AppDate Yourself

I have in the past one year written 3 articles (Article 1, Article 2 & Article 3) arguing why Mobile Operators should have entered the App space a long time ago. This is essentially because Kenya has proved itself to be uniquely innovative in developing mobile applications/solutions that actually work and generate revenue.

So when Zain lowered its call rates to all Kenyan networks it opened the pandora box placing mobile applications and data at the center of competition in the Kenyan Mobile Space.

Join Andrea Bohnstedt and Nyagaka Ongeri in this very insightful dicussion about Mobile Application, Data and Revenue Generation.

I would only add that individuals and companies need to find a way to mesh Mobile Service (like SMS) and Web Applications to allow Content Creation that would ultimately create advertising space on the Kenyan Internet.

That is what we at Whive.com have done.

Have a look at our live applications which all are all partly SMS Based.

• Whive.com for Social Media and Content
• Whive.mobi for Micro Media and Mobilized Content
• facebook.whive.com our Facebook Integration
• iKatiba.com our Mobile App store.

Consensus has been that Safaricom has largely behaved like a big bully “stealing” ideas from Kenyan developers or behaving in a manner that is detrimental to the Kenyan Mobile ecosystem.

Whether the above claim is true or false momentum is clearly on Zain’s  side with almost everyones attention including Developers shifting towards  it.

It may be true that middle aged voice consumers may have in the past been the main revenue source but the shift towards data consumption by Kenya’s youth with drive profits in the future.

The Mobile Operator which convinces us to share revenue by giving them our Mobile Apps and sharing advertising revenues will win the war.

This is a HUGE opportunity for everyone especially if we let market forces run their own course…

Whive.Mobi Nokia APP

Just from bubbling from being declared yesterdays blog of the day on Business Daily i have decided to be a bit generous with my “brilliant” ideas and help out Zain Africa catch some leg up on the roaring Lion of  Kenya that is Safaricom.

Now that Safaricom has shown us how packaging voice products and adding a sprinkle of Mpesa can churn billions in net profit from what is supposedly a 3rd world country, it is clear that the next and perhaps only frontier of war for the other operators is Data.  Enter Mxit…

Mxit a mobile social network from South Africa is Safaricom’s latest magic trick. Its entry one week ago has kicked up a storm amongst Kenya’s local developers (Storm1, Storm2 and Storm3). One thing is for sure, this is either Safaricom’s waterloo or greatest show ever, it cannot be anything other than those those two options. Why?

Well this move by Safaricom to put it mildly angered many of the country’s developers  (refer to storms above), thinkers and bloggers.  This cannot be good for Safaricom even though it ostensibly has the money and mechanisms to buy back some love from the angered folk and thereby mitigating against any future loss.

Granted that this may be, as I said earlier, the best business decision ever by Safaricom,  it has certainly made key and influential people in Kenya distrust its intentions.  Don’t forget perception is KEY e.g. Andriod of Google is now gaining ground on Apple iPhone because the latter  is perceived to be a closed system with ill intentions.

Why should Safaricom give a hoot?–

Safaricom has 16 million subscribers last time i checked, of which 8 or so million are banking on Mpesa a system that does NOT belong to Safaricom. Therefore any pressure on them would not necessarily lead to the quick and spontaneous action that may be needed for its looming battles.

On the other hand Zain soon to be Bharti has a 45 million or so subscriber base in Africa and even larger one in India. Importantly it already has an App Store with more than 1000 Applications in use in India that probably would not differ too much from the Kenyan or African Use case or Business case. This makes Data a clear entry point for Zain.

So here are some pros and cons for such a move by Zain.

PROS

1. They have a disgruntled set of pretty skilled APP developers in Kenya that they could entice with hugs that smell of Kshs.
2. They have a huge subscriber base in Africa which speaks an indigenous language SWAHILI.
3. They have a burning desire to embarrass Safaricom even if it is just once.
4. They have the experience needed to enter this space at will.
5. They own their own payment platform Zap unlike Safaricom.

