STORIES FROM MY HEART

Tuesday evening I had a perfect chance to take some lessons from my salsa class to the dance floor. It wasn't the plan for the evening, but a friend from El Salvador was in town and a couple of us joined him for dinner at the Italian restaurant at the Intercontinental. Now that's a place I had almost sworn never to return :-). I ranted about it here But Tuesday's experience was one of those that made me re think the other experience, which I was totally vexed about. The security detail was on point, and with so much going on in Nairobi this week, the hotel was a flurry of events, but the staff were impressive this time round. From the security at the entrance, to the guys up front at the Lobby, and the waiters in La Prugna were up to scratch. I had lasagna, it was well done, (though C.S makes a better one -( I may be biased though!:-)And we also had to settle for South African Rose as the Chile one we ordered wasn't available. After dinner we got into the Safari bar..a...

Harambee Stars is close to my heart. Very Close. If you have kept up with this blog you know by know that I am (originally) a country girl, who grew up on the farm, with cows, chickens, goats and transistor radio. We also went to the local Kitale stadium every once in a while with my cousins Mike, Ian and Carol to watch football. Many times AFC leopards and Gor Mahia rocked, but when Harambee Stars came to Kitale, we would have to arrive at the stadium hours earlier, to get good seats at the front of the stadium. These are memories that get me nostalgic every time the National team plays. But that was then. In recent years though, the few times I have made my way to Kasarani Staduim and Nyayo stadium to watch them play against other countries, always leaves me with anxiety. I remember the days of Ghost Mulee, when I had this tugging at my heart that the team would go places. I am a dreamer, I believe so much in people, to a fault. Whenever the stars play I get these goose bumps. Normal...

I remember my very first interview with Michael Joseph in June 2007 at the Laico Regency, Safaricom was then announcing it's full year as well as talking on the possibility of an IPO, which was of course not being run by Vodaphone but by the Government of Kenya. I was jittery as I had just joined CNBC Africa and began by doing some pretty high profile interviews with people I was only used to watching on TV. He was my 4th Interviewee after Richard Branson, Central Bank Governor Njuguna Ndung'u and the then Finance Minister Amos Kimunya. But still I had butterflies, the Interview though went well, and he declined to comment much on the IPO. Since then I have interviewed him a couple more times, and his passion about Safaricom is unquestionable. During my different interactions with Safaricoms and news around it, Michael strikes me as one of those types that had it mapped out right from day one, strategy wise, but kept going back to it and altered it as the market grew. He and h...