My blog posts and external op-eds/articles on business-related topics
Why terms like “impact business” or “social entrepreneurship” are outdated Henry T. Ford once said “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business”. The attitude behind his statement remains emblematic for some of the most successful businesses in history. Businesses that change the world, have invariably been driven by visions greater than…
The CEO of Africa Innovation Network, Flemming Sørensen, reached out recently, asking if I could do a video appearance at a seminar, telling the story of HotelOnline. Sure, I love telling about how Endre and I built our now pretty successful traveltech company. So how to make a video? I neither had the time, nor…
On January 17th, 2019, we kicked off the inaugural event for Kaleidoscope Africa, at Nailab in Nairobi with a catchy topic: Launch to Scale: How Successful Startups Scale into Global Enterprises. Only two days after the horrendous terror attack on Dusit D2 here in Nairobi, we had to make some tough decisions: People were still…
In October 2017, we were looking to raise money to accelerate HotelOnline’s expansion. With the HotelOnline/Savanna Sunrise merger completed earlier in the year, we had become a dominant traveltech player in Africa, and we had successfully built a string foothold in Nigeria. We realised that completing a Series A round would be a complex and…
JKIA in an advantageous position When Kenya (or the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, to be precise) finally gained the coveted Category One status in February, it was a game-changer. With Kenya Airways recently obtaining air traffic rights in the US, things seem on track for KQ to launch direct US flights by March 2018. Kenya…
Lunatic Express – The Railway that Built a Country Kenya is doubtlessly the only country in history to have been built around a railway line. When construction on the “Lunatic Express” (its official name being the Uganda Railway) began in 1896, the project was considered a “gigantic folly” and a terrible drain on tax money….
It all started with Uber.. When Uber launched in Nairobi, in January 2015, few imagined the impact they would have on how people move around. Taking a taxi in Nairobi used to be a dreadful experience, with smelly, old ramshackles being the norm. Drivers, at times as smelly as their cars, would more often than…
Kenya – Africa’s infrastructure powerhouse Kenya’s ongoing infrastructure boom started with former President Mwai Kibaki. Grand projects like Thika Road, and the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Bypasses in Nairobi, ushered in a national sense of yes-we-can. This has become part of the contemporary Kenyan mindset. Kibaki also rehabilitated national roads, like Nairobi-Mombasa, Nairobi-Nakuru, Emali-Oloitoktok, etc. In less than a…
The resilience of Kenya’s economy surprises even the harshest pessimists On September 17th and 18th 2013, IMF held A conference in Nairobi in praise of the economic environment in Kenya. Throughout the country, a tangible optimism was spreading that a long period of robust economic growth was in the offings. Five days later, gunshots and…
New Kwacha – same look – three zeros less Being back in Lusaka after almost 10 months felt really good. After all the travelling there last year, it is a country that I had really come to like. My usual hotel, Taj Pamodzi, was also still the same, with nice food, outstanding service, and that…