CONS

1. They have been upstaged by Safaricom’s magicians time and again.
2. They have failed to understand  Kenya’s “peculiar” habits.
3. They also do not engage Kenyan developers.
4. They have not luffed to the debunk for a very long time.
5. Importantly they do not have the 3G data infrastructure to beat Safaricom.

This last point is what i suppose should be worrying the guys in Zain head office and i have what i think should be a solution. Zain should opt for a Distributed Application Network Space. What i call DANS. Why?

The main advantage is that they would be able to ride on Safaricom’s fantastic(by Kenyan Standards) 3g network thereby saving billions in infrastructure cost. In this case they would give incentives to already existing application stores/platforms in Kenya like Whive.com, Symbiotic Labs and SpaceKenya.com to port products to their subscribers for decent commissions.

Another case is that they would not necessarily need to advertise too much as great APPs will go viral (Remember Makmende.com).

By focusing on Mobile and Web Apps at the same time Zain would win the data race and steam ahead of the competition, giving itself breathing space to build the Data infrastructure it would need to compete with Safaricom the Great.

So as a developer of Mobile Apps including the one in this post I humbly asking the people at Zain to consider this option and give the battered and almost defeated developers in Kenya some hope.

This move could possibly go south because of the insanely huge magical powers of the Safaricom’s Maestro(s) but at least we will say we gave it a shot… and hopefully  someday we will all luff to debunk even if its just my local Mpesa/Mkesho Agent

John Karanja is the founder of Whive.com and was recently a Chairperson of Mobile Web East Africa Conference in Nairobi in January.

Safaricom Inabamba

Safaricom has finally decided to listen to Kenyan developers (including myself) who have been shouting ourselves hoarse about the need for them to begin moving towards coordinating or collecting Kenya’s vast developer talent into one central location or platform.

They have done this by partnering with Strathmore University which is by far the leading institution in terms of training software and web developers. I know this because I was lucky enough to go there and get good training in this domain.

I am also one of the few who has been calling for this exact move (see here and here) not because I am the seer of Kariamandu but also because I have about 3 Apps if given the right environment and access to Safaricom’s data can make me move one step further from the poverty line.

In addition Safaricom cannot afford to hedge its future on voice it needs to move aggressively and decisively into the App cloud space where it can perpetually make the billions it so cleverly makes going forward.

Those of you who are now bubbling with excitement about this move can develop your ideas with us at http://www.spacekenya.com … We sign NDA’s to protect your ideas from the ever present hawks…

Safaricom has also partnered with Equity to create a new Banking Cloud App called Mkesho.  If only Safaricom was as regional as Zain  Kenyan applications would have a access to a larger market.

Whive.com - Connecting Africa

Here is the Whive.com Mobile Web East Africa Presentation.

MOBILE WEB TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL PROGRESS

Social Progress Social Media

Manuscript Below

INTRODUCTION

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, and thank you for coming to my presentation, which is about mobile/web technology and social progress in East Africa.  As you have heard i am John Karanja the Founder of Whive.com a web and mobile social media platform for Africans.

FIRST SLIDE

On my first slide, there is an overview of the 6 main points of my talk. Let me go over them so that we are on the same page from start to finish.

• Where are we with regards to mobile/web technologies and social progress in East Africa?
• Where are we going?
• How can we get there?
• How long will it take to get there?
• What do we do when we get there?
• How do we remain competitive in the global market?

SECOND SLIDE

So let’s consider my first point Where are we?

• East Africa has 3% Internet use and between 30-40% telephone use. So there is a huge gap between access to mobile and web technologies.
• 10,000 KM of fibre optic cable throughout Kenya for example. The rest of the region is following this example to provide the crucial backbone for internet growth.
• East Africa also has on the one hand a AVERAGE 70% literacy rate in both English and Swahili which is  good  but on the other hand a poverty rate of 50% which is an undesireable obstacle to future growth.
• This mismatch between our literacy and poverty rate has to be addressed because this region has a potentially large market of about 120 million people, 60% of whom are under 24 years of age.

