Like Chapaa

  • Interesting Kenyan Sites #11

    Posted: October 31, 2010, 11:29 am by Kelvin

    Stoundi – I had the good fortune to learn of this website from the developers themselves! It looks like it can be something amazing – for one thing, the technology behind it is very advanced (they use artificial intelligence technologies). Basically, this is an “answer engine” and the creators of the site say that they are building it to be able to give you answers to any question you could ever have (to do with local stuff). So, for example, if you wanted to know the Governor of Kiambu county, you would just ask Stoundi and it would return the answer. Nice eh? Good Kenyan technology!

    Simple Motion – if you look at it closely, this site will simple blow you away! It is a news aggregation site built by Kenyans for Kenya. And they use some of the most uniquely amazing technology. For instance, they are the first (and maybe only) company in the world to have videos embedded on maps! (The site is, however, not fully done yet.)

    50-50
    PesaPal – Have a look at this page. It seems that PesaPal has done little SEO, going by the fact that the site’s description in the search results is not optimized. I’m not bashing PesaPal, but why wouldn’t they do this? It takes a minute or so only…

    Flops
    The Office of the Prime Minister – You’d think the site would look as good as the PM’s spanking new offices, eh? Not so. While the design is okay, many links on the site seem not to work. And what are those squares on the home page? I’d expect better from a website of such a ‘large’ office.

    K24 – I do not know what the K24 site even looks like….because they’ve been hacked and cracked. Invest in security, people.

    K24 hacked (click to view larger)

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  • Apologies for Our Downtime

    Posted: October 31, 2010, 8:32 am by wham

    Poleni, readers. On Friday evening, for about two hours, www.likechapaa.com was not available. We were down.

    Why? We got an unexpected surge in visitors to this website and it crashed our servers and brought us down. While we’re excited to get so many visitors, we aren’t excited that our servers crashed. We’re investing in more and bigger servers. Thanks for understanding.Similar Posts:


  • Winner of ‘Scientific Advertising’

    Posted: October 30, 2010, 1:08 pm by wham

    We had a mini-competition the other day. So, here is the winner:

    Dear readers, thank you for participating. Please enjoy the book Naomie. Do let us know how you like it.

    If you are late and you want Scientific Advertising, you can get it by clicking here.

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  • 8 Ways to Impress Your Boss While Doing Less

    Posted: October 30, 2010, 8:26 am by Kelvin

    While we usually write about how to successfully grow your business, I know that a lot of people aren’t there yet. A lot of people are still working the 9-5, dreaming of being a Business Owner. While I worked for “the Man”, I still wanted to be “lazy” while being successful and get promoted. For the most part, these are some things that I did to be successful, while beginning on my road to being a Lazy Owner.

    1. Become Great Friends with Your Boss – While it doesn’t always seem fair, people naturally respond better to people that they like. If you establish a good relationship with your boss, they’re more likely to give you some leniency or provide a better review for you. Don’t brown nose – just treat them like an old friend.
    2. Know What Your Boss’ Boss Wants – In the end, you are only getting directions from your boss because they are getting directions from their boss. The sooner you understand what these are and what is motivating them, the sooner you can help meet those needs, and not worry about what you used to think was important.
    3. Focus on the Major Tasks – Once you know what your Boss’ Boss wants, focus on those tasks. Get them done right and get them down right away. Again, this is the most important stuff to your boss and they will look at you as being indispensable if you’re meeting their needs on time, all the time.
    4. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – Too often, I would see people worried about the smallest details that didn’t make any difference. Don’t miss the obvious stuff but don’t spend hours worrying about formatting, etc. Focus on the important things – that’s what your boss will remember.
    5. Send E-mails Before You Go To Work and After You Go Home – You don’t have to actually log on and do any work but it shows dedication to your boss when they see e-mails at 7AM and 11PM. Just save an e-mail or two that you want to send or respond to one that doesn’t take much time.
    6. Volunteer for Everything – Initially, this is counter-intuitive but it can eventually reduce the amount of work you do. I also think it’s one of the best ways to impress your boss – shows that you can handle the multiple responsibilities of someone at a level above you.
    7. Get a Personal Assistant – So this might not be feasible if you work in a government or financial industry and it could be frowned upon by some employers, but if there are any repetitive tasks you have that can be outsourced, take advantage of the opportunity to impress your boss.
    8. Know Something Better than Anyone - Don’t become the jack-of-all-trades. Make sure that you’re the resident expert on at least one subject area. You don’t have to keep up on multiple domains but you become indispensable to your boss.

    What do you think of these?

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  • Want a FREE Online Shop?

    Posted: October 29, 2010, 3:14 pm by wham

    The very first time that I got interested in making money online was around the time when I hit puberty. I was reading this magazine – sikumbuki jina – and there was this story of a woman with three kids who had quit her job to take care of her babies. Since she was home a lot, she started spending a lot of time on the Internet.

    One day, she discovered a nice little website where she could set up an online shop for free. At the time, she had nothing to sell online but the idea stuck with her. Weeks later, she started a little duka selling hand-made jewelery (she made it herself at home). According to the magazine article, in a few months her little duka was making her twice the amount of money she used to make at her old job.

    This story just spoke to me and I promised myself to one day make money online somehow. I later realized this dream through Like Chapaa and other online businesses that I am a part of.

    How about you? Have you ever wanted to make money online? have you managed to do it?

    Only you know the answers to that. Today, though, I am very pleased to announce our newest project! OurDuka.

    What is OurDuka?
    OurDuka is a site that enables you to start a simple online shop easily and for free.

    Why are we doing this? because of public demand. Since we launched DukaPress, we got quite a lot of people telling us they love it but also telling us they have no idea how to get started – few people understand how to download it, upload it on a server, bla bla… A lot of you just want to “get a shop” without worrying about the technical details. Well, now you can do just that, just signup at OurDuka and you’re good to go! All 100% for free.

    Do you have anything you think can sell online? Why don’t you get off your behind and try sell it? You have no excuses since we’re giving you a shop for free, ama?

    The site right now is still a bit crude but as we engage with you, we hope to make it better as we go along. Hop on, make money, be happy! Don’t worry if you get little things here and there that seem out of place, we’re fixing that.

    Why would you use OurDuka?

    1. You get a fully featured shop just like this one or this one or this one. Free.
    2. Our shop management software is used by over 3,473 people. Would that many people be wrong?
    3. You can very very easily accept money via PayPal, AlertPay, or even MPESA. We don’t charge any commissions.
    4. We are known for providing top-notch support so you will never ever be stranded.
    5. We will love you forever! Seriously.

    How do we make money?
    We feel that before we even try to make money from this project, we need to make sure that you make money from it. Therefore, right now, this thing is free. Completely. We’ll be experimenting with how to make money using this in the future (when we have 1,000 users, if we ever do :p).

    So, well, the ball is in your court. If you ever wanted an online shop, now you can get one that is very powerful and easy to use, and free. Visit OurDuka and sign up ASAP.

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  • Business Idea Generation in 5 Easy Steps

    Posted: October 29, 2010, 10:37 am by tranx

    I read something interesting from Ramit Sethi:

    The myth of the Perfect Idea takes two seemingly opposite forms.

    1. “Waaaah, I hate being broke, but I have no skills or ideas for making more money!” “My boss is such a @$#@* but there’s nothing else I can do.”
    2. “But I have a MILLION good ideas! Just don’t know where to start… website? iPhone apps (even though I don’t code)? Guitar lessons? Personal chef?”

    Your idea is a lot less important than you think it is, and here’s why.

    Your ideas are worthless.

    The true value of your idea comes to life when you execute.

    Have you ever heard anyone say “Man, if only I had been the one to come up with that Google idea… I’d be one of those billionaire guys by now!” Uh. Think again. Your idea is just meaningless thoughts until you can bring it to life with impeccable execution.

    Likewise, even a highly IMPERFECT idea can yield profitable and satisfying results with great execution.

    Read more about how to generate ideas in 5 easy steps.

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  • Scientific Advertising (Free Book Inside)

    Posted: October 28, 2010, 11:46 am by Kelvin

    The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science. It is based on fixed principles and is reasonably exact. The causes and effects have been analyzed until they are well understood. The correct method of procedure have been proved and established. We know what is most effective, and we act on basic laws. – Claude Hopkins

    Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins is a timeless classic written many years ago but a book whose powerful principles still ring true to this day.

    It contains 21 chapters of timeless strategies you don’t want to ignore in your advertising and marketing efforts.

    In fact, David Ogilvy once said: “Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times.”

    If you are an entrepreneur, I highly recommend that your read this book, it will teach you timeless concepts behind advertising and marketing.

    You know what? We’re giving away free copies of the books. Just leave a comment below and we’ll pick winners in three days. Your comment can be about absolutely anything, but it would help if you added to the conversation. Good luck.

    This book is also available at the Chapaa Shop.

    How do you do your business advertising?

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  • Getting a mortgage as a freelancer

    Posted: October 28, 2010, 8:18 am by Crystal

    When I first started writing for money, I had big dreams. I figured if I could earn Ksh 300,000 a month, I could easily get a mortgage. I’d pay Ksh 100,000 a month and own my dream house in under 10 years. It seemed really viable. But everyone I told about my plans either raised an eye-brow or pulled a face-palm. One guy actually laughed out loud – and no, I’m not referring to text abbreviations.

    I didn’t know why people reacted that way until I walked into a bank and read a mortgage leaflet. They have an awful lot of requirements, and they’re tailored more to salaried workers. I figured it’s easier to save up ten million and buy the house in cash. But by the time I save ten million, my house will cost much more than that.

    I was talking to a business mentor, and he gave me a three-step plan on how to buy my dream house in five years. It might even work too.

    1. Identify the house you want to buy, and find out how much it costs. I found this awesome penthouse in my neighbourhood for 7.5 million. I’m sure it’s gone by now, but I’m setting the bar at 10, which seems okay.
    2. Find a bank that has good mortgage rates and open an account there. I have accounts in three different banks. One account is just for my credit card, and the other is a non-ATM junior account, so I guess I just have one option. Their rates are rather scary.
    3. Create a relationship with the bank. When he said that, I freaked out. I can’t imagine a bank manager taking me seriously while I’m in jeans and purple hair. But he explained that I need to be known by the databank, not the management. My records need to show that I’m a good loan prospect. For that to happen, I need to deposit money in the bank regularly. A client who puts in Ksh 20,000 every month is more reliable than one who banks a million once a year. The 20K guy is more likely to get credit, and therefore, a mortgage.

