National Council of Churches of Kenya

The East African Venture Company is a limited liability company (by guarantee) which was incorporated in 1964 as a joint venture between the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT) and the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK).

The main objective of the Company was to publish two Christian newspapers; Lengo in Tanzania and Target in Kenya. The Company also owned two residential properties and a Printing Press (Lengo Press) in Nairobi.

Publication of the newspapers was sporadic over the years mainly due to financial constraints, and was finally discontinued in the early 1990s, with substantial financial losses being borne by the company.

In 1996, the Board and General Membership of East African Venture Company decided to take bold steps in order to establish a solid financial base for the newspapers. A decision was therefore made to sell one of the residential properties to re-develop the other. In 1997, another decision was made to sell Lengo Pres and invest the proceeds in the re-development project. Owing to existing liabilities and uncertainty of the market, the funds realised from the sale of the residential property and the press were not adequate as equity in the re-development project. This led to a very high gearing ratio and the viability of the project was put in question. NCCK, being on the ground, had to intervene by injecting a substantial amount of money. It also guaranteed long term commercial financing.

By early 1999, the leadership of the Company began to grapple with serious shortfalls in mortgage repayments and unpaid fees and disbursements. A series of meetings and consultations were held culminating with an Annual General Meeting in June 1999 during which CCT opted to relinquish its guarantee to the Company upon a consideration of one half of net worth of the Company as at 30th June 1999. NCCK in turn accepted to take over the entire Company together with all its assets and liabilities. The Company thereby became a fully owned subsidiary of the NCCK.

The Council is consulting to establish the viability of setting up a radio station through EAVC.