Word: safaricom
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Dates: during 2008-2008
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...example. They're now a booming market in the developing world, but historically, companies vastly underestimated their potential. In 2000, when Vodafone bought a large stake in a Kenyan cell-phone company, it figured that the market in Kenya would max out at 400,000 users. Today that company, Safaricom, has more than 10 million. The company has done it by finding creative ways to serve low-income Kenyans. Its customers are charged by the second rather than by the minute, for example, which keeps down the cost. Safaricom is making a profit, and it's making a difference. Farmers...
...very least, Kenyans know what they are betting on. Thanks to a proliferation of cheap handsets and pay-as-you-go services, it seems that practically every Kenyan has a mobile phone, and most who do are Safaricom customers. The company has made its buck by thinking small, allowing Kenyans to buy airtime in increments as little as 20 Kenyan shillings - about $0.30. It has found success by focusing on ways that even the simplest mobile phones can change people's lives. Airtime credit can be traded as currency and Safaricom also has a feature, called M-Pesa ("pesa...
...Kenyan government is in for a windfall. The government owns 60% of Safaricom, and 25% of that stake is up for sale. With Safaricom shares starting at seven U.S. cents, that means the government could make 50 billion shillings - about $780 million - on the sale...
...this being Kenya, one of the most corrupt nations on Earth, the Safaricom offering has raised the suspicions of the country's business bloggers. The Kenyan opposition says the sale violates Kenyan privatization laws. And they're worry that other powerful Kenyans may be behind a Guernsey-based company called Mobitelea, which owns a stake in Vodafone Kenya, which in turn owns 40% of Safaricom. Of these allegations, Michael Joseph, the CEO of Safaricom, told the Daily Nation, "I hope they do not detract potential investors from investing in a very strong company with strong growth prospects." Joseph said that...
...incumbent Mwai Kibaki in December, had to dial back his distaste for the offering. Once he realized that the sale would go ahead, it became obvious that standing in the way would be deeply unpopular among supporters who wanted to invest. "Mr. Odinga has always supported the privatization of Safaricom but has objected to secretive manner in which it was conducted," Odinga spokesman Salim Lone said. "He did not want his supporters not to buy something that other people in the country - poor people with 10,000 shillings to spare - were going to be buying...