    As a freelancer, you get some payments in cash, or cheque, or even Mpesa. Organize your finances so that you bank a set amount every month, on roughly the same date. To the bank, this is almost a salary, and will go a long way in deciding if they’ll give you a loan or not. Does this theory work? Ask me in five years…

    Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.Similar Posts:


  • My last word on Paypal in Kenya … for now

    Posted: October 27, 2010, 8:13 am by Crystal

    If someone had a dollar [or a sock] for every time I use this word, they could buy me a pizza. Actually, they could buy me a lot of pizzas. We mention Paypal a lot on this site, but Like Chapaa has specifically dealt with Paypal here, here, here, and here. And since most people don’t like to click on word links, I’ll break down a little. As you read the posts, look at the comments as well, they add a lot to the discussion. Sometimes, they give more information than the article itself.

    1. How to use Paypal in Kenya – getting a KCB card
    2. How to use Paypal in Kenya – drama with my KCB card
    3. We can now receive Paypal funds in Kenya – but we still can’t withdraw
    4. Paypal Kenya is advertising – which is a good sign, yes?

    This morning, I received a GAF refund on Paypal, and to gain access to this money, I’m transferring it to a friend’s account in UK. Basically, I will move the funds from my Paypal account to his Paypal account. He will then withdraw the money and send it to me via Mpesa or Western Union, which is ridiculous really, but it’s the only way I can get the money.

    This needs a little background. I get writing projects through GAF and Elance. Elance allows me to wire funds directly into my bank account, which takes five days, and costs about Ksh 200. GAF allows me to access money either through my Payoneer card or my Moneybookers account. Moneybookers wires the money directly to my bank, which also takes 5 days, and costs about the same as Elance transfers. Moneybookers accounts can be opened instantly by simply going to their website. There’s no charge to run the account, as long as you transact at least once in 18 months. Idle accounts cost $1.50 per month.

    To get a Payoneer card you need to be registered with an affiliate site like GAF, and fit the affiliates requirements. For GAF, you must have earned at leats $30 to apply. GAF has jobs for writers, artists, IT people, architects – pretty much anyone can join, and it’s free unless you want a premium account at $24.95 per month. Totally worth it by the way.

    Payoneer applications don’t recognize P.O.Box addresses, so you need to apply using your physical address, then as soon as your card is approved, you email them and ask them to change the shipping address to your P.O.Box number. There’s a charge of $9.95 to change the shipping address, and I received my card within a month. I can now use it at any local ATM that accepts Mastercard, and so far, I have made a withdrawal at a Barclays ATM. The ATM charge is about $2.

    GAF only issues money on Mondays/Tuesdays, depending on your time zone, and to get money on Tuesday, you have to make a request by Sunday. Once GAF issues me the money, I can load my Payoneer card and withdraw it at any Mastercard ATM in Kenya or elsewhere.

    Some clients prefer to pay through Paypal. I attached my Payoneer card to my Paypal account, thinking I could access Paypal funds that way, but it’s not allowed. I then transferred my Paypal funds to my GAF account, thinking I could withdraw from there, but GAF blocked the transaction. It’s against their policy to perform money exchanges, and they showed me where to find that on their FAQ. The back-and-forth process took two weeks.

    So now, finally, I’ve decided not to load funds onto my Paypal. If a client insists on paying me that way, I’ll just put it down as spending money. I can use it on Paypal-compliant sites to buy stuff, but there’s still shipping costs to consider. Sadly, I can’t use it on Amazon, because it doesn’t give me  Paypal option. It prefers to go straight to my credit card. *groan*

    James mentioned in the comments that it’s possible to get a virtual US account using my Payoneer card, so I asked Support about that. They said it’s a service dished out to selected customers on an invite-only basis, and reiterated that I need to fulfill some requirements, like having three loads on my card. So far, I have one load and one refund. Still, I wrote to feedback@payoneer.com for details, and I’m still waiting on a  response.

    According to James, the virtual account would allow me to withdraw Paypal funds to the virtual US. These funds would then revert to my Payoneer card automaticaly, ready for withdrawal in Kenya. We have also heard rumours in the comments section that Equity is working with Paypal. I already have two bank accounts and a KCB credit card. I’m not sure I need more banks, but Paypal access is a pretty good reason to be a member.

    Until that happens, my Paypal account is purely for decoration. I suppose I could use it as a savings account, since I technically can’t spend anything that’s in there – unless I spend it online. Hellooooo Kalahari! It accepts Paypal, right?

    Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.Similar Posts:


  • TwentyShop – A Free WordPress Theme

    Posted: October 26, 2010, 10:06 pm by Kelvin

    TwentyShop - a free WordPress e-commerce theme for DukaPress

    Dear readers, we’re pleased to announce that sometime last week wee released TwentyShop which is a free WordPress theme for your DukaPress powered online shop. With TwentyShop, we aim to start to demonstrate what you can do with DukaPress. It is the first of many!

    Click here to view a Live Demo
    Download it by clicking here.

    Please leave any feedback or queries in the comments below.

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  • Identifying a Good Business Idea

    Posted: October 26, 2010, 3:21 pm by Kelvin

    There are several ways of finding business ideas; I will highlight a few in this article. My favourite source of business ideas is to start a business that addresses the frustrations of the customers. If you notice that so many people are getting frustrated by something then you could be on to a great business idea, provided you can alleviate the frustration and make some money from your solution.

    Next time you hear people complain about something, ask yourself if you can provide a solution to that challenge. I recall the time when Celtel was the only mobile phone operator in Uganda; a person needed close to a million shillings to own a mobile phone and had to pay for calling credit through the nose. That is when MTN came into the picture to ‘help’ the frustrated Celtel clients; MTN offered affordable handsets and cheaper calling rates and customers flocked them.

    Another source for business idea is something you love or are passionate about. My wife loves to shop for clothing and shoes and I am happy about it, here is why. My wife figured out that she could shop for other people and they pay for her effort that gave birth to her outfit business. I met another woman who transformed her love for health and fitness into a personal fitness business. So do you have a hobby that could give rise to a business idea?

    You could also turn an old idea into a money spinner. A successful business idea does not have to be brand new. You could tweak an old or existing idea and rake in the cash. Have you noticed that up to the 1980s students going to boarding schools would go with packs of ground nuts, maize corn and sugar? Then some folks said wait a minute how about if we offer a five litre pack of juice, biscuits and crisps to students? In your case how about if you opened a meat shop that can keep away flies?

    The last idea tip is hanging on to the tail of another successful business. Of late many soda drinkers have been raving about mountain dew, a Pepsi Cola brand. If you run a restaurant or grocery, stocking mountain dew is a good idea to pick up. I have seen several businesses hanging onto the tails of a successful telecommunication or paint companies and you can also join in.
    - James Abola on The Daily Monitor

    What do you think of Mr Abola’s approach?Similar Posts:


  • The best business advice I’ve received is …

    Posted: October 25, 2010, 1:53 am by Crystal

    I’ve been having a particularly rough month, both in business and my personal life. The ones close to me are in need of therapy – mainly because they are responsible for my therapy. They have seen me rant and scream and whine so much that I honestly think they should seek professional help … and detox. I am eternally grateful for having them in my life.

    My dear ones have told me the same thing in many different ways. I’ve been told to stop beating myself up, to be patient, to focus on my successes. They’ve told me how well I’m doing and how proud they are of me. They are surprised I’m not as satisfied with myself . But yesterday I heard words from a mentor that expressed the thought more clearly than ever before. He said four words:

    Be kind to yourself.

    I’d never thought of that before. The world is full of talk about kharma and being good to others, and even Dr Phil says you should treat yourself the way you want others to treat you. But for me, the lesson I need to learn is to treat myself the way I treat my friends. I’m constantly worried about keeping them happy, making them smile, trying not to offend anyone. I’ve been described as ruthlessly blunt, but even then, my words are measured. The people who think I’m brutally honest … well … they’d probably die if they heard my thoughts unfiltered.

    I was talking to friend once, and he asked me what I think of his writing. I tried to be gentle and diplomatic … without lying of course … but he asked me to stop protecting him and be frank about it. I refused the first and second time, but when he insisted, I spoke softly for maybe 20 seconds. He stood frozen for a minute. Then he walked away and didn’t talk to me for four days, after which he called to say I was right, and didn’t write again for a month. Never mind that everyone else loves his work and begged him to resume. He did, eventually, and I still read his stuff, but he knows not to ask for my opinion.

    As harsh as I am on others, I’m ten times harsher on myself, which is why I’m bored and depressed. I expect a whole lot more than I’m doing, and it’s almost impossible to measure up.

    This morning, I read this beautiful article by Steve Errey. He says the reason people are unsuccessful is because they start a business for the wrong reasons, and have the wrong measures of success. That’s why when they achieve the results they wanted, they feel hollow and empty. This surprises them, a lot. They got what they were working for, so they don’t understand why they’re upset. And that’s how I feel right now. I have everything I wanted, but I still feel unfulfilled.

    In the article, Steve lists the main reasons why people start freelancing, and he explains why they’re the wrong reasons:

    • To blow other people away with what you’ve built
    • To earn yourself some great money
    • To impress your peers
    • To bring about a better lifestyle
    • To be your own boss
    • To work on your own terms
    • To feel successful; to feel like you’ve “made it”
    • To finish it, because you already decided to build it
    • To take vacation time when you want
    • To be respected by your peers, mentors, family and friends

    Steve says these reasons are wrong. That’s why after you succeed and tick every one of them off, you still feel things aren’t okay, and you wonder why. I sometimes look at successful people, and I wonder whether deep down, they feel as hollow as I do. I haven’t heard anyone complain, so either they hide it really well, or no one else feels like this, so there must be something wrong with me.

    Steve says the only reason to start a business is that you love it. That way, every day you do it, you’re a success. I know that I love writing, so perhaps the easiest way to start feeling whole is to focus on that. I should stop thinking about how much more I want to earn, or how trying my daily grind is. I should instead focus on knowing that I’m writing, and loving it, and that oh, somebody’s actually paying me to do it.

    By the end of October, I will have made Ksh 486,705 freelancing. My expenses were Ksh 30,255, and that’s not counting rent and electricity, because I mostly work from home. None of that sits in my bank.

