88mph announces partnership with investors to find and fund Africa’s best start-ups

Africa’s leading seed fund and accelerator 88mph today announced partnership with successful entrepreneurs turned investors to find and fund Africa’s best startups.

“We are excited to announce that we are testing something new in Cape Town this year.” said Sylvia Brune of 88mph, “The biggest change is that we have invited some great entrepreneurs turned investors to co-invest with us in the startups. We have also traded out the 3-months accelerator,” she continued “for a 1-week sprint where 88mph and the entrepreneur-investors, will evaluate and advise startups. The startups who make it through can receive investment offers up to $250k by the end of the week.”
88mph has teamed up with some of Cape Town’s best entrepreneur-investors for one week of vetting and investing in great startups. The investors invited to join, are all people who have previously started and grown at least one business successfully. The group includes L5 Lab and 440.ng founder Chika Nwobi, Daniel Guasco & Wayne Gosling, formerly of Groupon SA, Neil Emerick of Nightsbridge, and Kresten Buch of 88mph, with more to be announced soon.
DealWeek is an intense program for 88mph and the entrepreneur-investors to spend 1 week with a selected group of startups prior to investing. They will focus on advising the startups around their businesses and finding out which startups are interesting investment opportunities. Some of the startups will receive an investment offer, and will need to agree on focus areas and direction for their businesses, draft term sheets, complete a basic due diligence, and set up procedures for future progress updates.
“We have seen that startups do best when they have investors who are experienced entrepreneurs, and can share advice from their own experiences” says Chika Nwobi, Founder of L5Lab, “however, these types of investors don’t always have time to look at more than a couple startups a year, and the follow-up procedure post-investment can be daunting for many. Bringing investors together like this, is a great way to bring more of these types to the table, and also for the startup investment environment in Africa, which is otherwise quite fragmented.”
By taking care of gathering, filtering, and shortlisting startups, 88mph offers the entrepreneur-investors access to deal flow. In addition 88mph helps structure the funding process of DD, projections, and legal work involved. This allows the entrepreneur-investors to compress time and limit the cost spent evaluating and acting on investment opportunities, which ultimately is beneficial to both startups and investors. It also allows startups more freedom and time, post-investment, to independently pursue an agreed direction, reaching out to investors how and when they see fit.
“While some of the startups may be in the earliest stages, we believe this model is especially well-suited to startups that already have a team of employees, paying customers, and daily operations that are difficult to put on hold for a full 3 months,” says Kresten Buch, “We have seen in the past, that many of the best startups need individual approaches to advice and funding that the accelerator model doesn’t always cater to, and they are also very good at reaching out when they need help,” concluded Buch.
Experiences with investing in startups across Africa has led to 88mph testing this new model, which they hope will be a way to fund startups more efficiently, attract better startups at all stages, and enabling more successful entrepreneurs to invest in startups.

Is KQ Facing Financial Woes?

World leading aircraft manufactures Boeing has now refused to handover a 787 Dreamliner plane to the KQ team which went to collect the plane saying that The Kenya's national airline has no financial capacity to sustain its appetite for fleet expansion. The news was delivered to KQ by its staff who went to collect the plane from Boeing’s Charleston facility. Andrew Mudachi, through a circular had this to the KQ fraternity.

Hello Everyone,
On Thursday 25th June, we completed our inspections of 5Y-KZH and Boeing completed their rework based on our findings. Thereafter we signed the technical acceptance for the aircraft. KCAA also completed their inspections and were ready to submit the recommendations for issue of Cert. of Registration and Cert. of Airworthiness. Unfortunately we could not overcome the challenges on the financing side so we did not take Delivery of the aircraft and the registration activities are on hold.
Today the delivery team will depart Charleston for Nairobi on commercial flights. They should be in Nairobi early on Friday morning. Once we have sorted out the issues with the financing, we will need to have the team fly back to Charleston to complete delivery, carry out the post delivery activities then fly the aircraft home. We will keep you posted about when that will happen as we will, as always, need your assistance in doing all that needs to be done to bring our aircraft home.
Thank you all for the effort you have put in thus far and a special thank you to the delivery team for their continued work and patience under uncertain timelines. I appreciate everything that you’ve done.
All the best and kind regards
Andrew Mudachi
Head of Fleet Development

The pride of Africa's mess is deeply engrained that senior management are just now sitting waiting for the airline to completely die off.

Public Libraries

The city of Nairobi has public libraries situated in the central business district, as well as in some of the outskirts, as indicated below. Most of these facilities are operated by various state organs, sadly with minimal budgetary support. As a result, they struggle to keep their inventory of books current. However, they have some of the best collections of Africana books, and old local newspaper copies dating to the beginning of the last century, providing an invaluable resource for researchers.Are you then a staunch reader? consider visiting the following libraries when you are within Kenya's capital 

East African Herbarium Library
This library is situated at the Nairobi National Museum. It has been engaged in the development and Management of botanical collections since 1982 when it was moved from the East African Community in Arusha, Tanzania.
Services: These include reading facilities, lending of books and journals, access to a large stock of flora from various continents, and other reference resources.

