One Country, Different Worlds
I’ve been spending a lot of time on Twitter lately and many of the people I follow tend to have the same interests as myself. So, it’s usually, Kenyans or other Africans who are interested in technology, business and it’s relationship to Africa.
Anyway, I was “tweeting” yesterday and of course, everyone is excited about Google’s new phone, the Nexus one and before that, everyone was excited about the Apple Iphone and it doesn’t matter where any of my tweeter friends are based: Nowadays, because of technology, everyone pretty much has access to the same amount of information. Instantaneously and within 24hours. It’s amazing to me how technology is just bridging the gap between people all over the world.
If there’s traffic on Waiyaki way, you’ll hear about it instantly via twitter because people are using their mobile phones to relay the information while they sit in their cars. If you are in London or Japan or wherever and you need to find out about something in Kenya, you can get your information almost instantly from all the tweeter-bugs on the road, in their offices….wherever they are.
So, that’s why I want to talk about these two different worlds. They are a group of Kenyans (mainly younger people) who are on top of all of this technology and who are living in this new, modern world, but against this one world, you have also have another world: A world inhabited by old politicians who are presently running Kenya who and seem to be totally oblivious to what is actually happening!
And I want to talk about these two worlds because every time I watch clips of Kenyan news, I just end up shaking my head (because the difference between these two worlds is so, so, stark) and I want to talk about it in terms of business.
This technological democracy, is (one day) going to make a difference in Kenya, but I can’t figure out how. All I know is that the business opportunities will not come from the government. Politicians in Kenya are too old and too primitive and they do not inhabit this new, modern world, but the Kenyans I’m seeing on Twitter and other places, are quite smart: They are English-speaking, young, modern, people and there has to be a way for them to make money from of all of these technological advances (particularly with the use of mobile phones).
Often times, I’ll see people becoming very excited about the latest technological gadget, but rarely will I seem them talk about how they (based in Kenya) will be able to use these gadgets to make money. I mean, information is nice, but you don’t want to waste all your time just doodling on Facebook and Twitter.
So, If your a young Kenyan who happens to have an Iphone or is going to get Google’s new phone and load it up with all the cool applications, I want to hear from you and I want you to tell me how it can help you make money (& I don’t want to hear about non-money making, not-for-profit idea’s )
- This is not an NGO blog and frankly, whenever I read about technology within the African context, it’s always about some silly help the poor villager project. I don’t think I’ve seen one person (yet) talk about how they’re going to use this new technology to freaking make some coin.
God I’m so sick of that “help save Africa” shit. So, please don’t tell me how your new technological advancement is going to help Onyango grow five more banana’s and how your going to give it away to all the villagers for free and, and, and…..
You get my drift….No free banana talk and no free shit!
Boss, you have thrown down the gauntlet. The youth are best placed to be at the vanguard of this mobile revolution. from the development of applications to mobile internet services,opportunities abound. Two things need to haappen for entrepreneurs to take advantage of this
1. affordable smartphones. The iphones and nexus one phones are still too expensive. We need to supply the market with affordable smartphones for mobile 2.0 services to take off
2. A local applications market. A market for local application developers to sell their applications is necessary. This will not only provide a market for local developers but also provide subscribers/organisations with source of applications
If u are NOT talking politics or tribalism .. Then u are out to steal somebody’s idea….I think most of us have figured you out.
KE
U can’t dictate to us how to respond to what you have written. I would not post my idea here before I implement it coz that would be foolish, don’t you think?
Anyhow, I think the wireless technology is already helping by making the markets operate more efficiently because people have instant information. This in itself is a massive benefit. The rest is already happening but I guess you can’t see it coz your eyes have blinkers and you also have a chip on your shoulder.
Annon:
How has information produced a massive benefit?
I think for most people it’s fun and interesting, but monetarily, it’s difficult.
Twitter, with it’s massive popularity isn’t making money and neither is facebook.
MdosiX:
That’s all you have to say? Tell me something more interesting.
I saw someone on twitter telling Kenyans to load up on the .mobi.ke domain names. Couldn’t figure out why, but he mentioned something about the popularity of mobile domains. I didn’t get it. Is anyone familiar with this .mobi stuff?
Nothing interesting is what you gonna hear from people …Where were u when we told u that people visit your blog just want to talk about business…cos u behave like a politician people need less interaction with you coz what do politicians do with people/ideas? F**k them!…now thats interesting…We’ve figured u out!
BTW the GOOGLE guys had to wait 8yrs and even through the Dotcom bust storm…before they could go public and make some money..and the owners were still getting offers to sell when they were still in Havard..So dont jump into conclusions about facebook or twitter!
I agree mostly with your post. We should focus our attention on converting the opportunities into real contributions to the economy. Although merely getting excited about the technology is positive, what contributes to the Kenyan economy is actual business around the technology.
I also think many of us are already tapping into the economic potential – like am sure the net cashflow for your adsense ads venture is atleast positive for you.
Gmeltdown:
The cashflow from adsense is very, very, little. I don’t even look at it anymore. Unless your blog is getting hundreds of thousands of readers, it’s nearly impossible to make any “real” money with it.
That’s one of the reason (& others) that made me realize just how hard it is to use all of these technological advancements to monetize a business.
I have an interview lined up with a Kenyan who has become an ebay power seller and I’m really waiting to hear her answers about how she was able to use the web to sell thousands of goods. That should be interesting.