    Some of that money comes directly from Elance and GAF, some comes from offline clients who give and receive instruction [and completed projects] via email, some comes from people who see my pro-bono blogs and hire me for paid work. 2% comes from clients referred by friends and family, but the bulk of my income has been generated by the online profile I unconsciously started building in October 2007. It was on blogger, had a green banner, and its url was www.ballsofcrystal.blogspot.com. Don’t bother clicking, I deleted all evidence online. Well, almost all *cheeky grin*

    I keep detailed records of how much I earn, when, where, and how, but this is the first time I’ve totalled everything up, and I’m blown away. But I realise the warm feeling I have inside is not because of the amount I’ve made. Well … okay … maybe it is a little because of the amount I’ve made.

    I haven’t felt the imapct of these earnings, because I haven’t mastered the art of cash flow management. Some of those clients took as much as 3 months to pay up, so I ended up accruing debts and by the time the cheque came through, it went straight into other people’s pockets – and it still does. The only treats I’ve given myself are a vacuum cleaner, an almost orange two-seater sofa, a yellow carpet, a three-month gym subscription, and a perm for my baby girl. Oh, I also went to Pizza Inn at 9.00 a.m. one Tuesday. I was the first customer, and I bought two Hawaiian King Size pizzas, came home, locked myself in my house, and ate them all by myself. *Happy sigh* The rest of the money went on food, fees, bills, and debts. So no, I don’t feel wealthy.

    My friend’s advice is to be kind to myself, to look at myself as others do, and to feel my jaw drop as I realise that I’ve made close to half a mill, and that I’ve mostly done it while sitting in my house wearing pyjamas. Steve Errey wrote another article on LIfehacker, listing 63 ways to gain self confidence. Number 7 stood out for me. It says:

    Look at a great win or success you’ve experienced and give yourself credit for your part in it.  Recognising your achievements is not egotistical, it’s healthy.

    Half a million in 10 months is not bad for a girl who discovered email in December 2000 and is still the reigning queen of technobofia. If I can do it, you can do it too. Just remember the words of Steve Errey – do it for the right reasons, or at the end of the day, you won’t feel good at all.

    Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.

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  • Reflections with Safaricom’s (former) CEO, Michael Joseph

    Posted: October 25, 2010, 8:37 pm by Kelvin

    This is a video taken by Moses Kemibaro at the iHub, nairobi on October 20, 2010.

    This is a video I took on Wednesday the 20th October 2010 which was Shujaa Day (formerly Kenyatta Day) in Kenya at the iHub, Nairobi. Reflections with Safaricom’s Michael Joseph (MJ) was a 1 to 2 hour long session whereby a select group of invitees got a chance to ask Michael Joseph questions on his wildly successful and “peculiar” decade at the helm of Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile network. The video has breaks here and there but its more or less everything he spoke about. I hope you enjoy hearing MJ’s words of wisdom as much as I did. – Moses Kemibaro

    Watch the video:

    Click here to view the embedded video.

    Legendary, eh? What do you think of the man, and the Safaricom that he built?

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  • PayPal Investing in Kenya

    Posted: October 25, 2010, 4:02 pm by tranx

    While idly browsing the net, I noticed something very, very interesting today:

    A Google Adsense Advert by PayPal Kenya

    That is an advert done by PayPal to market their “PayPal Kenya” website offering PayPal services to Kenya. This means that:

    1. PayPal is actually putting money into marketing its offering to Kenyans
    2. PayPal would not be investing money if they had no long-term interests in Kenya. This may mean that the PayPal service will improve to the point of us being able to withdraw from PayPal to Kenyan bank accounts.
    3. Local online money services such as PesaPal should start thinking of how they will compete with the 800 pound gorilla that is PayPal.
    4. We live in interesting times!

    What do you make of this?

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  • Announcing Some Winners

    Posted: October 25, 2010, 7:36 am by wham

    Well, we had yet another mini competition the other day. Today, we’re announcing the people who won themselves a copy of “Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days“. They are:

    That’s how easy it is to be a winner over here, stay tuned for more and better competitions.

    Incase you want this book, we’re sorry your only ope is Amazon or a bookshop near you.

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  • Interesting Kenyan Sites #10

    Posted: October 24, 2010, 11:17 pm by Kelvin


    Pata Jibu – this is an interesting looking Kenyan Q&A site. The design looks sharp and smart. Good job, I wish them success. They just need to market the site a little more and they could make it. Maybe.

    DealFish – there are so many directory-type sites in the Kenyan space. And so many of them are so poorly designed. DealFish is not among those, it is extremely good looking and functional if you ask me. Real Kenyan quality, for a change. I just hope that they get the success they deserve…

    50-50
    KenyaSource.net – I don’t know, I don’t like the design. And it is yet another site in what is becoming a crowded space (directory-type sites). Despite not liking the design (which may be down to personal taste), I think the site is well made and it works. Their success will depend on how well they execute their business plan. Good luck, and kudos.

    Flops
    The Kenya Revenue Authority – There is no doubt that the KRA site is changing Kenya. I applaud them for bringing essential Goverment services online. I especially appreciate the online PIN and VAT services. Kudos KRA, you are doing exactly what Kenya needs! However, you can easily do it better. The KRA site is not particularly well designed, there is little in the way of usability design and your service is just “down” way too often. When you offer some services “online only”, you need to make sure the site is always up and working. I believe the KRA has the resources to do this the right way and that is why I am listing them as a “Flop” even though they’ve done so well.

    Here’s a typical complaint against the KRA: I just hate it that if you were to visit their offices at Times Tower you’d be told that everything is accessible online while it’s like a puzzle to navigate the site!

    Please act on this and improve, dear KRA.

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  • Founders at Work (Free Book Inside)

    Posted: October 22, 2010, 11:30 am by wham

    If you are interested in entrepreneurship, innovation or you are just fascinated by the special chemistry and drive that created some of the best technology companies in the world, this book offers both wisdom and engaging insights—straight from the source.

    Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company.

    Where did they get the ideas that made them rich? How did they convince investors to back them? What went wrong, and how did they recover?

    Nearly all technical people have thought of one day starting or working for a startup. For them, this book is the closest you can come to being a fly on the wall at a successful startup, to learn how it’s done.

    But ultimately these interviews are required reading for anyone who wants to understand business, because startups are business reduced to its essence. The reason their founders become rich is that startups do what businessesdo—create value—more intensively than almost any other part of the economy. How? What are the secrets that make successful startups so insanely productive? Read this book, and let the founders themselves tell you. – Amazon

    This is an absolute must read if you’re job, your passion, or both (if you’re lucky) has anything to do with creating technical innovation. “Founders at Work” is a wonderful meander through the stories of successful company founders – across several decades. Far from focusing on just those who made it big during the first dot-com boom or those who are profiting from Web 2.0, Jessica (the author) also includes some of the true pioneers in the field. She recognizes that, not only do these industry veterans have valuable stories to convey but, since many of them are helping to steer companies and venture capital funds to this day, their advice is quite topical and current.

    You want to buy this book, trust me. Head over to Amazon.com to get it from about $5 (plus shipping). It is sadly not available (and probably will never be available) in our Chapaa Shop.

    Alternatively, dear readers, you can get a copy of this book free from us. We recently gave away 4 copies of “The Richest Man in Babylon” and, today, we’re giving away a copy (or copies) of Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days. Interested?

    All you have to do is leave a comment below. You can say anything at all (but it helps if you add constructively to the discussion). We’ll pick a winner randomly in three days. Good luck!

    Update 25/10/2010: This competition is over and the winners have been picked.

    Have you ever started your own business? Why not? What was it like?

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  • When Your Business Fails, Repeatedly

    Posted: October 22, 2010, 8:55 am by Kelvin

    I was reading a very, very interesting article on Hacker News on what to do when your new business just fails, and fails, and fails again. The initiator of the article is an entrepreneur whose products have not fared well. Below is a select few responses that he got. Business wisdom:

    You seem to have been terribly misled. Only very rarely do products sell themselves. 99% of the time, the product is largely incidental to the sales process. Your idea doesn’t matter one jot, what matters is how well you can connect to customers and really sell to them.

    Let me tell you about a fine English gentleman by the name of Joe Ades, now sadly no longer with us. Joe wore Savile Row suits and lived in a three-bedroomed apartment on Park Avenue. He spent most nights at the Café Pierre with his wife, sharing a bottle of his usual – Veuve Clicquot champagne. You might assume that Joe was a banker or an executive, but in fact Joe sold potato peelers on the street for $5 each, four for $20.

    I urge you, I implore you, I beg you, stop what you’re doing and watch Joe in action:

    That is what business looks like. Sometimes, once in a million, you luck upon a product so amazing the world beats a path to your door. For most of us, the best we can hope for is to be some chump with a thousand boxes of vegetable peelers. Anybody can sit out on the street with a box of peelers, but Joe sold them. Joe made his peelers sing, he made them seem like magic. He took a humble piece of stamped metal and created theatre. He did something so simple and strange and wonderful that people would buy a fistful of his peelers, just so they could tell their friends about this little Englishman they saw in Union Square.

    Look at the Fortune 500, tell me what you see. I see grocery stores, drugstores, oil companies, banks, a funny little concern that sells sugar water. I see a whole lot of hard work and very few great ideas.

    Forget about striking it big with a great idea, it’s just as childish and naïve as imagining that the tape you’re recording in your garage is going to make you a rockstar. Get out there and talk to customers. Find out what they need, what annoys them, what excites them. Build the roughest, ugliest piece of crap that you can possibly call a product. If you’re not ashamed of it, you’ve spent too long on it. Try and sell it. Some people will say “I’m not buying that piece of crap, it doesn’t even do X”. If X isn’t stupid, implement X. Some people, bizarrely, will say “yes, I will buy your piece of crap”. It is then and only then that you are actually developing a product. Until you’ve got a customer, it’s just an expensive hobby. Paying customer number one is what makes it a product.

    “Honestly, there are 2 types of folks who make it: the lucky ones, and the persistent ones. Its hard as hell (and heck I haven’t beaten it yet) but you have to ignore the burnout and be one of the persistent ones”

    “Why are you paying so much attention to your “launch day”? It’s an entrepreneurial myth that there is a mighty “launch” that sets the tone of your business. When was Twitter “launched”? When was Carbonmade “launched”? When was Balsamiq “launched”? Or SquareSpace, MailChimp, or Fog Creek? Sure, they “launched”, but who cared?

