The decade 2002-2012 will be one characterized by mobile phones and the innovation that prepaid subscriber based models in African markets have championed and in fact demanded. Safaricom is now a formidable billion dollar firm in the Kenyan market built solely on the margins generated from renting out world-class communication infrastructure to an urban populace that demands efficient communication.
Safaricom continue to enable urban Kenya communicate efficiently hence its billion dollar market valuation
The story of Safaricom has been replicated across Africa. Mobile Phone Operators (MNO’s) in Africa are behemoth organizations and a huge chunk of their economies are dependant on these companies. Safaricom is ‘ No. 1 Taxpayer. Even the Government needs it!
I dare say that the wealth generated in Kenya in the decade 2002-2012 is because of Safaricom. The efficient communication that it brought, in no way discounting what other companies have done, is what has led to a drop in cost of communication for business and a rise in efficiency and profits.
The billion dollar businesses in Africa are those geared at making urban Africa more efficient. Think infrastructure and mass transit is the next frontier. We need to move 2 million commuters to and fro work with ease to achieve the multiplication of wealth that Safaricom has brought in communication. Where is the Vodafone equivalent in Transport? Mass transit in Nairobi is the next Safaricom.
Imagine a system that can bring commuter from the environs of Nairobi to the city center with ease. At this point of the article it is prudent to recall that underground trains are a big no. Our electronic grid is weak and inefficient incidentally this is yet another billion dollar business in need of world-class technology to achieve Safaricom like brilliance. A commuter bus system is needed. One that can take the commuters in huge numbers to and from work in a rolling stop system. This means that buses would be prohibited from stopping and waiting for passengers but would be required to drive around their respective routes picking and dropping passengers along the way.
An innovation in route allocation and design is well past due. We need routes that connect Rongai and Donholm through the city center. Hirlingham and Ruaka through the city center. The chaos that is Nairobi commuter transport is occasioned due to segmentation of routes without regards to how urban Nairobi lives and works. Only a single company can organize this. Private operators will never achieve system wide innovation due to their weak capital bases and short-term outlooks.The investors in Safaricom have a 50 year outlook at least. Not so for your average matatu owner. The duplicity of such a business is a feature that deserves attention. You can have these commuter transit systems in most cities in Africa which by the way share the chaos that Nairobi exhibits in urban commuter transit.
The question is who has the billions to do this. Nairobi metropolitan is without teeth and money. The Nairobi City Council is also clueless and headed by politicians with a permanent five-year outlook. What to do, what to do?
