East Africa: Serena Deal Shows Growing Spirit of EA Business
The New Times (Kigali)
OPINION
January 30, 2007
Posted to the web January 31, 2007
http://allafrica.com/stories/200701310018.html
Allan Brian Ssenyonga
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.
Ismailimail 