    You are building a business. It does not spring from your forehead like Athena, or get pooped out of your pet Nibbler like Dark Matter on Futurama. Listen to what everyone else here has to say. Sure, pick something with favorable long-tail SEO dynamics. Sure, pick something with a viral loop. Sure, build yourself a tribe.

    But then, for god’s sake, pick something you can stick with, nurture, protect, and grow over the long run. That thing you don’t have, that keep calling “a fucking great idea”? Most of us call it “a winning lottery ticket”. Stop thinking about playing the lottery. Get back to work.”

    “Hang in there man.

    What’s touched upon in various ways in all the comments is that “PR” and “Media Coverage” is not the end all be all. In fact the successfully software startups I know STILL email individual potential customers on a daily basis.

    I think one of the great myths of the internet is that you should just create a product, throw it up on the internet with some SEO and AdWords and the customers will come. Sure it might work for a few people, but by and large you are still growing a business. And you often grow a business one person at a time, hopefully later you can learn to scale sales.

    Often what is missing from people’s MVP’s and business plans is how are you going to very specifically market to your target customers, and what the cost of customer acquisition is. If you can’t identify a way to find your target customer, you’re going to have a problem. Again, I don’t think general SEO and SEM is going to work.

    Don’t give up on your idea, start emailing people. 50, 100 people a day. Convert them one at a time. If your business idea is not specifically just some sexy piece of technology, direct mail may work too (if you don’t also have to educate people on why they need your product.)

    Journalist want to write about what’s hot, not about what is a potentially decent idea in a decent market. They want to talk about iphones, ipads, and facebook, and the latest jargon.

    Anyways, start finding your target customers and email them. Don’t worry about email campaign tools and crazy stuff, just starting email or calling them one at a time. Building a web based software business doesn’t mean you can just skip sales.”

    I would say this is some of the best advice that can be given to new entrepreneurs. You can read the rest of the article here.

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  • Preparing for the Coming Property Boom

    Posted: October 21, 2010, 7:26 pm by Kelvin

    On 14th November, the League of Young Professionals will host Dr. Laila Macharia, the chairperson of Kenya Private Developer’s Association. She will talk on “Preparing for the Coming Property Boom“.

    Dr. Laila Macharia 39, is principal of Scion Real, a Nairobi-based advisory and investment firm focused on real estate and infrastructure. In addition to her rich background in investment services, Dr. Macharia has wide experience managing international projects and transactions including at the New York office of Clifford Chance, a leading global law firm, and at Kaplan & Stratton in Nairobi.

    She also has a strong track record leading constructive change in the private and public sectors. At USAID’s regional mission in East Africa, for instance, she led an effort to restructure, regionalize and regulate the freight industry along the Northern Corridor.

    She is currently the Chairman of the Kenya Private Developers Association, a Trustee and Former Chairman of the Lollipop Project, the Vice Chairman of the Republican Club of Kenya and a director of several private companies.

    Laila Macharia is a corporate finance lawyer admitted to practice in Kenya as well as in New York and Maryland. She holds a BA in Planning from the University of Oregon and several law degrees, including a doctorate in law from Stanford University. Dr. Macharia teaches executive education at Strathmore Business School and contributes regularly to the Business Daily newspaper as a columnist.

    She is also among the six Kenyans who have been named Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI) Fellows class 2010.

    The talk will be at the Marble Arch Hotel in Nairobi on 14 November 2010 starting at 6 p.m. Entry is free but please carry Kshs 250/- to cater for ‘refreshments’.

    Kindly plan to attend. It’s a talk you can’t afford to miss. The Like Chapaa team will be there, we hope to see you!

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  • How To Increase Your Site’s Visitors by 60%

    Posted: October 21, 2010, 11:13 am by wham

    Over the last two months or so, the number of people who visit Like Chapaa per day has increased by roughly 60%. This increase has resulted in more business for us and we are, naturally, incredibly happy at the fruits of our labor. Today, I wanted to share the things we did to make this increase a reality. (We hope that it is the things listed here that the actually resulted in our site-visitor surge but it may well have been caused by factors beyond our control).

    How we increased our site’s visitor numbers
    1. We invested in social media
    We built a Twitter Application and a Facebook Application. This has resulted in increased numbers of people from those social networks coming to Like Chapaa. See, normally, people wanting to grow in social media just create quick profiles in Facebook and Twitter and start getting friends, etc. We realised we did not have that kind of time so we chose to build applications so as to automate things a little bit (everyone should do this!). This resulted in us being able to do some really cool things: for example, you can leave comments on this site using your Twitter/Facebook profile, among other things.

    Twitter and Facebook combined now send us about 30% of the visitors to this website.

    2. Continuous SEO
    Our strong point, of course, is search engine optimisation and making sure everything that we do earns us favorably as far as SEO goes is a priority.

    I must say we have done pretty well as far as this goes. For example, when you search for “make money in Kenya“, our website dominates the Google search results pages. Search engines, and Google in particular, send us 60+% of all the people who view our site.

    If you are looking to grow your site, please do not forget Google. Social media may be sexy but you just cannot afford to ignore Google!

    3. Uniqueness/Creativity
    I do not know how to fully explain this. It seems that the Internet “rewards” you for uniqueness and creativity. Like Chapaa is, strictly speaking, a blog. You would not expect us to create or be involved in projects such as DukaPress, yet we are. The “side projects” have earned us both money, and countless new visitors to our websites. Two examples:

    1. Our involvement in DukaPress has “side-effects” that just never cease to amaze. We get hundreds of people who come to use by searching for “DukaPress” on Google or directly from DukaPress.org
    2. Also of note is Biashara30. For a project that has largely failed, there are still lots of people who first come to Like Chapaa looking for information regarding Biashara30.

    4. Getting Like Chapaa on other websites
    Well, perhaps surprisingly, Like Chapaa is now listed at both Mashada and KenyaMoja. It seems that these two sites get quite a lot of traffic because they send us quite a lot of visitors. We were only recently listed on Mashada and that resulted in a visible bump in the number of people who come to Like Chapaa. Like Chapaa has also found its way onto Wazua, Kenya Unlimited, several Kenyan blogs and other smaller sites. The traffic that these nice websites send to us is significant!

    I would not say that this is our doing because we did not ask anyone to include Like Chapaa on their sites. I would put it down to “if you create good and useful content, people will notice you”.

    5. Email Marketing
    Perhaps not many know this: Like Chapaa has a self-grown email marketing list of about 800 people. We do not send newsletters out often but all the articles published by Like Chapaa end up in the inboxes of our subscribers. Most of them always click back to Like Chapaa. This is a steady and stable source of website visitors for us.

    Conclusion
    The story of how we have grown Like Chapaa should inspire you. We have never ever spent any money to market this website and we started very quiety and, for months, got about seven visitors a day. But we persevered and, now, it is almost on autopilot – we just grow bigger. I put most of it down to luck and good fortune but here are some tips that may help you:

    1. The number one priority for your website should be your site’s content. Invest all your resources in this. It is what will distinguish you and win over your first few visitors. Always remember this: people already have favorite websites and things like Facebook which eat up their time – they do not want to visit your site unless you compel them to do so. Only your content can do this. Amazing content will make your site memorable and will make people want to talk about you, even include your site’s stuff on their sites. Do not mess this up.
    2. Social media is tricky. You typically need to invest a lot of time into it for it to pay off. However, we have proven it to be that you do not have to follow the grain (what others are doing) for it to work. My advice would be for you to pick your own social media strategy that will work to your strengths instead of just slapping on Twitter and Facebook like everyone else does. Also, 99% of Kenyan social media “gurus” are crap and are learning, just like you. Be hesitant to hire anyone.
    3. Search engine optimisation is easy if you know what you are doing and need not be expensive. But it is a very slow and gradual process. Do invest into it, heavily. It will pay off eventually.
    4. They say email is dying. We say that email is still the first place that Kenyans go online. If you can get your stuff inside people’s inboxes, you win.
    5. Lastly, keep in mind that there are billions of websites today. many of these websites are absolutely amazing. Therefore, the competition for website visitors is the stiffest kind of competition that has ever been known. It may not be enough to just create good content. You have to be creative and unique – do not just do what everyone else is doing; make your own mark on this Internet; think outside the box.

    Good luck with building your site.

    PS, Incase you do not know, you can hire us if you want help to grow your website.

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  • Winners of ‘The Richest Man in Babylon’

    Posted: October 21, 2010, 10:31 am by tranx

    Well, we had a mini-competition the other day. We decided to give the book to everyone who participated. Cool, he? maybe next time pia wewe utapata kitu just for participating!

    So here are the winners, in no particular order:

    Guys, thank you for participating. Please enjoy the book. Do let us know how you like it.

    If you are late and you want The Richest Man in Babylon, you can get it by clicking here.

    We’re aiming to have competitions like this regularly on Like Chapaa, please stay tuned. What kind of prizes would you like? Leave a comment below to tell us.

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  • How To Operate Your Business

    Posted: October 19, 2010, 8:17 pm by wham

    Many business owners are very focused on their business and its profitability, but most of the time when failures happen, they begin to wonder what they did wrong. They cannot figure what it is, especially if they have the impression they did every possible thing to succeed.

    The explanation is simple and obvious. It is called planning, a process on which every business should be based. Lazy business owners simply forget to sit down and make a plan for at least a week in which they should write all the steps to be taken in their business development.

    Here are some suggestions to be taken into consideration if you want to plan your business efficiently.

    First, if you have an idea to grow your business, do not hurry to put it into practice as it is. The chances to fail are quite big. So, write down your idea and try to change it into a SMART goal. If you have several ideas, it helps to take a dashboard for each of them.

    Think at an objective that is achievable on a short term because it is easier to accomplish. Establish all the steps you have to make in order to achieve it. If there too many parts to take into consideration, break the large tasks into smaller ones and set clear tine frames.

    Pay attention to the information seeking part – it is better to delegate and request your employees to look for valuable information such as: customers, suppliers, competitors. You may also consult experts for technical advice.

    It is also very important to do some monitoring. Once you get a feedback, revise your plan and adapt it to the new situations. This is the right way to performance.

    Another advice is to do some assessing before setting a specific goal to see from the beginning if you have the necessary resources to achieve it. See if you have the right premises: for instance, if you want to expand your production line or modernize your equipment, you have to see if there is enough space or enough money to do these changes.

