The key to development in any country is having large corporations. If Kenya had 10 Safaricom size companies I can assure you we would be among the richest nations in Africa.
Figuratively speaking monopolies inhibit capitalism. They kill competition. If you have 10 monopolies in Kenya, that covers all industries. You will have huge unemployment.
But simplistic thinking won’t let us achieve that. As a country, we have proven we have the structural capability to sustain a company with a valuation of over $1 billion and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in profit.
If we were a thinking nation. Someone would be busy studying Safaricom and the structural inefficiencies that kept it from achieving what it did earlier and then working out the kinks to ensure there are no barriers for companies on their path to greatness. Lakini Kenya nongwe zikioma unakuwa, they are already holding night meeting like a coven to discuss how best to cut your horns.
Since it is an unwritten law that a company by a nobody cannot just be allowed to succeed like that.
I am talking about size, not market type.
it’s not about Monopoly. It’s about creating companies that can grow big without collapsing in China. they have various tech firms like baidu huawei tencent, all that came from nothing through the system and they have not monopolized the tech market in China. The point us that the same method they used to succeed can be recreated with enough effort and time without facing unnecessary hurdles
Safaricom’s market cap is $10 billion, not $1 billion. $1 billion is what it made last year before tax i.e Ksh 105 billion.
we have room for many more companies like that, our economy has potential that will never be realized
So, what happens if the new venture that they’ve invested in makes billions in profit? Invest in another? Acha wakule mali yao polepole
G.O.K gets more taxes and they create more jobs for the people here.
May be the govt should come up with a law dictating on the minimum percentage that should be reinvested back into the economy. Otherwise, if all the dividends are to be reinvested then it will discourage foreign investment
Sure. Obviously moderation is key. Plus, they are incentives which investors may choose to ignore.
Incentives, iscthe word here
The reason Safaricom imesuceed hivo ni juu ya nature of the biz. The real owners are those Europeans we have been shown hapo juu na a few proxy locals [dynasties anyone?]. 25 bloody billions, just image that as gold in a casket because that’s our nyama being taken away
Safcom has been ‘successful’ in extracting wealth coz as a Telcom company, it doesn’t really have to develop its community in the same way an agriculture company with assests on the ground like say Sasini would. Safaricom just installs some ugly antennas in your hood, sells you talking time, it’s a monopoly, it’s damn expensive na it does bare minimum sides ya CSR. For those amounts they are milking out of the wretched in the slums, a big chunk ought to be put back in the same communities lakini wapi. A few tokens sijui Jazz Festivals na scam lotteries such foolish iish. But they must just be pandering to our sub~100 IQs, remember safcom is a British tech firm ala Cambridge Analytica so they have the psychographic profiles of most Kenyans in their servers. Wanajua dancing, merry making na f**king ndio foremost on bonobos minds. So you will never hear Safaricom imeinvest a few billions in a tech hub ndio mayouth wapate those real opportunities but will happily support Blaze bollocks where they can push their products on impressionable young people. In short, this is a vulture company and they are gaining more than us.
Show me which 10 other sectors a company like Safaricom can emerge. It’s a governance issue man, the economy is not set up in a way for companies to thrive and provide wealth. Until we replace the current ruling class tutazidi kuexport our gold tu hivo
It’s possible for others, but only if they become multinationals.
Kengen is taking up projects in Ethiopia and other countries.
EABL has the financial might to spread its wings.
KCB, Equity, even Nation Media.
The pharmaceuticals in Baba Dogo.
I agree with @ Azor Ahai, 25b is a colossal amount of money if government can encourage the foreign investors to invest in.ke. If I may ask, do the local investors,MOI and other ruling elites invest their dividends ama zinapelekwa safe havens
Kengen is a parastatal bro they are a monopoly power producer with annual cash from exchequer.
Banks ni same model na safcom, they are in the service industry where a small investment can yield serious returns. Kwanza these Kenyan ones ni laundry tu za wale wasee.
So tuwe champs at exporting akoho and knockoffs / toxins kariobangi?
Kengen is a publicly traded company, and a very profitable one… It does not receive money from exchequer. It’s the other way round.
It pays the government dividends on top of other taxes.
Also, even if it was a wholly government company, which it is not, nothing prevents it from going global. Many Chinese construction companies owned by the government operate everywhere on earth.
Kenya could also do very well as a service dependent country. Manufacturing is not the only model for growth.
The US GDP is 68% a service industry.
The top 4 US banks pay almost $50 billion in taxes annually. And that’s just to the federal government.
If Equity bank operated in 20 African countries, that’s a lot of tax money for GOK.