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  • New Free WordPress Theme: Sanaa

    Posted: January 26, 2011, 3:25 pm by wham


    Yep, we have more freebies for you – another free DukaPress theme!

    Sanaa is a WordPress e-commerce theme, powered by DukaPress, that is based on the old Crafty Cart. In the words of the original creator, “It’s a fresh flavoured retro style perfect for selling t-shirts and handmade items, designed to be a starting point for your online shop.”

    Theme Features

    • Intriguing “retro” design
    • Drop-down menu support
    • 2-column layout and widget-ready sidebar
    • Support for WordPress 3.0 custom menus
    • Styled to work elegantly with DukaPress

    View the live Demo
    Download For Free

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  • Making Enough Money?

    Posted: January 25, 2011, 8:26 am by Kamau

    I used to wake up every day and hate going to work. I had to wake up hours before I started work in order to get the kids ready for school, get myself groomed and breakfasted and ready for my lengthy commute – a commute that took me to a place that I didn’t want to be. I realize though that this is not only my reality, it is the way many people live their lives, and I’m so glad that I took the initiative to change mine.
    Like most people, I keep a budget at home and for the first time I am able to stick with it comfortably. Now, as long as I make Ksh 50,000/-, I can do what I want without feeling like I’m skimping on anything. These are my monthly expenses that I am able to reach each month. In fact, when I have met this quota, I can rest easy and relax.

    So, after I make the 50,000 goal that I set for myself for the month, then I know that everything I make after that is going to savings, a new toy, a vacation, or what have you. I can take it easy, knowing that I do not have to actually be anywhere for the next how ever many days area left in the month.

    Sure, I don’t just sit back on my haunches counting my money after I have made my quota, or met my goal. I answer a few emails, I prepare for the next month. I think about the future of the business, and so on. But, I know that I don’t have to be anywhere, and that frees my time up to do the things that I actually want to be doing in my life; spending time with the kids, recreational activities, working on the house, gardening, and so on.

    But you will find, as I do, that once you have met that quota, you actually want to keep working and making more and more money to save for that rainy day. The difference is that you don’t have to; it isn’t an obligation, it’s a choice, and that is the kind of freedom that few have, and most want. This freedom will inspire you to make changes in your business, make it better, more efficient, in short—more enjoyable. It is a very different experience altogether to be able to choose whether or not you want to invest more in your business, and yourself than simply waking up every day to go to a job each day that will make you just enough to meet your monthly expenses.

    I find that most months, I keep working once I have met my goal. However, having that choice makes all the difference.

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  • Interesting Kenyan Sites #17

    Posted: January 23, 2011, 8:36 pm by wham

    The Good
    www.economicstimulus.go.ke – a website that aims to report on the success of the economic stimulus packaged introduced in the 2009/2010 budget. We must say that for a Government site, this is pretty amazingly well done. good job all round! Though its creation was outsourced to India….

    Owlses – though it does not exactly serve the Kenyan market, this is a nice shop for T-shirts based on owls. The site’s design is pleasant and professional.

    Ticket Masters – this is where you can buy tickets to many events online. The site itself is very well designed and works pretty well. Good job!! Though it would do no harm to keep it more updated…

    The Bad
    The Kenya Police – this is the site of the Kenya Police. Besides being hacked numerous times a while back, it is not available right now. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

    Viva – this is a website that sells premium rate SMS services. Unfortunately, the badly dated (as in old) design makes one think it may not be legit. The look and feel of your website tells people a lot about you, and this website does the owners no good at all.

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  • KBC Interactive Game Show Fraud (with pics)

    Posted: January 20, 2011, 7:37 am by Kelvin

    This article was generously contributed by Mutwiri.

    Earlier this month there was a huge debate on this forum about an error KTN had made on their interactive game show. The issue was with the simple arithmetic – 11 x 2 + 32 – 21 + 5 x 3 + 5 x 1 The answer that won cash was 120, which off course was WAY off.