    If you are dealing with customer service systems, maybe a more sophisticated system will help you business be more profitable. If you have a strong financial support, maybe outsourcing will make things easier for you and you will have the possibility to concentrate on other parts of your business.

    See what facilities you have in your company to achieve your goal as it is easier than starting from scratch.

    Do not forget to take into consideration your most valuable resource you can rely on – your staff. See if you have the right people to achieve your objectives, if they know what is expected of them. Delegate tasks according to the skills they have, ensuring this way the job is done accurately.

    After you have studied carefully all these issues, all you have to do is to set a clear goal, plan each step as we taught you to achieving and you will surely be successful. Bear in mind that it is extremely important to assess the results of your efforts, especially from a financial point of view.

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  • The Richest Man in Babylon (Free Book Inside)

    Posted: October 18, 2010, 12:06 pm by wham

    The Richest Man in Babylon is the kind of book that I would give/recommend to anyone regardless if their interest is outside of business/finance. Since finance can seem daunting these days due to its complexity, the book simplifies it through short stories. The insights that it provides allows me to step back and look at finance in simple terms. It opened up my eyes by introducing new possibilities, and adds positive reinforcements as to what a person can achieve in her lifetime. The wisdom that the book teaches is financially enlightening and it can change how you view your finance in many ways. Although the messages are delivered in a very unique fashion, the underlying nuggets of wisdom are direct and concisely to the point.

    Clason, the book’s author, uses parables set in Babylon to make his points throughout the book. One chapter does a really great job of encompassing several financial points, The Five Laws of Gold. Each of the five laws are very simple and if used can work wonders in building your wealth.

    The Five Laws of Gold

    1. Gold comes gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put aside 10% of all he earns to build an estate for his family and future.
    2. Gold labours diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds it profitable employment.
    3. Gold clings to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.
    4. Gold slips away from the man who invests it in businesses that he is not familiar or is not approved by those skilled in its keep.
    5. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who follows the advice of tricksters or schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.

    The concepts in the book may be a refresher to individuals who already has a solid grasp of their finance, but nonetheless, it solidifies what you already know in many ways. This is a book that I can refer back to time and time again. If you apply some of the concepts that are presented in this book to your life, you will definitely be on your way to financial freedom. If I can sum up the book in one word, it would be “refreshing.” I recommend this book to everyone regardless of your interest or age. Read, apply, then repeat.

    Do You Want A Copy Of This Book?
    We’re giving away a copy of The Richest Man in Babylon to one of you, dear readers. What do you need to do? Just leave a comment below – anything goes (but it would help if you added to the discussion in some way). We’ll choose a winner randomly in three days. Good luck!

    Update 21/10/2010: This competition is over. Here are the winners. For those who missed you can get the book here.

    What do you think of the book? How do you manage your money? Need help?

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  • Interesting Kenyan Sites #9

    Posted: October 18, 2010, 2:32 am by Kelvin

    Zynde – I must say this is a very well executed site. The design looks sharp and it just seems to “work” (unlike many things Kenyan). The site works a lot like Mint.com in that it helps you manage your money better (but is very local, with the inclusion of things like NHIF, etc). Give it a try

    Mukuru.com – nice site name! To me, this site is impressive. Not only is it offering a service that is very much in need but it is also pretty well designed and it inspires confidence. The site allows you to quickly and easily send money to Kenyan mobile phones. Nice, eh? Why would you need Western Union? Kudos to whoever is behind mukuru.com!

    NHIF – while I personally do not really like the design of the NHIF website, I know that this may be due to my own personal taste. I think the site is pretty good, though – it presents the NHIF as an organisation I would want to deal with. One of the very few Kenyan government related sites that I can call good!

    50-50
    Kasarani.com – no this has nothing to do with sports. It is a dating site, a Kenyan dating site. I almost put it as a flop but on account of the really good design I put it as 50-50. However, for a dating site, I would think it would be in their interests to showcase the already existing members so as to entice other singles to join (right now we have no way of knowing if the site is deserted).

    Flops
    The Kenyan Ministry of Education – in the words of Ian Mbugua, this website is nothing short of pathetic. The use of colour may be passable, even good, but the very fact that some parts of the site pages seem broken – it looks like it is a “work in progress” – make this a huge fail in my eyes. I know the Ministry must have paid someone a lot of money for this, which is a crying shame because I know tens of people who could have done a much better job for much less.

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  • How To Start A Movement

    Posted: October 16, 2010, 9:25 pm by tranx

    If you’ve learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let’s watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:

    Click here to view the embedded video.

    A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he’s doing is so simple, it’s almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!

    Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it’s not about the leader anymore – it’s about them, plural. Notice he’s calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire…

    What’s the lesson here? To be a leader takes guts, but you are not a leader if you are alone – you need followers and you need to embrace your first followers as equals – you need to make them as visible as you are because they validate you.

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  • Mobile Gaming

    Posted: October 16, 2010, 8:32 am by Kelvin

    Please watch the video below:

    Click here to view the embedded video.

    Before smartphones, massively multiplayer gaming on the go was a pipe dream. Not even the game consoles have done a very good job of getting it right — you really needed a keyboard, mouse and computer screen to share a virtual world with thousands of friends.

    Pocket Legends breaks the cycle; it’s the first 3D, massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG, or just MMO) to achieve considerable success. Is it World of Warcraft? Not quite. But it’s superior to many browser-based casual MMOs, and it’s free to play — at least at first.

    Pocket Legends uses what MMO developers call “microtransactions” to keep the bills paid. You can download and play the game for free, but you’re constantly offered minor upgrades — new dungeons, new options and so on — for small amounts like $0.99 or $1.99.

    Amazing, eh? Mobile gaming has come quite a long way from the days of Tetris – now you can play beautifully 3D games. Here are 5 Ground-breaking Mobile Games that were released this year.

    What does this mean? Kenya is ripe for such a game(s). Can you make it? Know someone who can?

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  • Business is Alchemy

    Posted: October 14, 2010, 4:48 pm by Kelvin

    I just got an amazing email from Perry Marshal that I thought I just had to share with you, dear readers:

    Hi Kelvin,

    Listen up, because I’m about to explain one of the most critical, most fundamentally misunderstood realities of economics. This simple truth could change the way you see everything.

    People in poor countries are often told that America became successful only by stealing from them. Political liberals often look at the world as a pie that must be re-divided a different way. And although there may be some truth to those ideas, the essential reality is that business is alchemy.

    Remember the alchemists from the middle ages? They sought a formula to turn lead into gold. They never found it. But they were right about one thing: Wealth is all about the reinvention of existing resources – transforming useless things into useful things.

    Business, at its essence, is all about that very thing. Converting worthless things into items necessary and valuable. Moving resources from areas of low return to high return. Harnessing the forces of nature to produce food and wealth for everyone. Politics may be about the endless arguments about how the pie should be sliced – but entrepreneurship is about baking more pies.

    Take two of the most successful companies of the last decade – Intel and Microsoft. Intel takes desert sand – worth less even than lead – and turns it into Pentium chips – which are worth more than gold.

    If that’s not alchemy, what is?

    Microsoft literally creates software out of thin air. The strings of 1′s and 0′s that make those Intel chips do such amazing things for us.

    Does Intel have to steal anything from anyone to make those chips?

    No.

    Does Microsoft have to steal anything from anyone to write software?

    No.

    It’s alchemy. Literally the creation of something out of nothing.

    -Perry Marshal

    What do you think about this?

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  • 100 Startup Ideas!

    Posted: October 14, 2010, 2:03 pm by wham

    Thinking of starting a web-based business? Here are 100 ideas to wet your appetite and, possibly, inspire you.

    100+ Web Startup Business ideas

    So, what do you think of them?Similar Posts:


  • The 80-20 Rule

    Posted: October 12, 2010, 11:00 am by wham

    If you have a blog and want to grow it to be huge, there are several tried and tested things that you can do:

    1. write quality content
    2. promote that content
    3. use social media (e.g., Twitter and Facebook)
    4. use social bookmarking sites (e.g., Digg and Reddit)
    5. tweak your design
    6. chat with readers
    7. create Youtube videos
    8. article marketing
    9. submit your blog to directories
    10. search engine optimization

    That’s a lot of stuff, eh? Can you imagine that a lot of the bloggers do all this for their blogs? How hard do you work on yours? The interesting thing is that for many, many bloggers doing just two of the above produces 80% of the gain. If you just wrote quality content and promoted it, you would be good. Think about it, 2 out of ten of the activities above lead to 80% of the gain.

    The Pareto Principle
    An Italian economist once observed that 80% of land in Italy was owned by 20% of the people. His name was Vilfredo Pareto, and that is where the principle got its name from. The Pareto principle, which is also called the 80-20 rule, states that for many events and things in life, 80% of the effects come from just 20% of the causes.

    Did you know that Microsoft once found that by eliminating just 20%
    of the largest bugs in its operating system 80% of the crashes
    would stop? Interesting, eh?

    Applying the Pareto Principle In Business
    We all waste lots of time on trivial, repetitive tasks. This often means people are kept busy whether it is important or not, equipment is running whether needed or not, sales are made whether they are profitable or not.

    “The value of the Pareto Principle is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters. Of the things you do during your day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results. Identify and focus on those things. When the fire drills of the day begin to sap your time, remind yourself of the 20 percent you need to focus on. If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn’t going to get done, make sure it’s not part of that 20 percent.” – About.com

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  • New Media Vs Traditional Media

    Posted: October 12, 2010, 9:30 am by tranx

    Inari Media has a really interesting post about the Nation Media Group. The article is worth a read, please have a look.

    In case you haven’t read that article, it is about an article by Charles Onyango-Obbo (one of the big wigs at NMG) who wrote an article that lacked logic and should not have been published, much less by what many consider to be an authoritative newspaper. Inari concludes by saying, “this is the moment when Kenyan blogs became better than traditional media.”

    Is this so? Where do you get your news, the Kenyan papers or Kenyan blogs and other sites? Which do you trust more?

    Personally, I think the only reason why Kenyan newspapers, as they are, still survive is because a lot of the country still cannot access the Internet. When that happens, it’ll be definite doom. Why? Because our papers, to me, are seldom interesting. For example, I regularly go through the Daily Nation and I find only one or two articles that really really hold my interest. But I can go to Kenya Moja (which aggregates a lot of Kenyan sites and blog) and spend a couple of hours reading very interesting stuff written by passionate people (often experts in their fields).

