Grand Opening

Shopping Malls. Museums. Bookstores. Yachts. Presidents.

These are the things we (Americans, Europeans, et al) think when we hear "Grand Opening" or "Christening" or "Inauguration". We probably wouldn't think of having a Grand Opening celebration with tents and ribbons and balloons and a sound system and speeches for... a pay phone... or even two.

But that's what happened today in Adawso, Eastern Region, Ghana. Yep, and it happened right on the spot where we hold our twice-weekly refresh and reconciliation meeting with two of our agents. The nerve!

Vodafone installed two solar powered pay phones that use only pre-paid calling cards. To inaugurate the phones, they rented three portable tents, a sound system, a desk (for the "Big Man" to sit behind), a few hundred chairs and apparently a couple hundred mid-teen school children to fill them. Each attendee was given a bottle of minerals (aka Coke, Sprite, or Fanta), a meat pie (from Linda Dor, our favorite meat pie place), and a calling card(!) with a couple cedis of credit on it - and, of course, regaled with a speech on the incredible mind-bending, bullet-stopping, train-racing power and value of the Vodafone phone (now, is it appropriate to just say Vodafone and not repeat the phonetically confusing phone? It would seem Vodafone might like that - to become the kleenex of the fone industry).

Anyway, where was I? So, the people were queued up to use their calling cards on the sparkling, beautifully branded, bright red fones. I, meanwhile, was wishing I had my laptop and an internet connection to check my brokerage account to see just how many Vodafone shares I own and whether purchasing a few more might be a prudent move. Turns out earnings are estimated to be up year over year in the next fiscal (how many other companies can boast as much these days) and the P/E is expected to be 7.89. An apparent bargain. However, the analysts (29 of them covering VOD!) are mixed with an average rating of HOLD. But, I wonder, have they been to the developing world?
XO