    Well, yesterday KBC ran something similar on their show.

    23 – 12 x 5 + 112 – 20 + 3 x 8 + 12

    The choices were -125, -170 and 250

    I took screen shots:

    The Question (click for larger)


    The answer that won Kshs.50,000 was 250

    So how did they arrive at 250? Here’s their calculation:

    The Fraudulent answer (click for larger)

    If you look at the pictures closely, KBC actually changed the question and then awarded 50,000/- to….”the winner”. Theft in broad daylight!

    What are your thoughts on this? Where can a complaint be made?

    Update
    Even the fraudulent answer does NOT add up to 250!!!!

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  • Safaricom FUD Strategy

    Posted: January 19, 2011, 8:00 am by Kelvin

    FUD means Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

    Safaricom’s new CEO, Bob Collymore was on the news the other day furious at Airtel for their new price cuts. His main point was that these prices were not sustainable and may lead to the collapse of the mobile phone industry in Kenya. Mr. Collymore went as far as saying that the government would lose revenue because Safaricom would not make as much of a profit as in recent years.

    A day later, Dr. Ndemo (the permanent secretary) was reported by the Daily Nation saying that the mobile phone price wars may even lead to the failure of the implementation of the new constitution in Kenya. The talk in town now is that the government may place a lower limit on mobile call rates i.e. akina Airtel will not be able to offer cheaper rates to us any more.

    Okay….what the hell is going on here? Kenyans have been looking forward to cheaper call rates for years yet when they finally come the government wants to stop them?

    It is true that the government will lose huge amounts of revenue from Safaricom’s reduced profits but is it really right or fair to change the rules so that Safaricom’s high profits are maintained at the expense of its competitors?

    Such a move by the government would be VERY wrong and would set a very bad precedent in Kenya. This is why:

    1. Airtel is a business that has chosen a certain strategy to tackle the Kenyan market. They have chosen to incur losses now so that they can profit later. This is also called “making an investment”. It is not proper for the government to stop them from doing so.
    2. Any change of rules would serve to protect Safaricom from the competition. This is unfair at the very least. Every business should be responsible for its own survival.
    3. The money that we the consumers save by paying less on calls does not suddenly disappear into thin air – we will still use it within Kenyan borders and the government WILL earn tax revenues on almost everything else that we spend that money on.
    4. Cheaper communication costs very often (in other countries) lead to a more robust economy.

    Let’s hope that the government does the right thing.

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  • 254 – A DukaPress Theme

    Posted: January 17, 2011, 1:06 pm by Kelvin

    254 DukaPress Theme


    We’re pleased to announce the release of our third DukaPress theme, the 254 DukaPress theme. This is a WordPress theme for use in your DukaPress powered shop.

    Theme Features

    • Clean and minimal layout
    • Drop-down menu support
    • 2-column layout and widget-ready sidebar
    • Support for WordPress 3.0 custom menus
    • Styled to work elegantly with DukaPress

    View the live Demo
    Download For Free

    Basically, this is a free shop ‘design’ (for those who have no idea what a theme is) that you can use to make your DukaPress online shop look good. Enjoy.Similar Posts:


  • The Best ISP in Kenya

    Posted: January 13, 2011, 12:07 pm by Kelvin

    A good and reliable Internet connection is pretty much essential these days. You need it for all sorts of things, including the ability to make real money online. Unfortunately, the state of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) in Kenya is very nearly pathetic. After some readers asked us to recommend good ISPs, we realised that we could not actually recommend anyone without giving a caveat. How sad, eh? So we decided to do some research and establish the truth about which company may actually be the best ISP in Kenya.

    Our admittedly very limited research focused on the so called ‘big’ names:

    Why did we do this?
    Well, almost everyone we talked to felt that the ISP state in Kenya is just not right. Very few if any of the Kenyan ISPs do things right and the customer is at their complete mercy. It should be the other way round – they should be at our complete mercy.