    Is Kenya’s traditional media doomed?

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  • The downside of running your own business

    Posted: October 11, 2010, 11:52 am by Crystal

    I’ve been working freelance since February, and much as I hate to admit it, I’m bored. I always wanted to write for a living, but from the earliest days of blogging, it scared me. I was well aware that when you make a job out of a hobby, things get a little crazy. Once it becomes something you have to do, the fun goes out of it, and that’s not good. Money doesn’t make it easier – it makes it a whole lot harder.

    I quit a good job in Tanzania because I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to do my own thing and get paid to write, and now I do. But it’s not what I expected. Of course there are perks. I pick my own hours, I’m here for my daughter, and I can hang out all day in pyjamas. My neighbours think I’m a housewife. A very strange housewife who has purple dreads and likes to walk around the estate in a sweatpants and a hooded sweater. One actually manned up the other day and asked me where I work. I said Westlands.

    The part that tires me out is routine. I now have regular customers, but it’s the same thing. Write ten articles on bikes. Finish. Get paid. Write twenty articles on Nokia. Finish. Get paid. Write 15 articles on raspberry jam. Finish. Get paid. On and on and on and on. I’m still at the rookie stage, so I’ll make maybe $100 per assignment, and it’s a pretty good start. But when you make $100 for 100 articles, it can get a bit tedious, and I have to do at least 20 articles a day before it can pay off. That’s really tiring, and most days, I only manage 10.

    At this point, it would be good to expand and get other people to do the writing so I can read Harry Potter all day,  but I don’t really want to. I love the writing, it’s just the humdrum that gets to me. When I wake up and find a brief that says ‘Write 10 pages on your imaginary boyfriend’ I’m thrilled, and it’s super fun for the first four pages. Then I push myself and finish all 10 pages, only to hear the client say, ‘Brilliant! I love it! Now invent 10 more imaginary boyfriends.’ I can barely stifle the groan. The gig pays really well, but I’m realising that sometimes, good money isn’t enough.

    Maybe it’s just Quarter Life Crisis, [that runs until age 30, right?] but I feel disillusioned. If my dream job isn’t quite a dream, then what else will fall in my laps? Will I get my dream car and find it feels more like a mkoko? Will I buy my dream penthouse and get stuck with the neighbour from hell, or worse, have my mother-in-law buy out the building?

    The thing with negative thoughts is that they spiral, and the more you dwell on them, the faster they increase. Jack Canfield says on The Secret that if it isn’t fun, he doesn’t bother to do it, but I can’t convince myself that he enjoys paying taxes, so I guess all rules have an exception. I don’t imagine sportspeople like waking up at 3.00 a.m. to train, or practicing every day for a year just to have it all hinged on a  ten second sprint. When I was whining about boredom to my better half, he asked me if there’s anything I like about freelancing, and I said, ‘Sure,’ and rattled off a list that was ten minutes long. He smiled and said, ‘See? It’s not so bad!’ How I love that boy.

    So now I’m armed with a list of perks, and next time I’m restless, I’ll just look through the list. No matter how bad your job or business is, there are good things about it, and by dwelling on those, you can make it through the bad days. You might even turn the bad days good. And the good days are pretty awesome. I once got paid to say how much I like Ben 10. That was mad fun for the first four articles, but by the time I got to sixteen, even I knew I was bluffing. My client solved that my letting me write the articles in groups of five. She is SO cool.

    I find basic writing assignments trying, because it’s fun saying how warm one woollen blanket; less fun saying it twelve different ways. I’d like to get to the level where I make $5000 on one assignment. Preferably, it won’t involve pimping on a Persian rug. But in the meantime, I love blogging assignments, so I spend a lot of time on those. I also update my website blog daily. Sometimes I feel bad that I spend more time working pro-bono, but it’s fulfilling, it keeps me sane, and it’s fun. Plus, yesterday I got a client recommended by a pal, and she hired me on the strength of my unpaid blogging. AND she recommended me to a second client who also liked my blog, so yay! I now have two long term clients paying me monthly to fill their blogs. How cool is that?! Definitely a good day.

    Another thing you can do is to try emergency motivation. I’m told it’s a course in Boot Camp where they yell at you and call you names every time you start daydreaming. They also make you do press ups. The idea is to drill it into you that a boring task is fun. Later in life, when you feel like you’ll pluck your hair out on the assembly line, you just think of the drill sergeant and the press ups, and you have instant motivation. I’m told it’s very painful, it takes a while to learn, and you might become deaf, but it’s a worthy life skill for your 9 to 5. Me, I don’t like press ups; I prefer milk-free ice cream. So I’m going to stick with blogging, and when I buy that penthouse, I’m going to buy the whole building, just to keep my in-laws out.

    Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover, and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.Similar Posts:


  • Interesting Kenyan Sites #8

    Posted: October 10, 2010, 5:44 pm by Kelvin

    This week has more flops than any other!

    Sheng.co.ke – I love the look and feel of this site. It feels…authentic, somehow. I love the fact that the language on the site is sheng! Good job here, kudos to the people behind that site. (Though they should fix some of the broken links).

    Flops O.o
    Sikika – I have wanted to write about this big huge flop for a long, long time. Sikika is supposed to be the wordpress.com of Kenya; a place where all Kenyans can get blogs on a more local domain, you know? Instead of using Blogger.com or WordPress.com, we’d all use Sikika.com!! But the execution, by KDN no less, has been extremely poor at best. Sikika.com runs on the freely available and world-class WordPress Software (which has thousands of extremely qualified experts who know it inside out) yes KDN was unable to make it work. Just look at the site now, pathetic – full of spam. Does anyone even bother to look after it? The odd thing is that for people who know their stuff, it is extremely easy (and cheap!) to manage this site and make Kenyan bloggers proud. Give the site to WordPress experts (like us) and the sky is not even a limit for this site. KDN, this is a huge fail for you. I hope you know that. Fix it!

    Classic 105 Blog – why would such a large and successful organisation have their blog still hosted at Blogger.com? Integrating this on their main website is easy as abc and would actually improve the SEO (and other) value of their main website… Oddly enough, I cannot find their “main” site as Classic 105. So perhaps they do not have a site at all?? Why, oh why? Update: classic105.blogspot.com doesn’t look to be owned by Classis 105 FM, which doesn’t seem to have its own website.

    COTU – for such a large organisation and one that is always on the news, you’d think they would have a really nice attractive site, eh? Not so, sadly. I would say that the design of the site overall is not bad. I categorise this as a failure for two reasons:

    1. Their blog (the one they link to officially) is not hosted on their site but on Blogger.com. I do not understand why. Not to mention the blog has never, ever, been used.
    2. If you look closely, most – if not all – of the links on the site seem to be leading to [gempack.net]. This means that www.cotu-kenya.org is actually redirecting to www.gempack.net. This is VERY bad for SEO for COTU’s main site. I do not understand why they did this. Probably another case of a bad web developer, or web host in this case

    –
    What do you think of today’s batch of sites, and flops?

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  • Event Management 2.0

    Posted: October 9, 2010, 11:04 am by wham

    So, suppose you run an event management business. How do you market it online? Do you just slap on a website and sit back? I think not.

    For you to get meaningful and sustained business online, it is not enough to have just a website, you need to have a website that establishes you as an authority in your field of business. You want it to be that if someone is online and thinking of event management in Kenya, they will not miss to think about you. Now this is quite hard to achieve, do not get me wrong. However, the Internet is an equalizer and you can accomplish this by pursuing a steady well thought out and bold plan. In my estimations, it can turn out to be a really cheap (relatively) but efficient marketing strategy and while you may not be the biggest in the industry, your marketing will make you seem just as big if not bigger than anyone else.

    The big idea
    If I was planning my wedding, I would be so very excited and I would want the whole world to know about it. If I could, I would have a column in the newspaper about my wedding plans and the day itself would be splashed all over the papers so that the whole world sees how wonderful my big white wedding was. And my relatives all over Kenya and possibly the world would see.

    Of course I am not some Prince so I cannot have my way like that. What may work to achieve similar objectives, is a simple website. What if I had a very simple site, like a tiny blog, where I could update the whole world – including all my friends and family all over the world, of my wedding plans and share photos as I move closer and closer to the big day? Then on the big day itself I would chronicle the whole day on my little site (vua a live blog or live tweeting). That little site will live forever on the Internet as a “digital journal and photo album” of my wedding. I will tell almost everyone about it and they will all come visit – probably even my kids’ kids.

    Now, most people aren’t web savvy enough to do this, and they may be too busy to do it anyway. What if you, as their event manager, offer such a service for all the weddings and other events that you organize? You would immortalise your clients’ events on the Internet and they will probably share the links to those mini sites with all their friends. Now, of course, on each mini site you will make it clearly known that the event was organised by you. The more events you immortalise this way, the more people share the mini sites with their friends, the more your name spreads on the Internet.

    On the wedding/event days themselves you could even announce that the day’s proceedings and pictures will be available online at some web address, on Twitter, Facebook, etc so everyone will go away thinking “wow, these organisers are thorough” and they may visit the sites and find a link to you, and so on.

    You will probably also be one of the very few event organisers that do this and it may turn out to be a major selling point and perhaps even a source of additional revenue – not to mention that once you get a number of event mini sites up, you will establish your name online and get precious “viral” marketing.

    Can you imagine a gleeful bride showing off her wedding on Twitter and facebook and in all the conversations your name as the event organisers comes up again and again? Can you imagine one of the really really hot parties in town having a website where there is a live update for all that is going on at the party (with pics, music and snippets of video) – won’t the people who did not make it wish they were at the party?

    What would it take to do this?
    Contrary to what you may be thinking, all the above is quite cheap and easy to do, if you partner with someone who knows what he is doing. Believe it or not, making this happen can be done for under Kshs 15,000/- per event (at least going by Nickel Pro rates). The idea is to make a mini-site for the event, and offer live blogging and live socail media updating on the day of the event itself.

    Benefits

    1. After doing a few such events, you may actually be able to charge extra for this
    2. Your customers will be probably “wowed”
    3. You will get material cheaply for your company blog
    4. You will be an event organiser at the forefront of technology
    5. Your customers will be effectively recruited as people who market you online by telling their friends and family about the mini sites you created
    6. You will quite possibly get “viral” marketing effects
    7. Your name will spread in the online space
    8. It is quite probable that you will get many new customers who learn of you solely online

    Caveats
    This is not a short-term marketing strategy.

