At the time of writing, traders’ screens around the world are turning a nasty shade of red. Stock markets are plummeting everywhere and there is much talk of developed economies slipping back into recession.

You would be forgiven for wondering if it might be a good time to retreat to a cave with a weapon and a crate of tinned food. But away from the trading floors, there is another story about the world economy – one that moves more slowly and involves fewer people panicking, and so gets less attention.

CampdenFB’s list, supported by Ernst & Young, of the fastest growing 50 family businesses, shows a sector flourishing. The top spot is occupied by Argentina’s IMPSA, a manufacturer of renewable energy technology, whose revenues increased 115% between 2008 and 2010. A Brazilian company takes second place followed by – amazingly, given the state of the UK economy – a British construction company, Willmott Dixon.

It’s a global story and in a troubled world, families are doing it for themselves. And it’s working pretty well. To rank the companies, CampdenFB looked at revenue growth in local currency during the three-year period from 2008 until the end of 2010. The methodology is given below.

Source: http://campdenfb.com/article/worlds-50-fastest-growing-family-businesses

Photo/GEOFFREY RONO Farmer Sammy Tanui at his poultry shed feeding his 300 layers and collecting eggs.

When he was dismissed as a driver with a book-publishing firm nine years ago, 49-year-old Sammy Tanui thought his life had come to an end.

To make matters worse, the sacking came hot on the heels of a three-month unpaid leave which he had asked for to attend to a domestic problem.

“After the initial shock, I collected myself and with the Sh200,000 that I had saved, I put a down payment for a Toyota pick-up and ventured into the dairy business,” says the father-of-three.

The business involved buying milk from farmers in Bomet and selling it to milk bars and hotels in Narok town and its environs.

The business, he says, paid well and enabled him to clear the outstanding balance for the vehicle, which he had bought on credit.

“To maximise profits, I opened a milk bar and restaurant called Carsam in Bomet town,” says the businessman, adding that his wife Caroline runs the venture.

The milk business lasted two years before his licence was cancelled by the Dairy Board of Kenya on claims that he had not paid cess amounting to Sh67,000.

Even though he won the subsequent court case, he did not go back to the business. “When one door closes, God opens another. Owing to links I had made when supplying milk to hotels, I ventured into the charcoal business,” says the born-again Christian, adding that the business earns him an average of Sh40,000 in profit a month, much more than he earned as a driver.

In 2008, he tried his hand at poultry farming, an avenue which he says now brings him good returns. “The 300 layers give me an average of 270 eggs a day, which translates to Sh2,000 daily or Sh75,000 a month,” says Mr Tanui.

Demand for eggs in the growing town and neighbouring urban centres has been overwhelming, prompting the trader to order for an additional 300 layers from Kenchic.

So what are the challenges?

“Poultry feeds are expensive and not within the reach of many farmers. For instance, a 70kg bag of layers’ marsh currently goes for Sh2,600, up from the previous price of Sh840,” says Mr Tanui.

The trader-cum-farmer has also taken advantage of greenhouse technology to grow tomatoes. He now has more than 1,200 plants in his facility.

He spent Sh150,000 to construct his greenhouse and buy seeds and now earns more than Sh40,000 a month from the sale of tomatoes. His ventures bring in almost Sh200,000 a month.

Mr Tanui asks officials from the ministries of Agriculture and Livestock Development to visit farmers in order to help them acquire skills to improve their income.

Bomet district agricultural officer Josphat Kioko praised the farmer for maximising production on his small piece of land and asked other farmers to follow his example and take advantage of new technology.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/money/Sacking+made+me+a+millionaire+/-/435440/1191424/-/6b9uioz/-/index.html

A job interview can be a stressful experience, but it is always easier if you’re prepared and know you have what it takes. File

Interviewing candidates for a role is an exhausting, tedious and sometimes comedic experience. My research has produced some of the top five most unusual experiences by Human Resource practitioners at interviews.

