It is an insurmountable task making
this sojourn viable. So it is still a
work in progress and hopefully
progress shall be realized sooner
rather than later.
How is the postal business
presently? Is it profitable or are you
running up deficits?
We are a commercial entity making
profits and being sustained by our
own generated revenues. However we
are running a declining mail business
which has been contributing to more
than 70 percent of our revenues and
at the same time financing our capital
investments from our revenues.
The reason for losses over the last two
years has been due to automating all
our systems which we have financed
from our own revenues without
borrowing and we have been rolling
out the ERP across the country.
This is because if we are going to be
effective in the e-commerce space we
have to be technologically at par with
the rest of the world.
So a customer in say Wajir in
Northern Kenya must be able to
give a supplier in Lamu at the coast
a payment on delivery which reflects
instantly and a tracking system that
enables one to know where a product
is at any moment in time.
Likewise when a product is sent from
China it should be able to be tracked
and a notification sent the moments
it is delivered. So we have invested
heavily in technology which has
affected our bottom line. We however
are coming to end of this process by
the end of this year and expect to go
back to profitability thereafter.
What sort of average turnovers have
you been doing over the last five years?
We generate in the range of 3.6
Billion per year and looking forward
anticipate that the new products
‘‘ The post office in
Kenya is over 100
years old and the
first post office was
in Lamu, which was
an introduction to
this country by the
British. In Nairobi,
the acacia tree at The
Stanley Hotel was the
first post office. This
is where the initial
settlers into Kenya
used to leave and pick
up messages from.’’
such as the M-Post, agency banking
involving all banks, e-commerce and
the courier business which is doing
well, should propel us back into
profitability from next year.
Tell us more about your courier
business.
Our courier wing, EMS, which
stands for Expedited Mail Service,
is an international company that
operates like any other courier
business such as FedEx, DHL, TNT
Express and others. It falls under
the Universal Postal Union and all
countries that are members of the
postal union have the service. It is
one of our fastest growing wings.
We have also just introduced clearing
and forwarding of cargo which is
a growth area. This division does
most of the government’s clearing
and forwarding business as we are a
wholly owned government entity.
Tell us more about the postal
service in Kenya, how old is it, how
many outlets do you have?
The post office in Kenya is over 100
years old and the first post office was
in Lamu, which was an introduction to
this country by the British. In Nairobi,
the acacia tree at The Stanley Hotel
was the first post office. This is where
the initial settlers into Kenya used to
leave and pick up messages from.
Other post offices grew with the
railway and the settlements coming
up across the country. The post office
is a fully commercial entity which
does not depend on government for
subsidies or bail outs.
There are 653 outlets and about
450,000 post box subscribers. This
should increase because the UN
recommended ratio is that every
post office should serve about 6,000
people. So we are now focusing
on opening post offices within
universities and other similar
institutions to serve students, the
lecturers and other staff.
Another innovation we are
introducing is a product called
Travel Lite which enables students
to leave their luggage at the post
office in their institution and collect
it from their post office at home at
their own time.
We are taking the service closer to the
people because the towns have spread
and people are now living further and
further away from the city centre.
All distances within towns
across Kenya and the world are
measured from the General Post
Office to the main post office in
the destination town or city. This
is symbolized by the Galton -
Fenzi Memorial Monument
on Kenyatta Avenue which
indicates distances