    What do you think of this idea? Could it work? More importantly, who has the guts to try it out? No balls, no babies!

    Photo courtesy of AZrainman.

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  • Gain Control of Your Business by Being Lazy

    Posted: October 7, 2010, 7:25 pm by Kelvin

    Recently I was reading a book that was talking about the need humans have to be able to control things. While there were several experiments cited, one of the experiments was done in a nursing home where they had some younger people visit and spend time with two groups of residents. The first group could specify when their visitor would come and see them and how long they would stay. The second group could not specify when their visitors would come nor how long they would stay. What the researchers found is that the group that had control over their visitors were happier, healthier, and were prescribed less medication than the group that could not control the visitors. 6 months after the study concluded a very sad after effect was noticed. A higher than normal percentage of the group in control of the visits passed away or became much sicker. What the researchers concluded (but hadn’t anticipated) was that being in control not only makes you happier and healthier but losing this control is much more damaging than never having the control in the first place.

    Entrepreneurs Need to Control
    One of the common characteristics of most entrepreneurs is their independence and need to control. When you think about it, it’s not that surprising. Some of the most oft-cited reasons for wanting to be an entrepreneur are:

    • Be Your Own Boss
    • Ability to Work From Home
    • Set Your Own Schedule

    In each of these cases, an individual is control of their work environment and their day-to-day activities. They intuitively know that gaining control makes them happier than not being in control.

    The Reality of Owning Your Own Business
    The realities of being a business owner don’t always match with the ideal lifestyle of the entrepreneur who is their own boss and sets their own schedule.

    You’re often in a deadline business. You can never rest on your laurels. There are always deadlines to meet. Customers that leave you. Customers that pay you slowly (A few that don’t pay you at all). Projects that get canceled. Amazingly, you are always on the hot seat – even when things happen beyond your control. Client expectations are often unreasonable. Competition is stiff.

    Being Lazy Gives Back Control
    A Lazy Owner is business owner who has built systems and processes into their company so that they aren’t critical to the day-to-day operations of their business. They don’t “hope”. They take control by creating systems that eliminates most of the uncertainty of a business.

    • Instead of hoping that existing clients give good referrals or people just happen to find you online or in the yellow pages, they create a predictable marketing system that delivers new prospects whenever they want to grow the business.
    • Instead of relying on client defined projects, they create products and services that they sell. They aren’t subject to unreasonable client demands because they already have the product.
    • Instead of worrying about cash flow and slow paying customers, they set up a billing process that means they get paid for the products that they provide.
    • Instead of trying to count on unreliable vendors, they define the production process.

    These are a just a few examples of how you can gain control of your business. By not having to work for every single prospect and every single dollar that you’re owed, you can spend your time building your business or doing whatever you want. And once you gain control over your business, and hence, your life, you will become happier. It’s just human nature.

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  • Shocking Stories of Business Failure!

    Posted: October 6, 2010, 10:01 am by Kelvin

    You know, when your friend or someone tells you of what they did to succeed in business you learn a lot. Learning from others’ experience beats learning from books any day, ama? You know what, though? Nothing beats learning from others’ failures.

    In fact, someone once told me: Failure in business happens for a reason, it is the ultimate lesson.

    In that spirit, I decided to share some stories of business failure. The smart thing to do would be for you to read them, analyse them, and learn.

    I’ll start with my own little story:

    Right after high school (6 years ago), I teamed up with two of my neighbors and childhood friends to start a video games arcade in the neighborhood.

    It was quite the learning experience – everything that we did, I was doing for the first time ever. This ranged from getting the business licensed to actually building a small shed to buying a TV and playstation, to put a roof over our business. I think a lot of people don’t know how to actually practically do these things.

    So after getting everything ready, we agreed on how to share the profit and started. It was a smashing success and we had all the neighborhood kids hooked! I was actually making my money from my own business. Life couldn’t be better!

    Not really. We used to charge about Kshs 60 per hour per gamer. But we had only two gaming machines. Things were good at the start but we somehow decided to move the business from our self-built shed to a real building in the shopping center. Rent shot up from 0 to Kshs 10,000 a month. We believed that the exposure gotten from the shopping center would get us more customers and lead us to growth. We were wrong. We still had only two gaming machines and there was only so much we could make a day. Things started to get strained.

    Before long, the business broke apart due to the stress and two of us left with very bad tastes in our mouth. My business #1 down the drain!

    Lessons learnt: strategically plan your every move and never go with “hunches” – always try to make sure you make decisions based on realistic data.

    Here are 25 other stories of business failure.

    What do you think? Did you learn anything?

    Hey, have you ever tried your hand at business and failed? Why don’t you share your story in the comments below? Thanks!

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  • Sintel

    Posted: October 5, 2010, 12:42 am by Kelvin

    Ahh, the marvels of the Internet. Sintel is an open movie – meaning that it is licensed in such a way that you are allowed and encouraged to give it out, or sell it, without seeking permission from anyone. The people who made the movie are also giving away all the production materials – right down to the movie script!

    The movie is a fantastic animation featuring a young girl who befriends a dragon, and somehow (I won’t tell you how) loses her new friend. She then goes out to look for the little dragon…

    Amazing, eh? Watch the movie:

    Click here to view the embedded video.

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  • The 3 Easiest Ways To Make More Money

    Posted: October 5, 2010, 12:09 pm by Kelvin

    1. Freelancing
    This is simple – take your skills and find someone who will pay you to do something for them.

    Advantages of Freelancing

    1. It is extremely easy to get started
    2. It is extremely easy to set a price for your work – there are lots of example to copy.
    3. The relationship between work and income is very clear – if you work, you get paid certainly.

    Disadvantages of Freelancing

    1. Freelancing is hard work and freelancers often get stuck in a “rat race” i.e. you need to work to eat
    2. It is hard to raise your fees and there may be an upper limit to how much you can charge
    3. It is sometimes difficult to know if your skill set can earn you money. For example, not many people may care about how fast you can read a book.

    How do you get paid?

    • Per hour
    • Per project
    • ‘Subscription’-based – for example, “you have access to my expertise for 3 months”

    Examples: web designer, marketing consultant, babysitter, freelance writer, programmer, etc

    2. Productizing
    This is related to freelancing – instead of, for example, offering yourself as a freelance marketing consultant, you could write a book on marketing and sell it. When you make your knowledge into a product, you can generate revenue even when you are sleeping. However, while this method can generate higher revenues, it is also higher risk as you are not sure if anyone will buy your products.

    Advantages

    1. You can make money even when you are sleeping, or sick, or…
    2. It is easier to make more money than in freelancing – you can sell your book to hundreds of thousands of people but you cannot write for that many people as a freelancer in a short period of time
    3. You get more freedom

    Disadvantages

    1. The logistics of selling products include specialist software like shopping carts, payment processors, email marketing software etc
    2. You need to know how to market your product online – this may include blogging, SEO, social networks, etc
    3. It is difficult to know who will buy your product, at how much, and how to price it
    4. The Internet is a sea of horribly crappy products and so it is difficult to convince people that yours is any different

    How to earn money

    • Freemium model where you give something for free and then charge for upgrades e.g. DukaPress
    • Charge for single products like books or ebooks e.g. Kiosk 3CB
    • Create a product where you can charge recurring fees e.g online courses e.g. Membership Site Masterplan
    • Create valuable content and then market affiliate products. Here’s how to do this.

    Examples: OBS, Kiosk 3CB, DukaPress, WooThemes etc

    3. Getting a Higher Salary
    Truth is, the vast majority of us are employed so this is an obvious strategy. Yet, very few of us think about it in this way. To get a higher salary, you need to improve your skills at work and demonstrate this to your boss. Hopefully, this will translate into increased responsibilities at work and a higher salary. Simple enough for you?

    Advantages

    1. You already know what to do! Just make your boss happy with the quality of your work.
    2. Salary increases tend to follow you through to the end of your career and they are cumulative. If you get a 10% salary increase, it will likely continue like this for the rest of your career and often can only go upwards.

    Disadvantages

    1. It is hard to know exactly what kind of behaviour will get you a raise
    2. Everything is out of your control and depends on your boss’ discretion and your company’s budget

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  • Biashara 30 Confessions II

    Posted: October 4, 2010, 12:33 pm by Kelvin

    Does anyone else like that Usher song, Confessions II? Well, I love it! And, keeping with the spirit of that song, here are our Biashara 30 (Season 2) confessions….

    What is Biashara 30?
    Biashara30 is a premium club meant for people interested in making money online. People who join Biashara30 will learn everything we know about making money online and, to complete the program, will be required to set up an internet business either as a group project or alone. A very important part of Biashara30 is ensuring that everyone who participates earns online before the end of the program. At every step, we will be on hand to guide and advise the members of Biashara30.

    Some Background Info
    At the beginning of this year, we accepted about 20 people into the second season of Biashara 30. We received well over 150 applications to the program and decided to pick 20 or so of what we felt were the best presented applications.

    And, honestly, the people of Biashara 30 Season 2 were pretty amazing. At the beginning of the program, I felt very confident that we’d have lots of fun and that someone (lots of someones) would make some money!

    Sad Happenings
    Sadly, things did not turn out the way I had hoped. Slowly, the whole thing degenerated into the oblivion of inactivity. Biashara 30 Season 2 was not successful. Why?

    1. At the start of the program, myself and wham (we run Like Chapaa and Biashara 30) unfortunately got a really huge job that we just could not pass up. This meant that we could not participate as directly as we wished we could.
    2. A good number of the Biashara 30 Season 2 participants were simply inactive. It beats me why you would take the time and energy to apply and then never even show up.
    3. With all due respect to all Biashara 30 Season 2 participants, I would say that in general I felt a lack of sufficient focus and sense of purpose. I am willing to say that this was in part our fault in that we suddenly did not have enough time to spend on the program. I feel that, ultimately, the buck stops with you if you want to earn more money online or elsewhere.
    4. I do not know how to put this last point respectfully. I apologise if anyone feels badly for this. I had various one-on-one chats with the Biashara 30 Season 2 participants and while some of them were simply unimaginably amazing, some were less amazing than others. Let me give an example, one participant wanted an online shop, of sorts, and we helped that participant get a domain name and gave that participant free webhosting and even helped set up the website for that participant. These are things we charge for daily but they are available free for B30 guys and gals. I would have imagined that giving so generously that the participant would have gone on to do great things with the new shop. But no, the participant always came back to us in a situation which turned out to be sort of us doing all the work for the participant. I don’t appreciate laziness, and B30 will never spoonfeed anyone.

