceeding one million inhabitants with an average size of 2.56 million and a combined population of more than 110 million people.

In the case of land prices, too many Speculators are hoarding land and hiking the prices based on their perceived gains.

But my guess is that the biggest winners will be those that will be able to “Compete for the Future Today”. Knowledge is key. Urban dwellers need to know where the City is going otherwise old age strikes with no warning and one might find themselves trapped in Youth in very aged bodies and a sophisticated urban environment! The landscape is changing…

If there is a rapid projection of increased Rural-Urban migration, most likely Africa needs to focus on building capacity among its small and medium-sized cities to deliver and facilitate adequate housing, livelihoods and services for spiraling numbers of poor urban dwellers.

Last Word!

All this data and statistics goes on to demonstrate the fact the family of man is truly in a “Great Procession”

“I know a man, a common farmer- the father of five sons;

And in them were the fathers of sons- and in them were the fathers of sons“

– Walt Whitman, Poet

Kind regards,

David Nahinga | @UjenziBora

REF:

1. The State of African Cities at a Glance – ECA-CEA, UN-Habitat, 2008

I love poetry and so i got this piece to serve as a minor deviation from the occasion to post a new blog! It speaks truthfully of my account…

Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City

ONCE I pass’d through a populous city, imprinting my brain, for future use, with its shows, architecture, customs, and traditions;

Yet now, of all that city, I remember only a woman I casually met there, who detain’d me for love of me;
Day by day and night by night we were together,—All else has long been forgotten by me;

I remember, I say, only that woman who passionately clung to me;
Again we wander—we love—we separate again;
Again she holds me by the hand—I must not go!
I see her close beside me, with silent lips, sad and tremulous.
{Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900}

Half of Humanity!

“Half of humanity now lives in cities, and within two decades, nearly 60 per cent of the world’s people will be urban dwellers.  Urban growth is most rapid in the developing world, where cities gain an average of 5 million residents every month.

As cities grow in size and population, harmony among the spatial, social and environmental aspects of a city and between their inhabitants becomes of paramount importance.”- Anna K. Tibainjuka (UN-Habitat)

Nairobi Metropolis 2030

The natural and induced growth of cities and the rapid growth of its populations means that the City Fathers have to give a new direction to the “traffic”. Men, just like cars…move in traffic

Human relations and their common bounds generally imputes that they rise or fall together. If the City is insecure, it shall be so to the rich and the poor: It shall be so to the hard-faced immigrant and the Veteran.

With new economic growth, comes greater responsibility. Economic revival in one strata of the population often means increased inequality, spatial and social disparity. It amazes me how next to almost every other “Settlement” of the rich, there is a “Sprawling slum” besides as if to set a balance. Some ebb and flow, some tit for tat of sorts….

Urban Inequality

Urban inequality has a direct impact on all aspects of human development, including health, nutrition, gender equality and education. Extreme spatial and social divisions, unplanned mobility (transport systems) may reduce peoples engagement in the formal sector of the economy.

If we leave behind our “fellows”, they shall come after us!

I think am proud of the Government of Kenya in its plan towards making Nairobi Metropolis a better place to live, to learn and to love.

Though in comparison to those we love, Whitman says,

“Yet now, of all that city, I remember only a woman I casually met there, who detain’d me for love of me;”

It is because people are the soul of the city!!! There is such a thing as a City of Men, which means harmony in realtions; men fitly framed together.

Those friends you cannot write your story and leave them out in the sentence,

Paul and Silas

Meshack, Shadrack and Abednegoh

They give the city a “personality”, somewhat of a social hinge upon which men like Whitman turn. Apart from the survival aspects of living in the city, its the people in the city that give it the soul.

The City as Home!

I see “old habits” ebb away. Habits like going home back in the village. I do not know yet whether this is a bad or good thing. I shall allow the dispute to pass and only state that an entire generation is being born that knows the City as HOME.

They shall take the great procession onwards!!!

That is why we all need a harmonious city that is at Peace with itself and at peace with US. That is why i deliberately seek to meet my friends on Sunday that we may build a City with a Soul. A city of Men and Women.

It is this that captures my imagination better than the brick and mortar Visions of the City Fathers.

I love the Vision of the Unfolding Metropolis but i Love the People for whom it is written even more!

For whom are we stuck in the City if not for Our OWN? It is because we live not only in the City, but for the City of Our Own,

That which Our Own shall call HOME. And so we seek to possess and dominate it like the villager is pre-occupied by his sprouts, and rabbits, and cow-yards, and chicken, and pigs, and seedlings, and mouse traps…

Kindest regards

David Nahinga

@UjenziBora

STRATEGIC LOCATION:

Nairobi Metropolitan Region(NMR) is the connecting point of North-South and East-WestTrans African Highway (TAH). It is strategically located and can thus play a significant role in the economies of the region and Kenya as a whole.

The North-South TAH is 8,860 Kilometres long and runs from Cairo to Gaborone to Cape Town while the East-West TAH is 6,260 kilometres long and runs from Lagos to Mombasa.

