Lower rates & possibly the greatest catch in human history
When you think about it in the literal sense, each day is a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity.
When you don’t, then those opportunities get spread out over time. Yesterday, the world had such an opportunity as one man’s dream showed us that ‘impossible’ doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone.
In this edition:
Learn what a benchmark rate cut means for you
Humanity is one successful flight closer to Mars
Meet your life’s longest competitor
RUNDOWN
Kenya’s central bank cuts benchmark interest rate
The story
Central Bank Lowers Interest Rate to 12% [Read]
What happened?
In its sitting last week, the CBK’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) lowered Kenya’s benchmark rate by 75bps (0.75%) from 12.75% to 12.00%. Download the full statement here.
So what?
The rate cut was slightly higher than expected mainly due to:
inflation at reaching a 12 year low of 3.6% and expected to remain below or around 5% in the near term;
stable exchange rate & lower fuel inflation;
sharp slow down in credit to the private sector.
The MPC will meet again in December 2024.
Why should you care?
A benchmark rate, such as Kenya’s CBR, is a publicly available interest rate that is used as a basis for financial transactions and contracts.
As much as such cuts typically take some time to be transmitted to the real economy, the following are areas to pay attention to:
Loans & debt - floating interest loans should adjust downwards giving borrowers some reprieve;
Interest bearing investment products - Yields on such products such as MMF’s or bonds should drop slightly;
Exchange rate - lower rates usually make a currency less attractive to foreigners therefore some weakening of the KES wouldn’t be a surprise;
Stock market - lower rates encourage risk and make stocks more attractive to investors so the NSE may benefit.
SPOTLIGHT
A fair mix of high expectations
Here’s what I picked from the news in the week in investing, tech & investing in tech that’s worth knowing:
Kenya’s CBK governor optimistic about more concessional funding from the IMF as he attributed the increase in forex reserves to CBK activity
Ethiopia’s government plans to sell a 10% stake in state-owned Ethio Telecom to make it the first listing on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange
The ‘godfather of AI’ won a Nobel Prize and continued to warn about the technology he helped invent
A report on African startup reporting indicates that 72% of investors have intensified portfolio reporting requirements from their portfolio companies
Music service, Mdundo, projects royalty payouts of over USD 1mn in 2025 as monthly active users cross 36mn
STORY
A giant leap for mankind
It truly was like watching something out of a science-fiction movie - a marvel in engineering and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
SpaceX once again did the inconceivable — on brand. The company, in its fifth flight test of Starship, made its first successful recapture of its Falcon Heavy booster (the size of a large building) on their first attempt using the launch tower, Mechazilla. Here’s Elon Musk explaining theoretically how it would work two years ago.
Starship is the world’s most powerful rocket & is a big building block towards making mankind an interplanetary species.
Yesterday’s catch is a major milestone in the journey towards a fully and rapidly reusable design for an orbit-class rocket.
In 2011, to this near impossible problem, Elon Musk stated the following:
“…I've come to the conclusion that it can be solved.
And I think, SpaceX is going to try to do it. Now, we could fail. I'm not saying we're certain of success here, but we're going to try to do it. And we have a design that, on paper, doing the calculations, doing the simulations, it does work.
And now, we need to make sure that those simulations and reality agree, because generally when they don't, reality wins.”
Many things that we hold as ordinary today were once “impossible” but some ‘crazy’ people challenged the impossible.
This is the kind of crazy that the world needs to shape a better future.
So don’t forget to dream, because it’s only through actualizing “impossible” dreams, that we collectively advance.
NOTES TO SELF
Your friend, your foe
There’s a person that knows you inside & out.
This person contributes the most to your success or failure.
This person is you.
I came across this quote last week:
"Compete externally and you compare. Compete internally and you improve." - James Clear
It got me thinking about my recent notes on competition, and more specifically, this reflection:
“It’s always You versus You in the end; your first & last competitor should be yourself.”
In between my heavy breaths & an aching body on the basketball court, I was reminded of this as I played while listening to my own internal dialogue.
You know best where you need to do more or can do better.
Self improvement is an infinite game and the benchmark everyday is your previous ‘Personal Best’.
If you just focus inward and aim to outdo your previous best self consistently, you will get better at anything you do.
CURIOUS
You can always start, again & again
There’s a purity to the innocence that ignorance brings whenever starting something new (blind optimism).
In these moments, we use what we know as a basis to gauge the unknown, and use this information to make what we think is a somewhat informed decision. The decision that determines whether or not to pursue a venture or endeavour. Yet, if the mountain is worth climbing, you can’t expect to see the top or the route there before you begin.
Just decide…and start.
It’s Never Too Late (If You’re Willing To Do the Work).
They say the end of one thing presents the beginning of another.
What’s a ‘big’ thing you’ve been putting off starting? Humans can do great things for humanity when they set their minds to it. If you’re human, you’re capable of more than you, or anyone else, can imagine. You can make a giant leap forward from where you are.
What’s next for you?
Just decide…and start.
Have the best week possible.
AG