    Some Thoughts

    1. We have to rethink the whole approach to B30. It is easy to sit back and blame the participants for two failed attempts but I realise that this is more likely an indicator that something is fundamentally wrong with how we handle the program. We have to find a better easier and more efficient way of transferring knowledge from us into other people.
    2. It seems to me that there is something of a general attitude problem in our great country. People very often have grand ideas and the skills to match them but they end up doing nothing at all with that. It almost feels like people (especially those wanting to earn more) read all these books and websites and…..instead of actually trying to do something, they seek yet more information and read more stuff and never do anything about it.
    3. The expectation of spoon feeding is a serious problem. People are looking for silver bullets and magic formulae instead of being ready to do real and hard work.
    4. There probably needs to be some “real life” (offline) element to B30 to make it feel more real to the participants.

    Some Good News
    So, was there any success story from this edition of B30? Well, yes:

    • The seeds for DukaPress were sown during Biashara 30 Season 2 as there was a lot of talk on online shops. In fact, we build DukaPress so as to enable ordinary people in our great nation to set up online shops that just work easily and quickly and be able to work with local currencies and akina MPESA. DukaPress has gone on to make wham and I lots money, too.
    • One of the Biashara 30 Season 2 participants, Crystal, continues to amaze me with her hard work and “get-it-done” attitude. I can testify that she makes lots of money online! Though I would not say that B30 helped her achieve this. It is more a case of a dedicated individual following her passion and her dreams to fruition.

    The Future & Biashara 30 Season 3
    So we just laid it bare for you to see. Biashara30 1 and Biashara30 2 both failed to achieve my own personal goals for the program.

    However, my dear readers, we know how to make money online. We do make money online. We believe firmly that we should all be making money online and it can be a significant force in helping even just one person in our nation earn more and live a better life. We believe in helping people. We, therefore, are preparing to go through all this again. Yes, Biashara 30 season 3 is coming soon. Would you participate? Do you know anyone who would?

    Since B30 Season 2, we have spent a lot of time soul searching and thinking of how to deliver a better program. We feel that we are now ready to try again. Here are some of our thoughts:

    1. B30 Season 3 will be even more selective. We only want to work with people who won’t end up to be a waste of time for us.
    2. We’re thinking of hiring someone to lead the program so that if we get another big job, it will not impact on the program negatively.
    3. The focus of B30 Season 3 will be on the three easiest ways of earning (that we have identified) money and we hope that by the end of the program, everyone will have made money online, or elsewhere.

    But We Need Your Help
    We realise that we are not authorities in anything. We need your ideas and input on how to make this thing better. How do we solve the problems identified above? Please help us by commenting below.

    Are you an aspiring applicant? Would you please share your ideas, questions or queries with us by leaving a comment below?

    Is anyone out there willing to help us run this thing? Please leave a comment below.

    How To for B30 Season 3
    We have not yet put up the application form. However, the application process starts TODAY! If you want to participate in Biashara 30, Season 3, you have to leave a comment here on this article. The comment should not be telling us why we should pick you, it can be anything else that is relevant. Remember that if you do not leave a comment here, you have no chance of joining B30 Season 3. Good luck!

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  • Earning More Money Has LITTLE to Do With Uni Degrees

    Posted: October 4, 2010, 11:20 am by tranx

    Let’s play pretend. Let’s say you are a woman, with one beloved son. Just play along. So your son is in From 3 and is having REAL trouble with Math at school. So for the school holidays, you decide to find a tutor for him. Who would you hire:

    1. Mr. Mike – a math professor who teaches at the University
    2. Mr. Bob – a down-to-earth math tutor who specializes in high school math and all your friends and neighbors testify to his ability to tutor high school math.

    Who would you hire? My guess is that you, and almost everybody else, would hire Mr. Bob. Would it matter if Mr. Bob never went to uni? I think all that matters is that Mr. Bob can get your son’s grades up, no? How many kids would Mr. Bob need to teach to make huge sums of money at today’s rates?

    “Most people are looking for a magic bullet, and rather than trying to figure out how to earn money themselves, they ‘outsource’ it to some university or degree program. That way, the reasoning goes, they can read some books, take a couple tests, get a degree, and…then what? Money falls down from trees?” – Ramit Sethi

    Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way! So what if you get a degree? If you want to earn significant amounts of money you have to WORK. You have to work hard at understanding your customers, and presenting yourself in such a way that they will just come to you. Like Mr. Bob did (above).

    The alternative is to dream about earning money and do nothing about it. Or worse, get a worthless degree that costs you lots of money but doesn’t help you increase your earnings.

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  • Some Interesting Kenyan Sites #7

    Posted: October 3, 2010, 4:24 pm by wham

    Nairobi Swahili – this is the website of one Oloo, a Swahili teacher in Nairobi. I think the site is very well done and a rare gem in the (sometimes shocking) Kenyan web design industry. The site is pleasing to look at and does a good job of selling Mr. Oloo’s Swahili courses. Kudos to him, and the web designers.

    Mara Enkipai – there’s a big drive to “sell Kenyan tourism” online spearheaded by the government. The sad truth is that 99% of all tourism related sites in Kenya are rather shoddy jobs that may actually detract from Kenya’s image. This is NOT the case with Mara Enkipai – the site is extremely well done and something that I’d be proud for people all over the world to see as the first glimpse of what Kenya has to offer. May other tour firms and operators follow suit!

    Flops
    Kenya Teachers’ Service Commission – for an organisation as big as the TSC, this is a pretty shameful site – it looks unfinished and the design, well, is poor at best. It looks more like a student’s high school project than a professionally done website of a national organisation.

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  • Just Earn More Money!

    Posted: October 2, 2010, 7:55 pm by tranx

    I got an interesting email from Ramit Sethi:

    “Kelly, have you ever noticed how every financial “expert” says the same thing over and over?

    “Stop spending money on lattes!”
    “No, you can’t afford those jeans.”
    “Keep a budget! Really!”

    None of those tips work. In fact, they’re inherently flawed because they try to RESTRICT you from doing what you want to do.

    Here’s something interesting.

    Ever wonder why no personal-finance “experts” write about earning more?

    Because they don’t know how.

    That’s right — 99% of them have a 9-5 job and have no idea how to earn more money. So they focus on bite-sized tips that they think will satisfy most people…but these tips are the same old things you’ve heard for the last 20 years.

    Today, I’m going to help you focus on the Big Win of earning more money.”

    Follow the link: 5 Reasons Why Earning More Is WAY More Powerful Than Frugality

    Interesting, eh?

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  • Opportunity: Online MPESA Agent?

    Posted: October 1, 2010, 6:03 pm by Kelvin

    If you look at the sidebar here on Like Chapaa, you will notice a “Most Popular” section. This lists 10 of the most popular articles, ever, on this website. If you look closely, you will see that FOUR of those 10 most popular articles are talking about How to Receive Money Online in Kenya. What does this mean?

    It means that there is a very great amount of interest on how to efficiently and conveniently receive money online in Kenya. This is probably because if you are doing any kind of business online from Kenya, you know that getting the money you earn has been and continues to be terribly difficult. It seems to me that people would jump at anything that would make this easier. It seems to me that there is an amazing opportunity that no one has addressed very well.

    What would the ideal solution be?
    I have done no sort of extensive research on this but I believe that the ideal solution would be a service that:

    1. Allows people to easily and cheaply transfer their money from services like PayPal, MoneyBookers, AlertPay, etc into a more locally accessible location
    2. The best “more locally accessible location” would be the mobile phone – MPESA, YUcash, or ZAP. SO the ability to transfer your money from akina PayPal into your phone directly.
    3. The whole thing needs to be done to international quality and security standards
    4. The service needs to be VERY transparent
    5. The service needs to exist for, and make us that its primary aim is not just to make money but actually to serve us. Other organisations offering similar services have struck me as being out to ‘make money ruthlessly’ instead of offering good service.

    Can anyone build that? I’d be your first customer! I know that several Kenyan establishments are offering services that may come close to what I describe them but the fact that so many people who need this are still looking for a suitable solution means that this “market” is untapped.

    Other things
    Apart from transferring money from akina PayPal into services like MPESA, I would love the ability to transfer money from akina MPESA directly into services like PayPal.

    I’ve been thinking about this a long time (because I feel the pinch and I need this badly) and it just seems so very doable that I wonder why no one has yet stepped up and tried to do it.

    What would you need to do this?
    As you read this section, keep in mind that I have not done any extensive research into this and what I say may just be plain wrong.

    As I stated earlier, I think building such a service is not particularly challenging, at least not technology-wise. Here’s my idea on how it can be built:

    • You need an agreement with one of the Mobile Networks. I feel that Zain is the most approachable of the four Kenyan mobile operators. I remember having good conversations with their engineers on how to more deeply integrate ZAP into DukaPress. The kind of agreement you need from them shouldn’t need to be too different from the agreement that they currently have with ZAP agents. Something similar, but they need to know you will operate online.
    • You need to notify akina PayPal, obviously, that you will be offering this kind of service. Paypal, in particular, has elegant APIs that should make building your service easier.
    • You would need to build your application in such a way that it accepts money from akina PayPal into your registered customers’ accounts securely and then, on demand, transfers that money into your customers’ mobile phones. The good thing with ZAP is that you can send money to any phone network in Kenya.
    • You would, obviously, need to structure your pricing in such a way that you take a small (it has to be small) percentage of the money that passes through your systems as your fees. As you plan this, you need to work around withdrawal fees za akina MPESA as well as the fees due to akina PayPal
    • It would be an extremely good idea to make your whole application work fully from a mobile phone and not just the web!!
    • Your system needs to be secure; it needs to inspire confidence.
    • You need to anticipate the possibility of PayPal partnering with local banks (it is rumored they shall be partnering with Equity). This poses a significant threat to your business. You need to build your application with this in mind and strategize on how you shall deal with it. Which I personally think is very do-able.

    So, what do you think? Is this build-able? What do you think of the whole idea? Leave your comments below.

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The end of the fish cakes

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