Number 5: the candidate announced she had not had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and chips in the interview room. Number 4: the candidate said her long-term goal was to replace the interviewer. Number 3: a balding candidate excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later wearing a toupee (small wig). Number 2: the candidate interrupted interview to phone her therapist for advice on how to answer specific interview questions. And the number 1 most unusual experience was when the candidate dozed off during the interview!

Watching the recently concluded process of identifying the successful candidates for the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice roles was both exhilarating and illuminating not only for curious Kenyans but also for future job seekers of public or private office. Exhilarating because for the first time in Kenya’s history, its entire citizenry was given a front row seat to observe the rigorous process of determining the suitability of candidates for the Judiciary’s highest offices. Illuminating because the interviewing exercise demonstrated the kind of experience, work history and tangible evidence of personal impact that candidates are expected to illustrate before they can be considered for high office.

But first let me begin by congratulating ALL the candidates who placed themselves in the cross hairs of the interviewing panel.  It takes an inordinate amount of maturity, strength of character and profound aplomb to sit in front of several panellists, numerous cameras and the innumerable hangers on in the background and be grilled about your past, present and undefined future. It also requires an almost herculean effort to zone out the fact that thousands of Kenyans are watching you as you reach out with limp and sweaty hands to sip a glass of water and slake your thirst as you compose your thoughts and cool off your body boiling over with the smouldering heat from an intense torpedo of questions. I salute you all.

Many of us would have caved in from far less scrutiny, collapsing into an ignominious heap of misery, tearing our clothes and retreating into our lairs to lick our festering wounds.

Truth be told, the interviews for the Chief Justice revealed a number of lessons for any one wishing to apply for a job whether in public or private office. Firstly, always be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. That the interview panel had before it previous judgments made by the candidates as well as snippets of public opinion and perception of the candidates’ behaviour, was evidence that your past will always come back to haunt you. Hence the lesson learnt is what you do today will always impact what you will be able to do tomorrow.

As you scream at your subordinates, fail to respond to work related requests or trample on genuine work grievances be afraid, be very afraid. Secondly, do not assume that years on the job are the determinant of job suitability. Many discerning interview panels today have come to the apt realisation that a number of professionals have been promoted to their level of incompetency and the role of that panel is to put a screeching halt to the unmerited runaway train of an upward career trajectory. You know the kind of professionals I am talking about who kowtow to the whimsical needs of the powers-that-be only to be rewarded with promotion after promotion based on their brilliant brown-nosing capabilities rather than professional achievements.

When there is a shifting of sands and change of guard at the top, such individuals will eventually meet their career Waterloo. They need to be afraid, be very afraid. Thirdly, always read the body language of the interview panellists. If your panellists are leaning forward or sitting upright in their seats as you are answering your questions then it is very likely that you have captured their attention and they are keenly listening to your responses.

If the panellists are incessantly shuffling papers before them, gazing at a fixed spot on the wall behind you or, God forbid, texting on their phones while your interview is going on then two words should come to mind: TRAIN SMASH. It’s over you have lost the panellists’ attention.

Time slot

You might as well start chatting about Manchester United’s 19th English Premier League title win and hope to get a raised eyebrow or some other sign that some one is listening to your inane dribbling. Chances are you might find a Chelsea fan amongst the panellists who will still be bristling at the thought of the title loss and he will fire back a barb, waking himself up in the process.

Finally, take note of which time slot you have been given for your interview. A morning interview is easier as the panellists are, or should be, freshly rested. If you get the slot after lunch, you had better have the effusive charm of Barack Obama, the wicked wit of Winston Churchill as well as the dual but interchangeable oratory and dancing skills of Dr Bonny Khalwale.

All those attributes combined will dazzle your panelists who, having eaten a lunch replete with slow release carbohydrates are typically wont to doze off as blood flow is redirected to the stomach to facilitate digestion, starving the brain in the process and resulting in the comatose look that often afflicts afternoon interviewers.

But then again, my research above has shown that as others have done, you as the candidate can doze off in the interview too. Seriously though, the Chief Justice interview process should cause us to pause and consider whether we really have what it takes to apply for a job or whether we have been belabouring under self inflated illusions of capability and grandeur. As we apply for jobs perhaps we need to be afraid, very afraid.

