Mr Davis Onsakia musings....

Mr Davis Onsakia: Oracle buying Sun Microsystems Limited!

Just check this article in the Economist: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13527430&fsrc=nwl&mode=comment&intent=postBottom. Oracle has made a bid of $7.4 billion to purchase Sun. What does this portend to your business? Remember recently Sun purchased MySQL - the leading open source RDBMS. Now Oracle is purchasing Sun and hence MySQL! And as you know Oracle leads in the database RDBMS. So the question is: is Oracle going to trash MySQL? Very likely since MySQL has been competing with the expensive Oracle. Then what are the implications of this? Many and varied and have far reaching consequences. I really feel bad from within me. I don't think this purchase proposal should be let to continue. It flies on the face of fair business practices: these guys will supply the server, the OS and the business software! I'm not against an integrated company but not this deal. Your comments though, are welcome.

The PWC released later last year a damning report about the goings at Nyaga Stockbrokers and the CMA has not released the report officially to the public. However, from what we have read from the media, there is strong evidence linking the CMA, NSE, Nyaga stockbrokers and two investment banks in the scam. What is worrying to a common mwananchi like me, is the fact that CMA as the regulator did not act as there was tell tale signs that Nyaga was in problems. Why? I humbly ask myself. Is this a case of a wolf taking care of a lonely sheep in the steep mountains of Mt. Elgon? Do what you want to the poor animal? Who wants to trade through the NSE not knowing whether the proceeds will be yours in the next 24 hours? You have invested a cool 1 million and you can get a maximum compensation of up to Ksh. 50,000.00. What unfairness can be meted on a poor individual with no recourse? What insensitivity can this be? People, I'm greatly disappointed with the NSE, CMA and CDSC altogether. If t...

Salesforce.com started the whole game. Dell even the tried (in vain) to patent the term cloud computing'. Where is your organization heading in terms of this industry buzzword: cloud computing? You can outsource, yes, but do you need to give control of your crucial data to the 'outside forces'? These are some of the hard questions CIOs and IT managers across organizations are pondering on. What is your take on cloud computing. Your comnents are most welcome.

The current business environment is worrying worldwide. The question on most business minded people is: how long is this going to last and after the storm, 'who' going to be left standing and 'who' is going to sink? AIG in the USA has been bailed out by the state at a cost of $ 85 billion! Who is going to bail out the worlds' businesses as most face imminent closure? What about Kenya ? What are the ripple effects of this global crisis? Safaricom, the most profitable company in East and Central Africa is not doing well at all at the NSE. Its share price has plummeted below the IPO price of Ksh. 5.00 per share. Retail investors (and I believe some fund managers) are scampering for safety as soon and as fast as they can. The reasoning being that it is better to make a 10% loss rather than wait and make 70% or more loss. Business people are a worried lot. Going south, the Africa economic powerhouse, South Africa is in turmoil. The president, Mr. Thabo M...

The much awaited Safaricom IPO is here at last: the going has been ridden with many challenges - legal as well as investor confidence. But I believe, the Minister for Finance, can at last heave a sigh of relief and say 'It is done man!' We all accept, including myself, that even now the IPO is not correctly timed; bearing in mind that Nyaga Stockbrokers are under statutory management - but when might have been the correct time to bring this to the market? An ideal time? I don't think that this exists in the investment world: every investment opportunity has its risks which an investor will have to bear before you sink you money into it. The question right now is: what is going to be the effect of this IPO on the capital markets in Kenya and the whole of the East African Community's economies? As with the Kengen IPO where some Kenyans emerged millionaires, I hope that also come 9th June (when the Safaricom shares start trading at the NSE) some Kenyans and East Africans ...

As most of you might be a ware, Kenya is coming from a scary last two months: lives have been lost and property has been destroyed. But as I requested in the previous post, prayers, I believe have saved Kenya from a catastrophe (or is it near a catastrophe?). Now, as we wait to see how the power sharing is being implemented, the question on most people's lips is: is Kenya any better to start doing business again now? What is the probability that the deal will be implemented to the letter and that all will agree that all is Ok? I wish that there's somebody out there who can provide candid answers to such pertinent questions: I know that these are some of the questions that are going on in the minds of investors both locally and internationally. The jittery among the investors is being reflected on the declining prices at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE). Local as well as international investors are quite wary of the way words have started flying around concerning the National Ac...