The only thing I’ve concluded is that in order to make money, you have to create the technology, which for most people is out of reach (I mean, how many people can found a company like google?) or…
You use the technology to either sell something directly or offer a service to people directly — where you are charging straight up for a particular good or service.
MdosiX;
Your information on Google is wrong. First, the founders did not go to Harvard. They went to Stanford and started the company while pursuing their Ph.D’s in Computer Science. The search algorithim they came up with was part of their Ph.D research project, which was then turned into a business.
Secondly, they raised about $1 million dollars from friends and family before they sought additional funds from VC companies and once the VC’s came in, the idea of charging people for ad’s was developed. However, they were able to attract ad revenue because their technology (search capabilities) were so much better than anything out there and people started using Google for everything.
They are many books out there on the Google story and I suggest you read them. As I’ve said before, most American entrepreneurs gladly talk about their stories and write books on their journeys. They’re not like Kenyans who like to hide and not telling people how they acquired their wealth.
True, they went to Stanford… but does that change the fact that money did not flow overnight. The way you talk, makes me wonder whether you are an entrepreneur at all… that’s why I insist that you want to steal peoples ideas. Nice try though!
MdosiX:
Now, after I have corrected your misinformation, you still won’t quit or get the point, but let me try again.
The point about Google was that until the VC firms got involved, they really did not have a way to monetize this great search engine device that they had developed.
The idea of charging people for ad’s was a brilliant one and it did not take them 8 years to start doing that. Now, in relation to Facebook and Twitter, my argument is that while both platforms are very popular, this concept of how to monetize them is not that easy and that is the main point here: It’s not about whether it takes you 1 year or 8 years. It’s about finding a way to monetize your technological invention and not just waxing lyrical about a great technology when it’s not making you any money.
And I’m not interested in stealing anyone’s ideas and neither is anyone else. The idea that someone will steal your idea and make money off it is totally overrated. This is really a general discussion, but for some reason, you’ve decided to go off on a weird tangent, which I don’t quite get, but which is making you totally miss the point of the whole article.
@kenyanentrepreneur I shall agree with you mostly – yet again. Only you might need to admit that with AdWords of even 0.8 dollar per month it is positive cashflow. Might be more than the dividends we earn from some of our NSE counters that rarely have capital gains of late.
On a serious note thogh, I also disagree with @MdosiX to quite some extent. The story about people stealing ideas is rather nonsensical in the world of today. Many of us have had these one million dollar ideas that we either sat on selfishly and / or simply did not positively impact their bottom line 2 to 5 years down the line. Consider the thought that we are moving to a new world of ‘OpenEverything’ – beginning from ‘opensource’ to ‘openideas’.
Gmeltdown:
Are you confusing (adwords) – where you actually pay for the ad’s with adsense – where you get paid for putting ad’s up on a website? There’s a big difference between the two. One costs you quite a bit, while the other is totally free.
On the NSE:
I’ve said before here that the easiest way to steal money from the public in Kenya is to do an IPO on the NSE and grab the gullible public’s money.
Aren’t you better off investing in land?
I would urge you to follow the goings on of Ushahidi started by Hash of WhiteAfrican, Ory of KenyanPundit and a few others…quite remarkable if you ask me.
I remember vividly when they started it as a rag tag team in response to the Kenyan election violence. And yes it started primarily as a social enterprise project but before long they were winning awards and then getting a good bit of $$$ thrown their way to develop their software/platform and now it appears they have gone global
It has clearly morphed in to a full entreprise, enough so that Hash has moved back to Kenya with family to help run it.
Great example out there and I hope you get responses that reveal many more.
KE
Why talk badly about technology for social development? in case you are not aware, those are some of the biggest money-making ventures in Kenya/Africa. In the West you have Venture Capitalists to fund your ideas – here, you have them Donors!
Sijui:
Yes, Ushaidi got a $1.4 million dollar grant, which is good, but are they making money? I think it’s run by people who are more interested in making a difference than in making money (which is fine) but how do you create jobs without a profit motive?
So, my point is, poverty cannot be reduced if you don’t have that killer instinct profit motive.
Bill Gates didn’t capture 90% of the worlds sofware market by trying to save poor people. He’s helping them now, but first, he had that killer instinct that drove his success.
This will only work if Safaricom and their competitors offers smartphones on a contractual basis. I know Orange offers the iPhone 3g for 8000shs on contract where it’s 60,000shs+ off contract. And I don’t think the market REALLY needs smartphones, it helps motivate it, but if you have internet service on your handset, thats a start. Uuuuuuunlessss, you want to flood the market with 2nd hand smartphones from China or whatever? there you go, you exposed the need, i found your solution.. go get rich now and help Onyango grow banana$!
As I have just come back from Kenya, I’ve noticed lots of upscale lounges, bars and restaurants have Facebook pages. Great start. Now, if they continue updating their pages with promotions and whatever marketing tactics they employ, I can see how it’ll help their revenues. For example, I knew of a great event courtesy a certain bars promotion through Facebook.
Don’t know much about Twitter because I hate the platform but understand it’s value!
In terms of the “save africa” bandwagon. I agree, let’s keep it out of here for now at least. We cannot be everything to everyone and we certainly do not need to act like we’re not chasing this $$$$.
