See you in Nairobi?

Next week I am going to spend a few days in Nairobi, Kenya, where I will be attending East Africa Com, the region's telco sector conference and exhibition organised by Informa Telecoms & Media. The event takes place April 1-2 at the Safari Park Hotel, with highlight including presentations from:

• Raed Haddidin, Commercial Director, East Africa Region, Zain Group
• Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom, Kenya
• Peter Reinartz, Deputy-CEO, Orange/Telkom Kenya
• Mohammed Bouhelal, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Canar Telecom, Sudan
• Noel Herrity, Director General, Zantel, Tanzania
• Shiletsi Makhofane, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Africa Online
• Deng Malok, Managing Director, Bilpam Telecommunications, Sudan
• Charles J.K. Njoroge, Director-General, Communications Commission of Kenya
• Joe Kimani, CEO, Flashcom, Kenya

Anyone based in East Africa or wanting to do business there will find this event a useful place to put faces to names, do some networking and get a sense of what's happening in the region. If you do plan to be there and have not already booked accommodation, you will find that the conference venue itself is fully booked. The Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club seems to be nearby and of a comparable standard. Anyone who ends up there is welcome to look me up for a chat over breakfast and to share a taxi to East Africa Com conference. Anyone who reads this, plans to be in Nairobi next week and wishes to compare notes on the telecoms sector in emerging markets can drop me a line at developingtelecoms@yahoo.com. While I will have a full schedule of meetings related to my day job, I do plan to write about the conference sessions and any announcements made at the event. I'll try to make it look pretty by adding some photos. Watch this space...

See you in Nairobi?