By Andrew M. Mwenda   On March 16, 1989, over 6,000 workers at South Korea’s ultra modern subway system in the capital, Seoul went on strike turning the city’s morning rush hour into chaos. About 3,000 workers occupied the roundhouse from which the locomotives were dispatched. The strike took place …

By Patrick Kagenda Interview with Lamin Manjang, Chief Executive and Managing Director of Standard Chartered Bank (U). When do you start your day? I normally start my day by 5:30am in the morning when I do my early morning prayers as a Muslim. I watch a bit of business news …

By Andrew M. Mwenda   When I was growing up, my dad always told me that if I have a dream, I should believe that I will realise it. He believed that success comes from optimism and self-confidence. ‘Believe in yourself and those around you,’ he would say, ‘and always …

By Patrick Kagenda Bharti Airtel Chief Executive Officer (International) and joint Managing Director Manoj Kohli’s announcement in Kampala last week that the company intends to invest US$100 million in network expansion is likely to spark renewed price wars. Speaking on the sidelines of the Bharti/Zain Africa CEO`s meeting held at …

By Joan Akello Shell exit They are small operators, without depots. Some are a single, stand alone service station while others belong to a group. They are called “small independents” because unlike the big oil companies like Shell or Total, they answer to nobody. Since Shell announced it was divesting …

By Patrick Kagenda Sunil Mittal, the Bharti Airtel’s chairman, who started business as a bicycle spare parts dealer, last week put pen to paper to pay $10.7 billion for Zain’s mobile operations in 15 African countries. The deal gives Bharti Airtel 42 million subscribers in the 15 African countries, which …

By Patrick Kagenda In the middle of last year, the Ugandan Shilling appreciated against the dollar. The importers were all smiles as they required fewer shillings to buy dollars thereby making their businesses flow smoothly. On the punching end were the exporters who would earn less from their exports as …

By Matthew Reed As the great and good of the mobile industry browsed the exhibits at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona this week, they may have overlooked a couple of watershed moments in emerging-market telecoms. In the past week, Indian and Chinese investors have unveiled plans for …

By Patrick Kagenda Kuwaiti-based Zain, which was last year a headlines maker after its July announcement that it was looking at its options in Africa including a possible sale of its networks, is back in the news. This time newswires report that it is in talks with Bharti Airtel the …

By Joseph Were and agencies On which side will BoU intervene, if at all? The weakening of currencies in the East African region against the U.S. dollar experienced in the last two weeks is likely to persist, according to analysts. Dollar demand by offshore investors and the corporate sector to …