Opening Hours:
Mondays to Fridays, 8:00am to 5:00pm
Contact:
Tel: 254 20 4448930/3, 254 20 3742131/4

Jomo Kenyatta Memorial Library, University of Nairobi

This Library is situated at the University of Nairobi main campus, off University Way. It was built in the 1980s following a rapid growth of its predecessor, the Gandhi Memorial Library that eventually led to the need for a bigger facility.
Services: These include reading facilities, lending of books, Internet and bureau services (photocopy & internet access), binding services, university theses, periodicals and newspapers.
Charges:
Reading only – daily membership Ksh 100, monthly membership Ksh 500.
External borrowers – Ksh 500 plus a refundable deposit of Ksh 3000.
Opening Hours:

On session	Monday to Friday 8 am – 10 pm
	Saturday 8 am to 5.00 pm
On vacation	Monday to Friday 8 am – 5 pm
	Saturday 8 am to noon
Closed on Sundays and public holidays

Contact:


Kenya National Archives

The Kenya National Archives is situated in the city centre on Moi Avenue opposite the Hilton Hotel. Although this facility was established in 1956, it moved to its current address in the 1970s, and now houses a library and an art gallary. In the 1980s, the government acquired the late Joseph Murumbis large collection of rare African books, which is now available for review in the library. Public records and documents are also available for review, subject to the 30 year rule for government documents to be made public, and your ability to master the complex cataloging system at the Archives.
Services: These include reading facilities, lending of books, rare african books, and access to public documents and records.
Charges:
Annual membership Ksh 200
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday 8.30 am to 4.30 pm
Saturdays 8.30 am to 1.00 pm
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays
Contact :
Tel:  +254(0)20 2228959
Mobile: +254(0)722 599212

Kenya National Library Service (KNLS) Nairobi Public Library

This Library is situated in the Community area of Upper Hill opposite the NHIF Building. It first opened its doors to the public in 1974. Its location is the headquarters of the KNLS Board, a state corporation established by the Government of Kenya to promote a reading culture through library and information services.
Services: These include reading facilities, lending of books, Internet and bureau services (photocopy & internet access), access to Kenyan Daily newspapers, videos and public talks on HIV/AIDS information, Braille library services for the visually impaired, and a mobile library that takes services to the outskirts of the city.
Charges:
Registration fee for citizens Ksh 300
Annual fee Ksh 100
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday 8.00 am to 6.30pm
Saturday: 8.30 am to 5.00 pm
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays
Contact:
Tel: 020 2158360, 020 272550 ext 222


KNLS Buruburu Public Library

This Library is situated in Buruburu Phase 2 along Mumias South Road. It is a branch of the main KNLS library in Community area of Nairobi.
Services: These include reading facilities, lending of books, Internet and bureau services (photocopy & internet access), access to Kenyan Daily newspapers, videos and public talks on HIV/AIDS information, and Braille library services for the visually impaired.
Charges:
Registration fee Ksh 300
Annual fee Ksh 100
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday 8.00 am to 6.30pm
Saturday 8.30 am to 5.00 pm
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays


McMillan Memorial Library

This Library is situated in the city centre on Banda Street next to Jamia Mosque. It was established in 1931 in memory of lord William Macmillan by his widow. Lord MacMillan was an American big game hunter in Kenya who owned Oldonyo Sabuk and the areas surrounding this mountain during the colonial era. The library was initially reserved for use by the European community only, until it was taken over by the Nairobi City Council in 1962 and is now the headquarters of the Nairobi City Library Services.
Services: These include reading facilities, lending of books, Africana section with some rare books, periodicals section with newspapers and journals dating as far back as 1906.
Charges:
Annual subscription adults Ksh100, children Ksh50
Researchers Ksh200 a week
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday 8.00 am to 6.00pm
Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
Contact :
Social Services & Housing Department, Nairobi City Council
Telephone: (254) 020 721 2651

Rahimtulla Trust Library, Library Information Support Services (LISS)

This Library is situated in the city center on Mfangano Street near the central bus station. It was established in 1953 by Rahimtulla Trust, an Ismailia  organization that set out to acquire books that would be representative of all subjects, and to allow readership of all walks of life regardless of creed, colour or religion.
Services: These include reading facilities, lending of books, and a periodicals section
Charges:
Subscription daily Ksh 30, weekly Ksh 150, monthly Ksh 500, Annually Ksh 4000
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday 8.00 am to 6.00pm
Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
Contact :
Tel +254(0)20 2312822

WHY PROF.LESAN IS A ONE TERM SENATOR.
Prof.Wilfred Lesan ails from Chebang'ang in Konoin sub-county, a former lecturer at Egerton University and currently Bomet County's Senator. The story of how he landed on the hotly contested seat remains a mystery to many but its a story of another day.
Lesan is a reserved introvert with no political expertise, it is believed that its the URP wave from Bomet county that got him there, after winning in the party primaries, outshining the likes of Kiprono Kitur, the voters came with the 6-Piece design of voting giving him an upper hand against Nick Salat (Pumpit) the KANU sec.Gen..
What followed was an era of court battles with KANU'S Nick Salat who alleged that the main election had been rigged in favour of Prof.Lesan.
Lesan's political future is faced by a lot of uncertainties including the fall out with the sitting governor Isaac Kiprono Rutto, who was instrumental in Lesan's win. Lesan apparently parted ways with Rutto after the call by the senators for the grilling and accountability of governors all over the country. Isaac rutto was in the most wanted list to appear before Parliament for questioning. From that period, Nick salat who is politically idle at the moment would be seen in the company of rutto in various events in the county.
Lesan too doesn't have clear policies for the county and this could be seen during the last campaign period where he wasn't certain about his roles as a senate aspirant. The soft spoken senator has a lot to deal with including patching up broken political ties in preparation for the next election. He must, however, be preparing an exit plan.