Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov the Turkmenistan despot who ruled the country with an iron fist once wrote a book which was declared a must buy but even more incredulously, he had a Russian Soyuz rocket blast the book in a capsule to outer space so that it might remain for later generations to read.

Eva Chemgorem, a Kenya student from ISK (International School of Kenya) needed no such machinations to put her mark in outer space. Her winning poster “Africa united through satellites” won the DSTV Eutelsat 2012 best prize and will reportedly be copied on the side of a Eutelsat satellite that will be rocketed into space in her presence in France.

The competition also featured an essay writing competition won by a Ugandan student Anthony Oyom.

Oyom is the second Ugandan winner in that category in as many years.

The winners will travel to France to learn more about satellite technology.

Eutelsat is a key partner for Multichoice who run the satellite TV service DsTV. 

KENYA AIRWAYS, SAFARICOM IN CONTRASTING FORTUNES

They were the first Kenyan companies to hit the billion dollar revenue mark but today they offer a study in contrasts.

While Safaricom appears to be on pace to post the largest profit in the region this year, KQ appears headed to post the worst loss.

Safaricom last week announced a Sh11.5billion pre-tax profit for the half-year ended September 30, 2012, KQ reported more than Sh6bn in pre-tax loss.

They both are in the business of connecting Kenyans to the world. Safaricom makes the bulk of its money from in-country operations (voice, MPESA) while KQ makes barely 10 per cent of its revenues from the country. It's most profitable routes are West Africa, Middle East and Europe.

While both have developed into bureaucracies, Safaricom has undergone a business restructuring while KQ's idea of restructuring has been to lay off workers. The top suites have not been changed and business seems to continue as usual.