CONSTITUENTS OF NMR :

As a city, Nairobi contributes about 50% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Kenya and accounts for the largest proportion of the wage employment in the country at 44.3% (CBS,2003)

However, the Nairobi Metropolitan Region is a far greater and ambitious strategic move by the Government of Kenya in Spartial Planning and Urban Rejuvenation. It includes the city of Nairobi (which is merely 32,000 sq.Km) and the surrounding 14 local authorities that is:

• 4No. County Councils:  Kiambu, Olkejuado, Thika and Masaku
• 6No. Municipal Councils : Ruiru, Thika ,Kiambu , Mavoko, Machakos and Limuru
• 4No. Town Councils : Kikuyu, Karuri, Kajiado and Kang’undo.

The Nairobi Metropolitan Vision christened Metro 2030 seeks among other things to embrace a suite of policies, Plans and Regulations that will be realized through 7 Key result Areas. I must admit that the city fathers have truly thought out some goodstuff and things are bound to be better.

In the coming days/years, we shall see the Nairobi Metropolis experience growth in a more faster and accelerated rate than we have ever seen in its previous existence.

Ceteris Paribus, there shall be heavy capital investments in the Built Environment which comprises mainly of Buildings and Infrastructure so that the metropolis develops the following 7 Key Result Areas (KRA):

1. An internationally competitive and Inclusive economy for prosperity
2. World Class Infrastructure and Utilities
3. Optimized Mobility & Connectivity through Effective Transportation
4. Enhanced Quality of Life
5. A Unique image and identity through Effective Place Branding
6. World Class Governance System
7. A Safe and Secure region

THINK AHEAD:

Nairobi is bound to become a new Hub of Economic Activities and we need to get ready and think ahead TO EMBRACE THE OPPORTUNITIES.

There shall be caused to be created New Town, New Cities, New Roads and new land use patterns.

A shift is coming.

It is projected that by the year 2030, Nairobi alone shall bear a population of about 6,585,959 people and the greater NMR region approximately 12,426,338 people. As at the year 2007, the population of the NMR was about 6.2 million people. This has a lot of implications to those “thinking ahead”

There shall be a re-alignment of the whole landscape and it will not be “Business as Usual”. For example, looking at the economic activities, there shall be

• A logistic hub and freight complex (proposed to be located between Kajiado County Council and Masaku County Council)
• A regional Financial Hub within Nairobi
• Manufacturing, Industrial, and Technology Parks (Including Medi-City, IT Hubs, Entertainment City, Metal Parks and Theme Based Parks)
• New regional Centres and Urban Extyensions

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”-Albert Einstein

LAST WORD :

I shall be posting details on “where the city is going” with a view to enlighten those who are thinking ahead. I believe in Vision and people being determined to embrace new opportunities and frontiers. Change is the only thing that is constant and we must re-align ourselves with the New Vision of the City.

“The ultimate aim of production is not production of goods but the production of free human beings associated with one another on terms of equality”- Jon Dewey

REF/DOWNLOADS;

1. Nairobi Metro 2030: A World Class African Metropolis, Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development, Government of the Republic of Kenya, 2008

2. Data from the recently concluded 46th ISOCARP International Congress. Nairobi – Kenya, 19-23 September 2010

-David Nahinga.| @UjenziBora

It is thus imperative that one needs to “sit down” and contemplate or wrap his mind around the entire building project to determine whether it is worth his while to embark on the journey of construction.

While undertaking Cost Planning for your building project, it is important to keep in mind that the final cost of the house will be affected by both Design Factors and Economic Factors.

Design Factors

The design factors like shape and size of the building, complexity of the design, circulation space of the building, the height and the structural design of the building will have a bearing on the final cost.

It is also worthwhile to note that the workmanship and quality of materials to be used as determined by the specifications will have an impact on the cost. Most persons wishing to build are surprised at how varying one item like the type of finishes can have a high impact on their construction budget.

As an example, wooden floor finishes have a higher long term running cost as compared to simple screed finishes comprising of cement and sand mortar.

Economic Factors

There are other hidden factors that will have an effect on the final cost of doing the building project. For instance, the interest on borrowed funds and price fluctuations caused by inflations or market forces can affect an initial cost plan of a project.

The source of the building materials, that is, whether available locally or imported will also affect the overall cost plan. There are some designs that may necessitate sourcing of skilled laborers and this would add to the overall cost.

Political Factors

There are Political factors in terms of how stable a neighborhood is or the safety index of a neighborhood. One can readily tell that a high-end zoned neighborhood where the development is controlled could be cheaper in terms of security measures to be incorporated in the cost plan but relatively expensive since one has less free-play in the design variables.

We cannot escape from its multitudinous dimensions that unfold once a decision is made by a man to sit down and build.

Upon completion of the design and comprehension of all factors affecting the cost plan, the tasks, timings and costs are summarized in a Developers Budget or a Project Baseline Plan that will set out for you the roadmap towards home ownership.

Below is a panoramic view of what professions may help such a man to “sit down”. These mainly consists of the “Design Team” and the “Construction Team” who ought to work hand in hand in realizing the dream of the client.

One truly needs to be meek and confident enough to “sit down” when it comes to making a decision to build a House!

I trust that in your meditation to build, you shall consider the aforementioned lest people pass by your incomplete Building Project quoting Scripture:

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it?

Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.”Jesus Christ, Luke 14:28

©David Nahinga 2010,

Twitter: @UjenziBora

Blog: www.ujenzibora.wordpress.com