KENYA CONTENT

In business school the adage ‘location location location’ is the informed prerequisite for a successful business. Hindsight will tell you that putting a sauna in the middle of the Sahara would most surely not make business sense, but what if the establishment had a wellness tag and for the proprietor, the use of solar could be perfect solution for the energy requirements.

 

Now before I get off track, location only is not a guarantee but a doorway. But with the World Wide Web this notion of triple location is increasingly being challenged.

Why do I say this, well there is this blogger in Los Angeles who from reliable sources is making a gazillion of dollars just by providing content.

 

The internet is all about content, so the more you provide the more clicks you get. The idea of standing strategically on a street intersection and selling your info to folks passing by is taken over by the internet.

 

Provide relevance to someone and they will be on you site daily.

A lot of us guys got into the internet looking for adult content. Statistics say that the number of people going to search engines for this content has halved. This could be true but also remember that this reduction could be because the greater number of these people now know which sights to visit so no need to do a search.

 

None the less many people in Kenya still use the internet primarily for their email. This is good but few have fathomed the immense power this channel of communications entails. Imagine about 1.3 billion people surf the net at any one time and all looking for content.

Content could be goods, stories, services… you name it. So for Kenyans who have access to the net think about your ideas? Someone will buy trust me.

 

Few banks have listened to you, fewer media houses have given you space yet this colossus is providing you the opportunity to interact and improve your content.

Many people still wonder where is the Kenyan content. This will not come from America Germany or Japan but here.

 

Tell your stories in sheng if you have to, sell product that you make on the net or promote that small cafe you have on your blog and remember that this content is YOU!

THE FAB WEEK

If this is one thing I like about the Orange network is their media campaign. It was simply one of the best product drives that I have seen for a while and I hope ‘zungu zungu…..’ does not disappoint.

 

Looking at what they offer then the young customers which is what the Orange guys are yearning for will be in for a treat.

 

Data products from the company might create that shift of intended users or customers.

If there was one thing that Kenyans should be sure to get over the next two to three months is a price war.

 

Orange is offering 3.50, 7 bob and 14 bob across network for a call. It should not be surprising for Zain to come up with a rate of about 8 bob to 10 bob a call.  For Zain their rich Gulf owners have money to spend.

 

As for Safaricom the have to come up with a lot to maintain their market share. Mind you this share will be there for sometime. How long depends on the success of Zain and Orange. Now Safaricom is the most expensive network.

 

For Econet Esar I will just say better the devil you know…. Since the grapevine tells me that they may come into the market with a call offer of 2 bob….

But who cares???

 

I like most Kenyans will be sitting on the table and devouring on the spoils of ‘PRICE WARS’ that will make Kenyans add to their peculiar calling habits.

 

And to and the fabulous week, the GSMA or global systems of mobiles gathered at the beautiful town of Nakuru.

 

This group of guys from around the world spoke on the use of the mobile phone as a health centre, use of alternative energy in powering the mobile base station and sites. Good things came from the meeting and it looks like the world of mobile telephony as you know is about to change.

 

If you think am kidding ask the Gphone or Google phone. Tuesday must have been a good day in Berlin.

A CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL JOSEPH

Late last year I got an email from a fellow scribe asking me about M-Pesa. He was more interested on how it works and if it was available in Europe.
I replied with a paragraph on the dynamics of M-pesa but I mentioned to him that due to Europe’s circumstance its highly unlikely for anyone out there to think of a product that works as M-Pesa.

Why? Was his question and the answer I got from the chief executive of Safaricom, Mr Michael Joseph.

A brief history of M-Pesa goes this way. The product was specifically meant fro the many un-banked Kenyans. Kenya has over 11 million people with mobile phones only 6 million have access to bank accounts.
Yet the growth of the mobile telephony is currently at 30%, which according to analysts will remain for about five years. Thus most companies in IT are looking at a ratio of 60% mobile subscription rate to the total population.
Well after trials in Thika in 2006 M-Pesa made its entry in march 2007 and Joseph had projected 1 million M-Pesa Users but that also was surpassed. Now users stand at 3.7 million.

In March this year at the World Mobile Congress, Safaricom won an award for the promotion of the most innovative product.

As is found in all ICT product ‘crowd sourcing’ is playing a critical role on how users are changing certain products. At the moment due to legislation money transfers over the net is nor allowed, however Kenyan have decided not to wait for government but to have payments of services and products on the net done using M-Pesa.

Such has been the changing face of M-Pesa, however with all good thing always comes with some criminal element. Due to the large amount of cash that M-Pesa agents carry, some have been victims’ robberies. Now insurance is coming to play which may ultimately be passed down to the consumer who will definitely pay for more for the service.

But as for now the product is M-Pesa is growing in leaps and bound and the mobile phone is now becoming a mobile wallet.

Ask Equity Bank they launched last week.

the video clip will be here next week

TELKOM OFF THE MARK

A friend of mine got lucky last week. No no no guys it’s not what you are thinking about. He got a gift from the newly re-branded Telkom Kenya. A fancy looking wireless modem.

 

Well everything was ok from the packaging to the stylish design …twas all good even the brochure in the package told all.

 

The gadget promised at least speeds of 256Kbps but may be J got it all wrong and the modem is giving him speeds of under 64Kbps I suspect that 64 might be fast quite fast.

Well J is so mad that he has decided to go insanely Zain since until today there is no data service in the market that is as fast as that found in the Zain Network. Pity Zain marketing never seem to know how to market their stuff.

Their pay phones died, sokotele is becoming soko what yet it came slight before Mpesa.

 

Good thing is that Econet is just about to roll out. It will be using the 0750 prefix and it will be testing its network come end month. Good luck to them is what I can say and hey Kenya, expect the competition generated to have a ripple effect on you. It does sound nice when the big guys fight and we don’t get trampled but rather enjoy the spoils.

As for J, I told you