Carol.musyoka@gmail.com Twitter:@carolmusyoka

Source: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion+++Analysis/-/539548/1167370/-/a0l452/-/index.html

Kenyan Restuarant

Emily Nyindodo started catering Kenyan cuisine as a mere side gig years ago.

The popularity of her dishes such as African peanut soup and sukuma wiki (collared greens sauteed with tomatoes and onions and served with a cornmeal mash called ugali) had people suggesting she should have a restaurant. So in 2008 she opened Alando’s Kitchen in the the Quakertown Farmers Market.

The authentic dishes of Nyindodo’s heritage became her full-time job after she was laid off from IBM in 2009.

Nyindodo took her severance pay and cranked up her entrepreneurship a bit by opening Alando restaurant in the rear of the Wired Cafe at 520 Main St., Bethlehem.

Nyindodo, a Bethlehem resident, subleased the cafe’s space because she’s been eager to get a spot in Bethlehem’s restaurant-rich downtown.

”Who wouldn’t want to be on Main Street?” Nyindodo said. ”This is a good space.”

Alando is the name of Nyindodo’s grandmother, the person who inspired some of the restaurant’s recipes, which include lentil coconut soup, chicken masala wrap served with bajia, tilapia stew and ugali.

Nyindodo added that she eventually will move everything from Quakertown to Bethlehem.

Alando’s website: http://www.alandoskitchen.com

Now, let’s change gears a bit.

A new 24-hour child-care place has opened in Allentown.

The business is the brainchild of Fabian and Matilda Moriah, who were seeking a place for their son, Marshall, a year ago.

The couple said they wanted a place where the day care would work around their schedules as insurance agents, but they turned up a slim number of options.

Fed up, they decided to do it themselves by moving into a house on Allentown’s Fourth Street estates section, the strip lined with big houses that have old-fashioned appointments such as finely carved wood trim and jewel-studded stained-glass windows.

The Moriahs turned the lower level of their house at 136 N. 4th St. into Marshall & Friends Daycare LLC.

They said their goal is to mirror the child’s behavior at home, which includes setting the same nap time and watching the same cartoons and singing the same songs the child would at home.

Fabian Marshall has kept his job, but his wife is heading up the day care with the help of certified staff. The business takes care of children from infants to 12 years old. The hours are 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., but they offer the option of overnight care if necessary.

A website is not up yet, but the phone number is 484-350-3989

http://articles.mcall.com/2010-05-16/business/all-a27_mc-lehighvalley-retailwatch0516.7269798may_1_bethlehem-day-care-restaurant

By TOM ODULA (AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya — Daniel Oyier has been eating only once a day since an ash-belching volcano more than 5,000 miles away caused him to be laid off from his $4-a-day job packing red roses and white lilies for export to Paris and Amsterdam.

Some 5,000 day laborers in Kenya who have been without work since the ash cloud from Iceland shut down air traffic across Europe, showing how one event can have drastic consequences in distant lands in today’s global economy.

“If this goes on for a week it will be really bad for us,” said Oyier, 23, who sat against a fence most of Monday near Nairobi’s international airport, hoping his employer would call him in. “I don’t know how I will make rent.”

Kenya has thrown away 10 million flowers — mostly roses — since the volcano eruption. Asparagus, broccoli and green beans meant for European dinner tables are being fed to Kenyan cattle because storage facilities are filled to capacity.

The horticulture industry is Kenya’s top foreign exchange earner, making $922 million last year. Kenya exports 1,000 tons a day of produce and flowers — including roses, carnations and lilies, said Philip Mbithi, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya.

Mbithi warned of a cascading series of losses if the travel ban lasts much longer. Small-scale farmers who fund their operations through bank loans will begin defaulting on payments and won’t be able to get funding for next season if exports don’t resume, he said.

Some businesses in Europe will be increasingly affected by a lack of imports, but as long as the disruption is not too lengthy it shouldn’t be a major issue, according to analysis firm IHS Global Insight.

“The main problem concerns goods that are perishable. Imports of items such as exotic fruit and flowers are being affected and this could lead to a marked spike in prices for these goods,” IHS Global Insight said.