    This is our own little contribution towards that future. We hope to publish updates in the future as and when the situation changes. Please note that our review was limited to residential internet access and not the so called “corporate internet”. Many ISPs are totally different depending on what type of customer you are. Sigh.

    The Best ISP
    Unfortunately, and sadly, we did not find any one company that we could call “the bast”. Some seem very good, but all have painful problems associated with them. Sad tu sana, eh?

    1. GOOD ISPs
    A. Safaricom
    It may come as quite the shock but currently Safaricom seems to be the among the best overall ISPs in the country. Safaricom offers internet via mobile modems, WiMAX, and fibre. Overall, people speak very well of Safaricom.

    The Good:

    1. Very fast Internet
    2. Fairly stable and rarely goes down

    The Bad:

    1. When things go wrong, the customer often does not know who to cotnact for support – and the Safaricom customer care line rarely goes through. However, Safaricom seem to genuinely care about improving their customer care.
    2. Safaricom is expensive.

    B. Airtel
    Airtel is another company whose reputation is mainly good. They currently offer internet via mobile modems.

    The good:

    1. They are affordable
    2. Their service is mostly reliable

    The bad:

    1. Speed is really slow, sometimes becoming pathetic (i.e. the region of about 6Kbps or lower)

    C. Access Kenya
    Many people who deal with Access Kenya are quite happy. However there are some people who would highly recommend against them.

    The good:

    1. Fairly stable service
    2. Fairly ok customer service

    The bad:

    1. It is a bit pricey
    2. Relatively low speeds
    3. It feels like it is an ISP that is slowly fading away to the competition as far as residential customers are concerned.

    2. BAD ISPs
    These are ISPs that we would not recommend for anyone, unfortunately. Of course these companies do have happy customers so they must be good to them but you should engage with them with extreme caution.

    A. Orange
    Orange’s bad reputation comes fro their mistreatment of customers. Complaints range from:

    • In the past, they have changed their rates suddenly and unexpectedly and inexplicably
    • There have been reports that a customer’s bandwidth runs out faster than it should
    • Slow speeds
    • VERY poor support

    B. KDN
    KDN is famous for its extremely poor customer service. They seems to focus on serving corporate customers at the expense of residential customers. However, they are known for offering good services (for while) but when things start going wrong (they always do), they really get bad.

    C. ZUKU
    Personally I have been using Zuku at home for a while. In spite of this, I find it extremely hard to give a positive review of their service. Why? Because as a customer, Zuku will give you a special kind of pain: internet that is so shaky it disconnects every few minutes and extremely unhelpful, inaccessible and poor support. Dealing with Zuku sometimes feels like being scammed. Proceed with caution.

    3. Other ISPs
    We have no direct experience with the following, but their reputation seems to be good:

    1. Tangerine
    2. CallKey Networks

    Conclusion
    It is said that Internet services in Kenya can be one of two things, but not both:

    1. Reliable OR
    2. Affordable

    The sad truth is that, at present, if you want an internet connection that is reliable, even enjoyable, you must pay premium rates.

    What are your experiences with ISPs in Kenya?

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  • Does University Matter?

    Posted: January 11, 2011, 3:42 pm by tranx

    I read a very interesting discussion on Quora on whether or not getting a university education really matters. Here’s what was said (edited):

    Does a university education matter?
    Darien said, “The short answer is that not having a degree is going to close certain doors, but you’re going to be the one who has to decide whether those doors matter to you. The answer may very well be ‘no’.

    The debt you incur in college, taken in tandem with the opportunity cost of lost productivity, is likely never to pay off financially. This of course depends on your institution and field of study. Engineering, for example, or business from a top-tier business school probably will. A BA in an arts or humanities related subject will almost certainly not.