THIRD SLIDE

Now let’s move on to my next slide where I pose the question, where are we going?

• Would we not like to see 100% web and mobile coverage?
• Universal Literacy  will enable us to achieve 100% web & mobile coverage and this in turn will help achieve Universal Banking (e.g. MPESA). Equity has identified a niche whereby the will be banking the unbanked through Mpesa thus becoming the largest network of Mpesa in East Africa.
• If we achieve these goals this will allow us to deploy more web and mobile solutions such as social networks (Whive.com) to more people, which in turn will enhance social connectedness.
• One of the central keys which will be pivotal to the cost effectiveness of services will be to achieve the goal of universal banking through services such as mpesa. This will allow for the efficient flow of capital and ease of business transactions. Reduction of corruption because systems reduce the number of loopholes for corrupt practices.
• Building Distributed services for Health and Agriculture for example Brookside has developed a mobile distribution system for monitoring milk distribution.
• Only 10% of Kenyans are insured we need to develop these systems for them.

FOURTH SLIDE

Now How can we get there?

This can be achieved through Crowd sourcing and social mapping tools (e.g. USHAHIDI).

• I suggest using existing Networks both Social and Digital (e.g.  Mobile social networks like Whive.com can be utilized by existing social groups such as small investment clubs).
• Building Digital villages for capacity building.
• Increased competition in the ICT sector. Incentives for SME’s involved in ICT (e.g. Tax incentives and access to affordable technologies).
• Universal Primary Education in Basic Computing Skills. Youth are most creative. Rwanda is doing it so can we!
• Where is all this money going to come from to achieve this almost utopian dream. The Money to do this is in the pockets of Kenyans(Stock & Bond Markets, Private Equity and Venture Capital) .

FIFTH SLIDE

How long will it take to get there?

• Starting the journey is the hardest part!
• India achieved recognition in software development in 10 years.
• Kenya is already  earning a 1/5th of what India earns annually!!!
• Which means in essence we can compete with India in software development.
• More Social/Tech gatherings and building capacity for research in order to solve local problems and meet the computing needs  of people throughout the region.  e.g. This can be done through incubation centres such as iHub and ICT parks such as Sameer Business Park will be crucial in the short term.
• Concept ideas such as Malili Technopolis which is a city being built in Athi River modelled on Malaysian and Egyptian Digital cities will attract interest in this region in the long term.

SIXTH SLIDE

How do we remain competitive?

• Laying a stable foundation will enhance future growth.
• Technologies to connect villages (fibre optic, WI-MAX and 3g networks) are essential.
• We have to get the youth into the electronic and digital sectors  at the higher levels of education. This is because our Youth are the wealth of our nation and we should offer them Better employment opportunities.
• Expanding our own markets by localizing software (Whive.com).
• Increasing competition in ICT sector to get best prices possible(Regulation and Licencing such as CCK).
• Research, map social problems as they exist now to monitor social progress in the future (Ushahidi).

SEVENTH SLIDE

Conclusion
Just to recap my 5 main points…

• We need to assess where we are, our strengths and our weaknesses.
• We need to determine what we would like to achieve.
• We need to analyse what technologies and policies to implement to achieve these goals.
• We need to define a time line to achieve our desired goals.
• We need to establish how we shall remain competitive through giving incentives to SME’s and regulation to establish fair trade/play.

Have a look at www.Whive.com to see our social media project.
Download this presentation at www.JohnKaranja.com More content and analysis is available on the same website.

Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph

Zain has recently launched international transfers (Zap Money) similar to western union that allows individuals to sent money from international accounts to local mobile phones in Kenya. Though this technology is a prospective game changer for e-commerce in East Africa, it remains to be seen whether mobile phone users will be ready to switch to Zap from the more popular MPESA.

