Another year ends which has been challenging in many ways, especially as the region has faced various environmental headwinds including economic constraints, a drought and more recently heavy rains, all exacerbated by considerable world turbulence. The effect has been a subdued performance for D&S, though still some growth has been achieved, particularly in the various subsidiaries and I'm very grateful to all the teams that have worked so hard to achieve these results.

There has also been much qualitative progress and I particularly mention opening of the new D&S Zambia Distribution Centre, the establishment of 8 new branches and many innovative Digital developments - D&S never stands still!

A particular milestone of this Newsletter is that it is Number 150, the first one being released in May 1999 nearly 25 years ago! The rationale then was that a better means of communication was necessary with the more widely spread staff in the emerging branch network and it has been regularly published every two months since then, an achievement we are proud of! Reading the first Newsletter it is interesting to note mention of Margaret Kuchio and Jonathan Mainga being appointed to new positions, both being senior executives now! Mention of installation of the first computer system was also made, then a significant innovation! Over time the format has evolved and distribution expanded to other stakeholders and I must commend Jos Musima for the many years of work being the layout designer.

Times do, however, change and it has been decided to redesign and refocus the Newsletter for the wider stakeholder audience we now have and introduce another new Staff newsletter with more internal news. This is the first edition of the new look version and it is a special eight page issue celebrating the milestone and looking back over past highlights. We hope that readers find this new format an improvement.

One significant event I mention is the successful State Visit to Kenya of HM King Charles III. One of his activities included visiting an innovation centre where D&S exhibited our Paygo Solar Pumping systems. Engineer Brian Nyagol explained its workings and the King seemed impressed!

Looking ahead we have another busy year with much planned, a key priority being starting construction of the new Tatu Engineering Centre. There will also be a new warehouse/office development for D&S Tanzania in Dar-es-Salaam, operationalisation of the new HO Service Centre, several new branches and some innovative new products. There will be challenges of course though no doubt progress will be made as we pursue the year's theme of 'Finding New Ways'.

To conclude I sent everyone my warmest Season's greetings and mention my deepest appreciation to all D&S stakeholders including customers, suppliers and most importantly staff for your great support over the past year as without you we would be unable to achieve what we have. I also pass everybody my very best wishes for a healthy and successful 2024.