Mbithi said at least 10 million flowers have been thrown away because the local market could not absorb them. Kenyans mostly buy flowers during Valentine’s Day, Mbithi said. Even if farmers attempted to sell them domestically at throw-away prices many Kenyans would not buy them.

Farmers have been forced to find alternative routes to get their products to market — even at a loss. They flew 1,000 metric tons of flowers to Spain on Monday, from where it would be transported by road to Paris and Amsterdam.

“This cuts 60 percent off our profit margin. But it is better than nothing,” Mbithi said. “We have clients to keep and consumers to feed.”

Other flower-growing regions have seen sales fall because of the eruption.

“This has affected us 100 percent,” said Willem Verhoogt, managing director of Bergflora, a flower- exporting agency based in Cape Town, South Africa’s airport. “We haven’t been exporting for four days.”

Israeli flower growers suffered two days of disrupted deliveries, but most flowers were preserved in coolers, said Shira Kuperman, a spokeswoman for Agrexco, Israel’s biggest agricultural exporter. Deliveries were set to resume later Monday, to either Madrid or Athens, where trucks would take them to other points in Europe, she said.

Verhoogt said that the company was supposed to export 11,000 pounds (5,000 kilograms) of fresh cut flowers mainly to Europe, and to the U.S. via flights through Europe.

“All together, it could be between 10 to 15 tons that won’t go in the end,” he said. “We’ve advised farmers to not pick flowers anymore.”

Associated Press Writers Carley Petesch in Johannesburg and Karoun Demirjian in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

South Africa’s Media 24 has ended its presence in Kenya’s competitive publishing industry following its closure of East Africa Magazines — the publisher of True Love, Drum and Move.

“We are in the process of closing down the business. We have informed the staff about it. This means that the April editions of True Love, Drum and Move magazines will be the last to sell in Kenya” general manager Kobus Louwrens said on Monday.

The move, which comes barley months after the South African firm took full control of the publisher that it co-owned with Nation Media Group (NMG)—East Africa’s largest media house, has left 45 workers jobless, including 10 journalists.

Media24 previously held a 49 per cent stake in EAM, leaving NMG with a controlling 51 per cent, in a partnership founded in Nairobi in 2005 to publish the East African editions of True Love and Drum magazines.

But Kenya’s soft economy—that has depressed advertising and circulation revenues—coupled with the country’s low appetite for magazines has made it difficult for high-cost publishers to return a profit.

At the point of take-over in November, Mr Louwrens, said the move was targeted at establishing a strong presence in East Africa.

“We see a long term future for our investments in East Africa” said Mr Louwrens when he commented on the take-over that came just a fortnight after the publisher discontinued the publication of two titles— Adam, a men’s magazine and a travel and tour magazine, Twende, citing high cost of production and sluggish revenues

Mr Louwrens said South African media firm Naspers group, the owners of Media 24, pulled the plug on the East Africa Magazines division because of little return on investments.

“Naspers Group, through Media 24 has injected a significant amount of money for the running of the magazine titles under East African Magazines, but the returns were low and our projections were not favourable enough to warrant further injection of funds” he said.

This came as the Naspers, which is listed at Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), noted that its publishing division was facing challenges in the wake of the global economic meltdown.

“The operations in South Africa showed no top line growth due to weak advertising revenues, whilst operating profits before amortisation and other gains/losses were down 27 per cent,” said Nasper in a note to JSE in November 26 while announcing it half results.

Media 24’s takeover of EAM was viewed as largely driven by a development in which Jetsam—one of South Africa’s major distribution companies with roots in Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia, took over the distribution of magazines published or imported by EAM.

Jetsam took over the EAM magazines distribution business from the Nation Media Group in what analysts say was the first signs that South Africa wanted a full control of the business.

The move to close East African Magazines adds to a lengthy roll of South African firms that have found it difficult to navigate the local business terrain, especially those that have preferred to ship in managers from South Africa to steer their local shops.

They include Supreme furniture, retail chain Cash and Carry and beverage giant SAB Miller.

-Business Daily Africa