    The importance of a college degree is pretty much directly proportional to the level of bureaucracy in a hiring organization. If you ever desire to work in government or academia, you won’t be able to do it without a degree. This is also true of many non-profits and large companies.

    In my (admittedly limited) experience, not having a completed college degree has not kept any important doors closed. I landed the sales/biz dev position I wanted at the last company I worked for and my current startup is funded. (Ironically, it’s an education company.)”

    Afterwards, John gives a little personal story:

    I used to go to the University of Maryland, College Park in the mid-90′s, studying Mathematics and Physics. I started getting heavily involved in chess, and specifically a online chess playing site which was one of the first companies to have an online business model. Next thing I knew I got a job offer, and decided to do that instead of school. Ten years later, after a few different positions, my career had progressed, and I was making six figures for a startup, holding positions which often required an MBA, despite me not having the Bachelor’s. Then, the startup, like a lot of companies in late 2008, went away.

    What happened then? Simple. In a competitive job market, employers want to hire not only the best prospects, but the “safe” hire. I kept getting interviews, second interviews, and even in two cases, third interviews. Nothing happened. Why? In short, I didn’t have the degree. I was appreciative of those who openly told me that the person I lost out to got the job because of the degree they had. In the cover-your-ass world of corporate politics, if the hire who didn’t have the degree doesn’t pan out, then there’s a red flag for you to go after the hiring manager. Additionally, most companies put “BS required” or the like, and I have heard claims that companies can be sued by other prospective job-seekers if they hire someone who doesn’t have a Bachelor’s degree.

    So, what did I do? Started applying to schools, figuring that if I was not going to work, I might as well proceed in schooling. I was forutnate enough to get into NYU’s Management and Leadership Program at McGhee, and also fortunate enough to get another great job (within the same week!), and have done both for the past 1 1/2 years. While it may not matter for most, the college degree is a checkbox that is very often required in corporate America. Note, I am going to continue in my education get my Master’s afterwards, and possibly Doctorate, but haven’t fully decided yet.

    So does university matter? I personally believe university is less important than what we think, especially in this country where the quality (versus the cost) is something debatable. You can get a good life without going to university. Sadly, it is nearly impossible to get a good job if you have not been to university.

    It seems to me, therefore, that if you can get a good education elsewhere (books!) then university does not really matter unless you want to work for some big company.

    What do you think?

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  • How Small Businesses Get More Customers

    Posted: January 11, 2011, 10:19 am by wham

    Have you just started your own small business? Or are you doing some freelance work? How do you get new and more customers?

    We’ve found that the following works for us. Maybe you too.

    1. Partners
    It is very helpful to team up with people who provide other related services and arrange to refer business to each other. For example, if you are a web designer you can partner with graphic designers to refer businesses to each other.

    2. Profile
    Building your business profile is a constant and unending task. This means a well structured and designed website, writing for/being written about in trade publications, attending business networking events, speaking at conferences, entering/winning/judging awards, and that’s before you’ve started with all the usual social networking avenues like starting a blog, commenting on other blogs, tweeting, facebook, linkedin – I think you get the idea now. An important consideration with this is to ensure you’re getting a profile that will be seen by potential clients, and not just chasing fame within your industry.

    3. Happy clients (word of mouth)
    Unfortunately, the most effective new business method is also the most difficult — happy clients are repeat customers, meaning more work and thus more billings. But more importantly, clients also talk, whether they have a good or bad experience. Marketing people know other marketers, business owners know other business owners — and they ask each other for recommendations, and value those recommendations highly. The better you service your clients, and the happier they are, the more likely they are to recommend you to their colleagues, friends and family.

    Finally, don’t expect things to work instantly, building up a reputation takes years so your biggest asset and selling point is the standard of your work and the way you approach clients. Showing your work in the best light and having a diverse portfolio will give you the confidence to approach people for work.

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  • How The Kenya Police Website Was Hacked

    Posted: January 7, 2011, 10:13 am by wham

    As we all know, the Kenya police website was hacked multiple times recently. Today, we report on how, exactly, the hacker got in.

