January 31, 2007

Deal Shows Growing EA Market Worth 110 Million Citizens

By Allan Brian Ssenyonga, The New Times (Kigali)

You can't beat the prospect of a market worth 110 million citizens. Not when you are a real businessperson with profits on your mind. I am talking about the East African Community (EAC) which late last year expanded to include Rwanda and Burundi. Sometime in October I wrote in these pages that the business community should lead the way in making us one people - East Africans.

At that time Celtel International, the leading pan-African mobile telecommunications group, had just pulled off a first by launching a borderless common network for Celtel customers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, effectively phasing out the regional roaming service.

In that October article I suggested that other businesses should follow Celtel's example and make their operations regional to cover the whole region. This mainly benefits the business people in terms of increased profits from a wider market but also help the people feel more a part of a bigger thing - The EAC.

It is therefore pleasing when The Aga Khan 'followed' my advice! The Serena Group of Hotels, which is owned by the Aga Khan under his Tourism Promotion services, itself is an arm of Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), will effective February 1 manage Rwanda's Intercontinental and Kivu Sun Hotels under a 30-year lease agreement with the Rwandan government.

Following the take over, the two hotels will be renamed Serena and expanded as well. The addition of the Rwandan hotels caps Serena's expansion programme that included the acquisition of Uganda's Nile Hotel (now called Kampala Serena Hotel). The entry of Serena group of Hotels into Rwanda coincides with Rwanda's recent admission to the EAC. Now the group has a total of 19 properties in Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Mozambique and now Rwanda.

The East African region has a vast tourism potential that needs to be oiled by state-of-the-art hotels. Serena group has a known record of establishing magnificent hospitality structures wherever it has expanded to and Rwanda should also brace itself for the Aga Khan touch as far as hotels are concerned.

The most significant aspect to note though is that Serena has 'East Africanised' its business. With the tourism aspect in consideration, a tourist wishing to visit various places in East Africa may simply choose to stay at the various Serena hotels in the region. A one Smith may come from England and stay at Serena in Nairobi as he visits the famous game parks in Kenya, the following week, he moves to Kampala Serena as he checks out the sacred Bujagali falls in Jinja. And before he leaves, he spends a few nights at Serena Hotel in Kigali after visiting the Mountain Gorillas in Ruhengeri. A truly East African trip and hospitality he would have had.

This is surely the way to go; regionalising business to increase profits on the side of the investors while extending services to more East Africans. The different governments should indeed attract investors who are already established in some East African Countries to invest in the rest of the regions' nations. Business groups like Mukwano, Sulfo, BIDCO, Madhivani, etc. The long awaited customs union should be long over due.

The immigration guys need to start working on the regions' passport and easing of movement between common borders. The common currency will also surely go a long way in easing trade in the region. And by the way, for business people, Kiswahili seems a must because it is used as a commercial language in those countries where it is not so widely spoken such as Rwanda and Burundi (even D. R. Congo).

At least for now, one can take a bus ride from Kigali and move all the way up to Dar es Salaam through Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. That, by any standard fits an East African Safari. All this is possible because the guys in the bus industry long saw the benefits of tapping into the regional market. There are several bus companies that work across borders with flexible modes of payment and operation. These have for ages helped Africans to be one by transporting them from one East African country to another.

Of course this does not forget some media houses like Nation Media Group who are already publishing The East African and the East African Business Week newspapers whose content is sourced from all countries in the region. There is also East African Radio and Television that broadcast in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. So slowly but surely, the business community is gently ushering us into the much hyped EAC and later, East African Federation. The Aga Khan, in particular, deserves commendation for his earnest contribution to this whole EAC project.