However this is also bad news for money exchange websites such as mamamikes which been for years been acting as intermediaries for Zain/Celtel airtime as they are like to loss significant amounts to the ZAP service.

However local ecommerce sites such as BabaWatoto should be able to leverage their epayments using this system and increase the number of exports.

Safaricom which succesfully introduced Mobile money in Africa will have to step up their game and allow access to the API for development of similar intermediary tools or alternatively start the international money transfer service.

By restricting access of their API to public developers they blocked young and geeky Kenyan programmers from rolling out a myriad of applications that can increase competition and therefore create more jobs and a new mobile economy.

This policy may in the end make the difference in the competitive war between Zap and Safaricom.

Let the games begin…

Kenneth Ngetha

I rarely excited about start ups in Kenya because like many of mine they dont seem to get enough support from industry players and government. However just when you think innovation is dead someone somewhere unleashes a stunning and brilliant idea. This someone is Kenneth Ngetha 22, a 4th year student at the prestigious Strathmore University(i went there too!!!) in Nairobi, who has come up with an online gateway for making payment transfers to Kenya.

The system suitably named TULIPE solves the basic problem which is that in East Africa, (and Africa in general); E-Commerce Payments on the web are not well developed because of a low penetration of banking services (which means credit cards are not sufficient). However, there have been developments in the Mobile Money sphere and it serves the long tail of the unbanked. Tulipe aims to use this Mobile Money & Existing Bank accounts for online payments, as is the case with credit cards.

This brilliant idea is modelled on the US based PAYPAL.com which currently transacts billions of dollars every year in this way. Tulipe still on beta release has caught the eye of Kenyan investors who see in Tulipe a business model and solution that will help reduce the cost of transfering money to and from Kenya. This cost mostly brought about by thefts, delays and official corruption have been a major obstacle to doing business in Kenya.

Mpesa Banking

Watch Mark Shuttleworth, President of the Ubuntu Foundation,and June Arunga, Open Quest Media, speak about opportunities and challenges business and individuals face in developing parts of the world.This a lovely talk of African Prospects with historical occurences being put into context. June Arunga has travelled Africa from Cairo to Capetown and is an expert in the Mobile Phone revolution in Kenya. Kenyans are using mobile phones to expand their economic space and conduct business. She argues that the country needs to develop address systems to allow people to conduct business in a transparent manner. I also remember reading that issuing of title deeds to squatters would be an efficient way of distributing capital and wealth. Anyway here are the videos.

DLD Internet and Mobile Entreprenuership Conference

Watch Video [Click Here]

The Nairobi Stock Exchange showed signs of recovery from a prolonged bear run (persistent fall in share prices). Most counters were up on the back of renewed investor confidence in the market, but this was short-lived as prices went on the low towards the end of the week.

Here are some stocks to watch according to analysts at Emerging Africa Capital, the Nairobi-based investment consulting company:

Access-Kenya: The counter inched upwards with demand rising, but at some point the market having no supply. The counter is a good buy for the short to medium investors.

Total: With the company having successfully bided for the assets of a rival marketer, expect action on this counter as punters take up positions. Good stock for speculative buyers.

KCB: The counter continued dominating the market with the volumes moving up. The price is up but still discounted. This is a good buy for the medium to long-term investors.

Safaricom: The mobile phone company has announced half year results, with profit before tax up a marginal 2.2%, which have generated interest on this counter.

Equity Bank: The counter remains a value stock owing to the current low price. With sound fundamentals, the counter is expected to continue drawing savvy investors, especially for sort-term gains as this has been a highly speculative stock.

Read more at Whive.com http://newwhive.whive.com/poll.php?user=KingBee&poll_id=46

Read more at Smartbizafrica.com http://www.smartbizafrica.com/financial.php