    Of course it is not really “hacking” (here’s why) – it is more of “defacement”. Regardless, Idd Salim has a post up that analyses this “hacking” in detail. According to Salim, this is what happened:

    The “hacker”, looking for a way into the site (or maybe just curious) did the simplest of things and got the admin password to the Kenya police website just sitting there, exposed for everyone to abuse.

    The “hacker” probably just entered this query into Google search: “filetype:txt kenyapolice.go.ke”

    This query checks whether there is any text document on the Kenya Police website that can be accessed by the public. Unbelievably, the password to the whole police website was stored in an insecure text document and all the “hacker” had to do was read it, and log in.

    Exhibit C (click for larger)


    Easy peasy. The password was just sitting there waiting to be discovered.

    It is such a shame that the primary security organ in this country clearly does not know, does not care, or both when it comes to cyber security.

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  • We are NOT PayPal!

    Posted: January 6, 2011, 1:37 pm by Kelvin

    Just this week, we have gotten over a dozen people calling us asking if they are talking to PayPal.

    We write a lot about PayPal on Like Chapaa because it is useful to our readers but we are not PayPal and we do not represent them in any way. Dear readers, we appreciate receiving your calls (and your business) but we feel that we need to clarify this and stop these calls as some people get quite rude.

    If you are looking for PayPal, please visit: www.paypal.com.

    Also, before you call us, make sure that you are calling the right persons. Just because you read about a Company X on a certain website it does not mean that that website represents that Company X.

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  • Laser Focus

    Posted: January 6, 2011, 1:30 pm by wham

    When we first got into business, we were dreamy about what exactly we wanted to do. See, we’re able to do many things that are internet-related. So when we started, we thought we could do everything and offer all of the following to customers: web design, SEO, social media marketing, strategy, reputation management, etc etc. Nice eh? Soon we would be swimming in clients!

    Wrong. We quickly realized that this was a very bad approach to business. Indeed we did get a range of clients who wanted a range of things done for them. This earned us much needed revenue but it also stretched us thin. We were trying to do too much with too few resources. We were extremely lucky that nothing disastrous happened (for example, if one of us had fallen sick – weeks worth of work would go undone!)

    Over time, we realized that we needed to reduce the range of what we offered or we would burn out. And so we did just that. Currently we offer only or two from the range that we had initially started with and are looking to niche this down even further.

    It is not immediately apparent, but it is true that a small business almost always makes more money and has a better chance of success if it chooses to attack a very specific niche. We almost failed because we were trying to be too general. Do not let this happen to you. if you are thinking of starting your own business, make sure that you have defined what it is that you do down to extreme specifics!

    Good luck.

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  • Kenya Police Website Hacked, Twice!

    Posted: January 5, 2011, 7:49 pm by Kelvin

    In what is turning out to be a rather bizarre story, the Kenya Police website was “hacked” earlier this week. Nothing too extraordinary, right? (Unfortunately government sites have been hacked before). This is what the site looked like when hacked:

    Exhibit A (click for larger)


    In a very short period of time, the site was recovered and everything seemed back to normal. It looked like our boys in blue indeed do have the capacity to fight cyber crime, on their own ‘turf’ no less.

    Until today. The hacker broke in again and did this:

    Exhibit B (click for larger)


    So, yeah. The Kenya police website was broken into. Twice. In a time-frame of a few days. It makes me wonder whether the boys in blue really do take cyber security seriously. This time the hacker even exposed the admin password for the Kenya Police website. It seems the Kenya Police have really pissed someone off.

    As Rad from SkunkWorks put it, “Just goes to show that being hacked is not a web server issue. it is a SECURITY issue!”

    Update 6/1/2011
    It appears that the website was hacked multiple times by multiple people. Read about it here. Looks like our coppers don’t know a damn thing about security…

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