Kenyan CopyCats Lurking Everywhere….
So, after “discovering” this site called mavuno.com, I couldn’t help but notice that it looks eerily similar to Mamamikes.com.
The concept (using the internet to enable Kenyans in the diaspora to send goods to their relatives at home) is definitely the same (and I’m sure the founders of Mavuno copied it from MamaMikes — I’m making this assumption based on the fact that MamaMikes was started in 2000, while Mavuno was started in 2005). Now, I have nothing against copying a concept or even a whole business idea, but it sure must be irritating for MamaMikes to have to deal with a copycat contender.
This is the problem with starting a business geared to or for Kenyans – everyone and their mama is going to try and copy you {and in a market that’s not very big, that could become a problem. No? }
And don’t bore me with all those business speak lines that like to use words like “differentiation”, “first movers advantage”, blah, blah, blah…..and other words that those silly business school professors come up with.
What? don’t hate the player (read: Mavuno), hate the game (read: capitalism)…
am shocked at such pessimistic comments, dude wake up and look around those are two different brands offering similar services. competiton is healthy especially in todays world. moreover it may just push mama mike to reinvent themselves or rethink their business strategies at the consumers advantage. i would prefer a copy cat in the game than none at all.
I believe warrent buffet puts it this way. You have to build a moat around your business that the competition cannot storm your castle.
The question is not with mavuno, but with mamamikes. They have had 5 years to solidify their products and services. If they did and have kept inovating, it’s all good. Otherwise… move over.
The only other option is to patent the idea in Kenya and start working on expensive court cases.
One more kateskikapu.com… these are now a dime a dozen… and I got a dollar. Does anyone smell the need for specialization?
I have to say that i think your analysis of the situation is very naive to say the least. starting a site that does the same business as another has nothing to do with copycat-ism as you are putting it. If anything mamamikes should be happy that others have recognised its business model as viable.
First of all you are making the false assumption that mamamikes originated its business model. they might have been the first to implement it in kenya but that is a trivial matter considering that it is an internet business and geographical focus is not what it is in the brick and morter world.
There are numerious example of businesses that were engaged in the same business albeit in different locales and ill bet you that it was from observing the success of these companies that the founders of mamamikes got their inspiration for their project.
its just ubsurd to accuses mavuno of being a copycat and then attribute the situation to having kenya as ones market focus. If mamamikes has a supperior business model and better serrvice then they will survive. If the they don’t then quite frankly they deserve to be driven out by competition in the interest of better service to the consumer.
I think it is very normal in business to copy ideas. The crux of success is always to be ahead of competition and I believe mamamikes most probably also got the idea from somewhereelse and finetuned it to kenya situation
olomit8
I don’t think you read or understood my piece. I’m not against copying and I understand the way capitalism works. The piece (if you missed the point) is really to highlight the issue of similar businesses propping up one after the other, all trying to target quite a small market. So, then, the question becomes, how do you, the business owner, deal with that?
That’s why I said it must be Irritating for Mamamikes (not wrong, just irritating)
And it is an issue in Kenya because the buying power isn’t as huge as what you’d find in America or other richer countries.
my bad if i miss understood. my issue was with this statement:
“This is the problem with starting a business geared to or for Kenyans – everyone and their mama is going to try and copy you ”
that and the term ‘kenyan copycat’ both of which i felt give a negative conotation to a perfectly legitimate practice that I think should be encouraged if the consumer is to get the best deal for his/her money. Im glad to see kenyans stepping up and bringing competition to the industry.
olomoti8
well…from the perspective of the consumer, competition is good because it brings prices down. However, from the perspective of the small business owner, it’s not good because competition will dilute your profits.
And there is generally an issue of Kenyans “following the herd” when it comes to business. Is that natural? yes. is it necessarily good? I’m not sure.
There is a difference between taking an old concept and finding a way to re-do it more efficiently. However, when a lot of people just start copying, (carte blanche) — what does that say?
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Kinoo
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Competition is always good. It make consumers happier and willing to try new services and ideas. We wish there were more people providing these types of services.
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